Rock-a-bye Baby

I think Emily is ready to be a big sister! She still loves carrying around her baby, and now she pretends to rock her side to side and sings "rock-a-bye baby." It's pretty amazing how many cute ideas she has that she comes up with entirely on her own. We spend the majority of our time at home outside (we missed out on that in our apartment!!). Thank goodness there are such things as swings and sand boxes, but Emily mainly likes to tote around as many different types of balls that she can find. I have to admit, it's pretty hilarious seeing a 2 ft child carrying around a basketball all day! She recently has started to like play dough and bubbles more, which is a great activity for the back porch. We really try to keep her as busy as possible so she'll take better naps--we moved her bedtime to 8pm (from 7) and I'm just desperate for her to learn how to take a nap longer than an hour before the baby arrives! :)
All is well with the pregnancy so far. We had yet another scare last week with a possible bacterial infection that leads very quickly to infecting the amniotic sac, which would cause my water to break suddenly. I have to be very aware of every little change, since we never figured out why my water broke early with Emily. Unfortunately with a whole new set of doctors combined with my medical records from 5 different locations still missing (grrr), it's very difficult to be taken seriously rather than taken for just a crazy worried pregnant lady. Nevertheless I continue to feel the baby kick all the time and am growing quite round, and trying to be more restful! I've started new sewing and knitting projects that hopefully can be completed before the end of the decade.
We've been so lucky to have many visitors to San Antonio! After my family was gone for a week and it rained everyday, Emily and I were having extreme cabin fever. And nothing cheers me up more than old friends from Dallas! Also we met some new families at a UD alumni picnic this past weekend and are excited to hang out with them soon.
And the most exciting news is that I have a new cousin! Theodore Augustine Fagan was born on March 17th, weighing 9 lbs. 5 oz., and is the 32nd Fagan grandchild! He looks just like his brother Colman and so far is eating and sleeping great. I wish I took my camera with me when I went to visit!!
This week we've got the usual bible study, story time and zoo planned, but we're also going to Austin! We've been dying to go for so long but haven't been able to make it work, so we can't wait to see the Danze families:)

Crying over spilled milk

We're having a big problem over here. Now you're going to read this and just laugh, but I am seriously at the end of the rope. Emily throws her food and milk on the floor. We're not talking once a day, or even twice a day, but at least 5-10 times a day. Who cares, right? Just clean up the mess and move on. This is what I've been telling myself every day of this year. I've always embraced suffering as a essential part of daily life that brings me closer to Christ. But I've had enough. I feel like I've tried everything. Timeout 20 times a day. Ignoring her. Raising my voice. Letting her choose when she wants her milk and then taking it right back. Disapproving looks. Making her clean up the mess. Pretending to cry (there may have been real tears!). The list goes on and on. Obviously this child needs nutrition, and I wish I could say that she's spoiled rotten and eats cake and soda all day and that's the cause of the refusal of the healthy food. Obviously this child doesn't want to sit in her highchair, and I wish I could ignore the very strict "eat at the table" rule at this house. Obviously this child doesn't understand the meaning of no or whatever we tell her all day in timeout, and I wish her speech therapist who comes once a week could magically make her comprehend and speak. I need help. I have mopped the floor literally 7000 times in 2 months. Every single sippy cup has broken. I'm too pregnant to do this. If you have any ideas, please post a comment!!! If not...just pray for my sanity:) I'm about to board the crazy-train.

The most beautiful time in San Antonio

Life with a toddler is very entertaining to say the least! Emily has really blossomed in San Antonio and is far from the baby she used to be in Dallas. I think she was putting so much effort into learning how to walk that her verbal and comprehension skills were on hold. Today she can understand a lot of basic commands (drink your milk, sit down, etc.) and selectively ignores others (don't eat dog food, don't climb on the table, etc.). Her vocabulary is starting to form, and she learns about one word a week--pretty darn good for a preemie! Our temporary home is tons bigger than our old tiny apartment and is far from baby-proofed, so she has a lot of fun getting into everything all day long. Unfortunately that means that I rarely sit down, but hopefully Emily will begin to learn a little discipline:) We had our 20 week ultrasound with the perinatologist a few weeks ago and I was amazed at how much this baby was moving. We could barely get any measurements (and I couldnt get any good pics) because for the full 30 minutes he flipped frontwards and backwards. I say "he" in the generic term because we are hoping not to find out the gender. When we finally got a headshot from a birdseye view, we could see his little ears sticking out:) I've started to receive weekly shots of progesterone as a preventative measure against preterm labor. The shots are not a guarantee, but we'll do anything we can to go the full 40 weeks. Please keep us in your prayers! More than ever now I'm starting to feel the "ok-i-think-i'm-in-labor" with back pain and contractions, but after seeing my obgyn yesterday, she assured me that for right now, everything looks fine. I'm trying to take it easy but am finding myself a little crazy at the end of the day if I dont get out of the house. This month has really flown by while we made it our goal to enjoy some of the wonderful things about San Antonio while spring has sprung! Emily and I have been to the zoo a few times with family and with our new friends Nicole and Lucy (10 mo.) Downtown at San Fernando cathedral we had a special blessing by Archbishop Gomez for Emily and the new baby. We've been to Austin a few times to see Eli's family, and they came down to the zoo once too! One weekend we visited Dallas, which just made me really sad that I don't have my friends and 2 sisters nearby anymore. Emily had a lot of fun playing with her baby friends Caroline and Sophia. Here in San Antonio we're trying to meet new people, but I've found that it's a lot harder than I thought. I guess it may be because most 24 year olds are not married with a toddler and pregnant with their 2nd baby. But nevertheless we will continue to thank God a million times a day for His blessings! We'll post pics soon...just put a new album up on facebook!