Flashback to June 30, 2001

1. Where/How did you meet? In Moscow. Russia. Totally the hand of God. Both of our families were living there as expats and we went to the same high school.

2. How long have you known each other? Since 1995.

3. How long after you met did you start dating? Three years. Despite what you might think, we did not date in high school. But I remember my mom saying then "What about that Erik Johansson? He is such a nice young man!" I'm sure that comment was followed with eye rolls at the mere thought of mom's dating advice. We didn't start dating until a year and a half into college. And by then we were at different ends of the United States. Go figure.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged? About a year and a half, all long distance.

5. How long was your engagement? 11 months

6. How long have you been married? 9 years!

7. What is your anniversary? June 30, 2001

8. How many people came to your wedding reception? About 150. It was an army of Erik's family, my family and a fair amount of our friends from a far.

9. What kind of cake did you serve? Oh, the cake! I'm drooling at the mere thought of it nine years later. It was Lady Baltimore cake, buttercream frosting with fondant icing. I'm trying to figure out how to get some for our 10th anniversary!!

10. Where was your wedding? In Minneapolis in the same church that Erik's parents were married in, his great uncle designed, his grandfather preached at, and he was baptized in. Lets just say they have deep roots there!

11. What did you serve for your meal? The most delish food stations. Not a buffet, food stations. :) It was so good, I'm only sorry that we were scarfing it from take-out containers later that night because we were so busy at the wedding!

12. How many people were in your wedding party? We kept it small and sweet- my sister as the maid of honor and Erik's brother was the best man. His other brother was a reader, as was my best friend from college.

13. Are you still friends with them all? Lets hope so!

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? His voice cracked several times. I did not cry, even though I thought I would. I think I was concentrating on not tripping or passing out!

15. Most special moment of your wedding day? It was all so wonderful, and went way too fast.

16. Any funny moments? Erik's Uncle married us, and out of nerves he forgot to say "You may now kiss the bride". But Erik was by no means going to pass that up, and he planted a big one on me before we walked back down the isle.

17. Any big disasters? Not really. Our parents did a wonderful job of keeping things under control. I'm sure stuff happened that I still don't know about or have forgotten.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? The Carribean

19. How long were you gone? Two glorious weeks. It was our last hurrah before we had to change cities, move into a new condo in Chicago, and both start work. I didn't want real life to start.

20. If you could get married again, would there be anything you would change? I would have our reception video taped because it all went so fast, there is a lot I don't remember. I also wouldn't leave at the crack of dawn the next day for our honeymoon. I wish we had spent more time with all the dear friends who had flown in for the event.

21. Greatest strength as a couple? We really balance each other out and like/dislike the same things. Just last week I made a comment about something I didn't like, and Erik said "I really don't either- its a good thing we got married!" :) For example, we both don't like mushrooms. Neither of us are huge fans of the beach (it is beautiful, but so hot, and what's with that salty water? Give me a pool any day.) We both like fun, fancy food when we go out. I could go on. Also, my emotional and highly worked up response to unexpected things is evened out by Erik's cool and collected response. He's saved me from freaking out multiple times (or at least let me have my moment, and then makes me see that it will be alright).

22. Greatest challenge as a couple? This is easy- neither of us likes confrontation with others, which can mean we get walked all over sometimes. Also, I am very indecisive. If Erik happens to be so at the same time, it can prevent us from making hard decisions until time makes the decision for us. Right now we are struggling with pre-school for Grace.

23. What did you dance your first dance to? "The Way You Look Tonight" by Frank Sinatra.

24. Describe your wedding dress: Well, you can see the picture of the top. It also had a chapel length gown and veil, which was quite heavy when all pinned up for the reception. It was not bright white but not ivory- perfectly in the middle. I loved the dress. I wore my mother's pearls and pearl ear rings that my fiance had given me the night before (what luck!).

25. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? Blue hydrangeas and yellow roses. Still my favorites.

26. Are your wedding bands engraved? Yes. "EJ to CW 6-30-01 Ecc. 4:9-11". A really sweet Bible verse.

27. How old were you when you got married? 22 years young

Growing, growing, grown

This was a traumatic realization for me: on the left is what William started out as. On the right is what he is now. In two months!! How can this be?
I know my kids are growing, but whenever I have to switch out their clothes, it is a depressing time. I realize how big they have gotten over the last year, six months, or month as the case may be. I will recall hanging up the new pants thinking, "these are huge!" and now I am putting them away because they have turned into capris.

You probably think I'm nuts. (I am.)
By the way, this "Chunker", as Erik affectionately calls him, now weighs 11 pounds, 10 ounces. You may remember he started at 6 # 2 oz! They like babies to double in weight by 6 months. I think we'll make that mark. :) He now fills Matthew's lap.
His first chin is now being eaten by his second chin. And I wish I could put a discrete picture of his thigh rolls on the blog. Rolls! And they thought there was something wrong with him in utero... he just wanted to be outside eating!
Big sister is still totally smitten.

Working on a new skill set. I can tell Grace is going to be the one to teach him to crawl. And then be sorry she ever did!

Six weeks

I can't believe that William is six weeks old today. It really seems impossible (prepare to hear that a lot over the next year!). He has been smiling, especially at his mama. He has been smothered with love by his siblings- even Matthew wants to hold him and wants to pray for him every night! It is hard to believe that if I was a working mother I would be back at the office, a reality that I am blessed not to have to face.

I must say that the transition from one kid to two was a whole lot harder so far than from two to three. Of course, I am still living in la-la land. Meals delivered by sweet friends and only just went to the grocery store myself last night. I did take the kids to get the oil changed in the van, hauled them all to Grace's ballet class, and got Matthew's hair cut, which I saw as a huge accomplishment for the week! :) Mind you, it did take me two trips each time we had to load into the car and out of the car. I did get a look with the baby in the car seat sitting in front of store as I went back for another load of little ones!

Check back here in a couple weeks when I am sure to be pulling out my hair... :) Meanwhile, here is the sweet smiling boy (in an outfit that swallowed him just three weeks ago)!

Month in review

I can't believe William is four weeks old! How many mothers have lamented how quickly time passes?

William has gone from a delicate baby in need of extra care to a normal baby. Two weeks ago he was given the all clear to nurse full time, and he took off with it. No more pumping and bottles. He regained ounces to surpass his birth weight. Basically, they said, "See you at his two month check up!" What a blessing.

A week after the surgery my incision started opening up and developed a hematoma. After removing that, it had to be packed daily with a special gauze until it healed from the inside out. This led to daily nurse visits or trips to the doctor. Apparently this is common for any type of surgery, and with three c-sections, my number was up. It set back my recovery, but this past week has seen much improvement and it was nice to start to feel normal again.

The last month has been full of feeding, snuggles, diapers, bonding, laughter and tears. It has occurred to Erik and I that we are now officially outnumbered. But it sure feels nice! :)

Weeks one and two-

Size of diapers: Premie

Size of clothes: Premie

Number of heel pricks: 10

Number of baby IV sticks: 6

Number of adults needed to run household: at least 3

Number of adoring big sisters: 1

Number of brothers needing some encouragement and extra love: 1

Number of doctor visits after hospital discharge: 4

Official date of Easter: April 4

Our date of Easter: April 10




Weeks three and four-

Size of diapers: Newborn

Size of clothes: Newborn

Number of adults needed to run household: 2-3

Number of adoring siblings: 1 1/2 (unless Grace can count for 3)

Number of real baths: 3

Number of healthy, normal babies: 1

Number of nurse/doctor visits: 13

Number of nightly feedings: 2-3

Moments spent falling in love: countless

Home Sweet Home

We got to bring William home Monday night!

On Sunday they removed the IV to see how he handled his only source of nutrition being from the bottle. He is only a s0-so eater, due to his being early and not having the brain development, and from the jaundice. He has lost weight since then, but it is about 8% today, so not quite the 10% that would require him to be readmitted.

They were hesitant to let him come home, but in the end we think it was miscommunication between the pediatrician and the NICU nurses. The nurse who discharged us said that she felt comfortable sending us home as long as he continued to eat the minimum amount and was seen every day for check ups. So now we just pray that his weight loss plateaus and he learns better how to eat so we can avoid the dreaded re-admission to the hospital.

The kids were thrilled to get to go back and see baby William and do the "one finger touch". Check out the cute shirts that Daddy got for them, Big Sister and Middle Brother.

Oh, how good this home cooked food tasted! And to be back home as a family felt unbelievably joyful! Grace and Nana made a birthday cake for William (the candle was a zero :) ).

Welcome William!

First, some pics, then the story.

Where in the world does that dark, full head of hair come from?!?

Getting to hold William for the first time since he was born, about 24 hours later. What a sweet moment!

Thank you all so much for your prayers!! Yes, we had a little boy yesterday, April 1st. He was 6 lb 2 oz and we decided to call him William Robert (Robert was my beloved grandfather's name, so now each of our boys have a middle name of one of our grandfathers). He was born at the end of a very crazy day a little after 4pm.

My ultrasound on Wednesday afternoon showed that the baby was at the 11th percentile for weight (they guessed 5 lb, 14oz). If he had been at the 10th percentile, they would have put me on complete bed rest and delivered at 38 weeks. But with the extra percentage point, they were willing to put me on modified best rest and twice weekly Non-Stress Tests. I wasn't thrilled, but I wasn't worried either. I just figured we had a little baby since everything else so far looked so good.

I started out with a Non-Stress Test at the hospital in the morning. While I was sitting there I was having a lot of contractions, and the tech was concerned. Secretly, I was hoping she wouldn't notice the contractions because I had no intention of delivering a baby that day! :) She took the results over to our OB's office and they wanted to send me down to triage at the Family Birth Place for more monitoring to see if the contractions would slow down. After several hours, they were still very regular so they decided to move up the c-section to that day. It was the longest we have had to wait in the hospital, (about 5 hours in triage) but God was so good to give us his patience and peace- and time to figure out a name :).

The surgery went well, but William came out with a lot of fluid in his lungs and unable to get enough oxygen on his own, apparently common for a preemie baby (the pediatrician said today that there is a remarkable difference between a 37 week baby and a 38 week baby). He has been in the NICU since delivery, and I am hoping and praying that they will discharge him tomorrow or the next day or so that we can finally hold and feed the little peanut! (They don't want any stimulation- holding, touching- to raise his heart rate and breathing because he is already working so hard.)

His vitals are all good now and today he is breathing on his own without the oxygen tent, but he still has a high respiratory rate which they will have to wait for him to get under control. We have been told that babies at this age have not mastered the tasks of swallowing, breathing and eating, so he has to be on an IV for now.

We covet all prayers. The older kids are doing well with all the sudden changes. We look forward to being able to bring everyone home, and start our new, "normal" life! :)

Full term

It is nice to hit that milestone of "full term", which always seemed a little odd to me at 37 weeks and not 40, but I guess the point is that if the baby came today, their lungs would be ready and hopefully Mommy and Daddy would be ready. :) But that's a post for another day!

I am still measuring small, about three weeks behind, which may account for all of the "you are so tiny" comments. I guess I feel smaller than with Matthew, but honestly, who feels small in their last month of pregnancy?!? At this point the doctors want to check on things and we have had to wait a week for an ultrasound to check on the baby and all that sustains him/her. They will combine that info with the fact that I don't have small babies (hello, Matthew at 9 lb. 7 oz. !), and they may decide to move the c-section date up earlier. We shall see...
Meanwhile we have been keeping ourselves busy with Spring time activities, like a picnic at the park and some good ol' rock throwing into the river.

Anyone remember Grace at this age would not even dream of going down the slide?? And check out that hair. I promptly gave him a hair cut last week after this photo.

Dying Easter eggs... and remembering why a almost-two-year-old should probably not be handling real eggs.

Grace, the artist in the family.

One last tidbit of summer news....

Matthew's Birthday

Here are Matthew's birthday pictures. We were so blessed with a day of sunshine between weeks of rain.

Don't let that first picture fool you- if you notice, he was quite disgusted by his birthday cake, and hated the way the icing felt on his fingers. Mind you, I know that the dislike of sugar is not to last. After all, he does have me as his mother and I have never met anything sweet that I didn't like! :)

P.S. ABQ crew- Sorry that these took me so long to post!

One year ago today

It was one year ago today that our "little" man was born, nearly two weeks overdue and 9 1/2 pounds (think there was a correlation there?).

It was one year ago today that we were driving to the hospital for the c-section I had tried to avoid for 10 months by trying for a VBAC. One of the few times in my life that I actually feared a "known" over an "unknown".

It was one year ago today that we added one child to the family, and yet somehow more than double the work load (does anyone else feel that way?).

It was one year ago today that my sweet boy, who loves to cuddle, who has always wanted to hold my hand while he nurses, that will rest his head on any one's shoulder became my son.

This year has gone by faster than any year before. How many times have I said I feel like I was just pregnant? I feel like that surreal drive home from the hospital with both kids in the backseat was just yesterday.

What a difference a year makes. I now have a super fast crawler, who somehow knows instinctively that anything with wheels must make a vroom vroom sound. He still loves to be held, still wants to hold my hand while he nurses (which, sadly, we are starting to end) but is also much more independent than Grace ever was. I didn't need a baby gate with Grace because she followed me around like a puppy; but Matthew will wander around, entertaining himself. He will out-eat Grace any day, and that is no exaggeration. We are constantly getting up from the table to get him more food. I have no idea where he is hiding it, because he is no longer that super chubby baby.

I dread the next year because I know how much faster it too will go. Matthew will turn from a baby into a toddler. From crawling to walking to running (oh, Heaven help us!). He will start talking, further reminding us how much he has learned even though he seemed to be too young to do so.

I know birthdays are supposed to be happy, but for this mother, they are sad because they are blatant reminders that my children are growing up, getting older, somewhat wiser :) and will be out on their own before I can even blink!

I just couldn't let these get away....

I know, it is mid-November but I just had to post these photos from October. Somehow they got lost in the shuffle. Grace's first tea party. A reenactment of the ones us grand kids used to have with Gram...now Grace is part of tradition! The only thing that competed with the sweetness of the little tea set with little finger foods was that Gram had rocks and pine cones in her yard. Ah yes, Grace is in touch with her girly and outdoors-y sides.


Here is the post from Grace's third birthday that I wrote belatedly. We had her birthday in Albuquerque as well as my Great-Grandmother's 100th birthday.

Before we left for Albuquerque, we said good-bye to the Malibu. I know I had a love/hate relationship with that car over the years, but it was strangely sad to not see it in our garage anymore. I told Erik that I had been with that car more than 10 years- longer than he and I had been together! That also meant that I am now officially old- staring 30 in the face AND a minivan mommy. Eeek. It is true, though: I love the van a lot more that I thought I would, just like I was told by other, wiser minivan moms. :)

Grace turns 3!

Grace's balloon themed (it was the Hot Air Balloon Festival and Grace loves balloons) birthday party was at Nana and Papa's house full of family and new friends. Oh yeah, there was cake there too. :) I just love this picture!

Can you hear her belly laugh?

The great butterfly catching game Susan brought, perfect for 3 year olds and apparently adults too!



My beautiful child, all the way around.


The birthday girl can get an early lick of her own cake!

"Do I really want to be three? Do I get a say in this?"


Grace is no longer my little baby, though she still gets that nick name because I just can't seem to stop calling her that. She has outgrown her "baby speak" with the lone hold out being "clof clof" for wash cloth. And don't expect me to be correcting that one! She loves: reading, learning ("Mommy, tell me about _____"), cooking-both in her kitchen and mine, dress up, Clifford, the library, the zoo, the park- going anywhere really, doing ballet, making her baby brother laugh, the colors orange and pink. She dislikes: being alone, anything out of place- a cabinet door open, things not properly organized, strangers, anything daring (this includes jumping).

And we wouldn't have her any other way.

One hundred, years that is

We were in Albuquerque for many reasons, one of the main ones being my Great-Grandmother's 100th birthday! Lets all pray we are this sharp and healthy if we make it to 100!

Nell, my Great-Grandmother
Elise, my Grandmother (aka Gram)



Grace, the first great-great grandchild!