Paul, Marlee, and Abigail Johnson

Jared's Blessing Day

2011-12-31T11:11:00.004-06:00

(pondering the greater things in life)

Jared was blessed on December 4th in the Arlington 4th ward. It was the perfect day to do it because we only had 1 hour of church (because of the nativity). Friends and Family all came to our ward to be a part of it. Paul gave Jared a wonderful blessing. Paul, Steve (grandpa), Steven B., Jason B, Doug (uncle), Kurt (uncle), and members of the bishopric all stood in the circle.

After church was over, all the family (since there's a billion of us) headed to the cultural hall to have a nice little pot luck. We are so thankful for those who were able to come and to those who wanted to be there. We're blessed to have such a large family.

I'm so thankful that my husband holds the priesthood and stays worthy to do so. I cannot count how many times it has blessed mine and my families lives.

Halloween

2011-12-31T11:00:00.004-06:00

I just realized I never posted about Halloween. Probably because I really don't remember much about it...

Jared and I got out of the hospital on the 29th, and we headed out for Halloween on the 30th and 31st. Abby was a little bumble bee and Jared was a monster (not literally.... yet.. ;)

We went to our ward Halloween Trunk or Treat (30th) and got down on the goods. The only reason we went is because I felt like Abby was super robbed with the whole getting-a-new-brother thing.... So I made sure we went and had a good time!

On Halloween, Paul's school was canceled and our friends graciously invited us to go trick or treating with them. Abby had a blast with her friends and getting all the yummy candy. She would get the candy from the house, then she would try and sit down in the street to eat it. Needless to say, it took for-ev-er. I was plenty sore that next day, but it was completely worth it. I loved getting to spend some time with Abby having fun!

One (fast) Month!

2011-12-04T23:56:00.003-06:00

One month stats (technically 5 wk stats)

11 lbs 10 oz.

21 1/4 in long

Where oh where did the first month go? It went by so fast! He still just eats, sleeps, poops and cries. Abby got him to smile at her TWICE now (not fair). He's got the sweetest little face. I love his dimples! His left dimple shows up a lot (that's side we get the gas smirk from) but it's a real treat to get both of them at once! And check out the strawberry blond hair! I love it!

Abby is doing pretty well with him. She still ALWAYS wants me to hold her when I nursing him. She's figured out that she can get into pretty much whatever she wants while I'm feeding him, because I can't get up and stop her. She loves it when daddy comes home (although, she really only sees him Thursday-Sunday now because he goes right to school and most of the time has to go right to church on Tuesdays for YMs) because he gives her lots of much needed attention. I always feel so bad that she doesn't get all the attention she used to. I'm considering pushing her bedtime back to 8:30 so she can get to see him every day.

Lifes been a whirlwind since baby J has joined our family. My family and friends have helped me SO much. I could never have kids if I didn't live by family and had no friends. (I'd just be one of those crazy cat ladies. Well, maybe not cat. I hate cats. ) They have been such a strength to me: Always answering my questions about anything and everything (mostly nursing because nursing sucks- no pun intended) I really could never repay them for all they've done! THANK YOU!

-- post will be cut short because of the screaming baby :)

Jared Paul Johnson

2011-11-03T22:20:00.005-05:00

Jared Paul Johnson

October 26, 2011

12:32 pm

7 lbs 7.5 oz, 20 inches long

We headed to the hospital at 4 am on the 26th for me to be induced. Everything got going pretty fast! I didn't have to take the liquid drink this time, like I did with Abby. They just stuck an i.v. in me and let the pitocin run through my veins. All was in place at 5:30 and the waiting began. I was dilated to a 2 when I got there, so we asked the nurse if she had any predictions of birth time. She guessed about noon. I guessed 1 and Paul guessed 11. (We really wanted to get this baby out :)

Contractions started heating up at about 7am when my doctor came in to break my water. At that point I was about a 4. I handled them okay until 9 when all the labor moved to my back (JUST like it did for Abby). I called the nurse for an epidural, but the "epidural giver" (ha) was in the room with a lady getting a c-section... so it took a good hour for him to get there. Longest hour ever. He (the epi giver) finally got there to give me my epi at 10. I don't remember it hurting so bad with Abby, but this time it literally felt like he was filing my spine. Holy it hurt. Then it wasn't working right... I could still feel all my back labor, but he said there wasn't anything they could do about it. Gay. At 11:30 Jared turned the right way and there was no pain! Woo Jared!

I was at an 8 when they checked me and the nurse said "If you feel any pressure, you call me asap!" So I fell asleep and woke up to a lot of pressure. I called the nurse, she was busy so a different one came in. She checked me, I was still at an 8.. Grr. I asked her when I could start pushing and she said I had to be at a 10. Then for some reason she decided to check me again (literally 3 minutes later) and she said "It's time to have a baby!" Luckily, Dr. W was headed up the stairs to check on me.

Dr. W got in the room, got all saddled up (he's quite the cowboy. Really. He wears scrubs and cowboy boots to work every day) and told me to push. Then to push again.. Then one more tiny push and Jared was out! It took 10 minutes tops. Awesome!

Introducing, Jared Paul...... !!!!!

Abby was pretty confused. She was excited to see a baby, but then got distracted by her surroundings.

Now we have this squishy little guy here with us. Cute little dimples and all!

Train Ride

2011-10-03T22:12:00.005-05:00

A couple weeks ago, a few friends and I went to the Ft. Worth Zoo to ride the Mini Train. Abby was unsure about it as soon as it started moving. The conductor would blow the horn several times during the 30ish minute ride and every time he did, I got some serious snuggles from my little princess.
This picture Danielle took melts my heart every time I see it. (It's now my desktop background so my heart is constantly melting:) Thanks to Maddy and Danielle, I got 3 pictures I will forever cherish!

After the train ride, we all sat down for a picnic together. Abby loves to hang out with her little friends. It's so fun to have friends with a kid the same age as mine.
We are loving this fall weather and will be taking advantage of it often! Hopefully I'll remember my camera so I can document these fun times with Abby a little better!

Baby Boy's Shower!!

2011-09-30T11:48:00.002-05:00

Seriously, I have some wonderful friends! They threw me a wonderful baby shower last weekend! With all their combined skills, it was absolutely perfect!

Check out this spread of food! It was all incredible. When everyone arrived, we started off by eating this glorious grub!

After we ate, we headed out for a craft! We LOVE to craft together, so this was a perfect addition to the shower. Everyone took a couple letters and decorated them. The theme of Jr's room is "ABC's". I am so stinkin' excited about this and getting it on the wall! I think the letters all turned out fabulous!
Then on to gifts. This baby is seriously so spoiled already (and he's still got another shower next weekend from my sisters!) We got so many wonderful boy things!

I'm so grateful to have these wonderful gals in my life. They are so much fun to be around all the time. We really have formed more of a sisterhood than friendship. Thank you guys for spoiling my little guy so much with these gifts, and spoiling me with the wonderful shower! Love you girls!!

Nursery c:

2011-09-30T11:33:00.003-05:00

(I'm not sure what happened to the rest of her nursery pictures!)

Abby started nursery about a month ago. The first two weeks she went great! She loved it all (except singing time). And after those first two weeks she's hated going. It's been such a struggle to get her to go in there. Once she gets in and settles down, she does pretty good. Every time I peek in on her she's being healed by one of the leaders. Hopefully it will get better soon..

I can't believe how hard it is on me to see her go in there hysterical. I absolutely hate it. I know it's part of the growing process for her, but after seeing those sad tear filled eyes for a few weeks in a row, I'm temped to keep her with me. (no, I wont really do that..) I think part of that feeling is being pregnant again already. I hate to see my baby grow up so fast and soon she will have a little brother. I'm so worried she will feel left out and no longer my "baby". Hopefully it'll be a lot easier than I'm thinking it will be, but it's still hard to think about!

Whew.

Anyway.

My little girl is growing up so fast! She's amazing me every day with the words she's leaving and the different skills she's developing! And now she gets to go to nursery! It sure is nice being able to listen in Sunday school and YW's/RS! Thank you wonderful nursery leaders!!

Baby Jr.

2011-09-29T22:00:00.003-05:00

(I wish this was my stretch mark free belly... )

I was just thinking today that I've blogged maybe twice about this little boy making his debut in 4 weeks!

Baby boy still doesn't have a name.. And wont till we see him. Nothing we have come up with sounds right, so I think we need to see that precious face of his before we can give him a name. It's so weird, because I've known since I was a teenager that I wanted Abby to be Abby (Abigail). It's been tough to not know the name of this baby! We'll have to wait till after he's born to make all those cute baby name things.

Every appointment has gone great. He's been developing just like normal. Jr is measuring a bit big so we'll be having him a week early (just like we did with Abby). So now D-day is October 26th as long as he stays on the track he's on developmentally wise.

This pregnancy has been a little rough on me. Abby's pregnancy was a breeze. I was sick the first trimester and felt wonderful the rest of the time. I've been sick 95% of this pregnancy it seems. But after about 25 weeks of it I accepted it and moved on. Once I accepted it, the pregnancy got so much easier. I stopped asking "When will the feeling good part come?!" (well for the most part.)

So now we've got the nursery mostly set up, just needs to be decorated. I've had one fabulous baby shower (that I'll post about.... maybe tomorrow) and my sisters are throwing me another one next weekend for this spoiled baby boy! I really am so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends! I'm loving all the blues, greens, and browns! It's so different to have 'boy' things around.

We are way excited about this little guy coming. Hopefully he'll surprise us at 37 weeks. We'd all love that!! :)

Abby in 15 years...

2011-09-23T19:47:00.002-05:00

This commercial makes me cry every time. (pregnancy? who cares) I dread this day with Abby, but at this rate it's going to be like tomorrow.. :(

18 Months!!

2011-08-29T15:20:00.006-05:00

(eating cookies from our home teacher-no pants, messy hair) (and happy:)

NURSERY!!! Ahem. I mean, Abby is 18 months! Time is flying by.. I can't believe how grown up she is. And that she's a soon to be big sister! Abby is learning things so fast now I can hardly keep up. Here are a fun few facts about her:

She weighs 26lbs (not sure how tall she is)
She knows tons of words/phrases ("Lets Go!", "Bye, bye daddy!", Lyla, Emma, Buck (although it sounds like but), drink, eyes, hi, bye, no, yay, yes (although rarely used), etc.
She knows where her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, head, and cheeks are
She sings all the time, mostly to the tunes of "Old Mcdonald" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
Every day when Paul gets home she gets her shoes and points to the back door saying "Owe iie?" (he's the only one that takes her outside) (judge me, I don't care)
She's pretty good at getting her shoes on the right feet
She loves to take showers
She loves all her babies (everything is a baby; her bears, pigs, etc.)
She talks to real babies like she's way older than them always saying in the babiest voice "Oh babe babe babe"
She loves dogs. I think they will always be her favorite animal.
Shes such a sweet girl. Always gives us kisses and hugs even when we don't ask for them.
Today is day TWO in her toddler bed.
She is some great free entertainment :)
Her hair is a.l.w.a.y.s. a mess! ALWAYS! No matter how many times I fix it a day.

We have this drawer by our computer table. She and Paul decided to make a chair with pillows and blankets so she would sit and not fall off of it. It slides open really easily. She's gotten a few bruises from falling off of it.
Abby's first day of Nursery! (I'll blog more about that next)
She loves to be up high, so I sat her on the dresser we just bought for her little brother. She thought it was sooo funny.
And last, my little Raggedy Anne just playing with mommy on a typical day.

Abby really brings so much joy into our lives. It's so fun to watch her grow up and learn so many things so quickly. She's got the best belly laugh ever and the goofiest little smile. I hate that she's growing up so quickly, but it sure is fun to watch how it happens.

We've made it 18 whole months!! Yay!

July 4th and a dresser!

2011-08-24T22:24:00.003-05:00

I lived in Midlothian for 99% of my life growing up. Every year for as long as I can remember, Midlothian does their fire works on the 3rd of July. They used to do it this way because the town was just so dang small, everyone wanted to go out to bigger and better fire works on the 4th. We're so glad they've kept with the tradition. It's so fun to go back to my old stompin' grounds to watch them.

This year we watched them with the Johnson side of the family (although, my whole family was just on the other side of the parking lot). Abby loved the fire works! Every one that went off was followed by a "Woah!" or "Wow!" It's so fun to get to do these things with Abby now that she's old enough to get it a little more.

In July we also found Abby a dresser! She'd been using wire racks with baskets on them since she was born. It really worked great until lately. She would pull everything out of the baskets and make her room even more of a disaster than it already was. I found this dresser on craigslist and repainted it to match Abby's room. I think it turned out pretty cute! And it's hard for Abby to open the drawers on it... so it's a win win! :)

Happy Birthday, Paul!

2011-08-24T22:17:00.003-05:00

Paul had a birthday on June 14 (yep, I'm that far behind). The Sunday before his birthday the Mav's played their last game against the Heat and took the title of MBA Champs! That Sunday we had a few friends over and surprised Paul with a cake. He says it was the best birthday ever! (Only because the Mav's won :)

We had the usual birthday dinners with his family and my family. He got lots of fun gifts. Hopefully this year will be a wonderful one for him!

Birthday Cuteness

2011-06-26T22:47:00.002-05:00

A week or so ago, Abby was invited to go to this little guys 1st Birthday Party! Lincoln's such a cute little man! So glad we got to share this small party with him!

Before the party, I asked Abby if she wanted to write in Lincoln's card, she said "mmhum!" and went right to work. I just thought it was too cute not to document. She worked on this for a good 20 minutes or so. (But she is my daughter, so everything she does is cute, right? Sorry about that. But my blog, my cuteness :)

Six Flags with PJco!

2011-06-26T22:23:00.005-05:00

At the beginning of the month we had the great opportunity of braving the hot weather to have some fun at Six Flags over Texas! I have to admit, we were very, very skeptical about going because of how hot it was supposed to be, but we are SO glad we went because it really wasn't bad at all! We thought we'd only stay for about 2 hours... but we ended up staying 7/8!

This is the only ride I rode. I LOVE Six Flags so much, but with my "condition" (as Six Flags calls it) I wasn't able to ride any big kids rides. But really, after one ride on this thing that only went in circles, I wanted to puke.
Abby loved seeing all the cartoon characters around the park. She had such a great time walking around and running wild.
Right before we left, she clonked out while we were enjoying a funnel cake. I can say proudly that I've never been to Six Flags without enjoying a funnel cake! Although, for some reason this time it really wasn't all that great.
There have been some wonderful parties put on by PJco, and this one did not disappoint. Such a great company to work for! Can't wait to see what they have up their sleeves next :)

Baby Jack

2011-06-26T22:14:00.003-05:00

My big sister, Chelsea is going in to have her baby tomorrow! My sisters, mom and I decided to throw her a surprise shower for baby Jack. It turned out to be kind of a bust because all her friends were busy/out of town (we didn't have it on the best weekend... very busy). Hopefully Chelsea got most of what she needed though.

I hope Baby Jack makes a speedy and safe debut into the world and everything goes well with Chelsea, too!

(amazing cake made by Amy!)

TOFW: Choose To Become

2011-06-26T21:30:00.003-05:00

A couple months ago I had the great privileged to travel to San Antonio with my sisters and mom to go to Time Out For Women. It was such a fun girl's weekend. There were so many great musical numbers and speakers there. There's really nothing that can compare to the spiritual nourishment that happens in the two short days of being with people of your same faith, with your same worries, trials, tribulations, and thing's weighing on your hearts. They get it. And when we all ban together something fabulous happens that I really can't explain. The spirit is felt there so strong. You leave with your cup overflowing and you learn how to keep your cup full and your soul nourished. There's this fire that burns within- it makes your heart feel like it might burst. You learn to let the little things go and to focus on the things that matter.

Usually we're working TOFW and don't really get to sit and listen very much. This time we were able to sit and enjoy the full two days of speakers and musical numbers. It was so wonderful to get to experience the part of TO that most people get to. But I have to admit, it is really great getting to see both sides of it.

I can't wait till it comes back to Plano next year. Hopefully baby Jr will cooperate and be an awesome baby so I can work it with my sisters and mom again. It really is such a great experience.

While we were in San Antonio, we were able to go to the river walk a couple times to eat. Boy oh boy do I love me some authentic mexican food. Paul has never been to the river walk. I hope we can go down sometime soon and spend the weekend so we can both enjoy it together. The river walk brings so many great memories for me as a kid and teenager traveling there with school friends and family. If you live in Texas, it's a must visit!

Abby 14ish Months

2011-06-26T21:19:00.003-05:00

Abby brings such a light and entertainment in our home. She is growing up so fast and I hate it! I've really started to realize just how fast she's growing since I found out I was pregnant again. I know I will miss my sweet little girl once another one is thrown into the bunch. Sometimes I wish I could just record every little thing she does: Her cheesy under bite smile, her giggles, her saying "hi mommy!", her "jumping", her animal noises, the way she lights up every time Paul gets home from work, blowing kisses.

So for my enjoyment, here are a few pictures documenting a couple of fun things Abby does.

Left Behind Anniversary.

2011-06-26T21:12:00.004-05:00

Because I was too lazy to upload a really blog about anything the past couple months, these pictures from our anniversary were left out of the anniversary blog. So, I thought I'd share because I have a really sweet husband who loves me and really just wants to do anything to make me happy. :)

I really wish I would have taken a picture of just us that night, but frankly I'm really bad with the camera. I always forget when I have it and when I do want it I forget to bring it.

I'm so blessed to have such a sweet, caring husband who knows and loves me.
Can't wait to see what the next year brings :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-06T14:23:00.004-05:00

Probably just my crazy hormones right now, but this video is great, especially with me being a somewhat new mom. I wonder if I will ever not feel like a new mom? So many new things keep happening daily. I don't think I will be a "seasoned" mom for quite some time.

Thank you to my awesome mom for giving up everything to raise me. I think you did a pretty great job.

Thank you to my mother-in-law for raising a wonderful husband for me and a spectacular daddy for my children.

Thank you to my sisters and sisters-in-law for being such a good example to me of how to be a great mother.

Thank you to my wonderful friends who are really like sisters to me now. You are all fabulous mothers.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

New Big News

2011-04-19T14:41:00.005-05:00

The cat is out of the bag, but it must be documented.

Baby #2 is on it's way to our growing family!

We are pretty stoked about it now. When we first found out, I was far from stoked. It took about 3 months to get pregnant with Abby.. Yeah, not so much with this one.

I went to the doctor last week for the first time and Dr. W tried to find a heartbeat for about 20 minutes before he gave up and we went next door for an ultrasound. Right away he found a heartbeat. What a heart wrenching 20 minutes that was for me. It was at that moment, when I was flipping out, that I knew I loved this little guy/girl with all my heart already. I couldn't bear the thought of having a miscarriage (even though I know that happens frequently). When the doc showed me our little baby I just finally burst into tears of relief.

Whew

We go in tomorrow to have another ultrasound to do all the measuring. As for now, we think I'm 13 weeks, but we'll find out for sure tomorrow. Which reminds me I need to get in and do all the wonderful pregnancy blood work. Bleh. I think my due date is Oct 24th, unless I'm fewer/more weeks than we think.

So, HEELLLLOO Summer pregnancy!

3 Years Later... And Still No (recent) Picture.

2011-04-18T22:38:00.005-05:00

I decided I should probably blog about our anniversary before I forget everything that we did. :)

Paul and I hit 3 years on March 22. Since it was a Tuesday, we decided to celebrate the weekend before...

So, Saturday we had my fabulous little sister come watch Abby for the evening so we could go to dinner and a movie. We went out to Cheesecake Factory in the mall. It was wonderful as ever! We both left stuffed and tired, but it was still pretty early so I called Beth to see how things were going. Since they were going well, we decided to head to see The Adjustment Bureau. We hadn't been to a movie in ages. Really. They are just so dang expensive, so we were a little tentative to go spend the money in hopes to see a fabulous movie. (isn't always annoying when you spend the money and the movie just sucks?) (maybe that's just my crabbiness in my old age.) The movie was great, with exception of the corny ending.

We didn't do anything extravagant or wild and crazy, but we had so. much. fun. It was SO nice to have a grown up conversation and to just spend time with each other. It'd been a long time since we were able to enjoy each other's company like we did that day. It was like we were 18 and dating again. You know those dates when you just don't ever want to go home? You can be doing completely nothing, but it's the best nothing in the world.

I love this man of mine. It's so wonderful to be married to my very best friend. Laughter is key to our relationship and let me just say, there is always plenty of that. Paul is such a fantastic father to Abby. So patient, kind, loving and caring. I'm so blessed to have an eternity with him.

Confessions of an Unbalanced Women- 4

2011-04-08T17:13:00.002-05:00

I borrowed the book "Confessions of an Unbalanced Women" from my SIL, and haven't started reading it yet.
I haven't blogged about our anniversary, which makes me lame, but I want to get a cute picture of Paul and I together first. And we n.e.v.e.r. take pictures together... so don't hold your breath.
I facebook stock people. Sometimes people I don't know. But I think it's fun. So make your facebook private if you don't want creepers like me comin' round.
I've lost 10 lbs in the last few weeks. Too bad it I can't even tell where it's falling off! Lame.
I told Paul if he didn't want pizza for a 2nd night in a row, he would have to take me to Carl's Jr tonight. Guess what? We aren't having pizza for a 2nd night in a row.... :)
I really don't like to be outside. Like at all. I get too hot too fast and it's just miserable. Why do I live in Texas? Family. And Paul's still in school. Hello Summer... shoot.me.now.
I cleaned my bathroom last week for the 2nd time since we moved here. And we moved here on Halloween of last year. Disgusting, huh? We have two bathrooms though, and no one sees ours. Thank goodness. Paul probably thinks I hired someone.
I got a piano from my mom, but it has broken keys. I wish I could get it fixed so badly so I could teach myself a little more. I took a class in high school that taught me a little, and if I sit down long enough I can play a whole song... But I really just want this piano to work. I think it's beautiful. It was part of the plan to fix it with some of our tax return money... but then we bought a car.
Paul's little brother, Jordan, is on a mission in NY. I want to go pick him up. It's been a life long dream of mine to go to that rat filled city and explore. I always said I'd do it before I got married... I should have told Paul to send me to NY before I would marry him. Good thinkin', Marls.
I've never been a decorator, but I've been watching the Nate Berkus Show lately, and now I know I want my room to be light blue with a white comforter and a new bed frame thats also white and distressed looking. Cottage looking, you know? To go with our house with the white picket fence...(in 30 years) Paul's trying to sweet talk my FIL to make it. Hopefully he gets really sweet with his talkin.

Today.

2011-03-14T22:59:00.003-05:00

This morning I woke up to Abby crying. After a long week last week of that being all I hear all day, I just played dead in bed. Paul was still home but trying to get ready for work, so he grabbed Abby and put her in bed with me. She started rustling around and trying to talk to me and I really just wanted to sleep.

Last week we found out Abby has and ear infection in each ear. We didn't find that out until the end of the week, though, after 3 days of 102+ fevers. The whole week was super hard on me. Constant, not with any exaggeration, crying and whining and needing from Abby. (not that I'm throwing my own pity party here, but just so you know why I felt the way I did this morning) I was really not looking forward to today.

So I get out of bed... Make Abby some breakfast (ahem.. cereal)... and then my day began. Abby was so happy and cheerful. She talked and played literally all day. She had two naps- total 1 hour of napping, but yet still so cheerful. I was constantly in awe by her today. She just baby talks non stop and it's the cutest thing ever.

I was able to get 3 loads of much needed laundry done, load and unload the dishwasher twice, and clean up the front room (although you wouldn't have known that I did because my little tornado was not far behind me).

I am so thankful for today. I needed today. My spirits as a mother were so beat down after last week and today was the biggest breath of fresh air I've had in a long time. So, I just had to write about my day today, so that later on in this week I can read and remember what a good day feels like... ;)

Happy Birthday, Abigail

2011-02-28T22:56:00.004-06:00

I've been seriously dreading writing this post for the past month. For two night before Abby's birthday I couldn't sleep. All I wanted to do is go hold my little baby for a little longer before she turned 1! She is so precious to us, and it's so sad to me that shes already gone through a year of her (hopefully) many, many years.

Facts about Abby:

She weighs 22 lbs
She is 30 inches long
She knows how to say "mama, dada, dog, hi, and thnk tou (thank you)
She runs everywhere, she over walking
When we say "I'm gonna get you!" she runs away and hides while laughing hysterically
She knows just how to get out of going to bed at night

We had Abby's birthday party at a park in Arlington on the 19th of February. It turned out to be a beautiful day, just a little windy. There were a whole lot of family and friends that came to support. (Yes, I invited a couple friends, because without them (and my family) I wouldn't have made it through this first year.)

I made Abby a tutu and cut out little letters for her onsie. I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I decided to do all this, but it was fun to see her all dressed up anyway.

Thank you so much for all the family and friends who came to show their love and support. We REALLY couldn't have made it through this first year without you. Seriously. It's so fun to get to live so close to family and get to see them often. Abby got seriously spoiled for her birthday, and it was made possible by all of you wonderful people!

We love you all, and can't wait to see what this next year brings!

From the first time I held her,

heard her first cry

Love had a face,

and she looked into mine

Now a year has passed,

how time does fly

A year full of firsts

special child of mine.

First giggles,

First tumbles,

First teeth,

First smile,

Every second worth all the while.

And at the end of this year

filled with firsts and fun,

We can't believe our Abby is already One!

Beautiful.

2011-02-18T12:10:00.003-06:00

Some days are hard. I wonder what the heck I'm trying to do here. It's hard to be a mom, a member of my church, and a wife in this ridiculous world we live in. This video is inspiring and gives some hope that I've never experienced before. I love my life, more than anything. I cannot imagine my life without this gospel I live and the family I have. Life isn't perfect, nor am I, but striving to be better, to become something better, gives me infinite hope. I love my Savior, my Husband, my daughter and my family (extended included) so unbelievably much. And I am so thankful for my wonderful life.

Confessions of an Unbalanced Women- 3

2011-02-15T17:16:00.003-06:00

I've decided that the best part of church is when the young men pass the sacrament. Another ward's men are meeting for priesthood in the gym and theres only those movable wall/curtain things dividing us from them. Picture this, silence in the chapel (or only one baby crying), and then all the sudden these mighty men start singing their opening hymn. It's beautiful and warms my heart every single Sunday.
I hate it when there are 3 lanes of traffic- one for turning left, two for going straight, but in the right hand lane you can turn right at a red light, you know? No matter what day it is, if I'm running late and need to turn right onto a street there is always that one boso that wanted to sit in the right hand lane to go straight when theres about 30 cars behind him that need to turn right. Annoying.
I got flowers yesterday for Valentines Day. We never, EVER do anything for v-day... probably because out anniversary is next month and my birthday was last month. Poor husband of mine. Anyway, I woke up to roses on the kitchen table and it brightened my day so much and made me feel so loved that he would run to the store and come back all before leaving for work so early in the morning.
I eat so many sweets a day it's not even funny. And I keep making sweets.. that doesn't help this waistline problem I've had for the past year now.
I leave the water running all the flippin time. No, I am no water saving hippy... Obviously.
I only shave my legs maybe once a week... Maybe. Luckily, I'm already married for an eternity so he can't run away.... too far. (you would think with how long I run the water in the shower I'd be shaving my legs every day.. but no. It's really just to get away. like an oasis in my bathroom.)
I love my girlfriends. They make me laugh and cheer me up so much. I've been thinking about the past year a lot with planning Abby's First birthday party. I just can't believe how much they helped me out. It was the little things, mostly, that have left a lasting impression in my life. Don't get me wrong, my family helped me out more than anyone. They were always helping. But I just wanted to brag about my friends for a little bit. Mmkay?
Paul and I are still so ridiculously immature. And I love it. We laugh about the most inappropriate things. I feel like I've written about this before.. But alas, it keeps our marriage going.
Paul and I are also very dramatic.. But on purpose. We like to dramatize things until they can't be blown up anymore. On purpose. And we both know when something is dramatized. It usually ends with a lot of laughter.
Yesterday, Paul started a conversation with "Did you hear me tearing up that bathroom today?" I had to convince him that was not a good conversation started.. Again, after a lot of laughing.
(I'll probably get in a lot of trouble for this last one. oh well ;)

The Man of the Hour

2011-01-18T15:56:00.007-06:00

At the end of December, we were seriously blessed to be able to go to Colorado for my nephew's sealing to his parents, Michael and Beth. They have adopted two beautiful children and we were so excited to go to this wonderful milestone in their lives.

On December 31, we headed to the temple. It was so beautiful outside with all the snow. Caleb was all dressed in white and looked so handsome. Something a bit unusual, but absolutely wonderful, was that Caleb's birth grandparents were able to come to the sealing. The sealer himself had a granddaughter give a baby up for adoption, and was traveling the next day to see that baby baptized! After the ceremony, Caleb's birth mom came to the temple and we were able to meet her and spend some time getting to know her. It was the most beautiful awkward situation ever. Here is this beautiful girl who made a mistake that blessed our family more than she could ever know. And we got to meet her! Things are looking up in her life and she's now in Utah going to college.

Sarah (also adopted) and Caleb

Beth and Caleb. So happy.

Birth Grandparents, Jill (Birth mom), Beth, Michael (Paul's brother) Sarah, and little Caleb.

Jill and Caleb :)

Beth, Caleb and Jill (birth mom :)

The whole experience was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I really believe that it takes the most faithful to handle the hard and what a hard thing this was. Jill is wonderful and we are so happy for her to be doing so well. We really only wish her and her family the best. That's all they deserve for blessing Michael and Beth with this beautiful baby boy.

We are so glad we were able to go up to Colorado for this and didn't talk ourselves out of it because of all the bad weather. It was an experience we will never forget and hopefully we'll be able to attend another one for Michael and Beth soon :)

Another 1st: Christmas!

2011-01-14T12:34:00.004-06:00

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year was super fun, but super crazy. There was a ton of driving around. Each day we went to Paul's parents house then my moms house. Next year we will definitely be splitting up our time differently. It was too exhausting and I was too grumpy by the end of both days. We did have a ton of fun though. It was great getting to see both our families so much!

We will always spend Christmas morning at our own house with our own kids so we can have that fun time as a family. This face, to me, is Christmas Morning. I just love this picture! Abby had such a fun day. When she woke up she what all kinds of whiny and fussy, but as soon as she saw her little people farm she perked right up! We really didn't expect any reaction from her, but it just goes to show how much she loves her little people!

This was the first picture I took of her. She was SO. TIRED! It was so funny though.

We had a wonderful Christmas! Lots of laughs, love and fun. What else could we possibly need?

Christmas Pops

2011-01-14T12:06:00.003-06:00

One of the many perks from Paul working at Peisner Johnson and Co is always getting to have an awesome Christmas activity. This past Christmas we were able to go to the Dallas Symphony and see "Christmas Pops" with Marvin Hamlisch. The show was awesome. I really love going to see things like this, but it's never something that we think of doing, so I was extra excited to go see what it was all about. Marvin Hamlisch directed and man was he awesome. He's such a great M.C. and really kept the crowd going with his quick whitted comments and interaction with the crowd. There were some excellent performers, too. Two teenagers from a nearby high school came and did their own rendition of Greensleeves with a vibraphone and a violin. It was amazing! I really could sit and listen to talented people play their insturments all day long. I guess thats the band nerd in me. There was also a little girl, she was 10 I believe (Mikaela Schneider) who sang Ave Maria. It was the most beautiful thing. I've never heard that song sung so beautifully. (Again, I could sit and listen to choirs or soloists all day.. that would be the choir nerd in me!) Also the orchestra and choir were beautiful and flawless. Mr. Hamlisch introduced the choir as the Motab. ha.

We are so glad we were able to go to this wonderful performance with PJco. It was such a treat!

Oh my! I almost forgot to tell you about the dinner we were treated to before hand! (holy mother of brag time) We were able to eat (with PJco) at the Opus Restaurant just inside the Dallas Symphony building. It was a buffet with the yummiest food I've had in a very long time! If the food had be sitting out for more than about 20 minutes, they would replace it with a fresh dish of it! So awesome. Yeah, we were super spoiled that night. :)

Happy Birthday, Super Lukas!!

2011-01-14T11:23:00.005-06:00

Super Lukas (my nephew who was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma when he was 11 months old) turned 4!! Birthdays for him are extra special because we did not think he would make it to be a big old 4 year old about 3 years ago! He's so funny and says things like "I love you to the moon and back!" He's super cute and way fun to be around.

We were able to go celebrate with him at Abbey's Playtown in Grand Prairie. This place is AWESOME! Theres bounce houses, kid roller coasters, a little play area for babies, a ball pit, swings hanging from the ceiling and more! Abby had a blast in her little baby protected area away from all the crazy 1-5 years old running crazy. There are no shoes allowed (even for parents), which I was super skeptical about at first because I didnt think it could be sanitary, but it was so clean in there! The owner really keeps it clean.

Beth and her BFF Cortney. Cortney moved to Utah a few months ago and surprised us all by showing up to the party! Beth was so happy!

I look kinda crazy in this picture, but Lukas looks super cute! Happy Birthday big boy!! Can't wait to celebrate another year with you!

FaiL- 10 Months!

2011-01-11T16:42:00.002-06:00

Apparently, I never posted that Abby turned 10 months. Well, Surprise! She made it... and is now almost to 11 months! Sheesh.

Anyway, for her 10 month post, here's what happened in month 9:

Abby learned how to walk! (Which is what I completely and whole heartedly blame my lack of blogging to. It's non stop around here!)
She has added "Nana" to her vocabulary.
She finally started to wave goodbye and clap her hands.
I think this is when she got two more teeth.. Uhhh... *dur*
A long with walking came climbing... and a whole lot of bonks.

It's been a lot of fun around here with Abby learning such a big milestone! Shes everywhere, getting into everything, and being cuter (a word?) than ever. Shes started playing peek-a-boo constantly using what ever she can to hide her eyes then come out from behind it and say "DA!" or "AH!" nice and loud.

Stay tuned till next week when I get to write about her 10 month progress! My baby is getting too big!

The Tree Hunt

2010-12-28T14:37:00.003-06:00

A week after Thanksgiving we went to Canton to cut down our own tree! It was such a fun time for us to spend as our own little family. We decided on the way home that we would probably wait a few more years to do it again because Abby was just too young to enjoy it fully.

There was so much to do out there, though! Trains to ride, pumpkin launchers, corn cannons, duck races, a petting zoo and more. We had a great time together.

Insert Two Cute Videos-Here

2010-12-28T09:37:00.002-06:00

*Gotta turn off the music*

I just love these videos. I could sit at watch Abby all day. Oh wait.. I do.

In this first video, we're trying to get Abby to yell "DADA!" like she does all. the. time. It makes us laugh so hard. We failed the first time, but...

Then in this one, Paul gets her to do it.

The Giving of Thanks

2010-12-27T22:42:00.006-06:00

For Thanksgiving, we went camping! We only stayed down there for one night because:

It was our first time with Abby
Paul had school the night we were supposed to go
and the last night we were supposed to stay, it was going to be in the 20's, so we peaced out the rest of the Johnson clan

We go camping every other year with the Johnson's, then on the other years we stay in the indoors with more of a traditional Thanksgiving with my family. We love doing both!

Camping is something not many people do for turkey day, and it's always a fun reaction when you tell people. So we traveled on down to Huntsville, TX with our car bursting at the seams to camp for ONE night. We had so much fun!

The first day (Thanksgiving) we were there it was like.. 80! Then at about 3pm, we heard some fierce winds a comin our way, so we took cover because initially, we thought it was a storm. All the sudden this burst of wind comes and the temperature dropped to the mid 40's! It was so awesome. Everyone started scrambling for their jackets and jeans.

Thursday night was pretty dang cold. We were worried about Abby staying warm in her pack in play, so we did everything we could think of to keep her insulated. She slept pretty well, but when one baby cries in a campsite, it wakes every baby in the campsite. A baby (who will not be named... just linked to) woke up hungry, then Abby woke up and it took a long while to get her back to sleep. We felt so bad because everyone heard her. After getting her back to sleep, everything went pretty smoothly, though.

Friday morning we rand to Walmart to get a few things, went for some fun bike rides, and cut up some more fire wood.

Grandpa thought it'd he'd put the kids to work. They loved it!
These are all our tents set up. Ours was the gigantic one in the middle. So tall you could stand up in! A special thanks to my brother and sil for letting us borrow it! It sure did make the middle of the night experience a lot easier to deal with. Not to mention, the rain (that I forgot to mention)!
We really did have such a great time! Hopefully next time we camp, it wont be so freezing cold at night.. We loved spending time with the family, and getting to see Paul's Brother and Sister in law that live in Colorado! Can't wait till our next camping trip when we'll probably have two kids. What an adventure that will be! :)

Texas A&M

2010-12-21T23:37:00.002-06:00

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Marc and Liz (my bil and sil) for graduating from A&M this past weekend! Such a huge and admirable accomplishment. So proud of them. They now make 4 Aggies that graduated from A&M in the Johnson family.

It was so fun to go to the (long) graduation. There is such an Aggie spirit that can be felt on the grounds. So much Aggie pride! I think the best part of the grad was the fight song at the end. So fun to watch all the graduates. I have a short video of that, but I'll post it another day. If you ever get a chance to go to an Aggie Land, I'd seriously recommend it. If Paul wasn't so deep in school already, I'd insist we move down there for him to finish!

Congrats, again, Marc and Liz!

Confessions of an Unbalanced Women- 2

2010-12-09T18:28:00.002-06:00

I am so lazy when it comes to posting on this blog. I'm so far behind, but to be completely honest, I just don't care to write about all the fun things that have happened. I'd rather come to confession.
Abby cracks me up. Seriously. I find myself laughing at her all day because of the funny things she does.
Paul finally got back in town today after being gone since Monday. Surprisingly, Abs and I survived just fine. The worst parts were the nights.
I pace a lot. Especially when I'm on the phone. Paul laughs at me and tells me to just sit down every time I'm in a deep conversation on the phone. When I try to sit I get all fidgety. I always end up back on my feet... pacing.. without even knowing it.
I love the holidays... but sometimes they get more stressful than fun. My favorite parts of the holidays are sitting at home with Paul and Abby. Its a rare occurrence.
Paul loves to play with my hair... Sometimes I make fun of him for it, but I really do love him to play with my hair... :)
I'm always exhausted at church. Especially when Paul has meetings before hand and I have to get up extra early to get Abby ready by myself. On these days I feel bad when I'm trying to make small talk with people. I find myself going in and out of the conversation constantly and leaving the conversation not really sure of what I just said.
I hate Paul being in school... only because I hate being away from him. I can't wait till he's done. And hopefully he wont decide to change his major in the next 2.5 years.
I'm exhausted... but no matter how tired I am I never go to bed before midnight. I just can't.
I give up on trying to think of a number 10.

Thankful

2010-11-29T21:36:00.003-06:00

I will do a post about our eventful Thanksgiving when I have more time to download and edit pictures, but I just wanted to drop a note of gratitude on the blog.

I seriously can't get over how blessed I am.

First, there's Paul: A hardworking man who provides for his family and doesn't complain about it. I cannot understand how he does it all. Full time school, full time work, a demanding church calling... And yet he still finds time to spend with us. He is so patient and kind to me. I feel like I've been in and out of crazy since Abby got here and no matter what, he's always there cheering me on and willing me to do better.

He is so awesome with Abby. If you have seen the way they look at each other you know what I mean. She a.d.o.r.e.s. him so much. Every time we hear his key in the front door when he gets home from school at night I say "Who's at the door?" and she turns her head so she can see around the corner. When she finally sees him she lights up brighter than anything I've ever seen. He's got the magic touch with her.

Second there's Abby: She is learning so fast and trying so many fun new things it's hard to keep up with her. I frequently used to say " Oh no, she's not ready for that" because I just can't believe that she could possibly grow so fast. But alas, she can do so much more I ever would expect her to. Abby's toothie grin is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Even if she's in trouble, she flashes that smile and it's hard to remember what I was upset at her about.

This past week Abby has been sick and she's been so snuggly. She didn't ever used to be snuggly, but recently she's gotten to where she will fall asleep on my shoulder again, or even just crawl to me for cuddles. I love it.

Third theres my family: I really wish I would have appreciated them as much as I do, my whole life. I wish it didn't take moving out and starting my own family to know how great it was growing up with such awesome people. They always have my back no matter what. Each one of them are so talented and they use their talents to make me a better person. I love that we can be so immature and inappropriate most of the time but still have time to show each other that we care and love each other.

Fourth there's my In-Laws: I love them dearly. They support me just as much as my own family. I am seriously blessed with some awesome in-laws. My SIL's are great and we have so much fun together. My BIL's are all super fun and keep me laughing constantly. My MIL and FIL love me as if I was one of their own. I feel so loved when I'm around them. I really am blessed to have married into such a great family!

Last, but most importantly, the Gospel: I don't want to know where I'd be without it. I love my Heavenly Father so much for all that he has blessed me with. I know that he sent me here to grow and find myself while I strengthen my testimony of this Gospel. I know, without a doubt, that I will live with Him and my family for eternity. For this knowledge I am eternally Thankful.

9 Months in- 9 Months Out!

2010-11-22T23:02:00.004-06:00

Abby's already 9 months old! Here are some fun things about her:

She didn't sleep through the night during her 8th month (Ok, so that's not the best "fun thing" to start off with
She likes to take off her socks, stick them in her mouth and crawl with them
When shes excited, she scrunches her nose and breathes through it to make funny noises
She would let go of things while she was standing to see how long she could stand without falling on her bum
The magical song that makes her stop crying is "Gypsy" by Shakira. 99% of the time I turn it on she stops crying and starts with the nose scrunching. (Paul doesn't believe in the power of the song. He will soon understand, though.)
Abby loves her Daddy. If I put her in bed before he got home from school, she would wake up right around the time he got home and cry till he went in to pat her back or rock her to sleep.
She makes really funny faces.
She got one top and one bottom tooth. Almost a third, but that'll have to wait till her 10 month post.
She LOVES Baby Einstein.

Abby is such a joy to us. Each stage she gets to is my new favorite. I love to watch her learn and grow. She's working so hard to walk and took a few steps all on her own. We just love her so much and can't wait to see what comes of this month!

Watching B.E. over and over. Don't judge me. I need a little quiet time now and then.

Confessions of an Unbalanced Women

2010-11-10T00:18:00.003-06:00

I stole this idea from a friend of mine who I used to VT in 6th ward and then she was lame and moved away.. Ahem. Anyway.

I think this is a fun way for people to get to know me. And guess what, if you don't want to get to know me, stop reading my blog... freak.

Confessions:

1) I love Paul. Really, I do. It really doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing, we have fun and we laugh. A lot. Probably more than we should because sometimes people think it's inappropriate to do so. (i.e. church) (ok it is probably not good to laugh as much as we do at church) (stop judging me)

2) I love to cook. I could cook all. day. long. The dumb part is cleaning up.

3)I love and appreciate my family (including in-laws) more now than I ever have. It's really sad that it took me getting married, moving out, and having a baby to know how truly blessed I am to have such wonderful people.

4) I miss the simplicity of life before marriage sometimes. Usually on bad days. I need to get over it, because I'm never going back. Memories flooded my mind while we were moving again and going through old things. See, I can say that I miss life before marriage because Paul was there with me then, too :)

5) I like to drive. A lot of times I drive in silence to wind down or just think. But I don't do it on purpose. I get to places and I realize that my radio hasn't been on, again.

6) When Abby does sleep through the night, I worry a lot about her breathing. I don't think that will ever stop.

7) I love every food that's bad for me. I know in moderation, they aren't so bad... but what is moderation, really? My "Fun Size" is a completely different size than advertised. Foods I love are: bread, candy, pasta, dessert, root beer, bread, candy, pasta, dessert, dessert, dessert... I should probably stop there.

8) A long with #7, I hate how much I weigh right now. I HATE it. But I have zero motivation to change it. I start working out and dieting then I get off one day and before I know it a month has passed and then I'm crying about my weight again.

9) I am baby hungry... again. : /

10) Laundry is at the top of my "Chores I hate" list.

Peisner Johnson Fun Fest!

2010-11-08T09:12:00.006-06:00

This past weekend Paul had a work party at the ranch. Peisner, Johnson and Co. really knows how to throw a party! It was at Andy's ranch (Paul's boss and uncle) in Milford, Tx (where Paul used to live and his parents still are). It's about an hour south on 35, North of Waco. It's always a good time when we go to the ranch. We've made some wonderful memories there, and this past one is right on up there with my favorite times at the ranch!

Usually there is a "Spring Fling" where we go down south and have a party, but I guess time got away from the firm and they decided to have this Fall Fest. Instead of the Spring Fling t-shirts, we all got Fall Fest Hoodies. It was carnival themed with lots of games, food, and fun!

These are the hoodies we got with the PJCO logo on them. They even found one for Abby. Its a little big on her, but she was sportin that hoodie none the less.

Since it was Carnival themed, we had lots of games to go play. If you did well, you got a few "PJCo Bucks" and if you didn't do well, then you got one for participating. The more bucks you got the better because at the end of the games...
You got to use your bucks to buy all these sweet items or you could participate in the auction at the end that had some awesome items (movie tickets, gift cards, etc)

Some of the games were:Ring toss, field goal kick, football toss, knock the Gatorade drinks down with the baseball, and a few more.
They had a pop corn machine.
And it wouldn't be a ranch party without the famous hay ride!
There was a bounce house that Abby wasn't too sure about.
Cotton Candy- I'm not sure why, but cotton candy is one of the coolest things ever. I just love it!
These you were able to buy with the PJco bucks. And guess what? I made them all! It was super fun to make them, too. There were pumpkins and scarecrows and a few that I made last minute with grass and candy pumpkins. I loved making them!
Abby was such a sport there. Towards the end she passed out on Paul's chest, but for most of the party, she was awake and so excited to see everything!

We had so much fun! It was a little bit of a drive down there, especially since we went back on Sunday to Paul's parents house who live right down the road from the house for a family dinner, but it was SO worth it.

We are SO grateful that Paul works at the PJCO Firm. Not only is it sustaining our family, it's giving him great work experience for when he graduates from UTA. He's learning things there that will help him for the rest of his career. The people that work there are so great and friendly- a lot of them are people that we've known since we were pre-teen. They are all great examples. And a major plus side- They throw some awesome parties and treat their employees great!

------------

P.S. You see that super cute hat Abby's wearing? That's from her aunt Liz for Christmas. Liz had to give it to her early because Abby's head is getting too big :) And I'm so glad because it was perfect for the chilly day! Thanks so much, Liz!

The beginning of Eternity

2010-11-04T08:34:00.006-05:00

Three years ago today it was a Sunday like any other Sunday. Paul drove from Milford to Midothian to pick me up for church. I happened to have on my least favorite outfit and of course Paul looked hot in his slacks and long shirt (I love long white shirts for church.) He asked me to bring my patriarchal blessing with me to church... Kind of odd, but I grabbed it and went to his car.

We headed to church, held hands all through Sacrament meeting and Sunday School, then met back up after the last hour of church. Then we jumped in Paul's car and headed home. We passed the exit to my house and went to the park instead.

This isn't just any park, it's a park where we had many very serious conversations concerning "us". So we pull up to the park and he tells gets my patriarchal blessing and his out of his trunk and we head to the park bench to chat.

All the sudden he's telling me all these sweet things and really they are all just a blur, but I remember thinking "This is it!" Paul got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. This was kind of a surprise to be because a few weeks before we were driving and the topic of marriage came up. Of course we knew we were going to get married, but it seemed too fast so Paul jokingly said "Maybe in about 3 years" and said he was going to go back to BYUI. I then told him I wouldn't wait around here for him if he went back there and I definitely wasn't going with him there! And then I was ticked at him for a couple days... :)

We then went to my moms house and shared the very exciting news with them (even though they already knew!) And Chelsea started this blog for me to document the fun engagement times.

The proposal wasn't anything huge, and I don't mind one bit. It was nothing extravagant, but we aren't extravagant people. It was simple and sweet and I'll remember it forever. The park is very close to my mom's house, so every time I got down to visit and pass by that park I think of that sweet, sweet memory when I knew I'd spend the rest of eternity with the man I've cried with, laughed with, and had so many sweet times with.

Halloween

2010-11-03T23:35:00.002-05:00

Abby's First Halloween! I decided to dress Abby up as a Lady Bug. She was the cutest little bug you'd ever see, too! We headed out to the ward Trunk or Treat on Friday night before Halloween to hand out candy. It was a lot of fun getting to see all our friends with their kids all dressed up (although we only took 2 pictures of Abby... oops). Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, we decided to go to my mom's house to have a Halloween Hunt with all Abby's cousins. Beth and I hid mini trick or treat buckets in the yard, then all the kids went and found them. It turned out to be a lot of fun, with lots of pictures!

Hope you all had a very Happy Halloween!!

Moving the Nanny

2010-11-03T22:28:00.004-05:00

(oh dang small pictures. click to enlarge? ha)

So we finally had the highly anticipated moving day! It turned out to go pretty smoothly (I was kind of nervous about it). Pretty much everything was packed and ready to me moved when the "help" arrived. We had all family and one friend help out so it went pretty fast! The hardest part is trying to get unpacked. I'm so indecisive and finally get things put away only to change my mind and decide thats not really the best spot for it. Ugh.

We moved last Friday and to date I've put away and organized (&reorganized) the kitchen, bathroom, half of our room and half of Abby's room. So far so good. It looks like the rest of it will have to wait till next week though. The rest of my week is pretty busy!

Last week I also started working as a nanny again! There are two little girls one is 2 and one is 7 months old. They are SUPER easy. I wouldn't have tried this two months ago, but Abby is finally to the age where she can play and entertain herself pretty well and if she gets hungry the same time as the other two kids, I can give her cheerios until the other two are fed and happy. It's pretty sweet and it will be nice to have a little extra cash on hand. Plus it's only on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a short time. So all in all it's pretty great!

Until next time...

Teach Me

2010-11-03T22:23:00.002-05:00

Abby loves to play on Paul's phone. Well not just his phone, but anything electronic that lights up! One night while we were getting ready to move Abby crawled over and started pushing on his phone while he was playing "Angry Birds" (the most addicting app you can get on iPhone/Pod). I thought it was pretty cute.

Doctor, Doctor!

2010-10-31T23:18:00.002-05:00

Until a couple weeks ago, Abby went to a doctor that I wasn't fond of... I had tried to get into my sister's doctor a couple times, but they weren't accepting new patience, so I just stayed where I was. F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. I was able to get Abby into this doctor, and I love her! She's German and so, SO sweet. She took the time to get to know Abby and me and really, genuinely cared. If you're looking for a doctor in the Irving area, I strongly recommend Dr. Edenhoffer!

TOFW HOPE

2010-10-25T00:03:00.004-05:00

Earlier this month I was so privileged to be able to not only attend, but to work at Time Out For Women, Plano. For all of you who know what EFY is, it's kind of like that but a two day thing for women. And it was awesome!

My sisters/friends and I had to be at Time Out early and stay late since we all worked it, so we decided to get a hotel room. This was the first time I was going to be away from Abby since she was in the NICU (and now I realize I never really wrote in detail about that.. 8 months later.) Even thought I knew I was leaving her with my wonderful husband, it was still so hard. I was a mess driving up to pick up Chelsea after saying goodbye.

I mean really, who wouldn't miss this sweet face? I wanted to badly to take her with me (which I could have, but I'm not breastfeeding her so she wasn't allowed.) It tuned out to be ok, though.

The first day of TOFW was Friday and it was AWESOME. I just love to sit and be edified in surroundings other than church. Don't get me wrong, church is great and all, but this event was just different. Laughing, crying, clapping... There were so many moments during the day when I would just think "WOW!" Some things that I'd heard before but now they mean something totally different. Last time I went to one of these, I was in high school I believe. My goodness how things have changed!

After the Friday event, a bunch of us went to Chili's. I LOVE MY SISTERS so much. They are just so much fun to be around. We also had a few friends go with us and we had a blast.

(Cortney, Beth, Heather (Olivia in belly :), Me, Chelsea)

Saturday started off early, but great! I was able to pick up Hillary Weeks from her hotel and take her to the event. She is so fun, kind, and genuine. And she also has a daughter named Marley! How cool, huh? The whole day was filled with uplifting moments, great music, and awesome experiences.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I had to go to this wonderful event. It was so great to be behind the scenes and get to enjoy so many more aspects. All of the presenters were just awesome and perfect for TOFW. So many women have told me how they heard something that just rejuvenated them and gave them Infinite Hope to keep going. I'm so glad those women were able to go as well.

When I finally got home, the house was s.p.o.t.l.e.s.s., I has some beautiful daisies waiting for me (my favorite) and everything I've been meaning to organize was done (closets, my side of the dresser, Abby's room) I just couldn't believe it. Paul sure did an awesome job with Abby. I love Paul so much and am so grateful that he is so capable of handling Abby and all that she needs. I love that he succeeds at making me happy and surprising me constantly. He's just the best!

Brace Yourself.

2010-10-19T00:07:00.002-05:00

So this morning I got a text from my little sister, Beth, about my last post. It said "Wow thanks for the caution notice before anyone starts reading your blog. CAUTION if you read this you WILL bawl your eyes out! Jerk." Yes, she loves me.

So, after receiving this text, I thought I would caution you all.

CAUTION, GRAB A TISSUE!!! You WILL need it!!!

(Consider yourself warned, Beth.)

Ok, so maybe you didn't need a tissue... Or maybe you did. I sure did when this was happening tonight. If you know Abby, you know it takes an amazing event for her to laugh. I don't know what she was on tonight, but she was HILARIOUS! I mean, Paul and I were laughing so hard we couldn't believe it. And all over a dirty diaper.. Ahh..

Maybe this is just because she's mine, but I really think she's the cutest little girl ever.

8 Short Months

2010-10-16T22:44:00.003-05:00

Isn't this just the sweetest face you ever saw?

8 Months:

Lots of crawling
Lots of Pull ups
Babbling whole conversations
"Whispering" (yeah, it's the sweetest thing ever)
Teething (still)
Laughing
Screaming

Abby's become a pro crawler. She's mastered it not only on carpet, but on hardwood and other slick floors. I love to watch her crawl around and play with toys. In some ways it's helped her become more independent, but in more ways it makes for more mommy watching. Shes constantly crawling to things so she can pull herself up. Once she gets up, she can stay up for quite some time, but then she almost always falls down. Lots of crying all day long because there is lots of banged heads and faces. I try not to "bubble wrap" her by preventing her from falling all the time, because I feel like thats how she will learn how to get down more gracefully. Am I wrong? Or just Mean?

Abby talks a lot and she has such a sweet little voice (when it's not used for screaming). I love it when she gets a serious look on her face and talks so quietly like she doesn't want anyone else to hear. I give her my undivided attention when that happens because I think it's just precious and when she's done talking she's such a happy baby.

Yes, she is still teething but I can finally see that they might break through soon! I wish I could have a timeline, but then again I don't because I fear it will say "About another month".... Grr. Needless to say, she is v.e.r.y. cranky lately.

Luckily, Abby's been taking lots of naps (usually 2 short and one 1 long) during the day. If she doesn't get them in you will know. But now that she's napping more bedtime is a JOKE ... But the lame kind that you never want to hear again. She stands, she cries, she cries, she cries, she screams, she cries... Did I mention she cries? And screams? We have the suspicion that she might be afraid of the dark so tonight she's sleeping with her closet light on but with the door pulled too so there isn't too much light.

As a result to the endless hours of crying each night, Paul or I rock her to sleep a lot. Only after we've tried to wait it out and feed her and wait... It's exhausting and causes both of us to be short tempered on occasion. Luckily, we are never short tempered together. It's wonderful. One of us is always able to take a deep breath and regain control of this loud situation.

So tonight as I rock and rock and hummm and rock and "shhh" and rock and hummm, Abby attempts to cry her way out of it so she can play OR she takes her paci out of her mouth and tries to stick it in mine OR she just starts "whispering". All of these happen when it is not the time nor place. Then the thought comes to mind "What if this were the last time?" Bam. I pray so hard to my Father in Heaven that tonight wasn't the last time I would get to have the priceless privileged to rock my baby girl to sleep. Heaven knows how much I would regret tomorrow if I hadn't taken the time to comfort tonight. As Abby finally fell asleep I found myself once again grateful for this huge blessing in my life. This blessing that drives me to tears of frustration and joy. I thought back about how fast these 8 months have gone. I really don't want to have many regrets when I look back next month, so Heaven help me to keep my patience through this trying stage of Abby's time with us. I hope the crying, teething, hissy fits will all be over soon, but even if they last another year (and fits till she's 30), I hope I can dig deep to find the patience to sit and rock and humm and shh and rock and humm and shh and love this little bundle who is growing so insanely fast. I hope that when she's a nutty teenager that maybe she will just have an inkling of a feeling that maybe her mommy and daddy love her more than she could ever imagine.

And when I finally got her in bed I saw that sweet "sleep smile" that has become quite the stranger around here the past 5 months.

HaPpy BirtHdAy Jamie!

2010-10-14T16:28:00.003-05:00

(turns out it's not so easy trying to get an almost 8 month old to hold a sign. it sure was hilarious though!)

We hope your day is wonderful!

Absters

2010-10-10T22:11:00.003-05:00

Abby is going to be 8 months in 1 week. It makes my stomach hurt to see how fast she is growing. She is such a joy, though. I love all the new things she is doing (which I will tell you in my 8 month post about her in a week :). She's starting to keep us on our toes for sure!

These 3 pictures are from Abby's first swinging experience. She didn't really care to much about it, but she didn't ever cry. She was just super chill in there looking around! It was fun to meet a few friends and have my sister come down to go with us. Next time we'll choose a better park because this one was pretty crappy!
Last weekend was the first time I've been away from Abby for a night since she was about a week old (when she was in the nicu). I tried not to think about it too much, but once I met Paul to leave them for the night I just couldn't contain myself. Yeah I'm pretty much a baby when it comes to my babies! I wanted to take them both with me so bad!
This is how we find Abby every morning now. Don't be alarmed, Paul so graciously moved her bed down today after church. The first morning I walked into this, it scared me to death. I was half asleep just going to check on her and all I saw was a little girl on the verge of flipping out of her bed! eek! She still climbs up and stands, but just her head sticks over now. She is so tall!

Speaking of the Absters... She's crying. Time for mommy duty.

Bum Wigglin' Fun

2010-10-05T19:13:00.003-05:00

Here you go, folks! She sure does know how to get where she wants to go now! I think it will be both exciting and scary once she realizes she can go out of the living room now. Thats really the only room she knows!

3 days clean

2010-10-04T21:08:00.002-05:00

Abigail has been on Acid Reflux medicine since she was 4 days old, but as of last Friday she's been off of it. I have to admit, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. We are seriously pushing solids for 2 of her 4 meals a day and it seems to be working. Don't get me wrong, she still spits up like a faucet, but she doesn't scream much when she does, so I guess thats a good thing. I'm going to call and see if I can get into a friend's doctor tomorrow. Hopefully they are accepting new patients, because I'm ready to move on from Abby's old doctor. I'm not sure if we will get Abby back on the acid reflux medicine or not, we'll just have to see what her new doctor says! It's really nice not having to worry about when to give her the medicine and how long we have to wait after, so I kind of hope she will continue to do well without it.

BIG NEWS!

Abby started crawling last night! It was super fun because both Paul and I were here for it. I know he misses getting to see her all the time, especially when she does new and fun things. He frequently says "You go to work" so he can stay home. :) Last night once she started crawling she didn't want to stop!

She also learned, just yesterday, how to go from the crawling to sitting position! This will surely make nap and bed time interesting. When she does get to the sitting position, she gets the BIGGEST grin on her face like "I DID IT!" She's been trying for so long to get that down!

I love seeing her little bum crawl across the floor! It just makes me smile so big. Today she kept crawling into things and trying to ram them with her head so they would get out of the way (i.e. Paul, the kitchen table...). She cracks us up. I will get a video of her crawling soon and get it up. It's just the cutest thing I've ever seen :)

It's not what it looks like...

2010-09-29T22:43:00.002-05:00

So Paul... He's pretty much hilarious. He sings.. a lot. About everything. If something reminds him of a song, he sings it. But the thing is, he ~~hardly ever~~ doesn't always remember the words to the song. For example, part of his rendition of the classic "Build Me Up Buttercup"

"Feel me up, buttercup baby just to rub me down.."

Yeah, let's just say he keeps me laughing!

Workin' Hard...

2010-09-27T21:03:00.002-05:00

Paul studies really hard....

The End...

No but really, he does study hard. He's made awesome grades thus far in all his schooling and will be done graduating with his masters when he is 26. That's pretty freakin sweet. If only he were already 26... ;)

Gabby Abby :)

2010-09-27T17:24:00.003-05:00

Another month and a half has passed. I know I say this every time but I'm going to say it again. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW FAST SHE GROWS! It can't be normal. Ok, of course it's normal, but dang.

I have noticed that her growing is indeed slowing down. She doesn't grow out of her clothes so fast and she has lost 2 of her 3 chins. Abby has the cutest little profile, I kiss her little cheeks when I see her head turned with a big grin.

Abby weighs about 20 lbs.
She is too big for her car seat, so the hunt continues for a new one.
She's laughing more and more each week.
She says "Dadadadada" And Paul loves it, even though she probably has no idea of the significance.
I wish she would say "Mommy, mamama, mom, Marls"... Really anything to identify me :)
She's ALMOST crawling! SO close. She can get where she wants to go with a scoot. She does push-ups, can move her arms and legs correctly, but she just can't get it all coordinated so her arms and legs will work together.
The top left picture shows her latest discovery. She can pull down her bumper and look into the living room to see me. Or if her door is closed, she will pull it down and talk/scream till I go get her.
Abby LOVES dogs. I don't get it. Big and small, she loves them all. (poet? :)
She makes really big messes. I'm not sure how, but dang. I think we need to start time-outs for not cleaning up your mess... (maybe in a year or so.)
I've said it before, but she loves her daddy. She can't contain herself when he finally walks through the door after a long day of being gone. Literally, as soon as she hears the key in the door and it open, she goes bananas! I'm going to try and get it on video today.
Abby talks and jabbers... a LOT. I love it. I mostly love the facial expressions she does while she talking.
She's starting to pull herself up on things. So when we move in a month, we'll be lowering her crib.
She sits and plays with her toys and jumps in her bouncer for hours!

Thats all I can think of right now... I know it's a lot, but it seems she's developing so fast! I love her little personality shining through and the happiness she brings into our little home. She really is such a joy.

I find that I love each stage more and more. I can't wait to see what the next month brings!

The NEW Bachelor in town!

2010-09-17T21:57:00.003-05:00

Check out this stud muffin! This is Theron, my super cute nephew! He was in his Uncles wedding today and I'm sure he had all the ladies chasing after him. Holy studly!

OW, OW!

Baby "O"

2010-09-12T15:11:00.002-05:00

Why did I only get 4 pictures of Olivia's shower last night? Sheesh. Just goes to show how terrible I am at taking pictures. Hopefully Chelsea will get her rear in gear and get some pictures up soon.

Anywho, yesterday Beth, Chelsea and I threw Heather's soon to be Olivia a baby shower. This little girl will surely not go unloved by all her aunts, grandparents, friends, and I guess you could include her momma, dad and two older brothers. We really can't wait to meet her and kiss her sweet face. This will make 3 nieces for me on my side of the family.

Heather was just beaming the whole shower. She is so ready to have this little girl here and all the girlie things that come with her. Especially since she's been stuck in a house of testosterone for so long! Hopefully Ms. O will make her debut on Halloween :D

6 Months is almost up!

2010-09-11T01:40:00.004-05:00

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."

Love this little one with all my heart. Lately we've been able to get her laugh so much more than usual. It still takes a lot to get her there, but when she laughs, it's just the cutest thing in existence.

Marlee's Montra

2010-09-10T16:24:00.005-05:00

These past few months have been kind of a butt kicking for me. I don't always like being a stay at home mom. Sometimes, on particularly hard days, I wish more than anything that I could just go back to work. It was so much easier than being a mom is.

I remember telling people over and over again while I was pregnant and they were loading me with "advice" (grr) that I had several nieces and nephews. I had helped take care of them many, many times and I knew what I was doing. (Just not as snobby and straight forward as that just sounded.) I remember thinking in my head "I've pretty much experienced everything I need to in order to be an awesome mom". Now I realize that I was walking around with my foot in my mouth for about 9 months.

Being a mother is the hardest thing I've ever done. I find my self overwhelmed and under prepared constantly, it seems. How can an almost 7 month old over power me so much, and why can't I handle her?

I remember getting such a good feeling when we finally decided to start having kids, and now I find myself wondering if it was just heartburn. How could I have felt so comfortable taking on another life? How could I think I was prepared to care for one of Heavenly Father's children? How prideful I must have been.

I was in "breakdown mode", as I often find myself, talking to Paul (the most understanding, wonderful, patient, charming husband I could have ever asked for) and we decided that I'm just stretching myself way too thin. I'm trying to be "Super Mom" when I'm just a young inexperienced mom trying to put on a face. I know, with practice, patience and the love of my Heavenly Father, everything will turn out ok. I find myself trying to be in control constantly, and I really don't think that will ever happen again. I need my Heavenly Father's help more than ever before now. I need his guidance, love, and support more than ever.

I constantly feel like I'm walking a very thin line between my standards and the world. I thought once I was married for eternity with the love of my life, everything would be smooth sailing (not really, but kind of). And now, more than ever, I find myself questioning the things I do, the things I believe and the things I want to teach my sweet little girl. I'm finding myself really standing on my own two feet more than ever with my testimony of the gospel I live. I find myself daily questioning things I've been taught my whole live, and daily getting the answers I need.

Yesterday morning I was blog stocking and found this wonderful family that has been chosen for this huge trial. They had an 18 month old daughter who had an accident and ultimately passed away. I was reading these posts and just crying my eyes out. I've been so selfish and taken Abby for granted more than I ever should. I am so very blessed to have her in my life, and I really, honestly couldn't imagine waking up every day to her sweet smile.

I'm learning, and growing each day with her. She amazes me constantly with the things she knows, and I know that will never stop. I love her so unconditionally and even though I consider it at times when days are tough, I would never ever leave her side and go back to work.

Some days Abby cries for no particular reason at all, all day long. Some days are busy with many many things to do, and with the responsibilities of a mother all on top of it. I know that wont ever change, and so I'm still adapting.

I've adopted that wonderful Mother's montra of :

"I CAN DO HARD THINGS"

Although it doesn't even compare to the things she has to face, and I pray I never have to, it helps me in a different way. I can do hard things, and I will the rest of my life. My faith is growing stronger and so am I, because my Father in Heaven trusts me with these hard things knowing I will not ultimately fail.

How on earth do I find my strength? My faith, the two loves of my life, and these little glimpses of heaven I experience almost daily.

Happy Birthday, Deb!

2010-09-10T15:02:00.006-05:00

"I'd like to grow very old as slowly as possible."

We (I, really) give my mom a hard time a lot, so I just wanted to take a moment to share these pictures from her birthday last month. My wonderful mom has another year under her belt (There's no need to say how many years exactly;) but she still looks as beautiful as ever. This was one Sunday that we were able to get together with lots of laughs, talking, and game playing. I love it when Sundays are taken advantage of in that way. It really does create some special memories to remember for a life time.

(If you would like to count all these candles, go right ahead. They are all there, one for every single birthday :)

(The flames were literally melting the cake, LOL)
Woooahhh smoke alarms! HA!

We love you mom. You are such a great mother and Nana to all your grand kids. We love to spend time and laugh with you. I really admire you in so many ways. Not many women could take on raising 5 children and helping them turn out as awesome as we all did (well, the boys are debatable). Thank you for all the love you share us so unconditionally. We couldn't have asked for anyone more suitable to take on our nuts-o family!

(p.s. Doesn't that cake look awesome? My mom and Sister have some mad decorating skills. My sister made this one, and also this one for my niece's birthday)

l.a.z.y.

2010-08-29T23:11:00.003-05:00

For ~~your~~ my viewing pleasure. I love these two :)

I wish I was better about getting off my butt and doing things. I feel like I've gotten waaaay lazy since Abigail was born. I don't know if I should blame it on being exhausted 24/7 or just on my lack of determination. Probably both. It's so much easier to play with Abby or watch tv, and I can tell my house (and body) are suffering from that! So tomorrow my two goals are to:

Start working out again. (I used to be really good at that... but then I woke up.)
Clean (at LEAST) my bathroom. It's a wreck.
Hopefully once I do the first two things, I'll have motivation to do laundry and organize the office area. Disaster!

I feel like since we've decided to move this ~~laziness~~ "lack of determination" has gotten so much worse. We have completely run out of space in this apartment. I'm tempted to start packing, even though we wont be moving for another two months. I haven't really said anything about the place we found, huh? It's a super cute, 3 bedroom house. Huge yard (Paul will be doing the mowing :), nice size living room and dining area, huge closets, and wonderfully sized bedrooms. We really love it, and the people we will be renting from!

I'd love to stay and update some more, but our little princess hasn't been feeling well and I should probably grab some shut-eye before she wakes up again screaming. I have a feeling it's going to be a loong night. Again.

Let Me Hold Your Crown, Babe..

2010-08-23T16:37:00.003-05:00

I just love this. I can't wait for her new cd to come out!

Enjoy :)
(but first TURN OFF the music at the end of my page!)

Halfway to ONE!

2010-08-17T21:10:00.003-05:00

Today is our baby girl's 6 month birthday! A few things about her:

she weighs 18 lbs
she sits up all the time now
she's almost crawling (hopefully by next week!)
she will only go to sleep if her left foot is sticking out from under her blanket
she only laughs if something is REALLY funny to her
she LOVES her daddy

Abby is such a blessing in our family. We are so very blessed to have her. She is happy 98% of the time (and a pill the other 2%, but that's ok :) and makes us laugh all the time. We love her sweet personality and the joy she brings to our home. I can't believe she's already 6 months! Before I know it, she will be walking.

Finally found the words!

2010-08-13T13:06:00.002-05:00

Too bad I didn't think of it myself.

It's a funny, this whole life thing. So much to learn and so many different ways to go. My SIL, Liz, hit how I'm feeling right on the head. I'm so glad she is so eloquent in her words. Oh Liz, just move up here already! Can't wait to see you next week ((Hopefully!))

Cutest Sicko

2010-08-04T21:42:00.005-05:00

Abby has been sick for about 2 weeks now off and on. The first time she got sick we utilized the humidifier, a vicks vaporizer, and the suction. We also put her mattress at an incline. It seemed to work, but then came back about a day after she recovered even worse and accompanied with a cough. Go figure. Today was doctor day. We found she has pretty bad allergies and a sinus infection. The next 10 days are filled with antibiotic.

The bottom picture is Abby waiting to be seen at the doctor's office. She was making all kinds of faces and haming it up. In the picture above, she was supposed to be eating. I pulled out Paul's phone to play and we came up with that. She's so fun. I love that even though she's sick, she still has fun and smiles and laughs.

What do Mormon's believe?

2010-08-02T20:53:00.003-05:00

*stop music at the bottom :)*

Are we Christian?

Why do we have the Book of Mormon?

Don't you quit.

2010-08-02T08:49:00.009-05:00

Our Sunday School teacher shared this with us yesterday. Every women there was in tears. Stay till the end. It's great.

"Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come."

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Enough is Enough.

2010-07-26T10:08:00.003-05:00

Yesterday in church it seemed every message I heard (and taught) was about service. A lot of you have heard me grumble about some of the service that Paul has done or even that I've been asked to do.

After church Sis. Van came up and talked to us because we mentioned in her class that I have a hard time with this whole service thing. She told me she knows and doesn't miss the feelings that I'm having. She then told me that blessings will come, even though it just seems like a big pain in the rear. Then I started thinking about all our blessings we have in our life. Endless blessings, over and over again. It was so great to have that "duh" moment and realize that Heavenly Father helps us out so much, the least we (or Paul) can do is donate a couple hours on a Saturday morning to help some one in need. Even if we've never even met this person that needs our help.
This quote was part of my lesson yesterday in Young Womens. It's one of those things that you hear a million times, but this time, in this season of my life it really means something totally different and has great significance to me.

"Sometimes the solution is not to change out circumstance but to change our attitude about that circumstance.... God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom."
-President Spencer W. Kimball

So this is me saying that I'm done with the whining. It's really hurt me more than anything and I can feel the repercussions of that. I know people in our ward and other places need service, and I really honestly feel like service is a great thing. So now when Paul gets call at 10/11pm on a Friday night and finds out he needs to organize and/ participate in a move the next morning at 8am (even though we already had plans), I'm just going to bite my lip and say okay. Hopefully soon I wont even have to bite my lip and it will be something I no long am bothered by.

Supposing today were your last day on earth,

The last mile of the journey you've trod;

After all of your struggles, how much are your worth,

How much can you take home to God?

Don't count as possessions your silver and gold,

Tomorrow you leave those behind,

And all that is yours to have and to hold

Is the service you've given mankind.

-Anonymous, as quoted by David O. McKay

Stop #3- Wyoming :)

2010-07-23T14:33:00.012-05:00

Turns out, Wyoming is on the other side of the country. It's a pretty far drive, but it was totally worth it.

We loved getting to see my Dad's family and my grandparents, who I hadn't seen in y.e.a.r.s and they've never met Paul or Abby, so it was an extra sweet occasion. My grandma has been pretty sick lately, and they live in Canada, so it really was a treat to get to see them.

While we were in Wyoming we ate a lot of ice cream from DQ, we drove around a lot to see wild life and scenery, we played a lot of cards, and we got to hang out a lot and just enjoy each other's company.

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have... I tend to have that problem. I'm not a huge fan of taking pictures, but I love having them. Oxymoron, huh?

Abby rode like this most of the time (only with a buckled car seat, we were eating while she was sleeping this time). She will only fall asleep on her back with something on her face. Weirdo.

We got to hike up a mountain to the very top to see "The Medicine Wheel" one afternoon. Before we got started, we stopped and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for smores, of course!
It got pretty cool while we were hiking. There was still a good amount of snow on the ground, so Abby got all bundled up. She was so content in this stroller almost the whole time. She's pretty awesome :)
This is just a short part of the hike. We thought going up was bad... then we went down and somehow we ended up going "uphill" way more than we should have.
This is the Medicine Wheel. People come from all over to see it. When you go, you can leave something tied or sitting on a post.

Beautiful scenery everywhere. I loved it!

If you look close, you can see a blue bird in the center of the picture. They're my grandma's favorite. They are SO blue, it's unbelievable. One of God's many beautiful creations we were able to appreciate while we were there.
Paul was a trooper and held Abby most of the way down. Turns out a stroller wasn't the best idea for a mountain. Go figure..

My grandpa, Abby's G.Gpa Mac. I love this. Gma and gpa loved seeing Abby.
Meet Lyla. She's a tute sometimes, but she's so adorable. She wouldn't smile for me, so I took this picture, showed it to her and she laughed. She's pretty cute.

See? Told ya :)

4 generations. I love this picture. They're actually smiling! ;)

My dad and Terri.

Gma and Gpa with some of their great grandkids. Coen wasn't happy about taking pictures... He'll regret this picture when he's older :)
This is everyone! :)

We so appreciate the hospitality of everyone we stayed with on our long vacation. We don't regret going one bit. Abby was a champ in the car everywhere we drove. She's such a joy and we are blessed to have an awesome baby girl!

Abbikinz

2010-07-20T10:41:00.003-05:00

Abigail is now 5 months old! Here are some fun facts about her:

Abby is 17 lbs and 25 inches long
Abby loves to jibber jabber in her bed when she's supposed to be sleeping.
She loves to laugh and has a sweet little smile.
She loves to play with her feet.
She's finally rolling over.
Abby can sit up for 20+ seconds unsupported, and especially if she's sitting on our lap.
She's awesome at grabbing things.
Abby's been teething off and on now for about a week and a half. She slobbers like crazy and by the time her naps are done she's swimming her a puddle of saliva.

We love Miss. Abigail. Sometimes being a parent is hard and frustrating (I know, I know, it'll only get worse as she gets older) and sometimes I catch myself thinking "Why didn't we just wait a little longer" when I feel like Paul and I have no a lone time. But then Abby does something totally cute or just flashes her big toothless grin and I realize how blessed we are to have this sweetie in our lives! I honestly wouldn't change a thing and I feel like Abby came into our lives at the perfect time.

Abs is such a blessing to our family and we are learning more and more each day. I couldn't have asked for a better baby. She's as awesome as they come :)

Since she's been teething, she's been sucking on her bottom lip like this constantly. She's pretty cute :)

Colorado...

2010-07-14T09:56:00.004-05:00

Colorado was our 1st and 4th stop on our vacation. We LOVE to visit Michael, Beth, Sarah and now Caleb! We were extra excited to get to meet Caleb for the first time. I couldn't find my camera the last time we were there, but luckily Beth took some picture of Abby by Caleb that I'll have to post later! He's such a cutie.

We stopped at M&B's house on the way back so we could spend a few more days with them and we are SO glad we did. Every time we go there, they are so accommodating and chill and just a blast to hang out with. Since we don't get to see them often, we cherish the time we have there even if it's spend hanging out at the house or even watching tv. :) It's always a great time.

We were able to go on the Air Force base for an Independence Celebration while we were there. (Michael is now a Capitan in the Air Force. Pretty cool.)

There was tons of food and fun to be had by all. And best of all, it was completely free! Sarah got her arm painted and when I asked her to hold it up this is what she did :)

Paul found some big guns... Good thing they weren't loaded.

There was a Black Hawk Helicopter there that we could sit in and take pictures and eventually we got to watch it take off. It was awesome!

And this is Abby by little Caleb. He's super long and skinny and a-dorable. Abby was never as light as he was when we were up there, so I felt like I might break him every time I picked him up!

Sarah is such a great big sister. She's absolutely hilarious in just about everything she does!

We had so much fun visiting in Colorado. It's so beautiful there and we would LOVE to live there some day... Yes.. Some day... :)

Happy 4th!

2010-07-04T13:46:00.005-05:00

Happy Independence Day!

I'm so thankful to live in this wonderful country! (Even if it's being run into the ground by Hitler himself..)

We are blessed to have two members of the military in our family! Captain Michael Johnson of the Air Force and Private Jordan Johnson of the US Army Reserves. So thankful for these two men and the service they give to our country!

Hope you all have a great celebration today for all the men and women serving and enjoy the freedom we have!

Aaron & Pam Johnson

2010-06-24T15:15:00.006-05:00

Paul, Abby and I were able to go to Utah last week for Paul's brother's (Aaron) wedding. Aaron and Pam were married at Eaglewood Golf Course. It was a small wedding on the balcony of the reception hall, but it was absolutely gorgeous. Pam looked beautiful and Aaron looked so handsome. Pam has two kids, Kaylee and Kyler, and Aaron is so great with them.

It was lots of fun being in Utah and getting to visit with extended family. Extra fun meeting all the family members I've never met before! (There were tons :)

Kyler was such a stud ring bearer. :)

Our newest nephew, Caleb, and his big sister, Sarah.
And all Jamie and Steve's grandkids, minus Kaylee, Kyler, and Nate.

Elizabeth Anne: MHS Class of 2010!

2010-06-11T17:37:00.005-05:00

Dear Beth,

I can't believe you've graduated high school. We all still think of you as our little, elementary school age, sister. I know that's not really a good thing because some times we treat you that way, too! Sorry about that, but it's just so hard to think that you're grown up and moving into the big bad world!

You are such a sweet, caring, sensitive, honest, trustworthy, amazing daughter of our Heavenly Father. I'm so glad that we were able to grow up together and become such good friends! You are such a great example to me. Every time we actually get a chance to talk, I'm just awestruck at how fast you've grown into such a mature, well rounded adult!

I know you're going to move on and do some great things in your life. You are going to make an awesome wife and mother one day. I can't wait to see what the future holds for you!

You have such a sweet testimony that I love to hear. I love how strong you are in the gospel and the great example you set for everyone around you. You have great character and everyone knows they can always count on you!

You're such a great aunt, and a vital member of our family. We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Love you so much!

It was so fun to go to Beth's graduation. I'm not going to lie, the heat was miserable. Major props to the members of my family out saving seats for everyone! I only had to wait in the heat for about an hour before it started! They've only had grad outside for the past two years. (Have to get some use out of that multi million dollar stadium they built!)

I also graduated from MHS 4 years ago.. Except we got to do it inside the air conditioned Potters House. It brought back so many fun high school memories while I was sitting there watching everyone cross the stage. Especially at the end when we were able to sing the school song. My how life has changed in these past 4 years!

These are some pictures from Beth's graduation. Paul's cousin, Wyatt, also graduated with Beth. So proud of all 520 of you guys! Congratulations class of 2010!

(The last pic is my favorite of all the seniors throwing their hats. That's always my favorite part of the graduation!)

Disclaimer: It was like 300 degrees that night. Therefore, we were all hot and sweaty!

A Poll

2010-05-29T16:27:00.001-05:00

Who does Abby look like? We're all about 3 months old in these pictures! What say ye?

Blessed

2010-05-25T22:43:00.005-05:00

(3 months)

I just can't believe how blessed we are to have this sweet baby in our lives. She is so much fun- laughing and "talking" (Oh I love baby talk). She makes the silliest faces and kicks all around when we say "kick kick kick kick!" She smiles as big as she is in this picture every time I get her out of bed, no matter how long she's been in there crying. She loves baths so much now, and seriously throws such a huge fit when I get her out. She loves her daddy so much. She loves her little toy duck, it's her little friend.

I am so thankful for her each and every day. She is such a doll when she falls asleep while I'm holding her. I lover her snuggles, because it doesn't happen too often anymore. She's an awesome sleeper and usually falls asleep best when we just lay her in her bed.

I used to have thoughts like "Man, I wish we would have waited longer to have a baby" because I dearly miss my alone time with Paul. But really, I wouldn't trade Abby for anything and I'm so glad she's in our lives right now. I'm so glad we have such a sweet little girl that we are trusted to raise. Even though Paul and I hardly ever get a moment to ourselves, it sure does make those moments sweeter when we get the chance.

Break the Addiction.

2010-05-24T00:11:00.003-05:00

No Facebook for ONE week. You think I can do it? ...Neither do I... Well I'm about to shock and awe all of us! Lots to do these next two weeks. Time to get back on track with working out mostly! And my house could use a nice spring cleaning. Good luck to me!

p.s. Encouragement through blog/text will be welcomed :)

Abby's IPod

2010-05-21T12:37:00.010-05:00

My little nephew, Lukas, was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma when he was just 11 months old. "He has since been through 13 surgeries, 13 rounds of high intensity radiation, 8 rounds of chemotherapy, 12 rounds of imunotherapy, numerous blood transfusions, and more arm and finger pokes than we can count. He has also endured numerous MRI, CT and other specialized scans." Because of all this, Lukas is partially blind, and for his 3rd birthday his mom and dad got him an ipod because he's obsessed with Jack Johnson! (He actually got his "Make a Wish" and gets to go meet him!) One day when we were down at my moms for Sunday dinner, Lukas felt on Abby's monitor chords and said "Nanna, is this Abby's IPod?" So ever since, my family called Abby's monitor her IPod. :)

If you look down Abby's shirt (ha), you can see where her band went for her monitor. Inside the band were two little pads that went under her armpits and picked up her heart rate and breath count.

Here's the actual little demon we had to carry around with us for 3 months!

This is Monday, May 17, 2010, the night we found Abby's "IPod" was officially released!!

So of course, we took it off of her as soon as possible!

These are her "battle scars". I hated seeing all these rashes. At one point, her skin was actually rubbed off where the pads where. The red square mark is from the black pad, and the lines on her tummy are from the pesky chords that would constantly be tangled around her. :(

It's been WONDERFUL not having that silly machine to haul around and silence when it goes off for no reason! The o.n.l.y. downside to not having it anymore is now I'm in the "Oh crap, is she still breathing?!" stage when she sleeps or takes a nap. Ugh, I hate it. It's already gotten a little better, but I still worry a little about it. Does that ever go away? I just have to have faith that she will be watched over (as all parents do).

So after a long, LONG fight with Abigail's doctor, she's IPod free! I'm so glad. She's starting to scoot around in her crib and all the chords made me very nervous!

Good Morning, Smiles!

2010-05-14T21:22:00.002-05:00

Just a couple of random thoughts:

We tried to take some cute pictures for Mother's Day... It didn't quite work out! She was too distracted.. Nothing new there!

I love getting Abigail out of bed in the morning and after naps. No matter how long she's been crying, she always smiles so big. Maybe it's because she knows she will get lots of kisses :)

Our little Frogger

2010-05-12T09:29:00.002-05:00

Abigail is 12 weeks old today! Some fun things about her are:

She's talking a lot more (and now she's starting to be able to do so without the end result being spit up!)
She smiles every time I go to get her out of bed, even if she's been crying.
She kicks like crazy, so we call her Frogger.
She has a ton of rolls all over her little body!
She can do "push ups".
She can sit in her boppy without her bobble head going crazy.
She weighs 13 pounds and is 24 inches long.
She goes to bed at 8:30/9pm every night and doesn't wake up at all until 8/9:30.
She's getting closer and closer to laughing!

We love Abby so much. She makes us laugh with her cute little facial expressions and sweet little "baby coo's". She's getting to be so much fun and I can't wait to see how she will be in the next couple weeks! It seems like she's always changing.

Baby Love

2010-05-03T08:20:00.003-05:00

We are just so ecstatic about our two new nephews coming to our family soon! One tomorrow and one the beginning of June!

Tomorrow my sweet sister in law, Liz, is having her baby. We are super excited to meet the little guy and for all the joy he will bring his proud mommy and daddy! They are going to be such great parents. Hopefully all goes well! We'll be thinking of you guys!

Here are a couple of burp rags and a blanket that I made with the generous help of my sister!

Kissy Face

2010-04-30T13:00:00.005-05:00

Our baby girl is 10 weeks old. It's just amazing how time flies. I'm trying to be better about taking pictures so we will always have tons. Abigail grows and changes so stinkin fast! We love her more and more each day. She has such a fun personality that is coming out slowly but surely.

She's got the best pouty face. I just wanna kiss her chubby cheeks when she makes it.

We just love her so much!

Baptism

2010-04-24T17:27:00.002-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, Charlie was able to be baptized! It was such a fun day for Paul especially... He was able to baptize and confirm Charlie and member of our church. Here are two pictures from the great day!

Jake was in heaven feeding Abby. As you can tell... :)
We are so proud of your decision, Charlie! Congratulations! :-)

Giggles

2010-04-19T10:53:00.001-05:00

My loves :)

Two Years and 26 Days...

2010-04-17T16:19:00.004-05:00

I've been a real slacker when it comes to posting on my blog. I've been thinking about posting this particular post for 26 days now, and finally I'm getting my rear in gear to do it..

Paul and I have been married for 2 years and 26 days :) I looked through our computer and facebook and photobucket, and these were a few of the pictures that I could come up with..

We never really had the "boyfriend-girlfriend" title, but we've been "together" since I turned 16. From the time Paul got back from his mission we've been inseparable and have many wonderful memories! It's so fun that we get to spend the rest of eternity together... I'm sure we will look back in 100 years and think "Wow, life has gone by so fast!" because that's how I already feel. It still seems like I'm 15 waiting to turn 16 so we can FINALLY go on a date. :) Well, sorta..

Paul is my best friend. He knows all my deepest darkest secrets. He knows my fears. He strengthens me when I feel weak. He encourages me when I need that extra *umph* to get going. He makes me laugh harder than anyone I've ever met. He loves me unconditionally no matter how big of a fool I am sometimes. He is motivated and has done many wonderful things. He's a wonderful, patient father and man. And he's all mine :)

Watching Talisa Jo preform when I was a Junior, Paul was a senior.

My 17th birthday party

Bowling... I can't remember how old we were..

Adam... Always getting those candid shots..

One of the 3 proms we went to together.. My senior prom :)

Bowling with Chelsea and Doug after we got engaged.

An engagement picture, winter of '07

Paul would pick me up (even though it was way out of the way) and we would ride to singles ward together every single Sunday from the time he got back from his mission :) Some of our favorite times together.

Our wedding day, March 22, 2008

On our cruise for our honeymoon.

Our wonderful little family:)

Happy Dreams

2010-04-07T22:20:00.002-05:00

Abby has been driving me nuts since yesterday. It's been non stop crying day and night and when she sleeps it's only for an hour tops, but usually less then 30 minutes. I hate it. Hopefully it's just a phase.

She's got this place in between sleep and being awake that she visits often when I'm trying to feed her. I love this place because she smiles a lot. Big, tooth-less smiles and sometimes if I'm lucky she giggles. This video shows just a couple smiles... Not lucky enough for a giggle this time, but one day I'll catch it on camera. When she's driving me nuts and she falls into this place that's not quite her sleeping place, it's like a breath of fresh air and recharges me for about another hour so I can deal with the fussiness a little longer. I thought it'd be fun for all my family to see that lives so far away!

A Big, Fat Loser!

2010-04-06T04:12:00.005-05:00

I want to feel better about my weight. I know I had a baby 7 weeks ago, but it's time to get my butt in gear. I feel motivated and I know I can do it! Today is my first day and I am so excited! I did weight watchers without signing up a little over a year ago and lost a little less then 10 lbs. I feel like maybe since I'm actually paying for it now I will do a lot better at it!

If any of you have any good weight watcher recipes or any good tips, PLEASE leave them! My goal is to lose 30-35 lbs (15 of them are baby weight).

I'm not just going to diet, I'm going to start exercising, too. It's time to get back in shape! If my tummy still jiggles a little, that's fine. One day it wont! :) I feel like if I do a little bit of physical activity every day, I will feel more awake and determined to do more. It will be a great way to start off my days! So any exercise tips are welcomed, too! Really, any tips are!

I wanted to find a cute picture to put on here... and I ran across these two that just made me giggle. Enjoy :)

I can't wait to be A BIG, FAT LOSER!

Easter Time :)

2010-04-04T22:51:00.005-05:00

We hope everyone had a very Happy Easter! Here are a few pictures we took this weekend!

Look at my cute new Easter dress :)
Aunt Sandee and Nanna gave me these Easter baskets today! Good thing the only way I get to eat the candy is if my mommy eats it first!

Look how chubby she's getting! I guess I need to look for some ankle socks or something so this doesn't happen all the time. The bigger socks that I have for her just fall off.
Lounging at Uncle Doug's surprise party.

Birth Story

2010-04-01T22:24:00.002-05:00

Abigail Renee Johnson...

is now 6 weeks old. I'm such a slacker on writing on here and now I'm really kicking myself for it!

Abby was born on February 17th at 4:59pm. On the 16th was my last doctors appointment and when he checked to see how far a long I was, I was only dilated to 1cm so he had me go into the hospital that night to start a cervix softener. It was a liquid version that I had to drink every hour and every 4th our it was doubled. By the time I had Abby, I was drinking a whole dixy cup full every hour. It wasn't so bad at first, but about halfway through I just had to gag it down.

At about 7 am my doctor came and broke my water (terrible experience), and about 7:30 I started having severe back labor. It really felt like my back was slowly breaking. Longest 30 minutes of my life. At 8 I finally got my epidural and hated getting it. I was in so much pain and the nurse didn't even let Paul hold me, she held me instead. (Kind of made me frustrated, but at that point I didn't even care anymore.)

15 minutes after I had my epidural, I was out cold. I didn't realize, till I couldn't feel from my waist down, how exhausted I was. I've never been so comfortable in all my life. It was SO wonderful. (Next baby, I'm getting my epidural as soon as I get to the hospital! ;)

From the epi on I slept almost the entire time only waking up to take some more cervix softener. At about 4:15 or so the nurse checked me and I was bleeding (not normal) so they had me start pushing to force my cervix to 100% effaced. Then there was more bleeding... So they contacted my doctor and he headed out. The nurses stayed super calm the whole time which was great or else Paul and I would a have been freaking out for sure.

After about 15 minutes of pushing, the nurse then told me if I didn't deliver Abigail fast, I would have to have a c-section because of the bleeding. They couldn't figure out where it was coming from. My doctor got there and he immediately got me started pushing for him.

During this whole time I was so super relaxed. I couldn't believe how calm I felt (internally) from the time I started pushing. I just knew everything would be fine so there was no need to worry. I totally accredit that to the blessing Paul gave me before I went to the hospital. For a while before I started pushing, I started getting really nervous and freaked out. It was a drastic change mentally from "How the heck am I going to do this? I really just want to stop, Abby can stay in me" to "Lets get this on the road, I can't wait to meet my little girl!"

I only pushed for 30 minutes and then Abby was here (falling asleep while I was pushing- I'm telling you, I was SO relaxed). She came out with her arm right by her head (arm flopping out first!) so she's got a nice little birth mark on her elbow and ring finger of her right arm.

I couldn't wait to see her. Paul went over and started taking pictures immediately and I was trying so hard to see her. She had/has the sweetest little cry. She wasn't swollen like most newborns, she wasn't wrinkly at all, she was just PERFECT and still is!

The next two days we had a good amount of visitors. We loved showing her off even though I was falling asleep most of the time people were there. It was so hard to stay awake after.

Getting in and out of bed was the worst. I was so sore I could hardly stand it (even though I didn't tear at all during delivery). I even asked the nurse for one of those donuts! It didn't help at all... We couldn't get enough of Abigail. She was being held 99% of the time from the moment she was born. So precious.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. Paul was fascinated by the birthing process (he watched from the couch because there was a nurse and a specialist on both sides of me because of the bleeding). I was blessed to have a very easy delivery and I'm so thankful for that!

Anyways, I thought it was about time I finally typed all that out. Theres so much more I need to post, but that will have to wait for another time!

Last of the hospital...

2010-03-10T22:25:00.002-06:00

Here are the last of the pictures from the hospital!

Going home: take 2! The nurse had us put Abby in her car seat to sit for about 2 hours before we went home. They kept asking us if we were feeling ok or having any anxiety with her in her car seat. Paul and I were totally fine with it, we just wanted to put her in the car and head out of there! (She looks so tiny in this picture!)

The nurse then walked us out and helped us strap Abby in the car and make sure everything was fastened right.

So little! She still looks a little yellow in these pictures!

She's had a few baths now... And really doesn't like them at all yet. Now that her umbilical cord has fallen off she can lay in the water so she may like it better now but she hasn't had a bath since it's fallen off so I don't know yet.
I love this picture. It looks like she's trying to tell Paul "Daddy, please make mommy stop with the baths!"

Once again, much happier once it's all over!

We love being parents! Abigail is 3 weeks old today! She's going through a growth spurt so theres lots of crying the past couple days. It's been pretty overwhelming for me. Today I asked Chelsea to come for a couple hours to help me out. Of course during those couple hours she was perfect and as soon as she woke up to eat at 6 she cried till she ate again at 8. I found out I'm only making about half as much milk now so I'm going to get some Fenugreek vitamins tomorrow (they help your milk supply increase).

Other then the lack of milk and an upset baby things are great though. She's still a great baby and I can't wait till she's out of this growth spurt in a couple days.

She's stolen our hearts...

2010-02-25T18:21:00.006-06:00

Abigail Renee Johnson

Born February 17, 2010 at 4:59pm

8 lbs, 20 1/4 inches long

Her first picture

This was the first time we were discharged and ready to go home. Abigail had other plans for us though!

When we were ready to leave the hospital, Paul put Abigail in her car seat so we could go. She all the sudden started choking and turning blue/purple. We tried to suction it out of her, we tried patting her on the back.. Everything we could think of-we tried. Paul called the nurse and they hurried in and took her to the nursery to suction her out. They found some very thick, mucus like stuff in her. It was probably amniotic fluid. I delivered her very fast (only pushed for 30 minutes) so all the fluid wasn't pushed out of her like in a usual birth. The doctors then told us they were going to take her to the NICU to do additional testing and we wouldn't be able to take her home till Monday (this all happened on Friday, the 19th). Those words broke our hearts. They brought Abby into us one last time and we had to say goodbye for a few hours until she was all hooked up down in the NICU and they were going to get started with the tests.

This was the first time we were able to see her in the NICU. We were very scared to see her in there. My last experience with the NICU was when my half sister, McKenzie was born. She had tubes, iv's, and all kind of monitors in/on her. I didn't want to see Abigail like that. When we walked in, she looked a little different than in this picture. She had her arms above her head sleeping. She was very content and looked perfect as ever. It was very comforting to see her just as she was before, but with only things hooked up for one monitor for her heart beat, pulse ox, and the amount of breaths shes taking. All the normal stuff. Even though she was probably the most healthy baby in the NICU, it was still the hardest thing we've ever had to do leaving her there. It felt like my heart was broken every time we left. We purposely only told family about this happening because it was hard enough to talk to them about it, much less all our friends. Abigail had a CT scan, an upper GI test, EEG, and EKG done. In the CT scan, they found some bleeding in the back of her head, but thats completely normal for brand new, vaginally birthed babies. In the upper GI test, they found she has acid reflux. The acid reflux is what the doctors accredit the choking and turning blue/purple to the day we were discharged. The rest of these pictures are ones of Abigail in the NICU.

She peed on the scale when she was done. Showed that nurse who was boss :)

Her bath in NICU. She wasn't a big fan of it.

So much more happy when her bath is over!

I love how much of a daddy's girl she is. She just lights up for him all the time.

The day before she went home we were asked to "room in" with her at the hospital to see how everything would go. She was put on lights for jaundice.

We finally got to take Abigail home on Monday, the 22nd. It was a very happy day for us. She is such an amazing baby and I'm just awestruck by her daily. She has the cutest face, toes, feet, hands, fingers, legs... her whole little body! We love her more than we ever could have imagined we would.

She was sent home on a monitor that she has to wear 24/7. Her first doctors appointment is tomorrow and hopefully we will get good news about how long she has to wear it. The doctor at the hospital said 30-60 days. The lady that came and hooked Abigail up to the monitor said the average time babies have it on is 9 months... Her pediatrician has the final call, so we will see what he says tomorrow morning!

Thank you so much for all your prayers, thoughts, and help. Our families have been absolutely amazing and so helpful through this short chaos in our lives! We could never thank them enough.

There are more pictures, but they haven't been uploaded yet. I'll post them soon. Sorry if you don't like baby pictures! :)

7 days!

2010-02-10T11:28:00.002-06:00

Wednesday the 17th is the big day! I have a doc appointment on the 16th to see how much further I've progressed (I'm 1cm right now). If I haven't progressed enough, he will put me in the hospital Tuesday night to do a cervix softener. I'll drink it then four hours later drink more, then four hours after that start the Pitocin! I really feel like this is all sneaking up so fast and yet it's taking for-ev-er!

I have to mention these great new friends that took me out last Saturday. They wanted me to have a night out with the girls before Abigail came, so we went out to Red Robin, ate and chatted for a while. It was so simple and so fun. I really can't thank you guys enough. It was so nice to get out and have "girl talk". They also bought and made a really cute dress and a couple of onesies for Abigail! Hopefully we'll be able to do it again soon!

Abigail's Room

2010-01-21T12:43:00.006-06:00

I wanted to share a few pictures of our preparations with Abigail's room and things. They aren't in order really, but it will give you an idea! Only 4 more weeks till she gets here (unless she would like to come early:)!

Paul loved putting together her stroller..

And carrying up all this heavy stuff! :) This high chair is solid wood and the pack n play wasn't exactly light. I took care of the bouncer though! ha ha.

Heres the finished product of the travel system Paul put together!

And heres the bouncer I got to put together!

Setting up the crib was a little more frustrating then fun, but well worth it! We bought this crib about a year ago and it's just been in a closet waiting for this fun time in our lives! The diaper holder wont be on the front like that... I'm going to try and find a satin hanger, tie the end of the diaper holder on it and hang it on the wall. I just can't seem to find a satin hanger anywhere!

My mom got this cute bedding for Abigail. I love it so much.. Hopefully we have lots of girls so we can use it over and over! (Although, while browsing through babies r us, we found some adorable baby boy bedding!)

Chelsea gave us this little shelf thing with the baskets. Theres still another basket I need to get from her, but it's super cute.

We didn't set this up yet because we wont need it for a while, but this is the high chair we got. We like how classy it looks. Hopefully it will turn out to be a good buy!

We also didn't set our pack in play up yet. It will go in our room for the first few months when she comes home with us! Then she will be nice and close whenever she wakes up in the night.

Theres a few odds and ends that we still need to get but I think we have all the essentials! Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts! I actually have everyones thank you cards written out and ready to give, I just need to hand them out! Hope all is well. We are so excited!

And I'm lovin' every minute...

2010-01-10T12:51:00.015-06:00

Yesterday was Dana and Cory's wedding... Wow. It was so awesome to see them finally married! They are so sweet together and so in love. Cory is such a sweet guy and treats Dana like a princess. I just love them together!

The temple ceremony was super short, but sweet. It's so wonderful to go to a temple sealing for two people you love so much! I love to see two loved ones kneel over the alter and be sealed for time AND all eternity. Then came pictures. Dana looked so gorgeous and Cory looked incredibly handsome. It was very cold outside, but everyone was a good sport while the pictures were going on and very cooperative, too.

The reception was beautiful. Dana's family did such a great job decorating. Lots of dancing, lots of fun, and plenty of pictures. Here are a few we took....

CONGRATULATIONS Mr. & Mrs. Cory Patterson :D

Jordan and Coen

2010-01-05T21:53:00.013-06:00

It's been a little while since I've updated... Mostly because all I think about is baby stuff and I don't want to bore everyone with the same old stuff over and over. I did go to the doctor today and everything sounded good with the baby. My doctor said I need to start taking iron pills because I'm borderline anemic. In 4 weeks I'll start one week appointments. I can't believe I only have 7 weeks left. It's really insane.

My sweet (not so little) nephew had his birthday party last Saturday. We actually have the same birthday which is super fun. He's turning 5 on Thursday and I'm turning 22. Weird. Here are a few pictures I got during his party.

My mom, Coen's Nanna, made this volcano cake. It's exactly what he asked for and more. My mom put a vase in the middle of the cake so she could put in some dry ice and water. He absolutely loved it!
He had a hard time leaving the cake a lone and wanted it to keep smoking the whole time.

I love this "cheese" picture :)

Now for my brother-in-law, Mr. Jordan... He left on Monday, December 28th to go into basic training for the army. He actually just started basic training yesterday because of the holidays. He had a little get together on the 27th to say goodbye to everyone and to get a hair cut. I decided to start and end with some very attractive pictures of him :D

He had some long shaggy dog hair...

Then Ryan started cutting...

Beth helped out, too... Jordan was a good sport and let anyone who wanted to cut some of his luscious locks off.
Then Jamie took over and made it all even and presentable.

We are super proud of Jordan and his decision to join the army. We hope he will be kept out of harms way and learn a lot of great life lessons as well. He will graduate from basic training in June/July and hopefully we'll be able to make it up to his graduation! Good luck, Jordan!

More Pictures From Abby's Shower!

2009-12-18T03:32:00.019-06:00

I just wanted to share a few more pictures. They are in no particular order... And there's tons more then this, but for those who weren't there, this is pretty good idea of what went on!

Liz made this super cute center piece for the shower. It's a diaper cake with all kinds of goodies on it that will for sure come in handy. I really don't want to take it apart, but I'm sure it will come apart little by little.
Opening the plethora of generous gifts from loved ones...
My boss gave me these cute shoes.. I love baby shoes!

We got lots of snuggly blankets! I love them all.
Also, tons of bibs. I believe these ones are water proof. Pretty sweet and handy (and cute!)
I think this one is a diaper wipe holder that Debbie Ayers made a long with a super cute quilt. I got two of these custom wipe cases. One from Debbie, one from Tauna.

Chelsea made this blanket for me a long with a super cute quilt. She posted some really good pictures of the quilt on her blog ( http://funfullmers.blogspot.com/2009/12/abbys-quilt.html ). She did a really amazing job on it.

My wonderful mom purchased this ridiculously expensive bedding for Abby's crib. I registered for it, but it was so expensive that I actually went online to cancel it out and just go with one way cheaper that I really didn't like so much. When I went to cancel it on Babys R Us website, it was already bought! It's super cute though and I'm so glad Abigail has it for her room!

That's all the pictures from the shower that I'll share on here. I don't want to bore everyone with my fun moments :) Thanks again to all my wonderful sisters (including Heather:) and mother for making this happen. It was so much fun and we got so many good things to start a new era in our life!

Abigail's Baby Shower

2009-12-08T10:54:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty behind with my blogging. We don't have internet right now and it's just been really busy.

Anyway, the wonderful women on my side of the family (Mom, Chelsea, Beth and Heather) gave Abigail and I such a great baby shower last month. I had such a great time and it was one of those wonderful times where you realize how blessed you are and how many friends you have. I have such a wonderful support system and family. I really don't know what I would do without them! There was a really great turn out and we got SO many wonderful gifts. We got just about everything we need and things we didn't get are already mostly bought with the generous amount of gift cards we received.

I really appreciate everyone who helped out with the shower. Abby is going to have such a wonderful extended family who loves her so much. I know we are all so super excited to meet her, but no one is more excited then Paul and I! :)

(sorry this is so short, and only one picture. I have a ton of pictures, but I really don't want to download them on a public computer!)

Introducing Our Baby Girl!

2009-10-07T10:41:00.007-05:00

This is our little Abigail (unless we decide to change her name!) We went this morning at 9am to find out who was in my belly and we are SO super excited that it's Abby! Everything looked great on the sonogram too. Measuring right at 20 weeks. I just took a picture of the picture for now and Paul will scan them at work and send them so you can get a better look!

We went right to Target and bought her first little outfit. When we walked up to the check out line I just wanted to blurt out "We're having a girl!" but I waited and luckily she asked if this was for us or someone else. So I told her. She was super excited for us!
Abby's Baby Book :)
Me and Abby at 20 weeks. (Paul and I tried to get a picture, but it didn't work out.)
We are so happy and excited for February 24th to be here! We can't wait to meet her!

It's a.....!!!

2009-09-30T09:58:00.002-05:00

Well I wish I could finish that title sentence... But we'll all have to wait another week to find out! Pray the baby cooperates!

(p.s. Thats not my belly. It's not quite that big yet :)

Love Happens

2009-09-14T11:26:00.003-05:00

I am so excited about this movie. I'm not usually a romantic movie watcher, I'd much rather go see a great action film (especially in theaters)... But this movie (I hope) is going to be great!