3 more weeks as a family of 3

Three weeks from today, our 2nd son, Elliot Henry is scheduled to be evicted from my womb, unless he comes on his own early. We had an ultrasound yesterday and were not shocked at all to learn he's big. Just like Noah. He's in the 90th percentile and weighs 7lbs 5oz already. Normal at 36 weeks 2 days was about 6lbs. He's on track to be a 9-pounder. I'm not complaining though. My most recent neice was 10lbs 10oz and Lisa lived to tell the tale. Plus, I don't have to push him out. Still, he's running out of room and I'm so uncomfortable. I have no doubt I'll continue to somehow stretch for his last few weeks of growth, since I did for Noah, but it sure doesn't feel like I can stretch anymore. While I know he'll be more work out than he is in, I can't wait to be able to lie on my back and sleep pain free (pray this one lets me do it for more than an hour at a time). And go from the basement to the 2nd floor without huffing and puffing. But, I will miss his kicks and elbows on my belly!

Pizza Party w/ the Thomas gang

After our bouncehouse party everyone headed to our place for a homemade pizza party. It is so fun having the whole crowd together and Noah especially loved playing with his cousins and having all his aunts and uncles here. He loves them all, but that night when we put him to bed he said "Udge you too, Mommy! Udge you too, Daddy! Udge you too, Uncle Steve!".... so I guess Uncle Steve holds an extra special place in his heart. He's especially sad to see "Mimi" (Amelia) and Waaweee (Aunt Laurie) go. Only 3 months apart, they are two peas in a pod. But, the good news is they are headed home to get ready for Rafe's 2 week leave from Iraq! Yay!

Vivi on the trike

Lulu playing ball

Greta having a drink

A bunch of us hanging out. Notice when I don't realize the camera is on me, I'm all laid out like a big old fatty - haha!

Bella is so cute in her new glasses and shorter sassy hair (she donated several inches to Locks of Love recently)

Noah & Uncle Steve

Asa, Zeke, Eli & Braden

The boys with Lisa

Mandy, Lisa, Amelia and Tammi

Noah, Amelia and Lucy riding the horsey (aka Paul)

Bouncehouse PAR-TAY!!!!!!

Since all the cousins were together for Christmas this year, we wanted to get together again for something super fun before everyone left KC. I rented out one of Noah's favorite haunts for some serious fun. It's got giant inflatables (a huge slide, 2 obstacle courses, basketball bounce house, dodgeball bounce house and they even got out boxing gloves, helmets and jousting sticks for the big kids). We ALL played (adults included). And the cool thing is we had it ALL to ourselves! It was so nice not worrying about keeping the kids being in constant view with all the family around to watch out for eachother. The Johnson kids are so great about helping out the little ones. Afterwards, everyone came over for a homemade pizza party (those pics will be in a seperate post). We all had a blast!

Christmas Day

Unfortunately, after going to bed a couple of hours late Noah still woke at 8:00 AM, ready to go. Christmas morning brought more gifts, as he opened the presents in the stocking Santa got him. He loved his new motorcycle the best, although he loved it all. We were happy that Noah fell asleep on the way to Karen & Doran's after not getting his usual full night of sleep. It was nice to enjoy my sleeping boy cuddling with me for awhile, a real rarity. He was up just in time to enjoy our traditional brunch: belgian waffles, breakfast casserole, rick's spicy potatoes, citrus fruit w/ brown sugar, bacon and more. It was delicious! Then we opened presents, where Noah cleaned up on all kinds of fun 2 yr old boy stuff.

Lots of activity later, we headed to Mandy's parents for the second/third round of food for the day. He opened up his special Thomas Trackmaster set before anything else, and that's all he cared about. Although, he loves his other toys, when it comes to trains, as most of you know, he becomes obsessed. That Thomas toy is to be kept at Grandma and Grandpa's house so he has one really cool toy there when he visits. Paul & I got a "Night on the Town in Belton" package for Christmas that included dinner and a movie in Belton, so he'll get to play with his set soon.

We headed home to get him in bed "on time" but he was so wound up from the new toys (and possibly the snickers treat from his stocking and the pumpkin pie Aunt Sam fed him before we left) that he was up till 10pm again. It was a great Christmas!

Geo Trax - WOOT!


Kelly trying to get some rest on Rocky - the big lug was snoring away.

Rick helping Noah with his stocking
Noah with Aunt Sam playing with Thomas Trackmaster
Noah is a little dangerous with his light saber
The look of excitement when mom pressed the button on his motorcycle ..... it said "Ninja Wheelie Time" and did a wheelie then took off. That was cool!
The annoying (to all but, Noah) dog singing "I'll have a Blue Christmas" - Noah played it over and over and over
Catching up on a little sleep before brunch

Christmas Eve w/ the Thomas Family

Christmas is special around here. It always conjures up many deeply cherished memories. For us, Christmas is a time to enjoy, and sometimes reconnect with family we haven't seen in quite a while. Some close by, some far flung, but all of whom we've spent far too little time just enjoying each others' company. This year was good. The Thomas family arrived en masse in the KC area with 12 kids. As usual, we spent Christmas Eve in Kearney and all 21 of us attended the 5:00 Christmas Mass before opening presents.

Noah fell asleep in the car on the way to church.............if only he'd have stayed asleep for the Mass.....

Noah enjoyed the singing and when it got quiet during prayer time, he did his part in livening things up again by breaking out in song - "I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the MAAAPP!" Some of you will recognize that from Dora the Explorer. Skittles seemed to help entertain him for a few minutes, until he started asking for "keendy" over and over again when he wasn't getting them fast enough: "more candy, More Candy, MORE CANDY!!!" - Apparently he thought the louder he said it, the faster it would come, but instead it got him a trip to the back of the church where he played out his sugar high by laughing hysterically at nothing. The priest noted that, judging by the sound of some of the audience, that there were several future members of the choir in the audience this evening.

The house was small, but filled with love, as all 21 of us piled in to eat dinner (in shifts), and open presents. Noah enjoyed seeing his cousins and was wired from start to finish. We left late, and he stayed awake almost until 10:30.

Zeke & Lulu
The first shift eating dinner

Opening some presents
More present time
Noah kicking bubbles

A little Elliot Henry (via the womb....)

So I talk about Noah all the time, but I'm currently very occupied growing his little bro. Paul finally named the little (scratch that - BIG) guy. This pregnancy has been easy and hard both. Really overall I can't complain. My morning sickness (which was only nausea) was gone by 10 weeks. My cravings haven't been insane or hard to satisfy. I've been very active with Noah doing Little Gym and taking him to bounce houses and playing with him. And he gave up naps around his 2nd birthday. So no breaks really for me during the day.

But, the hard part has officially hit. It FEELS like he MUST be ready to be born, but I have 4 weeks (from today) before that's due to happen. And although he may be big enough, I know his lungs need that time to mature. I've had every ailment late pregnancy you can get (which I'll spare you the gory details) and Paul is just waiting for locusts to appear. It actually makes me laugh everytime something new comes up.

But, I'm trying to cherish every moment because I am pretty sure this is it. And feeling him move all the time is wonderful and something I don't ever want to forget. I remember feeling "phantom" kicks with Noah the week after he was born. It was so weird. Kind of like getting off a boat and you still feel like you are floating.

This baby is putting just as much weight on me and, like Noah, is measuring 2 weeks ahead. I think I might be in for another 9 1/2 pounder on my hands. YAY for a scheduled c-section! Here's some pregnancy progression pictures:

Starting around 19 weeks....

About 25 weeks....
29 weeks.......
33 weeks.....

My little reader

Paul (who is an avid reader) used to worry about Noah because "they" all say to read to your kids from infancy everyday. And, well, reading to Noah would NOT hold his interest for a long time. Now he loves to read. He still goes through phases where he wants to read a dozen in a row or maybe just 1 or 2, but he has learned a ton from his books (I think those experts might just know what they are talking about after all). Now he mostly likes to read in the morning when he first wakes up in his room. His new thing is he reads to me. It's so cute! He picks the books, turns the pages and decides when it's the end or if he wants to read it again. He points to the pictures and names things and actually knows a lot of the words to his favorite books.


This is him reading one of his favorites - Duck on a Bike by David Shannon:

Last week

It's been a good week. We wrapped up our visit to the North Pole with a drive back to Albuquerque in a snowstorm to enjoy a final dinner with Missi, Mark, Denny and Rianna. We arrived just in time to enjoy rush hour in the snow. It was amazing to see how many motorcycles were on the road in a snowstorm.

The morning after our ride on the Polar Express, we boogied down to Wal-Mart to pick up a sled that we could use at Purgatory, who just received a foot and a half of snow the night before. The whole time, Noah kept saying, "Ride, the choo choo train!, Ride choo choo train!, Ride Choo Choo train!, RIDE CHOO CHOO TRAIN!!!" til we thought we would go crazy. The trip to the mountain was uneventful. We spent almost as much time dressing him in the car as we did actually playing in the snow. Trying to dress a toddler for 5-degree weather. in the backseat of an SUV that is almost half taken up by car seat and almost half taken up by an 8-month pregnant woman...well, you can imagine that kind of challenge. You would think that would only leave enough room for Noah to stand right where we want him to and put the many layers of clothes on him that he hates, but he managed to turn liquid, boneless and non-cooperative. We eventually got him dressed and spent a little time trying out the deep snow and the new sled.

His coat pushed up all his chub on his cheeks to make him look a bit Chris Farley-esque here

The mountains were very pretty that day

Going for a little ride

He kept yelling "I stuck! I stuck!" and bursting into laughter

We left the hotel very early the next morning to catch our 7:00 AM flight. Noah, as usual, got into the spirit quickly. It always amazes us how adaptable he seems to be when we travel. We can wake him up at 5:00 AM to catch flights, take him directly from his crib to car seat, throw a whole wagon-train load of belongings in and around him and drive like heck to the airport and he'll act like it's normal. He must have been dreaming about his weekend and his friends, because he woke up saying "Jack's house" and "ride the train".

The last morning we spent walking on the bike path that follows the Animus River just outside our hotel room. We had our hearts set on this French bakery for breakfast all weekend, and were deeply disappointed that it was closed on Mondays. Friggin' French... we ate at the next best place - McDonalds. What a letdown.

Once home, KC was enjoying more snow than we had seen in Durango. Paul went to pick up lunch and somehow managed to flatten one of the tires and ruin one of the wheels on the Pilot. Trying to get that fixed while many others were experiencing the same thing was a real pain.

Saturday, we had a small holiday party. It's amazing how fast the night goes when you are enjoying some wine and the company of good friends, and it is always fun to watch the kids play. Amelia, Jack, Caleb and Noah were all playing well together, even as they were trying to play with the same toys. Amelia, as demure as she is most of the time, showed that she can hold her own against the boys by taking their toys and pushing them away from the things she wanted. Noah inexplicably melted down a couple of times, probably the result of being tired and being in pain from smashing his chin on the train table. Despite that, Noah taught Jack what fun it was to jump on the couch. I'm sure his parents are thrilled. It was even fun to watch Caleb's dad scramble for a place to put down his wine glass and rush Caleb to the bathroom as they embark on potty training.

Temperatures dropped quickly, and it was about 5 degrees as the last guest left. Even our dog Wally didn't want to go outside for long, and he's got a coat built for this type of weather.