Tuesday, December 8, 2009

"a kissy" a.k.a. Chrismtas Tree

This past weekend we set up our Christmas tree. Or as Nolan calls it- "a kissy". Hey, at least he's trying. He was such a great helper, taking out all the strands of lights for Daddy, trying to hang ornaments- and only breaking 2, and pointing out every "Santa" and "elf" in sight. It is so fun to include him in all the holiday traditions as he is getting older!

Our King Soopers special! It smells great!

Helping with the lights



Hanging Heath's Baby's 1st Christmas Ornament

Nolan got to put the star on top!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Big Boy Bedroom!

30 + lb. Nolan not only seems HUGE next to his tiny 7 lb. 4 oz. baby brother, but is also SUCH a big boy now that he is sleeping in his new BIG BOY bedroom! We thought it would be a hard process transitioning him from his crib to a bunk bed, but he really surprised us!

The first attempt lasted only an hour because, we, as bad parents tried to put him down in his new bed without guard rails, room darkening curtains, or a fan (for white noise)- Nolan's sleep necessities! He is normally a great sleeper- going to bed at 8 and waking up around 8 in the morning. But on this first attempt he ended up on the floor! Oops!

So the next day, with rails in place, curtains up, and fan on- he slept all night- no tears, no falling out, but woke up at 6! A little early, but much smoother than we thought! He napped in his bed that day too- 2 1/2 hours as opposed to 3+, but still good! And after a wonderful third night- 11 hours of sleepy bliss and a 3 hour nap, he now has this big boy bed thing down- sleeping great at night and during his naps! He has only climbed out once and I found him standing next to his bed with his dog stuffed animal, not really knowing what to do next. He hasn't really figured out yet that if he gets out he really has easy access to lots of toys, books, and other fun things. And I hope he doesn't find that joy any time soon. He plays with his stuffed animals, talks and jabbers to himself, makes lots of funny noises, and does other typical boy stuff for a bit, all while tucked in under his covers, until he finally falls asleep.

The first night he slept in his bed all night, I about cried when he woke up in the morning and came into our room! He just didn't seem like my little baby anymore! I know, I'm so emotional, but hey, it's the hormones, I did just have a baby. Or, really it's just ME! We just love him to pieces and are enjoying how independent and grown up Nolan is becoming! Check out the pictures from his new room and of Heath's newly decorated nursery!

Nolan sleeps on the bottom bunk.

He loves sitting in his football chair and reading.

This bunk bed set is great because it has drawers for clothes, and shelves for toys, stuffed animals, pictures, and other fun stuff!

Some cool old school baseball photos on the wall. And of course, one is of Wrigley field!

Heath's shelves...
We did a transportation theme in his room. We haven't developed any pictures of Heath yet, so when we do, we'll put one of him in the frame. He doesn't really need our wedding photo in his room!

We hung our old license plates from Illinois, Michigan, and Colorado on the wall. And the canvas above the crib is a map made out of the license plates from each state. We have tried to decorate both boys rooms in ways that will grow with them through the years!

And we are also almost done with our basement remodel! We are in the final moving in/decorating/organizing stage. Pictures to come shortly!

Monday, November 30, 2009

And, just because...


Santa's Little Helper

Nolan absolutely loves all things Santa this year! (Well, let's just see how he does when he actually meets him and sits on his lap next weekend at Mark's NCM kids Christmas party...stay tuned!) So, at our local Tagawa Garden Center they had Santa's reindeer visiting for the weekend! We took the boys over to check it out!

Before we even got back to see the live reindeer, Nolan was psyched just to see these stuffed ones!
Pointing out the cool reindeer. He wanted to go in and pet them, but of course, we had to explain that that wasn't allowed! But why not, mom?
They had a white one and a brown one! They were pretty neat!
Nolan and Daddy played chase and hide and seek through the rows and rows of beautiful Christmas trees!
He loved smelling all of the trees and poinsettias too!
Posing with the Christmas decorations! If you look closely you'll see his filthy shirt from running and playing in the trees! Oh, my life with boys!

Flashback

As I was uploading some new Heath photos onto the computer I realized that we had some pretty similar pictures from Nolan's first weeks. Check 'em out...we think the boys look so much a like! Heath is just a smaller, darker version. What do you think?

Sunday, November 29, 2009

1st Week

We are home and enjoying every second of it! Well, maybe not getting up every 2 hours during the night, but I still love my cuddle time while feeding Heath. It has been a good balance of playing with Nolan, snuggling with Heath, resting, cleaning, laundry, organizing the house, moving into the basement, etc. It has been so nice to have Mark home with me! He has been so amazingly helpful with Nolan and jobs around the house! What will I do when he has to go back to work on Wednesday?

Nolan likes his brother right now, but we'll keep it at that! He is still so young and although we know he will learn to love him, he's not too interested in him right now. Once in awhile he will give him a "pat pat" or kiss. Once in awhile he will ask for "baby" to sit by him. And once in awhile he will try to play with him. He calls him "Jax" most of the time- Jax is the son of my friend who I job share with and we helped watch each others boys. So we keep having to remind him that his name is Heath. He will quickly correct himself, but then 2 minutes later, call him Jax again! Sorry Nolan, this baby is not going home at the end of the day! And the other day Nolan asked "baby teeth?" and I explained that, "no, babies don't have teeth." When I turned around Nolan was trying to put his tooth brush into Heath's mouth! It was so cute!

Heath is doing good. He has jaundice and has had to be on a bili-blanket to try to get his bilirubin levels to drop. This is very common with babies born early. We just have to try to get him to eat, pee, and poop as much as possible and to stay on the lights pretty much 24/7. It is kind of a pain to have to have your little newborn plugged in all the time, but we are making the most of our "glow baby". He goes in to have his foot poked and blood drawn basically every 2 days until his levels are better. So his poor heels have had some trama! He weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. in the hospital, but lost weight which is common. When we left he was 6 lbs. 10 oz. So tiny! Since then he's gained to 7 lbs. and then 7 lbs. 2 oz. So we are happy that he continues to pack on the ounces! Wish he would go a little longer between feedings at night, but he seems to have his days and nights mixed up a bit. We're working on keeping him awake as much as possible during the day!

So there's an update of our 1st week at home! I put together a slideshow of pictures from the past 7 days! We are so unbelievably blessed to have such a happy and healthy family! Thank you to everyone who has visited, called, messaged on Facebook, and sent gifts! My life with 3 boys has been so special! I thought that I could never have room to love anyone else- it's amazing how it just happens so naturally!

So now we'll just continue to settle into a routine, get ready for Christmas, and highly anticipate the arrival of my family on December 19th!!! Heath can't wait to meet his Johnson fam!

Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Introducing...


Heath Tyler Jansen
November 22, 2009
11:25 a.m.
7 lbs. 9 oz.
20 1/4 inches

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord,
Heath,
YOU are a reward from Him!"

Psalm 127:3

Monday, November 9, 2009

Sprinkle Sprinkle

Some wonderful friends of mine hosted a baby "sprinkle" for me on Sunday! Every detail was just perfect and it was so fun to think about and focus on baby number 2 for the day!

The adorable invites

Welcome!

My beautiful hostesses- Jess, Mandy, and Cara.

What a creative and fun table centerpiece!
And yummy treats too!

Shower gifts for all the guests- hand sanitizer and Emergen-C!

Almost the whole group eating and chatting and game playing! It was neat to have friends and family from different areas of my life together in the same room. There sure were a lot of laughs!

Cara and I share a love of all things "celebrity". She gave me a Life & Style magazine as a gift! Don't you think I look just like Kourtney Kardashian? We are due about the same time. Why didn't I wear my knit sweater dress to the shower?

Grandma and Auntie Mal sent their gift all the way from Chicago!

Oma gave baby this moose stuffed animal! It's been hard to keep it away from Nolan- he LOVES moose, and any other animal! These boys will have to learn to SHARE!

Mandy made a super cute diaper cake! We got a lot of diapers- and I'm sure we'll use them all...quickly!

Thank you girls for spoiling me for the day! And thank you to everyone who "sprinkled" us with love and gifts! Seems like we're set now- new clothes & blankies, a sling, books, diapers, toys, "bear necessities", and gift cards! Now we're just waiting on the boy! Just 4 weeks left- I can't believe it! Well, that is if he decides to stay put until his due date!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Trick or Treat!

We had a spook-tacular Halloween! Some pictures to prove it:

I ain't 'fraid of no ghost! Nolan thinks it's so fun to say "Boo" when he sees a ghost! Here he is learning how to carry his bucket to collect "can-can". His mouth was full of Twizzlers at this very moment- he was more than happy to practice!

The kind of cookies a mom on bedrest can make with her son! Nolan loved the spooky black cats in the middle!

Passing out candy to trick or treaters! We went over to Mark's parents house for most of the night, so we didn't have many at our house. But Nolan ran to the door every time the doorbell rang to see who was there!

We took him trick or treating to a few neighbors houses. His little monkey paws got wet and dirty in the snow and puddles, but he had a blast telling each house what a monkey says and showing them his "na-na" (banana). We worked hard on saying "trick or treat" and by the end of the night you could kind of make it out, but he got an A for effort. At least he said thank you for each treat he got!

The whole adorable gang at Oma and Opa's house- Rylan the pirate, Nolan the monkey, Brady the dragon, and Payton the ghost. They have so much fun together!

More fun memories! Looking forward to next year- with 2 cute costumes!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!


Trick or Treat! Love your favorite little monkey! Nolan Bradley

Friday, October 30, 2009

Bedrest Blizzard

This week has been quite eventful for us! We've learned to expect the unexpected! On Saturday morning, while Mark was working an event, I had a little surprise pre-term labor! The next 48 hours were spent in the hospital hooked up to monitors, receiving shots, taking pills, enduring regular contractions, and praying for health! Fortunately, everything is looking fine now. I am on bedrest for at least this week and possibly longer. The contractions have stopped for the most part due to 2 VERY FUN medications that I take every 3 hours. The baby is kicking up a storm and after all the testing done in the hospital we found out he is now 5 lbs. 6 oz. So we are just praying that he keeps cooking for a few more weeks! I have an appointment on Monday to check to make sure there has been no change and then hopefully I can go back to work for the last 3 1/2 weeks until I track off just before Thanksgiving!

On top of this excitement, Denver got 24 inches of snow dumped on us this week! It feels a bit more like Christmas then Halloween! It is very pretty and a blessing in disguise because Mark was able to work from home and help me out around the house and with Nolan since I'm supposed to be resting for most of the day! It has proven to be very challenging to be on bedrest with a toddler! But we have had a LOT of wonderful help! Thank you to everyone who has watched Nolan, stopped by to visit, cooked us a meal, and most importantly prayed for us during this uncertain time! We really appreciate all the love and support we have felt this week!

Here are a few pictures from our snowed in days at home!

Watching a little Sesame Street! Nolan loves to plop down on the ground to watch a show with his blankie and favorite stuffed animal- the Texas A&M mascot!

Nolan sits in a booster seat at the table with us now! It's a bit messier, but he feels like such a big boy! Here he is enjoying the yummy spaghetti my good friend Jess made for us this week! He was in HEAVEN!

Helping Daddy shovel us out!

On Wednesday night we carved pumpkins, watched Charlie Brown's "The Great Pumpkin", roasted pumpkin seeds, and enjoyed some hot chocolate! Mark's with some much needed Amaretto after a busy week!

Nolan thought he should try to eat the seeds and guts!

Mark did a great job drawing and carving an Elmo pumpkin for Nolan! He did it free hand without a stencil! It turned out great!

Nolan absolutely adores his "Elmo pumpin". He wants to sit by it all the time and points out the "eyes, nose, mouf, hat (the stem top) and back".

Being silly while Daddy is working in the basement! As you can see, our house is a little dusty and dirty due to all the construction. Needles to say, his blankie was washed immediately after playing downstairs! But we are counting down the days and weeks until it's all done! It will give us so much more space just in time for baby!