30 weeks (plus one week) is a lot of weeks

Somehow thirty weeks seems like a big milestone to me.  I mean...after 3-0 comes 4-0 and that means Mango is not too far off.  Hopefully s/he chooses to stick around on the inside for a while longer though, as we're not ready yet! 

The whirlwind that is our world continues these days.  We bought a sweet new car this past weekend, so we are now a two car family once again.  I still need to learn to drive it (gulp), but that was part of the reason we bought it in the first place, so driving school starts tonight.  It's time to put on the big girl pants.

We also had a 30 week midwife appointment on Tuesday.  It was the first time in a while that Chris has joined me, so it was exciting to have him hear Mango's heart thumping away in there - it's so much stronger than before.  The conversations have also shifted at the appointments...they're less about what's to come in the far off future, and much more about immediate things to look out for.  The sense that the end is in sight is defintely present. 

Oh, other big news: we got furniture for the Mango nest!  The armoire, chair, and changing table were delivered Saturday morning from a neat little furniture refurbisher that we stumbled upon down the street from our home.  We ordered the crib last night, so that should arrive soon too.  We're still on the fence about the wall color, so the furniture all lives in the middle of Mango's room right now, but we'll get there.  One thing at a time?  Right.  We've never lived by that motto. 

In other news this week, I finally feel like I am pregnant.  By that I mean, I had killer back, or rather, bass pain this weekend.  What's bass pain?  Well, it's not in your back and it's not in your...you get it.  It's in the middle somewhere and it's unpleasant.  Fortunately I finally got the message that these aches and pains mean I need to sit down and do less, so sit down and do less I did.  By Tuesday I was back in working order and feeling much more myself...just hungrier.  Yep.  Hungry.  All the time.  For the first time in my entire pregnancy really.  I think part of it is that I have less room to eat a lot right now, so my meals have been smaller and more frequent, but of course the other part is that Mango is busy in there growing up a storm.  I've done most of the growing that I need to do...these next weeks it's up to Mango to pack on some pounds and plump up for arrival.  So yeah...I'm a bottomless pit. 

Aside from hungry, we're also feeling the emotions building of what is to come.  Chris and Mango get to hang out a lot more these days (lots of kicking - it even seems like Mango's movements will follow our hands around my belly sometimes?), so that only adds to the anticipation of seeing them hang out without the womb barrier.  I already know it's going to be the most darling thing I have ever seen.  Again, not YET (keep cooking, Mango!), but it feels soon...and that is exciting. 

Other than that, we're still just plugging away, getting our world ready for the next adventure - as requested, here's what we look like while we're doing so (one week late - these are 31 week pictures - note that I seem to have red hair(?) but I have also surpassed Chris is the belly department, yeah!):