18+ Weeks

How far along? 18weeks 2days

Maternity clothes? Same, I definitely need a new pair of work pants and am excited to get some fall things!

Exercising: Did a few more walks this week and yoga.

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: Been getting more difficult.  I definitely don't think I can be on my tummy anymore.  In fact, one morning I woke and up was laying half on my tummy, half on my side, and I'm pretty sure baby was kicking!  S/he did not enjoy that!  One night I woke up (I basically wake up every once in a while to switch from one side to the other) and freaked out because I remember thinking to myself "OMG HOW am I going to ONLY be able to sleep on my sides for 5 more months!!?!"  I wanted to switch to my back or tummy SOOO bad!  I do somewhat still go on my back, but I try not to or at least wedge a pillow under one side.

Best moment this week: Getting our new appliances!  Although it was a process, the fridge was about 1/8" too tall for the cabinet above it, we had a feeling this might happen, but were hoping we could squeeze it in.  So not-so-handy-hubby thought he could just sand down the cabinet, which sounded fine to me.  BUT of course he did not take ANY precautions beforehand; didn't move anything off the cabinet next to it: papers, books, key basket, etc., didn't move wine glasses or decorative things on the wall.  Nor did he put down any drop cloths at all or have a vacuum handy or ask me to hold it.  So there was literally an INCH thick of sawdust over our ENTIRE kitchen and everything in it!!  Including stuck to the walls!  I realized after the fact that I should have snapped some pics but I was too angry and trying not to freak out!  It took him A LONG TIME, but we finally got the fridge in and spent half of Saturday morning scrubbing dust off the whole kitchen, and of course I'm still finding it everywhere!  The appliances look good though!

Also going to the State Fair was fun.  We got rained on, but made the best of it and ate A LOT of food; deep fried mac and cheese, "brewtons", red velvet funnel cake with cream cheese frosting, frozen banana dipped in chocolate, a beer float (see "Miss Anything")!  YIKES!  We also met the cutest little boy while hiding under a tent from the rain; he was a "balloon twister", he must have been about 7, and he was amazing at balloon twisting!  We had a good conversation with him for about 10 minutes about how his family does (fake) tattoos and glitter tattoos and him and his brother balloon twist for tips, and he goes to a "virtual online school", he was sooo cute and fun to talk to!  Here's the teddy bear he made us!

Have you told family and friends: Yup!

Miss Anything? Nothing new, Dan had a BEER float at the State Fair, no not ROOT beer, just beer!  Made with Pumpkin beer and vanilla ice cream!  I definitely would have liked to try one of those!  I did sneak a sip or 2 and a bit of his ice cream though ;)

The only other delicious fair food I snapped a pic of; apple square.

Movement: I think I can say YES!  It's still few and far between and sometimes I still second guess if it's gas, but most of the time I don't think it is.

Food cravings: Pineapple and ice cream!!!  Not together...although that doesn't sound bad!  I ate a whole large container of pineapple from the grocery store in about 2 days last week.  Now we just bought a whole pineapple and cut it up, we'll see how long it takes me to eat that!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Same as always.  I forgot that Chex Mix has always been on this list too.  Eww.  I think I overdid it on the stuff during my nauseous weeks and now I can't even look at it.

Have you started to show yet: I think I can FINALLY say YES to this too!!  It still gets bigger and bigger throughout the day and as I eat, but it's always somewhat there.  For your viewing pleasure, here is my friend Dana and me; she was 39.2 weeks and I was 18.2 weeks in this pic. I only hope I can look like her at 39 weeks!

Gender prediction: OMG WE FIND OUT THIS WEEK!  (Well technically my 19th week, but this week as I type this.)  We have our appointment on Thursday, we aren't going to have them tell us, but instead write it down and put it in an envelope, then we are doing our photoshoot with it on Friday, which I am SOOOO excited for!!  So it's going to be long enough to survive til Thursday, then the ultrasound will be fun, but then from Thursday at about 4pm until Friday at 4 or 5pm might be the longest 24 hours of my LIFE!!!  I don't even want to guess anymore what it is, because I still WANT girl, but I'm sure it will be boy!  As always, healthy is all that matters!

Labor Signs: Nope
 

Belly Button in or out? In and it better stay that way!  I HATE belly buttons!! 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but definitely getting tighter and tighter!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Mostly happy with occasional crying spells.

Looking forward to: GENDER ULTRASOUND & PHOTO SHOOT!!!!!!!

  

Not loving: I was just thinking the other day that I am kind of starting to love being pregnant!!  Now that I finally have a little bump and have been feeling some kicks...besides the bloody noses, bloody gums, occasional headaches, backaches...ok so there's still a lot of downsides!  But it's still fun!  My headaches have actually finally cleared up for the most part, my skin has been great lately, I suddenly have tons of energy, and I love not having to think about sucking my tummy in!  I just stick that sucker out!  I can't believe I'm almost halfway through this!!  But maybe this is the calm before the storm too.

Thanks for reading!
~Michelle