Welcome to the third!

~ by Kim

We've made it to the third trimester! I know I've said it before, but it's hard to believe how quickly the time is going by.

We're 28 weeks now and I'm really feeling more pregnant these days. This week I haven't been feeling well and have been fighting a cold that I'm pretty sure I caught from the girls. The worst part is that I can't take any medications, so my symptoms feel magnified, and it's harder to sleep at night. I fear I may be developing a semi dependent relationship with my jar of vaporub.

I'm also starting to experience the usual nuances of pregnancy that I'd somehow forgotten about since last time, though are not new to me and I experienced in both my previous pregnancies as well. At night I get pretty intense leg cramps that wake me up, and have me jumping out of bed trying to stretch out my calf muscles. I've  been waking more frequently with bouts of insomnia, where I've been up for extended periods of time in the middle of the night, and then feel exhausted come morning. Trips to the bathroom are more frequent as this little guy puts more pressure on my bladder, and I find myself getting out of breath quite easily now. It doesn't seem to take much exertion for me to be winded. My balance is little off, I'm favouring slip-on shoes, and I bump into things more often. Pretty normal pregnancy so far.

On the more fun side of things though, this little guy is moving around and kicking like crazy these days! There are times I'm still a little in awe as I feel him moving around and responding to outside stimulus. Last week we went and saw a movie at the IMAX theatre, and with such a large sound system I could really feel him reacting as the volume and sounds effects varied.

The past couple of weeks I've also been feeling a little more emotional. I'm not sure why, but it seems like doesn't take much to get me misty eyed. Who knew that "Dumbo" was such a tear jerker?!? When he's taken away from his mother and she goes to the mad elephant cage... heartbreaking. Am I kidding? Sadly, not. Luckily, the girls were completely engrossed in the movie and there was no one else around to notice me sitting there teary-eyed as he visited his mother and the sad music started to play. Thankfully, I could pull myself together without too much humiliation.
My colostrum has also come in, so I've come to the conclusion that I must be going through some sort of hormone surge. (Will keep this in mind when making my next movie selection.)

One thing that has surprised me lately, is that Rowan, who just turned 2, has started putting a baby to her tummy, sometimes even putting it under her shirt, saying "baby tummy." Maybe she's picked up on more than we give her credit for, which wouldn't be too hard as we don't usually give her too much to start with. We've put more of our attention on Lily, trying to make sure she really understands what's going on. She's at an age where she may remember this.

The other day, she asked me if she could talk to the baby and if he would hear her. After I told her yes, she lifted my shirt and came right close to my stomach, saying:

Hi baby,
My name's Lily. I'm cousins with you. We're not going to be keeping you, ok? You're not staying with us.
Your mommy is in.....
- Mommy, where is his mommy?
(me: Calgary)
Right. Your mommy is in Calgary. 

I think it sounds healthy. Like she gets it.

Also exciting for us is that this month we will be taking a little road trip and making our way to Calgary. One of my best friends is there, so we're usually out there just about every year, and now we have even more reason to make the trip. We can't wait to see Janelle and Joel's new house and get in a good visit with friends and family there. Travelling with the girls is pretty slow going with several stops along the way, so we always allow a few days to get there and have the drive out be part of the vacation.  "The Enchanted Forest" opens this month, so we're good to go!

We leave in 3 weeks and I can't wait to share all the baby kicks and jabs with them!

28 weeks

(I think this pic is definitely better than the 25 week shot)