Good morning!
I only have about three more recap posts after this one before the baby arrives. I don’t know what my blogging schedule will look like, but I’m going to take it day by day without any pressure or guilt. I’m officially very uncomfortable, and everything hurts. It’s wild how much your body can change in the last few months of pregnancy. I’m feeling tight, have the worst water retention, heartburn is a level 10, I have to pee every five minutes, my sciatica pain is making me waddle more than usual, my feet look like sausages, and I’m getting the choppiest sleep which makes me tired all the time. The positive thing is that it’s ALL WORTH IT! I cannot wait to meet our baby, and I know I’ll forget all about the discomfort as soon as they’re in my arms.
One of the things I have trouble doing is relaxing. I constantly want to be doing something! I’ve been spending a lot of my time gardening, cleaning everything, organizing, cooking, preparing our nursery, baking, and going on slow walks with Leo. At this point, my recaps are a bit repetitive, but it’s how I’ve been spending my time before the baby arrives.
One of my favorite morning views. Sometimes, I’ll let them outside, and they’ll wrestle for about an hour. I love it!
I try to get my one-mile walk in with Leo early in the morning. By the time afternoon rolls around, I feel like I was hit by a truck. I remember when my one-mile walk was about 16-minutes, and now it’s a solid 25-minute walk, but to be fair, my neighborhood is entirely uphill.
For Monday’s breakfast, I had a bagel with cream cheese, shredded cheese, egg, and a side of fresh fruit.
Later in the afternoon, my mom and I went to BuyBuyBaby to pick up some final things. They always have incredible deals and coupons there. I can get lost for a few hours browsing everything.
We treated ourselves to an oat milk cortado and ice cream at Two Scoops Creamery on the way home. I had a scoop of vanilla Biscoff cookie! I was sad when my maple granola wasn’t there, but this flavor didn’t disappoint. Two Scoops Creamery will be a weekly thing for me until the baby arrives! It’s one of the best treats, and it’s right next to my favorite flower nursery.
On Tuesday, I planted some of my petunias along the garden border. I know they are annuals, but they are my favorite border plants. I wanted to get those into the ground before I can’t do any more garden work. I still have to pull up my tulip bulbs here in about four weeks, but I may have my mom help me with that project. I feel my water will break while I’m covered in garden dirt.
After gardening, I took a break with a cup of coffee and some mini almond biscottis from Trader Joe’s. These are officially on my must-get list at Trader Joe’s. I am obsessed!
I made a smoothie for lunch that I’ve had a lot lately! It has a Dole tropical fruit packet, almond milk, superfood immunity elderberry juice, and Orgain protein powder. I am obsessed with this combo, and I love how simple it is to make. I have difficulty eating big meals because of heartburn, and this smoothie usually doesn’t trigger it.
I didn’t fit my morning walk-in on Tuesday since I had a doctor’s appointment, so I took Leo out before dinner. He has a way of giving me sad eyes by the door, and I can’t say no to him. He truly keeps me going! I didn’t feel like making dinner, so I ordered a Carmellas pizza and caesar salad.
Leo and I sat on the porch Wednesday morning while watching the thunderstorm. I love spring storms because it brings out all the greenery, and it means I don’t have to drag the hose out to water my plants. I believe rainwater has a magical component that makes flowers look much better!
I spent the day making a neighbor some banana bread bars, and I made another batch of chicken and noodle soup in the house for the week.
On Thursday, Kyle came home with Duck Donuts for me. I had wanted to try these! I was upset he was enabling my sugar intake but happy he did it because they were AMAZING! They don’t taste like traditional donuts. They almost have a funnel-cake fair type of taste. They make them fresh to order, which makes them even better! He told me he picked out all the flavors he thought I’d like. He’s so cute!
Tux had his grooming appointment on Friday morning! His hair grows back so fast that we have to take him every two months. Otherwise, he can’t see! He does well with his groomer, and she gets him done within an hour, so he’s not there all day.
After helping Kyle drop Tux off at the groomer on Friday morning, I met up with my friend for our weekly date! We went to Chatty Cathy’s Coffeehouse! I had their lavender matcha latte with oat milk and avocado toast. I cannot get over how delicious it was, and I will need to make a similar version at home. I usually never pick out anything with lavender flavor, but the barista said it’s a popular choice! I ended up loving it.
Kyle kept sending me selfies of him and Tux on the way home from the groomer! He looked so happy. Every time he gets cleaned, I put his entire bed into the washing machine; he has everything fresh for when he gets home. 
Not that I needed them, but I picked ups some more plants on the way home from the coffee shop. I bought more roses for the backyard and verbena to fill some bare spots.
My pots are doing so well! Even my hanging pots are doing better than last year. I’ve had to take them down every couple of days to water, deadhead, and get them a break from the windy weather.
I was exhausted on Saturday morning. I had hardly any sleep, and my heartburn was so bad. I was supposed to go uptown for a friend’s birthday lunch, but I could not get myself to get off the couch by the time the afternoon rolled around. I fell asleep for a few solid hours (which is rare!)
After getting some rest, I planted some zinnia seeds, made some delicious chocolate oatmeal cookies, and then plopped back onto the couch.
For dinner, I ordered some steak kebabs from Epic Chophouse. I don’t do a great job eating meat while pregnant, so I wanted to get in some good iron that evening, especially since I felt tired and my eyes were bloodshot.
When my neighbor brought me pineapple spears in coconut water, I wanted to cry. I had been seeing these on TikTok and NEEDED to try them! She found them at Sam’s club, and let me tell you, THEY ARE SO WORTH IT! I want to stock up on these for the summer. For a little poolside treat, I may even add some malibu and blend it up in my ice cream maker.
Sunday morning with the boys! Tux always feels better and more confident with his haircuts. I feel like it changes his personality. He and Leo wrestled around for hours! 
His favorite person. I’ll have to live with it.
We always make Sunday morning grocery trips to Publix.
We love trying new coke products, especially the coffee ones! I have no idea how they make them taste so good. When we first got it to try, we were not expecting anything extraordinary, but we genuinely loved it! We also decided to try the Starlight one because everyone talked about it. To me, it just tastes like vanilla diet coke. It has a slight kettle corn taste to it. Some people think cotton candy, and I can see that too.
I had some avocado toast on Daves Killer Bread with everything but the bagel seasoning and fresh watermelon on the side for breakfast! 
I finally transferred all of my indoor fruit plants to my backyard. I can’t believe my little raspberry bush that was all sticks when I got it is now producing shortcake raspberries! I get so excited when my plants are a success. 
And it only took two years to grow a lemon and one year for it to turn yellow! Y’ALL, WE HAVE LEMONS!!!! I started to convince myself it was a lime tree for a while. I don’t know what I’m going to do with them yet, but you better believe there will be an entire recipe blog post and video of me slicing into this lemon! It took way too long to grow not to give it the credit it deserves. Maybe I’ll paint my nails yellow to honor those lemons.
I snuck away to get out of helping Kyle hang some things on Sunday afternoon (such a good wife!) But I needed to relax my back and get some vitamin D. I sat on the porch soaking up the sun for a while, and it felt so good! He eventually called me asking me where I ran off, too He ended up sitting on the porch with me, which is much better than doing housework. The weather is magical right now! Sunny, light breeze, and in the seventies! We don’t get this for long, so I try to spend as much time outside as I possibly can. 
I have officially packed my entire hospital bag! I wanted to get this done early to blog about it and have it ready because you never know how early the baby will arrive. Next week, they’ll be full-term, and it’ll be a waiting game! I pray I don’t go longer than 40 weeks. I don’t know if I can do it! I’ll be doing all the labor-inducing tricks!
I’ll have my “what’s in my hospital bag” video and blog post up this week!
On Sunday afternoon, we took off all the patio furniture and scrubbed it all down. The back porch gets filthy in the winter from the mud and rain. And then it gets topped off with pollen in early spring. It looks so much better out there now! Kyle is going to do a fresh coat of paint sometime this month.
For dinner, I made THE YUMMIEST shrimp and feta Greek salad! I need to go to the store to pick up more shrimp to make this again this week. 
I’m still heading to bed before 8 pm to get as much shut-eye as I can before insomnia kicks in. Now that I’m nine months pregnant, I’ll start writing my third-trimester recap post. Let me know if you want me to answer any questions!
