January 8th

Wow, what a crazy last few days! You got my little blog note on Wed afternoon. I had no idea we were having a baby that night. Around 9pm I started having some "cramps" that just kept getting worse and worse and it took Parks and me about two hours to finally turn the TV off and have a real conversation considering what we needed to get up and do in case this was real. It's a good thing we did... at 1:30 we finally went to the hospital. The "cramps" were clearly contractions by that point and I was in serious pain. I was 7cm when I was admitted and there was some scary talk of delivery before there was time for an epidural. I've never known panic like that and I was thanking God between while biting my pillow in pain when the anesthesiologist arrived. It was extra special because his little doctor hat (not sure what the technical name for those is) was burnt orange with a longhorn on it. I appreciated that and I was sure that you fellow longhorns will too. I am certain LK would have called him "the hook em guy". Anyway, all was well shortly after the epidural. The picture above was clearly after my visit with "the hook em guy". Anyway, we did end up waiting a while before delivery in order to get some penicillin in my system (because I am Group B positive for Strep) and she was born in the morning. So, here she is! Charlotte Elizabeth has been so sweet so far. I think she looks a lot like Lily Kate did but I'm sure she'll change a lot each day.

Charlotte Elizabeth Carpenter

1-8-08

9:43 AM

7lbs. 2 oz.

We're going to meet her by next Friday!

We went to the doctor today and my induction date was set for next Friday, Jan 16th. Unless we get a pleasant surprise we'll meet our little Charlotte in 9 days. Tonight I kept telling Lily Kate, "you're going to meet your sister next Friday!" and she would just laugh and say "Noooo" - the same "Noooo" she says when we ask her if she's a chicken or if we can eat her little thighs for dessert. I'm starting to wonder if she thinks this whole baby coming out thing is nonsense too. We'll see :)

Baby Shower

I can't believe this is the only picture I took at my baby shower this weekend. The table was so pretty (& look at the diaper cake!) that I took a picture when I first got there and then, of course, I had so much fun that I didn't take another the whole time. It was great though, it is always overwhelming to feel so loved and helped at the same time. We are VERY grateful.

I have my 39 wk dr apt on Wed and, because Lily Kate was 8lb 6oz, they say they might let me make an induction appointment right around my due date (1/14) instead of a week later. Mom and Dad will get here on Sat, the 17th, so I'm praying that they'll let me come in and have her the 15th or 16th. We'll see, ultimately God will order the days - not me - and Charlotte will come when she comes. We'll have a baby girl by the end of the month, at least we know that. We'll keep you posted!

Christmas Day 2008

One of the most wonderful things about Lily Kate is how expressive (dramatic) she is. Her facial expressions as she opened presents Christmas morning were so great. She found play dough in her stocking (top right pic) and she said, "Ohhh, wow!" then she put it on the table and looked at it and said, "what that, mommy?". Isn't it funny how her expression says "I've waited all my life for this" yet she didn't even know what it was. She's so sweet. And by the way, it isn't very cold here at all - at least not fleece hat indoors kind of weather. We woke up to Lily Kate calling for "Daddy" yesterday morning and when we went to get her she had her hat on sitting in bed singing "jingie bells" and, of course, she left it on all morning.

Many of you have been asking for more belly shots. Here's one if I've ever seen one! I really wanted to put a caption on here about being careful not to eat too much at Christmas dinner - look what can happen if you get carried away :)

Christmas Eve

We each opened one present on Christmas Eve. Lily Kate opened a puzzle that makes animal sounds when you put the right animal in the right spot. We couldn't get her to look up from the puzzle for a picture - guess she liked it.

Baby Oliver!!

I thought this was fun, the picture below is my friend Stephanie and me on the 20th, just 3 days before the picture above. There is baby Oliver Lanier, he is precious. The next picture in the series will be Oliver and Charlotte laying next to each other. It won't be too long now.

4 More Days Until Christmas!

This has been a really fun year to celebrate Christmas with Lily Kate, I think she understands enough to be pretty excited this year. We saw Santa on Friday and, although she wasn't a big fan of his, she is still very excited about "sowmen" and "baby Jesus" and "Kissma lights" on all the houses. It's bittersweet to be here alone with our little family. The simplicity and peace of not traveling are nice but we will each miss our families. Having Charlotte soon will make the ban on travel worth it soon. Just 3 1/2 more weeks until the due date - which in my case probably means 4 1/2 more weeks until we meet her! I put that bottom picture in for fun, it's from last Christmas. It's fun to see how much Lily Kate's grown.

PS. I'm really going to try to get a video of LK talking to Charlotte soon. She tries to feed her snacks through my belly button. Tonight she put her mouth to my stomach and yelled "Charlotte, I love you" and then gave me some zerberts until I made her stop b/c it tickled too much. She's a funny one.

"Feshial" Dress

We opened our Christmas package from Aunt Becca yesterday and she gave Lily Kate a very fancy Christmas dress. She also had a great idea that we pass the dress to our neice, Lillian, who will be 2 next Christmas, and then pass it back to Charlotte, who will be 2 the following Christmas. Isn't that a fun idea! We spent a lot of time in front of the mirror when we first put it on. Lily Kate called it a "feshial dress" - which it is. She thought the whole photo shoot concept was very weird and kept yelling for me to be in the picture with her. The only time we got a smile on film was when I got in the picture. We also snuck the picture below when she wasn't watching. I think we'll try again in a couple days or, at least, I'll dress up a little to be in the pictures too.

Growing Up

A couple different times lately I have looked at Lily Kate and felt like she is looking much older. It's fun to see her face and catch glimpses of what she'll look like as "big girl" and not just a baby. She is so excited about Charlotte coming. She talks about her all the time and prays for her (as well as for Shady, my parents' dog). I really think she's going to be a caring big sister, she is very helpful and nurturing (at least, with her baby dolls). Charlotte will have no lack of someone telling her what to do - that's for sure :)

The Zoo

While we were in Houston we went to the zoo. Lily Kate had the greatest time. Here she is (above) talking to her favorite animal - who she is still talking about. And there he is (below). I didn't realize how exciting it would be for her to meet one of her favorite characters in person. (Can you say "in person" about a fish?)

Here she is (above) with her Nona brushing a goat at the petting zoo. Yes, we caught her hand just before she reached up to brush her own hair. And here she is (below) riding the carousel with daddy. What a day!

Cousins

How sweet is Lily Kate trying to take care of "baby Scott".

Look at these kiddos, there's a lot of love here!

Jangie Bell

This is not the most exciting video in the world, but we want to experiment with putting more videos on here. A couple days ago LK and I went to a store that had an elaborate Christmas diplay going on and Jingle Bells was playing. Her eyes were huge as she took it all it and in her most dramatic voice she said "OH... I like this song, I like this Jangie Bell" then she went on and on, " I like that ball (ornament), I like that star" but she kept coming back to "I like this song". So, she's been singing it for the past few days, full volume, at the grocery store and wherever else we are. For the record, I think she might have said "spider song" in the video as the other option of what to sing - I'm not sure. Notice she quickly abandoned that one and went back to old Jangie Bell.

A winter swim

We met our friends, the Andersons, at the YWCA and went swimming at their indoor pool. It was so nice to feel weightless. Lily Kate was very excited that she could touch the ground in the 2ft baby end of the pool and also that her voice echoed when she yelled in the pool area. She had fun with both!

Fall at Windy Gap

The fam spent the weekend at Windy Gap. Parks and LK got some quality time together while I did work crew with my YL quest folks. One of our work crew jobs was raking leaves and jumping in the piles and after Lily Kate got past the fact that it was "dirty" she thought it was really fun.

Big girl bed

So, I don't know if this is a permanent thing - and how early she get's out of bed tomorrow morning will probably determine this - but tonight LK is sleeping in her big girl bed. I don't know why it felt like such a big deal to me, but it did. She looked so little in that big bed. She has been asking to sleep there and tonight she was snuggled in the pillows asking so we said sure. She's "pe-tend seeping" in the lower picture for me so I could capture it on film. If you click on the pic you can see her eyes clenched shut :) such a drama queen.

"Trick a Treee"

It's always fun to experience a first - last night Lily Kate had her first trick or treating experience. She loved it. She would yell "trick a treeee" while we walked down the street but when the people would come to their doors sometimes she got stage fright and when we would ask "what do you say?" she would answer "I a sunk" or "thank you". It was great. So, Parks and I are campers, if you couldn't tell, and Kate is the little skunk who joined our party.

Fall Festival

We went to the Fall Festival at our church and Kate was a "sunk". She got a little stage fright in front of people but at home when you ask her what a skunk does she pinches her little nose and yells "P U". I like how the costume makes her face look chunky and baby-like.

Mike's Farm

Family Picture

Comparing size, I have to say I'm glad that the pumpkin is larger

This is Lily Kate with her YaYa (Stephanie). There's a love there that will be fun to watch grow. LK is excited about "YaYa's baby ah-biver" (Oliver) who is due 3 weeks before our Charlotte.

What a fun, happy day

Glee

This picture is from a few months ago, but Parks and I were just talking over dinner tonight about the pure joy that Lily Kate experiences on a daily basis and how much it adds to our lives to get to experience that with her... she's a keeper!

Showing me up...

So, as I left the house today I was struck by the contrast of how cute Lily Kate's outfit was and how schleppy mine was. Come on, look at the ribbon on the bottom of her jeans and her swingy little sweater coat. (both from Nona - thanks Mom!) I, on the other hand, have fallen into a habit of putting on gym clothes in the morning (yes, to go to the actual gym) and then leaving them on all day. I'm having visions of Clinton and Stacy from "What not to wear" telling me I've let myself go.....

Shower

These are from my friend, Stephanie's shower that we had last weekend. Her son and our daughter will be about 3 weeks apart - how fun! I know I'm going to get harassed for not looking pregnant in the pic below. I keep getting asked for a belly shot and I finally put a full body shot on here and the combination of the print on the shirt and the leaning back, yada, yada, yada. I'll take one soon - I promise.

PIZZA

We swung by Slice of Life last night to get some dinner. From Lily Kate's response you would have thought we stopped by the circus. She was so thrilled, she kept yelling out "PIZZA" while they were making our dinner.

"oh my, I LOVE pizza". Really, though this is what she did when I told her to make a silly face. I stuck out my tongue to give her an example and this is her version of being crazy.

Pumpkin patch playgroup

This is Lily Kate with her friend, Crawford. She loves him and he is just as excited about her. What are these two doing, posing for prom?!

This picture above is from story time, deep in thought. In the one below she is collecting "pumpkins" with goodies inside.