Good weekend.

I've been reading everyone's blogs lately, and so many of you are going through SO much right now.  I'm sorry for all the grief, loss, and sadness that some of you ladies are experiencing.  I wish I could give all of you a hug and make everything go away for you.  But, just know that I'm praying and thinking about you all.

My little brother had his 36 hour pass this weekend.  It was so great seeing him!  The whole family went to IHOP with him then went back to my parents' just to hang out.  My parents were thrilled to spend some time with him; I wasn't sure if my mom was going to take him back to base when it was time(jk, lol).  He was really excited because he had just won a combat tournament(? I guess that's what it's called. It's basically fighting, lol) a few days before his pass.  He was all about wrestling and jiu-jitsu in highschool, so I'm sure it was fun for him to be able to incorporate those things into that competition.  He was very proud of his targets from shooting, also.  I've been trying to get him to go shooting with me and Daniel for awhile now.  We talked about doing that when he gets back from basic.  Anyways, it was good to catch up with him.  We can't wait to see him graduate on August 26th :)

Today, my fetal heart doppler arrived in the mail.  I can't even lie; I've already used up the packet of gel that came with it, lol.  I couldn't find the heartbeat for the first five minutes and kind of freaked out.  I poked my stomach a bit and tried again.  Of course, the baby is still really low, but there was a very clear heartbeat in the 140s.  I'm sure this device won't help my anxiety if I can't find the baby's heartbeat, but at this point, it's just really neat.  It lets me at least hear the baby until I can actually feel his/her movements & kicks.

Well, here are a few pictures from this weekend & today:

My brother and my dad outside of IHOP

my brother

my brother, dad, sister, and nieces.

heart doppler stuff from today :)