(backtrack) Jared's Baby Shower

MacDonnell girls sure do know how to throw a baby shower. My sisters spoiled me (and Jared) rotten! It was so sweet of them to do this for me. The food was wonderful (as always) and look at that cake!! Chelsea kinda rocks at the cake thing.

They put Apple Cider (my favorite) in the pumpkin. Clever!
We did a craft, because we all love to craft! Heather brought onesies and fabric so everyone could make a onesie for Jared. They are adorable.
For the game, my SIL Sandee brought all kinds of baby things and we had to guess the price. Baby's are spensive. And then she let me go home with all the things. Spoiled.
There was no skimping on the 'shower' part either. Jared got all kinds of cute things for his room, to wear, and to play with.

Thank you to my sisters, mom, and MIL for taking the time to spoil us a little more. It was a hectic day and not everyone was able to come, but I sure did appreciate it and had a blast with those who could come!

Love you guys!!

Jared's Blessing Day

(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

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!

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

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

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!!

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:

(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.

(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...

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.. :(