Whatever it takes...

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!