Boone is here!!

Well, the Hitch family received the best Halloween surprise possible this year...

Ottie Boone Hitch was born October 31, 2008 at 2:17pm.

Boone weighed 6lbs 7oz and was 19 3/4in long.

Everything went great with the delivery and he's just the sweetest little man.

Here's a few of his first shots...

Just before we left for the hospital, around 4:30am.


First picture with Mommy and Daddy.

Happy Halloween!

Here's a shot of the family of pumpkins Piper picked out at our recent trip to the pumpkin patch.

And here's the one she made a school.

We also carved one of the larger pumpkins. Here's the side we carved.

And here's the side Piper decorated. As soon as she saw that nice flat orange surface she just knew she had to get her "cojours" out and create a masterpiece.

Supervision Required

Piper's new favorite perch in the house in on one of the stools in the kitchen. She can get up high and monitor all that's going on around her. She recently supervised Grammi making pancakes and even lent a hand with the mixing.

Rocks are Out, Acorns are In

Piper has declared rock collecting as "so yesterday's news" and has moved on to collecting acorns. She's so low to the ground so she can quickly spot them and round up handfuls in no time. She recently recruited Grammi and FaFa into her acorn collecting adventures and they spent a good part of this last weekend "scouting" the yard and tree limbs for acorn treasures.


She also has become quite interested in the cactus that are growing on our property. We've talked several times about "Don't touch", but there seems to be a magnet of sorts on the end of her index finger that just draws her to the cactus. We often know she is about to touch one because we here her say "Don't touch", as she is touching it. Generally what ensues next is that she has some very fine cactus thorns on the end of her finger which leads her to extending it while fighting tears. Usually a round a kisses ("tissies") from whoever is there is enough to take care of her finger and then she's back to exploring again.

New Photos

I finally added some of the shots from our anniversary and the "Bootsies" (see below). Still have some pumpkin patch shots to add when I get a chance. Hope to find some time to do it soon.

Happy Birthday!

Piper, Daddy and Grammi sure know how to throw a birthday party. We had a nice quiet evening in, I was a bit pooped after work today and opted for a low-key evening. I don't have much room in the ole belly these days, so I made the wise choice to skip dinner to assure I had enough room for cake! Perfect.

Piper sang the sweetest rendition of Happy Birthday and made my night.

38-Week Appointment

A bit more progress to report! I'm now 1 1/2 cm dilated and still 50% effaced. And the Little Man has dropped. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll be making calls soon saying we're on our way to the hospital. Stay tuned...

Pumpkin Patch Adventures

We hit a local pumpkin patch this week. The highlights of our trip for Piper were:

1) A woman that was working there gave her a pumpkin sticker and she went around the patch finding things to stick and unstick it to.

2) The playground at the church right next to the pumpkin patch.

3) The wagon used to help people carry their pumpkins to their car.

We did manage to sway her into picking out a pumpkin for both her and the Little Man, but then she was on to other things. Oh, and she wore her boots for the occasion.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures posted from this week soon, I keep forgetting to transfer them off the camera.

Night-Night Bootsies!

Last night, Grammi, Piper and I went to a local weekly farmer's market to pick up some fresh produce. On our way home we stopped to run a few errands, one of which included trying to find some fall/winter shirts for Piper. We are in the process of making the transition from onesies to real shirts exclusively, to aid with our upcoming potty-training adventure. We were in a store and Piper noticed a pair of pink cowgirl boots. She proceeded to take her shoes off and tell me "Boot on, Mommy", while pointing at the boots she wanted. We ended up trying them on and she had to wear them out of the store, as the shoes she wore in were no longer suitable with her outfit. We took her outside to enjoy some of the beautiful day and realized there's an art to walking in your first pair of boots, so she had to get adjusted to them. But she was off running in no time. She wore them the rest of the night and even hated to take them off for her bath. We put her boots in her closet and continued with the rest of her night-time routine. When she was ready for bed, she started to climb up her step-stool into bed, then stopped, got down and went over to the closet. She waved at the closet doors and said, "Night, night bootsies".

We tucked her jeans into her boots for these shots for full viewing pleasure of the "Bootsies"!

37-Week Appointment

Progress!!!! I was 50% effaced today, still no dilation, but progress has been made-Yeah!! Gives me some renewed incentive to continue with my daily lunchtime walks.

5-Year Wedding Anniversary

This past Saturday (Oct 18) we celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary. My how time flies when you are having fun! We took advantage of the beautiful day and did a short family hike.
And then were fortunate enough to have a babysitter for the evening. We were able to enjoy a nice night out for dinner. We had found out about a little out of the way restaurant called Lilfred's that's been in business for over 60 years that we've been wanting to try, so this was the perfect opportunity, and it was great. Here's to many, many more wonderful years together...

State Fair

Monday was a holiday (Columbus Day), so we decided to make a family day out of it and took Piper to the State Fair. She loved seeing all the animals and the petting zoo.


She grew tired of her stroller very quickly and wanted to walk around and kept telling us "No and", as she wanted to walk by herself with neither of us holding her hand. This proved difficult with the crowd, so we found some open spaces at the petting zoo where she could roam. However, we had to curtail her new found freedom when she tried to climb in the pen with the mini-horse! Apparently standing right next to it and petting it just wasn't enough!

Next we headed to the carousel for a ride. She was so excited to get on and sit on one of the horses.
The ride started out great, she was having a blast...

Then she noticed the horse next to her (that had another child sitting on it) and she decided it was better than her horse. She grew quite unhappy when Daddy wouldn't tell the child to get off the horse so she could ride on it, while the ride was moving!

Sometimes, life lessons are hard when you're almost two!

She enjoyed some of the fair food. She spotted one of her favorite foods, pizza, and decided to give it a try. She also had some cotton candy for the first time.

36-Week Appointment

Off to the doctor again this morning. Not sure what to think of the news today, I'm not dilated at all, but Little Man's head is so low that the doctor could feel it. She just said that things could change/happen at any time now!

Coastal Visitors

The Pauls' (Cheryl, Clint, Pierson, Hudson) headed up from the SC coast to spend the weekend with us. We were so glad to see them and Piper and Pierson had a really good time playing together.

Piper was the first to wake up Saturday morning, and while she waited patiently for Pierson, she decided that to test out his "run fast" shoes.

Saturday the Klaas family (Squeak, Keri, Kaitlyn, Coleman) also joined us, as did B and Nick and we cooked out and steamed oysters. The new picnic table was a hit and we all had a great time. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day and it was great to have such good company.


Clint brought their golf cart to ride around the property. It was a big hit!

Saturday night Piper and Pierson decided that they hadn't had enough playtime together, so they continued their fun in the tub. After the bath, Pierson serenaded Piper with the sweetest sounding rendition ever heard of "Twinkle, twinkle little star" before she went to bed. Piper laid in bed with her motie in one hand and her thumb in her mouth and intently listened to him sing. It was just about the cutest thing!



Hudson just sat back and smiled and took it all in throughout the weekend. He just seemed to like being in and among everyone.

Fun at Work

This past Tuesday my co-workers had a shower for Ger and I, for the Little Man. It was so sweet of them and unexpected. And the best part was to have about 2 hours during the middle of the day, uninterruputed to sit and talk, something that's rare during an average work day.

Lost in Translation??

It seems that lately Piper is changing almost everyday. Ger and I are just watching as she changes before our eyes. We both continue to have such a new found respect for those statements we used to hear people say who had kids (before we did), about how "You just blink your eyes and they are all grown up." That's what it feels like at times. Hard to believe we are closing in on her second birthday already, it feels like we just brought her home from the hospital.

That being said, she constantly practicing her new words she's learning and there are more and more new words she says that we understand, and about the same that we have absolutely no idea what they are, which she finds very frustrating. But she keeps trying, and one of these days we'll figure it out!

So just in the spirit of documentation, I thought I'd put a few of our favorites she's saying right now, as the cute mis-pronunciations or short phrases are starting to be replaced with better pronunciation and longer phrases and I feel like we won't remember them later on. Here goes:

Comin'?: That usually means I'm leaving the room, I'd sure like it if you would come with me!

Bee-cee-chule: This is used interchangeably used for either a bicycle or motorcycle.

See me?: Please pick me up.

Mo Tic-tills: More tickles

Luv-voo: I love you.

Bye-bye: When putting her to bed, she will not hesitate to cut you off mid-song if she's ready for you to leave the room so she can go to sleep. This is usually accompanied by a wave and a smile.

Nack!: I want a snack now!

Wetter on peas!: Please put on my sweater.

Messin' Eye-knee: This started when she got one hellacious diaper rash recently and we were putting all kinds of salves and pastes on her rear trying to get rid of it. She now thinks all medicine (messin') goes on your hiney (eye-knee), whether it be tylenol or prenatal vitamins or whatever. This is usually accompanied by her grabbing the back of her diaper in case there's any confusion as to where her hiney that needs the medicine is.

Goash: Go to school!

Piper Hish, Daddy Hish, Mommy Hish: We recently taught Piper her last name and she occasionally refers to all of us by our full names now, just in case there is any confusion within the house!

Natch-you: Thank you.

Mirch: Milk

Oh, feet first...that's right!

On our way outside Sunday afternoon, Piper made the tough decision of whether or not to wear her hat. Here she is mid-decision.


She also had fun on her slide, once she got pointed in the right direction. Sometimes it's hard to remember...feet first!

The bag is packed!

It's official, the bag is officially packed and ready for the hospital. Now starts the wait!

Landlords No More

So as of this past Friday, we officially sold my condo that I lived in during graduate school, so we are no longer landlords. I must say that feels pretty good! It was a bit of a bitter sweet sale, as that was the first place I ever owned all on my own, but it sure is a relief to no longer have the additional responsibility...I think that trumps the nostalgia by a mile!!!

One Last Hurrah!

Ok, so I got a little behind on blogging...the weekend before last, Piper and I spent in Atlanta with Grammi and FaFa while Daddy was in Myrtle Beach with the guys for his annual golf weekend. This turned out to be Mommy's last weekend of travel, so glad we were able to make the trip, as it had been quite some time since we'd last visited. Piper was fascinated by the skyline of downtown Atlanta, those were the tallest buildings I think she's ever seen that she can remember. And there was lots of construction going on along the interstate in downtown, so she was very pleased to be able to see so many tractors and cranes and squealed with delight as we passed each one and would yell "Tactor ridin' Mommy!".

FaFa introduced Piper to the computer ("umputer") and she enjoyed playing with the mouse and keyboard (sorry, surprise, surprise, I had a few technical difficulties with the flash on this shot!).

Piper also talked FaFa into several trips outside to check out the scenery in Atlanta, to which he was happy to accommodate her. He also took her around their building to meet several people and she passed out hugs as they went.

We were able to meet the Browns' for breakfast on Saturday, which was a real treat to see them.


Piper enjoyed getting to bathe in the kitchen and seemed to enjoy the change in scenery.




Grammi and Mommy also managed to squeeze in some shopping time and found some great treats and even a few Christmas presents. All in all, it was a relaxing and very enjoyable weekend.