The trip, part 1....the drive there

I think I need to break this into several parts to make sure I remember it all! So, the trip there....I was seriously freaking out right up to the moment we left. So much to remember, so much to pack...the car was so full I am surprised the girls had places to sit!

We left around 7:30 on Sunday morning, right on time. We made it into NC and Annie fell asleep and slept for a while, really, because our first stop was in VA at a rest area to have a bottle and stretch our legs. Riley explored the rest area, which was actually pretty cool.








So, after a short rest, we got back in the car and drove some more! We stopped for lunch, still in VA and Riley spotted this:


After lunch, we once again returned to the car and finally made it to PA before stopping again for another bottle and a rest....



A bit later we stopped once again, this time for the night, somewhere around Allentown, PA. We had a pretty nice hotel with an indoor pool, which was a requirement. We decided it would be a good way to get out some energy, and for Todd and I to relax a little before bed. The girls had a great time playing in the room, and then both had a bit of a hard time going to sleep until they both finally crashed. Annie woke once that night, which wasn't bad considering how much she does not like sleeping in a pack and play...


And then the next morning we were back on the road around 8am and made it to Westerly around 12:30!!! Just in time for lunch. We were all tired, but we made it with out sanity intact and ready to start our vacation!!

Separation Anxiety

I was wondering when we would get to this stage just the other day- maybe I jinxed myself, because I think we are there- the crying when Mommy/Daddy leaves for work stage- it is called Separation Anxiety. Oh, how I HATE that stage!

A few months ago, Annie seemed to have a little bit of stranger anxiety stuff going on- when we were in RI in March, and then to a lesser extent in May, she would not go to anyone but me. Sometimes she would get a little pouty when someone new or different, or someone she had not seen in a while, would come up to her, but it went away rather quickly.

Well, the last two days at school dropoff- yesterday with Todd and today with me- she cried when we left. I tried to sneak out today because I thought she might cry, but then Riley yelled goodbye- and that set her off. I could hear her crying when I left Riley in her room, but she was quiet when I peaked in Annie’s room window as I left the building.

I really do not like this stage one bit…it breaks my heart to leave her when she is crying. Granted, she is actually a little late for separation anxiety, but it is what it is, and I just need to get through it until the next thing comes….

Some more updates....

So, once again- it has been a while since I visited the blog! Sorry about that- of course, I am sure most of you know you can catch my quick updates over on the right sidebar with Twitter. Am currently obsessed with Twitter!

Anywho…here is a quick kid update:
Riley- OMG- starts kindergarten in 2 months! She has grown like a weed lately- I was looking at her the other day and she is SO tall! She is still reading voraciously. We went to the library on Saturday and she had lots of fun reading all of the books. We picked out a few chapter books for her to start reading and so she spent the whole afternoon while Annie napped on Saturday in her room reading. She has also developed a small obsession with the pool- which is funny since she hates water in her face so much. But she wants to go to the pool every night and is swimming really well with her little swimmy wings.




Annie- is full mobile right now. She is crawling EVERYWHERE and so very pleased with herself. She seems so much happier now- we went through a little phase, which honestly felt like forever, where she would cry and whine if you put her down on the ground, even when surrounded on all sides by her toys. But now? Put her down and she off exploring. Oh, and she is also now pulling up on everything, too, and trying to stand on her own. She has eaten three pieces of dog food- it must be pretty tasty! Relax- she didn’t really eat it, but she tried very hard. She is also still showing signs of quite a temper- when trying to eat said dog food and told no, she becomes very upset and sometimes has a little fit which includes crying and banging her head on the floor. Very scared for what this means for my future!



They are both keeping me very busy, as you can imagine. Thank goodness for Grams and Gramps who took them for a few hours on Sunday so that Todd and I could see a movie- our first in about a year! Here is what they did while we were gone:

Our week in a nutshell

It has been pretty busy in the Hildebrand household for the last few weeks. May is always a crazy time for us because we typically have something to do each weekend now that the weather is nice, and also because I have Lyceum, which is our Homecoming event at work and it takes up almost a whole week of time, both day and night and part of the weekend, plus all of the preparation for it.

Anyway, this is my current excuse for not blogging much!

Riley went to Carowinds with Grams and Gramps last weekend, and she had a blast!! Last year was the first year they went, and she had such a fun time, they decided to do again. They spent the whole day and she came back exhausted, but happy!

Unfortunately, that is also the day that Annie was sick all day and I was working and so Todd had to spend the whole day with a sick baby. When I got home and realized she still wasn’t better, we made a quick decision to take her to the pediatric walk-in clinic. They still aren’t completely sure what was wrong with her, but she had a pretty high white blood count so they gave us some antibiotics and sent us home. Took some time but she is now feeling better, although she is STILL not sleeping yet- Annie is our non-sleeper, if you didn’t already know but I am sure you do- and EVERY.TIME she gets sick, she wakes up ALL.NIGHT.LONG!!!! So, Todd and I have been pretty much sleepwalking through the last week or so…..

And lastly, Annie had her 9month well-baby visit yesterday- here are her stats:

Weight: 20 lbs. 2 oz- 80 percentile
Height: Don’t remember it exactly, but she is still off the charts!!!

Other than said mystery illness, she is healthy and he was impressed with her vocal abilities! We need to lower the mattress one more notch because he said she will be crawling out soon- oh, boy- and that she can be eating more and more solids now….

Oh, and Miss Annie is now officially a crawler…and she is pulling up on most everything and very mobile, and quite proud of herself, too!!!

9 months old!!

So, today Annie turns 9 months old. Wow- how wild is that? She is quickly moving away from infancy, and, while she is most definitely still a baby- there are times when I look at her and think how close we really are to the toddler stage- especially when she tries to pull-up on my chest.

Or when she won’t sit down because she just loves to stand so much.

Or when she refuses to eat the baby food from the spoon and tries to hold it herself, or will only eat the “real” people food.

Or when, like the other day, she had a little mini-fit because I took the pizza crust that she was chewing on away from her….it didn’t last long, but it certainly gave me a little glimpse of our future- I do remember those days with Riley well.

She has really changed a lot over the last month. We went through another rough period several weeks ago when she was sick- just a really bad cold that lasted a while- but now that she is feeling better, she is like a different child.

As I said above, she is eating everything in site. She does like the real food- she has tried lots of different fruits- loves bananas and watermelon and strawberries. She has had toast and pancakes and had some of Riley’s grilled cheese, which disappeared quickly from her tray! The girl likes to eat!

She still isn’t really crawling, but she can certainly get anywhere she wants by some sort of army crawl where she drags herself across the floor. She does like to stand, and can pull up her body from your fingers. She isn’t doing it independently yet, but she can get on her knees. And she can go from sitting to crawling and back to sitting very well.

She is still long- she is fully in 12-month clothing now, but she is still so thin. She weighs about 18lbs, I think.

She is babbling quite a bit now, although does not have any real words. She has one little sound that could be “daddy”, but since she does not say it to Todd directly, I can not count it as a word!

She still is enamored by Riley and they entertain each other well. Riley gets mad when Annie pulls her hair, and she is starting to not like Annie touching her toys, but she is still so good with her, and it still sometimes brings tears to my eyes to watch them together.

We are having fun, and look forward to summer and lots of playing outside and swimming at the pool and picnics and playgrounds…should be quite interesting!!