Visitors

We have been very blessed to have so many friends and family over to see us. I've tried to get better at documenting. A couple highlights were grandma and grandpa Johnson and Ben and Rebecca meeting Ethan in the hospital. This is the first grandchild so they are excited. We have enjoyed having them over several times and the time they've spent with Ethan.

The night we got home our friends and mentors, Jason and Jennifer came over. We are excited for there new baby Paige and are thankful for all their support and encouragement.

Tito, Tita, Peter, Betsy, Sam, Marina and Liza all came for a visit. It was sweet to watch my brother hold his first nephew on our side. I've enjoyed being a part of their kid's lives and hoping that Ethan enjoys his cousins and aunt and uncle. We are all excited that he and Liza are two months apart and can be buddies. Ethan will probably also enjoy tagging along with Sam.

with tito 

with tita

 

Peter, Betsy and four kids  

Cousin Marina holding Ethan

The two youngest: Liza and Ethan 

 

All four kids

 

tito and tita with the four grandkids

Pictures of some of our other visitors below. I am trying to be better at taking pictures. 

Marella with Ethan

Suzie, one of my coworkers with Ethan 

JP and Kaitlin and soon baby Beth 

 My best friend Amanda made Ethan this onesie before he was born in hopes that he'd come around or before 4th of July. He didn't quite get to wear it then but he did look pretty cute in it.

First two weeks home

Our first two weeks have gone really well. Tito and Tita from Costa Rica via Virginia arrived Monday afternoon to help us out. They were amazing and cooked, cleaned, grocery shopped, reminded us to sleep and took pictures and held Ethan whenever they could. They enjoyed meeting Ethan in his first week. For the other three grandchildren they have been 6 weeks old or more so this was a treat for them.

Peter, Betsy, Sam, Marina and baby Liza came down on Thursday to pick Tito and Tita up and to meet and introduce Liza and Ethan. We enjoyed seeing them and meeting Liza. They all left Friday and we were sad to see them leave.

We are now enjoying the second half of Chris's time off. He is off until Thursday...yay!  We are super excited for this time as a family of three to bond.

bath time at home. all hands on deck

  

he gets out of all swaddles

with uncle Peter

Handsome like daddy. 

The first days...the hospital

Ethan is over two weeks old now. We have spent the last two weeks on an intense crash course of parenting, baby and everything that is Ethan. For the most part he is a content baby and he knows what he wants when he wants it and will let you know about two seconds before he expects it.

We spent his first two days in the hospital which was wonderful. We loved our experience and had great care throughout. The first night was tough with nurses coming in every couple hours to check or poke one or both of us. We would finally fall asleep and we would hear the door open. Chris and I survived somehow and tried to make the best of the situation. Throughout the night every time they would do something to Ethan they would tell me to feed him to help him calm down. So there we were attempting to feed our newborn and we were three inexperienced exhausted people. God is good and we survived. The second day was easier but exhaustion was a huge factor and thankfully we were able to get some sleep later in the day courtesy of the nursery staff.

We had visits in the hospital from grandma and grandpa Johnson and Ben and Rebecca. They all enjoyed meeting and being fascinated by our newest family member. He is longer and bigger than most Johnson or Rice babies at birth so the family decided we should contact Roy Williams early on to talk basketball and scholarships. :)

First picture in the hospital 

First bath. He enjoys getting his hair washed

Mommy and Ethan

     

With Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

With Daddy, grandma and grandpa and Ben 

The Johnson Men

With Daddy.

 

Getting ready to go home 

 

Happy in the car seat for a minute before screaming the whole way home.

We went home on Sunday to try to figure out how to survive without nurses at every call.

Ethan William Johnson

Ethan William Johnson was born on Friday July 12th at 10:07 am. He weighed 8 pounds 3 oz and 20 inches long. 

We had quite the week leading up to Friday and an even more exciting labor and delivery. After our due date coming and going we decided it was important for mental sanity for me to keep working a couple hours every day last week. On Thursday I went to work and left after half a day. After work I came home and then went for a walk with Jessica for an hour. We ended up speed walking at the end of the walk to keep her baby awake. I headed home and we ate dinner and went for another walk. We talked with my parents and watched a couple episodes of Everyone Loves Raymond. Nothing really was happening other than the usual random contractions so we went to bed. About an hour later with sleep not happening and more contractions I got up and moved into the living room hoping that Chris would sleep and I could figure out if this is the real deal or another agonizing bout of Braxton Hicks. At about 2:30 am I decided this was real and set my out of office for work to maternity leave and emailed some coworkers to let them know I would not be back on Friday.

Being slightly stubborn, I still didn't want to wake Chris up because one of us needed to sleep. Finally at 4:30 with contractions 5 minutes apart, I wanted a hot shower and woke Chris up. I told him I thought I was in labor (no duh) and wanted a hot shower. He was going to sleep longer and then get up when I got out. For about 15 minutes in the shower I had contractions 3 minutes apart. When I got out Chris suggested calling the midwife so I did and she suggested coming into the hospital to see where we were but to take our time. We got to the hospital about 6 and the receptionist asked if I was there for an induction and then saw me double over with a contractions and decided I was in labor. After what seemed like an eternity they got us into triage. Much to our surprise they told us that we were 9 centimeters and 100% effaced. We were heading straight to labor and delivery and not going to the car to get our stuff. Baby was coming and fast.

After 3 and a half hours at the hospital and 2 hours of pushing Ethan was born. The 3 hours were quite eventful and involved lots of painful contractions. I screamed repeatedly and told Chris and anyone that would listen that we were never doing this again and to get the baby out now and I didn't care how. I told him I hate this and squeezed his hand almost off. Thankfully anything said in that room can't be held against you later on. We enjoyed marveling over our sweet boy and called our parents. Chris told both sets of grandparents that we probably should have gone to the hospital earlier but oh well. 

We are now home enjoying all the new adventures with a newborn including lots of interrupted sleep. We are also enjoying having tito and tita from Costa Rica for a couple days. Below are some pictures. also visit http://www.mom365.com/newbornportraits/babydetail.aspx?birthid=5b4151cc-06d9-4df3-85f3-4bf18972d8b7&utm_source=wnshare&utm_medium=email&utm_content=wnshare_mom_babylink&utm_campaign=wnshare_buttonand use password ethanwilliam to view the pictures.  

                            

40 weeks!

Well we hit July 7th, the magical date on the calendar. Here is our due date picture. As we have said all day (with a smile as much as possible) apparently no one told peanut today is his due date. God knows when his birthday is and we will know soon enough. He has had the entire pregnancy in his hands and has planned for peanut's birthday so we are resting in that and enjoying coming up with ways to pass the time. Chris even found a game to learn Spanish so we are playing that. Our favorite phrase so far is "el gato come pan (the cat eats bread?)." Really...no cat I have ever met eats bread but oh well. 

40 weeks!

  

38 week pictures and Nursery

We are 2/two/TWO???? days from our due date which is crazy. Where did time go? I am not thinking Peanut will be here before or even on his due date but that is ok.  Starting Monday I will begin the anything to induce labor naturally routine. Walking as much as I can, squats, etc etc (suggestions are welcome). These are a little behind but these are the latest pictures of prego belly and Peanut's room. We have some things that need to go on the wall but we are ready.    

38 weeks 

View of Peanuts room from the door

Crib, bouncu seat and rocker

All Peanuts friends in the crib waiting for him to arrive...just like mommy and daddy!

Rocker, chair and book shelf.