Whatever it takes...

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!