May 17-25: It's Raining Baby Showers!

Wow - this has been a busy 2 weeks for us.  Starting on May 16, we had a houseful of company that arrived to attend the May 19 baby shower that was hosted by several of my wonderful friends.  The first to arrive were my friends from Maryland, Tom & Lauron Henkel.  My sister, Kirstin, and her 2 daughters arrived late on Friday night, May 17 and finally my Mom arrived on Sabbath afternoon, May 18.

The first of three showers was held on Friday, May 17.  This one was hosted by my office; it was a joint shower with a coworker of mine, Grenadette, who is due just 4 days before me!  Ironically enough, Gren and I were pregnant at the same in 2011 with our first babies and had a joint shower for that pregnancy as well!  Our sons also attend the same daycare and are in the same room together!  It is so nice to have a friend go through all these experiences at the same!  We forgot to take pictures at this shower until it was all over, so I've attached the only one we have.

Laura Kelly (due Sept), Me (due Jun 23) and Gren (due Jun 19)

The second shower was held on Sunday, May 19, at the home of our dear friend, Loretta Hauck.  This shower was hosted by Loretta, Heather Cochran, Lisa Deininger, Melody Huffman and Amy Zbaraschuk.  The decorations were lovely with butterflies, pom-poms and birdcages; it was a celebration of pink!!  There was also a candy bar (my favorite) and pink nail polish as shower favors!  I received all the baby bedding for the nursery at this shower, which I'm so excited about so that I can soon put some finishing touches on the nursery.  I made sure that I stood out completely at the shower by wearing a blue dress rather than finding something pink!  Oops - clearly, I've been focused on boy colors the past 2 years.  I'm going to have to start adding some girly colors back to closet!

Me and my Mom! 

Lisa D and me

"Chalker" girls - Kirstin, Kaeleigh, me & Baby Girl, Lauren & Mom

Katelyn & Karli Pettijohn - 2 of Erik's favorite people!

Loretta Hauck & Melody Huffman - they can't wait to get meet the newest Johnson!

Kirstin, me & Mom

The third and final shower was held on Friday morning, May 24.  This shower was hosted by Kent's office; they expressly requested that Erik attend the shower, so we brought him.  It made sitting and chatting with people a bit impossible, but it was fun to see him experience something new.  Kent totally set us up at this shower by requesting that it "not be embarrassing" - as you can imagine, his office was then honor-bound to make it as embarrassing as they could.  Kent had to play the Diaper Game, which is where you melt various candy bars in diapers and then make someone guess what candy bar it is.  The main point of the game is to get the new Dad or Mom to smell or taste the "poo" in the diaper.  Yuck!!  Kent and I also had to play charades and act out various words related to babies.  Sadly, neither of us was very good at this, so I'm pretty sure that everything we acted out looked exactly the same!!  And no, I won't be sharing any of those pictures!

Cake made by one of Kent's co-workers, Alanna

Erik kicked me out of my chair and then started to eat my breakfast!  Kent is working on the Diaper Game!!

Erik wearing a sticker that says "Awesome Big Brother"

Not sure what is happening here, but he's so cute, I had to post!

Erik had a great time with all the company here for the baby showers.  He loved playing with his cousins, Lauren & Kaeleigh, and would follow them around to see what they were doing.  We spent a lot of time in the pool and Erik is getting more and more willing to get into the water beyond just his toes!  He is a great mimic; he would carefully watch what his cousins would do and then would try his best to emulate them.  Both Lauren & Kaeleigh have done some gymnastics and they demonstrated how they could do handstands.  Erik was super cute when trying to imitate that - he would lay on his tummy, put his hands on the floor and then hold his legs up in the air behind himself!  Erik also loved playing "Git Her" - which is a game where Kent would hold Erik and then chase Lauren & Kaeleigh around the house, tickling them once he caught them.  Some days, Erik would announce "Git Her" in a loud voice with facial expression to match as soon as he woke up!!

Here are some of Erik's other most recent achievements:
 - He can consistently catch a ball (small or large) all by himself!
 - He has figured out that the 2nd step in our pool was shallow enough for him to stand on and spent a lot of time walking around all the alcoves with bench-seats.
 - He practiced kicking his feet in the water while being held (something he was never willing to do before!)
 - He is getting more vocal every day and stringing multiple words together

The week of baby showers ended with the Deiningers bringing supper over for us on Sabbath evening, May 25.  Lisa had been telling me about their favorite beach that several families would be going to on Sunday and that they always stopped at Red Robin on the way home from the beach for root beer floats.  Now, root beer floats just happen to be one of the few things that I crave with this pregnancy - just the thought is enough to make me feel a little crazy!  Lisa felt bad that I wouldn't get to enjoy root beer floats, so she offered to bring them to us!  We spent some time in the pool and then had a yummy supper of grillers, potato salad and watermelon, followed by delicious root beer floats!  Erik had a great time with Adam & Luke, who took turns pushing him around the house on his ride-on toys.  We may have found some potential future baby-sitters in those two!!   

Erik and Nana

Erik and I with Tom & Lauron Henkel (Erik had seen his fleece in a closet and insisted on wearing it)