.westensee family visit.

.andrew's parents and younger brother evan came to visit and help out right after my mom. it was so nice to be able to have someone else entertain brooklynn, or hold parker, or just to talk to.

.we did alot of things, but of course, i didnt get as many pictures as a should of. oh well.

.andrew worked monday thru friday....so during the day we usually hung out. we did go visit andrew at work for lunch one day and walked a bit of the usaa building. (its almost a mile long). roger and evan went to six flags one day, while debbie hung out with me and the grandbabies. she sent me to bed, and told me to not come out unless she came and got me. it was some of the best sleep EVER. i was OUT and sleeping in the normal bed, not just the pull out hide-a-bed i am use to.

.we went to the riverwalk/alamo (i think andrew and i are done with that place for a while now)....and we also checked out a bbq place that was suppose to be amazing. it was OKAY not my favorite, but when your MIL is an amazing cook, its hard to compare. it was good overall, and fun to experience it.

.we attempted to try a pizza place that is HOT down here...called lou's pizza...it has a 42 inch pizza that is loaded with over 30 lbs of toppings/dough...CRAZY RIGHT?? ...well even more crazy was the sign that was posted saying, please allow a 1-2 HOUR wait, and even longer on Fridays/Saturdays (it was saturday)...ah, NO thank you for that wait. so andrew and i are going to try and go there before we leave.

.we looked at houses. yes, you read that right. we looked at houses. there is a VERY GOOD possibility we will be moving here, so we looked at houses...it was weird and fun at the same time. see what areas we liked, what we liked about houses. look at new houses, and used houses. it was enjoyable. it was nice to look with debbie and roger, because they have moved so many times they know what questions to ask, what to look for, etc. one day we looked all together, and another day we looked with just roger and debbie watched my babies. it was fun to look into a little bit into our future!

.debbie watched brooklynn countless times, and even took her swimming one day while i kept parker. she did our laundry for us, and entertained brooklynn and parker for me. thank goodness. thank you debbie....it was SO nice, and i will always be grateful for what you do for me and our family.

.uncle evan is awesome too. i always talk about tyler... but evan really took brooklynn and played with her. he even took her swimming too, and i came down and watched from the side of the pool with debbie and parker boy.

.it was an enjoyable week of visiting/catching up/eating tons and tons, and just being with family. thanks westensee family for visiting us, and spoiling us.

.alright now for the pictures i did get...very few, but still better than nothing.

swimming with....

UNCLE EVAN

.adorable picture...even with brooklynn's little attitude look.

.parker boy enjoying the SIDE of the pool.

.uncle evan fixed her bangs.

.LOVE this picture. (above, not below)

.evan had to show off his AWESOME muscles...such a silly boy.

.my two kiddos.

.riverwalk. grandpa, b girl and evan.

.b girl with grandma and grandpa in front of alamo.

.our family in front of alamo.

.the riverwalk.

.of course...FUNTASTIC playland....we did this for about 1.5 hours to make brooklynn tired so we could drive around and look at houses.

 .uncle evan got on all the play equipment with her, and chased her around and went down slides too.

 .see her pure happiness?? thats because gpa westensee put quarters in the car to make it go... andrew about died because she had NO clue that it went until that point. she was totally happy just sitting in there and pretending to drive.

 .basketball with gpa.

 .gpa was awesome and chased her around, and played with her.

.uncle evan and brooklynn.

.and of course house hunting. we looked at MANY new houses, to build...which i LOVED (dont get me wrong)...but we also know a used house may also be another great option. here are my top 3 "used" houses that we looked at. 

 .this one has an awesome look to it.

 .this one reminds me of a house from my home town.

.this one had a GREAT backyard for my future boat :)

.it was fun...now off to bed, before i know it parker will be up wanting to eat. thanks westensee family. it was fun!

.thanks mom.

.i was so blessed that my mom was able to come watch b while i had parker. when andrew and i would joke about going into labor (we seriously joked because we both know my body dont know a thing about going into labor on its own)..anyways when we joked about my body going into labor i would STRESS out about what to do with brooklynn. seriously stress out. i know things would of worked out for us, if that was the case, but i was SO happy when i knew brooklynn was at home, with my mom, playing and safe. i cried when i kissed brooklynn goodbye to go have parker. pathetic i know... but i have never left her overnight, or over a period of 5-6 hours. 

.anyways. i LOVED having my mom here. and i wont lie, i cried pulling away from the airport after dropping her off. its easy when we are away from each other, and we talk a lot on the phone, but its HARD when she visits and than i have to say goodbye. i am close to my mom, and i LOVED every minute of having her here. i laughed so much the week and a half with her. mostly because we were both tired from staying up with parker boy, and so stupid things seemed SO FUNNY to us. 

.we shopped, shopped shopped. we slept on the hide-a-bed together with parker boy. we laughed, laughed, and laughed some more. we when out to lunch a couple times. we got ice cream and $1 drinks at mcdonalds. we were late to everything. . . it was just a great week and a half.

.thank you mom for being there for me...all the time. thank you for being such an amazing mother, and even more amazing grandmother to my kids. thank you for being my best friend, and for all the tears we shed together...during our serious talks, and during our times of stupidity. thank you for loving me through my weaknesses. i love you mom. i cant wait to see you soon, and i cannot wait until our next time together. thanks mom, it seriously means a lot.

.and now onto the pictures of what we did with grandma mcdonald.

 .we had bath time... i think my mom bathed brooklynn almost every night. . . one night my mom had brooklynn laughing really hard, i told andrew to go grab the camera and video tape them. . . and so we got it on video...brooklynn got a little excited, a little TOO excited...and showed grandma her appreciation of making her laugh during bath time in her own little way..

.BATH TIME WITH GRANDMA MCDONALD.

.TMI WARNING...this same night, mom was trying to fish something out of the bath... she kept saying, "i dont know what this is in the tub" or "i just cant get it"...well we come to find out its grapes...from brooklynn...brooklynns butt. mom had fed her grapes, and she had pooed them out the same size as they went in...and here is my mom trying to fish them out...SICK.

 .we changed many diapers....

.if you look REAL close you will see dark wet spots on andrew's pants....yep, Parker boy got him while changing his diaper...hilarious...until it happens to me. i swear this boy got me EVERY TIME i changed him the first week of his life...i am not use to outdoor plumbing.

 .so brooklynn put up a fight when grandma tried to put her p.j.'s on...well grandma showed her...she stuck her foot in the WRONG leg and made Brooklynn walk....

 .just kidding...grandma didnt do it on purpose, she was just super tired, and just didnt get her feet in the right spot...(above) is grandma showing A LOT of symphony to Brooklynn...aka laughing at her.

.brooklynn looked at her like, "what the heck grandma", and would squeal, it was hilarious.

.oh, but when grandma is fully rested, and not so tired...she knows how to dress brooklynn JUST FINE. (below).

.oh yes, you guessed it, grandma did this to Brooklynn as well. awesome.

.we also took grandma to one of our favorite places...funtastic playland. we love it cause it costs us $3, and because it wears brooklynn out.

 .this is how most of grandma's time was spent at funtastic... dont let the other pictures fool you...she loved on parker.

 (above). So i have to tell you about this sign i finally got a picture of. the FIRST time we ever went to funtastic (just andrew and i and miss b) andrew climbed right on in the bounce house with brooklynn and a few other kids.

.i stood outside the bounce house and laughed when i read this. 1-Only 8 KIDS at a time. 2-Up to AGE 10 ONLY to jump. 3-NO ADULTS PLEASE. Violators will be prosecuted. 

.i yelled to andrew, "did you not read this?"....i really wanted to leave him in there and not say anything and see if anyone else did...but I decided we wanted to come back, so it was not worth andrew getting embarrassed over.

.parker boy chillin with grandma.

 .see my mom's HOT cheeta print p.j.'s!

 .just getting some rays, showing off some muscles.

.b girl and her brother.

.of COURSE we had to take grandma to the alamo and riverwalk...okay, the only reason she wanted to go, was for her school slideshow...she totally used us. just kidding. we trooped it out...it was HOT...but a nice walk and of course PICTURES.

.it was HOT, and we were SWEATY. dont judge.

.other funny things that happened, that I dont have pictures of.

.mom and i are late for everything, especially with 2 kids...so we were running late to pick up andrew from work one day...and made every wrong turn possible. well here we are sitting in traffic, and mom says, "free vaccination? why would they have free vaccinations with a carwash?" i too, was extremely confused and said, "what? where?"...mom points over to the carwash and than says, "oh, free VACUUMS" yea, free vacuums, NOT free vaccinations. awesome mom.

.while sitting in traffic, this car kept honking its horn. mom thinks its the car behind me, i think its another car cause it doesnt sound like the car behind us. well it continues to honk its horn every time the light would turn green....i think there is NO way its honking at me because the light may be green, but i cant go because the intersection is either blocked, or there is no room on the other side to clear the intersection, or there is a cop car (yea-NOT going to block the intersection in front of a cop)...the horn honking goes again, and i guess mom was fed up, cause she reaches across and just lays on the horn right back at them...yea, dont mess with mom.

.doctor visit. mom went to a doctor visit with me, with BOTH kids. this is the SAME day we were already late to meet andrew for lunch. we get there, and of course i have paper work to fill out. well parker is screaming because he needs fed, so i quickly latch him on under a blanket, while mom fills out the paperwork for me. well brooklynn starts by throwing the toys on the ground (because they make a cool noise), than she starts pushing the chairs around (making another obnoxious noise) she was so busy, busy and got into everything. finally the doctor apt is OVER and we get in the car...first thing out of mom's mouth, "well i woud definitely find a babysitter for Brooklynn every time you need to go to the doctor for Parker"...thanks mom for the reassurance!

.doctor visit continued....parker gets checked out, and is poopy, so i change him real quick before the nurse comes in to poke him for his jaundice test....well he SPRAYS the table, and wall behind him...the nurses even said, "wow, he got it all the way over there...i have never had one get it that far...it also gets on his clothes (of course i have NO EXTRA outfit)...and my mom, oh yea, she LAUGHS.

.i know there is more, so if i think of more, i will write another post, but until than, this post will have to do. thanks mom for coming. thanks for the memories. thanks for the laughs. cant wait to do it again.

.Parker Scott Westensee.

.i could not sleep the night before my induction. could not. up almost every hour...and so finally at 5am, i thought, "if i am gonna look tired in my pictures from lack of sleep, i am gonna go waste my time waiting, and curl my hair. "YES! I curled my hair.

.7:15 rolls around, and we head on over to the hospital to make our 7:30 induction appointment. my sister insured me that she didnt think it would be busy because it was friday the 13th. well we got there, and all the preregistration i did online was useless. THANKS. so we sat and got registered, and got into our room (room 20) a little after 8am.

.nurse (her name was Bobbie) had me dress down, sign some paperwork, took my blood, started my I.V. took my vitals. you know the whole hospital experience. started me on pitocin around 8:45am. She also checked me and I was still a 3 from last week, and nothing had changed. she told me i could get my epidural at any time, and also that my doctor was coming to break my water. YES! I was so happy to hear this, because between that and my epidural, brooklynn came 3.5 hours later.

.pitocin started, and my body reacted. she was turning it up every ten minutes, trying to get my contractions to every 2 minutes apart...and she did. they were not HORRIBLE at this point, but they were consistant. dr haun (WHOM I LOVE) came in to break my water at 10am...guess who didnt have a water to break?? ah, YEA! She was so puzzled, and thought that I must have broken my water before than. confused too, i thought... wouldn't i have known that!? weird. she also said it could be more behind the baby, and could come down and break as time went on. weird, weird weird. at this point i was STILL 3cm dilated.

.at 10:45 i got my epidural. the anesthesiologist Dr. Tingie (funny name for an anesthesiologist) did an AMAZING job. I did feel this epidural WAY MORE than I did when I got one with Brooklynn. But it was not bad at all. She had a assistant, Millie, who was HILARIOUS and had us laughing and was very personable. the epidural was AWESOME. at 11 i got my catheter put it...the epidural was not fully kicked in and i could feel it. NOT COMFORTABLE. but i knew it was only time until I was in complete heaven...ahh.

.at 11:30, the nurse came in and informed us that the epidural had totally killed my contractions. GREAT! I was so mad because i thought this delivery would be ALOT faster...and at this point, i figured i would still have forever until we got anywhere. nurse checked me and I was still 3cm. GREAT...real great! lame.

.around 12:30, nurse came and said my contractions were still not picking up, and so she had me on the highest dose of pitocin, and was going to have to call dr. haun to see what we were going to do next....i was so frustrated at this point. seriously!?!? At this point with Brooklynn i was PUSHING...well luckily my contractions started slowly picking up...thank goodness. 

.dad went to grab lunch, and came back and we were just talking and suddenly i felt the pressure, and the urge to push. i KNEW this feeling. I told daddy that it was time...luckily your dad knows from brooklynn's delivery that i was NOT kidding. the pressure was SO intense...i thought for sure i was going to have this baby with no doctor. dad went out in the hall and told the nurse to come now. sure enough i was fully dilated...this was at 1:45 (just an 1-1.5 hours, i went from a 3 to fully dilated).

.they called doc haun, and got everything ready....the nurse told me DO NOT PUSH... that was hard, i felt like i needed to so bad. well as soon as doc haun got there...i seemed like we were waiting FOREVER for an contraction to come to push. . . seriously?? I SWEAR i had the urge to push just a few minutes ago. . . well we started pushing at 2:10pm. i would push and push and it was nothing like brooklynn (she was out in 4 pushes)..i was so frustrated and dr. haun was a little confused too... and than she realized you were face up. YES FACE UP. it was crazy. even though i had my epidural, i felt the crowning and pressure.. it was crazy amazing.

.at 2:25pm our little man was born. 7 pounds, 19.5 inches long. he was bruised pretty bad from coming out face up. they put you on my stomach and dad and i teared up. our little boy was here. finally. they took you to clean you off, and daddy followed. he took pictures, and grabbed your hand, and talked to you. it was adorable. 

 .7 pounds.

 .mommy and parker.

 .daddy and parker.

 .picture we put on facebook announcing you were born to all our friends/family.

 .this shows the bruising along the top of his poor little head from coming out face up.

.luckily for mommy you were so nice and didn't tear her at all. . . and she didnt get cut either..phew. one of mommy's biggest fears. mommy had a rough recovery with brooklynn because this was so bad, but you were so sweet to mommy's poor body (minus the stretch marks, and varicose veins, and spider veins throughout my body).

.parker scott westensee.

.we had no clue what we were going to name you...either parker or ethan....when i saw you, i KNEW you were a parker... but i didnt say anything because i wanted to hear what daddy had to say. he said nothing. you were taken to the nursery, i was taken to our room upstairs for recovery. once mommy was settled upstairs, daddy left to get your sister and grandma mcdonald.

.daddy changing your diaper for the first time.

.your sister did not know what to do when she first saw you. the moment was priceless.. luckily we got it all on video...so instead of mommy trying to write out the whole experience...i will just add the video.  i do have to note that the next day, when someone came to take a few pictures....your sister DID NOT like it when she could not see you, and when some stranger was taking pictures of you. she screamed and wanted to be right by you. it was adorable. here is the video of your sister meeting you for the first time. 

 .this take home outfit.

 .grandma mcdonald and parker.

 .her shirt says best big sister ever.

.grandma did a pretty good job on her hair...i was shocked.

.big sister brooklynn meets her little brother parker.

.your daddy kept saying parker when your sister was around, but we still had not decided....when daddy got back from dropping gma and sister off at the hotel, he came back. i asked him what he wanted to name you, and he said he still didnt know...i told him i KNEW you were a Parker... and your dad agreed.

Parker Scott Westensee. you have your daddy's middle name, as your middle name. (and your sister has mommy's middle name as part of her first name). you are such a great baby, and bring such a special spirit to our house. mommy and daddy love you, and your sister loves you.