35 and 36 weeks

These last few weeks are flying by!!
It REALLY helps to be busy.  I'm so glad I'm not sitting around counting the days.... although ok actually I am counting the days (25!) but you know what I mean.
I have 2 weeks left of work and 4 weeks left of school.  REALLY hoping I can get all my assignments done early or at least on time.  Stay comfy inside a little longer little one!!!
At work we've hired my replacement... although everyone keeps telling me not to call her that. haha. She's been great and I've been busy training her to do my job.  There are so many things to go over!  So we'll need at least another week, hopefully two to cover everything so she's not left in the weeds when I leave. Then I'll have two full weeks before the baby is due to finish school - which I need!  I have so many papers to write... yikes!

The past couple weeks have been great.
Two weekends ago I was able to narrowly miss yet another snow storm and go down to Ohio to see my sister and her girls one last time before they move to Germany for 3 years!  :(  Hopefully we'll be able to plan a trip to Europe in the future!!
Lee and I have also been working on getting the house all ready for baby's arrival.  I now have a packed hospital bag, with the exception of what I'll wear home from the hospital... still not sure of that one.  And all the baby's clothes have been washed and all his stuff has been assembled and ready to go!  He is definitely taking over our house! Baby stuff in EVERY room!

This past weekend Lee and I made a quick trip down to Florida to visit a residency program that he interviewed with for a second look!  I went to the doctor on Thursday to make sure nothing was happening and that I was safe to travel and he gave us his blessing and said to have fun! :) yay!
That doesn't meant that in the car on the way to the airport Friday morning I didn't have a panic attack when I thought about having a baby in Florida and how difficult it would be to get back to Detroit and how I didn't have any of my stuff with me.... thankfully Lee calmed me down and I boarded the plane anyway.  I'm so glad I did!  It was a great weekend and we LOVED Florida!

Anyway, at the doctor I had a nice low blood pressure, gained more weight than I care to admit (but will anyway), was not dilated,  and was measuring 35 weeks despite being 36.... so maybe this baby won't be a giant after all?! that or he's staying put for 40+ weeks....

So Florida!
When we left Detroit it was 1 degree... we landed in Ft Myers 3 hours later it was 81.  An increase of 80 degrees?! I've never experienced anything quite like it.  Even when we moved to Grenada from Ohio in January 2010 it wasn't that drastic... it doesn't often get down to ONE.
When we landed the first things we noticed were 1. the temperature 2. how green everything was 3. how clean the cars were! no salt and snow yucking up the cars!

The program had the whole weekend planned out for us and they did an great job of showing us all Ft. Myers has to offer, as well as their program.  Friday night we went to dinner at a bank, strange yes.  It was in the bank because the CEO of the hospital is friends with the bank president.  Whatever the case, it was very nice and we met a lot of people.
Friday night we went for a night swim in the hotel pool.... it was so nice to be weightless in the water.  For my future pregnancies I definitely want to be able to go swimming often.
Saturday morning Lee and I had breakfast together before he was taken to the hospital for some workshops and I was taken on a tour of Ft. Myers and the beaches with another spouse!  They set up for us to tour with a concierge relocation expert or something like that... she's a real estate agent too.  In the afternoon we met at a park to have lunch and hang out with all the other applicants and residents and program director.  Then Lee and I went looking at some apartment complexes in the area just to get an idea of what was available and the price range.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that we could get a 3 bedroom apartment with a pool, fitness room, tennis courts, washer/dryer, and dishwasher for not much more than we are currently paying in Michigan!! How is that possible? haha
Saturday night we went on a dinner cruise with the program director, hospital staff, applicants, and residents.  It was beautiful and the food was delicious.  After that boat ride I was totally convinced that I was made for life on the water as I didn't get a smidge of sea sickness - even at 36 weeks pregnant!   But after a long day of lots of walking and heat I was one tired girl and got a great night's sleep that night...
Sunday morning we had breakfast and went to church at Ft. Myers First Church of the Nazarene - which was conveniently located next door to some apartments we looked at!  Service was nice, but in true Florida fashion there were LOTS of seniors... :) I'm almost positive that someone we graduated from MVNU with's grandparents were in the crowd! haha!  After church we had lunch and hung out by the pool for for a while before heading to the airport to head home...
We arrived back in Michigan to several inches of fresh snow on the car and temps around 20, which is much more tolerable than 1!

Pictures from the weekend!!

And the weekly picture from 35 weeks!

I've sorta fallen off the bandwagon on that one.  There's a gap from 32 to 35, and now no 36... oops.
As you can see the jeans still fit!  What?! I am seriously huge and have gained a lot of weight and yet each week I can somehow button this jeans... maybe 37 weeks will be the week I no longer can.

I've kept up with the monthly pictures!  Here's January! 

How far along: 36 weeks 3 days 
Total weight gain:  32 lbs.  So my week of no gain was just a trick as my body was preparing to gain it all the next week :/ 
Maternity clothes: yes and no.  I have jeans that still fit and I bought a pair of shorts on clearance at Old Navy for my Florida trip - non-maternity but 2 sizes bigger than I'd normally wear.  And the dresses I wore are not maternity.  One is what I wore when I graduated college! 
Stretch marks: no... please not ever. 
Best moment of this week: escaping the cold and snow and spending time on a gorgeous beach? yes! 
Movement: Yes, he still likes to be high and push on my ribs 
Food cravings: no, unless sweet stuff counts but that's been a craving of mine for almost 27 years... 
Anything making you queasy or sick: no
Have you started to show yet: oh yea.
Gender:  B-0-Y!
Labor signs: no, but I think I've had a couple contractions! 
Belly button in or out: in, but the way the top is stretched in a really tight shirt it looks like it might stick out. 
Wedding rings on or off: on
Happy or moody most of the time: Happy!!
Looking forward to: staying home.... but not looking forward to all the homework I have to do...