Family Wall Noir Christmas Card
Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.
View the entire collection of cards.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Updates
I'm tired tonight. My brain is mush and my thoughts aren't really coherent but I did remember that I had a blog and that I wanted to update so here goes nothing!
Where to start. Logan stole a pair of girls panties from Kohls yesterday. That was good times. He is in love with Boots from Dora the Explorer. Boots is Dora's sidekick. I remember him pointing and yelling Boots as we walked by the girls section. I tend to just say Yes, and repeat whatever he says when he is going off about Thomas or Boots. So basically I think I gave him permission to steal the panties. I didn't notice until I was putting him in his carseat. There they were, tucked into the back of his pants. Pretty smart to tuck them in so that I wouldn't find them. It was somewhat embarrassing to have to apologize to the customer service staff as I returned the Dora panties.
Kylie is getting excited about preschool. We went to the Disney store and picked out a new lunchbox. She chose Tinkerbell. She tried to talk me into buying her a ballgown for school but I was able to talk her down from ballgown to short dresses aka skirts. Kylie is amazing lately. Kylie has been learning about Jonah and the Whale. She can recount the story and understand that Jonah didn't obey God at first but then asked for forgiveness. She does ask really hard questions though. This week included such topics as: What Does God look like? How does God get into the sky? Who lives with God? Can I talk to God? She keeps us on our toes for sure.
Sweet Sophie Bug is wonderful too. I just glanced down at the playmat to see what she was up too and she is fast asleep. The child will sleep ANYWHERE except her crib. I understand why the youngest child sometimes gets away with a little more than the others. We are so tired at night and sometimes we just give in and let her sleep in our bed. She scoots under the covers and puts her arms over the blanket and goes right to sleep. I love watching their personalities evolve.
We have had a wonderful summer full of ice cream tours, library storytimes and playdates with good friends. I'm so happy I am staying home with the kids this go around. I can't imagine missing out on all the fun!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Sophie is Here
Sophia Anne Johnson graced us with her presence on April 9th, 2010. She was 8lbs 4 ozs. If you are my friend on facebook, you have already been bombarded with millions of pictures and comments about our girl. I'll save you from that here. I would just like to put Sophie's birth story down before I forget and someday I'm telling her about the day she was born and pause and say, "Wait, was that you or was that Kylie?" or "My bad, LOGAN was born in July!"
So here goes Sophie:
We will start with your name. Sophia was pretty much our only pick. I really liked that name for a while and your daddy didn't really complain. This is a big deal because for some reason he feels the need to be the name giver of the family. He wanted to name you Sophie but I felt like you needed a proper name instead of a nickname. The compromise is that your birth certificate says Sophia but you are Sophie....unless you do something really wrong...then it is Sophia. That's how you will know you really messed up.
Your middle name is the same as my sister Lori. Lori, as you will soon learn, is perhaps the best person in the world. She is full of love for all of us and was a mother to your mommy. I think she taught me how to be a mommy. I wanted to somehow pay tribute to her. Just like Kylie has Rachel as a middle name you have Anne. These are two strong women who you can be proud to know and I know you both will have their strength and character.
The weeks before you arrived were NOT fun for me. Not trying to make your birth story all about me but it was HORRIBLE. I'm not sure if I emphasized that enough...it was HORRIBLE. I can say this because it had nothing at all to do with you. I had kidney stones that were more excruciating than I can put into words. Because of this our doctor decided to change your arrival day from April 15th to April 9th. At first I was relieved because I was in so much pain.
April 9th arrived and suddenly I was a little nervous about your early arrival. I knew that 38 weeks was full term but something in the back of my mind didn't feel good about our decision. I can't explain that. I talked to the nurses in the pre-op room about the probablility of you having any breathing issues. They said that while it was possible it was not the norm. That made me feel better. I asked the doctor the same question and he gave me the same answer. Everyone was very reassuring so I decided that I was being crazy and didn't talk anymore about my worries.
The c-section was fast and very easy. You were my easiest baby. We talked about golf (it was the during the Masters) and your daddy was laughing because they were playing 70's rock in the operating room. It was a very laid back experience. Everyone was shocked that you were already 8lbs and two weeks early!!
I waited for you while I was in the recovery room. I knew that I would wait about a half hour and then you would be able to come join me. A half hour came and went, then a hour...
Finally the nurse came in and told us that there was nothing to be overly alarmed about but that you were breathing really fast and needed to be monitored. I was allowed to hold you in the transistional nursery but had to give you back before I went to my room. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I felt like I needed you to know that we were there and that maybe if you were around us you would start to feel better. I also knew that it was better for you to be monitored by nurses than an overwrought mother. Everyone said we would probably see you in a hour or two.
Six hours later you were still in the nursery. The nurse told your daddy that you were still breathing very fast and that you would need to be moved to the NICU. You needed to eat and you needed an IV. Everyone assured us that this was common with c-section babies and that you just needed a little time. You will learn someday when you are a mother than nothing is common or normal or ok when it is your baby.
When I held you in NICU you had a tube in your nose for feeding and an IV. You were the biggest baby in there! This helped put our situation in persepctive though because I had to walk by many very sick babies to get to you. We had a small scare with a heart murmur but everything checked out ok and after three days you were able to come out of NICU and home with us.
Kylie and Logan were very excited to see you. Kylie held you and proclaimed you to be SO CUTE. Logan just pointed and said baby. He is a little jealous that you get a pacifier but he is working through it. You have been such a gentle baby. Not much fussing (yet) and ok to sleep through the madness that is our house. There is something special about each of my children. Kylie is my oldest and my princess girl. Logan is my middle and my only boy. You are my baby, the last sweet newborn that I will ever cuddle. So, I hold you a little bit more than I should, I kiss you one more time before I put you to bed. I touch your feet and try to remember them since I will never have another little one to hold.
I look forward to watching you grow over the next few years. Welcome to the family....and good luck with your brother and sister.
-Mommy
So here goes Sophie:
We will start with your name. Sophia was pretty much our only pick. I really liked that name for a while and your daddy didn't really complain. This is a big deal because for some reason he feels the need to be the name giver of the family. He wanted to name you Sophie but I felt like you needed a proper name instead of a nickname. The compromise is that your birth certificate says Sophia but you are Sophie....unless you do something really wrong...then it is Sophia. That's how you will know you really messed up.
Your middle name is the same as my sister Lori. Lori, as you will soon learn, is perhaps the best person in the world. She is full of love for all of us and was a mother to your mommy. I think she taught me how to be a mommy. I wanted to somehow pay tribute to her. Just like Kylie has Rachel as a middle name you have Anne. These are two strong women who you can be proud to know and I know you both will have their strength and character.
The weeks before you arrived were NOT fun for me. Not trying to make your birth story all about me but it was HORRIBLE. I'm not sure if I emphasized that enough...it was HORRIBLE. I can say this because it had nothing at all to do with you. I had kidney stones that were more excruciating than I can put into words. Because of this our doctor decided to change your arrival day from April 15th to April 9th. At first I was relieved because I was in so much pain.
April 9th arrived and suddenly I was a little nervous about your early arrival. I knew that 38 weeks was full term but something in the back of my mind didn't feel good about our decision. I can't explain that. I talked to the nurses in the pre-op room about the probablility of you having any breathing issues. They said that while it was possible it was not the norm. That made me feel better. I asked the doctor the same question and he gave me the same answer. Everyone was very reassuring so I decided that I was being crazy and didn't talk anymore about my worries.
The c-section was fast and very easy. You were my easiest baby. We talked about golf (it was the during the Masters) and your daddy was laughing because they were playing 70's rock in the operating room. It was a very laid back experience. Everyone was shocked that you were already 8lbs and two weeks early!!
I waited for you while I was in the recovery room. I knew that I would wait about a half hour and then you would be able to come join me. A half hour came and went, then a hour...
Finally the nurse came in and told us that there was nothing to be overly alarmed about but that you were breathing really fast and needed to be monitored. I was allowed to hold you in the transistional nursery but had to give you back before I went to my room. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I felt like I needed you to know that we were there and that maybe if you were around us you would start to feel better. I also knew that it was better for you to be monitored by nurses than an overwrought mother. Everyone said we would probably see you in a hour or two.
Six hours later you were still in the nursery. The nurse told your daddy that you were still breathing very fast and that you would need to be moved to the NICU. You needed to eat and you needed an IV. Everyone assured us that this was common with c-section babies and that you just needed a little time. You will learn someday when you are a mother than nothing is common or normal or ok when it is your baby.
When I held you in NICU you had a tube in your nose for feeding and an IV. You were the biggest baby in there! This helped put our situation in persepctive though because I had to walk by many very sick babies to get to you. We had a small scare with a heart murmur but everything checked out ok and after three days you were able to come out of NICU and home with us.
Kylie and Logan were very excited to see you. Kylie held you and proclaimed you to be SO CUTE. Logan just pointed and said baby. He is a little jealous that you get a pacifier but he is working through it. You have been such a gentle baby. Not much fussing (yet) and ok to sleep through the madness that is our house. There is something special about each of my children. Kylie is my oldest and my princess girl. Logan is my middle and my only boy. You are my baby, the last sweet newborn that I will ever cuddle. So, I hold you a little bit more than I should, I kiss you one more time before I put you to bed. I touch your feet and try to remember them since I will never have another little one to hold.
I look forward to watching you grow over the next few years. Welcome to the family....and good luck with your brother and sister.
-Mommy
Saturday, January 9, 2010
So It Has Been Awhile
I was doing so well updating at least once a month. Here we are almost five months later. I'll try to be better in 2010. As I sit in the recliner writing this Logan is hitting me across the face with his blankie and laughing hysterically. Kylie is building a "girl" out of mega blocks and asking me to hold the pile of blocks while it sleeps. Finding time to sit down and write anything that is remotely coherent is tough these days.
We have had a very busy Fall. Kylie is now three, into princess anything and girl anything. She is still taking dance once a week. This Spring we are going to let her try T-ball. It is a three and four year old league. We figure at the least, it will provide good comedy for us. Christmas was great this year because she understood all the traditions. It was kind of odd this year because she knew that it was Jesus Birthday but she kept walking around saying, "Jesus is coming soon."
Logan is into anything that has wheels or rolls. He likes to throw things at all of us. That's a lot of fun. We all flinch when he walks by us. He will throw anything, toys, remotes, bottles of lotion. Doesn't matter. If he can pick it up, he is going to lodge it at your head. He is all boy. He does like to dance though.
Baby Sophia is coming right along. Just had my 2nd ultrasound this month. Everything was fine, just needed to double check some things. She now weighs in at over a pound. The ultrasound tech did a close up of her face for Kylie. She has fat cheeks just like the rest of us. I wonder if she'll be Kylie Version Two. I have given up hope for any child with dark hair.
This post is sounding like an annual Christmas letter. Life is just calm right now. I'm not complaining. I mean, I just asked Kylie if she was REALLY head butting Logan and now he is chasing her to the play room. I expect screams in the next five minutes. Other than the normal noise that we are accustomed to, life is quiet here. I do get nervous thinking about how I will handle three kids, but I was nervous about two kids. I'm not sure we do everything "right" or like everyone else does it. How I see it, at the end of the day, if everyone is fed, clean, and relatively uninjured, I consider it a success. Hopefully we'll be able to maintain the same high standards when Sophie gets here.
I'll try to be better with the updates.
-J
We have had a very busy Fall. Kylie is now three, into princess anything and girl anything. She is still taking dance once a week. This Spring we are going to let her try T-ball. It is a three and four year old league. We figure at the least, it will provide good comedy for us. Christmas was great this year because she understood all the traditions. It was kind of odd this year because she knew that it was Jesus Birthday but she kept walking around saying, "Jesus is coming soon."
Logan is into anything that has wheels or rolls. He likes to throw things at all of us. That's a lot of fun. We all flinch when he walks by us. He will throw anything, toys, remotes, bottles of lotion. Doesn't matter. If he can pick it up, he is going to lodge it at your head. He is all boy. He does like to dance though.
Baby Sophia is coming right along. Just had my 2nd ultrasound this month. Everything was fine, just needed to double check some things. She now weighs in at over a pound. The ultrasound tech did a close up of her face for Kylie. She has fat cheeks just like the rest of us. I wonder if she'll be Kylie Version Two. I have given up hope for any child with dark hair.
This post is sounding like an annual Christmas letter. Life is just calm right now. I'm not complaining. I mean, I just asked Kylie if she was REALLY head butting Logan and now he is chasing her to the play room. I expect screams in the next five minutes. Other than the normal noise that we are accustomed to, life is quiet here. I do get nervous thinking about how I will handle three kids, but I was nervous about two kids. I'm not sure we do everything "right" or like everyone else does it. How I see it, at the end of the day, if everyone is fed, clean, and relatively uninjured, I consider it a success. Hopefully we'll be able to maintain the same high standards when Sophie gets here.
I'll try to be better with the updates.
-J
Sunday, September 6, 2009
August is now September
So, I missed the cut off for August. We've been a little busy this month so you'll have to forgive me. Hmmm, lots of fun and exciting things to report. We had Logan's birthday party the first weekend in August. I WILL NEVER AGAIN HOST A BIRTHDAY PARTY AT MY HOUSE. Well not until next year, right? We invited way too many people, I had way too many margaritas and it rained. The first two hours were fine but the last hour I had fifty plus people crammed into my downstairs. I vaguely remember yelling, "TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES, TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES," but it gets a little foggy after that. My favorite part of the party is when the breaker blew and the kids started crying as the castle deflated. Luckily, that only happened once and no one was hurt.
That aside, the kids had a great time and Logan seemed to enjoy his birthday cake. It was nice to see all of our friends and family come out and celebrate with us. I just never want to see them all in one place again. No offense, of course.
Kylie is wearing big girl panties and is about 90% potty trained. It's nice because my diaper bill has been cut in half. It is scary because now every time we are in public I am asking her if she needs to potty. She always says no. I take her to the potty, she cries and goes to the bathroom while Logan tries to infect himself with every germ known to man by crawling around on the floor. I'm hissing at him to stand up while he is poking his head under the stall. Not good times. I have to hose them down with antibacterial soap after the potty trips.
I am incredibly exhausted right now. I have more to update, but I'll save it for another day.
-J
That aside, the kids had a great time and Logan seemed to enjoy his birthday cake. It was nice to see all of our friends and family come out and celebrate with us. I just never want to see them all in one place again. No offense, of course.
Kylie is wearing big girl panties and is about 90% potty trained. It's nice because my diaper bill has been cut in half. It is scary because now every time we are in public I am asking her if she needs to potty. She always says no. I take her to the potty, she cries and goes to the bathroom while Logan tries to infect himself with every germ known to man by crawling around on the floor. I'm hissing at him to stand up while he is poking his head under the stall. Not good times. I have to hose them down with antibacterial soap after the potty trips.
I am incredibly exhausted right now. I have more to update, but I'll save it for another day.
-J
Sunday, July 26, 2009
To Logan
Almost a year ago you made your entrance into this world. We knew you were coming. No surprises, no dramatic c-sections, just a planned, calm entry into the world. You didn't cry much. You just kind of looked up at me as I sat in the recovery room getting to know you. We knew right away you would have a kind spirit. You didn't cry much when Kylie tried to poke your eye out with a Cheese-It. You also didn't get too mad at me when I had to ask the nurse how often to change your diaper. You see, although it had been only twenty months since your sister made her dramatic entrance into the world; I felt like a rookie all over again. I was hoping you didn't notice. You pretended not to....even if you did sense the fear in my eyes.
You slept for three days in the hospital. We oohed and ahhed over how sweet you were. We were amazed when you ate 4ccs instead of the expected 2ccs each feeding. That should have been our red flag that you were going to like to eat. I am sitting here trying to think of one food you do not like. I can't think of anything! That's not a bad thing. I never have to fret over how much dinner you are eating.
You fit right into our family. Kylie spent her days entertaining her Grandma Overton while you and I hung out in your room. At first, you liked to stay awake about every 45 minutes. I would like to tell you I didn't mind. I didn't really care for it after two or three weeks but you would snuggle next to me and look at me with those huge blue eyes and I would decide I didn't mind so much after all. You spent a few uninvited months in our bed until you were evicted. Kylie was evicted too. You liked to roll around and kick your daddy at night. That is a one way ticket out of the comfy bed. It was funny how smart you were. You would just roll over and go right to sleep. I think you were aware that the quiet baby usually gets their way in this house.
As you grew the next few months, we were all so in love with you. If we went to the store, Kylie demanded that "baby" go too. You were "baby" instead of Logan to us for a long time. Your sister decided that your name was baby, so we all ended up calling you baby too. Two days before your first birthday....you are finally "Ogan"
You begin to crawl at seven months and decided that you liked it so much you would wait until 11 months to being walking. When you walk, both hands go up in the air. You are so much more adventurous than your cautious sister. Climbs up the stairs at six months, splish splashing in the toilet at eight months, using the push car as your old man walker.....I could go on and on. You are a true free spirit, but you are also a a loving child. You have this amazing smile that makes everyday, no matter how long, tiring, or aggravating, just worth it.
Last week, I was taking you and your sister to Ms. Jean's. You were facing forward in your big boy seat, Kylie was beside you. Both of you were eating Cheerios and drinking juice and I had an a-ha moment. This is what my life is about. Logan and Kylie. My two best buddies. I hope that someday you two can commiserate over your crazy parents and childhood stories while your kids play together. I love you buddy, thank you for a perfect year.
-Mommy.
You slept for three days in the hospital. We oohed and ahhed over how sweet you were. We were amazed when you ate 4ccs instead of the expected 2ccs each feeding. That should have been our red flag that you were going to like to eat. I am sitting here trying to think of one food you do not like. I can't think of anything! That's not a bad thing. I never have to fret over how much dinner you are eating.
You fit right into our family. Kylie spent her days entertaining her Grandma Overton while you and I hung out in your room. At first, you liked to stay awake about every 45 minutes. I would like to tell you I didn't mind. I didn't really care for it after two or three weeks but you would snuggle next to me and look at me with those huge blue eyes and I would decide I didn't mind so much after all. You spent a few uninvited months in our bed until you were evicted. Kylie was evicted too. You liked to roll around and kick your daddy at night. That is a one way ticket out of the comfy bed. It was funny how smart you were. You would just roll over and go right to sleep. I think you were aware that the quiet baby usually gets their way in this house.
As you grew the next few months, we were all so in love with you. If we went to the store, Kylie demanded that "baby" go too. You were "baby" instead of Logan to us for a long time. Your sister decided that your name was baby, so we all ended up calling you baby too. Two days before your first birthday....you are finally "Ogan"
You begin to crawl at seven months and decided that you liked it so much you would wait until 11 months to being walking. When you walk, both hands go up in the air. You are so much more adventurous than your cautious sister. Climbs up the stairs at six months, splish splashing in the toilet at eight months, using the push car as your old man walker.....I could go on and on. You are a true free spirit, but you are also a a loving child. You have this amazing smile that makes everyday, no matter how long, tiring, or aggravating, just worth it.
Last week, I was taking you and your sister to Ms. Jean's. You were facing forward in your big boy seat, Kylie was beside you. Both of you were eating Cheerios and drinking juice and I had an a-ha moment. This is what my life is about. Logan and Kylie. My two best buddies. I hope that someday you two can commiserate over your crazy parents and childhood stories while your kids play together. I love you buddy, thank you for a perfect year.
-Mommy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)