How far along: 18 weeks!
Fruit: You are the size of a bell pepper… 5 1/2 inches long (says babycenter.com)
Total weight gain: gained 6 lbs total
Maternity clothes: So much! Your Papa Damiano sent us a gift card and we went shopping! Aunt Jenifer and Nicole also sent us care packages full of maternity clothes. My favorites are these leggings and any T-shirt.
Stretch marks: nada
Sleep: I am still getting used to sleeping on my side, I don’t like it too much. So, I toss and turn a lot at night. I also wake up at least twice to pee AND my dreams are out of control!! Every time I wake up, I wake up your Dad to tell him about them before I fall back to sleep and forget them. They are all pretty ridiculous ..nipples falling out, blowing balloons up as I lay dying on my back, going camping and hunting…BIZARRE
Best moment of this week: Definitely listening to your heart beat each night. You are always right around 138 bpm.
Miss anything: Sleeping through the night, enjoying sweets, (you hate sugar!)
Movement: I think maybe I can feel you. At times I feel like you reach up and take away my oxygen. I get little jolts of, OMG, I can’t breathe, and I think it is you moving around.
Food cravings: Still nothing severe enough to make us make our dinner/ lunch/ snack decision based on it. I may feel like I want something, but it goes away pretty quickly.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Your father flicking his snot, but that isn’t baby related 🙂
Have you started to show yet: I definitely think so.
Gender: More and more these days we are thinking a boy, we will know hopefully next week, just in time for Daddy’s birthday. (we think we may have a pretty cool name picked out for ya)
Labor signs: nope.
Belly button in or out: It’s a black hole innie…goes on forever
Wedding rings on or off: On, they are actually bigger than normal.
Happy or moody most of the time: I think lately I am pretty moody, I really try hard not to be though. There is a lot of transition going on in our lives right now and we are just trying to get it all settled. We are down to only 4 1/2 months and ahh, my mind can’t seem to relax until some of our checklist gets marked off.
Looking forward to: Our first sonogram in 10 weeks! We can’t wait to see if you are a boy or girl!
Keep exploring
Travel with your family
That you will not do it perfectly and that is not the goal. That kids remember how they felt more than what they were given. That the hard seasons pass. And that showing up consistently matters more than any individual parenting decision you will ever agonize over.
Imperfectly and continuously. The balance shifts rather than stays fixed. Some seasons are work-heavy, some are kid-heavy, some are partnership-heavy. The goal is not equal distribution but intentionality about where attention goes and honesty about when the current distribution is not working.
Talk to your kids honestly and earlier than feels comfortable. They handle truth better than they handle sensing that something is happening but not knowing what. And ask for their input even on decisions that are ultimately yours because being heard matters even when the outcome is not what they wanted.
Better than most parents expect, especially when the adults around them are honest and stable. Kids take emotional cues from their parents. If the adults are anxious and secretive, kids become anxious. If the adults are clear and calm, kids adjust. The hardest changes are the ones parents are not settled about themselves.
That each child is entirely different and what worked for one will not reliably work for another. That the early years are harder and faster than anyone tells you. That the goal of parenting is to gradually work yourself out of a job. And that being present is more rare and more valuable than being perfect.
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Pregnancy dreams are the best!
Cutest post ever…you’ve got the glow Nicole!