Busy Bees

Life, for my little family has been crazy busy this fall/winter. Since fall, we have traveled to Texas to visit my sister and brother-in-law, Minnesota for Grandpa O'Neill's funeral, Memphis TN for a wedding, Cincinnati OH for a baby shower and Knoxville TN two different times... and all while still adjusting to life with a baby! Phew! At times, I thought I wasn't going to make it back out on the road to our next adventure, but God gave me a patient and strong husband to keep me sane. :)

"The Life" ... Just some thoughts

"You've got the life," Danny said to me yesterday. "I wish I didn't have to work and got to hold the baby all day long". He said it in a condescending tone but he was joking. "OH. MY. GOSH," was all I could get our at first. "You know what?! I wish I didn't have to work either! Instead my work is all hours of the day - I am always working!" I finally replied. We joke often about how different our daily obligations are so I wasn't shocked or offended, but it got me thinking.

One month, two month... Red fish, blue fish?

My sweet girl is 2 months, already! Sometimes, I think time is flying by - other times it seems as if sweet baby girl has been with us all along. Well, it may be hard to believe but before Stella was 2 months old she was only one month old. lol. I am clearly still adjusting to motherhood! Last month I had semi-prepared a post for her one month but I, then, ended up saving it as a draft and forgetting about it before finishing it. :-/ Oops! So today is really

Stella Grace O'Neill - The story of her arrival :)

Four weeks ago today I had my routine 38 week check up. Earlier during the week I had woken up around 3am with some strong back pain and cramps... I wasn't SURE but hopefully assumed these were the first signs of entering early labor. At my 37 week check up I was told I had dilated 2cm but that it wasn't really a sign that she was coming soon necessarily. I had these pains off and on all week and the anticipation of not knowing when she was coming was KILLING me! I was soo anxious to meet her.

Sweet Stella's Space

Clean, stocked and ready to go...errr... Kind of...

Well its been another month since my last posting and I don't even feel bad about it. Life has been sooo crazy here, for the O'Neill family! It all started with a smoke smell in our apartment. I had started smelling hints of cigarette smoke in our apartment a few weeks before we left for the beach. It wasn't super strong and I only smelled it sometimes so I figured it was just the neighbors and I tried airing out the place. When we first arrived at the beach and I opened up my luggage, I was surprised to find that my whole suitcase and all my clothes inside smelled like cigarettes! For two non-smokers, one with asthma and one being pregnant, I grew a little concerned.

July 4th Vacay!

Well hellloooo there! :)
The past two weeks have been filled with lots of adventure. The week of the 4th we were invited to stay with some friends at Litchfield Beach in South Carolina. We didn't go for the entire week since Danny wanted to get some work in. Tuesday evening we drove to Nashville and stayed the night with my brother. Nashville is about two hours from us so it was an easy drive. The next morning McKenzie and Kate (McKenzie's awesome girlfriend) drove us to the airport and we spent the afternoon and evening at the beach. :) We were there until Friday night and had so much fun!

33 Week Questionnaire

How far along: 33 weeks - 34 on Thursday. 

Sleep: Been sleeping a little better. We bought some memory foam and I think it makes a big difference.

Total weight gain/loss: Up a total of around 20lbs

Movement: She moves all the time, especially when Danny and I sing/talk to her at night. :)

Size of Baby: A little over 17 inches long and close to 5lbs 

Pregnancy Symptoms: It's getting harder to breathe and do simple tasks like unload the dishwasher. :( haha

Food Cravings: Anything, really lol

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach, getting up from the couch easily.

What I am looking forward to: Kathleen's wedding on August 3rd!! (sister-in-law)

Weekly Wisdom: Pregnant in the summer? STOCK UP ON SUN DRESSES AND MAXIS! With it being soooo HOT outside I can't stand the thought of wearing pants!

Best moment this week: Attending our first couple of baby class! It is super informative and we really like the instructor.

Milestones: Baby girl now keeps her eyes open when awake and she is learning to coordinate her breathing with sucking and swallowing.

31 Week Questionnaire

How far along: 31 weeks. Today I am exactly TWO MONTHS from DDay!!

Sleep: What is sleep? No, its not really that bad... I just don't sleep comfortably in my bed. I nap throughout the day though which is really nice!

Total weight gain/loss: Up a total of around 16lbs

Movement: Tons! I love it when she moves my whole belly and Danny can see it :)

Size of Baby: A little over 16 inches long! At this point she won't get TOO much longer but she has some weight to gain. She is only around 3lbs. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: I want to eat all the time but I can't eat much at once haha, I get out of breath WAY too easy, and my back bothers me a lot these days. OH, and I have to pee alllll the time. 

Food Cravings: SWEETS!!! I have recently been trying to keep our fridge stocked full of yummy fruit hoping that if I eat enough, I won't feel such a strong urge to sneak away for ice cream! It only kind of works... :-/

What I miss: Easily bending over - I never realized how often you need to pick things up off the floor. I also miss laying on my stomach and back. Oh, and I could also go for a nice glass of wine right about now haha.

What I am looking forward to: A little bit of beach time this week for the 4th and my friend coming to visit when we get back!

Weekly Wisdom: If you have the money and space in your room, don't skip out on a king sized bed because you think a queen will be "more intimate". When you get pregnant you will wish you had the space of a king!

Best moment this week: Having Danny at the doctor's appointment. He hasn't been able to come with me recently and this was his first time seeing the new hospital. He has a way of making everything more fun. Also, hearing baby girl's heartbeat again - its always a good day when you get to hear your unborn baby's heartbeat.

Milestones: We decided on a name. :) Baby girl's first name is Stella. We aren't sure about the middle name yet.

31 Weeks; Feeling Blessed!

I have been falling soooo behind in posting ... all I can say is things are gettin' crazy around here ... in a good way! :) Here are a few quick updates;

6/17/13 - 29 Weeks; Settling in Evansville

Oops ... its been almost a month since my last post! Coming to Evansville has been such a whirlwind - we have been crazy busy!

25 Weeks and the Beginning of a New Journey

This week baby girl is around the size of a whole cauliflower measuring somewhere between 13.6-14.8 inches long and weighing between 1.5 - 2.2lbs! Soooo... the other 10lbs are just me, huh? (Dang it) haha. Anyway, she is doing well as far as we can tell! Her favorite time to be awake is right when I lie down to sleep at nights... isn't that sweet? She is already being thoughtful by getting me used to lack of sleep. :)

A New Vocation

Sorry its been so long! I hate going so long without posting because then when I finally do I have so much more to say haha. To make up for it, I'll try to post 2x's this week. :)

Today I am 23 weeks (and 4 days). Baby girl is the size of a Grapefruit right now. She is somewhere around 11 inches long and can weigh anywhere between 13-20 ounces! I feel her kicking all the time now and Danny can feel some of the big ones now too, so that's really neat for him. She is most active when I sit down or lay down right after being active. :)

This past week was a crazy, crazy week. I was working on the baby registries allll weeeeeek loooooong and I got super overwhelmed with everything.

A Birthday Wish Come True...

My birthday flowers and breakfast made by Meghan and Jess Mearns

Monday was my 25th birthday. Other than it probably being the first birthday ever spent away from my parents, it was one of the best! Danny had been sneaking around making surprise plans with some of my friends from home and two of them came to surprise me. It was an awesome surprise and we had a really great weekend!

Its a Girl!

Well, tomorrow I will be 21 weeks! Other than the gender reveal, there isn't too much news since we haven't been to the doctor since my last post. I will say that I have really started to feel bigger ...

20 Weeks tomorrow!!

Enjoying our new ride :)

Its been a crazy few weeks so I haven't gotten to post in a while. During these past few weeks, Danny and I
had a fun trip to Cincinnati, got a new car (our first family car), had family in for Easter, and went to Knoxville to celebrate my niece's first birthday and Danny's 26th! It has been a whirlwind with long weekends and short work weeks and its looking like every weekend of April is following suit. In fact, tomorrow I fly out to Texas along with my mother-in-law and Aunts to visit my sister-in-law!! I am so excited! She is getting married 8.3.13 so we are looking at wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses.

Weeks 17...well 17ish :)

I was 17 weeks last Thursday. As I mentioned in my previous post, my clothes have been uncomfortable since week 15ish. Over the weekend we had a wedding to go to in Cincinnati and we were going to meet up with some of Danny's close friends and their wives the Friday night before. We had dinner plans and such and I was frantic about what I was going to wear since I have been hardly ever wearing "real clothes". Friday morning when I woke up I immediately remembered I had a gift card to Macy's and there is one 10 minutes from our house! I went and had success!

Weeks 6-16

Baby O's first photo shoot

The first few weeks I was pregnant we stayed in a Residence Inn in Morgantown, WV. It was one of the nicer rooms I've stayed in but because the morning sickness (which should be called ALL DAY misery) was setting in, I was ready to get out of there when we picked up and moved about 2 weeks after settling in. Our first appointment with my doctor back home in Knoxville was at 8 weeks. It was surreal to see our little baby for the first time! It was tiny, but it was our baby nonetheless. Made in full my God's goodness, in part by the love Danny and I shared. It was and still is such a beautiful miracle that life comes from love.

Our First Time Hearing the News

Danny and I found out we were expecting on New Years Eve. Although, I had been thinking about babies a lot and dreaming of the day when we had some of our own we were quite terrified when we first found out.We weren't even in the privacy of our own home so that made everything a little bit crazier. Instead, we were getting ready for a big night out with two good couple friends of ours. We were going to a concert. My friend Cory had listened to me complain about some changes in my body all afternoon and finally she said "Charley, have you taken a pregnancy test??".