07/08/2010

Boundry Line Lake. Fayetteville, NC.

The Making Of The Nursery

Ben had 12 days off for block leave. With no plans of traveling, so we took the opportunity to get a head start on the nursery. This room was originally "the office". The walls, as you can see in some of the pictures need some work. We don't plan on being in this house forever, so instead of making real repairs we just washed down the walls and slapped some paint on it. It's amazing what a can of paint can do. It only took us a couple days to have it cleaned, painted and painted again. Casey helped out a ton with the painting and had us laughing the whole time.

There are a few more touches we will be adding on soon and of course we will be sharing those with you all!

C'mon, 7 Bucks Babe

While home in Maine my mom, sisters and nieces threw me a beautiful baby shower. At that point we were still unsure if Cash would want pink bows or a blue sox hat, so no baby clothes were passed around at this shower. Instead they all went in on a generous gift card to babies r us so we could buy a stroller.

Ben and I checked out the babies r us here. I made a quick call to my sister Gina for some stroller tips. (Thanks Geen!) We found the one we wanted almost immediately, a grey and green jogger. We decided to take a look around and see if there was anything else that caught our eye. With zero experience baby shopping, I didn't see anything I really had to have. Ben on the other hand spotted a blue sippycup that him and cash couldn't live without. Cash will not need a sippycup for quite some time, not to mention the cup said "babe magnet" on the side of it. I tried talking him out of it, but he followed me up and down every isle saying "c'mon, it's 7 bucks babe" over and over and over again until we reached the checkout line where he slid the cup towards the cashier. Ben and Cash got their way this time.

Thank you all so much for the shower that you all really didn't have the extra time for and the gift. I love you all.

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.