19 Weeks Wednesday

Well today marks 19 weeks for me and our baby boy and nothing much to report! We got a few things for the baby in Maryland which was exciting. My favorite was actually something intended for Connor. Dan and Marisol got him this hat, but it wouldn't fit his little head. So silly, but so cute...

I'm still off on Christmas vacation and so enjoying the family time and holiday gluttony. So far we've done Christmases 1, 2 and 3 and we're off to Boone tomorrow for number 4. Christmas recaps to come. Also, I can't wait for the 20 week belly shot next week.

It's a Boy!!

Yay! The news is finally public. Our anatomy ultrasound last Wednesday revealed Baby O is a little boy and we couldn't be more thrilled. I have a lot of respect for people who wait to find out the sex. It was hard to wait to 18 weeks - I can't imagine waiting another 22 weeks! Now I can officially start planning for the nursery and registry.

Money shot - embarrassing for teenage Baby O, but I can't help myself...

We told my family I was pregnant in person, so I really wanted to make the gender reveal fun for Jimmy's family. Both sides of the family have Christmas traditions that I could easily adapt, so that's what we did. 

Jimmy's Mom's House/Mom, Kelly, Spencer &  Kevin Reveal

Martha's tradition is hiding a pickle ornament for us "kids" to claw at each other to find. The person who finds the pickle, gets an extra gift. For our spin on her game, we hid an ornament that said "It's a Boy". I  kind of think Martha cheated and knew where it was because she mysteriously dropped bottom left awfully fast...

Jimmy's Dad's House/Dad, Marisol & O'Connor Extended Family Reveal

The O'Connor tradition consists of a big dinner and the "Grab Bag" game, aka Dirty Santa, White Elephant, etc. It's always a hoot with all the aunts, uncles and cousins. Well for a twist, we wrapped up an envelope containing the baby's gender with one of our gifts from the $5 bin at Walmart - the movie Babe. I secretly pointed out "the" package to Kevin, Kelly and Spencer, so they could let someone else open it and make the big reveal. Well, the game lasted so long that Kevin forgot which one "the" package was - thankfully he made quite a production out of it for everyone.

18 Weeks - 1 Day Late

Yesterday marked my 18th week AND the anatomy ultrasound! We're surprising Jimmy's family with the gender tonight and tomorrow night, so I must keep it a "blog" secret for the moment.

I can say, however, that mom and baby O are both super healthy. It's such a relief to know that everything looked good in the ultrasound. Now we hunker down and think positive thoughts for a great rest of the pregnancy, safe delivery and wailing baby!

Below are a few iPhone pics - 3D face shot and little footsies. We're in love...

17 Weeks Wednesday

This last week has been an exciting one to say the least. I woke up Monday feeling more achey and sore in my lower belly than I had been. I thought, "things" (ligaments, muscles, etc) must just be starting to stretch more rapidly. No biggie.

Then early Tuesday morning, maybe around 5:30am, I was laying in bed unable to fall back asleep when I felt the baby move for the first time. It was so unbelievably magical - a feeling like nothing before. Just a quick flutter.  The rest of Tuesday morning I didn't feel anything, but when I was on my lunch break sitting in my car at a traffic light listening to Christmas music, I felt the baby again. This time it felt like a "goldfish swimming inside my belly", as one mommy described it in a forum I read. Now I long everyday for few minutes of peace and quiet to tune in to the subtle movements. Sometimes I picture him/her dancing like this inside my womb to make me smile. Explains the heightened flutters when I'm listening to music.

Other new developments - I'm not as physically strong as I once was. Coincidence? Nah. It has to be pregnancy related. Trying to do yoga tonight I could barely hold the poses. Granted I was never good at yoga before, but that was more related to flexibility. Oh well. I guess I just have to modify moving forward...

CAN NOT WAIT until next Wednesday. Fingers crossed for a healthy and precocious baby so we get a good report and a sex reveal.

Deck the Halls

It's no secret that I absolutely love the holidays. I listen to non-stop Christmas music, watch the Christmas movie classics multiple times each and I love to decorate and wrap presents. Can't believe this is our last Christmas just the two of us. This time next year we'll be + a 7 month old :)

Below are some pictures of our decorations this year...

Swapped our yellow paisley accent pillows

Little gift from Ali - Love the two tone

Handpainted "Joy" I picked up in the mountains in October

Garland and lights up the back staircase

I have an affinity for colored lights on trees

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday preparations as much as I am. Tomorrow it's some outlet shopping with my mom.

16 Week Belly (1 date late)

Not much to show for, but trust me, there's something growing in there. My lower belly is hard, even harder than it was when I was in shape, and my regular pants zipped all the way up are getting more and more uncomfortable. I have no doubts I will need Kelly's be band to make it through the gluttony of Christmas. This is seriously so fun. I look in the mirror constantly - ask Jimmy. Happy Little Friday!

CB Thanksgiving & Mom Gets a Year Younger

This past weekend Jimmy and I hosted a Heintzelman Thanksgiving in CB. I took off work on Friday to help prepare for the big meal Friday evening. My dad and I met Ali and my mom out for breakfast, we went for a beach walk and then we came back to my house to start cooking. Food was on the table when Jimmy got home. Per usual, everything was delicious!

After dinner we quickly cleaned up and walked to "downtown" CB to watch the Christmas parade. It's pretty silly. Along with typical parade floats, there are just average cars decorated with lights and even average cars NOT decorated with lights. We think the latter were just ol' grannies stuck "in traffic" on their way to the grocery store.

Awesome reindeer truck

Festive float

Saturday my dad and Ali helped Jimmy and I decorate our tree (pics to come!) and then we went over to my mom's to watch the CB flotilla. If the parade is silly, the flotilla is just down right lame.  There were maybe 7 boats spaced 10 minutes apart, most of which weren't even that well decorated. Oh well! We'll know next year not to get excited...or to go to Wrightsville Beach the weekend before to see their more reputable flotilla. We then ended the evening with dinner at Indochine. Of all the times my dad has been here, he'd never been there so we thought it was about time. 

Last, but certainly not least, Sunday - my mom's birthday - was spent picking up our house a little and then it was over to my mom's to help her decorate her tree and cook her dinner. My mom's friend got her a really nice bottle of pinot noir. That was the first time I have pined for a glass of wine in my pregnancy so far. You're beyond worth it, baby...

Not a great pic, but dinner and company was great! Jimmy and I apparently felt the need to represent our alma mater on the left side of the table.

I love how she does the red, white and silver on her tree...

Happy Happy Birthday Momma! We love you!

Just a sweet pic of Malloy to end this post. He loves to sit on my lap in this chair, but I had never seen him just crawl up there to sit by himself before. Look at that perm on top of this head!

Maryland Thanksgiving

Very late posting on our Thanksgiving in Maryland. It was a fun filled long weekend complete with lots of good food, Connor!, extended family time and more. A lot of the pictures to follow are borrowed from family - thanks Amy, Kelly & Debi.

We got into town Wednesday afternoon and I spent the evening with Marisol learning how to cook her family's famous Arroz con Pollo - delicious! Thursday morning Marsiol, Jessica and I got up to meet Jamie, Austin, Jen and a bunch of Marisol's friends for the Turkey Trot 5K in Frederick, MD. The race was following by a delicious brunch including (virgin) bloody mary's and mimosas at Nina's. Thanks Jamie and Jen for running with my pregnant butt!

When we got back to Dan and Marisol's place my favorite little man, Connor, was there. How cute is his outfit?

I quickly showered and all the siblings piled in Kelly's minivan to go to the Shouse family Thanksgiving.  It was so good to see everyone and the food was amazing!

Looks like I'm holding on and won't let go of Connor

All the cousins

Oh look it's me holding Connor again :)

Friday was the O'Connor family Thanksgiving and, as always, everything was great and it was so nice to catch up with our loved ones.

Austin gearing up for Turkey Bowl

2011 Turkey Bowl

Cooking up a storm

Wearing the onesie I got him

Saturday we went to Riva to spend the day and night with Martha and Ron. We went to downtown Annapolis for window shopping and an impromptu pub crawl. We ended the evening with dinner at Kevin's favorite - Outback Steakhouse.

Can't wait to see everyone again over Christmas.