18 Weeks!

How many weeks?  18 weeks

How do I feel?  My head cold is gone, and I am feeling back to normal!  I went to the gym three times this week which I was really happy about, had a late evening for a school event, and helped make dinner three times this week - huge accomplishment for this girl!  I feel like some days my belly looks cute and other days I look really heavy.  I guess it is to be expected, and the belly is only going to get bigger over the next five months!

Cravings?  Nothing in particular.

Weight gain?  I definitely feel heavier so we will see at my weigh-in next week at the doctor's office.  My baby is the size of a sweet potato!

We find out the gender of the baby on Monday.  I am beyond excited to find out, and Brian and I are planning a special way to reveal it to each other on Monday night over dinner.  I also have something cute planned to share the gender with the kindergartners so stay tuned!

And, now on to Brian.  He is excited to begin posting his "version" of the pregnancy over the next couple of months.

How do I feel? I feel pretty good as well. I also went to the gym 3 times this week and am starting to get back in shape after the holidays. My first race of the year is the Chitown Big Game 10K race on Superbowl Sunday, and I'm running it with my running buddy, Don. This week I also honed some of my cooking skills. We actually did pretty good on cooking at home this week. We ordered pizza last night, but that was it. Having a planned big dinner out on Monday (hopefully celebrating the sex of the baby) helps though, so we've kept that in mind.

This week it really hit me. Our lives are never going to be the same. I mentioned this reality to Shelley one night this week and we both looked at each other and laughed. We haven't talked much more about it, but I'm sure we will. Shelley and I have been such a great couple over the past five years! We've learned how to live together and love each other amazingly. And now our whole dynamic will change in a few months, and while we can't be more excited for Baby Brown to arrive, the two of us will have to learn a new dynamic.

Weight gain? While we don't have a scale in our apartment and have no idea if Shelley is weighing more now than last week, I have noticed that her belly has changed this week. I noticed that instead of it growing out, it appears to have grown vertically (north-south). As a result, her belly doesn't appear to be as big as it did, but it has continued to grow.

Cravings? I ALWAYS crave sweets. I thank Sweety for that. We went to Dairy Queen one night this week, and other than that I was pretty well behaved. I usually have one or two cupcakes per week, but this week has been below average.

I'm very much looking forward to Monday and knowing whether to speak to baby boy Brown or baby girl Brown. Until next week...