"Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8-color boxes, but what you’re really looking for are the 64-color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64-color box, though I’ve got a few missing. It’s ok though, because I’ve got some more vibrant colors like periwinkle at my disposal. I have a bit of a problem though in that I can only meet the 8-color boxes. Does anyone else have that problem? I mean there are so many different colors of life, of feeling, of articulation.. so when I meet someone who’s an 8-color type.. I’m like, hey girl, magenta! and she’s like, oh, you mean purple! and she goes off on her purple thing, and I’m like, no - I want magenta! ~John Mayer~"

11 weeks ago

It's been a reeeaaally long time since I wrote last! I kinda had some stuff going on ya know?! Well Zach made his debut on November 15, 2009 at 7:00am. He weighed 7lb 5oz and was 20in long. I had been having contractions that weekend, but they would stop and resume, stop and resume. Eventually I was having them about every 5 minutes so we called the hospital. The nurse that I had seen 2 nights before (false labor) told me to wait 2-3 more hours to make sure they didn't stop. I was so upset I made Doug talk to her. She then said give it about 30 more minutes to see if they kept up. Right after he hung up my water broke! So at 2am I went to the hospital, 3:30 I recieved my epidural, I slept from 4-6am and they checked me at 6am, I started pushing at 6:15am and he came into the world at 7am! He was so beautiful...still is! I couldn't believe that I was a mommy at that very moment. Amazing.
Since then we have just been enjoying every moment with him. He is 11 weeks now and is growing like a little weed!! At his 2 month appointment he weighed 12lb 8oz and was 23.5in long. I know he is much more now!! I quit work so I could stay home with him full time. I'm still going to school, as is Doug. We are super busy these days and I feel like we never see eachother. He keeps telling me that we have to just put up with it for a couple more years. I suppose he's right. It just seems like a very LONG time away from now.
Our holidays were wonderful. My dad and Don were here for Thanksgiving and that was nice. Zach made out like a little bandit for Christmas! Spoiled little boy!! We didn't see Tommy this year for Christmas, but he did come after Zach was born and we've seen him again since then and I think he's coming back in a couple of weeks.
Zach is going to be baptized on Easter Sunday. I'm looking forward to that and seeing friends and family that we haven't seen in a while.
Overall, everyone is doing well here. I've posted a couple of pictures and videos for your "viewing pleasure"...I'm going to try and get some food!
Love,
Sarah

5 weeks until eviction day!

That's right!! In about 5 weeks (I'm thinking less!!) we will add a new member to our family/group of friends. I CAN NOT believe it! I kinda feel like it was yesterday that I found out I was pregnant and here I am staring down the tube at delivery day! I'm really thinking that he will be early. I don't want him to come early because I still have a lot of school work to get done (as I sit here blogging), but I don't really think Zach cares about that!
The doctors appointments have been going well. Last blog I wrote that we would get an estimated fetal weight on him, which we did. So about 3 weeks ago...ish...he weighed 3lbs 13 oz. I think he's much bigger now!! I go again this Monday, so we'll see what she says. I'm kinda hoping that she will check me to see where things are. How much time I have left. I like to know things! I'm a planner!
School is going pretty well. I had all A's and B's at midterm time, plus and incomplete (which I'm still waiting for a response on that reason!). I've started observing in the classroom and still have a lot of hours to do. It's hard to get them all finished when you don't get your classroom assignment until October and you have until November to complete them!! If I didn't have any other classes or work, I could probably get it done! Doug's doing pretty well in all of his classes too. He's not really liking the philosophy class, but I know he can get through it.
My family threw me a baby shower this past weekend (10/10/09) and it was amazing!! I had such a wonderful time!! All of my friends were able to come as well has family that live long distances. My mom's 2 sisters came with their little girls, my grandparents came from SC, my cousin Susan from NJ, my aunt Mary came from the Eastern Shore (Hi Aunt Mary!), my cousins from N. VA, Lauren and Beth, plus numerous other wonderful people. This little boy got TONS of gifts!! He's so spoiled and he's not even here yet! I'm still working on thank you notes. I thought 2 packs of them would have been enough, but I had to go out and buy some more! Here are some pictures from the shower.
Well that's it for now I suppose. I'll try to write again before the little man gets here! If not, the next will be all about his arrival plus some pictures!!

Love,
Sarah

The Race Is On...

Has it really been over 2 months since I wrote last?! I guess not a whole has happened!! NOT! Let's see. The biggest thing is school started back last month and I wasn't the only one to go back. Doug started ODU in August as a Political Science and Geography student. So far he is really enjoying himself. I think he's taking 5 classes. I'm taking 5 classes as well. I'm taking an online History of VA class, Teaching Social Studies in elementary schools, Music Appreciation, Teaching Literacy, and a multicultural diversity class. On top of that I have 50 hours of student teaching observation time I have to do before Zach gets here. Can we say STRESS?!
My niece turned 1 this summer. Where does time go?! It seems like yesterday I went to see her for the first time at the hospital!! She is quiet the diva as you can tell!!
Other than that I guess not a whole lot has happened! All of my doctor appointments have gone pretty well. I have been measuring small the last 2 visits, so I am going to have an ultrasound at my next visit. Hmm...That means I'll have more pictures of him! They should be able to give me an estimated weight on him too! My midwife says I am nothing but baby!
Doug and I are going to have my friend Tracy take maternity pictures for us a week from today. I'm pretty excited about that!
Until then...here's a couple of pictures of the belly so far. These were right around 28.5 weeks pregnant.
That's all for now. I'll write again soon.

love
Sarah~

What is it...?

Since the last time I wrote a lot has happened. On June 22nd my baby brother graduated from high school!! Where has the time gone?! It seems like yesterday I was moving to VA Beach and leaving my little 7 year old brother behind to live with his dad. Now when I look at him I see the little boy who has grown in to such a wonderful young man. Our mom would be so proud of him.
Onn July 4th Doug and I went to my family's house to celebrate. We of course had wonderful food and then went to downtown Norfolk to watch the amazing fireworks show.

Who remembers what was supposed to happen 2 days after this?!! We were supposed to find out if we were having a boy or girl!! And we did! If you know me at all, you know that I am hardly ever late to anything. I'm usually always on time or way early!! That being said, I was awake at 0430 for my 0900 appointment. I could not sleep!! The feeling was literally that of my childhood waiting on the top of my steps for my mom to give the ok for us to come down to open presents on Christmas day!! We got to the appointment right on time. I waited FOREVER it seems like. I watched people who came in after me go back before me. I felt myself tearing up because I felt like I was getting slighted somehow. Aaahh the hormones. So after snapping at Doug a couple of times (bless his heart for having to put up with me!) and waiting for what seemed like an eternity, we were called back. I sat up on the table and waited for the ultrasound tech to start the show. It really is a show! If I wasn't crying so much I could have eaten popcorn. Doug saw it before I did, but I told him to keep quiet. She asked if I wanted to know what the sex of the baby was (umm...duh!! again...if you know me, then you know I can hardly stand the suspense of surprises!! I have to find out everything! I'm EXTREMELY hard to surprise!). Then she told me what I had been feeling for the last 5 months. It's a boy. He is a perfect, beautiful, healthy boy. I had to pause the crying for a second to ask her if she was 100% sure it was a boy because now I can start shopping and I don't want to get a bunch of boy things for a girl! She said she was sure, and the crying resumed. All I could think of was that I'm going to have a son. Watching him on the screen was amazing, as usual. He's so beautiful already. His name is Zachary Ethan Johnson and I'm his mommy.

Lastly, we attended our good friends wedding on July 10th. Remember the red head at my wedding who caught the bouquet? It was her!! Laura and Mike got married down at the oceanfront this past Friday. She was absolutly stunning!! The wedding was beautiful and Mike wasn't so bad himself!!
That's all for now!!

Love,
Sarah, Doug and Zach...Rowan and Abby too!!

~June Updates~

I totally wasn't creative with that title!! (that picture above was taken the day of our anniversary)

Since the last time I wrote we have been to Pennsylvania and to a friends wedding and Doug and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary!! PA was fun and the wedding was beautiful.

We went to PA to visit Lara, Emily and crew and to celebrate the upcoming birth of Lara's little girl. What was most exciting about this trip is not only was my brother able to make it, but my aunt Pat and uncle Don made the drive from Va Beach as well as my cousins Susan and Mitch from NJ and my grandparents from Myrtle Beach! Lara was very excited to see everyone. The weather kind of hindered everyone from being able to go outside on baby shower day, but we made the most of it.

Doug and I had a doctors appointment on June 8th and we heard the heartbeat again (and the baby was moving around so much the doctor kept having to move the doppler to find the heartbeat again!). We scheduled our next appointment for July 6, 2009 and on this day we will find out if we are having a boy or girl! Doug says it's just confirmation that I am having a boy, but we'll see. If you feel the earth shake a little that day, know that we are having a girl! hahaha!!

I put some pictures up from our trip. Enjoy. Sorry I don't have much else to say!! I will next time because I will be writing about our next visit and about Tommy's graduation!!! That's right people!! My baby brother is graduating high school this month! The crazier part is that on July 18th he will be 18 years old!!! Where has time gone!!
Until next time!!
love,

The Johnsons

~The wild child~

So much to update on this month!! Lets see. School is out for the summer. Thank God!! This semester was a pretty tough one for me. I haven't gotten my grades yet, but I'm almost positive I'm going to have to take economics again! Yuck. Oh well.
We had sad news this month as well. Doug's mom and dad had to put down one of their dogs. Carra got extremely ill and the doctor didn't know what else to do for her. They could have tried one more option, but Carra's quality of life would have been poor. If any of you have made it over to the Rush home, I'm sure you have met Carra. She was the white Scottie dog who was often on the sidelines watching her sisters play with the ball in the backyard and at times she was timid but always loving. Carra was usually always the first one to meet me at the door so she and I suppose myself, could get some TLC. She will definitely be missed.
We do have some good news to follow the sad. Doug and I heard the babys heartbeat for the first time on May 4th 2009. So amazing!! When I turned to look at Dougs face and saw the huge smile he was wearing on his face I started laughing!
This past weekend was pretty low key. Dougs parents had an oyster roast on Saturday which was fun. I know I know...oyster roast in the spring?! They decided to make this one smaller so that they had a chance to spend time with all of their guests, which was nice. I did have a scare on this day. I was at work and I kept getting sharp shooting pains in my lower abdomen. One was so bad I doubled over in pain and started crying. My boss and co-workers decided it was best for me to leave, so Doug came and picked me up. I called the doctor and they told me that if I wasn't spotting or vomiting I could either go to the ER for a checkup or wait until Monday to come into the office. We decided to wait it out until Monday. So on mother's day I spent the day on the couch with my feet up trying to relax and wait for Monday to come.
Monday finally came and it was great!! I know Monday's usually stink, but mine was great!! I called the office and they said they could see me at 1015. I took my friend Heather just in case I got bad news (Doug had to work and I know I shouldn't think like that..buuuut). I sat for less than 10 minutes before they called me back. Donna, one of the midwives, examined me first and then listened to see if we could hear the heartbeat. And we did!! Oh Glorious sound!!! She said that the pain I was experiencing was due in part to the baby growing, but also to the fact that I had been on my feet so much over the weekend and working, so I over exerted myself. She told me I need to take it easy and gave me a list of restrictions. Then came the good part. She knew of my cyst that my old doctor thought she felt, so she decided to check on it a week early to see how it was growing or shrinking. She took Heather and I into the ultrasound room and we waited and watched. The ultrasound tech was probably one of the sweetest women I have ever met. She checked the cyst first and indeed I do have one on the left side, but it's only 1cm across and it's shrinking. So after that she showed me the baby. Oh dear lord I nearly fell off the table!! It actually looked like a real baby instead of a little bean!! I could see its head and nose and hands and feet and belly and cheeks!!! My baby is beautiful!! She took many pictures of him or her and some in 4D. In one of the pictures the baby has both fists balled up on its head almost to say "stop pushing on me lady!!". She called the baby little monkey. The baby kept rolling over when she was trying to take pictures and measure it. The baby is 2 inches from top of head to butt. She let me watch the baby for a few minutes to see what it was doing in there. That child can move!!! I laughed and cried as I watched it move all around and kick its little feet all over the place!! It was so cool!! Since Doug couldn't go to the doctor, I drove the pictures out to him. I think it made his day to see his little butter bean looking like a big kid instead of a blip on the screen. In one picture Doug said the baby looked like a safety monitor because the umbilical cord is up over its tummy. He's such a goober! I spent the rest of the day looking at that beautiful face and fantasizing over what it would look like in 4 weeks when we go back for our next visit. I think this is all for now! Enjoy the pictures!!

Love, ~The Johnson's~