And so it begins...

I had my 36 week check up on the 7th and all is well!  I have started to dilate (almost 1cm) and am 60% effaced.  Woo hoo!  Here's a current picture.

36 Weeks

I also gained a whopping 6 pounds in 2 and a half weeks.  Holy smokes!  Like I said before, this 3rd trimester is kicking my ass.  I have always wanted sweet food throughout this whole pregnancy, but 99% of the time I did the responsible thing and chose fruit.  Fruit juice.  Yogurt.  Frozen yogurt.  Smoothies made with frozen yogurt.  But you know what?  I don't want any of that anymore!  I want ice cream!  And not just vanilla ice cream.  I want cookies 'n' cream or chocolate fudge or peanut butter swirl or, better yet, all three!  And when Halloween rolled around and we didn't have many trick or treaters, there were Snickers and Kit Kats left over.  I put them in the freezer for when my choc-o-holic parents arrive in a month but there will definitely not be any left.  

I've also had to quit walking so much because, quite honestly, the payoff was not worth the pain.  Or so I thought.  If I gain 3 pounds before my appointment next Monday, I may be singing another tune.  However, for now, my back and stomach and pretty much the rest of my body are very much enjoying the hiatus from our 2.5 miles treks through the neighborhood.  Can't say the same for the dogs though.  Anyway...bottom line is that this is the beginning of the end of the pregnancy chapter and the light at the end of the tunnel is near!

In other news...nesting is in full swing!  Darin and I worked all weekend around the house to get pretty much everything done before the baby comes.  He put up another ceiling fan (now every room in the house has one), cleaned the windows, cleaned the patio (which you can barely tell was clean thanks to our crappy yard and 2 dogs who end up with very muddy paws), hung up the hoses, picked up the rest of the house, bought even more baby goods and still had time to see friends on Saturday night and chill on the couch on Sunday!  Feeling pretty prepared for Baby C's arrival!