Ocean Isle, NC

For our first official family vacation, we headed to Ocean Isle, North Carolina for a whole week.  We booked back in January, so we had been looking forward to the beach for many months.  My sister and her family joined us and so did my mom.  We had a relaxing time for the most part and just enjoyed each other.  Maddie does not sleep too well when we go places, but she did pretty good considering she was not in her own bed.  She was up at the crack of dawn every morning, so that was always fun.  Maddie was excited to see the beach and she still talks about it weeks later, so I know she had a good time.

Ocean Isle is just about one hour north of the South Carolina border.  The beach was really nice and not too crowded, which we really enjoyed.  Between my mom, sister, and myself I think we took about 2,000 pictures.  It has been hard looking through all of them and deciding which ones to order.  Here is a sampling of our week at the beach…

 

 

We visited the Coastal Carolina museum for some hands on fun…

 

Daddy built a HUGE sand castle!

One early morning we headed to the beach to capture some pictures of our beautiful girl.

 

 

Through the years…

Until NEXT YEAR!!

Baby BOY on the way!

We went in for our big ultrasound and when we arrived we were told that there was not an tech there that day and we would have to be rescheduled.  I of course immediately started to cry, because I was dying to find out if the baby was first of all healthy, but what was swimming around in there!  One of my amazing doctors was super nice and said he would hook up the machine and see if we could get a sneak peak of the baby.  It was such a relief!  The baby looked wonderful and heartbeat was about 150 (a little lower than Maddie’s always was).  From the moment I found out I was pregnant I felt boy all the way.  Different sickness…only sick at night with this baby, whereas Maddie was ALL DAY for the first few months.  Also, I had some major cravings for salty food, especially fried pickles at the beginning (if I see a fried pickle now I will probably barf because I made so many of them for a week straight).  I just felt different.

When the doctor went towards the bottom of the baby I immediately saw boy parts.  Definitely not a girl.  The doctor didn’t say anything at first, because he wanted to be sure.  It was funny though, because Gabe said “oh I think I know what it is”.  He definitely had on his gender goggles, because he later told me that he thought it was a girl!  It was confirmed by the doctor that we are having a little boy.  I was so excited to hear those words! 

We decided to have a little impromptu get together at our house with a few friends and family to tell them the exciting news. 

We went back the following week for a more in depth ultrasound and it was confirmed again that it was a HEALTHY LITTLE BOY!  We are thrilled!!!  And the little man will be called….

William Steven McCoy

William is Gabe’s dad’s name and Steven is my dad’s name.  Although baby William will not meet his grandfathers on this earth, he will know them and carry both of their names for his entire life.  How incredible is that?  I know his Grandpa and Poppy are beaming from ear to ear from Heaven. 

Dr. Gabriel McCoy, D.O.

My smart and hardworking husband did it!!  After four years of medical school he is a graduate of the University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine!  He worked so hard for this honor and I could not be more proud of him.  He graduated #2 in his class and will start his Internal Medicine residency at Greenville Memorial Hospital on July 1st!  It was a long road, but we all survived.  It really is surreal to now have a doctor husband.  Now on to the next chapter in our lives…RESIDENCY!  

 

Packing, packing, and MORE packing!

We are getting ready for our BIG move in less than two weeks!  We close on our first house on May 11th and have scheduled the movers for the 14th.  I’m so excited about moving, but more excited about being able to get movers for this time around.  The hospital has a moving stipend that we are taking full advantage of.  Works out perfectly for this pregnant lady!  We have organized our storage unit and have started to pack up our room and all of Maddie’s things.  We have A LOT more than I thought we had tucked away in all the crevices in our current living situation.  I can’t wait to get into our house and unpack all our things and make it our own.  After five years of marriage, medical school, one baby and a baby on the way we are finally get our little piece of the American Dream.  We are blessed.

A lot going on these next couple of weeks.  We move and just a few days later we head to Kentucky to watch Gabe walk across that stage and become a Doctor.  The light at the end of the tunnel is HERE! 

All things on the baby front are great.  I had my monthly appointment yesterday and the little guy/gal’s heartbeat was strong.  I am 15 weeks along now.  We find out boy/girl on May 30th!  Keep praying for a healthy baby! 

Big News!

Maddie is going to be a BIG SISTER! Baby McCoy #2 is due 10.26.12 and we couldn’t be more excited! In other news, Gabe matched into Internal Medicine at the University of South Carolina-Greenville Memorial Hospital. He will graduate Medical school on May 19th and start his residency on July 1st. We are also under contract on our first house. Things are happening so fast and we are overwhelmed with everything, but are excited about this next journey in our lives!

The Life of a 2 Year old…

I am a little behind in posting about all the things that Maddie is up to these days.  We have been so busy with so MANY exciting things going on.  I wanted to jot down her 2 yr old stats while I was thinking about it. 

At 2 years old:

Weight: 33.6 lbs (98th %tile)

Height: 37 inches (99th %tile)

Head: 20.67 inches (99.99 %tile)

 

I am wondering if she will be taller than me (I am 5’10”)  Only time will tell…

 

Maddie is so smart, but I have been saying that forever now.  Some of the things she can do or enjoys doing:

• loves puzzles and has mastered all of the ones we own
• loves books and definitely has her favorites memorized.  We will read and leave out the last word and she fills it in!
• can count to 10 and sometimes she will randomly fill in higher numbers.
• can identify a lot of colors, but still makes some mistakes here and there
• still working on ABC’s, but she will fill in some missing letters if we sing it together.
• enjoys nursery rhymes and can help fill in missing words.  Right now she is obsessed with The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Row your Boat, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
• Talks like crazy…we can understand most anything now.
• loves to play with her blocks, baby dolls, and Little People toys
• she could live outside-I know this summer will be spent playing in the water in the hot afternoons
• loves to help cook by stirring whatever we are making
• has become a somewhat picky eater…I guess she just doesn’t eat as much as she used to.  Some mornings she hardly eats any breakfast, but she will devour pancakes any day!  She is picky about vegetables, but will at least try what is on her plate (although she spits it out), eats most fruit, and has somewhat of a sweet tooth
• we are aimlessly working on potty training.  She first pooped on the potty the day before she turned 2 and that was a BIG DEAL!!  The whole process is a slow-go.  We have had a few sicknesses thrown in that has gotten us off track.  Overall she is doing good and will go pee and poop on the potty a few times a day.  I have to keep reminding myself that she just turned 2!
• goes to bed between 8-8:30 and wakes (on most days) between 7:30-8:00.  She still takes one nap and it ranges from 1.5-3 hours! 
• still has the dreaded paci’s or in our world “ditty ba ba”  The child still loves the plug-oh well!  She won’t take it to college, right???

Although she can throw a mean tantrum, they are pretty far in between.  Maddie is a sweet little girl with a giant personality!  She keeps us laughing around here that’s for sure!