Hello Third Trimester!

It's been several weeks since I've posted. I feel like the last few weeks have been extremely busy at work. Turns out, my upper respiratory infection is back as of January 14, 2010. :( Thursday evening I started wheezing and it only continues with a cough that gets deeper and more bronchial as the days go by. I woke up today and really did not feel well and did not go to church so I could get some rest. Luckily, I have the day off tomorrow for Martin Luther King Day, but I'm worried I'm going to be out of commission for several days and not be able to go to work; this sucks because I'm banking my PTO and sick time!

I have another appointment tomorrow where I'll receive my Rhogam shot and be tested for gestational diabetes. I'm not looking forward to getting poked several times during my appointment, but suppose it is part of the process. At this point, I'm 28.5 weeks and the baby is moving more and more. Often times, I wonder what he is doing in there as the movement just feels funny. I still can't decipher what kind of movement it is; rolling, turning, an elbow, foot, hand, etc. Sometimes, I feel this constant muscle pulsing and it's just weird. I haven't felt any hiccups in a long time either (like weeks).

I have a lot of aches and pains in my pelvis, hips, and lower back that has been fairly dominant pain since right around 20 weeks. I have learned that I can't be up and out running errands for much more than an hour without feeling really uncomfortable and having difficulty walking because my lower back and pelvis really start hurting. I've been doing a lot of stretching, which seems to help a lot when I can stay on top of it (at least twice a day).

The other new thing the last few weeks; I've really started "nesting". I find myself with bursts of energy to clean, organize the house, do laundry, and to get the nursery together. Chris has put in a SIGNIFICANT amount of work into the nursery that started last weekend and I really haven't done any work in there yet because of all the construction and painting that needs to happen. Last weekend, Chris prepped all the walls (we scrapped off the wall paper border and mudded the holes in the walls-this room has not been touched since we moved in). We also went to Menards and bought a closet system (much better selection at Menards than Home Depot or Lowes, btw). This week, Chris primed the ENTIRE room, the ceiling and closet are painted white, and Chris just finished painting the room blue last night. The next step is the brown stripes on the bottom half of the wall. I will have to take and post pictures. :) Oh, and the closet system is now installed. After the stripes are done, the next big project is replacing all the trim (baseboards and trim around the windows and doorway; all which will have to be painted as well, and putting in the chair rail). We will also be painting the door to the room and closet doors while also replacing closet handles. So, there is a lot of work to be done, but I'm confident it will look GREAT when it's finished and I can't wait to post pictures. :)

I'm working on a big project right now; a written essay proficiency exam for my Type 73 certification. This is pretty much the last step for my certification and the paper needs to be turned in by February 15. I'm trying to get it finished and out of the way so I can focus on other things. Plus, the paper is JUST stressing me out. So, I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening today working on that.

Chris and I will be attending a parenting conference next weekend called "Raising Truly Great Kids" that was advertised at the marriage conference we attended in November. I'm looking forward to it as one of the speakers from the marriage conference is the leader of the conference this next weekend. So, I'll have something to report on soon!