Welcome to the World, Baby Ryan!

T-3 Days before Delivery:

To yesterday:

We went from Pre-Epidural:

To Post Epidural:

To Pushing:
To welcoming this lil' guy into the world!
Thanks to this proud papa:

And this great doctor:


And this sweet and heaven-sent nurse:


We love chillin' with our lil munchkin:

Or just staring at him:

Welcome to the world Ryan Curtis Johnson!

Born 6:22 PM, weighing in at 9 Lbs 3 Oz. 21 1/2 inches tall. Cute as a button!

Ready and Waiting!

Our final purchase was a rocker/glider for the Johnson family (or whoever gets to hold baby!) When we found this good deal on the soft glider chair we just couldn't pass it up and Seth was so sweet and excited to get it for us!

As you'll note, I'm ready and waiting! Will update with news, never fear.

Again, can't help but plug a huge "thank you" to all the supporters out there--we are so lucky to have amazing family and wonderful friends who care and are with us every step of the way. Thanks!!!

In other news...

I really liked this press release from the church:

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-mormon-ethic-of-civility

Specifically the second to last paragraph. Yay LDS Leaders!!!!

A Little Update

...and by update i mean there isn't one

...and by little i mean he isn't :)

Still waiting, eating spicy foods, taking long walks, and carrying lots of laundry.

That's all, [sigh].

Baby's Setup!

Thanks to so many friends/family, our baby setup is complete!!! I am so excited about everything, it's so adorable. There's something about being all ready and organized that is SO fulfilling! Thanks for helping me assemble everything, Seth! He's such a great dad-to-be--he knows his wife well enough to know that she wants things done NOW and is happy and willing to make that happen (going to extremes to help his prego wife stop crying, haha).

Here's the crib (With the amazing crib quilt made by Mom!!!)

(Yes, we recognize having the air conditioner (thanks Luke and Annie--i seriously might have died this summer without your AC unit, it's perfect!) right next to the crib is a bad idea....we will fix that before baby makes his debut).

And the changing table (filled with many accessories and necessities from friends and family!)

The Diaper Stacker and Baby Hamper (Compliments of Elizabeth and Emily!)


And thanks to Michelle and her Grammy, the rest of the Bedding and the Mobile!!!!!

And since we don't have a window for the bedroom yet (the stuff is spread through 2 bedrooms right now...) the valance (Thanks Rachel!) makes a perfect runner for the dresser!

This is our cute swing that we got on a great deal. And the dresser, which I love. It holds all the awesome clothes, carriers, blankets, toys, onsies, and toys for Baby Johnson. We couldn't have filled it without you!

I'm pretty sure this is going to be baby's going home outfit (and blanket from Mom). (Thanks for the hat, Holly!) Cute, huh!

Now all we need is a few weeks and a seamless delivery and we'll be all set! Oh, and I guess I better do laundry first, too.

Bye Lovesac!

So....here's a little story from my past. (My, how i've changed!)

In 2005, I met the marketing director for LoveSac, who was out in DC opening their new store. I met him at institute, and my single bubbly self was oooo-ing and awwww-ing over his job. I was SOOOOOO excited about the LoveSac idea, and I told him that I would be his best marketer for a lovesac EVER. He replied "Well, if you'll email me and tell me the top ten reasons why you want a lovesac, I will give you a free supersac."

"I'LL SEND YOU 20!!!!" I said!

"You have to remember my email address, then. You can't write it down, you have to memorize it"

"DONE!" I said.

So.....I sent the email. And I had duplicated two numbers in my haste to copy and paste...and Tom the lovesac man caught it. So, he made me re-do the list. So i did--and i added an additional one to make it an even 40 reasons!

Well, after some back and forth....it got a little awkward. In part of an email, Tom said:

"So, for your effort, I think that I can see it in my heart to bestow upon you a gift of Love... a really big gift of Love. Just let me know how you would prefer it. (INSERT PHONE NUMBER HERE).

Cheers,"

So.....continuing on, something about "prolonging contact" "please call me" "you can get a lot of love...." and finally...."I need photos and pictures of the way in which you're enjoying your lovesac....!!!!" Oops! What had I gotten myself into!

Fast forward a few weeks. I started dating Seth. Tom got back to me and told me how to pick up my lovesac. I brought Seth with me to help me carry the lovesac (and to have another "date" with him). Tom requested a picture of me in the lovesac--and expressed his disappointment that he hadn't heard from me in awhile....so I sent him this:

"Tom, I have a great story of love from the love sac. You wouldn't believe
what love the love sac brought to me! I'm attaching a photo of
the love in the love sac. You are the best. Thanks for the love you
have brought me.

Here are the top ten reasons why I love my lovesac.

(INSERT 10 reasons here)

Tom, you've brought more love to my life than i ever thought possible.
How's that for a testimonial. The lovesac led me to the
love of my life Seth. He came with me to pick it up, and it's only gotten
better since then.

Tom, you're the BEST! Thanks Thanks Thanks!"



Ohhhh I know I'm Just MEAN!!! Mean mean mean, how could I do it to Tom the LoveSac man? I don't know. I have to plead innocent and say that I didn't mean any harm in doing so.

Seth and I enjoyed from 2005 to 2009 in the LoveSac. It survived lots of games and fun and diving head-first into it. We moved it to Seth's apartment after awhile. They enjoyed it there--we all had so many memories in the lovesac.

Notably:









And Finally....After surviving a trip across the county, and then sitting unused in our 2nd bedroom taking up space...Seth and I decided the LoveSac had to leave our family to make room for Baby Johnson. So we put it on Craigslist...

And bid it a fond farewell....

And these nice guys bought it from us. One of the guys bought it for his girlfriend, who had sacrificed to move to Los Angeles so they wouldn't have to be in a long distance relationship. And in return, he wanted to give her a lovesac as a token of his love--and as her first piece of furniture she'd ever owned. Seriously, they were so happy, they paid us $10 more than what we were asking, and were THRILLED to dump it in their Xterra to transport it to her house. I have to say....the LoveSac might never be the same, but we're glad those who took it might appreciate it as much as we did :)

bu-bye LoveSac!!!!

*Note: you might notice there is a brown cover and a green cover....okay i admit, Seth's roommate had one with a brown cover, but we equally enjoyed both lovesacs, so i'm gunna stick pictures in of both to go along with my story. :)

Pinks!

Pinks: Arguably the most famous hotdog stand in the country. For a full history, see here.
True to L.A. Tradition, we had to visit Pinks at least once. Usually when we drive by Pinks, the line extends all the way around the building--at least an hour wait (or more!) So when last month we were driving past and the line only went to the edge of the pink canopy, I had to tell seth to go and park--this was our chance!

We still waited in line for over 20 minutes, and upon ordering, I got the Lord of the Rings hotdog (a hotdog topped with bbq sauce and onion rings), and Seth got the Vegan Hotdog (Vegan hotdog, guac, tomatoes). (no, he's not a vegan.)

Yeah, it wasn't all that great.

The onion rings were good!!! Can you believe people wait HOURS for this experience??

Sunday Night Thoughts

I'm so grateful for Seth (who doesn't read my posts very often, so this one is just for everyone else's information!). Today when I mentioned that every joint and muscle in my body ached, Seth sent me up to soak my feet in the bathtub while he prepared the bedroom for my prenatal massage--complete with a tower of pillows on the bed with a hole in the middle so I could lay face-down with my preggie belly in the middle. It was perfect, and just what I needed. Thank you Seth! I love the service love language :)

This weekend Seth helped me put together the Crib, Stroller, and Changing Table. It's so fun to see everything coming together for our little one!

I'm still waiting for my last baby purchases to arrive so I can finish organizing all the "baby stuff", so in the mean time, my nesting involves cooking/baking things that are 1. easy 2. fast (so as to not be on my feet very long and 3. DE-licious. I'm not very good at getting all three of these together, but today's 1 hour rolls did the trick. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.

I noticed tonight when getting my nightly jug of water out of the fridge that a lot of the food in the fridge probably won't be expired when the baby is here!!! We'll have more info on Thursday after my next Doctor's appointment, but we'll likely be having the baby several weeks early. (He's healthy and strong so it's okay, no worries!).

I've just been feeling an overwhelming gratitude for friends far and near, and for family. I don't know what I'd do without all my sibs--each has contributed to my life in such a positive way and I'm just feeling lucky that we have each other to learn from, we have so many different perspectives to share! And today in RS one of the stories reminded me of Dad, specifically of his charity and humility and ability to really make a difference in whatever capacity he's asked to help--you're such a great example to all of us, Dad. Mom, what would I do without you? You keep me grounded and happy and reasonable ;) I think for me it took having a baby to really recognize the sacrifices a mother makes for her family--thanks for making so many for us, Mom! And Friends...thank you for caring and sharing and being a part of my life. It's so fun to see the many paths that life has taken for my friends--again, the perspectives we all have to offer one another are overwhelming and wonderful to have! There's nothing sweeter than delighting in the joys of our friends, and dividing the sorrows--I mean, High School Musical has something right because "We're all in this together!" (Okay, could I end that sentimentality any lamer? Sorry, it's late people!)

Happy Sunday Night!

"Rock" a Bye Baby!

Disclaimer: I am chunky. I am aware of that. I am embarrassed about it. I hope to someday laugh about it. However, I'm not ready to laugh about it yet, so you can just laugh to yourselves for now, please!

In the many places I've lived, I've had the honor of stumbling upon AMAZING friends. Los Angeles proved to be no exception. In our little quirky ward, there are dozens of talented, kind, and wonderful women--some of whom got together to throw me the ROCKINGEST shower I've ever been to!!

When Seth and I were in San Luis Obisbo (post to come) for our anniversary in July, we stumbled upon a store called "Johnsons for Kids" that we thought was fitting--as it had AMAZING baby and kids stuff! While there, i briefly saw a mobile that had "Guitars and Stars" --and upon arriving home I subsequently looked it up and found an entire bedding set called "Rock n Roll" by Lambs and Ivy. Seeing as my Seth is a musical man, and seeing as the first time we felt the baby move was at "American Idol--the Finale" live showing, and seeing as my cute little baby drums along to every beat when we have music playing....we thought the rock n roll bedding might be fitting!

Turns out our friends here flew with the idea, and came up with the theme for a "Rock n Roll" baby shower! They had the whole room decorated with stars and musical notes, and this cute fireplace show:
(Holly made the crocheted hat in the middle!)

And these amazing presents: (psssst, the big box is our carseat!!!!)


Our amazing friend Elizabeth is a professional (I want to say Baker? Cook? Chef?...person who makes AMAZING food of all kinds for a living!) and she rocked out this amazing creation!!!

That's right, that's a baby shower cake, just for baby. AND, in addition, it was grasshopper flavored (that would be dark chocolate and MINT! nom nom nom!).

We had some AMAZING food in addition to the cake. Emily (my coworker) brought the chocolate peanut butter mousse cups (pictured in the corner of the above photograph) and some super great spinach salad, Alice brought her famous quiche squares, Donna provided her yummers broccoli peanut salad, Holly made Cucumber sandwiches that were adorable and so tasty, Heather provided delicious fruit salad and Apples and caramel...yum, and Meghan made some amazing white peach grape raspberry punch that was delicious! Thanks so much ladies!!

So I was lucky to have friends from the ward and from work come together for the shower. We have the long-time residents of the ward who came (and who were there in spirit!), two of my coworkers, and even baby johnson's future betrothed!! A smattering of pictures...


(Made by Mommy!!!)

The cake-maker herself!!!

Hand made by Alice!

This is the crib quilt that mom made--it's AMAZING--and a little mini quilt to go with it, because then baby can take it in tow with him wherever he goes! I LOVE it...so much. Maybe during my two hour afternoon nap i snuggle up with it. :) Thanks Mom!


Here I am explaining how I kept registering our Diaper Bag, and it kept disappearing from our registry--and I REALLY wanted it and so I kept adding it...and it was the mystery of the baby bag. Turns out Heather and Tom had got it for us, and asked Seth to make sure it was removed from our registry, so he was being the registry elf and taking it off without telling me! Haha, sometimes i'm a little bit of a stalker....(just like the 6 readers of this blog that i have not figured out who they are yet....you're also stalkers, but I like you!)


All the preggie ladies (yep, start singing the song, it'll get in your head--and baby johnson will start kicking!) Yep, funny enough...at Heather's shower for baby S, Holly and Meghan were both pregnant, too--and we got a picture just like this! Turns out we're all pretty lucky to have partners-in-commiseration and the fun of preggies together! Thanks again Ladies, I'm just the luckiest!!!

Baby R would like to thank all of you for your support and love. He really is so anxious to see all his fun toys and presents--a little too anxious!!! (Posts to follow) Thank you!!!!!

Dear Gap Customer Service...

Dear Gap Customer Service,

On Saturday, I went shopping at the Gap store in Los Angeles (at the Grove shopping center) for a maternity outfit for my baby shower! I'm 8 months pregnant, so obviously it's not the easiest thing to do--which is why I'm writing you! See, your salesperson in the Maternity Section...she decided she'd point that out to me by starting her "sales pitch" with just that "Well, it's going to be REALLY hard to find something that looks good on you at this point."

Oh, that's just the beginning....

Let's see, she told me the pants I had in my had would be terribly unflattering to my "large" figure, and proceeded to show me some jeans that "might at least be a little better". She then asked me my size, and before i could answer said three sizes higher than I am as a "guess". Sigh. When I told her the size I normally wear in "Gap Maternity Styles" she just eyed me up and down, and said "are you sure? Well you can try them, and I'll bring you a bigger size if they don't fit". (I was right, luckily!)

She did as any good sales person should do, and came to my room to see how things were going. But then she just kind of looked at me...and suggested another sweater (that draped down to my knees...I think maybe she thought if i just covered myself up!) and when I declined it and went to purchase the one i'd found she just shrugged and said "suit yourself".

It's not that I'm complaining. I get similar treatment from other people, I guess it was just embarrassing to say the least coming from a stranger who was supposed to be helping me in a store--and had I not absolutely needed an outfit for my shower, I would have walked right out of the store!

I absolutely understand a business sale--ask them if you can help, make suggestions to boost profit, see if you can lure them to applying for a gap card, suggest other styles similar to what they're buying in hopes they'll buy both or increase what their purchases are...but there was just something missing--TACT! A person wants a warm, genuine, and NICE salesperson, ESPECIALLY when they're not feeling their best (i.e. pregnancy). Maybe you could have people who are sympathetic to pregnant people work in the Maternity Section? Or maybe just people who have been pregnant before and know that no matter what...you just tell pregnant people that they are fabulous and that it's such an exciting time?? Just a thought--I really am not normally much of a complainer, but this was just TOO much for me to handle! I cried and cried and cried (I AM pregnant, afterall!) after I left the store, and I'm glad that I have a wonderful mom who just said something to the effect of "Janey, don't let them ruin your shower, you just go in with your head held high!"

Anyway, I'm glad that I'm done Maternity clothes shopping. Gap has done a great job for me--I wear mostly gap maternity clothes and recommend them to my 40 other pregnant friends. I just will have to recommend that they NOT shop In-Store for them--online is much easier and less embarrassing!! It's my hope that you can prevent this from happening to other pregnant ladies--we all deserve some dignity while we're growing little miracles and sacrificing our figures for something far more important!

Regards,

Jane Johnson

Update: I heard back from Gap Customer Service. They regret disappointing me, since providing our loyal customers with world-class service and a great product is their goal. They also said they'd pass some information along to the store, so I guess from here I can just hope that they talk to the employees! Sigh.