Boyfriends, Babysitting and Cousin Nathan

Johanna's friend, Landon came over for a visit the other day. Landon is almost 4 months old and is as cute as a button. We tease that he will be Johanna's boyfriend when they get older. Right now, judging from this picture it looks like she is hiding her face from him in embarrassment and he wants nothing to do with her! We have been giving her naked time to air out her little bum and clear up the mild rash she'd developed. I couldn't resist the butt shot. Her little rash cleared up in no time though, thanks for the suggestion Jolene!She still isn't too fond of her swing yet, but look how much bigger she has gotten! She has gained 3 1/2 lbs since leaving the hospital.Mommy and peanut.Look at these adorable shoes from her Aunt Kara! I am so excited these fit, now she has a few other super cute shoes we can add to her outfits :)

Yesterday we reached a milestone...Grandma got to babysit her for the first time! I had a dentist appointment up the street so we packed up the diaper bag and headed over. I made sure to feed her right before I left, and left Grandma an emergency bottle but luckily in the hour that I was gone she slept. Even though it was a very long hour for me, she didn't even seem to notice. I was so relieved!

While at Lori's we made some delicious turkey enchiladas with our leftovers from Thanksgiving. We didn't take any pictures but it was probably for the best, I ended up cutting my finger on the cheese grater. I am clearly not Food Network material.

We also got to Skype with Kara, Russ, and little tiny baby Nathan. He is the cutest thing in the world. I was lying in bed feeding the baby on Sunday night and had gotten the text from Lori that they were on their way to the hospital. I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep. It seemed like something from a movie, every 20 minutes or so I would get another text... I got up to change the baby and got the message that she had delivered little Nathan. This all happened in 2 hours! It was pretty neat on our end, I think waiting for someone to have a baby is so challenging. Kara made the wait nice and quick for us :) We are SO proud of her for handling such a stressful situation so well! She is such a champ not to mention an expert in the laboring department! Little Nathan is so precious and we can't wait to meet him in person. What a great ending to an awesome year!

Turkey Day

Isn't this picture hilarious? Johanna is NOT enjoying this balloon.This is a picture of Johanna in her quiet staring mode...she will just look around at everything and not say a peep. She must be soaking in a lot of information, which is why I have to constantly remind her Dad to watch his language!Here she is all dressed up for turkey day.Jeff got a smoker last week and was very excited to try out smoking our first bird. Last week we had smoked pork chops, chicken breast and steak and they had all turned out very well. For the turkey we used apple and mesquite flavored wood chips. It smelled delicious while it was smoking!Fiona would circle around the smoker trying to figure out where she could steal a bite.Jeff was pretty proud of his bird. It took 8 hours to finish smoking and it tasted fantastic. When I saw the giant turkey leg, the first thing I thought of were the giant turkey legs at the Renaissance festival.Right before we ate, our friends the Palladino's surprised us with a visit. Joe got to hold Johanna for the first time, he seemed like a natural!Ann (Joe's Mom) had flown in to town from New York as a surprise. When Brian said Ann was coming to the door we all thought he had to be joking! It was so nice to see her and Lisa!Johanna wanted to help out in the kitchen...turkey/milk coma...(and also touchdown baby)We had an awesome Thanksgiving with so much tasty food. Lori did a great job and kept off her feet for the most part. Did I mention how awesome she did the day before- talk about a rockstar! Even though there were only 6 of us this year, and only 5 eating we still ended up with all the Thanksgiving must haves... which for our family it's a lot! Now we've got left overs for the next week, and I'm not complaining :) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Photo Shoot

Yesterday we went over to Brian and Lori's so Jeff could test out his new smoker before Thanksgiving. While Lori and I waited patiently (7 hours!) for our dinner, we busied ourselves with taking photos of little peanut. Kara- I stole this idea from you and Tyler, I just think it's so adorable how tiny their little toes are!...and her little fingers!Taking pictures is very tiring! The next few pictures were our attempts at the classic Daddy holding tiny baby shot. As you can see, Johanna was not having it!Even though she is only 3 1/2 weeks old, she has already gotten pretty big! We could only take a few of these shots because she was almost too heavy for Jeff to hold out for too long!
Fiona has been a very good dog since Johanna has been around. We haven't had any issues with her acting out, but she still thinks she is the baby of the family. One thing she used to do as a puppy was sit with Grandpa on his big comfy chair. Last night since all of our attention was on the baby, Fiona decided she wanted to be the baby too and sit with Grandpa.Why is it that giant dogs always think they are much smaller than what they really are!Look what I caught them doing when they were supposed to be watching football!

I was able to bring Johanna into work to show her off to all the staff and residents. Everyone was so excited to see her, and she did a great job sleeping through the visit. Everyone agreed that Johanna looked most like her Dad, which I had to agree.

Currently we are working on our car skills, Johanna hates to be in her car seat alone in the back of the car. I don't know if she doesn't like being alone, or doesn't like how the car seat fits but she is not a happy camper back there when she is on her own! I even pulled off into a gas station the other day to calm her down because I felt so badly for her back there on her own. As soon as someone is back there with her she is as happy as a clam! Maybe I could put a blow-up doll back there...

26th Birthday

So Johanna made it before my birthday! Looking back, 25 was a very eventful year...26 has a lot to live up to. In all reality I am hoping for a nice, quiet and UN-eventful year. A year with nothing major to plan or save up for! For the big 2-6 Jeff took my parents and I out to my favorite restaurant, The Melting Pot.He even surprised me with these beautiful roses, what a guy! Dinner was amazing, it's fondue style and you eat until you can barely walk out the door.. just our kind of place!Johanna also got to enjoy her first show in the Ensign suites. We went to see Radio City's Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes.Johanna did very well, she slept through the entire show. She was also the life of the party, everyone had to hold her. Now we have to try her out at an Ave's/Nuggets game!For day 3 of my birthday we got to spend time with Lori, Brian and Gigi at an awesome pizza place. The mall was decorated with Christmas lights which really put me in the mood for some Christmas music.Johanna was a trooper again and slept through dinner. I couldn't ask for a better baby. Today in our nursing group I got to weigh my little peanut...8lbs 7oz. My goodness! She is going to be quite the little butterball.Such a ham!Look...proof she does cry!

Week 2

Wow! The time seems to be flying by, and I have had no time to blog about my growing peanut!Johanna got to spend Sunday watching football with Daddy and watching his fantasy football team on the computer. I told Johanna this was when Mommy used to catch up on all of her napping, so she took the advice. Our friend Kelli came over to visit, and Johanna had a blast catching up on the girl talk.Unfortunately, Johanna's jaundice wasn't getting any better so our Dr. ordered her a bililight for her to sit under. From Monday evening through Wednesday, she had to stay strapped down to the bed. It was very hard for me because the only time I was allowed to hold her were for feedings and changings. It was very sad watching her little eyes look at me when she was wondering why I wasn't cuddling with her :(But here we are coming home from the Dr. after getting her heel poked one more time. Luckily, we got the good news that her levels had dropped and she could go back to being a normal baby! Grandpa came in on Friday and it was so nice having him here.She just fell asleep in his arms instantly! One thing Johanna is very good at is falling asleep very quickly. Sometimes it's hard to finish feedings because she starts snoozing half way through! Here she is cuddling with Daddy.She sure thinks her Grandpa is pretty interesting! I am loving every second with my little princess, I couldn't have asked for a better snuggle bug!

1 Week

At first we weren't sure how Fiona was going to take the news that she was being replaced...hehe it's okay to say that, right? She was very curious at first, sniffing everything. The first time she heard Johanna cry, she cried right along with her to let Mommy and Daddy know Johanna needed something. She has been a very good girl, hasn't even jumped once!Johanna has acquired a new nickname, Johanna-Banana. She got a tiny bit jaundice(d?) and had a little yellow tone to her skin. It has gotten a lot better, but here she is riding in her swing content as can be looking like a little banana baby.On Johanna's second day of being at home we decided to take her on a stroll to the mailbox and test out the new stroller. We really lucked out and the weather has been phenomenally warm for the season. I am sure it is soon to change and we'll get hit hit with a snow storm any day. Johanna absolutely loved being outside!Just to be sure she was warm enough though, we were extra precautions and bundled her up in the little marshmallow suit GiGi got for her. She had this look of "are you kidding me mom!?" the entire time. Jeff said now I can stop dressing up the cats and dogs because I have a baby to torture now...hehe...Here she is bouncing in her chair listening to classical music, maybe she will have a taste for it like her Mommy does?Jeff and I were sitting on the couch last night reflecting on the week before. Her birth was such an awesome/exhilarating/emotional experience it brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it. I can't believe she is already a week old!She is the perfect snuggle-bug.Jeff calls this her "touchdown!" pose.I haven't had her sleep in her crib, only for a few minutes at a time while Mommy straightens up her nursery. She looks so darling in it.We have had such a wonderful week, even though it has flown by. My Mom has been such an amazing help, a girl could get used to it! She has made us yummy delicious meals and has helped out so much around the house. I have been able to recover fully with being off my feet. Thank you so much Mom, I love you!!!