Isaac

I love being the mom of two little boys!!! Lots of people told me how hard it would be at first, but I've been relieved to find that it's also a LOT of fun! Thomas has had three nights in a row of 7-10 hours of sleep, then eating briefly and going back down for 2-3 hours. It's a beautiful thing.

Isaac is a great big brother. He shares toys and sippy cups with Thomas (places them in Thomas's swing or on his stomach) and will often squat down by him and say "Hi Baby!" When Thomas cries for any reason Isaac is very concerned that "baby is sad" and wants me to take care of it. If I put Isaac in the car before Thomas, he gets worried that I've forgotten the baby and sometimes starts to cry.

I have to remind myself that Isaac is only 21 months. He's a little big for his age and so verbal that I sometimes expect too much of him and feel like I'm disciplining more than I should. The biggest challenge of motherhood for me so far is trying to figure out appropriate expectations for behavior, be consistent, and recognize when I've done too much or not enough. I assume I'm not alone in this. Overall we have a great time together. Isaac and I have a ritual that goes as follows:

Mommy: "Hey, are you my favorite Isaac?"
Isaac: "Uh huh!"
Mommy: "Am I your favorite mommy?"
Isaac: "Uh huh!"
Mommy: "We're each other's favorite!"

Several times throughout the day Isaac will say "Momma?" just to hear me say, "Yes?". He'll smile and go on doing whatever he was doing. Just checking in, I guess. Some of Isaac's favorite foods are hot dogs, yogurt, raisins, mashed potatoes, and scrambled eggs. He'll go get the frying pan out of the drawer and bring it to me saying, "Eggs? Please? Okay!" Sometimes he asks me to sit down and play the piano. On a couple of the more intense pieces he'll say, "Wow!" at the loud parts. He is obsessed with trucks! Especially Daddy's truck. If they are having male bonding time, Walt will take Isaac out to the truck in the garage and they'll be there for 15-20 minutes while Isaac turns on the lights, honks the horn, pulls down the visor, opens the glove box. And then there is the inevitable tantrum when it's time to come in. He could sit out there all day and be happy. Songs are a favorite thing, too. We'll sing "We Are A Happy Family" and I'll pause to let him fill in the name of someone. Daddy, Nanna, and Grandpa are favorite choices, but he also thinks it's hilarious to say Jocelyn (his cousin) over and over and over. Yesterday he said, "Blanket", and I informed him that unfortunately the blanket couldn't love him back. Good thing he didn't understand what I was saying - his little heart would have been broken! I'll keep those thoughts to myself from now on. :) He's also picking up on some of the expressions I use. He'll say, "Wow! Dump Truck! Cool." Or "Awesome!" This is such a fun age, and I'm loving it!


Daddy was in charge of dishing up dessert. Mommy is not so generous. But look at that smile! :)


Post-dessert blackmail picture. Pirate? Cowboy? Joker? You decide.



Taking a spin in Nanna Julz's antique baby buggy.

Invitation

Isaac was invited to his first birthday party. The little boy next door is turning 3. I'm excited to go! What is a good $5-ish present for a 3 year old boy?

Week 2

How Do You Even Make it Out of the House With Two Tiny Kids?

That's the question I've been pondering for the last week. Hmmm. Is it even possible? I'd love to make it to the grocery store, but just thinking about taking Isaac (19 months) and Thomas (almost 2 weeks) out at the same time by myself makes me want to take a nap. Meanwhile, I'm having lots of fun with them at home, but someday I'll have to get out and about. So if you have any tips for me, please share!

Isaac walked frontward down the steps this week, which was a fun milestone. I love being at home to see these firsts. I cheered him on, and he was so proud of himself. When he got down, he climbed right back up and did it again. He's also started using longer strings of words, and his most common phrase right now is, "there it is!" for when he finds someone or something he's looking for. He likes to smile and make faces at himself in the mirror, and he has a funny, contagious laugh. His personality is really starting to come out! It's so fun! (when he's not throwing a tantrum)

Thomas outgrew his newborn diapers at one week old and graduated to size 1. He is sleeping 4-5 hour stretches at night, which is so nice. He's a great baby, and Isaac doesn't seem to mind him. I'm tired but not exhausted. My grandma was here for several days helping out while Walt was out of town. She fixed meals, did all the dishes and laundry, and helped watch Isaac so I could rest. It was wonderful!

Thomas Walter Johnson

STATS:
February 8, 2011
1:11 a.m.
8 lbs. 10 oz.
22 inches long
brown hair

Thomas is here! Monday, February 7th, around 9:45pm I started feeling slight pains. By 10:15 I was having contractions 1-2 minutes apart and getting pretty painful. By 10:30 we realized we needed to get to the hospital! We called my friend and neighbor, Amy, who came to stay the night at the house with Isaac, and Walt and I rushed to get the hospital bag ready. We arrived at the hospital around 11:30pm. The epidural team came in and got me going on that, but it wasn't providing any relief at first. Turns out I was already dilated to a 10 and was told I'd be lucky to get any relief from the epidural since I progressed so fast before it could take effect. But thankfully the last 20 minutes or so it kicked in and I didn't feel a thing. The doctor even arrived just in time for me to push this little guy out, which took around 10 minutes (compared to 2 1/2 hours of pushing with Isaac). Yay! Everyone is doing great, and we're so happy to have little Tommy here!

Here is a link to a few pictures that a lady at the hospital took:

http://www.utahportraits.com/hospital/index.php?action=view&BabyID=020811twj

Natural Induction

So today marks the end of three days overdue. In those three days I've received quite a few suggestions as to how I could naturally induce labor. I thought it would be fun to recap the best ones:

*"Eat pasta, and you'll go into the labor the next day for sure!"
*Drink castor oil (yikes! this is a big no-no!)
*Stand on your head
*Walk around the block with one leg on the sidewalk and one on the street
*Ride one of those zero gravity roller coaster rides
*Throw up
*And my all time favorite: drive a tractor across the rows of a plowed field :)


Any other suggestions?

Just Hanging Out

Literally! Hanging way out and waiting for baby to decide to come. One woman in my ward facebooked me this message, which made me laugh: "As the saying goes, Julie, when the apple is ripe, it will fall."

Actually it was nice to be able to get the car in this morning for Safety and Emissions testing and an alignment that needed to be done by the end of February. Much easier to do that with baby inside! And Isaac is just getting over the last of his cold, so another day or two to be fully recovered is great. The doctor had me schedule an appointment to be induced next Wednesday if we still have no baby. I would really like to avoid that and have things happen naturally, so here's praying and crossing my fingers that this apple ripens in the next 5 days! :)

#1 - Watching life unfold

You know the saying, "You can count the seeds in an apple, but you can't count the apples in a seed"? Well, that's what I've been thinking about lately with Isaac and this new little one we're expecting any day. It is fun to wonder what they'll like and be involved in, what kind of career they'll choose, what kind of girl they'll marry, and to realize that my influence and their influence is potentially infinite, through generations without end. I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I just am excited to watch the little guy's life unfold a step and a time. And I can't wait to teach him the gospel of Jesus Christ, which gives meaning to all of our experiences and is the way to be truly happy. I'm so grateful for my role as a mother to teach these things to my son, and I can't wait!