Decorating, Shopping & Registering

First off, I want to apologize for the recent lack in blog postings – it is crazy how fast the past two weeks have gone! Brian and I have been keeping busy with work, school, football and preparing for the little guys arrival.

With less than four months to go until the big day – I have kicked the baby room decorating into high gear! Since we are having a boy, we have decided that the colors of the room will be green, brown, orange and white. The plan for the walls was to do a light orange as the color – but after FIVE different samples of paint, we decided light orange was just not working. We finally agreed on a color that is more of a mid-orange shade, which is actually called “Orange Cream.”

My plan is to paint the room in a few weekends, and I will be sure to post pictures once I am done! I may let Brian help paint a little, but if you know him like I do, you will know that he is not that good with the little details (think edges) and that he is best left to paint only the large middle areas of the walls! (and for all your worriers out there – I did ask my doctor and I am allowed to paint as long as the room is well ventilated!)

Once we got the paint color figured out – it was time to start shopping! I don’t know about you, but I LOVE to shop online. I am always finding some great stuff at some amazing prices. Below are pictures of just a few of the things I have picked up in the last few weeks:

how precious is this wall art?

I fell in love with these bookends for the book shelf

what sold me on this crib set is the dust ruffle - it was just what i was looking for!

And speaking of shopping… Brian and I finished our registries last week! (If you want to check them out, we are registered at Target & Babies R Us)

Since our first baby shower is coming up in about a month, I wanted to get the registry done as soon as possible. As Brian is not too much of a shopper, I decided to start both registries online and add all the basics to the registry so that when we went to the actual stores, we would not be there forever. I think my plan worked, because both trips were very successful and we managed to get in and out in about an hour. The only problem is that there is SO much cute baby stuff and it was hard not to scan everything in the store!

Be sure to check back later this week for the latest belly shot and some updates on our little boy!

A little late

I know I am a little late at taking my 20 week belly shot - but here it is:

20 weeks, 4 days

And just for fun - I put together a progression of my last four belly shots to see how much the belly has really grown! Although I do not feel that MUCH bigger and I have only gained about 10 pounds - you can definitely see a difference!

Ultrasound Pics & Baby Clothes

I apologize about the delay in posting the ultrasound pics... but here are a few of them!

A Foot

It's a Boy!

As you many have guessed - our appointment last Wednesday went very well! The baby managed to cooperate long enough to show us what was between the legs, but he was not very cooperative when it came to giving us a shot of his face. Every time they tried to get a good shot of his face with the 3D image, he had his hands up by his face! The baby weighed in at about 12 oz last week (about the weight of a can of coke!) and he is about 6.5 inches in length from head to butt. It is amazing how much bigger he is since the last ultrasound we had when he was only about 2.5 inches long.

After receiving the exciting news that Brian will be getting the little boy he had wished for - I thought it was only appropriate to celebrate with some adorable baby clothes! So, after work, I headed to Kohls (cuz they were having a great sale) and picked up some outfits for the little man. They had SO much cute stuff there and it was SO fun to actually be able to browse all the clothes and picture our little guy wearing these outfits. I did not go TOO crazy and settled on the following two outfits:

Aren't they just adorable??

It's a...

I will post some of the ultrasound pictures later tonight...

Is it a BOY or a GIRL?

With a little less than a week remaining till we find out what we are having – I thought I would do some investigating of my own. There are SO many old wives’ tales out there that supposedly indicate whether you are having a boy or a girl - so just for fun, I thought I would test some of them out to see what is in store for us!

After each tale, I have indicated whether we will be having a boy or a girl according to the specifics:

• Morning Sickness – If you did not experience morning sickness in early pregnancy it is a boy and it is a girl if you did have morning sickness early in pregnancy = BOY
• Baby’s Heart Rate – If the heart rate is less than 140 beats per minute, it is a boy and if its more than 140 beats per minute, it is a girl = GIRL
• Acne - An increased amount of acne during pregnancy means you are having a baby girl = BOY
• Food Cravings - If you crave salty food while pregnant it means you are having a boy and if you crave sweet food while you are pregnant it means you are having a girl = GIRL
• Hands – Dry hands mean a boy and soft hands mean a girl = BOY
• Age + Conception #1 - The Mayans take the mothers age at conception and the year of conception and add them together. If the result is an even number then mom is having a girl. If the result is an odd number then a boy is on the way = GIRL
• Age + Conception #2 - Add your age at the time of conception and the number for the month you conceived. If the sum is even it’s a boy, if its odd a girl = BOY
• Weight - If someone can’t tell you are pregnant from the back, it’s a boy because with a girl you would be pregnant all over = BOY

Boy wives tales: 5

Girl wives tales: 3

And last but not least – according to the Chinese Lunar calendar (see image below), we should be having a BOY!

I guess we will find out the truth soon enough…

18 week, 3 day belly shot

The bump is getting bigger!

18 weeks... and Football!

It is SO crazy to think that tomorrow I will be 18 weeks along in this pregnancy – only two more weeks till I am at the half-way point!

Now that the second trimester is in full swing, I have been feeling much better and I think I am even getting a little bit of my energy back. I have been eating like crazy and have gained about 6 pounds so far – although I think all the weight has gone directly to my belly. My pre-pregnancy pants no longer fit and I have given into the maternity ones and I must say - they are quite comfy!

This weekend, our little McDermott baby got to experience his or her first college football experience (via the womb)! Saturday night was the start of the football season here in Austin and we are lucky to have season tickets this year – so we got to go to the stadium and watch UT beat Louisiana-Monroe! Apparently, the baby is starting to hear sounds now and I wonder if he/she enjoyed all the cheering and the sounds of the cannon going off after we score! Here are a few pics from the game for your enjoyment:

Baby's First UT Game - tailgating

The View from our Seats

Brian & Liz at the game

On another note – Brian and I went to our 18-week check up on Wednesday. Everything is looking good with the baby and the doctor was able to find the heartbeat via Doppler VERY fast this time. We go back to the doctor in two weeks for the BIG ONE – the ultrasound where we get to find out what we are having!

So what do you all think… are we having a BOY or a GIRL?