It's the FINAL countdown . . .

Dun Dun Dun...now that song is stuck in my head! But it's true folks, we're in the final countdown, less than 1 month to my due date! It's getting REAL my friends!! 

I haven't been overly motivated to blog lately, probably because all things health and fitness have kind of been going downhill. I've been really tired and having quite a bit of back pain, so every day life is just plain enough for me most days. But, I thought I would share a little random photo dump of what I have been doing lately! 

We have an interesting situation where we are actually leaving town TOMORROW to have this little one in my hometown. So we (and by we, I mean my amazing husband while I mostly just lay on the couch) have been busy packing and cleaning and prepping the house. It's crazy to think that when we return we will be a family of THREE! I think our house is as clean as it has ever been and very likely cleaner than it will ever be again. We even have Baby Girl's first suitcase packed! 

I'm stocked up on my favorite homemade laundry soap! I love the "recipe" from Aunt Ruthie's Sugar Pie Farmhouse. I have been making this soap for the past year and not only does our laundry smell AMAZING, we have saved so much money on laundry soap! For about $10 you can make a GIGANTIC batch of soap that lasts us about 6 months! I mix all of the soaps in big mop bucket with a wooden spoon and then store in handy containers in my laundry room. It's all super easy, except for the shredding of the bars of soap. I usually do this part while watching Ellen so it's not too painful. However, look out for your fingers...there may or may not be a decent size chunk of my knuckle skin in my most recent batch. Ouch! 

I've done a SMALL amount of food prep. I had big dreams of having our chest freezer fully stocked with pre-made dinners for us to live off of when we return home with baby. It just so happens to also be the start of football season so I really did want some easy stuff accessible. Well...I made breakfast burritos (recipe here) and breakfast cookies and have tried to squirrel away little extras of gluten free muffins, ground turkey and shredded chicken. Oh, and I bought some Thai Kitchen Pad Thai meals and Honey Nut Chex so you know, we're totally set. I guess we'll just deal with what we have!  

I have also been using these for my 4am wake-up snack!

The nursery is finished! Or as finished as it will be until baby arrives. I want to add some personalized decorations once she has a name (it's still a SECRET, aka we don't know yet!), and we are still waiting on some things we are going to get while we are gone. I like how it has turned out so far though, it's simple but cute! I'm really proud of how budget-friendly our nursery is, our crib and bouncer are cousin hand-me-downs, the glider was a garage sale find from my mom and the dresser/changing table was one we already had! I got a deal on fabric and sewed my own valence and crib skirt. 

I've been spending lots of quality time with hubby and puppy! We have been enjoying shorter walks along the Rio Grande River, coffee dates and cooking dinner together. As for Miss Oakley, I think she is going to make a fabulous big sister/guard dog, but we are really trying to give her some extra love lately. We took her for her first river swim while on a walk last weekend, and we made a late night stop at Sonic for 1/2 price shakes! Yeah - that was totally just for the dog...

I've been taking care of myself! It's hard for me to chill out and not workout every day and not always be go-go-go, but I have really been focusing on staying hydrated and getting rest. Oakley and I take a nap every afternoon and I have backed down to shorter daily walks or pre-natal workouts. This bump is getting big, and BIGGER every day! We can't wait to meet our little one! 

how about you?

I'm not going to ask how productive you were in your 8th month of pregnancy because then I'll just compare myself. So...

Do you have any tips on shredding soap without shredding knuckles?