Beaches

Even though I grew up in the desert, I have had a deep love of the ocean and beach since I was in the 7th grade.   While thinking about this recently, I realized that Brad and I have developed an unofficial "tradition" of visiting the beach while I'm pregnant.  It started with our 4th anniversary trip to San Diego in June 2006 - about a five hour drive from our home in Surprise, AZ.  I was about 16 weeks pregnant.  We'd had it planned for a while, not realizing how SICK I'd still be at four months along, but we still made some good memories on what ended up being our LAST kid free trip for the next FIVE years! 

Our next coastal visit was on the opposite side of the country in Cape Cod, MA.  We moved to Massachusetts in the summer of 2009 for Brad's internship year.  Our first year out of medical school was even more financially challenging than school itself, so we only afforded the trip by CAMPING on the Cape while I was nearly 8 MONTHS pregnant.  Eli was still under two and did not enjoy sleeping in the tent, but overall it was such a fun trip!  I just feel so rejuvenated and alive after listening to the ocean waves and walking barefoot in the sand for a while.  

We've had a few ocean visits in between pregnancies too... after Owen was born, we visited Cape Cod one more time with Brad's family, as well as a brief visit to the New Hampshire coast, the Maine coast, and Cape Ann in Massachusetts. In October of last year (2010) we visited Gulf Shores, Alabama as a family - our first gulf coast experience! 


This time around however, we lucked out and were able to make a quick kid-free getaway to Southern Oregon.  We left the boys with my parents in AZ for a few days and flew out for an interview visit for Brad.  Luckily, the town was only about 2 hours from the coast, so we were able to visit a beautiful beach in Oregon! 

 

Wait a minute Jeanine, what did you mean when you said "this time around?"  Did I miss something?  Why yes, you clever friends, if you have continued reading this far, we did just make our THIRD beach visit while pregnant!  I'm 19 weeks along!  I was about 16 weeks for the Oregon trip - showing quite a bit more than that first beach visit at 16 weeks =).

We are pretty excited to be adding one more little person to our family.  We hope to find out the gender in another week - and NO we are not "hoping" for either gender - just for a healthy baby!  I was SOOOOOOO SICK up until about 17 weeks this time around that I just haven't been motivated to blog about it.  I wanted to wait until I felt better, and could make the announcement with a smile on my face! =)  The month I just spent in AZ with the kids was a wonderful relief - my Mom really stepped in and took good care of us while I slowly climbed out of the "Nausea Hell."  Hopefully I'll find some time soon to catch up and share some pictures from our Spring and Summer.  Anyway, there you have it!  Baby Benson #3 coming soon in February 2012!