Baby Bump v7

Baby Bump v6

Latest installment of my ever-expanding belly!

Our Babymoon

In late September we went to Jacksonville, Florida to attend our friend Cheryl's wedding.  We saw this as also the perfect time for a quick babymoon: one last get away alone together before baby arrives.  We decided to stay two nights at a bed and breakfast in St. Augustine (St. Francis Inn).  This gave us just enough time to see some sites in the old town, tour the fort and the lighthouse, and spend some quality time on the beach.  It was wonderful and relaxing and all that I had hoped it would be!

Baby Bump v5

For some reason, I look bigger in the day 164 pic than the day 185 pic . . . hmmmm, must have had the camera set on the "fat" setting.  Or I was just bloated -- yech! 

Cool things have been happening in the past week or so though, I now know that I am actually feeling Mini-Matt kicking around in there and the other night, he kicked or punched Matt in the head!  I guess that's what he gets for laying his head on my belly.  And last night when he was doin' his thing, I could see the outside of my belly moving -- sooooo flippin' cool!  Tonight I am officially 26 weeks!

The Changing Table Construction Begins

Our totally awesome friend Don is building us (or Mini-Matt) a changing table/dresser.  Here's the beginning -- lots-o-wood:

Four Months Post-Ellen

Christie and I at the Ellen show (I was around 6 weeks) and this evening after Chinese food; Christie is almost 39 weeks and I am almost 26!  Our hair has gotten a little longer and our bellies have definitely gotten bigger!

My 34th Birthday -- Preggers

For my birthday we went out into the woods with the pups, Cassie, Josh, and Don and had a bonfire.  We played some horseshoes, cooked on the fire (including crab legs -- they were fantastic!) and s'mores.  It was a great way to spend the evening.

Shibas in the woods.

Cassie chillin' in the woods.

Me and the baby-bump.

Gift Registry for Baby O'Neill -- a.k.a. mini-Matt

A few people have asked about our registry, so I thought it would be easiest to just put it up on the blog and send the link to those who want it.  Note: gifts are not necessary! But we do appreciate well-wishes and hugs.  :-)

Go to this link:
http://www.myregistry.com

In the upper left corner under "Find A Registry" type
First name: heidie
Last name: oneill
Click on Search

It should bring us up and then click on "go to registry"
The password is: baseball

After all of this, you should FINALLY be at the registry!  When you click on an item your browser should open a new window at the online store where the item is available.  You DO NOT have to purchase it from that particular store (you might find it cheaper somewhere else!) but please, if you do purchase something, remember to mark it as purchased on the registry.

The Rest of the Stroller

We got the last piece of our Teutonia stroller from the Ellen show -- the main seat.  It's just as nice as the carrycot and seems to be very versatile.  I think we'll enjoy using it, let's just hope our kid enjoys riding in it.

All folded up -- pretty big footprint, but we'll make due!

Kickin' back position.

Hooded w/mesh at the back.

Complete hood -- looks like the PAPR I have to wear at work when playing with live bacteria!

It has a rain fly!!

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Onesie!

Saw it at Target, couldn't pass it up.

20 Week Anatomy Scan -- It's a Boy!

This morning we had our 20-week anatomy scan which is another big milestone in the pregnancy.  Basically, they use the ultrasound to look at all of the organs and development and check for major defects.  A doctor still needs to evaluate our ultrasound pics and get us the results, but the ultrasound tech thought many things looked great.  For example, we could tell that the spine is completely enclosed, the heart was beating and has 4 chambers with valves in the right direction, you could see the stomach and the bladder (which indicates the kidneys are functioning), and no club feet.  We could see the little guy moving around, although I don't feel much yet, and we got to see him swallowing, which was cool.  He is also measuring at the right size too.  And yes, I said "he".  We also found out today that we're having a boy!  At our nuchal scan appointment the ultrasound tech had guessed it was a girl, but I was just shy of 12 weeks which is really too early to tell.  Today there was no mistaking the boy parts -- so I think we can safely say we know the gender now!  Below are a couple pics from today:

Profile of our baby boy: head to the right, blocked a bit by arms and hands.

The bottoms of his little feet, toes to the right.

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I am officially 20 weeks today!  Tomorrow is our big 20-week appointment where they will check the organs and development of the baby, hopefully everything will go well.  We should also find out the gender tomorrow, if baby cooperates!

Completion of the Living Room

I think we have finally won the battle of "home improving" (at least in our living room).  I shudder as I think about the state of the desk area, the guest room, our room, the yard . . . but at least the baby room and living room are ready for baby!  Below are pics of the living room during construction/before new carpet (on the left) compared to how it looks today (on right).

Bookshelf/Storage Solution for the Baby's Room

I found a great book/storage shelf at Target the other day that I thought would work great in the baby room.  We finally put it together tonight and got it set up.  It has 9 cubbies and you can buy soft-sided storage baskets to fit them.  I think they'll be good for holding small things like tiny socks, teethers, toys, etc. and we'll have lots of room for books too!

The new bookcase next to our crib

We gathered up all of the kid-type books we had in the house and started filling the shelves -- the baby room is coming together!

Yo My Booties!!

We got another one of our gifts from the Ellen show tonight: Yo My Booties!  They are angora booties that are super soft and we got the 3-6 month size.  The dogs were really excited about them but we put them away before they could sneak off with them.  We also picked the green color because we are big nerds -- we kind of thought they looked like algae balls.  :-D

Crib Assembly

We purchased (well, the O'Neill grandparents purchased) our crib and mattress Friday after work (luckily, the rains that had closed Milton road had already passed) and got it home without incident.  It has a single drop-side and will convert to a toddler bed and then later with the purchase of a conversion kit to a twin bed.  Today we assembled it in the baby's room and figured out where to put it.  The room is coming together and looks great!

Crib (Baby's Dream brand "Ocean") waiting to be assembled:

 

Completed!  Let's hope the kid uses it -- we've heard that we won't use this room for months after the baby is born.

 

Just enough space left for our changing table (between the crib and window) and a small bookcase (just inside the door by the crib):

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Baby Room Update

The baby room gets curtains and trim!

Getting the House Ready

With a baby on the way we decided it was time to make the double-wide a bit more livable, and the baby needed a room!  This started with consolidating and getting rid of a few fish tanks (easy) and cleaning out Matt's man-cave/indoor garage to become the baby room (a little more difficult).  Somewhere along the way (after the 50 gallon fish tank was broken down) we decided to get new carpet installed in the living room, along with the baby room.  Luckily, Matt's dad was on his way out to help us prep the baby room, little did he know what he was getting into!  Below are pics thus far from cleaning out rooms, to painting and laying carpet.  More to come as progression continues!

The living room construction zone . . . 

Mia says: WTF?

Cleaned and ready for carpet . . .

Carpet installed!! (Note, in less than 24 hours after install, one of the dogs had an accident on the new carpet, *sigh*).

The dogs check it out and approve!

Cleaning out the man cave/indoor garage . . .  

Cleaned and ready for painting with "summer dragonfly" . . .

Painted!

Carpet installed . . .