Randomness

 As you can see the 3 remaining chickens have gotten pretty big. Matt and I are expecting some eggs towards the end of the month. Rachel is very excited about the possibility of collecting eggs and I told her we would buy her a special basket for this chore. She requested purple.

We had nothing to do today after the gym, so Rachel and I played in the sprinkler. The sun was intense, so we took a break and ate lunch on the front porch and then played a little bit more. We have been swimming at Lauren's house at least twice a week and really enjoying their pool. Rachel does not understand the concept of holding her breath, but she will jump from a few feet up (using her floatie) and doesn't mind going under a little. She has great fun!

She is pretending to walk on a balance beam.

 My next prjoect is the baby's room. This is what it currently looks like. I finally decided that I am going to decorate it similar to what I did for Rachel's nursery. I am going to stain a chair rail and new baseboards/casing, and put stripes on the bottom part of the wall and have a solid color on the top. There is a small built in bookshelf that we are going to redo and maybe make that space into something that looks more like furniture that could hold some canvas bins. We are open to ideas if anyone has any.


I did pretty much finish the guest room. I love the way it turned out and the only thing it could really use is maybe one or two more wall decorations. I was so excited to find the foam for the window seat on sale at the same time as my fabric, so that didn't end up costing me as much as I thought it would. Matt and I put it together last night and I like the way it turned out. I think that perhaps next year, Rachel will get one for her room. I redid the closet and added more shelving to fit out needs. It looks packed (and it pretty much is), but I can still walk into it and see where everything is.

Since I am blogging again with pictures, that means Matt and I bought a new camera. Since our broken one was about 5 years old, we were told it really wasn't worth fixing. We also just didn't use most of the features on it and wanted something smaller and thinner. We went up to Best Buy last night and picked one out in about 5 minutes. It has one picture-taking option and that seems to take good pictures for me. I am happy to have it before our upcoming vacation (which we are just counting down the days to). Rachel keeps telling me and Matt how much she misses her Daddy, so I am reminding her that he doesn't have to go to work while we are in South Carolina. She doesn't quite get it, but I think she will once we start driving. The beach for a week with family sounds so fantastic! That will pretty much finish out our vacations for this year, but I am still wanting to go back to the place in Orlando that we went to last year. I don't want to do Disney or anything, but just get away, hit the outlet malls (after people are back in school), play in the awesome water park, and go to Downtown Disney. I would like to do that in September, but cannot book anything yet.

Matt just had his 30th birthday and we had a small get-together at our house. He hasn't been working late too much the past few weeks, but tonight he will be out a little late. Rachel is full of fun and imagination these days. She is getting into pretending and making all sorts of things with her Play-doh. While I was typing this, she made a little ball (her baby), a pillow, blanket, and cradle. Then she put the put the baby and pillow in the cradle and covered it with the blanket. Too cute! The other little one is doing just fine and kicks and moves a lot when I am laying down. My belly is getting bigger and I am sure it will make an appearance in one of our vacation pictures so you can see it. In general, babies are around 11 inches and just over a pound at this point. For a few weeks now, you can see the baby kick from the outside and Rachel has felt the baby move too. She gets impatient though, so unless it kicks quickly, she won't wait around for it. I am definitely feeling a bit more tired, but I don't know if it is just the heat. I am starting to get winded going up the stairs, but otherwise, I am feeling pretty good. That is all for now and the next post will be vacation stuff.

A Sad Week For Our Pets

We had a little bit of a sad week with the death of one of our chickens. We were dog sitting Sweet Pea and the chickens happened to be roaming the yard. I had been very careful about not letting Sweet Pea out while the chickens were out, but Rachel didn't know. So, she let the dog out and I find her gnawing on one of the newer chickens. I felt so bad for this chicken because it wasn't dead, but looked barely alive. I called the neighbor over to finish her off for me, but she ended up moving once prodded a little bit. I carried her back to the coop and Matt and I put some medicine on her later and kept her in a box on the back porch. She made it for 2 nights and seemed like she was going to be okay, but the third day she didn't even get up and couldn't stand. We decided to let Rachel say goodbye to her and then Matt and another friend killed and buried her in our backyard. We told Rachel she went to chicken heaven and she wasn't hurting anymore. The next day I asked her where the chicken was and she said, "Chic-Fil-A," which gave me a good laugh. Our beta fish, Mr. Henry Roberts, who is over 4 years old is on his deathbed and has looked terrible for a very long time, but now he can hardly swim up to the top to get food and seems vertical most days. I think we are going to flush him soon. I feel bad because Rachel really does love these pets, but I guess it is just part of life.

We got gutters put on the house today and they look great. After the tropical storm, we both saw the need to protect our new roof and it would just help keep the dirt from splattering into our porch. Matt has officially done all of his tasks in the guest room and I am just waiting for some craft supplies to go on sale before I make a window seat. Otherwise, it is done! I love the way it turned out and am excited to have one more room in our house redone. I am still trying to decide on what to do in the nursery, but I will get started on that one soon. Matt had a great time in Kentucky, but he said the work this year was not much fun. He came home to lots of phone trouble because of the tropical storm and worked a ton of overtime last week. I went to the gym a bunch to keep Rachel and I from being bored to death. I am feeling good, but feel really large sometimes. I go to the doctor this Friday for a normal checkup. It is always nice to go to those because at least 4 more weeks has passed. We are getting ready for our beach vacation in the next few weeks and am really looking forward to the break and seeing family! The camera is still broke, so Facebook is the only way I can figure out how to post pictures from my phone.

Rachel is just as wonderful as can be. She is such a good little helper and loves to see what I am doing and get involved. She loves to be outside, but the bugs love her just as much as they do me, so I don't let her stay out too long. We mow the lawn together, pick up sticks in the yard, and hopefully she will help me plant some flowers/bushes soon. I just love her at this age because she is so easy and is eager to learn how to do things for herself. This is great for me because if she learns how to do it now, it is one less person I have to take care of when the baby comes.

Baby Pics!

Sorry these pictures are so small. I think if you click on them, they will enlarge. These are from our 20 week ultrasound from last Friday. The tech said everything looked good. The baby measured 11 oz and 9.6 inches long. It has been moving around a lot these days, but I am still feeling pretty good. Sometimes at night, my belly just feels really stretched out, but it could be because I have eaten too much. I have been keeping busy with redecorating the guest room, shopping, spending Sunday out with my Mom and Dad, girl's movie night, and possibly Busch Gardens later in the week. I have only talked to Matt once, so I know he got there safely, but other than that, I guess they are doing fine. The camera is still broke, so no pictures of Rachel.

What We Have Been Up To

 I am sorry for things on this blog being a little oddly placed, but I cannot figure out this new set-up. Frustrating when the arrow down key, enter, or tab doesn't move the cursor anywhere. I have my 20 week ultrasound on Friday, but we will not be finding out the sex of the baby. I have been fighting sinus/headache issues and I am ready to be feeling good. Matt is leaving on Saturday for his annual KY missions trip, so I have been planning a few things. We always stay busy while he is gone and I typically get a good amount done.

This little cutie got to ride in a convertible to church. Josiah somehow was loaned this car again and it turns out she had a really great time sticking her hands in the air. Once I heard that this was the mode of transportation, I plastered her hair with hairspray. If you noticed her red and swollen eye, she must have gotten a bug bite and she just reacts kind of bad to them. It went down within a day or two.

This is my current project. These colors are so awful, but I guess it went with the Bucs decor that used to be on the walls. I couldn't wait to paint over them. The babies' room got put on hold because Mom and Dad needed to get rid of their old bedroom furniture much quicker than I was going to have a new baby. I found a bedding set and waited not so patiently for it to arrive. It came Saturday night, so I rushed over to Home Depot to get my paint colors. Matt painted it Sunday and we moved the furniture later that evening. We still don't have a mattress, but it is on our to-do list. Matt has a lot of work left to do and I will be working on the closet while he is in KY.  I also plan on sewing some valances and making a window cushion. I will post more pictures of the room soon, but for right now, our camera shutter won't open, so the only pictures I can take are on my phone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cruising to Mexico!

Here we are in Cozumel, Mexico. This was our only stop as the cruise was a 4 day one. We had a good time walking around. We were looking for a particular store and were headed the wrong direction. We found this little opening to the water that was public, so we headed in for a swim. The water felt great with pockets of warm and cold water. Of course, it was beautiful!

 

 

This picture was Katie's idea as I would never typically have Matt put his hand on my belly for a picture. Too cheesy for me. If you all are wondering how big my belly is getting, here you go. It has grown quite a bit over the past few weeks. I have also gained a few pounds too.

 These next few pictures are of the boat going under the Sunshine Skyway. The top of the ship gets pretty close to the bridge. It was very very windy on the top deck at this point and we were having trouble standing still for the pictures.

All 4 of us had a great time doing a lot of nothing. We tried to sleep late, but were woken by some clanging metal objects below us, and took some afternoon naps. I hit the casino with absolutely no luck this time. The craps table was not a good place to be this time around. Oh well. Matt and Josiah ate a lot and Katie and I just tried to not make ourselves feel sick. The food was delicious and the sun was intense. None of us got a bad sunburn, but I currently am sporting the raccoon look as I always had my sunglasses on. Thankfully, I live in Florida and have plenty of opportunities to get rid of that line. We saw some comedy shows and Josiah was forced into playing a game show. The guys played and won many games of corn hole (a bean bag game) and Katie and I read a lot. Our chickens are still alive and the new grass has grown a ton. Our yard has not been mowed in over a month and in some places, it is about a foot tall. Mowing was on my to-do list, but since it rained, I am not sure that will happen today. Hence, I have now have the time to update the blog.

Our Big Trip!

These two were so entertaining. One was playing under the blanket and the other starting swinging and climbing around. The girls enjoyed seeing them in action.

The butterfly house was so pretty. There were so many butterflies everywhere and she loved looking at them.

Had to climb on the frog.

At Suson Park

We have a similar picture from our last trip, except Reagan is the new addition and unfortunately, they only have 3 cutouts.

Rachel was not too keen on getting close to this horse. I suppose it was okay since most of the animals had signs saying "we may bite"

We made it back from our trip to St. Louis and Chicago. We left 2 Fridays ago and made it up around midnight, exhausted of course. With the time change, the girls were consistently getting up around 5:45-6 in the morning and since they were all sleeping in the same area, sending them back to bed wasn't a great option since they might wake any remaining sleeping kids. So, thankfully Grandma has cable and Disney Jr channel was watched (a lot). Lauren and I took a lot of afternoon naps, ate a ton of Cecil Whitaker's pizza, had Ted Drewes' frozen custard, took the girls for Krispy Kreme donuts, went to the zoo and Grant's Farm, and spent a lot of time with family. We really enjoyed our time in St. Louis. We headed over to the Chicago area the following Friday to visit Michael, Amy, and our new nephew Will. The girls have been pretty excited to meet Baby Will, but unfortunately, he was a little sick so no kisses could be given. They chased around the 4 cats and went back and forth between liking and not liking the dog. Since Michael seemed to be getting sick and Amy and Will were getting over something, we decided to head out a day early on Sunday. Sunday evening at dinner, Lauren started to not feel good and then got progressively worse in the van. Thankfully we were close to a hospital and we headed to the ER. I waited in the van with 4 sleeping kiddos for about 4 hours while Lauren was treated (given pain meds) for most likely a ruptured ovarian cyst. We made it to the hotel around midnight and settled into bed an hour or so later. No rest for the weary, we were up around 6am and at least got a yummy continental breakfast with some good food. We drove pretty much all day and got home at 11pm Monday night. We were so happy to be back. I spent yesterday recovering (doing laundry, unpacking, etc) and will spend tomorrow morning packing things back up for our cruise! Matt and I are really looking forward to time by ourselves and with some friends. If you are wondering about the pregnancy, I had an appointment the day before we left and things were fine. The baby was being difficult, but we finally heard a good heartbeat in the 150's or so. I am feeling alright, but still have some evening where I don't feel great. I definitely feel like my belly is getting bigger and am a lot bigger at this point than I was with Rachel. I hadn't gained any weight as of my appointment, but with all of the junk food that was eaten in St. Louis and with the never ending supply of yummy food on our cruise, I have a feeling the next appointment will show some weight gain.On a sad note, 4 of our chickens were pulled through the chicken wire and eaten by a raccoon. Matt spent a few days trying to catch it, but caught a stray cat (and it escaped) and then an opossum. He put up some metal sheeting around the bottom foot or so of the coop, so hopefully, no more deaths. He did buy two more chicks, so we now have a total of 4.

Just an Update

Eating her popsicle after lunch

Our backyard used to have two big dirt hills in it. They had been sitting around for about 5 or so months and finally, they are gone. Our neighbor bought a little tractor and him and Matt (and sometimes Rachel) were out there this weekend working hard to leveling out the backyard and filling in the two major holes/hazards. Rachel and Matt spread some summer rye grass seed, so hopefully it won't be just dirt for too long.

Ready for car cleaning with Mommy. After doing to the gym this morning, I decided my car was filthy and really needed to be cleaned and vacuumed. Well, we got the inside really clean and then I decided to quit and forget about the outside. I am happy with the inside being clean for one whole day probably.