.week 3 in texas.

.i cannot believe we have been here for 3 weeks already. that is CRAZY. (okay 3 weeks on Monday)...but still.

.i figured i would post these pictures and videos because if i get behind, i never catch up. and this weekend has no plans....so i probably wont have anything fun to write about anyways :)

.andrew- he is really enjoying his job. he gets up around 7, and it out the door by 7:30 and gets home by 5:30. its great. he is getting SUPER challenged and he enjoys that. he really likes his team, and working at usaa.

.me- well, my body is getting use to running on little sleep. between b and p...im one tired looking mama. i LOVE living in sweats and wearing no makeup on a daily basis. i barely ever do my hair, its usually shower the throw up in a bun, or braid. 

.brooklynn- oh, my little daughter. she is alot of fun, but also a bully. she is SMART and thats what drives me crazy. i will tell her no to something and she will try and sneak whatever it is she is doing. just this week alone, she stuck her paci under her shirt and went around the corner and put it back in her mouth (she has to keep it in her crib)...she has pinched parker and than will look up to see if im looking and do it again. she is a stinker...but she also has those moments where she is just a doll. she sat on my lap and cuddle, watched a movie and let me paint her toenails. she LOVES to stand next to me in the mirror and pretend she is doing her hair, or putting on makeup. its cute. she also DOES play well with her brother when she is in the right mood. she will push him, and share toys, and just love on him. she will NOT go anywhere outside or to the car without her brother. she is a great mommy to her doll, and loves having her swaddled, and pushes her in her carseat and stroller that she got from grandma mcdonald. at one point she had a purse on one shoulder, and the baby in her carseat in the other...it was adorable.

.parker- this kid melts my heart. he is really stinking cute, and such a good baby when he is in a good mood. yesterday, he was SO HAPPY. he got up and played with toys for a good 45 minutes and squealed and smiled. it was so much fun. poor kid is fighting teething, and he woke up this morning all congested. if he feels anything like me (i woke up with a SUPER sore throat and congested as well) than i know he aint feeling too hot. parker wakes up and is usually up for an hour and goes back down for a nap for an hour or so. he wakes up for 2.5 hours and goes back down for a nap. he LOVES his sister...he loves when she sits and plays with him. if you hold onto his hands he just walks like he owns the place. he LOVES following brooklynn and squeals with delight when she tries to help him walk. i cannot wait for him to walk and be able to follow her around because i think they BOTH will be happier. parker really is a great baby when he feels good and doesnt fight me eating solids....now to conquer the bottle.

 .this kid seemed like he conquered sitting up as soon as gma/gpa westensee left. we skyped with them on sunday and they were in shock that he was sitting up already.

 .b wanted to sit at the table one day, so i got her all situated while i was doing dishes, when i turned around i found her to be drawing in her yogurt instead of eating it!

 .getting parker started young....gpa roger would ask him if he was going to play football or baseball at byu....i got this shirt for .50 cents, so i couldnt pass it up.

 .this kid played and played and played for 45 minutes one evening. it was great.

 .i walk into the kitchen to find brooklynn like this...she was getting the marshmellows (lucky charms) that i hid from her.

 .he isnt smiling at me, he is smiling at his sister behind me.

 .do you see the temp on the left...it says 79 degrees...this is great, except that was INSIDE our apartment. i am totally shocked that its january and we have to kick on our ac....makes me nervous to cool a home.... it was also 80 degrees yesterday outside...crazy!

.i asked b to smile...this is what i got, aint that attractive!

 .parker face on morning....aint that precious.

.me and the parker boy....im TRYING to get better at taking pictures of ME with the kids.

alright....VIDEO time. there are alot, just fair warning.

so i posted this on facebook, but i need it on her for my records too....since this video was taken she is SO MUCH faster, and she knows how to pull open the door, GREAT.

.b getting in and out of her crib.

.b LOVES cutie oranges....and one day she peeled the things by herself....i didnt even start it...so now when she wants one, i give it to her and she peels it over the garbage.

.b peeling a cutie orange.

.b gets SO excited when her daddy comes home...she LOVES to play with him. here is just a little clip of andrew throwing around b.

.b playing with her daddy.

.i was watching b one night trying to figure out what she was doing...and i realize she is trying to tickle parker. it was cute to watch her.

.b tickling parker.

.this is what i LOVE...when these two play together...for a long extended period of time.

.b and parker playing together.

.so we may or may not slightly torture our child...my poor kids. (may laugh is so pathetic...i had a cold and lost my voice...so my laugh is ridiculous. 

.b "catching" parker in the swing.

.i dont always get a chance to shower during naptime, and this particular morning i needed to get in because we had to be somewhere in the afternoon....so i asked b to babysit. (she did)

.b babysitting parker.

.parker was talking and squealing...and i hear brooklynn go "shhhhh" it was so cute...i didnt get it on camera, but before that she would go "parker...shhhh!"

.b telling parker to be quiet.

.b LOVES lucky charms...well the charm part (marshmallows)..i caught her picking through looking for the marshmallows.

.b and her lucky charms.

.yesterday it was 80 degrees so we pulled out the chalk and sat on the patio and just enjoyed the warm weather. even parker liked it.

.b drawing with chalk.

.b LOVES this video santa paws...like LOVES it...and she will fast forward on my ipod to this stupid song every time she can and dance...she isnt dancing as well as i wish...but you can see how stuck she is to this song. (long video)

.b and santa paws.

.i was cooking dinner and asked b to go push parker...he loved it...

.b pushed parker in the jenny jump up.

last, (i know finally right)...here is a video tour of our apartment, my fam keeps asking for it. so here it is...and sisters be PROUD i have NO decorated at all. I only pulled out what we need, and thats it. im not kidding!....go me

.apartment in san antonio.

.texas uncoated.

.moving to texas has been.....

.hard.

.real hard.

.i LOVE being a stay at home mom, so dont get me wrong, but i also need an out every once in a while, or every night... i take what i can get.

.i have no friends here. i know i will gain some, but so far, its me and the kids, and thats hard.

.i am a very go go go person. my poor kids know what a carseat is, and what shopping is.

.its what i do. its my out.

.but so far i have done none of that, for more reasons than one.

.so far since we have moved here, parker has been a terror.....pain?.

.about a week before we were to moved we found out he moved from the 27th percentile to the 11th....and had lost weight as well. it seems like when all this happened, he also stopped nursing as well. 

.from day one, parker has been a picky eater. its been hard for me to leave him with anyone, okay, i leave him for 3 hours MAX and have to come back...its been HARD. he wont take a bottle, even if its pumped. i have tried 5 different bottles, and have had a million different people try and give it to him, nothing. since he has slowed down with nursing, he has also decided he doesnt like to eat on one side....do you know what that means??....here comes lopsy. i am soooo lopsided it aint pretty and makes me so depressed and feel very far from beautiful. try hiding that one...yea, i have become a master. andrew and i have both agreed that i should stop breastfeeding for the sake of parker getting more nutrients, and for me (i cry over this whole "hiding deal")....however, with him not taking a bottle, makes it impossible, wait it has been impossible.

.than baby food...want to make him purse his lips together, turn his head and cry, take a spoonful for baby food to his mouth and it sounds like your killing the kid. i have FINALLY got him to start taking baby food, but through a medicine syringe and tricking him (making him laughing, acting like im going to give him his paci, etc)...its been HARD.  

.so, i have finally got baby food down him, and he gets constipated. for 3 days.....3 days of hell. (remember i aint candy coating this). he would SCREAM and SCREAM and SCREAM. i would cry, and cry and cry. I was very short tempted, and was with brooklynn too. by the end of the day, i felt like a horrible mom thinking back to the days events.

.its been hard.

.and than the middle-of-the-night-freak-attacks-staying-up-for-2-3-hours-during-the-night-no-matter-how-tired-i-am.

.i have been so emotional, hormonal, sensitive...im a nut case.

.oh but wait, theres more.

.my car.

.oh my good ol 1996 honda accord.

.we pray it lasts for another year, at least. 

.on saturday, andrew plugged in his iphone charger into my cigarette lighter, and for whatever reason, it blew a fuse....so i have NO radio...and no c. lighter.....which means i also have NO gps. (umm, i need that around here...its new to me). than on monday when we were meeting with our real esate agent, on our way home, my blinker started going out....GRRREEEAAATTT.

.well my left blinker went out, and the "blinker sound" would not stop....so here we are listening to some annoying obnoxious blinking sound with no radio to out weigh it, with no blinker. and than it stops, and so does my right blinker. are you kidding me?

.so we are driving home, in the dark, with no blinker what-so-ever.

.unsafe, and totally made me look like one of "those" drivers who just cut over without using a blinker, and who turn without using a signal, and you think "really, i could of pulled out earlier if you would of used your damn blinker." yea, i was one of "those" drivers.

.so i have been stuck at home, because there is NO way i would drive my kids in the car until its fixed. 

.now i literally am, stuck.

.i called my mom and just cried. 

.its been so hard.

.i know things will get better, and i have alot to be thankful for. i just want things to get better on my time, and its not going to....its all on the Lord's time. 

.tuesday evening i was still kinda grumpy. sunday, the missionaries saw new people and we were attacked greeted quickly. let me tell you, they are tricky. they set up an appointment to come over tuesday evening and "get to know us." smart boys.

.they were running 10 minutes late, and i was such a grump about it. i said comments like "we dont have kids of anything to put down" (their appointment was at 8:30 and they were running late...LATE people...can you think of ME for a second....see, total jerk). and lets me honest here...like my kids go down lately at a specific bedtime.

.anyways, they come in and ask about us, and get to know us. one of them went to rexburg for a bit before his mission, so it was fun to talk about the different things of rexburg...his companion is from canada and had just finished applying for all the byu schools (he goes home in march)...and we were all  trying to convince him to go to idaho.

.alright- the good stuff.

.they shared a quick message with us, and talked about how WE need to prepare ourselves for missionary opportunities. and WE need to set the example for others to wonder "why are they so happy?" "they really have their lives together" "their family is so close" etc. they opened with a pray, and closed with a prayer.

.my gosh, those young men carry such an amazing spirit with them, and brought it into our home, and i was so grateful for that. their prayers were so heartfelt, and not just a "repeat". they prayed specify for OUR family and they barely knew us. amazing. it really was exactly what i needed.

.with that being said, i was a total a-hole last night. i was stressed, i was tired, and i felt very alone, and it just all built up. my poor mother got another phone call, and i just cried.

.luckily, i sat down and started to write this, and realize and felt the love of our Savior as i continued to write this, and the heartfelt prayers from our loved ones for us, and even from those who dont know us that well (missionaries). today is going to be a much better day. no matter how tired i am, or how i feel alone. i am blessed.

.i am blessed to be able to stay home with my children. i dont have to work, i dont have to drop them off at daycare. i get to stay in my sweatpants, with no makeup all day long with my kids. andrew has a job, this is a blessing. he provides for us.

.im not trying to say our life is perfect. because it's not...its FAR FAR from. but its my life, and i needed to write down my angry feelings, to realize this. life is tough, what would it be without trials. i need a swift kick in the butt reminder, that trials help me grow. its just hard at the time. the moved is hard, but i need to learn to reach out and create friends of my own...be SOCIAL...oh, that was a hard word to write.

.alright, my pathetic pity party rant is over.

.my next blog post will be filled with pictures and videos.

.because life is good, and our Savior is just allowing me to grow and learn and be appreciative of what i have....for my family, my kids, my husband, my LIFE.                                                                      

.holding back.

.i wrote a blog post.

.and decided i didnt want it on my blog, because its a bit personal. and because i dont know WHO all reads my blog entirely....you can only control so much.

.so i guess if you want to read my blog post, i will send it to you via email or facebook.

.just send me a message via facebook or comment on here. 

.and ill shoot it your way.

.thanks for reading and for caring :)

.goodbye idaho. goodbye utah. hello texas.

.well we have moved.

.its weird.

.i have to say thank you to roger and debbie for making this move with us.

.for making the 26 hour drive with 2 kids (one that had to be breastfed every 3 hours), a 17 foot truck with a car being towed behind it.

.we left around 8 am the first day, and got to aunt flora's about 12 hours later. it FELT like a long day. 

.we woke up and was out the door by 6:30 am the next day...only to get in around 9:30-10pm (including texas time change)....regardless we were ALL ready to be there, and that day FELT long because it WAS long. the kids didnt go to bed until 12:30 that evening, and woke up at 8:30...it wasnt horrible, but gosh, i wanted to sleep in. 

.we got to our apartment that we "reserved" online without even seeing what it really looks like online. i PRAYED and PRAYED that it wouldnt be nasty. we pulled up, and i felt good. thank goodness. it's a great place, that has a pool and hot tub, and 24 hour fitness room. 

.however, as the manager was going through the contract with us, there were so many little things that we HAD to pay, that they dont mention online or when you talk to them on the phone. . . we already had to fight about a washer and dryer....we had a set that we sold in utah because it said washer and dryer included....than the first day of our road trip andrew gets an email saying its not included....i was MAD. i called and said it needed to be fixed and had them look up on their OWN website that it tells you that its included....needless to say, we got a washer and dryer.

.than as we our selling our lives away (seriously, crazy how many papers you sign compared to idaho when you literally sign once....and sometimes its over the internet)....we hear, "cable is in ALL apartments, and you pay $45 for it"....umm what if we dont want it?....well we dont ever turn it off, so you dont have to use it, but you will still be charge for it....ARE YOU KIDDING?....or, and we have valet trash pickup every day Sunday thru Friday and you just set it outside your door, and they will pick it up...that costs $25 a month...can't i just walk it myself...well you will still be charge for it...ARE YOU KIDDING....covered parking is an extra amount per month....a garage is an extra $85 per month....if you dont want to punch in the gate number and instead want a gate opener "like a garage door opener, thats extra...ARE YOU KIDDING ME...i cannot BELIEVE the things people pay for...we were STUCK paying extra for cable and trash pickup...thats an extra $70 a month...CRAZY. so whatever, we signed and it just pushed us want to get out of there faster.

.but thats not all. we are also in charge of internet. so andrew had it set up for them to come and install on our move in day. it was $30 a month (not the end of the world, but the guy came in and said, before i install this, i need to let you know this complex requires you do have the ultimate internet, so instead of $30 a month, its $75 a month....RIP OFF....we miss rexburg!....so we are paying around 1150 a month and its KILLING us...thats WITH a usaa discount. 

.rant over, moving on.

.we had a great week with roger and debbie here. deb was awesome and watched brooklynn for us, while we house hunted. b was in heaven with grandma and grandpa here. she went into a bit of a denial when they didnt come home with us on saturday. 

.some of my favorite things from this last week.

.b transitioning from her pack in play in our room back to her crib in her own room (we are going to do a big girl bed once we have a house).

.driving around looking at houses, walking through houses, and seeing what there is to offer. knowing its our next step.

.having andrew all day, all week long. he starts work on monday, so its back to reality.

.seeing b so happy to be able to play outside. at one house its right across from the neighborhood playground...she looks so sad when we had to get in the car to head home. she cried and cried. it was so sad.

.going to the lake. we hope to own a boat in the future...we are talking 10 years out at least...and so we were interested in seeing the lake. it was BEAUTIFUL...and it was 73 degrees out. b LOVED it and put her feet in the water and was just so happy to run around. she would say "boat" and "i want a boat" (have no clue who taught her that.) it was adorable. 

.spending time together as family. we had great conversations, and just seriously enjoyed our time together...texas has been good to us so far, and we are excited to start this chapter of our lives here.

.well, back to reality....jump in the shower while parker is sleeping...andrew starts work tomorrow, so i am on my own  :)

.b at the lake....she waves to lily and says "i want a boat."

.b was walking to the lake, and we kept asking her if she wanted a boat...okay, more like having her tell gpa and dad that she wants a boat.

.b saying yeeee haaaaawww.....she is turning into a texas cowgirl.

 .b and andrew at the lake.

 .parker after eating a pretzel.

 .parker and grandpa.

.b at texas wild horse....yee hawww.

.thats a wrap....see you guys later.