I'm an aunt!!!!

I am so excited to be an aunt! If you are reading this blog, you probably know that my sister Whitney and I were pregnant at the same time....in fact, we were due 6 days apart. We caused a little extra stress for my mom with this, since I obviously live in Texas and my mom and sister live in Indiana. Luckily, we ended up delivering 2 1/2 weeks apart so she didn't have to worry about being in two places at once. :)

On Monday, February 27th after a loooong day of labor, Whitney gave birth to a baby boy, William James! He was a big little guy at 9 lbs and 22 inches long and he's as cute as can be. From the pics I think he looks like his daddy and I can't wait to see him in person. I know we are in for a lot of fun with our 3 boys!

Here's Will!
I love his hair!
Little sweetie.

Bowling

After my mom left, AJ took off the last three days of last week to stay home with us and was determined to get Hunter potty trained while he was here. Hunter got to pick his reward for doing a great job pottying and he decided that he wanted to go bowling. "Real life bowling" as he put it!

I woke up one morning and AJ and printed out like 6-7 bowling pictures from the computer and they hung them around the house together so Hunter had a constant reminder of his reward. It was a really great idea. He was soooo excited to show them to me and ran around touching them all saying "bowling" as he hit them.



Every time Hunter went to the potty AJ would pretend like he was calling the bowling alley to tell them how well he was doing. I have to say, it ended up working great! He's been in underwear around the house and is now telling us when he has to go, which was our big hurdle when we tried this before. I was a little hesitant to even try it since they say kids can/will regress in things like this when you bring a new baby home, but I really think the timing ended up working well for Hunter because of all of the extra positive attention he was getting when he went potty.

I REALLY wanted to go bowling to be there for Hunter's special day but was hesitant to take Cole. I ended up going and kept Cole in his stroller with a blanket draped over his carrier, so you wouldn't have even known he was there. I just took pictures and watched while AJ and Hunter bowled. He had such a good time and it was so cute to watch. I'm so glad I ended up deciding to go.

He was skipping as we were walking in...


Check out his miniature bowling shoes....who knew they came in sizes small enough for a 2 year old!
Here is a video of him in action. Love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuvCqC3EOp4&list=UUcX1LN-1rwjtP1u9_jkJTRg&index=1&feature=plcp

Dare I say that he's now officially potty trained??? I'll give it a couple of more days before making the official call, but signs are pointing to YES! I'm so proud of my guy!

2 weeks old

Cole had his two week check-up with Dr. Terwelp yesterday and checked out great! He's up to 7 lbs 5 oz from his birth weight of 6 lbs 15 oz, so he's eating and gaining like a champ! He measured at 20 inches long, which I'm not sure is completely accurate, but we'll take it. :) Both weight and length are in the 25th percentile.

He's still doing great at home. He's quite the little sucker, so he might end up being a pacifier lover. Hunter never really took to one, so we'll see what Cole decides he likes. He's able to eat on demand now, but is still eating mostly every 2 1/2 hours. He sometimes sleeps for a longer stretch during the day, although in true newborn form he's up and ready to go at night!

It's a BOY!

We have another boy! Coleman Winship Johnson was born on Feb. 10th at 7:12pm. He was 6 lbs, 15 oz and 19 inches long. He goes by Cole and he looks a lot like his big brother Hunter did when he was born!

My due date was 2/23, so he arrived a couple of weeks early like his big brother. Hunter was born at 36 weeks, 1 day so as I hit 36 weeks and beyond and we still didn't have a baby, it almost felt like I was overdue. I ended up being pregnant for two weeks longer than I was with Hunter. Cole came at 38 weeks, 1 day and it was quite a different experience from Hunter's birth...

Cole was in our arms less than an hour and a half after we arrived at the hospital. As I sat on the bed to get my epidural, my water broke and he was born 5 minutes later. So, I ended up having an unmedicated delivery, which was not in the plan...but, it definitely makes for a good story! AJ jokes that I scared any other poor souls that were laboring in rooms surrounding us. It was seriously like an out of body experience for me. Thank goodness I got a sweet baby out of the deal! :)

Cole has been doing great since his arrival. He's a very sweet little baby. He really doesn't cry very often and when he does he's pretty easy to calm down. He still sleeps most of the time at this point. Hunter loves being a big brother, but it's definitely been an adjustment for him. He's not jealous, but he's definitely a bit more sensitive right now than he usually is. I'm just trying to make sure that I give everyone the attention they need and that has been the biggest challenge for me.

Hunter had his first sleepover at his friend Owen's house while we were in the hospital. I was so worried about how we were going to handle arranging care for him if we didn't have any family in town yet and he ended up doing great. He also got to play at his friend Madison's house while we were checking out of the hospital on Sunday. Mom came in on Tuesday and will be here until next Tuesday. Hunter has loved having her around and she's been such a huge help. She has been making sure our house is clean and our freezer is stocked. I feel bad that she has been working so hard while she's here! I also have to give a lot of credit to AJ. He has been wonderful making sure we're all taking care of and holding down the fort around here. We've also had several friends bring by meals already. I'm just feeling so grateful and so fortunate to have all of the help that we have had. Our family and friends have been so wonderful.

Now for the good stuff....here are some pics of Baby Cole and his proud big brother Hunter!