Historic Triangle

We went on our second family vacation of the year this past weekend, this time with the Hollencamp side.  Jen and I decided on Williamsburg a few months back as our destination.

Why Williamsburg?

Definitely not for the historical part of it.  There were zero history buffs on this trip.  It was more of a place we felt we should see and experience because we are not knowledgeable on anything history related.  Maybe Matt, but definitely not the rest of us.  We needed a place about half way between NC and MD that had time shares available.  We are fortunate to have two mothers with time shares, so we each got a room using their points. 

Let me say the more time I spend away from teaching, the less I miss it.  The grass is definitely greener not being a teacher.  Yeah teachers get a lot of time "off", but when is that?  During the hottest months of the year AND when all the kids are off too.  Being able to travel during the school year, during beautiful weather days of the fall is fabulous.  Our weather was absolutely perfect for everything we wanted to do.  And it was us, retired couples, and parents with young kids.  I LOVED my first vacation "on the other side".

Some highlights:

Full Day #1:  Yorktown

We took a lovely drive on Colonial Parkway from our resort in Williamsburg to Yorktown.  We parked near the Riverwalk and strolled along the river and through some of the historical buildings.  I challenged everyone to be able to share at least one thing they learned from reading all the signs.  Yes, ONE thing.  That was difficult for some people :)  The weather was in the mid to upper 80s this day, so the beach area was occupied by families sunbathing and wading in the river.  Luke felt the sand for the first time while Evie ran along the docks.  We enjoyed a yummy lunch outside on the river.

After naps (adults and babies alike), we went to the outdoor pool.  The water was chilly, but luckily there was a 2 foot wading pool perfect for our sensitive bellies and small tikes.  Evie learned she is tall enough to walk in 2 feet of water and thought that was pretty cool.  She also though running along the pool deck and proceeding right into the pool was fun.  We have to work on stop before you jump to mommy or daddy.  No injuries or drownings...

Day #2:  Shirley Plantation

We split up on Sunday since we wanted to check out different places.  My little family drove out to Shirley Plantation on the James River.  We picked Shirley over the others since it is still a functioning plantation with the 11th generation living there.  It was a great choice for us.  There was plenty of room for Evie to walk around and it was interesting to hear about the history of the place.  I thought the "floating staircase" in the house was fascinating.  Sorry, no pictures allowed in the house.  Jason liked knowing Robert E. Lee was part of the family history of the Hill Carter genealogy.  Evie liked the goats the best.

After naps (just babies this time), we went to the biggest Yankee Candle Store EVER.  Even though I could easily buy the same stuff at home, I felt the need to buy tons of fall scented candles.  The Christmas section was festive and engaging for Evie.  However, the Christmas ornaments were at toddler height... bad idea, Yankee Candle.  After our senses were maxed out, we dressed in our PA football gear and went to a sports bar to watch the Steelers and Eagles. 

Day #3:  Williamsburg

Jen and Matt were our tour guides for Colonial Williamsburg.  They participated in the ghost walk the night before and regurgitated back the guide's knowledge of the area.  We walked around the grounds, did a little bit of shopping, and had lunch.

While the babies napped, Jen, Matt, and Jason went to Go Ape.  I was very happy to have a legitimate excuse as to why I didn't want to go besides my fear of heights.  The three of them zipped, tight roped, and navigated through the woods from many, many feet up.  Jason had a great time.  Good thing because I will NEVER do this with him.  I instructed Matt & Jen to share a Bachelor/ette moment and say how close they feel now that they zip lined through the forest together. 

Grandmom and I took the kiddos to the playground and got dinner ready for the apes. 


I think we picked a pretty good place for vacation with a 16 month old.  She was very well behaved and I enjoyed having a 2 bedroom place for our family.  The simple things, like reading in bed, you can do when you don't have your child in the room with you!  I actually came back from this vacation feeling somewhat refreshed!

Williamsburg trip 9.21.12

Fall 2012 Baby Trends

Four of my college roommates from various years are all due between October and ending with me in December. 

Three of the four found out they are having boys

So far two have delivered EARLY.

Jessie gave birth to her first, Ruxin, on Monday, 4 weeks early.

And Nikki gave birth to her second, Luke, today, 3 weeks early. 

Welcome to the world future friends of H2!  And congrats to my "truth gossipers".  We can't wait to meet your babies!!

Nikki's baby was the other surprise and it's a boy.  Yikes, my odds aren't looking so hot right now.  I'm also a little concerned how early they both delivered, but all parties are healthy and doing well.

Watch out Erica and Jackie, October might be your month instead of November :)


I'm also noticing a lot of my friends having seconds are having boys after having girls. 

But since I am the only one to have GD, I have to think I am the odd one out.  Still hoping for a girl born somewhere in the teens of December.  Speaking of... Dr. K said if I continue to control my sugars, we are looking at induction between 39 and 40 weeks, earlier if they see issues.  Since I am dependent on insulin with this pregnancy, it's a different story than with Evie.  I'm not happy about the news, but such is life.  I'll do what is safest for H2... and that means NO CHRISTMAS BABY!!

Sweet 16

Evie girl is 16 months old! 

I love this girl so much I don't know how I will split my love between two children.  I also love every second with her.  I used to wish my life away when I was teaching.  I thought "if I can only make it until ____, then ____". I don't want to wish away any of my life anymore.  Every phase of Evie's life is fascinating and full of surprises.  I am in no rush for her to reach the next milestone.  Everything she is doing today is perfect in my mind.  I know she is growing, learning, and will be in the next phase soon enough.  No day, but today, right?  :)

I can watch Evie for hours.  Well, that's my "job" after all.  She makes me laugh all day long with her expressions, imitations of us, and growing vocabulary.  Evie follows our directions very well and also communicates back to us.  She cleans up her toys (please let this continue forever), knows to go to her chair when we say its meal time, finds asked for stuffed animals, and like her dog sibling, is elated when we say we are going outside. 

Evie can point to her head, toes, feet, belly, nose, mouth, and ears.  Some body parts are easier than others.  She has a new fascination with her bellybutton.  She likes to point to my growing belly as well.  Her latest animal sound is the elephant.  I taught her to raise her arm like a truck while make a sound.  Totally cracks me up. 

We are still working on getting down to one nap.  I try to find a morning activity to fight through the morning slump.  Having 2-3 hours to myself in the afternoon is glorious on the days when I can time everything right.  Our new fall routine is Bible study on Tuesday mornings where Evie goes to the nursery for 2 hours.  She didn't cry when I left the second week!  Luckily the same 2 girls watch all the kiddos, so hopefully she will continue to feel comfortable there.  On Wednesdays we go to the library.  It's rare I don't have one or two days of appointments a week, so playing with her cousins typically happens during that time. 

Evie is still tiny, wearing 12 months clothes.  H2 is happy to have a small sister pressing on my belly. 

Some randomness from the last month!

16 Months

Fly Eagles, Fly

Our beloved Philadelphia Eagles have looked pretty horrible so far this season.   But as any true Eagles fan knows, it's Philly, that's how we roll.  Somehow we are 2-0.  Shocking.

Every year we are pumped up for the start of the football season then get pissed when we don't get the games on TV.  You would think after 9 years of living in Maryland I would get over this frustration.  Nope. 


Little Evie is the only one with a current player on her jersey

For game 1, we let Evie nap after church, then jerseyed up and headed out to Bare Bones, local restaurant/pub, to catch the 3rd and 4th quarters.  We ran into good ole Tony originally from South Philly there.  We have seen him through the years at Bare Bones.  He and all the bartenders loved our sweet Evie in her #10 jersey.  Luckily the bar wasn't packed, so Evie ran laps around the tables and down the aisles on either side of the bar. 

Is anyone quoting Sweet Home Alabama in your head??  "you have a baby... in a bar"  :)

We only stayed for a quarter.  Just long enough to eat Old Bay wings, Jason have 2 beers, and see our Eagles stink.  Needless to say, we were utterly shocked to see they won.



Walking to the car muttering "season over"

Our 2nd game of the season was against the hometown Baltimore Ravens.  This game is exciting for us because we actually can watch the game from the comforts of our home!!  BUT we do not hide the fact that we are Eagles fans from anyone.  Our neighbor started booing us at 9 AM (all in good fun).  I don't have to go to work to face the wrath anymore, but Jason made it green Friday at work instead of purple Friday.  We had a lot riding on this game.

Jason and Evie had some pre-game fun. 

Run and TACKLE!!

She may weigh 19 pounds, but that girl can tackle



Pausing for an injury time out

Another crap game and bad clock management at the end of the half (typical Eagles), but we W.O.N!!! 

A happy bunch of Eagles fans!

Since the Eagles won, we felt we could leave our house without getting egged or booed.  Our neighbors stayed indoors.  LOL.  We went out for Sweet Frog frozen yogurt that night in our jerseys.  We got few dirty looks, but once they saw Evie running around in her jersey, we actually got smiles!  Thank you Evie!!

Fly wounded, intercepting Eagles, FLY!

It's Been a Gymboree Summer

In an attempt to meet moms and have an air conditioned activity for my novice walker, I signed Evie up for Gymboree Gym Classes in June. 


My little gymnast

Let me take a brief aside to rant.  A few of our friends like to complain about how expensive things are and they would never spend $70 to put their kid in Gymboree.  Frankly, I'm sick of those comments as well as the "you are lucky to have the option to stay at home".  They make me feel uncomfortable in my own skin.  We all make choices about what is important to spend our money on.  I am THIRTY-ONE years old and believe that we are old enough to enjoy life even on one salary.  We have to take money out of savings almost every month to pay bills.  It pains me to see that money dwindling, but I made the choice to stay at home.  I'd love a big 4 bedroom house like some of you have, but that's not possible anymore.   I'm not going to sit at home and complain about money for another decade.  None of us will ever have enough.  So I signed Evie up for Gymboree.  It was good for her and me.  And I am darn happy to have spent 3 times the amount on her gym membership than Jason's.  This is what I wanted to do for my daughter.  You may not agree.  This is my blog and I'll say what I want on it.  

Ok, I'm done.

Evie participated in the Level 3 class, which is ages 10-16 months.  Evie had class once a week for 45 minutes and we could go to any open gym times during the week.  Gymboree is in Columbia (what isn't in Columbia that I do?)  so we didn't go to a lot of open gyms.  Evie's teacher followed a similar routine every class- circle time with some "stretching" and singing, play time at the centers guided by the teacher here and there, bubbles, parachute, then more singing. 

Evie is a great climber.

Evie was not a huge fan of her teacher at close distances.  He was sweet as anything, but I think his voice scared her.  She did much better when she could just run wild around the gym than with structured play.  Most classes it took Evie 35 of the 45 minutes to warm up (i.e. detach herself from me).  The parachute scared her.  By late August, she clapped her hands along with her teacher and was more engaged in group activities, still no parachute. Of course, I decided once the hot, humid weather broke, I was canceling our membership, just as she really started to love it.

Clapping along with Mr. D to come to
the center mat

I am really proud of the social and physical progress Evie made in her 3 months at Gymboree.   I took some pictures on my phone at our last class. 

She loved all the balls at the gym.  She tried to put them in
the basketball net, but she is not tall enough to reach. 

Safely mounted on her own and rocked that horse

The FIRST time she crawled through a tunnel! 

Our new gym for the Fall is outdoor playgrounds.  I am SO happy the weather is gorgeous.  One salary living is challenging, but after a week at home with perfect weather, it is worth every penny coming out of savings.

Latest Installment of Creepiness

I was back at UMD for another ultrasound.  Yippee skippy!

This time I scheduled my appointment over the lunch hour, so while I was waiting for hours to be seen had my ultrasound, Jason took his 2nd favorite gal on a lunch date.  Evie got all dressed up for her big date in the city.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.  (Yes mother, she wore a dress).    The weather in Baltimore is AMAZING this week.  Evie and Jason had a lovely outdoor lunch at Frank and Nicks. 

I, on the other hand, got to hang out in the waiting room for 45 minutes.  The actual ultrasound was the fastest one yet.  The tech is only checking size, the placenta, and blood flow.  I had the same tech as last visit, who is kind of obsessed with the 3D photos.  Here are the latest:

Probably the less creepy of the bunch.  I think H2 resembles Evie and me
in this one.  Good thing we are all related and that would make sense :)

Cute little shoulder

H2 sporting the black eye look

I told the tech about my issues last week.  She didn't see anything that would indicate labor or a reason for bleeding.  She complimented my cervix numerous times.  Uh, yeah, little odd.  H2, just like at L & D, went to war against the wand.  She was very active, which we realized was hiccups as well.  It was so fascinating to see her body shake and feel the hiccup at the same time.  H2 also liked to kick my back at the same time as the hiccup.  That's cool right now, but when you are bigger, not so much.  H2 is chilling in the breech position.  Again, cool now, not so much later.

I go back in another 5 weeks for another ultrasound to check the same things.  I am keeping my diabetes well under control, but it's best to make sure the placenta is doing its job and H2 is thriving.  I'm still measuring right on with December 22nd, making me 25 weeks, 3 days. 

Labor & Delivery: Take 1

H2 decided to have a belated Labor Day celebration on Tuesday.  She (I'm using "she" in this post since girl is the underdog right now) wanted to make sure we could have a little scare around this LABOR day holiday.

After some spotting all weekend (sorry for the TMI to my male readers) paired with on and off back pain, both getting worse by Tuesday morning, it was time to call the OB.  They got me in 1 hour later.  Jason literally ran to his car and flew to the office to meet me. 

Dr. Holsey gave me the works- internal exam showed no signs of labor anytime soon, but after being on the monitors for 20 minutes, she saw some irregular, mild contractions.  I had no idea I was having any.  H2 was very active during the monitoring, so that was a positive sign.  She sent me for a sonogram where they found some blood in my uterus.  H2 is fine, placenta intact, and really no concern about the blood.  But they don't want it to cause contractions and put me into labor.  Lovely.

Jason and Evie were at home by this point because Dr. Holsey's initial reaction was nothing was wrong.  So I had to hear the bad news alone- go to Labor & Delivery for monitoring for a few hours. 

I grabbed lunch and headed to L & D where they were waiting for me.  I hung out in triage for 4 hours on the monitors.  I continued to have mild contractions, again, wouldn't know I was having them.  They said that might be why my back hurts.  Well great, my back hurts as I am typing this post, does that mean I'm having contractions??  Don't worry, I asked.  They aren't super concerned... back pain is very common and my contractions were so irregular and mild that it's probably just my body doing "normal" stuff.

I cried to myself about 3 times thinking I can't go through months at the hospital again visiting my struggling to eat baby.  Knowing someone that delivered at 24 weeks, I am really scared.  I was given a steroid shot to help H2's lungs develop in case I deliver before 34 weeks.  Dr. Hall didn't make it sound like it was a strong possibility, just precautionary.  Let me tell you, this shot was thick and hurts!  I had to get 2 doses in my butt.  It's nothing like insulin!

I was sent home with no restrictions.  All the nurses and doctors praised me for not blowing off my symptoms, they were both signs of preterm labor and it was best to check on things. 

So much for an easy pregnancy.  We live in fear again even though both Dr. Hall and Dr. Holsey aren't concerned.  Please pray with us that H2 stays comfortably planted in my belly for at least another 12 weeks. 

24 Weeks

With each passing week I am thankful H2 is still comfortably growing in my belly.  I had a few symptoms over the last month that could be signs of preterm labor.  (don't you love that with pregnancy- everything that happens could be a result of just being pregnant or could be a sign of something terrible). Some back pain, pressure, and other things that together made me nervous and warranted my first unscheduled OB visit.  Luckily I am closed up and no need to panic.

I am managing my diabetes ok.  I wish I didn't have to inject insulin 1-3 times a day, but such is life as a diabetic.  Shots in my belly creep me out now and my thighs are bruising and scarred from the needles.  I've switched to butt injections at night.  Nothing says I love you like injecting your wife in the rear before bed every night.  Bless my husband.  All modesty went out the window a long time ago.

I will continue to have monthly ultrasounds to check on H2's size.  I don't love this, but when I questioned the OB about it, she told me it's best to keep a careful eye on the size of H2 and the placenta with diabetes.  Touché.

I finally got my 2nd trimester energy boost as the 3rd trimester approaches.  I don't feel the need to have a 3 hour nap everyday... Not that I could.  I have a hard time falling back asleep after a night potty break.  Time for some acupuncture!  I still see my acupuncturist every month.  Love it.  Funny right?  I hate insulin needles, but love acupuncture.  Go figure.

H2 is very active, but still comfortable at this stage.  Evie was very kind to me with gentle kicks all the way through.  I hope H2 will be just as nice to me.  H2's heartbeat was fast at my recent appointment- high 150s spiking to 170.  (must have been my dark chocolate bar covered in Trader Joe's cookie butter!).

I know my FB post brought lots of traffic to the blog.... I can find that stuff out.  I don't know who is reading though.  Don't you enjoy it when people like or comment on your status on FB???  Well, I love to read comments on my blog.  This will be my last plea for comments.  If you are that shy then at least vote- all that takes is one touch.  I know there are more than 11 of you reading.  Here are some belly shots to help you decide.

Shirt creeping up and shorts falling down. 

Look at the shadow Evie's hair makes. I need to
get some tips on how to tame that beast

24 week with Evie.  Lovely posture, Marisa.
Belly looks pretty similar.  C'mon GIRL!