Catching Up

I've been slacking off a bit in keeping up with everything going on around here.  Last week we had a fantastic visit from Grandpa and Grandma Stinnett.  They rolled in from Knoxville on Tuesday and stayed with us until Saturday.  The kids were given much needed time with them and they enjoyed every minute they had.  I could kick myself for not dragging out my camera.  I did manage to get a cute one of Grandma and Mattie at the pool.  And speaking of the pool, Evan is now swimming on his own with floaties.  He couldn't be more proud of himself.

We sincerely hope Grandma and Grandpa can come back soon.

I also haven't mentioned yet that I am going back to teaching.  While I will continue writing for Gage Publishing, I am also going to be teaching kindergarten at the Academy of Hope.  Being able to write AND teach is the best of both worlds for me.  I am so happy about this new development in my life.  It is however keeping me very busy as I am preparing to be away from home more.

We also have a special little someone who will be turning 3 on the 11th.  We've been searching the internet like mad people trying to find that perfect gift - but we finally gave up on the "wow" gift because we all know what Evan really wants - I'll give you a hint.  Starts with a "C."  We'll be taking him to see Cars 2 to kick off his birthday weekend.

Might as well mention here too that Mattie Jane has two bottom teeth that just broke through yesterday.  We also lowered her crib a few days ago after we found her sitting up and desperately trying to pull herself up on the rail.  This girl is on the move.

Wonder Works Coming Soon

Wonder Works is hoping to open sometime in April and the media is knocking down the door for interviews.  Being in front of a camera is not always comfortable, especially one that is broadcasting live.  But once again my husband has proven me wrong - he actually can pull off a hard hat.

Amazing job, babe.  You're my celebrity.

She's Finally Here

Mattie Jane Stinnett - born October 15, 2010

Our baby girl is five days old today and I'm just now getting around to making her birth announcement via the blogosphere.  Blame it on no sleep, my medication or the fact that even leaning up to grab my computer sends shooting pains down my legs - whatever the case, MJ deserves her blog time.

Mattie Jane was born on Friday, October 15th at 1:56 pm.  She weighed 8 lbs. 8.5 oz and measured 21.25 in.  Her head was a bit misshapen from her bumpy ride down the birth canal, but it only took a day for that to correct itself.   She is absolutely adorable and sweet as she can be.

I was fortunate to have my mom there for the birth.  Sharing that experience with her was truly special and I know it meant a lot to her to be there.  She could however work a little bit on her coaching methods.  Cracking jokes is not exactly the way to motivate a woman in pain - especially pain like that.  But it wouldn't be my mom's true presence with out that I guess.  My inner monster came out and said, "Mom - SHUT UP!"  I think we all laughed after that - or at least every one else did.

I want to follow up with MJ's birth story, but my lack of sleep is completely clouding my brain so I will wait a couple more days to do that.  But let me go ahead and warn you - the details might be disturbing so make a decision beforehand whether or not you want to go that route.  Until then...

Mattie's Nursery Feature

Mattie's nursery was featured on Apartment Therapy's children's design blog, Ohdeedoh today.  How fitting since she will finally be here tomorrow.  Check out the nursery tour here.

Measuring Big

Should we really surprised by this?  I mean it's not like we haven't heard that phrase a million times before.  In fact, that phrasing was used during so many visits when I was pregnant with Evan that it's become an expectation even now.  We were also informed that MJ may possess the all too familiar Evans' family trait - the monster melon.  Yay, I thought.  Delivery should once again be as pleasant as ever!

All this information was gathered at my 36 week appointment yesterday.  This appointment officially began "Baby Watch 2010" with the first check of my cervix.  It was luckily not in any shape to have a baby yet, but from this point on it will be checked on a weekly basis.  We also had an ultrasound done which confirmed MJ is positioned correctly, head down, and ready for delivery.  They estimated her current weight between 6 1/2 and 7 lbs.  I'm hoping that means her birth weight will be in the 7 1/2 to 8 lb range - and for recovery purposes I'm begging.

I gained a whopping 1 lb in the last two weeks making my weight gain total 31 lbs so far.  Not too shabby.  At this point however it wouldn't matter if I was 10 or 20 pounds heavier - uncomfortable is uncomfortable.

I can honestly say that I am ready for all that comes with taking care of an infant.  My only experience has been Evan and that was the hardest job I've ever had to date.  I'm confident that MJ will be easier, but any way you look at it night feedings can take their toll.  Luckily we are able to have Evan in his program which will make things a lot easier those first few weeks.  I will also have my mom here as she has decided to move to the area in just a few weeks.  YAY!!!!  I couldn't be happier to have my mom in the same town, not only to help me with a newborn, but to be a permanent fixture in Evan and MJ's lives.  Having grandparents near by is really special for a child.  I was not fortunate enough to have that so I am extremely happy that my children will.

So in just 4 short weeks Robert and I will be moving my mom here and welcoming our baby girl to the family.  Man, time really does fly!

Buzz's Roost to Star in Barry Levinson Film

"A couple weeks back, there was some really early word that Barry Levinson would be making a film with sci-fi overtones. Called Isopod, the movie was reportedly a thriller that would shoot in the Carolinas. Now there’s a lot more detail, starting off with a title change: Isopod is now called The Bay.  Screen Film says that The Bay features “the aftermath of a viral outbreak on the Eastern Seaboard. The story is told via a series of recordings on camera phones, 911 calls and other scraps of video as the town of Claridge, Maryland is engulfed by chaos.” What’s more, the Paranormal Activity team of Oren Peli, Steven Schneider and Brian Kavanagh Jones are producing alongside Jason Blum. That’s an interesting detail, especially when taken together with the revelation that the film will be built in part from lo-fi pieces of footage and civilian reports."  Source:  www.slashfilm.com

This is all taking place in Georgetown, SC and one full day of shooting was done inside of Buzz's Roost and on the rooftop deck.  Talk about some great advertising!  Check out the photo gallery in the Sun News.

And We're LIVE

Robert is a local celebrity - or so he thinks.  Ten seconds on live television can really pump up an ego  (Just kidding, babe).  With all jokes aside, Robert did a great interview for Wonder Works and really represented them well.  The TV network only showed a few seconds of his interview, but it was still fun to hear that familiar accent coming through the TV.

First Day of School

Evan starts "school" on Monday.  Yes, you read that right.  Our little two year old was accepted into the Belin Methodist Learning Center today - just a couple of days shy of the first day of school.  We are pumped!

We decided we wanted to get Evan into a program for several reasons.  (1) He desperately needs to be socialized with other children.  He needs to be aware that this is not Evan's world.  (2)  With Mattie due to arrive in a just a few weeks we felt it necessary that she gets my full attention for a few hours a day since she will only be at home with me for 3 months.  (3)  Let's face it - it's just gonna make it a hell of a lot easier on me. In order to get any of my writing done I need to be sure I can get at least two hours of silence per day - that probably isn't very likely with a newborn and a two year old fighting for attention.

I was so ecstatic to get the phone call today that Evan was accepted into the two year old program.  We've been on the waiting list since April and things were not looking too favorable.  Evidently families from Georgetown all the way up to Myrtle Beach are trying to get into this school - we got lucky!  I actually spent the better part of my day today researching more programs because I was reaching the point of desperation.  Most programs in the area begin on Monday so if you were not contacted by August 1st that meant they were full and more than likely would not have an opening until the following May.  I had basically given up on the idea that Evan would possibly get into Belin so I was putting him on waiting lists for other programs I wasn't nearly as fond of...I wasn't sure what we were going to do because we received no phone calls by August 1st and I will be going back to work in January (I will talk more about that later).

This morning, in my desperate state, I sent Robert to what would be better described as a day care and he literally walked in, got one glimpse of the place and walked out.  He called me and said, "Absolutely not.  Our son is not stepping foot in that place.  It smelled like a dog kennel in there."  This pretty much sums up what many of the local day cares were like - dirty and chaotic - two qualities that just aren't gonna work for me.  We wanted Evan in a structured environment where activities were carefully thought out and planned.  We wanted him to be surrounded by kids his own age and be in a classroom where every child gets the proper attention they deserve.  Our hope was that the program we found would be focused on reading and literacy, but also incorporate physical activities and fun.  We found all of this and more at Belin.  Thanks to a family dropping out at the last minute, we were called to attend Open House tonight and were so excited with everything we saw and heard.  Evan's two teachers are fabulous and he only has 6 other kids in his class.  You can't get a much better teacher/child ratio than that.

This is not only a big step for Evan, but a huge step for me too.  I already started crying during our meeting at Open House.  I'm sure I'll be a blubbering mess on Monday morning.  But I know this will be such a great experience for Evan.  We also felt by starting him now rather than after the baby is born we can prevent Evan from feeling like he's being pushed out because of the baby.  We wanted him to feel like this new experience is solely for him and for no other reason.  Of course we also had no choice but to start him now unless we wanted to give up his spot and that was definitely not gonna happen.

I actually feel like I'm the one starting school on Monday.  I'm excited, but nervous and feel completely unprepared.  I'm praying my follow-up posting to this will be a sane one - I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

My Nephew is Here

At 7:30 this morning Ruth (in full-on active labor) and Tim headed to the hospital reeling with excitement to meet their sweet baby boy.

Tyler Jonathan was born at 8:51 am weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 oz.  Both Ruth and little TJ (no, Tim and I did not purposely give "J" middle names in order to have TJ and MJ - just a coincidence) are doing well and expected to go home on Friday.

My mom and I are thrilled that we will not only be able to share in Isabel's first birthday, but we will also get to spend some time with the newest addition to our family.  I am so overjoyed and excited to make my way to Chicago on Friday.

Pictures to come later.

A Baby Machine

Evidently I should have babies for a living according to my doctor.  My results came back from my 3-hour glucose test and she claimed they were the best numbers she had ever seen.  No gestational diabetes for me.  She added that I was made to have babies - whatever that means.  Maybe I should've considered this as a living...a lifelong surrogate.  Ha - absolutely not.

Weight gain for the past two weeks?  Not horrible - almost 3 lbs.  I'm thinking I'll gain about 40 lbs by the end of it all.  My initial goal was to not exceed 40 lbs so I won't be too disappointed with that.

Thirty two weeks and counting.

In other baby news, my brother and my sister-in-law are patiently awaiting the arrival of their son.  Ruth has been having contractions for the past two days and is dilated 3 1/2 cm.  Her contractions are about 7-8 minutes apart.  Once they drop to 5 minutes they will be hospital bound.  Yeah!  Being that my mom and I are flying to Chicago on Friday for Isabel's first birthday, it sure would be a bonus to meet my little nephew too.

Add Published Photographer to the Resume

How do ya like that?  Ha.

Not too long ago Robert asked me to come by the Soar and Explore booth and take some pictures of the ropes course and the zipline.  He mentioned Wonder Works was in need of some high resolution images that they could use for marketing purposes.  I guess I never thought they would actually make it into their brochures or on their rack cards. Yes, I am aware they're not worthy of any awards, but hey, their mine.  Maybe having a nice camera has its advantages.

He is BIG

As if we haven't heard that a million times. But our new pediatrician went ahead and confirmed it once again at Evan's two year well visit this morning. He is reportedly in the 98th percentile for weight at just under 36lbs, the 95th percentile in height at 37" and still holding strong in the 98th percentile for head circumference at 52 cm. As our doctor simply put it, "He is BIG!" But she also added that there is no reason for concern because he is completely proportional. Like we ever thought there was a reason to worry. I was instructed to make sure he stays on 2% milk and at age three I can then go down to 1%. It's amazing how weight can be such an issue even at this young of an age.

One not so thrilling issue that we discussed was his botched circumcision. I brought it up yet again because Evan has recently been saying, "my wee wee hurts" every time I change his diaper. I thought maybe due to the extra skin he was starting to get an infection of some sort so I wanted her to take a looksy and make sure that was not the case. She claimed there were no physical issues, but that we should really consider having him recircumcized.  She felt that there was a slim chance he would grow into the skin that was left therefore leaving him with a botched job.  It would also appear somewhat ambiguous - are you circumcized or are you not circumcized?  I would be heartbroken to know that my son was the butt of every locker room joke.  So we're heading down to Charleston in September to see a pediatric urologist to get a professional, specialized opinion.

Other than that - happy and healthy!  Next appointment isn't until age three.  Word.

Decision Made

Deciding on a baby name is far too complicated.  When I think I've come up with the perfect name, one that I think Robert will love, I find out that he knew a girl in high school by that same name and she was - how should I put it - easy.  Out the window it goes.  I come back with another name that has a really nice ring to it until I'm notified that Robert's ex-girlfriend named her daughter that too.  Again - gone.  Associations really take a toll on baby naming because unfortunately once you know someone who may not have made the greatest impression on you, well, that's the person you see when you say that particular name.

To avoid the difficulty and randomness of finding a name, we again decided to search our family trees and find the perfect one among the many branches.  We played around with a few different names - Hayden, Katherine, Ruth, Rhea - just to name a few, but we finally settled on one this morning.  In honor of Robert's great-great-great grandmother and my great aunt we are so excited to meet Mattie Jane.

When I put Evan to bed tonight I asked him if he wanted to say goodnight to the baby.  He stood up in his crib and leaned over and kissed my belly - and for the first time he said, "Nite Nite, Mattie."  My heart melted.

And the Winner is...

Or should I say "and the winners are" because with the exception of one voter (sorry Kylie), everyone nailed it.  We are having a girl!  As satisfied as I would've been with having another boy, I must say, my heart swelled when the technician said those sweet words.  In fact, I had tears rolling down the sides of my face.  To experience both worlds will be a treat - or at least let's hope so.

Back to the Carolinas

I can finally make an official announcement that we are moving to South Carolina!  Robert has taken a new job in Myrtle Beach that not only brings us a little closer to home, but also puts us near our restaurant in Georgetown.  Robert gave his notice today and plans to work out the last two weeks - we will be moving the last week of May and Robert starts with his new company June 1st.

I was able to keep my writing gig with the publishing company I work for and I am really happy about that.  I also plan to work part-time at our restaurant.  We are still currently looking for a place to live which is becoming extremely frustrating.  We obviously don't have much time left so it's crucial we find something fast.  We are looking in the Murrells Inlet/Surfside area so we can be somewhere in the middle between Robert's job and the restaurant.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we find something by the middle of next week.

All in all, I am thrilled about this change.  Robert's new job provides a Monday-Friday, 9-6 schedule which is completely unheard of in his industry.  We may actually have a normal family life.  It will be nice to have my husband around more and for us to be able to spend more time together as a family.  I couldn't be happier about that.  With another baby on the way, this move couldn't come at a better time.  Looks like we might finally be planting some roots!

Timothy Martin Evans, Jr.

My brother was granted his wish of a little boy.  In just 22 short weeks (or long weeks for Ruth), Tim's dreams of father/son bonding will become a reality. 

Don't let me confuse anybody with the title - I very seriously doubt the baby boy will become a Jr.  Besides, Tim better hope and pray his son doesn't take on his personality as an infant/toddler.  From what I hear it wasn't an easy experience.  Sometimes I think there was a freak mix up and Evan is actually my brother's child.  The temperment and the semi-permanent scowl are all too familiar.

Watch Tim end up with the calm, mild-mannered one.  That just means he's gonna be in hell during the teenage years! :)  Hope you're prepared, my brotha!

Soon to be Four

Evan will be a proud big brother in about 33 weeks.  With summer being our goal for baby number two, this came as somewhat of a surprise, but we were thrilled nonetheless! 

We had our first doctor's appointment today to confirm everything and to get our prenatal agenda set.  We are scheduled for our first ultrasound in exacly 4 weeks.  I was hoping it would be sooner - but I guess we got lucky with our OB in Fort Myers.  She did an ultrasound with Evan at 6 weeks so we were able to hear his heartbeat a lot earlier than normal.

We're really excited to see Evan step up to the big brother role.  I think he'll be extremely involved and attached immediately.  He was kissing a kid in the Sprint store today for crying out loud - he's ready!

And this is t-shirt #2 I referred to in my last post.  Robert has requested a couple more that I might put together this week.  I'm on a roll right now so if you have a birthday coming up you know what you're getting.

For the Record

I'm writing this post to simply document that the last few nights have been in the 30's, with highs in the 50's during the day.  Tomorrow is only supposed to reach 40 degrees and they're calling for SNOW!  Let me remind everyone that I live in Florida.  This is not supposed to happen.  These weather patterns are really freaking me out.  Maybe I need to start recycling and taking care of the earth.

Oh, yeah - and Amanda is coming tonight!  We're gonna build a snowman with Evan.

Your Go-To Source For Market Strategy

The nation's leading financial news source and newspaper evidently respects my brother's opinion on finance and the rise and fall of the markets.  Tim has made his debut in The Wall Street Journal.  To prevent you from falling asleep as you attempt to read this article (finance is so boring - sorry Tim), go ahead and skip to the very last paragraph, bottom right-hand corner. 

Just in case you're not able to read this print the last paragraph reads - "Based on the comments coming out of the minutes, it's clear that easy money is going to continue to flow," said Tim Evans, a market strategist at brokerage firm Lind-Waldock in Chicago.

My words exactly.  Couldn't have said it better myself.  That's why we're twins.

Isabel Katherine Evans

I am the proud aunt of a 4 week old (on Thursday to be exact) baby girl who weighed in at 7lbs. 3oz. Isabel absolutely deserved this respect well before now, but her birth unfortunately coincided with a very upsetting event that regretfully took most of the attention. We were all fortunate, however, to have such a joyous occasion to draw our attention away from our sadness.


My brother, Tim, has emerged into a proud and doting father literally over night. I about collapsed on the floor when he referred to his daughter as a "princess" and "pumpkin." I don't think Tim even knew his vocabulary extended any further than "buddy" or "football player." I was elated nonetheless. "Daddy's little girl" is a common phrase for a reason. I always knew she would have him wrapped as soon as she graced us with her beautiful presence.


I am flying up to Chicago in November to meet my little niece. I will also be meeting Tim's wife, Ruth, for the first time as well. I am really looking forward to the trip. Evan will meet his first and only cousin from our side of the family. I'm sure he'll just stare and point and say "bu-bee." Yes, Evan, it's a baby. But I am so excited to get pictures of them together.

Congratulations Tim and Ruth!
I love you!