Lauren Garb

I can't help myself these days.
I find myself scouring the internet for the perfect items for our upcoming bundle of joy.
I don't care that we still have a while to go.
It takes my mind off our wait.
Not to mention I'm female and like to accumulate ridiculously cute baby things, especially when they're a great price!
Please allow me to entertain you with my cute baby finds.
There are a LOT more, but I can't justify anything that's not going to be a necessity at some point.

Maybe I can get some feedback on if I'm forgetting anything we'll need another of for Lauren?

1. We bought the crib & mattress to match Chloe's.

2. We even got an awesome deal on a double stroller.
I know we had a couple people (ahem, grandparents) who wanted to buy this for us, and I'm sorry we broke down and bought it before we could give you a chance, but did I mention we got an awesome deal?

I can't wait to use this baby!
And yes, I promise to actually use it.
It has not one but TWO cupholders for the coffee I'll be drinking by the gallon.

What else is left, you ask?
Well, luckily we're ALL set on clothes :)
Chris asked me today, do we need to buy her more clothes?!
Haha.
Don't ya worry, Monkey.
Lauren has all the adorable clothes she could ever ask for; they just aren't brand spankin' new!

3. Lauren will need a convertible car seat at some point. I stumbled upon this one about a week ago and can't get it out of my mind:
Oh. My. Gosh.


Isn't it so dang cute?!
It makes my heart go pitter-patter.
It's a Britax Marathon, which are generally around $280+ for their... ummm... less attractive patterns...
This one?
$230.
Yes. That's right. No shipping AND no tax.
Ridiculously Cute.
I've only found it on one website.
It's taken all my effort not to just buy it right up.
What if it's gone soon?!
Anyone want to make a bet on how long I last?
I'm going to give myself another couple days.

4. A Highchair. This is the one Chloe has and we love it. Might as well make them match :)


What else am I forgetting?

5. Want to waste a couple hours of your life?
Visit www.etsy.com
Search for 'baby bow'
I'm going to have to learn how to make cute baby bows.
It's my master plan for being a stay at home mom. Except not.
But seriously. If you don't find at least a few bows you think are beyond cute, you are on the wrong blog :)
Now that Chloe is finally starting to have some hair, I can't help but make sure she has a bow 90% of the time we step out of the house.

Speaking of Chloe, she has made a couple milestones lately as well:
1. She has officially taken a couple 'test' steps on her own. I'm waiting to see her do it a few times in a day. Then it'll be big news.
2. She claps constantly now and is very proud of herself.
3. She also enjoys dancing to the beat. Unfortunately it appears she got her parents questionable dancing skills. Poor girl. She does a mean headbang, however.
Hahaha.

Okay. I'm off to bed.
Thursday (and then October) can't come soon enough.
We love our girlies.
Poor Chris.
I think he's getting gray hairs just thinking about it.
Except not.
He loves having girls.

Dear Chloe,...

I have a confession.
I've never gone into your room late at night to pick you up while you peacefully slumber just to cuddle you.

I've always been so proud that you're such an independent (albeit LIGHT) sleeper.
Have I mentioned LIGHT sleeper?
But tonight, I couldn't help myself.
I peered at you through the monitor almost wishing you were awake and needing me.
You weren't.

In my head I ran through the 8 million reasons I shouldn't 'sneak' into your room.
Luck would guarantee that if it wasn't the obnoxiously loud door that would wake you, it would be the creaky floors and if it weren't the creaky floors, you'd wake when you realize you were being lifted out of your crib.

But I knew my payoff would be great.
I decided to risk it.
The loud door woke you up.
The creaking floor didn't help.

I picked you up, rested your head against me and you were out.
I was in heaven.
We rocked, you snored and I lingered in every moment.
How has time gotten so far away from us?

Who is this child that is draped across my body?
When did you get so big?

I knew I'd have these thoughts if I went in and picked you up.
I also knew, however, that if I didn't, I wouldn't forgive myself.
I'd wake up one day, you'd be 6 and I'd wish I'd risked waking you up for a cuddle.
Luckily, I don't have to wonder.
As I put you back in your crib, you rolled over and continued your sleep.
You are such an angel.
We love you so much.

9 Month Checkup

So I know Chloe turned 9 months what seems like a decade ago, however, her checkup was only today!!
She's doing fab (but you all knew that!) and she actually came down in the weight category and is now in the 75th percentile at a svelte 20.5 lbs! That's awesome news, considering she really doesn't pig out that much... Just a little ice cream here and there. Hehe. Her height also dropped a little, she's in the 60th percentile now, and her noggin has remained steady in the 50th percentile.
Other than a little finger prick to test her hemoglobin, she had a good visit. Except for the fact that she knows now that every time she goes into those exam rooms, she gets pricked!

So that's all for now!

Pictures

The wait continues.

Technically 133 days left.

That’s over 133 gallons of water.

I have become a fish.

Except fish don’t have to run to the bathroom every 2 minutes.

I should buy stock in toilet paper.

 

While our wait continues, here’s what Chloe has been up to:

1. Sorting her DIRTY laundry.

(A favorite of hers. Why, I have NO clue).

Last weekend Chris put together Chloe’s kitchen that my parents bought her.

There were (no joke) like 200 screws in this thing.

That’s okay, however, because she likes it.

Even after it pinched her finger in a SERIOUS way.

Perhaps this might be a little advanced for her.

We put her toy basket down in front of the oven to avoid future smashing.

So she figured out if she stands in the basket of toys, she gets some extra height to see into the sink.

She does, however, continue to be distracted by the toys in her basket.

Oh well.

Johnson Family Chronicles

I've given the blog a new temporary face lift and name.
I actually felt guilty posting things about Lauren on Chloe's Chronicles, like I'm taking away Chloe's thunder. However, we all know they'll have to learn to share at some point, right??

Besides, Lauren will NOT be forgotten as the second child.
I contemplated starting a blog just for her, but c'mon now...
That's not realistic!
I have to admit, the Chloe Chronicles were hard to let go.
In my heart, I think these will always remain Chloe's Chronicles.

I'm glad this isn't the end but more of a new beginning, although there is a certain sadness in officially closing the chapter on Chloe's single-childness.

I'm trying to grasp a lot of new things these days and I can tell you that when it's not Lauren on my mind, it's how Chloe is going to be affected by everything in the subsequent months...
...More Later...
And Yes. This is yet another post without pictures.

The Saga Continues...

Okay. Nobody Panic. Here's what the midwife and I discussed today.

They haven't gotten a copy of the report from Friday but when I told her that the fluid measurement was the same as the first ultrasound, she got pretty honest.

I'm not sure I really wanted to hear the things she had to say, but it put in perspective the fact that we need to be really careful. We're really really early on, we won't even be viable for another 4 weeks or so and unless my number goes up, we could be looking at a couple interesting situations. I'm putting this nicely.

So without saying too much more, I'm officially on a no travel restriction, what they call "not calling it bed rest" and downing at least a gallon of water a day in hopes I can get my number up.

To our down South family, we're going to miss you this weekend. We would have loved to have been there.

Please keep baby Lauren in your thoughts and hope for a good ultrasound on July 2nd... Maybe if we all think positively, our number will magically double!! That would be perfect.

Story AND a Name :)

I'm going to begin with a little story. I'll end on a happy note with a name. I promise.
*Edit: See below post for the name*
Our ultrasound results came back a few days ago...
Baby looked good but there was a slight concern about low amniotic fluid so I was being referred to a specialist just to check things out.
Fast Forward to today.
I had another Ultrasound.
And a Gender Confirmation.
It's A Girlie Girl.
For Sure. No Doubts. The perinatologist didn't have to spend more than 2 seconds before she announced.

That being said, my amniotic fluid is lower than they would like but not critical at this point.

I won't go into what low fluid COULD mean, but the doctor reassured me that everything looks great, including the heart, kidneys, bladder, brain, etc. The baby is also growing right on for being 20 weeks.

There doesn't seem to be a real explanation for what caused this but the doctor isn't super concerned. She said they'll monitor closer than they would otherwise and I am to come back on July 2nd for a repeat US to make sure the levels aren't decreasing further.

She then looked at me and she asked, "How are your days, are you busy?" I looked at her and almost started cracking up. I immediately thought of our 9 month old scaling the stairs, cruising the furniture and creating a trail of destruction.

I'm not sure how to put what comes next. I fully expected to be told today that everything was A-OK and there was just a calculation error on the last ultrasound. Instead, I haven't been given the green light to move on with life, in fact, from what I understand, it's the opposite.

There is a possibility of cord compression because the baby isn't really floating like they'd like and the decreased fluid could contribute to a problem...

I was also advised to be careful because what fluid is in there is in pockets on the sides of the baby, not cushioning the baby all around (we saw this at our other ultrasound as well). What that means is a sweet little kick from Chloe isn't as protected as it should be.

I'm basically to be resting as much as possible. The less I'm up and moving, the better of an environment I'm creating for the baby. If I were further along in the 35+ weeks category, it wouldn't be too big of a deal if the fluid got any lower because they could just induce me, however, we're not even to a point of viability yet.

I tell myself it's not that big of a deal, but honestly, I am somewhat worried because if this does get worse, I could potentially wind up in the hospital. I can tell you that I'll be relieved once we've made it a couple more months because then if something were to happen, our odds would be much better... It's early on in our pregnancy to be having fluid problems.

Okay. I know this is scatterbrained and unexpected. Hopefully this answers questions you might have, but if you have any, let me know.

The Name.

Lately, I've been feeling really uncomplete not having a name for this baby.
I mean, with Chloe, the second we found out she was a girl, we knew her name.
There have been so many unexpecteds with this pregnacy.
We didn't know if it was a girl for sure, we didn't have a name and now the fluid thing.
I really needed a name for this baby.
It's almost like I felt naked without one.

Chris and I have been toying with one name for a really REALLY long time but we couldn't commit. Back to the drawing board we went.
We really wanted the name Zoe. Haha.
C'mon.
Chloe and Zoe.
No?

We werent' at the drawing board long when we realized we had the name all along.

What's different is the middle name.
Enter long story # 2 of the day.
If you knew me about 10 years ago, you'd know that I had a grandma who lived near us that I absolutely adored. I don't think I've really mentioned her on the blog and honestly, I think that is partly because I haven't really been able to deal with this in real life either.
I'm going to try to avoid super mushy gushy details but she was everything I've always aspired to be. She was such a gorgeous, vibrant woman who always had the perfect amount of class, style, poise AND accessories for every outfit.
Oh here I go, getting mushy and gushy.
I have so many amazing memories of my time with her.
I could fill an entire book.

Every big life event (and even the small ones) that I've gone through since her passing, she has never been forgotten. She was with me the day Chloe was born, for my high school and college graduation and the day I married Chris. She would love him. I would give anything to have her back even for just a day.

It's amazing how many times since she's passed I think about her and wonder if she's proud of who I am or what I've done. I don't have to think hard, however, because she was always proud of me. No matter what.

Honestly, we were and still are kindred souls. She has left such a huge imprint on my heart. I thought that by now, I'd think about her less or not feel sad when I thought about her, but honestly, I'm realizing it's the opposite. I think about her more these days and I'm so sad she isn't physically here to see my daughters.

Our story is something I should continue writing for myself to see, not the whole world.
It is therapeutic to have a blog, I have to admit.
Seriously.
GO get one for yourself.

I'm off to write myself a book about a woman.

One last thing.
I'm SO glad we decided on using her middle name Rose in this baby's name.
It just feels right to see her legacy continue.
I feel like it's exactly what I needed to honor her.
My grandma would have been SO SO so so proud.
Just like this baby should be.

Sooo, to our sweet little

Lauren Rose

If I were you, I'd stay put and keep baking.
You have a big pair of shoes to fill when you get into the world.
I'd make sure they're Ferragamo's if I were you.

9 Months

Chloe, today you turn 9 months.

It's bittersweet to say the least.

You celebrated by singing yourself a little song.

I love every moment of every day with you.

I'm not ready to accept that you're 75% of the way to toddler-hood.
It's amazing to watch your personality develop as you gain confidence and take on the world.

You scrunch up your little face and breathe really hard when you want to be silly and you've learned that the fastest way to get us to come running is pretend something is horribly wrong and cry your pitiful moan, half laugh half cry.

You are notorious for following me around the house or tugging at my pant leg half whining/half crying "Mamaaaaaaaaa".

Goofball.

You are also becoming insanely ticklish. I L-O-V-E to tickle you and hear you belly laugh.

I noticed this morning for the first time you actually did a little boogie when a song came on that you liked. So I played it again. You boogied again.

Oh My Gosh.

You dance!

Seriously the cutest thing ever.

We've also entered new territory in your mobility. I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet, but you're a SERIOUS stair climber now. It started about a week ago. You saw a box of diapers on the landing and you made a bee line for them. I thought for sure you'd falter on the first step and give up. There was no faltering, no slow learning curve.
You were up to the second step before I could blink an eye. Then, you immediately proved to me just how naive a mom can be. You climbed the entire set of stairs, laughing and giggling the whole way. Never missing a step or taking a breather.

Walking is a different story, however. You have no interest so far. You think you can crawl much faster than walk. Silly girl. Recently you have become more courageous and will let go of things with your hands and balance for a while (by a while I mean less than 10 seconds!). I'm sure those first steps aren't far off.

You are still a really UNpicky eater, consuming anything set in front of you.
You love the pit of a mango, peaches, pears, apple, blueberries, cheese, turkey, cheerios and more... But what you REALLY love?? Well that's easy. It's whatever mom and dad are eating. Doesn't matter if your stomach is bursting at the seams from the meal you just consumed. You can always find room for whatever is on our plates.  

  

Life.

This is what my sweet daughter does when I try to take pictures of her now.

She wants the camera SOOO bad.

I know the feeling.

These days, life is going a little something like this:

And This:

AND this:

Nothing is bringing this baby any relief from those darn teeth.

I can only imagine how yummy her formula can must taste.

Don’t worry.

 

The next minute she’s back to being our sweet little angel.

   

Fluttery

Today I feel a little fluttery. Yesterday I felt the same.
The last couple weeks I've noticed little flutters.
That can only mean one thing.
Baby.
Okay so the flutters are turning into more distinctive knocks.
On my bladder.
I'm waiting for the poundings that are coming in a few weeks and keep me awake at night.
I have to say, it makes being pregnant so much more real.
As if wanting to eat 8 thousand times a day isn't making this pregnancy apparent.
And the sheer exhaustion by 4 pm.
Yes. 4 pm.
I have to say that the best part of being pregnant is feeling the baby do it's thing in there.
Very reassuring.
Now we really need a name.
Calling her 'Number 2' is just mean.

Mimi & Papa Visit

We were so lucky to have Chloe’s Mimi and Papa visit this weekend.

I love when my parents make the trip all the way North.

We made the most of it and had a fabulous, fun-filled weekend.

Action-Packed if you will.

Chloe even enjoyed herself during a little photoshoot.

She gave us some of the cutest (and oddest) looks on the planet.

Mimi and Papa don’t get much time to sightsee when they visit so we took them North for just that.

We went to Avila Beach, walked along the pier, spotted some seals (sea lions?) and even took Chloe to a fish market!

She was completely entertained the entire time.

We did a little drive-by of both San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach.

We went to lunch in Arroyo Grande, walked around the town, went to their farmers market and came home and promptly crashed.

The boys decided they were going to be adventurous and go see Terminator and then skedaddle on over to the Santa Maria Speedway for a night of even more heart-stopping thrills as they watched cars go around and around.

The ladies opted for a more serene evening at Babies R Us.

Big surprise.

Okay, but wait. I have an important announcement.

Chris and I got to go on a DATE.

I feel like I forgot what that word meant.

We weren’t gone long but it was SO nice to just enjoy spending some time alone with the hubby.

Soooo A HUGE thanks to my parents for driving 4 hours to babysit, sightsee and spoil our kiddo(s) rotten!

And actually, thanks to Mimi and Papa, the next kiddo now has something she can say was not a hand-me down.  Pictures coming in November.

:)

Whew, that was a lot of blabbering.

Just one more thing, however.

Big News: We have a nephew (and Chloe/#2 has a BOY cousin!) 

Hooray!

Okay. Obviously it’s time to get to picking #2’s name.

# 2 is not appropriate anymore.

(* Sorry #2 *)

Our Day in Pictures

  

  

     

… Don’t worry; I promise I did SOMETHING productive today….

I just need to figure out what it is.