If the shoe FITZ....

2012-01-21T15:25:00.004-05:00

It's christmas eve....and this angel is all smiles

working hard on her gingerbread house at church.

Nearly finished product!

You can see why they get along so well!

Where we started!

MJ getting cleaned up after "helping" with the gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve!

Eenie and Commadore got MJ roller blades!

Lilly and her American Girl Doll ("lilly"), in their matching dance outfits!

Singing Happy Birthday to Eenie with Fitz adding some music on Small guitar!

Silly MJ photo.....he was first playing with the water in the pot, and then was in the pot with the water! Silly boy! Guess it's good we live where we have some warm days all year long!

2012-01-21T15:18:00.003-05:00

So we started planning vacations....and never stopped.

Since I got to go to Australia in May 2011, Fitz has wanted to take a trip. After some serious sorting of ideas (mardi gras, coasta rica, hawaii and many more), we decided on FRANCE.

For a few reasons: 1-we both want to watch the tour de france, 2-we have a friend who lives there currently, 3-we have done Paris, so we can now do the rest of the country, and 4-well they drive on our side of the road (BIG PLUS).

Since starting the planning of France (which currently includes: the Alps, Nice, the Tour, surfing on the west coast, and Versailles in the summer). We have also planned trips to Hawaii to help welcome my baby Bro home from his deployment, and a trip down to Florida to visit the original MJF and hit up disney for a day.

PHEW! and that only gets us to mid-July!

2011-12-25T13:15:00.008-05:00

New Traditions:

We are spent the last 10+ years of our relationship traveling to the great white north for the winter holidays (and once or twice to somewhere warm). This was our FIRST year staying put, having a tree of our own, and forging some new traditions. I really and truly love all the holidays we have had, but it was wonderful to do somethings different (and yet the same).

On Christmas Eve morning we met some of our good friends for a serious track workout at the local track....now some of you might find that strange, BUT it's just our style. Then all the families and kids headed to our local breakfast joint for some "good country cooking at the right price," and filled our bellies while the kids run like wild animals and just had fun together.

We then blended an Italian tradition of "seven fishes" on Christmas eve with a classic "becky" twist: grouper, tuna, cobia, shrimp, Swedish fish, gummy fish, and fish food ice cream. Which will bring us luck into the new year!

We then got all pretty-ed up and heading to church for the children's service and let the kids join in the singing of come classic christmas carols. Lilly of course was more involved, until we ended up next to this wonderful older lady singing her heart out but a little off key. And poor Lilly kept looking over at her with a VERY perplexed look on her face :)

Home again and time to build gingerbread houses: this activity can take upwards of two hours in past years (the planning, building, decorating, fixing falling buildings, and such). We managed for nearly 35minutes to keep the kids attention. But most of that was MJ eating any candy handed to him for decorating and Lilly being the one handing candy to everyone. Priceless!

Time for an Internet check of where Santa is. This one is so cool to me......you can see where he is going and video of some of the big cities he's been in. Lilly LOVED watching this. And as we watched Santa flying over the Atlantic....we saw a flashing red light in our back yard. Lilly shrieked and ran straight to be and covered her head proclaiming that Rudolph was in our backyard.

Time to Christmas to begin......Lilly slept until 7am and eagerly woke everyone in the house and started tearing through her gifts. She was wide eyed and ready to play. MJ was more reserved as he still has two or so gifts to open (and it's nearly 1:30pm). He would open one and play with it. Then move on to the next one, and play!

Our house is now full of so much more.....Lilly and her matching American Girl Doll-in matching pajama's, books, bike seat for said doll, dresses, makeup, and more. MJ with all things boy-trucks, trains, scooter, roller blades. Fitz will be trying out his new grind rail, and down jacket. And I will be happily sporting my new boots, and rain jacket!

There are still a few more hours of Christmas Day, and we are currently heating up the oil to fry a turkey, and then in the nearly 60 degree weather we will head to the beach to visit with great friends! Hope your christmas was FULL of traditions new and old and more then anything LOVE. Hoping to post some photos and videos before the day is done!

2011-11-08T13:31:00.003-05:00

Phew, is it really NO-vember?

It seems like just yesterday we celebrated the kids 1st and 3rd birthday and now it's been over 6 months. Quick update: Becky went on a trip to Australia and met Bobby for a 10+ day trip during his mid-deployment R&R, Becky turned 30 and fished in the women's big rock fishing tourney (and caught the only fish), kids keep growing, Fitz and Becky celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary (8-8-11), Lilly started preschool and dance, kids had their 1/2 birthdays, MJ started school and kindermusik, and now it's November. Phew! See photos for what's been the happenings!

2011-04-28T15:18:00.004-04:00

What happens when you combine an egg hunt, two bounce houses, and a whole mess of kids?

A Fitzula birthday party of course!

We got to celebrate Lilly turning 3 and MJ turning 1 with only the best of parties. There were two bounce houses for the kids (and adults) to play in along with a candy filled egg hunt!

Lilly filled her basket quickly with some of the 500 eggs that were hidden, and left them at my feet to gather up more!

Then it was time to sing "happy birthday" first around Lilly's purple princess cake.

Then around MJ's #1 car cake.

Although, I would love to take credit for their beautiful cakes, they were bought from a local baker....Christy Harrell owner of Beach Bakery here in MHC....look her up if you need a cake.

Then we opened some gifts, of which we slyly packed some away so we can pull them out on a rainy day. Lilly's current favorites are her Logan Dress, princess sing along, and DVD of Snow white. I'm sure others will quickly make her list when we allow her to have them.

Then it was time for more jumping, sliding, and having a grand ole' time. We managed to have NO injuries, and the kids LOVED every minute of it! Hurray for birthday parties!

2011-04-12T10:57:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday to my babies!!

We have the joy of celebrating our kids birthday on the same day...what a great thing...Fitz loves it since he only has to remember one day! The day started with gifts for the kids; Lilly got her princess dress for us, and a set of magnetic building things (magnaforms) from MJ. MJ got a a lifetime fishing liscence from us, and a toy telephone from Lilly. Since their party is not for a few weeks, the only other gifts they got to open were for close friends who came by for some cupcakes.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL, so we started with breakfast outside. Lilly was on to outfit #2 by this time, and she just HAD to weather her Cinderella Dress! MJ loved eating outside and watching all of the birds in the sky.

After we made our birthday shirts (3 for Lilly and 1 for MJ). It was time to do some swinging. And if you know my kids at all, it was not a surprise that they ended up nudie! It was so nice to be able to enjoy the outside! During this time, Dada was tilling the would be garden so we could plant. Lilly wanted to plant flowers for her birthday, so our next stop was to pick up some flowers, veggies at the Newport Garden Center.

Later on in the day, we had some of Lilly's good buddies over for a cookout. The girls gathered around the table for some burgers and dogs. They had to finish before we could move on to cake!

YAY for cake!!!

The night ended with some baths, hats and hugs! We are looking forward to the big party with weekend, and having all of Lilly and MJ's friends over for food, fun, and an egg hunt! It's so nice to have a "theme" already build in to birthday parties! If only it was not such a pain to fill the eggs...at least they are already done....all 500 of them!

2011-04-01T08:45:00.003-04:00

April Fool's Day

It's 8:45am and our family has already been going strong for 2 or more hours. We have slipped back into cooler then normal weather for this time of year and I think it is putting everyone in less then happy moods. I think we are in desperate need of some warm weather and time outside. In the mean time, we have been staying busy....Lilly has become quite the actress and LOVES to dress up and play the "watch me" game. You know..."hey (blank), watch me do this"..then said adult had to "ohh and ahhh" over whatever it is that she did. We are really looking forward to her birthday since she will get yet another dress up dress. MJ is practcing walking but has not taken his first steps yet. maybe soon?!

Tomorrow Lilly will "run" her first road race. It's a mile fun run....I will hopefully, be able to take lots of photos!

2011-03-02T19:40:00.003-05:00

Finally some nice weather!

We have finally had a change of the seasons, and we are enjoying every minute of it! We have been spending as much time at the park and beach as possible.

MJ enjoying the beautiful day at the sound, he loves the sand and being able to stand with a bit more help.

Lilly has become a master of the "spider web" She is now tall enough to do some climbing on her own, and loves being independent!

MJ is, of course, too small to do any climbing, but he loves to stand at the bottom and cheer on his big sis as she does her climbing!

This is what is looks like when Lilly reaches the top (with Dada's help of course). She only gets to attempt the climb to the top when there are two of us at the park.

Actually, playing nicely together....it's a rare thing so I had to get it on film. Lilly found this to be great fun, and MJ was a good sport so we let the game continue!

2011-02-20T11:08:00.004-05:00

NYC-you soon

So after not being away from the kids since Lilly was born in 2008, my parents kindly offered to take them for a weekend so we could get away. With Fitz's points (both hotel and airline) about to expire we decided to go big.....fly to NYC and stay in the Waldorf Astoria! What a time we had....I don't think we could have packed anymore into a weekend had we tried!

We left MHC 9am on Friday and caught a direct flight from Wilmington to Laguardia, then cabbed it to the hotel...what a location!! Then we changed and headed out to one of the many adventure we had planned (needed to check things off the list). First up, Millrose games (104th running)! We saw it all: 60M dash, shot up, pole vault, collegic 4X800 (Congrats to Virginia and Vig), then the event of the night Wannmaker mile! We managed to meet up with a buddy Fitz ran with at State.....then it was out for drinks with said friend, Chris Lear, Vig and other running nerds :)!

Inside Madison Square Gardens at Millrose Games!

Can't be in NYC without running through Central Park (we ran both days), but this was Sunday with our NC buddies Heidi and DT.

Another Must Do: was the museum of sex. Need I say more....somethings were interesting, and others were down right disturbing!

We used Sunday as our day to sight see.....Where else can you see a guy totally rocking on a piano in the middle of Washington square park. Look closely and you will see the straps he must have used to drag the piano to the park! What an amazing thing to see!

On our last day we hit the Museum of Natural History.....needed a full day in there, but we only had a few hours. One of the must see's for Fitz was the dino room.....I just hope to take Lilly and MJ someday. It was an amazing place!

All in all we had a great trip; Millrose games, running in Central Park, took in a show, celebrated the Chinese New Year in Chinatown (talk about feeling out of place), drank too much at the hotel bar for free (gotta love the perks), and then came home to the most amazing kids and parents a gal could ask for!

2011-02-20T10:58:00.003-05:00

Icing a cake for Dada....look closely and most of the icing is on her face!

Four wheeling in the snow:)

Lilly and her good buddy Macy watching some curious George!

Lilly, Macy and Huddy enjoying a tea party :)

Pinkey's out Hud!

Kiddos at the 10M and 34M photo shoot!!

The weather has been cold and there for we have been spending more time inside...not fun! But we have been tryin to make the best of it with other activities (baking, tea parties, puzzles, and of course jumping on the bed)! Hopefully soon we can enjoy the great outdoors!

2011-01-23T20:00:00.003-05:00

January started with Uncle Bobby heading back to Hawaii and then he will deploy for 12 months to the desert, but we hope to Skype him with while he is gone. The kids loved the time they got to spend with him and hope he we will see him sooner then later!

January 10th we had snow and Lilly got to play with her friend Gray and Gray's barbie jeep. The girls were crusin' around listening to tunes in the snow!

Intermeditly we have had some warmer days so we took advantage of them and got outside on the swing set. MJ loves to swing just like his big sister and it works out perfectly since we have two swings. Lilly is now a big help since she loves to push the swing and MJ is not as floppy!

One weekend Lilly asked for a big girl bed and we made it happen. She loves her new bed (mostly for jumping on), but has had no trouble at all sleeping. It's nice not to have to lower her down into the crib, but interesting to hear the pitter patter of little feet in the morning. Now on to the next task of getting her potty trained through the night!

Enter January 22, 2011....we got 7-8 inches of snow and Lilly was not a fan of the blowing snow, but the next day she loved riding her four wheeler on the iced over roads. We built a small hill in the front yard and did some snow tubing down it. All in all a great day!

2010-12-30T19:25:00.003-05:00

Uncle Bobby's Fan Club!

For some reason, MJ is just fascinated with my baby bro. Whenever Uncle Bobby is in the room, MJ just stares at him. I think they were having a very deep conversation about the purple exercise ball the MJ was trying to taste.

With Uncle Bobby being stronger then the average man, Lilly loves being tossed around by him. She actually finds it more funny when Uncle Bobby shows off and pick me up instead.

Look....he's a natural!

This was a Lilly/Uncle Bobby adventure taking the Barbies to the beach. He played along just as if he had been doing it his whole life!

Time to build towers or trains (I can't remember). I know Lilly is very glad to have someone else to play with, and for me I'm glad I get to spend some time with Bob-O since he will be in the desert for a year started early 2011! We are looking forward to spending all the time we can with him until he flies back to Hawaii next week!

2010-12-29T20:16:00.004-05:00

Why it's Christmas!

We spent Christmas in NY with the Fitzula side of the family. We began our trip to NY at 830am and made it to Newark, DE where we stayed the night and got to see my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. I love visiting family, just wish we could beam ourselves there instead of riding in the car. The kids did well, but Lilly ended up watching a DVD player for a long while (most of the trip). We started the next morning to NY and made that by mid-afternoon. It was nice to be at our final destination!

Lilly did not want to get any closer to Santa , even when he had gifts for her!

MJ on the otherhand, loved Santa!

Aunt Betty, is Fitz's great Aunt on his dad's side. No one is sure as to how old she is other then that she is well over 90! She came for dinner one night while we were in NY, and the girls just loved her. They played with her for a while before the food was actually ready. At dinner Lilly informed us all "I love Aunt Betty." That is one of the first times Lilly has said that without being prompted, for someone she had just met.

Fitz and I had the chance to visit with a good high school buddy of Fitz's who lives in Bermuda. The last time we all saw each other there were no children and we were all newly married! Look how times have changed. We just wish her hubby was there too, he had not yet travelled from Bermuda!

Lilly and MJ had some matching pajama's from Eenie, they posed in front of the Christmas tree at Grandma's House. Other then having to leave unexpectedly on Christmas Day to beat the snow storm home, we had a great trip and a great visit to NY. We are happy to be home, and looking forward to spending time with Uncle Bobby before he heads back to Hawaii and then on to Kuwait.

2010-12-16T11:16:00.003-05:00

Ginger Bread Houses

When we arrived at the church, we were given 6 pieces of gingerbread (real gingerbread...smelled so good), a bag of icing, and directions. Lilly was not so interested in this part of the building process, but lucky for her I attend NC State known for engineering so our house came together without a hitch.

Meanwhile, MJ was cruising around the fellowship hall with Eenie's help. He successfully said "da-dada-da-dadada" followed by a raspberry! Then later in the afternoon he mustered a "MAMA!" So excited!!

We had our house complete in record time so the candy table was not set up yet. I was put in charge of holding back the monkey's to the candy could be all put out. It was quite a job, but once they could be let loose they calmed back down!

The kids ate too much candy and then needed to run some sugar off. They ended up sitting on the stage giggling about nothing at all!

And here is the master piece....I put the dots of frosting, and Lilly added the candy (well the candy she did not eat). Hope this is just the beginning of the holiday crafts!

2010-12-15T11:33:00.003-05:00

Lilly cleaning windows!

The MJ stare from Santa's lap (we could not get Lilly within 10 feet of him).

Lilly and her good buddy Gray at the Art of the Season at Church

Craft Time!

Teething much?

Flying time

Wow, the month of December is packed and we are just 1/2 way through! We have been staying busy and enjoying the upcoming holidays. We have been shopping, working on projects, traveling to see friends and trying to relax (ha)! The first weekend of December we got to do some crafts at church. Lilly loves crafts, and had a blast. She got to make a pine cone Christmas Tree, a Nativity scene in a seashell, wire decorations, and an angel door hanger. She loves to show them off to anyone who comes over to the house. MJ let us get his hand print, and then he needed a nap! Lilly is still not fond of Santa, she wants a 10ft space between them. She is very willing to tell everyone what she wants from Santa though...."another fish, and another fish, and another fish". We will see if Santa and swing that. Last weekend we were in Raleigh so I could get Zumba certified and we could see our Raleigh Buddies! It's always a blast to see folks you've known for a long time...like "coming home." Lilly loves looking at the Christmas light, so we usually take the long way around town to get to see as many lights as possible.

On the MJ front....he said his first word over the weekend.....drum roll please...."dada." He now says it all of the time and laughs! Fitz loves that both he and Lilly said "dada" first, so I'll let him think that it actually his to do with him! Also, MJ is pulling up on anything that will hold him. He wants to be mobile so bad, won't be too long now.

We still have a few activities before the actually holiday is here....so hope we can get it all done! Will post any cute photos before too long!

2010-12-06T19:54:00.004-05:00

They can always make each other laugh!
Lilly girl, just being Lilly!

On an abnormally warm day, a Naked MJ was spotted in the backyard (getting his Vitamin D of course)

Christmas came early from Eenie and Commodore (MMA gloves for Mr. MJ)!

Beautiful Table set by the Coombs for Thanksgiving!

The gang gathered for to give thanks!

Craft time; me and the gals!

Two college best buddies; and their five kids.

Time to clean up leaves (pine straw) with Daddy!

Then it's time for a ride!

Playing Catch up

We have been busy, and not all at the same time! Where to start; we had a very mild November so we got to spend alot of time outside. During one of the beautiful warm days I took MJ outside to hang out and he enjoyed it so much that I let him "run" around nudie. He seemed to have a great time and really enjoyed hanging on to the fence and chat with the neighbor dog. Before my folks left to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday in Hawaii with my brother, we had to open some of the Christmas gifts. My folks (my dad) got MJ a set of sparring gloves and some MMA apparel. For Lilly, my dad hand stitched a quilt....he always has to one up me ;)! We had all intentions of just laying low for Thanksgiving and potentially eating out of Thanksgiving day, but plans changed! My best buddy from college called and invited us to her folks house for Thanksgiving. We, of course, could not resist a home cooked meal that we did not have to make or clean up after....so away we went. Lilly had a blast with Meg's daughters (Ella and Grace), and MJ was able to nap while we took all the girls out running! Such fun.....it was great to be surrounded by such great people! Since the holiday, we have had more presents with the return of my folks from Hawaii, chatting with some good buddies from Australia (miss you guys) about their trip to Thailand, spent time with my bro on his birthday via Skype, and of course prepping for the next holiday!

2010-11-22T16:52:00.002-05:00

This video sums up how life it going......GREAT! The kids love being around each other, and making each other laugh! What more could you ask for!

2010-11-09T10:19:00.004-05:00

Lilly helping me feed MJ-such a good big sister
Laughing boy

Princesses in the making

MJ-oh my MJ!

Lilly taking a "nap" on her swing

Kids in Motion

My kids are constantly in motion...running, hopping, skipping, walking, crawling, pulling up, rolling over, and everything in between! They are all over the place and loving every minute of it. We are always on the go and trying to keep up with them. I am starting to plan for Christmas gifts, and it's exciting and stressful all at the same time. I have decided that if I don't know EXACTLY what to get you then, I will send a care package in your name to the troops on the front lines. I have never been an advocate of war, fighting, or the likes, BUT I do feel a need to help those away from their families and all they know for extended periods of time. So, we will see how many packages I can send!! Exciting times....love the holidays!

2010-11-02T09:38:00.003-04:00

Lilly as a princess at Trick or Treating Under the Sea
MJ!!

Lilly and her turtle outside of the Aquarium

Lilly and MJ at the pumpkin patch

Tinkerbell trick or treating!

The Many Costumes of Halloween!

Lilly had a great this Halloween, we only had three costume changes; luckily for us we already owned them all so we could let her be a girl! We had a week full of activities; starting with Lilly the princess at Chick-fil-a kids night on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, we did trick or treating under the sea at the aquarium. They do a great job with decorating, and having fun things for the kids to do. Princess Lilly got her face painted with a purple octopus! Then we did a truck or treating at our neighbors church on Friday evening with Tinkerbell Lilly. She was more excited about eating the candy then about saying trick or treat! On Saturday we had the first real night of trick or treating with one of Lilly's little friends! We thought they were going to just do a few houses, but they did the whole block (like 20 houses). They were very cute holding hands a running as Lilly the Cat and Gray the Spider! I did not have a camera with me due to having a MJ giraffe to keep track of as well! And finally on Halloween, we did some hiking in the morning and enjoying the weather! Lilly had a great time hiking in the backpack on Dada's back! MJ was very happy to look at the water next to the trail! I sure hope the kids are nature lovers. We managed to still get out a trick or treat on the actually, but did not do as many! What a week!! Looking forward to the next holiday season and get RID of all this halloween candy!

2010-10-26T20:56:00.003-04:00

Lilly kite flying with her Dada!
Up close

MJ enjoying the sunshine!

Kids and kites!

Kids, adults, and kites!

Kite Fest and us!

We got the chance to go to the kite festival on Atlantic Beach, and it was a blast! Since the beach is open for driving, it was nice to be able to get up close with the kiddos! Lilly has recently taken to wanting to fly kites and since my Mom saves everything, she had kites from nearly 20 years ago that we got at the very same kite festival! Lilly is really good about flying the kite, we were not really concerned about being around the bigger kites. That was until Lilly let go of her kite and her string got caught around the string of the BIG sting ray kite. Lucky for us, we were able to get it untangled pretty easily. MJ enjoying being in the sunshine, watching the people and of course....eating some sand!

2010-10-23T20:18:00.003-04:00

Bedtime dance party...she really gets into it....notice the closed eyes!
Face painting....oh, face painting!

Lilly in the pumpkin patch!

MJ in the pumpkin patch!

Finally both kids together!

Halloween is upon us!

We have been staying busy, and with that comes lots of photos! Lilly has taken to not napping anymore which means an earlier bedtime....7pm to be exact. On occasion we have had a dance party before bed and if Lilly does not end up in Hollywood I will be very surprised. She loves to sing the songs, dance to her own tune, and now close her eyes while "performing." Another evening activity that provides entertainment is face painting. Lilly loves to paint her face, and anyone elses face that is willing to let her decorate. She love to use pink and at the end of the painting most things are covered in pink. Luckily, the clean up is pretty easy!

MJ is now sitting up regularly, and enjoys being able to watch the world go by from his perch on the ground! He got to meet a neighbors dog this week, and he loved the dog. He would pet the dog and laugh; bury his face on the dog and laugh; just basically laugh at everything to do with the dog. If I could get a dog and it would turn out just like Shamrock, I would get two!

We managed to get one shot of the kids together and smiling and it only took two trips to the pumpkin patch to make it happen. We are looking forward to celebrating Halloween with the kiddos. We have a busy week planned; chick-fil-a, aquarium, truck or treat, rec center, hay rides, and then regular trick-or-treating! I hope our little kitty and giraffe can have the energy to enjoy the fun!

2010-10-13T13:58:00.005-04:00

Sitting up for bathtime!

She found this to be hysterical...the dress got stuck on her head (she was looking in the mirror and laughing)

Happy 1/2 Birthday to Lilly and MJ!

Scooter Riding!

Lilly helping with MJ...at least he did not end up in the lake!

This was our 1/2 birthday celebration....somehow I ended up on the scooter.

MJ all bundled up for the 1/2 birthday walk!

Sleepy heads

Smiley Man!

First taste of Rice Cereal!

Happy 1/2 Birthday to my babies!

We have a tradition in my family to have 1/2 birthday celebrations. Since my brother and I were 3.5 years apart (June and December) we had a small celebration for the non birthday kid. Well even though my kids share a birthday I wanted to keep the tradition going. For their half birthday we took Eeenie and Commadore on a walk around Blair Point with Lilly's new scooter. We saw some fiddler crabs, and cows; it was a very nice morning. After that we sang "happy 1/2 birthday" to the kids with cupcakes. Lilly was very much into blowing out the candles...she is getting so big! Now that we have reached the 6 month mark with MJ, the doctor said we can aggressively start solid foods with him. He has had the pleasure of trying rice cereal, butternut squash, and peas! So far he is not a fan, but I'm sure that will change when he can have tastier flavors! As of his 6 month check up, MJ can sit up very well, bring objects (all objects) to his mouth, has very good motor skills, and is making more noises. He is a long lean baby with a small head, unlike Lilly who was long and heavy with a big head! It will be interesting to watch then grow up! They are very funny together. Lilly can ALWAYS get MJ to laugh, no matter what his original mood! We are enjoying the last of the summer temperatures by taking some trips to the beach and using our beach pass! Lilly is very excited about Halloween, I just hope she will wear her outfit when the big night comes!

2010-10-06T14:45:00.005-04:00

Lilly's new pet...her betta fish "nemo"
Lilly and Gray enjoying the boat rides at Seafood Fest

The Dad's and their daughters on the merry go round

Looking for fishes!

Look at these gals..such cuties!

Lilly, Fitz, Delinda, and Kinsey on the Merry go round!

North Carolina Seafood Festival

It's the first weekend in October, every year for the past 24 years, and this year was a blast! We started the weekend with an impromptu neighborhood party at our place....steak, mahi, and shrimp with some good buddies! Then Saturday morning was the race, an 8K over two bridges and through 3 towns (small towns). We rode over with our good buddies Heidi and David while my folks watched the kids! I managed to win overall female and all parties had a great time. Lilly had a blast running around and dancing to the music! It's amazing to think last year I was pregnant and this year I won! Saturday night we headed to the festival for the activities and we got to meet up with Fitz's cousin Delinda and her family! The kids had a great time together, and Lilly even rode some rides (merry go round and a train). She loved the rides nearly as much as the cotton candy (her only other demand she had for the festival). First thing Sunday morning, Lilly asked to go ride the rides...she loved them. We got to meet Beth, Wade, and Gray downtown and the girls had a blast! It is always good to have more then one two year olds together because it's monkey see, monkey do! We are so sad to see the festival go and can't wait for it to come back next year!

Up next is Halloween!

2010-09-28T20:37:00.003-04:00

Lilly got a scooter from my folk yesterday and just loves it. Since it has rained the past two days she has been "scooting" inside and is getting the hang of it. We are hoping the weather clears so she can take it outside!

MJ is still learning and growing. He sat in a high chair at dinner tonight and seemed to enjoy the freedom. We are starting "solids," so far he is tolerating them well. Peas and squash have been his only new tastes so hopefully we can get him to like veggie more then Lilly does!

2010-09-15T16:27:00.003-04:00

Kisses for MJ!
My babies...too cute!

Telling secrets! Oh, how they will lot against us one day!

Lilly in the flowers...

Lilly in camera mode!

My Babies are into September!

I can't believe it's September....MJ is almost ready for real food, Lilly is fully a big sister and both kids are just perfect. We are back in the swing of things for "school;" Lilly is going to her preschool two days a week, and gymnastics on Wednesdays. This means I have two mornings to get some chores done, hang out with just MJ, and relax just a bit! We are enjoying the cooler temps and the fact that most tourists are gone for the season so we have the beach all to ourselves! Over the past few weeks, we have had more fun company and Lilly has charmed more of her relatives!

Here are the kiddos updates:

LILLY:

-is nearly potty trained, she only wears pull ups at night

-is learning to be more independent; like to turn on the lights herself

-is becoming more helpful (with a bit of coaxing) with putting clothes in the hamper and cleaning up before bed.

-is more opinionated about what she wants to wear on her body, and feet

-is more opinionated as to what she wants to listen to in the car

-is now calling Eenie..."eetcie"

-is only "napping" if we call it "sleepy time"

-is the only one who can get MJ to laugh at nearly any moment

-is able to mimic MJ's noises to the point that we don't know who is making them

-is just a doll!

MJ:

-is rolling from front to back

-is rolling on to his side

-is laughing at his big sister all the time

-is talking up a storm

-is punctuating his "ideas" with raspberries

-is rolling around in bed and will wake himself when he bashes his head into the crib side (and by bashing I mean pushing hard, not literally bashing repeatedly)

-is nearly out of 6m size clothes before he's 6m old

-is a real charmer....we have to watch this one

They are quite a pair and I feel in years to come we will need to watch them closely because they will gang up on us!

2010-08-31T14:19:00.003-04:00

Hoover family reunion...including Uncle Bobby on leave from Hawaii!
MJ learning to sit!

MJ asking "am I really related to these people?"

Front Yard Four Wheeling Fun!

This looks like trouble!

"Hi Blue Eyes"

Ah, my girl always figures out how to "lose" her clothes

Toe in the water, toes in the sand.

Baywatch run! hahaha!

Pigtails!

Summa Time Photos.....we have been very busy enjoying the summer sunshine; whether in pig tails or with nothing on at all! We have had plenty of company and loved every minute of it; with more the come in the future! We are enjoying watching MJ and Lilly grow and slowly start to interact and get along! Hope everyone has the chance to get out and enjoy what's left of the summer sunshine!

2010-08-06T15:00:00.003-04:00

Loving the new stroller!
Not the best angle, but he loves to laugh!

Gray and Lilly dancing

Gray and Lilly still dancing (notice there are "real" dancers in the back)

Cupcake heaven!

Too cuties heading to the cupcake stand

Lilly enjoying the bounce house!

Racing through the race course

Lilly and Dada on the bounce slide

Gray and Lilly in the bounce house!

National Night Out

We had the pleasure of attending two national night out celebrations here in Carteret County. They had bounce houses, slides, race courses, face painting, balloon artists, fire trucks, dance exhibitions, and food, food, food! Lilly and her friend Gray had a ball at both the Atlantic Beach, and Morehead City celebrations and were sufficiently worn out at the end of the day. They both loved the bounce houses, and race course! MJ was not as active, but did enjoy that we changed the stroller around to the "infant" set up instead of the "newborn" set up so he was sitting up watching the world got by, then taking a nap, and ending the evening watching the world go by once again!

2010-08-02T14:13:00.003-04:00

MJ is a much more talkative baby then I remember Lilly being. I think he feels that he needs to complete for attention. He enjoying making a variety of noises and then smiling when we laugh. He also seems to be very strong; he is already trying to sit up and will stand (putting weight on his legs) if you pull him up. He has his 4 month check up next week, and I am looking forward to getting good news from the doctor! Enjoy the video

2010-07-31T15:20:00.003-04:00

Enjoying the water
Lilly holding a sand fiddler crab

Dada burying Lilly in the sand

Front view of our mermaid

MJ in his napping spot!

Lilly and Momma

Taking Le Noodle into the ocean for a swim!

MJ wake and enjoying the shade!

Lilly and Dada enjoying the big blue ocean!

2010-07-26T15:35:00.004-04:00

Chocolate faced Lilly...after enjoying some "dibs"
Fitzula's and Grandpa!

MJF Sr, III, IV

Great "big" Grandpa Fitzula and MJF IV and Lilly

The merging of generations!

Too Cute!

Grandma Fitzula and her two Fitzula grand kids!

Lilly is all smiles before Library story time!

MJ's pout face!

Tummy time MJ!

We have been staying busy and trying to stay cool in all this summer heat! Library story time is one of our favorite activities on Friday, and Lilly loves to sit outside before and have her snack! MJ is not as excited about the reading time, but he will learn with time!

We made a quick trip to SC for a visit with some of the Fitzula family. Fitz's Grandfather was up visiting his daughter and Ftiz's Mom made the trip down from NY. So we drove in on a Friday night, spent Saturday with the family and heading back Saturday evening. It was great to see everyone and have a chance to take some photos of MJ (michael joseph fitzula IV) with Grandpa Fitzula (michael joseph Fitzula Sr) and all other combination in between! Lilly is still struggling with names of everyone so when I told her we were going to see Great Grandpa...she repeated back to me "great big grandpa." So at least for me that stuck!

2010-07-19T14:24:00.004-04:00

MJ smile!
Lilly and her purple backpack on the day to "school"

Surprised MJ!

Lilly getting ready for roller derby!

July update on the kids!

We have been busy, busy, busy on the coast! Lilly has become a fixture at the Sports Center Pool and a favorite among the life guards! She is quiet the dare devil at jumping in and is slowing learning to swim, she kicks like crazy, now we just have to get her arms going. MJ is not quiet as sure of the water yet, but he loves him some bath time, so there is still hope! We have had adventures to Fort Macon, all the local parks, the water boggen, and nearly everywhere in between! We are enjoying all of the company we have had recently, it's always nice to have visitors. Looking forward to more adventures to come over the rest of the summer!

2010-07-06T21:13:00.004-04:00

Jackson, David, and Fitz showing off their "booty".... Finally got a smile on camera

Happy 4th of July!

Low Key 4th of July

We had about as low key of a 4th as possible...no beach, no pool, never really left the house and it was perfect. Fitz was spear fishing with friends from dawn till dusk (well not all that time, but pretty much). My folks were hanging out with us for most of the day, and we did cap the night with fire works.

Updates: MJ is three months old, and is very smiley when in a good mood. He is not sleeping through the night, but we are working on it. He looks more and more like Lilly each day, but I still have to take photos because she was always in pink!

Lilly swims like a fish, know what she wants, when she wants it, but is not always clear in her communication of her desires. She will help clean up with much encouragement, and is starting to use the potty.

We are reading a book on "making the terrible two's, terrific" and first thing we had done is to eliminated nearly half of the toys and most of the ones that make alot of noise (thank goodness). Hopefully, we can make our two year old more terrific then terrible!

2010-06-25T07:45:00.003-04:00

2010-06-01T16:43:00.003-04:00

One of the only photos of me, fitz, and MJ
Lilly, Hudson, and Dane having fun with the hose and bucket at the BBQ

My little gymnast!

MJ enjoying the shade at the beach

March, march, march!

For Memorial Day weekend, we did all the classic things....beach, bbq, pool, and rest. We had a great time, and Lilly is a water baby to the extreme. We are still working on MJ, but I have faith that he will love the water soon! We managed for no one to get sunburned, and always remain in good moods!

2010-05-25T21:13:00.003-04:00

And we've nicknamed him "scency" for sensitive!
Lilly is learning the art of the Thank You note!

MJ enjoying the beach in his own way

And Lilly enjoying the beach her way!

Me, Meg....and our five children....YIKES!

As Bill Cosby said your not really a parent until you have two...because then you never know who did it! Well, we still know who did it, but not for long. Time is short, and sleep is few and far between, but we are enjoying life with two little ones, and find that we are in a state of juggling at all time. MJ seems to be more of a sensitive child, and much more so then Lilly was. He loves to he held, and seems to cry at a pin drop. But on the flip side, he loves to cuddle.

We have managed to keep our normal schedule with gymnastics every Tuesday, and I managed to go all alone today. Keeping with our adventures we made a trip down to Topsail, NC to visit my good buddy Megan and her family who happen to be vacationing there for a few days. It was very nice to seem Meg, and her kids are great! Little Molly was a mear 3 weeks old and doing great! We are looking forward to our trip to Raleigh in a few weeks to see everyone and let them meet MJ!

We can't wait for all of our summer fun begin, including all of the visitors who have booked rooms at Casa Da Fitzula (or Hoover-depending on who they are related to). Can't wait for that warm weather and sunshine!

2010-05-16T08:46:00.004-04:00

Don't feed the wild animals
Gardening with Dada!

Sleeping MJ

Look at all those curls

Kiddos having a chat

Kisses for MJ

Big Blue Eyes

Strawberry picking at Garner's farm with Hudson and Macy

Lilly, Hudson, and Jen at the farm

2010-04-10T16:20:00.003-04:00

For Lilly's first Christmas my folks got her a set of roller blades. My dad had this vision her Lilly being a roller derby girl, and coming up with a cool name for her. His dreams were dashed when he realized she needed to be walking first. Well, her feet have grown and now we is ready to try. With the addition of baby MJ, we are trying to keep Lilly busy so we are trying new activities. Here is a video of her first skating adventure. We were not sure if she would like the skates so we did not put a helmet on her. Now she is required to wear a helmet.

2010-04-10T12:42:00.001-04:00

2010-04-06T16:09:00.003-04:00

Vaginal C-section

For anyone who does not want the details, go ahead and stop reading now....I will post the cute baby photos later, but if you are interested as to how MJ entered the world here you go...

On Friday April 2nd, I taught cycling at 5:30am at our local gym. I did more calling and just riding the bike then actual "teaching" but I was there none the less. At home after my shower, I began to have "un-mistakable" contractions about 10 minutes apart. On this particular day we spent the morning with a friend and her daughter whose car was getting new tires. She commented that I was looking alittle rough and walking funny. I, of course, knew that, but I did not think it was anything too out of the ordinary. Throughout the day, my contractions stayed fairly steady, but never increased so I ended Good Friday by taking Lilly to the doctors only to find that she still had an ear infection (after 10 days on antibiotics) and had a fever of 103.7....yikes! It was recommended that she begin a course of 3 injections of antibiotics to really force her ears clean and try to get rid of whatever was causing her so much trouble. On Saturday morning Lilly was still not doing well, and had another appointment for her second round of antibiotics. She was a champ and this time they tested her for strep, but she was negative so we were still at a loss as to what she had contracted. As the day moved forward she was eating less and less and hardly drinking and we thought for sure that we would be in the hospital with her. All the while I was still having contractions about 10 to 15 minutes apart. Since Sunday was Lilly's actual birthday we had planning to have my folks over for brunch and then take Lilly to pick out a gift for herself and eat some cupcakes....but someone else had a different plan.....

I woke at 2am and decided I needed to take a bath (should have been a sign that something was wrong....I don't take baths), then at 3am I had some stomach cramping followed by diarrhea. This lead me to think I was coming down with the stomach bug that Fitz had earlier in the week. Although, I was not feeling bad, I was concerned about dehydration so at 8am I called the on call doctor and check on what I should be doing. She advised me to keep up my fluids and if I could not then come in to the hospital. At 8am we also called the on call pediatrician to set up Lilly's last injection of antibiotics. Once that was set for 10:30am, we began to get ready to head to make folks house for the change of plans egg hunt and food at their house. As the morning slipped away, I started having contractions about every 6 minutes lasting for about 1 minute. We managed to get to my parents where I was left to make laps of their house, use the bathroom at will, and squat when the contractions got worse. Fitz took Lilly to get her last injection and find out at last that she had "hand, foot, and mouth" virus....a very, very common virus affecting children 6mo to 4 years. It causes a high fever, blisters on the palms of hands and soles of feet, and ulcer like sores in the mouth. Poor baby was SICK!!! And the only treatment is to let it run it's course! When Fitz and Lilly came back, we started the Easter Egg Hunt and my contractions got worse. Finally, Fitz and I made the call for me to head into the hospital at noon-ish and leave Lilly happily playing with her Eenie and Commadore. Fitz had wanted to drive "really fast" like they show on tv, but since we live in such a small town, we were in the car for less than 6 minutes and he was only going 40mph. After checking in and being wheeled up to L&D, getting check into triag, we found out I was 5 cm dilated with contractions 4-6 minutes apart. I was admitted to L&D at 12:45pm ish, and my contractions stayed at 4-6 minutes but began increasing in intensity. At 1:58pm the OB decided to break my water to help things along and boy did it ever. I began pushing very, very soon after that and with the aid of the OB and nurses, Michael Joseph Fitzula IV, aka "baby MJ." was born at 2:20pm. The delivery was very fast and thus caused some tearing on top of him turning upon making his exit causing his posterior shoulder to come out first. He had dark hair and very good apgar scores, I on the other hand was facing a 4 degree tear and 90 minutes worth of stitches with out any type of drugs other then lydocane. Now, I will preface this with the doctor was great, she put me back together in working order, and I am very glad she took her time and did it right....BUT in the moment I wanted to kick her in the face and have her just stop!!! She used as much lydocane as she could and then I just had to hold still. After that I had the chance to nurse baby MJ and he is a champ at that! All told we are doing well, Lilly is quite the doting big sister and is eager to help with everything. I am glad to be home with some pain meds (although not the really good stuff) and be able to sleep in my own bed. We will see how everything pans out over the next few days, but he seems to be a great kid already!

2010-04-03T21:11:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday My Beautiful Baby Girl..

As we approach the time in which my water broke and Miss Lilly came into this world in less than two hours (1:43am on 4/4 to be exact); I feel that I should be so thankful that our biggest problem with her is that she seems to be "too smart" and is like our little parrot so we have to be careful about what we say. I am not organized enough to have photos of her ready to show the progress over the last two years, but I can say it's been one of the greatest adventures of our lives. I find it hard to believe that sometime soon I will have to find room in my heart to love a little boy (we think) when it's been just me and my Lilly for two years. We have our routines down pat....each day is a different activity followed up with our book reading, talking about our day, and 20 "rock-a's" and down she goes more often then not into a perfect sleep. It almost makes me a little teary eyed to think of how much her life is going to be rocked, but she will be such a great big sister. We don't have big plans for her big day tomorrow, but seeing that she is only turning 2 I"m not sure she is expecting too much. I'm sure a cupcake and some extra love from us and my folks will be all that she needs. We might even take her somewhere to pick out a special gift, as long as she is feeling better!

2010-04-01T07:08:00.003-04:00

Lilly and her bunny cake....she loves cake!
Commadore helping Lilly to blow out her candles!

Egg hunt in full effect....Lilly is getting help from our neighbor Heather

More egg hunting!

Lilly sporting her party dress from Aunt Stacey, Uncle Pete, and Millie....can't believe they could get the size perfect all the way from Australia!! Love you guys!

I managed to not take any photos of the actual party, I do have everyone singing Happy Birthday, but I need to up load it. These are some photos from one the of guests Grandparents (thanks prissy). Hope to have more up soon!

2010-03-31T13:22:00.003-04:00

A fabulous time of year.

We managed to celebrate Lilly's second birthday with with 15 of her closest friends. Well, at least 15 kids of similar age and that she could name them all :)! We decided to have an egg hunt to celebrate the big day and it was a huge hit...kids just love to be outside even though it was not one of the warmest of days (like in the 50's with a brisk wind). The kiddos loved it and the swing set but the parents were itching to get back inside to the warmth of the house. Lilly loved her party and is still not quite aware of the present concept. She opened them and then would just toss them aside, and move on to the next one. After we finally got her calmed back down from her sugar high and in her crib for a nap. We did a bit of cleaning and crashed ourselves; I think the party was harder on us then the kids. After nap time it was full into presents, and playing with everything. She loved all of her gifts, and we loved that my folks let us come over for dinner since we were still pooped and I was not able to plan for dinner.

Lilly's actual second birthday is Sunday (Easter), so we are going to have a very small celebration with my folks and some cupcakes! Little MJ is still holding on strong in my belly so we will see if he decides to come on Lilly's actual birthday; I have a check up tomorrow so we will see what they tell me. But I think all of the docs are happy that I am nearly 37 weeks along and basically full term. I just keep joking that this child will come out talking with all of the extra time he has spent in utero. My folks and friends are all on edge when I call them....in case it's "the call" luckily I have some great people surrounding me and ready to help out however they can. And since my parents don't sleep much anyhow, I am not worried about needing them to watch Lilly in the middle of the night. Here's to this baby boy making his debut soon so I can stop learning where each potty in carteret county is!!

2010-03-18T20:25:00.003-04:00

Little Miss Independent

Our Lilly has taken to be very independent little gal...wants to pick out her clothes, shoes, accessories, put them all and take them off. She loves to wear my high heels and "clomp" around the house. Some of her favorite phrases are....."no momma, I do it," "by self" and of course "no dada, back up." Lilly also enjoys singing, a few of her regular songs now are: ABC's, itsy bitsy (sp)-pider, and skidamarinc-e-dink. I will work on getting new videos of her singing soon. We are in full swing of planning her 2nd birthday, it's going to be an easter egg hunt with chick-fil-a nuggets (one of her favorites). So far I have stuffed nearly 200 eggs, and hopefully that will be enough. As long as the little baby in my belly stays for a while, we should be able to get all things done for her big day!!

2010-03-16T07:26:00.003-04:00

Track...

So a few local friends have asked for my help in creating some track workouts for them to get them ready for 5K season. I have always loved yelling at people, so I thought why not. Plus it will be good when I am trying to get back into shape to have a schedule already established. Last night, we made the track workout a family affair, well a Hoover family affair (Fitz was slammed at work so he stayed back). Off we went to call times, let my Dad run some repeats and try to tucker out little miss lilly. Little did I realize how much she would love it....she kicked off her flip flops (and informed us she was running like Ms. Amy-who occasionally runs bare-footed), and off she went running all over the place. Then she preceded to pick up on what I was saying and cheering on Ms. Amy, Ms Heidi, and Commadore. Too Cute!! After that she decided to cheer on the other people (some students, and a lady walking) with sayings like...."good job lady" and "good job boy. " Needless to say, I have lost my position as head cheerleader as no one and I mean no one can resist smiling and running a bit harder when a little bare-footed blonde-headed, blue-eyed baby girl cheers you on!

2010-03-14T20:53:00.004-04:00

Laughs from Miss Lilly

So I have been very slack in keeping a journal for Lilly, but I wanted to share two funny Lilly-isms from today. While in hawaii over the holidays, we were trying to teach Lilly that we could not cross the street until the walk came up. We made the mistake of calling it "the white man" because well, you have to wait for the little white man to come up before you can cross. We thought that Lilly got it, but in recent weeks she has been saying "white man" at times when there is no cross walk around...so yesterday at the St. Pattie's Fest; Lilly ran up to a fire hydrant and said "white man." Cracking us up......we never realized that each time we had told Lilly to look for the "white man" she only saw a fire hydrant! Then this morning at the park, Lilly started doing laps of sorts out of the park and to a street lamp (like 25 feet away from the park entrance and no where near the road) and touch the lamp, then run back. So on the second lap we asked Lilly what she was doing and she said "I see the light." Again, we were in stitches. Kids say the darn-dest things! I hope to be able to post more as they happen as to have some record of our beautifully smart caring crazy gal, Lilly!

2010-03-13T17:21:00.003-05:00

My Baby Girl is Turning TWO!!

Our good friend Missy took some beautiful photos of Lilly for me to use as her two year photos; we are still three weeks from her actual birthday, BUT with me being past my 34 week mark; I could deliver any day now so better to get them done while we have time and a beautiful day! Enjoy!

2010-03-08T15:39:00.003-05:00

Group shot!
Lilly looking out at the water; at least this time we kept her out of it!

She loves to climb!

Lilly and Dada!

Lilly with donut on her face and in her hands!

Beach Day fully equipt with sunshine!

We got to us our beach pass over the weekend and with the sunshine, it was great! We first stopped for donuts to fuel up for the adventure! We got to go for a walk down the beach, and enjoy the swing set at the circle! Lilly had a great time and I know will be much happier when it is really warm outside! Here's to warmer weather on the way and finally getting to feel the sun on my face!

2010-02-24T13:58:00.003-05:00

Counting down the days

The ticker says 59 days, but I am so hoping it will be less then that. This kid in here is just crazy....he has run out of room and kicks and punches, and turns all the time. We are just over 2 weeks from when I went into labor with Lilly, we are waiting to see if history will repeat. Feeling pretty good other then the constant motion either by me or him. Can't wait for him to join our ranks and see how Lilly reacts....hopefully it will be in a motherly way and not as a bully! We also got word today that Uncle Bobby might be making a trip back to NC for a few weeks sometime after May and before September...can't wait to see him and for him to spend sometime with Lilly. She loves talking to him on the phone. That's all from here; we have some great friends coming to visit over the weekend, and I get to cheer some pals on in the half marathon Saturday morning....nothing like screaming at 8am to get the blood pumping!

2010-02-18T14:37:00.004-05:00

Sorry this is a disjointed post.....having blog trouble!

Lilly singing itsy bitsy spider!

My Heart Day flowers.

I am not normally a flowers kinda gal. I think they are beautiful (don't get me wrong), but they just aren't my thing. However, on Valentine's Day, Fitz and Lilly had to run out to pick up one ingredient for dinner and when you almost two year old walks in with a beautiful bouquet of roses, and says "Happy Valentime's Day Momma" they are the best flowers ever!! Fitz claimed she picked them out herself, but I'm not sure I buy that line! If you count the flowers there are only 10 in the vase because, of course, Lilly needed some for her own so she got two! Here are to great memories with your little ones!

Lilly singing her ABC's

Lilly and Dada enter the snowy backyard!

Lilly was much happier with the snow at the beach!

2010-02-15T13:44:00.003-05:00

All Bundled Up!
Lilly and Macy on our snow tube (thanks aunt chrissie)

The Family shot on the snowy beach!

Momma making a snow angel, with Lilly looking on in wonderment!

Happy gal in the snow!

Snow day in the MHC!

On Friday 2/12, they were forecasting snow for the coastal region of NC, but it has yet to happen in 2010 so we just blew off the warnings! However, while watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics....it started, and just kept going....and going. Nearly 8 inches later, we were covered in snow and so what better thing to do then head out in it and run a muck! Lilly was not a fan of the snow (much to her Dada's dismay), I think it was too deep for her. Plus she did not like to wear gloves so her little hands got cold very quickly. We had a grand time, some friends came by for a visit, and we went over to the beach to see how funny/weird it looks to see snow on the sand! All in all a great snowy weekend, but I'm sure glad it is melting away today (2/15) and we will be back to normal by tomorrow I'm sure!

2010-02-09T21:23:00.005-05:00

30 week belly

So here is a new belly shot. I'm am 30 weeks along and counting down the days now. If he comes as early as Lilly we are only a few weeks from meeting little MJ, but hopefully he will stay in until at least 36 weeks! I think I am done running for this pregnancy, but we will see; I might try one more time. I am still able to swim and Lilly loves those days because she gets to swim after I'm done with my workout. We are still working on the nursery, but it is now coming together and hopefully we will done before too long.

As for a Lilly update, she is a talking machine and usually we know what she is saying, but sometime we are not 100% sure. She loves playing with her friend Macy, and we usually get them together 2-3 times a week. Lilly will count to 10 on her own and will do parts of her ABC's. I will get that on video and up soon for all to enjoy!

2010-02-04T21:22:00.003-05:00

Decorating....

So we are trying to decide on how to decorate #2 room without having to repaint the entire thing....we have narrowed it to two options and I wanted to see if any of you have opinions on what you like best. We are going for a surfer/ocean/beachy theme here and thus our two choices are a stencil (www.stencilplanet.com/surferstencil.aspx) in a blue and green that coordinates with our current wall color or vinyl wall art (www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37160560) and then a surfer themed sign of sometype on another wall.

Let me know your thoughts or if you have better suggestions.....have at them!

2010-01-31T20:58:00.005-05:00

My little poser!
Lilly and Ollie in the bushes!

"I fell down"

They loved this!!

CRABBY!

Playing in the office chair!

Miss Katrina holding the "twins"

Lilly and Dada still trying to warm up in the aquarium.

Burrrrrr.....so cold!

It was one of the coldest days we have had.....there was ice on the cars and bridges and roads. So what better thing to do then to head to the aquarium and let the little one RUN FREE! We managed to meet up with two of her little friends and they had the most fun in the office chair and the bushed out front. So silly!!! After dinner Lilly decided she needed to model her tinkerbell halloween costume over her clothes (and the shirt that I made her). Enjoy the photos!!

2010-01-25T16:05:00.002-05:00

High stepping in the puddle
Running through the puddle

Smiling because I'm outside

PUDDLES!!!

Yup, it's all in a days work....just a little mud and water in my boots :)!

2010-01-25T14:09:00.004-05:00

It's a rainy day....it's a rainy day....

We had a very rainy morning here in the MHC and therefore had to find things to do to keep the kiddo from going crazy being inside. So brilliant mommy thought....let's put on our wellies (rain boots" and stomp in some puddles. As we live in a very low lying area, puddles are very easy to come by. So after we did our morning "swim lessons" at the gym, we ventured out into our yard in search of puddles....and what luck we found some to jump in. Since the rain had stopped it made the jumping even more fun...that was until Lilly found a pretty deep puddle, jumped, and ended up wet to her bottom. The boots do no good if the water is higher then the boots! So we played a bit longer and then headed in to warm up and dry off. Lilly actually had puddles come out of her boots. I will take a photo after nap time because I'm sure we will have to do some more puddle jumping! The boots are currently drying and hopefully we will get some cute photos with the sun up!

2010-01-19T21:33:00.003-05:00

Sunny day

We finally got a sunny and semi warm day since arriving back from Hawaii. We took full advantage and spent most of the day outside on Lilly's swing set. Here are a few photos of Lilly enjoying being outside and running around like crazy!

2010-01-15T11:37:00.004-05:00

99 days to go...

So I am still working on how to sum up the two weeks we spent in hawaii....there are over 450 photos documenting our adventures and many more memories that could not be done justice by a photo. In a nutshell, we spent the first 5 days on Oahu staying at a military hotel (hale koa) on Waikiki. we spent our days adventuring to see "DOG: the bounty hunter," Leonard's bakery -excellent donuts, surfing - well not me, playing at the pool, scuba diving, playing at the beach, paddle boarding, and all water activities. I personally got to do some shopping, and even take some naps. Lilly was an angel as long as she was fed and got to sleep when she was tired. We celebrated christmas in the hotel room complete with a crab pot christmas tree - flow over by my mom, stockings, and even making some ginger bread houses (a hoover family tradition). We had a wonderful buffet on christmas day, and finally got to spend sometime with my little bro (the whole point of the trip).

The second leg of our trip started very early on the 26th with a flight to Kona and a long but scenic drive around the big island to the volcanoes. Again, Lilly was a trooper, and enjoyed all of our side trips. We managed to see sunrise at Java on the Rocks, wonderful breakfast at the coffee shack, green sand beaches, black sand beaches, and even a zebra (no joke-it was just on the side of the road in a pasture). We spent the next two night less cramped in a military camp on the volcano national park. During these two days we did some hiking, got to see lava flowing down to the ocean, sing my mom happy birthday with the lava flowing in the background and spending more quality family time. The big island adventure continued with a trip back around the island for a tour of the "sea horse farm" we even got to hold a sea horse, then we checked in to the swankest of our abdos....Sherton...other then the price it was a super sweet place to stay. The pool was perfect and Lilly loved playing in it. That evening we boarded a boat (well 4 of the group) and went to scuba dive/snorkel with the manta rays. What a treat....nothing quite like being in dark water with a huge flashlight and waiting for these 10ft. across creatures to come out of the dark....spooky. But again a once in a lifetime experience. We got to relax the next morning by the pool before we checked out and headed back to Oahu. Lilly again loved the pool and I was very sad to have to make her got out!

We made it back to Oahu, and then started the drive to the North Shore. It did not take as long as expected (which was nice) so we settled into our 3 bedroom house directed across from shark's cove and some really nice tidal pools. We were able to spend the next few days lounging around at Waimea Bay, Pipeline, Shark's Cove; doing some shopping at Hawiea. This was by far the most relaxing part of the trip, and the most time we got to spend with Uncle Bobby. As for adventures; we got to watch my dad and bro boogie board pipeline; Fitz, my dad, and bro boogie board Waimea Bay, eat at a bus on the side of the road; taste some of the famous shave ice that Hawaii has to offer; do some more shopping; and all in all just hang out. Lilly also loved this part of the trip because she was in the water everyday and there were tons of other kids to watch and play with. On Sunday the 3rd of January, started our trip back to Honolulu and eventually on to an airplane that would bring us back to reality. We were temped to let them bump us and stay longer, but we were starting to run low on money and patience for spending so much time together.

Since being back it has been a rough adjustment for Lilly most of all due to her having to wear lots of layers to ward off the cold and actually have to wear shoes. After nearly two weeks of being back we are all missing the great times and weather from Hawaii; not to mention my brother, but hopefully we will get to return one day! On a cute note, Lilly will pack a bag up and tell us she is going to the "north shore." I think she really misses the weather!

As for other news, we are 99 days from the arrival of #2, and boy do we have a lot to get done before then. If he happens to come early like Lilly did we are a mere 56 days away from his arrival, but we are hoping to keep him in a bit longer then she did. If anyone is bored and needs to kill sometime; I have tons of things to be done in the near future....painting, cleaning out closets, washing baby clothes, and not to mention keeping up with Lilly.

2010-01-05T22:01:00.008-05:00

Christmas in Paradise!

Nothing can compare to having your family all together at christmas time...expect maybe being all together in Hawaii! Since we had not seen my little bro in nearly a year and with him being stationed on Oahu...we decided to head there for over two weeks. There is not enough time for me to write about everything we did but here are some highlights....

1-Surfing/paddle boarding Wakiki, waimea bay, and pipeline

2-scuba/snorkling with manta rays

3-holding a sea horse

4-seeing lava flow in to the ocean

5-80 degrees everyday!!

6-seeing my baby girl spend nearly every waking moment with her dada in the water

7-and much much more...here are some videos to enjoy while I work on my full write up and photos !

2009-12-02T13:21:00.002-05:00

Still learning how to use the new computer, but here is the most recent scan of baby #2!

2009-12-01T20:44:00.005-05:00

Lilly as Tinkerbell!
17 weeks pregnant

Lilly posing on the beach in November...can you believe it was so warm!

Ready, set......GO!!! Running!

And a favorite past time...throwing sand!

It's A Boy!!

We had our ultrasound on 11/19 and it was very, very clear that it's a boy. I will work on getting photos up as soon as possible. We did our trip up to NY for Thanksgiving and all in all it was a good trip...long drive, but good trip. We are looking forward to our busy December; Mike's Farm on Friday, Holiday party on the 12th, then our Hoover family Hawaii adventure!!

2009-11-19T08:37:00.004-05:00

Still no computer...
As I sit here typing this update, I'm at my folks house using their computer per the fact that mine is STILL being worked on by best buy. It went in on the 28th of September, and I have not seen it since. But hopefully, by this weekend. Here are some updates to keep you, well, updated:

-Lilly was Tinkerbell for Halloween, not really into it, but the adults had a great time when we found a house that was giving out beer....we ended up staying there for a while ;)

-Lilly can now use short sentences to let us know what she is thinking and along with her large vocab and ability to remember names and colors, she is quite the talker! Just ask all her friends and their mom's it's almost creepy how well she remembers people.

-Today I have my 18 week ultrasound to look at all the baby part (for those who did not know; I'm pregnant). I will try to get those photos up tomorrow or at least news as to what I'm having.

-Fitz is the hardest working man in the MHC right now, but it will hopefully pay off when the rental house is ready to rent!

-Not much else news, will post photos as soon as I have access to a computer with will take a cd.

Hope to be back online very, very soon....and I will be posting so often that you will not want to read anymore!

2009-09-27T16:26:00.003-04:00

A Girl and her "Zee-Bah"

For Christmas, our good friends Leah, Paul, and Sienna gave Lilly a pull behind Zebra. At the time she had more fun playing with the box that it came in then the actual toy. So the Zebra moved around our house as needed, until one day recently when Lilly took a liking to pull it around behind her. I decided we could take "zebra" walks, and she loves it. She will find her "zee-bah" and head for the door saying walk and outside. I was lucky enough to be able to bring my camera and capture one of our walks. Enjoy!

2009-09-24T13:24:00.004-04:00

Lilly on the first circuit at the gymnastics field trip. She really enjoyed the trampoline track along the back wall.

Lilly on the second circuit at the gymnastics field trip. This time she enjoyed the tunnel, trampoline, and the bar for hanging! She just loves to be active.

Lilly on the big trampoline....gosh do we see a pattern?!

Today was the playgroup field trip to a local gymnastics training center. We have been looking forward to this field trip to see how Lilly did, and see if it is an activity we should start with her. She did really great once they were allowed to "roam" and do the activities; she did not, however, warm up properly nor would she stretch like they wanted her to. It's a good thing she's like gumby! We had a great time and it was actually a workout for me, mostly because I was chasing Lilly around the whole time. We are going to try the parent and tot class next week and see if she will like it enough for us to pay for her to take classes.

As for other news, not much! Just enjoying the warm days that "fall" has brought our way. And of course looking forward to the Seafood fest the first weekend in October. I always have to get a sea-spud, and butter drenched corn on the cob. This year it will be fun to watch Lilly do her people watching and flirting! Plus, my Aunt Elise and cousin Kit will make the trip down from PA for the festivities! And they always know how to bring the party!

In other October news, Lilly is going to be tinker bell for Halloween, so I have finished her tutu (neon/citrus green of course), and now I am working on what she should wear on top. I think I'll try to find some type of tink patch or iron on and just put it on a long or short sleeved shirt or onesie. Well, off to search the net; as we are severely lacking around here in places to search!

2009-09-10T14:01:00.004-04:00

A Day in the Life...

of a stay at home Mom. Ever wonder what the heck a stay at home Mom does all day long, I mean it must be easy right; you just play with your kid(s) all day?! Well, here is a run down of my 09/09/09; the day of a stay at home Mom. Wake around 6:30am to Lilly talking to herself in the crib and wonder how long she has been up. Make breakfast; waffle, banana, and blueberries. When it goes on the floor, she's all done. Ok, clean up; chair, baby, tray, floor. Time to pack for play group..out the door with time to pick up the photos and mail out some cards. Playgroup at 9:25am, plenty of time to spare. Inside and watching out to make sure Lilly does not hurt anyone else, we make it the whole hour and only have to change a diaper...yeah! To the grocery store, list in hand, cookie for Lilly. In and out in 30minutes, and I only forgot to get waffles. Back towards home, but need to pick up the shrimp first. Heading home, need to unload the groceries, get Lilly down for a nap, and peel/devein 10lbs of very fresh shrimp. All done by 1pm, some me time; eat lunch, fold laundry, put laundry away, and sit for 30 minutes and watch reruns of Rob and Big!! She's up at 2:30, call Mom to come pick her up so I can mow the lawn. Start mowing at 3pm, done by 4pm; then vacuum the cars. Mom bring Lilly back from the park, and we vacuum out her car. Then Dad pulls up with meats that need to do in our spare freezer, so we make room for that. Then it's time to go for a quick family run, and eat dinner. Then the hubby has a great idea to get ice cream and walk around Beaufort....what a perfect end to the day! And so it goes....the day in my life as a stay at home Mom :)

2009-09-01T12:04:00.003-04:00

Wedding Fun!

We got the invite to help some family friends celebrate the beginning of their lives together. And we discovered that Lilly is a dancing machine, I had to take her into a corner to keep her from dancing during the couples first dance! She even made friends with the ring bearer! Fitz better look out.

In other news, Fitz and the other Rabid Dogs got 4th in the Hood to Coast Relay over the weekend in Oregon. Not to shabby for a bunch of old men! They of course want to go back next year and go for 3rd...we will have to see!

In other news, Lilly is learning a word a minute! Just this morning she picked up 'happy' and 'canoe.' Now she just keeps walking around saying happy. I will have to try to get it on video, but she's not real cooperative.

My knee is doing better; I taught this morning without pain so hopefully I'll be up and running by weeks end! Hope everyone gets out and enjoys the weather, wherever you might be.

2009-08-26T21:15:00.004-04:00

Doctor's Daughter...

Growing up I never really knew what my Dad did, I knew we has a doctor (a foot doctor to be exact), and that in general people liked and respected him both personally and professional. I can remember laying in bed while in middle and high school on a Saturday or Sunday morning and having the phone ring EARLY....rolling over to answer it, only to have someone asking for Dr. Hoover because they were in pain. Man did I hate those calls, I could never get back to sleep (or remember to relay the message to my Dad). Anyhow, I digress. I have knee pain, I mean the kind of knee pain that causes me to have trouble walking. I don't claim to be a tuff-y like my Lilly, but I don't usually crumble under the pain. But let me tell you , I don't know what I did, but I did it good! So in comes the great part about being a doctor's daughter....I get to have treatment on my knee as often as I need, at whatever time I can get there, and at no cost. So from yesterday of not being able to walk without a sever limp, to walking nearly normal today....I would say I'm one lucky gal. Not to mention that my Mom is ever ready to keep Lilly busy so I can treat my knee. Here's to a quick recovery for these ole knees, and hoping to put some more miles on them by 9/5 (that will be like 2 weeks off running, and in my world that's like a life time). Thanks Mom and Dad!

2009-08-24T12:18:00.005-04:00

History of Hoop Pole Creek
Lilly and her ice cream cone

Getting some help from Eenie

Water Photo!

High Stepping through the High Tide

She loves some water.

Wet Feet=Happy Girl!

More Splashing!

Snails climbing the marsh grass to avoid the tide.

Water photo!

Heading up the path.

"what, it's time to go?"

"...but Momma I just want to play with the gravel."

Almost back.

Hoop Hole...I mean Pole Creek.

Ever have a place you've got to and talked about for years only to find out that it's got a different name. For years I have called this place Hoop Hole Creek, as a child we would go "giggin" for flounder (we never caught anything), and in recent times I have taken Lilly back for hikes and runs. Well when we went last weekend....I discovered that it was actually called Hoop Pole Creek! Oh, well! My folks and I took Lilly for her evening walk at the "creek" for a change of scene. We stopped for some ice cream on the way and Lilly just loves to walk and eat ice cream! We made it nearly to the end when I realized that at high tide some of the path is covered! Lilly did not mind at all, in fact it was hard to get her to come back. She's a water baby through and through! We are hoping to continue to enjoy the out of doors while the weather holds out!

2009-08-07T21:22:00.005-04:00

This chick's ready to shred!
Yup, that's my Dad!

Twin Pops!

Look SAND!!!

And a sand fiddler crab!

He taught me all I know!

Hubby, up and riding!

Nice do, Uncle John!

"Eenie, I wanna go out there with Momma."

Hoover Clan!

Stevie shredding it up!

Shoes on surf board!

Fitz self portrait...simply amazing!

Girl Shot!

Schlager family shot!

Another angle!

Happy Baby....she's naked of course!

"Look momma, I can surf too!"

Commadore said "tata, time to go!"

Heading home...suns nearly gone!

With some of my mom's family visiting we decided to do some beachtime and even surf a bit! It was a great evening for riding some small waves, and just having a great time. Good thing they are here to help me and Lilly get our minds off of our bestest friends heading home to Australia this week. We miss them dearly!!!

2009-08-04T11:32:00.004-04:00

She climbs in to a box and then gets stuck!

Removes her diaper and climbs in a chair laughing!

Accessorizes to the extreme!

When the house gets quiet; the kid is up to no good!

2009-07-29T11:25:00.004-04:00

Cousins being silly.
Lilly and Aunt Chrissie

Dada, Lilly, Grandpa and Grandma.

Shoe Shot.

Naked baby heading for the water.

Naked baby heading for the dunes.

Lilly and Grandpa at Fort Macon.

Julia and Chrissie in the fort.

Lilly planning her attack on the fort.

Grandma, grandpa and the grandkids at the Aquarium.

Sunset.

Lilly and Dada posing at the beach house.

Kissing cousins.

Lilly digging for crabs!

Fitzula's Family Vacation in PKS.

Fitz's family came down for a week at the beach. We hit all the high points; Aquarium, beach, Beaufort, beach, Fort Macon, beach, EI water park, and the beach. Fun times were had by all, and the beach will miss the family!

2009-07-15T17:07:00.003-04:00

Happy Baby at the Park!

We did a quick trip to a local park this afternoon and other then all of the equipment being hot, Lilly had a great time. We managed to waste sometime and then head to a local bakery for a sweet treat to share. What a great afternoon!

2009-07-08T13:28:00.003-04:00

15m 4d Stats...

Oh, my Lilly. We had her 15 month check up this morning, and she was a champ...sort of! She was not happy to be there, but did show off a few of her tricks and impress both the doctor and nurse. She is a whopping 25lb 3oz (80%), and 31inches long (70%) putting her in nearly the 90% for height/weight combo! Her doctor was saying what a smarty-pants she is due to her being able to ID body parts, and follow instructions. In any case all is well, and only two people cried during her shots...and I was not one of them ;)

2009-07-07T13:12:00.003-04:00

It's been nearly a month...

We have had a busy time over the last few weeks; with Dada out of town we had our annual Hoover family celebration of the longest day of the year. We usually have an ice cream party and a bonfire to ensure the sun will set and rise again. Although with Lilly around now we have eliminated the bonfire; we still had the ice cream. As you can see; Lilly loves her some ice cream!! She also loves her new rocking chair from Eenie and Commadore; when I tell her to go and sit in her chair, her red rocker is her first choice. The following weekend we had the privilege of attending the wedding of our dear neighbors Carole and Matt....what a time, what a time. I was able to get some really good photos of rehearsal and ceremony, but put the camera away as to not document the party....and what a party it was. We have been spending alot of time with our dear friends; Stacey, Pete and their daughter Millie! We did a whirlwind 4th of July complete with pool time, BBQ's, birthday parties, and fireworks of course. We hope that everyone has been as happy and busy as we have been and I will work on posting more as the summer continues.

In Lilly news, she follows instructions very, very well and loves to help Momma with the laundry, and cleaning up. She just today blew bubbles in the pool, but is a water baby to the extreme, she loves the beach and has the tan lines to prove it, she has started really repeating words.....you just have to know what she is trying to say...."baba" can be ball, balloon, bubble, bath, Uncle Bobby, the sound a chicken makes, or a baby, "caarh" is usually just car, "eeela" is usually just for Meg's little girl ella. We are working on new words everyday and I hope to keep increasing her vocabulary. She will answer where questions by pointing or getting objects; Where is Dada? she will point to the backyard. Tomorrow we have her 15 month check up and I will report the results....any weight guesses?

2009-06-14T13:06:00.003-04:00

artsy photo?

Look Momma, two flowers!

So happy!

Wanna smell?!

Smelling flowers.

Lilly is so mobile, and ready for adventure at all times. One of her favorite things to do is pick flowers and smell them, and have others smell them too. One of our rose bushes out front is flowering all of the time (recently), and Lilly always wants to pick them. She will smell them, get some pollen on her face and then hold the flower out for you to smell! So sweet! We are also working on her swimming ability by going to the beach at least twice a week. She recently got a real kick out of playing with the little sand flea crabs that are just at the shoreline. I would catch a bunch, put them in her bucket and then hand them to her one at at time and she would let them go in the surf and laugh. She nary hurt a one....she seemed to understand when I said to be gentle. We are getting ready to enjoy a week of visiting with my Aunt and Cousin who made the trip down from PA to vacation. We are so excited to have new people to play with!!

2009-06-01T07:51:00.011-04:00

Ninja roll...attack kite on the loose!
Momma and Lilly

I love sand!

And he's up!

Yah....seaweed!

Lovin' the beach!

My photo for the life insurance claim...luckily did not need it!swimming with dada!

Love my little pool on the beach!

My mom and her brothers, sisters and mom.

All the grandkids and greatgrandkids who were present.

Four generation photo!

Smilie girl!

She loved this rocking chair!

Aunt Chrissie and Lilly!

Cousin Julia playing with Lilly!

Swinging with Dada in NY!

Hugging with cousin Julia!

Playing at B&B's!

B&B showing Lilly how it's done!

Great Aunt Ruth, Lilly and me! She's nearly 90 years old!!

Busy Few weeks and weekends!

So we as a family have been very busy recently....we did a trip to the great northeast to visit family over memorial day, then a quick trip out to Wilkesboro for a wedding of our dear friends Karen and John, and then last night we had our first kite board kite flying experience.

We started our trek northwards with a stop in PA to visit my Aunt and cousin, then we headed further north to NY to visit with Fitz's immediate family, then started south to NJ for a family reunion on sorts on my side, and finally home!

Over last weekend, we did a trip to Wilkesboro, NC for a wedding (we forgot the camera), but had a great time. Lilly was a real trooper and loved all of the attention she got at the wedding. She was one of the few kids and so everyone was ooooh and ahhhing over her.

Fitz has decided that he wanted to take up kite surfing, so our friend Nate loaned him a training kite and we had a chance last night to try it out. Needless to say, he will need some really practice! But we had a great time and got some cute photos!

2009-05-26T14:37:00.003-04:00

WhooAhh...deep sea diver!
We found video of Bobby hard at work in Hawaii. I have to thank CH for the link, and now it is being shared with all of those who blog! I will get around to posting about our trip to the great northeast when I find time to sort it all out in my head! Maybe next week sometime!

2009-05-26T14:29:00.002-04:00

2009-05-17T20:18:00.005-04:00

Becky the biker!
Finishing the run!

Post race relaxing!

My little cheerleader!

So Silly Lilly!

Peak-a-boo!

your still taking photos?!

Nelson Bay 2009

So, I did it...I finally competed in a race....it's only been 2.5 years! And, if I do say so myself, it went pretty well. It was a short one; only 750 swim, 12 bike, and 5k run, but I finished 3rd female and 8th overall! No need for a race report, but I will say I think the bike was my best yet, must be all of the spin classes I've been teaching. I had my full support crew there; Fitz and Lilly came for the race then headed to a 1st b-day party, and my folks were there (thanks guys)! It was also nice to catch up with tri folks I have not seen in a while! Here are some photos from the event!

2009-05-15T16:44:00.003-04:00

Just a few recent photos of Miss Lilly.

We are enjoying watching Lilly change each day; her recent accomplishments are throwing a ball, rolling a ball, bring her towel to the bath tub when asked, signing "all done", stacking blocks and a super cool toy from Leah and Paul, climb on everything, and will pick up her bike helmet when she wants to go for a ride. We are still working on potty training so when we visit Uncle Bobby in Hawaii over Christmas she will be able to just go in the potty! Hope everyone enjoys their weekend ahead, and to the family we will be seeing next week; we can't wait to see you guys!

2009-05-14T13:59:00.003-04:00

Seaweed Head

Today Lilly and I had sometime to kill, so we stopped by the boat ramp access that is on the sound side so Lilly could burn off some energy before naptime. She first played with the pansy's in pots before we made it toward the water. Lilly loves to have her toes in the sand or the water so it was a great place for her. She kept picking up shells and rocks and showing them to me before "pretending" to lick them, then laughing at herself! After a few minutes she spotted some seaweed on the beach. I don't think we have come across seaweed on the beach in our adventures yet, but she was not afraid. She picked it right up and proceeded to carry it around for the rest of our time at the sound. I then made the mistake of saying, "seaweed head, seaweed head, Lilly is a seaweed head".....she then took the seaweed and put it on her head. At least I know she understands what I'm saying. I sure wish I had brought my camera along so I could have gotten a photo. Oh well! We are looking forward to a busy 5 weeks coming....starting with a small local tri for me, and a birthday party for Lilly and Fitz!! Can't wait to post photos of all of our adventures.

2009-05-11T22:53:00.004-04:00

Easter Lilly Photo

We just got this photo via email; it's from the Easter Egg Hunt from the hunt we attended in PKS with some of our playgroup friends. Lilly was still long enough to snap this photo, but not too much more. We are enjoying the nice weather these days, and hope to have more new photos up soon.

2009-05-04T21:14:00.003-04:00

No new pictures, but an update none-the-less!

We have had more busy times in the Fitzula household. Where do I begin, last week I got to teach the cycling class at the local gym every other day (due to people needing subs). I taught Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and today (Monday)....AHHHH! It was alittle much, but at least I found time to make a new cd. Also, I have been helping out with my high schools track team over the past few months, and on Thursday we had our conference meet. My kids did so great...I am so proud of them. We had our boys go 1,2,3 in the 3200M, and lots of kids qualify for regionals during the meet. I can't wait to watch them run....and not have to help at the meet.

Lilly has taken to "blowing kisses" her own way, but it's very cute. What is not so cute it the stomach bug Lilly picked up and caused quite a mess during an episode in the car....YUCK, YUCK, big YUCK! Lilly has also really taken to our neighbors little girl, Heather. She is 6 and an only child, but she seems to love Lilly as much as Lilly loves her. She even told her parents that if anything happened to them, she would come and live with us and be Lilly's big sister (to cute)! We have been spending alot of time outside, and that is by far Lilly's favorite place to be. Sometimes she stands at the back door when it's open (only the storm door closed) and just stares out until I get the chance to take her out. Her other new accomplishments are hugs on command (she will even pat you on the back), dancing all of the time, having conversations, and of course being the cutest baby EVER!!

In garden news, we have tomatoes, lettuce, beans, corn, watermelon, squash, onions, cukes, okra, carrots, and a few randoms that grew up from our compost pile. Can't wait to see how it all turns out at the end of the season!

Fitz is home all week this week, and we love having him home. Lilly is so cute with him! I know he loves being here with her and being able to see her change each day!

2009-04-26T13:46:00.003-04:00

Look at me, I have no trouble walking in the sand.

I love the water...even if it is only in the 60's.

Wave jumping with Dada is the best!

"Come on Dada, let's go in deeper....I'm not scared"

Sand is so fun!

Lilly's friend Xander relaxing on the beach!

Lilly modeling a dress made by me!

Lovin' those blackberries.

All dressed up for a bridal shower!

We have been a busy bunch of days for us recently. We spent alot of time with Eenie and the Commadore while Fitz was out of town for nearly 2 weeks. We attended a bridal shower for one of my oldest friends, Miss Carole. With her shower came some of the great girls I graduated with and spent a lot of time with while growing up. Lilly was the star of the shower, once we warmed up she was very friendly and showed off all of her tricks. Then when the weather warmed up (to nearly 80), we visited with our good friend Katie and her son Xander and took a trip to the beach. The kids just love the beach, and they are both getting better about not eating sand all of the time. Fitz got back on Thursday evening in time for dinner and Lilly was very happy to see him. On Friday we waited for news of our friends Katie and Chris to send us news of the birth of their little boy. He was born after 8pm and all are doing well. While waiting for that news, our other good friends, Meg and Nate and their girls made the trek down from Raleigh for some beach time. We had a great time together, but did not make it to the beach at the same time, due to different napping schedules. Fitz also did a local 5k, and won (sweet)! Then we did an adults night out for Meg's birthday Saturday night, and found a new favorite place to eat...The Ruddy Duck! We are getting ready to take Lilly to the beach again today since she loved it so much yesterday. We hope everyone is out getting some fresh air!

2009-04-18T14:44:00.003-04:00

Some of our Easter Photos.

The playgroup we attend hosted an easter egg hunt for all of the kiddos. Lilly was dresses in one of her super cute outfits (Thanks Aunt Charlene and Family) along with her new pink chuck taylor high tops. She has gotten quite good at walking and had a great time when she got her hands of two eggs. Unfortunately, for her she can't have any candy...so I got to eat if for her :)! Then we got some photos of Lilly and her buddy Macy with the Easter Bunny. They did very well (as you can see in the photos). We got to attend another easter egg hunt with more of Lilly's friends on the Saturday before Easter, but those photos would not load properly. Since Easter, Fitz has travelled to NY to be with his family while his Dad has his cancerous kidney removed (it went great and Fitz's Dad is out of the hospital). I taught my second spin class, ran my first track workout in many, many moons, and even road my tri bike. We shall see if I can manage to get into shape somewhere in here. In our up coming plans, we have a tentative Raleigh trip tomorrow to visit a very good friend in from CA, and counting down the days until Fitz comes home...I hope Lilly does not do too much more before he gets here; I can only get so much on video. Hope everyone is out enjoying the GREAT weather!!

2009-04-08T14:17:00.008-04:00

Everybody needs some Lilly video!

While in FL, we found a state park and did a quick run around it and then let Lilly do some swinging. She loves to swing and did not want to stop when it was time to go.

We also found a zoo in West Palm that I thought would be fun to go to...as you can see Lilly was very interested in one thing in the zoo.

Lilly become very adventerous with the ocean on our last day. She kept pulling Fitz into the water, and it caught up to her when a big wave hit.

As I mentioned in the last post, Lilly is doing more walking then crawling now; so here is a video of her new moves!

2009-04-07T20:59:00.003-04:00

Walking and weighing in!

We had Lilly's 1 year check up today, and she is the picture of perfect health. At 23lbs even and 30.5 inches tall, she is in the 66 percentile for both! The doctor said she is doing great and was very impressed with her motor skills....YEAH!!! For about 2 weeks Lilly has been on the verge of walking...taking a few steps here and there, but not what I would consider really "walking" until today. She did more walking then crawling today. I guess she read in the books that you should walk at 1 year old, and she did! I have video and will post it tomorrow, but for now we are recovering from her vaccinations, and "traumatic" day! Tomorrow we have an Easter Egg Hunt to attend for our playgroup and then we say goodbye to Eenie and Commadore as they head north to visit family. We will hold down the fort at home and spend some quality time together before Fitz heads out of town for nearly two weeks!

2009-04-05T20:46:00.003-04:00

Momma can I fit in the gators mouth?

Nope we could not get them to all face us at the same time.

Yah! Presents!

Lovin' the bounce house!

Enjoying my cake!

Happy Birthday Miss Lilly!!

I can't believe it's been a year....a whole 365 days with Miss Lilly and we can't imagine what life was like before she joined our family. We started the day at the exact time she was born (yes we are symbolic) to begin cooking the pig for the festivities. Fitz dutifully got up and started the charcoal and pig soon after so it would be ready for the noon start time. We had a flurry of activity to finish getting ready and luckily my mom took Lilly to insure that she got a nap (which she did). At noon we waited for the guests (and guest of honor) to arrive so the fun could begin. We could not have asked for a better day or better friends to help us celebrate. We had old friends and new attending, and everyone had a great time. The kiddos enjoyed the bounce house, and the adults were just all so glad the warmth had finally arrived. Lilly got to enjoy a homemade vanilla cake with buttercream icing (as did the guests too). She enjoyed the frosting, but was not really into getting it all over herself. Then she did some present opening, and when she was tired of that, it was nap time again. She then rallied and opened more gifts, played with everyone who came and then settled in for a night of final four watching. The birthday festivities continued with a trip to the aquarium with our good friends who traveled from far away and lunch outside enjoying the weather. We want to thank everyone who made the trip to help us celebrate.....you all helped to make the day special for Lilly as well as us! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

2009-03-25T10:05:00.006-04:00

200 Flamingo's flocked

Happy Birthday !!

Too Cute!!

Happy St. Pattie's day

So Fancy!

Update from the past little while.

We have been busy recently, and have some catching up to do. First off, Lilly's foot is doing better, she was using it like normal within 48 hours of the injury. She is such a tough girl!! On 3/14 we got to dress up and go party with my little bro's girlfriends family, her mom recently got re-married and they had a celebration. It was nice to get all dressed up and dance a little. Lilly made fast friends with a little girl at the "shin-dig," and they had a great time "hanging out." Then we got to celebrate St. Pattie's day at play group, the kids did not really know what was going on, but it was cute to see everyone in their green clothes. On Friday, we started the celebration of my dad's 60th birthday....we did a trip out of a bar and left Lilly with her first babysitter, it was my little bro's girlfriend, and they both did great. Lilly woke up, once my Caitlin had it all under control. On Saturday night, my folks house was "flocked" with 200 pink flamingos....and they did not hear a thing. When my Dad woke up on his actual birthday, the flamingo's were there to meet them!! Tons of people slowed down on their way to and from church to see what was going on!! Too funny!!

In other news, Lilly had her 1 year old photos taken, and they turned out so good (I'll post them later), we had to order more cloth diapers the close with snaps because Lilly can open the velcro (thanks Krista), Lilly has taken 2 steps alone several times (she will be walking soon), we are in the throws of planning a 1 year old birthday party...so silly, but it's more for us then her anyhow, and finally, we are heading to FL this weekend to have a visit with Fitz's grandpa (he turned 89 yesterday), and have a short vacation in the warm weather!! We are also testing flying with Lilly in prep for our flight this Christmas to Hawaii to visit Bobby!! Yeah for vacations and warm weather!

2009-03-14T12:28:00.004-04:00

No escaping this Friday the 13th!

We made it through the February Friday the 13th with out any trouble, but I think two in a row was just too much for this family the handle. Yesterday, not only were we anxiousely waiting the results of Fitz's Dad's biopcie, but Lilly had her first real injury. During a photo session, Lilly managed to either pull a 8lb weight down on her little left foot or sprained her ankle. What a mess! With a screaming baby in tow, we were off to my Dad's office to get an x-ray and some medical advice. Just my luck, my Dad was in surgery at the hospital and his partner was holding down the office. So in we go, luck for us he has three kids himself, and he kindly looks at her foot, and helps hold her while we take an x-ray. I wish I could put the x-ray online, because it's impressive to see how few bones are in their little feet. Lucky for us, she only significantly bruised her little foot (blunt trauma), but nothing that needed "real" medical attention. We were sent home with two x-rays, and instruction to give her moitrin and try to ice her foot. A bit later, we got a visit from my Dad, and he was very glad to see that even though he got two phone calls at the hospital, her foot was better off then he thought. We managed to ice her foot a few times over the past few days, and by Saturday she was putting weight on her foot, and today she was even taking a few steps. Hopefully, each day we will get better and better; even though the bruise will get worse and worse! On the cancer note, the news was not good, but we are waiting for treatment options and hoping for the best. Please keep Fitz's dad and family in your thoughts or prayers!

2009-03-11T09:48:00.004-04:00

Lilly's tricks
So with her first birthday approaching, Lilly is learning new tricks each day. We have mastered waving "hi" and "bye" (when she wants to of course), and now "so big." When you ask her "how big is Lilly?" she throws one or both arms up and waits for you to say "so big." Here is the video to prove it. She is on the verge of walking; she will cruise and stand on her own, but is just not quite ready to take those steps yet. We have started to teach her how to blow kisses, but that is going to take some more practice. She also has almost all 4 of her top teeth; the fourth one is working through right now. Since the weather has been so nice over the past few days, we have spent alot of time outside. Much to Lilly's liking, we are hitting the park and beach any chance we get. She enjoys swing the most (I think because she can do it on her own), and then the occasional eating of any substance on the ground (not that I allow it, but she's quick). We are looking forward to having a weekend with Dada coming up, and maybe attending the St. Pattie's Day fest in EI or maybe doing some kayaking or just hanging out! Hope everyone has the chance to get out and enjoy the out of doors!!

2009-03-02T16:25:00.005-05:00

Sewing Project....
So here are two shots of my first attempt at sewing a dress for Lilly! It actually fits?! I can't wait for summer so all she will wear is homemade dresses. Since making this one, she has two more...one light blue with pockets, and a pink john deer one! I still need to work on my straight lines, and button holes, and such...but not too bad for an anti-Martha Stewart! Krista you still got me beat with the diapers (of which I need to order more)...one day I might try one with elastic!! WooHoo, big time! Happy sewing!

2009-02-25T15:27:00.004-05:00

Aquarium Trip with Eenie
With all of the cold weather recently, we needed an outing somewhere warm. Today me, Lilly, and Eenie made a trip to the NC aquarium at PKS. It was a short trip as Lilly does not have much patience, but we got to see everything and Lilly got to do some walking and splashing in the ray tank! I think that is her most favorite part....she loves splashing, and this time she even touched one of the cow nosed rays. We got to see the rays, the alligator (stuffed of course), the living shipwreck with a large grouper, the rays, and a stop at the crab photo op area. If my mom (Eenie) had not come along, we would have no photo documentation...thanks Eenie! Hope we get some warm weather soon, but all in all a great day!

2009-02-18T13:45:00.004-05:00

Video's of Lilly

2009-02-16T16:01:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nice day to swing at the park!

Look at me....you can see my teeth!!

I'm using my big girl cup....so good!!

Big smile....Love my walker!!

Lilly Fix...

So I found time to add the software for my camera on to my Mom's mac....and shazam.....photos on the blog. Lilly is becoming more and more of a person each day, showing her little (or big) personality....she knows what she wants and will let you know if you are doing something she does not like. She has her favorite toys and books and wants these items all the time. She is babbling (and screaming) most of the time. She will say Mama, Dada, Nanana, and Baba. I can't wait until I actually know what she is saying. The above photos are from the past few weeks....she adds so much to each day and I hope everyone gets to see her soon!!

In other news my bro leave for his mission in the cold waters of Alaska....he will be gone for about 10 days and I can't wait to see his photos when he returns!! The little garden that I started last week (indoors) with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant; have some sprigs from the tomato seeds....later on in the week we should see some peppers and eggplants. I can't wait until our whole backyard is one big garden!! We are also planning our third trip of the month to Raleigh to visit one of my dear friends who will be in town from CA!! I can't wait to see my girls!!

2009-02-12T20:42:00.003-05:00

Here's my explanation...

So over the past two weeks, we have made two trips to Raleigh for various occasions, we had two computers die, and therefore no internet access for me. We have been very busy, and Lilly is getting smarter and smarter each day. Just this evening I started teaching her "so big" ...you know you say "how big is Lilly?" and she puts her hands above her head to show you how big she is. She is starting to copy. Also this evening, I found two more teeth on their way in. I can't wait to see how she does with uppers and lowers.

On the computer front....my gateway computer of 6 years (my folks got it for me when I started grad school in 2003) bit the dust. I knew it was getting old, but I did not know that it was really going to die. It was a very said day...made even worse when I realized that I had not backed up any of the photos or music on my hard drive. Luckily, I found a local shop that could take my hard drive and put it in some type of case so that I could still retrieve files off of it. Now the second part of the story takes my Mom's apple computer that had crashed when my little bro was using it in FL while in dive training. So during one of our trips to Raleigh, we made an appointment with and Apple Genius to get the computer fixed. To make that story short, after 1.5 hours, her computer needed a new hard drive. So $300 later, my Mom is letting me borrow her newly working apple.

Now I just need to learn to up load photos and such to this apple machine, and things might return to normal?! But with a 10 month old, I don't think there is a definition of normal!!

2009-01-26T18:07:00.003-05:00

Two Bad Weekends in a Row...what gives

Guess we were do in for some bad times withe Miss Lilly..as she has been a fairly healthy baby, and not had to go to the doctor for much of anything except her "well baby visit." We were on day #8 of the antibiotics for her ear infection, when I noticed a very faint rash on her trunk. I just figured it was a bit of heat rash from putting too many blankets on her at night. But as the day continued on, the rash got worse....what to do on a Friday night with a baby who has a rash that is spreading....call the doctor on call at the hospital (yes, it's a small town). He told us if it's worse in the morning, then call and come in to his office. Well, by the morning it was much worse...the red bumps had gotten darker, and bigger, and spread to her face, arms, legs....basically everywhere. So in we went, and were just told she is probably allergic to amoxicillin ( just like her Daddy). Needless to say, it was a rough weekend with a bumpy baby who could not get comfortable ever!! Hope she improves soon!!

2009-01-21T11:03:00.014-05:00

And the snow begins to melt!!

With Lilly on the mend from her ear infection, we decided to head out of doors to get some photos and play in the snow a bit. I will let you watch the first video to see what we have to do in the MHC to have some fun in the snow. As I sit here typing the snow is melting, and I bet by this afternoon, life will have returned to normal and the quiet white blanket will be gone for another couple of years!! It was fun while it lasted...for all you out there who are kids at heart....get out and have some fun!!

Ok, this was suppose to go up yesterday around lunch, but I had some trouble with the videos...and as you can see you needed to see the videos!!