Audrey's First Snow

Daddy's Girl

Watching game 6 of the World Series...

A Few of Audrey's Latest

Audrey's first boat ride at Smith Mountain Lake - Labor Day weekend.

Audrey at Three Weeks

More Firsts with Audrey

Mommy and daughter in polka-dots.

Audrey's first Sunday in church with "Grandpastor" Steve.

Sleepy time on daddy's chest.

Audrey helping daddy work from home.

Our first walk as a family.

Audrey's First Days Home

Welcome Home Audrey!

Ready to be discharged from RMH. Audrey is showing off her first outfit - Jennifer and I picked this out right after the first ultrasound and found out we were having a little girl.


Arriving at home for the first time.




Audrey met her big sister Harley for the first time too - it went well. Yes, we're keeping a close eye on the two of them.

Audrey - Day Two

Hi, I'm Audrey

Audrey Has Arrived!

We proudly announce the arrival of Audrey Mae. She was born at 1:23 a.m. and weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 21 inches long. Mom and baby are both healthy and doing well. It's hard to believe she is finally here. She's been wide-eyed and very quiet and calm in our arms. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. She truly is a miracle!

Progress Update

At 10:45 p.m. she's fully dilated, but still not quite ready to push. The nurse says it feels like the baby has a lot of hair, which is consistent with our ultrasounds - just not sure exactly how much and/or what color. However, we shall find out soon....

Progress Update

As of about 8:15 p.m. she's 8c.m. and as of about 30 sec. ago she's sleeping. Everything seems to be moving forward and everyone is still doing fine. Thanks to all of you for thinking of us and praying for us.

Progress Update

We're still going and everyone is doing fine. At about 3 p.m. she was 3-4cm dilated and since then the pain has really increased. At about 5 p.m. she's due to be checked again and possibly have her water broken...we shall see.

Progress Reports

Just discovered that RMH has Facebook blocked, check our blog for updates: www.hildebrandsonline.blogspot.com.

We've been admitted and are in our room. All is well and calm for now.

Just the Two of Us...One Last Time

What a thought  - it will never just be the two of us again. Only a matter of hours separate us from holding Audrey in our arms for the first time (possibly 24 hours, but still...) - Jennifer is scheduled for an induction tomorrow morning.

It's such a mix of emotions for both of us - happy, yet a little sad; excited, yet a little nervous; anxious, yet a little apprehensive.  The unknown is a scary thing, but what we do know is what a blessing and what a miracle Audrey will be. 

This evening we had a picnic at the Bridgewater Arboretum, which is a special place to Jennifer and I - the spot where she told me she liked me, the spot where we said our goodbyes just before I left for college and the spot where I asked her to marry me. It's nothing spectacular, but the memories this place holds for us sure are - a fitting place to spend our last evening as "just the two of us."

Keep us in  your thoughts and prayers tomorrow as we get ready to meet Audrey and stay tuned - this will be baby-update central over the course of the next few days. Just the two of us are off to bed to prepare for a third - such a big day for such a little lady!

Baby "H" at Her 32-Week 3-D Ultrasound

Heads Carolina, Tails California

We decided to take a big vacation to California to have one last hoo-rah before the arrival of our little one. We started our trip by driving to Scott and Beth's in North Carolina, who graciously agreed to drop us off and pick us up from the airport.

On Saturday, April 25 we flew out of Raleigh-Durham Airport bound headed for Los Angeles, California. We arrived at LAX that afternoon picked up our rental car and checked into our hotel - the Renaissance Los Angeles Airport Hotel. After a short rest we drove to Marina Del Rey for dinner at The Warehouse Restaurant - famous for its great seafood as well as being the location of a scene from the movie "Meet the Fockers."


Sunday, April 26 we spent the day in Hollywood. We took a double-decker bus ride/tour around the city and learned lots of facts and history about the city and got to see all the major attractions - Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, etc. The highlight for me was our lunch at Pink's - a famous hot dog stand. In the afternoon we drove to the Griffith Park Observatory to see the famous Hollywood sign up close and a great view overlooking the city.


Monday morning we began our trip north up the coast on CA Route 1. On the way out of LA we stopped at Venice Beach to see the famous boardwalk and Jennifer wanted to see the bodybuilders. Unfortunately since it was early on a Monday there wasn't much going on - only one bodybuilder and the boardwalk was pretty much deserted.


Driving up the coast we stopped at the Malibu pier and many other points of interest along the road. It was a very pretty drive - huge green hills on our right, the ocean to our left and the open road in between. We stopped in Santa Barbara for lunch and a short stroll through the town, which a week later would be devastated by wildfires. We stopped for the night in the very small town of San Simeon and ate at a great little restaurant, Lynn's, which is famous for its Olallieberry jam, in the neighboring town of Cambria. The hotel we stayed at wasn't anything fancy, but very nice with fire pits out on the beach and even a fireplace in our room.


Tuesday morning we continued north on Rt. 1. Just a short distance from our hotel was an elephant seal reserve - we saw hundreds seals, which come ashore each spring to have their babies. This second day of driving was even more gorgeous than the first - the road starts to climb upwards among the rocky cliffs providing amazing views of the Pacific coast. We stopped in Carmel for lunch just before going on the 17-mile drive at Pebble Beach. By that evening we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge to stay in Sausalito for the night.


Wednesday we started the day by visiting Muir Woods National Monument (Park) home of the giant redwood trees. Later that afternoon we headed back across the Golden Gate into San Francisco to drop off our rental car and check-in to our hotel - the Mark Hopkins San Francisco. The hills in this city are unbelievable. We explored the city a little that afternoon - mostly by way of trying to find ourselves a jacket (very chilly here almost year-round), which we finally found at the three-story Old Navy. That evening we experienced our first cable car ride down to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner followed by a Ghiradelli chocolate sundae at Ghiradelli Square.


Thursday we spent the entire day exploring the city by another double-decker bus tour as well as by foot, which in San Francisco is no easy task. We ended the trip on Friday with a trip to Alcatraz Island - if any place in the world is haunted this would be it - very spooky, yet pretty with all sort of pretty flowers growing all over the island.


Saturday was a day of travel as we flew from San Francisco back to RDU. We had a great time and enjoyed just a portion of what California has to offer.

Help!

To whom it may concern:

Hi, my name is Harley. Please help! Today mommy had this great idea and bought me this stupid sweater! I try to express my dislike by running away and attacking the sweater each time she tries to put it over my head, but she just laughs and tells me that "I'm the cutest thing she's ever seen."

My daddy thinks it's so adorable that he takes pictures of me - I can't even stand to look at the camera.

Gee, I hope their baby comes soon!

Begging for your help,
-Harley