The Pumpkin Patch

Every year since Colby's been born we've taken him to the pumpkin patch to pick the very best pumpkins they have to offer.  Usually we wait until the weekend right before Halloween but this year the weather was so nice that we decided to go a little earlier in the year.  We headed out on a very warm Saturday afternoon to Schmidt's where we always go.  We've tried other places and always end up at Schmidt's because the pumpkins there are just the best.  As I said it was very warm, I was holding the baby, Chris was pushing the wheelbarrow so we didn't really get any good pictures.  Makes me kind of sad because I absolutely love the pumpkin patch and the great scenery it makes.  Here are just a few and really they are not good but you get the idea.

So this picture is horrible of Brody, he looks like a 30 lb old man baby in this picture.  I promise he's much much cuter in person.

Cornbelly's

This year over UEA we decided to do some fun stuff around here instead of heading out of town.  On Thursday the boys and I went with Nancy and Kristen, Lizzie, and Aiden to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.  It was a beautiful day and we a had a ton of fun.  I think we will try to make this a tradition because it wasn't too crowded and the kids loved it!  They got to do all kinds of fun things like:

Rope swing...

Ride in a barrel that looks like a cow... 

Pretend to be someone else...

 Roll around and play in corn, lots and lots of corn...

 Ride really cool go carty things...

 Pretend to be a cowboy...

 Take a wagon ride...

 And their favorite thing of all...build a log cabin out of gigantic lincoln logs!!!

What a fun day! 

Brody Is Two Months

Our little munchkin is growing so fast!  I can't believe he's two months old already.  While I love the fact that he loves to smile and talk to us it makes me sad that he's not that tiny little boy anymore.

Last Monday we went for his two month check up and of course dreaded shots and here are his stats:

Head: 15.8 - 35th%
Length:  22.8 - 25th%
Weight:  12.8 - 50th%
(Wow, I just noticed he really likes the .8)

I was actually quite surprised that he is so small in his head circumference and his height.  Both of the other boys have always been over the 50th% in all three stats.  To see that Brody is just the 50th% in weight was also quite shocking because he looks so, how do we say it, umm, FAT!  I guess he's not and is right on target for his age.  I'll contribute his FAT looks to his double and sometimes triple chins.  ;-)  According to his doctor he's a healthy baby!

As far as his temperment let's just say the last month has been somewhat of a challenge for us.  Apparently the poor little guy has really bad stomach and gas problems which causes him to scream uncontrollably at times.  No amount of soothing, cradling, rocking, burping, standing and walking will help him.  I try to go to the gym for one to two hours every night and I've gotten several calls from Chris that I need to get home!  Since we were concerned that something might have been missed in his check ups causing him to be in so much pain I finally took him to the doctor where we got the news that he has: COLIC!  Oh yay for us!  Neither of the boys had anything like this so this is a first for us.  On top of his colic he also has reflux so he's on Prevacid for that.  The doctor was very encouraging that he would proababy start getting over this in the next month or so.  Apparently colic peaks around 8 weeks of age.  So now that he's on the right reflux medicine and we know that this is colic and there is nothing we can really do about it it's been easier to deal with his fits of crying.  Lately it's been really good days mixed in with some not so great moments so I am hopeful he's getting over this.

Trying to keep Brody healthy has also been a struggle for the last month.  Colby had strep and thankfully babies this age do not get strep.  Then Cameron had croup two weeks after that.  Last week poor little Brody got croup as well.  I took him in because of his age and they were able to give him a steroid to help with the swelling around his vocal cords.  He rebounded from that pretty quickly thankfully.  The doctor joked with me that they need a punch card for all the times I've been there in the last month between all three boys.  If I counted right I was there 6 times in 4 weeks!  Not good considering it's not even cold and flu season yet.  I swear my house must be a petri dish of germs.

For the good stuff, he is a very smiley baby and loves to smile at all of us.  He also loves to talk about things.  Of course we can't understand him but he sure talks!  And I love baby talk, coo goo goo!  He's also loves to swing.  The boys are still doing good with him for the most part.  I'm still scared to leave Cameron unattended with him for even a minute because he is fascinated with Brody's eyes and likes to poke them and I have no idea why. But he also loves his baby brother to pieces.  Colby is so good with him, he wants to hold him every chance he gets and is very protective and also a great helper.  It's so good to see how much he's matured and really taken on the role of the big brother.

I have to admit going from two to three kids has been a hard adjustment for me.  Every day we are learning to handle life with 3 kids and every day it's something different.  Every now and then it just seems so surreal that we are now a family of 5!

I hope I don't jinx things by saying for the last three nights he's slept through the night being from around 10:30-11:00 until sometime in the 5:00 am hour.  I sure hope this is a pattern that continues because 6 uninterrupted hours of sleep is heavenly!  Of course the first night he did it and I realized that he'd slept so long I went jumping out of bed to make sure he was breathing.  I guess that's a fear we never get over!

Here are a few pictures I took on the morning of his two month birthday.  I'm not a good photographer but some of them turned out really cute.  Especially the one where Cameron is kissing him, the look on Brody's face in priceless!

Mickey's Halloween Treat

Last weekend we made our annual Mickey's Halloween Treat Party trip to Disneyland.  This year the whole Carpenter family was able to go and we decided that the whole family should dress up instead of just the kids.  It was fun trying to decide what costumes we should all get.  The boys knew right away what they wanted to be:  Cameron was Jack Sparrow and Colby was Black Beard.  They were absolutely adorable!  We just bought a cheap bodysuit for Brody at the Disney Store on a whim and decided to use that for his costume.  It ended up being super cute and we got tons of compliments on it.  Chris really wanted to be Sorcerer Mickey from Fantasia but we couldn't find a costume anywhere for that.  At the last minute he and his mom collaborated and she ended up making a robe for him.  It turned out soooo good, he too got lots of compliments on his costume.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to be a pirate to match the boys or Minnie Mouse to match Chris and Brody.  In the end I decided on Minnie Mouse dressed as a witch.  It was fun.  Jason and Jen dressed as Zombie Hunters, Adam and Erica as Dharma Initiative from Lost, and Nancy dressed as a Witch while Mike was Clint Eastwood.

This year we ended up with 22.2 lbs of candy!  Way more than enough to hand out to all the kiddies that come to our house for Halloween this year.

Since Brody was only 6 weeks old it was his first trip to Disneyland.  He did so good in the car.  Any time he would get upset Colby was there to calm him down and put his binky back in when he needed it.  We figured out that he's not a big fan of the stroller so I had to carry him a lot but that's ok, soon he's going to be too big for me to carry.  

Here we are at the hotel before the party.  Obviously Chris is missing from the picture and I don't have my Minnie ears on yet but you get the idea.

We had a really good time as we always do!  I'm so glad we've made this a family tradition and hope we can continue this for years to come!

Cameron's At It Again!

Cameron is in the bathroom taking care of business and he yells out to me:

"Mom, bring me a book."

Wow, isn't 4 a little too young to start that habit?  I guess it's just bred into the male species.

By the time I got a book and got in there he was already done and told me I was too slow.  Kids, gotta love em!

Just What a Mom Needed

The last few days and nights have been a little rough with Brody.  First, it was his reflux and now it's his stomach mixed with a stuffy nose.  Last night he was up about every hour and a half which made for a very tired mom.  Well, this morning after Chris got out of bed I put Brody in bed with me-on the other side of the bed of course.  Anyway, I woke up this morning and he was starring right at me and as soon as I looked at him he gave me the biggest smile there ever was.  It melted my heart and was just what this very tired mom needed right at that moment.  No matter how bad the nights seem sometimes having a smile like that makes it ALL worth it.  I need to remember to relax and enjoy him because the next thing I know he will be off to preschool and then school just like my other two boys.

Brody's One Month

Time is FLYING by!  Little Brody is already a month old as of yesterday.  We are finally in a routine and I think I've learned what he needs and likes so things are good.  We did have a rough patch about a week ago where he cried and cried but thankfully it only lasted a few days.  On his one month birthday he had a great day and cooed and played a ton and even slept 5 hours straight last night.  Thank you, Brody!  I'm not sure what he weighs but as of last Thursday he weighed 9 lbs 7 oz-almost to the 10 lb mark which makes me very sad!  It's so hard to get good pictures of baby's at this age so here are just a few of the decent ones.

I have to give props to my sister-in-law Erica for making this adorable quilt!

I know the lighting on this is funky but I love the look on his face.

As always, Cameron in his face.

He makes this face all the time!

Just A Little Bragging!

What's the use of having a blog if you can't brag on your kids once in a while?  I received an email from Colby's English teacher yesterday and I thought it was worth sharing.  See in the past when we've received emails from his teachers it's been because he can't seem to control his talking.  So receiving this email was a pleasant surprise!  We are so proud of him!

Hi There!
I want to compliment Colby on his behavior in class!  He has really shown great growth so far this year in making great choices!  He is really shining in his example during our class!  I am so proud of him and wanted to let you know he is sure deserving of a pat on the back!
:-)
Mrs. Dailey



The fun part was letting him read the email himself.  When he got home from school I told him I had received an email from his teacher and he immediately asked if it was good or bad.  In kind of a disappointed voice I told him I'd let him read it.  As soon as he made it through the first paragraph his face lit up!  What a great thing to come home from school to!

Way to go Colby!

Brody's Two Week Check Up

I'm going to be updating my blog with Brody's growth stats since this is the only place I have for journaling. 

Two week appointment:  8-29-11

Height:  21.1"

Weight:  8.2 lbs

Head:  14.75"

So in only two weeks Brody has gained 1 whole pound from what he weighed the day we left the hospital and has grown .6 inches.  He's already starting to look older with a fuller face which makes me really sad.  I want to hang onto him being a newborn for as long as I can!

As far has his personality and moods, I think he is a really good baby.  He doesn't cry a lot other than when you take off his clothes or mainly his diaper.  He does NOT like his diaper off and screams bloody murder every time.  I'm so thankful that he lets me sleep for good stretches of time.  He'll usually go between 2 and 3 hours between feedings and is sleeping in the bassinet.  Yay!  One goal Chris and I had for him was that he was not going to sleep in the bed with us.  We made that mistake with the two older boys and had them in our bed until they turned one.  Knock on wood, so far Brod Man has slept in his bassinet every night except our second night home from the hospital where we slept in the recliner together.  

I'm so very thankful for this sweet healthy little boy!  We are all adjusting to life as a family of 5, some of us are adjusting easier than others but overall it's been great.  I love these three boys with all my heart and cannot imagine my life without one of them. 

Introducing...

Brody Christopher Carpenter!  Little Brody made his grand arrival on August 15th at 5:50 pm weighing 7 lbs 8.5 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long.

So here's the birth story for any of you that are interested.  It's definitely a long one...jump to the bottom for more pictures.

We scheduled an induction so my Dad and Gloria could be here to help with the boys.  We decided to set it up for August 15th because I would be 39 weeks at the time and to also spread Colby and Brody's birthday's out a little.  The hospital called around 6:15 am and asked me what time we could be at the hospital.  I told them we'd be there around 7:45 and woke Chris up so we could get ready.  Once we got to the hospital they took us right back and our nurse came in to talk with us.  We originally had a nurse named Lisa but a few hours into the process she had to go take care of a patient that needed special care so we got switched to a new nurse, Jacqueline. I'm so glad we did because she was absolutely amazing!!

After getting settled into the bed Dr. Froerer came down to check me and I was only 50% effaced and dilated to a 2.5.  He decided it would be best to start me on the pitocin and let the contractions start doing some work before he broke my water, this was around 9:30 am.  I think around 11:00 am he came back and broke my water and man did the contractions get much worse immediately.  My nurse called for an epidural and I had that within about 20 minutes.  I'm not going to lie epidurals are the absolute worst thing about giving birth, they hurt so so bad!  Thankfully my anesthesiologst was great and did everything he could to make sure I was comfortable, well I guess as comfortable as you can be getting an epidural.

Things were going well then all the sudden I started getting really nauseous and kinda feeling like I was not really there, it was the weirdest feeling in the world.  The nurse asked if I was ok and I burst into tears completely out of the blue.  She took my blood pressure and it was 80/40 which was really low.  She called the anesthesiologist and told him what was going on, he came immediately and gave me a shot of epinephrine.  In a few minutes I was feeling back to normal.  I have to say that was a really scary feeling and I don't even know how to describe it.

So now that things were good with me the nurse came in to roll me to my other side so we could see if that would help the baby descend some.  As soon as she rolled me over I have no idea what happened but she called for another nurse to assist, put oxygen on me, and immediately rolled me back to the side I was on.  The next 15 minutes or so are pretty much a blur to me.  They had me on my left side with the oxygen on all I could see was Chris while the 2 nurses and my doctor worked frantically.  Like I said it's all a blur but I remember just looking at Chris with this terrified look on my face not knowing what was going on and no one telling us.  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity my doctor asked me if I was ok, I said I just don't understand what's going on.  Apparently when she turned me to my right side they completely lost the baby's heartbeat.  They turned my pitocin off completley and put a monitor right into the baby's scalp to better monitor him.  The doctor explained that there may be a cord issue and if the baby's heart rate doesn't stay stabilized they may have to do a C section but he said for now everything was stable and they were going to take me off everything for 2 hours so the baby could rest.  So I laid there for two hours with no pitocin and my contractions stopped completely.  This all happened around 1:30 pm or so.

After a while the nurse came back in and rolled me to my right side again to see what would happen.  The baby's heart rate was good so they decided to start me back on the pitocin to see if there would be any other episodes.  They also inserted something that would pump water back into my uterus to help cushion the cord.  Thankfully whatever was going on with the cord resolved itself and we had no more episodes of that.  We will never know what happened but they said it could have been something as simple as him smashing the cord between his arm and his body.

During all that drama I was still only 80% effaced and dilated to a 4.  So we were back to square one starting the pitocin again from the beginning.  They had to raise my doses very slowly to make sure everything was ok.

All was well again until I had another episode from the epidural where I got nauseous again and my blood pressure dropped so they had to call the anesthesiologist to come give me another shot of epinephrine.

Around 4:45 pm I started feeling pressure and the nurse said that was the best thing she could hear.  She checked me and I was zooming right along.  I told her that once I got to a 6 I usually delivered really quickly. Her shift ended at 7:00 pm and I told her we were going to have this baby before she left.  I think in her head she thought yeah right but I know my body and knew little Brody would be here soon.  The next time she checked me around 5:15 pm I was complete so they started getting the table ready and called the doctor.  The only problem now was that the baby was face up so they turned me into some awkward positions to hopefully make him turn the right way.  They got him turned but when they laid me on my back to deliver he turned over again.  They had me go ahead and start pushing and said sometimes they will turn on their own.  Sure enough he did and after about 4 or 5 series of pushes out came little Brody as perfect as could be.  This time was different they laid him on my chest for a long time and did all the work on him right there in front of me so I could watch it all.  That was the first time they did that and it was so amazing to have the baby right there on top of me for his first 15 minutes of life.

After the doctor got done working on me Chris went out and got the boys and brought them back.  They were so excited! Brody still hadn't been cleaned off completely and I'm sure they were wondering what kind of brother we were bringing home.  We spent some quality time together just the five of us then let the rest of my family and Chris' family in.  I don't think they were in there more than 10 minutes and I started vomitting again.  I tell you that's one way to clear out a room!

Around 7:00 pm they moved me to my room.  Everyone was dying to hold the baby but the nursery needed to check him so off they went with him.  They said they would be back in about 30 minutes.  After an hour he still wasn't back so I sent Chris to the nursery to find out what was going on. Chris came back and said, the baby won't be back for a while, he's having a little labored breathing and has a low grade temperature so they think he may have an infection and are going to draw blood to see.  My first thoughts were "not again" since this was the same thing that happened to Colby which caused him to have to stay in the hospital for two extra days and come home with an IV.  While they waited for the blood work to come back they brought Brody to the room for his bath.  This is the first time I'd seen any of my kids get their first bath because they usually did them in the nursery and only Chris was able to go.  It was so neat to watch, especially for the boys.

After his bath they took him back to the nursery to await the blood work results.  So again we waited and waited and waited and still no Brody.  I sent Chris down there again and he came back with the baby and good news-no infection, yay!  By this time it was close to 10:00 pm and people were still waiting to hold him and my friend was there to take some candid photos of us all.  They all took a quick turn holding him, my friend snapped a few shots, and everyone headed home.

This was the first time Chris and I were alone with Brody and it was absolutely amazing.  It's weird how in a split second a little boy can absolutely steal your heart!

The rest of the hospital stay was uneventful thankfully and we brought Brody home on Wednesday around noon.

Meeting Brody for the first time.

My new family of five!  Cameron wasn't really cooperating for the pictures...

Going home!

Look Out 2nd Grade, Here Comes Colby!

On July 26th our smart little Colby started 2nd grade.  He's in the Chinese dual immersion program again this year.  His morning will be taught in Chinese and his afternoon in English.  He has two great teachers, Yen Laoshi (which is teacher in Chinese) is teaching Chinese and Mrs. Dailey is English.  I'm so excited to see how much he learns this year.  He's picked up on the Chinese so quickly and I'm sure he's going to exceed all our expectations!

We did take some pictures on the first day of school but I can't find them right now.  As soon as I do I'll be sure to add them to this post.  Hmmm, wonder where they are...

Yay, I finally found the photos!  Isn't he a handsome young man.

Cameron Starts 4 Year Old Preschool

A few weeks ago Cameron started 4 year old preschool at a new school, Sunshine Square. He's going three days a week for 3 hours. The first few days he was a little reserved but yesterday his teacher said he started opening up. I know he loves it because Sunday morning he asked if he could go to school that day. So far I love the school and his teacher and I'm excited to see what all he learns this year!

Cameron Turns 4

Summer life has caught up with me and I'm behind on pretty much everything right now.  In June Cameron turned 4.  I cannot believe he's 4 years old already!  Time truly does fly by!  We haven't started kid birthday parties for him yet but I'm sure once he starts Kindergarten I won't be able to get by without having some kind of kid party.  So we just had Chris' family over for BBQ, cupcakes, and present opening.  It was a beautiful night outside so we did everything on our back patio.

His main present from mom and dad was a big boy bike!  He absolutely loves it!

Grandma Carpenter made this pirate map cake that Cameron picked out of a magazine.  It turned out so cute! 

Happy Birthday a few weeks late, Cam Cam!  We love you very much and are so thankful to have such a sweet, funny, and absolutely adorable little guy in our family.  Even though you don't realize it yet you always know how to make everyone in our family smile when we need it most.  I can't wait to see what the future has in store for you.

4th of July Celebration

Yesterday we continued our annual tradition of attending the Murray 4th of July Parade. This year we were really excited, especially Colby, because some of our favorite cousin's from Kansas were able to be here to celebrate with us. We woke up bright and early to meet with our family who so graciously wake up hours before the parade in order to save our favorite spot for the festivities. The parade is not a great parade but the kids love it and a tradition is a tradition, right? Here are a few shots of the morning. Thankfully the clouds stuck around which made for a pleasant morning.

Here are a few of the kids ready to catch some candy. Lizzie, Jamie, Colby, Justin, and Cameron.

This was just about the end of the parade and the kids were tuckered out from chasing candy all morning. A break was definitely in order.

We always try to get a family picture but this time the kids weren't real cooperative. Only six more weeks and our family will grow by one.

One of the funnier moments, Chris' entire extended family meaning aunts/uncles/cousins are huge BYU fans, well the University of Utah had a little "float" in the parade and one of the walkers thought it would be funny to silly string Connor and his BYU shirt. It was hilarious! Maybe you should switch from the dark side, Connor!

After the parade Justin came with us to play with Colby for the afternoon. They had so much fun playing together. It's such a shame that they live so far apart because they get along so well. Then we went to lunch with the rest of our Kansas family and visited for a while. Next was home for a few hours of rest before meeting up with Grandpa and Grandma Carpenter for dinner. After that we went back to Murray to Kristen and Spencer's house to enjoy some fireworks and more play time for the kids. It was a great day!