A Tropical Christmas!!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas as we celebrated another year of Christ's birth. This year our little family traveled across the gulf to Belize. We spend one year with my family, one year with Ben's family and one year at our house. This has been seen we were married and it has worked out well. My parents were so happy to have us there with them.

Here are some highlights from our trip:

Going and coming, the flights were uneventful (thank God). We weren't sure how Eden was going to do with the flights and layover but she did great. I'm so proud of her.

All except for two days we went somewhere: San Ignacio, Melchor (Guatemala), Placencia, and Belize City. Yes, in one trip Eden visited two countries. It was fun but I had a hard time with the bumpy roads and speed bumps (no - hills). Baby boy is doing great, though. He lets me know very frequently that he's still there.

Christmas day was special: We woke up had a small breakfast, my dad read from the book of Luke about Christ's birth and then we opened gifts. Eden had fun opening presents and ended up with quite a few Elmo things (toy, cd, dvd). We then had Christmas dinner around 1 pm with some family friends. It was a feast. A typical Belizean Christmas dinner consists of Rice and Beans, Turkey, Ham, Gravy, Stuffing, Cranberry, Plantains, Dinner Rolls, and Potatoe Salad. For dessert we had the option of Black Fruit Cake, White Pecan Cake, Irish Christmas Cake, or just plain old white cake. We were stuffed.

That evening we started a Carpenter Family Tradition. From now on, each of our children will put together a box of goodies for a poor Belizean child their age and give them for Christmas. So this year we found a family with a little girl Eden's age and gave her a container with bowls, spoons, toys, blanket, and a little sweater. It was so neat mostly for me and even though Eden had no idea what was going on it will be a treasured memory.

We spent our last day at the beach in Placencia. It was so windy so the water was too cool to swim in but we took a little pool so Eden could play in the water. The weather was so nice.

Eden met her Uncle Sean, Aunt Gayla and cousins for the first time and she had fun. It was great to see them again.

Overall, we had a wonderful time. My parents spoiled us with a suite in the Bed & Breakfast and we enjoyed spending time with them.

It's a Boy!!!

Our 2nd ulatrasound was today and we found out that we're having a healthy baby boy. Hey is only a pound and a half right now but loves to move around. He is perfectly healthy. Eden was so excited to see the baby on the screen. She did so well at the appointment as Ben was able to hold her so she could see. We are so blessed with this wonderful news and can't wait to meet our sweet boy in person. Please pray for continued healthy pregnancy. Ultrasound pictures to come soon. Our due date is April 21.

Snow in New Orleans?

Yes, I'm sure most of you heard about the snow we had last Thursday. Eden and I had just woken up about 7:30 when Ben called to say he was coming home because it was snowing. I peeked out the window and sure enough. Beautiful flakes were falling. I opened the door and Eden said "wow". She was so excited. I bundled her up the best I could considering we don't own the proper clothing for snow, and stepped out. It was beautiful.

Thanksgiving '08

Our little family travelled 8 hours to spend Thanksgiving with Ben's grandparents in South Georgia. This was the first time travelling this far with Eden and she did great. We stopped 3 times each way and had the portable DVD player for her to watch videos incase she got fussy.

It was the first time Ben's grandparents met Eden and they just had a ball. We wish it hadn't rained three out of the four days we were there but we had some much needed rest and family time.

Everytime we get together with Becca, we plan (or Abby plans) for family pictures. She is our personal photographer and she is good at it. We had our Christmas picture taken as well as other candid shots. Here are some:

Time for ourselves!!

Ben and I decided recently that we ought to let Eden spend a week with Ben's parents before we flew to Belize for Christmas. We had several reasons for doing this: Eden would have alone time with her grandparents, we would have time for ourselves for a little, we could focus more on baby #2, and we could get some Christmas shopping done without worrying about Eden's schedule.



They drove here last Friday to spend the night and go to the zoo the next morning. They drove back to Lake Charles taking Eden with them that Saturday evening. It worked out well because Eden had a chance to spend a few hours with them, with momma and daddy nearby, so that the transition wouldn't be hard on her. She's been doing great so far in Lake Charles. She loves their dog Zeke and is still on her sleep schedule. It's funny because several grandmothers in their church are a little jealous that their kids haven't done the same.



We miss our sweet little girl, especially me because I stay home with Eden. I had a doctor's appt. this week so it was nice not having to take her with me. We've also got some shopping done. I guess the one thing that really has been a blessing is that I've been able to spend time in the Word. I've been teaching Grades 1-3 Sunday School and we are studying the book of Matthew. I have been learning a lot myself.



We plan on picking up Eden this coming Sunday in Covington as Ben's parents will be travelling to Georgia. We are looking forward to having our little girl back. You know, it's funny because I just assumed that a lot of parents do this sort of thing but a lot of grandparents that I've spoken with were a little jealous. You moms and dads out there, it is really a great opportunity to spend quality time with your spouse and it is also such a great blessing for the grandparents. If you ever have a chance to do it, I recommend it. Even if it's only a couple days. You will definitely miss your kids but none-the-less worth it.

My little pumpkin!!

Our church had a Trunk or Treat whereby we could decorate our trunks and pass out candy and tracks to kids in the neighborhood. We decided to do a pumpkin patch and Eden our little pumpkin. We all had fun.
She loved all the sweet stuff. Here she's eating a cupcake she won.

Digging for goodies in the corn.
Passing out candy.
Her outfit. Grandmomma gave her the t-shirt ( it says little pumpkin) and Abby made the pumpkin hat.

Random Happenings!

Previous Post

Yes, I am 10 weeks pregnant and sick as a dog. I had an ultrasound yesterday and the baby is healthy. I even have pictures on my fridge already. We are so excited that our little family is growing. Regarding Eden's shirt, I made a couple of them to see if anyone would notice. It was fun when she wore it to church. Anyway, Eden's going tp have a little playmate.

Update

Well, it's been a while but a lot has happened. We've been in Lake Charles with Ben's parents for over a week as a result of Gustav. It was nice to be with them.
We drove back to NO yesterday and staying with some family in Luling (about 10 min from our house). The wind was pretty strong that a huge tree limb fell on our electrical wire, ben the pole and destroyed half of our deck rails. We did not get any damage to the house and we're grateful for that. We have an electrician going to the house today and hopefully the power company can come tomorrow to hook us back up.
Eden has been such a trooper. I can tell she's ready to be back home but she has been such a good baby in the midst of all the drama. Anyway, we are waiting to unpack until we know for sure where Ike is headed.
Thanks for all the prayers. God has been gracious and we're just our little family is together. Ben went back to work today so things are starting to get back to normal..

Father's Day Card

I know Father's Day '08 is long gone but I had to show you the card Eden and I made. I traced her hands with color pencils for the outside and taped a picture of her and Ben on the inside. She had so much fun. I thought it was going to be very difficult but it was actually not bad.

Eden's new accomplishments

One thing Ben and I are discovering about parenthood is that we get so excited to finally have a handle on Eden's new accomplishments only to find out we're back to square one in a few days. She is growing so fast and we are so proud of her.

Bigger hair bow Pulling herself up

Playing peekaboo crawling
standing up

We were so excited when she started to crawl. Now we have to keep a close watch on her. Her favorite thing to go after are Ben's chess pieces. She pulls up on the chess table. We don't really want to drastically re-decorate unless the items are potentially dangerous. We hope consistent discipline will do the trick.

My new favorite baby thing!!

So Eden and I have been sick with a cold since Saturday. It's been rough. Sleepless nights, Puffs tissue overflowing the trash, Nasal aspirator always with me and tylenol. I have to say that this is only the second time Eden's been sick so that's good.

I was at Walmart yesterday and while in the baby section, I saw the following:

It is the Johnson's soothing vapor bath. It is great. It's like a bubble bath. I enjoyed it myself.

Belizean Princess!!

I made this little dress for Eden about a month ago. My mom bought the fabric for me a long time ago in Belize and I've never made anything until now.

Puffs!!

Ben has been sick with the cold for a few days and while I was at the grocery store getting him some medicine and tissue, I discovered Puffs plus lotion with Vicks. They are fabulous!!! I had to go back and get some more boxes to store in the utility closet. It has just the right amount of vicks to clear his nostrils. I have to say it's a definite must-have.

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Pictures of Beach Trip

Gulf Shores '08

Well, we survived our 4 day vacation at Gulf Shores. We had so much fun and Ben tells me constantly how much he enjoyed his first Father's Day. We met up with the Dawsons' at my brother's house so that we didn't have to pay for a condo/hotel. We got there Friday afternoon and spent the rest of the day at the house. We went to the grocery store (so we wouldn't have to go out for every meal) and then cooked dinner at the house.

On Saturday it was looking like it would rain so instead of going to the beach that day, we went to the outlet mall in Foley. We got some great bargains and I was glad to get some stuff for Eden. It rained while we were there but we were able to stay out of it the entire time. After shopping, we had a late lunch/early dinner at Mellow Mushroom. It was yummy. The guys decided to offer to take the girls for a ride while Kristen and I went back to shopping. It was nice to have some time to ourselves for a while. We went back home, played some games, made homeade chocolate ice cream and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Eden had a rough first night. She went to sleep around 7:30 (her usual time) but since she was in our room, she woke up when we were ready for bed. She screamed for about and hour, looking around, not sure where she was. It was rough but then she finally fell asleep and didn't wake up until morning. Wew!!

For Father's Day we went to the beach. On the way there, it was looking a little cloudy and I was starting to get annoyed. However, as we got closer it looked promising. It turned out to be the perfect day at the beach because the clouds covered the sun so it wasn't so hot. There was also a nice breeze. We took our beach umbrella and was able to keep the girls out of the sun. Eden did not like the ocean. I guess it's because of the crashing waves. However, she and Emma played in the baby pool for a long time. That was fun. Ben and I went in the water for a little bit but he was starting to feel jelly fish stinging him. We were at the beach for about 4 hours.

We then went back home to get ready to go take family pics and for a nice dinner for the dads. It was absolutely beautiful that evening. Eden and I made a Father's Day card for Ben. I traced her hands with coloring pencils all over the card. It was fun. I was able to get a picture of her giving it to him (it's kind of blurry).

Monday morning, we cleaned up, did some laundry and played one last game before we all had to leave. It was a very fun trip.

Long Week!!

Last week went by slowly. Ben, Eden and I didn't sleep very well for three days as a major change occured. I am no longer nursing Eden and so we had to switch to bottle. For 2-3 days I wasn't producing and that made Eden very frustrated as expected. She would pound on my chest hoping that milk would come. Therefore, we had to try formula. She did not want it nor did she want to eat baby food. She was just not herself. For those three days and even now I feel like I've lost that special bond we had. Once in a while I get a little sad but then I realize it's probably for the best.

What's funny is that I started producing again but experiencing what an agony it was to wean her, I didn't want to have to go through that again (I know I'll probably have to wean her off the bottle but we'll cross that bridge when we get there). Plus, it's a little bit easier to feed her in public and leave her with a babysitter.

Anyway, she is back to normal now - eating well, sleeping through the night, and happy.

Fresh Bay Scallops

Eden and I met up with my soon to be sister-in-law and her friend at Whole Foods in Uptown to have lunch and shop. Ben and I like to try new things and we love seafood so I bought some Fresh Bay Scallops (among other things). I have to say they are our new favorite fresh shellfish.

I wanted to be able to taste the natural flavor of them so I sauteed them in minced garlic, butter and lemon juice. Oh my goodness they were so good. As a side dish I steamed some asparagus in my bamboo steamer. It was a light but very flavorful meal. They were so tender and small enough that we didn't have to use our knife.

To respond to Crystal's blog, as a part of our healthy living we like to try at least one new vegetable a month and one new seafood/meat every 3 months or so. This way we don't get burned out on eating veges and we acquire an appreciation for many different types of foods.

I'd like to try spaghetti squash next...

Chicco Umbrella Stroller

I am loving my Alaska Red Chicco Umbrella Stroller (say that three times fast). Eden is sitting up well so I can use it now. It can also recline a little, though. Eden and I went to the mall today and it is so lightweight and maneuvers easily. Can't wait to take it to the beach. Thanks Aunt Becca.

Our yard has come a long way!!

When we first moved in our house there were absolutely no plants. It's amazing what a little foliage and color will do. We've enjoyed having our dragon fly friends around.