Our Sweet Little Bell Pepper

According to babycenter.com, at 18 weeks, our little baby is 5 1/2 inches long, weighs 7 ounces and is about the size of a bell pepper!  I can hardly believe we're at 18 weeks already!!

And here is the latest belly shot you've been requesting!  This shirt is one that I bought at the beginning of the summer, before I was pregnant, and I bought it because it wasn't tight :)  I thought it would be a nice one to wear when I'm around students who wear clothes that are too tight!!  How funny to see it stretching and becoming exactly what I didn't want it to be-too tight!  After Travis took this one, I looked at it and told him "No, not that one, I look huge!"  But then he laughed and said, "Steph, you look pregnant and this is what everyone else sees."  I guess he was right, but I still get shocked when I see myself in the mirror or in pictures!  Also, now you can see my new hair-cut, sort of.  We took this picture after we took an hour and a half nap, so it's a little goofy looking, but you get the idea :)  

At 18 weeks, I can say that I am feeling really good.  I seem to be sleeping well these days and I wake up feeling rested.  My energy level is the closest to normal as it's ever been and I haven't felt nauseous for quite awhile now.  I'm very, very glad about that!  I've been cooking like crazy again and unfortunately eating like crazy too...the baby will be doubling in size in the next 3 weeks and I can't seem to get enough food in me!  I also can't seem to get enough chocolate these days either.  The timing of Halloween and all the candy so readily available to me is not a good combination!!  But oh well, a pregnant girl has to do what she has to do!!  

It is incredibly cold here, but no snow for the last few days!  We did however, the unthinkable.  We put up our Christmas tree.  I know.  It's hardly concievable in early November.  But, we did it.  And you know what?  We love it!  I looked at our schedules for the next few weeks and we do not have a free weekend until mid-Decmber!  If we didn't do it now, it wasn't going to get done.  So, I took down all my fall decorations and packed them up and we put the tree up.  It's not decorated, we're not that crazy yet!  But, when we are ready, it will be easy.  We bought a fake tree this year, I just couldn't deal with all the needles while I was pregnant!  When you live in a condo on the 2nd floor, it's a pain trying to haul a live tree inside and then a dead/dry one outside when it's over!  Lesson learned last year.  So, anyway, we found a BEAUTIFUL tree that we love and we bought it this weeked and put it up.  It makes us so happy!  We are definitely Christmas people.  There is nothing like the glow of a tree and a cup of hot chocolate.  And maybe some Christmas music to go with it and a fuzzy blanket.  Oh, holidays here I come!!  

We had a very restful, yet productive weekend.  As I mentioned before, this was probably our last one for awhile, but it was a good one.  I feel good about all that we got accomplished.  I love weekends like that, don't you?