Snakes, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

We had our first real ultrasound Monday June, 21st. Cash has grown so much in the last 2 months. It looks just like a baby now, only much smaller than it will be at birth. (darn!) We started feeling Cash move. I felt it once while home in Maine and Ben felt it about 2 weeks ago. It tends to move around a lot more with Ben's hand on my stomach.. I'm not worried though, it will still say Mommy first. =)

Cash's Face.

All the features are there and in the correct places now.

I know it appears our baby doesn't have arms, but it does. I asked the doctor to make sure. She showed us from another angle. Both arms are there! Phew.

Oh yeah, It's a boy!

Neither Ben or I drew in the arrow in, that was the doctor. As if we really needed the arrow there to make it clear.

Sorry for the exposure Cash, but we needed to start collecting pictures now to show your first girlfriend.

We would of course been pleased with a boy or girl. Although I spent many days praying and crossing my fingers for a boy the first time around. I can't imagine one is really any easier than the other, but still having a girl scared the heck out of me. I've watched my sister Robin's kids grow up my whole life. Admiring her family and they way they have all turned out. She has 3 boys and one incredible little girl. (I've mentioned Scout a few times before) If my children grow up to be half the kids hers are now, I will be pretty happy. All her boys are caring, responsible, smart, funny....I could go on for a long time. They also love their little sister, though hard to identify at times. Calling her a wet rat on a daily basis hardly seems like love, but they were just putting her through some tough girl training. Right, Scout? :) You have done great job putting up with there constant teasing over the years and you are the toughest almost 12 year old girl I know. Hopefully some day Cash will have a little baby sister. And Ray boys, please show him how it's done.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not picking favorites. All my sister's children are wonderful, I love them all to pieces and I can't wait for them all to be a part of Cash's life. I have an amazing family and will need all the help I can get from both parents and their children!

New Sneaks!

I have been needing new sneakers for a while. I have a pair of old New Balance ones from my freshman year. That was over ten years ago now. They have lost all the comfort they might have once had. With all the walking and hiking Ben and I get in, these old shoes made me want to cut my feet off after a long walk. While in Asheville this weekend we stopped at a place called Discount Shoes, right up the road from our cabin. The place looked ultra sketchy, but I had to find something. The store ended up being only slightly sketchy. There were more shoes than I ever could have counted, which I hadn't expected. It only took me a few minutes to decide on these kicks. I love them. They made the rest of the weekend way more enjoyable! Seeing as how I didn't need to cut my own feet off.

Thank you Benjamin!

05/12/2010

The Melting Pot. Raleigh, NC.

Kim's Birthday Dinner

Asheville: Land Of The Sky

Ben and I decided to take a little weekend trip together. We loaded up the truck, strapped the canoe on and headed West to Asheville, NC.

The cabin we stayed in had every thing we could have wanted or needed. The screened in porch doubled as a mini golf course. Also inside the porch was a grill and a hammock. We didn't let anything go unused.

The mornings were really foggy and gray, but lifted by about 11am.

Saturday morning Ben made a delicious breakfast while I sat drinking coffee and figuring out our day. Once we had decided on Chimney Rock, I made a pot of chili so we could eat after our long day of hiking and exploring. The drive to Chimney Rock was only about a half hour. A half hour ride through windy twisty mountain roads. Once we were there we walked to a 404 ft waterfall called Hickory Nut Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in NC and tallest East of the Mississippi River. Hickory Nut Falls was showcased in several scenes of The Last Of The Mohican's. After our trip to the misty falls we took an elevator 26-story's high through the rock.

Asheville was as great and beautiful as everyone had told us. We were both so happy with our trip choice. It was well worth the 9 plus hours we spent in the truck getting there and back. We hope to visit again soon. Possibly in the fall, pictures we saw of Asheville during the fall season reminded us a lot of home.

The 500. Part 2

The second time I went exploring, it was just the dogs and I. Shortly into the walk Charlie and Gina decided they didn't prefer the trail I was going to take, so they took off on their own and we didn't meet back up until I went home.

This spot was a bit further than the pond. I was prepared for it though. I brought a bag of crackers and a Gatorade.

When reaching the beaver bog I was glad Charlie had convinced Gina into going a different way. Charlie loves to swim and loves to chase other 4 legged creatures even more. I wouldn't have been able to take these photos if they had of followed me here. Mr. Beaver wasn't very happy I was hanging out in his neck of the woods. After I snuck a few picks of him he started slapping his tail in the water. I backed up in fear of being "rushed by the beavers". Ben tells us all this is a very scary thing. (Allegedly, he's been rushed be some beavers in the past)

We have all visited this spot several times now. However, this was the only time I spotted the beaver.

To be continued...

Cash

For those of your who aren't familiar with Cash, let me explain.. A couple of months ago Ben and I were looking through the baby books the hospital gave us. The book has week by week pictures of what the fetus/baby looks like and compared the sizes of it to fruits and veggies. I think it was the same week the book said it was about Lima-bean size, Ben decided it looked more like a cashew. (I'll have you know, the book only compared the size to veggies and fruits, not the actual appearance. However that week it did resemble a cashew, but today it does not look like a plum, it's just about the same size.) Cashew stuck and was quickly nick named Cash. Ben now insists on calling our child Cash through out it's life. I asked him one day what would happen if this baby was a girl, Cash isn't a very girl like name. He simply said "looks like she's stuck with a pretty bad nickname."

I had my first real doctors appointment Friday, April 23rd. Ben graduated Raven school early, so he had Friday off and could join me for the appointment. Most of my books had informed me that we would get to hear the heart beat, so having him there for that meant a lot.

The nurse took out the Doppler to find the heartbeat. The Doppler reminded me of a toy I had when I was a kid. It looked like a radio with a toy microphone. Sounded like one too. A lot of scratchiness and high pitched screams. She spent a few minutes trying to find the heartbeat, but wasn't able to. The nurse stayed very calm and confident so being nervous about it never crossed my mind...until telling this story to others and them gasping when I told them she couldn't find the heartbeat at first. We never did get a chance to hear the heartbeat that day, but instead we saw it. The nurse pulled out the ultrasound machine. We figured out why she wasn't able to pick up a heartbeat with the Doppler. The baby wouldn't stop moving. It was moving from one side of the uterus to the other, very fast. In the words of Benjamin "he was dartin' around like a little trout" I love my Mainer!

We even got a picture of the baby. We weren't expecting this for at least another month or so. So it was very exciting. Having Ben by my side was the best. I hope we can continue to do these visits together.

The little white spots are the baby's hands. (Ben says by the size of the hands it's definitely a boy and he's going to be the future MVP for the Red Sox.) To the right of the hands, is baby's head. It's not a very clear pic as it is really soon to have an ultrasound done. The nurse also said that the one done in radiology will be much clearer.


However My Mom and Dad saw past the blur and say it looks like me. Thanks for the laughs Mom and Dad. I wish I could be home to share this all with you. I miss you guys every day.

Raven Rock

This past Sunday, we drove to Lillington for a hike. We packed the dogs in the back of the truck and snacks in a backpack. The Park was called Raven Rock. It was a great hike. On our way home we stopped at a small farm stand, to buy fresh strawberries. We ended up with a little more than strawberries but none of it lasted long enough for a photo shoot. They had fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, something I literally dream about every night. I sliced them up for dinner that night with salt and vinegar. Yum. It brought me to a summer night at home.