Luda Love: Sweet Potato Baby

Along: 18 weeks 4 days

Size: Luda Bean is the size of a sweet potato weighing roughly 6.7 ounces and measuring 5.6 inches long. Sweet baby's bones are started to harden including the bones in the inner ear, meaning he or she may be able to hear my heart beating and my tummy growling. I'm pretty sure by the end of this pregnancy our sweet baby will be plenty familiar with not only mine and Shawn's voice, but with the precious voice of his/her big sister. In fact, Bean may come out of the womb saying her name as frequently as is comes out of my mouth!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Coming in at just about 10 pounds. Hitting double digits much faster than my first go around, but I'm feeling great and doing my best to stay healthy for me and the Bean.

Maternity Clothes: I seem to be hanging out in that awkward middle stage. Some of my jeans are getting to be too tight, but maternity pants are still a little baggy, so I think I'm going to have to pull at the belly band to use while I'm waiting for my belly to get just a bit bigger. I'm sure I won't have to wait too long. Luda Bean is growing like a weed! I can't wait to see him/her at our next ultrasound in a couple weeks!

Gender: I'm going to say girl. I'm still not feeling strong either way. Shawn thinks boy. So far everything has been pretty spot on from my first pregnancy, including Luda Bean's heart rate that is hanging out at 150.

Movement: I'm feeling flutters every now and then, mainly when I'm laying down or sitting still enough to notice them. I have an anterior placenta this go around. Meaning my placenta is attached in the front versus towards that back, so I essentially have a pillow between me and Luda Bean. However, if sweet baby is as active as his/her Big Sister, then I'm sure we are going to start feeling more movement soon.

Sleep: I'm still not going to complain about sleep...yet. We were on west coast time all this past week, so things were a little off and Shawn and I had a sleeping buddy most nights which meant that one of us was getting kneed, punched or kicked all night long. But the snuggles were sweet and at least 1 of the 3 of us was sleeping well!

Exercise: We were so active this week, walking and hiking; I even worked in a 3 mile run. Needless to say miles were added to my total for this pregnancy and my legs are still sore from all the exploring we did. Totally worth it though!

Cravings: I'm always in the mood for more hearty foods, with bacon hanging out in my favorites. I've also really loved a good juicy orange or apple and ice cream is never a bad thing, but I wouldn't classify it as a craving...yet!

Symptoms: I'm feeling fantastic and really have no complaints. Pregnancy so far has been really great to me and I'm just cherishing the time with sweet Luda Bean on the inside.

Best Moment of the Week: Can I say the whole week? We just got back Thursday, which is why this is coming out a few days late, from an amazing week in California. The weather was perfect and the views were breathtaking. We were able to take Em to Disneyland, which of course was so much fun. Seeing things through the eyes of your toddler just makes life so much more exciting and I loving being able to go on adventures with my little, growing family. I'll post more on our California within the next couple days along with baby girl's 16 month update!