40 weeks and counting

Well my "due" date came and went and no Alivia. I've been feeling pretty good considering and just trying to enjoy these last few days of quiet and freedom. I'm starting on my third week of being off work, which has been really nice. I had quite a long to do list that I wanted to tackle before her arrival and I've almost managed to cross everything off. One of the biggest items that I'm most excited about is that I've managed to fill two small freezers and 1/2 of one larger freezer with pre made meals and snacks. I love to cook and figured I might not have as much time after Alivia comes so I've stocked them full of lasagnas, meatloafs, fried rice, zucchini bread, Syrian bread and all sorts of other good stuff! Tomorrow I'm planning to do some more cooking since I figured I will still be pregnant and needing something to keep me busy =). My grandma also suggested that I start a project since babies seem to like to arrive during the worst possible times or in the middle of a project so we'll see if my cooking projects tomorrow get things going.  Also since I have the time I figured I would jot down some of the things I've really enjoyed about being pregnant and some of the challenges or things I think I won't necessarily miss so I can reference them in the future =). 

What I've liked: 

• I love feeling Alivia's hiccups, kicks and movements. I find myself looking forward to her movements, if she's moving then that means she's OK 
• Watching my belly grow is pretty darn cool even if it has been alarming at times
• I like having an excuse not to work out =). I've been keeping pretty active but it's kind of fun not feeling guilty about hitting the gym. 
• I also like having an excuse to eat not so healthy things. Yes I know that I should not be eating ice cream a few days a week or 6 cookies in one day because according to my midwife I'm just "fertilizing" the baby. But I like not feeling like I have to count my calories after I eat those 6 cookies =). 
• I find people are so much nicer to you when you have such a big belly. Random strangers will just strike up a conversation with me or treat me nicer in general because of my "condition". 
• The fact that overall I had a pretty easy pregnancy and at times would even forget I was pregnant. 

What's been challenging: 

• The nauseousness of the first trimester will definitely not be missed
• The swelling in my hands and feet has been super annoying. Fortunately I've only had the swelling in my hands the last few weeks, but man is it painful. In the morning I have a hard time making a fist without a lot of pain, it seems to be getting worse the more pregnant I get. 
• Having a very limited wardrobe =). 
• Being treated like i'm disabled or can't do simple tasks for myself. Yes understandably there are certain things that are more difficult when I'm very pregnant, but I can still do normal day tasks they just take me a bit longer to complete =). 
• Getting easily out of breath and not being able to exercise as much as I used to.