Happy 9 months Andrew!

Happy 9 months - eating refried beans!

Bubs is 9+ months! He is growing so fast and is just a bundle of energy. He didn't gain any weight this month because he never stops moving!!! He is pulling up on everything and starting to cruise along the furniture.

What a big boy!

 He is 30.75 inches long

He weighs 20lbs, 3oz.

His first word was "mama!" - it was very obvious :)

His first road trip was to Chicago and visit Forrest and Julie and his cousins there. Then we continued on to visit Katie and Rob and the kiddos in Michigan. We had an absolutely fabulous time with them! Love :)

Not sure about these leaves, mom :)

He had his first double ear infection in September - oh joy :)

He spent many hours car shopping with us and he finally settled in an a Nissan Altima!

Speaking of cars, he has been upgraded to a convertible carseat - much better for all.

I love taking a bath!

 Bubs is just a delight! He has a lot of personality and energy. He doesn't stop moving from wake-up to bedtime. He is a very happy guy, but he has his more unhappy emotions too.

He has 6 teeth, and whenever he is crabby we always hope he is "teething".

Good looking guys!

 Bubs favorite 2 people definitely are mom and dad. But close runner-ups are his grandparents.

 

Baptism 10/28/2012

We decided to Baptize Bubs, and had that done about 2 weeks ago. It was a great event and very special to have his Nash cousins and auntie/uncle all the way from Michigan! His Godparents are Ben & Ama Johnson, as well as Katie and Rob Nash. Bubs did great with the actual baptism part and we couldn't be happier. He was quite noisy the rest of the service, so that confirms are recent decision to put him in the nursery during the service.

Happy Halloween - a little puppy dog!

 For Halloween, Bubs was a dalmation puppy. He was rather adorable and warmed the hearts of trick-or-treaters young and old. He also brought a smile to Gammie and Gandpa Kunnari's hearts too.

Kids at the door kept on calling him "puppy baby". He was a good helper a grandma and grandpa's house!

Bubs is starting a new daycare in 2 days. Oh my heart. I am pretty sure he is not going to sleep well at naptime for like 1-2 weeks, but we will survive! Hopefully. Apparently when Caleb donated to Praise FM, they took his prayer request and prayed for it on the radio. So now 100,000 people have prayed for Bubs' transition to a new daycare. Ironically enough, Sara, Caleb's mom, heard the broadcast and thought moms/grammies everywhere had a tear in the corner of their eyes. It's amazing how concerned your heart can be for someone, isn't it?

6 Months Old!

Bubs is 6 months old. 

20lbs 11oz

29.9 inches long

Big chubby legs and cankles and cheeks

Rolling all over the place and sitting up by myself (although tipsy at times)

Everything stil in the mouth

I love to shout and babble really loud for long sets of time

Still nursing 6 times a day but sleeps from 10:30pm - 7am

Daycare 3x a week with the Bice's

I have met all my cousins

Ben, Ama, and Kirk moved back to the farm while....

Katie, Rob, Faith, Isaiah, Peter and Joe moved to Michigan!

I like bananas, peaches, mama's milk, oatmeal cereal!

I like to spit, A LOT!

I like bathtime finally :)

 First time on the boat with his old-fashioned life jacket!

 Can you see the teeth in there??

First tooth 6/2/2012

Second tooth 6/19/2012

First Solids - bananas!

I love to hold the spoon all by myself!

 I love to roll back to front while mommy changes my diaper!

4th of July with the Johnsons 

 Big boy shirt - I look just like my daddy!

 Getting ready to get in the lake!

 I won't sink, I won't get burned....geez mom and dad are no fun!

 Our first family swim!

 The beginning of the messy meals

Hey bright eyes!

Happy 4 Months Bubs!

Well Bubs is now, I think, 4 months :) He still goes by Bubs, bubsie, bubby bear, bubs-a-roonie, Andrew, Bubby, and Faith likes to call him "Baby Johnson". His cousins just love seeing him and they are pretty much sitting on him when they see him. Thankfully, Faith patrols the whole situation and makes sure no one at least sits on him :)

Hey - I found my feet!



He is quite the lovable guy with even more lovable cheeks! He is a very happy baby I would say.



He is really into putting everything in his mouth and now the drooling has started - yuck! Thankfully, he is doing pretty well on his developmental milestones: grasping toys, following things with his eyes, responding to sounds and voices....the only thing he is NOT enjoying is tummy time :( We try and try, but there are always tears. Mom is getting creative with tummy time though and we do it even when being held like an airplane on moms shins with Bubs in the air

He has found his feet and loves to hold them on the changing table. He did role over from his tummy to his back, but lately he has been on a strike from that. We are trying to help him remember how to do it again ;) Just today he actually started to role from his back to his tummy - cool!



Working with dad this past Tuesday - Dad was Mr. Mom that day while daycare was unavailable.

 Speaking of changing tables... that is where we spend a lot of time. Obviously, we have a big boy and lots of poops, but we have a lot of our play time on the table also. He loves to 'kick, kick, kick!" and flail his arms. We had to move the wipes container off the pad because he kept kicking it over the edge. On the changing table is where we get the most laughs, talking, playtime with overhead toys, practice sitting up, reading our memory verses, containing his flying urine (!), and wrestling to put on whatever remaining clothes he has that still fit him! He is generally wearing 6 month clothing, and if used...9 month clothing! He has a long, long torso and short chubby legs and 'cankles'. We do a lot of singing here too! He has moved past "Baa baa blacksheep" to bigger and better songs. His favorite toys are his giraffe, his puppy satin blanket thing, his rattle soft blocks, and the lights on the playmat.  His eyes stick like glue to the television if it happens to be on so we try to not have that on much! He doesn't like taking a bath yet, but he does love being wrapped in his yellow, Ducky towel.

Auntie Fidder's birthday!

Mom went back to work part-time (Tues, Thurs, Fri) the beginning of April, and I would say Bubsie is adjusting just fine. He has settled into a routine for the most part and is sleeping great. In general, his last feeding is 10:15pm and he wakes up again at 6:30-7am to start our day. We feed, dress him, and daddy drives him to daycare. One day a week I get to stay home until 10am and then I drive him. He gets extra special grammie and grandpa time on Tuesday evenings until dad gets home. Of course, things are a little hectic/intense when juggling a job, baby, house, husband, etc...and boy does Caleb get heavy! J/K....bad joke.



My first day at Daycare at Mrs. Bice's house - not sure about this :)

 All in all, I am slowly learning to do this mom thing. It is wonderful and sweet and exhausting and tiring. I can see already how God uses parenting to weed out selfishness, self-reliance, impatience, etc. What I am appreciating most about God through this process is His never-ending well of strength and peace amidst all the "newness" of everything. There are many, many verses in scripture that I can hold onto that help me remember His promises! He IS faithful indeed, and all I truly need is in Him...and daily chocolate :)



Happy Easter!

"Hmmm, which toy should I try to reach today?"

A rare moment sitting still while we read

sleeping on the boppy

6 weeks!

Bubs is really 7 weeks old today, but let's just pretend we are back at 6 weeks for the pictures' sake :)

Bubs has really come alive and alert these last few weeks. Personally I woke up too around 4 weeks old! He has been smiling for awhile and now he is smiling at his toys or his favorite songs. He smiles at dad now and he has not cried while taking a bath a few times in a row (maybe his clumsy parents are getting better at that one!). We had our longest stretch of time between feedings last night - YES! He fed at 10:15pm and woke up at 5:55am - YES!

6 Week Stats:

- 13lbs, 10 oz

- 23.5 inches

- Nicknames: Bubs, Chubs, Bubs-a-roonie, Angel, baby bear, bubbie, little man

- good pooper, already had a nice blowout up the back this week

- favorite food: milk

- working on going to sleep without rocking and patting and coddling for 45 minutes :)

- likes the songs: Ba Ba Blacksheep, Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle, Rejoice in the Lord Always (he is working on the echo part), Head Shoulders Knees & Toes (including the actions!)pretty much anything mom sings :)

- very social and alert with others, until he is tired

- clothing size: easily 3 months, his long torso is pushing him into the 3-6 month clothing

- cutest body part: eyes, big belly, big cheeks

- not as cute part: his baby acne :(

- longest road trip: 1.25 hours to the farm

- favorite place to sleep: in someone's arms, otherwise falls asleep in the carseat as long as the seat is moving in some way, can sleep okay in the crib too!

Well, we have to get him up to feed so that's all, enjoy a few pictures!

40 Weeks!

I am still here today, big and round, at 40 weeks. As far as I can tell that's okay because Baby J is healthy and I am measuring just normal. I am still working at the clinic; they open up the schedule sort of "day-by-day" when I text my manageer at 6am. It hasn't been too bad and it's a great distraction. I really feel pretty good, but obviously I don't like to move around THAT much. We have made it through 4 Christmas events, 3 pre-Christmas birthdays, New Year's, took down the Christmas decorations (albeit earlier than I would have preferred), Caleb's birthday yesterday, and the flawed carpet in the basement was even picked up today to be re-ordered!

God has been really kind to us to grant us a wonderful Christmas season and a great time together as a couple. We have even got to get a little more done on the basement here and there. I think I just prefer to be busy and distract myself while we wait for God's timing. It is a little bit weird living in limbo, as most of you already know, and waiting for this inevitable event to occur/or at least begin. Here are a few pictures to entertain you. We have yet to take one today of Week #40, but maybe I won't even be able to get it done because you know what ;)

38 weeks

38.5 weeks - Christmas Eve- Eve at Birchwood Cafe for breakfast

39 weeks

38 Weeks

Well I have made it to 38 weeks, and despite my sisters predictions I am just mentally planning on making it the whole 40 weeks at least :)

Caleb and I have had a whirl-wind of activty this month, well actually starting with Thanksgiving. We drove to see his brother Forrest's family (Julie, Bri, and Gavin) and we had a great time. The 7.5 hour drive wasn't too bad and I didn't get uncomfortable until the end of the ride home - sweet!

Making Lefse the first night there

On the hunt for sister-in-law's 10 foot tree - it was windy!

The Johnsons working on getting Julie's 10 foot tree ready for the house- they like to work together and see how they are all laughing :)

Caleb and I have tried to take advantage of our time together as "just the 2 of us" and so we went and saw The Christmas Carol at the Guthrie, and also went to see Handel's Messiah at Orchestra Hall. Unfortunately, we didn't predict how long periods of sitting around weeks 36-37 would be so uncomfortable for prego mama here :( Did I forget to mention that sitting makes your feet swell and so if you slip your heels off you might not be able to get them on again very well? The image of stuffed sausage comes to mind. Caleb was great and even let me walk bear foot through the skyway system on the way out - that or he was going to have to go get the car and walk in the cold by himself. Also in December we had 2 work parties, 3 birthdays, and we are just finishing putting a bathroom in the basement as well as adding vents, cold-air returns, installing a chest freezer, getting new carpet, and not to mention the endless list of Christmas preparation!

Dave Aust was our carpenter, Clyde Veldheizen was our plumber, dad was the electrician (thankfully dad's take payment in food and baked goods!), and Galen and Sara (Caleb's parents) were the carpet and hunting closet removers as well as empty-outers of the basement!!!

It's hard to see but Caleb had Pete A and Nick Z help remove the massive wall of stuff that was separating the 2 halves of the basement - and they lifted out the old furniture - YESSSSS!

Calan H taught Caleb how to dry wall...he made Caleb do almost the whole outside part by himself!

Caleb put the shower in himself!

Warren Westvig helped do the inside dry wall work and taping. He is SOOOOO much faster than Caleb and I (it took us like 30 minutes just to hang ONE piece of the ceiling). Caleb said, "Man, it pays to bring in the professionals!" Thanks Warren!

I have had a few showers, which were lovely, starting in December - I was so excited to get the "diaper cake" from my cousin Jenna, Auntie Di, and future cousin-to-be, Renee!

I think we are finally ready for this baby to come. We even have 1 of 2 car seat bases installed and ready to be inspected Monday Dec 26th at 10:30am in Hopkins - let me tell you that place is FREE and they don't check just Hopkins residents like 99% of the other safety inspection sites.

I get A LOT of comments about my belly and lots of looks when I am waddling through a parking lot. I wish there was a sign of my car saying "9 months pregnant - let me park close!!!!!!" I am definitely slowing down, and having trouble just moving around. My right hand has had significant carpal tunnel for about 2-3 weeks and I have been feeling tingling and numbness with everything I touch. Did I mention that this drives me CRAZY! Swelling otherwise has not been too bad. Sleep? Well, let's not talk about sleep in the 9th month. My hair is definitely thick and Caleb is dreading the great hair loss that will take over the house - sorry honey! I have experienced Braxton-Hicks for about 2 months now I think - but man can they get TIGHT.

Work has been okay, but challenging to keep up with the intense schedule on my feet. My patients LOVE talking about my belly and it is hard to keep them on track. Honestly, though, after 24-26 patients in a day I get a little bit tired of talking about my pregnancy. I also had a student PA with me for 5 weeks in Nov-Dec and that was probably not the smartest thing, but oh well!

Thankfully God gave me the forsight to save my vacation for the end of December and now I have about 10 days off with all the holidays in between. This is great because I cannot keep up with what I would like to do and so I need more time. I would say the hardest part about the end of the pregnancy is just not feeling like myself. I can't work out the same, I can't get done what I would like to get done, I don't have the same energy, I don't have the same emotions (ha!)...you get the point. We are anticipating the arrival of this little guy with joy and excitement, but also with a nervous sense of this ticking time-bomb inside of me! It's weird to not know when he is coming, and which day will be "the one". We are trying to live in the moment, enjoy our Christmas this year, and do the most important things first in the day or weekend. Although I will say EVERYTHING feels important right now from cleaning, to organizing, to cookie baking, to spending quality time with my sweetheart.

So, that's all for now :)

We covet your prayers for sleep, peace, and courage for a healthy and strong delivery!

Merry Christmas!