18 Weeks

How Far Along? 18 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: Still only 1.5 pounds. I eat all the time but I don’t seem to be gaining weigh very quickly. My midwife isn’t concerned though so I guess the weight will come when it comes.

Have You Started to Show? Yes! People tell me that my pregnant belly is so cute all the time! I love hearing that! I think it’s at the “fun-size” stage right now. I love my pregnant belly!!

Stretch Marks? No and hopefully I won’t get any. I am almost obsessed with rubbing oil and lotion on my belly, butt, boobs and thighs.

Belly Button? In. I can see the bottom of my belly button, which is quite strange. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may pop out

Maternity Clothes? Loving my maternity shorts! I can’t believe how comfortable they are. I also purchased another coral colored long dress from Nordstrom that is really comfortable.

Symptoms: I have had a few off days where I feel really lightheaded and don’t have a ton of energy. My SI joint is still bothering me but I have been going to see Kathy (my chiropractor and godmother). The adjustments help and I am going to see Jacob, my acupuncturist on Wednesday so that should help too.

Movement? Baby Morelli is one ACTIVE baby! I feel him/her move all the time! It is so amazing! Sometimes it feels like a kick or a punch, other times it’s gentler like a tap. One time it felt like the baby was doing summersaults over and over! SO AMAZING! I love every single movement!

Sleep? As good as it can be with getting up several times to pee every night. I am still waking up on my back several times a night so I think I may need to invest in a pregnancy body pillow. Some mornings I wake up really early, usually around 4 AM, and can’t sleep, then around 8 AM or 9 AM I take a nap.

Exercise? Nick and I still love our daily walks together. I love the “us” time with our doggies. We have been trying to walk in the morning and the evening after it cools off, but sometimes our schedules don’t allow for it. My prenatal yoga was cancelled this week but my yoga instructor also teaches classes at the Kroc Center in Coeur d’Alene so I am going to try go to those.

Food Cravings: Blueberries and burgers! Not together of course! I purchased 10-gallon size freezer bags of fresh blueberries from a local farm this week. I can’t seem to get enough of them! Nick and I also tried a new restaurant that our friends Joel and Michele recommended called Crafted. OMG they have the best burgers! We went there for lunch and I had a mushroom burger with grilled onions and delicious cheese on a gluten free bun. I also had a side salad with the best balsamic dressing and some of Nick’s sweet potato fries. It was seriously the best burger I have ever eaten! I kept moaning as I was eating and telling Nick how good everything tasted. He just smiled and laughed at me. I think he gets a kick out of me enjoying my food so much! Crafted is a really cool restaurant. It has an industrial style theme with concrete floors, rebar and wood tables and chairs and corkscrew style bar stools. I really liked the overall feel of the restaurant. They also have tons of beer on draft, which I obviously couldn’t enjoy, but Nick had a huckleberry beer that he really liked. The best part about crated is they serve all natural beef free of hormones and antibiotics from Tim’s Custom Meats in Coeur d’Alene. I know that Crafted will be a new favorite for us!

Food Aversions: Chicken. Even hearing people talk about chicken makes me sick to my stomach.

Happy or Moody? HAPPY! So so so HAPPY! I love being pregnant and I can’t believe how much I already love our baby! I think feeling him/her move around so much has really deepened our connection.

Miss Anything? Energy, oh and coffee and wine of course. Some days I have lots of energy and get so much accomplished and then other days I take a 3-hour nap and am still tired.

Nursery Progress: I received our adorable Stem Baby knit sweater this week and I was so excited I just had to call Nick. He was showing homes to some out of town clients but he still made the time to answer the phone so I could share my news. The conversation went a little something like this:

Nick: Hey baby

Me: We just got our orange knit baby sweater in the mail!!!

Nick: That’s great baby

Me: It’s so freaking cute and so soft! I cried when I opened it!

Nick: (Chuckle) That’s great. I’m showing homes still so I have to go

Me: Ok! I can’t wait for you to see it

Nick: Okay baby. Love you. See you tonight.

Me: Love you too! Bye!

I feel so blessed to have such a sweet hubby! Of course I wanted to hang the baby sweater up in the nursery but quickly realized that I needed baby hangers first. I found some really cute tan/camel colored velvet hangers at Babies R Us but they wanted $69 for a pack of 60. That’s just so crazy! Thus, I started my hanger search online. I ended up finding the same hangers at Staples online of all places for $36 for a pack of 60. Much better! Who knew Staples sold baby hangers? I’m still trying to figure that one out. My mom and I also went to an adorable yarn shop in Hayden to pick out yarn for the baby blanket she is going to knit. We found the softest alpaca chunky cream color yarn that we both instantly loved! My mom is so sweet to make something so special for baby Morelli. I just know that he/she will treasure it! I can’t wait for it to be finished!

Best Moment This Week: I know I say this almost every week but I had so many “best” moments this week that it’s hard to choose so I’ll just share them all. Obviously feeling the baby move around so much has to be on my list! I love it when our little baby makes his/her presence known! The other amazing thing that happened this week was Nick feeling our baby move. I couldn’t believe it! We were lying on the bed taking a little rest one afternoon and I could feel the baby kicking or punching inside me. I naturally rub my belly all the time so I put my hand where I felt the baby moving and felt a kick! I almost couldn’t believe it! I quickly grabbed Nick’s hand and put it on my belly. We waited a bit longer and all of a sudden he felt the kick too! Nick looked at me with a smile on his face and it just melted my heart. He has since felt the baby two other times! Another best moment this week was the sweetest comment from my hubby. Nick and I were getting ready and he looked over at me and told me he had been thinking about how much he loved me when he was at rehearsal at church (Nick plays acoustic guitar on the worship team). I almost cried when he said that to me. He then went on to say that he was so grateful that we had each other and he knows that 30 or 40 years down the road that we will still love each other and be there to support one another. My husband can be so sweet sometimes. I don’t know what I did to deserve such an amazing husband but I thank God for him every day. Nick truly is the best husband I could have ever hoped for. He is everything that I prayed for in a partner and I feel so blessed to be married to him.

Looking Forward to: Finding out is baby Morelli is a girl or a boy! We have our very first ultrasound next week and we can’t wait to find out!

17 Weeks

How Far Along? 17 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: 1.5 Pounds

Have You Started to Show? Yes! More every week! I feel like everywhere I went this week people told me how cute my pregnant belly was! I love every moment of it!

Stretch Marks? No

Belly Button? In

Maternity Clothes? Nothing new, but I am enjoying my maternity shorts!

Symptoms: I have actually felt pretty good this week. I did go to the chiropractor (who also happens to be my godmother, Kathy) for my tailbone pain. She said I strained SI joint. I had a ton of energy for a couple days and then on Sunday I took a 3-hour nap! Crazy, but I guess I needed it.

Movement? I felt lots of little kicks or punches toward the end of this week. Sometimes they feel like little bubbled popping. I love all the movement, it is still so amazing to me that our little baby is growing and moving around inside me.

Sleep? Just ok this week. I keep waking up on my back and then I have trouble going back to sleep because I’m worried about sleeping on my back. My midwife did assure me that it was fine as long as I was sleeping on my sides most of the time. She also said that it was ok since I get up to pee a few times every night too.

Exercise? Nick and I have loved our walks this week. We have been trying to walk 2 miles in the morning and then another 1-2 miles at night with the dogs. I really cherish this time because it’s uninterrupted time together. We also talk about the baby and how excited we are to be parents. I know Nick will be the most amazing daddy!

Food Cravings: I’ve had several cravings this week. Mangos, strawberries, guacamole and gluten free cranberry orange scones. I’ve been a frequent visitor of Pilgrims Market this week for their fresh baked g.f. scones!

Food Aversions: Chicken, no surprise there, and the smell of French fries.

Happy or Moody? So HAPPY! I love pregnancy!

Miss Anything? Coffee! Every time I smell a cup of coffee my mouth waters!

Nursery Progress: Nothing new to report this week. We are waiting to find out the sex before we start buying things for the baby.

Best Moment This Week: Hearing the heartbeat again. We went to our 17 week appointment on Tuesday and heard another strong heartbeat. It started out at around 160 beats per minute and then leveled out in the 150 beats per minute range. Nick recorded the heartbeat again so we can listen to it any time we want.

Looking Forward to: Finding out it baby Morelli is a boy or a girl! We will have an ultrasound at 20 weeks. We are super excited to find out!

16 Weeks

How Far Along? 16 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 1 pound!

Have You Started to Show? Yes! This week I had my first stranger comment on my pregnant belly!

Stretch Marks? No

Belly Button? In

Maternity Clothes? Yes, I finally took the plunge! On Sunday I tried on every pair of shorts that I own and I could only button one pair! I thought they would work if I wore them really low, but a few minutes into our church service I was extremely uncomfortable. Nick noticed me fidgeting and said that it was time to get me some maternity pants. My wonderful hubby took me to a really cute maternity store in the mall that his friend Chris told us about. At first I looked at the shorts and couldn’t get over the belly band, but I tried them on anyway and ended up loving them! Nick was so patient while I tried different maternity clothes on. He sat in a chair and struck up a conversation with the sales lady (I think she was a little sweet on him, but who could blame her- my husband is so darling!) I ended up buying two pairs of really cute maternity shorts.

Our worship pastor's wife is also pregnant and she had on the cutest pair of coral shorts, from Ross of all places. Nick also took me to Ross and I actually found two cute pairs of shorts and two darling maternity tanks. I must admit the maternity shorts are so comfortable that I wish that I had bought some sooner.

Symptoms: I still have some pain on the right side of my tailbone, but laying in child’s pose really helps. I also had a lightheaded moment this week while I was cooking. I had to sit down on the ground until I felt better. Nick thinks it was due partially to the hot shower I had just finished taking.

Movement? YES! YES! YES! I felt baby Morelli move for the first time while I was at yoga on Monday night! We were doing some bridge pose exercises and then we had our feet up against the wall with a block under our tailbones when I felt a little flipping movement. I felt what I could only describe as a tiny fish flipping around below my belly button and to my right. It was so exciting!! As soon as I finished with yoga I called Nick with my exciting news! I can’t wait for him to feel the baby moving too! I also called my mom to share the news and she was so excited! My mom shared the news with my brother’s girlfriend, Kendra, and she sent me a really sweet text telling me how excited she was for me. It is so nice to have so many people who are excited about all the little milestones.

Sleep? Better than last week. I still wake up to pee around 2 or 3 usually but I actually slept until 5 a couple nights.

Exercise? Great. I’m back to my yoga and we walk the dogs every night. We either take the 1-mile loop or if they are up for it we take the full 2-mile loop.

Food Cravings: While I still eat quite a few hard-boiled eggs and dill pickles I had a few new craving this week. One new craving this week was guacamole and salsa with blue corn chips! My mom and I were shopping at Costco and I couldn’t resist their organic guacamole and organic salsa! So yummy! I also made some delicious fajitas that I will be making again very soon. Costco also had organic mangos that made my mouth start watering. They are finally ripe and I just enjoyed my first mango from the pack and it was delicious!

Food Aversions: Chicken – no surprise there!

Happy or Moody? HAPPY! I would say my theme song for this week would be Happy by Pharrell.

Miss Anything? Coffee and wine or course! I am also missing Bonsai Bistro sushi!

Nursery Progress: I found the most adorable orange Stem Baby 'Lofty' Organic Cotton Hooded Cardigan that is on sale for Nordstrom’s Anniversary sale. When I received my catalog in the mail I saw the sweater in the baby section and fell in love with it. I showed Nick the picture in the catalog and he thought it was really cure too so I couldn’t resist ordering it! I can’t wait to hang it up in the closet in the nursery!

Best Moment This Week: I had so many best moments this week it is hard to pick so I will just mention all of them! Obviously feeling the baby move for the first time tops the charts but a close second was having a stranger notice my bump. Nick and I had lunch at Twigs with his parents on Saturday and of course as soon as we got back in the car I had to pee, again! I went back inside for a pit stop and as I was walking out one of the hostesses said, “I love your dress.” When I turned around to thank her she said, “Oh and you have such a cute pregnant belly too!” Needless to say I was beaming! I was literally giddy when I got back in the car so of course after I told Nick I called my mom to share yet another mini-milestone with her! I love being able to share something every little thing about my pregnancy with my mom. She is always so excited for me! My third best moment this week isn’t pregnancy related but it was still awesome! My brother’s girlfriend, Kendra, moved in with him this week! Nick and I helped them move a few things and it just brings tears to my eyes to see how happy they are together! I just adore Kendra and I am so happy that my brother has found such a wonderful lady who makes him happy. I can honestly say that I have never seen him happier! I have my fingers crossed that she will be my sister some day!

Looking Forward to: More movement from baby Morelli. Now that I have felt that first little movement I just want to feel it all the time!