Back 2 Work

I have been off work for 4 months now!  I was taken off starting November 1st because of preterm contractions.  Now, 4 months later, today is the day I have to go back to work!  It is a very bitter sweet thing for me!  I am not ready to leave my baby boy but I know I have to...for a few hours at a time anyway!  If you know me, you know that all I did before I had my knight in shining armor was work!   So when I got taken off work I had no idea what to do with myself.  I was told to take it easy.  Well this girl isn't good at taking it easy.  Laying on the couch all day is NOT my forte!  So my mom was there for me once again!  Every day that she had off I was with her!  She has always been there for me but this particular situation is something I am very grateful for!  If you have ever been pregnant staying home by yourself, you know what I mean when I say things can get pretty depressing!  Your'e bored, lonely, fat, miserable,  swollen and just plain ready to have a baby!  My mom was there for me like a champ during this time!  She took me out shopping, to lunch, and kept me company like none other!  She made me laugh and helped me keep my head up during a long 3 months of "taking it easy." She took me to all of my weekly doctors appointments for 3 months straight.  And she reminded me numerous times of how worth it this was all going to be!  She couldn't have been more right!  So here's to my mom who is always there for me and everyone else in my family.  She will do anything for her family and I respect her more and more everyday.  Thanks mom for keeping me sane and happy during those last few months!!  Your'e a true best friend!!!!!

Here is Memaw with her newest grandbaby--the prize at the end of the road!  Her giving doesn't end here!  Now, as I go back to work, she is going to use her days off to watch my boy while I go to work!  I'm telling you, she is a gem!  There can't be many around like her!  Talk about putting others first!  She has shown me how I need to be for my family--give, give, give.  Family is all you really need at the end of the day!  They are your flesh and blood and you should always be sure to let them know that they are loved!  Love you MOM!!!

Logan is 7 Years Old Today!!

I can now say, being an aunt is forsure the next best thing to being a mommy!  On March 3, 2004 I became Aunt JenJen!  He was perfect!  I stormed through that hospital door as soon as I heard his cry and all I could do was look at him with such gratefulness!  This is one day I will NEVER forget and God has blessed our family many times since then!!  Meet Logan Kevin Carpenter!  He's 7 years old today and I swear it was just yesterday that we were blessed with the presence of this adorable, crazy, fun, hilarious, and most loving little guy!

He has been my bestest buddy since day one!  Talk about a loyal little guy!  We snuggled when he was small, and when he began to walk and run I chased him around as he giggled in his little baby laugh.  Now he's a first grader and I can't help but smile from ear to ear every time I look into those big brown eyes!!  He can be a little stinker but he's our stinker and we love him ever so much!!
Here is the handsome little man now:

Happy Birthday Logie!  JenJen loves you more than you'll ever comprehend!! :)  I hope you have the best of days today!  I can't wait to see you tonight!

Road Trip

This weekend we packed our little man up and headed cross country!  Our destination: Tiffin, Ohio to see Blake's family on daddy's side!  Great Grandma, Great Grandpa, Aunt Mary, Aunt Carla, and Aleah had already met Blake the week he was born.  But there were others he hadn't met yet!  Of course he slept the whole way there and the whole way home because he is the best baby ever!  Here is our large and amazingly loving family from Tiffin!!  They are a crazy, fun, LOUD, Italian, group of people and we love them ever so much!

Here are some of the photos from our night in tiffin!!  Also, our first night away from home! 

Grandma and Great-Grandma telling Blake how beautiful he is!

Blake sat on the middle of the table...this way everyone could look at him!  He was completely content being the center of attention!  Plus he was getting used to the LOUD LOUD Italian voices!  Anyone who has been sitting in that kitchen knows what I am talking about!  If you want to be heard...you must have a good set of lungs! haha

And it seems as though we either wore him out or we were too boring for him...noise must not bother him too much!!

-I feel very blessed for inheriting this crazy, fun, family!  They are so good to Matt and I!  We look forward to seeing them every holiday and sometimes in between.  It's so nice to go there and relax, just sit at the kitchen table and yell over each other, play games, and chit chat while doing what we all love to do...eat!!  I swear we shouldn't need to eat for a good three days after coming home! 
We love you tiffin family!!

A day with LILY RAE

Blake has a beautiful big cousin named Lily Rae'

We went to Memaw's on Thursday to spend the day with Memaw and Lily!  Miss Lily decided she was going to "play" with Mr. B.  She didn't mind that he just layed there...she was going to play anyway! 

Check out that amazing grin she has!  I can't help but just smile when I look at this!  We continued to let her "Play" with him!  She brought down every doll and blanket she could find.  She continued to not care that all he did was lay there!  She was just happy that she got to spend the day with her cousin Blakey!  Her finished product looked like this:

Lily is so proud of her new little cousin!  She is always talking about him and won't say his name without saying "My Cousin" before "Blake."  She was the youngest for 2 years and she is getting used to the idea of being a big girl now!  However, she will always be our little princess!!  It seems like just yesterday we waited at the Toledo Hospital for 14 hours for her to be born!  We were so excited to see her by the time she finally arrived!  She was such a beautiful little baby and she has done nothing but get more and more beautiful as the time flies by!  It is unreal how time flies!  JenJen loves you baby girl! :)

Who Do I Look Like?

So far we have not quite figured out who Blake looks like!  Everyone says something different!  Mommy thinks Blake has his daddy's eyes and nose and his mommy's chin...what do you think?

Mommy's baby picture:

Daddy's baby picture

Hmm...maybe our little man is just the perfect mix?!

Something New

I have decided to try my hand in doing a blog!  With the birth of our little boy I think it will be cool to look back on the memories of his first year and there after!  So here's to something new...I am going to do my best at keeping this updated!  Thanks for following as I share memories of our lives as a happy and new family of 3!!

From the beginning of Blake's life:

This was absolutely the best day of our lives!  We became the parents to the most beautiful and perfect little boy.  God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams and we are in complete aw of such a creation!

Blake Matthew
January 22, 2011 at 5:34 am

6 lbs 14 oz 20 Inches

From the first time I layed my eyes on him, it was love at first sight.  He was perfect in every way.  There are no words in my vocabulary that I could use to describe this moment.  It is a feeling that I could only wish every woman and man could experience.