The Never Ending Christmas - Part 1

So we have the been experiencing the ultimate drawn out Christmas:

Christmas Eve Eve - Family Christmas at Home

Christmas Eve - Christmas in Eatonvillle with the Simpson side

Christmas Day - Christmas in Des Moines with the Johnson side

Day After Christmas - Christmas with Nicks Dad

Day After the Day After Christmas - Drive to Oregon

And that brings us to today - Christmas in Salem with the Jones Family

We've determined that though it has been fun seeing lots of family, this will be the last time we travel this much.

Here are a few photos of the last few days:

First is Maddie with her gifts from Mom and Dad

Next is Maddie with her GPop Marty

And last is Maddie with her favorite gift of all, the bag that her other gift came in

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait.

We're sorry it's been so long since our last post, but it gets busy this time of the year. I'm sure you all understand.

A few weekends ago we headed down to Oregon to visit family. The trip was tons of fun and we snapped a few great photos of Maddie while we were down there.

Here is Maddie acting out for the camera. And here she is enjoying one of Ron's extremely entertaining stories.

And lastly here she is enjoying some time with her Great Grandpa Howard.

Then last weekend we went down to Des Moines to kick it with Great Grandma Peg and Great Grandpa Jack. Here she is watching football with Jack.Then it started snowing like crazy over the next few days. We ended up with about 10 inches at our house and are expecting a few more inches tonight.
All this snow allowed Nick to stay home from work and we all went out and enjoyed Maddie's first snow! We think she liked it, though she just stared wide eyed the whole time.

Well, that's all for now. Sorry again for the delay, we'll get some Christmas photos up here soon.

Merry Christmas to all!

Oh the weather outside is weather.

The Christmas Spirit is slowly spreading into the Johnson household. We unpacked all of the Christmas boxes from the attic. Dianne started decorating the house while I strung lights outside. Awhile later we took Maddie out to cut her first Christmas tree (the tree has slightly more character than we at first anticipated). Then we spent the rest of the evening listening to holiday music while decorating the tree. You could say it is a true Christmas in the Northwest.

Kitty Torture

Not a whole lot to report around here. We're getting ready to kick off the holiday season by heading down to Oregon for Thanksgiving and for the raging party that will be Jenny's wedding.

Other than that, things are pretty low key. Maddie has been on a few playdates with her new friend, Drake, which has been entertaining and Dianne and I have been preparing our kitty, Sadie, for the upcoming joys of having a toddler in the house.

Mr. Mom

So Dianne took off to The Great White North (Canada) this weekend and left Me alone with the baby for 3 days and 2 nights!

Here are a few thoughts:

Being a single parent must be hard! I have a whole new respect for single parents (and for stay at home mothers!).

Maddie was great, she was on a steady schedule, she at well from the bottle, and she slept well both nights. None the less, I'm exhausted! I didn't realize how constant caring for her would be. I mean every little thing you do revolves around her and the mood she's in or if she's asleep or awake. It's crazy.

Also, I love her to death but she is a terrible conversationalist. You get really tired of talking to yourself and eventually crave some sort of social interaction (Sunday morning I had cabin fever so bad that I went to the mall just to walk around). Luckily, I planned ahead and had some company lined up: Friday was Grandpa, Saturday was football watching with the boys, and Sunday was with Auntie Amanda.

Last thought:

Being alone for the weekend brings into sharp focus how lucky I am to have a wonderful woman to share being a parent with. By far the hardest part of this weekend was not being able to laugh and joke with Dianne about whatever Maddie was doing. Be it farting or burping or smiling...

One more thing:

Maddie didn't poop the entire weekend until right when Mom got home, just in time to change the diaper. Sweet.

Giggles!

Just wanted to post a short clip of Maddie doing her new thing.

Happy Halloween!

Our "Little Sasquatch" enjoyed her first Halloween on Friday. As you can see, Mommy pieced together a beautiful Bigfoot costume for her. She was way more cuddly than scary.

It's been along time...

Hey all,

We're sorry that it's been so long since our last post, but as you know, life gets busy. Here are a few photos of what we've been up to lately:
We went on another hike a few weekends ago. Maddie, Dianne, Dave, Amanda and I all went up to Sequim and hiked the Dungeness Spit which is the most boring hike ever. It is worth going out to the start of the hike and checking out the view. But then do yourself a favor and turn around, go back to your car and go to the Hiway 101 diner for a nice shake.
Then we went down to Bend Oregon for my brother's (JJ) wedding. The wedding was beautiful, the weekend was awesome and Maddie loved bathtime with Grandma Mimi.
Maddie has become extremely smiley as of late. This one was snapped and emailed to me while I was at work last week.

And earlier today we searched for a pumpkin patch that could become a family tradition. After 3 duds, we finally found a cute little one out on Bainbridge Island.

Swimtastic

Maddie's getting used to the water with the help from dad (thankfully these aren't the hairy legs of her mother)! I think we have a water baby in the works. How many gold medals did Michael Phelps win again???

These booties were made for walkin'

So we went on our first family hike today. We hopped in the car and headed up to Cresent Lake north of Port Angeles. We hiked the Spruce Railroad Trail which curves along the lake for a few miles. Maddie was fantastic: first she slept for 7 hours straight last night (which felt amazing): then only cried for about 5 minutes total during the hour and a half car ride: was either awake and smiling or asleep and smiling for the entire hike: and waited until we returned to the car before she blew up her pants... twice.

After the hike we stopped by Fat Smitty's, a sweet burger joint in Discovery Bay that has great shakes and burgers. All walls, ceilings, doors and pretty much every other surface are covered in old one dollar bills. It's quite a site as evidenced below.


We basically had the best day ever and I imagine we have many hikes / burger joints in our future.

A Day in the Yard

Today Maddie enjoyed a beautiful day in October. During the day she helped Mom plant iris bults in the front yard. Then when Dad got home from work she rode the lawn mower. No we don't have a riding mower, but when you're hitching a ride in a bjiorn...what else do you call it?

She's pooped now and sleeping/drooling on Dad. All in all, not a bad day.

Morning Routine

So we're trying something new and uploading a video. This is Maddie's morning ritual, she slowly wakes up, stretches for 10 minutes and smiles the entire time. It's pretty sweet.

Pump you up!

Sorry it's been so long since the last update but Maddie has been busy with her new training regime. She's been going to the local baby gym once a week to pump some iron. She's primarily focusing on her core since she is yet able to control her legs and arms. In the last two months she has put on nearly 3 pounds (solid muscle I'm sure) and with her new stretching exercises has grow to 24 inches.

The only annoying part of this is that whenever any other babies are around, she asks them if they know where the weight room is while flexing her neck muscles. Crazy kid.

Thunder Poop and Da Boyz

Saturday was Nick's birthday so some of the boys came over for football, beer and massive baby poops. Really, there is not much more you can ask for than that.

Maddie was a pleasure all day though you wouldn't know it from this picture. I think she was upset at how bad her Huskies are doing. And Seahawks. And Mariners. And every other sports team in Seattle.

The best part of my day.

Maddie is starting to smile, which is hands down the coolest thing ever. You never know when it is going to happen. Sometime first thing in the morning. Or after a nap. Or after a pleasing burp. But whenever it happens I am the happiest man alive.

I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger...

Maddie has been doing a little exploring lately. Getting to know the world around her if you will. Sometimes she explores her nose, her ears, and if lucky her mouth where she can suck on her fingers to her hearts content.

Go Huskies!!!

So on Saturday Maddie enjoyed watching her first football game, which didn't go so well. Oh Maddie was just great, but the Huskies looked like a they were a high school junior varsity team. It looks like its going to be a long year.

Maddie has been great lately, she is starting to smile and make noises all the time. I wish I could report that we are getting more sleep, but that's just not the case. Some nights she sleeps great (even up to 5 hours in a row) but other nights she likes to rock out all night long.

Other than that we're doing well, seeing lots of family and enjoying the remaining days of summer (if you could call them that).

Our Waterskiing Cowgirl

It looks like we have a little cowgirl on our hands!! Maddie went to her first rodeo on Friday: The Kitsap County Fair & Stampede. I have to say that she was fabulous! We we're their for about 4 hours and she didn't cry one bit, and seemed to love all of the sounds and lights surrounding her. I can see many rodeo's in her future.

Then on Saturday Dianne went shopping and I watched Maddie for almost 5 hours!! This was the longest that Maddie had been away from mom since she was born, and again she was fabulous! Maddie and I went down to the hood canal and met up with our friend Phil, and we all went out on the boat. Maddie was great and seemed to really love having the ocean breeze in her hair.

The Poop Machine

We haven't checked in lately because we're too busy changing diapers. The poop machine (her new nickname) has been going crazy! She seems to have a habit of crop dusting (going all the time) but instead of just a constant little trickle, it's more like a A-Bomb going off in her pants. We had three blow-outs (it is exactly like it sounds) in less than 15 minutes earlier today. I feel bad for her diapers. Nothing could compete with that. You could syran wrap her bum, wrap a whole roll of duct tape around it and seal it in wax but her poo would still escape. I swear its acid. Kinda like in the alien movies when the saliva eats through metal. Thats her. Except poo not saliva. And diapers, not metal.

Photos for all!

Hey all. Many people have been asking for photos so I put together a little web gallery. You can view all sort of pics here, and even download full size prints to download.

Click here to view the gallery

Future Foodies of America

Maddie and I had our first lunch out today. We dined with Melissa and Keller, and of course, Maddie started crying about 5 minutes into the 15 minute drive to the restaurant. We were planning our baby-tantrum exit strategy while I made an attempt to calm her with an ultra-swaddle (which luckily worked and she slept through the entire lunch). We were able to enjoy ordering AND eating before she woke up! Awesome. I'd like to take this moment to thank everyone that made this lunch possible - Melissa for driving and helping with the contingency plan, the host for seating us extraordinarily quickly, our crazy over-friendly waitress for cooing politely over our well behaved children, and last but not least, the cook for throwing together my salad in Phelps-esque record time. There will definitely be more eating out after today's experience...sorry Nick!

Oregon or bust!

Sorry it's been a few days since our last post, but it's hard to prioritize blogging over sleeping.

So what's the news... Last weekend we drove down to Oregon to introduce Madeline to Dianne's side of the family. The drive was much slower than it used to be which I guess we'll have to get used to. We had to make two feeding pit stops which got me thinking that I should invent a way to safely feed a baby while driving. I figure by selling that, and the ever popular Jump to Conclusions mat, I could make like a million dollars.

Hanging out down south and seeing the family was great, everyone was excited to see Maddie and we got loads of pictures (we only chose to post one on the blog so congrats Aunt Lynn).

On the way home we swung by our friends Kim and Brandon to meet their 2 week old daughter Natalee, who at 9 lbs has led to us calling our little girl "runt." The ride up was very much like the ride down except for some terrible traffic (we were actually passed by a guy with a walker).

Other than that we've been doing the norm... trying to sleep when we can.

Time for Reflection

So we've almost reached the three week mark, and everything is going great! Maddie is sleeping more, Dianne and I are getting used to sleeping less, and everything else is falling into place.

We also thought that since we have quite a few friends who read this who are either having or will probably shortly be having babies, we'd lay down some truth for you.

Sleep.
Everyone says "sleep now because you won't be sleeping when the baby comes." This is true but it doesn't quite do justice to how little sleep you get or how tired you really are. I thought that it would be hard to wake up, and I'd be a little tired during the day. Wrong! True getting up is hard but the complete level of exhaustion throughout the day is quite a shock. It makes it hard to do the simplest things like call a friend, clean a room, or move. What's worse is that you really can't catch up on your sleep by going to bed early or sleeping in on the weekends. So fair warning, sleep is tough.

Feeding.
The baby eats all the time! I know that the eventual goal is to get her on some kind of feeding schedule, and hopefully we will, but this early in the game it's more important to feed her whenever she wants, which is all the time! Also, breastfeeding is hard (so Dianne tells me). It's not some simple little process where the baby knows exactly what to do right away (or at least Maddie didn't). You have to work at it and perfect it which takes some time and patience.

Playing.
Playing is fun. Making faces, reading books, making noises... it's all good. I am really excited for when she starts to make faces back and giggle and such. It's funny because sometimes I'm super tired and Dianne has Maddie, so I should go take a nap or something, but I can't tear myself away from watching her and playing with her. Basically, kids are awesome.

Attention.
You have to be near the baby all the time. And usually that means holding, soothing, playing or feeding her. Sometimes if your lucky she'll sleep in her bouncer and you can get something done (like take a nap or go to the bathroom or get something to drink or pay bills or relax or eat or do laundry) but she still needs to be right next to you. I didn't realize the amount of attention the baby needs at all times.

Poo.
Babies poo a lot. Get used to it. Green, yellow, brown, black, smooth, thick, liquid, soft, hard, projectile... you get it all. Oh, and it smells funny.

Parenthood.
Parenthood is the greatest thing since pop rocks candy. Even with the tough parts and the unexpected turns, it is so much fun. Having a child that depends on you for everything is stressful, but it's also the best feeling ever. It's fun to think that you basically get to shape this little person into who they will eventually be for the rest of their life. It makes you really take a look at the way you live your life and make sure that you are setting the right example.

As they say, your children are your legacy.

To all my friends who have a minion on the way: Congrats! I can hardly explain how great it is.

To all my friends who are thinking about having kids: Get to it! Maddie needs playmates.

To all my other friends: If you ever feel like babysitting, give me a call.

Aunt Jenny!

This week we have been blessed to have Aunt Jenny with us from Montana. The three ladies have been shopping, looking at wedding dresses and talking about boys all day (or so I assume).

Other than that we're still trying to get used to having a baby. The lack of sleep is tough, and so is blogging while your wife sleeps next to you and you're one-handed typing because your rocking a baby in you other hand. But we'll get through it. Just don't expect any really long blog entries.

Naturals!

Menig & Maddie

Dons & Maddie

Engagement Party!

We went on our first road trip yesterday down to Olympia to attend our friends Rawls & Anna's engagement party. It was GREAT getting out of the house and having a social life, however short. Maddie was perfect! She slept the whole way down, was awake and in a great mood at the party while she was being passed around for almost 3 hours.

It was a lot of fun seeing our friends holding her, and we noticed that we definitely have a few natural fathers in our group of friends (Dons, Menig, Shine...).

Playdate... Hey-Yo!

We made it through the first full week of Nick back to work and survived. In fact things are starting to fall into a more normal existence. We even had our friends Melissa and Josh over with their 3 month old Keller so Maddie could have her first playdate.

We all sat around eating dinner, drinking beer and enjoying the harmonic melodies of Keller and Maddie doing a little duet they call "I can cry loader than you." Personally, I don't think it's a hit but I'm sure it'll get a lot of airplay.

Grandma Comes to Visit.

Over the last few days we have been blessed to have more family helpers. This week Nick's Mom came over and helped us out. Dianne and Diane perfected the art of daytime television and were terribly upset to see that Passions was no longer on the air.

Tomorrow Nick's cousin Erin is stopping by to give out some friendly advice, which we are looking forward to since she is a labor & delivery nurse. Hopefully she won't tell us that we're horrible parents. Only time (and a few trips to Juvee) will tell.

3, 2, 1... Projectile Poo!

Thought I wasn't there for the event, Linds-hey came over and helped with bath time. Apparently, in the transition from the bath to the crib to put on her diaper, Maddie decided that this would be a great time to unleash the hellish fury that is... Projectile Baby Poo!

I hear that hilarity ensued. Until clean up time.

Our 1st Trip to the Big City... Poulsbo.

Dianne and I found that we were starting to get Cabin Fever today and decided that it was about time we left the relative safety and comforts of our house and ventured into the dangerous and bustling city limits of Poulsbo. For those of you unfamiliar with Poulsbo, it is a small viking town of 7,000 people on the Puget Sound full of antique shops and peddlers of confectionery.

The trip was relatively uneventful. Maddie allowed us to push her around in her stroller for all of 10 minutes before insisting on being held. She fell asleep for lunch and conveniently woke up just as our food was being delivered, again insisting on being held.

We got back to the car just in time to miss the rain and returned home after a tiring yet exhilarating 2 hours outside of the home.

She wants to party all the time, party all the time...

Last night was our first one of "those nights." It all started out as normal, getting into bed at around 10pm, giving Maddie her before bedtime snack-aroo...

5 hours of straight crying later, we were wondering if having a baby was the right choice in our lives.

Thankfully, grandma Mimi and Papa came to the rescue and took our crying Maddie out of our hands so we could get some much needed shut eye. Hooray for grandparents.

This got me thinking: no one ever really told me what a typical night with a newborn would be like, so I figured I'd help a brother (or sister) out and give you a typical breakdown (and don't worry, last nights cry-a-pa-looza was not the norm).

9 - 9:30pm: Head up to bed. Start brushing teeth and other pre-bedtime rituals.

9:30 - 10: Start feeding the baby.

10 - 10:30: Finish feeding the baby and start trying to get her to sleep.

10:30 - 11:30: After several attempts and placing the sleeping baby in her crib, only to have her wake up 5 minutes later, she finally falls asleep.

11:30 - 12: Lie in bed listening to every sound emanating from the crib thinking that your baby is:

Choking
Dying
About to wake up
Pooping
Choking
Burping
Awake and about to cry
Choking

12 - 1: Bad sleep.

1 - 2: Baby wakes up, you feed her, you burp her, you try to get her to sleep, you think she is choking, you fall asleep.

2 - 5: The best sleep of your life.

5 on: Baby wakes up, you do the feed-burp-choke thing and realize that there is no way you'll be able to go back to bed. Thus your day begins.

There you have it friends. A typical night with a newborn. This is not meant to scare you off, but as an excuse to why I haven't called you back. Talk to you next year.

A Fond Farewell for Grandma Mimi

Grandma Mimi had to catch a flight an hour after Madeline was born, but Madeline was nice enough to send her off with an award wining smile before she left the hospital.

Great Grandpa Jack and Maddie

Nick's grandpa Jack came over and held his first great grandchild.

Our Baby Story

Well it finally happened! Madeline Tracy Johnson was born at 4:02am Saturday Morning. Here's a quick breakdown of our birth experience:

We were scheduled to induce at 7am Friday morning. At 8:30am they gave Dianne Petocin to start her contractions. Things were pretty uneventful until about about 3pm when she was dilated to 4cm and they broke her bag of waters. Her contractions got gradually stronger until 8pm when we decided to have a epidural. They administered the epi at 8:30pm which was just in time since her contractions were becoming unbearable. Not much happened for the next few hours, and we even managed to get some sleep.

At about 2:30am she was fully dilated and we started to push, this went on for about an hour and a half and was actually not as bad as we expected (we actually had a bet that if she yelled out "Kelly Clarkston" when the pain got really bad I would treat her to a movie, but she didn't so she owes me a movie).

Then at 4:02am, with Dianne's mom Kay and Nick's mom Diane in the room, baby Madeline was born!

The next few hours were a blur until we finally got to sleep for an hour or so. Then we spent a lot of time with family and friends until we kicked everyone out at 6pm so we could rest. Later that night we were moved to the overflow wing which was nice and quiet and we managed to get a pretty good nights sleep.

Sunday morning we relaxed, practiced feeding and eventually went home around 4pm. Great Grand Parents Jack and Peggy brought us dinner and visited with us for about and hour.

After they left we relaxed and settled in for our first night at home.

We're Almost There!

We went down to the Bremerton waterfront and shot a few pictures of the belly before it's too late. We can't wait till the baby comes and we finally get to meet little Parker or Madeline!