Changing of the guard

My mom left this morning, after being here for 4 1/2 weeks and Erik's mom arrived last night. You might have thought someone would have been killed after all that time together with a pregnant lady, then a new baby, and always a toddler around. But my mom was a servant the whole time she was here, from cleaning, cooking, running errands (and running after Grace) and then basically taking care of three kids after Matthew was born because I was dead weight and could not do anything for myself. What a trouper! So it's a little early to be saluting my mom for Mother's Day, but I think I have got the best one around.

Coming home a family of four

Whew, what a relief to be out of the hospital! Last time I wanted to stay in the safety of the hospital for as long as possible because we had this new baby and had no idea how to care for it, and besides, people were bringing me food I didn't have to cook! :) This time we had a Gracie-girl waiting for us at home, plus the comforts of our own house to look forward to. My hospital bed was awful (but the food was good!). Erik had a more comfortable bed this time around, as they had us in a double room converted into a single, so he had a real bed to sleep in instead of the pull out chair. My dad and sister also came into town the day Matthew was born, so I knew we had a great team of helpers waiting for us. (My mom has been a helper here for weeks, so she goes without saying :))

Hospital Pictures

Checking out Matthew for the first time

Sara decides babies are pretty neat (and Grace does the poke test to make sure he's real).

This is exactly how he was sitting inside, only upside down. He would not undo his legs! We called him Froggy.

Loving that baby warmer!

Grace holding Matthew

Matthew Paul Johansson

Matthew Paul Johansson was born today via c-section! He weighed 9 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Babies update

Well, for what seems to be the more important news, three of the baby birds hatched yesterday. We are still waiting for number 4, but I sadly don't think it will hatch. Erik is trying to get pictures of the babies without disturbing them. I'll keep you posted!

In other news, still no baby. I guess that's obvious. :) The hospital was booked for the 21st for a scheduled c-section, if it were to come to that, and the doctor (and my husband) were nervous to go past the weekend (which would be two weeks beyond my due date). So we have a scheduled c-section for Friday, the 18th at 8am. Unless the baby decides to make his entrance tomorrow, I guess we will be updating everyone then with baby news- FINALLY!

The watched pot that never boils

I'm feeling redundant, but here goes for you faithful watchers: still no baby. At this point with Grace, today was the day I was induced. I must admit the excitement has worn off. I feel like I will be pregnant for the rest of my life! We have the non-stress test and doctor appointment tomorrow. Will post another update then (unless, of course, I'm too busy! :)).

I can sympathize with her!

I discovered this beautiful Robbin's nest is in the pine tree just outside our front window last week. She was a very considerate bird and built it at the perfect height and location so that Grace can see it. Now we have moment by moment progress reports from Grace as to whether the mommy bird is there, if she is finding breakfast, if she can see baby birds yet, and if the daddy has made an appearance.
I have to admit, I feel for the poor mommy Robbin. First, she had to build that perfect little nest. Then she had to lay four huge eggs (huge for her!). And now she sits and waits. And waits. And waits.

P.S. We are still waiting for our baby to make an appearance too! I found out my friend who was due 10 days after me had her baby this morning. While I praise God for a healthy delivery and am glad she can do things like sleep on her back again, I must admit I am a little jealous! I am 8 days overdue and counting...

Another day

Phew! In a way, I am relieved that I made it past today; it meant I didn't have to deliver at a different hospital. In another way, it sure would be nice to meetthis little guy in person instead of having him get better aquainted with my ribs and organs!

Here is Grace and her belly. :) Erik pulled out the camera and she went running over to the "picture place" and wanted a picture taken of her holding her belly. She struck this pose all by herself. Do you think we've taken a lot of belly pics by the fireplace? They really are a sponge at this age.

Still no baby

What more can I say? :)

No progress :(

I had my 40 1/2 week doctor appointment today. Of course I caved and got checked. I haven't progressed any more (still!) but he did say the baby was lower than last week. I guess that's good?

They scheduled me for a non-stress test and ultrasound for next week. Hopefully I won't need the appointment! :)

A few prayer points, if you would indulge me:

1. My doctor works one Saturday a month at another hospital (Bethesda North) with another doctor group. For April, the date happens to be this coming Saturday, the 12th. I really want to deliver at Mercy Fairfield, the hospital we have toured and that is more focused on natural childbirth and has birthing tubs in each room. I know God can still work out all the details no matter which hospital, but I would feel more comfortable going into it "knowing" the hospital. (We don't even know where Bethesda North is exactly!)

2. Thankfully, my doctor will let me go all the way to 42 weeks before he would induce (or in my case, being a VBAC, schedule a c-section). I asked today and he said that date would probably be the 21st. Pray for wisdom on how far to safely go past my due date.

Thank you all for the sweet thoughts you have been sending my way! Obviously, I have a very comfy belly because my babies like to hang out in there past when they should!

Still sitting here doing nothing!

Hi everybody- quick update. Nothing new here. My due date was April 6th. I obviously have not had the baby, as my ticker so kindly points out. (Honestly, I thought this little guy really wanted out. He sure acts like it the way he abuses my insides!) My mom got in Saturday night to help out since I am so uncomfortable and to take some of the stress off of waiting and needing to find a "home" for Grace when we go into labor.

I have another doctor appointment tomorrow. Will let everyone know if something happens!

Sitting here doing nothing

Sadly, no progress to report. We all trouped up to the doctor today for my 39 week appointment because I was sure I had progressed since my 36 week internal check. Nope. Haven't done anything new. Nada. Zilch. The doctor assures me (as does Erik's "I've been telling you the same things!" look) that this means nothing. Labor could still start today or it could start much later. It just doesn't mean anything. But to me, it would have meant something. That I was getting closer, progressing, going into labor with a head start. All in God's timing!

In other news, we may be getting closer to a name. Well, lets just say I have finished going through the name books (and have a rather "short" list of 40 names!!) and every night now is "How about _______?"

I also have, with Erik's help, deep cleaned our family room, from the ceiling fan to steam cleaning the carpets (that is so satisfying!).

I think my nesting is complete. Our bags are packed. I am ready. Now aren't these the circumstances in which they say you go into labor?

Due date musings

First, I have to laugh that the ticker says there is no room for squirming. To borrow a phrase from the 90's, "As if!". I am still constantly pummeled, kicked, punched and generally abused. I'm afraid that the main reason is now that the doctor suspects that the baby is posterior, or "sunny side up". I am praying that he turns before delivery. All I've heard is how those labors are harder and longer, and frankly that's just not good news for a woman who was already nervous.

We woke up this morning kinda dazed that it somehow had gotten to be April already. I remember when that all seemed so far off. And here we are days (could it be 1 or could it be 19?) away from having a baby. Sure would be nice to get a vague idea of when.

Yesterday was the day they had me scheduled for my c-section with my old doctor group. Wow. I guess that would have given me a vague idea of "when". :)

And as much as I would love to have this little acrobat out, lets all just hope it is not today. Having an April Fool's day baby would be so sad for the little guy! Think of all the elementary school teasing.

I had to laugh

38 1/2 weeksJust compare this to the previous belly picture in this shirt. I don't think I will be able to wear this again! (My clothing choices are dwindling, needless to say.)

P.S. Anyone else freaking out that my blog ticker says 8 days until my due date? Don't worry, I think I'm nervous enough for all of us!

This also made me laugh

"I wish your hair would hurry up and grow out"...."Thirty-five bucks for a haircut??"

It's going to be all too true in our world

Snowy weekend flashback

My apologies again- I meant to post these and then forgot (imagine that!). These are from our snowy weekend two weeks ago. It literally shut everything down. Friday brought a few inches and then overnight Saturday we got dumped on. I heard it was the most snow in 24 hours that we had ever received. It may not look like much to you Northerners, but even Erik was impressed, so it must have been a fair amount.

This was her first attempt at braving the snow. At first, she wouldn't even touch what Dixie brought in from outside. So I suggested we put some in a bowl and plate and let her play with it like play dough. This kept her occupied for over an hour, with constant refills by mom.

Day two brought more courage (and more snow!). Poor Grace didn't have a snowsuit, but her great-grandmother had given her some heavy gloves, so we did our part to contribute to global warming and let her play with the snow through the open back door as long as she and I could stand it.

On Saturday we were under a snow emergency, and we later found out you could get a ticket for being on the roads. No matter, Erik and his buddy decided to go skiing in Indiana, about a 40 minute drive away. It took Erik three tries to get up one of the hills on the way to pick his friend up (Erik was the one with the SUV) and I was pretty sure his next phone call was going to be from him walking home from an abandoned car. Erik's were the first car tracks on our un-plowed roads for hours and hours; no wonder our neighbor followed him down the driveway to see if he was really going out! But the guys made it and had ideal skiing conditions (well, except for high peaks, but come on, this is the Midwest after all!).

"Don't make fun of my awesome sun glasses!"

Erik had the bright idea to shovel off a section of our patio so Grace could play "in" the snow. Don't worry, I have already bought her a snow suit on clearance for next year so she can really go to town (now that she's not scared of snow). And no, my child did not throw that snowball at me. Miss Cautious came and placed it at my feet after I took the picture. :)

Me and my basketball

30 weeks: 33 weeks:

36 weeks:

And as a final note for the curious: at my 36 week appointment (eek! I'm on the weekly visits now!) I was between 1-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. That's pretty much farther than I ever got with Grace, even with her being overdue! And all you have to do is look at those pictures and you can see the baby is low!

Also, we had our hospital tour after our appointment (what a trouper Grace was, and Erik for that matter since it was a work day!). It was good to actually find out where the hospital was located :) and what floor the Maternity Ward was on. We got to ask a lot of questions since it was a personal tour (there was a bright spot to that snow storm drama). Erik's reaction: "Wow, don't you feel so much better after seeing everything?". My reaction: (insert panicked eyes and furrowed brow) "Wow, I changed my mind. Can I 'poof' this baby out?". It made the pending birth all very real to see the hospital room, the triage, find out answers to all the things we were wondering about. Oh, I bet you want Grace's reaction to the hospital tour. "A step for me!" After seeing the step into the jacuzzi tub. Never mind any of the other odd or curious things she saw in a hospital room, that's what stands out to my 2 year old!

My Goofnut

Enjoy my silly child...

This was all Grace's doing. I seem to remember a children's book about a bear who pretends to be an astronut with a box as his helmet. Well, this was Grace's cape and box hat. Seriously, if you had told me a two year old had such an imagination, I would have said "yeah, right". If you had also told me that kids get more enjoyment out of the things that come in the mail (a box and a VETS donations bag) than any toy, I would have laughed. It was a tragedy when trash day came and we threw these out. It might be cold outside, but as a special treat we can still have an "ic-ic" or picnic. (P.S. Kids never forget anything, so beware of being asking constantly to have another carpet picnic for lunch.)

Before we continue...

Hello, remember me? At least you guys are used to this by now.

A brief recap:

• We started potty training in January. After two weeks of not getting it, suddenly it clicked for Miss Grace. Recently, she has even gone so far as to be waking up dry from her naps and going poopy on the potty regularly! (Sorry, but most of you are mom's so "poop talk" shouldn't be too far from your daily vocabulary.) I highly recommend "ipstick" or chapstick as a reward for pooping on the potty. It is what finally got her to do it! Even chocolate didn't do it for the kid.
• February was a crazy month. I started my doctor visits every other week. We had a steady stream of company, with only five days out of the month "just us". We had a huge snow storm that prevented us from having our hospital tour (don't panic, Mom, we are scheduled to have a private one tomorrow and the forecast is for the 50's!).
• Now it is March and I still have my head in the sand. We are still reading the birthing book, we don't have a name picked out, and the only person packed for the hospital is my husband (even Grace's travel bag is not packed). I think that shrieking I hear coming from Albuquerque is my Mom freaking out again... :)

A huge blessing!

Erik just called me and the results from his last (and I do mean last!) exam are in... drum roll... and he passed! Woo hoo! Hoot and holler! Praise God! That means that after 6 1/2 years of exams, balancing work/family/play, and countless hours of studying (well, not countless- it totaled around 4,000 hours of studying outside of work) Erik is all done with the actuarial exams. That would be ten, ten folks, under his belt. Or should I say after his name. That officially makes him:

Erik Karl Johansson; FSA, EA, MAAA

Now nobody tell him if the Society of Actuaries adds any more exams to the line-up. I don't want him to know!

Third trimester panic

Ahh, I remember the days of the first trimester, going by at a regular pace. Not too fast, not too slow, but juuust right. Then bam! it is the last stretch of the pregnancy! What happened? I've decided it is time to officially start panicking. As usual, I have a list that will not be done by the time the baby arrives, which induces its own freak out session. Included on that list is how to start out the arrangement of the kids and their rooms. I think we are still going to go ahead with putting them together, the question is what room and how to do it. (My dear friend Stephanie's family was a great encouragement to me in this area after seeing her kids, a boy and a girl, together.) I also would love to be caught up in some form with my scrapbooking (I hear laughing already).

The prospect of labor is also now looming. I don't want a scheduled c-section or VBAC! :) Isn't there a way to "poof" this baby out? I have gathered materials from like minded natural birth mommies, including a special book for Erik "The birth partner: everything you need to know to help a woman through childbirth". I think I'll let him read it and tell me how this is going to go down.

In the meantime, you can continue to wonder with me: where is this child hiding?? I am not nearly as big as I was with Grace. The doctor said he is already very low. And I can tell you he is trying to kick his way out of the womb. Think this will be an early baby instead of a late one?

Surprise!

Well, "surprise" might be understating the fact that we were hit by a mack truck when we found out our new baby was a boy and not a girl. We just assumed we would have all girls, and that Grace would have a sister, and that they would share a room, and I would get to reuse all of Grace's clothes, but.... God had different plans, and I know that it will be better than we could have done it if we had chosen ourselves.

So here is our son's first picture as a "boy". And let me say there is no doubt in my mind the technician is right!

Ultrasound stats: All looks perfect, baby measured 11 inches head to toe and weighed 15 ounces. Measured 4 days before due date (but so did Grace and we all know how that turned out!).

And here is my belly picture, also at 20 weeks (taken November 21), when we had the ultrasound.

Ch-ch-changes...

Look who has a big girl bed! A major hurdle is behind us, and seems to be going well. In fact, I would say bedtime has been easier since: "the man brought the big girl bed, remember, mommy?" (Who needs Santa when you have a man who can bring a big girl bed?) We made a big to-do over shopping for the mattress, setting up the bed, and getting the sheets. I dreaded this moment almost as much as I am dreading potty training. But all for naught, as Grace thinks her new bed is the best thing since sliced bread (or in her world, since she discovered cookies).

Can you believe I got her to go down for a nap, in her old crib, sharing a room with her amazing, wonderful, exciting big girl bed, 30 minutes after the delivery of her mattress?

Yes, all those animals really do sleep with her. So mcuh for not having sleep props!

Much to be thankful for

Thanksgiving 2007

We are thankful for getting to play outside in the leaves in our pajamas...

...for uncles who will get down on the floor and play with us...

...for Nana to play "beans and rice" with us...

...for men who enjoy and are willing to do "projects"...

...for Thanksgiving leftovers...

...and I am working on being thankful for this most beautiful art project that Nana concocted in honor of our great-great-aunt (ask if you really want to know)...

Grace's Birthday, Part 2

For all the parents out there

If your child is like Grace, and is addicted to a certain song before bedtime, you might find this can spice up your life! Did you know there was more than one verse of "Twinkle, twinkle little star" to sing adnauseam? Note to grandparents- learn it quickly, as this is a common request at our house!

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are!

When the blazing sun is gone,

When he nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Then the traveler in the dark

Thanks you for your tiny spark;

He could not see which way to go,

If you did not twinkle so.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Grace's Birthday, Part 1

For Grace's birthday (which is October 11th, by the way- yes, I know I am behind as usual in my blog) we bought a family pass to the zoo. Even Aunt Sara got to go with us. It was a perfect day when we went, weather-wise, and it was "Halzooween" at the zoo, where the kids got special treats along the way. We got to see all of Grace's favorite animals, except the giraffes, which were curiously missing because their exhibit was getting a facelift. I'd really like to see that going down the freeway- a semi with a few giraffe's sticking out of the top!


"Uh, Dad, don't get to close to that thing!"

"They gave me two treats! Even the zoo knows it is my birthday!"

What a surprise, the little monkey thinks the monkeys playing are hillarious.

How did "say cheese" ever morph into the super-hero-arms pose?

Mama said there'd be days like this!

Do you have days like these? Let me tell you about ours, that started Monday night. We got 2 1/2 inches of rain during the day on Monday. A miracle, considering we were a third behind on our yearly rainfall and suffering a severe drought. Then from midnight through 8 am, we received another 2 inches. It continued to rain on Tuesday during the day (you know what they say- when it rains it pours! Pun intended...). As a creature of habit, I was having my usual cleaning day on Tuesday. I put Grace down for a nap and proceeded to go down into the basement to clean up after 14 rug rats we have down there every Monday night with our Bible Study.

Squish. Oh no! Water leaking from the ceiling? No, that's dry. Proceed to walk further into basement. Squash. Feel carpet. Uh-Oh. Continue walking to the door leading to the unfinished part of the basement, knowing with dread what is on the other side, hoping that I'm wrong. I'm not. Nope, there are rugs and other items floating in standing water, with the sump pump apparently on strike.

After Erik finally was released (or did he release himself?) from the ball and chain called work, we spent hours after Grace went to bed bringing up garbage bags and box after box of wet and ruined items. The garbage man is going to flip when he comes to our house tomorrow!

The update today after the restoration crew got here was all the carpet and pads had to come up and be trashed (tile in the bathroom anyone?) but so far there are no signs of mold. We have an army of fans and dehumidifiers down there that will remain until Monday. It sounds like an airport down there right now.

The Week Of Calamity actually started on Friday, when I came down with a stomach bug, which led to Grace having a lot of unsupervised time, pizza for Grace and Erik two nights in a row, me trying to make a conference at church that I had signed up for months ago (and really wanted to attend) and not making it much past lunch (duh!). Erik's exam in a week and a half when it is major crunch time and he can't possibly deal with more. Enter the "Flood", Erik stuck at work with a project that should have taken three weeks, but they gave him three days; me left with a basement full of water wondering what to do; and Grace still having too much unsupervised time.

By the way, how did I revive the sump pump on strike, you ask? Well, kicked it of course!