Is it just me, or are these weeks rushing by? My goodness! Today is technically the first day of Week 34…so this is going to be a fast, picture-less update to get us caught up.

Quick reminder for family/friends planning to spend lots of quality time with Baby Eberle: We’re asking everyone to make sure they’re up to date on their Tdap vaccine, per our OB-gyn, hospital, and the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations. The CDC suggests getting this up to two weeks before coming in contact with infants. We hear the CVS Minute Clinic has them ready to roll. For more info, click here. Thanks y’all! We really appreciate it!

Here’s how we’re doing at Week 33:

Baby’s size: Remember that “Dad-to-Be” chart of baby’s growth that I mentioned last week? Yeah, so apparently Baby is officially the size of a ukulele now! How fun is that? We’re looking at 4.5 pounds and about 18 inches of joy!

What’s keeping Baby busy: Week 33 was a huge week for growth. In fact, Baby likely added a full inch in length over the past 7 days. Other fun things (according to The Bump)…Baby’s keeping his or her eyes open while awake, bones are hardening, and he or she is going through (more) major brain development. Our sweet one also spends quite a bit of time hiccuping — poor thing seems to have them a couple times a day. They’re harmless…but quite distracting.

What’s keeping Mom and Dad busy: We’ve been in class! Adam and I spent Saturday in an intensive 7-hour childbirth course learning a whoooole lot about the big delivery day. We wondered if the extra education would leave us fearful…but rather, we’re both feeling more confident now that we know more about what to expect from labor, delivery, and recovery. Plus, we have a better grasp of when to head to the hospital, so we can hopefully stay home as long as we (or, rather, I?) feel comfortable.

Last night, we took another course called “Increasing Comfort in Labor,” where Adam learned about a dozen massage and pressure-point techniques that he can perform to help relieve contraction pain. How cool is that? I understand that labor can leave daddies feeling fairly helpless, but this class was filled with practical suggestions to make the whole experience feel more like a team effort.

This upcoming weekend we have a breastfeeding course, and then the following week we’re taking Infant CPR. Lots to learn — but we’re enjoying these hands-on offerings.

Struggles: Honestly, I’m still feeling pretty great! I’ve been sleepy in the afternoons…and usually get up once in the night to use the restroom or re-position in the bed…but so far, so good! This growing belly still cracks me up… (I truly can’t imagine where 6 more weeks of growth will go!) But besides dealing with a decreasing range of motion, I feel pretty darn blessed.

Cravings: Well folks, it finally happened — my beloved strawberries were passed in popularity by their cousin fruit, watermelon! And I’m not just talking a slice here or there. I bought/consumed a 1/4 melon by myself last Thursday….and then (with help from the family), finished off another full one on Sunday. I know summer pregnancies get a bad rap for the heat…but I’m totally digging the fresh, in-season produce. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Joys: We only have 42 days til our sweet one’s due date! Enough said!