31 weeks

Your baby's arms, legs and body continue to fill out -- and they are finally proportional in size to her head. She weighs about 1.5 kilograms and looks more like a newborn. She measures about 41 centimetres from crown to toe.

You may notice your baby isn't moving around as much. Don't worry; she's just running out of space in your uterus. As long as you can feel her squirming, you'll know she's just fine. Believe it or not, she still has plenty of growing to do. You can expect her to gain at least 900 grams more before delivery.

I hope that this does not jinx us, but with everything signed and fiance unconditionally approved I feel semi-confident in saying that we did it. We bought a house! And with 3 weeks to spare (from moving day to possible birth date).

I am so excited. Just insanely pleased with myself and my husband for finding our perfect first home. Buying a home was something we really wanted to do this year, and its been such a journey without a baby in tow. I was beginning to think it would never happen and that mum was stuck with us.
This time last year buying a house was the last thing I cared about, it was only after finding out we were pregnant that I started thinking that we NEEDED a house NOW and in my mind it is our gift to our little girl.

It would not have been possible without the support from my mum. I get so overwhelmed by what mum has done for us that it is intimidating! How am I suppose to match that super-mum performance? The sacrifice and generosity?

I have no idea! First step is to get that mortgage paid off, I guess.

I'll be about 33-34 weeks when we move.

The second thing that happened this week was the baby shower! And it really was everything that I imagined. My beautiful friend flew up from Adelaide just for the day and that alone made it an amazing day.

It had everything I wanted, flowers, punch, cupcakes and tea.

The only thing I wish I had done differently was I wish I opened the gifts as people arrived and not at the end. By the end I was physically and mentally exhausted and I feel that I was not as enthusiastic about all the fantastic little gifts as I would have been a couple of hours earlier.

24 and 25 weeks...

Your baby now weighs nearly 660g and is about 35cm long from crown to heel. He's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more like a newborn. His senses are becoming more sophisticated, too. At 26 weeks, fetal brain scans show response to touch. If you shine a light on your belly, your baby will turn his head, which means his optic nerve is working.

Is it just me or do you ever get overwhelmed by the internet? I didn't put up a blog for 24 weeks because I needed a break. Last week I was so stressed, anxious and overwhelmed by basically everything that I gave myself permission to have a week off facebook (I still checked my personal inbox, but ignored all status updates and other notifactions) and the internet. And it really DID help me. I had gotten myself into such a state that just having a few days of not reading about what is on everyone else's mind allowed me time to calm down all the things that have slowly been building at the back of my mind! As each week passes the reality of how big this all is hits me a little harder and I don't know what it was about last week but I was really knocked about! I'm feeling better now.

So here is whats going on this week... The baby shower has a theme. Cupcakes, bunnies and tea - or bunnies on a picnic. It's all finally starting to come together in my mind, all that is left is to get the ideas from my mind to our living area and we'll be set. The invites are currently being put together by a dear friend of mine who has been so proactive about the baby shower and has really inspired me to get off my tush and start actually planning it. Ri actually drew a picture of a bunny drinking tea with cupcakes to put on the front, so I am loving the invitations.

Bubs (a.k.a. 'Pooky') is getting more active with every day that passes and seems to insist that all new trick must be demonstrated to me (and Ri if he is paying attention) repeatedly between the hours of 11pm-1am. She'll usually wake up and give me a good booting as I'm waking up as if to say 'oi, get out of bed, I'm bored and/or hungry!' She doesn't seem to like loud noises as she will always stop her kicking if there is a loud persistent sound (I imagine her in there with her hands over her little ears). She loves it (or hates it, depending on what you think kicking means!) when I have my hand (or Ri has his hand) on my belly, she'll usually boot where she can feel the extra pressure. It's been good as it means she will quite predictably boot Ri everyday! Which he loves. I am feeling pretty big today! There has not been a huge change in my belly size of the last fortnight, but for some reasons I feel bigger and smaller depending on the time of day, or from day to day. My belly button has been gradually departing. It's currenting a half innie half outie, which just looks weird. Ri finds it amusing.

She is so spoilt already! My mum has bought her a set of Dr Seuss books (my personal favourite growing up!) Which included a book called Wacky Wednesday. Now I don't know if you have heard of Wacky Wednesday, but it's a Dr Seuss book where you have to identify a certain amount of 'Wacky' things happening in the pictures of each page. Well on one page, between me, Ri, mum and my brother we could only find 8/9 Wacky things. So I gave the book to my dad and within 5 seconds he identified the last Wacky thing on the page (and he left my place thinking I was a bit of an idiot for missing it, I think!) Medically I'm doing well.

I'm kept very busy my medical appointments and physio and pre-natal classes. We have our second prenatal class on the weekend, the topic is "baby's here, now what...?" I'll let you know how it goes.

Baby Shower bits and pieces

Here are some bits and pieces I've found on the internet that I like so far. I don't really have a proper theme yet....










I love the bee/honey theme!




And everything pink...




I like the idea of a garden-y theme with the butterflies...

Or an asian-y theme

I LOVE cupcakes!

Pretty much if everything is sweet and pink I'll be happy!

22 weeks

Your baby now looks like a miniature newborn. His lips are becoming more distinct and his eyes have developed; though the iris still lacks pigment, his eyebrows and eyelids are in place. His pancreas, essential for hormone production, is developing steadily and the first signs of teeth are showing beneath his gum line. Before you know it, your baby will be smiling at you

It's been another busy week! We're looking at putting in an offer for a house this week (we don't think they will accept... but they are dreaming if they think they'll get much more with the market the way it is right now!)

I had my first appointment with a physio to start building up my strength and stamina.

We made a big effort to catch up with friends and family on the weekend.

Ri went out and bought our pram (a teal stokke - LOVE), a high chair, some bottles and a baby monitor.

I really would like the Stokke change table, but it's $1000 and you can get change tables from IKEA for $70, so Ri's plan is to buy the IKEA one and modified it to make it more like the Stokke one (higher).

I had a weird thing happen with my belly this week! I felt huge on Saturday and then woke up one Sunday to find that my bump has all but disappeared! (she changed positions apparently!)
I think the bump size has gone back to where it was on Saturday. So many people said to me that I was only going to get bigger from here on out that it was such a surprize to see it gone!
Even with my copy of 'what to expect' I am still getting a lot of surprizes!

Everyone says not to go out and buy stuff yourself as you will get heaps of stuff at the baby shower/when the baby arrives, so I've been doing my best not to buy things.

I was very happy to get this hello kitty onesie from a work mate this week!

I canNOT wait for the baby shower!

Maybe I should start planning it!

A date has been set for it in May.

All I know is that I want a LOT of pink! And balloons! And cupcakes!
I'll have to start researching inspiration!