January 14 - Pictures as promised

Mama is having a challenging computer day, so hopefully this will come out without her losing her temper again. I don't like it when she does that--but I can give her heartburn as revenge.

This is the first picture, which was taken while I was still fairly quiet. Check out the bone in my left thigh (towards the bottom, the big white slash) There's no doubt about my gender at all.



The nice portrait, captured with me squirming and not posing well at all. Previews of things to come! You can just see one of my hands towards the bottom left.

This one was smaller, but shows off my cute little nose, and a hint of chubby cheeks.


I'm practicing for Halloween with my skull face. Actually this was probably supposed to be a face shot, but I was not staying still. That appears to be my arm off to the side--in motion, of course.

Just to show that I was a wiggle worm during my session, here is me, as a nearly indistinguishable blob of baby. Mama isn't sure what part of me got in the picture and is less sure what was *supposed* to be in the picture. She thinks the large blob on the left might be part of my head...with the small dark spot as part of my ear. Maybe.

You can clearly see that I'm big enough that you can't get all of me on one picture anymore.

January 13--I'm a BOY!

I wasn't terribly shy about showing off my pride at the beginning of the exam, but I made the ultrasonographer chase me around afterwards. I did not want to show off my face at all, or sit still to have my bones measured. I wiggled while she tried to get my heart rate--but Mama did see the valves working. I did some more punching, just to stay in practice.

So far everything looks fine, they estimate that I weigh 14 ounces and my heart rate is 146 bpm. Mama should be able to feel me move soon.

Daddy was very happy--even though he thought I was a girl. Ha!

Mama will get my pictures posted once she gets them scanned.

~Russell

January 10--Bargain huntress extraordinaire

Aunt June told Mama that she got a little swing for me, with an aquarium theme. We can add frogs to fit in with Daddy's frog obsession and match other things that are in the house!

Mama also talked to Grandpa Ron today, and he said that he was happy for she and Daddy. She was happy to hear that!

I am now waiting patiently for Tuesday, when I am supposed to have my big ultrasound. At that point, my parents should have a pretty good idea if I will be male or female. Are there no secrets left in this world?

January 6-Good news!

Mama got a phone call today from the Doctor's office, and all the tests that they do for older moms came back negative. So all systems are go!

January 5--another registry

Today Mama and I went to Target, and registered for items there. There's a little duplication, but hopefully not too much. A lot of items--especially the Classic Pooh--were on clearance. She was tempted, but was good. I convinced her that she wanted an orange instead of baby clothes, and it tasted yummy!

Mama wants me to tell you that she scanned some of the very plain clothes type items to show styles, not to indicate that I need to wear white all the time! She had a hard time finding coveralls with footies on them. Don't get her started on how fast we will lose socks and slippers...so she's trying to avoid those in the beginning.

Mama also looked at sizes, and decided that we probably won't need anything that is for less than 8 pounds. She suspects that I'm not going to be a small baby, and that I'll probably outgrow small clothes pretty darned quickly. Who am I to argue at this point?

Registry at Target is under Margaret OKeefe, but is named for me--O'Baby registry!

January 4--registry information

Just in case anyone is interested:

Mama dragged her friend Aunt June around Babies R Us and registered for a bunch of things. It's listed under the last name of OKEEFE and the first name of Margaret(Regan).

Not too much in the way of clothing because she was warned that the styles change too fast. Besides, I'll probably grow pretty fast and used clothes are going to be fine. Mama is very much into practical kinds of clothing--one pieces, ones with rounded bottoms for me to kick my legs, ones that have arms and legs (jumpsuits?) and probably some "onesies" that don't have leggings on them for summer.

Aunt June has agreed to provide a crib for me, and Antema has a bassinet, so sleeping places are set so far. I also have a portable crib/play space from Aunt June which Mama thinks looks pretty cool!

There isn't a set theme for my room, although it has green and purple in it already. Mama and Daddy like classic Pooh, and anything with frogs on it. Daddy has a thing for frogs...and it will match the bathroom by my bedroom. But with plans for a lot of secondhand goods, it wouldn't be fair for me (or my parents) to be picky about coordinating a theme.

Mama really liked the style of bouncer that she found at the store--she thinks it offered the best amount of bouncing for when I kick my little legs, and it also has a vibrating feature that might help me sleep. Mama doesn't think that I need a new one, but it might be helpful to see what she was thinking about when she picked it.

She also tried on a bunch of baby carriers, and the one that was easy to get into and out of and had a back support (important for Mama's bad back!) is the one she picked. There was another one that she said was comfortable, but it took both she and Aunt June to get her in and out of it, and that's without adding me!

Aunt June swears by the seat that you can put at the table, rather than a separate high chair, so that is on the list as well.

Gosh, it seems that babies need a lot of things, even omitting a lot of "must haves" from the list!

December 30--Telling Mama's family

Bill and Regan got Christmas presents for her mom and stepfather (Grandma Betty and Grandpa Ron) that they hoped could amuse and serve as an announcement. Since Grandpa Ron does counted cross stitch, it's a bit of a tradition to get him items that they would like to display around the home. So this year it was baby announcements. "A Star Is Born" was the style--one for us and one for them to keep.

Everyone seemed shocked into silence. I think Grandma Betty will be happy when she gets to hold me this summer and gets over the surprise.