The Joys of the Johnsons: Changes Are Coming

These past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind with working, lack of sleep, and lots of training at both of my jobs. It's been at times stressful, but I wouldn't change a thing, and I am so honored to have all of the love and support I need as a person to get through it all!
Brielle has loved being able to spend time with her cousins lately when my mom has them at her house as well and they all play so cute together (majority of the time unless Brielle and Emma have disagreements on sharing toys) and let me tell you- I am so glad that my nephew is so calm and patient with Brielle when she kisses him like 100+ times a day. She LOVES babies, kids in general but she has such a fascination with little babies. (Definitely gives us a lot of hope for how she will behave in about 3 months!) She has been going through the "NO" phase which we could tell is definitely overused in our household and are trying to re-direct her using other words now since we are getting it told back to us with a little finger shaking as well lol. I know that each phase of toddler-hood will pass so this is just a part of her development that she must go through in order to grow up.
Shane and I have been losing a lot of sleep lately whether it be Brielle waking us up in the middle of the night, or the dogs. I am so glad we still tag-team it like when Brielle was an infant and switch off who gets her when (I am so thankful he still helps me in the middle of the night even when he has to work the next day). She usually goes back to sleep with a diaper change and doesn't need a bottle but at times she justs wants extra TLC. Does anyone know if their children had nightmares at 14 months old? Sometimes she wakes up screaming so loud (not crying) and just terrified when we go in there and it takes her a little while to calm down. This occurs at times during naps now too.
We realized that we were in much need of a weekend vacation to refresh our marriage and ourselves with some good sleep and time spent with just each other and I am so glad we did just that this past weekend in Houston. We dropped Brielle off Saturday morning with my mom in Lockhart then headed on our long drive to Houston. We first visited my cousin Cara and her adorable family and my Aunt Linda was there as well and it was so nice to catch up like old times and just laugh and bond together. Her 3 kids are growing up so fast and it was great to see her husband John again! Then we left and picked up a bite to eat at Freddy's (SO GOOD) and headed on to Lakewood Church to see our favorite Joel Osteen preach. We always feel so revived when we leave there, it's such an amazing experience! We then checked in at the hotel and was up until like 1am due to our partying neighbors. But sleep was definitely needed and woke up and enjoyed an amazing breakfast buffet at the hotel before checking out and stopping by the Galleria on our way out of town. That mall is huge and amazing and a lot of expensive stores inside! We left with only a bow for Brielle and a headband for me. We just couldn't fathom spending a lot of money on stuff we don't need! We headed back to Lockhart to greet our precious non-napping angel outside and she was thrilled to see us! We then stopped by our friend Caitlin's house and got to enjoy a great dinner before heading up in which we changed her in her PJ's because we knew she would pass out.

Overall even though we have all been going through changes with lack of sleep, traveling, and trying to prepare little by little for Baby Rochelle's arrival, we couldn't be more excited for the future and the growth of our family. Thank you to everyone for all the continued prayers you have given us! We are 27 weeks today and go to see the Cardiologist on the 25th to determine the next step of this journey! :)

Here are some pictures from our latest adventures!