We bought a zoo! Actually, we just went to a Zoo.

January has been keeping us busy! With snow days, swimming lessons, a visit to AP's, Mimi staying with us, and a trip to the zoo, 2012 is off to a wonderful start.

Christmas Recital

Maddie just had her first Christmas Recital, it was adorable. Check out a little snippet.

Wake up Video

Here's a brief video showing how Piper greets us in the morning.

Q: What do you want for Christmas? A: Everything

That pretty much sums up Maddie's view on Christmas. This is the first year she's really grasped what Christmas is (on the most basic level: Santa - Presents - Awesome) and she is SUPER excited. You might think that this can cause all sorts of problems because since she want's everything, she expects to get everything but actually it's quite the opposite. Before Christmas, when we went into a store and she asked:

"Can I have that?" we would usually have to say "Sorry, but not this time."

Now when she asks we can say "Ooohhh, that's cool, let's put it on your Christmas list."

See the difference? Now Santa is the bad guy, not us. I love Christmas.

But in all seriousness (kinda), Christmas is awesome. Maddie has been so fun. She's totally into the lights / music / movies...

Getting pumped for Christmas!

We got our tree the other night and had a campout in the living room around it. We put Maddie to bed at 8pm but of course she couldn't fall asleep since the Christmas lights were on, she's in her sleeping bag and the kitty keeps jumping on her. When we lay down at 10ish she's still up and fidgety so we give her the usual warnings about going to bed and taking away a stuffed animal and all that. She calms down a bit but still is rustling around and keeping us up. Finally, I reach out and hold her hand and boom, she's asleep two minutes later with a kung fu death grip on my finger. Cutest thing ever.

As for Piper, she's doing great. She's healthy and cute and awesome and sleeps well and doesn't explode her diaper often and is smily and giggly and happy and chubby and smelly and cuddly and all other good things. We had a check up awhile ago and she's in the 50% for most stats (75% for premies), which leads us to believe that there are no complications with her early arrival.

Piper is starting to interact much more which is cool. She smiles all the time and is starting to giggle which is adorable. She still sleeps through the night which has been such a blessing. Maddie gets along with her really well and Piper adores her big sister.

First Solid Food - Yummy!

Other than that, things are pretty sticking good at the Casa de Johnson. We've been enjoying the fall by doing the zoo trips, seeing family and the occasional date night. Maddie has her first Christmas Recital next week which I expect to be crazy stupid cute. I'll try to get the video up.

That's all for now. Peace. Out.

The haps at the Johnson house

So Piper is no 3.5 months olds and doing GREAT! Looking at her, you'd never know she was a premie. In fact, I think she is bigger than Maddie was at that age.

Things around the Johnson household have been pretty tame as of late. Maddie is embracing being a three-year-old much to the dismay of Dianne and I. Personally, I think the "Terrible Twos" is a crock because three has been hellish. Maddie is a great little girl but she will test you on EVERYTHING. She's like those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park that attack the fence but never in the same spot. That's her. A big, horrible, man-eating dinosaur. What's most annoying is that she doesn't seem to be trying to piss us off, just trying to learn which I know we shouldn't get mad at (but it's hard when she asks 20 questions every minute of every hour of every day).

Now during the 10% of the day when she's not pushing our buttons, Maddie is awesome. She started school recently and loves it. This year it's with her best friend Keller so she's loving that. It also allows Dianne and Melissa to hang out regularly which is a nice break for the mommies. She also finished swim class and will likely be doing Ballet or Soccer soon. In about a week she's going to stay with Mimi and Papa for a few days which will be a nice little break for Dianne and I (yeah! only a 3-month old! so easy).

As for Piper, not a whole lot to report besides the fact that she's doing really well. She's putting on the lbs like it's going out of style (she was only in the 0-3 month clothes for two weeks). She's also started to laugh and giggle a lot which is always fun. She's not much of a napper (only sleeps for about 30 minute stretches during the day) but saws logs all night from 9:30 to 6:30.

Dianne and I are doing well, Nana babysat the girls the other night so Dianne and I bought some wine, cheese, fruit... and parked the car at a local harbor and just chilled. It was so quite we didn't know what to do with ourselves. We need to make a point of doing that more often because it's really easy to neglect your relationship when you have kids to worry about.

That's more or less it. I posted more photos so go check them out.

Life Lesson: Don't go camping with a newborn

It's hard. Really hard. Like working on a weekend hard. A few weekends ago Dianne and I took the girls to Prineville Reservoir  down in Oregon for the annual Rufener Family camping trip. This is a trip we go on every year for a week and any given day usually consist of:

• Wake up.
• Go out in the boat.
• Breakfast.
• Chill.
• Drink.
• Lunch.
• Go out in the boat.
• Chill.
• Drink.
• Dinner.
• Chill.
• Drink.

But with a newborn (and a three-year-old), it's more like:

• Wake up in the middle of the night because a). newborn needs food or b). three-year-old kicks you in the face while sleeping.
• Wake up earlier than you would have liked.
• One parent goes out in boat while other parent stays in camp (boating parent feels immense guilt).
• Breakfast, try to get three-year-old not to eat dirt.
• Keep newborn happy and cool / entertain three-year-old.
• Lunch, still try to keep three-year-old from eating dirt.
• Keep newborn cool / try to get three-year-old to nap, one parent has to stay nearby, other can go out in the boat (more guilt).
• Hand off newborn to family member, relax for 30 minutes.
• Keep newborn cool / get now awake three-year-old, entertain them.
• Dinner, dirt issue.
• Drag three-year-old to bed, which takes about an hour.
• Fall asleep exhausted.

As you can see, drinking and chilling is non-existent. So is enjoying any quality time with your spouse. No don't get me wrong, seeing our family was absolutely great, and they were ALL very supportive and helpful, but even with their help it is still a different trip from the days of chilling, drinking and boating.

That's not to say it was all bad, actually quite the opposite:

• Maddie was a doll the entire time. She played with the other kids like a champ. She had a great time going out in the boat. She loved eating dirt. She acted exactly how a three-year-old having a fantastic time should act. 
• Piper was super chill. She slept a lot. She didn't cry that much. She only woke up once a night. She was happy when members of the family held her. Perfect little newborn.
• Seeing family was awesome. We don't get to see this side of the family but once a year and it is always a pleasure. The grandparents/parents are fun to hang out with and really helpful with the girls. The kids are all super fun and great to Maddie.
• My family even stopped by (JJ, Melissa, Mom and Amanda) and I was able to take them on a boat tour of the reservoir. I totally felt like my Dad when he used to take the family out in the boat when we were kids.

I guess my main compliant is that when camping with a newborn and a three-year-old, you always have to be ON. You never get a chance to really relax or hang out with your honey. Also, with a trip like this which we have done many years in a row, you have an expectation of what the trip will be so when it varies from that expectation it can be hard to deal with.

Will Dianne and I never camp with our kids? Of course not. Camping is a great tradition and an important part of being a kid. I think with a few modifications it can still be a fantastic experience:

• Keep it short. A week is just too long with little kids.
• Don't travel far from home. When camping is over, a short car ride is nice.
• Don't go anywhere too hot.
• Go with other parents that have kids the same age.
• Plan on staying in camp (don't bring a boat).
• Don't expect too much. Be happy just spending time together.

Though camping this year was tough, watching how much fun Maddie had (and the other older kids who were there) makes me really excited for future camping trips when the girls are old enough to entertain themselves and Dianne and I can sit back, read a book and drink a beer.

A hazy shade of parenthood

So we've officially entered that "hazy" phase of parenthood where you are so sleep deprived that everything is kinda soft around the edges. You feel like you could take a nap at anytime, anywhere.

You see a bench in the park and think "sure I could sleep on that."

You see a corner in a room and think "sure I could prop myself in the corner and sleep there."

You see a street performer laying on a bed of nails and think "sure I could push that man off his bed of nails, lay down on it and fall asleep, heck, people could even stack cinder blocks on me and I probably won't even wake up." Did I just come up with an additional source of income?

Moving on. Summer is here (kinda), one day it is 80 and the kids are enjoying the sprinkler, then next day it's like a monsoon. I guess the weather could be worse (I'm think East Coast) but I'm still tired of this on-again off-again thing.

Maddie is doing well, we took her to her first parade (Whaling Days in Silverdale) and she had a blast. Ate tons of candy and did not want to leave.

Piper is also doing well. She is getting bigger and bigger and has actually started to cry a bit. Still not much but I'm glad she cries a little because it was almost creepy how quiet she was (did I really just complain about how quiet my newborn is? Shame on me).

Funny thing is, Maddie cries more than Piper. Weird.

Both girls have come down with a little bit of a cold the last few days. For Piper that means she's a little fussier and makes more noises at night (aka freaks us out at night). For Maddie that means it brings her from a 10 to a 7 which is just fine by us.

We're taking Piper on her first camping trip in about a week out at Prineville Reservoir just north of Bend, Oregon with Dianne's family. It's always a good time but I am a bit nervous taking a newborn out there. Luckily, we'll have tons of family to help out.

I'm trying to think of something else interesting to say but I'm pretty much tapped out. I am wearing cool socks which is something.

Anyways, best to all and I'll check back in later.