South Carolina Family Vacation

 There are a ton of pictures from our Hilton Head vacation and I don't have the time to only post the great ones. So, you get all of them from the camera, good or not so good. We had a great time and based on the pictures, we spent the majority of our time in the pool or at the beach.

 Rachel really liked the ocean and the waves and didn't mind too much getting the salt water on her face. Matt drug her around on the boogie board right at the water's edge and she really liked that.

 I just love this picture! I feel like it totally sums up Rachel's personality and how much fun she has. Matt took this string of pictures on their Daddy-daughter date while all of the adult girls were at the day spa and outlet malls.

 Our beach babe!

 My prego belly at 24 weeks.

 Some family pictures that my Mom took at the beach.

 Reagan and Will. They look so much alike.

 I got to go boogie boarding on the last day. We got out around 8:30 when there were actually some waves because of the tide. I had so much fun and finally got some exercise. It think we stayed out for a few hours.

 I am not going to say too much else about the trip besides that we had a great time and enjoyed all of the family time together. I got some sun and didn't have to cook at all (thanks George)!

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.