Mental Recalibration

I was sitting here today at lunch going through email. I received my weekly update from the Baby Center which is a great site. When I opened the note it said "Congrats! You are at 20 weeks and are half way there". I had to take a deep breath when I read that...wow! Really? I'm half way there? It's amazing with this pregnancy how fast the time is flying. We are so preoccupied with Sarah and the daily grind that we don't have the time to dwell on the everyday changes that we did when I was pregnant with Sarah.

Then I pulled out my thumb drive to download files for a co-worker and came across a bunch of pictures of Sarah when she was an infant. I took the thumb drive down to Kirk (we work in the same building) and showed him the pictures as well. We had our 5 minutes of walking down memory lane for a mental recalibration. All of the experiences of dealing with an infant were flashing through our minds and we looked at each other thinking "here we go again?". The drool, sleepless nights, breastfeeding, burping, spit up, dark circles under my eyes with bad hair days, teething, etc., etc. We wouldn't change anything for this experience but had to step back to recalibrate.

All is well and I can't wait for next week's ultrasound. I think the little one's legs/feet are hanging down because I've been feeling quite a bit of thumping in the lower areas including the bladder. But all is great and life is good.

Copy Cats

After discussing with Kirk, we plan to copy our friends in an effort to control who views the blog. We will be going 'private' on the blog at the first of the year. That means I need your email address so that I can make sure you still have viewing privileges...just in case I have the wrong address. Please send me a note to reginamjohnson@hotmail.com or leave a comment with your information. Thanks!

(and thanks to the Yancey's for the idea and allowing us to beg, borrow and steal)

Happy Turkey Lurkey Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Kirk’s parent’s house in Delta, CO. It was great to see family (aunts, uncle and cousin) and just enjoy a departure from the daily grind. It was also wonderful that the Broncos won on Thanksgiving night!

We tried a couple of firsts with Thanksgiving dinner including a cranberry/apple sauce and rye bread dressing, recipes courtesy of the Food and Wine magazine. I found a picture of cute turkey chocolate cupcakes and made an attempt to replicate. They were a hit especially with Sarah. She isn’t much of a cake fan but LOVES frosting and candy corn. This pregnant lady was in heaven as well though I had to monitor the intake. We also celebrated Kirk’s dad’s 70th birthday on Thanksgiving though the true day is later this week. He was a good sport with some of the gag gifts but did enjoy the real gifts which included a new fishing net from Kirk. Kirk and his dad were able to get out on the stream for a bit of father/son fishing which was nice. We also hit the stores on Black Friday, which I've never done, but had a plan to get in and out before the lunch hour. We were successful and are now proud owners of the $19 Black and Decker griddle from Target. I guess it’s the little things that make you happy. Ha!

We came back Sunday night and I proceeded to pull out the Christmas decorations so that I can slowly set things out. The first thing that went up is our new Pottery Barn Kids advent calendar which I’m excited to use. I told Sarah that everyday in the month of December Santa’s elves will leave something in the slot on the calendar for her. I’m trying to figure out what goes in day 1’s slot...maybe Jelly Beans. I’ve been collecting treats and gifts so it’s hard to pick the right one to start the tradition.

We are set to have a busy 3 ½ weeks coming up including Sarah’s Christmas pageant and a trip on the Polar Express (Durango train) with Santa himself next week. We also plan to attend the COP holiday party that we missed last year. We have cookie parties and other work parties as well throughout the month. Before you know it, Christmas will be here! Yikes.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving Day Smiles!

Yummy Chocolate Turkey Lurkey Cupcakes

Life is good with a little chocolate...love the tongue lick of the lips!Playing with PapaSarah and Daddy playing the piano. This was her favorite thing to do all weekend. She and Gaga (aka Grandma) would play and sing Christmas carols.

All is well

All is well in the Johnson household. Wow, I'm 19 weeks already? The kid is going to be here before I know it! I had my 16 week check-up along with the second round of prenatal testing and all came back normal. Great news! We have our next appointment on the 14th of December which will be the big one...we can't wait to find out what's cookin inside and make sure all the parts and pieces are developing well.

Sarah is doing great and is in full Christmas spirit. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or Frosty are viewed on a regular basis which I hope won't make for a long 4 weeks. She is enjoying a big bag of Disney Princess dress up clothing our co-worker's daughter handed down. She is Tinker Bell in the picture above enjoying a nice chat with her peeps.

So far so good

We received the results today from our early screening and NT scan of the baby. All is normal from round one. I go in for my 16 week appointment next week for round two of the screening. So far, so good.

The pooch has grown to the point of being in full maternity garb. I also get the occasional shot of the double chin in the mirror and see a hint of J-Lo in the back surfacing. I did make it to the gym prior to our trip to Phoenix which felt great. It was nice to be in the pool and back on the treadmill. Now I have 3 weeks to get back in the routine before the Thanksgiving feeding frenzy.

Happy Halloween 2009

We enjoyed a great weekend in Phoenix with my oldest brother and his family for Halloween . Sarah had a great time playing with her cousins and Daisy the wonder dog. Halloween night was a bunch of fun for everyone. Sarah did not like anyone in a mask and was a little freaked out so we carried her from house to house. But she got the hang of walking up and saying “trick or treat”. Once we got back to the house, we went through the bags of candy to make sure all was safe. Then we told the kids that they needed to dump their candy into a big pile and take two handfuls. The two handfuls were for the kids to keep. The remainder of the candy would be put in a bag and left at the front door for The Great Pumpkin. The Great Pumpkin would take the candy and use it for other kids who did not get to trick or treat or save it for next year. And in return, he would leave a present. The present for all four kids was the turkey from Build-A-Bear. Sarah’s turkey was named “Turkey Lurkey”. Too cute. We look forward to the next possible opportunity to see my brother and his family…maybe after the Christmas holiday for skiing in Durango.

Pumpkin carving frenzy. Sarah modeling the bat headband.
Trick or Treat!

Dads with beer in keg cups. Happy Halloween!

Fairy Sarah, Peacock Princess Hayden, Robot Jack and Puppy Kyle

Thank you Great Pumpkin!

Let it Snow!

We had mixed feelings about the snow storm that came through last week. Right off the bat, we were happy we didn’t get hit like Denver with the 10 inch+ snow. We were excited for the change in weather and to play in the fluffy white stuff after work/school. But the storm forced us to change the mode of transportation to Phoenix for our big Halloween weekend. Instead of getting the Cessna up the air for a much needed journey, we loaded up the truck and moved on to Phoenix. The drive was long but well worth the effort and time.