18 weeks! (4 months, one week and 5 days). Almost half way through. It has been going by fast! I am definitely starting to show! My belly button is stretching, hehe. I like to think Lulu likes his home in and that it's all cozy in there. He is now the size of a bell pepper!

All I can say is what a blessing it is to have a little babe growing inside of me. I was at a dance class this week, focusing on heart energy and we were instructed to put our hands over our heart to make a wish and it occurred to me that I actually have 2 hearts and 2 heart beats in my body right now. I put my hands over the baby's heart and just thought about what an amazing miracle pregnancy and birth are. 2 heart beats!!!!

I have been feeling pretty good, although tired lately, just taking lots of naps, which is kind of nice! I also have been super thirsty. I cannot get enough water and am constantly drinking. I was tested for gestational diabetes and don't have it (thank goodness). I read that it's normal to be really thirsty b/c of all the extra blood/plasma, and amniotic fluid production.

I know that now in the second and third trimesters I need to be eating about 300 extra calories per day and between 75-100 grams of protein per day. All is well and good except for the protein. That is a lot of protein! For a variety of reasons, I do not like to eat a lot of meat but I have been trying to eat some for the extra protein. 75-100 grams is gonna be a challenge for me, I am not one for protein drinks or shakes but I may have to go that route. As far as cravings go, if I could eat only mashed potatoes with butter, salt, and pepper for the rest of my pregnancy, I would be in heaven!

Funny food moments from this week include:

• eating an entire small can of jalepeno peppers in like 10 min. They are not super hot just about medium spice but salty and sweet too! Mmmm. Marcelo got me hooked!
• Going out for ice cream then having to stop for Ben and Jerrys (frozen greek yogurt) on the way home from getting ice cream. Then passing out from a sugar overdose.
• Eating cat food. Just kidding. I can't think of a third one but after writing this I ate 2 more jalapenos. he.

I have another monthly check up this Tuesday and then an ultra sound on October 1st in which we can find out the sex is we want to. I think we will. I still think it's gonna be a boy!

In other news, Marcelo is great, he is very excited too. The past couple weeks, outside of work, I have been working very hard around the house to recover from our trip to Burning Man, lol. Unpacking and cleaning up from that has kind of morphed into a deep clean of the apartment and purging process. I have like 7 bags of stuff for good will and it feels great. We will need some room for baby stuff soon!

Also, I am super excited for Fall and Halloween season, my favorite. And Christmas too, I actually was tempted to put our tree up when we were cleaning out the closet but I figured September was a bit too early, lol.