Family Time

Anali, Aunt Nan, and Asher

Ani loves to hold her little brother. We're so proud of how she is adjusting.

Dad and Asher sleep in at the hospital.

Siblings

Asher, nine days old

Anali, nine days old

Baby Asher

Anali spoke her first sentence this week: "Hey, baby Asher!" She's very proud of her tiny brother. The past two mornings, when she wakes up, she climbs onto the side of his bassinet, and says, "Hi, baby."

Anali and Dad admiring newborn Asher.

Asher Isaak Johnson, the afternoon we brought him home.

Born 12:15 a.m.

Monday, March 10, 2008

7 pounds, 5 ounces

20 1/2 inches

HEALTHY!

Rachel and Newborn

I WISH! Yes, this is me, holding a newborn. But if you look closely, this is me, still very pregnant, holding a newborn. My dear friend Susan gave birth to this little darling, Haley Meg, a week ago. I was lucky to be there the night she was born. A little eery hanging out in the maternity ward with a belly this pregnant, though. I was praying my water would break right there, walking the corridors of the hospital.

January 2007

Welcome to our first annual "Write the Christmas Caption Contest"!

We've included a picture for each month of this year. All you have to do to enter is click on "Comments" under the picture(s) you would like to narrate, type your caption idea, and submit.

Brandon and I will review and vote: Most Humorous, Most Fitting, and Most I-Would-Have-Never-Thought-of-That! Have fun! I know we will!

While you're online, feel free to review our year's posts (See "Blog Archive" on the right.). It's been a fulfilling year...easily the best of our lives, watching Anali grow and develop into a person of great humor and joy and developing a deeper relationship ourselves as we learn from each other in new ways.

By the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS! If you have an extra pumpkin pie hanging around your kitchen, call me.

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007 Anali's First Birthday!

On Anali's first birthday, we discovered I was pregnant with our second child. What a gift to us all! We are expecting a son in a little over two months' time. Anali is hoarding cupcakes for that day.

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

Gearing up for the Holidays

Grammy graciously allowed Anali her own setting of fine china for her Thanksgiving meal.

Our second annual trip to the Red Barn Tree Farm with our great friends the Dumontets. You get your money's worth by buying the tree the day after Thanksgiving and keeping it up all December. Think about it, if you buy your tree mid-December, you are paying twice as much per day! It's not early; it's economics!

Anali trimming the tree. Why do they call it trimming when we're really adding to its bulk? Fifteen seconds later, she began untrimming the tree. This should be fun!

Anali and The Baby

Every morning, as I get ready for work, Anali loves to bumble around our bathroom, take out all of my jewelry, and adorn herself. The necklaces look especially feminine with her footie pajamas.

You can never start too early! Anali also loves to play with my GRE study cards. Geometry and vocabulary are her favorite subjects.

Six months along! I can't imagine where I'll store the next few months's growth. (Yes, there is an extra "s" after plural possessives these days. The retired English teachers who make the rules have just elected new officials who have revised them.) Well, I don't want to imagine... Have you ever heard of a Bella Band? They're lovely. I can wear many of my pre-pregnancy pants totally unzipped with this wide nylon band covering them and going all the way up my belly. It's warm and cozy and hides my little secret: my fly's down! I'm going to outgrow that option pretty soon, I think. After my morning sickness slowed down, I kinda picked up the pace in the weight department. Let's just say, we can't have a repeat of last month's growth chart.

Wednesday, we had a follow up ultrasound and found that the cysts that were previously growing on our baby's brain have disappeared. This is not totally unusual, as most cysts that occur in utero disappear by the end of the pregnancy, but the blessing lies in how quickly they healed. All is well now and he (We're having a SON!) is growing beautifully. Right on schedule for a Leap Day birth, February 29th.

Baby Mullet

So, my daughter is growing a mullet. I don't know what to do! Do I cut her baby hair and try to crop it into a reasonable baby bob, not Bob like the scary Quiznos baby with the man's voice, but bob like the hairdo women in the 1920s cut in protest? Her hair works well now in pigtails or a ponytail, but those last fewer than five minutes in the hair of this one-year-old. So, it's cut the bottom of her precious locks or pretend I don't notice that she's got a mullet as I wait for the front of her hair to catch up with the back. Suggestions?

Halloween 2007

I DON'T WANT TO BE A PRINCESS!