Article about baby in abdomen

Why does it seem like you read a lot of stories of rare births like this one when you are pregnant? This is amazing though.

Grad school friends get-together

I'm way behind on posting pictures. These are from my birthday actually. Tom and Karen C. and their kids were in town and we had a get-together over at Laura H.'s. I hadn't seen Tom and Karen since Laura's wedding - they didn't change a bit but man did the kids grow up!

Laura pushing Jamie as Isabelle watches

Charlie and Alexander's balloon fight

Tom, Karen, and Isabelle

It's fitting that I post this today because I randomly ran into this other guy from grad school today (John H.!) It's so strange to me to run into people I know from elsewhere on the streets of a major city. I feel like this happens to me a lot too. Most of the people live here in the area but it's still so neat.

Some cute photos of Dylan

Clue #1 and Picture #1

Here I am at 21 weeks pregnant with baby #2. Check here for a comparison picture when I was 22 weeks pregnant with Dylan.

I think I'm showing more than I was with Dylan but I still get weird looks when I tell people I'm 5 months pregnant.

I tried scanning the ultrasound pics and that didn't work so I took a picture of the best one. It didn't turn out great but it's something. If you want to see the hard copies you'll just have to come over and visit! I think she looks a lot like Dylan.

Okay so since we're pretty set on the name but still want it to be somewhat of a surprise we've decided not to tell people for sure until the baby is born but we are going to give clues. Check back here on the first of the month for a new clue. This month's clue is: the name has 3 syllables. If you guess the name you can email me and I might tell you if you're right if you promise not to tell anyone else until she's born. I will announce on my blog who the first person was to guess correctly after she's born. And the first correct guesser will also get the first phone call from us on the baby's birthday (after our parents and siblings).

7

Seven years ago today I started working for the government. I've now been in DC longer than I was in college and grad school combined. Wow.

Updating things

I updated my baby registeries this week to help the family shoppers. I do want to get some new things in girl colors other than just clothes (like blankets and towels and such) but I don't want to overdo the pink which I think can happen easily. Maybe I just like blue more than pink and so the girl stuff seems a little overwhelming pink. But hopefully we can mix it up with some light purple.

And here's the update on some of Dylan's fun new words:

aape-pain - translation airplane; he is also now learning that his toy airplanes go in the air instead of on the ground like the other transportation vehicle toys - he even makes the "swwwwoooo" noise for the plane flying through the air.

dump (wait for it) truck; for some reason Dylan says this as two separate phrases instead of one

lots of verbs - come, clap, burp

new-new - fig newton

Even though he's not speaking in sentences, he can now string enough words together that we know what he's talking about more and more. We are also trying to teach him 'sister.' He can repeat it.

I think Dylan is going to be good at foreign languages. His dolphin sound is essentially a rolling r sound like in spanish and he says his friend Richie's name with a very spanish r (very appropriate since Richie's mom is from Peru). He also says his Ks like he's speaking Hebrew. Milkkkaa. And Truckkkaa with that deep throat sound. Maybe that's more German.

I like pink.

It's a GIRL!!! We're very excited! So are the fams. She will be the first baby grandaughter on both sides. (The shoppers, our moms, have been released!)

We already have a name but we're not telling....but I might give some clues on the blog so stay tuned.

(The title of this post is a very rare Simpsons reference that *I* came up with, not my hubby.)

It was a date

For the first time since Dylan was born we paid a babysitter and went out on a date on Friday. It wasn't a special occasion or anything. Except maybe that we wanted to use the movie gift card that we got for Christmas. We saw Dark Knight (excellent movie, btw) and went out to eat afterwards. Not sure our pocket books want to stand doing that more frequently but Martin and do want to spend some alone time together before the new baby comes. Not that we feel like we need a break from Dylan - on the contrary, in fact, about 2 hours after he went to bed last night we missed him and wanted to wake him up to play with him. But we feel we should spend some alone time together. We're looking forward a "baby moon" this fall probably to the Shendandoah.

Hiking again!

Today we went on our first hike in what seemed like forever. We did probably the shortest hike in our 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of DC book - Winkler Botanical Preserve. We had actually tried to do this hike twice before, but the gate to the preserve was closed the other two times. We took Dylan in the backpack, but he started crying after about half way. We took him out of the backpack and let him walk for a while. That didn't seem to appease him until we came to this really cool creek that was just deep enough for him to walk in and get his feet wet but not too deep that he would get too wet. Luckily he had his fake crocs on, so we just let him walk in the creek in them. He loved it and stopped crying. I think we'll definitely go back to this place, even if only to play in the creek. Unfortunately I didn't take the camera to get any pictures. The place was really pretty too with a lake and a manmade waterfall and many flowers in bloom.

Chincoteague - Day 2 (at the Beach)

We only spent about an hour on the beach - just to eat lunch and get our feet wet. But the beach is one reason I want to go back to Chincoteague. It's a natural wildlife refuge so there are no hotels on the beach - it's so nice. The sand was really really hot but apparently it didn't bother Dylan. After the beach we went on a hike in the more wooded area. The paths are paved so I think it would have been cooler to do on a bike. So that's what I want to do next time.

Chincoteague - Day 2 (on the Boat)

We were probably crazy for taking a 20 month old on this small of boat for an hour and a half but "Dylan did great!" We were quite tired of holding him afterward but it was worth it.

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.