I went to the doctor yesterday for my 30 week check-up and had another ultrasound. Our baby girl is still a girl (thank goodness) and she looks perfectly healthy. She is about 3 pounds as of right now and it looks like she’s already got chubby cheeks. The ultrasound tech got a great shot of her face and, from what I can tell, she’s a beauty! LOL Another piece of good news I got was that my placenta has finally moved up and isn’t low anymore. I was very happy to get this news because that means less likelihood of a c-section, which I really hoped to avoid. SO, finally, my pregnancy is perfectly normal with no complications! Yay! And it only took seven months!

David & I finally got to go see The Dark Knight last night. We really enjoyed it. It was very cool. Heath Ledger did an awesome job as The Joker. We had heard his performance was excellent, but seeing it was amazing. He really did give that character a lot of dimension. It was super action-packed and pretty intense. It was long, but that was ok.

Jacob comes home from Gulf Shores tomorrow night and I will be happy to see him. This week went by fairly quickly, but I still missed him. It’ll be nice to have him home.

Yesterday afternoon, Jacob and my parents hit the road to Gulf Shores, so I am boy-less until Friday night when they are due to come back home. I miss him so much when he’s gone for more than a day or two! But I know he’s going to have fun being catered to by MiMi & PawPaw and swimming whenever he wants. I hope they take lots of pictures. I have a beach layout I made at scrapbook night just waiting to be used (and I never go to the beach).

Before they left for their trip, we all went over to Noah & Erin’s house for little Alexander’s baby dedication celebration. After that, David, the girls & I went to Chili’s for dinner with Noah & Erin and then we came back to our house and played a game of Hearts. It was fun.

The pregnancy related Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is in full force now, unfortunately. I woke up early yesterday morning and my hands were hurting pretty bad, so I stopped at Walgreens yesterday to buy braces for my wrists to wear while I sleep. They help tremendously, but they aren’t very comfortable. It’s better than hurting though. Still no bad heartburn though, thankfully. I’m hoping that, somehow, I’ll get out of at least one painful side effect of pregnancy!

I’m up to my ears in laundry, as usual! In about an hour, my kids have a birthday party to go to. We also have a family birthday party to go to tonight. David’s uncle is turning 50. I’m still not sure if we’re going or not. It depends on what David wants to do when he gets home from work this afternoon. Tomorrow morning, Noah & Erin will be having a celebration at their house because they are dedicating little Alex. I have to make a couple desserts for that tonight. After that, Jacob is leaving with my parents for their week long trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama. I packed his suitcase last night, so that’s one less thing I have to do today. But I’m dreading him being gone for a whole week. I know he’s gonna have a blast, but I miss him when he’s gone.

Miss Ella is doing tumble sets today, feet all up in my ribs! I have a feeling she’s got either long legs or big feet! LOL I can’t wait to find out!

Well, time to get the kids ready for the birthday party!

I am going to run to Walmart today because I received an email that my baby bedding has arrived and I am super-excited to see what it looks like in person! I was just at Walmart yesterday and when I got home, there was the email that it was in! Of course… LOL. It figures. I’m so ready to have the nursery set up and finished, but I’m still a long way from that point.

I’m also ready for school to start. I want to see which teachers the kids got, and Leah is so excited about school starting again. Jacob… not so much. LOL

I’m also ready for my ultrasound on Wednesday. I want to find out how big the baby is right now and whether or not my placenta is still low.

I’m ready for little Ella to make her appearance (although I know she’s not ready, so I have to wait).

Space Chimps was a really adorable kids movie. I definitely recommend it. It’s got some great humor for the parents and the characters are really lovable, especially the main chimp. Cool, colorful scenes, a surprisingly good storyline for a kid’s flick and some really funny parts. I loved it and I’ll be buying the dvd when it comes out!

I am feeling very pregnant today. Just generally gross and puffy.

My kids, my niece, Heather, and I are meeting my mom, aunt & little cousins at Sicily’s today for lunch and then we will be going to the movie theater to see Space Chimps. I hope it’s as cute as the previews lead me to believe, but we’ll see. I’d really like to be going to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, but I’ll have to wait to see that one with David.

Jacob leaves this Sunday with my parents to go to Gulf Shores for a week. Lucky dog!! He’ll be back with just a few days to spare before school starts again. This summer really did seem short. Poor kids. But I can’t say I’m unhappy that it has gone by so fast. I just hope the first few weeks of school go by just as quickly. I want October to get here so I can finally see little baby Ella. Everyone in this house is just so excited to meet her, especially Leah, I think. She is always the one who wants to feel my belly and she also talks to the baby and waits for a responding kick or movement. It’s adorable. She’s going to be such a little mama when this child gets here!

David & I took the kids to New Orleans on Friday night. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Royal Street in the French Quarter. We were on the 19th floor and had a great view of the Mississippi River. The kids thought it was so cool to watch the many boats pass by, especially once it got dark and the boats were lit up (and I have to admit, it was cool!). We spent that evening in the hotel room, just watching t.v. and hanging out. I was the first one to fall asleep. I had a terrible night’s sleep. The bed was too firm, I didn’t have enough pillows and I shared a full size bed with Leah. I woke up almost every 3 minutes or so and it made for a looooong night.

The next morning, we woke up and headed down to the hotel’s restaurant where we had a decent, but overpriced breakfast. We took the kids through the French Quarter, stepping into the St. Louis Cathedral so the kids could see how amazing it is. We stopped at quite a few little stores and got the kids some souvenirs and also took them to the French Market, which was a little disappointing because there was nothing but junk there this time. Not even one fruit or produce stand! Then we had the long, hot walk back to the car at the hotel. I felt extremely tires and so did Anna! Jacob & Leah were troopers!

Then we drove (thank God) to the Louisiana Children’s Museum in the Warehouse District, just a few minutes away. It was fun and the kids had a great time, but it’s not something I’ll be rushing back to anytime soon. Jacob was almost too old for it and some of the different attractions were broken. After that, we stopped for a late lunch and then headed home.

I slept like a rock last night in my own bed and did not wake up once in the middle of the night. I was so exhausted.

In the last few weeks, I have consumed mass quantities of watermelon! I guess if I’m going to have cravings during this pregnancy, a good-for-me fruit is a good one to have! My hubby cuts them all up for us and puts them in a big bowl in the fridge, which is great because when I decide to eat some, its just sitting in there, ready to eat! How nice! We’ve been buying the yellow watermelons and the red seedless, both of which are better than a regular old red seeded watermelon. I prefer the seedless so I don’t have to go to the trouble of messing around with the seeds…. and yes, I’m lazy. LOL

Anyway, I was going to run to the grocery today to get a few things, but my mom called early this morning to ask if I needed anything from the store because she was going. So, needless to say, I gave her my short list and I didn’t have to go! Walking around Walmart has really not been good to me during this pregnancy. I get all light-headed and out of breath. So I try to go as little as possible.

I’m still waiting on my nursery set to sell on ebay so I can purchase my new one. I am including a picture of the one I will be going with. I just love the colors! So cute & girly!

We are doing a whole lot of nothing today. It just started raining and the sky is very dark, so it’s just as well that we are at home and not out running the roads. I spent the morning searching the internet for a hotel room for this weekend. We are going to take the kids to the New Orleans Children’s Museum and we will be staying in the French Quarter. We’ll most likely take them to see a movie one night and we’ll definitely take them through the French Market. It’ll only be one night and one day, but I’m sure that, after that, I’ll be ready to come home. We just wanted to do a little something with the kids since an all out vacation was a no-go this summer (thanks to my pregnancy).

I also went online and let Anna choose her birthday party supplies. She decided to go with a Polly Pocket theme. I approve. It’s very cute. Her birthday is in mid-August and it’ll be here before I know it (or before I’m ready). She will be turning 6! I’m planning on having her party soon after the start of school, so she can invite a few friends from her class.

I’m also planning on going with a new theme for the soon-to-arrive baby’s nursery. I was going with a Rainforest theme that I chose before I found out little Ella was a girl. Just this week, I found another set that I absolutely LOVE, and so I decided to list the few Rainforest items that I have already on Ebay. When that sells, I’ll be able to purchase the new set. Once I get that room done, I’ll be sure to post pictures, of course!

My doctor’s office called this morning to let me know that my glucose test results came back fine, so I don’t have gestational diabetes and I won’t have to have a longer test! I am thrilled about that! They did tell me that my bloodwork came back showing that I have low iron, so I’m anemic. I have to take iron supplements to help in that area. Hopefully, after a few days on the iron, I’ll have more energy and feel less tired.

Leah woke up today with a fever of 100.4. I took her to the doctor and, after a thorough check up, she said it must be a virus and that it would run it’s course. She already seems to be feeling a little better. No fever since this morning. Hopefully, it’s just about over. I guess we’ll find out!