All posts by leslie

Winter for Floridians (also known as our New Hampshire vacation)

2016-01-24Uncategorizedbkc, january vacation, new hampshire, snowleslie

Every year our seminary friends (known as the Bad Kids) and their progeny get together for a weeklong vacation of fun, camaraderie, decompression, and relaxation. The location varies year to year because we live all over and we try to be democratic about it. This year’s location: the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In January. This is insanity for me as a native Floridian – winter and I do not mix (for example, look no further as to when I slipped on icy stairs and ended up getting staples in my head). It’s just not my native habitat, and I know this. But I will go anywhere at any time of the year to see these fine people – totally worth it.

And we survived winter, where the temperatures peaked at 32 degrees and most often hovered in the single digits. I even went out (willingly) in the snow to watch the kids play (for 5 minutes, don’t get crazy). It was fun to see Henry discover snow for the first time, since the only other time he experienced it was at 9 months old, and he hated it. He really wanted to build a snowman, but the snow wasn’t quite right so he settled for watching Frozen with the sisters.

Other highlights for me were sitting around the fire in the evenings, laughing and eating together, discovering the awesomeness of LL Bean, chowing down on delicious barbecue in our own room of a brewery, and sightseeing the picturesque villages of the mountains (by car, in the heat). I would love to come back and visit the area, just next time it should be in the summer, when life in Florida is God-awful hot.

Oh, Boy (Again)!

2016-01-05Uncategorizedleslie

I’ve reached the halfway point of this pregnancy, and we now know that we will be having another BOY in late May! I am so happy that our baby boy is growing perfectly – all organs developing well, heart beat 147 bpm, and weighing in at around 9 ounces. I’ve started feeling him kick and move throughout the day, which is my favorite part of pregnancy (except the direct kicks to the bladder – ugh). It will be so nice for Henry to have a brother for his best friend, to share experiences, toys, and space with, yet when we found out we were having a second boy I was disappointed.

I really, really wanted a girl. Mostly to balance out the boy-ness of our house, to have someone to commiserate with, and share my love of girly things. We aren’t planning on having more than two kids, so I’m never going to get my girl baby. And that is okay. Okay for me to feel disappointed and sad while being totally stoked we are set to have another cuddly boy around. Okay because I am a fantastic mama to Henry and I know I’ll be a great mama to this little guy. I love him so so much already, and if he’s anything like his big brother, that love is going to continue to grow.

15 Weeks Pregnant with Baby Two

2016-01-05Uncategorized15 weeks, pregnancy, second trimesterleslie

I made it to the second trimester and my nausea is slowly disappearing! And then promptly got sick with a cold. At least it has been a minor cold and didn’t affect my asthma at all, and I’m on the tail end of it now. Here’s hoping I don’t get sick again throughout the rest of my pregnancy, because not being able to take anything to feel better is the worst.
On a happier note, I had my monthly checkup today at Breath of Life, and everything is progressing well. I heard the baby’s heartbeat for the second time (first time was at 9 weeks), and it was in the 150-160 range. That’s pretty much the bulk of the appointment, other than doing the routine vitals. I made my next appointment for the end of the month, and also scheduled my fetal ultrasound. Since I’m not feeling the baby move yet (despite he/she moving all around while the midwife tried to find the heartbeat) I’m super excited to see our baby and find out whether it is a boy or girl just before the new year.

Six Weeks Pregnant with Baby Two

2016-01-05Uncategorizedfirst trimester, pregnancy, six weeksleslie

I’m currently six weeks pregnant with baby #2 so baby is the size of a pea at 0.25 inches long. Baby is beginning to get facial features, its circulatory system is developing at a rapid pace, and may even be wiggling its hands and feet.

I’m feeling pretty miserable with complete and total exhaustion, and all day nausea (no puking, just feeling like it) wearing me down. I almost wish people knew I was pregnant so I wouldn’t have to pretend to be feeling great, but not enough to actually tell. I like how it is mostly our little secret, and I’m still scared I could miscarry.

I toured the Breath of Life Birth Center in Largo this week, and pretty much decided this is where I’d like to give birth assuming no complications. Last time around, I hated not knowing the doctor who breezed in at the last minute to help deliver, and also all the interventions that began when my water broke but no contractions started. At the Birth Center, I will get to know the entire team of midwives, nurses, and staff who will be present for delivery, and hopefully feel better cared for during the prenatal, delivery, and postpartum process. I’m also excited (and a little scared) to have a natural childbirth, something I really wanted last time around and just couldn’t make happen. I don’t have my first appointment until I’m 9, almost 10, weeks, so it’s just a waiting game at this point.

Five Weeks Pregnant with Baby Two

2016-01-05Uncategorizedbaby two, first trimester, five weeks, miscarriage, pregnancyleslie

Today (9/22/15), I am five weeks pregnant. According to the online community, this means my baby is the size of an appleseed, measuring a quarter of an inch long. It is starting to form its major organs, and its fetal heartbeat is visible. Other than the positive pregnancy tests I’ve taken (first positive super early at 3 weeks, 4 days!), I’m completely wiped out from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep at night, my breasts are sore and tingly off and on, nausea comes and goes, and I’m definitely crampy sometimes. TMI, maybe, but I say bring on the symptoms -it means the little one growing inside of me is more likely to stick around.
My first pregnancy (before Henry) ended in miscarriage at about 7 weeks, but the baby stopped growing at 5 weeks, so I’m in the scary zone (for me) within the also scary First Trimester where 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. I’m trying my best to not think about that, and calmly and happily remind myself when I wake up that today I am pregnant, and that is amazing, no matter what could happen later. I also have a two year old to chase after this time around so there is less time to sit and dwell on the what ifs. But I’m still anxious and scared, and that doesn’t go away.

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation (Part 3) – SGI Playground of the Week

2015-09-30Uncategorizedbeach, lighthouse, playground, playground of the week, sgi, sunsetleslie

This week’s Playground of the Week is located on St. George Island at the foot of its lighthouse at the beach. We rode our bikes along the island-wide paved trail every night to the playground so Henry could get the last of his energy out. There were swings, slides, games, balance beams, and things to climb – with the sea breeze keeping things cool and the bugs (mostly) away. It was never crowded, had public bathrooms, and was a perfect spot to end our days.




One evening we road bikes to the foot of the bridge connecting the island to the mainland to watch the sunset. It’s weird to watch the sunset over the mainland when we are so used to watching it set over the Gulf where we live. Weird, but still beautiful and worth the extra ride. I loved how we could visit anywhere on the island by bike (a lot of people used golf carts – not as cool as biking!), and we definitely took advantage of that.

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation (Part 2) – St. George Island

2015-09-29Uncategorizedanerr, apalachicola, apalachicola maritime museum, beach, eastpoint, sgi, st. george island state park, sunset, walbolt vacation 2015leslie

We rented a lovely little two bedroom vacation house on St. George Island for our relaxing week of family vacationing. We breakfasted together on its screened in porch, spent our mornings visiting the area, siesta-ed/napped in the afternoons, and finished our days with an evening bike ride and playground date. It was pretty perfect.
Here are some of the activities we did:

The Beach! Hanging out at the beach was our primary activity on SGI – the beach is one of he best in the country. We splashed in the water, picked out shells to bring home, threw our frisbee around, and dug in the sand. Our house was two blocks from the beach access, making it an easy walk to the shore.

Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park. On the cloudiest day, we biked about 16 miles round trip to SGI State Park, which is located at the eastern end of the island. The ride to the park was great, and the park itself is a grand preservation area with the oldest stand of slash pines on a barrier island as well as giant sand dunes. We didn’t beach it up here, because the Hen was set on playing at the campground’s playground. It was nicely shaded and a great break. The campground and its bathrooms looked excellent and clean; we may have to camp next time we visit! Our way home from the park was the hardest bike ride I’ve ever attempted. The wind from the encroaching storm made pedaling difficult. We had to take multiple water breaks, and each time we did neither of us wanted to hop back on our bikes, but we forced ourselves to do it. I have never been so excited to see condos in my life (to block the wind gusts). We were soaked, and our legs were bonked when we got back to the house, but it was totally worth it.

Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. Located in Eastpoint, the education and research center has sea life tanks, beautiful boardwalk trails, views of the bay, and Henry’s favorite – microscopes where you can look at shells and exoskeletons close up. He could have spent all morning looking through the lens, but he also loved playing with the stuffed animals and watching the fish. The center is free and open Tuesday through Saturday 9am – 4 pm.

City of Apalachicola. We loved this small town full of antique shops, pirate/fishing gear, and Southern charm. Well, maybe not so much charm when we were told on multiple occasions that we were not from Florida since we lived in the Tampa Bay Area (but being from Jacksonville was closer to living in the Sunshine State). We found a couple of lovely Spanish tiles to decorate our home (place of decoration to be determined). Henry’s favorite part of town was the Battery Park playground, of course. In the shadow of the bridge overlooking the bay, it’s set back from the road and featured a variety of playground equipment for Henry to climb all over. My favorite thing there was this oversized chair, perfect for taking silly photos.

Apalachicola Maritime Museum. Keith was really excited to visit this museum, which provides information about the history of oyster fishing and boating in the bay area. It also offers courses in boat making (we didn’t do this) and a variety of affordable boat tours of the area. We took the Sunset Cruise and lucked out that we were the only ones on the boat besides the driver, Richard. Richard has lived his entire life in Apalachicola and knows things you couldn’t read in a history book like who owned what building on the river and what family business they were up to. It was a fascinating tour of the town before we headed out to the bay to see the sunset. We ate our dinner of Piggly Wiggly sandwiches on the boat, and then Henry co-drove the boat! It was his absolute favorite thing about vacation – he still talks about driving the boat under the bridge in the bay.

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation (Part 1) – Weeki Wachee Springs

2015-09-28Uncategorizedflorida, sgi, summer vacation, walbolt vacation 2015, weeki wachee, weeki watched springs state parkleslie

For our family trip this year, I had a few parameters: (1) visit a place I had never seen, (2) within driving distance of where we live, (3) that is relaxing, and (4) can comfortably fit the three of us. St. George Island fit the bill! Keith had visited twice with his family when he was younger so it would be nearly new to him (& new to me and H). It’s located five and half hours away in the Florida Panhandle on the Apalachicola Bay. It is an island full of vacation homes, beaches, a state park, and not much else. We found a vacation house with two bedrooms, a screened porch, and an outdoor shower so we had plenty of space.

To break up the drive and allow for maximum Hen-naps, we stopped at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park on our way up north to play at its Buccaneer Bay water park and eat lunch. There is a special area for kids 6 and under called Lil’ Mates Caribbean Cove, which is where we spent most of our time. Hen had fun sliding down the slide and crawling through the spray tunnel. For kids used to bigger splash pads it isn’t very exciting, but we had so much fun. We watched bigger kids and adults play in the spring and go down the flume slides, but it was too old for Henry.

After swimming for a couple hours, we heard there was an animal show. We never made it because there was a super sweet playground on the way which was more immediately fun. After getting hot and sweaty, we made our way back to the car, only stopping to meet a real mermaid! Henry was not impressed, and a little scared. Next time we visit we will need to check out the mermaid show (if it’s back up and running) and the river cruise. It is definitely a gem of a park and worth a return visit.

Playground of the Week – Bonner Nature Park

2015-08-24Playground of the Weekbonner nature park, largo, pinellas, playground, playground of the weekleslie

Last Wednesday, Henry I visited John R. Bonner Nature Park (14444 143rd St, Largo 33774) for our Playground of the Week. We love this park! It is tucked away into a neighborhood in Largo, and backs up into the intracoastal waterway so it is beautiful and quiet. There are a few nature trails, one with a sidewalk-like surface and another with a soft surface, and there is a boardwalk leading out to a covered deck on the intracoastal. Henry likes to stop and watch the fiddler crabs on our way out to the deck where he can then watch birds, boats, and fish play. I like that deck is shaded and cool with a Gulf breeze.

The park also hosts a good-sized playground in the shade. It has two sections, one for 2-5 year olds and another for 5-12 year olds. Henry likes both, of course, and also loves the swings. It’s not fenced in, but we’ve never had a problem with Henry running into the adjacent parking lot. There are bathroom and covered picnic facilities, which are always nice to have around especially with kids, but they also are frequently used by City employees. There is a big grassy field that we haven’t used yet since it is in the full sun, but looks like a good place for playing baseball or soccer. The Largo parks department just opened a kayak/SUP/canoe launch on the waterway, so we will have to check that out sometime, too. Every time we visit this park I think, “we need to come here more often.” It’s that lovely.

The Vaseline Incident

2015-08-23Uncategorizedmischief, vaseline, washington dcleslie

the Vaseline incident – it sounds like a band name, doesn’t it?!

I’ve been putting off posting about this until it wasn’t so fresh in my mind since it felt traumatic at the time, even if everyone else thought it was hilarious. It was not funny at all then, and still isn’t (but hopefully will be soon). On our second day in DC, I put Henry down for his afternoon nap in Vanesa’s room. I thought I had cleared away everything that he could possibly get into, but i was wrong. In the back of Vanesa’s (closed) closet, behind some toilet paper in a closed cabinet lurked Vaseline. A full jar of Vaseline.
Henry had learned earlier in the day how to put hair product in his hair to make it curly and he decided to try it on his own since he had clearly mastered it before. So while we thought he was sleeping (because he was quiet – always question the silence!), he was busy emptying the contents of the Vaseline onto his head and face. It took less than 15 minutes, because that’s when I asked Vanesa if she would go check to see if he was sleeping.

She came down the stairs giggling in shock, and he was so happy and proud! We carried the slippery sucker up to the tub and tried (unsuccessfully) washing out the Vaseline with regular soap several times and warm water and then brushing it out. Fail. Panicked phone calls were made to my mom and Marcie. Vanesa told Marcie and Lisa they had to drop what they were doing and come, because the situation was getting more and more slippery. My mom told me to call poison control since he may have swallowed some and she didn’t know if it was toxic.

I’ve never felt more like a bad parent than in this moment, talking to a lady from poison control and explaining I didn’t know how much Vaseline he had ingested. For future reference, the woman I spoke with was very calm and helpful, and assuaged my fears. For all you parents out there – Vaseline is NOT toxic. It acts as a laxative depending on how much one consumes. And it can be a choking hazard since it is extra thick. Since Henry was not coughing (too much laughing), the choking bit was ruled out, and it didn’t seem like he ate a lot of it (probably only 1-2 bites) so he was going to be fine.

Lisa (our go-to librarian) researched how to clean Vaseline out of hair and there are a couple of ways: (1) Dawn dish soap like they use for oil spills and (2) corn starch with hot water. If you use cool water, the Vaseline clumps up and becomes even more difficult to get out. We used both methods on the Hen, multiple times a day, for several days. In case you are wondering, it takes about a week and at least 37 washings of hair to make the hair feel and look natural again.

There was just so. much. Vaseline. It was like wrestling a slicked up pig, and the tub was so incredibly slippery each time the adults had to shower it was like ice skating (I am not a skater). Needless to say, we will not be keeping it our house anytime soon. One day I will be able to laugh with everyone else about it, but today is still not that day.