Happy Halloween

Love, The Johnson'sI can't believe it is already that time of year again...for lots and lots of candy! I must say that Halloween has not always been a huge holiday favorite of mine, but I think I am coming around as I already can't wait until next year when we can dress up the peanut! I think I was SO excited about the thought of dressing up the little one, I thought I would do what I could this year while he or she is still in the womb :) Poor child has many years ahead of momma torturing him or her! After making the "Our Little Pumpkin" sign I was so happy to realize that I had THREE more holidays to get creative with before himself or herself arrives...Good times for this momma-to-be!

Things are good in the Johnson household. We decided that we are going to take it easy and see a movie Halloween night, after handing out some candy of course. Then Saturday and Sunday are reserved for painting the nursery! IF we are lucky, we might throw in a trip to Babies R Us, don't be too jealous! Fabric has been picked out, paint colors have been decided and I think we are good to go! I am getting the "No-VOC" paint so that I can help out too. Shocking, huh? Me wanting to have my hands in the painting of the nursery?! I made sure to check with the doctor who was far less concerned about the paint than me standing on a ladder, I assured her that was what my hubby was for! So, stay tuned for lots of exciting posts as it comes together!

The little one is just growing away! I had someone tell me it looks like I have started to waddle, it's kind of funny. I notice it the most at the end of the day when the baby is heavy. I felt the baby in two places for the first time the other day -- it was wild! I swear the little one stretched out and poked me with both feet and hands at the same time. I am also pretty convinced he or she was partying in there as my whole belly seemed to be rocking. Somersaults are a daily favorite and I am seeing more and more thumps! I love it!

Sympathy Weight

As you can probably imagine we are all eating a little more than usual these days in the Johnson household. This includes Scout and Sedona. Our sweet little girl, Sedona, has been on a low residue food diet for most of her young life. The poor girl, the food looks like cardboard and I can't imagine it tastes much better. We have noticed her outgrowing the need for the low residue food lately and have decided to switch her to Scout's food, good old fashioned, we can buy it at Petsmart, Eukanuba Medium Breed dog food. Well, she has flourished and is "all business" when it comes to meal times these days. She scarfs her food down faster than any other dog I have seen...not surprising she must have been starving for three years! Well, Bj took her to the vet yesterday and she has gained 5 pounds! We keep politely telling her she looks a little chunky these days and yesterday I just had to give her a hug...she doesn't want her momma to be the only one getting nice and round around the house! She took one for the team and is beefing up with me :)

I just had to share...you all know how much we love our sweet monster doggies!

Oops...

After my lovely weekend in St. Louis, I had my 61/2 month check-up on Monday morning the 21st. It was a regular little visit, it just happened to start with my glucose test. For those of you unfamiliar, I had to drink a "sugar drink" and head back to the lab in an hour to have my blood drawn in order to test my blood sugar to make sure the little one and I don't have gestational diabetes. The doctor visit went great, the little one's heartbeat was perfect! I will never get tired of hearing that little heartbeat, I look forward to each visit for that alone. The old cankles are still a little swollen, but nothing to worry about. After the visit I really didn't think much of the glucose screening, knowing if there was a problem with it I would hear from the doctor.

Well, Tuesday afternoon rolls around and sure enough...a call from the doctor. I have failed my glucose screening and I am anemic. So, it was back in to the lab on Friday morning for me to undergo the three hour glucose screening test. I was a little upset, but after reading some information knew that it wasn't the end of the world to fail the test (I had only done so by a small margin) and most of the time everything was fine. Unfortunately the three hour screening required some fasting on my part...anyone who has seen me in oh the last 2 months knows that I like to eat these days. I did my fasting, got to the lab at 7:15am on Friday morning knowing I was in for another "sugar drink" and my blood drawn on the hour for the next three hours. I was quite the fixture in the waiting room...THE HUGE PREGNANT WOMAN. Not hard to miss me these days :) So four hours and four sticks later I was on my way home to head up to the mountains with Bj. The drive is lovely, and just as we are about to get to Vail I notice I have missed a call from the doctor (the reception is not to great on the drive up). I call to listen to my message and figure the results aren't good. I spend the next little bit trying to get a hold of the doctor who left the message (my doctor wasn't there). I finally get a hold of the phone nurse who goes "Let me pull you up...Hmmm...LONG PAUSE, LONG PAUSE...I am going to have to have the doctor call you back and talk to you, there is a long note here." I managed to squeak out (terrified at this point) "Can you please tell me how bad it is?" Her answer is "Well, you have failed the first two hours and there is a long note here, the doctor will call you back. " After assuring me the doctor would call back, I called my mom and burst into tears. Uncontrollable tears, how could I have done this to myself and the baby? She calms me down, Bj calms me down and we wait for the doctor to call back.

About an hour later another doctor calls back (she is very nice, she helped me when I lost my ankles) and goes "Hi Ellen, I have been doing some detective work because I hear you got some bad news..." Apparently because I don't at all look pregnant some lovely technician in the lab processed my results AS SOMEONE NOT PREGNANT. My results were just fine and in the words of the doctor "Don't worry we don't have to have you switch doctors and you don't have Gestational Diabetes". I mean...I spent four hours in the lab talking with everyone about how hungry the pregnant lady was, I am not quite sure how you look at my name and click the "not pregnant" box. I don't know what I would have done had I have been given the news that I needed to change doctors and had a horrible case of gestational diabetes. The doc apologized and said she was really sorry I burst into tears. I was just relieved that everything was okay. I shared the happy news with everyone and we were all relieved...just a little miffed as to how you confuse my large round self for someone not pregnant! Needless to say the experience really upset me. You do everything in your power to make sure you keep your baby safe during pregnancy and I felt like I had failed. I am relieved my results were just a silly mix-up and all I need is to take some extra iron for the anemia.

Joanne and Jean's Shower

Not only did we have a shower on Saturday afternoon, my mom's wonderful friends were kind enough to throw us a shower on Sunday afternoon. It was so wonderful to see everyone and see what amazing friends my mom has. They put so much work into this shower, with a homemade cake by Jean's daughter, homemade chocolate favors by Joanne, yummy food, and all the materials needed to decorate onesies for the baby! It was such a great time, I can't wait to introduce the little one to everyone.

We were showered with so many wonderful gifts for the baby, so many sweet little outfits a handmade Irish quilt, books, our exersaucer, the daddy diaper bag, toys and the list goes on! I brought home everything I could to show Bj...he was amazed! He was also very excited about his "daddy diaper bag" he looked in all the pockets and said we could even use it after the baby outgrows needing so many things. The toys were a huge hit with Scout and Sedona who have a little learning to do...as to what toys belong to doggies and what toys belong to babies! It was fun to sit in the nursery (that my WONDERFUL husband had totally emptied while I was away!!!) and look through everything. It is still so hard to imagine the little baby that is going to occupy that room and wear all those clothes.


The cutest little chocolate ducks...homemade by Joanne!
They were delicious, I made sure to bring one home for Bj. They also had little pink, blue and white baby bottles full of homemade chocolate!





The cake was handmade (yes, every little spritz of icing handmade) by Jean's daughter Sarah. It was beautiful and had to
have taken so much time...it was also delicious! I took a piece or two for the car ride home :)




I wouldn't know these lovely ladies were it not for Lourdes and Samuel (and obviously my parents). They have been great friends to my parents for so many years and continue to come out in support of all the major events in my life...we are so lucky to have each and every one of you.




It doesn't get much better than Granny D, Little Momma, Great NeNe and Nana :) This little baby has some amazing female role models to look up to and learn from.



Great Auntie, Caitlin, Little Momma, Great NeNe and Granny D. Yet a few more amazing women for this little one to look up to. I can't thank each and every one of these women for everything they have done for us, you all are the best.





And, last but certainly not least. The women of the day...the shower organizers! Sarah, Jean, Joanne and Laura did such an amazing job putting together this beautiful shower. They thought of everything and I think it goes without saying that everyone had a wonderful time. Thank you ladies for being such good friends to my mom and for giving us such a lovely afternoon to spend together!

As you can see, everyone was around! There were so many more women there than I have room or pictures for and I appreciate them all taking the time to show up! Can't wait to see you guys soon and show off Baby Johnson!

Little Momma takes over The Lou

You guessed it, I made an appearance in St. Louis for baby showers and some family and friend time. It was much needed and the weekend was wonderful. It was so wonderful that I was that huge, emotional pregnant lady SOBBING in the security line at 6:30 Monday morning. I think the guy in front of me wanted to run away as fast as he could.

I got in late Thursday night and immediately went home to check out my mom's new place. It looks amazing...I can't quite believe it is the same house I grew up in! She did a great job picking everything out and I can't wait to see what else she does with it. We were able to see Annie and Frankie on Friday (who I was seriously about to stuff in my suitcase and take home with me, he is so sweet and just getting so big! I am sure Annie and George wouldn't miss him at all!) and just relax on the couch, gearing up for the weekend ahead. We had the family shower on Saturday morning at my Granny's house and it was wonderful. She did such a nice job cleaning and cooking and everything was perfect :) Baby Johnson is completely spoiled and has so many nice things to come home to! We counted up and he/she has 8 (yes, 8) St. Patrick's day outfits to wear...that does not however include the bibs, binky, socks and hats. I have decided to do the "12 days of St. Patrick's Day" photo shoot instead of the "12 Days of Christmas" so you all can go ahead and look forward to that! Granny D gave us so many new clothes -- even something to wear on all the holidays! Grandma Johnson gave us our dresser so the little one has a complete room set now! We got almost all of our closet organization stuff, clothes, blankets (4 handmade blankets) books and toys. We even got a "green gift" lots and lots of hand-me-down books from the cousins, I was thrilled! We were fortunate enough to get lots of Babies R Us gift cards as well to purchase all of the big items that the little one requires...we are beyond thankful and in awe of the generosity and support we continually get from our family and friends.

We made a day of it and stayed at Granny's until 9! We took a walk and, hung out (and I ate a few dozen meals), it was exactly what I wanted to do. The stragglers (Auntie, Granny, Caitlin and Dave) were thrilled to be a part of my "fashion show" to figure out what to wear to the shower on Sunday. I think we did a good job, I think they were just tired of the site of my belly by the end :) We all promptly fell asleep that night, I don't think I moved a muscle until Sunday morning.


Handmade baby blanket
-- Love, Great Auntie


Fire Truck Onesies, for the niece or nephew --Love, Uncle Davey

--The Group, it was lovely
and everyone was there.
Thanks for your support!





Uncle Mike, Granny,
LM, and Auntie



Caitlin, LM, and Auntie --
we can't wait for Cousin Caitlin
to babysit!!!

We had brunch with Grandma Nancy, Don, Uncle Bill and Uncle David...Grandma Nancy is convinced I have triplets in my belly. I convinced her it is only one and I look perfectly normal :) After brunch it was on to the Parker's for a shower thrown by my mom's wonderful friends! I have a whole other Part II post coming on that one...

We were able to sneak a visit in with Mary Pat and Gerard on Sunday evening and then it was home to pack up. I had to laugh that our unborn-no gender known to the world-little baby required I take home an extra suitcase full of clothes! I couldn't believe all the stuff I took and all the stuff I left for our Thanksgiving visit. I wanted to make sure all of the little baby clothes made it home so I could show Daddy!

It was a wonderful weekend, just entirely too short! We are already counting down the days until Thanksgiving. We will be making an appearance for a week (the whole family!) so get ready! Hard to believe that after the rush of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's the little one will arrive in the world. Thank you again to everyone for such an amazing weekend, we are both so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Dear Baby,

As I sit down to write you this letter I am 25 weeks pregnant and you are only a little over one pound. I am so excited for you, I just can't wait to meet you. Also little one, you have been mighty active today! At this point we don't know whether or not you are a boy or a girl, but we already have big dreams for you. We talk all the time about who you will look like,what to name you, and who you will become. We joke about how well you will get along with your older brother and sister, Scout and Sedona and how we can already hear you begging for them to sleep in your room. You will joke when you are older that I have hand-written you so many notes-but I guarantee you will appreciate them when I am not around, if I have anything to do with it that will be for a very long time. I want you to know that Daddy and I will always love you and we wanted you more than anything else.

I was asked in my yoga class a few weeks ago what I wanted to give you and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. We both have so many things we want to give you--and we will be the best parents we can be. You have an amazing daddy waiting for you, I hope to make sure you always know that. I have dreamt of being a mom since I was a little girl and the minute I met your daddy (the second time around) I knew I wanted my babies to have his eyes, smile and love of life. I have everything I have ever wanted and I am so happy and content awaiting your January arrival. I know we will tell you over and over these stories...but we about peed ourselves when we found out you were on the way and it has been an amazing journey ever since. I love being pregnant with you and everything that has come with it. I love when you move around and when your daddy puts his hand on my belly trying to feel you too. We are very much looking forward to showing you off to the world the end of January 2009.

Okay, here we go...I want to give you a safe, warm and loving home full of laughter where you always know you have two parents who love you. We will always keep you safe and we will listen to you whenever you want to talk. We are welcoming you into an amazing family who also anticipate your arrival with open arms and will always love you. Daddy and I will always be your biggest supporters and allies, but I urge you to utilize the strength of your extended family. They have a lot to teach you and I hope you always take advantage and learn from them like we have. We will not be able to give you the finest things, material wise, but we can instill in you a love of life and music, sense of humor, a creative imagination, a strong and loving family, a love of the outdoors, the skills to work hard, and the ability to be the best person you can be. You will find that love, friends and family will get you through anything--far more than any material possession could. Work hard in school and make wonderful and true friends, they will help you when you need them too. We will read and talk to you everyday. We will let you know everything we remember about the family who are not here to meet you--as they are an important part of your history too. We will hug, kiss and tell you we love you everyday--even when you don't want it.

I realize this list could go on forever, and I am sure it will. It will also grow and change as we all grow and change as a family, and I am sure this is the first of many letters I will write you over your lifetime. We are busy setting up your room and anxiously awaiting your January 27th arrival (get the hint, we want you to stay settled until your due date!) We can't wait to meet your wiggly, sweet little self and always remember that we have all loved you from the minute we found out you were on the way. See you soon little one.

Love,
Mama

Prequel

This is a "prequel" to the next post, as I am going to have it go straight from the title to the post. I have been taking a pre-natal yoga class for the last few weeks and every class we introduce our self, say how far along we are and then the instructor comes up with a new question to think about each week. A few weeks ago the question was "what do you want to give your baby?" and I could not stop thinking about it...I am still thinking about it. There is no way to answer that question in a few simple words, or even sentences when you are me.

I had been planning already to write at least one letter to the baby talking about how far along I am and what we are feeling at that moment. I am a little on the sentimental side, so I just figured it was something he or she might enjoy when I am no longer around. So, I sat down and started to write it a few nights ago and I am still writing it. I thought about sharing some bits and pieces of the letter and realized that it just wouldn't be me to not share the whole thing. I have shared everything else along the way...why not share my baby letter? It is handwritten, but I will type it up and share...just because that is something I would do! Enjoy.

Less Than 100 Days!

I have SO much to write about, so get ready for some long posts in the near future. I just checked the blog to see where the vote was, I love to see what people are thinking. Our boy/girl vote has been so close and I thinks it's great. I happened to glance at the "counter" to see how many more days until our due date and we are under 100 days! I know this bears no significance...as it is at 99 days, but it just feels like a milestone to move on to the double digits. It is hard to imagine that in 99 days we could be welcoming our little baby into the world and my pregnant journey will be ending as our journey into parenthood will be just beginning. Pretty cool stuff if I do say so myself.

25 Weeks

We are 25 weeks along today and growing steadily. I read that the baby is going to start getting some baby fat from here on out and if we saw the hair we could tell what color and texture it is going to be. I am still hoping for beautiful dark curls like daddy's. We shall see though! I can't wait to see all the features he or she has and who they belong to. I know that little Baby Johnson is going to be the best combination of the both of us, a beautiful little girl or a handsome little man. :) It is just kind of fun thinking about who they will look like and whether or not they will have one of our personalities or one totally their own.

In addition to my weekly updates from Baby Center, I get updates every so often from "The Bump" (their website is "The Poop") I think I like getting them because I like the name of the website. It is from the same line of "The Knot and The Nest". It is a really cute website and occasionally they have fun giveaways. I have yet to win, but I always enter. So, I got my 25 week update from "The Poop" and I was surprised to learn that the baby is learning to distinguish being right side up and upside down and I thought that was something interesting to share. Also, if you put your ear up to my belly you have a good chance of hearing the baby's heartbeat, no stethoscope required. Bj has been working all week in the evenings, but we are going to try that out later and I will let you know what he hears. The eyes are forming and the baby will soon perfect the blink...you know to show off those long, luscious eyelashes they also will inherit from daddy! :) Going along with my fruit theme from a few posts ago...the baby is the size of an eggplant!

I have a feeling I will be including a few more of the "interesting" update posts as I am fascinated with all the development from here on out. It is amazing how much more growing this little baby will do in the next 15 weeks. Doubling in size and length...hard to imagine how the baby is going to move around as I already feel so much movement at a little over 2 lbs! On a side note, I got my hairs cut last night (I love it, I pranced around the house all night I felt that cute! ha!) and the receptionist at the counter looked at me and said "are you one of those pregnant women who loves being pregnant? you are just glowing!" I said yes, I am one of those women who loves being pregnant but I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was probably glowing because I was HOT (I am sure I will talk more about that later...I am on fire these days) and that I was so excited about my fancy new haircut :)

Be on the lookout, I have some pictures to post. The belly has definitely gotten bigger and someone at work told me that my boobs are now officially smaller than my belly! Watch out ladies and gentleman here comes the pregnant lady.

Little Thumper

I have mentioned many a times that this little baby is an active little girl or boy. I feel the most movement throughout most of the morning, a little in the afternoon and in the evenings. I have woken up a few times in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning to feel the little one playing away in there as well.

Today was a particularly active morning, I think the coordination is getting better and the movements are much stronger, so I looked down at my belly to say hi only to see it "thump" out! It was wild, it is the first time I have seen my stomach move along with the baby. I am still a few weeks away from discerning body parts, but it was really amazing! "They" were having a good time in there today, knocking all over the place :) I don't think I will ever get over the wonder and amazement that there is a little naked baby growing big and strong in my belly. I am sure I will be saying that over and over as the little one gets bigger, how I can't believe the naked baby I grew in my belly is: going to be one, going to school, learning to drive, leaving for college, etc. The poor little one is going to be all, "momma please stop you are embarrassing me!" :) I guess the little one will just have to get used to it, as I don't see myself changing much in the near future. I keep reminding myself one day they will appreciate me! :)

Nursery Lay-Out

The other day I found this nifty little tool online that allows you to design a virtual nursery. I was intrigued and then addicted, it was so fun! It has all the different accessories you could think of to put in the room, it even lets you edit the size of the actual room. It was a very exciting find for me! I already had an idea of where I wanted everything to go, but it was kind of fun to see it put in front of me, without all of the heavy lifting. They even have a tool that allows you to paint the different rooms, though it is far less exciting than the room creator. So, given me not changing my mind we have a room layout! Woo-hoo! It seems like the best option and I think it looks pretty nice. We decided the other day that the nursery is going to be a very sweet, cozy little room and we can't wait to see it all come together. To show you the level of dedication I have, I wasn't able to save the room design, so I took a picture of it on the computer screen. It is a little blurry, but seems to give you the general idea. The only piece of architecture that would not cooperate was the closet, so I went in and photo-shopped some captions. Not sure if the lovely oval rug is going to make it in the room, I just got a little carried away "designing". Now all I have to do is figure out what color and bedding scheme the little one would enjoy and we will be good to go. I did make some progress in there this weekend, everything is off the walls and hopefully by the weeks end everything fragile will be packed up and moved out. Soon enough we will start working in our little empty shell of a room, I can't wait to see how it turns out!

The Dropsies

I have noticed over the past few weeks that I absolutely cannot hold on to anything. It is crazy, I have been so clumsy it is driving me nuts! I drop everything, things I reach out for, pens, the soap (not an easy task to pick it up in our teeny, tiny shower with my huge belly) I was starting to wonder what is wrong with me. Then, I reached 24 weeks pregnant and turned to my trusty "What to Expect When You are Expecting" book and realized this is quite a common thing in pregnancy. The muscles and ligaments in your hands get "lazy" and stretch out (like they do in your feet, causing bigger or wider feet) and you don't always grip things as tight as before. Crazy, huh? I know there is a better medical definition for that, but that is how I interpret and describe it. I was also reading my weekly update from Baby Center and laughed out loud when I read that the baby is about the length of a piece of corn on the cob and weighs a little over a pound now. I love my Baby Center updates, I look forward to Monday mornings only so that I can read up on the baby's progress and my changes in the week to come. They do a great job of giving visuals (both a 3-D ultrasound image and a 'drawing') of the baby's growth and they tend to describe length and weight in terms of fruits and vegetables. It just makes me laugh. It is crazy how long and lean the baby is at this point and how much more growing and filling out he/she has to do. Just thought I would share those little tid-bits.

I am still feeling great! I am happy the weather is changing over into fall, I have thoroughly enjoyed the crisp mornings, I just wish fall stuck around for a little longer. The baby is active as ever...I swear this little one takes little time out of his/her busy schedule to sleep! It is so funny, they just getting going in there, moving all around. I keep telling him/her to enjoy the room while they have it, Hotel Momma isn't going to be as spacious in the weeks to come! I think a growing spurt is on the horizon as my belly has been experiencing some growing pains over the last few days. So you have some nice belly shots to look forward to! I included two lovely belly shots this post, you get the close-up and the far away shot this time!

The Nursery -- Part 1 (Of Many!)

I am pretty sure everyone knows we are in the process of converting the current office into the nursery. Bj and I each took a side of the office to use as our workspace. It is a nice, large room and we are trying to figure out how we are going to condense what we have to a smaller room that already has enough furniture. I have been steadily working on my side (packing up books, organizing crafts, picture frames, etc.) and once we are finished with that, we will be on to Bj's stuff. It has been fun and I think it is going to look really nice when it is all said and done.

So the other day I started a "wish list" of things I would like to get done before the baby's arrival. I put everything I could think of on there, sent it to Bj and we talked about anything else that needed to go on there. Most of the stuff is centered around moving the office and making the nursery...about equal parts for both of us to do. We hadn't really talked about when we wanted to start it, as we had just finished putting everything on there we wanted to accomplish. So when I came home on Friday I was surprised and excited to find Bj in the attic over the nursery carving out a hole for the brand new overhead light we wanted! He is amazing and it looks great!! No overhead lighting was one of those things we both completely overlooked when buying out house. It is so strange, no overhead lighting in any rooms. So, Bj took on the task and tackled our first wish list item and it looks great! For the rest of the night we kept sneaking up and turning the light on, he even wants to install them in our room, the guest room and switch out the original beauty in the hallway! He is my wonderful Mr. Handy Man and I love him! It has us both really excited to see how everything comes together.

I am sure that this is the first of many posts involving the nursery...many more updates to come!