We celebrated our 4 year anniversary a little over a month ago, so yes I'm very late on this one, but I will never let a year go by without doing this special anniversary post. Every year since Caleb and I have been married, I've done a "look back at the past year" post to celebrate each year of our marriage. This last year has brought so many trials for us, but we are more in love and stronger than ever. Caleb has been there for me to pick me up every time I'm down about losing my dad, through all the pregnancy hormones, and fatigue of having to take care of a one year old. He keeps our house running while I grow our second bundle of joy. Not every day is sunshine and roses but even on the hardest days, I wouldn't want anyone else by my side living this life. That is exactly what marriage should be and I've got to say, we're still rockin' it!

Cheers to this incredible year of love and strength and many many more!

Happy happy Monday, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a slow one here, which was so necessary. Last week was really emotionally tough for us as it was the one year anniversary of my dad's passing away on Friday. We did make it out for Kai's first ever trick or treating Saturday afternoon though! This year we did Monsters Inc as a family. Kai was Boo, I was Mike Wazowski, and Caleb was Sully. In true Chicago fashion for Halloween, it was cold and drizzling. I remember it always use to be like that for me as a kid when I went trick or treating, so I thought it was very fitting for Kai's first time. However though, Kai woke up with a cold yesterday, so we stayed in all day just cuddle up on the couch watching all his favorite movies.

So I am officially 35 weeks pregnant and really feeling it! I looked back on some photos of how I looked at 35 weeks when I was pregnant with Kai compared to this pregnancy, and wow...this is how I looked when I was 40 weeks and my water had broke. It really is true that you're bigger and show way more after your first!

Cravings
The only thing I crave in excess right now is chocolate and pop. Of course right, two not healthy things at all. I just crave the carbonation of pop so badly all day long. Plus I am so tired these days that a Coke always sounds good for that extra caffeine kick.

The Not So Fun Stuff
I am so uncomfortable these days. I can no longer bend down to pick stuff up very well, touch my toes, etc. I wake up so much at night from having to turn from side to side because my hips are so achy. My belly is so big that my back is always on fire, too. However, whenever I'm sitting down, he is constantly kicking. The across the belly movements aren't bad at all, but he is so low right now that I can actually feel him in my hips and on my pelvic floor. I've also started having to wear a panty liner because after I go pee and stand up, I pee more. Awesome, right!?

The FUN Stuff
He is such a mover that it really is fun to watch him move around. The other night we actually saw the imprint of his foot. Toes and all! You hear about that stuff but I never actually thought I'd get to see it myself. I'm in full on nesting mode, too. It's a great feeling knowing that we're almost there. I spent a lot of this pregnancy sad and scared of what was to come, but now I am just ready. I'm so excited for this little guy to be here and finally be a mama to two incredible little boys.

The Medical Stuff
His heartbeat was 134 bpm last time I went to the doctor two weeks ago. I just love hearing it on the doppler. My blood pressure has been really good, too. I've gained about 30 lbs this pregnancy, so all is well! I get to go back to the doctor again this week and they are actually going to check my cervic this time to see if I'm dilated at all. I will also be getting tested for Group B Strep at this appointment. I had it during my first pregnancy, so it's really important that we check again this time around so they will know at the hospital if they have to give me antibiotics when I go in to labor.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Follow along with us on Instagram as the baby watch is getting real these days!

Remember way back in January when we had all these words, goals, and resolutions for 2019? Yeah, how are we doing with those? I'll speak up and go first, NOT SO GOOD... To be completely honest, I forgot what my word of 2019 was. I picked refresh for a reason and it was because 2018 was a very difficult year emotionally. I needed a refresh in so many ways yet I've somehow sunk in to a whole deeper than I am tall. Here's what's been going on and how I finally came to realize all of it.

I am truly overwhelmed right now. I'm 34 weeks pregnant and don't feel prepared at all to have this baby. Sure the nursery is put together, the clothes are washed and folded, and I have a list of what I need to pack in my to go bag. But there's some other things that I just can't seem to let go of like putting up bump dates on this blog and booking a maternity shoot. Especially the maternity shoot. You may be asking why I'm so obsessed with this. Well to be frank, I've done a shitty job of appreciating this pregnancy and documenting it. Once I go in to labor, it's over. There may be no photos to look back on to remember this time. Sure I can backdate some blog posts for bump dates, and I do plan on doing that but still, it's not the same as going along with the journey. I know I need to give myself a break but at the same time, I'm wasting time on unnecessary things that have brought a lot of negativity to my life. I'll spare you the details but just know that social media is such a life sucker. Anyways, just because this hasn't been the easiest pregnancy, doesn't mean I want to forget it. So there's that. Next, I feel so buried at work. I should be wrapping things up so I can hand things off for when I go on maternity leave, yet somehow every day I walk away with even more work on my plate. I'm in this struggle of wanting to do a good job and proving that even though I'm pregnant I can handle all of it...well I'm at a break point to where I almost can't anymore. Then there's this looming date coming at the end of the month that I am oh so dreading. The reason why 2018 was so hard. If you've forgotten or if you're new around here, October 25th of 2018 was the day my wonderful dad passed away. I've always promised to be honest here, so here it is, I am still so angry about it. I think I've overwhelmed myself with baby things and work things so that I don't have to focus on it but the reality is the day will still come. This event in my life robbed all of us of some wonderful things and I still feel like it's unfair. First and foremost for my dad. He had to spend the last months of his life in the worst way possible. He had to just look at his grandson from afar and never hold him. He couldn't eat anything for months. It breaks my heart how cruel that is. It robbed my mom of seeing Kai crawl around, going out and doing things with all of us, and most importantly coming home to her husband who she loved so dearly every day. It robbed Caleb, Kai, and I from having all last summer of adventures together and with Kai's grandparents like going to the zoo, road trips, the beach...even just family BBQs in the backyard. My dad never got to take Kai to a Cubs game. This was my dad's dream. To take his grandson to a baseball game. We had to spend our weekends sitting in a hospital pretending not to feel this hurt and anger. And you know what, it's still there. Maybe even more because now grandson number 2 is coming and my dad will never get to meet him on this Earth. The crushing realization of that is so devastating to me. I should have been working on letting go of this anger this year and focusing on positives. I should have let this anger out long ago but I've done the opposite and now I have to deal with it with a big ole baby bump, a mountain of work, and a lot of lack of sleep.

I realized this all within a matter of 24 hours. I went from just being so done with this pregnancy, to having anxiety about going in to labor from all the stress I'm harboring, to just coming to terms with I need to make some personal well being changes before I truly get to my darkest place. Then I remembered my word, "REFRESH." I'm not mad at myself for forgetting it, just honestly disappointed. When I think of this word, I feel so light and positive. It brings me a clear head, which is 100% what I need right now. I already purged some negativity that has been dragging me down tonight. I'm sitting here writing a blog post (crying, but still writing) because it brings me joy. Once I'm done rambling and I set this up to be posted, I plan on turning the lights off, no TV on, and hopefully getting a good night sleep. I've let go of the house needing to be cleaned and all the laundry to be folded. Honestly, Caleb is 100% capable of all those things and just because he might not do it exactly like I would doesn't mean I shouldn't just let it all go for the time being. Because I truly don't have the capacity right now to do every single daily chore that I use to do. I can barely bend down, I struggle to breath sometimes, and I'm just tired. But that's how it is when you're 34 weeks pregnant and I need to recognize that. This is the season of life we're in right now and there is so much good in it. I get to feel this beautiful baby inside me, see him grow, protect him, and have an excuse to just prop my feet up and have some things done for me. It's quite the blessing!

​So it's time for me to refresh my thoughts, get some sleep, say no to the non-essential things, and truly take care of myself. I hope you all are doing the same and remember what you set out to do at the beginning of this year, too. We picked these words, resolutions and goals for a reason 10 months ago...let's keep it up and finish out 2019 strong.