Day 2

Ok, so here's the deal. I was born at 8:45 am April 2, 2009. I weighed 8lbs .04 ounces, which is not enough to round me up. I was 20 inches long and named after my Mom's Mom which I have yet to meet and give a grandmother name to. Although I look like a football player with my chubby cheeks and big shoulders; when it's time to eat all I want to do is sleep. You just can't beat being wrapped up when it's all warm. I really hate when my Dad unwraps me and changes my diaper but I guess someone has to do it. I wanted to include a couple of pictures from my last 24 hours so, enjoy.

This is my Uncle Alwyne!

This is my Mom!!

Whoa Mama!!!

She's here!!! First of all, let me apologize for any misspelled words that may be in this post. Please forgive me!! Taylor and I have welcomed our little girl into the world! I wish I could give you all the specifics but the night has been a complete blur. We arrived at the hospital a little before 1am and we've had minimal sleep since then (I know it will continue).

Taylor was amazing; she fought and fought until Baby Johnson was out. I was surprised and amazed at her efforts. She is sleeping peacefully as I compose this post. I'm sure you are all wanting to know the important information so here it goes. Baby Johnson was born I think, at 8:55am, and I had the fortunate opportunity to cut the umbilical cord which was a new one for me. She was 8lbs even and I'm not sure how long and her name is Piper Kristine Johnson. Both of my girls are safe. Of course, Taylor is a little sore right now but knowing her I'm sure she'll be up and around soon.

Bash & Basketball

I didn't know what to expect from Sebashtian's first basketball game but I guess I was surprised that the kids (3rd & 4th graders) were playing on regulation size goals(10 feet). There are a number of issues with that, but I won't bore you with my reasoning behind that. Anyway, the game was all that I had hoped for. It was exciting, suspenseful, funny, and action-packed. All in all, it was a fun experience to see my boy who was at one time no longer than the distance from my elbow to my hand to be playing one of my favorite sports. Now that Bash has a season of basketball under his belt, I'm looking forward to watching him play again next time.

Busy, busy, busy

Blogging is a challenge! It's takes time to blog and it has been crazy lately so blogging has been towards the end of the list but we are down to 11 days at this point and we are so anxious to meet our little girl. Taylor and I are both holding A's down in grad school but it is tiring. We're both tired by the time we get home and we have to hit the books but we had an awesome Spring Break. Sebashtian and I played a lot of golf, he's the best golf partner ever!!! He's also one of the smartest kids I know - he missed 1 question on the state assessment test. He knows he's smart.


With less than a month left before the baby arrived I thought I'd take Taylor away for a relaxing environment away from school, grad school, and home responsibilities. We went to a B&B in Granbury and it couldn't have been any better. We had such a wonderful time and the B&B was amazing.

The past month of our busy lives

One month left - (Well I wrote this awhile ago and was going to try and put pictures with it, Chris promised to help, but he's been so busy so I'm posting without pics. Sorry, but's there more of an update at the end)

So we have exactly one month until our little baby arrives. (or maybe more maybe less). Here's an update on how we've been preparing.

My sweet friends Meredith, Karen, Rikki, and Amy threw me a baby shower. My mom was able to come in for it. Afterwards she helped us get the nursery ready. We've been taking our childbirth classes at the hospital, three more left. This past week school threw us a shower. We have truly been blessed by all the gifts and ways people have helped us prepare for her arrival.

This past week we had the dreaded TAKS test at school, but a friend helped me give the test and did all the monitoring so I wasn't on my feet too much. I am starting to feel the toll of pregnancy on my body. I'm very tired all the time and moving pretty slow. My hands, feet, and ankles all have minimal swelling. A couple people have said that I've started to drop. All I know is that I didn't think my belly could get this big, the human body is amazing! I've also discovered a new vericose vein - ugh! I need to put my feet up more, but in one week we have Spring Break. I plan on resting a lot and taking it easy, but I also need to finish my lesson plans for maternity leave. I've been making copies for the rest of the school year. Whew! I'll be glad when it's all ready and I won't have to worry about school anymore.

Bash is coming for spring break. It'll be so good to see him. He and Chris are planning on playing a lot of golf. We're also going to celebrate his birthday while he's here. We also celebrated Chris' 36th birthday this past week. It was a week late, but we went to a date night cooking class at Central Market. It was super fun! We learned a lot and got to eat GREAT food. It's something we'd love to do again.

Ok - update - my ankles are now HUGE, Chris would say they are officially cankles. So depressing! And to go with the vericose veins I have found 3 stretch marks. But truly this pregnancy has been easy and a joy, I just can't wait for this little girl to be here. We have two weeks left now! Our doctor appointments are on Tuesdays so we go tomorrow to see if there is any progress towards labor, I hope so. We had a great spring break with Sebashtian. He and Chris played golf every day and then Chris traveled to Lubbock to watch one of Bash's basketball games. They had a great time. Chris also did some housework - fresh paint in the upstairs closets. He's been wonderful lately helping with laundry, cooking, and grocery shopping. I know I've been a little trying this last month, but he's been so supportive. I am truly blessed with such a caring, understanding husband. I've finished my lesson plans and copies for school for the rest of the school year! Yippee! It's an amazing feat because I hardly ever have a week ahead planned even though I've been teaching for 5 years. And we're making it through our current masters courses. The next class starts the week the baby is due, I'm going to try my best to complete the course because Chris is in the same course so he thinks we can help each other, I think he'll be helping me with the assignments.

It Is Finished

As the countdown continues the baby's has finally started to come together. The staining process was long and it's important to remember that you should sand then stain an repeat that process until you get the color you want and then sand and add the lacquer. It was a great learning experience and one I'm sure will pay dividends in the future with Taylor and baby girl. I'm almost positive that I'm not done staining furniture. We had a tremendous amount of help from family and we are extremely grateful for the help.

NO SCHOOL - THANKS ICE!

Today was wonderful because we had no school due to the ice storm that hit Dallas. But it got even better when our new bedroom furniture was delivered. We are so excited to have nice furniture in our room!
It has been a hodge-podge of items since we got married and now it looks so nice. Chris is most excited about the new mattress since sleeping with a pregnant lady hasn't been so fun. Also he thinks he will now be able to get a flat screen tv for the bedroom. We'll see. Of course I have other decorating plans. But since we have a new bed we were able to move our bed upstairs to the guest room and finish the guest room. It looks so good upstairs too. There's stuff hanging on the walls in both rooms now which I love because it feels so much more like a home. Also before the holidays we got a new kitchen table and now we have chairs to go with it. It's great being able to eat in the breakfast area. We've only had two meals there, but we love it. It's a much more natural place to eat than the couch, bar, or dining room.



Also we've been working on the baby's room. I have a feeling that it will all come together in two weeks. My mom is coming so Chris has to get busy staining the dresser and nightstand. He already painted the room cream and assembled the crib. Our chair has been ordered, the bedding and mobile have already arrived. Now we need some artwork, oh yeah and a little girl to enjoy the room. We are getting so excited to meet her and hold her in our arms. Yesterday at our doctor's visit her heartbeat was good and she's measuring right on track. In two weeks we will get a sonogram. We're so excited to see her, and make sure she's still a girl.


One other thing we've been working on today is our master's courses. Chris and I are both working on our master's degrees. I started last summer, and Chris just started three weeks ago. It was a rough start for Chris as school was in full swing and he had to re-learn how to study and juggle that with life, a job, and a needy wife. Chris' degree will be in Instructional Technology and mine will be in Educational Administration. My plan is to keep right on track with my classes through the birth of the baby. We'll see. We take one online course every five weeks and then have a week off before starting another course. So hopefully I can do it because I have two great study buddies and I would hate to lose their support if I get off track. Also the plan is that I will work next year. Next fall I will be completing my internship under my administrators and I can't complete this master's if I'm not teaching. I think I would really love to stay home with the baby, but for us it's just not an option next year. Maybe after that I'll be able to stay home, but we're just going to take it one year at a time and also get these master's finished while the baby is too little to remember mom and dad having to study all the time.


My next project - get ready for maternity leave. There are many lesson plans to prepare, but it will all be okay and I already have a wonderful sub lined up.