Holiday Vlog Linkup

 

I'm linking up today with Sarah for her holiday link-up.  I decided to vlog my answers since I haven't done a vlog since the Turkey Trot. 

Here goes nothing....

I used my webcam on my laptop it doesn't seem to be as good as the camera on the iPhone, but I wanted to give her a try.

I cannot wait to read/watch your vlogs about Christmas! :)  

Have a Happy Thursday everyone!!

Baby Johnson: 14 Weeks

Well, nothing majorly notable happened this week, but I did take the first bump picture!  This was a self taken picture because Tim has bible study on Friday mornings, so I'm hoping that we'll figure some way to do these pictures before he leaves.  Hence this picture not being exactly "quality."

This week’s happenings:

• My insulin requirements have not changed.  I have been able to lower the amount that I take at night.  I have been able to sleep this week, it's been WONDERFUL! :)
• I have been staying up past 8:30 this week!  I feel like I've had a bit of energy this week - I've been able to get a few things done during the weeknights.
• I cooked!  I haven't been cooking much in the last several weeks, but this week, I did it!  I got my butt back into the kitchen.  Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and corn, comfort food and delicious.
• My belly has really started to stick out.  This has just happened in the last couple of weeks.  It's craziness.  I asked the doctor yesterday about it and she said it was perfectly normal for the bump to stick out faster with the second child.  I haven't gained any weight yet, and looking at me, you'd think I'd have gained about 20 lbs.
• Baby's heartbeat was in the 150s and 160s when I got to hear it yesterday.  Made my day, make that my week to hear that heartbeat!

I should be scheduled in 4 weeks to have the anatomy scan and to find out the baby's gender.  I cannot wait!  Sometime during the week of January 7-11 hopefully! :)  So quick!  Yay!

So, I did a comparison collage of my pregnancy with Cooper and the pregnancy now.  Both are first bump pictures, however, one is at 22 weeks with Coop and 14 weeks with the little pumpkin.

So, I'm pretty sure that I'm just as big now as I was at 22 weeks with Cooper.  I'm really not sure what to think about this, since the doctor says it's normal, I'll just go with it!  I cannot wait to see how this progresses and how big I'll be at 22 weeks to do comparisons!

That's it folks.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend, ours will be super busy, but we'll be home, and that's exciting.  I need that.  A weekend at home before the crazy Christmas celebrations begin! :)

Christmas Tunes

This is my favorite time of the year, no question about it.  I love Christmas music, and I love that I can turn on the radio and listen to it on a Christmas music station.  I also have a playlist on my iPhone of Christmas music and I listen to that at work, and also in the car when I am out of an area that has a Christmas music station or when I don’t want to listen to commercials.

Some of my family (Steph/Tim) and friends (Erica) don’t particularly care all that much for Christmas music, but when they are in the car with me driving, it’s just too bad.  I’ve even gotten Cooper on the Christmas music bandwagon (although I’ll admit, he’s obsessed with about 3 songs and wants to hear them over and over again).

So, I thought today, I’d share some of my most favorite Christmas songs with you.  I would love to hear yours as well, so please comment and share your favorites with me, I love adding to my playlist each year!

In no particular order……

The 12 Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser – this is a classic that this male a cappella group has added to and changed and made wonderful (at least in my mind).

O Holy Night – Straight No Chaser/Home Alone Soundtrack/Celine Dion/Norman Rockwell: Christmas Memories

Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys/Straight No Chaser

Silent Night – Straight No Chaser/Norman Rockwell: Christmas Memories 

Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Bruce Springsteen

All I Want for Christmas is You (not the Mariah Carey song, completely different) – Vince Vance and The Valiants

White Christmas – Home Alone Soundtrack

Please Come Home for Christmas – Home Alone Soundtrack

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee

Happy Holiday – A Swinging Christmas – 1940’s Style

Jolly Old St. Nicholas –  A Swinging Christmas – 1940’s Style

Up on the Housetop -  A Swinging Christmas – 1940’s Style

A Holly Jolly Christmas – Burl Ives

Here Comes Santa Claus – Gene Autry

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Gene Autry/Burl Ives

All I Want for Christmas is You (different song than above) – Mariah Carey

Sleigh Ride – Ella Fitzgerald

Frosty the Snowman – Gene Autry

Merry Christmas Baby – Bruce Springsteen

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – Carrie Underwood

White Christmas - Bing Crosby 

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Frank Sinatra

Home for the Holidays – The Carpenter’s

I’m sure I’m missing some,  but that’s a majority of my playlist right now.   I would love to hear yours as well, so please comment and share your favorites with me, I love adding to my playlist each year!

Santa Picture Fail

Friends, today I'm linking up with Darci for the Santa Picture Fail!

I realized after I decided to link up, that I do not have Cooper's very first picture with Santa scanned into the computer, so if I can find it later - I'll scan it in, but I'll most likely forget.

Here is his second Christmas - 15 months old 2010:

I've gotta give Cooper credit on this one, this Santa was super scary.  Just look at him!

Third Christmas - 2 years and almost 3 months old 2011:

This Christmas, Cooper wouldn't even get close to the Jolly Old St. Nick.  Tim had to hold him far away so that he would even sit for the picture.

Fourth Christmas - 3 years and almost 3 months old 2012:

Cooper was a bit scared right after meeting Santa, but he warmed up to him very well, and he told him all that he wanted for Christmas. 

These aren't "gigantic" fails, others will have much worse, but hey, we tried to keep him as happy as we could.

Now, link up and show us your Santa Picture Fail!

Our weekend & Picture Overload

It was a busy weekend for our little family.  We were pretty non-stop from the time we got up on Saturday morning until sleep time last night!

Saturday:

We took Cooper to breakfast with Santa first thing on Saturday morning.  Cooper has been scared of Santa since the very first time we brought him to visit him when he wasn’t even 3 months old.  This year though, he did great.  He was a little hesitant at first, but warmed right up to him.

Santa greeted us when we walked in, and let Cooper hold his bells.

Then once we got our breakfast, Santa visited our table a few times for more pictures.

Cooper and me chowing down.

Finally Santa came back one last time for Cooper to sit on his lap.  Tim sat next to him so that he wouldn’t run away in case he was still scared.

Next, we made the 2 hour trip south to visit my dad and Gwen.  Cooper loves visiting my dad’s house because my dad has a horse he can ride on in the basement (the very messy basement).

The only one I got of my dad and Cooper all weekend.  Dad shaved his beard for work, it’s more than a little weird seeing him like this.  This may be only the third time in my life he hasn’t had a beard.

After visiting with Dad and Gwen and giving Gwen her birthday cake and present (which I was so caught up in that I forgot to take pictures) we headed to my mom’s house.

She was having a family gathering later that afternoon.  All but one of the 3 year olds was there – so Cooper got to play with his second cousins and it was precious.  We only see them once or twice a year (if we’re lucky.)

My uncle surprised all of the kiddos with a present, matching trucks for the boys and little outfits and $ for the girls.

Cooper was pretty excited about this truck.

Cooper and Oliver (Abby’s son) playing with their trucks.

My beautiful cousin Sherry with her three kiddos, left to right Finn, Celia and Elliot.  These kids are all 19 months apart. 

She says she is going to wait awhile for another!

Cooper and Oliver posing.

Grandma, Uncle Steve’s face, Jared (my celebrity weatherman cousin), my mom and Aunt Sheila.

My uncle Perry with Madelynn (Abby’s daughter) and Elliot

Coop and Finn hugs.

Coop, Finn and Elliot hugs.

The kiddos had a great time.  I had a great time.  I only wish I had taken a picture of all of the “adults”; our parents generation, then us kids and then our kiddos.  Oh well, maybe I’ll remember next year???

Sunday:

I awoke to Cooper crying for me – he needed to go potty.  So we did that, got him all ready to go back to bed when my mom came in and let me go back to bed.  I didn’t fall back asleep, but laid there another hour – talking to Tim and snoozing.  We had a nice breakfast of homemade waffles with strawberries then got ready to head out to the next event.

I took zero pictures, but my dad, Tim, Cooper and I went to my dad’s family’s family reunion on Sunday.

It was good to see so many people that I hadn’t seen in such a long time.  Some I met for the very first time.  It was great.

Sunday when we got home, we unpacked the car and then got to watch this little bundle of joy.  If you are friends with me on facebook or instagram you’ve seen some of these before, sorry)

Grandpa loves Soup.

My piggies taste good Mimi!!

All smiles!

Cooper giving kisses while Soup plays with her feet.

It was a busy weekend, but a good one.  If you made it this far into my post, congratulations!  It was long and very picture filled!! J  Have a happy Monday ladies!

Baby Johnson: 13 Weeks

Today I am 13 weeks pregnant.  I am already 1/3 of the way through this pregnancy.  (Only because I am diabetic, they will induce me around 38 weeks.)

The baby is about 3 inches long and the size of a shrimp.  It’s incredible to me this journey I am taking and this miracle that is going on inside of me. 

I have not started taking weekly “bump” pictures yet, but I believe I will be starting that sooner than when I was pregnant with Cooper, because I seem to have some growth already, and I want to document the process, so please expect to be bored when I do my weekly posts! J

I am going to write a list of “this week’s happenings” each week so that I can document what changes (if any) have taken place with the pregnancy.

This week’s happenings:

• My insulin requirements have not been as great this week as previous weeks.  Because of this, I have been awoken 10 out of the last 13 nights due to low blood sugar.  This has caused me to have to get up and eat or drink something with a good amount of sugar so that I can try to get back to sleep, this doesn’t always work.  Sleep deprivation has been common this week.
• My appetite has been less than normal.  I cannot eat as much at meal time.
• I am very picky about what I’ll actually eat.  Many food types do not sound especially good to me, carbs are the exception.
• Cravings for lunchmeat sandwiches are at an all-time high.  Because of the risk of the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, which could cause flu like symptoms and lead to life threatening meningitis, and I do not feel it’s worth it to eat these types of meats, although cravings are high.
• Pizza has lost its appeal this week.
• Water and milk are my “go to” drinks.  I have tried to drink caffeine free drinks as well as a few caffeinated beverages here and there, and none have tasted good, so I’ll stick with handy dandy H2O.

 That is it for this week’s happenings.  I am interested to see how these change throughout the weeks.

My next doctor’s appointment is the 13^th, so next Thursday.  I cannot wait to hear that little heartbeat again.  Then the next appointment will be when we can find out the baby’s gender! J  Woo hoo!!

We have still not told Cooper that he is going to be a big brother – I believe that we will wait until he can really see my belly growing – for now, it’s not big enough for him to wonder what is going on.  There are sometimes that I think he might know already, but the more he talks, the more I realize he doesn’t.  So that works for us for now.  We want him to soak up these last months of being the “only child.”

Have a great weekend ladies and gents!

SWW

Today, I’m linking up with Shannon today over at Life After I Dew for So What Wednesday. This is perfect for me today, as that’s about my attitude for the day, “So what?”

So without further delay here goes nothing:

So what….

• If I’m eating cheeseball and crackers for breakfast.  I’m obsessed with cheese and crackers and it is the only thing that sounds remotely good to me right now. AND, my mom makes the best cheeseball EVER.
• If ordered our Christmas cards back in EARLY October?  I am still loving the way they turned out!

• If I am the laziest blogger that I know.   My brain matter is being sucked in too many different directions during this season and during this pregnancy that I have nothing to talk about.
• If I am excited to be skipping teaching Sunday School this weekend;  I am thrilled to be going south to visit my family all weekend!  Family reunions and family Christmas gatherings are more fun anyway!
• If I haven’t wrapped a single Christmas present yet this year?  I mean I still have 19 days, right?!?  They are piling up though, so I need to start on that soon.
• If I ate cereal for dinner again last night.  At 9 o’clock.
• If I’m already in my fatty jeans again, at least I’m not in maternity ones yet. (They have been ordered though, thanks to the Old Navy Black Friday sales.)
• If Cooper wears his Halloween costume every night when we get home.  That little football uniform was the best $10 I’ve spent in a long time.  He LOVES wearing it.

What are you saying So What to this week?  Link up with Shannon and tell us!

A bit delayed....

Today isn’t one of those Mondays where I just wish I could have stayed in bed.    This is quite strange for me, and if I admit it, after the morning I’ve had, I should reconsider my wishes…

Things this morning started off pretty good, Cooper woke up without me having to force him to wake up, and bonus, he even wanted to cuddle a little bit.  My big THREE year old isn’t a big cuddler (with me anyway) – so I was happy to have some rocking chair snuggle time with him this morning.

We were out of the house by 7:30, which is a little later than I like to leave, but not unacceptable.  We were about 5 minutes away from the babysitter’s house when BOOM.  We got hit.  Along with three cars behind us.  The accident started from the back, and thankfully we were the fourth car and in the very front, and we had zero damage.  That however, didn’t stop the policeman from asking us to stay until he returned for the accident report write-up.  Around the 1 hour 10 min wait for the policeman to come back, I decided to be optimistic.

Then I thought, what am I doing, just sitting here?  Am I a blogger?!?  Do I need a picture of this pile-up?  ABSOLUTELY! 

So there you have it, the four car accident that started from the back, hit my car, and caused us zero damage, and NO ONE was hurt.  Praise the Lord! 

Hubby and I got to work around 10:15 – just in time for me to work for a little over an hour before I went to lunch.  I am thankful for a boss who is so flexible and understanding, I mean I had these lunch plans setup prior to the accident!

Ladies, I hope your mornings started off better than mine, and I’m hoping for a better afternoon!  Adios!