1 Month Old...lots of pics!

Winston Duke was one month old on March 20th. That weekend my BFF Jessica came to visit and meet our little man. She is also pregnant with a little girl due in July, and I cannot wait to share this motherhood journey with her! Here is a recap of his first month of life :)

When Jerrod and I got home from the hospital we were on our own. Jerrod had a week off from work so that was really nice to get home, and have a solid week together as a new family of 3 (plus the pups). Anyway, I must say Jerrod was a huge help! He jumped right in and has been an awesome, hands on, helpful and fun daddy since he laid eyes on Winston! Here are a few pics from Week 1.

Heading to our first doctor's appointment! He was 3 days old here...

Beautiful flowers from my sister that she brought to the hospital.

First outing by myself with Winston was of course to Starbucks drive thru! I just needed out of the house :)

My world...

My awesome sister had Tiff's Treats chocolate chip cookies delivered to our house!

The second week of Winston's life Jerrod went back to work so my mom came to visit and help me out while he was at work. It was such a fun week spending time with my mom, and she is the BEST Nana. She let me take lots of naps, relax and not worry about cooking or laundry or anything around the house. It was awesome! She is also so encouraging and helped me a ton with nursing and just the normal 2 week old baby stuff. Thanks for coming Nana!!! We also had visitors and meals brought from so many! Just to name a few: Jerrod's parents, Memom, Dusty, Seresa and their kids, along with Carter and Daniel and their crews. Also several friends came by the house but unfortunately I don't have pics of everyone that came. I was doing good to remember to brush my teeth :) We appreciated every single text, call, visit, and meal!!!!

First smile on camera, however I don't think he knew he was smiling!

Leaving for our 2 week checkup with my mom.  Winston is 10 days old here :) 

After the appointment my mom and I splurged on some Fuddruckers burgers and shakes!

 Dexter likes to sit at my feet when we are in the rocker. Too cute!

His cousin Charlotte thought he was pretty cool. 

Kyleigh also LOVED holding him, but I can't find a pic. Lauren has some competition now!

The way he holds his giraffe is adorable. That's all :)

The third week I was on my own! Nobody was there to help me, but I was ready to learn how to manage my new normal without help. So the first day by myself I went grocery shopping...naturally. Ha! 

Jerrod also surprised me with the sweetest card and beautiful flowers delivered to the house. Such a sweet surprise!

I love baby wearing!

His favorite way to sleep since day one is on my chest. I know it wont last forever so I cherish it everyday that he still wants to. :) 

The day that he turned 3 weeks old we took him to a wedding! Our good friends that we met while living in Kenya were getting married, so we planned all along to go. It was our first road trip to Pleasanton as well, so that my grandma's could meet Winston. We had an eventful weekend but I am so glad we made the trip!

The beautiful bride Daley!

My bff from Kenya/Georgia, Michelle! Side note: Can I just say that I am loving the new style of sparkly bridesmaids dresses?! I wish these would've been in style 7 years ago!

Carpenter Party of 3 :) 

Baby bow ties are the best.

This girl is not only gorgeous, but also has a heart of gold. Literally she is always full of joy, compassion, and is a light to everyone she meets.

Anita and Lexi- also Kenya reunion :) So glad I was able to reconnect with so many friends from Kenya!

 The Powell's!! We couldn't be happier for you guys! Can't wait to go on a double date next time we are in the San Antonio area. 

Winston Duke thought the glow sticks were pretty awesome. 

Favorite pic of all time. You can't help but smile.

Grandma Hill meeting her great grandson!

Grandma Hindes meeting her great grandson!

Last but not least, crazy Auntie Jess came to visit us!!! It was such a treat having her with us for a few days! She is expecting in July, so we also got to work on her registry and she got to experience everything first hand with me. I can't wait to pay her a visit to San Diego once Paisley Sue arrives!!

The night before Jessica came we had a family date night to our favorite Tex-Mex place, Cyclone Anaya's. Mama had her first margarita :) 

He's a thumb sucker! Not all the time, but when he sleeps sometimes. 

Auntie Jess!!!! 

Brunch at a neighborhood fav...

Brunch after church with Jerrod and Jess... Winston not pictured :)

He thinks she's pretty funny!

His Gigi (Jerrod's mom) gave him that cute beanie! Raising him right.

And I'll leave you with this. Spoiled rotten. 

Pregnancy Progression!

I have to admit, I had an awesome pregnancy. I am soooo thankful I never got sick or had anything major to worry about. I gained a total of 28 pounds. Thankfully I felt good enough to run and do bootcamp until about 28 weeks, then I would just go on long walks after that. I think that helped me continue to feel great, and helped during delivery too. My feet were very swollen the second half of pregnancy, but my ankles even swell on 3 hour flights... so I kinda figured that was inevitable. I worked at my office until I was exactly 40 weeks, then I worked from home until I had him at 40 weeks and 5 days. 

20 Weeks!

It's a BOY!

24 Weeks!

37 Weeks Pregnant, also my 30th Birthday!

Winston Duke Carpenter

Wow, it's been a while since I've blogged! I decided I want to try to keep up with this a little better now that family and friends want to keep up with us, and see ridiculously cute updates and pictures of Winston Duke. And blogging is a great way for me to journal what milestones we have with him, and as a family :) Here we go......

The Birth Story
Winston's due date was February 15th, and I went to the doctor on February 16th for my 40 week checkup. My doctor asked if I wanted to be induced later that week because I wasn't having any major contractions yet and I said YES!! So I was scheduled to be induced on Friday, February 19th. My parents drove to Houston on Thursday night, and we were scheduled to be at the hospital at 5am on Friday. Well, the nurse called me on Thursday night and said hang tight at home, we are completely full so don't come to the hospital until we tell you to. So Friday morning I kept calling every few hours to check the status of the open beds. It was the longest day of my life. Me, Jerrod and my parents were just sitting around the house all day waiting for the phone call. Finally I was getting so anxious Jerrod suggested we walk to Lola (this little diner down the street from our house) to get a milkshake, just to get out of the house. As we are in line ordering a milkshake and french fries the nurse called and said, "How soon can you get to the hospital? We have an open bed for you!" I said, "ummmm as fast as I can, we will be there in about 20-30 minutes". We actually don't live that far from the Med Center but it was Friday afternoon around 3:30 so I knew we might face some Houston traffic. We immediately told them to make that milkshake/french fries order To-Go so that we could head to the hospital. I waddled back home as fast as I could, my parents had my car ready for us, and we loaded our bags and took off. We got to the hospital around 4:00, and by the time we got to our Labor and Delivery room it was about 5:15pm, and they started the pitocin to induce labor. I remember on the way to the hospital we were talking about everything and so anxious, we couldn't believe we were really having the baby finally! We were going to finally meet Winston Duke!

At around 7:30 or 8:00pm I started feeling a few real contractions and asked for the epidural. I was not a fan of feeling the contractions at all so I got that as soon as I could. At this point I was about 3-4 cm dilated and 60% effaced. That evening I didn't progress a ton, it was a pretty slow process. By around midnight the doctor said they would slow my pitocin down so that I could get some sleep and they would check on me in the morning. I actually did sleep pretty well considering they were constantly checking on me throughout the night. At around 2:00am I was 4-5 cm so they came back around 6:00am and I was 6 cm. The nurse told me she would start checking on me more frequently since it usually goes faster from that point on. Sure enough by 8:00am I was 7cm, then 10cm by 9:30am. It was go time! I'll leave out all the details, but I pushed for 2 hours and Winston Duke Carpenter was born at 11:50am on February 20, 2016 weighing 9 pounds 5 ounces, and 23 inches long! He was so big, we couldn't believe it! Throughout the pregnancy they were estimating an 8 pound baby, even up to the night before. So we were very surprised! Jerrod and I immediately starting crying when we saw him. It was the most surreal experience. It's one of those things that you can't explain to someone and they wont truly understand until they've gone through it themselves. Jerrod went over to the area where they were cleaning him off, and weighing him, etc. Winston grabbed a hold of Jerrod's finger and Jerrod was bawling. It was the most precious thing I've ever seen. Then they brought Winston over to me to snuggle on my chest and it was amazing. I just remember Jerrod saying, "babe he's gorgeous, he's so beautiful" over and over again. I couldn't help but cry, and thank God as I looked down at the precious little face I was longing to meet.

I will say, I have a new respect for mommies out there! People would tell me if you can run a marathon you will be fine giving birth. Well, I have to say I'd much rather run a marathon, the two don't even compare. Pushing for 2 hours was the hardest thing I've ever done :) But oh so worth it! Winston Duke is a healthy, happy baby boy and we are completely obsessed. We both are changed forever since the moment we laid our eyes on him. We had lots of family come to the hospital and meet him. We spent two more nights in the hospital and were very eager to go home. When we got home my parents had dinner cooking in the crockpot, the house was all clean, and they watched Winston so we could get an uninterrupted nap for 2 hours. I remember when I woke up I felt like a new person! Here are a few more pictures from the hospital.

Anything

One of my favorite teachers/bloggers/authors Jennie Allen is coming out with a new study that starts in June called Anything. If you've read it in the past, she has added chapters, and a bible study to go along with it. My friend Rivers asked Megan and I if we would like to go through it together this summer. It's an 8 week study. At first I was excited because A. I love Jennie Allen and all that she writes B. Wanted a summer bible study to do, and C. Am excited to see those two girls on a weekly basis. However, these past few weeks I have gotten even MORE excited about this study which is why I'm sharing it on the blog. Just read a little more about this book HERE!

Her and her husband prayed "God, we will do anything". It changed their lives. Take a second to think about that prayer.... it's heavy, hard, scary, and intimidating. I told the girls I wasn't ready to pray that. But I want to get there. Last time I prayed for anything He took us to Kenya for 2 years. And considering that I don't have the desire to move back any time soon, I still have this fear that He will take me somewhere I don't want to go. And actually, it doesn't mean He will move us somewhere. It could be a new passion I pursue, or a ministry I step up to... literally anything. I completely understand that my feelings are full of fear, not trusting Him, and wanting my own selfish desires. But I just want to write all this out, because I can't wait to go back and read this post after the summer is over and after we have prayed for ANYTHING for 8 weeks. I believe that He's real, but I need to let go and TRUST Him. What if we are actually missing the best parts of our lives that God has for us because we are so consumed with what "we" want. Jennie asks, "what if we give Him the thing we most love, what if we give Him anything?" I don't know what that looks like for you, but I hope you will join in this 8 week study. If you don't have a friend or small group to go through it with, you can join the online community. There will also be weekly videos from Jennie. Will you join in on this amazing study?

Rivers, me and Megan in Napa last year :) Love them!!!

Stay tuned.

Blessings,

Amanda