Early nap = Mommy gets to catch up on blogging...

Dylan fell asleep in his highchair eating lunch at 11:45 today so I have some time before I have to work to post some more pictures. These are from a trip to the National Zoo in mid-May. My parents were here for a family wedding and before the wedding we went to the zoo. This was about right at the beginning of when I started getting morning sickness (but I look exhausted already!).

I love going to the zoo because each time we go we see different animals being active. This time it was the pandas and the monkeys. The pandas were out showing off and climbing trees while we were there.

This was the first time I had see the O'rang atangs out on the O-line.

Dylan's reaction to the new baby....

I can't believe you guys didn't consult me on this one.

Do you realize what this is going to do to MY life?

At least tell me its a boy...please tell me its a boy... _____________________________________________

Actually this was not when we told Dylan - just a messy dinner but I had to spice up the blog a little. Dylan doesn't get the baby idea at all. He barely knows the word for baby. He'll do a lot of growing up in the next 6 months though. I'm sure we'll have lots of opportunities to teach him. And to get him used to Mommy holding another baby. We hung out with Nancy and Duncan and their 3 kids on Sunday and as I was holding Linus, their 10 month old, I definitely saw Dylan get jealous. Maybe he'll be better with a smaller baby - we'll see when go to visit his new cousin Zak in a week and a half.

We will be finding out (hopefully) if we are having a boy or a girl, probably the by the end of next month. We're kinda hoping for a girl so we don't have to go through the name choosing challenge again and because she would be the first baby girl on either side. But it would be fun for Dylan to have a boy playmate close to his age.

Win free cloth diapers...

Click Here.

2 to the 5th

Lest you think I was going to try to ignore my birthday this last week, I am adding this post to show that I am not afraid of mentioning it. Martin called it my "second sweet sixteen" and said that I'm now 2 to the 5th years old. I prefer 30th birthday part 3. This year my party/present was the trip to Chincoteague which I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the place and I felt like I was on a real vacation. On Sunday we traveled home and stopped at DQ on the way. Then on Sunday night we went over Laura H's house for pizza. Some other grad school friends Tom and Karen and their kids were in town so that was the purpose of the party but Laura made me a chocolate cake with homemade icing and so I still got a cake and singing! Thanks Laura! Thanks also to those who called or sent cards or e-cards or facebook greetings!

Mother's Day

So, I'm really behind on posting pics. These are from Mother's Day. Amy was in town and we went with Laura, John, Jack, and Julia to Olive Garden. The boys of course had a blast together. This was when we told these guys about baby #2.

Update on the Kids :)

Tuesday I had a doctors appointment and all seems to be going well with Baby #2. We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time which was very cool. The heartbeat was in the 150 range.

Dylan's latest words include:

book
Miah - for his cousin Jeremiah
[sign for] please
[sign for] help
ambulance (this is pretty mumbled)
sun
Zak - his new cousin
[the sound of an elephant]
[the sound of a frog]
[the sound of a lion]

And he knows some letters already: E, H, N, O, S, X. He sees the letters and says the name of the letter. I'm pretty impressed with this. Is this normal? He doesn't know his shapes yet so I that's why I'm surprised he knows some letters. But then again, things like "circle" are harder to say than "E."

Family Update

Carrie had her baby on June 13th - Zak Remington. Zak weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and came out after 2.5 (yes, there's a decimal point there) hours of labor. My sister even drove herself to the hospital to get there on time. I'm hoping early babies and short labors run the family (just not too short).

I started my new job on the 9th and all is going well. After a rough first week, Dylan has adjusted to the new day care provider (Bushra is in her country for the summer). Martin has been doing a lot of cooking and cleaning lately since I haven't felt that great.

Dylan doesn't have any new words but he has a new sign (for please) and a couple new animal sounds that he does - frog and elephant. We've been in the pool a number of times already and Dylan has a blast, especially when he's not cold. He was in for 30 minutes yesterday though and his lips were blue.

This coming weekend we're heading out to Chincoteague Island for my birthday. Should be fun. We found a hotel with a nice pool.

Family Pictures

These pictures were taken after my grandfather's funeral last month (hence all the black). I found out I was pregnant a few days later. My sister Carrie and I were pregnant at the same time at least for a short time. Here she is sporting her baby belly.

Dylan and Great-Grandma Z
Grandma and the Grandkids
The Etner Fam
Our Cutie

Barefoot and....

Pregnant! Sorry I've been slow to make the blog announcement. Most of you already know. I have a lot to catch up on. Anyway, I'm due January 11th but as I keep telling everyone, we're hoping for a 2008 tax exemption! I've been feeling like crap; hence the decreased blogging. The sickness seems worse than with Dylan. I'm ten weeks now and I'm starting to feel better so hopefully I'm coming out of the worst of it. I'm more tired now than sick. I went to the doctors at 5-6 weeks and I go back at 12 weeks on July 1st. Everything seems to be going well. I found out I was pregnant a week before I got my formal offer from the FDIC. I haven't told them yet. I'll wait until after my next doctors appointment. I'll have enough leave to take a 3 month maternity leave so changing jobs didn't hurt me at all in that respect since I'm still working for the government. And now I'll have my own office so I can just pump in my office once I go back.

Word Count

Is anyone counting? I think Dylan is up over 50 now. Apparently he also knows a word in Urdu. It's the word for bread - I don't even know what it is but Bushra told me knows it. So that makes Dylan officially tri-lingual: English, Sign Language, and Urdu.

Other words this week:

Ouch - lots of opportunities for this one.

Bunny [pronounced bun-nay] - although it sounds a lot like Money...maybe he was saying bunny all along...but that still doesn't explain why he said money when Martin was talking about a bank and didn't even say money.

Potty [pronouced pot-tay] - although this could be Body, we're not sure which he is saying.

OOoh, oOoh - the sound a monkey makes.

Bye - he says this when he is ready to leave.

New Job!

Last week I (finally) got a formal offer of a new higher-paying part-time job at the FDIC. I applied for this job back in December, had an interview in February, a second interview in March, and then an informal offer (although they didn't let me know the salary) a week later. Then it took 2 months to get the salary offer approved. So that's why I say finally. Despite the delay in getting the offer, I'm excited about the new opportunity. I'll be working in the division of insurance and research doing banking and regulatory policy work and looking at new bank applications. I've been assured by a former co-worker who I'll be working with that the HR problems are confined to HR and that the FDIC is a great place to work. They even let me work part time even though the posting was a full time position. I'll be working more hours though because I told them I was willing to work 3 days in the office. So my new schedule will be MWTh in the office and then TF teleworking 3 hours each day. I start on June 9th.


I've been at the Treasury Department for almost 7 years and had been keeping my eye open for other jobs since right before Martin and I got engaged. Not that I didn't like my job, I just wanted to do something different and get some more experience. Life events and no real opportunities and great co-workers kept me at my job this long. I felt like I need to get something else on my resume before quitting work to stay home full time (the current plan is to do that in 3 years) so that I'll have more experiences to stand on when I try to re-enter the work force after a stint at home. Yes, I'm planning for something like 20 years down the line. That's how I operate. :)

I'm also hoping that working part time at a different agency might open up some other part time opportunities for other women. I'm not exactly precedent setting but it's still not very common at the FDIC.

Other perks of the new job - in house gym that's cheap (like $1 per week) that has lunchtime ab classes, extra retirement fund with an additional 5% matching over the 5% matching in the Federal Gov's TSP retirement fund, own office (no window though), and a subsidized cafeteria with good food. My new office location is 15th and F NW so it's not far from where I am now. I think the commute might be a little longer since I'll be walking more (more exercise!) from the metro to the office. It's one metro stop closer than my current office.

So that's the update. I think I've told most of you about this but I couldn't blog about it until it was official. Oh, so I told my boss last Thursday, which some of you know I was stressing over. I guess it went as well as I could have expected but it was a rough day. I heard from my boss and co-workers "we're disappointed," and "I wish you would have told us you were unhappy." In the end I got the half-hearted pleasantries and now I think they've gotten over the shock and are talking to be again but yeah, that day was rough. It was a hard decision to leave because I feel so vested in the department and my co-workers but I really needed a change. I think they'll be fine without me.

Rachel's concert

A few weeks ago, my niece Rachel came to DC for a band trip. Her middle school band played near the Capitol during lunchtime and I got to go see her. She's the second French horn player from the right.

Baby Shower for Lisa

A few weeks ago our home fellowship group had a shower for one of our own - Lisa (on the right below). She's the 5th woman in our bible study to have a boy in last two years! Alison, another friend from church (below left) also had a boy recently.



Here's Lisa with her sister Ruthe and her niece.


Alison and Krista (our host) and a shy Henry.

Climbing into the laundry basket

Dylan was so proud of himself for this one...

I also forgot to mention yesterday that Dylan know two letters: A and H (atch).

Say the Word

Dylan's latest words

Lawnmower: it's mumbled but it's definitely in context, he has a book with a picture of a lawnmower that he frequently points to

Motorcycle: also mumbled but always said in context

Jack: his best friend's name :)

No: this one is not cute except when we sing "this little light of mine" ("hide it under a bushel - NO!")

Oink, Oink: sound of pig

Mahl, mahl: sound of cat

Dutch: we finally figure out this is his "don't touch"

[sign for] bear

Woodlawn Plantation and Pope Leighy House

A few weekends ago my parents were in town for a bridal shower for my cousin's fiance. The shower was on Sunday so on Saturday we did some touristy stuff. We went to the Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria. The plantation was a wedding gift from George Washington to his nephew (who married his wife's grandaughter from her first marriage) - 2000 acres - nice wedding gift!

Here's the house that Washington's nephew built.
The Woodlawn Plantation is also now the home of the Pope Leighy House - a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (of Falling Water fame). The home was originally located in Falls Church but was moved in order to make room for I-66.

In loving memory

Albert (Red) Zackal

September 8, 1920 - May 1, 2008

My grandfather died last week. He was 87 years old. We were up in PA for the funeral this weekend. Grandpap will be missed by many people and remembered for his hardy and welcoming greetings ("Heeeyyy" - even after his stroke) and his persistence and thriftiness in collecting cans for recycling. He will also be remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle, and brother. We love you grandpap!

National Teach Children to Save Day

Today is National Teach Children to Save Day. As most of you know I'm big on financial education. So here's a reminder that it's never to early to start teaching kids about saving and the value of "mon-neigh" as Dylan likes to say.

Word up (updated as I remembered more)

Dylan's new words for this week: one (did I mention this one already, he can count to one), house, money (on his way to becoming a good economist), cat (but it sounds more like dats), stars, moon, and coat. It's hard to get this new ones in when he says car, bus, and truck so much.

I'm it.

Since I just won a Target gift card from Nancy who tagged me and because it's fun, here are my answers for the latest meme.

What was I doing 10 years ago....In April of 1998, I was finishing up senior year at W&J. I just starting dating someone who I did not marry. I was gearing up to work at Pine Springs Camp for a second consecutive summer where I got to be friends with Nancy.

5 things on my to-do list today...1. work for 2 hours 2. go to the doctors for a rash 3. wash diapers 4. go to the gym 5. try to convince Dylan that the picture of Mr. Salada on Nancy's blog, despite being a good looking guy with glasses and a goatee is not Daddy. :)

5 snacks I enjoy...1. peanut butter and Ritz crackers 2. just about anything chocolate3. nuts 4. ice cream5. cheese

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire...
1. give to our church and to missionaries and other causes that are furthering the gospel of Christ
2. pay off the mortgages and other debts of our family
3. feed starving people in this country as well as others
4. travel
5. give more away

5 bad habits...
1. tying knots in my hair
2. saying um too much
3. being online too much
4. completing everything no matter how silly or OBE it is (which goes really well with my last habit)
5. procrastination

5 places I've lived...
1. Perryopolis, PA
2.Washington, PA
3.Pine Springs Camp, Jennerstown, PA
4. State College, PA
5. Falls Church, VA
(I've never lived outside a commonwealth)

5 jobs I've had...
1. lifeguard
2. secretary/clerk
3. craft maker
4. TA
5. economist

Now, since I know they have TONS of time, I'll tag: Amy, Julie W., and Martin and anyone else who feels like joining in!

I'm a winner!

Okay, how cool is this. Blog contests! And I won!

Thomas and Teresa's Wedding

Martin and I have known Thomas for a while now, since before we were engaged. Thomas and I were on the social committee for the singles ministry at church together. It was such a joy to see him get married this past weekend and to such a wonderful gal. You know how men can have man crushes? Well, in the same way I have a woman crush on the new Mrs. TO. She is a delightful, fun, gentle, and caring woman.




We knew a ton of people at this wedding including the Uribes. Joshua is 3 months younger than Dylan and they are expecting another little one in September. Dylan stayed with Martin's cousins while we went to the wedding. His 2nd cousin lives 5 minutes from the church where the wedding was held. We stayed with them Saturday night.

H + M

We saw this when we were in PA last weekend. We just had to stop and take a picture.

April 9, 2008

The last day I nursed Dylan. I think that means he is completely weaned. I had gone down to once every other day for a few weeks and then only would nurse him if he needed help going to sleep which he hasn't since then. But now that he's gone this long I won't remind him of the option. So 17 months. I never thought I'd go that long but I'm glad I did. I'm a little sad (my little boy is growing up!) and I'll miss it some but I'm glad to be done too.

Hiking on Daddy's Birthday

Here we are in WVA (near Harpers Ferry). You may remember that last year for Martin's birthday I bought him a book of 60 hikes within 60 miles of DC. We went back to the book for the first time this year on Martin's brithday for this hike. It was about 6 miles and took us up to the AT and then to a lookout and then back down. It was great. Here's where we stopped for lunch and then the lookout. After the hike we continued celebrating by going to Ledo's Pizza for dinner.

I knew I was forgetting some...

Dylan also says "hot" and does the sign for it, "hat," "hi," and we think he just said "home." So this week was sponsored by the letter "H."

New words

I'm trying to keep up journaling on the blog about Dylan's ever expanding vocab. Here are the words we figured out he's been saying this week:

geese
juice
cheese
[sign for] airplane
socks

Here's the animal sounds that he can do on command:

sheep
dog
cow
dolphin

Yes, dolphin. He has a dolphin stuffed animal. The dolphin sound is kinda like the rolled r in spanish.

We've been working on animal sounds using this game on Fisher Price's website. It's really cool.

Look who I met at the cherry blossom festival?!

That's Beth Moore. For those of you who don't know who she is, she's a Christian author and speaker. Here's her website. I didn't know much about her until a few months ago when our church used her DVDs for our women's retreat - she was like the speaker only on DVD. So after listening to her talk for 5 hours on the DVD I felt like I knew her.

I actually spotted her from 100 yards away. I was at the FDR memorial with Martin and Dylan and we were looking down at the cherry blossoms by the water/tidal basin. I see this woman in a bright blue jacket but it was her mannerisms that caught my eye. She was filming the intros to her new bible study DVD on Ester so I guess the lights and the camera, although modest, probably drew my attention too. But still, I was pretty far away and I kept telling Martin, that looks like Beth Moore, that looks like Beth Moore, and the closer we got, my hunch got stronger. Martin encouraged me to go see if it was her. We go down right where they were filming and we were trying to hear what she was saying to figure out if it was her. Then we saw the Bible and then asked her manager if it was her and it was. There was one other gal who recognized her too and we stood around and waited until there was a break to talk her. Beth looks at me and says "oh you adorable thing, come here" and she gives me a hug. I told her about the retreat and as we were going away she says "thank you for giving me that joy!" She's a hoot. She's just like she was on the DVD. It was so fun to meet her and I kept thinking about it all that day...so much so that I took the wrong exit that day to go to the gym and ended up on the beltway with no good way to get around back to where I was going.

Cherry Blossoms with Daddy

Watching the planes come into National.

Child survival rates linked to state's view of role of government

I found this article on Baby Center. So apparently, a child in New England has a better chance of survival than a child in the deep south. Thoughts?