Eighteen

That's right, today we are 18 weeks! Baby is the size of a sweet potato (one of my favorite veggies). I'm so excited to be nearly half baked. Do you like how I just dove in and didn't even apologize for the lack of blogging?! ;) Things have been quiet...which is how we like it!

Let's start with baby stuff. This Sunday I'll take my 18w bump pic but here is one from last week that I took (actually Josh took) so I could post for my friend Anna on FB.

How far along: 18w 
How big is Baby: Head to rump, baby is about 5 1/2 inches long. About the size of a sweet potato or bell pepper.

Maternity Clothes: Yes please! I love maternity jeans and leggings. So comfy.
Sleep: Sleep is getting better. I finally bought a body pillow and it has helped a ton. I actually go back to sleep now after I get up to use the potty. Sleep is sweet. 

Movement: Yes! How awesome is that :) started feeling movement the beginning of week 17.

Food cravings: Spicy things...but then I have terrible heartburn. Still love my sour candy too.
Food aversions: It's a day by day thing. I am happy to say that I can finally eat yogurt again! I still don't really like sweets which is a good thing.

Gender: We'll find out on Nov 20th! Prayers for a healthy baby are much appreciated.

Nursery Progress: We are going to start working on the nursery in January. We are very excited and looking forward to creating a space that we love and we want to be in. We feel like if we're cozy then baby will be cozy too.

I'm feeling really great. I'm dealing with low blood pressure which has been a bit of a struggle. Last midwife appointment my BP was 90/60. Low. I've had some scary fainting episodes, almost constantly shaky, thirsty as heck, migraines from hell and very hungry. It seems hard to get full...and stay full for over an hour. So I'm just trying to do what my body wants me to do and on the 20th we'll talk about my BP again if it's still low. Trying to increase my sodium intake, I read online that it helps. Low BP during pregnancy is very common so I'm not too concerned. I just don't want to faint anymore.

So I went to Chicago last month with my sister!!! I was so much fun, time went way too quickly. She went for business and I tagged along for fun and we hung out as much as possible. I walked too much. I probably over did it but I was trying to take in the sights while I was there. Chicago lived up to its nickname, it really is a windy city. Here are some photos, I took so many!

Our hotel was gorgeous. We stayed at the Hyatt downtown right across from the river. It was stunning. We had an amazing new, especially at night. We were on the 16th floor.

This was a really cool piece of art at Navy Pier. It's just a ton of canoes :)

Riding the Ferris Wheel was cool, it was really calming.

My beautiful sister, Melissa. It was so much fun to take a trip together!

If you go to Chicago, you have to visit Sears (Willis) Tower! My sister and I were amazed at how blue Lake Michigan was. It looked like an ocean rather than a brown lake like we're used to.

The Sky Deck was ammmmmmazing!

Sue the T-Rex!!!

We visited the Field Museum. Literally could have spent all day there. We had to kind of rush through and our feet were really tired. Then we got rained on the whole walk back to the hotel...not fun. It was cold too and we couldn't find an empty taxi. This was our last night and we were pooped. We ordered room service and stayed in. It was so relaxing to just snuggle into bed and watch a movie.

My first full day I walked so so so much. I landed upon a Ghiradelli and had some much needed and deserved chocolate ice cream. It was even better than it looks! 

I didn't do a lot of shopping because I wanted to stay outdoors as much as possible. But who could resist a four story Crate & Barrel?!? Not I. It was incredible. I loved being able to take my time too :)

There was one thing that my sister and I did that I was absolutely forbidden to take photos of. We went to the theater and watched Kinky Boots. It was SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!!! We agreed that it was our favorite thing we did while there. So entertaining and well done. Oh and the theater...breathtaking. But like I mentioned, they forbade photos. They were not joking either. We witnessed some girls getting yelled at because they took a photo of themselves-in the theater. So we decided we better not chance it!

Whew that was exhausting, long posts are hard work. If I'd just update more often it wouldn't be such hard work! Next post we'll reveal the sex of Baby E and talk about the anatomy scan. Also, I want to talk about our decision to leave our OB and switch to the Birth and Women's Center. We are very hopeful that if all goes well we'll have a natural/med free birth in a home like environment. We are lucky enough that our birthing center is right across from the hospital with a great NICU. So if by chance we need to be there it will take no time at all. But we'll pray that things go well and we can birth at the birthing center. More about that next time. Much love and I don't know about you but I'm ready for Thanksgiving!!! We're traveling to IL to share the holiday with Josh's family and we'll tell everyone the sex of Baby E on Thanksgiving. Couldn't ask for anything more, our hearts are so full of gratitude and peace.

Much love-Josh and Bran