10 Things to Treat Yourself to in the Third Trimester

1. Mani/pedi. Hello feet?! Haven’t seen you in a while … go treat yourself to a little pampering and get your toes and fingers in tip-top-shape.
2. Flowers. At the end of October I hosted a “Favorite Things Party” and received a lovely bouquet of flowers. They’re not extravagant or huge, but they’re pretty and we all deserve a little more pretty!
3. Take a nap. More than likely you’re tired from all that energy you’re expending on GROWING A LIFE.
4. Read something unrelated to child rearing/baby development. It might be the last time you are able to sit in one spot without falling asleep or have someone interrupt you.
5. Get a new pillow. All sleep related things are good things at this point.
6. Have a “last hurrah” date night with hubby. Date nights become far fewer when you have to contend with finding a babysitter. Lance and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, The Flying Mango, when I was pregnant with Lucan. I have very vivid memories of having water offered to me several times while we were waiting for a table. I must have looked like I was going to have the baby at any moment. This time we went to Centro, one of other Des Moines favorites. But eat at someplace really nice and celebrate life.
7. Give yourself permission not to fanatically clean or marathon cook. In fact, I bought a groupon earlier in the year for house cleaning with the sole intention of using it in my third trimester when I didn’t feel like cleaning the floor on my hands and knees. Update: this ended up being a complete bust. The cleaning company wouldn’t return any of my calls and I ended up getting a groupon refund and still had to clean the house myself. #fail My parents are coming to spend Thanksgiving at our house and my wise friend, Jessica, made me promise that I would not spend hours in front of the stove preparing a Thanksgiving meal. As a result, I’m buying 2/3 of my Thanksgiving meal from Hy-Vee. I’m not allowing myself to feel guilty about this.
8. Attend a prenatal yoga class. All that stretching and “oommm-ing” will be soothing.
9. Drink a mock-tail and pretend it’s the real thing. Even if that just means pouring your Shirley Temple into a cocktail glass and adding an umbrella to it.
10. Take a bath. A long bath. Fill it with essential oils and Epsom salts and just sit. Enjoy the sitting. Then imagine that maybe the next time, the water will be able to cover your belly. I had a friend give me a fizzbanger bath bomb from LUSH and I loved it. Loved, loved, loved it. It made my bath water silky smooth and delicious smelling.

One unofficial thing I love doing now that the nursery is “done” is sit quietly in the rocker and pray and imagine life with this little one. Life, right now, is anything but quiet so the serene quality of the nursery is especially soothing on this anxious mama’s nerves!