Its almost Christmas

I love this picture. The girls from the office threw Maria/Porter a baby shower the other day. I made Maria put Porter in his Santa outfit. He also wore his bib that says "I have been good mostly". I think I bought all of the stuff target had in his size for Christmas wear. I am a sucker.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I know, I know...it's almost time for Christmas! We've just been too busy to update our blog lately. We had a great time with our families over the Thanksgiving weekend. John's aunt, Celia, came down from Maryland and his uncle, Mike, came down from Connecticut. It was great to spend some quality time with them:) We spent the night in Sumter and then went to the Thanksgiving service in Mayesville and ate lunch with my family. We had 24 people there!! Then we came back and had supper in Sumter with John's family. It was a full day, but we had a great time with everybody. On Sunday, my aunts, Lisa and Kelli, and friends, Marjorie and Andi, hosted a shower for Porter and me. It was nice to have one after he was born so we could get some boy clothes:) This is a picture of all of the hostesses, Kelli, Lisa, Andi, and Marjorie with me and Porter. I feel so blessed to have such a caring family and so blessed that Porter is a part of our family now. What a miracle and blessing he is to us!

Click here to see more Thanksgiving pictures and pictures from the shower.

Happy 1 Month Birthday Porter

And yes, his eyes are crossed. I keep telling him they are going to get stuck like that but he does not care.




So today little Porter is 1 month old. I thought I would post a few more pictures for everyone to see our little boo. Thanks to Jessica for the little onesie that says "Tax Deduction" which was Porter's little birthday gift to us. Thanks little buddy. To see more pictures of Porter with his family CLICK HERE.

Porter's First Play Date!

Porter and I met my friend Mary Teal and her new little boy, Benji, for lunch today. Then we came back to my house and went for a little walk. It was a beautiful day today and the leaves here are absolutely beautiful!! I love the fall! Mary Teal had Benji October 17th, two days after Porter was born. I actually saw her husband looking in the nursery in the hospital when they were wheeling me out to the car. It's nice to have a friend that has a baby the same age as Porter:) It was so nice to get out of the house and visit with a friend! Of course we compared notes about labor and breasfeeding, but we had a great time, and got a little exercise too!

Halloween can be SOOOO Scary!

Since it was Porter's first Halloween we had to get pictures. Enjoy.

Video

Just in case you were wondering what a week in the life of Porter is like, here you go.

Bobble Head Porter

So our little Porter had his one week doctors appointment and he is already back up to his original birth weight. The Dr. said that was very impressive especially since we have not supplemented with any formula. He has been a dream baby so far, I just hope that does not end. Every time we try to burp Porter he moves his little head around so much he looks like a bobble head doll. I can't believe how strong his neck is. He just sleeps all the time. He has also started to open his eyes more and it looks like they are grey, but it is still hard to tell.

Our little gift from God:)

Thanks to everybody for your prayers! Our little family is doing well. We came home today a little before 4 and everyone is doing well! Gabe is adjusting, though:) We've had several people come to our house with babies, so Gabe is use to seeing them and usually just sniffs, but today he knows something is different. He keeps checking Porter out and he kind of looks at us like "When is somebody going to take him home?" Thankfully, my mom is here to help us for a few days, then John's mom will be coming to stay. Click here to see more pictures of our sweet Porter:)

Pictures

I have posted some pictures of the little guy here.

Sorry, I forgot all about the details (Thanks Betsy). Porter was born at 8:34pm and he weighed 8lb 9oz. and was 21.5 inches long. Maria's water broke at around 8:30am. We got to the hospital and at 9:30 she was 4cm. Then at 11 she was almost 8cm. Then she got the epidural and things really slowed down. She did not start pushing until 6:40 so the pushing part did not last that long. Everyone is doing great, other than being a little tired. The funny thing was the nurse tried to tell Maria that she did not need the epidural since she was handling the pain so well, but Maria was glad she got it.

UPDATE: MORE PICTURES ADDED TO LINK.

ITS A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

William Porter Hine is here. Watch out ladies. pictures to come tomorrow.

Almost Time

Well I got to work this morning as usual and then Maria called me about 45 minutes later. Her water broke about 8:30 this morning. We are now at the hospital just waiting for Mr. or Miss Hine to join us. All the nurses and doctors keep saying how amazing Maria is doing. So the prayers are working, but keep them coming. Stay tuned.

Tag I'm It!

I've been tagged by my friend Sara Carrington, who thought I needed something to do while I wait for this baby to get here. She's so right. I'm going nuts just waiting! Anyway, here it goes...

Eleven of my Favorite Things:

1. Clothes Shop: Ann Taylor Factory Store - they have the best deals at the Tanger Outlets, but if I want to splurge I love Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft. I like to find good deals too and I love to shop, so if I'm in the mood and not going for convenience, I like to look around everywhere!!

2. Furniture Shop: Lately my favorite furniture store to look in has been

,

but I love Whit Ash in Columbia, SC.

3. Sweet: I love almost anything sweet, but if I have to pick a favorite, right now I would choose vanilla ice cream (or sweet cream at Marble Slab) mixed with crushed Butterfingers!

4. City: I don't think I have a favorite city, because we haven't traveled too much, but am loving living in Greenville, SC!!

5. Drink: I love a good cold on ice.

6. Music: One of my favorite CDs is Chris Rice's The Living Room Sessions. He is a extraordinarily talented! I wish I could play the piano like he does. And... thanks to my father I love beach music. Oh, and my car is usually tuned to the Christian radio station.

7. TV Series: I used to be addicted to Days of Our Lives, but I haven't watched it since we moved to Greenville and don't really care about it anymore. And...I don't have a TV show that I just cannot go without watching, but my favorites that I have on DVR are CSI, the Vegas one, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Law and Order: SVU, and Numbers.

8. Film: Steel Magnolias - I was trying to think if my favorite quote from the movie, but there are just so many good ones, I can't chose!!

9. Workout: I've played tennis since I was in high school and have played on a USTA league everywhere we've lived until I was 5 months pregnant and my center of gravity kind of slowed me down. I really miss it!!!

10. Pastries: I totally agree with Sara - anything from Baker's Sweets in Sumter, SC.

11. Coffee: I do not drink coffee. I hate the aftertaste!

I'm not going to tag anybody else, so if there any takers, just let me know....These are so fun to read!

Stay tuned!

Just wanted to update everybody that's interested:) I went to the doctor this morning and I'm 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced. The doctor said that I would probably not make it to the due date (October 23) and that he might even see me this weekend since he's on call, so stay tuned! We might have a new addition to the Hine family sooner than we think, but only God really knows the time. Who knows He just might bring him or her into this world after the due date:)

Waiting Game

We had two showers last weekend (One at Harmony, where John went to church, and one in Mayesville where I grew up). I feel so blessed to have such wonderful and faithful people in our lives that care so much about us and that will be wonderful influences for our children. What a blessing! Click here to see some pictures from the showers. Other news....I went to the doctor last Tuesday for my Strep B test, which I will find out about next week, but they also checked (at my request) to see if I was dilated. I was kind of surprised when the doctor said "Oh, you are dilated!" She said the baby's head is down, that I'm dilated about 1 cm, and that I'm 90% effaced! She also said that she could eat her words, but didn't think I would make it to the due date!! So, we're just praying the delivery will go smoothly. My bags are packed and we are just playing the waiting game now! We have also added a few touches to the nursery like the baby monitor and the growth chart. Mrs. George came through with some great looking cushions for the glider.

Greenville Baby Shower

Sarah, one of my best friends in Greenville, and her mom, Lynn, and mother-in law, Joy threw me a baby shower this past Saturday. We had a GREAT time! They really went overboard with the decorations! They were beautiful!! My mom and John's mom (the gorgeous grandmothers) came to the shower and stayed for a visit afterward. We're so blessed to have such Godly women in our lives and I can't wait for them to be a part of our children's lives! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends. It was great to see some of the girls I went to Erskine with (Hannah, Tiffany, and Erin) and my friends from First Baptist Church and our supper club in Columbia (Ashley and Emilie). I hope now that we are in Greenville I can see everybody more often! I missed everybody that couldn't be there! Come see us if you're in Greenville!! Click here to see more pictures:)

Nursery

Here are some pics of our nursery. We probably are not going to put anything up on the walls until we actually know what the baby is, which will be when we actually have the baby. If you want to see more pictures of the nursery then click HERE.

Props to David Barron!

We finally have a new light fixutre in the dining room!  John did a great job moving the ceiling fan from the dining room into the living room, but we had some problems with the wiring in the dining room and thought we needed to consult an electrician so I would still have a father for our child. So... we've just had exposed wiring for about 3 weeks.  Anyway, we went to church today with some friends of ours and connected with David Barron, our friend that went to Clemson with John, and he is a mechanical engineer!!  What a blessing!  He knew exactly how to fix it!  Woohoo, now we can see what we are eating when we have friends over!  Come see us:)

getting a little more settled

Here are a few pictures of our house with some of the minor upgrades that I have made so far. The fence is still not done, but hopefully it will be soon.

Here you can see the ceiling fan that I put up in the front room of the house that we have made our living room. The fan used to be in the dining room, but I will be putting up a chandelier where the fan used to be as soon as I can figure out the rats nest inside the junction box. In the next picture you can see the new french doors that I put up. They will soon be painted white (after the fence is built).



Click HERE if you want to see some pictures of the rest of the house including the nursery.

The Blue's of Being a Homeowner

It's official. We are now the proud owner's of two homes. And here are some more pictures of the house. We will be moving on July 11th. Big ups to David George, realtor extraordinaire.

Video of Haley

Haley Hagerla at Rachel's bridal luncheon.

We Will Miss a Few Things

So, as excited as we are to get back to SC, there are a few things that we are going to miss in Gainesville. Actually people would be a little more accurate. We just got back from the river where our wonderful Sunday School class had a party. It has been so nice to make such good friends in just one year. We will truly miss all of you. Click here to see a few more pictures from the party.

Uncle John and Aunt Maria

My sister, Rebecca and her husband, Kelby became the proud parents of a precious little girl on May 31, 2008. She was 6 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long! Her name is Haley Louise Hagerla. Thankfully, John and I were in South Carolina and were able to go to the hospital to see them. She's absolutely beautiful and I love her to pieces already!

Someone Better Test Me for the Juice

Well Maria and I are back from Connecticut where I played in the Third Annual John P. Hine Memorial golf Tournament. Although I did not defend my title as Gross Champion with my foursome, I did regain my the title of Longest Drive which I won in the inaugural tournament. It was great seeing family and friends again. Maria and I were both looking forward to getting out of the heat in Florida, but apparently we took it with us to Connecticut where it was in the upper 90's.

Our First Post

So we are sitting in the terminal at the Jacksonville airport and decided that this would be as good of a time as any to start our family blog. We are a little late though, since Maria is now 5 months pregnant with our first child. No, we don't know what it is going to be, and please ask before touching her stomach. And we know, we know, she is going to be pregnant all summer long. We have decided that if our baby is a little girl then we are going to name her Taylor Elizabeth and if it is a boy we will name him William Porter and he will go by Porter.



I am almost through with school at the University of Florida where I am earning my Masters in Law in Taxation. We will be moving to Greenville, SC, A.K.A. heaven, in July. We have a contract on a house up there and our closing is scheduled for July 1. By the grace of God, we finally rented out our house in Columbia to a med student and his family for the next two years. We were really getting tired of paying rent and a mortgage every month. Stay tuned for future updates about the progress of Maria's pregnancy and pictures of the new house once we get all moved in.