Week 23: Catching Up

Happy New Year! I’m back!  I got so far behind in posting an update to the blog that even I’m surprised that I managed to update it again!  It really is hard for a procrastinating over-achiever to get through her entire to-do list every week.  :)  The last 11 weeks have been super busy for the Florida Johnson's. I’m going to attempt one massive post here to get all caught back up (just in time for the New Year and the major rush of year-end activities at work that only those that are accountants can understand!)  It’s gotten so that my desperation to update this blog has overcome my desire for the posting to be witty, creative and fun. :)  Let me start with the most recent events and then I’ll get you all caught up on the last few months.  Check out the monthly albums for pictures.

Week 23:  So far, the first week of 2012 has truly been a week of firsts for us:  1) Erik slept in his crib for the first time (we’ve had him in a pack-n-play up to this point) - the change didn’t phase him at all; 2) Erik went to Sabbath School for the first time at Forest Lake Church - he carefully observed everything; 3) Erik slept 6 hours for the first time ever the night of Jan 7 - ah, sweet sleep for me - and; 4) Erik popped out not 1, but 2 brand new teeth on Friday, Jan 6!  Yep, that’s right, my barely five month old son has his two center bottom teeth already.  I’m waiting not-so-anxiously for the first time he bites me while nursing.  ouch!  Erik has had congestion for the past 2 weeks and now I’m wondering if that wasn’t an indication of his soon-to-arrive teeth.  He has also been drooling and wanting to put things into his mouth, but not any more than what I would consider normal for any infant.  If this is what teething is like for Erik, then I am most definitely counting us as blessed and lucky (no excessive fussing, no fever, etc).

Week 13 (Oct 23-Oct 29): This was a very hard week for us - it was Kelli’s first week back at work while Erik started a new adventure of going to daycare.  Erik did just fine at daycare, but Kent & I both struggled through the first week of leaving our baby with strangers.  This was also another busy & full week of visitors for the Johnson's - the Elliott's and Chalker's came to visit.  Pops came down early to help prepare & cook food for the masses.  Thank you so much, Pops, for all your cooking skills - you are sorely missed when you leave.  Auntie Kirstin got to see how much Erik has grown since August and Erik got to meet 2 of his cousins, Lauren & Kaeleigh.  It was fun to see how the girls loved on their new baby cousin.  This week also marked the end of our latest house project - refinishing the pool and pool deck.  With the end of this project, we should be done for a good, long while!!!  Kent, Pops, Lauren & Kaeleigh gave the pool its inaugural swim.  Our friends, Edman & Michelle Fuentes, came over on October 29 and treated us to a supper of Indian food and Erik was able to meet Ella & Lily.  The food was delicious and the company delightful!  To end this very busy week, we took ourselves to JCPenney for Erik’s 3-month photos.  

Nana & the Elliott's (notice Kaeleigh's expression!)

Erik meets Lily Fuentes - love the look on his face!!

Nana & Pops with the finished pool & deck behind them

Week 15 (Nov 6-Nov 12): This was a hard week for us as well.  This week marked our first visit to the Emergency Room.  Two weeks into his daycare experience, Erik started to run a slight fever which gradually rose and then never came down.  Kent & I learned how to take a baby’s temperature (the best way is the hardest).  We took Erik to the doctor when his temperature reached 101; due to his age, the doctor recommended that we go to the Children’s ER if his temp didn’t drop in 24 hours.  His fever got as high as 104 at one point, but never dropped below 101, so off we went to the ER.  Thankfully, we had a good experience there with shorter wait times than I expected and the doctors & nurses were prompt & so nice!  Erik had to get an IV, a chest x-ray, and had his nose suctioned to remove congestion in his sinuses.   He finally got some baby Motrin-type medicine that broke his fever at last.  We were there about 4.5 to 5 hours in total and were so thankful for the wonderful care that we received.  

Waiting for his chest x-ray

Week 17 (Nov 20-Nov 26): After all the commotion of having a baby, moving, and the steady stream of company we’ve had since July, we decided that this year’s Thanksgiving would be a quiet one spent at home.  The Zbaraschuk family was kind enough to invite us over for the big meal on Thursday.  We were also  invited over to the Cochran’s on Sabbath, so I had to do very little cooking over one of the biggest eating weekend of the year!  The “big” event of the long weekend was that Kent spent nearly every waking moment putting up Christmas lights - something we hadn’t planned on doing!  We found out on Thanksgiving day that our new neighborhood loves to decorate for Christmas, especially the street we live on.  I tried to take some pictures so that you could see the neighbor’s house across the road (see the Dec album); he puts up 20,000 - 30,000 lights with a nativity scene with nearly real-life sized statues!  It took him 3 days to get everything set up.  He even has a live nativity one night each year.  The entire street gets involved with the Christmas story - the neighborhood has made about 24 wooden placards that have the story of Christ’s birth from the gospel of Luke written on them.  The placard in our yard was “For there is born to you this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!” I rather liked it - we got the culmination of the story!  When we found out how the neighborhood decorates, we couldn’t be the scrooge house, so Kent went out on Black Friday to buy lights and spent the rest of his weekend decorating the  house (our neighbor also donated several items to our cause!).  We also decided to buy a real Christmas tree this year for Erik’s first Christmas.  It certainly smelled lovely!

Thanksgiving with the Zbaraschuk Family

A partial shot of our neighbor's Christmas lights

Week 21 (Dec 18--24): It was Johnson Christmas this year, so Grandma & Grandpa Johnson made the trek to Orlando from North Dakota to spend 2 weeks with us.  They spent their time getting reacquainted with Erik and testing out our pool & hot tub in December!  We had really warm weather this year - some days we had temps in the 80’s.  The pool water still felt cold, though.  We did let Erik dip his toes in the water - his first time “in” the pool.  He didn’t cry, so that was good!   We opened gifts on Christmas morning; since this year was all about Erik, it took us most of the morning to open gifts as we had to stop for naps & nursing!  Erik “opened” some of his own presents - if we tore a corner of the wrapping paper and put the piece in his hand and then turned the package to help him rip the paper!!  Erik’s big gift from Mommy & Daddy was a jumper activity center with a jungle theme.  He seems to really like it and will jump really hard at times!  It is great fun to watch him figure out how to play with all the items on the table - spin the hippo’s tummy, reach for the monkey & rhino that hang off to the side and move the discs on a branch between two trees.  After Christmas, we all went to Epcot on Monday, December 26.  This was the first time that Erik had been to Disney World and in true Erik fashion, he took it in stride.  Kent carried him in the Baby Bjorn most of the day; Erik wore baby sunglasses and a hat . He was awfully cute and we heard a lot of people remark on how cute our baby boy was as they passed us!  Made our hearts swell with pride.  Erik is a very good baby who rarely cries and will fall asleep when he is tired, wherever he is.  

Which present would you choose?

Erik & Kent at Epcot

Okay - I think I have got you all mostly updated!  Yeah, one item I can mark off my to-do list!  One of my new year’s resolutions is to be more timely on this blog (it won’t be too hard to improve on my track record thus far!); and I’m determined to keep this resolution!