Baby Shelley: 18 Weeks

By the time this posts, I'll be almost 19 weeks. I took a little social media break, but after this weekly update I want to start posting these on Wednesdays, and then having other posts on other days. :) If I did it the day I graduate to the next week I would post them on Sundays, but I want to give myself time to take the pic and write the post.

18 Weeks
Weight gain: Back down to none. (But I had to gain to get back to pre-pregnancy weight due to sickness.) The belly has definitely popped, though!
Maternity clothes: As you can see from all weekly photos so far, I love my solid long sleeved maternity tops that will continue to stretch and stretch! Finally got my bootcut maternity jeans hemmed so I'll be able to wear more than just one pair of jeans all the time. :)
Sleep: Sleeping okay, but having lots of crazy dreams that sometimes really freak me out. I've always been a weird dreamer but pregnancy has made it increase a LOT. Last night I had a dream that I had little pieces of onion stuck in my skin all over my body and I was trying to get them out. It was disgusting.
Medication: Trying to only be on Zofran now! So far so good...I still have my moments and some days are better than others, but nothing like what I was going through before thankfully.
Gender prediction: I had my first gender dream this week and the dream agreed with my girl intuition. We'll see next week, Lord willing!
Food cravings: So many grilled cheese sandwiches. I am stuck on those. I tried my first Concord grape at a ladies' fellowship thing the other night and after that I HAD to get some grape juice. Breakfast food such as eggs and bacon with orange juice has been delightful, and I've reallyyyy been wanting some good grits. Got some cotton candy from the fair like I always do and it's delicious!
Food aversions: I've kinda been anti-chicken lately. A Chick-Fil-A chicken strip that I ate had some weird chewiness to it and I literally had to run to the door, take it out of my mouth, and throw it outside. Not at Chick-Fil-A if you're wondering. That would've been interesting. We also ate at our favorite Mexican place the other night and I couldn't get my usual order of ACP (chicken with rice and queso), so I got steak fajitas.
Mood: Have had a few more dramatic moments of frustration/worry that Jordan has lovingly walked me through. He is highly skilled at knowing how to first "get" me, then how to handle whatever moment I'm having. He deserves all the awards. But overall I've been happy happy happy to be able to actually do stuff, see people, work out, and just be more myself.
Movement: Baby is moving all around in there, but it definitely varies. Which was one of my worries the other day, because it had moved SO much last week and then I had a day when I couldn't remember feeling it move at all. It kinda worried me, but I know (and Jordan reminded me) that the Lord knows EXACTLY what's going on in there, who the child is going to be, and that He is forming the baby for His glory -- through good or tough circumstances. I love being able to rest in that, regardless of what the future holds.
Milestones: First stranger noticed I'm pregnant and she said I looked "really cute" which made me feel so good!
Best moments of the week: Finally getting some fall decorations up, getting such a sweet gift from my Grandma of a couple baby outfits and blankets, going to the NC State Fair, knowing that this is the LAST week Jordan will be studying for his Professional Engineering exam! Can't wait to celebrate! The weather has been outstanding here in our part of NC, and one night was the perfect amount of chilly to sit cuddled in blankets with Jordan on the deck, making some s'mores by the fire pit. We are really cherishing this time as a family of two, but also dreaming about when the little one is here. It's such a sweet time.
Quotes: I'm going to start putting comments from random people in here too, since some of them are quite funny/weird/sweet. I had my first pretty negative comment the other day. It is so interesting what people have to say, especially people I don't even know. I was in a group of people I didn't know besides one or two, and they were all asking me pregnancy questions and adding bits of their own pregnancy stories (some pretty terrifying). One lady was talking about her pregnancy and said, "My stomach never got as big as hers is now," pointing at my belly. Yikes. The conversation kept flowing and I just kept my mouth shut. I'm sure she didn't mean it badly in her mind, but good grief. Haha.
Jordan quotes: The baby started kicking me while we were talking and praying about his test, and Jordan shouted, "THE BABY BELIEVES IN ME!"
Verses I've been dwelling on: "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." -- 2 Corinthians 3:1-6