All work, no play

Sunday started a major organization project for me in our bonus room. I have so many scrapbooking ideas but not enough time, energy, or let's face it my own space to do it. I decided that I wanted to at least organize all the stuff that I have so that if I do get any opportunity to do the scrapbooking that I will have it easier at hand. (Mind you I just started and it is not finished yet so.....)
I worked on Monday and today. It has been really hectic at the clinic & I am trying to help while I can. To put it mildly, these back to back work days have really taken their toll on me. I have loved catching up with the patients but my body has had it. I think that the next day or two will include Kendall and I taking it easy.
I made my first brisket last night. (I must say that today the leftovers tasted better than the actual dish last night.) It was pretty good but not nearly as good as the one that Natalie made for us :-) I also made us turkey vegetable chili on Sunday which reminded me of when Arinn first made it. So yummy!
Kendall is exerting her little personality so much the past few days. It is really amazing at what a little person/adult she has become. Her opinion is definately made known with a flair now. We found out that among all of the other fruit that she loves, black berries seem to be a favorite. Kendall is also a very big dill pickel eater. (Meaning seriously I need to go to Sam's Club and stock up for her!) She had a great time tonight helping Ben clean and cut the potatoes for our ham, green beans, and potato stew.
I am so very glad that Benny is here right now and will be until the delivery. I don't know what I would do without him as I am beginning to feel really miserable as the end is in sight! Please keep us in your prayers.

hot,hot,hot

Yep it is definitely a NC summer. We started off our day with a family (circus) walk at about 0700....you would think that time of the day would be cool enough that I wouldn't be a puddle of mush when we got home but I was! Kendall enjoyed being pushed on her trike (backsaver and all Michelle!) & the doggers just enjoyed being out. I am sure that our snail pace was probably not enjoyable for Ben but hey we were all out of the house!
We enjoyed another rental movie last night. "Lions for lambs" Just in case ya'll are looking for a good flick! Ben got off early since he had 24 hour duty on Thursday into Friday morning. We decorated Isaac's room & put up some curtain tie backs in the living room which has really brightened it up!
Most of today has been spent on the house.....yep go figure it takes some elbow grease to keep it looking spiffy! Let's see on our list today was mowing grass, weed-eating, playing on the swing set (just to make sure that it was working correctly!), a very fleeting glance at an all clean house (I vaccuumed & picked up which didn't last for too long!), organized 3 out of 4 toy boxes (yep I am telling the truth...4 of them! GOod thing that we have another that will be here soon to enjoy those toys!), and just general pick-up both inside and out.
I posted earlier a few pictures of Isaac's room. It is pretty much done but there are a few other items that I want to get and put in there.....I just haven't had the chance to work on it yet! It is at least ready for him which I am grateful for!

Pictures of Isaac's room

Unlimited playing and a sleepover

Yesterday turned out to be pretty darn fun. I decided to forgo all play dates & running around. Kendall and I are normally on the go either to her activities, work for me, MD appts, etc. We just had a blast playing in just about every room of the house. She learned how to diaper her babies yesterday, we worked on numbers and colors a lot, played with the new magnetic board & we had a lot of fun playing in her kitchen with all of her food plus new pots and pans. It was so relaxing and liberating to just not do anything!
Continuing on with our girls day in, we had a sleepover in our bed. I know that she probably doesn't have any concept of what a sleepover is but she had a great time when I tucked her in with me. Now she woke up in a good mood....I can't say that I really recommend sleeping with a 2 year old in your 8th month of pregnancy but it was fun for one night. Ben's mom would call it "making a memory."
We (Kendall and I) also worked on Isaac's room last night. I feel better now that I am starting to get all of his little things organized. We are still doing some touch ups and decorating but it is getting close to reveal time. I promise I will post pics when it is done! It was so easy with Kendall's room because we had so much girly stuff but this whole boy/helicoptor thing is a little challenging! I can't believe that soon he will be here to really disrupt our household. Well guess I better get started on some housework so I can get the errands done that I brushed off yesterday....ahhhh back to the real world!

Duty day....

We've been super lucky in that Ben hasn't had duty in a LONG time but today our luck ran out. We sent him off at 0540 and won't see him until tomorrow probably close to lunch time. It is sad now to me that Kendall knows and understands that he is gone. It is very hard to explain to a 2 year old (over and over)that daddy can't come home from work tonight....at least it is not a deployment so I am not belly-aching too much!
She is pretty funny every morning with her send off to Ben. For some reason she thinks that the only car seat is in Ben's car. She will wave and holler bye! then scream "my seat, my seat!" I have had to open the burb up to show her that we still have another seat for her to ride in. What a great kiddo!
We are going to try to busy ourselves with lots of errands today and maybe a playdate with the girls from the group. Depends if I can get us ready in time for it!
I am anxiously awaiting my OB appt next week to see how Isaac and I are doing. I have gained 31 pounds so far and I am hoping to not go over the 36 that I had with Kendall. Several of my friends with boy/girl combo's have said that they consistently gained 10-20 pounds more with their boys than their girls....even if they are lying to me God Bless them for making me feel better :-)
Thanks to Tracie, Eric, Evie, and Everett....we loved the goodies for Isaac. I can't wait to see him in all of the puppy dog stuff!! What an unexpected surprise!!

Unexpected fun in the sun

Yesterday, I spent the majority of the day in a frantci panic to get things cleaned up and organized around here....now I am praying that it is not my "nesting" instintct but more me just being anal and compulsive. Ben had to do check out work from 269 and we were pleasantly surprised when late afternoon he called to see if Kendall and I wanted to come over and swim. The pool is closed on Monday's so we joined him at the marina. Hope you enjoy the pictures :-)

Today is going to be work & I think that it is jam packed with patients so please say a prayer for me!

Beautiful, glorious weekend

And it's only Saturday morning!
I will start with the best news that came yesterday from Ben. He talked to the operations officer for his new squadron & it looks like they are not going to have him come out to California until late September. Obviously, this is the answer to many prayers on our part that he be able to be here for the birth. I am very excited but I am bracing myself for something to go wrong & remaining semper gumby!
I went yesterday to have the prenatal massage that Ben got me for mother's day at a local day spa here in J'ville. Even though I didn't get to finish it.....I almost passed out twice so they decided that it wasn't a good idea to finish. They didn't charge me which I felt super bad about so I left a big tip for the gal that was working on me. In all of the craziness, they discovered that I still had a $42 balance from a gift card that Ben got me back in 2005. What a great surprise! I was really thrilled that they are going to let me use it since I don't have the actual gift card anymore.
We rented "I am Legend" last night which was about the only downer of the weekend. I love Will Smith so I expected much more and it was just not there!
Well better get working on the house....we are going to try to get it whipped into shape so that I can work on my continuing ed credits!

Pictures from our trip

The details on our trip

Let me start off by saying although we are exhausted we had such a great time traveling and visiting with Ben's family! I guess that I will highlight the major stuff and if you want any ore details you will have to ask......

• We left Wensday the 9th from NC. We were planning on camping at Yogi Bear's Jellystone park in Nashville but mother nature had other plans.....it stormed so we ended up staying slightly outside of Nashville.
• Thursday, we arrived to Missouri and were warmly greeted by a lot of Ben's family. We also got to celebrate Sarah's (Ben's older sister) b-day with her that night. Not to mention we met our new niece Bethany that night!
• Friday, we took a nice train ride through the Ozark mountains. I didn't do much sightseeing between Kendall and visiting with family but it was so much fun! That evening we went to Lambert's which is a great resturant that is in very few locations.
• Saturday, Ben got to go golfing in the morning which he enjoyed then we went to the actual family reunion. The theme was a hillbilly reunion (you'll see Ben and I in our bubba teeth when I get the pics loaded!) They had entertainment from Banjo Jack. Kendall had a blast dancing with her cousins, learning how to play the spoons, and just being a little flirt! We were supposed to go to a AA baseball game that night but all 3 of us needed a nap!
• Sunday, we bid good-bye to a lot of the Denton side but got to hang out with the Beach side. My favorite of the day was going to the Bass Pro Shop and getting to eat at Hemmingway's inside of there. YUMMY!!! We also got to go swimming in Sarah's pool so Kendall really enjoyed that!
• Monday.......ahhhhhh so glad it is over. We traveled 13 hours that day to our camp site in Towensand, Tennessee right near the Great Smoky Mountains. We only had 15 minutes to set-up the tent before it was dark so we pretty much hit the hay pretty soon after that.
• Tuesday, we had a beautiful drive through the mountains and Gatlinburg, TN. I think that both Ben and I would like to vacation longer in Gatlinburg at some point.

So that brings us back to NC. We spent today recovering somewhat and getting ready for work tomorrow. We hope that ya'll had a great week while we were gone!

Happy belated birthday to Taylor!! Wish we could have been at your party sweetie!

Also, Happy Anniversary to Kritty and Chris on the 19th! (just in case I forget!! which is highly possible!)

Beach clan returns home

We got home about 2 hours ago from our Missouri/Tennessee/everything in between vacation. I will post pics and blog when I can uncross my eyes!

Before we go.....

Driving lessons.....

In my dress from my friend Ally. (I'll have to get a better picture next time she wears it Michelle! She wasn't in the mood to cooperate!)
Helping daddy make waffles....complete with homemade syrup YUM!!!

Guess I wanted to post our final pictures of June/early July! We are taking off tomorrow for vacation to Missouri. We are staying at a hotel but the object of the trip is to visit with family, see our new niece, and some more of the Ozark's so I probably won't be checking this until I get back. Hope everyone is doing well (Heider side in the OBX and all the Denton/Beach/Schwalbe clan that is traveling for the reunion!)

Best wishes from us :-)

Miss Ally

Sarah M.

Pa Beach

Nina and Ben!!

We wanted to put a shout out since we will be on vacation in Missouri over ya'lls special days and probably won't be on the blogsite much! Hope that you guys have a great day and we wish you the very best!

Two year portraits

27 pounds 13 ounces

36 1/2 inches tall

Our long weekend

Here it is.....the end of our holiday weekend (at least for me!!) I am going to work in about 30 minutes and Ben is staying home with Kendall & running the errands. Role reversal!
Well we had a great time off and are hoping that ya'll did too!

Ben got off on Thursday at noon for the 4th holiday. When he got home, we went to the New River pool behind the O'club. WOW what a difference all of the construction made! It is beautiful & Kendall kept us both on our toes with all of her daring antics.

Friday we had our friends JT, Kelly, & their kids over for bbq, swimming, and playing. We didn't go anywhere to see the fireworks because they weren't slated to go off until 9:15 which was way after Kendall's bedtime. Hard to believe that in years past Ben & I have driven to Wilmington then home after the firewroks! Man we are getting old.

Saturday was spent working on the house. Ben started the crown molding for Isaac's room. I helped solely by standing on the ladder and holding the molding while Ben nailed it in place. It was good to lay low and just work on the house.

Sunday was of course church then we finally ate at "Your way cafe" which is owned by one of the wives from Ben's squadron. YUMMY! It was then more work.....packing for the trip, chair rail for Isaac's room, and general clean up of the house.

FUN huh? Now I am going to drag my fat belly to work and Ben is going to be mommy for the day!

Scrapbooking

In getting ready for the Denton reunion coming up in Missouri, Ben's Aunt Shellie asked that anyone that has or is currently serving in the armed forces to create a scrapbook page for her Denton scrapbook. Ben and I used our creative genius to come up with this...I am using my scrapbook program that Ben got me and he inputed all of the information. Of course the final product will look a little different with the embellishments that I am adding to the page but I wanted to share it as it is a credit to Ben and how far he has come so far. We hope you guys enjoy!!

Congratulations!!

Sarah, baby Bethany, Naomi, Gabrielle, and Judd

Welcome Bethany Joy!!

Congratulations to Sarah and Judd!! Our niece, Bethany Joy, made her grand appearance this morning at 2:23 a.m. She weighs in 8 pounds 11 ounces and is 22 inches tall. Mom and baby are doing great & our other nieces Naomi and Gabrielle love their baby sister. We are thrilled that she came on her own & that we get to see her in less than a week!!

Happy Independence day!

OB appointment

Yesterday marked yet another appointment down. Everything went very well. I had to do my glucose testing (which I am praying will come back normal so I don't have to drink any more of that sugary stuff!) and I also completed my pre-registration so that I don't have to do that while in labor.
The appointment was normal. My fundal height seems to be catching up to the ultrasound in the fact that it is showing Isaac as being larger than his actual due date. I guess he will either be early or come on time and be a very big boy! Oh well not much I can do about it now!

We are getting ready for our trip to Missouri next week. I think that we are going to have a few friends over for bbq on Friday & see a few fire works for the 4th then take it easy and complete some household chores over the rest of the weekend!
Not much else to report right now. Kendall goes in tomorrow for her 2 year check-up so I will let you know how big she has become :-)