Whew!  We made it through a whirlwind trip to the Midwest and back.  I didn’t turn on my computer even once, and it was amazing.  I had intended to write this post way back on Thursday, but then ended up sprawled out on my mom’s couch in Cincinnati recovering from a rough red eye flight and eating double chocolate cake instead.  Oops!

Thursday – May 9th – was my fourth wedding anniversary.  While it definitely feels hard to remember life before Casey, it’s hard to believe we’ve already been married four long years (and together for seven!)

We got married in my childhood church in Cincinnati, so it felt extra special to celebrate our anniversary back there this year. 

In all the craziness that has been moving from state to state to state, having a new baby, surviving our first year of parenting, deciding to have another baby, deciding to move again – it is easy to get caught up in the day to day stresses and details.  Our anniversary was a nice chance to block all of that out and just focus on the reason we decided to take on so many adventures together in the first place – we’re a pretty great team.

We spent our first wedding anniversary in Charlotte, and that’s actually when I finally wrote our wedding recap (a year late!) – parts one and two.  (I also wrote a post a few years ago telling all about how we met!)

On our second wedding anniversary, we were finally reunited (after a week apart) on the front door step of our first home in Seattle!  Since then, our anniversary has felt even more special.  Here we are two years ago, celebrating two years of marriage and our very first day in our new city of Seattle.  I was 17 weeks pregnant – just a week behind where I am in this pregnancy, but looking totally bump-less.  Not so much this time around!

And here we are two years later – celebrating four years of marriage and two years in a city that we absolutely love.  Life is so different for us now, with one wild toddler already, and another new peanut on the way – but we are still the same goofy couple we were back then.

Even though we’d flown the red eye and barely slept the night before, we took advantage of a snoozing toddler and free babysitter (thanks, Mom!) and went out for a celebratory dinner in Cincinnati.  We ate five delicious courses at Honey in Northside, and followed it up with Graeter’s ice cream on Hyde Park Square.  We sat on a bench and ate ice cream at 10pm, and it was perfect. 

It was a fun way to celebrate four years with my favorite partner in crime. 

Here’s to many many more!

When we last left off, I was 15 weeks along and just starting to look a little more round in the midsection.  There has been a lot of growing since then!

At sixteen weeks last time, I was in transition from leaving DC and moving to Seattle, and spent the week in Cincinnati while we waited for our movers to travel across the country.  At sixteen weeks this time, we are getting ready to move again, but luckily this move is just local. 

During week sixteen I ran my first pregnant race, and generally felt pretty good.  I threw up twice, but that has become pretty par for the course.  Even though getting sick is never fun, it feels more manageable this time and has been limited to mornings so far.  Exhaustion has been much more difficult to deal with.  I can barely keep my eyes open in the afternoons!

At seventeen weeks, I felt like I really “popped.”  This picture doesn’t really do justice to the belly that is there now.  While it feels weird to suddenly have such a noticeable belly, I’m happy to show early and bypass the awkward in between stage. 

It’s funny that I know my belly is already much bigger this time than it was at seventeen weeks last time, but I’m still fitting into my regular jeans (for now), while last time I was well into maternity gear.  I think this is further evidence that I’m carrying higher this time – it definitely looks and feels like it.  I’ve gained somewhere around 5-6 pounds.

My appetite is still really…off.  I don’t have any particular food aversions this time and am willing to eat pretty much everything, but nothing actually sounds remotely appetizing.  I keep thinking this should be changing sooner than later, but I’d still be happy to live off of baked potatoes if I could.  Orange juice, fruit, cereal, bagels, eggs, and baked goods all still sound wonderful.  My sweet tooth is more out of control than ever.

And while I’m willing to eat a good variety of things, I’m finding it very hard to actually cook anything (as evidenced on my recipe page!).  Cooking sounds horrible and exhausting most nights, which has meant lots of soup, pasta, and frozen vegetables.  Hoping this passes soon!

As of today, I’m officially 18 weeks along.  Time feels like it’s flying, and I can’t believe we’re almost halfway there.  We have our 20-week ultrasound scheduled for a few weeks from now, and I’m excited to get another peek at this little nugget. 

I’m starting to feel lots of little kicks and thumps in my lower abdomen, and Casey was actually able to feel one last night.  I think I’m still sort of in shock that someone is in there!  It hasn’t totally sunk in, probably because we are so busy focusing on Cullen instead of me this time around.  But all these little thumps and bumps are a nice reminder of the sweet little one that is going to be here before we know it.

Overall this pregnancy is going really well.  Not perfect – still not fun to be throwing up in week eighteen, and I’m having a lot of intense headaches – but I don’t feel like I have much room to complain.  If I point to my belly and ask Cullen “what’s this?" – he says “babeeee” and gives it a kiss.  It makes me melt every time. 

I’m looking forward to getting settled in our new place and getting Cullen settled into his big boy room so we can start thinking about getting set up for this little one too.  And tonight, I’m looking forward to flying home to see our friends and family, and see my little sister graduate!  This will probably be the only time I see most of them during this pregnancy, which is really strange.

Almost halfway there!

For more pregnancy posts, you can visit the pregnancy page.  Here are other posts I’ve written so far about my second pregnancy:

• The Next Chapter
• First Trimester, Second Pregnancy!
• Pregnancy #2: Weeks 14 & 15

For parenting posts, you can also visit the parenting page.  You can also check out the latest over on Babble:

• A Look At Our Insta-Month: April!
• Don’t Get Rid of That Infant Bathtub Just Yet…
• I Can’t Believe He’s Not Ripping These Off
• 10 Ways To Avoid The Dreaded Car Nap