Catching Up!

Okay, so I haven't blogged since we were in Florida last month.  Boo, me.  To my credit, I tried to post the zoo pics (below) over a week ago, but blogger wasn't cooperating.  Still, life has been a whirlwind for us these past three weeks, and I've just not made blogging a priority!  I'll clue you in on what's been happening, but first here are a few Evie pics.

 Clovis has a pretty decent zoo, and I took Evie to visit during our first week back home. I'm really trying to get us out of the house more since she seemed to love "going and doing" while we were away.  She wasn't sure about the animals here at first; maybe she had bad memories of the Gulf Breeze Zoo?

 She was mesmerized by the "ah-ah's" (monkeys). 

 Not the best composition here, but you can see both Evie and our Mommy giraffe.  Our new baby giraffe was there too!  She is soooo cute.

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This pic is actually of Evie enjoying her favorite toy at the Niceville Children's Park.  It was a car on a spring that rocks back and forth.  She still talks about it! 

So at the end of June we made the 24+ hour drive back from Destin in 3 days.  Evie, Finlay, and I were in my car, and Nick was in his car.  Sound fair to you?  In fairness to him, I can't drive his (standard) car so we really had no other option.

Once we got home we got to work getting our life back to normal.  Evie is now going to "school" twice a week, which has freed me up to get some personal/household stuff taken care of.  It's so nice for me, especially after 4 months on the road with her, to have a little time to myself.  But the real bonus here is how much she is blossoming by being in school.  She clearly likes having the time to play with her friends, and she's learning lots too!

Last week derailed our "getting back into the swing of things" plans a bit, as Evie got a nasty throat virus AND cut her two bottom molars in the same week.  We're back on our feet now, though, and are moving full steam ahead.

Nick has started his new job in his new squadron.  Since he has lots more responsibility now, he is working longer hours, but it is an exciting transition. 

Speaking of work transitions, I have decided to go back to work too!  I'll be working as a tutor in the Writing Center at the community college here.  I'm excited about this!  I'll pretty much just be working while E is in mother's day out, which she starts next month.  I'm really, really excited to get back into the college setting and work with college students again.  Truthfully, when I had Evie I never imagined going back to work until she was in school, but I've realized that I need this outlet to use my skills and talents, just like she needs to spend time with her peers.

Our last piece of news is that we are getting a new puppy!  She is a sheltie puppy coming to us from a breeder in California.  She should arrive here sometime next month.  We've named her Macy, in honor of a bomb dog Nick worked with in Afghanistan who was KIA along with her handler. You can read about her and her handler here. 

Now you're caught up! 

Beach 2.0

Here are a few more beach pics. 

 Ready to head down to the beach.  Unfortunate about the red and purple flags - dangerous surf and Portuguese Man-o-Wars. Yikes!

 E mostly likes to play in the sand anyway, so not to worry about the water!

 A water bottle and a fish toy, what more could a girl need for a great beach day?

The whole family (minus Fin, who was not welcome on the beach) in Navarre Beach, just a few hours before Tropical Storm Debbie arrived.  The waves were wild!

Gulf Breeze Zoo

Yesterday EC and I made a 1 hour trek west to the Gulf Breeze Zoo.  I was super excited for this trip because it was supposed to afford a lot of up close and personal experience with the animals.  They had lots of petting/feeding opportunities for kiddos and a train ride through a wildlife preserve.  I was SURE Evie would love it.

 Here we are on our first stop, the train ride.  E is definitely unsure about the whole thing, but to her credit we did have to wait in line for 15 minutes to board the train.

 Eyeing her fellow passengers warily.

 We did see some cool animals!

 In the end, though, the proximity of the animals was a little overwhelming.  Evie spent most of the day telling each and every animal "bye bye" as she emphatically waved both hands above her head.  Honestly, the zoo day was a bit of a bust.  Here she is with some baby wart hogs, about as happy as she got the whole time.

We'll hit up the beach again tomorrow, and I'll try to get some cute pics for our next post!

Beach!

Evie has been to the beach for the past four days, and she loves it! Our first week here brought record rainfall so we've definitely been enjoying the long awaited sunshine.
She loves to play in the sand and stand in the surf until it splashes her in the face. She also loves sunscreen! Every 10 or 15 minutes she'll bring over the bottle and ask us to put some more on.
She gets really excited at the mention of the word "sheech" as she calls it. She enjoys seeing the boats and will call out "boat boat boat" for minutes on end! We are pretty sure she also talks about "shawks" since she was introduced to them via Finding Nemo, her favorite movie.
I shudder to think about how sad this beach babe will be when it's time to head home, but for now we are definitely enjoying every second!





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Evie at the Pool

On Thursday we took Evie to the Ridgewood pool. I loved this because it's where I learned to swim!

Fun on the splashpad with Dad

 Loved blowing bubbles with Mommy

The basketball was her favorite toy BY FAR!

Back to Blogging

Hello blog followers!  I'm sure that many of you have stopped checking in here since I have all but quit blogging since December.  If you've missed me, I'm sorry.  The reason that I haven't been sharing with you for a while is not that there hasn't been anything going on around here.  It is rather that there has been lots going on, but I haven't known whether or how to share it with you.  I've decided to go ahead and fill you in because it feels like I just have to in order to feel free to share anything else.

I'll stop you right there before you let your imagination run amock.  This has nothing to do with babies, whether Evie or future Hall babies - E is great and no others are planned in the near future.  Nick and I are still happily married and very much in love.  Nothing major or devastating has happened.  But I have been going through a little health-related thing.

As any of my mom friends, and especially those of you who have nursed your babies know, while you are breastfeeding you are constantly going through hormonal and weight fluctuations.  Then when you stop, things gradually return to normal.  Things were going swimmingly with me up until December when I weaned Evie.  Then my body went haywire!  I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that my body was NOT acting like it should, in many, many ways.

I went to visit my doctor who conducted a number of tests - drew 6 or 7 vials of blood, ultrasounds, and finally a glucose tolerance test - yes, I got to repeat that most wonderful pregnancy milestone - and it turns out that I am insulin resistant. 

Basically, in a totally oversimplified way, my body acts like it's diabetic.  My body won't absorb the insulin in my blood, which in turn leads to high insulin levels, which drives my blood sugar level low, which makes me crave carbs and keeps my body from burning its own fat for fuel, in fact it encourages my body to store fat.  It also throws off my other "female" hormones because insulin is a major hormone, which effects all those others.  In that way, it can lead to PCOS symptoms in women, which I have been experiencing.

I am now taking Metformin, a diabetes drug. which helps my body use the insulin I'm making and will, hopefully, decrease my insulin levels over time, which should help my body return to normal overall.

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, for one thing this whole process has taken from January through now and has been very distracting.  When I've had time and energy I've been researching insulin resistance and trying to learn what I can about how to best control it.  But energy is a whole other issue.  Because my blood sugar is always borderline low, and I take care of a toddler all day, I simply haven't had much energy to spare lately.

I've also just felt like this was the biggest thing happening in my life, and I didn't know how to talk about anything else without referencing it.  It felt somehow deceptive.  But now it's off my chest, and I feel like I can fill you in on the rest of our lives again! 

Before I bid you adieu I'll answer a few questions that I usually get asked when I tell people about my little issue.  First, insulin resistance is really a genetic thing.  You don't "get" it or "cause" it.  The two biggest risk factors for developing it are obesity and a family history of Type II diabetes.  (I have neither).  But if it's in your genes, you'll develop it.  I just got really unlucky.  Yes, it does mean that I have a  heightened risk for developing Type II later in life.  I'm not really sure how this will play out.  When you are overweight you can lower this risk by losing 7-10% of your body weight and beginning a regular exercise routine.  While I hope to lose some "vanity weight" I am already at a healthy body weight, and I already exercise regularly.  Maybe my lifestyle will stave it off into my old age, but maybe there's nothing I can do to stop it.  I guess we'll see!

If you have read this far, thank you.  I promise to post more uplifting information in the future.  If you know me well, you know that "full disclosure" is definitely my MO, and I really just couldn't keep this from you..  Next up, a beach post!

RCC Easter Egg Hunt

If you don't already know, Evie and I have decamped to Waco until mid-May because Nick is doing some school in Alabama for 8 weeks. Since he's gone, I'm going to post a zillion pictures on here since it's an easy way for him to access them.  Sorry if it's picture overload for our friends!
Mom was nice enough to take us to the Ridgewood Country Club Easter Egg Hunt today.  They had a bunny, chicks, ducklings, the Easter Bunny, facepainting, balloon art, and more!  Here's how EC did at the festivities.

 Fun with bunny!

 Ducklings

 Getting brave!

 Unsure!

 With Bear, the therapy dog.  He was her favorite and she called him by making a "click click" sound all morning!

 Loading up her basket!

 Post-hunt meltdown

 Egg hunt aftermath.  She got a gold dollar coin!  So excited!

 Pics with the Easter Bunny are on a different camera and will be forthcoming shortly!