Christmas 2009

These faces say it all. Our pre Christmas festivities with the Johnsons at the Great Wolf Lodge were too much for words- it was a blast.

Don't worry Luke was here too just sleeping on the sidelines. (Loving the post baby legs- sometimes the truth hurts.)

Sofie wasn't even scared of Santa this year and Luke didn't mind either. It was pretty cute when Santa asked what Sofie wanted she had obviously been practicing in her head because the list just came out so fast and fluently.

They all got new PJ's to wear to Story time that evening. They had mechanical animals and other things singing and then it even snowed after the Christmas carols were over.

Our Gingerbread house.

I had been wondering what it was going to be like without snow at Christmas when suddenly on Christmas eve day it snowed 14+ inches- more the Oklahoma City had ever had in one snowfall. They declared a state of Emergency- it was so crazy and fun at the same time. So our Friends the Gomez's invited us over for Christmas eve festivities. Unlike other people in OK we were not afraid to brave the weather (plus they lived like a mile from us :) so we ventured out and got stuck in their driveway. It was worth all the digging out though when we got to spend the night doing fondue and rock band.

Christmas morning. I don't know who was more excited for Christmas morning- me or Sofie. This was the first year that Sofie was really excited about Santa, so I was there ready with the camera to catch her face the minute she woke up. Acutally, we had to go and wake her up at 9:00 because I couldn't stand the anticipation any longer.

Isn't it always funny how the littlest most least expensive thing is usually their favorite at this age. This was a stuffed Prince Naveen frog that was in her stocking that she hasn't put down since Christmas.

Luke's favorite gift- the Bumbo. One of my favorite Christmas things was that Luke was so smiley and chatty on Christmas- the most he had ever been. Maybe he could sense the excitement in the air. Isn't he so strong that he can already sit in this chair and hold his head up and not fall over at 2 months (or am I just being a overly proud parent?)

So the majority of the day (at least for Spencer and Sofie) was spent in the Snow. Then night before Spencer built up a bunch of snow and then on Christmas made this really sweet snow cave.

It was so big. I am not even exaggerating when I say it fit three of us with room to spare. It was so fun. Sofie took her dolls she got for Christmas and played in there all afternoon. She had it broken up into rooms- a bedroom, playroom and a kitchen.- The basics every house needs :)

We even got to go sledding.

Snowman #1 and then . . . .

Snowman #2. I Think Spencer had more fun playing in the snow than Sofie. I could barley get him to come in to go to a friends for dinner.

Sofie wanted to the Princess and the Frog dolls to go with all the other dolls she got last year for Christmas. She now has so many dolls it's like a land mine around here. Dolls everywhere and they are painful if you step on one. But there hasn't been a day gone by that she hasn't spent hours playing with these things they are the best.

Spencer turned 31 over the break. I had been planning this huge Birthday surprise for a couple of weeks. I had made appointments for a couples massage and then when we showed up the place was closed. Then we went to get the IMAX avatar tickets hours ahead of time and they were sold out. Then I had to stall when the massage place was closed because I had invited a bunch of Spencer's friends from School to Texas Roadhouse for a dinner surprise. So luckily one of my surprises worked out and we had a fun dinner with our friends.

We did end up going to the 3D (not on Imax) avatar and it was pretty sweet. Spencer even said he thought it was one of the best movies he had ever seen.

My sister sent us this fun activity to do rice crispy trains. So Sofie had a slumber party with her good friends Emma and Aiden and we broke this cute thing out.

So just to capture this fun and crazy age Sofie is at I leave you with pictures of Sofie's goldie locks I found on the floor just before Christmas. I was sooo sad and mad at the same time. I have always thought Sofie was too afraid of getting in trouble to do anything like this. It was just a eye opener. This was only one of the things that pushed my buttons a little too far over the break. The second I have to preface with saying that Sofie is VERY sensitive to discipline (exactly why I never thought she would cut here hair) and she has lately been reverting a little and having accidents (I mean wetting her pants) during the day- it's funny that most of the time it's been when she is at other people's house. Anyways, I had been up a lot with Luke one night so the next morning I turned on cartoons and laid down on the couch. I had fallen asleep when I heard Sofie crying in the bathroom. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom to see what was wrong when I stepped into about an inch of toilet water. Sofie- in fear of getting in trouble was trying to flush her pull up down the toilet- then trying to hide the evidence had tried to clean it up with a wet wash cloth when she realized me finding out was inevitable and just started crying. I didn't even know what to do at that point- do I get put her in time out when she was doing it not to get into trouble or do I just start cleaning it up. I mean there are some days you just can't win.

On the lighter side of things I realized the other day how much of my life lately is spent in imaginative play with Sofie when Sofie asked me a question, and then after I answered Sofie said "Why are you talking like that and not like mom right now." I apparently answered her in a Deigo voice- which I had been playing earlier that day. I said well aren't I Diego and she said "Not anymore mom you haven't been Diego for a while." But Seriously I have to talk like so many characters throughout the day I can't keep myself straight sometimes and to come up with so many different voices is really a challenge- and Sofie will be less than pleased if it doesn't sound right. Another funny voice I have been asked to duplicate A LOT has been Tiana from Princess in the frog and I have found that spilling over into other conversations throughout the day even when I am just talking to Luke or in my head I find myself talking in a Black dialect. Never a dull moment when living with this 3 year old.

Cutie Lukie

So last night my little sister told me she wanted to see more pictures of Luke when I realized I haven't even been taking too many. So today he was looking so cute I had to just snap a shot of our 7 week old Luke . . . I know you just want to squeeze his cheeks don't you!!

I thought I would throw in a couple favorite family pictures while I was posting:)- Happy Holiday's everyone.

Thanksgiving

It's almost Christmas so I decided to post Thanksgiving- haha. That's about how my life goes these days meaning to get so much done and getting almost nothing done. But here are a few picts of our turkey day spent with friends who pretty much are family (their last names are the Johnson's and the kids might as well be cousins).


This is "Uncle Kolby" who needs credit for making this beautifully delicious bird.


This is the turkey I get credit for: a cherry cordial stuck to a grasshopper cookie with a few jelly bellies to top it off.




The cooks and the . . .

Crooks- who ate all the food :0.

Our 3 little Indians- or as Sofie likes to be called "Pocahontas".

Just another picture of our growing little boy

This is how we see Sofie about 50% of the time as "Insectosaurous". Seriously there are some mornings I find her in her bed with this on and I have taped it about 100 times trying to keep it together.

The baby story

Of coarse I have to start the post off with some of my most favorite pictures of Luke- I just think they change so much just in the first couple of weeks.

So I have been debating putting the whole labor and delivery story out here for everyone to read but have decided it's a big part of our lives and needs to be documented so you might want to skip over the next few paragraphs if obstetrician terms are not for you.

First I thought I would show the pre-math of what happened. I seriously don't think my stomach could have stretched a mm bigger- so here's me about to pop!!
The shortened version of the story goes as follows: My labor began Thursday morning after a visit to the Dr. (I was supposed to be induced the next morning). I had planned on having all day on Thursday to get things in order for the baby coming the next day so even though I was contracting and already at a 5 at the MD appointment I had to get a few things done before checking myself into the hospital. So as the day progressed they started getting worse and closer together so I thought I would call Spencer and tell him to get home as soon as he was done seeing his last patient. Hours went by and I hadn't heard from Spencer so I called him again and broke the news that this baby wasn't coming tomorrow and he needed to get home. He hurried home, dropped off Sofie and we raced to the hospital. By the time we got there, just after 6:00 PM, I couldn't even walk and I was contracting like every 2 min. It was quite embarrassing being rushed down the hall in a wheelchair cringing in pain. I was just so nervous I was too late for the epidural. Once we got there, they got me in bed and an IV started and I was at a 7. Once they got my epidural in I was finally able to be excited that the moment was coming. It wasn't too much longer that my water broke and then it was a couple more hours of waiting. As soon as the Dr. arrived it was time to push. 8 min of pushing and he was here the whole 8 pounds 10 oz baby. I was worried it was going to be a lot more complicated than that because the Dr. started to looked panicked and told me that I had one of the biggest tail bones he had ever seen and that I might "need help" getting him out- I guess that was all the motivation I needed to get him out :)

Now I have a love hate relationship with hospital pictures it's the truth in the faces that I love it's like two extremes shoved into one moment- extreme fatigue and extreme excitement along with a white, swollen faced, baby. Yet it's this moment that I already miss; 9 months of anticipation for that moment and it's over like that.

It was just too bad that we had him during the flu season because the next day the hospital started a thing were no one under the age of 18 was allowed into the hospital. So Sofie had to wait until Saturday to meet her new brother.

Luckily she didn't even mind waiting because she had Grandma Nancy and Andy all to herself. It was so nice having my mom and brother here to help with Sofie, make meals and do the laundry
etc. Thanks Mom and Andy.

Then this last week we were lucky enough to get to spend time with Grandma Jaylene. She was so much help around the house but especially good company and good for Sofie. I'm pretty lucky because I think I have the best mother-in-law a person could ask for. The first picture is Sofie with some of her loot from Grandma's shopping trips with Sofie. Sofie asked Grandma to take her shopping everyday at least 3 times a day.Thanks Jaylene.
Really I am blessed that both my Mom and Mother-in-law came out to help me when you consider that there are 10 kids in my family and 8 in Spencer's any one on one time we get with them is totally treasured.

Here are a couple of shots from Halloween. It was a very low key Halloween but Sofie still got a basket full of candy so what else can you ask for. I just loved Luke's costume even though Spencer, Sofie and I were the only one's to see him in it. Sofie was so excited about the red hair spray but she still has red spots in here hair that I can't get out and Halloween was over a week ago. Plus it's a funny story, just to give you a snip-it of Sofie's personality. Sofie had, for months, picked out a Tinkerbell costume it was what she was going to be at her birthday party and for Halloween so of coarse a couple days before Halloween she stars this new Ariel obsession. I mean you cannot believe this girls obsessions when she gets them. So of coarse she changes her mind after the costume is already bought and worn that she wants to be Ariel. So I have learned my lesson from past experiences that she is not going to change her mind no matter how much I talk Tinkerbell up or whatever other tricks I think would work. So as you see Sofie wins the battle once again and was Ariel for Halloween.

I must say I have read so many blogs when the older brother or sister meets the baby for the first time and is so cute with them and wants to help mom do everything from changing the diaper to burping them etc. and how it's the cutest thing and melts the parents heart and so on and so forth. I wish that was what I could say happened with Sofie but it's pretty much the opposite. Of coarse I can't say that I am too surprised since a few days before Luke was born she was crying and telling me how she didn't want a baby brother and she didn't want to be a big sister and then asking me if she could be "Sofie" when the baby was born and not "big sister". I guess amongst the "No I don't want you to hold Luke," and the "I don't want you to be Luke's mom" fights that go on and on all day there has been a few times where she wants to kiss Luke or help me change Luke's diaper that I think the mood is changing but then it's back to the drama. I have tried about every angle to helping the transition be easier for her but it hasn't worked so I am up for any advise that anyone has to offer. Yet at this point Spencer and I have decided time is just what it is going to take for Sofie to accept this change.

I do have to say that I don't know if we were just blind to the fact that our little girl was getting so big or this has forced Sofie to grow exponentially in the last couple of weeks but Spencer and I can't believe how big Sofie seems to us now. This picture is of a bendaroo bear that Sofie made all on her own. Spencer and her were working on them other night. Spencer was so into his Nemo that he didn't even notice that Sofie was fast at work making her own. When she got done neither of us could barley believe our eyes that our little 3 year old made an almost perfect bear out of bendaroos completely on her own.

Luke Spencer Johnson

He's here. Luke Spencer Johnson came the evening before I was supposed to be induced. He was a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz, 20 1/2 inches. I think it's all in his cheeks. Spencer asked why his eyes are slanted down and I said because his cheeks pull them down. I was all prepared for this petite little thing after having Sofie 6 1/2 lbs. Anyways we are all doing great even Sofie isn't minding him too much- of coarse it helps that Grandma is here spoiling her. Anyways enjoy the picts.

Our craziness we call life

Spencer has decided to give Triathlons a tri :) and did two triathlons back to back. The first one he ever did was a really big race where people from all over the US flew in for the Redman. He ended up getting 6th in his age group- this race just warmed him up for the next weekend where he got 2nd over all by 10 seconds. I know I've said it before but I really think he's somewhat of a mutant.


Our little lady turned 3. She insisted on a Tinkerbell party but since we invited almost as many boys as girls we turned it into a Tinkerbell/ Peter Pan party. Kids decorated wands for the girls and pirate bandanna for the boys and were dressed accordingly. They then got tattoos at the Indian encampment, walked the plank and found the lost treasure in the mermaid lagoon. Sofie has SOOOOO many nice friends out here. I just think she is the luckiest little 3 yr old. She got a bike from mom and dad. It was so cute Spencer said he felt really proud buying her bike. He said it's like a huge step in Sofie's life getting a bike (I hope she doesn't let him down :)


Okay I just have to put a little exert in our "family journal" about the amazing friends and people out here in Oklahoma, just to look back at when I'm having one of those bad days. I wasn't expecting any showers when we got pregnant and have ended up with 4 this pregnancy. The first one being with my fam when I went home this summer. This collage doesn't do justice to how many people, how much fun and how cute they were but I just am in awe what people have done for me and my little boy. I seriously feel like a million bucks to have to so many great people in my life. Thanks so much everyone!!! I think the nicest people live in Oklahoma and I met some dang nice people in Idaho and Ohio. Spencer is gone this week and everyone is so worried about me having this baby with him gone. I can't believe the offers people have given to help if something happens while he is gone. Even Dr's at work are telling me to call their house (as if it's anything I want anyone at work to see me go through :) but I just feel like the lord really knows me and has blessed me with the right people along the way when we are so far from family!!!!


Speaking of dang nice people in Ohio- one of my best friends Michelle drove 5 hours each way to just come and hang out with me while Spencer was gone for 2 weeks. I seriously would have lost my mind if she didn't come. Thanks Michelle you are just a great friend!