Our Hero of the Week

As I blogged last Friday, M was the "Hero of the Week" this week in his class, which meant he had to create a poster, bring in a treat, read a story to his principal, and showcase his "Parent of the Week" (yours truly) in class for a visit.

This made for a lot of excitement getting ready last weekend. I'm happy to report that his poster making was stress-free, child-initiated, and done in advance. This is huge for us!! :) Yet even though we were mostly done ahead of time, don't you know he was still gluing on Star Wars drawings the morning it was due before walking to school... lol. Old habits die hard for us, G's. :)

I visited the class on Wednesday and talked about "All Things Baby", including baby pictures and stories about M, our family and upcoming Baby G. M enjoyed interjecting his own commentary while we talked... We then read a story about siblings and were able to include his teacher in the discussion, who just announced she is expecting her 2nd in August! The kids seemed engaged and I had a blast being with my biggest little man. He and I ate lunch together afterward. Special times, for sure.

Here is our little hero, flying his "Hero Pops" we made to give to his classmates. They were a Valentine idea on Pinterest that we turned into a themed treat to hand out! As you can see, M was excited about them--give a boy anything with a cape and he's thrilled!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... The much-anticipated, much-dreaded (by me!) belly shots, starting at week 35!

I bring you the un-showered, pajama-clad B-mama at 35 weeks. I forced myself to take this photo this morning, dear friends, so I hope you enjoy it!

I promise to have one up here every week to document the remaining time we have with baby G in utero. Easter marks the 1 month-to-go mark, so I'm starting to feel a bit antsy. On my to-do list today is reserving a copy of "Husband Coached Childbirth" by Dr. Robert Bradley. I plan to read it cover to cover over the next month to mentally prepare for natural labor... GG will read his required chapter 5 in order to be ready for husband support. I joked with him the other day that he needs to start doing exercises to ready his arm muscles for putting counter-pressure on my hips. This was crucial for me the last time...

A recent decision we made was to forego the use of a doula this time around. My active labors go pretty fast, so if we can time everything right, the two of us can swing it together! We're a good team!! :) I just need to set my stopwatch on interval settings and view labor like a track workout. 30 seconds "on", 60 "off", and repeat. I did a good visualization the other day in spin class (yes, I'm still going with the help of seat pad--brilliant!) and felt moderately ready. We just have to keep practicing... Without having a doula this time around, I think I'll feel less pressure toward the end to go into labor. This was a struggle for me the last time because I felt like I was having to report in to someone, who had expectations. Baby G and I need to just HANG OUT toward the end and enjoy those last days of pregnancy. I plan to do a better job of that this time around.

Quick soccer report (without pics--sorry!): the boys had a fantastic start to their spring season yesterday. T ball-handled well and scored 6 in his game against the Tigers--he seemed to be having a great time out there with his buddies. Later, M's team scrimmaged (due to lack of players) and T joined him out on the field to be an extra body. What fun to watch my two older boys play together and work as a team. They both did great! M showed true to his aggressive competitiveness and was everywhere on the field. He's fast and fierce--watch out, world! ;)

So that's that in G world! Thanks for journeying with us...

God bless,