Heads Up-new name!! Read this now!

Here's a heads up for everyone. I'm going to give everyone a week to hopefully read this and be prepared. On August 7th, I'm going to be changing the address of our blog. Why, you may ask? Well, Jason and I changed our last name today, well, at least with the social security office we did. Most everyone already knows this, but our new last name is KEMP, which is Jason's real last name by blood. SO... our blog address will be changed to http://rachelandjasonkemp.blogspot.com on August 7th. Make a note, because I think once I change it, this one won't exist and all of my stuff will transfer to the new one... I THINK. We shall see. At any rate, I don't want to lose anyone who has been following along in our little life!

A bit close for comfort!!

Last night we had a very large storm... it lasted seemingly forever.  I woke up at about 230am the first time, and at 630 it was still going.  Anyway, that's besides the point... it was a big storm.  At 330am, Jason and I woke up, or rather, were jolted awake, by a HUGE thunder/lightning combo.  We thought for certain it hit a tree next to the house, but we couldn't find any evidence.  I kind of think it hit the house, because when I woke up this morning, there was one outlet and switch in the house that had to be reset... but only one.  VERY strange, because we never lost power to anything else in the house, just that one outlet.  So yeah, that lightning strike was WAY too close for comfort.  Jason and I both jumped in bed when we woke up from it, and I couldn't fall back asleep for quite awhile because my adrenaline was pumping.  Of course, with my adrenaline pumping, the baby decided to be awake for awhile too.  Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night, and I have to go back to work tomorrow. :(

Baby Appointment Update

I had another appointment last Wednesday, and am now just finally getting a bit to time to write about it, even though not much happened lol.  The baby's heartbeat was around 130, although it took her a bit to get it because he wouldn't stop moving and kicking the doppler... definitely an active little bugger!!  I only gained 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks for a grand total of 2 pounds the entire past month... I was amazed by that!  And my belly is still measuring at 35 weeks (same as last time) even though I was only 30.5 weeks at the appointment.  The nurse said she's not at all worried about his not growing any this last time because that tends to be a pattern where the baby has a growth spurt and then slows down until the weeks catch up to the size... she said she won't be worried unless he's measuring small.  HAHA... my kid, measure small?!  Good luck!  So anyway, that was the update... I have 2 more two week appointments and then I go to the one week ones... time is going fast now!  YIKES!!!

More Baby Room!

I just have to post this picture.  This was my task for today... get the crib done!  Well, it's done, and I'm way excited about that.  It's an espresso color, even though it looks black in this picture.  I also had to crop it because I put up the sign that Erica made, and it has the baby's name on it... so that's still a secret.  Yes, Erica knows, but she's the ONLY one because she's like my second husband, so don't you go trying to ask her or anything!!

Next project will be the changing table and dresser once I buy them... oh, and the glider/ottoman combo. :)  We're almost there!!!

Baby Room!

Well, I finally decided to buckle down and finish the border in the baby's room.  I think it turned out quite good, if I do say so myself!

Yes, I sponge painted the animals and used a small paintbrush for the longer grass pieces.  I thought it would take longer to complete, but it didn't take long at all.  I ended up doing it every time the dogs went outside to go to the bathroom and didn't feel like coming in right away. :)
My next task is to get the crib together and then I can go buy the changing table... yes, I have a particular order of how I want to do things!

They do get along...

... at least most of the time.  Taco and Tucker are still trying to decide who is the dominant one in the household, so there have been some interesting "fights" and sounds this past week, but all in all, they get along and miss each other at night when they're not together.  Here's a few pictures to give a size comparison.

Excuse the mess and lack of organization, yes, I'm STILL in the process of unpacking!!
I think this is one of my favorite pictures below... both with their rawhides, and size appropriate.  Haha...

We bought Tucker a pillow bed to lay on in the hopes that maybe he won't get fur all over the place when he starts to shed.  Luckily, he actually likes it.
While I'm writing this, Taco is sitting in my lap, and Jason is attempting to train Tucker lol.  Yes, attempting... Tucker has a short attention span sometimes!  He's doing pretty good though, and knows "sit" very well, "stay" is also pretty good, and is learning "come" very quickly.  Now if only we could get him potty trained so I don't have to keep cleaning up the huge puddles... since lab puddles are MUCH larger than chihuahua puddles!!

Happy Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!!!

Jason is 25 today... and therefore, I caved in and allowed this to happen.

Jason found him on craigslist... full blooded AKC black lab, 9 weeks old, and only $50!!  The family that has him bought him, but their 2 year old is terrified of him when he nips (like all puppies do at first)... so we went to meet him tonight and paid for him, but the family is keeping him for the weekend while we go to Gatlinburg.  Luckily they're nice enough people to do so... but he's a really mellow dog at 9 weeks even, so it'll be fun to have him around... as long as Jason trains him right.  He already knows sit, stay, and shake, as well as to bark at the door when he needs to go outside (at least for number 2)... and he's kennel trained.  Ok, I think I got all of his qualifications in there!  Although the previous owner had named him Oliver or Oli, he's still young enough that we decided to change his name.  Jason picked out Tucker, named after his friend that was in the National Guard that died in Iraq in 2005.  

Sunsets are great...

Last night I managed to get a few REALLY good pictures of the sunset from our deck.  Just can't beat that view...

There's nothing quite like coming home from a long day at work and relaxing to nature's paintings.

North Carolina!

Weekend before last I FINALLY went to North Carolina to see my best friend in the entire world Erica. :)  I hadn't seen her in about 9 months, so that's a really long time when I consider her my "second husband" since we lived together while our hubbies were deployed.  It was a quick trip with a 8-ish hour drive one way between us, but it was well worth it!  We laid by the pool and went shopping, as well as talked a lot of baby talk.  Erica even got to feel the baby move... she was pretty excited about that. :)  Here's what our pool scene looked like:
And here's me getting all slathered up so I didn't get burnt.  Like my maternity suit?
And here I'm looking pretty sunburnt, but really I'm just hot.  I actually did a good job and didn't get sunburnt.  PS... I still think I look fat in this picture moreso than pregnant lol, and don't ask me what I was looking at!
Erica and me.  She's so tan I'm jealous... but then again, she sits by the pool a lot more than I do! Haha...
Oh yeah, the other thing we did was chop my hair off.  My original plan was to keep it long for our wedding ceremony in May, and then chop it off after that.  I'm so anal about who is allowed to touch my hair that I kept putting it off and putting it off... too afraid to go to a hairstylist in the area, so I told Erica that the next time I saw her she'd have to chop it for me.  Here's the before:
And the after!  
I wanted to keep it long enough to put up if I didn't feel like doing anything with it, and when it dries and gets a bit curly, it gets shorter, so it's just about right.  I forgot how much less shampoo you have to use when you don't have so much hair!  Plus, it takes about half as long to blow dry it now too.  Below is Erica and me outside on their little porch the night before I left.  It was a nice evening and not too hot anymore, so we spent a fair bit of time out there.
And finally, here's a baby bump picture... which is from me at 27 weeks.  I'm quite a bit bigger now, but that gives everyone an idea.
Thanks for an AWESOME quick vacation in North Carolina Erica.  I definitely needed it!!  Now it's her turn to come visit me. :)

Baby Update

Here's to yet another baby update!  I went to the doctor yesterday, and it was just a normal checkup as usual.  Strange thing is... in the last two weeks, I didn't gain a single pound!  Jason was pretty appalled by that considering my belly has definitely grown in the last couple of weeks.  That can be proven also by the fact that when the doctor measured my stomach, I believe his statement was "whoa, you're gonna have a big baby."  Haha... duh, I knew that already.  I let him know we have big kids in our family, and that I was 10 lbs.  He proceeds to say "well to give you an idea, you are 28 weeks and 5 days right now, and you are measuring at 35 weeks."  HAHA... WOW.  I was impressed by that.  He said we'll probably have a 9 or 9.5 pound kiddo... YIKES!  So in a few more appointments I will have another ultrasound to see just how big this kid really is. :)  One thing I do know is that he sure is an active little thing... takes after his daddy right now.  He kicks me constantly, and now when I push at him, he pushes back, which is WAY fun and VERY distracting at work!

The new ride!

Earlier this week, my air conditioning went out in the car.  I drove around for a day like that, it was hot and miserable with how much I have to be in the car.  I thought maybe it was the freon, but alas, it was not, and it turned out to be something electrical.  Considering how much money we've had to put into that darn car in the recent months and year, we decided we would just trade it in and get what we've been eyeing for a month.  Luckily, the used car salesman didn't even get into the car when he told us the trade in value he would give us, so he doesn't know the air conditioning doesn't work. :)

Anyway, here is my new ride.  It's a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer with lots of bells and whistles.  We talked him down (well, Jason did) to the price range that we wanted, and drove it off the lot yesterday afternoon.  It's also a 4 wheel drive, so now I don't have to speed up our driveway anymore, and the winter won't be something to worry about getting up the driveway either.
Here's the inside.  Note the radio controls on the steering wheel.  I'm pretty excited about that!  You'd never really know it's a used vehicle because it's in REALLY good shape.  We're pretty pleased with it, and fight over who gets to drive it when we go places together. :)
Lastly, here's a picture of Taco, since I haven't really posted any lately.  He looks kind of tired in this picture, but he blinked every time the flash went off.  He has lately decided that he likes sleeping right up next to my belly (aka the baby), which I think is pretty cute.  He'll also rest his head on my belly too... like he knows something is in there and he's going to protect it.  I'm excited to see how he reacts when the baby finally comes!