Chincoteague - Day 2 (Mun-GHEES)

Mun-ghees is how Dylan says ponies. We saw lots of ponies at Chincoteague, well technically the ponies live on Assateague Island, just east of Chincoteague. Most of the photos taken below were taken from the boat we were on. You can see how far away we were in the first picture. Then I used the zoom on our camera to get the others. The one with the white pony was taken from the side of the road, also zoomed. The last one was at a petting zoo.

My sleep-loving child

I think Dylan might be going through a growth spurt because he's been sleeping a lot lately. He's also been sick so maybe its just that. But it's been pretty funny how he actually wants to sleep. There were a few days this week where Dylan would wake up and then go and try to climb back into his crib (unsuccessfully). Then last night he tried to climb into his crib without eating hardly any dinner. Martin put him in the crib and he went to sleep. This has been a real blessing for me especially as the good naps help me out so I can work from home on Tues and Fri. Hopefully this will last even after the new baby comes.

Oh, one other thing about Dylan that has been cool lately. He has learned verbs - sit, jump, walk are the favorites. Sometimes he even tells *me* to sit. Like when I'm running around in the kitchen and he's eating in his high chair. He tells me to sit in my chair and keep him company while he eats. (Sometimes I need to listen to him as opposed to the other way around.) He has been telling us more what he wants us to do lately and even guiding us to what he wants. (Like taking our hands and taking us to our closet to put on our shoes when we mention going outside.) While I'm hoping he's not becoming too bossy, I'm glad he is communicating more. It's fun.

Heather's Crazy Calendar Facts

Most of you know that I remember birthdays and anniversaries of things pretty well. Today is a fun one. Sixteen years ago today I got my driver's license. I was sixteen at the time so today marks that day that I have been driving more of my life than not! For someone who often forgets that she's not 16 anymore (or at least it seems like it was yesterday), this is a pretty crazy fact.

Today is also a fun calendar day since it's 08-08-08. There's a gal from church who is due any day now and was hoping her baby would come today. That would be a cool birthday. I'm sure CNN has something about some kid turning 8 today or something. I guess there will be one of these every year though until 2013. I still think it's special.

Chincoteague - Day 1

On the way into Chincoteague we stopped at Wallop's Flight Facility (sort of a branch of NASA where they lauched some rockets).




Dylan really liked the hotel where we stayed.

He particularly liked the wardrobe where he played hide and seek with us.



We particularly liked the hotel for the great sunset views we got.

Freeze Frame

I got my first musical birthday card this year. Dylan likes it just as much as I do!

Dylan has been using "Up" for every preposition - open, close, on, off, down, etc. So I'm not sure why he was saying up at the end of this video.

My husband, the Boozer

Martin has accepted a new job at Booz Allen Hamilton! Thus, as of Aug 11th he will be a Boozer. The new job promises more interesting work and more opportunities (although he will be working on the same kind of programs as he is now), better pay (he will now me making more than me again...but not for long if I can help it..:), more vacation time, better paternity leave (2 paid weeks instead of 1), what seems to be a better retirement plan (more contributions to the 401(k) with no matching requirements although no DB plan), and what will be better health insurance (Lockheed is switching over to this new health care plan in Jan that we don't think is any good but Booz offers the same one we have now). He will be working in Herndon so the commute is a little longer but he will have a great view of the mountains out his window. He's going to be working for his old boss and with a former co-worker so he will be in good company (seems a lot of folks have made this switch). I'm excited for him. So within one year, Lord willing, we will have both changed jobs, had a baby, and moved. (Carrie, I guess you're not the only one in the family that opts for the craziness of life!)

Update on the kids

We just got back from FL on Sunday and I'm still trying to catch up on a lot of things but I know if I don't type some things out I'm going to forget them. These types of entries are more for my future reference than for any entertainment value on this blog so thanks for reading if you care to do so.

Dylan: I've lost count of the words that he knows. He says new things each day and repeats a lot of what we say, especially the last word of our sentences. But I will note some key new words:

Apple - this is probably his clearest 2 sylable word

Dylan - yea! he finally said his name. We were at breakfast one morning in FL and Dylan pointed to Martin and said Dada and me and said Mama and then pointed at himself and said Dylan (which sounds more like Don but we got it).

Milk - and thus he has dropped the sign for milk

Baby - he's starting to get the idea

Mom - sometimes instead of MaMa he will say Mom. What happened to Mommy? Isn't he too young for Mom? (Aren't I too young for Mom?)

Pool - we can't say this word without Dylan going to the door ready to go to the pool. I broke down and bought swimmies (even after I swore no child of mine would ever wear them after all my lifeguarding years because I thought they give kids a false sense of confidence in the water). But he does so well with them. I think they are helping him learn how to swim and I don't have Dylan climbing all over me in the pool. Dylan loves to jump into the pool. After the outdoor pools close I'm going to take him to lessons at the indoor pool once a week. I just got the schedule today and I'm excited that the pool closest to us has classes on Tuesday mornings.

Baby #2: Just had my 16 week appointment this morning. All is going well. I started feeling the baby (if I would lay on my stomach) around week 14 and last week I was at sister's house holding Zak while walking out of her kitchen and I felt a "kick" that was as strong as anything I ever felt with Dylan. It was crazy. I thought I had ran into something or Dylan had come up to me and punched me or something but I looked down and there was nothing there. It must have come from the inside. I've been feeling a lot better since about week 11 (weeks 6-10 were the worst, with Dylan it was 6-8) and it has gotten better each week. Weeks 11-14 I was just tired and now I'm able to make it through my normal daily activity I'm finally starting to consider exercising again. I walk a decent amount so I'm not completely sedentary but unless I walk at least 2 miles straight that doesn't count as exercise in my book. I've only done that about once or twice this last month. I had more "pregnancy side effects" with this pregnancy - constipation, rashes, more throwing up, the heat seems to bother me more. Might just be second pregnancy, might be that I'm older, or it might mean we're having a girl this time. I just scheduled the ultrasound today for the 19th. So 3 weeks until we find out. Today I put on my first official piece of maternity clothing (a pair of shorts). I could probably go longer without wearing them but I kinda wanted some "new" clothes to wear. This is almost 2 months earlier than I started wearing maternity clothes with Dylan. Oh, cravings - ice cold water and Cesar salad! So weird! And you think this would keep me healthy and hydrated but it hasn't. I crave junk food probably just as much.

I actually started liking salad when I was pregnant with Dylan after 30 years of gagging on lettuce. The really interesting thing is that now, the only non-pureed vegetable that we can get Dylan to eat is lettuce (with lots of dressing on it). It's like he liked it so much that he even got me to eat it when he was in utero. [He won't even eat french fries so at Wendy's I get a kids meal with fries and a side salad and he eats the salad and I get the fries.] And now it seems I have two kids that love lettuce - oh, the irony!

Dylan and Jack

Our friend Christine was in town and so we had her over for dinner one night and Laura and Jack and Julia were there too. Somehow I only ended up with pictures of Jack and Dylan (I'll play the pregnancy card here).

Jack and Dylan both know how to do "cheers" with their sippy cups and we got them to clink each other's cups.


Dylan (and his parents) are very sad because Jack and his family are moving very soon (to Mexico - the country!). We will miss their friendship that has been a blessing to all of us for many years. Laura was one of the first people I met when I moved to DC 7 years ago. We love you guys!

My going away party

Here's some pictures from my going away party at work on my last day at Treasury. I actually didn't cry until I was walking out of the building for the last time and no one was around then so no one saw me. One of the ladies from another office made most of the goodies you see here on the table. Thankfully I wasn't too nauseated that day that I was able to enjoy most of it.

This is Kelly who gets to do all the credit union work that I left to her.
Ann (left) was in the prayer group that I was in at Treasury starting my first week on the job. That group was such a blessing to me, particularly in the early days. Leslie (left) and I were the only women in my office for most of the time I was at Treasury so we talked a lot.
Gerry, Phil, Charles, Mario and Tim. Mario is telling a story about his latest travels. All these guys except Charles were in my office.
Here's Mario presenting me with the Secretary's Honor Award. Mario wrote a lot of meaningful acclamations about my work in the citation that came with the award.

Visiting Martin's Brother

At the end of May we went to Black Mountain, NC to visit Martin's brother Matt for his 40th birthday. Matt and his wife Kelly and their two kids Savva and Jeremiah recently bought a dome that they are fixing up to live in starting in the fall. The dome is further in the back woods of NC with enough land so they can have a decent garden. The dome doesn't have electricity or running water since the idea is that they will live off the land - they get water from the creek and will have a wood burning stove for heat in the winter. Here are some pictures of the dome and the scenery from their property. The last two pics were taken at the cabin we stayed in with Martin's parents, grandmother, and other brother Mark.

Before the haircut

These were the pictures we took of Dylan before he got his haircut. Unfortunately I forgot to take "after" pictures so you'll just have to see the haircut in the pictures from NC that I will post shortly.




The haircut went reasonably well, better than the first time we took him and much less frustrating than me cutting it. We took Dylan to Cartoon Cuts at the mall where the kids watch cartoons on little screens so they sit still while getting their haircut. It was okay. I really didn't like the lady we got though but I suppose it would have been a lot better if we had someone else. She made comments like "when was the last time he had his haircut" like she was annoyed that she actually had to do work. And I don't think she cut it totally straight either. Not sure what we'll do next time. Cartoon cuts is kinda expensive but he did wiggle less.

Family Wedding

Here are the pictures from the wedding I spoke of in my last post. My cousin (second, once removed, to be exact) Chris who lives here in NVA married a really sweet gal named Christina. The wedding was in Manassas.

This is the mother (Michele), sister (Lauren), and father (Keith, far right) of the groom. It's great having some family in the area so if say there was every a hurricane in NVA that took your power out for 3 days you could haul your food to their house to store in their freezer (as I did 5 years ago). They are super fun too, as you can tell from the picture. Oh, and yes I actually know who my second cousins are - since I don't have any first cousins I was closer to my second cousins than most other folks. Although Martin too has as a handfull of second cousins that he knows pretty well.

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.

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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.