17 & 18 Weeks

It took me 3 days to recover from our amazing Thanksgiving, so the chalkboard just didn't happen last week... Sorry!

How far along? 17 weeks.

Total weight gain: Still haven't managed to buy a scale... But I'm guessing that I'm at least breaking even with my starting weight now.

Maternity clothes? Leggings and tunics are my best friends :)

Stretch marks? None so far!

Sleep: Can't complain.

Nausea: Nope!

Best moment this week: Hosting Thanksgiving at our house for the third year in a row!

Miss Anything? I'm still waiting on that second trimester energy everyone told me about...

Movement: Hopefully soon!

Food cravings: Milk, bagels and cream cheese, Penne Rosa from Noodles & Co.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still not a big fan of meat and starting to get turned off of all that salt I was initially craving.

Have you started to show yet? There is definitely a little bump action :)
Labor Signs: Nope.

Symptoms: Headaches are still a struggle, plenty of round ligament pain, and if I'm on my feet for too long they start to swell. Lovely! 
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding ring on or off? On and actually kind of loose... Weird?

Happy or Moody most of the time: It's been a moody week for some reason... Mike is a very patient man!

Looking forward to: Getting our Christmas tree! And I'm really looking forward to our anatomy scan in 3 weeks so we can see baby girl! :)

Fun fact about this picture.. Free handing a sweet potato is HARD - so I grabbed one out of the kitchen and traced it ;)

How far along? 18 weeks.

Total weight gain: +1.5ish.. I'm just under my pre-preggo weight so we are finally headed in the right direction!

Maternity clothes? Nothing new. Still just a few shirts combined with the most amazing leggings in the world. 

Stretch marks? None so far, but my belly still has a looong way to go.

Sleep: Pretty good! Still loving my body pillow. Having a TON of weird dreams.

Nausea: None, but still working on increasing my appetite.

Best moment this week: Picking out and decorating our Christmas tree :)

Miss Anything? I wasn't able to keep the tradition of drinking a hot toddy while decorating the tree, but some regular tea was a decent substitute!

Movement: Hopefully soon!

Food cravings: Penne Rosa from Noodles & Co. all day, every day.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really, I just don't have all that much of an appetite.

Have you started to show yet? I'm waiting for the day when a stranger asks when I'm due or touches my belly, but I'm probably not as big as I think I am ;)
Labor Signs: Nope.

Symptoms: Is struggling to get off the couch a symptom? How about needing to catch my breath after putting on pants? But real talk guys.. THE EXHAUSTION. I never knew it was possible to be so tired ALL the time. I'm in serious trouble once baby girl gets here and I don't have the luxury of sleeping in every day ;)
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding ring on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: All over the place. And it changes in the blink of an eye. Yay hormones! :)

Looking forward to: Counting down the days to our anatomy scan! I can't wait to see baby girl! 

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone.. Where is the time going?! We hosted dinner at our house for the 3rd year in a row and I think this year may have been my favorite so far! We had a full house of 9 guests + 3 little ones so we feasted on a huge roasted turkey, ham, stuffing, green bean casserole, baked mac n cheese, and potato casserole. After dinner and A TON of dessert, the kiddos slept upstairs and the adults played a long and hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity. I think we were all in tears from laughing at one point! Mike and I truly have some of the best friends and I'll glad take any opportunity to spend an evening laughing with all of them :)

Moving on from turkey day... Can we talk about how hard it is to put together a baby registry? Babies need SO MUCH stuff! Some of it is easy and fun, like Boppy covers and hooded towels, but choosing a car seat? Picking the right stroller? I feel like I am drowning in safety ratings and reviews! All my mama friends out there... Help? Any product recommendations or things that you and your littles loved? I could definitely use the input :)

My sweet helper :)

Aside from all the registry madness.. We are in full on holiday prep mode! Our tree is decorated, the stockings are hung, and the house has been filled with all things Fresh Balsam from Bath and Body Works :) We are traveling to Texas for Christmas this year to see family from both sides, and as if traveling during the holidays isn't hectic enough on it's own, we're driving there and back and bringing our sweet pup with us too - Lou's first road trip! I've already warned Mike that between a dog and a preggo wife we'll probably have to make a lot of stops along the way ;) Jacksonville isn't the easiest place to travel in and out of and that combined with Mike's crazy work schedule means we don't always get to see our families as much as we'd like, so we are really looking forward to this trip! 

Our tradition "picking out the tree" selfie :)

And finally, since I was a slacker last week in the aftermath of Thanksgiving, I didn't get a chance to mention the things I am most thankful for this year!

1. A healthy, growing baby and a (mostly) easy pregnancy.

2. That I will have the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom once our sweet girl is born.

3. The amazing, loving, and supportive friends and family we have.

4. My sweet fur babies, especially Lou, that snuggle me while I'm feeling icky and make me smile every day.

5. My extremely hard working, handsome, funny, caring, incredible husband. He is the greatest blessing in my life and I can't wait to see him in his new role as dad - he's gonna be great at it :)

Happy (late) Thanksgiving everybody! :)