.no sleep.

.i am not sure why b has been up. honestly, i have NO CLUE. if i knew i would change it real fast (oh the joys of being a parent).

.i have been putting her down for a nap around 12-1. she sleeps MAYBE 45 minutes if I am lucky... sometimes 1.5 (which i am thrilled for).

.and no nap after that until bedtime.

.bedtime comes around and she is wired, and not even wanting to go to bed. but we finally get her down, and she is up halfway through the night. i rock her, sometimes i give her a bottle if she really wont go down, i snuggle/cuddle her. 

.but last night was different. she had ALOT to drink last night between her nighttime bottle and drink at dinner. i figured, she is thirsty fine. right?

.she peed out her diaper, up her side, all over her blankets....needless to say, i had a mess on my hands at 4 in the morning. 

.changed her, threw the blankets in the hamper, made a bottle and let her lay with us. drank the bottle. threw the bottle. wide awake tackling her dad (who has to get up in 2.5 hours)

.bring her to family room, shut the doors to bedroom, let her play. hour passes, wide awake, 2 hours passes, wide awake...what the heck?

.6:15...out....finally. 

.put her in her bed with a CLEAN blanket. climb in bed. uncomfortable. toss, turn, toss turn. loose it. cry. awesome.

.fall alseep around 6:30. alarm goes off. snooze it. 6:45 alarm goes off. andrew gets up. fall back to sleep.

.7:15 brooklynn wakes up ...what the HAIL!

.i get up. go have breakfast with andrew. andrew leaves for work 15 minutes later... and here we are. worn out momma, and b is playing.

.now to post pictures of what we have been doing...aka, pictures of brooklynn, so i can smile a bit, and not be totally frustrated with her.

 .we went to a park on monday with a friend and her two kids. 

 .brooklynn was SO happy and get out of a hotel room and run around.

 .and climb on things.

 .it was a HOT HOT day.

 .poor girl was all sweaty.

 .luckily on Tuesday/Wednesday we went to the swimming pool. 

 .all you have to say is, "do you want to go swimming?" and she runs to the door, she knows what your talking about.

 .b LOVES playing in the laundry hamper.

 .going in.

 .coming out (and loosing her bow).

 .yesterday she pushed her basket of toys over and sat in the corner and played with toys and read a book.

 .realizing mom pulled out the camera.

 .she has to come get a closer look.

 .smile through the paci.... this girl's skin takes in the sun SO well. i put sunscreen on too.

.this is what she does when we watch for daddy to come home. she stood there like that for10-15 minutes. it was adorable when she SAW her daddy (we met him halfway down the hallway)...i will have to get video.

.texas beach trip.

.when andrew and i decided to come to texas, we decided we would do something different every saturday as a family until baby got here...it was to keep us all together as a family, but also give me SOMETHING to look forward to throughout the week. 

.the beach it was.

.i have been to seaside (oregon) beach once, with andrew... the day we went was probably the best day EVER. its usually horribly cold, and windy and ugly....but the day andrew and i went, it was SO hot... but the water was still FREEZING.

.i have also been to maui, hawaii for our honeymoon. i will NEVER forget how beautiful the beach was there, and how warm. i CANNOT wait until we have the funds and our kids are old enough to take there.

.so we decided the beach it was for our saturday outing. i didnt know what to expect. it was a 2.5 hour drive, so we PLANNED to head down and grab breakfast at 7 and head out around 7:30. fail.

.i got up at 7:30 and made sure everything was packed, and got dressed. 8 rolls around and andrew finally rolls out of bed. he has been SUPER tired lately... we kinda think he may have mono because of a sore spot in his throat and how tired he is ALL THE TIME. (do not give it to me!) so we finally headed downstairs for breakfast around 8:15, and got on the road by 9. of course i drove (because andrew was "going to do his religion homework" and also we all know i speed and will get us there faster.

(dont you LOVE how i am the only one awake)

.we got to the beach at 11:15, grab something small to eat, and headed to the actual beach. it was a really pretty drive, and had lots of city before you actually got the the beach... when we pulled in i was confused...no road?? where do we park. than andrew is like, "drive on the beach" WOW! drive on the beach...SA-WEET. so we drove down the beach for a bit, until we found a spot and parked. 

.i didnt think brooklynn would like it that much. WRONG. this girl kept turning around and running into the water and the waves. she didnt care about getting splashed or anything. it was crazy. at the very beginning she did whine because she didnt like the feel of seaweed on her feet, and didnt know exactly what was going on (she just woke up). the water was SO warm. bath water. i loved it. we changed into our suits and i took pictures and videos while daddy and brooklynn played. it was really nice, and i enjoyed taking pictures.

.video of brooklynn experiencing the beach for the first time.

 she would run down the beach....she loved it.

 andrew played with her all day, it was a nice break for me, and i know brooklynn LOVED her time with her daddy.

.yum, salt water.

.after about 2 hours brooklynn was done. so was it (hated being in a bathing suit 8.5 months pregnant). we got back in the car and decided to drive further down the beach just for the drive. brooklynn fell asleep, so it was just quiet and pretty. at one point the sand was so deep we had to turn on 4X4...i LOVED driving in it. i felt more in control than like it is in snow...so i was totally taking it all in. andrew was jealous.

.more video of brooklynn playing on the beach in the sand.

 .love this picture of these two.

.we stopped at sonic on the way home for half off slushies.

.than we headed back home....andrew and brooklynn fell asleep again for the first hour or so, and than woke up and watched a movie together. i wish i would of got more in the water with the two crazy kids, and got more pictures of me and brooklynn together...but i failed. i am not suppose to exercise at all because of the situation baby is in, and just walking out against the waves was a workout, and the waves hit my belly hard. so i took it easy. 

.driving on the beach.

.but all that matters is brooklynn experienced the beach for the first time, and we were all together as a family. we took time away from everything going on around us, forgot about it, and just enjoyed US. 

.and it was SO nice.

.sincere prayers & trials.

.isn't it funny how suddenly your prayers become more heartfelt and more powerful?.

.at the ultrasound on wednesday, as i were watching our sweet little boy (still in shock) move around on the monitor, i noticed he was measuring small. 32 weeks it kept showing on the monitor, which did not surprise me at all, brooklynn measured 2 weeks small my entire pregnancy as well. just to make sure i was seeing the right thing i asked the tech, "baby is measuring small huh?" she said, yep. and asked me if brooklynn measured small as well and how big she was when i had her. 7 pounds 1 ounce.

.i went about thinking there is no way my doctor is going to induce me if this baby is measuring small. and began to worry. coming to texas was a HUGE step for me. it was away from friends and family and becoming totally reliable on my relationship with Andrew and with God. my mom and sister both told me their doors where totally open for me to go live while Andrew came to Texas. It was always an option in the back of my mind, but i didnt find it fair to Andrew and to Brooklynn. I figured Brooklynn should not be separated from her daddy that long, and I would feel horrible if Andrew missed the birth of his daughter (oh wait, SON).

.once i got into my room and was waiting for the doctor, i immediately felt a sense of calm when she walked in. i LOVE her, she is younger and sat down and said, tell me what your worried about, and what your needs are. and just let me talk. i explained that we are here while Andrew does an internship at USAA for 10 weeks. Andrew has 1 paid day a month to take off....so we really would like to be induced. also, i need my mom here to watch little b while i am in the hospital...she totally understood but also explained some things that she is "concerned" about from the ultrasound. 

.so he is measuring small. 2 weeks. no biggie....but his torso area is measuring even smaller.. like 3 weeks. this has her not worried yet, but just concerned and wants another ultrasound when i come back in 2 weeks. she said at this point, he is not really low percentile wise, but definitely something she is going to watch. she said at this point, we can plan to be induced, but really decide at my next apt. 

.this little man has already put a scare earlier at his 20 week ultrasound (you know, when they said it was a girl)...the tech kept looking at his heart...and than had another tech come in and look. she never said anything to me, but between the both of them they said, "yea, you can see it in motion, but i cant get a still frame of it." i didnt ask questions, just listened. as we drove home, i cried thinking how my baby could have heart problems. when they called, they said everything looked fine and the ultrasound looked great. we have kinda dismissed it from our minds, but always have the worry. 

.andrew and i the other night were talking about why we ended up in texas. we both know what each other was talking about. we know some of the best doctors are here, and we both think that if our little man is to have problems, he would be well taken care of here. obviously, its not something we want to talk about, or think about, but some of our peace has come from this. 

.i have noticed when we say family/couple prayer, how much our prayers has changed since wednesday's apt. we pray that baby boy gains some weight and grows healthy. the main reason i am posting about this, is because i need to get my feelings out, and i want to be able to look back and see this experience our family went through. also, because family and friends read my blog... and i am asking for prayers for our little baby e. we thank you in advance. 

.we rely completely on the Lord. we know He knows our needs/our wants/our concerns and wont give us any trial we can't accomplish. already, i have seen the blessing from this trial we are dealing with at this time in our lives. andrew and i have grown closer together. our family has grown closer together. we know we are doing all we can do on our side, and changing a few thing in our lives to help us become closer to God. we have started making it goal to STOP WHAT WE ARE DOING at 8:30 (sometimes 9) and read from the scriptures and say family prayer. even if brooklynn is running around. 

.we know this trial is only a small moment in our life. we are just trying to keep an open mind, and learn what we need to from it. we are so excited for our little family to grow, and to meet our little boy in 6 weeks or less. 

.here is b yesterday, chilling by the window with momma, waiting for daddy to get home from work.

.here is me pregnant with baby e at 34 weeks today.

.next chapter.

.I would be out of place if I did not say thank you publicly to my mother/father in law for all they have done for us. Between taking us into their home, taking another baby into the house, making delicious meals, watching brooklynn at home and at baseball games, letting us tag along to baseball games, introducing brooklynn to all the delicious food she just loves now, putting Andrew to work and allowing us to have a bit of income, and the list goes on and on. We loved our time spent there, and again so thankful for everything they do for us.

 .also my sister, Ronnie. I have always been close to my sister, but I feel we have grown even closer to one another, and I seriously love it. We got together at least once a week, and would laugh and have so much fun together. When the time comes for her to have kids, she will parent just like me... I don't know how many times we would be out and say the same thing to brooklynn or discipline her the same way. its really funny to watch how much we act the same... we both got teary eyed saying good-bye, i have enjoyed getting so close to her.

.as for the road trip. it was surprisingly really really nice. andrew and i talked a lot, and didnt argue ONCE the entire time. (those who know us, know this is a miracle and get accomplishment). brooklynn was SO good. she would cry towards the end of our trip when it was time to put her back in her carseat...but thats understandable! she LOVED watching movies on the DVD player...needless to say that thing was a lifesaver! my mother in law let us take her pilot....and i was thrilled. i LOVE that car, and because we had extra space i was able to bring the swing for baby #2 to sleep in (yes, we still dont have a name yet... it was one of our many discussions on the road). we saw a lot of desert on our trip...so the drive was not like driving to washington....but it was still pretty in its own way. andrew LOVED when we crossed over the texas border and the speed limit jumped to 80 MPH. its not around here (the city) but for some of our trip it was.

.day one of the trip... little miss sleepin.

.day two of the trip...little miss did the most sleep this day.

.view of all our CRAP in the back of the pilot...thank goodness for being able to take this.

.this is what she looks like when she watches a movie. cuddle up with her blanket. adorable.

.my father in law booked us hotels for both nights friday night in new mexico, and saturday night here in texas until we figured out our living situations. what a lifesaver! this was brooklynn's first experience in a hotel room overnight.. and LOVED it. she ran around and got into EVERYTHING. her sleep schedule is SO off from being at grandma's and baseball games, and driving... we are working on a new schedule of one nap a day, and early down. its a work in progress.

.so we finally got here, and thought we knew where we were going to stay... but i did not want to book anything online until i saw it. our last experience was bad...long story short, we thought we knew where we were going to stay... checked out on of the hotels in UT and found out that it was NASTY! they only had double beds, there was no such thing as non smoking... it was sick and there was no way in HAIL that i was putting my family in that. anyways... so we went to what we thought we were going to be at and found out the same thing... DUMP! i was so upset because it was next to USAA where andrew would be working.. and it was cheap. it was suppose to be their deluxe... but it was nothing close to a deluxe. a deluxe of fifth. so at this point i was SO upset and thought we would have to just stay there because of the price and how close it was.

.andrew and i decided we would just drive around USAA and go into hotels and get quotes. 99 a night, 79 a night... umm!?!? we are not made of money!...so we just continues searching....we were getting no where. i prayed we would find somewhere that was not ghetto for Brooklynn and i, and still within our budget. we went out to dinner just to take a break. one of the closest places to our hotel that our father in law booked for us was applebees. so off we went. there was this hotel next to it that looked SO fancy. and we thought lets just try it out.

.because this is on the internet and i dont know who all totally reads my blog... i am not going to say the name of the hotel. but we walked in, and i thought yea right. there is NO WAY we are going to be able to get this place. but we tried anyways. we walked up to this sweet girl and mentioned we were looking to stay AT LEAST 72 nights, and that he was working for USAA. she told us to hold on a second and went to talk to her manager. she came back with 6200 written on the piece of paper. yep, thats what we thought... 6,200 for the total stay. no it was 62 a night. this was ALOT of money, and ALOT more than we wanted to spend.

.we found out that it was 62 a night for their king room. she showed us and it was really nice. the first room was the living room with tv and pull out couch. than it walked into another section that was the bathroom. than it walked into our bedroom with a king bed. had fridge and microwave and we figured it would work out. than i mentoned i had another on the way and she said, oh my goodness you need the king suite with kitchen. when i asked how much that would be per night she said she would give it to us for the same price. they also had FREE HOT breakfast in the morning and FREE dinner in the evening. that means i would only be in charge of lunches. easy!

.we told her we had to think about it, and check out the other location the following morning that was a WALK to usaa. we talked about it and slept on it and went to the following location the next morning. the manager there said he could only match the price for the king room... and it would be 69 a night for the king suite with kitchen. the drive was the only thing holding us back from booking the other hotel. we thought and prayed and thought and prayed and ended up staying with the king suite with kitchen. we figured we would stay here for the first month and if the drive is just too much for andrew we will move to the closer location our second month.

.so here is the view from the window in the family room...behind booklynn is where you walk in.... the other door connects to the space next to use if we had family here and wanted to connect out rooms.

.family room tv. brooklynn's clothes are in those two drawers with her basket of toys we brought.

.another view of the family room....i got to bring MY SWING cause we brought the honda pilot and had room.

.kitchen. small... but since i only make lunches it totally works. sink, fridge, microwave, and one burner, granite countertops.

.our room (and brooklynn's) this is the view from the family room... has a door which we love so we can close out our room if we want, or i do when brooklynn is taking a nap. brooklynn's pack n play is on my side of the bed.

.another view of our room. 

.so this is the hallway that also comes out of our room into the bathroom area...so two ways to get to the bathroom... through out room, or through the family room/kitchen area. again has another door into our room so we can shut it if we want. 

.bathroom. yippee!

.vanity right outside the bathroom door.

.we love it. andrew was worried about me not having a car, but we talked to the hotel and they have a shuttle that will take you 3 miles for free around the hotel. 3 miles may not sound like that much... but i have walmart, a theatre, THE MALL, and another strip mall all within 1 mile! yahoo! Brooklynn and i also have a pool that we have used everyday since we have been here and we LOVE it. so glad things worked out for us. they have room service EVERY DAY...they come make your bed, change your towels, vacuum, take out garbage... i am gonna forget what it's like to cook and clean when we leave this place and i am in REAL reality! 

well enough writing.. it was more for me to remember later, but also update friends and family too. i have a doctor apt tomorrow. i have not been for 2 months. we are just praying that this doctor will work with our family and our needs. i really need to be iduced for the sake of andrew's work and my mom being here to watch b. so i guess blog update on that tomorrow or wednesday. as for now. here are some pictures that we have been up to.

(we pass by these boots every time we go a bit down the freeway and back to our hotel. they are RIDICULOUSLY huge)

 Everyone talks about the riverwalk, we went yesterday for our family outing for memorial day and it was BEAUTIFUL. i wore the WRONG shoes and i failed because our camera died... so these are from the internet... but we plan to go again with the camera and possibly during the night because its suppose to be even more pretty!.

.riverwalk.

.riverwalk boat tours... we hope to do one before we go.

.riverwalk.

.this is brooklynn showing us where her eyes are... she closes them.. its hilarious. need to get video so you guys dont think she is just crazy.

.walking with daddy to the pool.

.little ruffel butt. 

.do you see the excitement on this child's face?/? she LOVES the pool and will scream and kick her feet. its adorable.

.pure excitement.

.she LOVES when her daddy throws her in the air... seriously this kid is going to LOVE amusement parks... she has no fear...ignore andrew's pastey white body... this is only 1 day of being in san antonio.

.it looks like andrew is mad and trying to drowned her... but this is another one of her favorite things that daddy does... he spins her fast enough that it creates an air pocket and goes around her head... she gets so excited over this.

.more.

.brooklynn thinks its the most funniest thing to push her daddy under water.

.she pushes his head under water.....

.and laughs about it.

.this is my FAVORITE swimsuit that grandma got for her...i LOVE it on her...need to get a better picture... but this girl wont stand still for long enough...

.thanks for the swimsuit grandma... it really brings out my blue eyes.

alright i think thats enough... i am even wearing brooklynn out....

.day one- fell asleep on the floor on her own.

.day two- fell asleep on the floor on her own.

.day three- fell asleep on the floor on her own.

.thats what we have been up to....until next time.