Avery's Room (Almost Complete)

Finally! Some photos of Miss. Avery's room!! It's almost complete, we have to hang the chandelier above the rocker, get the changing pad, monitor, and most importantly baby girl and then we are done! Yay! I must say, I am so thrilled with how this room is turning out. If it was up to me I would move into this room. It's 100% my style; a little girly, a little rustic.

The look started with the bed, seeing how we have no where to put it and we both love this bed, we decided to keep it in the room. From there, I decided to go with a vintage looking crib, and then we found the dresser. Thanks to my mom and her good hunting skills, we found this dresser at Salvation army, painted it, put new knobs on it and ta-daa. Adorable! And all for about $50. Can't beat it.

The bumper we found at pottery barn kids, another great steal for $30, the black out curtains were also a steal at pottery barn kids. Oh and the mirror was a $40 find at TJMaxx, the one I looooved that looked almost exactly like this was over $500 (yikes!). The rocker and the chandelier are the only other new items. The baskets, the other furniture, rug, bedding all came from stuff we had around the house.

Well, okay this is new too. Miss. Avery's name greets you as you walk in the door.

View as you walk in.
(See grandma's screen in the corner?)

View from the other side of the room looking at the crib. Chandelier will go above the rocker. It a mix of crystal and bronze to match the stars/bed.

View from the rocker/crib area. 

The A-mazing dresser. It's HUGE and it's beautiful!!! I'll have to post before and after photos later.

31 Weeks

31 Weeks, 2 Days and sick. Mrrrrr. As you probably read in my post below, I'm not feeling the best. Definitely feeling better than yesterday, but no where near 100%, probably closer to 60%. I'm not sure if it's a cold or if it's allergies, but my eyes burn, my throat hurts, and I've got a ton of congestion in my chest. Which for me, means coughing, lucky me, lucky Brad. :/ Anyway, one of the teachers at pre-school yesterday told me that it looks like Miss. Avery dropped. She hasn't seen me in a few weeks, so it sounds like a solid opinion. It would make sense why my pelvis was on fire this past Saturday evening. Yikes! What do you think?

Belly: It's there, and it's tired...all of the long practice contractions are becoming tiresome!

Belly Button: Half in half out, though not quite so noticeable in clothing


Stretch Marks: Not yet!

Weight Gain: 17 lbs, hoping that it starts to slow down a bit! Though I doubt that will happen.

Boy or Girl: GIRL. Avery Quinn. :)

Feeling: Tired, this week my whole body feels like jello. 

Cravings: Mint Iced tea.


Sleep: Sleeping okay, though not as great as if I wasn't sick.


Energy: This week, non-existent.

Baby: Avery should be around 4lbs this week and the size of a head of lettuce! WOW! She's constantly moving about at all times of the day, and likes to poke me in my ribs, always on the right side. Wonder if she's trying to tell me to layoff the sweets!?

I'm Ready

Vent: I know I am only 31 weeks and Miss. Avery is no where near ready to come, but I am ready. No, the nursery isn't 100% ready, the chair isn't here yet, we don't have her monitor and we have yet to pick out a new double stroller. But, I am ready. I am incredibly uncomfortable and to top it all off, now I am sick. I don't know if it's allergies, or if it's a cold, but I'm miserable. I can't sleep, I can't eat and all I want is for it to be November and for this little girl to be here already. *Sigh* It's one of those days you feel so awful you could just cry. I know I'll feel better soon, but in the mean time...I'll just keep my head up and thinking about the day I will finally get to meet my new baby girl.

                              ~thanks for listening ;)

Just in case...

...you were wondering what Madeline wants for her birthday, here are her requests. Listen closely and you'll hear who the lucky person is that gets to buy all of it!

That Aunt Sarah is one lucky lady :)

Can you believe...

...that this fugitive is still on the run! She's been showing up in wanted posters since last year! Oh my!

WANTED!

Madeline Grace Johnson

August 2011

WANTED!!

Madeline Grace Johnson

August 2010

(what a difference a year makes!)

Tap Class Success!!!

We decided to give tap class another try this year. I was worried she wouldn't like it, but when I asked her if she wanted to try dance she said yes. She passed the first test when we went to buy her shoes. Excited. Plus we got a new tutu to wear. We went to sign her up and she was also excited. Every day we passed the street we had to turn on for dance class she would point it out. Things were looking promising!

Yesterday the only meltdown we had concerning tap class, was when we weren't allowed to wear our tap shoes around the house. I can deal with that one. I was little once and wanted to wear tap shoes 24/7. We headed to dance and Madeline couldn't be more excited. We have tap with her friends Cora and Reagan, an added bonus. Madeline couldn't wait! She was one of the first ones in the room and one of the first out with a HUGE smile on her face. Excellent!!! She cannot wait to go back. We celebrated the evening with a filling dinner at Olive Garden. Yummm.

Reagan, Cora and Madeline waiting for class to start.

And I might add that this photo catches all three of their personalities perfect! 

Regan is eating/chatting, Cora is assessing you, and Madeline is about to go bouncing off the walls. Ha!

And here we are almost bouncing off the walls, we chose the floor instead.

Lining up for bar work.

Time to tap in a circle!

Happy little girl racing to show off her new sticker! Yeah!

What a hoot!

I can't wait to see what my two crazy owls will look like in these hooterific hats! Who am I kidding, I can't wait to see what one of my owls will look like!! Madeline already loves hers, we'll see what Avery thinks :)

30 Week Doctor's Appointment

Hello all! I had my 30 week check-up today with my good friend and doctor Melanie Cherry. Some of you might remember her as she is the one who delivered Madeline!  It was great to see a friendly face in the office. Everything seems great! My blood pressure is 110/60, baby's heart rate is in the 140s, and I am measuring right on time!  Other than being told that I have to limit my working out to only walking, due to all of my contractions, everything seems great! Baby girl seems to be happy and healthy and kicking up a storm.  I head back in another two weeks.

First official day of PreSchool!

Where did this big kid come from? It seems like just the other day I was heading back to work after maternity leave, and dropping my 12 week-old baby girl off at daycare seemed impossible. Today, I dropped my almost three-year-old off at PRESCHOOL! Are you kidding me? I took her into her new room, showed her where her locker was, she then sat down at a table with toys, gave me a kiss and that was that. Wow. Just a few months ago she would cry in the toddler room when I left in the mornings. And now, it's a kiss and goodbye. Pretty soon I won't even be getting a kiss. While it does make me proud and happy that she is able to go into these things with such confidence, it makes me a little sad every time one of these new milestones is reached so easily and a little bit of mommy is left behind. I'm a big sap.

Silly girl eating breakfast before school.

Annnd of course being silly...

Official school photo(s) on the front porch!

Laughing at daddy.

Be still my heart. I love her so.

Baby girl and momma.

Pizza Making

The other night we had Zach and his Dad over for some playtime and pizza making! It was another dreary rainy night, and the kids were excited to have a friend to play with. The pizza making was an added bonus! Madeline and Zach both looooooved making the pizza, and they even ate some of it after it came out of the oven. Even though my kitchen floor ended up covered in flour, I would say it was well worth the mess and something we'll definitely be doing again. Yummmmm!

Hanging on the porch in the thunderstorm.

The kids and their dads making up the pizzas!

Rolling out the dough.

Madeline's turn to roll, while Zach gives his dough a good pat.

Time for sauce.

And cheese!

They even added pepperoni!  They look pretty good no?

And the adult version. What we learned; though it seems like you can never have enough fresh mozzarella on a pizza, it ends up being too much when half of it end up inside your stove! It was still tasty. 

Finished up the evening with some yummy yogurt parfaits! Mmmmm.

30 Weeks!

30 weeks! We are finally into the 30s! Technically 7.5 months, only 2.5 to go. Months sounds a lot longer though, so I think we'll stick to weeks, about 10 weeks or so to go! Feeling okay, my back is constantly on fire, and I think I'm finally feeling some little hiccups from baby girl, though not quite as strong as they were with Madeline.

Belly: It's there, constantly running into things with it.

Belly Button: Still in.


Stretch Marks: Nope

Weight Gain: 15 lbs, though after this holiday weekend, it might be a lot more.

Boy or Girl: GIRL. Avery Quinn. :)

Feeling: Tired. But for the most part pretty good. 

Cravings: Mint Iced tea.


Sleep: If I don't take something to help me sleep, I am honestly up every hour. Every hour!!!!! (same as last week)


Energy: Slowing down on everything, might be skipping the gym and sticking to walking. After just 30 minutes of walking with Hanna, my lower back hurts a decent amount. We'll see, I'm sure I'll change my mind.

Baby: We get to see how baby girl is doing this week at our appointment. So far all of my books say she is around 3lbs. and 18 inches long. We're a butternut squash this week. Just in time for fall. :)

Let's Go P-S-U!

Today was the start of College Football Season! YAY!!!! Finally, my favorite time of year, and my favorite thing to watch on TV is back! In true Johnson family we kicked it off with a Penn State Game at Beaver Stadium. The weather today has been nothing short of stifling, it's hot-hot-hot! We stuck around for the game, since it's probably the only one Madeline will go into this year. We got in early enough for Madeline to see the team warming up, the band play, the players and the cheerleaders run onto the field, but most importantly, the Nittany Lion! We had a great day, but we were exhausted, and a little girl was getting tired, so we headed out at the end of the first quarter and watched the rest of the butt-kicking from home. PSU 41, Indiana State 7. Let's hope we fare just as well next week against Alabama! Yikes!

Yummy cookies we made for the tailgate!

Madeline and Olivia playing in the back of the Lukac's truck!

Madeline and Zach burning of some energy in the Letterman's Lot.

Our seats before most of the crowd arrived.

Big girl.

Nittany Lion amping up the crowd.

Realizing that it's the Nittany Lion and getting soooo excited!!!

The band, and yes, that is a lead MALE baton twirler. 

Someone's getting sleepy.

Watching the team run out of the tunnel, just like daddy used to do when he played at Penn State!

Bike Ride around the Block

The other night when I got home from the gym my house was empty. Meaning Madeline and Brad were no where to be found, car in the garage. I got worried. Luckily when I called Brad he said they were on a bike ride around the block. So, Hanna and I went to find them. This was the first time Madeline made it the entire way around the block without us having to carry the bike home. She does great on her bike. She has a little trouble going up the hills, but maintains her control and speed going down, which in our neighborhood is imperative. She's getting so big, so fast.

Spoiled Rotten Doggie

You tell me, have you ever seen such a spoiled rotten dog? Yes, she sleeps with us in bed, and yes, every now and then she sleeps under the covers (mostly she sticks to her own pillow or the foot of the bed), but sometimes, she likes to mix it up and sleep with her head on her pillow and the covers tucked in. Spoiled. Rotten. Dog. Good thing we love Miss. Hanna to pieces.