Johnson Family Chronicles

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Sneak Peak…

Just call me Martha.

…Except I haven’t been in prison.

So maybe you should just nix that.

I have a confession.

I learned to sew.

…A somewhat straight line…

I am SO SO SO proud of myself.

To anyone who isn’t blind, my work has a lot of flaws.

Hopefully my girls will appreciate me for those flaws.

At least now I know how to operate a sewing machine.

Kinda.

But seriously, look at some of the cute creations from last week.

Burp Cloths…

…Gorgeous matching minky blankies for the girlies.

I honestly made one 99% by myself.

It’s still in one piece.

Thank you Laura.

You have made me feel so proud of myself.

Does this officially make me a ‘homemaker’?

How about the fact that I have purchased my very own sewing machine that is on it’s way to my house at this very moment??

***Spoiler Alert***

Here’s Lauren’s crib bumper that is still in progress, but completely takes my breath away. I can’t wait for our little angel to catch some Z’s cuddled up against the minky fabric.

Grandma Laura, get busy!

Just kidding. Seriously, thank you for giving me a crash course in home economics…

…and seam ripping :)

I’ve learned the true secrets to sewing.

Friday, July 10, 2009

10 Months...200 posts!

So today is not only Chloe's 10 month birthday, but this is also my 200th post!
That just seems crazy.

Chloe is a total delight. Most of the time.
She is becoming very opinionated.
She also makes the silliest faces when she's giving you her opinion.

She only naps twice a day now; 8:30 and 1:00.

She’s a little beast (YES our beauty can be a beast!) around 5:30 but don’t worry – she’s happily in dream land by 6:30 every night. Until 6:30 in the morning.
We are SO lucky.

She’s into EVERYTHING.

She is honestly a crackup.

You tell her "no" and she laughs her tail off.
She knows what "no" means, she just chooses to pretend you're saying something really hilarious.

Then she keeps on doing what she's doing, only now more furiously and usually with some shrieking because she knows you'll come stop her soon.

She just has to get her fill.
I know she started cruising along furniture months ago now, but she still has very little interest in walking. She will occasionally accidentally take a step or two but that's about it. We'll revisit the topic at a later point I'm sure.

She continues to be an insane eater. She likes a few cheerios in the morning while I'm getting her bottle ready, she loves a good ole' grilled cheese sandwich and she won't stop eating until she is appropriately stuffed. Even then, she likes to scavenge around inside her bib looking for some crumbs she may have missed. She will eat anything. Except rice cereal. What a joke. To be honest, I did an experiment with her to see just how picky she was. I made her a spinach and cheese quesadilla in a tomato basil (i.e. yucky/healthy) tortilla. She made a little face but kept on eating.
I'm not kidding. She's a great eater. I wonder what the chances of that continuing are?
Hopefully Lauren will get a chance to eat once in a while.
Oh yeah. Don't even THINK about trying to eat in front of her. Or behind her. Or within 2 rooms of her. She just knows.

Here’s the best lamb picture we could get.

I think those glorious days of her lounging around in a sleepy stupor on her lamb during our photo shoots are long gone.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

24 Weeks

Well. It's official. We've made it 24 weeks.
I wouldn't want to deliver this early BUT just being here makes me feel so much better.
I realized today that I think I've been pregnant for 16 of the last 20 months!

I'm so glad everything is looking better for Lauren. I was really in a constant state of worry and I want to be able to enjoy my last pregnancy. Everything about my pregnancy and labor with Chloe was an absolute joy (except for the crazy screaming laboring woman part) and I was really starting to miss that innocence from this pregnancy. Since our followup ultrasound, it's safe to say I am able to enjoy every kick and poke.

Speaking of which, Lauren has become a complete busy body. I really don't remember Chloe kicking this hard. EVER. (Well, except now that she's out!)
Lauren is constantly turning donuts in there and that's a-ok by me.
She's also not shy about it; when I used to feel Chloe kick, I'd throw Chris's hand on there and hope he could feel it, but it was like she knew he was there and she'd freeze up.
Lauren, however, not so much. She is going to try and kick his hand off before this pregnancy is over I'm guessing.

Chloe and I went to Costco for a few things yesterday and she got mobbed by the senior citizen brigade. They must get a discount on Wednesdays.
I have nothing against the elderly except that it takes me 2 hours to get 30 minutes worth of shopping done in cases like yesterday.
One of these gray hairs actually said to me, "Oh heavens, you have the most gorgeous baby. Please tell me you'll have lots more". I'm dead serious. Lots more. I told her I was already pregnant again and I thought she was going to get down on her knees and thank the Lord. Which would have been alright with me; I like being entertained. I didn't have the heart to tell her Lauren was it. Or is it?

As for the other gray hairs, they weren't as entertaining and I didn't have time to tell them Chloe had a runny nose and occasional sneeze; they thought it was appropriate to literally touch her face and grab her arms so I assumed all pleasantries were out the window.

I'm done rambling, so please enjoy some videos of the one and only fudge.
Please also excuse the disaster area that has become our downstairs.
It's a result of a couch potato mother for 3 weeks.

Monday, July 6, 2009

4th of July Weekend

…Was spent being spontaneous…

…In Monterey!…

We decided to take a gamble and bid on a room on Priceline.

We ended up with our favorite hotel!

What a great way to celebrate our good ultrasound news, our 2nd anniversary (a little late) AND 4th of July!

We had a nice time with the exception of Chris and I being dive bombed by a big seagull poop.

We’re still not sure how Chloe got away unscathed.

Chloe took her first trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

She really did love it.

Best part? We found out that the tickets we bought through our hotel got us in 30 minutes before the general public. We literally had the entire place to ourselves.

It was amazing.

Chloe even proved she was a good diner and we were able to enjoy meals out.

All in all, it was a MUCH needed getaway.

Don’t worry. We took it easy!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

WooHoo

So we got good news today.
Not great, but much better than what we heard just 3 weeks ago.
Lauren is right on track at 23 weeks exactly today.
Her organs are functioning normally, her little heart is just beating away, she was curled up like a roly-poly for most of the ultrasound and had her face covered. She sure is shy!

The fluid has increased and is now considered to be within the normal range.

I'm still at risk for a couple reasons, one being just the history of low fluid in this pregnancy. They will do another ultrasound in 8 weeks (August 27th) to see where we're at.

Second, there is still no fluid protecting Lauren from things on the outside since the fluid remains in pools to the side of the baby. It's nervewracking to see the ultrasounds, the specialist has to go hunting for the fluid.

The doctor did remind me that because I had low fluid, it can easily go back down. "Keep doing whatever you're doing" she told me.

I'm just so glad we don't have such a scary timeline for birth.
Hopefully the visions of the NICU fairies will stop dancing in my head now.
The end.
Have a great 4th of July weekend!