18 Weeks with Baby #2

I remember reading some comedian that said chocolate cravings during pregnancy aren't real, because who doesn't crave chocolate all the time? Normally I'd be inclined to agree. If you offer me See's when I'm not pregnant, I'd eat it in a heartbeat. But these last few days I seriously can't get chocolate out of my mind. I've already eaten a whole container of those smashing s'mores they sell at Trader Joe's. And if it's not chocolate that's consuming my thoughts, it's caramel corn. Also, I weirdly got a craving for blackberries, which I normally don't eat because I hate the seeds. So yeah, in case you couldn't tell from the beginning of this post, or from my instagram photos, we are squarely in the eat everything and lots of it phase of pregnancy. 

Melty cheesiness at it's finest.

As far as movement goes, just last night I felt some baby flutters as I was lying down to sleep. I'd felt a little movement here and there, but only if I was bent over or the baby felt squished in some way. 18 weeks is exactly when I started feeling Ez move, so it looks like this baby is right on track.

My symptoms are the same as always: super itchy skin. I love the second trimester - I'm post-nausea and pre-heartburn/feeling-so-big-I-can't-breathe. It's the best of both worlds :)

As far as the baby goes, I actually stopped slacking and looked up a few stats on Baby Center this week. Baby is the size of a bell pepper and is busy flexing his or her little arms and legs (which explains the flutters). Our next doctor's appointment is this Friday, but I have a feeling we won't find out the gender till closer to Valentine's Day when we visit the specialist.

In other news, it looks like we'll be moving again very shortly. We've decided this house just wasn't right for us for financial and other reasons, and have already found a new place. That means I'll be moving while pregnant again, yay! It should be much easier this time than when I was 7/8 months pregnant with Ez, and basically useless as far as lifting anything went. Also, not only did we move late pregnancy with Ez, but I had a ton of new furniture that had to be assembled for him, so I remember the last month and half of pregnancy as being really stressful and cluttered and chaotic. This time around baby #2 gets to share lots of already assembled furniture, so I'm anticipating a much more relaxed nesting phase. We'll see if that changes in another few months though. You never can tell with hormones.

And here's a snap of my cute little photo bomber: