Just a quick update from November before we put up any new stuff...stuff that people really want to see.

We took a trip home to visit Dad and Grampa and Gramma and some friends too. It was beginning November, so it was pretty cold. We stayed most the time at D&D's who live in a little cabin on about 5 acres of land with llamas. It was so pretty to see again. Here we are with Reubenetta. Punkin's first llama ride.


It was really cold. It doesn't look too bad, but it was a wet, windy cold. We weren't very well prepared...I had to borrow a coat from Dad and as you can see in the upcomming picture I look like a green marshmallow. It was the only coat that was large enough to fit me.This one is of our little girl in the barn on some straw bales before she started crying. I don't think she liked how they felt.


We went bowling at this really hip bowling lane. I had to do the granny bowl because it really hurt my back...I think I won if I remember correctly, but I'm not telling my score (it was bad even though I won). I think I only won because Dad was palming the bowling ball.
We visited the domes one night and got to see it in the "moonlight," a special feature they have there. It was pretty cool, but we don't have any really good pictures because of the poor lighting.


Here's a poor picture of us at the domes:
Here we went to see the lake. It was also really cold here, so we couldn't stay long, but I think I was the only one sad about that. The lake was one of my favorite spots to visit. Beaches like these that were pretty much secluded...or at least not visited too much by others. We even got a nice family picture.
There was this really nasty, big, half dead fish that Daddy is showing Punkin here.
Fun with Grampa!
Went out to eat with some friends.

Great Grampa sharing an ice cream cone.

We sure had a nice time visiting up North. Hubby enjoyed racing some RC cars with my Uncle. It was nice to see my Dad's family...It had been way too long.
Then one of our last events was trying to hook up with an old friend of mine from college. She stood us up! Sort of. I was really bummed, but we had a nice cup of cider in a cute cafe while waiting...and waiting...

I'm very sad that I somehow didn't get pictures of our visit to Bob's house. It was a pretty crazy day that day though and it just didn't happen, but it was really nice to see Bob and his daughter and her kids and then a couple of the neighbors came over, who I hadn't seen in over a year, so that was also nice to catch up with them.

Well, it's been a really long and picturesome blog post that was overdue. Hope you enjoyed a little. I wanted to post more pictures but the number of pics is already getting to the rediculous point.

A Name for Baby

Well, our little guy has a name! But first the other details:
He was 7lbs 10oz and 20in long at birth.
He was born on 1/16/2009 at 7:15pm

His name is Coen Duane Johnson.

New Arrival: Husband's Perspective

This post may be a little scattered because it's almost 11:30.

I took a late lunch today and worked out at the gym with my buddy Dako from work. As I was stepping out of the shower (about 2:30) I heard my voicemail chime and then got a text message that said I should probably come home.

We hurried back to work so I could drop Dako off and grab my stuff. Then I headed home.

Wifey and I got some stuff together and went to the hospital. By the time we got to the triage room Wifey was dialated to maybe 6cm. We hung out there for awhile while they got a delivery room ready. When we first arrived they were all full as today was aparently a popular day for babies.

Mom showed up and took our little girl as she was getting a little grouchy that someone had delayed her nap. Mom dropped the little girl off with the Painter's family and had to run home as she was expecting a ton of company tonight (we were supposed to come for dinner too).

By the time she got back we were getting closer. Wifey was having close contractions that were pretty strong. Pharmacousin made it up to our room and stayed for the whole process.

Wifey declined the epidural and any drugs and did really good at managing the pain and pushing the baby out. Things got a little rough for her on the last couple pushes but at least the little guy came a lot faster than our first one.

He was born fiesty and healthy with all the right parts in their correct quantities. I believe the time was around 7:20 but I didn't see the exact time. He turned a healthy pink right away and tried out his little lungs with great effect. He weighs 7lbs and 10oz. I didn't catch his length so we'll have to update on that later.

Pharmacousin brought us some Papa Johns, which was awesome, and the Painter family stopped by so we could introduce our little rascal to the big rascal.

He latched on and fed with gusto on the first attempt. He was pretty much ready to eat as soon as he blew the goo out of his air pipes. We got him washed up and moved from delivery to an actual room and are headed to sleepy land

We don't have a name yet! We had a list but nothing we were super excited about. We have a few final options but standby for another post with a name and the time/length and other details that people always ask about.

In the meantime, check out the pics of the little guy and we may get a little sleep. I got a lot of better pics and video of the bath and stuff on mom's camera but I don't have the means to xfer them at the moment. These shots from our mediocre camera will have to suffice.

38 weeks!

I am actually at 36 or 37 weeks here and it's a horrible picture of me (do I look like a deer caught in headlights, or what?). It is a good documentation of my tummy size, though. You can see that my shirt doesn't fit any longer.

This was taken just last night at this boy's gramma and grampa's house. I am now at 38 weeks. I kinda have a bullet shape going on, but at least this shirt fits. I look like a rosey cheeked Santa Clause, minus the white hair. Put me in a costume at the mall and I'm sure all the little boys and girls would be flocking toward me at the speed of light with questions, concerns and/or thanks for their Christmas gifts.

I am working on a "quilt" here. Maybe I should also say: "working," as I am pretending to work on it. I bought this fantastic pre-quilted material from Hobby Lobby that I thought was really cute and put some batting and a backing on it and, walla! A quilt. To make it more quilt-like I am sewing yarn in swirly designs all over the quilt. It will also help keep it together in the washing machine...A lesson I have learned from previously made "quilts."
Sorry, Punkin' Face, your quilt is one that is messed up from the washing machine. It's pretty bad though, since it was my first attempt at a real-ish quilt and it's just kinda ugly. I'll have to make a new one for her some day.

Now a little about our Punkin' Face. This picture was taken a few weekends ago at Auntie and Uncle's place. She really likes things that rock. Other recent things/updates about our little girl:

She's been doing this downward facing dog pose or, what the people at Stride call, the bear pose. It's pretty cute to see her little tush high up in the air.

Stride gave us this blue booster chair to use for a while and Punkin' Face has been standing up to it and crawling into it, which has been exciting to see. Other things she has stood up to include her crib and some low laundry baskets. Sometimes she pushes just with her arms to get to standing and other times she gets up the same way she does her downward facing dog pose. It's her little funny way of learning, I guess. The other day I walked in to her room after a nap to find her standing in her crib. It was very exciting to see. That excitement faded a little when a few days later I heard a thud and came into her room to find her on the floor, on her back crying next to her crib. I guess it's time to move the mattress down, poor thing.

With therapy we've been working on her disassociating her legs because she would always use them in unison before. For instance, her frog-hop way of crawling. She is getting much better at this and the therapist noticed a big improvement since before the Christmas break. She is crawling more the "normal" way...about 50/50 I would say. She is also crawling up to low things, like the couch cushions and her little, blue booster chair. Sometimes she can even crawl back down from them.

Stairs are another thing she is getting better at, but will not do it on her own. She doesn't get the backward, going down part yet, but on a good day with just a little prompting will crawl up the stairs (she needs prompting at each step).

Still no words...Except the other day I was playing with her with a puppy and kept saying "puppy" and barking. She said "puppy!" clear as a bell and then never again. She did the same thing when Mom was visiting around Thanksgiving with the word "peaches." Clear as a bell and then never again. So, it has me puzzled. Was it just a coincidence? Kinda weird coincidence though. Hmmmm. Makes me wonder if she'll be one of those kids who all of a sudden start speaking in full sentences out of the blue one day. ???

She jabbers and jabbers some times...or most of the time. It's pretty cute. We have these little pet store characters that we don't let her play with because she can fit the entire animal in her mouth (somewhat of a choking hazard). For a while we had them at the top of our 5' dresser. She would spot them and just start talking to them very excitedly. She does that to whatever she can't touch and wants to. At gramma and grampa's they have a ceramic moose with a plant in it that she isn't allowed to touch. She loves it so much though and always heads straight for it to chat with it. As long as we are right next to her saying "No" she doesn't touch it, but I imagine if we weren't there she would have a hay day with it and it would be in pieces all over the tile it rests on. Basically she loves anything with a face. But, she always goes straight for the head/face of these poor creatures and chomps them to show her affection, showering them with drool and bite marks. Makes me a little worried for her soon-to-be brother.

Until next time.... And please pass on the word that we've updated since it is a rare occasion that we do. Next post will likely be the new arrival. I would have liked to post our trip home before then, but I just don't think it's gonna happen that way.