Busy

When I took this new job, I was told that winters are usually pretty slow. Not too much to do around here so it's a good time to think about the next busy summer time and get things all ready to go. Well... so far this winter I've had ONE week where I felt caught up on all I had to do and could do some administrative stuff that I'd put by the wayside.

I've been so busy at work that I'm a little worried how the next (and last) three months of pregnancy are going to work out. I'm starting to get extra tired now that I'm in my third trimester and I know it's just going to get worse as time goes on. I just don't think I can handle any more 12 hour days. Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to do 8 hours. Plus I don't think the stress is good for my little boy. 

Oh...and added to the busyness and stress at work is moving into a new place! It was a stressful time finding a place to live, but we were very blessed with an apartment that both Brant & I LOVE! But now the thought of packing up all our stuff and moving make me want to cry. I started packing this weekend, but we still have A LOT to do before we move on Saturday. (That's right...5 days!) I want to take a day off from work this week, but of course we had to get ANOTHER big snow storm that is going to keep my plenty busy invoicing and doing payroll. 

Maybe I shouldn't be blogging about it and I should actually be working. 

But everyone is out of the office right now plowing the roads and it makes me want to be at home and not here either. Plus being in the office on a snowy day means I have to deal with all our angry customers who feel like we aren't getting to their property fast enough. I hate being yelled at! Especially for things that are completely out of my control. During the last storm a guy had me in tears after the way he treated me for our guys not plowing his property yet. 

But I guess I should take advantage of a quiet office and get caught up on all that I need to do so that I can be fully prepared to deal with this snow storm. 

I don't know about you...but I'm sure ready to be done with winter. Bring on spring & summer!!! And a cute little baby boy to keep me busier (but happier) than work ever will.

2013

Can you believe that 2012 has come and gone? And we're already a week into 2013? I sure can't!! 2012 was an AMAZING year for the Carpenters. Seriously...a LOT happened during the past 12 months:

~ We got married!
~ We went on a cruise to Catalina Island & Ensenada, Mexico
~ Brant bought his truck
~ We went to Sweden to visit my parents on their mission
~ We went to New York to visit my old stomping ground and visit some of my friends
~ We became {almost} parents
~ We went on a LOT of camping trips with friends and family
~ We visited Yellowstone National Park & my cabin 3 times (maybe 4...I honestly can't remember)

There was much more to our year than that even, but I think that list covers that major events.

Looking ahead to this year, it seems like our lives won't be any less eventful than this past year. Some things that we're looking forward to in the coming year are:

~ Becoming parents to our little boy (3 1/2 more months!)
~ Moving out of my parents house and into a place of our own
~ Going on more camping trips with our friends and family (if you think having a baby will slow down Brant, you're crazy!)
~ Welcoming my parents home from their mission
~ Finding a new job for Brant where he can really start his career

While I haven't made any official new year's resolutions, I want to focus on coming closer to Christ and my Heavenly Father. I know that we are going to need His help in the coming year more than we have before. Looking at all that is ahead of us in 2013, I have realized there is no way Brant & I can do it all on our own. We've got some big decisions to make in the next few weeks and a LOT of adjustments to make in the next few months.

Yes, this year is bringing some big changes to our lives. It's going to be a tough year with some major alterations to our lives. But I also can tell that it's going to be another AMAZING year. I'm looking forward to 2013 and all the challenges and blessings that are going to come into our lives.

Update

Soooo... It's been a while. I actually wrote a nice post about Thanksgiving. There were even going to be pictures. BUT stupid blogger told me that my picassa account was full and that I had to delete pictures from it in order to put pictures on my blog. Well that or pay money. WHAT?!?! So now I need to figure out how to print out my old blog so that I can then delete the pictures and not miss out on any of my old posts. What a lame system!!

Anyway...done with my complaining.

Life around the Carpenter home has been pretty busy! The week of Thanksgiving was also my and Brant's birthdays. We did something every night that week to celebrate (more on that to come when I actually post about it in detail).

Then there's been work. I'm discovering that I'm not cut out for being pregnant and working. I think my nesting instinct is already kicking in. I would so much rather stay at home and clean/organize my house than go to work. Sadly, at this time I don't have that option. So the house gets a bit neglected at times. I'm thinking things will be easier when Brant and I have our own apartment - it'll be smaller (less area to clean up) and we won't have to find places for our stuff a midst my parents' stuff.

Speaking of...it's getting close to when we really need to get serious about finding a place to live!! As in...we are hoping to be in our own place the beginning of February. Which is only 1.5 months away! WHAT?!?!?!

In other news - my belly is growing more and more every day. I'm not kidding either! I swear I've doubled (maybe even tripled) in size in the past few weeks! And with that has come the weight. I'm not too happy about that. Brant has to keep reminding me that putting on weight right now is a good thing. I need to for the baby. But I'm having a hard time knowing why the baby needs my arms, butt, and face to be fat as well as my tummy.

In all reality, this pregnancy has been great. I can't really complain. I'm sure it'll get harder as my belly gets bigger and my little boy starts draining more and more of my energy. But, until then, I'll just keep on enjoying being pregnant!

To answer everyone's question out there - no we have not come up with a name for our boy yet. We'll be lucky to agree on any names by the time he's born. We pretty much just avoid the whole topic, because I usually end up in tears or frustrated when we talk about it. Brant and I have such different ideas of good boy names. But as long as I don't end up with a baby named Fisk, Fritz, Johann, Bjorn, or Roarshnaque (yes...those are all REAL names that Brant has suggested and LOVES), I'll feel like I've won.

We've been able to feel our baby kick lately! Well, I've been able to feel him for a while, but his kicks have been getting stronger this past week and that means Brant has been able to feel him as well. This morning was the best one yet! As we laid in bed before Brant had to head off to work, our little boy was moving around quite a bit. So I had Brant put his hand on my tummy and about 10 seconds later, I received a pretty strong kick right where Brant's palm was. Needless to say, Brant was excited to feel an actual kick instead of those tiny bubbles he'd felt earlier. I was excited too. I love feeling the little guy and so I was excited Brant could feel him too.

As you can tell...my baby is pretty much on my mind ALL the time. But we do have other things going on in our lives. This month has already been busy with Christmas parties, and it's not going to slow down until after Christmas - well maybe not until after New Years. So far this year we've decorated gingerbread houses (well...graham cracker houses), I made all my ornaments for my Christmas tree including strung popcorn and cranberries (Brant helped string the popcorn). I made a cute JOY out of wood & a big ornament (man I wish I could post pictures of these things!!!). And we decorated Christmas cookies.

In the next few weeks we have 3 white elephant parties. 1 ugly sweater party. 2 normal family Christmas parties. And 1 work party. Pretty much every weekend is taken up with Christmas parties. I'm excited though. I love Christmas and it's going to be great getting together with family and friends. If only it would snow so we could have a white Christmas.

Well, I guess I better go. I'm at work and I should probably actually do some of those items on my To Do list. Wish me luck! Hahaha!

Hopefully next week I'll be able to post pictures and can post about Thanksgiving/birthdays. And also all the Christmas fun we've been having. We'll just see how motivated I am Saturday to print out my blog...

It's a...

Today Brant and I snuck out of work to go take a peak at the little monster inside my tummy. Our doctor wanted us to get an ultrasound in 1-2 weeks from Friday (the 16th), but we were too excited to know what our baby is to wait the recommended time. Plus I wanted to know by Thanksgiving and my birthday. So we scheduled our appointment as soon as we could get in (2 days later).

Although our baby was a little small to do all the necessary measurements they do at 18 weeks (I'm at about 17 weeks, 6 days), we were able to find out the gender. I'm proud to announce that we are going to be parents to a bouncing baby BOY!!!!!

We are both VERY excited at this news. We have been referring to our baby as a he for a couple of months now, so I guess it's a good thing that he is a boy. Or else he may have come out a bit confused. Hahaha!

The girl who did our ultrasound said she hadn't seen such a definitive "BOY" in a long time. I guess he really listened to his daddy when Brant told him that he needed to show his stuff to us so that we could know. That's a good sign! He's already obedient. :)

And, since he was a little small for the measurements, it means we get to go back next week and get another peak at our little boy! Yay!! I can't wait! I already can't get enough of this little man.

Pumpkin Carving

Last night, Brant and I met up with our friends Tyson & Jessica for a fun night of carving pumpkins. We ate pizza, listened to Halloween music (it was weird and I didn't like it), and carved the night away. I'm so grateful for great friends we can do fun stuff with!!

Working hard!

The finished products

Our little family

The baby could not be forgotten

 We even got a "baby" pumpkin

Welcome!

Welcome to the Carpenter Family blog!

First line of business... our big news! 

Brant and I are having a BABY!!! 

I know! It's totally one hundred percent crazy! OK...maybe not 100%. More like 75%. But still. It's crazy.

Right now I'm 11 weeks pregnant - only 2 more weeks of "morning" sickness (hopefully!). Honestly, I can't complain too much. It hasn't been too bad in all reality. I feel nauseous on and off pretty much every day. But I haven't thrown up (which, in my opinion in the worst thing that could happen to a person) and I've only missed one day of work because I couldn't get my head off my pillow in the morning.

My belly is growing every day I swear! For instance, on Monday (I think) I wore this pair of jeans that was a size big for me before being pregnant, but fit me perfectly 10 weeks in. Today...I'm wearing the same pair of jeans (don't judge...they are the only ones that fit). Except that I couldn't really button them up all the way. I used a hair elastic around the button!!! That's only 4 days! Granted, I could have squeezed into them if I wanted to, but who wants to be uncomfortable? Especially since my tummy already hurts.

But enough of the boring crap... want to see a picture of our little monster inside me? Yeah...I thought so. Bear in mind that this picture was taken two weeks ago when I was barely 9 weeks pregnant so the baby is kind of just a blob. But still...my baby's first picture!

And here is an embarrassing picture of my ever growing belly. Granted...I think part of the bulge is due to my fatness, but now that I'm pregnant I can blame it ALL on that, right? RIGHT?!?!

Anyway...I hope that you will join us for our little life adventures. I'm sure we're going to be having PLENTY with a new little one coming in April!