5 Fun Toddler Activities

  During this week that I took off from work I knew I really wanted Brielle to have some fun new activites to do around the house and I wanted to share a few of them that she has absolutely loved! Let me start off by saying that my child rarely sits down for more then a few minutes to enjoy a certain activity, but these got a good 30+ minutes out of her which was amazing!

  1.)  Put the ball through the roll.
  In this activity, you will need an empty paper towel roll, some tape, and pink pom-pom balls or whatever you would like to use to put through the paper towel roll.  We also added a blue bowl at the bottom to catch them which made it a little more fun.
  To do this activity it really is as easy as it sounds.  You just put three pieces of tape length wise on the paper towel roll to stick it to an empty part of the wall, and place the bowl underneath it.  Then you just take the pom-pom balls and put them through it.  Easy as that.  And while we were doing this we were practicing our counting which is always great!

2.) Push the pipes through the strainer.
  In this activity, you will need a bag of pipe cleaners and a strainer that is preferably a bowl so that you can easily flip over.
  To do this activity is so fun and super easy, you just flip the strainer over and see how many pipe cleaners your child can put through the holes without any help! Brielle did great for the first few until they started bending then I had to teach her to hold the pipe cleaners at the bottom and put it through and she loved it!

3.) Trace the shapes
 In this activity you will need a box of crayons and a coloring book or just blank pieces of computer paper like I used and draw the outline of the shapes yourself.
  To do this activity is simple, all you need is to help your child focus on how to trace the different shapes, or anything that you have pre-outlined on the paper for them that you would like for them to go over.  This required a lot of help from me to my 15 month old, but she will get there someday! She is great at drawing lines right now, and just loves the act of coloring.

4.) Reading with expression.
  In this activity you will need some interesting, new colorful books for your child to read.
  To do this activity, I just bought a couple of animal books and went for it! I used loud, funny voices for all of the animals in the stories and Brielle REALLY stayed focused the entire "story time".  It is so fun to be crazy and weird with your children as well so they know how different animals sound and they can start understanding the story in their own way.

5.) Chalk time!
  In this activity, all you will need is a box of chalk and a sidewalk area to do it.
  To do this activity I would just use a couple of colors of chalk so your child does not get distracted/overwhelmed by the amount in the entire box.  We have been practicing how to spell her name for a little while now so when we ask her how to spell it she will draw a line and say "B" and then another one and say "E" haha so we are missing all the letters in between but she will absolutely spend 30 minutes-1 hour outside playing with the different chalk and trying to draw different things.

Pushing the pipe cleaners through the strainer. 

So many! 

Practicing counting while putting the balls through. 

Chalk time! 

I hope this helps a few mommas who just want to add some new fun activities into their house! :)

Celebrating the little things.

  I have noticed this last week that I have been a little overwhelmed with the lack of sleep and just overall discomfort towards this time in the pregnancy (almost 33 weeks!!) and just trying to get everything in order. I realized that I have so much to celebrate at this moment in time that I really have to stay as positive as possible.
  First, I am celebrating my jobs, the same ones that I still have not come up with a good time to take maternity leave at (I am thinking the last week will be when I am 38 weeks). I love both in such different ways and I just truly appreciate having them both and I am so proud of what I do at both jobs.  Even though the bigger I get, seems to make some things a little more difficult, I find a way to to make it work.
  Brielle seems to be getting so much smarter everyday and it's amazing to see how much she has grown into her own little toddler self throughout this pregnancy.  Even though there were a couple of days last week where her and I got very little sleep when I had to work some long hours in Austin, I wouldn't trade those middle of the night precious moments for the world.  She is such a blessing to Shane and I and we are both so happy to just celebrate her being a happy and healthy girl and enjoy every day we get to spend with her.
  This pregnancy is something I celebrate with God daily.  Shane and I both pray for a healthy baby girl and we wish we knew what God has for us in our future, but we will soon find out in His time.  The miracles that we have read about all the Trisomy 13 babies that have survived, and all the struggles the families have gone through with the Doctors and the therapists to make sure their child lives a long happy life means the world to us.  We know how lucky we are to carry her every day and can't wait to meet Rochelle!
  Shane and I are about to celebrate 4 years of being married next month and I can't believe how much we have grown in our marriage, faith, and love in each other over these past years. No matter what we know we can always count on each other and that is what gets us through each and every day. So here is to celebrating a lifetime of anniversaries together!
  My family and friends are always worth celebrating as well.  Whether it's a phone call just to vent, or a lunch meet up those people make living in this crazy world much easier. I love you all very much!

  When life gets hard or just plain overwhelming, just remember to always celebrate the little things.  Those are what matter the most in life! :)

Brielle had so much fun at Daddy's company work dinner!

Shane and Aiden

Enjoying the day at the park! 

Daddy and Brielle

Cute Emma!! 

Brielle loves to eat!! 

She loves her some "chips" 

Brielle's usual look at Emma lol! 

31 Weeks!!

Baby: 31 weeks and 5days!   Rochelle has been kicking and moving around my entire middle section it's amazing!!.  She is now making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, and is even able to suck her thumb (we don't have any proof of it yet!) :)  Her heart rate was ranging in the 140's and sounding great! She is measuring just right and is doing great as far as we can tell! (my huge belly is definitely proof she is growing and getting big!)

Mommy:  I have been working and picking up extra days a couple of days this month just to have more saved for when baby girl gets here.   I only get a couple of hours of sleep when I stay at my moms--not sure why but I am only able to sleep comfortably in my own bed.  Brielle is the same and wakes up in the middle of the night majority every week I work in Austin.  I am tired right now and haven't been to the gym, but hopefully I can get back in there soon!!

Daddy: Is definitely ready to meet his new baby girl and is growing more in his relationship with Brielle every day.  Still the daily foot rubs are amazing and much needed after VERY long shifts! Also helping me start to organize all the baby stuff from Brielle and get stuff more and more put together again in the house.

Cravings: Anything sweet.  I did my glucose test two weeks ago and the results were great so I am glad that my body is able to handle all the sweets I have been consuming! I ate pickles the other day thinking a lot of pregnant women do it so I wanted to try it to curb from craving and that was a major negative.  I was up all night with heartburn, no bueno!

Brielle: She is going to be the best big sister!! She kisses my belly every day and says "sister" but when you ask her where Rochelle is she points to her belly.  So cute!! She still has to work on not hitting her cousins when she wants to play with them and has definitely gone into time out a few times for that! I know it's just a phase and will hopefully pass sooner than later! She kisses her cousin Aiden about 100 times a day when my parents keep all the grand kids together. She has an obsession with babies, it's hilarious. Can't believe she is 15 months already!! Where in the world has time gone? She is growing more and more independent every day!

We will be at the doctor's again in 2 weeks for another check-up and can't wait!

Matching Sister shirts!

Me and my big bump!

Brielle loving her some candy!

I finally bought shadow boxes for Brielle and Rochelle 

Sister matching outfits-Another one I made.

Turning 26 and my 29 week check-up!

  I would have to say yesterday was one of the most relaxing/calm birthdays I have had in a while. Since we already celebrated a couple of weeks ago with all of our friends, it was a day for Shane and I just to be with each other.  Well if you add our doctor's appointment, going to toyota dealership, the mall, and registering at the hospital I guess you could say we spent it with a lot of other people as well! :)
  The morning started out with Shane and I having to be at the Doctor's office by 8:30am for our ultrasound that I requested to make sure baby Rochelle was growing ok and measuring right.  I was 29weeks and 4 days and she is measuring 33w and4 days in leg length, 31weeks in the head circumference (even though this was a hard measurement since she is already head down and wasn't planning on repositioning for the sonographer) and about 29 weeks or so measuring all around the belly.  She is growing great and overall and that put me at ease a lot.  Her heart rate was 140bpm and sounding great but the sonographer was having a hard time finding her VSD in her heart but she said "good thing you went to an expert because that is hard to see on here!" Of course when trying to get us cute print out pictures, Rochelle wouldn't cooperate one bit with a side profile, so we got two pictures of her face (she has Brielle's nose! so cute!) and one picture saying it's a girl (for the 5th time) lol but she was kicking up a storm and moving around a lot which I loved!  She is also weighing in at 3pounds 6 ounces (58th percentile). Then we met up with the doctor after I had to drink that disgusting glucose drink for my 1 hour test and discussed our plans for delivery once again and he is thinking about taking the induction much slower this time (if I don't into labor on my own) and make sure she is tolerating labor ok. Shane and I both agreed that would be the best approach and he also asked if she isn't tolerating labor would I like a C-section and I said of course! Even though he said the likelihood and survival might not be good, he agreed with us that we should fight for baby girl and I am glad he is on our side on doing whatever we can to make sure she has the best life possible.  The NICU team will also be there at delivery to make sure they thoroughly check over her as well, so we feel much more confident about the entire process. I went back to get my labs drawn for the blood testing and we return back in 2 weeks! We can't believe it's already that time for 2 week check-ups!
  Then Shane and I went to the mall for a little bit and he surprised me with my dream rose gold watch and earrings! I LOVE them and he knows how much I have wanted them for so long and I am definitely appreciate of him.  We usually don't spend much on each other as majority goes into savings for the kids but every once in a while it's a great treat!
  We then celebrated at Olive Garden and had an amazing lunch and then went to go register at the hospital! Donna (the lady we registered with) is seriously the funniest woman on the planet and had us laughing the entire time I was signing my life away! I just love the hospital and the staff that we chose.  We will be there in about 10 short weeks!  She told us to email her after our next appointment so we could maybe swing by the NICU and meet some of the team that would be at delivery. We can't wait for that!

Thank you to everyone who said Happy Birthday to me via FB, Text, Phone calls I truly appreciate it and thank you so much to my parents for watching Brielle for us while we had a day to ourselves!

My new watch and earrings!

I LOVE them!

Grandpa and Brielle on the exercise ball

Brielle making huge mess of oatmeal with my parents!

Had to get a birthday cookie from Great American Cookies

Baby Rochelle!

Week Full Of Love

  This past week was so much fun, yet so exhausting at the same time.  I only got to sleep in my own bed 3 times this past week but it was SO worth it! It was a week full of time spent well with my friends and family and a LOT of driving! :)
  It started out by going to our cardiologist appointment which went way better than we expected and then I decided to spend a little bit more time with my niece and nephew that day before heading home.  I love spending time with them, even with each child going through their own phases right now and at times it definitely gets hard to handle!  Then the next day was so relaxing at home I think the only time Brielle and I left the house was to grocery shopping.  It was definitely needed.  The next day we drove back to Lockhart so I could take my refresher CPR course in Austin (so good for ANYONE to take not just nurses!).
  The next day we were planning on going to visit Val and the girls and since I hadn't seen baby Natalie since she was 1 week old, and now she was 2 months old, I would say a visit was definitely needed.  My mom came with me and it was a lot of fun (very busy with 6 kids total) but so glad we got to catch up on everything and love on their 3 gorgeous girls. I can't believe Sara and Rachel are both in school already! Gosh time flies.
  Then our weekend was filled with mommy working a 3 day weekend celebrating Grandma Johnson's 87th birthday at Shane's parents house.  So much fun celebrating life and she has overcome so many obstacles in her life and is stronger today than I have seen her in a long time.  We all love her so much!

Hope everyone had a great week! Happy Labor Day! (oh and we all slept past 8 this morning, BEST gift ever)

Ian and Isaiah

One of Grandma's cakes

Another cake!

Emma, Aiden and Brielle in the ball pit.

Baby Aiden is 6 months!

Emma and Aiden at the park

Part of Grandma's prayer circle for her birthday dinner.

Brielle driving!

One of my favorite pictures of the weekend!

Cardiologist appointment-second opinion (8/25/14)

  The morning started off great before the appointment when Shane, Brielle and I all got to go out to eat and just enjoy being together since we hadn't been together for a few days.  It was just nice to relax and really realize what's important and say a prayer before the big appointment.
  The appointment was scheduled for 1pm, so since Shane and I were leaving from my parents house in Lockhart, we left around 11:30A just to be careful.  We got there at 12:15p and was given a stack of new patient paperwork to fill out which is expected but then we had to wait another 45 minutes until the doctor could see us. (Our original scheduled time)   Meeting the new Doctor (supposed be one of the best pediatric Cardiologist in our area) was definitely something interesting at first.  He shook mine and Shane's hand and just kind of asked us about our history and what brought us to him.  He is not one of those friendly doctors you can just tell anything and everything to, but he was very factual and knowledgeable.
  He then set up the ultrasound machine and took us to another room to be examined.  He didn't say much at all kind of just set me up and began with the exam.  I then wanted to break the ice and ask what he was seeing and he cut me off saying "I will explain everything when I am done, I need to be completely focused on this exam.  Note taken! I didn't say a word for the rest of the appointment which led Shane and myself to doze off plenty of times during the exam.
  The results were not what we expected.   If you remember our first Echo was posted here and we had so many questions going into this Echo that we wanted to make sure we got answered.  Our Doctor (which shall remain unnamed unless you would like a referral which we will gladly give you) started out by stating what all is wrong. He began by tearing off the paper from where the patient sits on in the room and drawing a heart. He said that the ASD that we were told from our last appointment is not what he could see as a major problem and seems to appear the regular size of a hole that all babies have before they take their first breath out of mom, in which the hole closes majority of the time (80% is what he said).  He calls this a PFO(Patent Foramen Ovale) and not a full ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) at this time. Rochelle does have a VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) which is a moderate to large hole in her heart.  He then went on to say that surgery would not be the best option for a child with her condition because the complications that could occur with major heart surgery would be worse for someone who has Trisomy 13.  He said it wouldn't be needed right away and that the side effects that could occur 2-3 months down the road would be where the hole allows more blood to be pumped to the lungs causing her to probably be placed on diuretics.  He told us that the life expectancy of a child with Trisomy 13 is usually not longer than a year and we should think about doing pallitative care (make sure she is comfortable at all times at home) and live her life to the fullest every day.  He then went on to say if she makes it past a year and is stronger and able to tolerate surgery then we can revisit the surgery then.
  Then came all of the positive aspects from the exam which he started out by saying that I should be able to have a normal vaginal delivery and shouldn't have any complications related to Rochelle's heart.  He started pointing out the areas of the heart that were normal which were the valves, the aorta, the size of the heart, the blood flow, and the beginning part of the pulmonary arteries.  He said if we ever have any questions after she is born that he would be glad to see her and do an Echo of her heart then and if we had any questions at any other point in my pregnancy I can always call him directly and he will answer anything we needed.
  I could finally breathe with somewhat knowing what lies in the next 12 weeks of this pregnancy.  We are going to finally register at the same hospital that we delivered Brielle at with the same doctor and finally somewhat feel comfortable with how the labor and delivery process will go.  God has given us so much strength to find out as much information as we possibly can to be able to help our baby girl when she arrives and He continues to provide us with the answers at the right time.  Thank you so much to my Mom, Adriane and my Sis in law Tiffany who remembered how big of a day this was for us. We love y'all and appreciate you being in our lives.

Please continue to say prayers for these next 12 weeks and beyond. We can't wait to meet our precious baby and hope to continue to grow her inside of me as long as possible.  Thank you everyone :)

The picture our MD drew for us. How amazing! He was great at explaining as well!

Early Birthday Celebration

  This past weekend was so much fun celebrating my birthday early and my best friend's birthday a little later with all of our closest friends and family! It's so crazy how we realize how little of people we really have to close us since we have gotten older and value friendships so differently, some have  been over 10+ years! Thank you to our best friends who have continuously been there for us through thick and thin and I know this year is going to be amazing!

  One important thing that had to happen this month was to see my step-dad David and Pop.  We haven't seen them in a couple of months and my mom and I love to take Brielle with us to visit at least once a month to see how everything is going.  David's health changes everyday, but he stays so strong and keeps busy as much as he can and it makes me so happy to see him fight so much to live everyday to the fullest! My mom and I were babysitting my niece and nephew so it was a whirlwind driving with all three in my rav4, but at least we know we can now fit everyone in the back row! :) At one point on the drive to Seguin, all three kids were crying in the back and before we got on the highway I said a prayer to please calm all of the kids and let us have a smooth drive and thank goodness after a couple of minutes, all three kids were knocked out in the back seat!   I love spending time with David and Pop and hope to see them soon again! The kids had fun as well so that made the trip well worth it :)

  Saturday I worked in Austin and Brielle sleeps crazy when we are at my moms and woke up at like 4:45AM of course I fed her a bottle, changed her and put her back to sleep.  Since my alarm is at 530A on my workdays I just decided to get up and get ready knowing it was going to be a long day since I get off at 7pm.  My patients family decided to take me out to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate me being with them for a year and it was so much fun and I am so thankful I have this job in Austin.  

  Sunday was the birthday celebration day and Shane came up in the early afternoon and went to meet up with Adriane, Lauren, and Krystle at the nail salon to get manicures and pedicures and it was so worth the 30 minute wait and we all had a good time! Shane just sat there and waited patiently for all of us to get done (such a sweet hubby!) and then we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and it was uh-mazing to say the least! We haven't been there in over a year and decided that would be a good place to go to so our friends Carli, Rigo, and George came up from Yoakum and met us there which was so much fun to catch up with everyone and just laugh and have a good time.  (Child free!) :) We walked around the arboretum after dinner since we were all SO full and took some really cute pictures and then went bowling as a group before heading home.  Since Brielle had a late nap with my mom she was actually up when we got home so we got to put her to sleep (Double yay!)

Here are a few pictures from the weekend! I will be blogging about our cardiologist appointment that happened yesterday and let everyone know the results of baby Rochelle!

Mommy, Daddy and Brielle before dinner!

Cheesecake Factory amazing desserts!

Brielle up late with my mom!

My mom, Aiden, Emma, Brielle, Me and David

Our gorgeous baby girl before heading to breakfast!