Carter Gary Johnson

Carter is now 10 days old, so it's about time that I record the story of his birth.

I was overdue and my fluid levels were a little low on Thursday, January 30, 2014, so my doctor said he wanted to induce me before I went too much longer. He offered to induce me on Monday, but since that was Peyton's birthday, we opted to be induced on Tuesday, February 4 instead.

We had a small birthday party with Shawn, Peyton, Grandpa Gary and I on Monday night and then Peyton went to Annie and Abe's for a sleepover. It made for a fun end to a fun birthday, but it was so weird dropping him off knowing that the next time we were all together we would be a family of four.

We had to be at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. for the induction. By the time we got in and got set up, it was about 9. My doctor came in at 9:30 and broke my water and then they started me on pitocin. I started having very bad contractions immediately. It was so crazy how quickly they came once they broke my water.

They had two sets of twins being born that day as well, so they wanted to get me my epidural as quickly as they could before the anesthesiologist had to go in for the twins, which was fine by me! He came in about 15 minutes after they broke my water to get my epidural going. He struggled a bit getting the epidural in and had to try several times before he got it in place, the whole time I was having very strong contractions every 2-3 minutes. It ended up taking about 15 minutes to get it going. Once it was in though, it was fantastic :) I would never go without one if I didn't have to!

After I got my epidural, I was able to relax and even fell asleep for about 45 minutes.

At noon, they checked me and I was fully dilated! I couldn't believe that I had gone from 2 cm. to 10 cm in about 2 1/2 hours!

I had to wait for a while though, while my doctor delivered one of the sets of twins. At 12:30 he came in and they were ready for me to push. My doctor checked and said that I wouldn't have to push much. He was really ready to be born.  I ended up pushing one time for less than a minute and he was born at 12:37 p.m. I was pretty shocked that it was so quick. He had the chord wrapped around his neck one time, but the doctor was able to get it off so quickly!

My doctor had to leave pretty quickly after delivery to deliver the other set of twins. All five babies were born in one hour. My doctor was happy that he didn't even have to reschedule any appointments because they all came during his lunch hour.

We named him Carter Gary Johnson. He weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21.5 inches tall (Peyton was 7 lbs. 1 oz, 19 inches long).

Peyton loves him. He calls him Baby Brother or Cute Brother. Every time he sees him, he says "Ah, he's cute!"Today we were in the car and Carter started crying and Shawn said, "Carter, no crying." Peyton thought it was the funniest thing he had ever heard and kept laughing and saying, "No crying!"

He has been such a good baby. He is pretty calm, except when he takes his bath each night, which he HATES. He still has his days and nights switched. He sleeps really well during the day and is awake at night. He wakes up about three times each night, which isn't so bad, except that he is up for HOURS when he does wake up. The other night he was up for four hours, which is tough, but it is getting better.

Right now, we are trying to get adjusted to having two kids. It's much less of an adjustment than the first one was, but it is still tough to get into a new routine! We are loving our little Carter and are so glad he is part of our family.

Just a short update on Baby Boy #2. My due date is Monday. I am feeling 39 1/2 weeks pregnant at this point. I pretty much want to sleep all the time, but actually sleep very little between the constant trips to the bathroom and the head cold that I have.

I finally decided in the past week to get stuff ready for him. We bought diapers, wipes, bottles and everything else we need before he comes. We got out the carseat and cleaned it. We set up the bassinet and washed all the bedding with it. We should be about ready.

I went in for my appointment yesterday. I haven't had any progress in three weeks, but I'm fine with that. I think he has just decided it is far too cold outside to come out yet. With the head cold I have had for the past week, I am kind of glad he isn't coming early so that I can try to get that out of my system before he comes.

We are pretty anxious to see what he is going to look like. With Peyton we were so curious and with this one, you kind of assume he will look somewhat like Peyton, but every kid looks so different.

I will update when more happens. Nothing too exciting to report this week.

Update on Baby Boy #2

My goal this year has been to blog more than last year, which isn't hard since I posted once last year and it was a post about my tardiness in getting our year in review video completed.

So, with this post, I have now kept my resolution. :)

Update on Baby Boy #2: I am now three weeks from my due date. I have another appointment tomorrow, but as of last week everything looked great. I have gained four pounds total so far in my pregnancy, which is great. (Two of those pounds were in the past two weeks. Darn Christmas candy!) I have been eating healthier and I am hoping that it gives me a head start to lose weight after the little guy comes.

I am really not ready for this baby to be born. I have not gotten anything ready, and I really mean nothing. I bought him a shirt a few months ago and that is the only thing hanging in his closet (which is still set up as the guest room and probably will remain the guest room until after I have him.)

I found the box of Peyton's old clothes this weekend and brought it in the house, but it is still sitting in the office waiting to be washed folded and put away.

Other than that, we haven't done anything. We are planning a shopping trip next week to get everything else we need, so he can't come early!

Johnson Family 2013 in Review Video

This year, we decided to record our year in one second a day. Some days were exciting, some were not as exciting, but every day got one second. In the end, our lives are made up of the exciting and the ordinary days. Being honest, there are a few days here and there that we missed getting our video. On those days, we used a photo that we took that day.

We hope you enjoy seeing the highlights of our year!

I asked Shawn if we were going to do it again this year. He said absolutely not! It was a TON of work :)

Year in Review

We have been working to finish our 2013 Year in Review video. It has been such a fun project that we have been working on all year and we aren't quite finished. Come back on Thursday to see the Johnson family's 2013 video!

Peyton's 13-month-old vocabulary

Peyton is really starting to talk. He says many things, but I would bet that not many people understand what he means besides Shawn and I. Most of the day he just babbles on, not really saying much, but when he wants something, he will say it.

Here is all of the words that he says and what they mean.

Mum Mum: Mama
Dada or Dad: Pretty self-explanatory
Baba: Bottle
Juice: Sippy Cup
Out: Out of wherever he is -- his crib, his high-chair, his carseat, etc.
Whoa: Said whenever he looks outside.
I-ov-u: I love you (must sing the Barney song to get him to say it.)
Fee: Three (Must say one and two to get him to say it.)
Grrrr: What a bear says (must ask him what a bear says. It is also the answer for what does mommy say?)
OOO OOO: The answer to what a dog says. Sounds somewhat like Woof Woof.

Look what can change in a year!

Home Sweet Home in Sheridan

So I know it has been a while since we moved, but it has taken some time for everything to get settled here in Wyoming. Sheridan is a really pretty place. It isn't what you think of when you think about Wyoming (the long, boring, flat, windy, dry drive across I-80). It is about 25 miles from the Montana border and is along the Big Horn Mountain range. It is EXTREMELY cold here (8 degrees right now, supposed to be about -5 during the night). 

We are really liking it and we are getting adjusted to the small town life. Sheridan has about 17,000 people. The biggest thing we miss (besides friends and family, of course) is decent restaurants. Sheridan has very little to offer as far as good food goes. I have had to turn to Pinterest and start cooking different things instead.

The thing we were most surprised about is how expensive housing is here! We saw one home that was older that had 3 bedrooms and was about 1200 square feet for $320,000! After looking at our options, we decided it was best to rent for the time being, which was easier said than done. Rentals in a town this size are not as readily available as they were in Utah, but we found this cozy little house and it has worked really well for us. It has a fun backyard (which for some reason I didn't take a picture of), with a cute doghouse and a really nice storage shed.  You can also see the VA hospital from our house, which makes Shawn's commute less than 5 minutes.

My sister was asking for pictures of our house so here they are...

The front of our house from the street.

Our front door with Shawn's Christmas gift from my sister.

Living Room. I want to get a really nice rug in here to cover up the '70s brown carpet.

Our living room from the other direction.

Our dining room

Our kitchen. I am trying to get permission to paint in there. The light blue isn't my favorite.


Peyton's Room

Peyton's Dresser. 

Shawn's mom found those bookends in her garage. They were a little chipped and at some point, someone tried painting them grey, but only painted parts of them. They were in pretty bad shape. Shawn and I cleaned them up and Shawn painted the football one while I painted the baseball one. They hold a collection of Sesame Street books that Shawn had when he was young.

Peyton's bookshelf at his own height.
Made by his Aunt Stephanie.

Peyton reading his books

Peyton's cute picture in his room.
Made by his Aunt Annie.

Our bedroom with the quilt my mom made for us.

Bathroom/Laundry Room

Guest Room/Office

Garage with the Nissan in there

Some of the rooms we are still working on getting put together, but homes are always a work in progress.

8 months

Peyton turned 8 months old on the 3rd of October. He is really starting to grow up and become more and more independent. He crawls everywhere and pulls himself up on anything he can get his hands on -- chairs, tables, TVs, toys, my legs, the outside of his walker, everything. He jabbers all the time and loves to play with his mom and dad.

We love seeing him learn new things, but, in a way, it is sad that he isn't our little baby boy anymore. Here is a video of him at the beginning of September saying Mama that I never posted on our blog. Now he says it all the time!

He was so excited to wear his jacket. 

Getting brave with only one hand.

Peyton with his twin cousins, Madison and McKenzie (2 weeks old)

He loves to stand up in his crib and yell for Mama until I go get him.

They had zombie day at daycare. I thought it was hilarious!

Munchkin Bunch Ends tomorrow!

Peyton's Munchkin Bunch voting ends tomorrow and he is in SIXTH place. The kids in the top five become spokesbabies for Munchkin. If you could go vote for him today and tomorrow, It would be great! He needs a REALLY big push in the next day two days!

Don't forget that you can vote 5 times per day!!

Thanks everyone!

http://www.facebook.com/MunchkinInc?sk=app_159117397504600

7 months

I never got around to posting Peyton's 7-month update, but it is better late than never! Peyton turned 7-months-old on Sept. 3. He is getting so BIG. He is like a little boy instead of a baby.

We moved to a new house this month, and Peyton loved it. He especially loved to play with the boxes!

Peyton at 7 months:

• He can say Mama and Dada.
• He loves to stick out his toungue, and blow bubbles. 
• He laughs at Dad and Mom, especially when he gets tickled.
• He can pull himself up to a standing position on the couch, ottoman, pretty much anything he can reach.
• He loves to play with his toys. New toys are his favorite.
• He loves the bath. He sits up in the bath now, so he loves to play with the water when it comes out of the faucet.
• He is wearing 9 month clothes.

I love to see him getting bigger and bigger every day.

Vote for Peyton!!

So a few months ago, I was on Facebook and saw a contest from Munchkin, Inc, who makes many different baby items (including the mesh feeder that I LOVE). They were having a contest to find five kids for their "Munchkin Bunch." The Munchkin Bunch will be the stars of their Facebook page with monthly updates on how they are doing and what they are learning. You also get cool free stuff from Munchkin each month. I thought it would be fun so I submitted a few photos and didn't think anything more about it.

Today I got an email from them telling me that Peyton was chosen as one of ten finalists, out of 3500 entrants. I was so shocked!

The ten finalists are now in a contest against each other. You can vote for Peyton on Munchkin's Facebook page. You can give him 5 VOTES EVERY DAY until October 1! I would love your votes! Thanks everyone.

Click here to vote for Peyton!

Six Months

Peyton turned six months on the 3rd of August. I can't believe he is halfway to a year already. It is going so fast.

He has learned so much lately and it is really fun to see when him when he catches onto something.

 At six months, Peyton loves to:
- blow bubbles with his mouth. He will sit for the longest time blowing bubbles
- hold his own bottle. He does so well at it.
- crawl. He can get around soo fast. He army crawls anytime you set him down.
- suck on his own toes. I can't keep socks on the kid. He pulls them off and shoves his feet into his mouth.
- play with dogs. Anywhere we go that there is a dog, he can't stop looking at it.

- laugh. He has the funniest laugh ever.
- take baths. He loves to roll onto his tummy and splash with his hands.
- play with his toys. I usually dump out a huge pile of toys in the morning and he will sort through them until he finds the one he wants.
- Play with his friends at daycare. He gets so excited when he sees them in the mornings.
- He has also started giving hugs and kisses. His kisses are just him sticking his open mouth on your cheek, but it is still so sweet to me.
-eat. He especially loves, apples, bananas, peaches, pears and rice cereal.

He was sleeping through the night, but got a lung infection about a week before he turned six months and started waking up a few times a night.

I'm loving this age.

Check out the cowboy boots. I love them. 

so excited!

Wearing his big boy jammies.

Holding his own bottle.

Eating peaches from his mesh feeder.

Daddy love.

Sleeping in a tiny corner of his crib.

Too tired to keep his head up.

Messy little eater

Last week we tried giving Peyton rice cereal. He loved eating it, but only if he held the spoon. He would cry when I held the spoon. He ate pretty well.

 

 

Later in the week we went to grandma's and she took him out to the playhouse to play in the afternoon. He had such a fun time playing with Grandma.