Grandma & Papa's visit

My parents came to visit and see their newest grand baby. They arrived on Wed. spent a day and quickly left to visit other family. It wasn't planned that way but our kitchen was still without cabinets and counter tops and it made it very difficult to feed and maneuver in our makeshift kitchen in the basement. Six days later they returned to finish off their visit, they pulled up just as the granite installers pulled out. So they were the first to help break-in our new somewhat finished kitchen. We had lots of fun with Grandma and Papa. We went apple picking, they got to watch Raquel at swim team and sing in the Primary program and attend her preschool performance of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Papa and his first grandson.

Grandma Clinger admiring her newest grandbaby.

SWIM TEAM

The whole family went to watch Raquel swim. She is doing so well and she was excited to get to show off her swimming skills to Grandma and Papa.

Baby Marcus getting ready to head to the pool.

Watching Raquel at swim team

Raquel showing off her swimming

Natalya having fun at the pool during Raquel's team practice.

APPLE PICKING

We spent the day with grandma in Roanoke picking apples. Unfortunately the place we went to last year didn't have the best apples. Because of the heat this year the apples ripened too early and we only had one kind of apple to choose from and there weren't very many on the trees. We picked what we could and were a little disappointed in the thought that we wouldn't get to make any applesauce this year. But on our way home we stopped at another fruit orchard and found lots of different apples. We loaded up on apples and started to head home but not before stopping by the store to pick-up a Foley food mill (my birthday present from my parents and it sure made making applesauce this year a whole lot easier) and getting a bite to eat at a little restaurant. We had a fun day with Grandma and a great dessert of apple crisp the next day.

Natalya enjoying an apple.

I don't know what he is thinking about, maybe all the yummy homemade applesauce he knows he will get to eat this year. What ever it is, it sure made him smile.

PRESCHOOL PLAY

Raquel's preschool class put on a little play for their parents. It just happened to be the day my parents were to leave and so they were able to come and see it before they headed back to the airport. The play was Goldilocks and the three bears, and Raquel was a mama bear. As you can see Natalya didn't want to be left out and so joined in and was the newest mama bear. It was cute seeing the girls have so much fun acting out the story.

Our little Mama Bears

First Hair Cut!

The before

The After

Natalya got her first haircut. The poor kid could hardly see out from under her hair it was getting so long. I was a little scared to do it myself at home so I took her to a salon. We stopped by the grocery store first to pick up a treat to give her a little incentive to agree to sitting in the chair and get her hair cut. She was a little too scared and wiggly so I had to hold her on my lap. Now she has a little bob with bangs that makes her look oh so cute!

He has a name!

We finally agreed on a name for our little baby boy today.

Marcus William Kennedy

Unfortunately the hospital already turned in the paper work and so we will have to pay a fee to have his name changed from Baby Boy Kennedy.

My Name is Nobody

Here is how our week was suppose to go. First, I drop Mike off at the airport in Roanoke on Friday morning so that he can take a trip out to visit his Grandpa Robison who was diagnosed with cancer. He visits and has fun seeing family and then 6 days later I pick him up at the airport, he is home for 2 days and then off to National Guard drill for another 2 days. Then I can go into labor and have our little baby boy.

Unfortunately things don't always go as planned especially when a baby is involved. We thought we were pretty safe sending Mike off to Idaho 2 weeks prior to my due date since at my last doctors visit I hadn't progressed any and I hadn't had any contractions. So off Mike went to Idaho Friday Sept 3rd. He arrived safely and had a nice visit with his parents and grandparents. That night I went to bed late and was woken up at 1am by contractions. They were painful enough to keep me up until 4am and then they went away. I laid awake the rest of the night worried that I wasn't ready to have the baby because Mike was gone, the house needed to be cleaned and bags needed to be packed for the hospital. I was relieved when the contractions stop and first thing Sat. morning got up and packed my hospital bag, cleaned the house and called Mike to let him know that I was having contractions.

Mike wanted to change his flight to come home earlier because he thought the baby would soon be here. I thought we had more time and told him I'd look into it but we didn't need to worry too much because the contractions were less frequent and not too painful. He had a fun day on the lake with his family and I busied myself with preparing just in case. My neighbor Ann that I was going to have watch our kids when I had the baby was gone for the day and wouldn't be back until Sunday evening and so I headed next door to my other neighbor Kathy to let her know that it was highly unlikely that I would have the baby today/tonight but just in case I wanted to let her know that I had been having contractions and set up a plan for the girls in case I did need to go to the hospital. I took it easy the rest of the day hoping that I wouldn't further along the delivery of our baby and changed Mike's flight arrangements to the earliest flight which wasn't until 7am Sunday morning.

The girls and I went to bed, not expecting anything but a nice restful night. At 11:45pm I was woken up by a strong contraction. I got up out of bed to walk it off and then my water broke. I quickly called Mike, no answer. Then I called my neighbor Kathy, I had just received a texted message from her asking how I was doing and so I knew she was probably still awake. Our plan for the girls was put into motion, the girls stayed at Kathy's house with her son and daughter which both my girls adore so it made it easy to leave them there and Kathy drove me to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital a little before 1 am, got checked in and then we waited. The doctor on call was not the doctor that I had see through out my pregnancy but she is the other one in the practice that I like and so I just went ahead and had her start the process of delivering our baby. It took a while for all the blood work to come back and for the anesthesiologist to give me an epidural but after the drugs started working it was a piece of cake. I was dilated to a 4 when I came in and over the next 4 hours progressed quickly, the only worry was that the baby's heart rate kept dipping quite low and needed to be monitored with an internal probe. Luckily his heart rate stayed steady enough to not have to take him out by c-section. Once I was fully dilated it only took 3 more contractions to push through and our little boy was out. Born at 6:25am on Sunday September 5th and he weighed 6 lbs. 5.8 oz (the biggest of the 3 kids) and was 20 1/4 inches long. He has long legs and big feet and the most laid back personality. He sleeps great during the day and can sleep well at night if he is sleeping on my tummy.

My neighbor Kathy was able to be there at the hospital with me and she took all the pictures of our new little boy. Mike's plane arrived at 5:30pm Sunday night and soon made it back home, picking up the girls and then coming to the hospital to meet our new little boy. So Mike was able to see our little boy the same day he was born only 12 hours later. The girls were so excited to come and meet their new little brother. Natalya came in asking were the baby was and wanting to hold him, getting upset when Raquel got to hold him. I was so happy to see that the girls loved their little brother, especially Natalya who was such a mamma's girl. Natalya had been a great big sister. She wants to help change his diaper and is always there watching ready to hand me the diaper. The other day she even gave her little brother her most prized blanket because he was crying. She really has grown up these past few days and taken on the roll of a loving big sister. Its great that both the girls want to help out with the baby so much.

The baby and I were able to come home from the hospital early Monday afternoon. We still don't have a name for the poor kid and so thats why the name of the post is my name is nobody. We have a couple of names we like but its just agreeing on which name to use. The hospital didn't want us to leave with out naming him and kept calling when we got home trying to get us to come up with a name. He may just have to be called baby brother for awhile before we decide. We sure to love our little guy and are happy he arrived safe and healthy even if it was 2 weeks early.

Waiting for the doctor and my epidural.

Must have been between contractions because I'm smiling.

Little Baby Brother

Born September 5, 2010

at 6:25 am

He was such a content little guy.

Didn't even cry. He was very content laying on my stomach.

Mommy & Baby brother

Baby brother was the biggest of our 3 kids.

Proud Big Sisters!

Raquel & Little Brother

Mike seeing his little boy for the first time.

Natalya was so happy to hold her little brother. She got a little scared when he started to move. She must have thought he was a little doll.

Home from the hospital

2 Days old

Trying to capture a smile.

4 days old.

First Day of Preschool

All ready for school!

Raquel started her second year of preschool today. She had lots of fun playing with her new friends and seems to like her teachers Mrs. Leslie and Ms. Hamborsky. She was so excited to wear the new school outfit she picked out herself.

Since Raquel is attending 3 day a week preschool we wanted to get her in another activity to fill up sometime on her off days. Since she loves to swim we thought swimming would be a good option and so yesterday she tried out for the H2okie Aquatics program. Its a local swim club/team. She passed her swim evaluation and so is one of the newest members of H2okie Aquatic Stroke School and will be starting practice next week. We have been talking about having her try out for a couple of weeks and she was quite nervous at first and didn't want to try. But she was very brave jumping right into the deep (over 12ft) competition pool at the new aquatics center and swam great! We are so proud of her and know that she is going to love getting to swim twice a week.

New Carpet & Tile

One of our last big project to get done in the kitchen is tiling. We were able to get the tiling done before Mike had to leave for annual training for 10 days. . It didn't take very long at all and it looks so good. We spent the weekend putting the tile down and then woke up at 3 am the day Mike had to leave (so as to let the tile dry enough) to grout. Luckily it only took us about 2 hours to grout because that's all the time Mike had.

We wanted to get the tile complete before he left so that I could get the walls sanded and primed before the cabinets arrive while he is gone.

We also got new carpet in our master bedroom and the baby's room. Its so nice having new fresh stain free carpet!

The cabinets finally arrived, I love them! So much better than the old ones. Later in the week the installers came to put them in. Unfortunately the people at Lowe's forgot to order a few pieces to finish the job and our ceiling ended up being very uneven, not a good thing when we ordered cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. So the installers were able to put in the bottom cabinets so that the granite people could template for the counter tops. Our hope is still to be able to have a working kitchen before the baby comes sometime in the next couple of weeks. A few good things, we got our new fridge, stove and microwave delivered and I love them. Its nice to know that I can cook something on the stove or in the oven now after about a month and a half. I've definitely improved my skills of cooking in a microwave, toaster oven and on an electric skillet.

The new tile!

(I can't say I will miss the pink)

Our new bedroom carpet. I also got the walls primed, the white is so much better than the green. Now I just have to decide on a color to paint the walls.

A few of our new cabinets.

Major Dad!

Congratulations to Mike!

He was promoted to a Major on August 3rd!

Claytor Lake

Last weekend we were able to go to Claytor Lake with one of Mike's partners at work. She and her parents were renting a boat and invited us to come along. The whole family had such a blast. The girls both went tubing with Dada and we all enjoyed the warm water to swim. Unfortunately I forgot our camera and so have no pictures.

We had such a fun time that we decided to go back the next weekend and try out the State Park Beach at Claytor Lake. It was a nice hot day and the water was wonderful. Raquel had lots of fun swimming and playing in the sand. Natalya on the other hand hated to touch the sand and wouldn't put her feet down in the water. She was happiest sitting on our beach towel eating snacks. Hopefully Natalya will get over her dislike of sand so that we can have enjoy the lake beach as a family a little more.

The only time Natalya was truly happy at the Lake.

Sitting on the towel off the sand eating snacks.

Raquel playing in the sand

Playing with dad in the water.

Building a sandcastle

Remodeling Part Two

Round two of remodeling started mid June. We realized that if we wanted to finish the pantry and laundry room, meaning putting new tile down on the floor we would have to start on the kitchen remodel because we would have to start tiling in there. So first thing on the do list was remove the wall between the pantry and kitchen. Then we removed the side cabinets and put them in the pantry area. The girls and I then went on vacation and left Mike to rebuild the wall and he did a very good job!

Mike taking down the wall

Wall free looking into the kitchen from the pantry.

The lovely wall paper we found behind the cabinets we removed.

Making another trip to Lowe's

After returning from our vacation to Spokane we started on the floor. Everything we read told us to remove the cement board from the floor with the tile still on it. So Mike tried to remove the cement board, and he tried and he tried. He then became very frustrated and decided that we need a large hole in the floor. After calming him down I told him there was probably a better way and maybe we should try just removing the tile from the cement board. We had success with removing the tile and spent the next three weeks chiseling the tile from the floor, patching the holes that were made in the cement board and sanding the floor. It was a lot of work but we now have a beautiful new tile floor!

Chiseling the tile from the floor. If you look to the left of the door you see a piece of plywood that is covering up the hole Mike made in the floor.

About half way done with the floor.

Finished removing the tile, now time to fill in the holes in the cement board.

Removing the rest of the cabinets and starting work on the plumbing and electrical.

Also we ordered our cabinets, decided/ordered and received our tile, picked out and ordered our granite. It was neat we went to a granite yard and were able to see the big slabs of granite and pick out the one we wanted. And lastly we bought a new fridge, one that will fit in our kitchen. Its been a busy couple of months and we hope to get the walls, electrical, plumbing and tile done before Mike has to leave for 10 days for annual training with the National Guard.

Busy Beaver Camp!

Raquel just finished a week of Busy Beaver Camp and absolutely loved it. She asks me almost everyday why she can't go back. I try to tell her that its just a summer camp and she will be going back to school in the fall. Her reply is that its still summer so why can't she go.

They really had the kids busy with art projects and fun activities. One day was jungle day and they had a treasure hunt and sang a song about going on a lion hunt. Another day they got to meet a firefighter and explore his fire truck. And yet another one of the days was all water fun with a big blowup twisty slide, little swimming pools and spray bottles. The last day they had the parents come in a little early for a sing-a-long and the kids sang all the songs they had been learning for the week. Definitely a camp we will try to do again next year!

Raquel also took swim lessons again this month. She was in the sea turtle level 2 class. Raquel was the smallest and youngest kid there but able to keep up with all the big kids. She can now swim quite well on her own and passed the class and can move up to the level 3 class, which we plan to take next week.

July 4th!

Blueberry Picking!

After the girls and I returned from our Spokane trip it was time for blueberry season. I must say that this year the strawberries were much easier to pick then the blueberries. The weather was nice, not too hot but a late frost and lack of rain really made a difference in the size and number of berries this year. Last year I was able to pick 4 gallons of berries in 2 hours, this year only 1 in the same amount of time. Both girls were not very good at helping out and Natalya actually cried most of the time. It definitely was not a fun adventure, but I got my blueberries and have enjoyed them. We made blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup and fresh fruit salads, but my favorite is just eating a big handful of fresh blueberries right out of the fridge.

Smithfield Plantation

We were able to celebrate the fourth all day long. After church we headed to Smithfieldplantation were we walked around and viewed the grounds and gardens, watched a musket firing demonstration, played with old fashioned toys and watched period style dancing. After the dance program they came into the audience and asked for volunteers to come learn a dance. I got asked and so learned to dance the old fashion way. It was fun but very hot and my partner's hands were very sweaty and he was a little creepy.

4th of July Parade!

Sitting in the shade waiting for the parade to start.

Watching the parade in the shadow of the tree.

Next we came home had lunch and took a rest before heading off to the little town parade. The parade was much better than last year and the girls got lots of candy, but I could have done with out the heat. We all huddled under a little tree on the side of the road to try to keep cool.

After coming home from the parade and devouring the candy and other treats we had around the house no one felt much like eating dinner, so we headed outside for fireworks. Raquel went all by herself to invite our neighbors to come watch. Both Natalya and Raquel had lots of fun lighting and watching our little firework display. I thought Natalya would be scared of them but she was right in there wanting to light the fireworks and hold her own sparkler.

Fireworks!

Natalya holding the matches ready to light another one.

Sparkler fun!

Raquel and her friend Ann out neighbor

I love Natalya's face!

We ended up having our yummy baby back ribs, corn on the cob, asparagus and watermelon 4th of July dinner the next day. Well worth the wait! Mmmmm!