US, PLUS

discoveries.

2011-04-21T12:25:00.003-05:00

sing-along.

2011-04-12T09:57:00.006-05:00

When my parents stayed with us after Elliott was born, my mom made up a little song for him one day as she was holding him and singing to him. Elliott's full name is Elliott Todd, and the song goes like this, to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me":

E-L-L-I-O-T-T, that's the name they gave to me
And I'm named for Grandpa Todd
For these names I thank you God.

Elliott goes through phases of what his favorite song is, and currently, this one takes the cake. So after singing it to him over and over, I figured it was time for him to chime in:

A time to plant.

2011-03-25T15:04:00.000-05:00

Field Trip!

2011-03-20T14:03:00.005-05:00

My wonderful college friend Sarah is back in the US after many years of working abroad, and I am lucky enough to have her living only a couple of hours away from me! We've gotten to spend some fun afternoons, weekends, and evenings together in the past few months. Sarah has gotten into discovering the gems of Southern Alabama (where she's living right now), and in her research, she discovered a local cheese farm! So a few weekends ago, Kelly kept Elliott for an entire Saturday so that I could escape for a fun girls' day with Sarah visiting the farm. It was cute and quaint and the cheese was excellent!

Old milk truck on the farm.

Sarah and I, happy after purchasing some delicious cheese and bread.

At the cheese shop, we overheard a customer talking about another great farm she had just visited four miles down the road. Intrigued, we asked about it. She told us it was a small farm where you could get homemade ice cream, among other things. Yes, please.

The chicken coop.

The residents.

Our delicious lunch!

Cold water spearfishing

2011-02-16T21:28:00.000-06:00

This year, I've had the opportunity to go out spearfishing from a boat a couple times in the cold months, rather than swimming from shore. It's been chilly to get into 53 degree water, but with a wetsuit and hot cocoa beforehand, it's definitely worth it.

Me gearing up with our makeshift dive flag in the background

Any time we're out in the bay, there's always a chance of seeing some Common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), and these ones were pretty close.

[Lunar] Eclipse of the Heart

2011-01-25T22:14:00.001-06:00

Kelly and I watched a total lunar eclipse in December (Fun Fact: the eclipse coincided with the winter solstice -- only the second to do so in the Common Era. The first was in 1638.) Watching eclipses always seems nostalgic to us, because we met in an astronomy class during which a total lunar eclipse occurred. We didn't watch it together that year, but there is a little bit of sentimental feeling toward the event anyway. I know; we're saps.

Another fun fact: Kelly took this photo with our little point-and-shoot camera. Yup, he's awesome.

Catching up on some family photos

2010-12-01T14:21:00.003-06:00

We recently had the chance to spend a little time with some of my family, first when my parents visited us in October, and then when we visited my brother and his family in November.

Of course some beach time was to be had!

There were quite a few Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) feeding in the shallow water near the beach.

Elliott likes to wear daddy's shades at the beach.

Of course there was an abundance of mutual entertainment between my parents and Elliott.

Grandpa Jones was more than willing to get down to Elliott's level to play...

...and to help Elliott with his shoes!

It's unlikely that Elliott remembered being in Grandma Jones' arms at sunset on the beach from when he was only a month or so old, but Grandma certainly did.

As the light fades, the sounds of the water begin to take center stage in our awareness. It's really a nice time to relax on the beach.

We were able to spend a few days with my brother Chris, sister in law Jess, and Henry and Esther following a work trip I had to Blacksburg, Virginia.

Lions and...

tigers...

and bears, oh my! (I couldn't resist the cheesiness.)

The kids (perhaps the big kids too) enjoyed all the sights of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

We had never seen Esther in person before, so it was very special to see her and begin getting to know her. In this photo, Esther was dancing with Daddy to a good Arcade Fire song. I have it playing as I type this, and Elliott is dancing to it! It is pretty catchy.

One morning, Chris, Henry, and I went out for a walk in a nearby park. Wildlife didn't exactly abound, but we found some earthworms under a couple logs.

It was fun to play silly games with the kids!

A homemade blueberry muffin breakfast was even more fun when shared with cousins!

I'll end with this photo that wasn't taken during any special visit time, but was just a funny moment of Elliott finding another use for his bowl of oats that he was otherwise done with.

Camping: The Next Generation

2010-11-24T18:09:00.002-06:00

We took Elliott camping with friends over Columbus Day weekend, which was definitely an interesting experience since it was the first time any of us had camped with our children. Having a little one to keep an eye on makes everything just a bit more complicated, and that one small extra person means a whole lot more to pack!

Elliott seemed to have a great time, despite getting a small poison ivy rash and some scraped knees!

For sleeping in a tent all weekend, the kids actually did great. We were able to get them to bed at a reasonable hour and then stay up by the fire talking. It actually worked out better than probably any of us had hoped. After running around outside literally all day long, I guess they were just too tired to care that they weren't in their normal beds.

Elliott loves getting rides on Daddy's shoulders.

Of course all the boys loved playing in the sandy dirt.

We took a nice hike through a wooded trail that leads out to Lake Seminole.

Good times around the fire pit.

We enjoyed delicious fire-grilled burgers accented with locally-grown tomatoes and whole-grain buns handmade by Angela who milled the grains herself.

...and marshmallows toasted on the edge of our camp fire.

And what would a good camping trip be without a visit to the ER? That's right -- along with fireside talks, nature walks, burger grilling and marshmallow roasting, one of our friends somehow ended up with a severe allergic reaction to an as-yet-undetermined piece of our weekend adventures. Luckily, there actually was an ER within about 20 miles of our campsite, and with a few shots and pills, he quickly turned the corner and was fine the rest of the trip. But between that and keeping our newly-walking children from toppling into the fire all weekend, it was definitely a memorable trip. :) Truly, we can't wait to do it again -- just without the ER visit next time!

The whole gang!

too precious

2010-09-25T22:05:00.006-05:00

These pictures are from a couple of months ago, and it's surprising how much Elliott has changed in that time. But a friend of mine took these and recently sent them to me, and they were so cute I couldn't help but share even if they are a little out-of-date. There are so many holes in this blog when I just didn't take the time to post pictures that a few retrospective ones won't hurt. :)

Thanks for the great shots, Elizabeth!

Cutest Colts fan ever.

2010-09-12T22:50:00.004-05:00

Thanks to my sister, who is a HUGE Colts fan, Elliott has some pretty sweet gear so that we can show our hometown pride wherever in the world we find ourselves. (Especially down here in Saints territory. *Ahem*)

We got Elliott all dressed up for game day, and he wore his jersey with pride. Unfortunately, even the cutest fan in the world can't hand a team a win. Maybe next Sunday.

(Snake) Charmer

2010-09-04T22:28:00.004-05:00

We knew it was only a matter of time until Elliott met his first snake.

Uh, Mom? Is this okay?

Cool! I'm touching it!

Ew.

Maybe I'll just grab its little tail.

Okay, this is boring. I'm out of here.

Big Day

2010-09-01T12:34:00.001-05:00

Well, I don't know what you were doing this time a year ago, but I wasn't getting any sleep. That's because this time last year, Elliott was almost two weeks old! It's incredible to me that a year has already passed since he entered our lives on August 19, 2009. Happy birthday, sweet boy!

We were lucky enough to have my parents down for a visit, so they got to share in the special occasion with us. Since they were here to celebrate, we decided not to have a big party -- a small family ordeal suited us just perfectly, and we think Elliott probably had a better time that way, too. When he gets friends of his own, then we'll throw him a party. :) (He does have little friends here, and they do enjoy playing together, but they don't really understand the difference between a birthday and a regular day yet.) It worked well that way, because between naps and mealtimes and the amount of time it took him to work his way through each of his gifts, his "birthday" actually lasted three days! We had fun swimming in the pool at my parents' hotel, playing with his new toys, and eating out!

So, without further ado: Images of Elliott's first birthday.

E had a hard time opening his gifts. He just didn't get into the whole wrapping paper thing. We wrapped most of them originally, but eventually unwrapped them later and just put all of his gifts in gift bags. It was much easier and more fun for him that way. But he did like the bows on the original wrapping.

Scout wants to open presents!

Elliott's new bath toys became his favorite teethers for the day.

One of Elliott's absolute favorite gifts was a little musical/learning table my parents bought for him while I was up in Indiana over the 4th of July. He loved it then, and he still loves it a month and a half later! (I had to leave it up there since I was flying, so my parents brought it down with them and it was as if it was all new to Elliott!) He's started dancing to music lately, so he dances all the time while the music on the table plays.

We gave Elliott a few things as "presents" that were really just things we needed to buy for him anyway -- like spoons, forks and insulated sippy cups for the milk he can drink now. The spoons were oddly a huge hit, and he carried them around with him for days until I finally washed them and put them away. The package came with so many, I really should just leave a few out for him to play with since he loved them so much.

Elliott can say "ball" now (sort of; it's more like "bah!"), and will go get one if we ask him to. He was excited to get two new ones for his birthday!

It's a long story (maybe I'll blog about it later), but we recently needed to replace Elliott's copy of Goodnight, Moon, so my parents got him a new one for his birthday. Elliott LOVES story time with Grandma.

Elliott also got his first set of blocks! He loves to stack them...and apparently he likes the box they came in almost as much as the blocks themselves. Truth be told, I'm not sure who likes the blocks more -- Kelly or Elliott. :)

Kelly's mom has always called Elliott her little Tweety Bird, even before he was born. So the gift from Kelly's parents came with a Tweety Bird card.

A great birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Hinkle!

And now, a photo montage and video of Elliott eating his first "sweet" -- his birthday cupcake. :)

Sorry for the terrible singing. We Hinkles are not known for our ability to carry a tune, and to make matters worse, we actually had to stop in the middle of the song and start over for some reason I don't remember now, which got us all confused.

Elliott is a funny kid when it comes to food. He's a great eater, but he's really picky about textures. He likes to touch and feel new food before he's willing to eat it, and if it feels funny on his hands, he's often unwilling to put it in his mouth. He's his mother's kid I guess -- very sensitive to what I like to call "texture violations." Here, you can see him testing out the icing and the cupcake, not quite sure whether or not it's something he wants to eat.

Obviously, he couldn't resist:

Yes, that is a highlighter in his hand. I'm starting to think Elliott might be a lot like our cats -- you can buy him all the toys in the world, but the junk that's laying around the house will be still be his favorite.

Spearfishing

2010-08-12T22:09:00.003-05:00

Thus far, my spearfishing in the intercoastal waters hasn't been affected by the oil. As long as that's the case, I'll keep on going when I can find the time. I've always enjoyed fishing with a rod and reel, and will probably continue to enjoy it throughout my life. However, when it comes to acquiring fish through my own efforts, I've really come to prefer spearfishing over any other approach. It's been a fun, challenging activity to share with friends. My friend Joe (pictured below) recently moved to Colorado, and I've missed sharing this with him. He's become a real expert with the pole spear over the past couple years. Here are a few photos of me with some of my friends I've gone spearfishing with this year, along with some of the fish we've caught:

Joe, Ben, and me

Joe, Justin, and me

me, Mark, and Sam

Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus), Atlantic Spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber), Gag Grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis)

close to home.

2010-06-20T09:49:00.005-05:00

Kelly and I took a walk on our beach the other night and saw the first signs of oil -- tar balls sitting in oil sheen that had been washed up on the sand. I am so depressed about what has gone on in the Gulf Coast with the BP oil still gushing into the water, and the obviously ineffective measures to contain the spill. Kelly has a post on his blog with pictures and his thoughts, and I'd encourage you to take a look. He also recently posted about just a couple of the special animals that are -- along with the rest of the wildlife on the Gulf Coast -- particularly sensitive to the impacts of the oil spill.

8 years

2010-05-11T14:59:00.013-05:00

It's hard to believe we've been married for 8 wonderful years and have been together for 10+. We are getting old! :) We have gotten degrees and jobs; lived in four states (Indiana, Oregon, Texas, and Florida); driven across the country multiple times, as well as up and down each coast; made wonderful friends; had adventures big and small; had a baby; forgiven much; laughed much; grown much; and learned a lot about how to love each other better every day.

In all my years of praying for a soulmate, I could never have crafted one as perfect as Kelly. He is a true gift from God.

We usually try to get away for our anniversary every year -- and we still plan to this year -- but we have to wait a few months before things at Kelly's job get a little less busy. So this year, we had a low-key celebration, getting ice cream and taking a walk on the beach.

Our beach walk also happened to be on the last night we thought we might have a clean beach before the oil spill reaches us. Luckily, we haven't seen oil yet, but it's still presumably only a matter of time.

The scent of spring

2010-05-03T09:56:00.001-05:00

Jasmine. Every May, my nose is filled with the luscious scent of this beautiful plant. It makes me love living in the South. Also, since our anniversary is May 4 (it will be 8 years tomorrow!!), it is always marked by the bloom of jasmine in our neighborhood. The smell actually never fails to bring me back to our first anniversary that we celebrated in Charleston, SC. That was the first time I'd smelled it -- at least in such quantities -- as a lot of the downtown area is covered in it. So, here's to spring in the South and to 8 years of wonderful marriage to the love of my life!

little explorer

2010-04-18T10:16:00.003-05:00

Family visits pt. 2 - The Joneses

2010-03-11T14:42:00.011-06:00

Kelly's brother Alex is deployed to Afghanistan, and has been there for 9 months with 3 left to go. He was given two weeks of leave at the end of February, so we were excited to fly up for a week and visit him as well as the rest of Kelly's family including his grandparents! This was the first time for many of them to meet Elliott, and our first time to meet our nephew Oliver! We missed Jess, Henry, and their new little girl Esther -- they couldn't make it out since Esther was only 3 weeks old.

Our flight to Minnesota was Elliott's first! He wore special socks just for the occasion.

Almost there! He was so good on the plane, thankfully!

Elliott hanging out with Great-Grandma Jones. Elliott gave Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Jones lots of loving smiles!

Elliott meets cousin Oliver and Uncle Alex for the first time!

E loved his Great-Grandpa Walz. I think the feeling was mutual. :)

Uncle Chris knows the way to Elliott's heart.

E and great-grandpa.

Four generations.

E and Grandpa Jones.

Two grandbabies at once! Bliss.

Uncle Alex playing with Elliott and Oliver. The kids had fun with toys from when Kelly and his brothers were little.

Brothers.

Brothers and babies -- Kelly & Elliott, Alex & Rowan, Chris & Oliver. (Oliver is Alex's son, but Chris needed a baby since his own, Henry & Esther, were back home in D.C.)

Happy little family.

This is what happens when you try to take a decent picture. You get poked in the eye.

Almost four generations...missing Kevin.

We flew out of Tallahassee, which is three hours away, because the ticket prices from our airport were insane. On our way home, we stopped at Pine Log Forest for a little hike on a beautiful almost-spring day.

We had a great time with all of our family! It was too short, as usual, but we were glad to be able to fit in so much in so little time. It still felt relaxed, though, and we were able to spend real quality time together. We were so grateful to see Alex on his leave, and we're praying for a safe few months until he's home for good!

Family visits pt. 1 - The Hinkles

2010-03-11T14:10:00.006-06:00

We were so happy to have my family nearby again this winter, as they stayed in Panama City Beach January-March near my grandpa. It was so fun to get to see them a number of times over the 1.5 months they were here, and for them to get to see Elliott grow and change over that time. I don't have a ton of photos from our visits with them -- many of them are still on my mom's camera -- but here are a few highlights from their last weekend here, including a visit from my sister!

Aunt Stephanie generously shared her sunglasses with Elliott to shield him from the bright sunlight...or to just get a good laugh.

Luckily, he had his own pair.

Elliott looooooves his Aunt Stephie.

And his bee.

And his grandpa.

The complex my parents stayed in has a heated pool, so we took Elliott swimming for the first time! It was a hit. He was cranky when we took him down to the pool, but immediately started having fun once he was in the water.

It was especially fun while playing with grandpa!

He was tired out by the end, so he nestled into his favorite spot on grandma's shoulder.

Thanks for a great visit!

Open wide!

2010-02-09T21:40:00.009-06:00

We gave Elliott his first bites of solid foods this week! He started waking up in the middle of the night to eat, as well as eating a lot more during the day. Looking back, I think it was a growth spurt, but I was loosing copious amounts of sleep and got kind of desperate, so I caved and gave him some rice cereal. I was planning on waiting until his 6-month birthday to give him any solids, and I might wait until then to give him any more as he seems to be back on track now. Either way, here's a glimpse at Elliott eating "real" food for the first time! (p.s. I tried a tiny bit of the cereal and it tastes like paper. Gross.)

As you can see from this video, he pretty much just likes to teethe on the spoon. :)

All bundled up

2010-02-02T11:25:00.003-06:00

A recent cold snap didn't keep us from taking Elliott out for a walk in the chilly air. He might be Florida-born, but he does have Minnesota genes after all.

Bright!

Not a bad view.

Lovin' the lovin'

2010-01-25T11:42:00.004-06:00

Story Time

2009-12-06T16:00:00.002-06:00

So much sweetness going on here.

Fourth generation

2009-11-24T10:04:00.004-06:00

Elliott recently got to meet his "Great-Pappaw," my mom's dad. It was so cool to introduce them, and see them interact. Elliott is the first boy in the family (my mom is an only child, and my parents had two girls), so it will be neat to have the new dynamic of a little boy in the mix. Since we are blessed to have my Pappaw nearby and my parents visiting for a few months in the winter, come January, we'll have an awesome opportunity for all four generations to spend time together. We're really looking forward to it, and to Elliott growing up knowing and loving his Great-Pappaw just like my sister and I have all our lives.

Elliott already loves his Great-Pappaw!

Pappaw and Jean, proud of little Elliott!

The whole family! We look forward to another photo of all four generations when my parents come down in January.

Cousins meet

2009-11-14T22:49:00.007-06:00

We recently had a great visit from Chris, Jess, Henry, and The Fetus.

Henry was pretty happy to give his cousin Elliott some help swinging.

Chris got a bit of a chill when it dropped down into the 70s.

Cousins excited to pose for a photo on the couch

Henry's first time to the "Ocean."

Henry's first time standing in the surf.

A proud uncle

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

2009-10-25T18:51:00.002-05:00

Elliott rolled over for the first time today!

Go Colts!

2009-10-25T12:18:00.003-05:00

Since it's football Sunday, I thought it would be an appropriate time to put up this post. My sister Stephanie (AKA World's Best Aunt, Colts Fan Extraordinaire) thought (i.e. knew) that her little nephew needed to represent down in Florida. So she outfitted him in some Colts gear, and we're (hopefully) making her proud! :)

Two Months!

2009-10-20T15:50:00.006-05:00

I realized I have been lame and not posted much (well, anything, to be exact) on our blog in the past month. So since Elliott turned two months old yesterday, here's a rewind of the past month of his life. (He is twice as old now as he was in the last post. Is that crazy or what?)

I took him to the doctor yesterday for his two-month well baby visit and to get his vaccinations. He officially weighs 12 lbs 8 oz and is 24.5 inches long! (He's gained over four pounds and grown almost three inches in two months!) He's in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th for height. He's a very healthy, growing boy!

Here are some of the things we've been up to in the past month:

Showing off his big muscles...er, his rolls. :)

Finally getting to meet Aunt Stephanie! He loves her!!

Hitching a ride on Daddy's back.

Playing in his ocean gym. He plays in there for sometimes up to 30 minutes!

Taking an evening walk. Elliott loves to be outside!

Cashed out after a long drive on the way to Indiana. Not quite ready for the big boy bed, yet, though. He spent the night in a drawer. :) Driving all the way to Indiana at 7 weeks old was a pretty big experiment, since he had never been in the car for more than 10 minutes at a time before we dragged him on a 12-hour roadtrip! He was a great traveler, though -- and good thing since Kelly and I like to do a lot of roadtripping!

Elliott's been smiling and "talking" a lot more this month, and has become even more aware and engaged in his surroundings. But perhaps his biggest feat of the month was making major strides in his attempts to roll over. He tries to roll from front to back and from back to front. When he wakes up for his middle-of-the-night feeding, I now often find him laying either on his side, or 90 degrees from how I laid him down. He's moving all around!

When we first told Kelly's parents we were pregnant last Christmas, Mary wanted to get something for the "Poppy Seed." One of those things ended up being this cute pumpkin sleeper, decorated with jack-o-lanterns and candy corns. Elliott loves his mobile (he'll watch it for so long I have to restart it after the 18-minute automatic shut-off), so here's a little video of him watching his mobile in his pumpkin sleeper:

And this is his little pumpkin butt. So cute!

I will try to be better at posting things this month... :)

Beach Boys

2009-09-25T16:26:00.006-05:00

Elliott is one month old! To celebrate, we took him to the beach.

Kidney stone

2009-09-10T22:02:00.014-05:00

Well, this doesn't really fit into our "look at our cute baby and we're a family now" theme, but I think I can tie it in.

Shortly before Christmas of 2008, I had a kidney stone dislodge and begin the excruciating journey from the kidney to the bladder (far more painful than from the bladder to the outside world). Unlike a couple smaller stones that I had had before, this one moved slowly and lasted for a couple weeks before the pain really let up. I never found the stone, but assumed it had at least made it to the bladder because the pain was not nearly as bad.

Fast forward eight months.

Sarah is in labor, and not loving life. We've just arrived at the hospital after waiting as long as she could at home. I'm very much wanting to be a support for Sarah in that crazy process of labor and delivery, when I begin to feel the familiar sensations of a moving kidney stone. I tried to ignore it, then tried to just focus on Sarah and hide it, all the while desperately praying for it to go away so I could focus on being there for Sarah. After perhaps an hour of discomfort, it went away. Elliott's birth was an amazing process, and I was able to be present and involved the whole time, for which I am very thankful. This was enough motivation for me to go in and get it checked out. It turned out that I didn't actually have a new kidney stone. Rather, the one from December had lodged itself in the base of my right ureter and had never quite made it to my bladder. My kidney was huge and stressed from the partly blocked flow, and the stone was 1 cm across (I don't use "diameter" because it isn't really spherical). This meant I would probably never pass it on my own, so I had to get it blasted. I opted for the less invasive sonic blast option instead of having someone put a scope up there, lasering it, and manually pulling the pieces out. Either option required general anesthesia.

Here is a photo of the X-ray that shows my kidney stone. It's the light spot indicated by the huge black arrow.

Here's a photo Sarah's mom took of me a couple minutes after I woke up after the procedure. As an aside, I found out from the anesthesiologist that they don't really understand how or why the anesthesia works. They just know that it does work, and they're pretty good at using non-lethal doses. I thought that was interesting.

I feel much better now. I've heard people refer to kidney stones as the closest thing a man can experience to childbirth. After seeing child birth first-hand, and coincidentally experiencing kidney stone pain at the same time, my impression is that when it's all said and done, childbirth seems more intense and I'm glad I don't have to do it.

Splish, splash

2009-09-04T16:50:00.005-05:00

We gave Elliott his first bath the other day! He was so good and didn't cry at all -- although he did poop in the bath twice, which meant we had to wipe him down, dry him off, drain the water, wash the sponge and start all over again twice...so it took a little longer than we anticipated!

Diapers green...

2009-08-28T15:54:00.006-05:00

..., blue, orange, yellow, and white.

Sarah and I decided to use cloth diapers. Part of it was the long-term monetary savings of not continuously buying more disposable diapers. The other part was the appeal of being "green," or environmentally sensitive. After a lot of reading, mostly on Sarah's part, we realized it wasn't as cut and dry as we had originally thought. The amount of water used to wash the diapers each time, plus the energy used, especially by the dryer, is not to be ignored. However, we decided that if we could line dry the diapers, it would end up being the best option for us.

When I was a baby, I'm pretty sure the options for cloth diapers were white rectangles... or white rectangles. Though fewer people use cloth diapers now, there are more creative options than there ever have been before. With the generous help of friends and family, as well as some large buy in from us, we got the Bum Genius diapers seen in the photo above. They apparently work as easily as the preform disposables that are widely used, but can be used over and over again. They also come in fun colors if white doesn't cut it for you.

We're just at the front end of using these diapers, and will probably give an update as we develop our opinions of them. If you're interested in cloth diapering, let us know, and we'd be happy to share any info we found while researching, as well as anything helpful that's come from our own experience with them.

Sweet Baby Boy

2009-08-25T14:03:00.012-05:00

Elliott Todd Jones was born healthy and beautiful on August 19. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz. and was 21 5/8" long. We named him Elliott because we liked it and Todd after my dad. Here are some early pictures of our awesome little guy.

Elliott with Grandpa Hinkle

Kelly is a master swaddler!

Apparently we thought he was going to get away

Kelly's coworker friend JP's baby was born the day after Elliott in the same hospital, which was pretty neat, so they got to share the excitement in a special way.

Elliott with Grandpa and Grandma Hinkle

Elliott with Grandma Hinkle

Kelly with 1 day old Elliott

Me with 1 day old Elliott

Elliott after getting poked and prodded on his first day of life outside the womb

Me loving on Elliott not long after birth

Kelly happily holding our new son about an hour after he was born

Elliott's placenta. This amazing organ grew with Elliott and connected his lifeline to me for gas exchange, nutrition, and waste removal.

Imminent Arrivals

2009-08-15T21:49:00.024-05:00

Just to make the impending birth of our firstborn that much more of a nail-biter, track the tropical storms and hurricanes headed our way!

We just got hit last night with a "surprise" tropical storm -- Claudette -- which emerged in the Gulf early Sunday and hit Fort Walton Beach in the middle of the night. There's also Hurricane Bill, but he's projected to stay in the Atlantic rather than heading into the Gulf of Mexico. Whew. Tropical Storm Ana was a concern a few days ago -- projected to hit our area right around our due date -- but she's been downgraded to a tropical depression at this point and might not pose the threat she did a few days ago.

With the full force of hurricane season upon us, it looks like this baby might have an eventful entrance into the world no matter when he decides to do it!

Ways to track our storms:

Weather.com
WESH (Orlando TV station; use the "select a storm" drop-down menu below the graphic.)
Northwest Florida Daily News -- updated information from our local paper.
Fort Walton Beach weather, via Weather.com -- includes storm warnings specific to our town, if one has been spotted by the National Hurricane Center.
National Hurricane Center -- includes tracking information and official updates on all storms forming in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

As promised

2009-08-07T17:26:00.012-05:00

Our camera finally arrived safe and sound, so...drumroll please! Here I am at 37.5 weeks -- only 2.5 weeks to go! Crazy!

And here's our one piece (so far) of nursery decor/furniture:

Coming Soon...

2009-07-30T19:32:00.002-05:00

Thanks for the great feedback, everyone! And for those of you who have asked -- I will definitely post a big ol' belly shot soon...but unfortunately our camera took this untimely opportunity to break. We do have a new one on the way, but we'll have to wait until it arrives before we can take and post a picture. (Just think of it this way: The longer you have to wait for the picture, the bigger my belly will be by then! Yay for delayed gratification!) :)

We'll also post pictures of our nursery...or rather, our sweet rocking chair (thanks, Mom & Dad!), which is the only thing in our nursery right now -- other than a couple of bookshelves we found out by the dumpster outside our apartment. Gotta love free furniture! :) Don't worry, though. We have a dresser on the way that got damaged in shipping, so with the return process and re-shipment, it's taking a little longer to set up than we anticipated; and our crib will be arriving via my parents when they come stay with us after the little guy is born -- it's the crib I used as a baby! So we WILL have a fully-stocked nursery at some point...it will just be coming together a little bit later than usual.

So stay tuned! (And keep your fingers crossed that our camera arrives safely and sooner rather than later!)

Welcome to US, PLUS!

2009-07-13T18:03:00.013-05:00

After a long run of keeping a blog that combined our personal lives with Kelly's ever-expanding hobby of finding and photographing all manner of critters, we've decided to split up. Not Kelly and I of course! Just the topics of our blog.

We debated a lot about whether or not to do this. On the one hand, this is our life -- this combination of a passion for nature, a budding photography hobby, our love for each other, being new parents, our faith, our friends and family, our travel adventures. So a true family blog of our lives would include all of those things. But in the end, we knew that when our baby boy arrived, he would start to occupy a lot of real estate on the original blog. Since the blog has become so concentrated with Kelly's photography and nature finds, lots and lots of people visit it with the sole purpose of seeing those things -- and it has become less and less of a place for us to post more personal anecdotes.

US, PLUS was created to alleviate the tension between the two worlds in the blogosphere. Friends, family, and strangers across the globe can still find all the nature stuff at the old blog, but now we'll have a new space dedicated to the more personal side of our lives, which will be expanding very soon. If you want to keep up with both, we have links on both blogs to make it easy to go from one to the other (see the link under "Our Other Blog" on the right-hand side of the page). If you're really only interested in one facet of our lives, feel free to just check whichever blog suits your interests.

If this peeves you to no end, and you think we should reconsider, let us know. :)

We hope you'll enjoy this blog. We don't intend it to become only a "baby blog." Our baby will be a large part of it, but we'll still post about fun things we do, or just random stuff we like. And maybe every once in a while one of Kelly's critters will find it's way over here, too. We'll try to keep it interesting. :)

Love,
K & S

A Tale of Two T-Shirts

2009-07-13T10:38:00.001-05:00

Those of you who see me regularly or know me well might recognize my favorite T-shirt, since I wear it all the time.

This T-shirt has a special story behind it, which, aside from it being an awesome shirt, adds to the reasons why it's my favorite.

I got this T-shirt when Kelly and I lived in Oregon. It's from a vendor called Cretin Art that sells T-shirts with hand-drawn designs at the Portland Saturday Market. While most of the drawings are a little fantastical for my taste, he had this amazing scraggly tree that Kelly and I just fell in love with. Unfortunately, they didn't have any shirts with this drawing on it in my size, so they offered to make one specially for me. I got to choose the color of shirt and the ink color, and they mailed it to me since we didn't live in Portland and wouldn't be back at the market the following week. Since then, it's been my favorite T-shirt ever, and Kelly always loves when I wear it.

So as you can imagine, it was a sad day a few months ago when I had to pack up my "tree shirt" along with the other clothes that won't fit my growing belly anymore. I know it's a temporary condition, but even a few months -- and hot, summer months at that -- when I can't wear my favorite shirt are sad ones.

That is, until the other day, when I opened my closet to pack clothes for our recent anniversary get-away to St. Augustine, and discovered a white T-shirt mysteriously back in place after having gone missing for about a month. Where had it gone? How had it returned? Did Kelly find it somewhere and quietly hang it back in its place without mentioning it to me, even though he knew I had been confounded by its disappearance for weeks?

I moved the surrounding clothes back to take a look at the shirt, and what did I find? [GASP!]

Evidently, a couple of months ago, Kelly had secretly contacted the makers of my original shirt, asking them if they sold maternity T-shirts. They didn't, but said that if he could send them one they would print on it, or if he found one online, they would buy it, print it, and just charge him the total price. So my sweet husband, who loathes shopping, tried to shop for a maternity T-shirt online, but to no avail. When I happened to purchase one, he stole it from my closet, sent it to Oregon with a special request for the tree, and then returned it to my closet for me to find! Happy pregnancy to me!! My favorite shirt now comes in maternity size! It was the sweetest, most thoughtful gift ever! I just had to share my excitement, and brag on Kelly for being so amazing.

Ultrasound #2

2009-07-13T10:37:00.001-05:00

At my doctor's appointment last month, we had an ultrasound done to check all the pieces and parts of our baby to make sure everything was in working order. During the appointment, he was being a little uncooperative, and didn't want to smile for the camera. He kept moving and turning away just when they tried to take a freeze-frame of his little face and brain. So they finally gave up, and scheduled me for a repeat ultrasound this month.

This time, he was a little more subdued, but he's kind of wedged with his head down in a little pocket, so the angle was still difficult for them to get. Eventually, however, they were able to see everything they needed, and it all looked great! It was cool to see our little guy again, and get to see how much he's grown in just four weeks!

If you compare this profile to the one we posted last month, you can see how much he's changed, and how much more space he's taking up.

He looks so much older! :)

Here are a few videos we took during the ultrasound:

This video is his heartbeat again. It sounds like a drumbeat this time! I think the doppler must have been directly over his heart! His heart beats at 143 beats per minute, which is right in the perfect range for a fetus.

In this video, you can see him swallowing, and it's cool to see his heart beating. Babies swallow lots of amniotic fluid, which helps them practice for their first snack right after being born, and it helps their digestive systems learn how to process substances. And though his taste buds are developed enough by this time to actually taste it -- it's "flavored" by what I eat -- he's not actually getting any nourishment from the amniotic fluid. All of his nutrients come from the placenta.

In this video, you can see that he has his hand up by his face. Because of the depth of focus of the ultrasound, you can usually only see one at a time -- either the arm or the face -- but a couple of times you can see both...as well as him fluttering his eyelids and swallowing some more at the end! He was yawning a lot this time, too, but unfortunately we didn't get to capture that on film.

Our Next Big Adventure

2009-07-13T09:46:00.002-05:00

We've moved across the country multiple times. We've turned long and short weekends into memorable excursions. What's next on our adventure agenda? A baby BOY! After almost seven years of marriage, Kelly and I finally decided to take the plunge into parenthood, and today, we got to put a face with a...well, not quite a name yet, but that will come soon enough. See our pictures and video below for the first glimpses of our little man!

In this profile shot, he's facing up with his spine going to the left.

Here you can see his legs at the top of the photo. They look at little disjointed, but I swear he has knees! The ultrasound is just picking up the hard bone structures rather than what right now are soft growth plates at the knees. (You can see his body diving down to the very right of the picture. The structure just below the legs is the placenta.)

Fortunately, he does not have 6-7 toes on one foot...his two feet are just overlapping in this one -- since his legs are crossed like in the above photo.

Here he's facing upward, head at right, with his hand near his face.

And this is a video of his sweet little heartbeat! The "false starts" at the beginning are just the ultrasound technician getting the doppler in the exact location to hear it the best:

And for those of you who have asked for it, here's a photo to show how "pregnant" I look these days. I'm 19 weeks (out of 40) -- almost half-way!:

Kelly wants me to point out the Common Loon I'm looking at in the water to the left and back. :)