Banner Week!

Caleb is now 4 months old and changing every day. It's so crazy that each day brings something new that we've never seen or experienced. I'll do a brief recap and also provide some pictures of Caleb's 3 month photos at JC Penney's.

These last couple weeks have been active for little C-Note (Caleb's Rap Star name). He's started cutting not one but TWO of his front teeth. It's so cute and you can feel and see how sharp they are. They've already cut through the skin. If that wasn't enough, Caleb rolled over from his stomach to his back for the first time yesterday. Stu was very excited because he got to witness it first while I was doing dishes. He feels like he's going to miss out on firsts with the little man, so maybe Caleb wanted to show him first!

This past Friday, Stuart and I decided it was time to start sleep training. Caleb, from the time he was born, has not liked to sleep on his back because he has acid reflux. Because of this, we got used to putting Caleb to sleep in his car seat or the base of his swing to keep him more upright. And we also kept him at the base of our bed by putting the seat in the bassinet. Up until now, his beautiful nursery was merely a large walk-in closet / storage room. Getting him out of our room was a priority so we could get a better nights rest and we also heard that the longer we wait to train them, the harder and longer the process became.

On the first night, Caleb was so sleepy that he fell asleep instantly when we put him in his crib. He only woke up to feed once that night. On Saturday, we put him to sleep and he fell asleep after about 15 minutes of crying. We checked on him a couple times to comfort him a bit. He woke up 2 times that night to feed. Not to shabby! Last night, he fell asleep after 2 minutes and tonight was his worst night - it took him 1/2 hour to fall asleep. But I will say that some of my mommy friends tell stories of their kids crying for over 2 hours before falling asleep. So I think Caleb is doing pretty darn well! Stuart and I feel like we have our evenings back again and we sleep SO much better now.

Lots of love,

Beth, Stu and Caleb

Our little boy is growing up!!!

It's hard to believe nearly 4 months have passed since my precious Caleb entered this world and changed our life forever! He's a total gem but I won't lie about how overwhelmed I was in the beginning. Now we are all settled in and really enjoying our time together... so much, in fact, that Caleb has inspired me to go beyond my comfort zone and pursue my newfound desire to be a card carrying stay-at-home-mommy. No longer will much of my identity be tied to my profession. Nope, in June I will be assuming the head role of the Johnson house and lovin' it!

If you've wondered where we've been the last couple months, I will recap with a pictorial of Caleb's growth. Getting on the computer on a regular basis and having two hands to type has proven more difficult that we thought!

Caleb's first days in the hospital - so alert!

Caleb's Homecoming! Hangin' with mommy on the couch.

A special quilt made just for Caleb by Great Grandma Hardman

Chillin' with piggy - Month One.

Napping with Daddy = good times!

Month Two: Eat your heart out!

Month Three: Still posin' but this time in the buff. Man, what a cutey!

Okay, three month poses from JC Penney's to follow in a future blog.

Lots of love to all!

beth (along with Stu and baby Caleb)

Welcome Caleb Forster Johnson!

Little Caleb was born on January 23, 2008 at 9pm via c-section. It was a long and difficult labor and after 16 hours, it was decided that a c-section would be best for both mom and baby. Caleb was 6 lbs 13 oz. and 18 inches long.

Caleb was born on the same day as his great Grandpa Pinkley and named after his great Grandma Hazel who passed away last October - her maiden name was Forster.

He is such a precious little baby - loves to sleep a lot (just like Mommy) and eats a lot, sometimes demanding to be fed every hour. Here is a picture of him getting a sponge bath this morning. I will post a link to more photos online at a later date.

Love,

Stuart, Beth and Caleb

Large And In Charge!

I'm now about 36 weeks along. Sorry it's taken so long to post another belly shot but you can imagine I've not been chomping at the bit to post another fat pic. I've left the featherweight class behind and now entered heavyweight status with a 40+ lb. weight gain. I guess you could say that Thanksgiving was more feast than famine and Christmas baking has been more than good to me and the little guy.

I had my first real craving the night of Thanksgiving. We were watching an episode of The Office and in the background there was a vending machine with a Cup O'Noodle in it. I had it have it. Well, Stu wasn't too happy about making a 10pm run to the local mini mart so we toughed it out and I bought about 8 of them the next day. Also been loving the Totino's party pizzas with the square pepperoni on it. Totally not healthy and totally delicious - I haven't had these since college. I'm salvating as I type...

The holidays were great - we had Stu's parents in town for an entire week which was AWESOME! My mom's best friend was also in town for a week at the same time and it made the holidays less painful without mom around. Stu's dad helped prep the nursery with a new closet system. Once we get it completed, we'll post some pictures of the done deal.

My family (sister Christina, sis-in-law Agnes, Dad and mom's best friend Janet) threw us a baby shower after Christmas and it was great to have my in-laws there for the occasion. My sister made a great window valance, bumper cover and crib skirt for the nursery, too. It looks so good with the dark walls. She really outdid herself. There was tons of good food, no baby games (yeah!) and lots of fun opening gifts. Costco erroneously added pink booties on the cake instead of blue - do they know something I don't?

Now on to the bad part - the swelling. Things have taken a turn for the worse in the last week. Edema is taking it's toll on my feet and legs and my lower half is swelling like a drowned pig. I feel like an extra in the movie Shallow Hal. Because I have zero shame, and think it's pretty funny, I've attached a picture of lovely said feet. Enjoy. (Sorry about the lack of a pedicure - will get on that right away.)

More good times ahead - we have our birthing class this weekend, an office shower next Tuesday and my friend Emily is throwing a shower next weekend. Can't wait because my two best friends are flying up for the weekend to attend. Should be a great time!

All our love,

Stu, Beth and Sweet Baby J

Nothing to do with Baby J but I couldn't resist...

Ok, so it's been a while since we've posted a new picture of my larger than average frame...we'll get around to doing that in the next day or so. But I couldn't help but share this photo from a recent Christmas party that Stuart and I went to in our neighborhood. It was an ugly Christmas sweater party and Stu almost won Ugliest... Anyway, enjoy!

Let the Countdown Begin!

I've officially entered into my 3rd trimester this week (29 weeks along). I'm getting bigger and slower by the day but still feeling pretty decent. My next doctor's appt is next Tuesday and after that I start going ever 2 weeks instead of monthly. It's hard to believe that there's only 11 more weeks - maybe a bit more but also maybe a bit less.

We started officially prepping last week. Stuart started priming the nursury and we are going to paint it a dark charcoal grey with white wainscotting along the bottom. Decided against a theme for the room so that we could just keep it simple and not get overwhelmed.

We also began the long drawn out process of registering. A close friend helped us out by telling us about the essentials that needed to make our list as well as those items that are unnessary and cost a ton of money. Fortunately, we have been getting lots of fun hand-me-downs as well which is really cool.

Lastly, we finally signed up for our 2-day birthing class at the hospital. Seems like things are starting to fall in place and hopefully we can wrap up all our prep work soon before I start losing steam.

Looking forward to the holidays and having Stuart's parents come out for a week. It's been over two years and we are really excited for them to be with us over Christmas. I'll have my first baby shower while they are here too! Super fun.

That's it for now...time for a nap.

Happy thanksgiving,

Beth, Stu and Sweet Baby J

15 More Weeks To Go!

I'm 25 weeks along tomorrow and doing as well as to be expected. My back hurts and I'm tired a lot but overall can't complain much. I can feel him move around much more than before and it's comforting to have the movements.

I had to take a glucose test on Thursday to see if I had gestational diabetes. It can back negative so I was relieved to not have to take daily injections in my belly. PHEW!

Here is a picture of me from this week. I think I still have gained less than 20 lbs so far which is good considering my eating habits as of late. I love chocolate, cinnamon rolls and chicken McNuggets. Yum! It's good to eat whatever you want and not feel guilty.