6 weeks already and a few milestones!

Time flies and my blogging stinks! I will do my best to update the last couple of weeks this weekend.



Sweet Chappelle turned 6 weeks this past Tuesday. We made our first adventure to Charleston to take Aunt Ses to chemo. As much as we hate the circumstances for us to be there, it sure was good to see everyone.



The other big milestone is Chappelle has slept in her crib since Wednesday night, I decided I was going to enlist her in BBC (baby boot camp).

3 weeks old.....

So here are a few snaps of our little family when Chappelle was 3 weeks old. WOW...as I type this (b/c it's a saved draft) she is 7.5 months old. This seems like AGES ago! I love her age now so much. Braxton has been such a sweet boy to her. He loves to go in her room with me when she first wakes up and says "hey pretty girl" or "hey sweet girl!" When she has gas, which she must take after her daddy:) Braxton says "goodness pooty pants!" It really is sweet. He loves to hand her toys when she drops them and will be the first to ask if we can move the jumparoo into another room because he can't hear TV! Our sweet little Carpenter family!

It's A GIRL!!!!!!

We welcomed Ann "Chappelle" Carpenter into our family on August 4 at 12:38am. We are so excited and completely beside ourselves that we have a sweet daughter!!! I knew this entire pregnancy, my world was going to revolve around rough and tough little boys, so you can imagine the surprise to hear it's a girl!! Not only did I think my life was going to be surrounded by little fella's, I also swore I knew from the beginning I would have this baby on 08/03, which is my sister's birthday as well as how far along I was when I had Braxton, 36weeks and 6 days.

Here's how it went down:

Monday August 3rd, I was talking to Bryan in the kitchen (at 5:45)when I felt a warm gush. I called our sitter Anna and said I think my water just broke and asked her to come over and sit with Braxton until Aunt Kelly could come over after the gym. I called Kelly and left her a message asking her to grab her bag and head to our house after the gym. I then called Jill and said, here's the deal, can you follow up to make sure Kell can come over. We have the best "family" ever here in town. Everything was taken care of. On the way to the hospital I called my SIL Marie (who is a labor and delivery nurse)to ask her if she did indeed think that was my water that broke. I was in minor disbelief and the fact that my contractions weren't too bad was throwing it all off. I then called my sister to give her a heads up. She really wanted to be here for this delivery, but had her own appts the next day to think about. So....we finally got to the hospital around 6:15, where they proceeded to tell us to wait in the lobby for what ended up being 45 minutes. Apparently they were a little busy and had to wait for a bed for me. So I was literally sitting in my own amniotic fluid in the waiting area of the hospital. By the time we got in our own room, it was after 7:00 and then it was still 1.5-2.0 hours before anyone came to see how far along I was. Once they checked me, I was 3cm's dilated and then 4, by the time I got to 5cm's it was close to 10pm and the contractions were getting pretty darn strong!! I said, I think it's time for that epidural! As the anesthesiologist is administering the epidural, he said, you will feel tingly feelings on your right said, sure enough I did. The problem is, that was the only side I ever felt it on. The first epidural didn't take all the way. As much as I loved getting the first one, I can tell you I wasn't really in the mood to get another one, but there was no way I was going to do it without. So after waiting over an hour to make sure it wasn't going to take on the left side as well, they administered another one. AAAhhhhh...relief! Contractions were still coming strong and faster....around 12:15am I said, I have to push and 20 minutes later - we have a baby. When the baby came out, the umbilical cord was covering the privates section. At that point Bryan thought he saw a penis and then he looked at me and was crying and said "it's a girl!" HOLY SMOKES!!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! We have a girl? Woooo Hooo!

Ann Chappelle Carpenter was born at 12:30am on August 4th, 2009

She weighed 5 lbs and 15 ounces and was 17.5 inches long - our sweet little bundle of joy

I looked at Bryan and said "babe, we are in trouble! We are now forever poor and this little girl will have a monogrammed C on everything she owns!"

Fortunately Mimi was able to head down Tuesday to help us out with Braxton. Due to Chappelle being so little and having jaundice we stayed in the hospital until Thursday. Again, everything about this has been routine, so it came to no surprise to us when we went for our first check up to hear her jaundice levels had elevated and she would need the bilirubin blanket. Luckily after 24 hours with the blanket her levels decreased to a safe point and we were able to return the blanket.

August was a very exciting month for us. It was also very tiring, hence the reason it has taken me a month to update...sorry, I vow to get better. Mimi and Pops were able to spend a few days with us, then grandmomma came up for a few days. Uncle Kevin, Aunt Meighan and Sean came up Sunday afternoon, Aunt Leslie was able to sneak away for a few days for some baby love, Gigi came the following weekend, Pancake Papa came the next weekend and last but not least Aunt Marie, Uncle John, Anna and Brynn spent the night on their way to Bald Head. It was great to see everyone - thank you all for making the trip.

Braxton has been a wonderful big brother. He loves to hug Chappelle and kiss her. He is my little sanitizer Nazi - and I LOVE IT! Of course, it hasn't always been easy. He is 3, so that in itself is trying. Add in a new addition to the family and a ton of house guest and there have been some very trying times. Both Bryan and I are working on next expecting too much from Braxton. It's weird how all of a sudden a newborn is in the house and my expectations of my 3 year old have gone through the roof. So I am working on it! We are making a conscience effort to spend solo time with Braxton too. I keep emphasizing, he is my absolute favorite boy in the whole world!

I will end this post with some of my favorite pictures from the last month. And will be posting soon with all the fun we have had over the last couple of weeks...

All kidding aside!

I was cleaning out the linen closet while getting Braxton's bath water ready and he came over to me (naked of course) and said:

B: Is this my uterus?

M: Nope buddy, you know what that is..it's your penis. Boys don't have a uterus, they have a penis.

B: What is this?

M: getting down a level and trying to figure out what he is talking about.....oohh..those are your testicles.

B: oh - they are smooth (pronounced sssmmmoootthhh)

M: ok! Time for that bath!!

aiy carumba!

Updates...Updates...Updates!!!

Update 1:
I have finally posted some pictures and post from months ago. SORRY!! I will start them and either never finish or won't get around to adding the pictures. Some of them go back to Mother's day and Father's Day....so take a trip back if you have a minute or two! My goal this week is to finish posts from 4th of July as well as our Folly Trip

Update 2:
We had yet, another trip to the hospital this weekend. I woke up Saturday morning with a very dull pain in my right side. Through out the morning there were times that it got super intense. When I say intense, it was to the point I couldn't walk and could barely catch my breath. I was a little worried, but thought it would go away. We tried to do a family trip to the mall for shoes for the boys and an outfit home for Baby C and literally I couldn't walk. I noticed the baby wasn't moving around as much either. Needless to say....I was starting to get scared..even freaked out a bit. I called the Triage department at the hospital and they said I needed to come in for monitoring. I called our sitter who was already scheduled to come in later Saturday night for Bryan and I to enjoy a last date night before our family grew. She came over to stay with Braxton. The whole way to the hospital I was stressing out, I forgot to tell braxton good bye and I loved him (and that alone made me ball), I thought "could this be my appendix?" How would that work? Would they have to do a C-section and then take my appendix. uugghh!
Dr Vogel was on call. He was the one who delivered Braxton. I instantly thought, is this an omen, are we having this baby today? After an 1.5 hours of monitoring, we were told the baby looked beautiful...again! Dr Vogel said since I didn't have the symptoms, he would rule out that it was my appendix and that the pain I felt was more than likely my muscles and tendons stretching to allow room for the baby...pphheeww! As much as I hated to spend a few hours in the hospital Saturday, it was reassurance that things were still smooth! Plus, we got to meet a few more nurses...in prep for our big day!

Bryan and I were still fortunate enough to enjoy date night. We went to the movies and saw the Hangover - very funny! And then went to Fox and Hound for appetizers. It was so nice just the 2 of us going out, not having to entertain a 3 year old and enjoy adult conversation. My favorite part was holding hands back to the car...it's the little things that make me happy!

Update 3:
Not only is this an amazing time in our lives while we await the arrival of baby carpenter, but I am also going through a few things that I would rather not be going through. The company I work for will be shutting the doors sometime late fall. It's very sad for numerous reasons. I have been here for 9 years. These people have seen me get a degree, get engaged, married and have 2 children. It comes at a very scary time too considering I will be going out on maternity leave. I think it may all work out though. I think I may put the kids in daycare part time and stay home with them part time for a while....that's my goal anyway!

In addition to this, my sister was just diagnosed with breast cancer on June 1st. I haven't blogged about this yet...I just haven't been ready...I think this will have to be a blog to come in the near future. There is alot that I need to say and feel inside and want and need to get out, when the timing is right. (if there is such a thing).

Stay Tuned...

Not ready yet.....

All of you know that I have a tendency to be routine, regimented, some may say even a control freak, but there is no way I would have predicted that even my pregnancies could be somewhat routine.



If you will recall, with Braxton, I was placed on "bedrest" March 30th. On the morning of April 2nd, I went to the hospital around 2am with very intense and frequent contractions. After being monitored for 8 hours, they sent me home with 2 ambien....the absolute best sleep ever!!! I sat at home on bedrest for 6 very long days and contracted fairly regularly and on the 6th day, my water broke and 3.5 hours later Baby Carpenter entered the world. At that time we still hadn't decided on a name and he literally was Baby Carpenter for 1.5 days.
Pretty much a "text book delivery!"


And the fun starts with baby #2 - at 35 weeks and 3 days! As I mentioned in the previous post, we left Folly Beach a little earlier than planned due to some different feelings I was having. While at work yesterday, I noticed I was contracting...ALOT...and OFTEN. I happened to time it within an hour and low and behold, I had 10. So I called the doctor's office to give them a heads up. They called back and said "honey - go ahead to the hospital so we can monitor you!" I was not expecting that at all. I figured they may want to check me out, but I was thinking maybe at the dr's office. Due to it being after 3:00pm, they said that they wouldn't get results back like they could at the hospital. I freaked! What about Braxton? My bags aren't packed (I knew I should have washed clothes when we got back Tuesday)! We have no food in the house for whoever helps with Braxton! The sheets aren't cleaned! These my friends are the thoughts going through my head!

After calling Bryan, I called "Aunt Kelly" to see if she would come stay with B....she said yes! phew! So I had Bryan arrange for a car and car seat to be left for her, and I called Gateway to let them know. I called Leslie on the way to the hospital, left her a message. I will forewarn all: the reception is horrible at the hospital....basically NONE AT ALL!!! I checked in and an IV drip administered. After my quick review, I was dehydrated, 1-2cm's and 80% effaced...OMG!!! That's a big change from where I was last Friday. After 3.5 hours and a shot of terbutaline I was discharged. What an eye opener and lessons learned. Bryan was amazing. not only did he grab my bag and camera, but he even laid out clothes for Braxton to wear the next day as well as jammies for the night and even found a soup from his toddler years. I was very impressed.

Needless to say I will be taking it extremely easy over the next couple of days and weeks. We would love for this baby to bake for at least another week or two. As much as we are looking forward to meeting you sweet baby - we just aren't ready yet!!

Folly Beach 2009

Well..we got the "all clear" from the doctor this past Friday and made our way down south for the annual Folly Beach trip. This has been an annual trip for our family for 25+ years. It started with my granddaddy and his siblings and their kids, add in our generation and now we have our own generation to add in. I LOVE IT! It was so good to see everyone. Here's the skinny: 12 adults, 1 teenager and 6 kids 5 and under...needless to say, quiet is not something we experienced very often. It was great to get all the kids together. Funny how some of them only get to connect once a year, but it's like they see each other every day. We had a great beach day and played hard, enjoyed a nice walk hand in hand with Bryan while Braxton ran hard. Braxton and daddy raced and learned how to rock throw! We even got stopped on a few occasions to let us know how handsome our boy was!! We enjoyed one day downtown at the aquarium and lunch out. Papa, Gigi, Uncle Ryan and Uncle Blake came out too. It was awesome seeing everyone. I even connected with girlfriends that I have known for 22 and 26 years and haven't seen in years.

Unfortunately we had to cut the trip short a little due to not feeling too well. Actually I was having a tingly sharp sensation on the verge of cramping that just didn't feel right. At this point in the pregnancy it's the idea of the unknown that is very scary to me, especially in another state where my doctor's aren't. Don't get me wrong, my entire family would have been thrilled if we had the baby in Charleston, and I am sure there are very capable ob's that could deliver this bambino, but I would much rather have it here in Wilmington. My fear was that I was going to have to find a hospital in Georgetown or Myrtle Beach. Fortunately we made it home safe and sound. The disappointing part was I had family pictures set up for us at the beach yesterday am and we had to leave before the pics were taken. I was bummed! Hopefully we can get a few shots before baby C makes the big debut!


Here's to another fun trip at Folly!