I just had to take a minute to document some things about Madison at this stage so I don't forget.  That little girl has determination and will power  and will not back down.  Some things about her that absolutely drive Joe and I crazy at this stage is: She finally recognizes when she needs to use the restroom, and she will tell me whenever she goes pee in her diaper, and she wants to be changed IMMEDIATELY.  I think it's the warmth that drives her crazy.  At night she will come downstairs 2 and 3 times after we tuck her in and she'll say she peed.  Sometimes it's just a tiny bit, and I know she totally just does it to get out of going to bed.  We change her before bed, and then we literally have to change her 2 more times before she goes to sleep.  I can't even tell you how many diapers we go through lately.  She will yell and cry and scream "I GO PEE" and will throw a fit.  Lately I have been telling her I will change her one time and that's it.  If she pees a tiny bit after that, I just tell her "too bad" and she needs to go to bed.- Update:   We have now potty trained her.  We waited until after our 4th of July trip to Utah, and then busted out the big girl undies again.  It's been no where near as easy as it was with Brooklynn, but it has also been A MILLION times better than it was the last time we attempted this with her, and she didn't grasp it at all.  So, with that being said.... Most days she has wet her bed either at night or during naps, but she's doing well when she's awake.  I'm too stubborn to put her in pull-ups because I don't want her getting used to wearing them.  I want her to figure this out and learn how to not wet the bed. There was a day where Joe was out of town and literally within about 20 minutes, she pulled her undies down and literally just stood there and peed all over the floor, right in front of her little potty.  I got it cleaned up, and she seriously did the EXACT SAME THING like 10 minutes later.  Thankfully it was on the hardwood floor and not carpet, but I was seriously so fed up that I slapped a diaper on her and told her when she was ready to stop acting like a baby and was ready to be a big girl that she could put her undies back on. This was just like an hour before bed! Not gonna lie, part of me was scared she would sleep in the diaper and wouldn't mind it!  I wasn't back tracking!  So before she got into bed I asked her if she was ready to be a big girl again, and she said she was.  She literally didn't have any accidents for like 2 days after that!  It's been over a month now since we started and she's still having accidents during nap time.  I don't know if she sleeps harder during naps and just doesn't realize she needs to pee or what.  She will also wake up at night and just start whining, and I will go up and we will go potty together.  Since I'm pregnant I always have to pee.  I'm trying to help her recognize that when he body wakes her up like that, it's trying to tell her to go potty.  Hopefully she figures it out before this baby comes.
     Every morning she comes down to our room between 5:45 and 6 and I will tell her she has to go potty before she can get in our bed with us.  She'll go potty and then climb in between Joe and I, and sometimes will fall back to sleep.   Other times Joe gets up soon after and she will just lay in bed until he showers and gets dressed and then he opens the bathroom door for her to go hang out with him while he finishes getting ready.  A lot of times he gets the kids some coloring pages, or gets them set with some breakfast and lets me sleep until about 7:30 or so.  With being pregnant, I am tired all the time now.  I swear I could sleep for a week straight.
     Brooklynn started pre-k at the first of August.  I totally dropped the ball on that one!  The night before, I checked my email around 7:30 and noticed there was one titled "First Day Jitters" from her school and talked all about the first day and how to help your child feel comfortable with school.  My heart dropped because I didn't think she started until all of the other kids around here went back to school around the end of August.  I emailed the director back asking if the first day of school was the next day, and she said that yes, she could start tomorrow!  Brooklynn had already taken a bath and had her jammies on, so when I told Joe, we both looked at her and Joe asked if she was ready to go to school the next day!  She excitedly replied "YES!!" So, off we went to Payless to get some closed toe shoes, and then ran to Target so she could pick out her backpack.  She chose a Princess Poppy backpack from the movie TROLLS, and then picked out a matching lunch box and thermos.  She was SO excited to show her dad and Madison when we got home, and she just kept saying over and over "thank you for letting me pick out my Princess Poppy Backpack Mom!"      
     She woke up super excited and nervous for school.  It's the only day in her life where she has said "My tummy hurts, so maybe I shouldn't eat breakfast."  After asking her some questions I figured out that it was just nerves and finally got her to eat some scrambled eggs.  She was so excited to pack her lunch and fill her water thermos, and was ready to go early!  When we got to her school she was excited to get out with her teacher, and didn't bat an eye as her teacher took her out of the car and held her hand and directed her over to the playground.  As soon as the van door closed Madison started crying and said "But I'm really going to miss her!" and was so upset.  A piece of my heart was ripped out too, and with tears streaming down my cheeks, all I could mutter to Madison was "me too!"  It's hard letting go and letting your kids grow up sometimes.  Thankfully Madison and I went to the gym and she got to play with her friends in the kids care, and I got to get a spin class in, and it helped pass the time without Brooklynn.  Joe came home early to watch the girls while I went to a Dr Appointment with Dr Cook, and an Ultrasound with Dr Gei.  He was excited to go pick up Brooklynn from school, and I wanted to go too so I could see how her first day went!  So we all piled into Joe's truck, and went to get her!  The director said she did great!  The only time she started to feel sad was when kids started going home.  Thankfully she didn't have to wait long for us to pick her up too!  She loved school then, and she has loved it every day since!  Madison would love to go to school in a heartbeat too, but Joe and I decided we weren't going to pay for it this year, because technically she missed the preschool cutoff for this year.  Plus, I'm going to need a helper once this baby comes.
     I'm 27 weeks pregnant, and this Thursday will be the 10 week mark until this sweet baby makes his debut in the world.  It's exciting and terrifying all at the same time.  Hopefully I can handle 3 kids!  I know Brooklyn and Madison will be such big helpers, so I'm hoping that helps alleviate some of the stress that I felt when I had Madison.  I look back at pictures of Brooklynn then, and she was still just a baby herself!
     We found out at my 20 week ultrasound that this baby has a heart defect called Tetrology of Fallot, and will require open heart surgery after he's born and then he'll need to be monitored for the rest of his life.  There was a lot of stressing and worrying up until we saw the fetal cardiologist who was able to tell us more and help answer a lot of questions we had!  We didn't meet with her until after our trip to Utah.  While in Utah I had this day of just imagining over and over again, having to hand over my little baby for heart surgery, and I just could not stop crying.  Bob and Sharon even took the girls for a few hours that day, and I drove over to The Shane Company by myself to get my ring checked and cleaned, and I literally sat in the car for about 30 minutes because I was just crying and couldn't stop. Joe was coming to Utah from California that evening and I sent him and my dad a text telling them I was having a really hard time and wondered if they would give me a blessing.  They both responded that they would be happy to, and Joe thought it would be a good idea to also invite Joseph and Dallin.  Joseph was out of town but Dallin and Brittany came over that night.  I don't get to have many blessings from my dad anymore, so Joe and I thought it would be a good idea to have him give me the blessing, because Joe would be able to give me blessings I may need in the future.  I cried pretty much before and during most of the blessing.  Joe broke down and was crying too.  Sadly, I don't remember a lot of what was said, but I will never forget the peace that came over my body.  It's a calm that has stayed with me ever since that night.  I have not felt that uneasiness, fear, or sadness again since that day.  I am so thankful for the Priesthood, and that I have so many wonderful men in my life that I could go to to ask for a priesthood blessing.
     When we got back from Utah and met with the Fetal Cardiologist- Dr. Gardiner, she was able to answer a lot of questions and concerns we had.  They did an EKG and she said that on a scale of 1-10(10 being the worst) that our baby had about a 3.  So, it was on the better end of the scale.  She said he does have a hole in his heart that will require open heart surgery (usually between 3 and 9 months) where they will go in and put a patch on his heart to cover that hole.  Right now one of his valves in developing normally, but if it doesn't continue to grow that way as he develops more, they may need to go in a open that up later, but that wouldn't require open heart surgery.  She said I should still be able to do skin to skin after he's born, and try to feed him, and all of that, and he should even be able to go home with us.  Ideally they want the baby to be a bit bigger so they would opt for surgery between 3-9 months.  She will have me come back when I'm about 30 weeks and then she'll check everything again.  
     It's not the ideal situation, but things could have been a lot worse.  With the surgery, he's projected to live a somewhat normal life, and lots of babies with this condition are saved now, where back several years ago they weren't.  Last Christmas Joe asked me if I was ready to put our house up on the market and move to Utah in the spring!  As much as I would love to be near my family, I just had this sort of a panic feeling when he mentioned that!  It felt too soon and like it would be rushed, and for some reason I had this feeling that we were supposed to have another baby while we lived her in Houston.  After we found out about this baby's condition, it all made a little bit more sense.  Texas Children's Hospital was just actually rated number 1 in the country for pediatric cardiology, so I know that we were meant to be here so that he could have his surgery here.
     There is so much unknown but I feel at peace, and I know that everything will be ok!  I love feeling this sweet baby boy kick and move all the time!  It's so comforting this time around!  With Brooklynn it kinda freaked me out at first, just to feel that there was someone moving inside me!  We are really looking forward to meeting this little guy in just about 10 weeks though!  So grateful for the gospel in my life and for the power of the Priesthood!

Brooklynn is 47 months and Madison is 28 months old

SO much has happened since I last posted!  Brooklynn has now been in preschool for about 7 months now and she absolutely loves it!  Her teacher is Sara Morey and she calls her Miss Sara.  She goes to school with 7 other kids and it's in Miss Sara's home.  She's a member of our ward and I just feel so blessed to have her teach Brooklynn.  I haven't had to worry about her at all!  She goes to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-11:30, and while she's at school Madison and I go to the gym, and run errands and I usually have time to shower and throw on some makeup real quick before it's time to get Brooklynn from school.
     She loves to paint, loves cutting things, taping things, and glueing things.  She learns all sorts of cute songs at preschool that she comes home and sings nonstop.  Miss Sara has the parents take turns helping at preschool every 6 weeks or so, and Joe will usually arrange his schedule so that he's in Houston on those days and will go in from 8:30-10 and I'll take 10-11:30.  It's been fun for Brooklynn to have us there with her, and we have loved getting to experience the things she's doing and learning.
     Brooklynn is also now a sunbeam in primary!  She's no longer in nursery, which is just crazy to me!  Sister Jen Martin is her teacher and she just loves her and the class.  We saw Sister Martin and her kids at Costco this week and Brooklynn was so excited!
     She's always asking "Why questions" lately.  Why does this do that? and she's just really interested in how things work and why.  She's gotten really good at pretending, and I know that's completely from preschool and interacting with the other kids.  She and Madison will play really well together now and will pretend to play house, or school, or be chefs, and it's just so fun to see their minds working and the creativity that comes.
     We just got a trampoline after we got back from Utah for Christmas, and both of the girls absolutely love it!  Almost every day after naps, and usually after dinner with Daddy, that's where they will be found.  They love for me to go out and jump with them after naps.  We even had a high of about 87 the other day(in February) and we busted out the sprinkler and wore our swimsuits and jumped!  Brooklynn was in total heaven, and Madison liked it, but kept a little bit of a distance from the sprinkler.
     They love playing outside and we frequent the parks around our home often.  They both still LOVE swinging, and we have started playing "Hide and Seek" and it's adorable to watch them run off and hide together(usually in the same spot every time) and get so surprised they scream when they are found.  They are both little dare devils too.  Brooklynn has gotten really good at climbing on things and up things.  She has also gotten really good at pretend play, which I think is from playing with the other kids at preschool.  She and Madison will finally play well together for a decent amount of time!  Hallelujah!   They LOVE dress up and they play with their babies and strollers and their play kitchen all the time.  They'll also take blankets and toys outside when the weather is nice and play outside in the back yard for a while together.  They love crafts, especially coloring and painting.  Almost every day after naps Brooklynn will work on some sort of craft and they get to pick a small treat after naps(it's mostly so I can have something to use as leverage if they won't listen or are making bad choices. If I tell them they are going to lose their treat after naps it usually makes them get it together pretty quickly. ha ha!)
     Brooklynn is a great big sister and is usually very helpful with Madison.  She'll help her or comfort her, or buckle her in her carseat, and is always saying things like "what's the matter sweetheart?" or "Come here Little Bug".  I know if we were to have another child that she and Madison would both be my big helpers.
   
     Madison....Oh goodness where do I even begin with this child?!  She is absolutely adorable, and people tell me she is all the time, but she is also going to drive me to drink one of these days!  The child has the strongest will and once she gets her mind set on something it's SO hard to change it!  For instance....She absolutely HATES being wet.  Even if she gets two drops of water on her shirt from brushing her teeth she throws a fit and wants to change her clothes.  Like she will literally rip her shirt and pants off while she is crying that she's wet!  She also just kind of hates wearing clothes in general.  She used to take her pajamas off every morning in her crib.  She's now been moved to a big girl bed and has started waking up EVERY MORNING at 5:30am and coming down to our room.   Sometimes she'll come down WAY earlier than that and I always force myself to go put her back in her bed because I really don't want kids sleeping in my bed.  Anyways, the other morning she came down at 5:30 and Joe woke up shortly after that to go to work super early for some reason, so I put her on his side and told her to go back to sleep.  I quickly fell back to sleep, and when I woke up around 7 and looked over at her she was sound asleep, but she was naked except for her diaper!  Nudist!  When we are home she is usually naked.  Let me just tell you how many outfits a day she goes through!
     I tried potty training her because she started taking off her own diapers....poop and all!  So I figured it was time to give it a shot.  We have had her little potty down in our bathroom for a while and she has sat on it and peed a few times at night before getting in the tub, which is what Brooklynn used to do too.  I figured it would be pretty easy to potty train Madison, like it was Brooklynn.  Boy was I wrong!  It literally was one of the worst days of my life.  We stayed home ALL DAY LONG, and I literally put about 15 pairs of new undies on her.  I let her drink as much lemonade as she wanted so she would have to pee frequently and could get used to going pee in her potty.  I think there was 1 time where she didn't pee in her undies, at least a little, before telling me she had to go potty.   It's like she would start going in her undies and then realize she should go to the potty.  More than twice she just full on peed in her undies.  Then of course there were numerous times where she of course wasn't on the mat of trash bags and towels I made her, and decided to pee on the carpet.  And all poops were done in her pants.  I had faith that she could get it, and I didn't want Friday to have just been a waste of my life, so I continued Saturday morning.  I left Madison and Brooklynn with Joe while I went to my spin class at the gym, and when I got back Joe told me she had pooped in her undies and that she wasn't getting the concept and just wasn't ready.  He and Brooklynn went to run errands together and I still tried with Madison for a while until she again peed on the floor.  Then I was done!  Back to diapers she went, because this was WAY too hard.  With Brooklynn she literally had like 2 accidents in the 3 days I took to potty train her.  So I think Madison just needs some more time.  Side note is she now wants her diaper changed EVERY time she goes pee in her diaper, so we are going through lots more diapers these days, which is the exact opposite of what I was wanting to do, which is get rid of them so we aren't buying diapers anymore.  Serves me right I guess.
     Madison loves going to the gym with me on the days Brooklynn has school.  She'll say "where me going?" when she sees me getting my gym clothes on.  She walks right in when we get there, it's SO nice not to have to leave her crying like I used to.  I have been working out 5-6 days a week super consistently now and it's just become a part of my daily routine.  Dedication is key, because staying motivated all the time doesn't happen.  I'm down almost 40 lbs now since I had Madison and I'm in the smallest pant size I have ever been in as an adult, and more importantly I just feel good!
     The child is still crazy about avocados-like she would literally eat two or more all by herself if I would let her.  She's finally started eating bread and will eat sandwiches and stuff now.  She drinks water like a camel, and she's learned to like lots of different foods that she didn't used to.
     Today after church Brooklynn was asking her if she could have her stuffed pig animal back that she let Madison borrow for the past couple of days.  Madison's response was "Nope!  Sorry!!"
She's such a spunk!
Another thing she says is  "REEALLYY?" in this high pitched tone whenever someone says something that excites her.  She's learning how to put her own shoes and clothes on.  Whenever I ask her to do something and she doesn't want to she says "I can't".  Drives me nuts!  She loves going

New Chapters

Well, Brooklynn is officially a preschooler, and she is absolutely loving it!  She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-11:30.  Her teacher, Miss Sara, is in our ward and she is so fun!  Brooklynn just loves her!  She has never once said that she doesn't want to go to preschool.  I have had the opportunity to be a parent helper and I just loved being there with her and seeing all of the interactive learning she is doing.  She comes home with paintings and masks and all sorts of fun stuff that she makes at school.  She brought home a picture of me, that even had lipstick on, and was basically a big gold fat blob.  I told Sara I would try not to take offense that that's how she sees me. ha ha jk!  She LOVES to paint and color though. Those are two of her favorite things.