The day after we all returned from our adventures out west was deemed the unpacking/settling back in day. Brod found lots of entertainment through us not giving him too much attention. Above he is stuffing his face from a cookie that he stole. Somehow this kid got into a plastic cookie container (without us knowing) and was walking around eating his treasure!

 That same day after we got back from the dog park we found B saddling his doggy. So Trig is huffing and puffing from his exhaustion at the park which is making a great ride for the Brodster. We just love how much he makes us laugh though out the day :)

 We never thought we would see the day for the front facing car seat, but hello front facing Brody!!! It's taken a bit of getting used to but I think he is a fan. He struggles with falling asleep in it though. It's just  a lesson that he will learn eventually, right?? Please say yes because we have a few big car trips planned in the next couple months!

 

 Mike and Meghan had fun running in a 10k last weekend. They did great also! Meghan 2nd in her age division and Mike 6th in his :) Brody and I were so proud getting to watch them. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones but tears kept coming down my face as I waited for Mike to run by us (or maybe allergies), I'm just a proud wife and Brody is a proud son!

 

As cute as Brody is, we are seeing more and more of his personality shine though. As everyday goes by I continue to see more of my personality shine though him, stubborn and not delighting in correction. He is very much into throwing himself on the ground lately when being "corrected" while wailing loudly or with diaper changes you would think we were slowly biting his toes off one by one! What our neighbors must be thinking! This beautiful showing of his "independence" and vocal skills have left Mike and I with headaches by the end of the day. We continue pleading with the Lord for wisdom in raising and guiding our (what I think is becoming our) strong willed sweet little boy. But it all becomes worth it again within a split second when he snuggles up on our laps, runs over and plants a huge, wet, slobbery kiss on my cheek, flashes us a huge 5 tooth smile or gives us a huge belly giggle! Side note: Mike and B got me roses the other day. I went to smell them and B began giggling with my sniffing them out. So now even a few days after sniffing flowers is just too funny for the boy :)

Our week away

This last week Mike took a group of college students on a trip to The Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. Initially B and I were going to tag along with the camper but after finding out The Grand Canyon didn't have electrical hookups for heat, we bowed out. Staying home for a week by ourselves was out of the question. So the next best option was to be dropped off at our great friend's home in New Mexico! Though we missed daddy lots, what a GREAT week we had :)

Brod tackled the 10 hour drive great! We left at his bedtime and drove through the night with him sleeping all but 9 hours! We've learned this is how we will handle long car trips from now on :)

 This is one of my favorite pics of B with his buddies. He loved having playmates in the bath tub with him and not only his buddies but his first bubble bath! :)

 My aunt and uncle also live in New Mexico real close to our friends so we got to spend a couple days with them also. They have two "doggies" that loved Brody and of course Brody loved them also.

 Aunt Donna took us to the Zoo. B's first zoo trip! What a blast seeing all the animals, B was so amazed.

 This week had LOTS of firsts for the B man including lunch at Chick fil a! Yum, yum! B got his first apple juice with his meal (sugared down and everything!) and loved every drink! This picture makes me laugh. Do we look crazy? 4 kids, 1 on the way and two momma's.....eyeyeye :)

The week had to come to an end as the crew swung though and picked us back up. We were both super excited to see daddy a week is a long time to be away! Thankfully we were in great hands and had a super time! Spending a whole week with my sweet friend really gave me an insight into their real lives. Sense becoming a mom I have loved watching how other families "do life" together. What fun! The great part about saying goodbye this time is that we will be back in a few weeks for our 6th annual Memorial Day Trip!

Dr. update

We had a baby appointment today. Little girl sounds great and so far is growing exactly how she needs to be growing. I have one more appointment left before going every two weeks, how crazy! We talked about the strategic plan this time around with monitoring baby girl. We've always been discussing it, however up till the next appointment (25 weeks) the plan didn't play into place due to baby girl not being at a viable age. So now that she has almost met that 25 week mark, we will be in full baby watching mode. My doctor has sent me a referral to be seen by not only him but also a High Risk OBGYN monthly to monitor babies growth. Honestly when he mentioned the "high risk" word by brain stopped on those words. We feel good about this decision though because the more eye's on baby girl the better, right?? I've always known pregnancies from here on out were going to be monitored closely but the reality of it never really sunk in until now. My brain keeps going back to being pregnant with Brody and remembering how clueless we all were that something not good at all was happening to him, and thinking what could have happened. However, I have to put that behind me. We serve a Great, Generous, Protective God who holds us in His hands and says, "do not worry". And really I have no reason to worry. He held Brody in His hands those last few days of pregnancy and has blessed us with an incredible boy! So, I'm looking up to where my help comes from and trusting in His provision and His faithfulness, because great is Him faithfulness!!

Fun pics as of lately

 Mike is getting ready to take some college students on a backpacking trip next week. They are heading to the Grand Canyon and Mt. Zion. The fun part is they are dropping B and I off in Albuquerque for the week!! We all can't wait :) Anyways though, when daddy begin packing.....watch Brod!

 This shirt is a bit big on this child, but it is one of my absolute favs he wears. Really, I'm not sure why. There is just something about it that screams BOY I guess, I just love it :)

 We have entered the "bed head" days for this crazy boy!

 Mike received an I Pad a few weeks ago as a gift! Crazy, yes I know! Between him and B though, I never get time on it. Mike put some fun games on it that even a 1 year old can play. These Apple people sure have thought of everything. Here he is drawing using his finger as a piece of chalk. This boy is so smart!

 We were eating at our favorite Mexican place the other night when a balloon guy came to our table! B LOVES balloons and so he was enthralled with this guy.

 Brod was made a doggy in honor of his love for them :)

My big belly at 21 weeks. Sweet girl has been moving up a storm the last week. She found my right hip bone over the weekend, oh girlfriend! She is sitting a whole lot lower then what B did which is causing for some uncomfortable moments and lots of lower ligament stretching pain. Half way there, we can do this! Brody has loved rubbing his baby sister, even though I do believe he is just playing with my belly button :)

Afternoon at the park

With the high of 74 degrees today it was a no brainer B and I would spend some time at the park. The second his tiny feet hit the still dead grass.....he was off!!!!

 And really no time for face shots, too much playing with the doggies to be done!

 Truly, everywhere this boy goes....two slobbery best friends follow :)

 Stopping to re-fuel...it's a must! :)

Baby girl, Snow day and Valentines day

We took a look at baby girl on Thursday and she is indeed 100% ALL girl :) YAHOO!!! We decided this time around to share her name very early, we just haven't decided on a spelling. It will be Aubrey, Aubree or Aubrie Marie :) She said her first hello to Mike last night with a nice swift kick! Oh how I love, love, love sharing those moments with him :)

We finally had a snow day here in the 'Ville last week! It was all melted by the next day, but we made sure to get out and enjoy (granted it took us longer to get bundled up then how long we were outside, but oh well!) I'm not too sure B was a huge fan of the snow and cold. But his little snow suite was stinkin adorable on him though. He looked (and felt) like a giant marshmallow. He stayed stiff not moving any of his arms and legs for a good while before he figured out he could move. But, he was warm :)

 Valentines morning B woke up with a huge smile discovering his balloon that awaited him! Still, as of today, it's his favorite toy :)

 Also he got a cute little frog that when squeezed hard enough will ribbit. I don't think we should have given him this frog on the same day as the balloon because after this quick kiss to Mr. Ribbiter, he was done with him :) Oh sweet boy! We also got B a few chocolates that I was really excited for him to try. After breakfast we got them out and as I was unwrapping one I realized, "DUH! This is a peanut butter cup, B can't have peanut butter! " Oh my. So I resorted to sharing a sucker with him that Auntie brought over later that day :) He didn't even realized what he missed out on ;)

The weight has been added!

The Brodster has a follow up weight appointment today. I was a bit nervous about what his weight would be with his feeling icky last week and just refusing to eat lately. However......the boy has put on tons of weight! In the last 9 days be packed on 6 ounces! :) I'm not sure who is feeding this kid but yay!!!! What also it could be is that lately whatever momma eats, Brody eats. He thinks it's his job in life to crawl on my lap and eat my food. Last night it was chili. I really thought he would take one bite and turn his nose up. Nope he kept chowing down as you can notice from all the sauce on his face ;)

The other day I had a huge breakthrough with B that made me feel like the best mom in the world (its true). The boy is demonstrating his independence by choosing not to eat at meal times. His favorite foods even. So frustrating! Little to say at times he was starving, but I refused to give him snacks. He has to learn, right...?? Then Monday I decided he was going to stay in his highchair till his food was gone. Poor guy didn't like that decision as he voiced his opinion loudly! I was on the verge of a mommy meltdown as I was thinking about adding another baby to the madness soon! He sat there though and finally after about 20 minutes began eating a few bites. The big breakthrough came when I just thought I will feed him myself. I grabbed one of his forks (that we've been very anxious to use because it looks like a construction truck), his face lit up, I handed him the fork and HE ATE!!!!!!!!!!!! The poor, sweet guy all he wanted to do was use utensils like he sees me and Mike using. The last two days meal times have been delightful :) Oh my stubborn, independent child, how you can bring out the worst in me but yet bring out the best in me :) Now I can hold my head up high and say confidently, "Baby girl we are ready for you!" (At least until our next hurdle with B next week ;) )

It's a..........

GIRL!!!!!!! :)

We are 95% sure at least. At 17 weeks a bit early, however, we saw some "girly" parts :) We got some great looks at her all stretched out and kicking her sweet little legs. She's absolutely perfect and just adorable! We are thrilled to add pink, frills and ruffles to our home! Brody just can't wait to be a big, protective brother (he's going to do so great!). We will sneak in to my doctor's office after hours in a couple weeks to re-see sweet girl but we are just too confident not to say anything. So, bring on the pink! :)

hand, foot and mouth....GO AWAY!

We have been hanging out and enjoying our wonderful winter so far! In all actuality, I think we got to skip winter this year (yay!!). 60's and 70's are my kind of winter :) Brod has figured out how much he LOVES being outside. He is the happiest boy with his freedom to run around chasing the "doggies" and throwing them their ball, but when it's time to come inside.....let the tantrums begin. Today my search for a play-set has begun, he would have so much fun swinging and going down the slide :)

 Friday a very cruel and non welcomed virus entered our home! It started as a nasty looking rash on B's little bottom. Saturday morning he woke up covered in vomit and diarrhea (poor guy!). That afternoon I gave in and took him to see the doctor. She found an ear infection and tonsillitis and kinda just blew off my sons welted looking tooshy that was spreading to his legs. We left thinking we can make it till Monday till our doctor can look at him. By Monday this "rash" had spread to his legs, arms, face, hands and feet. He wasn't really eating and his sleep was terrible! We thought the kid had chicken pox for sure. But really she looked at him right away and said he had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease!! I was really disgusted by that diagnosis because I thought it was such a dirty disease. Come to find out it's pretty common amongst babies up to 5 years old! So all we can do is let it run it's course.

 Last night was the first night in 3 nights the B man has slept all night, we were very thankful! His little bumps are drying up and scabbing over nicely, we can see a full recovery coming very soon :) The whole time he was feeling cruddy I kept telling him, "I would give anything to take your symptoms away." Low and behold, I came home from work early Monday with the flu! We quickly called in backup (my sister Meghan) to help Mike take care of both B and me. What a time! So we are now both in recovery mode, oh mercy!

We see my baby doctor tomorrow and he promised we would take a look to see if we can see a little penis or little who-ha! Its a bit early (17 weeks) but we'll see ;) So stay tuned......

14 Weeks

We had a baby appointment this last week and got a really great look at K2 :) This little ones personality is definitely opposite of Brody's. When we saw Brody at this point in pregnancy he was bouncing every which way. It was difficult to get a good picture because he wouldn't stop moving. We got a great picture of K2. Very relaxed and stretched out, no need to be a gymnast ;) Looking great and healthy at the same time. Due date remains July 13th.

I'm feeling great. Nausea will come and go, usually when I forget to eat and become really hungry. The tiredness remains, so I nap when B naps. I have noticed more energy lately. Mike has been very impressed when he comes home from work and notices all that I accomplished :)

What a year it has been!

Well, we’ve made it through our first year of being parents! Wow, what a ride is all I can say. There is nothing that could have prepared me enough for this last year. The funny thing is that I thought I kinda knew it all, HA!!

 It was been by far the most difficult and at the same time greatest year of our lives. I say difficult because I didn’t realize we would be entering boot camp those first few months. I didn’t realize how selfish I was and that selfishness was going to be ripped out of me and quickly! I didn’t realize how much one could hurt simply from being so tired! I didn’t realize how the minute we brought Brod home we lost every bit of “knowledge” we thought we had with parenting and how dumb we became. We truly felt like helpless puppies just learning to swim just by watching each other (I kinda feel this will be life from here on out though).  In all honesty I really didn’t enjoy or even like being a mom the first 9 weeks. Mix in sleep depravity and a bit of post part-um depression, but I really felt like a failure. All moms would quickly tell me how great being a mom was and the joys that came from it. I felt like a failure because I wasn’t experiencing what those moms were talking about. I just kinda really longed for having my husband back and doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.  I’ve come to realize something though all of this. I don’t feel like moms in general really share about the lows parts of being a parent, the not so glamorous sides of it.  When I finally began sharing my feelings with some close friends they quickly went into the millions of tears they shed those early weeks also. I couldn’t believe it!! I was believing a lie, really that Satan had placed to take me down,  that made me feel inadequate as a mom.  As soon as I began believing the truth life got lots better. Not because Brod mysteriously began sleeping through the night, because he was the same baby. It was because I knew I could do it, I finally believed in myself to me a good mom. 

I also say it was the greatest year of our lives because the Lord has beyond blessed us with the sweetest little boy whom we’ve gotten the opportunity to watch grow up to this little man. We’ve gotten to experience his first smiles, giggles, rolling over, crawling, walking and oh so much more! We get to teach, lead and guide him (a bit scary also.) I’ve loved being able to start sharing with him Bible stories and telling him about the Lord, praying with him at night and singing worship songs. Mike and I go to bed at night just in awe of the amount of love we have for that kid. I love, love, love being a mom and am so excited to continue to grow our family J

Something that has surprised me the most this year has been my continued desire to work outside the home. I love being a nurse! I kinda thought by now I would be contemplating staying at home but instead am thinking how can I keep working with two kids. Yes, the extra money is nice but I love getting out of the house. I really don’t think the Lord wired me to be a stay at home mom. I’m a better mom and wife when I get to take a “break” from being a mom and have adult conversations with my patients and my co-workers.  I’m thankful to also have a supportive husband who desires me to do what I desire.  

What a year of being a student and learning what it is to be a parent. I know we’ve only scratched the surface of having any bit of knowledge, but we’ve made it a year!! The Lord is good and His mercies are great! We are ready to tackle round 2 and become dumb again in 6 months…..oh heavens…!!!!