Vaction finally... mostly pictures

I will make this as brief as possible, since the details will bore you. We started off driving for 2 days, so fun, let me tell you. We got there just in time for the rehearsal dinner for the wedding on Thurs. The wedding was Sat., and it was so much fun. It was outside a old mansion and the rehearsal was inside. {A funny story... they had a drink fountain right next to our table. It was really hot outside for the wedding, so before we got in the line to eat Julie was getting me and the girls a drink from the fountain. Luckily she gave me the first drink because it was alcohol. I am sure glad we didn't give the kids the first drink... I guess I officially drank while I was pregnant. ha ha!}

Ok so Sun. we went to church and had lunch with my extended family on my mom's side (which is huge), and dinner with my dad's side. Mon. we went to one of those huge fountains that spray out of the ground and you can fun through. The kids of course loved that and the playground. Tues. was a rest day for me, Julie and the girls. Julie and I tried to venture out to Walmart and Starbucks, but it took us an hour to find Walmart (mapquest was wrong - didn't know that was possible) and we had to settle for Sonic. Wed. we left for Gatlinburg Tenn. (Another 5 hour or more drive) We spent Wed.-Sat. in the mountains shopping, swimming, hiking, and of course eating tons of great food. Sat. we left for our 4 day trek back: Day 1-Birmingham 7 hours, Day 2-Louisiana little over 6 hours, Day 3- Fort Worth little over 6 hours, Day 4 - Abilene 2 hours (thank goodness). Faith was such a trooper. She seriously hardly cried at all until the last day to Abilene. She just watched movies and read books. I was amazed. I heard Julie's van was a little more hectic. Now for pics. in very random order...

Playing in the chalet in Gatlinburg

Family pic. in the mountains

Faith reading a book in the car

Faith posing on the a scale for some reason.

Well, some have asked for a belly shot (yuck!!)

Faith and Lily dancing at the wedding; Faith literally screamed bloody murder when we had to leave the dance floor. She LOVES dancing!!!

Another dance pic.

Ready for the big fountain I mentioned.

Hiking to a great Italian restaurant

You can't see it well, but Faith took a dive down some friends' stairs and hit her head on a china cabinet at the bottom (above her left eye) and Chloe was chasing her and she fell and hit a coffee table and got a black eye (same side). She looked horrible, but they both went away fast.

Emma and Faith wrestling in the hotel room. They had so much fun.

The girls dancing to the cheetah girls movie at the hotel.

at the hotel

Cute pic of my nieces at the rehearsal dinner

at the rehearsal dinner, Faith had already tired out

Quick, sad thought...

Well I have reached the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy. I don't remember hitting this until about the last 2 weeks with Faith, but it has come earlier (5 weeks to go - crazy!). I was watching Faith play by herself on the floor today and I got really sad. It is so hard for me to get up and down off the floor now, I rarely do it. My doctor actually told me not to do it often because I have been having contractions every time I have to get up and down - strange, I know. Anyway, I used to sit on the floor all the time to play with her (she can sit and play in your lap all day long and be happy) or crawl around and chase her. She loves for someone to be down there with her even if your not directly playing with her. I actually teared up just thinking this is my last few weeks of just me and her and I don't even feel like doing all the fun things we usually do together. She was so sweet just playing by herself and being so content, which I think made it worse. I started thinking about all the time she will have to play by herself because I will be feeding or changing or whatever. I am so excited to finally meet Sophia, but at the same time so sad for the time I will loose with Faith. Several people told me they had similar feelings when they were expecting their second, and I think it is just now hitting me hard. I have decided to try to do more things that do not take getting up and down off the floor, but you know then you have to compete with the heat. Yuck!!! But we did go out and feed the ducks tonight, and she loved it. I have decided to finally get my library card so we can go to the story times and check out new books. She loves to go to the book store, so she will be in heaven. I spent about 30 mins. looking on line for things we can do. And I have found some, but it is just so emotional thinking about all the changes (many good, I know)... some of it may just be prego hormones, but still... Anyway, just thought I would share my sad thoughts of the night. I love you so much Faith!!!!

Afraid of the Dark

Sooooo... about that vacation post. It is going to be a while. When we got back we had so many orders for the business that I got caught up in trying to catch up. I still have a ton to do as far as work, but besides that my mom went home with the camera card, so I have no pictures (which is the fun stuff). Anyway, I will post it once she comes back in 2 weeks with my pics!!!

This is an update on Faith's sleep habits. I knew it would be rough after the trip being that she was in my room right beside me every night. But I made myself start off right the first night we were back. The first night she cried for 30 mins. which was not to bad, but she was really tired. The next night was not so fun, once we started heading toward 45 mins., I decided to try leaving the door open. She has never liked having a lot of light when she sleeps (she actually used to like it pitch black), but I just wanted to try something. She cried for about 2 minutes after I opened the door and was out. The next night I started off with the door open and she didn't even cry for 10 mins. Since then she has been a champ. If she cries AT ALL it is for less than a minute as I lay her down. WOW how things change so quickly. I guess she is afraid of the dark now. I knew it was something because it was not just a cry, but sometimes screaming crying... which is another reason it was so hard for me to handle. I knew something was wrong, but once you do the diaper check, drink, fever check, and make sure she didn't hurt herself somehow, I didn't know what else to check for. SO not that things will not change again... they always do... but for now we are good to go. She is a champ at nap time and night time. So yea!!!! And thanks for all the advice I got from you guys.

EMAIL ADDRESS

I have had several people tell me that they tried to email me and it wasn't working. Our address changed when we moved to Abilene and I guess I did a bad job of spreading the news. Only the end changed, but here it is for all that need/want it.

sldowcj5@att.net

We just got back a few minutes ago from our super long trip, so I will be gathering pictures to post and getting back on here soon (prob. tomorrow) to post about the trip. We did survive!!!