March Showers

In the past week, we've had a couple of good foot+ snowstorms.  One being the day before my baby shower.  My wonderful guests braved the snowy roads and made the day so special for Ella and me.  The above picture is of my lovely diaper cake made by my super crafty friend Kelyn (I'll post a pic of the amazing outfit and hooter hider she made later).  It was such a lovely shower with sweet and generous family and friends.  Ella sure has some adorable stuff waiting for her.  I'll post more and better pics later when I get them, but here are a few that I managed to capture.

My college roomies.  Josie, Beth with her daughter Avery, and Erika.

Some beautiful burp cloths and bib that Beth made.

My wonderful hostess Brooke and Ella's boyfriend, Wyatt.

Bottles and Blankets and Boppys...Oh My!

Registering

Just a quick note for our readers.  We began the weighty task of registering for Miss Ella's goods this weekend.  After spending several hours standing on the unforgiving concrete floors of Target and Babies R Us, I have come to a serious conclusion.  The purpose of registering is not really to provide your new cherub with all of the necessities and delicacies he or she might need upon entering the world.  No, the true purpose of registering is to reveal to new parents just how completely inadequate and unprepared they are for this new journey of caring for and providing for said cherub.  I came to this realization after Matt asked for the 50th time, "Why do we need this" or "Why aren't we supposed to use this?"  To all of which I answered, "I don't know.  I read it in a book somewhere."  As I stood sweating in the bottle/breastfeeding aisle, feeling my blood pressure rise by the second, wondering which of the million bottles was best and which storage bags I was supposed to get, I decided to take a deep breath, walk away, and ask a girlfriend later what I should use. 

Don't get me wrong, we really are excited.  And I'm sure the feeling of inadequacy will fade by the time she's oh, 20.  Nonetheless, we welcome any advice on all that gear.  If you got something for your baby that you just loved, couldn't live without, please feel free to share.  Likewise, if there were things that were a total waste of time/money, feel free to share that too.

Sincerely,
Clueless in Colorado :)

Preparing for Baby Bertha

Just kidding!  We're beginning to prepare for the arrival of (drumroll please)... Ella Mae Johnson.  At the moment Ella is kicking me, apparently wanting to say hi to her fans.  As you can see below, she's getting bigger by the day it seems.  We are finally starting to begin on the nursery (light pink, brown, and light green), meaning we've picked the colors/bedding.  Matt will be doing all the work and I'm directing.  Soon we'll be taking our hospital classes, registering, and hopefully installing carpet in the living room (Miss Ella doesn't want to roll around on the hard floors).  All scary and exciting new things.

We don't have too much to update on.  Life is good and we're getting so excited to meet our little girl.  Sometimes May feels so far away, other times it feels like we're running out of time.

IT'S A GIRL!!!

We are so thrilled to know we've got a little girl in there.  Baby Girl Johnson had her feet up at her head, flashing her butt for the world to see.  We'll have to work on modesty soon after birth.  As you can see, she's pretty bendy.  Dad thinks a future gymnast, Mom says ballerina.

Here's a cute face shot.  Can't see any signs of a Fejfar nose yet or the Johnson eyebrows, but we'll keep a look out.

Not sure what to make of the next pic.  But we're pretty sure that Grammy (Fejfar) and Grandpa (Johnson) would say she's taking after them and wanting to be a soldier.  We think she was just saluting the ultrasound tech who kept telling her which way to move.  We've already got a little miss smarty pants on our hands.

Finally, we'll have to do some research to see if babies get stressed while in the womb.  We think she's been overhearing all those UofL and UNC basketball games and feels her parents' pain.

We're so excited to meet our little girl.  Almost halfway there!

Merry Christmas!

Matt, Kate, and Baby Girl Johnson

Merry Christmas from the Johnsons!

Welcome to our blog!  As the Johnson family is expanding, we decided it would be great to start a blog so that our family and friends can keep up with us and our little one.  Since the baby isn't due until May 13th, you won't see too much action on the blog before then.  But we did think it a good opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and give a quick update as we didn't send out cards this year.

2009 was a year full of new adventures for us.  Kate found herself in the perfect career near the end of last year.  She is working for a nonprofit called FRIENDS FIRST where she travels around to schools speaking to high school and middle school students about making healthy choices and avoiding high risk behaviors, like drugs, alcohol, and premarital sex.  She gets to use her skills as a teacher and her amazing wit and humor (Kate's words) to reach kids.  She also runs an after-school mentoring program where high school students are trained to mentor middle school students about the same topics.  Kate has found her niche and loves her job.  Matt is still plugging away at National Geographic, creating the Trails Illustrated topo maps.  How do they keep coming up with places to map?  He also loves his job.  Matt has also been expanding his side business, Journey Maps and Design.  He recently created a historic trail map for Georgetown, CO.  Matt's also looking forward to volunteering with Save Our Youth, a mentoring program for troubled youth, in the new year.

After searching for what felt like years for the perfect home in our cute, little mountain town of Evergreen, we faced reality and began searching "down the hill" where things are a bit more affordable.  In July, we moved into a lovely home in Littleton, not far from Denver nor Evergreen.  Now Matt is the commuter, which we'd both prefer.  We found a great church down here that we really like, too.

In August, just before Kate's 28th birthday, we found out we were pregnant!  Since then, we've survived a very "gaggy" first trimester.  Matt recently said he was "so glad to have his wife back."  Aliens must have taken over my body for those few months.  We're both amused by my rapidly expanding belly. 

Finally, Christmas is coming a little early for us when, on Wednesday, we find out the sex of the baby!  We will post an update on here with the news and the newest pic of our little boy or girl.  We'll be traveling to North Carolina to spend Christmas with Matt's family and are excited to have a little vacation and time together.

May your Christmas be filled with the blessings of family and friends and may the New Year bring you peace and joy.