The Big Girl Room Reveal

Here are some pictures of Brooke's new room! Enjoy!

Just a plain old view of her bed:


When you walk in the room and look to the right, this is what you see:


Here's a close-up of the wall letters that I worked tirelessly to make. Pretty cute, huh? I was proud:-)


This is the wall that is straight ahead when you walk into the room. Notice the pretty flowers that we worked so hard on? I LOVE them!


The room is too big to capture the accent wall in one picture so here's the other half of the wall:


We still have to hang these up. Aren't they adorable???


Again, the room is HUGE so we have these two walls that are still bare:




For one of the walls I'm thinking of getting 4 small white pictures frames and making a frame collage. As for the other wall, I'm not sure. It's hard because the room has so much empty wall space and I am NOT creative. Over time I'm sure I'll think of something. Any ideas?

Alrighty, I'm off to my 31-week appointment. I get to schedule me 3-D ultrasound today AND of course, hear my girl's heartbeat. YAY!!!!

Random Stuff

It's been a couple of days since I've been able to get on here. I really love my blog but when life gets super busy, as it has been over the last couple of days, it gets neglected first. There have been so many cute stories and/or deep, Jillian thoughts (HAHA) that I have wanted to write about but I simply have NOT had the time. Such is life!

First things first... The big-girl-room! Brooke's new room is almost 100% complete and it's been A LOT of work. On Thursday we painted the flowers on the accent wall and it seriously made the whole room come to life. They're GORGEOUS!!! I'm super proud because I even helped, despite the fact that I originally planned on not helping due to my lack of artistic ability. I actually kind of enjoyed myself but don't tell anyone:-) We also bought new curtains and curtains rods but of course there's a story behind this... Brooke's old room had two windows that already had white canvas curtains covering them. Because we wanted to do something different with Adrienne's windows anyways, we took the existing curtains out of the nursery and bought two more sets of identical curtains (to cover the 4 windows in Brooke's room). Anyways, I took the old curtains down to wash them, in case they had dust on them or anything, so I also washed the new ones. I followed the washing instructions on the package, so as to prevent them from shrinking. It wasn't until after I spent my entire night ironing the curtains that we realized they had each shrunk 4 inches. Ridiculous! I had thrown away the original packaging and the receipt so I thought I was stuck but Wal Mart took them back with no questions asked. They have the best return policy! So, all that to say, once I get a few hours to iron the curtains... again.... I'll hang them up and then take pictures to share.

Brooke has been a TOTAL mama's girl lately. I love my girl and it's very flattering that she loves me so much, but she really doesn't want anything to do with anybody else if I'm around. I've always thought of her as a daddy's girl but lately the tables have turned. We went to a ladies get-together at a church member's house and some girls from church were asked to come watch the kids so the moms could enjoy the fellowship. Brooke refused to go with the other kids and screamed every time I encouraged her to go. John's mom was there and Brooke adores her, but she only wanted me. If I went to the bathroom or to get a drink she would scream, "Where's my mommy?" Pitiful! Also, yesterday in Sunday School she was so upset and crying for me that they had to come get me. This is so NOT like my girl but I'm thinking it's just a stage. I'm wondering how much of it is related to all the talk about her sister? I'm not sure but I hope that she resolves this a little bit in the coming weeks. If not, it will just be a lot of work but that's okay!

In other news, we had our van detailed and it looks AWESOME now!! I cannot believe how clean they made it and how they removed all of those nasty smells. It's great because now I don't feel like I'm going to get some horrible disease every time I drive it. Lol! That's always a plus!

Okay, I think I hear Brookie waking up for the day. I went in to check on her at 9:15
and she was still sound asleep so I've been kind of bumming around. Man, that kid can sure sleep lately!

I've Officially Joined the "Club"

What club is that, you may ask? Well friends, I'm the latest inductee into the van-driving-mommy-club. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it just yet but I think that I like it. After all, I have enough room for 6 passengers, a built in TV (which I don't plan on utilizing regularly), a nice CD player, rear-control air/heat, power locks and windows, a remote starter, adjustable pedals (which will enable me to not sit so close to the steering wheel, seeing as how I'm very short), and many other fun little gadgets and compartments. The van is a beautiful shade of robin's egg blue so it actually looks really nice.

Since John and I got married I have been driving around in a little Nissan Sentra but as of late, there are way too many things wrong with it to list. For instance, it has an exhaust problem that won't allow it to pass inspection (which expires April 1st), it needs a new clutch, new tires, a new catalytic converter (which is VERY pricey), and both bumpers are falling off. I think there are also a few other things that are wrong with it but I've forgotten at this point. John's dad is a mechanic and can fix things very cheaply for us... BUT, if the parts are expensive then it still costs us an arm and a leg. I think the catalytic converter was almost $800 alone. Wow! I must admit that I miss my little stick shift sedan, but I know that it had too many problems to fix.

I really love my van and it drives GREAT but here's the only catch... We bought it from a private owner so the interior is DISGUSTING. The lady had her dogs in there and everything so you can imagine the repercussions of that. It's absolutely filthy. We asked her to take some money off of the price so we could pay for it to be professionally cleaned and she agreed. Thankfully, this Saturday we're dropping it off at a car detailing place and the said that they'll have it looking and smelling new by the time they're done with it. I really look forward to having a nice CLEAN van!

Alrighty, I'm off to church now to cook dinner. That means I get to drive my dirty new van again!! Lol

Funny Times with Brooke

Brooke has been absolutely hilarious lately! Sometimes she's so serious about things that she acts like a 13-year-old and other times she's just plain old goofy. Here's some funny stories for my "records:"

*We were in Michael's the other day and over the loudspeaker someone announced, "Adrienne to the front desk." Brooke looked at John and me and said, "Adrienne? That's not my baby!"

*John asked Brooke if he was her best friend and she said, "No, daddy. My mommy's my best friend."

*Brooke LOVES her baby dolls. She has so many of them but she "tends" to all of them them and treats them like real babies. It's so precious! She pretends to nurse them (LOL), swaddle them, change their diapers, etc... The other day she was pushing them in the stroller and she said, "I'm taking them to the hospital. I'm a good mommy to my babies!"

*In order for us to get on the highway from our house we have to pass a horse farm. If, heaven forbid, Brooke forgets to look at it when we drive by she says, "I forgot, mommy. I forgot to see the horses. Please go back." It's SUCH a pain when she forgets to look at the horses so I always draw a large amount of attention to them so it's impossible for her to forget.

*About 20 minutes after we put Brooke down for her nap yesterday we heard banging over and over again. We thought that maybe she had gotten out of bed or something so John went upstairs to check on her. As it turns out, Curious George had fallen down the side of her bed and each time Brooke tried to grab him she would smack her head on the wall. John said that he listened for a few minutes and whenever she would bang her head she would say, "What's that noise?" When she discovered her daddy was watching she was a bit embarrassed. Lol

*In Sunday School yesterday they were supposed to dip their hands in paint to make hand prints on paper. I was informed that my daughter was petrified of paint and that she wouldn't go near it. Seriously, only MY kid! Haha

*We have a very, very large family between my family and John's family. Brooke has to know where each and every single one of them is at all times so our day if filled with, "Where's Aunt Alison? Where's Grammy? Where's Aunt Sarah?" This process is repeated multiple times per person until Brooke really grasps where they are and we have about 30 people who she asks about. We've tried blanket statements like, "Everyone is at home," but of course that doesn't work.

*For some reason Brooke pronounces her "s" as "f." There's a man in our church named "Scott" and Brooke pointed at him and said, "There's Mr. Fott." I've been trying to use his name as an example of how to properly pronounce the "s" sound so I'll say, "Sssssssssss-cott." Brooke now walks around and says, "Sssssssss-Fott!" Hopefully she'll catch on soon!

*During the church worship service yesterday my dad (the pastor) turned out the lights to put on quick missions video. Brooke, loudly and repeatedly, shouted, "Turn the lights on!" I was sitting up at the piano and many members of the congregation were cracking up. She's not distracting or anything, is she?

*Brooke talks about her sister constantly and the other day she said, "I'm going to be a good big sister to Adrienne." She's so excited!

The list could go on and on if I had the time to remember all of the funny stories from the last couple of weeks. Brooke has really grown up a lot lately and she truly amazes me with how smart and observant she is. I love that girl so very much:-) She is most definitely my sunshine!

Brooke's First Night in her New Room

Last night could not have gone any better!! Because John's parents didn't end up getting the mattresses to our house until a little bit later, after 9, Brooke didn't end up going to sleep until almost 10. We try to stick to a normal bedtime but she really does fine staying up late from time to time because she almost always sleeps for 12 hours a night, regardless of when she goes down.

Anyways, when we had everything all together and assembled we tucked Brooke in and she had the world's biggest smile on her face. She looked so proud and happy to be in her new bed and it was just really special! We laid in her bed for a few minutes and read her a bedtime story. After saying prayers and singing a few songs, we left the room and the princess was sound asleep. It was a restless night for me because every time she coughed or I heard a noise I would run to check on her, but we didn't end up hearing from her until 10 this morning. WOW! What was really nice is that when she woke up she didn't get out of bed, she just waited there and sang and played with her dolls. I was relieved that she didn't take advantage of her freedom and roam the house!

So yes, all of that anxiety and fear about Brooke's first night in her new room was all for nothing. It turned out to be totally fine and the fact that Brooke is so excited made it that much more amazing! When we finish hanging up pictures and wall window treatments I'll post the pictures.

Real quick, on a totally unrelated note, here is an actual conversation that I had with a Taco Bell employee this afternoon... (Mind you, she was not a teenager, she was an grown adult)

Lady: Are you pregnant?
Me: Yes.
Lady: How far along are you?
Me: I am a little over 29 weeks now.
Lady: Wow, you're just starting out. You have a long way to go!
Me: No, actually I only have about 10 weeks left. The human gestation period is only 40 weeks.
Lady: Oh. Really? That's cool then.
****Awkward silence as I wait for our order****
Me: (Mind you, I can't stand uncomfortable moments of silence so I always have to open my big mouth and interject totally non-relevent dialogue.) If I was this big and just starting my pregnancy out I would...
Lady: Shoot yourself?

WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO???????????????????? I'm not sure if I am more amazed at her lack of social tact or the fact that she has absolutely NO idea how long the human gestation period is. Seriously??? I'm BLOWN AWAY! Lol

Unexpected Emotions

All this talk about the big-girl-room has been pretty exciting. In fact, so exciting that I haven't sat down and really thought about what all of it means. As I put Brooke to sleep in her crib last night and rocked her while I quietly prayed over her, it hit me... Things will be never be just like that again. Tonight she'll be transitioned into a big bed and she'll be in a brand new room, leaving the glider and all other things "baby" behind in the nursery for Adrienne.

I put my girl down to bed last night and though she was happy, I left her room and shed a few tears. How could it be that my baby is now really a big girl? When she was first born, 2 seemed so old and nobody could have warned me that this day was coming so very quickly. I cannot believe how quickly the days filled with cooing, nursing, and crawling turned into days filled with conversations, temper tantrums, and independence. In so many ways Brooke will always be my baby and I'll always see her as such, but when it boils down to it, she really is a big girl.

I know that after this transitional stage is over that things will soon feel "normal" again, and I'm holding out for that day. It also helps to know that our empty nursery will soon be filled with another precious life that God has entrusted into our care. Nonetheless, change is so hard, isn't it?

Wish us luck tonight! Hoepfully tomorrow I'll find time to update on how the big girl princess did in her new room.

The Big-Girl-Room in Progress

Over the last couple of days my dad and my aunt (from out of town) have been painting Brooke's new room in preparation for the furniture to arrive. When they finished painting on Tuesday I was elated over how beautiful the room looked and I couldn't wait until the furniture arrived. Well, a few minutes ago the delivery men dropped off and assembled Brooke's furniture and it's absolutely gorgeous! After all of that looking around and indecisiveness about what furniture to get, I feel like we made the right choice!

We painted 3 of the walls a bright, buttery yellow and we have a light blue accent wall that John's aunt is painting acrylic flowers on next week. It looks great now but those flowers are really going to add a very special touch! The sheets have flowers on them and John's aunt is using a projector so she can trace them on the wall... That way we'll be able to replicate them!

We're going to Sam's Club to pick up the mattresses tomorrow night so unfortunately I can't make the bed or anything until then. We'll save a bunch of money by getting the mattresses there so I guess one more night won't kill me! Apart from that, I just need to get some window treatments and a few little pictures for the walls and the big-girl-room will officially be complete! Once this project is done we'll be able to move on to Adrienne's room.

Brooke is SO EXCITED about her new room! She's been napping for a while so she hasn't actually seen the furniture, but she's been in her new room an awful lot just scoping it out. She walks in and she says, "My big girl room! NOT Adrienne's!" I'm a little anxious to see how she'll do in her new bed but I'm hoping that the transition won't be too tough. We bought a rail for the side of her bed so I'm not really too worried about her falling out, just that she'll use her new found freedom to escape.

Once we're completely done with the room I'll post pictures. Until then, use your imagination! Lol

Change is Coming

We found out a couple of weeks ago that John will be going back on the night shift (11PM- 7AM) starting April 2Nd. When John called me from work and told me the news, I hung up the phone and cried. I thought of all of the things that I would miss... The normal hours, sleeping next to him every night, having him well rested and alert, enjoying weekends with him, and having holidays and weekends off. I knew that this change would most likely be coming but having the decision officially made for us was something really hard for me to grasp.

I'll be honest, I don't fully understand how we'll adapt to a new baby and the crazy schedule that that entails on top of adjusting to this new schedule, which is so, so hard at first. I'm not sure how we'll make alone time for one another or how John will ever feel rested enough. I'm almost sick to my stomach each time that I think of this because it bothers me so much. I was talking to my mom and expressing my fears to her and she said, "Jillian, God only gives the grace you need day-by-day. You don't have the grace you need for tomorrow or the next day or the day after... Just today." That's so true, isn't it? One day at a time God will sustain us and we'll come out stronger.

Through my mom's encouraging words and lots of prayer, I have been able to see the good in this situation more and more. For instance, John will be working only 4 day work weeks so his days on will fly by! Also, John will be able to get back into being a "real" cop, which is his true calling. I am also thankful that he will be working all night long instead of all evening long (3PM-11PM) because it means that we will have more time in the evenings to be able to enjoy trips to the park, walks, and going for ice cream. See, there IS good in this situation!

I'll admit, I haven't reached total and 100% peace with this whole schedule change, but it's a process. I know that God won't leave me stranded and that he'll take care of my family and me. I honestly don't know how people get through these seemingly impossible situations without God in their lives because that's what I'm totally leaning on right now!

I've Been Far Too BUSY to Blog!!

The last several days have been a whirlwind! Between the party that I cooked for on Saturday and all of the other responsibilities I have, it's been hard keeping my head above water. Wow! Now that it's all said and done, I'm thankful that the week ahead looks much calmer. Hooray! Here's what we've been up to:

*Thursday- Patty and I did all of the shopping for the big party. It took us a good 3-4 hours to get everything we needed but it was really fun! Brooke was great at the various stores, only fussing for "Taco Bill" around lunchtime. Her compliance was extremely helpful! That night we went up to the church and set up tables, flower arrangements, linens, etc... for Saturday and I didn't get home until after 8. After being on my feet for the entire day I was so sore and my ankles were swollen. I was thankful to rest!

*Friday- I had my glucose test. BLAH! I got to the hospital at 10:30, which was 15 minutes before my scheduled appointment. I wanted to drink the nasty sugar drink ASAP so it could sit in me for an hour and I could go home. I told the girl at the front desk that I was there and finally, at 11:15, she apologized for keeping me waiting and then gave me my lab slip to get the sugar drink. Frustrated, I went to the lab, where I waited another good 15 minutes. At around 11:30 I got the drink and then I headed back up to the doctor's office to have my appointment that was supposed to be at 10:45. I saw the doctor for a few minutes and he said that everything looked good! I get to go for a 3-D ultrasound when I'm 32 weeks and I'm SO EXCITED! After that, I waited around until 12:30 to have my blood drawn. At the lab they informed me that because I was RH negative (which I already knew) I had to have a shot. However, first they had to draw my blood and check for antibodies (about another half hour wait) and then I had to take it back up to the nurse to have her inject me. I wasn't too excited about that wait. Around 1 I finally got the injection and when I went to have it injected in me, I was informed that the nurse was on her lunch break. I had to wait for her until amost 2. Once again, I wasn't thrilled. So, Friday was completely consumed by that doctor's visit. What a waste of time!

*Saturday- Saturday was the big party! Everything turned out great and the food was delicious. There were no major catastrophes or anything and the family was all very satisfied and thankful for the job that we did. We got there at 9 that morning and I didn't get home until after 5. It was yet another long day on my feet!

*Sunday- It was actually NOT a day of rest. As usual, I had worship practice at 8:15 then Sunday School and church. We then had a birthday party for my brother's wife after church. By the time I got home, it was almost time to turn right back around again for my leadership meeting at 5 and to teach my class from 6-7:30. What a day!

My aunt and uncle are visiting from California so they came over this morning and helped my dad prime Brooke's big girl room. Tomorrow they'll paint over the primer, sometime later in the week John's aunt will come and paint flowers on the accent wall, Thursday the furniture will be delivered, and Friday we're picking up mattresses. So, by the end of the week we'll hopefully have Miss Brooke officially transitioned into her new room. I'm so excited! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Alrighty, now it's time to go catch up with laundry and housework. The work never ends...

Trying My Hand at Catering

For years and years I have cooked dinner every Wednesday night for church. I've also been in charge of Vacation Bible School dinners (we do real meals for our VBS because the kids come from homes where they're not always fed) for ages and I've also headed up cooking for different mission teams that have come to our church. Needless to say, I feel VERY comfortable in the kitchen and I can cook dinner for 100 people without batting an eyelash. After all this time it has just become second nature.

Anyways, John's great aunt and uncle are having their 50Th anniversary and when their son was deciding what they should do to celebrate the occasion, it was mentioned that I know how to do the whole cooking thing. Long story short, the party is on Saturday and John's mom and I are doing ALL the work of cooking for about 60 people. Normally I would be fine with this and it wouldn't even cause me any stress, but here's the problem... They want this to be fancy. When you cook for church you have big metal pans where people are served buffet style, plastic silverware and paper plates are used, and the tables don't have to be decorated. For this, we're ordering special linens, china, silverware and glasses. We're also decorating the tables with votive candles and fresh flowers. I am very good at the food end of this... But I am NOT good at making things look pretty!

Here's the menu-

Appetizers
*Bruschetta
*Stuffed Mushrooms (which I hate to make but they're so good!)
*A tray with assorted cheeses, crackers, and pepperoni
*Skewers with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar

Salad
*Antipasti salad with assorted meats, cheeses, olives, veggies and croutons. I wanted to make a really nice homemade vinaigrette to toss this in but everyone likes a different dressing. No fun!

Main Course
*Chicken Parmesan
*Pasta
*Garlic bread OR bread and butter (I haven't fully decided what we'll end up with)

The cake is being taken care of, thank heavens, and for drinks we're keeping it simple with pitchers of lemon water on the tables and then offering iced tea, punch, and coffee.

Luckily we found some teenagers in our church that have agreed to come on Saturday and help us serve the tables and then there are two ladies have offered to come and oversee things in the kitchen while Patty and I are mingling with the family. I know I have to be social and all, but I would MUCH rather stay in the kitchen to keep a close eye on things during the meal. I know that we have capable hands working in the background to help us out but I'm somewhat of a control freak!

Tomorrow I'm doing ALL the shopping (I know, it's horrible that I haven't even started). Then, tomorrow night some ladies from my church are helping Patty and me decorate the church and set up the tables. Hooray! Friday is going to be insane because I have my glucose testing/ 28-week doctor visit that morning (which will take a while) and Patty has to work until 5:30. To add to my busy schedule, my aunt from California will be here so we have a family dinner Friday night. Saturday morning we're going to have to meet very early to get things going because lunch is at 2. AHHH!!!! Crazy, crazy, crazy. Let's just say that I'll sleep well on Saturday night!

WISH ME LUCK. Heaven knows I'll need it:-)

Holy Appetite!

Brooke is doing much better today and I dare say that she is back to herself. YAY! She had a little bit of difficulty falling asleep last night but she slept-in this morning until 9:30. Just what the doctor ordered for both mommy and Brookie!

I am blown away by what my very-fickle-eater has eaten today. For breakfast she polished off two entire pieces of French Toast and then she asked for peanut butter and crackers. Next, she had a mid-morning snack shortly after (only because she asked for it). We met my mom at her work to take her to lunch and as soon as we got there Brooke asked for cookies and pretzels...Because that's the tradition she got a few for a little treat. My mom asked Brooke what she wanted for lunch and Brooke screamed, "TACO BELL!" So, of course we took the princess there and she ate an entire crunchy taco, an entire thing of refried beans and cheese, a few bites of my bean burrito, and some crunchy cinnamon twists. What the heck?!?!?!??!?

Brooke has got to be the most frustrating child to feed. She really likes about 5 things and that's it. She hates fruit.. except for the rare banana or grape that she'll take from me. She hates ALL veggies (with the exception of cherry tomatoes once in a while). She hates meat, except for chicken nuggets or taco meat. She won't eat any type of potatoes... Not mashed or anything. She won't eat any type of pasta or rice unless it's macaroni and cheese or Rice A' Roni. She will eat soup and yogurt in massive quantities though, which is helpful. It takes great effort to make healthy choices for this kid because she would be happy filling up on dry cereal all day, which is obviously not an optimal diet. Maybe it will get easier for me one day??? Let's hope!

Instead of napping right now, Brooke's in her crib rocking her babies to sleep and covering them up with blankets. Lol! If she's happy I might leave her long enough to get some work done... Either that or I'll stand quietly in her room and be a spectator. She's hilarious!

Sick Babies:-(

Brooke has been recovering from a nasty cold, yet her cough has persisted and continued to get worse and worse with the passing days. I thought that the cold was simply taking its course but my precious baby niece, Jenna, is in the hospital with pneumonia so my mind began to wonder if there was something more going on with Brooke.

Last night I had resolved to take Brooke to the doctor first thing this morning, with all things considered, but little did I know, there was a horrible night awaiting us... Brooke had the WORST time going to sleep and ended up crying hysterically after 3 hours of tossing and turning. John and I brought her into our bed at about 11 and she was a coughing, restless, fussing disaster the whole night. It was not exactly a restful night's sleep, to say the least!

Anyways, I took Brooke in to see the doctor this morning and, much to my surprise, her lungs sounded fine to him, but she has an ear infection. Here I thought she had some respiratory infection or bronchitis but her fussiness and lack of sleep had nothing to do with her lungs, whatsoever. Maybe that's the reason that I'm not the doctor? Lol! I felt so relieved that I had taken her in when I realized that there really was something wrong with her. Poor Brookie! No wonder why she's been so fussy and grumpy lately.

I'm so mindful of my sister today as she is in the hospital still with precious little Jenna. They have been in there since Saturday and there is not a chance that she will even get to go home today. I've stopped in to see her several times and tried to be as supportive as I can, but it's hard with my own baby who's struggling right now too. Jenna is so happy and she's all smiles, despite the IV in her arm, and I must say, I admire my sister's positive attitude and the way she so sacrificially cares for her daughter. Ali's had a rough week of it... First Nathan had a double ear infection on Thursday and now all of this with Jenna. She deserves an amazing mother award:-) I feel so helpless throughout all of this...

Okay, the princess in sleeping so I think I'm going to go relax for a few minutes before she wakes up. There's no telling what kind of mood she'll be in!

A Quick Picture

I don't have time to update because I'm about to start a movie with John, but I thought I would just share this picture that was taken of Brooke today. Grammy and Papa (my parents) bought her a new coat and she's very proud. Doesn't she look so big???

We've Made it to the THIRD TRIMESTER!!!

This is just unbelievable to me! I'm 27 weeks today but because I'll be delivering at 37 weeks, 6 days I have less than 12 weeks to go. WOW.

It's funny because I don't really feel like I'm "very" pregnant. Yes, I'm uncomfortable and of course I'm getting enormous, but I feel like I'm still in the beginning stages of this pregnancy due to it flying by. I look at other people in their third trimester and think to myself how they're "so pregnant" but I have yet to feel that way about myself.

I have enjoyed this pregnancy a lot because I'm very comfortable with my growing belly. With Brooke I was more self conscious about getting big and I felt so over-grown, but this time around, I feel pretty good about myself and am truly loving it. Don't get me wrong, some days I feel like a whale and my splotchy skin on face bugs me, but these things all come with the territory and I'll take that any day! My biggest complaint this time around is that I'm ALWAYS thirsty and I don't sleep well at all. Again, these are minor things that don't don't even matter.

I've said this before, but as the days pass I find myself getting more and more eager to have Adrienne in my arms. However, I also get a bit sad because I'll miss being pregnant and I know that these are the last weeks alone with Brooke as my only child. It's so bittersweet for me.

Speaking of Brooke, she's awake from her nap and she's singing a melody of songs and meowing. Lol! It's too cute:-) Though she's happy, I think I'll go crash her party so we can play! She's irresistible!

My Sweet Brooke

I'll confess, over the last couple of weeks, my daughter has evolved from this precious little angel to this TERROR child. Several days towards the end of last week she had me in tears over how misbehaved and disobedient she was and I contribute some of that to her not feeling well. This week she has been a lot better but not 100% her sweet, compliant self. She has started to listen better to me but she is very fussy with other people and wants little to do with anyone but me. What's with her?!??!?!

In the midst of these frustrating days that we've been having there have been incidents with Brooke that have encouraged me to keep pressing on. Isn't that how motherhood is? You think you're going to lose your mind or like you can't handle the stress but then your child looks at you and says something hilarious or precious and all is well in the world. Here's some cute stories that have helped sustain me!

*My dad always holds Brooke's face with his two hands so he can make eye contact with her and says, "Look at me, I love you!" Anyways, Brooke has started coming up to John and me and repeating the same routine with us that Papa does with her. Lol!

*Last night I was holding Brooke before bed and she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I'll always love you." Talk about precious!

*When I got out of the shower the other day I was brushing my hair and Brooke said, "Mommy, you are so beautiful!" Lol! She hears this from me an awful lot but to have her repeat to me was priceless.

*Last night after Brooke's bath I asked John to get me a "clippy" for Brooke's bangs (we're growing them out so we have to clip them back). John came downstairs with a bow instead and Brooke looked at him and said, "Daddy, that is NOT a clippy. It's a bow." She then started to cry. Haha! It looks like we have a drama queen on our hands!

If I sat here long enough I could think of pages full of Brookie stories to share but those are all that I could think of off the top of my head. The bottom line is that despite the enormity of the task of motherhood, it will always be amazing to be a mommy. Some days are easy, some days are not, but whether or not Brooke's at her best or her worst, my job is to give my best every single day, even when it seems impossible.

A Tough Realization

You may recall me talking about John's current schedule... He's doing security at the county's human heath services building, which means that he has "normal" hours. It's been really awesome having him off on nights, holidays, and weekends. Heavenly, actually. He was supposed to be over there until June (which would have been a total of 6 months) but his lieutenant told him that he wants him back on the road (You know, being a real cop)on April first. Ugh... That just totally rocked my world because I thought that he would have a normal schedule when the baby came and I was WRONG.

It's hard because when he went on this very-temporary-position I knew that it was just that- Temporary. I knew that a 9-5, Monday-Friday work-week would never be in the cards for my husband as a cop and that I shouldn't get too used to this way of life. Even though I told myself that, I have absolutely grown accustomed to this amazing lifestyle and when he goes back to his crazy schedule, I'm sure it will be a very rough transition. Right now we don't know what shift he'll be on in April. The options are 1) 3 PM- 11 PM, which is hard because we barely have family time together or 2) 11 PM- 7 AM. On that shift we see each other a lot but John is ALWAYS tired and he gets very bad headaches so we rarely get quality time. On top of that, he'll be working a 4-2 schedule, which means that he'll work for 4 days and then get 2 off. This is good because it means that his work weeks are very short, but it's also very hard because it means that he only gets a rare weekend off here or there. It's so tough...

With John being off the road, I have also been freed from the constant worry of him being hurt (or worse) in the line of duty. Sure, he's still carries a gun and is still a cop where he's at right now, but it's not like he's going into people's houses or up to people's cars. It's been so nice having him easily accessible and being in a position where he can almost always answer my phone calls. I haven't worried about his safety as a cop once since he has been on this position and it's so nice to not have that constant fear.

I have said it so many times, but I am honored to be the wife of a cop. I think that it's a very admirable calling and I have the utmost respect for what he does. Sometimes, however, I selfishly wish that things are different. I support John 100% in his profession, but I'll admit, I just crave normalcy sometimes for our family. I suppose that for us this is what normal is and there's not sense in fighting it because this is how it has to be. I know we'll always be okay, but man, change is so hard!

I'm Still Here!

I tend to neglect my blog on the weekends with John being on this shift, don't I? Spending time with him is much better than a silly blog, anyways:-) I have also had an exhausting couple of days with Brooke, who has a mind of her own, on top of not sleeping well and being VERY busy. To add to my list of things, Brookie had a NASTY diarrhea thing going on last week, I had a cold, and now that my cold is gone and her diarrhea is better, she has the cold. Man, I'm fried! It never ends, does it?!??!?

Tomorrow I intend on staying in all day and catching up on some neglected housework because I haven't had time to do a clean sweep of the house. I've tried to stay on top of keeping it tidy but I certainly have had no time for mopping over the last two days. Let me just say, with a chocolate lab and lots of wood floors, that's BAD news. I'm eager for my housework to be completed tomorrow!

I can't believe that it's March already! Adrienne will be here in less than 3 months, which is just insane. My pregnancy has gone by so fast! It's hard to get too excited about Spring because tomorrow it's supposed to be 11 degrees. I don't recommend living in upstate New York unless you are prepared to freeze for most of the year. YUCK! Anyways, seeing as how it's March, it means that Spring is one day closer to make it's debut!

Alrighty, I'm off to fold some laundry and then relax with John. Fun, fun!