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!