Sunday, June 29, 2014

16 week check-up (6/6/14)

Baby: 16 weeks old! Baby is the size of a avocado (4.3 to 4.7 inches)! The heartbeat is 158 bpm and sounding great! During this ultrasound Brielle was so upset when our Doctor wanted to hear the heartbeat of the baby.  Shane had to take her outside once again of the appointment, I am guessing she thinks she is the only one that gets to kiss my belly and no one else can touch it, how funny.

Mommy: I have been working extra to have more savings and buy some extra stuff for my Brielle's 1st birthday party and I can't wait to have all of next week off to prepare for it!

Daddy: Has been so patient and calm with everything going on, with me working away more days this month then usual, but has been so great and helpful when I am home.  Loves to spend just daddy daughter time with Brielle any time he can which makes me love him so much more!

Cravings: This month has been all of the place but I seriously have been wanting salads and a LOT of water lately which is great.

Brielle: She continues to kiss and hug the baby and loves to hear the word "baby" and see them on the TV or in person.  She loves them as long as mommy isn't holding them.  Mommy's girl you may ask? OH YES! I still love that she chooses me over mostly everyone.  It may sound selfish but I am seriously soaking up every moment with her before she meets her baby sister!

Yes, you read that right, IT'S A GIRL!

We can't wait for our next ultrasound! Love to see this baby grow :)

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Second check-up (5/6/2014)

Baby: 12 weeks old! Baby is the size of a peach (3 inches long)! The heartbeat is 168 bpm and sounding great! During the ultrasound brielle wanted me to hold her and that just wouldn't work well while laying on the bed in the room so Shane had only got to see a little bit of the new baby kicking around a little bit before having to take brielle out of the room :( .But this baby was kicking a LOT and moving it was just like Brielle at the this point, so adorable!! We are in awe of the fact that God has blessed us with the chance to carry another child, and so amazed by each and every step of the baby's growth along the way!

Mommy: Oh, feeling uh-mazing!! Seriously so excited to start this second trimester and I am feeling like a new woman! It's great, all of the nausea has subsided and my energy level has come back slowly but surely. I have actually bought a planner and wrote all of my important dates down and haven't forgotten anything since then! . My workouts have been about 1-2 times a week but hoping to go 2-3 times this week!

Daddy: So great!! I have been so tired the past few weeks and on top of cooking and cleaning up after dinner he would mow the lawn/do outside work and clean the house when all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep.  So patient with Brielle and all of the changes she has been going through, it's so great!

Cravings: My cravings have been a little different this pregnancy, and I have wanted a root beer float more often then not lately.. but I think that craving is almost over.  We will see what it will be in a few weeks!

Brielle: Has been going through so many changes herself this past month and we have been talking to her about becoming a big sister and helping and sharing so we will keep trying to prepare her for the months coming up( only 6 1/2 more months, yay!!) She has also been kissing my belly and hugging it so we will see what she is like when the baby gets here :)

Here are a couple of pictures of our little bun in the oven!




Sunday, June 22, 2014

Alone Time

  Since my work schedule has been super busy this past week, and my parents are the ones who watch Brielle, my mom just offered to keep Brielle for two days and give Shane and I some time to ourselves after work and just relax.  At first, of course I was VERY hesistant, since I hate leaving her unless absolutely necessary but I knew she was going to be in great hands and that made saying yes that much easier!
  It was so nice to be able to seriously deep clean my entire house and put up all of Brielle's birthday decorations and gifts/clothes.  You never really have that time to really deep clean often with a baby who gets into everything and things don't stay clean long so it was SO nice to be able to do that and not worry if Brielle was going to take a shorter nap and not give me time or having to cook and prepare the next meal for her.  I never really noticed how nice it was to have a day to that, but so glad I did.
  What we also really enjoyed was having time to just communicate and laugh and have time to hang out just the two of us.  Usually we don't like when Brielle goes anywhere when I am at my home town so Shane can spend as much time with Brielle as possible before we leave again-so it's rare that we get to have a date night and just hang out and be together.  It was amazing to say the least.  Usually the two hours after Brielle goes to bed is used to talk about upcoming appointments, work schedules, any family events coming up, etc. so we don't really get to talk about each other.
  Shane decided that we should just go fishing (his favorite thing to do) at the river, then go to dinner before we head back home.  It was so good to be able to connect and talk about our future, and what we want to do to better ourselves and set new goals to accomplish.  Of course by the end of the night we had to call Brielle to say goodnight and talk to her as much as possible and she is hilarious on the phone (usually dropping it a few times) and we couldn't wait to see her again! Thanks again Mom and Mike for watching her, it was much needed and we are very thankful! :)

Here are some pictures of the river and some pictures my mom sent me when she was watching Brielle.


Brielle playing peek-a-boo

River!

You can't really tell but there are a family of snakes :/

playing in her car seat, very rare!

Brielle playing with the dogs

Mike loved this straw lol!



Friday, June 20, 2014

Our first appointment! (4-7-14)

Baby:  7 weeks old! Baby is the size of a blueberry (.25 inches long) and is actually measuring 7 weeks and 2 days, so cute!! The heartbeat is 133 bpm and sounding great! It was so cute on the sonogram just seeing the little blurred area knowing that in just 9 months he or she will be a FULL size baby! Can't wait! Our due date is 11/17/2014!

Mommy: Not been feeling too good at all, a LOT of nausea (first time ever), no vomiting, a lot of dizziness and memory loss! I even forgot about my personal training session this morning! I have had to buy a little mini planner so I can write down all the important dates and appointments coming up. My workouts have decreased to 2 times a week, I just don't feel like I have enough energy to get up there and get a good workout in but I intend to keep going at least 2-3 times a week if I can!

Daddy:  He has been over this world excited about this pregnancy and having another little baby.  He has helped so much with Brielle, and cooking dinner so that I can rest and relax as much as I can. He is definitely realizing though that we have to cherish all these moments with Brielle being the only child right now for these next few months and prepare her as best as he can for being a big sister!

Cravings: I craved nutter butters for the first 3 weeks, now I really wouldn't say I am craving anything but I don't eat something small every 4 hours I start feeling really nauseated.  This should be interesting with quite a few 12 hour shifts coming up in the next couple of weeks!

Brielle: She has been saying baby for all of her baby pictures, and she gets SOO excited to see another baby in person.  The hilarious this is when I try and hold my nephew or another baby and she is like "wait, hold up you are my mommy!" I just have to work with her a lot in these upcoming months on sharing my attention since she has never had to.

I seriously cannot wait to see this baby grow, my belly grow, and grow so much in this family of ours!



Tuesday, June 17, 2014

We're pregnant! (3/12/14)

 Yes, you read the Title right! We just found out two days ago(3/10/14)! I know many of you think, AGAIN?? Well to us family is so important and we do plan out everything and try to have our future well planned out for our children.  We decided a month ago to start trying thinking that sometime this year we will be pregnant and welcome a baby sometime in 2015. Well it turns out we will be welcoming this boy or girl a lot sooner than expected! We planned on having Brielle and the baby between 18-24 months apart which is a nice range for each child to be in their own stages in development.  Our date is 11-17-2014 which I am sure will change many times along the way but I cannot believe Brielle is going to be a BIG sister!
  We actually started planning Brielle's first birthday already and are planning to do a HUGE surprise for everyone at the party and let everyone know at the time.  I have always told my mom and my best friend first so this is going to be a MAJOR secret to keep for the next 12-13 weeks!
  We took the pregnancy test and it said 2-3 weeks pregnant, so we are planning on making an appointment to go see my doctor pretty soon and schedule for a check-up and our first ultrasound! This would make me being pregnant for three years in a row.  While some women may look at me like I am crazy, I LOVE it, and being a parent is the best thing in the world!
  I am so in shock with this pregnancy and I am so blessed that God allowed us to get pregnant again and carry another baby.  All we hope and pray for is that this baby is healthy! Can't wait to see the first ultrasound!

YAY!! So happy! 


Brielle is showing her excitement!

Daddy is happy!!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Father's Day

  I just wanted to wish Shane the best Father's Day ever!  I am so grateful God blessed us with the ability to have a healthy and happy baby girl.  With so much struggle and heartache that we went through with our first pregnancy it became so hard to stay positive and stay looking forward even in our darkest times.  Shane gave me the hope to look forward, and stay positive and know that we can try to have another baby and not worry about every little thing and that God doesn't give us anything we can't handle.
  When I told Shane we were pregnant with Brielle, he was so happy and I just burst into tears with so much love, joy, and happiness.  It was smack in the middle of my last semester during nursing school so I knew I wouldn't have much time to stress or worry about my pregnancy because my mind was so focused at school.  We always plan out the pregnancies and while some people don't understand why we do what we do, we know that God blesses us with his children in his time and we take each and every pregnancy as a blessing!
  In Psalm 113 it states that God "would give the bearing woman a child and make her the happy mother of children."  I am so happy that God gave us the chance to have children and grateful that Shane wants to grow our family with so much kindness and love. One of Shane's greatest qualities is patience and I am so working and striving to have more of that, but I am so glad Shane has so much of it to share with me and his children.
  About 9 years ago, a little after I met Shane I saw him playing with all of his little cousins and nieces and nephews they were having SO much fun and from that moment I knew he would be a great dad/man for kids to look up to.  I am so glad that with all these years passing he is still the fun Uncle/Cousin who plays with all the kids.
Happy Father's Day Shane, this is the second of many and I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together celebrating many more!




Our Son Lamar, forever loved and never forgotten.

Brielle's first day of life.

Daddy's little girl.

Daddy daughter time.

Daddy and his girls

My hubby giving me life again.

God's beautiful gift to us.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

12 months!

ONE YEAR!!! Oh yes, we made it to celebrate our baby girl turning 1! How amazing that we got to see baby girl grow into such an amazing little kid, attitude and all! :) She doesn't know yet, but she is so happy to be able to see her family and friends all celebrating her special day.

Height: 30 inches

Weight: 20lb 13oz. (yay!)

Likes:
-She honestly loves food and will still try a lot of new foods.
-She still likes to feed herself most of the time, and when it's hot and we blow on it she will let us feed it to her.
-Her wubbanub ahd 2 other paci''s are her nap time/bedtime routine.
-Loves playing peek-a-boo everywhere.
-LOVES to dance!! Her little booty shaking is the cutest!
-To play with others.  She has started to say "up" to strangers now and wants them to pick her up haha.
-She still loves books and the pictures in them.
-Her favorite pet is still our cat Oscar.  When she tries to say his name it's adorable!
-Phones are still her favorite thing and loves to be involved with every conversation.
-This girl loves to talk.


Dislikes:
- Car Rides
- Changing diapers/clothes
- Still likes to clear everything off of everything.
- Being told "no".
-Headbands and bows.

Teeth: 8 teeth! Starting this week to drool all over again which hasn't happened in forever so we suspect more teeth are soon approaching.

Language:
Signing- She has slowly been backing up on her signs and says the word for the sign instead of doing both.  I have been slacking as well so I am hoping to get back on the signing train as well
Words- Mama, Daddy, Baby, All done, Pa-Pa, Nanny(for her Nana), Stop, No-No, Book., Open, GO!, Mine, Up, Uh-Oh, Emma, Dog, Oscar, Door,  Mine and MANY more.  This child loves to talk.
Understanding- Mostly everything she understands, and if not re-wording it usually helps.

Here is our precious baby girl:

Being cute!

Love this girl to pieces!

"mama" she got really excited

HATES bow and headbands right now.

WILD hair! :)




Thursday, June 12, 2014

5 helpful phrases

  As I was at Joel Osteen's night of Hope, of course I was in my seat taking notes the whole time.  That is pretty much me with any presentation I attend, I don't have the best long term memory so this helps me remember what amazing things were said.
  I wrote down some phrases that were said both by Joel and Victoria Osteen that I figured I could share with you guys and hopefully help you as much as they help me.
  1)  Don't bring baggage into your next relationship- forgive yourself for the past and move forward
  This is so important so that you can start your next relationship with a healthy start and not so much extra baggage from the past holding you back to being your true self.  I didn't really have much baggage when I started dating Shane at 16, but my past from my Dad always stuck with me and I am so glad God put Shane in my life to show me that a man can truly be there for you and make you feel special all the time.

  2) Everyone has a box of blessings they never claim.
  Joel and Victoria say that so many of us pass away and leave the box of unclaimed blessings left that go unopened.  They both stated that it could be a box of forgiveness, or strength, or that baby that you stopped praying for and gave up on trying, it could be anything.  We all strive to the be the best we can be but start getting stuck in a rut.  Maybe just trying something completely new and different, or your favorite activity and starting a business would be part of your box of blessings. :)

  3) You don't have to pray about something you already have.
  I actually caught myself doing this just the morning before we attended this event.  I asked God to give me the strength and patience to go through something in my life that I was struggling with and I know I already have that and I just wanted reassurance from him.  It's just a reminder that prayer is such a powerful thing!

  4)  You first have to believe it, then you will see it.
  This is reminds me that we have to have a positive vision for our life, our future, and our families.  It's so easy to say, "I want a new job" but do you really see yourself working there and succeeding or do you think that you won't be good at learning something new and have a lot of self doubt? We all have to be positive, know that we can do something and we will succeed.

  5)  Every day is a gift from God.
  This phrase is so powerful and I know sometimes I get worked up with life and stress or everything going on (look at my yesterday's post), but it's so important to know that truly every single day matters.  I see it so much in my line of work that people don't start truly living until they are diagnosed with an illness and the Dr. states that they only have so much time to live. If we live everyday like it's our last then we will have no regrets when God calls us to be with him.





Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Worn.Out

  I am so excited that Brielle is finally turning one this Saturday and I can't wait but party planning definitely gets stressful at times.  Thank you so much to my parents who have kept me sane throughout this planning and helping me as much as possible this last month. :)
  I have also picked up extra shifts at both of my jobs so this past week just having two days off in two different cities and being away from Shane was quite the work and on little sleep having to drive so much has worn.me.out.  Thank goodness for this week to relax, go to a job interview, and enjoy this week to the fullest.
  Brielle has also gone through this stage of biting lately.  Seriously when she doesn't get her way she tries to bite something, or at least makes the sounds and motions to go with her actions and doesn't really complete it most of the time.  Not sure if this is just a phase or if there is something that I could help her to find another way to release her anger of not getting what she wants all the time.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)
  I just can't believe all the ups and downs that have happened over this last year with Brielle and I wait to see how she grows and develops throughout this year.  I can't believe she is no longer a baby! Seriously people, time does fly so cherish the good, the bad and everything in the middle with your children.

  Here are a few pics of our little miss who is 51 weeks now!:)

So happy mommy is home from a long work day! So happy I get to put her to bed every work night!

Brielle getting all the bowls out of my parents kitchen and replacing them with her balls :)

Saying "up" to my mom, and when she said no she tried to bite the cart lol

Sitting on top of the table before the food came at the restaurant

Doing the same at Olive Garden

After crying for 20 straight minutes in the car. She still HATES it! Max drive 30 minutes.






Monday, June 2, 2014

Monday's Memories

  So this past week was definitely busy to say the least.  I usually come up to Lockhart the night before my work day in Austin to make sure Brielle has to some time to play with my parents, we can run errands and I have time to make my breakfast/lunch for the next day.   I usually come in the afternoons to have enough time to relax as well before I embark on my 12 hour shifts.
  When I work in Austin I LOVE getting pictures from my parents throughout the day of baby girl and all of their adventures they go on, and it definitely makes my days at work go by faster.  I am hoping to find something soon closer to my parents to work as my second job since they are the ones who keep Brielle while I work and make it more convenient for me to spend as much time with her as possible and not have to make a long drive to or from work.  (Prayers would definitely be nice).
  Friday at 7pm I was beyond excited to start my weekend away with my best friends to celebrate Shane turning 27! It's so amazing to think that I met him when he was just 18 and now 9 years later I continue to thank God for putting such an amazing, thoughtful, and caring husband and father into my life.  So this weekend was definitely about celebrating another year of being alive and being with those we love.
  We got to Adriane's Ranch House in the small down of Dilley, Tx pretty late and just enjoyed being together that night, playing card games and just hanging out.  The second day we went on a gorgeous walk with beautiful scenery later in the day while the men cooked us food on the grill which was amazing and staying up late talking and playing games, riding on the 4 wheeler around the country grounds, and just overall enjoying every moment for what it was.  On the 3rd day was already time to leave so we hung out in the morning and went on another walk in the HOT heat (yes, my idea) but it was good to just be able to take one last journey outside before we had to start cleaning up, packing up, and heading out.
  Shane said that he had "such a fun weekend," and to me that is definitely a success and I am so grateful that my parents were able to watch Brielle for an extra couple of days so we can have and enjoy this little weekend getaway.  :) Can't wait to go back again, and I REALLY wish I would have taken more pictures of everything but I was just soaking in the moments and relaxing.  I am so ready to enjoy this day off before my work week begins.
  P.S Brielle will be one in 12 days, that's CRAZY! :)  Time really does fly when you're having fun.
Gorgeous country view

Me and Lauren

Brielle playing hide and go seek

Mike and Brielle searching for birds

blurry but cute picture of Brielle :)