Weeks 33-37

33 weeks^

I've been pretty busy the last month which is why I have been quiet in the blogosphere. However, I thought I better do one more pregnancy post since this baby could potentially come any moment now! This last trimester has been uncomfortable, as they usually are! I have been very lucky to not have heart burn though! Mostly just back pain & sciatica (until about 36 weeks). Now its just hard to move in general and having cramps here and there. (also--starting sanding that^ crib 4 weeks ago..still working on painting that sucker. ugh).

 32 or 33 weeks..maybe 34?? ^

How far along: 37 weeks & 5 days

Total weight gain: 23 lbs as of today

Favorite thing so far: Feeling the baby move...I'm not sure what else is cool about pregnancy at this point other than the fact that it ends in a cute baby.

Sleep: Some nights I wake up right around 3 am and can't fall back asleep for 2 hours. Other nights I sleep fine! But either way I get up about 3 times to use the restroom, sometimes more.

Fitness: Since I hit about 34 weeks I honestly have been doing nothing but cleaning around my house and doing projects that have kept me busy and moving, but no real exercise. I can't even imagine running right now. I feel like I have a bowling bowl strapped to my stomach. Also I've been collecting sea glass at the beach and even that has become a real struggle. I have to do a squat as I bend over. This baby has taken over my abdomen.

Feelings: Feeling easily overwhelmed lately. I really have been so busy every single day for the last month and a half. Rushing to get things ready for baby, finish projects around the house, appointments (SO MANY!), and entertaining my friend Stacy who was here for a couple weeks! I've had some nights I've had to cry it out and tell myself I can finish things after the baby arrives. But the truth is I want to feel ready before she is here! I know I'm probably overdoing it some days when my whole body and back are just aching from being on my feet and bending over cleaning or painting or cooking. I can't wait to be a normal person again! But still so excited for her arrival. Can't wait to hold a tiny little human that I helped create!

 35 weeks at the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo

 35/36 weeks at peace prayer park^

 36 weeks at Manzamo Point^

37 weeks at beach by Peace Prayer Park^

Baby Shower!

I am so lucky to have made some great friends while I've been here in Okinawa. My friend Annie threw me the cutest shower a week ago and I can't thank her and the people who came enough! I felt so loved and spoiled. Thanks so much guys! We are so grateful. Here are some pictures of the celebration!

 Thanks to Milly for snapping a couple pictures of me!

36 weeks^

 I don't know who snapped these pics of me opening gifts, but thank you!

So fun to be having a girl...too much cuteness!

Thanks again everyone!!! And big special thanks to Annie for making all the decor adorable and the food delicious. Glad you are my friend :)

Weekly Adventures

August 27 was our THIRD anniversary! We got lucky that day because Duke had a night flight, which meant he didn't need to go into work till about noon. So we celebrated by eating brunch and a really short beach trip to Araha. It was so nice to spend a little time with him especially in the morning and especially on our anniversary. 

Duke worked everyday last weekend, but had most of Monday off, so we drove up to Torii Beach and just chilled out. Am I allowed to complain about how much my husband has been working lately? I know no one cares or wants to hear it and there are probably people gone more often, but he has literally been at work every.single.day for 2 weeks straight and if he gets next Saturday day off it'll have been 3 weeks straight. I guess it's just new to me since this is our first year in the fleet. I just thought it was safe to assume he would be home on Saturdays or Sundays, but lately it has not been so! It hasn't been this way the whole year, so i'm sure it will get better. I would just like to hang out with my husband every so often. Is that so much to ask Marine Corps??!! wah. Ok complaining over. 

I find the teenyist, tinyist hermit crab ever!!

 Some relaxtion! 

 32 weeks. I feel like I look HUGE in that pic.^

 Saturday night date from last week^

 Last Sunday I drove about 30 minutes north to an awesome little town/village called Yomitan. I went up there to borrow an electric sander from someone, but decided to drive around a bit and explore (by myself, bc duke was on duty wah..ok NOW i'm done complaining). I found a secluded little beach and watched the sunset go down. And I stumbled upon a small little field of sunflowers! I just love it up there. 

 ^look at this beaute! Alson in Yomitan

 Best thing about Japan: I'm driving around fields of nothing but Sugarcane--farming town--but I'm dying of thirst. Japan says- "No problem! We've got vending machines in the middle of nowhere!" I passed about 5 on this road alone. SO AWESOME.

On Wednesday I met some girlfriends for lunch at the cutest little cafe called Cafe Green Green. It was a rainy day but this was the view out back! Not too shabby.

And right next door was a really cute store with tons of cute stuff, mostly baby/kid stuff. But look! Where the Wild Things Are in Japanese. Pretty cool. 

 THURSDAY, I drove about an hour north with some other girls to explore the beach on camp schwab. It was great and we were the only ones there! Always a plus. We also went to seaglass beach and stocked up on our seaglass and floated around.

 My little sunbather^ He loves lounging out there

I've been soooo busy these past few weeks working on projects around the house to get ready for baby. This crib is one of those lovely projects. I'll be soooo happy when I'm done with this beast!

Winston is my moral support :)

And that's whats happening with us over here in Oki world!

Update on Life & Pregnancy

Hello! This will be a pretty random post. First off, my friend Annie had her baby. ^^ Isn't he the cutest?? Since we've been back from Fiji I've been trying to work on getting our house together and organized. It is really sad to admit that we've been in this house since November..so like 9 months...and there is still pretty much nothing on the walls! The biggest hold up has been that our walls are concrete, so I can't just grab a hammer and nail and go at it. I've finally got almost everything framed and I have a drill and THIS WEEK I tell you, stuff is going up!! We also finally got a coffee table and put half our fence in. We are making progress! 

I also starting working on the baby room today. I'm painting it white, which probably sounds really silly...and maybe it is. But I want it nice and bright and I also hear if you paint white you don't have to paint it back when it's time to move. Once I'm done painting, I've got to sand and paint the baby crib! So many projects. Still trying to find a dresser and glider/rocker for the baby room...preferably ones that require no painting or work. Anyways, there's nothing like having a baby on it's way to motivate you to get stuff done! 

One more of baby J in the best onesie ever. 

 Sunday church selfies with Coree

Always torturing Winston of course. It's one of our favorite pastimes. 

Last week Annie's parents were here and staying at the Hilton, so we had a little pool party there. It was awesome until it starting pouring! 

I've been working on being healthy and staying fit! With this whole Beachbody business I'm doing I originally bought a challenge pack which meant the program I bought came with Shakeology. I was pretty sure I was gonna hate the Shakeo stuff bc generally not into that kind of stuff. However, I was surprised, I didn't hate it! We don't keep many easy to grab (read:unhealthy) snacks in our house and so when I'm starving in the middle of the day I've been making me one of these and it's been doing the job. I also feel a liiitle better on the days I don't eat vegetables when I have one of these. Why is eating vegetables so hard?!?

Remember my rant about my Asos package? It finally came!! They had to resend it. Only bummer was that one of the shirts was wrong..and the one they sent was hideous. But I live for mail days like this^ one. They are theee best.

Yep, still pregnant! The pics above were taken at 30 weeks 6 days by my friend Anna. And below is 31 weeks 1 day. I walked into the gym and was a little taken back by my bump. We are growing. 

I'm in the 3rd trimester and I can't complain too much. I've got back pain everyday and sciatica that comes and goes. That's the worst part. Sleep is a little rough, but really not bad. I got myself a snoogle pillow and I will sing the praises of that thing all day long. If you are pregnant--just buy it and stop kidding yourself. 

I'm starting to get a little nervous about the birth part. I'm hiring a doula and just met with her last week. I've got a lot of reading and planning still to do. I'm one of those crazy people who wants to try to have a natural birth with the least interventions possible. I keep thinking things like, what if my baby is breech and I have to have a c-section?? And just worry that my baby is going to come too early and I will be completely unprepared (and without any family here-meaning duke or my mom). I know I'm just being a crazy person. Those have just been my thoughts recently. 

Also I bought myself a new planner bc I love stuff like that. I think it's kind of cute. Hopefully it will keep me organized too.

The skies have been SO good here recently. This was a couple days ago as I was taking Winston for a walk.

Yesterday there was this beautiful rainbow. Also probably not the safest thing to take a picture while driving in the rain. Just FYI.