Christmas Tag

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I recycle gift bags when they’re given to me, but there’s something about ripping off your wrapping paper Christmas morning that makes it so much more fun!

Real Tree or Artificial? Real for sure!! Love the smell, and don’t mind the needles enough for me to get an artificial.

When do you put up the tree? Whenever we get it – there’s not a set date or time.

When do you take the tree down? We usually wait until after New Year’s Day. Or until it’s so dead we can’t stand it anymore.

Do you like eggnog? LOVE IT!! Have to dilute it though, otherwise too rich – either with milk or Sprite.

Favorite gift received as a child? Either I have a horrible memory, or else I was a spoiled little brat who was never “impressed” enough for it to last. I DO remember a great Christmas in high school. ALL of my Christmas money was stolen at school and I was devastated that I couldn’t buy gifts for any of my friends. The doorbell rang one night and there was an envelope on the steps that said “To: Jodi, Love: Your friends” – in it was $100 in $5’s and $10’s. They had taken up a ‘collection’ since they knew how upset I was – which was extra special since I was just turning around and buying all of them gifts! I never found out who was in charge of it or who all donated, but I will never forget how good of friends I had/have!

Hardest person to buy for? Nearly everyone, but mostly Neil. He never wants ANYTHING!

Easiest person to buy for? This year, probably Avery ‘cause she’s too young to care and we already know what she needs. Plus I’m realizing how easy it is to spoil your child!

Do you have a nativity scene? I think a couple of them – currently don’t have enough room to put up all of our knickknacks. Hopefully we’ll get some end tables or something soon.

Mail or e mail Christmas cards? Mail – that is if I ever get them out!!

Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I have an aunt who tends to buy her gifts at the DI – I don’t remember any one specifically, just that they’re kind of crazy.

Favorite Christmas movie? I love Elf! The Muppets Christmas Carol is awesome too! Never seen The Christmas Story (I know, I know – I’m weird). I also love Rudolph and the animated Grinch…those will never get boring!

When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually the week before! I actually had a few things bought the first week of December this year – I was so proud of myself!!

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? White elephants are the BEST when recycled.

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I love a good cup of my mom’s homemade wassail! Also toffee, fudge, caramel popcorn, and lots of other little treats.

Lights on the tree? Multi-colored. I like either, but Neil insists on color.

Favorite Christmas song? Not very popular, but “I Wonder as I Wander”

Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home this year. And our travel consists of driving to our parents house about 15-20 miles away, so it’s not very far!

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Who DOESN’T know them?

Angel on the tree top, or star? Still haven’t ever bought a tree topper – plan to this year when I can find time to check out Hobby Lobby or Tai Pan Trading.

Open presents Christmas eve or morning? One on Christmas Eve, the rest on Christmas. Neil and I get each other hoodies instead of PJ’s – that’s the Christmas Eve gift.

Most annoying thing about this time of year? Driving in the snow! And though crowds and lines are annoying to be in, it’s still kind of thrilling to be in all the hustle & bustle – I’m probably alone in thinking that though.

Most favorite thing about the season? What isn’t there to love? I really couldn’t come up with just one thing! Lights, carols, happiness everywhere, snow, the nativity story, friends and family – I love it all!! (Except DRIVING in the snow – blech!)

Favorite ornament, theme, or color? I have a little ornament that I got when I was like 2 or 3 of a little bear in a bathtub – it’s porcelain. For some reason it’s always been my favorite.

Favorite food for Christmas dinner? I love ham. And my mom’s homemade rolls!!!

What do you want for Christmas this year? To be honest, I'm having a hard time thinking of things. I need some new clothes. All the things I really want are pretty big purchases….couches, an office desk, a flat screen for above the mantle, a piano!! Someday those will all come true…I hope!

I tag EVERYONE!!

8 Weeks

(Smiling for Mom - she usually smiles big when we DON'T have the camera out.)

Avery had her 8 week checkup today! I can't believe the time has passed SO fast! The doctor said that everything looks great and that she actually seems to be ahead of the game when it comes to her strength. He said that she can stand really well, and that she keeps her head up and balanced very well also. We've always noticed how strong her neck is. Even in the hospital she was holding her head up a lot - the nurses even commented on it. The doctor also said that she's following things very steady - not a lot of jerking movements. We're just proud of her no matter what, but it's fun to think she's learning fast! :)

(Sitting up like a big girl - with a little help)

I never posted her 2 week checkup stats, so here they are along with today's for comparison.

2 week:
Height: 20 1/2" (82%)
Weight: 8 lbs 8 oz (85%)
Head Size: 36 cm (75%)

8 week:
Height: 22" (37 %)
Weight: 10 lbs 6 oz (42 %)
Head Size: 38 cm (32%)

Apparently, I had a large baby, but she's shrinking....or rather not growing at a "normal" pace. I'm not worried one bit though - we love her just the way she is! She loves tummy time and always kicks her feet to try to move forward (I swear she'll be crawling in no time!) She's smiling more and more every day and she's more and more happy (if that's possible)! She is SUCH a good baby and we just adore her!

(Some tummy time on the Boppy)

(Doesn't it look so relaxing? She's so content!)

Thanksgiving

(Our little family at dinner)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! I spent the morning relaxing and getting myself and Avery ready for the day. Neil went with his brother and some friends to play their annual Turkey Bowl football game. We started the festivities at Neil's mom's house. We were missing Lindsey & Ed (we really missed you guys!!) but the rest of Neil's family was there. Neil's mom, Grace, made these cute name tags that each had a different quote about gratitude, and a different question we had to answer. My question was "Name something you're grateful for about the way you were raised." Neil's question was "Name someone who has been an example to you of gratitude." It was a very fun activity that really helped us all reflect on the things in our lives that we are grateful for. His extended family came over later for dessert and we all sat and enjoyed each others' company. Later in the evening, we went to my parents' condo up in Midway. We enjoyed more dessert and played games with the fam. We ended up staying up VERY late! It was a wonderful day filled with food, family, and fun!! It was a great beginning to my favorite time of year!

(The loves of my life!)

To keep with the spirit of gratitude, I would have to say that one of the things I'm most grateful this year is my own little family! Avery has brought so much joy to our lives!! I love being a mother and soak in every minute of it! I'm sure I'm spoiling her rotten, but I snuggle her pretty much all day! I love to rest my cheek on the top of her head and breathe in her "new baby" smell. I also love to watch Neil with her. He is the most wonderful father and it's so obvious how much he absolutely adores her! I must say, though I wouldn't have thought it possible, our love for each other has grown ten fold!! It's amazing, the depth of my love for him. I am so thankful for the blessings I've been given, and for the family I have to share my life with!

A Day Out

(What a cutie, huh?)

So most days lately, I have been the epitome of LAZY! I stay in my PJ's all day, watch TV or movies, play on the computer, and occasionally cook or clean. Because we don't often get out, Avery stays in her PJ's most days too! Yesterday I had a few things to do including getting my hair done, so I actually got us ready. I couldn't help but ogle over how incredibly adorable Avery looked in her little outfit. I'm sure I'm biased, but she is the most beautiful little girl! Ahhh...I LOVE being a mother!

(Some of the MANY faces of Avery)

(The famous "O" - The shape of her eyes matches the shape of her mouth!)

(Full body shot - What a cute outfit...thanks Alisa!)

(When we first got home, she had wiggled the headband down around her eyes. Nice night mask though!)

Twilight Contest

So my friend is giving away 2 tickets to the opening night showing of Twilight (Tickets are for Jordan Commons in Sandy.) I know there are a lot of Twilight lovers out there, so I thought I'd post the link to the contest to "spread the word." All you have to do to enter is e-mail your name, phone number, the blog address of where you heard of the contest (so MY blog) and a soup recipe to Launi@GraciousRain.com!! You can submit two entries per day. You can check out her blog for more details. The contest ends this Friday and the winner will be drawn at 5:00 pm so get your entries in!!

Gracious Rain Blog - Contest Information

New Pictures

Nothing too significant has happened in her first 3 weeks, but I thought I'd post some more pictures of Avery. She is still so much fun and we are loving every minute of being parents - Yes, even the diaper changes! (Though I'm sure those will get less appealing)

(We put her in the boppy on our bed and we all watched a movie - she didn't last long before she fell asleep. Must take after her aunt Lindsey!)

(Another picture of her sleeping in her bed)

(After a bath)

(She looks like she's enjoying her dream in this picture)

(It's out of focus, but I love her eyes in this picture - takes after her mom!)

(Her famous "O" face - She's gazing out the windows)

(Cousin Max holding her - He LOVES babies...especially his cousin Avery!)

(Another adorable picture of her "O" face. She was just staring up at mom)

Halloween

(Avery helping us carve pumpkins)

So it's been a week, but I thought I'd post some pictures of our Halloween night. As with most things in my life, I procrastinated carving our pumpkins until the night of. I like to do my own stencils for my pumpkins, so I drew them up and then Neil and I carved them while Avery watched from her bouncer. It was fun!

(Neil's pumpkin)

(My pumpkin)

(Avery's pumpkin)

(All the pumpkins on the porch)

And even though it takes a lot of time, I love separating all of the seeds and baking them. This was the first year that I haven't burned any of them. We had a LOT of seeds this year - and they're nearly all eaten. They get addicting. Anyway, hope you all had a great Halloween.

We caught a Wabbit

(I like this one with all of the leaves in the background)

My parents have a family Halloween party every year where we all dress up, have a big dinner, and then play Halloween games. We bought a little rabbit costume for Avery before she was even born. 2 days before the party, I was thinking that we didn't have any costumes for us to wear, nor did I have any idea what we would be. Then the thought hit me! We could dress as hunters! So we borrowed Neil's brother-in-law's hunting clothes and here's the result. We caught ourselves a 'wascawy wabbit.' (She was the cutest little rabbit ever, might I add) I was stupid and didn't get one of just her in her costume, but we can still get one of those later.

(Us after we shot our wabbit - bow hunting isn't usually the MOST conventional way to catch a wabbit, but we improvised!) :)

(Us with our "kill")

(The whole family - well, those that live in Utah at least. Nearly 1/2 are out of state!)

Pictures of Week #1

Here are just some fun pictures that we've taken in her first week. Surprisingly, they've all been of her, not other people holding her! We'll try to get more of those.

(Neil likes to get pictures with her arms in cute places. She looked so relaxed with the stretched out so far and in her cute, soft blanket.)

(Her bouncer has a mobile that goes over it. Neil put it up when she was wide awake and though it looks like she's staring at it, she never did look at the little animals. She was just staring into space. We just loved her cute little face in this one.)

(She's always so cute, but when we were taking pictures this time, she lifted her little lip like Elvis. It was so cute!)

(Just another cute one of her deeply sleepin' in her little bouncer.)

(A cute one of her all wrapped up in her bassinet just sound asleep. Look at her cute little saggin' cheeks! They're so dang fun!)

(Another one of her arms in a funny position. We were just getting her ready for bed and she put them straight up over her head.)

(Dont' think we're mean - we just had to snap a picture before we picked her up. We wrap her tight at night so she can't flail her arms and wake herself up - not an uncommon thing. Well, she somehow wiggled her right arm up, and since she couldn't get her left arm out of the blanket, she decided to completely take it out of her jammies and stick her bear hand out the neck of her jammies. She must have wriggled for quite awhile to accomplish that. We think she was so upset because she had gotten herself stuck.)

The Birth (Novel)

So some people have asked about the whole birth experience (with going natural.) I'll try to summarize as much as possible, so as not to bore anyone. Those who don't really care can skip this and just check out the few new pictures.

So the surges (contractions) started about 9:00 pm Wednesday night, but they weren't very regular yet. I just kind of dealt with them on my own through the night, but didn't sleep much. They started coming regularly at about 4:00 am. I woke Neil up at about 5:00 am to start helping me through them. His biggest job was to use light touch massage (he basically uses the backs of his fingertips to try to create the chills. The chills release endorphins, and endorphins are natural pain blockers.) It wasn't bad enough yet to need that too much, so he just helped me keep track of how far apart the surges were. I took a bath, and then showered and got ready. Finished packing the hospital bag, and then just tried to relax in bed. We wanted to wait as long as we could at home so that we were in the most comfortable place possible so that it would be easier to relax. We finally left for the hospital at about 2:00 pm.

We checked in the hospital at 2:30 pm at which point I was 100% effaced and dilated to a 5. We decided to stay anyway, since it was a half hour drive each way if we were to have gone home. I spent most of the time in bed and Neil would just help me through each surge and then we would chat between each one. My midwife showed up at about 6:30 and checked where my progression was. At that point I was at a 6+. I was surprised that I had only progressed roughly 1 1/2 cm. in 4 hours. At that point I decided to take a bath for awhile. Neil helped by pouring water over my stomach (as the bath wasn't deep enough to cover it all.) They had to get me back on the fetal monitor, so I got out of the bath and made it over to the bed. I decided to lay on my side for awhile and the first surge that hit me, my water broke. (What a weird sensation!!) That happened at about 7:20 pm. The surges became steadily stronger, and I began to lose my focus in getting through them. I started getting nauseated and Neil and my midwife were able to use some pressure points to help me through them. I decided to go sit on the toilet to relax through the surges. (It helps relieve the pressure and allows your hips to spread well.) I was able to regain my focus and was dealing pretty nicely with the surges when the nurse said I had to get back on the monitor! Grrr....I wasn't too happy about that. So back to the bed, monitor on, and trying to focus. I was able to get into focus in the bed, but is was not as comfortable as the toilet. The monitoring is supposed to be for 20 minutes. Well, WAY more than 20 minutes had passed but the nurse wasn't removing the monitor. My surges were lasting between 1 - 2 1/2 minutes each, so right when one would ease up, another would start. I finally found a moment to break my focus and asked to have the monitor taken off. She said that I had seemed so relaxed that she didn't want to disturb me. So the monitor came off, and I went straight back to the toilet. What seemed like not very much longer, I told Neil I felt like it was time to start pushing. He paged the midwife and nurse back in. The midwife checked me and I was fully dilated. In Hypnobirthing (the method we used) you "breathe" the baby down instead of push. Difficult to explain in writing. Anyway, I gave a few of the downward breaths on the toilet when the doctor suggested I get back to the bed so that the baby wasn't born IN the toilet. I chose to deliver on my hands and knees as it was less pressure and more comfortable for me. I continued to use the downward breaths, and what seemed like 5 minutes later, she was out!! (About 30 minutes total passed from when I said to Neil that I felt like I needed to push, and when she came.) Neil watched the whole thing and was even able to help deliver her!

I immediately turned around and they put her on my chest for some skin-to-skin contact and bonding. The midwife and nurse were still working on other things and I just sat and held our beautiful little Avery. Eventually, they needed Neil to hold her while the stitched me up and got everything cleaned up. Once all of that was complete, they brought the people in to do the weighing and measuring and then gave her back to me to nurse. She latched on great and took a full 10 minutes from each side. We then just continued to bond and enjoy her little presence before they took us to our recovery room.

In Neil's own words, he says that half of the time he couldn't even tell I was in labor. The nurse said that she had only ever been involved with one other Hypnobirthing birth and that the other girl wasn't able to relax very much and was quite miserable. Seeing my experience made her want to take the class just to simply learn about the concept and better be able to help someone in the future. My midwife (she said about 90% of her patients use Hypnobirthing) said that she was amazed at how well I did and that very few women have kept the level of concentration that I had. None of this is to brag, but to simply say that it was WELL worth the studying and practicing and the entire experience turned out as well as I could have hoped! Well, almost... I hoped it would have been a little bit less painful, but who doesn't? :) It still was a wonderful experience and I will definitely be doing it again - just not in the near future!

Note: I did not emphasize one of the most important parts of the entire experience and I can't believe myself!!! I have to say that there is ABSOLUTELY no way that I would have been able to get through it all without Neil's help!! He was the most amazing coach and said and did all of the right things at the right moments for me to be able to stay as relaxed as I did!! I couldn't have done it without him and I thank him SSSSOOOO much for being there for me every step of the way! We made a great team and my love for him has grown immensely through this entire experience! Thank you Neil, and I love you so much!!!

Avery Lyn Johnson

Avery entered this world at 10:04 pm on October 16th, 2008. She weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is a beautiful baby and has already been such a joy in our lives.

I've been recovering slowly, which is the reason for the delay in the post. Here are some pictures of the miraculous event! I'll post more details of the whole day soon.

(Right before going to the hospital)

(Neil getting ready to help deliver her)

(Neil holding her shortly after she was born)

(Weighing & Measuring)

(Me holding her before nursing)

(Watching dad from her "bed" in our room)

(At home in the Boppy)

Stick a Fork in me!

So my due date came.......and went! I wondered what would happen to my pregnancy counter if I went over and apparently, it starts counting backwards.

(It should say "-1 days to go")

I'm actually still feeling great, I'm just very anxious to get her here!! We're so excited for her arrival - we just wish she was too! At the doctors office yesterday, she said I was dilated to nearly a 4, 90% effaced, and her head was fully engaged - meaning she can't go any lower until I actually start labor. She set up an induction date for the 30th, but she said she doubts I'll even make it another week. We basically just need the surges to stay regular and it'll progress pretty quickly she thinks.

*Sigh*

Cross your fingers that TODAY will be the day!

Pumpkin Patch

(Neil picking his pumpkin)

So I haven't blogged in awhile - not because we've had our baby, but because I've been nesting! We've gotten so much tidying/cleaning/organizing done, it's been great! In between all of the hustle and bustle to get ready for her arrival, we have been able to squeeze in some fun time!

(Me picking mine)

On Saturday, we decided it would be fun to go get our pumpkins from a pumpkin patch around the corner from our neighborhood. (During 1/2 time of the BYU game, or course!) It was so fun to wander through all of the pumpkins in search of the best one!

(Picking out Avery's pumpkin)

(A baby pumpkin for our little baby)

(Neil taking our pumpkins to the car)

The guy who owned the patch had a bunch of apple trees lining his property. Before we left, he told us to go pick a bunch of apples for free, so we came home with a bunch of fresh apples as well! It was a really fun experience for both of us - we definitely will make this a tradition. We now have our fun little "pumpkin family" on our porch!

(Our pumpkin family)