Whatever it takes...

So the other day, I went across the street to Duncan Donuts. I knew that my father and my uncle would be excited if I brought home donuts, so I ordered 1 dozen assorted doughnuts. To my surprise, they didn't ask me what type of donuts I wanted, so I was certain that when I pulled to the window they would ask me which types I wanted. However, upon pulling up to the window, I was met with a box of donuts. DO you know that they don't let you pick out which donuts you want!!!! Isn't that RIDICULOUS!... anyway. This blog seems pretty pointless... I'll blog important stuff later.

J

Well, I am home (in Raleigh) for a week to show of our girls and spend time with Grammy and Poppa while trying to get into the swing of being a mother of 2! The last couple nights have been great, Brae has only gotten up 2 times and Pressley has been sleeping late so I am loving that! I remember when Pressley was first born everyone said to "Sleep when she sleeps" and now I was curious, how do you do that with 2! I guess that means we've gotta get them on the same schedule... right now, that doesn't seem to be too tough considering Brae sleeps 18 hours our of the day... and I would ask all ya'll out ther for advice... but the majority of my readers only have 1 baby! ... Brae is crying and Pressley needs to get up from her nap... so I better go, but if anyone has any advice... I'm all ears!

Sheesh! The past 2 weeks have been a pure whirlwind! Everything seems to be a big blur... not sure if it is the lack of sleep or all the excitement that is causing this... :)
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of all the things that make holidays special. Time with family... great food... more great food... movies... desserts... laughing... relaxing... napping... football! Chance got to meet his baby sister so it was extra special... and I got my Christmas present early of having professional family pictures done... it couldn't have been better!

One proud daddy...

One excited big brother

A little angel...

and someone about to get into BIG trouble. HA

The other night, while trying to breath through some pretty painful and uneventful contractions, I remembered something I learned in my child birth classes last year... taking yourself to a relaxing place... in your mind... or as my brother Joel calls it, your happy place...

I thought it would be neat and fun to go find some pictures of things that make me happy... some of the images may seem stupid to you, but each one of these things brings joy to my heart. There are many more things, like my husband and my little girl... those are my true happy places... but I will have him there with me so I won't need to imagine him... plus he is pretty much responsible for the "pain" that I'm enduring!!!   :)

Here's how last night went... I finally fall asleep around 9:30ish... at 12:00 am, the stupid beagle's are back barking up a storm... finally fall back asleep 45 minutes later... from 3:00 - 5:00 I had contractions every 12-15 minutes apart... I finally get up, and they stop. ugh. I am over this pregnancy... It dawned on me on my way to work, the first trimester of this pregnancy was such a nightmare compared to my Pregnancy with Pressley, so why wouldn't the 3rd Trimester be any different?  My luck, I'll be having these contractions for another 4 weeks... Oh and who ever posted on my poll that I will make it to 40 weeks... you're dead meat! :)

Well, I am 3 cm dialated! WOO HOO!!! YAY!  YIPPEE!! and she has dropped just a tiny bit... nothing to write home about... still 50% effaced... The contractions are more sharp but are still irregular... :-/  

During my pregnancy with Pressley, God brought someone very special into my life by way of my job.  A very nice couple was almost done with their home being built, but I got to get to know them through the last phases of construction.  While carrying Pressley, this lady's daughter in law was expecting their first also;  a girl, named Avery. So naturally, we always had a lot to talk about, me being pregnant with a little girl, and her, expecting her first grandchild!  We struck up a friendship before meeting each other, so by the time we got to meet each other for the first time, it felt like we'd known each other for ages!  To make a long story short, she made Pressley a beautiful blanket that she totes around the house... she just LOVES it! Well, today, she brought in one for Braelyn... Here is what it looks like... so snuggly and girly!  I know Braelyn will love it as much as Pressley loves hers...

  

So today, I will hopefully come home to a "care package" sitting on my front porch from my mother.  I don't know everything that is in this little package but I do know that each thing that is in it was thought out by someone very special to me... Is it the fact that I am getting a box filled with neat little things just for me that makes me so excited, or the fact that my mother loves me enough to think of me to put together a box full of things that she knows I will enjoy... it probably is a little of both... but I am so thankful to have a mother so wonderful!  I am quite lucky!  

On Saturday, our good friends, Maggie & Chris threw us a baby shower!  We sat on the front lawn  enjoying a perfect fall day, the weather was just perfect! Maggie served up some wonderful food, and some delicious apple cider!  We were surrounded by several of our close friends & family from the area, which made a perfect day even better!  

okay, so I am 37 weeks now... I went to the Dr. on Wednesday and no progressions have been made... I am still having lots of painful Braxton Hicks contractions and having to breath through them. Dustin likes to call them "practice contractions"... I'm over them and ready for the real thing!  I have got 60% of my "nesting" done so far... but we've got a few more things left to do at home before I will feel great about leaving for the hospital.  I finished Braelyn's name and hung it with pretty lavender ribbon above her bassinet.  It is just beautiful... her bassinet is something beautiful too!  Mom and Dad bought it for us, it fit for a princess, very frilly, and I also added a run of lavender ribbon with a beautiful bow at the front to make it just perfect... I'll put pics up so that you're able to see what I'm talking about.  I have Prissy's bags packed for her short stay with Ms Jane... cabinets are packed of things that she will need while we're at the hospital... I've even made a little booklet of everything Mom and Dad will need to know while watching her!  I am short a few things in our hospital bag, but for the most part I've got that all done and packed... 

This post will be a continuos post... I don't have the time at the moment, but I at least wanted to share this cute video with you...

Lots of cute photo's to come.

Love-
J

Its getting cold here... it would be wonderful to fit into one of my nice cozy winter coats... but that is just unrealistic right now. A friend of mine told me to just wear one of Dustin's coats... so finally, after freezing in the snow & wind yesterday, I gave in... I would take a nice little photo of my get up but... you might crack a rib laughing at me... so I won't do that! :)

But yes, it did snow here yesterday!

SEE!



Isn't that just so fun! It didn't stick at all, and by mid afternoon there were no signs of winter... just cold wind!

On another note, We've got our registry online... somewhat... We are registered at Babies R Us... but there was quite a few other things that I wanted to register for that weren't available at "BRUS" so I found this cool web site and begun our online registry!

Check it out here

Today I had my 35 weeks and 5 days appt... :) Technically, 36 weeks... I don't remember how much I weighed... :-/ but I will tell you that I am progressing quicker than with Prissy...

During this week, LAST PREGNANCY, I showed no dilation and 10% effaced. This week, THIS PREGNANCY (obviously) I am 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. :) WOO HOO! Dr. Pestoff did say that Braelyn is still way up there and has really yet to drop... and that alot of 2nd time mothers drop later than they do with the first child... her exact words... she may just slip right on out... I thought, great! with a 55 minute drive to the hospital... she better not be just slipping right out! HA!

Here is how big I am....




Here is a pic of how big I was this time with Miss Priss...




:) Fun stuff!

WOW, no blogging on my end for a while... tisk tisk... yes I know.

Lets start at the very beginning... a very good place to start... when you read you being with ABC, when you sing you begin with Do-Re-Me... : )


Okay, enough Sound of Music.

Last post was October 13th... What has happened since then? (Checking my calender) 8-/ Wow-- two weeks since a post... sorry folks!

Well, First, we decided that Couper was house trained enough to start spending the nights outside of his kennel... So we bought him a dog bed... Poor Couper, Prissy would barely let him get in it!




Pressley got a hold of my scarf... she thought she was something else, walking around the house in her jammies and scarf... She's such a diva.





This past weekend, we decided to get out of the house for a family trip through Pisgah and around the Blue Ridge Parkway... We had SO much fun! Dustin and I hadn't done anything like that before, and so it was a neat memory for us! We drove through Etowah, and ate at this YUMMY place called Ed Bordeaux Bayou BBQ... it was delish! Luckily, they have one in Asheville so we will be back! Driving through Pisgah National Forest was really neat too... the trees were beautiful, and the waterfalls were stunning! WOW! We hit the Blue Ridge Parkway and got out to stretch our legs and boy were the Lady Bugs out... It must have been mating season for them or something.... Heres a sweet pic




As you can tell, Prissy enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the car...



Finally, we stopped off at Babies R Us to go potty, change diapers and look around at any new and exciting baby product! We firmed up our stroller purchase too!

Here is a quick little slideshow for the last year of our daughters birth to her first birthday!



p.s. one of our customers just brought me brownies! YUM!

This morning, Pressley got up a little earlier than normal for a weekend morning... 6:30 a.m. (we've not got up that early on a weekend in a LONG time) Yesterday she slept till almost 9:00 a.m. which was quite nice for us too! But I guess I'm being a little "nostalgic"--- is that the word??? The last year has really flown by... we had a brand new baby this time last year, one that had these tiny cries, and who's diapers were the size of half a piece of bread... who loved to be swaddled tightly and sleep all day long! She has changed so much this first year, looking at her now, sitting in her high-chair eating her dry cheerios it almost makes me want to cry (no, its not the hormonal pregnancy tears... but true tears) Since I am at home, and we only have dial up I can't do it, but I'll add a little slide show of her month by month so you can look back with us and enjoy all her changes too! I didn't fill any one in her first year doctors appointment either! We met with her Dr. last Monday... she wasn't quite sure about him at first but found his pager and cell phone and thought he was pretty cool after that! She is in the 98% for her height. As far as weight goes she was more around the 75%... He told us we could start her on milk... so we tried this week... and her poor little tummy didn't like it at all... I am going to have to call because I am worried that she has a milk allergy like most of us do in this family... He also said that it looks like her molars seem to be about ready to start cutting through. Woopie!

That was about it before the nurse swooped into give her the shots.. :-/ No good! She didn't mind the finger prick, but the three shots she got didn't go so well... poor things!

That's all from here, I'm sure I'll post more through out the week... but as for now. TTYL BFF's! :)

Dustin and I have had this little motto for a while, and its been on the blog, but I've never really expanded on it. "Whatever it takes"... Having been married only a short time, and having a little one too, life is tough! I know, I know--- Everyone's life is tough in its own way, or it could always be alot tougher than it is now. But over the last few weeks, Dustin and I have been trying to focus only on positive things... removing the negative...

wow, where am I going with this? I started out talking about doing "whatever it takes" then jumped to being positive. : )
Maybe I'm supposed to write about both...

Whatever it takes-- so as I said before, Dustin and I started saying this when we were both so tired and didn't have any more to put into doing something... but finishing what we were doing was important... or if I didn't want to do something for Dustin... but he needed me to do it, I made the promise to him to do "whatever it takes" and he promised the same to me. We both hope that we can instill this principle into the children... that they can look back on their lives and say that their Mom and Dad loved each other and them so much that they would do whatever it took to make a difference. : ) That is a legacy I'd love to leave...

Onto the next, being positive--- also, another great legacy! With so much bad happening around the world, it can be so easy to get wrapped up in sad things... Its sad that the only thing on the new these days is bad news. It has got to the point where Dustin and I don't even turn the news on in the morning so we can start our day off on a good, happy note! I know that it is important to know what is going on in the world around you--- but really, is it necessary to do a news broadcast of a murder every night of the week... or the fatal crash that killed a family of 5? Yes, people do need to be informed or those things... but to focus so much of your time and attention on it?

For the last couple of days, our water supply has been getting smaller and smaller... did our well run dry, you ask? No-- if it had then the other houses would be effected too... so maybe its the pump... who knows... either way- last night was our first official night with out running water. No dishes or clothes can be washed (yay for not having to do them...), no showers/baths can be given (yuck)... and the list goes on. So what do you do when you want a cup of coffee so bad you'd kill for it? --- run down to the "crick" and boil ya some!?! ---um, no! Luckily, I had a few water bottles filled up in the fridge to get my caffeine fix for the morning... but man is it a bummer when you don't have water... I never realized how much I relied on it! It is huge! Making a bottle is tough with out it... However, I'm sure Couper enjoyed his fresh spring water! Today, before heading back to the sticks, I'll pick up a few gallons at the grocery store!!-- that should work until we get things working again!

Funny story, I had to get ready at the YMCA today--- shower, hair, make-up... the whole nine yards... boy was that an experience! I have never had to get ready in public place before and there are somethings I learned that I thought I would share with you.

1. Don't forget to pack a towel if you're getting a shower away from home. Yeah, that wasn't too enjoyable, realizing I didn't have a towel
2. Wear your blinders while in the ladies dressing room... those old ladies are relentless when it comes to talking in the showering area--- naked. GAG!
3. If you're planning on blow drying your hair--- don't forget your brush!

All in all, it was a fairly un-eventful trip... I never realized how nice it was to take a shower in a big shower stall with lots of hot water and A GREAT DEAL OF WATER PRESSURE! I think I may sneak back tomorrow just for those things! ... but I'll be prepared with my towel & hairbrush, & make sure that I don't look to friendly while walking into the dressing rooms!

Wow, I can't believe that it has been 1 year since we had Pressley! This year has flown by so fast... I never knew how much being a Mother would bless my soul. She is such a wonderful little girl, and each day is heart warming to know that God let us borrow her for this time... and that I am her "Mamma." Both Dustin and I are truly blessed with her... and we can't wait to meet Braelyn.

For Pressley's birthday, we invited several of our friends to Fun Depot--- a huge conglomeration of activities for children... Some people said that she was too young to enjoy something like Fun Depot, but if you were there, you would know she had a blast! I have never seen her so excited! From the yummy pizza (her favorite food) to the wonderful Cake that Jane made to the bright colors of the kiddie rides to the soft play area- everything was just perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better day for our girl! Thank you to all who were able to come out and celebrate the birth of our daughter!

Here are some pictures for those of you who didn't make it!

Thanks for playing little piggies with me... please carry on the tradition with our girls...

Love you-
J

Okay so first off, AT&T is the only phone company in the area... secondly, they are the worst phone service provider ever.

Two weeks ago, our phone line was hit by lightening and didn't work after that, so I contacted them because it is imperative that Dustin have access to a phone at all hours of the night for his job... they told me it would be 1 week before they could get a tech out to repair the line... WHAT THE HECK! 1 WEEK! I was so mad! I told them that if they couldn't get someone to our house before that then they can cancel our service we'd find another means of communications... the lady thanked me and said let me transfer you to customer service where you can cancel your account. OH BOY WAS I GETTING REALLY TICKED OFF! at that point I hung up... called Dustin and tried to vent as much frustration out on him as is humanly possible... So we got our bill... and there are no adjustments for interruption in service... okay so I have to call them... on hold for about 15 minutes to get transferred to repair... only to be told I need to speak to customer service again to get the credit on my account... (um why do I HAVE TO CALL TO GET MY ACCOUNT CREDITED???) either way, I got that handled...Was the money I saved worth the time I spent? not at all...

Then yesterday I begin trying to add a new email account to our work email... hmmm do you think I'm going to have issues? No, you wouldn't think so? It should be simple to add another account... I've done it before... but nope... this time, they've changed the procedure. Does it work? nope! So I try to do an online chat with a representative... but its not any type of chat system... I have to download a application... do you think they offer that application in mac version? Nope, so onto my next option... email... I email them the issue I'm having... do they get back to me? Nope... (my blood is boiling now) so I call them... on hold for 15 minutes again, switched all over the place... back and forth... FINALLY get tech support on the line and guess what... THEY CANT HEAR ME! Well, the thing with that is, our office phones are AT&T too, so they are the ones responsible for that issue... shocker... so I have to hang up with that tech rep... needless to say I am beyond frustrated with this stupid AT&T.

Today I finally made it to my appointment, with the gas shortages, Dustin and I decided that we should just hold off until Henderson County had replenished the fuel situation! :-/ So Braelyn is growing perfectly, she is head down already... which is good... : ) I'd say only about 6 or so more weeks to go!

Here are a few cute pictures I took over the last week... enjoy!

Prissy's convo with her daddy! :)

Hmmm... well I am not too sure if this is my way of nesting this pregnancy or what... but instead of organizing the house, I have been in quite a bit of a crafty mood... Apple Butter, Hair Bow making... what else! I think I'd like to try my hand at cooking... I found this cook website The Pioneer Woman that has a ton of neat stuff on it! Recipes that look so scrumptious... they've got my mouth watering... the only problem is, I'm not too good in the kitchen! HA! For the last few weeks I have been craving a chocolate pound cake... yesterday it transitioned into a chocolate cheese cake... now its both... a bite of one... then a bite of the other.. oh dear! Here goes that 3rd trimester extra weight gain again if I'm not careful!

I am curious as to what my weight is now (we don't have a scale at home...) I feel like I'm not as massive as I was last pregnancy (this time) and that for 30 weeks, I'm kicking butt in the looking like a whale arena... but we will see! I have a Doctors appointment today-- so maybe if I've not gained too much, I'll treat myself to a WHOLE CHOCOLATE POUND CHEESE CAKE! :) or maybe a pound of chocolate cheese cake...haha!

On a more serious note, Dustin and I have been trying to eat healthIER... for the last 2 weeks I've been eating, brown rice, steamed veggies & baked chicken for lunch... and snacking on boiled egg whites through out the day... I've not had a problem with it until today, I'm eating as I type but my tummy is telling me that it is still hungry... is it my metabolism speeding up? hmmm? Who knows... either way I've been trying my hardest to eat better than I did while I was preggers with Miss Priss...

well, here it is the first day of fall! What more beautiful weather than this! I think it dropped into the 40's last night, and was crisp and cool this morning. I just love it. I'm trying to make our house smell like you're stepping into Martha Stewart's house... or at least how I think hers would smell... pumpkin-y or maybe apples and spices? either way, both of those smells are just scrumptious! I bought some potpourri this weekend and dumped it in a nice jar... but its not potent enough... should I buy more??? Idk! I just want that wonderful fall smell in our house! :)

If I can find the time, I'd like to get some pictures done of Prissy... I will probably do them myself, in the front pasture... it is so pretty and green right now... I bet I could get some good shots... I'll keep you filled in on that and hopefully I'll have a few priceless shots to show ya!

Pressley learned how to blow kisses this weekend! She is just a pure doll when she does it! Her little kiss sound is adorable too!
She also learned how to play peek-a-boo; but hasn't gotten that one down pat yet... She covers one eye up and 1 cheek up... its too cute!

Brae is kicking up a storm these days... Sleeping is still hard... my hips have begun to fall asleep w/i a hour or 2 of falling asleep... what joy! We are 30 weeks now, wow... where did the time go! If I go into labor the same time I did with Pressley-- then I've got about 8 more weeks... shew! We can't wait to see her!

Another exciting thing about fall-- ALL THE TV SHOWS COME BACK ON!

here's how my evenings will go:
Sunday- Desperate Housewives
Monday - Samantha Who
Wednesday- LOST & Private Practice
Thursday - Greys Anatomy

WOOO HOO! I CANT WAIT! :)

Well, once again, I've been hit by the country bug--- I was given a huge amount of apples the other day and was told- Go make apple butter. So, I got the recipe, peeled the apples, cored them and put them in the crock pot to cook over night. I didn't know how much I would actually enjoy doing it, but I really did! The smell of cinnamon, cloves, sugar and apples cooking in your house always make for a welcoming scent! Plus with the weather being a little chilly and rainy, it has made the house very cozy! Last night, I started my second batch of apple butter, and so far it has turned out better than the first batch. Man is it Good!

Another sweet thing I have at my house is our sweet little girl! She is such a dear! Last night, we were playing in the floor and Pressley walked over and grabbed a book out of her toy box, brought it back to me and sat in my lap. It was so sweet to see that she just wanted to spend some quiet time reading with her Mommy! I don't think I'll ever forget that moment as long as I live.

I had my follow up appointment yesterday for my Gluecose tolerance test- all was great!

Pressley's little birthday outfit came in yesterday! IT IS SO CUTE! I can't wait for her to put it on so I can get some pictures!
I'm still needing to find a couple more things to make the whole outfit complete:
1. A hot pink undershirt
2. Hot pink bloomers
3. Shoes

I think I've decided to get her 1 year professional pictures done in this outfit, it is just too stinkin cute not to document!

:)

Today was the always enjoyable Gluecose tolerance test... :/

Last year, during my pregnancy with Pressley I took the test and chose the "orange" drink to try... This year, I chose the "Fruit Punch" one. They were both nasty! I will go back tomorrow to get those test results and get my RhoGAM shot.

Braeyln's bassinet came in today! We will have to put it all together now, get her name painted and hung, move furniture out of the house and into the storage building and get the house ready for baby girl #2! Dustin and I talked and talked about middle names... if you've been reading, we were trying to decide between Braelyn NOEL Chapman and Braelyn CHASTAIN Chapman. I LOVED NOEL & didn't care for Chastain too much... but we've come up with another name. This WILL BE our "sweet baby brae's" middle name. MAE. Braelyn Mae Chapman. Both of our Paternal Grandmothers middle names are/were May (Mae)... and I love that name... as does Dustin! SO WE MADE A DECISION! WOOHOOO!

Hope all of you are doing well out there in cyber world! Thanks for reading our blog and caring about our little family!

These are thoughts that either Dustin and I have had sometime in the past 11 months.

Here are some thoughts over the last 11 months that Dustin or I have had. (I hope they make sense!)

10. (Jessica) It felt so good to sleep on my tummy last night. (the day after Pressley was born)
9. (Dustin) I can’t wait till we can talk about our day together.
8. (Jessica) Yay for buying everything PINK!
7. (Dustin) We must remember to remove her hairbow from her head when in the car or else she will devour it.
6. (Dustin) Do you think she’ll ever grow out of making that funny swallowing noise when she eats? (she sounds like a turtle does when eating)
5. (Jessica) She has to have a new dress for every holiday EVERY YEAR.
4.
3. (Dustin) Jessica—do you know how blessed we are to have such a sweet & cute little girl... I mean just a cute little girl... :)
2. (Jessica) Now I know how much my mother and Father love me. Wow
1. (Dustin) I think its pretty cool to be in love with 2 women at the same time and neither one cares!

okay, the majority of this video is of me "blub-blubbing" but Pressley is very good at it actually! Heres a sneak peak into her skills...

This day has been LONG awaited!

Pressley took her first steps on Saturday, she was going after a Book that I had and stood up and took off toward me! The first steps were ofcourse, a little shakey, but she did it! Dustin and I were so excited that our little girl is getting so Big!

Another thing she learned this weekend was how to climb up onto the ottoman and then onto the loveseat or couch, it was so funny to watch her do it, once she accomplished climbing up, she'd throw her head back and just lay back and relax while watching T.V. I couldn't help but laugh. She's getting so big!

We transitioned over into the convertible car seat this weekend, Pressley is so cute, looking out the window while we're in the car! She loves her new car seat! (And so does mommy, isn't it the cutest thing ever) Dustin and I really enjoy looking in our rear-view mirror and seeing her huge smile and look of wonder and awe in her eyes! She's such a doll!

Lately, Pressley has been getting into alot of stuff! I've been looking at her and telling her "NO-NO" well yesterday, as she was trying to get into the dogs water bowl for the 10th time, I walked over and picked her up and said, "Pressley, NO NO!" and she looked at me and said, "no no no" in this cute little baby girl voice. It was priceless. On that note, Dustin and I were talking about Pressley's communication skills this morning. Here's what he had to say about a convo they had just this morning after Brehpass (Breakfast).

This am when she was done with her bottle.
she threw it at me and stretched back out and just sat there.
I was like.. Prissy? she went.. growwwwWWWWLLLLLL
I love it when she growls at me. She's is the best little girl I could ever hope to have.

I thought this story was too cute not to share, and I'm sure if Dustin had the time, he would have posted it himself! :)

FYI- We're at 25 weeks, so only 11 more weeks till I'm full term! Wow this has flown by! I'm still wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans, but today when I put them on I did have a little trouble buttoning them up. :-/

My belly finally popped out this week, here's a quick pic!



Dustin and I decided that this baby name game is gonna have to be on hold till we see Braelyn, so we will decide when we see her what her middle name will be, Noel or Chastain... just a couple more months.

**The above picture is not my corn, nor my kitchen... but I thought it went well with the jist of the blog**

hmm so I got a little carried away apparently... I shucked, cleaned, creamed & put up about 24 ears of corn yesterday. I had such a fun time doing it too! Had I had the camera, I would have done some artistic pictures! But, its still in Dustin's truck!

Jane, the lady that watches Pressley had a "creamer" which made the creaming process a whole lot easier! I thought it would make a more than I ended up with but, it should cover us for about 4 meals of corn. I sampled it before putting it up and I thought it was just delish! :)

Preface: When deciding on baby names Dustin has always loved the name Chastain. Me-- ehhh-- well, its not my top pick. So I've always said no.

SO- NEW NEWS! Dustin & I are changing Braelyn's middle name. This whole family tree thing has been effecting us since we started & not in a bad way... but really just making an impact on us. Back in the Chapman History--- his GGGGrandfather married a Jane Chastain Adams. So Braelyns name will be changed to Braelyn Chastain Chapman.

BTW- She is a lot more active than Prissy ever thought about being! :) I love feeling her move, Dustin finally felt her move so we are both enjoying her now!

Right now, we are almost 24 weeks pregnant. wow- only 4 more weeks till our 3rd trimester. WOW. :)

I've got pictures from this past weekend that I will upload on here as soon as I get the camera out of Dustin's truck before he leaves for work... On Sunday, Dustin, Pressley and I packed it up and headed for Liberty, South Carolina. The drive down SC HWY 11 was breathtaking and Table Rock Mountain was beautiful too, but meeting his Grandfather (Tubby's) Family was the most wonderful of all. Liberty, S.C. is a small little town that looks like something out of a old story book. Dustin & I pulled into his Great Aunt Nora's house right before his Great Uncle Ray got there! (Since we've been doing family research, we found out that he's got some family still alive that would know about his family history... and boy did they!) Both Nora & Ray were such sweet people. They told us stories of Tubby when he was young, and of their father. Nora got out a couple photo albums and we were shocked to find pictures of Dustin's father as a child. Dustin was floored by emotion, it was very important to find this lost information on his father & grandfather! Nora, gave Dustin some pictures of Tubby and offered some others but Dustin wanted to come back and make copies of them so he wouldn't take something special to her. Nora also had a book called "The Chapman Family" and gave Dustin a copy of that too! He was so excited! We learned that several of the Chapman's were buried in Liberty or somewhere in Pickens County. So after leaving Nora's house, we headed out to find the grave of a Confederate Soldier who was also his Great, Great, Great Grandfather, George Chapman. Like I said, we've got pictures, so I will get them on here as soon as I can.

On Wednesday, I decided to make Baked Ziti, and let Pressley begin trying new foods! She LOVED the ziti and loved to smash it into her tray and smear it all over everywhere! After eating, straigt to the tub we went!





She is now at the stage where she LOVES tub time. She is intrigued by water and can't seem to ever figure out the water faucet and why she keeps getting splashed when trying to grab the stream of water coming from it! Endless moments of pure joy!

Let me start with a short preface:

We live on Rock Creek Rd. Rock Creek Rd is a road where several cattle farmers keep their cattle. With in maybe half a mile, there are 4 cow pastures full of cows.


When Dustin and I first moved to Green River we would always see cows out of their fence. Sometimes they'd be full grown, sometimes yearlings and sometimes they'd be a new calf. Either way, we'd do our best to herd them up and get them back into the pin that we thought they were from... It was a daily chore, rounding the cattle up... if only we had a cattle dod that would do the work for us... nah- that wouldn't be as entertaining as chasing a cow around an empty field in your truck... :) On one accasion we had a few cows in our front yard so I decided to hop onto the 4 wheeler and round em' up and get them back where they belong! Not such a good idea... after several attempts at herding them to the lower pasture, the farmer came by and with a quickness (and a few laughs) rounded them up with in a matter of seconds. :) I still blush thinking about it--- I can hear him now, "you know that city girl that lives up yonder..." LOL

Well- to my point- last night, right before 8:00 p.m. I had a knock at our door. Now, if you've ever been to my house, people don't just drive up our driveway or come looking for something this deep into the mountians. So I found it a little suspicious. I cracked the door open and found a lady standing outside my door wearing a suit. She immediately told me that she was driving through and there were a bunch of cows out and wanted to let someone know so they could take care of it. I laughed and told her my little stories. She ended up being from the local cemetery, selling burial plots. I should have told her if she wasn't careful, she might be needing a burial plot. You don't drive into the deep mountians and stop by people's houses that late in the evening. But I didn't. I told her we were going to be creamated and our ashes scattered at sea. :)

... now to proof read my little story and make sure it make sense!

I didn't know what I was getting into when I started... honest! Doing geneology is so addicting! Dustin is very very very much into the "Chapman" name... and all the history behind it, but has been unable to find anything as far as info goes from his family because his father and his grandfather have both passed away. But, DUH, in this modern world.... everything is online! :)

I found this neat site www.Geni.com where you can put together all the info. I'm an amature for sure, knowing my sister has my family tree back to the 1500's, but I'm really enjoying this exploration stage of our families!

This weekend was the 30th anniversary of Bele Cher Dustin & I have been in the area for 3 Bele Cher's now, but haven't made it to one until this year! Well, it was an interesting time. Anytime we go to Asheville there are always someone we do a double or triple take at... but this weekend, Asheville was FULL OF QUACKS! Between the goths, hippies, homeless and the Gay Pride... our night was full of never ending entertainment. I guess Asheville is a mecca for the Homosexuals and is advertised in San Fransisco and Mass as a city that is welcome to that type of lifestyle... All that being said... we had our extremely religious people with signs shouting that all sinners are condemned to Hell and the Homo's right in front of them shouting their beliefs. To be honest, it was very sickening... I kind of felt like I was in that 1970's movie A Thief in the Night All in All, we took $40.00 out of the ATM, bought 2 limeades, 2 corn dogs, 1 cheese fry and a candy apple... good eating & good times...

hmmm. when should a babies Incisor's start coming in? Our poor baby, She has 3 teeth on bottom and 2.5 teeth on top. Her two bottom teeth came in first... those weren't so bad as far as crankiness goes... then her top left came in.... she became a little more of a hand full... and then her top right has begun to poke through and then all of the sudden her top & bottom incisors came through on the same day! Ouch! I couldn't imagine! I'm glad they have tylenol for infants... and oral gel... because she is in some serious pain!

Pressley stood by herself for about 10 seconds last night. She was holding onto my knees and I moved and left her standing there clapping. It was quite exciting... especially for Daddy--- snoorttt snooorrrt! :) haha!

Braelyn has been so active. I honestly don't remember if Pressley was this active at this point in my pregnancy with her. I know she was our tiny dancer during my 3rd trimester but for some reason I don't think I could feel her this much around 22 weeks... I just can't honestly say. Either way- Brae is a big mover!

So, living 4 hours away from your family is tough. Each day, I sort-of dread the lul of lunch time at work. Mostly, my boss and I go grab lunch... or one of the 2 friends I have in town go and each lunch... or sometimes, more rarely than any, Dustin & I actually get to eat together. But today... today was a ton of fun! I saw that Oreo commercial where the Daddy & son are about to eat an oreo--- little did you know that they are eating it via webcam... So I got the idea Justin & I could have lunch together... via WEBCAM! We both went and got our lunches, came back... logged onto Skype and sat and talked and had lunch! It was quite fun and hopefully we can do it more often!

...It is finished! :) Maggie & Chris' baby shower turned out well! Everything was perfect (to me) and I enjoyed spending time with mom getting ready for the shower!
Here are some pictures of the shower...