New Life

So I am ready to publish the news: we are expecting a new addition to our family!! Yeah! Baby Johnson is due around the very end of July/beginning of August. This morning I had my first prenatal visit, and I got to hear the heartbeat! It was a huge relief to know that the baby is alive and growing. A little grape-sized miracle! We are very excited to say the least.

This last week has been great. Christmas was wonderful. We enjoyed opening presents as a family - Ellie really got into it this year and wanted to open every present under the tree. She was disappointed when we were done. Her favorite new toys are a dish cupboard (one that I had when I was little - Nick and I refinished it), plastic dishes, a new baby doll, and a grocery cart from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. We spent that evening with the Johnson family. On Wednesday we joined the Brown family at Strawberry cabin. Ellie loved playing with cousins and sledding. It was nice to get away for awhile and relax and spend time with family. All but a brother and a sister were there at one time or another (hey, 10 out of 12 ain't bad!). We played games, watched movies, and ate really good food. You know, the important things...

We came home Friday evening and spent Saturday setting up storage shelves (our Christmas present from our parents) in our future storage room. We've lived here now for a year and a half and most things in the basement haven't moved since that time. We are all pumped to get it organized. Yeah for basements!

Ellie with new baby doll Christmas morning.

Ellie in the tub with cousin Aspen at the cabin. Ellie and mom sledding.

'twas the day before Christmas

I guess it's time I get with the program and start posting some entries too.

We've been trying to balance the getting ready for Christmas and having some fun too. I think we finally finished up shopping for the stocking stuffers. It's hard to find good little gifts to fill up a sock, especially when we're too practical. I'm thinking maybe we just fill them this year with fruit. Maybe some nuts. Nuts would fit us fine. Yeah, let's go nuts.

So a little over a year ago, I received some movie tickets that have been sitting in the dresser drawer since then. We discovered that they were going to expire, so finally we used them on Tuesday and saw Enchanted. Cute flick. We don't make it to the movie theater much these days, so it was nice to get out.

Wednesday, Wendy had her book club girls over for dinner. Of course they didn't discuss the book at all. I suspect any book group is just an excuse to get together and chat. Sometimes they do discuss the books they read. Maybe I ought to start a movie club for the guys and we can "discuss" the movies we see. How about the Simpsons Movie? I'm willing to see that. Anyway, the dinner was tasty and the best part is we now have plenty of leftover ham available for breakfasts. The way I look at it, ham is designed to be a breakfast meat. Another reason breakfast is the most important meal of the day, no matter what time of the day you get around to eating it.

Saturday we spent most of the day at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. I helped Grandpa make a present for Grandma, Ellie took a short nap in Grandma's crib, and Wendy, after seeing an Alton Brown episode on the subject, made homemade marshmallows. Those were pretty good. I'm excited to make rice krispie treats out of them and to have hot chocolate with them. Although the rice krispie treats might have to wait for another batch.
Later Saturday evening, we got home and made the traditional gingerbread cookies. Sunday morning, we gave a little gingerbread man to Ellie. She had a hard time bringing herself to eating a little man. After a while she would finally nibble off a little piece -- part of it's head or a hand, and she would say, "Oh no!" Very sad, indeed. But she kept eating, and with each bite would say, "Oh no!"

Sunday at Church we were invited to come watch Ellie participate in a live Nativity put on by her nursery class. Of course she was kind of distracted when we were there, but she did go up when it was her turn to be an Angel.

After Church, we went down to the farm to have the annual Christmas party with Wendy's parents and brothers and sisters. That was fun, and Ellie loved playing with her cousins. And there was too much good food there. I'm going to have a hard time this time of year keeping my momentum going and keeping off the 40 pounds I've lost so far. Oh well. It's Christmas time!

Merry Christmas!

Santa Encounter

This last week we had our ward Christmas party with Santa Claus as guest. This was Ellie's first experience with Santa, and she did very well while Santa was giving her a candy cane, and then she was done. We also went to Zoolights at Hogle Zoo on Saturday, which was freezing cold, but a lot of fun. Ellie loved all the moving animal lights, and the real animals too. She especially liked the tiger. It was a different experience at night because most of the animals that we saw were moving around instead of snoozing in a corner.

Ellie amazes me every day with the things she picks up. She is stringing words together now and makes sense most of the time. She still sings and talks jibberish occasionally. It is so nice to be able to communicate with her and ask her what she wants. It's so much better than playing the guessing game. She is addicted to Sesame Street and Finding Nemo, and that's what she wants to do all day long (I don't let her, by the way...). Her eye rash has cleared up, hopefully for good. We are excited for Christmas, and wish you all a good one!

Ellie's first Santa encounter.

Bundled up for zoolights.

Ellie on the tiger at the zoo. Notice her mittens are not on her freezing cold hands. Brrrr.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

It is my goal to publish a new blog every Monday. So here I am again! This last Saturday it snowed and we took advantage of the moment and built a snowman with Ellie. She loved being out in the snow until the last moment when her little hands were frozen. Another highlight of this week is that Ellie actually went potty in her potty! We were a little surprised, and very pleased. Maybe potty-training is closer than we think! As for her mysterious rash, it has gone away and come back again - both on her bottom and her eyes. I'm beginning to think it may be something else. Who knows.

Ellie eating the snow.

Our snowman. Nick insisted that it be this huge - it fell over shortly after Nick put a face on it. Ellie still looks out the window and says, "Snowman, fall over, oh no!"

Big Girl

This week has had a few highlights: I went to Temple Square with the Young Women (I don't know if that's really a highlight...) and we went to baby Connor's blessing. We are so grateful to have family so close. Nick had every good intention to finish planting tulip and daffodil bulbs, but then the snows came. Oh well, everyone needs a day to cuddle up inside and watch the snow fall. Ellie has had a mysterious rash that started in the diaper area (the $150 diaper rash) and I think it has moved to just below her eyes, kind of gross, I know. I hope it's on the out.

Here's a photo of Ellie eating at the counter. What a big girl!

Wearing a Christmas outfit from Grandma Dee.

Happy Thanksgiving

This last week has been a great kick-off for the holiday season. We got to spend time with both families, and of course, we couldn't have asked for better food. We did our Christmas decorating, which at this point doesn't take too long. Nick is still working up the courage to put up the outside lights.

Decorating the Christmas tree.Ellie with her doll, Molly, and blanket - lately she's really been into the 'baby' thing.

Pooh Goes in the Toilet

Nick and I happened to be filming Ellie when this happened...we thought it was hilarious.