The End in Sight...

39 weeks today

This pregnancy has been so incredibly different from my previous two.  from start to (near) finish, it has flipped everything I thought I understood about my body on its ear and completely surprised me.

With my first two I was ravenous.  All day. Every day.  I wanted to eat everything in sight, and I did.
This time, I couldn't stand to even think about food for basically the entire first trimester.  I could literally take a bite of something I thought I wanted to eat and instantly feel nauseated and gross.  I never actually upchucked, thank God, but I sure did feel close a few times.  I lost nearly 12 pounds in the first trimester!  like, what?!  that's definitely different from both times before.

The color run Atlanta 2014

Something else that I actively made different this time is that I was much more exercise-conscious.  Shoot, I did TWO 5K's during this pregnancy, and ran in the neighborhood in between, until my pitiful pelvis just wasn't having it anymore, and even then I started walking at least 3 times a week, often more than that.

I slowly but surely, once I was able to stomach, oh basically anything, put on the 12 pounds I had lost.  this is to be expected.  you can't go from not being able to eat to suddenly having a normal appetite without a little gain.

my beautiful and talented friend did my maternity pictures

Up to now, at 39 weeks, I have gained a total of 18 pounds from my starting weight.  Can we say miracle?!  Just as a reference point I gained 85 pounds with my first, and did only slightly better with my second gaining a whopping 65 pounds!

Given, I didn't start out at my ideal weight with this pregnancy.  I started off technically overweight according to BMI standards.  and they say that the more heavy you are before pregnancy the less you should gain.  According to nurses at my doctor's office I should have gained only 15 pounds being overweight to start.  oh well.  I feel fantastic at only 18 pounds.  Nobody can bring me down from this high.

Nobody of course except my own anxiety perhaps.

I have been surprisingly calm this pregnancy.  I haven't been especially miserable, and with my managed growth I have been able to stay comfortable and not have any complications.  My blood pressure has stayed nice and low (with my oldest I had pre-eclampsia, so that is always a looming fear) which is such a blessing.

I did discover this pregnancy that dairy does not agree with me and since then my heartburn has drastically decreased and my acid reflux at night has all but disappeared which makes life much more bearable, like, you have NO idea.

thankfully I can get Soy ice cream...

So, what's the problem you ask? I'll tell you.  Since I haven't been especially uncomfortable or swollen, and since all in all this pregnancy has been rather pleasant, I haven't reached that point where you are so miserable you're saying "somebody get this thing outta me!!" I'm content.  Which makes my scheduled induction in 2 days all the more anxiety-inducing.  I'm think to myself, oh crap...  Am I ready?

Yes, I know, I'm a veteran at this. I have 2 babies already, and for the most part, despite making poorer decisions with the 2 of them (diet and exercise wise) I had smooth deliveries.  I have taken this pregnancy head-on with a much more positive mantra and a much more healthy perspective.

So why am I so nervous?

I am anxious to meet my newest princess, Alice Aurora.  And I'm so excited to be able to go back to sleeping on my stomach, like woah. And I'm excited to be more maneuverable.  But I am so stinking nervous at the same time.

He's so precious

I feel like there is still so much to do.  There really aren't too many things that are especially pressing.  Most of it is all in my head as my precious husband is constantly reminding me.  But somethings are.  For instance, I am being induced in TWO DAYS and I still haven't packed my bag...  yep  procrastinate much?  Don't get me wrong, I have a list, and a bunch of things set aside to be put in said bag, but I'm not done.  I think (here I go "psychologizing" myself) a big part of that is that if I get that bag packed and ready I am admitting to myself that this is happening.  No going back.

Well, for now I think I will procrastinate some more and  go and sit in the tub and soak for a while.

Preggy Poo Update and Other Whatnots

Hello....

Is anyone still out there??

Wowzers, it has been a spell (as my grandmother would say) since I have been 'round here.  I hardly recognize the place.  sheesh.

So much has been going on, and I don't even know where to BEGIN explaining my prolonged absence.  All I hope is that y'all haven't broken up with me and my blog for leaving you hanging for so long.

(I like to believe in my own little world that y'all have been waiting around, checking your blog loving feeds and pouting pitifully wondering where I had wandered off to, however, I'm pretty sure most of you are more confused because you don't remember me anymore.  it's fine.... I understand)

Anywho.  Last I blogged I was telling y'all about being all pregnant and whatnot.  Well, things are going pretty great!  I'm feeling much better and that's a good thing and a bad thing.

GOOD: because I'm not feeling sick anymore, and I can actually eat!
BAD: because I can eat again... and it's hard to stop...

I had this issue with both of my other pregnancies, all will-power (when it comes to food) goes straight out the window, and that my friends is a dangerous dangerous game...

We found out we are having a girl, as you can see in my Gender Reveal post here.
And yes, we have a first name picked out, but not a middle name yet, so we are playing our cards close to the chest until we figure that out... sorry for the suspense.

Here's a little collage of where I am in pictures:

I always regret not having many pictures of me during my first two pregnancies, and so I am trying to resist the urge to hide from the camera and take one every week.  So if you follow me on instagram, you'll see a new pic of this ever-growing bump each Sunday morning.

I'm trying really hard to keep exercising and control my food intake as well.  Yep.  That's right.  I'm going to condition this baby to love exercise!

In fact we took this little baby for a run on her SECOND 5K in utero this weekend (no pics from that unfortunately).

The first 5K she tagged along for was the Color Run in Atlanta in April:

Baby's first 5K!

Anywho, That's about all for now.

I've got A LOT of catching up to do on here, for instance we painted and redecorated Bunny's room, and painted the living room and office, and we are working on some pretty cool big projects, not to mention all the ideas I've got for crafting and just wow, so many things.  

Stay tuned for all that madness....

Ahem Ahem, Announcement Time

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook already know this, and have for about a week, but me and the Hubby are expecting Baby #3!!

We are just plain crazy excited!

Some of you might be thinking, "seriously guys?  A third baby?  Didn't we just get past the craziness of buying a new home?"  and then answers to those questions are yes, yes and yes.

We can't seem to go too long without throwing a wrench at life and making more chaos!  We thrive on chaos frankly...

Baby Kline # 3 is due September 21st, So I am just about 13 weeks along now.  I have been using the Baby Bump App on my phone and it is so cute and educational and just cool in General, you should definitely check it out, they have forums and even baby name polls posted by real women who are toting a bump just like me!  I spent an hour and a half the other night voting on other people's baby names, it was awesome, and completely addictive...

It has been such a relief to let the cat out of the bag.  This pregnancy has been quite different from the other two so far, as you may remember from my post about our Baby Dinosaur, When I got pregnant with Grace I could literally have eaten the whole house, my appetite was through the roof, it was so awful, but I couldn't control myself!  This time around I haven't been sick per se, but I haven't felt good and hungry either.  It got to a point where I could barely eat a bite of food, no matter what it was, and I would feel hugely bloated and nauseated, it was awful!  I have actually lost about 10 pounds since the beginning of this pregnancy, which is basically unheard of for me.  But I couldn't eat!  I was either starving or nauseated, no middle ground and that was for weeks!

I also ended up giving up coffee too.  It wasn't exactly a choice, I just got to where it disgusted me, the flavor the smell, all of it, I just couldn't stomach it anymore.  I have even taken the coffee maker off of the counter and put it away in a cabinet. Weird, since I normally can't get my day started without my yummy iced coffee, but right now the idea just gags me.

I have been chugging water like crazy and really can't bring myself to drink anything else, which is great, because I am staying super hydrated.  But also crazy tired!  between cold turkey on the coffee and just general 1st trimester sleepiness I have been utterly pooped all the time!  I can't wait for that energy blast that's just around the corner!

Another thing that is different this time around is that I was more active before this pregnancy than I ever was in the previous two, So I have been getting out and running and walking through the neighborhood and eating much healthier, more veggies and fruits.  I think this baby is going to be a health nut, no complaints there!

I am so excited to share this news with all of you!  I look forward to continuing to share my life with y'all!

If you haven't already please follow me on bloglovin', I lost all my followers when I rebranded my blog, and so I have a wee little following of a whopping two people through there right now!  Yikes!  Down from about 120-something!  Share me around and if you comment with your blog link I will gladly share the love right back!

25 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Run

By NO stretch of the imagination am I a professional runner.  

These are just some things I have learned in my time spent running that have helped me,

And I thought I would share with you!

*******

1.  Have the right gear. 

 as with anything, you need the proper tools to get a job done right.  in this case you will need some running shoes.  the proper footwear is

I Am Eve Link Party

Welcome to the "I Am Eve" Link Up!

This is a link up based on growing in the love we have for ourselves.

Being proud to be REAL women.

Here you can share post that are about bettering ones self image or share the struggles you have with yourself.

1) Grab the "I Am Eve" button

<div align="center"><a href="http://makemegodly.blogspot.com/" title="God Make Me A Godly Woman"><img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t505/LostGarden/49c92f98-8468-47cf-a030-0e890d94728e_zpsb5f1aea4.jpg" alt="God Make Me A Godly Woman" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

2) Follow both Hosts (how you follow is your choice).

HOSTS

Lisa @ God Make Me A Godly Woman

and

Bethany @ The Sepia Puppy and grab her button!

3) DO NOT post your whole blog just a single post (you can link up to 3 post).

4) Visit at least 3 other blogs and try to leave an encouraging comment before leaving your blog link for them to follow.

5) Please do not link up any shops or items for sale.

6) Everyone show respect and be nice to one another, no rude comments about anyone else's link up.

Spring Brings Change...

the Bradford Pear in bloom in my front yard

Spring is not my favorite season, it never has been.  I can't really explain why, it's just always been kinda "meh" in my book.

My husband was telling me the other day why he loves spring so much and I realized I need to start looking for the beauty in spring. 

Tough Mudder GA 2013

So, The day finally came last Saturday 

The Tough Mudder.

We had been preparing ourselves for it since November and it was finally here

"probably the toughest even on the planet"

I found that I wasn't as nervous as I expected when we arrived.  

I was actually like CRAZY pumped for it!

The week before the mudder we were running and I just had a break down, my form wasn't good, and I couldn't find a groove and I was feeling really fat and basically all the negativity was mounting and I was subconsciously trying to convince myself I couldn't do it.  

That  sucked...

Team Schmow Zow! Tough Mudder here we come!

Most of you who read often or follow me on Instagram

know that my husband and I are participating in the Georgia Tough Mudder 2013 

and I just received this email the other day:

wow... this just got real...

How Much of This Did YOU Already Know?

{This post, like ALL of my posts, is photo heavy and most of them are from my Instagram!}

Follow me by clicking the Instagram Bone to the RIGHT ------->

...and go ahead and click all the other bones too while you're at it...

;-)

My regular readers may already know that I go to school full-time on top of taking care of the house, the kids and being as crafty as spare time will allow.

This week however has been my spring break.

The time off is always so exciting and awesome, no matter how short lived or jam packed it is.

And somehow at the end of it I am always so eager to get back to work 

and frankly, a little confused about how I ever filled my days before schoolwork and studying was a factor....

Withdrawals Already??

I had no idea that taking some time away from coffee would be so difficult!

The reason I am giving it up is because I feel like the creamer is just empty calories.  I want to start my days a little cleaner that that.  

I wish I could just drink and enjoy black coffee, but I can't.  Ugh.

What's it Gonna Take!?

not the most flattering outfit.  I was around 10 or 11 here

As a young person I never struggled with my weight,

yeah sure in 7th grade I had an awkward phase, but it was not extreme, and it was short lived.

When I was at my thinnest and best looking, life threw me a loop and I got pregnant with my son.

I gained a total of 85 pounds with him and that sent me reeling. 

I had no idea how to get in shape and I had positively NO work ethic in that way.

It was awful.

Mixing it Up a Little

I'm trying to keep it together today

I got on the scale this morning and it's fair to say it hurt my feelings a little bit.  

I gained!  don't ask me how.  It makes no sense at all.  

GRRRR!

Trying to lose weight is freakin' Exhausting!

******

Loss in Pounds, Gain in Happy!

Great news! 

I am so shocked and happy!  

After so much time of no progress no matter what I did, I had stopped expecting anything to happen.  

So this time I just went with the plan and didn't stress myself!

Booya!

Adventures in Weight Loss

In January of 2011 my husband and I decided we were bound and determined to lose weight. 

 {source}

We had both gotten pretty heavy 

When i got pregnant with my daughter he had all the sympathy symptoms, it was pitiful. 

(and I know some women would cringe at me feeling bad for him, but, I truly did) 

When i gained weight, he gained it too. 

when i had heart burn, he had it too.

When i had back pain, so did he.

And so on...