Life Lately...So crazy!

I've been a bit of a slacker on this blog lately. I was so busy with work that I didn't have much time for anything else.

I've been hosting birthday parties at our studio, completed two recitals in 2 days, we went to Avery's 1.5 birthday party, summer camps have started, I've been doing lots of work to get myself better pain-wise, Matt started his summer quarter for school today (ending on August 22nd--eek---Lilly, Daddy has a calculus exam that day so we're going to have to be good for mommy!)....and doing all of this while still prepping for our sweet Lilly Belle's arrival!

I should have/ could have blogged each of these events separately, I just honestly haven't had time. When I do have time for anything, I'm reading to Lilly in our glider or reading to myself to relax. Or, chillin' with Matt :)

Here are a bunch of pictures from my iPhone of life lately...

{Ballerina Princess Birthday Party at our studio}

{Cart completely full of crafts and games for our summer camps...$300.00 later...this summer is going to be so fun that it goes super fast. $300.00 well spent for lots of craft time and busy kids so I can keep my sanity through exhaustion and the heat}

{I made Lilly Belle's mobile from a DIY kit I bought on Etsy}

{I do need to blog about this separately, but my dance team kids and parents threw me a fabulous baby shower a few weekends ago. They bought us this book and I've been reading chapters to Lilly Belle at night. She kicks like crazy when I read to her. I love that. Matt and I are firm believers in reading to her a TON while she's little, so I figured...why not start early. I've been reading to her aloud for months now.}

Summer camp has begun! This week we have "Hip Hop Hooray Dance Camp" from 9-noon everyday and "Pirates and Princess Dance Camp" from 1-4pm everyday. All 4-6 year olds and we have some super fun kids this week!

Today, for one of our crafts during Pirates and Princess Camp, we taught the kids the 5 ballet positions and then with a buddy, they traced each others feet in the positions on paper to take home and practice with. It was a lot of fun and turned out super cute! 

Warming up with Miss Kellsie during Hip Hop Hooray Camp. I sit in my chair all day and help as much as I can from there :) So far, it's working out okay.

Discovered this at Barnes and Noble. I did it for 2 hours on Sunday. Boy oh boy! Between the chiropractor and this, my pain has gone from like a 10 to a 4/5. It's incredible! I highly recommend this! Matt used it on his shoulder too and he could rotate his shoulder fully for the first time in years. Pretty amazing...

Here are some of my kids backstage at our studio recital. We held it at Issaquah High School and with Matt and I on head set together, it was flawless! I had some fabulous team moms helping us and I could not have done it without them, Matt and the theater director at the school. It was incredible :) I can't wait to do it again!

Last group to perform and I remembered to snap a picture. Too cute :)

So...that's life lately. 

Pretty crazy, but beautiful. 

I can't believe our Lilly Belle will be here in just about 7 weeks. It's going to fly by!

Tonight we went to our hospital tour and shit got real! The hospital is like a spa. Goodness! I can't wait!

32 Weeks

Written at 32 weeks (today I am 32 weeks and 5 days)

How Far Along?  32 Weeks, just 8 to go! (Hopefully 8 or less...no more)

How Big is Baby? She's measuring small (measured 30 weeks at my 32 week appt...due date is still set at August 15th though)

Total Weight Gain: 36.5 lbs

Maternity Clothes? Always.

Stretch Marks?  Still don't have a single one and I do not put lotion on. I got lucky.

Sleep: Not quite as bad as last week. Up just two nights for a few hours. The rest of the week I slept through. 

Best Moment this Week: My favorite thing this week was reading "Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie out loud to Lilly. Last night, Matt read her "Mister Seahorse" too. These are the fun moments I'm going to miss about being pregnant (but it will be even better to read to her in our arms). She already kicks like crazy when we read and talk to her. She already loves her Daddy :)

Miss Anything: Dancing. Like a lot. It's getting hard feeling so restricted all the time. 

Movement: She's our Karate Kid ; ) I got a crazy video of her moving all around last night. I sent it to my parents to see too. She's so active in here!

Food Cravings: I haven't really craved anything lately. I still love tuna, but I could go longer than a week now without it and I think I'd be okay. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: The pain I'm in. Also when she rolls I get a little nausea.

Gender: Baby girl!

Symptoms: I am pretty sure I have SPD (look it up if you're curious). Basically it's the worst pain in the entire world (well, worst pain that I've ever experienced in my life thus far.) I realize that labor will have it beat, but at least that ends. This has been going on daily, every second of every day, for the past month already. It's awful. If I didn't have this happening right now, I'd be so so happy. I would really not have like any symptoms. It is crippling. I cried for the most part of last night because I was just in so much pain (and I didn't teach or anything all day, actually just worked from my desk). Not good.

I've been nesting like a crazy woman, too. Is that a symptom?

Looking Forward to: Meeting our sweet baby girl! I'm getting anxious (and ready to not be in pain) : ) 

31 Weeks!

How Far Along?  31 Weeks! Just about 9 to go!

How Big is Baby? If she is on track with where the average baby would be right now, she would be a little over 3 lbs. and around 18 inches long. We'll just have to wait and see...this question seems a bit silly.

Total Weight Gain: At my appt. on Tuesday, I was 152 lbs. (the other 4 I lost in the past week must have been swelling). So, I guess 32 lbs gained.

Maternity Clothes? All the time. I've also come to love wearing Matt's t-shirts as pajamas.

Stretch Marks?  Nope!

Sleep: Hit or miss. Sunday night I slept for 12 hours, so Monday night I slept for maybe 3. Tuesday night I was up from 12:30-5:30am. Last night I woke up at 3:30am and have been up since. 

Best Moment this Week: My team baby shower was on Saturday and boy were we showered. I am so thankful for all my supportive team parents and all the wonderful gifts they got for us and for Lilly Belle. They put so much thought into all the food and theme and it was adorable. The girls seemed to really be having so much fun, too. I loved being with all of them so much!

Matt and I also really did a lot in her nursery this week. From Matt putting up some shelves for her plushes and building her bookshelf, to us getting her beautiful knobs for her dresser and some frames...it's all really starting to come together.

Also, seeing her carseat (a gift from my dance moms), all out of the box and sitting in her room made things so real. 

Miss Anything: Sleeping on my stomach.

Movement: She is still a mover. She has started to get her little feet jammed up in my ribs too. Ouch.

Food Cravings:  Still love tuna! Marie made me a tuna sandwich on Sunday for lunch and I was so excited. Then, got super sad when it was all gone. That's the not fun part about tuna being my craving. The only having it once/week part. The rest of this week I have really loved Peanut Butter Crunch cereal and cheese. (Not together). 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Eating too much, too quickly. Also when Lilly starts rolling all around, that has made me feel nauseous lately.

Gender: Sweet little Ms. Lillian Belle!

Symptoms: Not being able to sleep. Still on "no activity" from my midwives for high blood pressure. Still have a terrible constant pain in my right leg/groin/hamstring area (basically where my leg connects to my girl parts). Short of breathe a lot. Pain under my right ribs due to Lilly's feet hanging out up there.

Looking Forward to: Meeting our sweet little bean. I want so badly for her to come meet us a little early. I have a feeling that she's going to make me learn another lesson in patience though and not show up for at least a few days after her due date. I'd be happy to meet her anytime after August 2nd. That's my last day of summer camp and my official start of Maternity Leave. I told Matt that maybe I'll start going for runs after that to get her out (totally kidding!) Matt has finals August 8th too though..so...I'm just kind of ready to meet her and be done with this part : ) I'm so ready for us to start our life with her. 

Just Want to Sleep!

Night has become my worst enemy.
I hate it so so much.

I don't sleep because I can't sleep. I actually think about how much I dread night during the day. It is awful to be awake every night all night long just wide awake but exhausted at the same time. Cogsy and Matt both snoring away sleeping so well. Makes me so jealous.

My legs are jumping and my pinched nerves in my leg are getting to be a lot.

Last night I slept for 3 hours. One stretch of 2 hours and one stretch for one hour.
Tonight...well, I slept from 10:30pm-12:30am and now I have been awake for 4 full hours. When I fell asleep initially tonight, it took some serious concentration. No really, I had to count. Then a work thought would pop in my head and I'd start over from 1 again and eventually I fell asleep. Then I woke up at 12:30am. I tried to go to sleep. I laid in bed from 3:30-4:30am (now) tossing and turning trying to go back to sleep and gave up again. Now I'm at my computer again.

I get lots of work done in the middle of the night. (bonus?) no...that's bad.

I don't remember the last time I slept all the way through the night and was comfortable the whole time.
Thoughts race through my mind all night long. Lilly kicks me all night long. This can't be good.

Ha, kind of how I feel right now.

Mean Girls wasn't lying. 

I've tried Benadryl and it actually had the opposite effect on me and made me even more wired, to the point where my whole body was jumpy. Never again. 

Tried taking a bath before bed to calm down. Works hit or miss. I always end up waking up around 12:30am though even if I do fall asleep around 10:30pm. 

I think Lilly is going to be born and I'm going to not even have to worry about all the nights awake, I'll be awake even when she's sleeping. I'm exhausted and stressed from work and still it doesn't make me tired enough that my body lets me fall asleep or stay asleep. 

I just want to sleep on my stomach. I've slept that way my whole life. I slept that way as long as I could with Lilly. Then I switched to my back. Can't do that anymore either. Sleeping on my sides kills my pinched nerve. So basically, I'm screwed. I've tried sleeping sitting in the glider too, but sitting for too long makes my legs super jumpy, even if I have them up on the ottoman. 

I'm pretty much ready for her to be born now. 

This lack of sleep is making me crazy. I'm super fun to be around lately, ask Matt. 

Speaking of Matt...he just came in here (I'm in the nursery) to see how long I've been up. Oh you know...just 4 1/2 hours straight. It's 4:45am. 

My body needs to be physically exhausted to be able to sleep because it's used to me dancing 3-6 hours/day. I've danced that much consistently for the past 16 years with the exception of the year and a half I nannied. But I think watching 4 kids all day is equivalent to dancing for 3-6 hours. Now that I'm not dancing as much, this just keeps getting worse.

I have 9 more weeks of this. That makes me want to cry. 

I love being so close to her and carrying her around most of the time, but this sleep thing is really going to kill me. I would much rather just be able to hold her in my arms. 

Between not being able to dance and not being able to sleep...I'm in a pretty yucky place. This is so hard. Worth it! I love this little girl more than anything already. It's just way harder than I ever imagined not being able to dance and now not being able to sleep. I'm ready for life to be somewhat normal again. With the addition of our Lilly Belle so it will be even better!

29 & 30 Weeks!!

**Sorry no 29 week photo, we were in Sunriver and we were going to take my picture on Friday and...I fried my entire body in the sun. Ouch!**

How Far Along?  29 weeks

How Big is Baby? According to my apps and books, she is about 2.5-3 lbs and around 15 inches long.

Total Weight Gain: I don't want to know.

Maternity Clothes? Always.

Stretch Marks? Nope. 11 weeks to go and I'm hoping I still don't have any. I wasn't a fan of wearing a tankini swimming. I don't like the feeling of wet clothes on my stomach. 

Sleep: What sleep? Same as always.

Best Moment this Week: We are currently in Sunriver, OR with Matt's family. We love it here!

Miss Anything: Sleeping and not being in pain 24/7. 

Movement:  She moves all day long. I feel her moving right now actually. She's doing little rolls.  

Food Cravings:  I still like Tuna

Anything making you queasy or sick: Eating too much, too quickly. Oops...

Gender: Baby Girl!

Symptoms: Restless leg syndrome. Lack of sleep. 

Looking Forward to: My WI baby shower on Saturday!

How Far Along?  30 weeks!

How Big is Baby? Big : ) almost 3 lbs. 

Total Weight Gain: I now weigh 156 lbs! I started at 120...but...I've never felt more beautiful than I do lately.

Maternity Clothes? Always.

Stretch Marks? Nope! Thank goodness. I hope this lasts.

Sleep: Much better this week once we got home from Sunriver. I've just waken up in the night to pee. 

Best Moment this Week: We got to see Matt's parent's new beach house on Sunday and then we went to dinner with them to celebrate. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the vacation in Sunriver. 

Miss Anything: Hmmm...I'm good :)

Movement:  She is still quite the little dancer in there.  

Food Cravings:  I haven't really had any cravings this week except for the past few days I've really wanted cheese (of any sort -- just bought cheese sticks & cottage cheese). Interesting because I wanted cheese a lot in my first trimester, too. I also had a cake batter with brownie and hot fudge ice cream at Cold Stone the other night and now every night I've been begging Matt to take me back. (He hasn't lol). 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope.

Gender: Baby Girl!

Symptoms: High blood pressure...no more activity for this mama :(  Nerve pain in my groin/hamstring area. Swelling. 

Looking Forward to: My team baby shower on Saturday!!!

Exciting Things to Note: Matt and I have really gotten down to business on Little Miss Lillian's nursery. It's like we're both nesting. There are just a few things left to do and now it's just all the fun details. I'm not going to do a full reveal though on here until it's completely done. Also, things are going really well with my business right now and it's helping us a lot. I cried a little in the car today. It was a full on happy cry. A relief. I've worked pretty hard to get our business (and my pay) to where it is right now and it feels good to know our sweet baby girl will be okay and have all her needs met. It was during that song by Ellie G-----, "Anything Can Happen." That's been my go-to song since we were trying to get pregnant. Now I'm just so excited to have her here. Theres no stress anymore. Things have fallen into place and now I just want to squeeze her : ) 

Pregnancy Update: Blood Pressure, Sunburn, Swelling - Oh my!

Not the most fun thing to write about, but this time in my pregnancy needs to be documented and I need an outlet for all the crazy thoughts in my head right now.

First of all...I will be 30 weeks pregnant tomorrow! That's 3/4 of the way done. Just 10 more weeks until we get to meet our sweet Lillian Belle! Also, just 10 more weeks to get everything ready for her. Matt had a man-nesting day yesterday and decided that we were "way behind" on her nursery and that he needed to hang her name and pictures on the wall. It looks perfect. He did a fabulous job!

Currently, I have had some big changes these past few days. 

While we were in Sunriver, OR (which is a post that is in the works) I got bad sunburn. This was on Friday afternoon. Most of my body is now just peeling, but unfortunately, my left leg has turned a few different shades of pink/purple today and I'm starting to think I may have had a bit of sun poisoning. 

Anywho...I had have the sunburn. While we were driving home from Sunriver, which has an altitude of about 5,000 feet, my legs started to swell up. As the night went on, they just continued to get more and more swollen and tight. I figured I needed to just elevate them, drink water and go to bed and in the morning it would be okay. Morning came and it wasn't better but in fact they were a bit bigger. I waited until 12:30pm to call my midwives. I assumed when I called that they would just say it was no big deal and that I should do "this and this and that." Well...she actually told me she wanted me to come in as soon as I could so that they could check my blood pressure because it was something she was worried about with how much swelling I was having (even with the altitude change, it should have calmed a bit instead of increasing). So, Matt and I headed to the hospital. 

First thing they did was check my blood pressure and it was high. I stink at remembering numbers like this but I know it was 130 over 70-something. Usually my blood pressure is in the 112 over 60 range. They had me head over to the lab for blood work right after my appointment because they were worried about it being Preclampsia. Lori told me to take it easy and to do even less than I was doing at dance. (I had already been on orders to "take it easy" at dance...to "not demonstrate anything"). I had not been following that guidance as it is nearly impossible to teach 2-5 year olds without demonstrating anything. She told me not to teach too many in a row and if I can sit down while I am there that I should do so. 

The next morning, Tuesday, I had a 3-5's Ballet/Tap class at 11am. I taught it and did not really listen to her advice (again). I danced as I would have had I been just 20 weeks pregnant, I even remember that I jumped a few times. Not big jumps, but still...I was jumping. **Side note: I am also in physical therapy and am not supposed to be doing any physical activity per their advice...Oops.** When I left to go to dance, my feet were still pretty swollen, but small enough that I could still put my tap shoes on. At the end of class when I took my socks off, I knew it wasn't good that I had danced like I had. **Note again: I wasn't doing any crazy hip hop or anything, simple things like shaking my hips and step claps were the height of my activity, but at 30 weeks...those things will getcha.** 

My midwife, Peggy, called me around 2pm with my blood work results and asked how my swelling and sunburn were doing as well. My blood work came back fine. I told her that I had taught a class that morning and had bad swelling again. I also told her that my sunburn had pretty much gone away, minus on my shins and chest/shoulders. That's when she told me the dreaded words..."Ok Chelsea, so I am not saying this to bug you or upset you, but I think it is time for no more dancing or teaching. Nothing that is going to really get your heart rate up. You need to be resting and keeping your feet elevated. Drink lots of water. And seriously, rest." 

It is no secret that I am an active person. This is going to be pretty difficult for me. 

My teachers really stepped up and have offered to sub the majority of my classes. There are only a few that I have to teach. At this moment in time, there are 5 classes and 1 birthday party that I have to teach in the next 2 1/2 weeks. That went down from 42...

I have an appointment again for Tuesday just to check my blood pressure again. I hope that all of this resting will have brought it down some. Unfortunately, with getting subs for all of these classes comes some not so understanding parents. Lots and lots of them ARE understanding, but I've had a few not so nice emails that are stressing me out. I'm not suppose to stress out. 

My pelvic/hip pain is still very real as well, so I know that this is all for the best. 

10 more weeks until we meet our baby girl and this will all be so so worth every second of pain, worry and stress!