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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!!

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 :)!

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!

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!

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.

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 !

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

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!!

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!

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!

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!

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 :)

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.

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!

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!