Excited to meet Chloe Isabelle!

Welcome to the World, Chloe!

We got up on Friday morning at 3:50 am to hit the gym one last time before giving birth to Chloe! Greg was able to go with me because Auntie Linda took Brooks overnight. We picked up Steph and met Laura at the gym. It didn't even seem early (at least for me) because of all of the excitement of the day. We worked out and headed home to get ready. Steph asked if we would pick her up on the way down to the hospital (at 6:00 am) so she could be there for the entire process. Of course we said yes. We picked up Steph and away we went to St. Mary's. We got there in plenty of time. This left enough time for lots of pictures and goofing around before the big surgery.

Here I am right before I left the house to have Chloe! I can't wait until the day that I can give away this purple dress! By the end, this was one of the only outfits that was comfortable for me to wear! I ended up wearing it home from the hospital too because I still looked (look) 6 months pregnant! Ugh.

I got lots of loves from Greg. He was such a great guy through the whole process. He lined up dog sitting for the entire time I was in the hospital so he never had to leave me. He also got Auntie Linda to take Brooks so he was able to stay over night all 3 nights that I was there. I couldn't ask for a better husband. He was amazing.

Steph and I always "compete" at the gym to see who can go faster, longer, harder. You can see I have a lot of work to do to catch up to her. It was awesome having her to support me through this whole thing. She was my buddy and encouraged me when I thought I was going to lose it.

Getting ready to go to surgery. It was very cool that my doctor prayed with me before we went to surgery. I admire him for so many reasons and this is just another reason that I adore him. I left for surgery shaking like a leaf, but all went well.

Waiting Game

We are two days away (one full day) from meeting our baby girl! Yeah! Today may have been the longest day of my LIFE. There was nothing bad about it, but the minutes seemed like hours. We are so excited for Friday morning that we (I) can't seem to keep my mind off of it. Brooks seems to be extra cute these last few days. He wants to cuddle quite a bit and has been extra loving. I wonder if he knows that his world is about to change.

I am so excited for Friday and at the same time have some sadness that Brooks will no longer be an only child. I know I will love our baby girl just as much as Brooks, but the last two and a half years with only Brooks have been so special. I know he will adjust quickly, as kids always do, but I just never want him to feel left out or unloved. I am a second child and I never felt that way, but I still have these crazy up and down emotions about the whole thing.

Brooks has continued to be very active these last few days. He continues to need lots of re-direction to obey. He's been doing better and life seems to be getting a little bit easier (just in time for it to get harder!). Brooks snuck into our bathroom and Greg caught him in the act of being naughty. How could we get mad at a kid who is this cute when he is doing something he knows is wrong?

Life is about to change and I know it will be great. I can't wait and at the same time am loving and cherishing these last few days as a family of three. Tomorrow, Greg and I both have the day off and we will spend it together as a family. I think we are going to take Brooks to the local gymnastics center in the morning and maybe do a family lunch before nap. Brooks is staying at his Auntie Linda's house tomorrow night because we need to be at the hospital at 6:00 am on Friday! We will keep you all posted. Please continue to pray for a healthy little girl and no complications with the surgery.

No new baby news!

There is no new news on the baby. I went to the doctor on Monday and nothing looks different. We are still on for a week from Friday. I think the last 3 days have been just about the longest days of my life and I can imagine the next 7 will be even longer. I've had lots of support from my family though, which has been a blessing. Yesterday Auntie Linda took Brooks almost all day just to hang out. I was able to relax a little bit and enjoyed being without Brooks for a few hours. Then in the evening, my mom and dad came over (Greg was on a run) and helped me give Brooks a bath and put him to bed. It sounds so funny that I need help with simple tasks, but I am so uncomfortable that any little bit of help seems like a huge deal to me.

We went bowling last week and Brooks liked it for about 4 frames. After that, he just wanted to look at the machines that sold gumballs and candy necklaces. We will have to try again when he is a little bit older.

Last night Oma read Marley and Me to the kids. It was amazing that Brooks held still for almost the whole book. You might notice that Brooks has big boy underwear on in the picture. His Auntie S'ers gave them to him. Don't be fooled by them though, he still is far from being potty trained. I think if I had some energy I might tackle potty training, but for now we continue to use diapers.

Like I said earlier, Brooks got a bath from his Oma and Opa last night. Of course, as always, everything is a game with Opa.
I should mention that Oma was actually in the tub with Brooks. I won't post the picture since I think she'd be upset (she did have a swimming suit on), but it was pretty awesome. Brooks had a blast.

So, we continue to wait for the new arrival. I wish I had some exciting news, but I don't. I went to the gym this morning and lifted legs. I thought this might induce labor, but it didn't (not yet at least). I am going to get up tomorrow before work and walk hills on my treadmill so maybe this will help. If nothing works there is peace in knowing that I only have 8 days left and 9 nights no matter what. I can't wait.

Candy Bracelet

I guess we don't have to try to find fun things for Brooks to do as long as he has candy! Steph has been wanting to get Brooks candy necklaces and bracelets for a long time now. Every time we are at a store that has them, she suggests that we buy one for Brooks. I always say no because of the mess they make.

Well, today she was on the train with us and pulled out a candy bracelet for Brooks. At first he didn't really know what to do, but within two bites he figured it out. The rest of the train ride meant nothing to Brooks because all he wanted to do was work on eating his candy bracelet! Greg captured some great pictures to document the excitement.

Yum!

More Vacation

Here is another adorable picture of Brooks feeding the deer. This was towards the end when he started to get some more courage around the animals.

On Wednesday, the boys took the kids to the playground while we cleaned up the cabin. They had a blast. In this picture they are chanting, "We are the Johnson's. The mighty, mighty Johnson's!" So cute.

We headed back to Duluth on Wednesday and today we took the Northshore Scenic Railroad up to the Lester River. It was fun to see Brooks' reaction to a real train. He thought it was super cool, but the hour and a half was about all he could handle. I am so thankful we didn't decide to go all the way to Two Harbors (that trip is 6 hours long). Brooks did enjoy the ride and took a great nap when we got home.

Tonight we all got back together to have dinner and play outside on our "playground" that Oma and Opa bought Brooks. It was a great time being a family. Oma and Opa showed up to hang out with us, which is always great. Opa even took a trip to Dairy Queen to get each kid a dilly bar. Tomorrow is our last day of vacation and we might check out the Vista Fleet. That would happen after Steph and I get a pedicure which was lined up by our sweet husbands!

Johnson Family Vacation 2009

We have the week off and have been enjoying a Johnson/Johnson family vacation. We didn't go anywhere fancy, just the lake, but have had a good time. We spent the first day taking bike rides, walking around the lake, taking the Sea Doo's out and swimming at the State Park. The weather was perfect and it was very relaxing.

Here is Brooks with his "frog" that his Daddy got him. It is a great invention for anyone who uses a life jacket and water wings. This "frog" keeps Brooks totally upright in the water without us holding onto him. He loves it. We use it at the pool as well and it makes things a lot easier for me since I am not moving very fast these days. (I suppose I should put a disclaimer on here that we DO NOT use this as the main means of watching/protecting Brooks in the water. Of COURSE we are right with him and have our eyes on him at all times!)

We drove to Hayward for the day on Tuesday and had a blast. Brooks got to be out of his stroller in the candy store which was very exciting for him. He was all business and filled his whole basket with candy. We were able to "trick" him though and only bought a little bit of what he was expecting. He was so excited in the store that it was hard to tell him he couldn't have all the candy he had so perfectly placed in his basket.

We ended up talking to a man outside the candy store who had been visiting Hayward for many years. He suggested that we check out a place called "Wilderness Walk". He told me it would be great for Brooks because, "he must be 4 right?" Ha! I told the man that Brooks was only 2, but he still thought we should check it out. He was right on with his suggestion. This place is perfect for little kids. The kids got to actually be inside cages with baby deer, baby cows, and a baby lamb. There was lots of opportunity for the kids to feed all of the animals and it wasn't overwhelming at all. I would highly suggest it to anyone who has kids from age 2 to 8. Kennedy and Maggie loved it too!

Brooks was a little bit obsessed with getting more corn for his cone. He didn't really want to feed the animals though, because he was so scared of them. He mostly liked to just check the animals out and observe. It was precious.

So Proud!

Most of my family participated in the Voyageur Marathon today in Duluth. This is no ordinary marathon. It is 26.2 miles in the woods, over rivers, through rock gardens and climbing power lines. My dad, mom, Steph, Keven and Greg all participated. Everyone did awesome and had fun. Greg finished in a great time of just over 4 hours. This is incredible since it was only 15 minutes slower than his time at Grandma's which is all on the road.

Here we are cheering on the group. Obviously I didn't run (duh!) and Laura came out for support. I was so proud of Steph's attitude. She has never run a marathon before and picked a really tough one as her first. She had a smile on her face each time I saw her and she never gave up. I got to run the last 3 or 4 miles with her and it was so fun to be able to experience her emotion with her. I was crying for her at the end because I was just so proud of her.

My dad never trains (although he is always working hard at everything he does) and amazes us all with his ability to finish a marathon with very little training for this type of event. He is so mentally tough and I really admire him for that.

I didn't capture any pictures of Greg running because I thought it would be more important for me to be support for the "slower" group. So, Greg had to run on his own with no support from me. We did get a picture of him after the race. He was all cleaned up long before anyone else was even close to the finish.

Keven did fantastic as well! He finished in under 5 hours and didn't even seem tired at the end.

I am so proud of everyone and had a blast being able to see them along the course. It was hard to not be able to run the whole thing, but I was glad to be outside getting to take it all in. Way to go!

Only 20 more days until the little one. I keep trying to induce labor by being active. We'll have to see what happens.

Dr. Visit

I went to the doctor yesterday for our baby girl. Everything is great. I didn't gain any weight (yeah!), and actually lost a teeny bit of weight. This was a great thing because I had gained far too much at my last appointment (7 pounds in 3 weeks!).

The baby continues to grow and I have been feeling lots of extra pressure in my pelvis. The doctor asked me if I thought she had dropped and I told her that would be a huge possibility.

So, I had my first vaginal check yesterday and as the doctor was feeling for the baby's head and my cervix. While she was doing this check, she smiled at me and said, "WOW! That is the baby's head. She is already an inch into your birth canal!" I was pumped and asked her what that meant. She just smiled and told me only God knows what that means. She also told me I am 50% thinned which is a good thing. Of course I went on the Internet when I got home and found out that some women are thinned for 3 weeks before they actually start dilating. I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up for an early baby.

The doctor congratulated me and said "If you go into labor now, they won't stop you!" That was exciting news. She also told me if my water breaks (which it might because her head is so low), to come in and maybe I should think about having a vaginal birth. Wow! She gave me lots to think about. It was a pretty exciting.

This morning I decided to pack my bag for the hospital just in case. We are off to the pool now. It is going to be 85 degrees today and really that is the only place for a huge pregnant mama to be! It should be fun.

The Parade

The parade around the lakes this year didn't disappoint! Our cabin is right where the parade starts, so the kids get lots of candy because all of the floats are excited to throw out candy. We wondered if the floats had any candy left by the end of the parade. Brooks didn't know what to do at first, but by about the third float he figured it out and went to town picking up candy. One float threw out a backpack for Brooks which worked well to dump his candy into when his bucket got full. It was a double bonus because Brooks loves backpacks and packing things for "sleepovers" in his backpacks.

Waiting for the parade to begin. Brooks didn't know what to think. He sat really still and just took it all in for the first little bit. The sitting still thing didn't last long, though.

Once he got the hang of it, Brooks was super fun to watch. It was funny to watch his face and his intensity when trying to get the candy before his cousins did.

As you can see, he was able to hang with his cousins and did just fine in the candy department. The parade may have been the thrill of Brooks' weekend. It was so cute.