October 2013

I returned back to work at Islands from my maternity leave the week before Fall Break.   I took the week off from kids to catch up on paperwork and everything that I had missed since the start of the school year.  I was also extremely sleep deprived as I didn't sleep for more than an hour the night that I was to go back to work-I was so stressed about all the work laying in store for me.

For Halloween this year, we went to a few ward parties.  We dressed Easton up as Batman and Adelyn as bat girl.  David had Halloween night off so we ended up taking both kids trick or treating.  It was a fun night together as a family....Easton was definitely more motivated this year to go from door to door so he could get some candy.

We went to the City of Mesa Fall Festivel and David dressed up as Joker and Easton as a mini Joker (since Easton has been obsessed with Batman).  We  ended up putting our name in a raffle and won a 25$ gift certificate for Jimmy Johns subs!

Our Family tried going to Vertuccio farms on Power/Elliott.  We rode down a gigantic pipe slide, rode on a train and had some water pump duck races.  Eventually, Easton got so out of control and was tantruming that we had to leave early. 

We went up to Flagstaff over Fall Break to enjoy the cool mountain air and see the sites in Flagstaff.  We weren't going to go as it was really cold and not sure if David could get time off of work, but within an hour of deciding, the kids were loaded in our tiny car and off we went.  We rented a hotel room.  In the morning, we toured the Flagstaff Arboreteum and then met up with my family to do some cave exploring.  I had to carry Adelyn in this very enclosed cave and learned quickly that I have an immense fear of caves.  The claustrophobia was horrible and I felt like if the cave fell in, that would be the end of us!  I guess I didn't get the "explorer" genes that most of the other members of my family have.

We took Easton to the fish hatchery too!

We also sold our little silver corolla this month and bought a 2008 Toyota Sienna minivan.  It leaves me pondering how we ever managed to haul around 2 kids in that tiny corolla.  We had just gotten home from takeout dinner around 7 and David randomely decided to look on Craigslist for a minivan.  He found one for a great price (we had been looking for something in our price range for months but hadn't had any luck).  We had wanted to hold off on buying anything for a few months just allow some time to save.  David met the van's owner at 8 that night (yes just an hour later) and we purchased the van the next day.

David was playing around with his BB Gun in the backyard and shot a lizard.  When we turned him over, this is what he looked like.

 Shopping in the Halloween section!

Looking so cute and ready to morph into Joker!

August-September 2013

On August 8th (just a few days after bringing Adelyn home from the hospital), Easton came down with a raging 104 degree temperature that we could not get to go down.  We took him to the hospital and the doctor said just to rotate Tylenol and motrin.  A day or two later and he was good as new.

We got to celebrate Easton turning 2 this year and we held a "Bob the Builder" party.  We made sack lunches, had "dirt cake" and opened presents.

We also celebrated my 27th birthday.  The day passed without much going on, but later Rhys and Ta watched our kids so we could go out to a movie.  David was so sweet and planted me flowers in our new garden (totally surprised me) and he gave me a Kohls gift card so I could by new clothes.  I really have the best husband.

 

Months later, the sweet nurses at Banner threw David a baby shower.

On September 5th, my brother Chris and his wife Jessica welcomed a new little girl into their family:  Annika Aven Johnson.  She had SO much dark hair!  Here is Adelyn with her new cousin just about 5 weeks apart.

We bought Jessica and Chris a fruit tart and brownies from "Kneaders" as we knew that's what Jessica liked.  These two girls were so precious!  Please forgive my "I'm beyond tired" look.  Adelyn was still in the newborn stage and I was up every 2-3 hours during the night. 

David also started his Genetics and Biochemistry classes at ASU in hopes of upping his PA school application.  He landed the semester with B's....pretty dang good for working full time, going to school two full days a week, and having a 2 year old and newborn.  He is my miracle worker for sure.

I was at home managing both kids and keeping in touch with my fill-in-sub at work, Kerrie Max.

Adelyn's Birth Story

I went in to my speech room (as we moved back to my tiny little Janitors closet) a few times during the month of July because I wanted to get my room in order in case anything were to happen to me pregnancy wise.  Good thing I acted on those promptings!  I returned back to work on July 31st and went to a district speech meeting.  I checked my voice messages as soon as I was done with the meeting around lunch time. The message was from Dr. Layton, my OBGYN stating that my lab results had come back and they did not look good.  He said I was showing signs of pre-eclampsia (my blood pressure had been elevated over the last few weeks) and that I would probably get sick very quickly.  He wanted me to have the baby that very day.  I started freaking out and was crying, while driving, totally unprepared to have this baby.  The baby was not due until August 10th and I was hoping to get atleast a week of work in to get all my things organized prior to a sub coming in and taking over for me.  I called David at work (luckily he answered his phone) and told him the situation.

I went into my work and said goodbye to everyone and filled the front desk ladies in on my situation. I rushed home to find David rigorously packing our things for the hospital.  Easton was at my mom's for the day, luckily, so I just had to pack some things for him.  We headed to the hospital and they got me hooked up on drugs around 3:00p.m.   David gave me the most amazing priesthood blessing, blessing me with strength to get through what I needed to and comfort.  He also mentioned that Adelyn and I would have a very strong and close relationship while she was growing up and that she would rely on my advice for many things.  They broke my water an hour or two later and shortly after my contractions got REALLY strong....around 6:00p.m.  They checked my cervix and around 6:15 they determined that I was at 9 cm.  They called for the doc and around 6:30 and only about 10-15 minutes of easy pushing, little Adelyn Noelle was born.  This labor and delivery was cake compared to Easton's.  It actually made me think "Oh, maybe I can do this again."  She weighed 7lbs 9oz. and was as beautiful as could be.  I decided to stay the full three days in the hospital and take advantage of my time with just baby.  My mom was sweet enough to take Easton for us.  Did I mentioned that the very next day, August 1st, David was scheduled to have a mock interview for PA school with Joyce Haynie at A.T. STILL?  We decided that he should go to that so he could be prepared for his interview.  Crazy!

It was crazy coming home and having two kids.  Definitely a rough adjustment trying to get kids to nap at the same time and me get some sleep.  As usual, I experience my post-partum blues for the first 9 weeks ago or so after giving birth.  I attribute these feelings to getting no sleep and enjoying those every 2-3 hour feedings round the clock.  I am SO thankful for my mom, siblings and David who helped me out.  I'm also so grateful for ward members who brought in meals and my sweet sweet relief society president Judy Slade who saw me post that I had about 2 hours of sleep one night so she came over to watch my kids while I slept.  We are so grateful for the birth of our sweet little girl and how much joy she has brought to our family.  Easton has been such a loving brother.

 On a side note, the day after Adelyn came home, David had to run somewhere for a few hours so I was alone with the kids for a few hours.  I had left Adelyn in her bouncer and turned away for two seconds to grab something from her room.  I went to check on her, as I heard Easton say "come on Sister".  He was carrying her with one hand by her onesie into my bedroom.  Me freaking out said "Noooo!"  Easton, scared and not knowing that he was doing anything wrong, dropped her. I about had a heart attack and started bawling.  Luckily Adelyn was only dropped from about a foot off the ground. 

June-July 2013

Wow have I got a lot of catching up to do-AGAIN!

This little guy was itching his way closer to the terrible two's and we could sure tell!  This picture was taken after one of his full blown tantrums.  He was so exhausted afterwards that he cuddled up to dad and took a long snooze.

David was very good about taking Easton to the park on his days off, while I was at work.  It was the end of May, early June and super hot when this photo was taken.  So hot, that the two decided it was more desirable to build a sand castle in the shade than play on the playground set.

I finished the 2012-2013 school year and was about 8 months pregnant.  My sister in law Jessica and I decided to do a parent-tot swim class together with our kids MaKenna and Easton.  Fortunately Jessica's two older kids Kiara (6) and Dallin (4) were old enough that they could sit and watch us after they finished their swim class....all at the local Brimhall pool.  I realized that carrying Easton and trying to heave my major pregnant body out of the pool was a daily challenge :)  Jessica was also about 7 months pregnant.  We filled our Friday morning going to "Wiggle Worms" at the McQueen Recreation Center.  Easton got to run around in a gym with lots of little toys and friends his age.

 We decided to get Burger King ice cream cones on the way home from wiggle time (BK cones was David's latest obsession and quickly became mine as well).

We also got loads of soil from my brother Chris' house to use in our garden.  Chris was moving out of his Fairfield street home and wanted us to use as much soil and garden bricks as possible.  While moving the soil, David found this nasty grub worm and pretended to eat it.  Yuck!  Reminds me of the Lion King just a little bit :)

 For the Fourth of July, we did our usual Downtown Mesa fireworks with the Johnson family.  We had a great view this year and lots of space to spread out, but boy was it HOT (especially being 9 months pregnant!)

 

David's parents spent the summer working in the Health office at Camp Geronimo with a bunch of smelly boy scouts :)  We missed them so much that we packed our bags and set off for a visit.  Of course we got a hotel room instead of camping in a tent.  I needed a nice bed and shower!  Camp Geronimo was very pretty.  It was overcast and slightly cooler than the valley.  David took Easton swimming with his mom Dove in Geronimo's pool.  The pool water must have been like 50 degrees because it was ICE cold (I didn't go in :)).  We got to eat most of our meals at the cafeteria-which had great meals!  I think we had spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread and a salad bar for one meal.  Dove also took us on a tour of the camp and we got to watch and instructor show us how to identify snakes.  He then took out a rattlesnake from a bucket and showed us how he handles them...pretty cool stuff!