Happy Halloween and Happy Election Day!

Evan was an elf for Halloween, though his outfit turned out looking a little more like Robin Hood. I made little slippers with toes that curled up, a Robin Hood looking hat with feathers, a bow and arrows, and a little green outfit. He was super cute! More pictures are posted on the picasa site. We did not get that many trick or treaters, probably because of our house location and the rain, but those that did come were pretty cute. There were a few more hand-made outfits this year, so that made me happy.

As you can see in this picture, Evan is turning out to be a little chunkster! He continues to be a voracious eater (obviously). I don't have a proper scale to weigh him, but I am sure he is around 13 pounds. I measured him at 23 inches the other day. Tomorrow he will be 3 months old - I can't believe it.

In a final note, I hope you are going out and voting! Don't let the polls deter you - the election is never over until its over. That's all I have to say about that.

Chicago Visit

Evan had his first plane ride a couple weeks ago. We traveled to Chicago to meet the Majeres side of the family and to get him baptized. The plane ride went amazingly well despite the fact that I was traveling alone with two bags, two carry-ons, a baby AND the flight was totally full! Evan was an angel (as usual!) and slept most of the way. I, on the other hand, was a complete stress case. I have never packed more than a few hours before a flight before, but this time I started packing two days in advance. Dear god, I am turning into my mom (don't take offence mom!).
We were also able to meet Hannah Mangan - the new addition to the Mango family - pictured left with the beautiful new parents, Chris and Michelle. She was born shortly after Evan on September 14. The running joke is that we are planning an arranged marriage although the sparks did not seem to fly between the two as Hannah was totally asleep when Evan came to visit her house and then Evan was totally asleep when Hannah came to his baptism. Oh well.
Here is one picture from the brunch before the baptism of Aaron, Evan, Michelle, and Hannah. I have posted more pictures on our picasa site, but since I forgot our camera for the baptism, I will post more pictures when I get them from my sister and mom.

And We Have Smiles!

Evan started smiling more a couple weeks ago and it became obvious it wasn't just gas! He smiles the most in the morning after just waking up. It makes us so happy to think he must be smiling because he is happy to see us first thing in the morning! He also loves to smile when we put him down for playtime. I think he recognizes that it's playtime and he gets to bat things around and watch mommy and daddy make silly faces at him. He is really good at holding his head up now and pushes away from us whenever we are holding him so he can look around. During tummy time, he is constantly moving and kicking his legs or doing push-ups. You can tell he really wants to start crawling and I think we are in for it when he starts!

In other news, Evan had his 2 month check-up yesterday. He now weighs 11.25 pounds, is 22.5 inches long, and has a head circumference of 15.5 inches. He is in the 25th percentile for his age. We also had to give him his shots, which I was really nervous about. We had a really great nurse that did an excellent job this time. He was fussy and slept a lot yesterday, but today he is back to his good old self.

We are off to Chicago next week to show him off to everyone. I am sure Evan will love all the new faces. Evan will also be baptized at St. Isaac Jogues on October 19 at 1:30pm. Everyone is welcome to join us. I have uploaded more pics at our picasa web album if you just have not gotten enough of Evan's adorable face!

Aaron can feed!

Four weeks of solid breasfeeding have passed, so I decided it was time to pump and try the bottle. I also came to the realization that this meant Aaron could feed Evan. Yep, that means I could be really mean and pump enough for one whole night and make Aaron do all the feeding while I at last get a full night's sleep. I have yet to carry out this sinister plot, but Aaron better be prepared!

We have had a busy couple of weeks. Grandparents Ogilvie came to visit, as well as Aaron's uncle Leo and our friends the Stones (see blog link in sidebar). Pics of the visits are posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jeogilvieandaaogilviepics. Other friends Christy Doyle (see blog in sidebar) and Lee will be visiting shortly and my sister is able to make a second visit this weekend. Evan loves new faces! Of course this means he is spoiled rotten by being held all the time. "His feet shall never touch the ground!"

It's a darn good thing that Evan is so adorable and I am totally in love with him. With the sleep deprivation, projectile pooing (yes, he has pooed across the changing table and hit the bedroom door!), fountain peeing all over himself and me or daddy at least every other day, and the daily vomit all over me no matter how much I attempt to shield myself, it's amazing I am still sane. But I manage to laugh through it all and shower him with kisses.

In other news, we had our 1 month check up. Evan weighed in at 9 pounds!!! He had gained 2 pounds in a couple weeks - I guess those feedings every 1.5 hours or so paid off. We also had to give him a Hep B shot, which was more traumatizing for me than him. He cried for about 2 seconds when he got the shot and stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. Meanwhile, I was balling before the shot, during the shot, and for about five minutes after the shot. I am a little paranoid about vaccinations, what can I say? He turned out fine though, so no worries now. I hear the 2 month visit is a lot of shots - I think I may need a valium or something for that one!

Evan is One Month!

Time is flying already. Evan is one month old today (based on it being four weeks ago this Tuesday that he was born). He is also growing like crazy. He measures 21 inches today - 3 more inches than his birth length! The new parents are still doing pretty well, but very tired as shown in the picture of Aaron. He may look like death warmed over, but he is happy! In this picture, he is employing the patented Aaron-swadle method by which he keeps Evan bundled up in contentment with his hands. Mom is pretty tired too. Evan is going through a growth spirt, so he wanted a feeding every 1 hour and 45 minutes the other night!

The next picture is one of my favorite Evan poses. He arches his back, purses his lips, closes his eyes but raises his eyebrows like he is trying really hard to open them, and then moves his head back and forth while moaning or grunting. He usually makes this pose when he is working on a diaper or digesting something.
The picture of Evan and Aaron's feet gives a good perspective of how tiny he really is! And the last picture was taken today to memorex his turning one month old. He is staring intently at Grandma Ogilvie. He loves to stare at people's faces, look at light or rainbows, and listen to our windchimes or voices. He just started kicking toys and grabbing things on his own yesterday. He is already lifting and holding his head really well. I think the curiousness, always wanting to be able to see and check things out, and staying awake as much as he possibly can comes from Mommy. He loves sitting up and looking around. It is really amazing to watch his development.

Grandpa Majeres says he could just stare at Evan all day and it would be better entertainment than television. And that is saying a lot - if you know my dad, he LOVES TV. Even in his sleep, his face goes through the whole "panaoply of human expression" as Grandpa Majeres says. Continue to check out all the pictures we have posted on our picasa web album (link is previous post) because we occasionally add new pictures. Also, don't forget to vote in the latest pole in the sidebar - who do you think Evan looks like more??

Baby Evan Has Arrived!

Well, it turns out that Baby Evan arrived early. I was scheduled to have the external version procedure for Tuesday, August 5 in the morning. When we arrived to the hospital, they hooked me up to a fetal and mommy monitor and apparently I was having contractions! I didn't feel a thing! The doctor examined me and I was already 3 centimeters dialated. We decided to try the external version anyway to see if he would turn at the last minute. Baby Evan was stubborn and wouldn't budge an inch. They continued to montior me to see if my contractions would slow down or stop - you guessed it - they didn't. Long story short - Baby Evan was delivered by C-section at 12:24 pm weighing 7 pounds exactly and measuring 18 inches long.

We decided to name him Evan after trying a couple other names. It was funny that it turned out to be the name with the most votes, but I swear we weren't going by the votes! He really is an Evan!

I will continue to post little stories of Evan's life on this blog. If you want to see more pictures, we will be posting them at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jeogilvieandaaogilviepics. So far we have learned the following:
1) Evan likes to tag everyone - except his parents! He apparently wee-wee'd on the doctor as soon as he was pulled out of the womb. He pee'd on one of the nurses who was changing him. He pee'd on my mom and sister, who were tag teaming a changing that I wish I had on video it was so hilarious! He has yet to tag mommy or daddy, maybe he is being nice.
2) So far the record time for dirtying a clean diper is about 10 seconds. As soon as Aaron had changed one, Evan immediately soiled the next one with a little cry that said, HA!
3) Aaron is a total natural at parenting (It makes just that much more in love with him!) He is better at soothing, swadling, and changing Evan than I am. At least I have the breasts, so I feel like I am accomplishing something!
4) Evan either does not like chocolate or milk. After eating a large piece of chocolate cake and having a large glass of milk, I fed Evan and then he was totally awake and fussy for several hours after that. Pretty amazing how what I eat affects him so much!
5) Overall, Evan is a total and complete angel. Other than a couple fussy incidents (that actually weren' that bad), he is a totally mellow buddah baby. We are so in love and so lucky! We are in baby bliss!

Baby is in Breech!

Things have been so hectic the last couple weeks that I have been negligent in posting. At my appointment last Wednesday, Dr. Riley informed me that the baby is in breech and I pretty much had two choices: schedule an external version or a c-section. I had one day to think about it. Naturally, irrational and hormonally overcharged pregnant women (Julie) hears the words "painful" and "possibly stressful to baby" regarding external version and immediately dismisses the procedure. Enter the perfectly rational actor ala Economics 101 (Aaron) who, in his adorable ways, makes this a perfect opportunity to create a decision tree (pictured left). He first starts with a wonderful depiction of the predicament - me and the position of the baby. As you can see, he assigned all these percentages based on the data we knew about success rates and risk rates, and voalla, he convinced me that I should schedule the external version. I rather took offense to the alternative option he placed (pray) because I have been doing quite a lot to get the baby to turn! Here's the list (hope it makes you laugh!):
- Placing ice packs on top of my belly hoping the baby won't like it and will turn away. All this accomplished was his head moved slightly out of the way.
- Lying inverted on an ironing board resting on a chair while playing The Beatles Abbey Road and flashing lights on my lower abdomen to encourage him to move toward the sound and light. Apparently he does not like The Beatles, which is going to be extremely disappointing.
- Going to a chiropractor to see if he could help me relax my pelvis so baby would find it easier to turn. Well, this was a fiasco due to the fact that I told my parents I was going to a chiropractor and, thinking he was going to try to push the baby around, they made about 20 phone calls to me while I was in the appointment to plead with me not to go. I guess parents never stop being parents. All he did was massage my lower back and adjust my neck - apparently it didn't relax me enough.
- Good thing we have a pool because I hear swimming relaxes the pelvis and can help the baby turn. So I have been swimming every day as well as doing somersaults, dolphin dives, and handstands to try to confuse the baby so he will turn. The handstands are particularly entertaining because I can't seem to do them like I used to as a kid. I had Aaron help me hold my feet up yesterday and I think all we accomplished was that I got a lot of water up my nose and Aaron had a good laugh.
- Aaron has been talking to the baby and rubbing my belly to get him to turn. The baby is defiant and won't listen to Dad - hope it's not an indication of what's to come.
- I have tried several Yoga positions to no avail.
- Today we are going to Berzerkeley to the Traditional Ways Healing Center to see if an accupuncturist and chinese herbalist can help me out. I hear they stick needles in my ears and wave some incense around. It should be pretty entertaining.
I think that is about it. So maybe I do have to resort to praying and hoping that he will turn before my external version appointment on Tuesday! Wish me luck!

6 Weeks to Go!

Hear is the latest belly shot! I am 33.5 weeks in this photo. Yes, I am rather large. We went out to a sushi restaurant with our friends Lee and Trish this evening. Our waitress was pregnant, but she did not seem that large to me, so I was hesitant to ask her about it (just in case she wasn't). I thought MAYBE she was in her 2nd trimester. She ended up asking me when I was due and then she responded that she was due August 22, a day before me! My jaw dropped and then my heart followed thinking something must be wrong with me that I was so huge and she wasn't! Had the ultrasounds failed to pick up a twin? Am I actually having triplets? But I guess all women are different. Anyway, we all had a good laugh about it.

This picture of us is taken in the baby room. The crib is from our fabulous friends Rich and Amy. Aaron and I painted the dresser (below) using left over paints from all the rooms in the house. First, we painted it yellow (baby room), second purple (our bedroom), then third green (family room). We sanded through all the layers of paint to "antique" it. It actually turned out really good. I bought some cute frog and lilly pad knobs from Expo.

Boy Names Poll

So some people don't share the names that they are contemplating for their baby because of the reactions they get from people. It's true that I have gotten some funny reactions, but we are having such a hard time coming up with a name that we both like that I thought it would be fun to open it up to a poll. Please select a name from the poll, or send a suggestion. Remember the last name is Ogilvie, so it should sound good with all the vowels in that name and the initials should not spell something funny! There are names that have officially been removed from the running, but I am still curious to see your picks. Unfortunately, I left out some of Aaron's picks, such as Danger, or the Roman names like Ceasar Augustus or Maximus. In the parenthesis are the possible nicknames for each name as well as their meaning.

Expectant Parents

Here is a recent photo of Aaron and I at Amy and Rich's wedding in Tahoe. I am week 28 here, officially the 3rd trimester! Today, as I am posting this, I just started week 30. If you can believe it, I have gained approximately 30 pounds and they say I am supposed to gain about 10 more pounds! I think it is all belly because my lower back feels like it is on the verge of snapping in half. We are hoping to put the finishing touches on the baby room this weekend, so stay tuned for pics of that - and I think there needs to be more pics of the expectant dad!

It's a Boy!

These are the Week 20 anatomy ultrasounds. Warning: some content may be unfit for some viewers as they are not all rated G!! The baby was waving his arms and stretching his legs during this ultrasound, which kept making me giggle and I think the technician was getting mad at me.

Early Ultrasounds

Approximately Week 15 Ultrasound. We went to a facility that basically does ultrasounds and nothing else. They projected the ultrasound onto a huge flat-panel monitor, so viewing the baby was amazing.
Approximately Week 4 Ultrasound. The baby's nickname at this point was either peanut or little grasshopper.

Breaking the News to the P-rents and Sis

So we found out the fabulous news shortly before Christmas. We were planning to be in Chicago for my Dad's 60th birthday, so it was a perfect opportunity to spring the news on them while opening Christmas presents. So I got T-shirts made for Mom and Dad that said "I'm Gonna be a Grandma" and "I'm Gonna be a Grandpa." Check out the video to see the reaction!! You absolutely must have the volume on to experience the full range of my Mom's vocal cords. The second video is us telling my sister when she arrived in town a couple days later. The reaction is similarly fantastic.

Belly Shots!

Week 1: Nausea and exhaustion has not set in. Just pure excitement and joy at this point!
Week 14: I still don't look that much different, but the smell of onions or garlic will bring a contorted look of such pain, horror, and disgust that you would know something was up.
Week 18: I suddenly popped out very soon after week 14 and started to feel somewhat better as well.
Week 20: The week of the anatomy ultrasound - check out the pics on this page! I believe this was the last day I was able to wear this shirt as well.
Week 24: It's about this point where people look at me and think I can't get much bigger, but just look at the next shot!
Week 27: Here is the latest and greatest against the backdrop of the newly painted baby room.