I AM IN LOVE!!!!!!!

Here are a few more shots from Chappelle's first photo shoot. WOW! I am going to be broke after this. I love every single picture! Not only do I think she is the cutest girl ever - but I have another new love: Katie Mathews for her phenomenal work! I am so glad she was able to capture my sweet girl.

A real conversation with Braxton:

As you know, last week we were at Folly Beach with the fam. In the midst of everything I decided to give Braxton an actual bath as opposed to rinsing off and showering outside. After endless fun in the sun and sand in every crevice, I thought, maybe you need a good soak! So to the tub you go. I was multi tasking as usual when I heard him yell

Braxton: MOM!
Me: (looking around the door)"what's up Bud?"
Braxton: "I have balls in here. (holding his sac) Why do I have balls in here?"
Me: BRYAN......!!!! You're son is in the tub and wants to know why he has balls in there. How about you handle that one!

A family weekend!

Here is a sneak peek of Chappelle's one year photo shoot. What got me interested in doing it with Katie Mathews' is I had seen some work she has done for several of my friends and they have turned out incredible. Then she offered a discount for the person who wanted to try out a particular outfit. The outfit was a very bright colored tutu and monkey hat to match. It's the cutest thing EVER, so I jumped all over it. The timing was perfect too...because I wanted to do one year shots. I also wanted to do some "naked" shots with Chappelle diving into cake. We ended up keeping the tutu on for a splash of color and added the hat back too. And of course I found a onsie/tutu outfit that has "princess" on it..and well that's so fitting too! It will be the perfect outfit for her "princess party" in a couple of weeks.

I can tell you if Gateway had been opened Sunday, both kids would have been there. My goodness they were taxing and HIGH MAINTENANCE!!!! There was more whining, crying and drama in the Carpenter house, I thought I was going to lose it. This weekend was one of those weekends where it emphasizes, I am not cut out to do stay at home full time (part time...now that's a different story)!

Back in time - well, a few weeks anyway. 4th of July pics

Pure cuteness!

I may be a tad biased but I swear I have the 2 cutest kids on the planet!!

Folly Time!

We just came back from our annual Folly Beach trip. It is still my absolute favorite place! I hope that Braxton and Chappelle will grow to love it as much as I do. It was an absolute blast to see everyone. This trip everybody was able to get together for a couple of nights before we had to part ways due to work, trips, etc...
11 Adults and 8 kids in one house. Could have been complete chaos, but it wasn't bad at all. AND to top it off, 6 other couples came out to join us for beach time Sunday along with pancake papa and Uncle Ryan. We missed seeing Gigi and Uncle Blake. Hope to catch up with you guys soon. All the older cousins were able to sneak away for a bit Sunday night too. Who knew there was so much night life on Folly on a Sunday night! I was so busy chasing kids I didn't get many pictures at all...that just means we need to get together sooner rather than later!

All Dried Up...

To be completely honest, I am surprised I went as long as I did. I do believe my body is telling me..no more milk momma, no more milk. Production has come to a close! Chappelle is less than 2 weeks away from turning 1 and I have in some form breastfed her up to this point. She was exclusively breast fed until 8 months when I returned to work. Then she was 1/2 breast milk and supplemented with formula. I have been doing more and more formula and took it to mornings and night feedings of breast milk and that was it. Over the last 2 weeks we have been decreasing formula and introducing whole milk and so far so good.

I recall way to well about 2 months ago pumping at work where my nipples were basically hanging on by tiny pieces of skin. My milk was the color of strawberry milk and I am not exaggerating! It was the worst pain I have ever felt! After 2 weeks of going through absolute hell every time I pumped I quit. I could barely breath while pumping. So not too shabby. I breast fed Braxton right up to the 9 month mark and 2 weeks shy of a year with Chappelle.

Sweet girl I have enjoyed our bonding more than you will ever know and am so fortunate to have been able to experience this.

So......do you think they are related?

How funny is that? I knew I had pictures of Braxton wearing his food too. I think he is a little older than Chappelle, but not by much. oh and I promise we do teach our kids manners, but we also think learning to eat is fun too!

Seriously.....we are still whining at 4! I am so over it!!!!!

Braxton Update:

3 weeks ago we got the news that Braxton has 2 cavities. When we started going to the dentist 2 years ago, they told us that he will be prone to cavities unfortunately. And sure enough, not only did he get one, but he got two. So this morning we experienced our first filling and I have never been so proud of him. He got to wear an elephant's truck that gave him nitrous oxygen and then they did the same steps than an adult would get. There was no whining or crying. After the appointment I picked him up a milkshake and off to school. He chewed on his tongue a while and asked "mommy, when is my check going to get small like the other side?"

We have resorted back to pull ups at night. I just don't think he is quite ready. For now we will work on waking up to a dry pull up and then switch over to underwear.

Chappelle Update:
my girl climbed steps for the first time......holy cow!
We were grilling out Sunday afternoon and playing outside and the next thing I know, sweet princesses was moving on up. There is no turning back now!

Happy 4th of July

We did our annual trip to Bald Head for 4th of July weekend. Usually the Carpenter/Barrow crew are all together, but we were the only ones that made it down. We missed everyone, but got some good one on one time with Mimi and Pops! We actually drove Aquaholic down. It was a great time. The weather was phenomenal! Chappelle slept off and on during the ride down, while Braxton helped daddy navigate. We were able to enjoy the beach (without all the traffic), the pool and of course all the 4th festivities. Mimi decided to enter the cart parade. She and Braxton had a really good time doing that together. There were some incredible entries!

Bryan and I have 2 little fish on our hands. They both had a great time at the beach. The pool took a little getting used to from Braxton, but he "warmed up" quickly. He had a blast splashing around and going down the slide.


Other happenings at the Carpenter house:

Chappelle is going through yet another milestone.....4 teeth coming in at one time on the top. I will try and take a picture. I am actually kind of sad, she won't ever look the same "gumming it" anymore. This means my sweet girl is growing up. Speaking of which, she is now 11 months! yikes!!

Chappelle and Braxton are too stinkin' cute around each other (for the most part). Every night after bath time we go in Chappelle's room and play either naked chase or hide and seek. It started off to air dry, but then became a great game. They take turns chasing each other and Chappelle will giggle so loud. She gets so excited and usually comes crawling to me to save her. It's really sweet.

We are working on a huge milestone for Braxton too. I have not put much effort at all in nighttime sleeping and pull ups. I looked at it as, I won't push it, he won't go to college wearing pull ups. It will happen when it happens. Well, we ran out this past Tuesday night. We told Braxton they just don't make pull ups in big boy sizes and it's time to "be done!" Well....I washed sheets Wednesday. I washed sheets Thursday (this time they weren't as wet, maybe to where he had just gone) but my big boy woke up this morning DRY!!!!! Yeah Braxton - mommy and daddy knew you could do it! We are so proud of you and really hope you keep this up. B and I like to do a "sleep over" in mommy's bed on the night's daddy is out of town. SO I used that as leverage - please say a little prayer that my boy continues to sleep dry!