My Birthday!

It was a great day full of nice things!  I love all my days with my son, they are so precious to me!  I had made some great banana bread on Tuesday night to enjoy for breakfast yesterday!  I love banana bread, I save old over ripe bananas just for it to make the moistest bread possible.  Then my aunt Mary wanted to get together for lunch, she picked up some pizza from one of the best places in town for pizza, MacKenzie River Pizza, a small franchise with locations in Montana and Idaho.  We enjoyed that at her house with Nathan & Josie too, a couple of my cousins! 

Last night we lined up babysitters for Titus so we could go on a childless date for my birthday.  I did feel selfish not taking my own son on my birthday date but I was nervous about his night despite that he is a year old now.  This was the first babysitter we have had for him at our house, usually it has been at a friends house with 3 or 4 kids around him to play.  But we enjoyed a full 2 hour date without any interruptions!  When we got home we did not hear any crying coming from the windows that were open in our apartment and when we opened the door Titus was right there surprised to find us!  The report was that he cried for like 2 seconds after we left and then he was fine.  The girls (Morgan & Meagan McKee) even gave him a bath for us!  We had said they could, it was his bath night after all and we thought it could be a good distraction for him if he was fussing cuz he loves his baths.  And when they left he followed them to the door and cried!  Ha!  I love it, God always surprises me with the answers to our prayers!

Our date pic, thanks mom and dad for the gift for our birthdays to go out & get a babysitter!

Our scrumptious Mascarpone Bread Pudding dessert we shared!

My gift from Tom's parents, now I am most prepared for making my jewelry so place an order!  I have a facebook page found under "Adorned With Your Little Blessings" or use the link to my business blog found under "Blogs and Sites We Follow" below!

My gifts from my wonderful husband, lovin this new CD and he got me a gift certificate for Arbonne, I love their facial cleanser & moisturizer among other things when I have the $!

My best friend Daisy has the best taste for mugs!  I love this, it is not only pottery which I love but is huge (over 16 oz.) and has a handle built into it!  Sweet huh?

The First Birthday Celebration & Our Big Boy!

Titus turned 1 on Sunday and we had a great barbecue birthday party for him on Saturday at an awesome park in town.  The park was complete with a huge wood castle basically for playground equipment, a splash deck to cool off from the hot summer sun and our charcoal grill equipped with dad for some perfectly tender & juicy barbecue chicken and some juicy hot dogs for the kids.

Titus also had his 1 year check up today with the Doctor!  She had nothing but good to say about him, his development is coming along just great and his weight today was 20 lbs. 5 oz. and he is 31 3/4 in. long, putting him in the 10% for his weight and the 95% for his height!  Which she said would be expected for him with two tall and slender parents, thanks for that compliment Dr. Rogers, I will take it! :)

Titus thoroughly enjoyed his cupcake, neck first, then cupcake and then the head of the horse!

These are the cupcakes I made, vanilla & chocolate cupcakes with both flavors of frosting, vanilla & chocolate creme wafers for the neck, chocolate covered pretzels for the tails, white chocolate dipped circus peanuts for the head and chocolate frosting for the mane!  From a book called, Hello, Cupcake!

Titus opened his presents the following day after his party, look at my little sweetie!

Look at the way he is sitting on daddy's leg, so cute, he did this while they opened a couple of presents.

He got a Radio Flyer soft rock and bounce pony that also makes sound by touch from Grandpa and Grandma Johnson!

And his Auntie Daisy made him an "Aunties Purse", whenever she holds him in church, she has to get things out of her purse to entertain him, so she made him his own without making it embarrassing for him with the label!  So cute, and she filled it with random things for him and it came complete with a key chain picture of Mia on it, so sweet!

Crazy Summertime!!

The summer is going by so quickly and Titus is now 7 1/2 weeks old! Wow! What a blessing though to have his arrival start our summer. Then my parents were here June 20th thru July 1st. We had such a good visit with both of them but I had a really good time with my mom. I took her to the Saturday Farmers/Peoples Market and "Out to Lunch @ Caras Park" on Wednesday. Tom enjoyed cooking for them a few dinners on the grill and we got to celebrate Father's Day and my birthday while they were here. Gammie really got to enjoy her grandson and Papa did in the spare time that Gammie wasn't! My aunt Mary and my dad looked around at lots of property just in case they ever decide to head west! Who knows, only God right?
Then Tom's parents were here July 2nd thru the 11th. We also enjoyed their visit, we took them "Out to Lunch @ Caras Park" while they were here. We all hung out a lot in Lolo where Kevin and Carolyn and the girls live and played some games and ate lots of food. Grandma enjoyed rocking and walking Titus when he was fussy and snuggling with his warm body and Grandpa enjoyed afternoon naps with Titus.
Since then we have seen 3 old Missoula friends who were visiting. An old Missoula roommate of mine who now lives in Kansas with her husband and 2 girls. We are both moms now and that is so cool to me, I don't feel that old but I guess I am. A mutual friend of ours from California also came through, he had taught Tom how to fly fish and I was in his wedding, needless to say I was upset that his beautiful bride was not here to visit. And another mutual friend of ours, whom we both got to know at different times in our lives, from Colorado with her four children came through too. It was so good to catch up with these friends and to be encouraged in how their lives are still pursuing God.
Kevin and Carolyn and the girls are now in process of moving to Arizona. They are going to be support staff down at the New Tribes Mission Aviation Headquarters for possibly the next couple of years. They are still hoping that they can head to Papua New Guinea when they come through all the health issues with the girls. God already has them on that road in a huge way. Kevin actually left today with all of their stuff and Carolyn and the girls will fly down on Saturday. We are of course sad to see them go, it has been sweet to have them here the last year to get to know them for me and Tom has really enjoyed his time with his little brother.
Besides all the visiting we have just been trying to enjoy our summer with our new son. He is so adorable and beginning just in the last week and a half to smile at me in response to my smile. God's blessings are so sweet. Enjoy the pics and I hope to update sooner next time.

I just gave my horse, Piper, away to a man who is persistent yet has a kind hand. Piper is now 7 years old and to my neglect and lack of time he has not been broke yet, I had gotten a saddle on him and did lots of ground work with him but being his age, he was a handful and required someone more skilled than I to train him fully. I am actually a little over 29 weeks pregnant in this picture!

My parents took us up to Lindey's Steak House in Seeley Lake for my birthday for dinner. Mmmm it was so good, our dinners came with pickled watermelon rind and it was actually surprisingly good.

Tom took 3 students backpacking with him the 15th-18th into the Great Bear Wilderness which is part of the Bob Marshall Complex. He wanted to go in to visit one of our former students who is working in there for the summer, Ethan McKee in center of photo, to bring him encouragement. It was 18 miles in because of a misunderstanding and then 14 miles out, each all done in one day! Way to go, that is my awesome husband! While he did that, Titus and I went to Flathead Lake and spent the weekend at the Cross' cabin with them and about 10 others. It was very relaxing for me even though I missed my husband terribly.

The four Johnson men: Rich, Tom, Titus & Kevin, along with sweet Zowee, she adds beauty to the picture!

While Tom's parents were here we celebrated all three of our wedding anniversaries with a recipe for grilled chicken that Tom wanted to try. Of course, Kevin was helping in his own sort of weird way, ha, jk Kevin. His parents celebrated their 40th this year! Praise God for your love and commitment.

Our friend, Brad Trosen, was up for the challenge presented him while playing "Would You Rather...?" He had to keep his mouth wide open and have "Goof" written on his forehead with lipstick for one players full turn. Him and his family recently moved from Missoula, him and his wife Laura and son Ian are headed to serve in ministry with CMA in Senegal, Africa while their two daughters Hannah & my sweet Emily are living in Minnesota. This was our last hang out with them before they left in mid July.

Titus Allen Johnson is here!

Well late Thursday afternoon of the 3rd I knew that Titus was going to be coming sometime over the weekend, things had began to happen and contractions were starting that night, slowly but surely. On Friday evening we had some graduation parties to go to and I was determined to go although my contractions were progressing. Walking for me was the most comforting thing I could do. By about 5:30 am Saturday our contractions had been 5-6 minutes apart for about an hour and a half and we decided to head to the hospital for what seemed the longest day of my life! I was dilated to 4 cm when we got there and we began the process. We walked the halls lots of times and when a contraction would come we would rock. Tom did so well through everything, I couldn't have done it without him. I tried the warm bath but that only lasted til the water cooled off. I also liked the ball for sitting and bouncing, but I could not stand to be in the bed at all, it was just uncomfortable. I had to have IV antibiotics every 4 hours while the labor lasted because I tested positive for Group B Strep and I hated that too. I just didn't like feeling restrained in any way and every time they flushed the IV after the antibiotics it stung my arm so bad.
Well by 3 pm I had only progressed to 6 cm and my water had broke on the ball but I think it was more like a leaking faucet because the doctor checked me and she said I still had like a forebag that she could feel and wanted to break that to see if that would help. My doctor by the way could not deliver Titus because it was graduation Saturday and his son was graduating from high school, so the doctor on call, Dr. Givler delivered him. Thankfully she was very nice and sweet. Well when she did that my contractions definitely intensified but after an hour I was no different! They were getting concerned because they expect you to dilate a cm/hour and they asked me to think about having some sort of drug! I was heart broken because that is not what I wanted and I cried and Tom and I prayed. I knew I didn't want an epidural or Pitosin, my contractions were already painful enough without Pitosin. So they gave me some pain relief IV called Numa?, only half the dose they could have given me and it was supposed to take the edge off my contractions and relax me in between them. It sure did the later of the two, I was dozing in and out of sleep between them and within an hour, which is how long she said that drug would last, I dilated from 6cm to 9cm. Then Titus' heartbeat dropped and the doctor said I needed to start pushing otherwise it was going to have to be a c-section if his heart rate didn't come back up. Well I began for what seemed like the longest hour of my life pushing and finally our baby boy came out and Tom cut the cord. And the doctor said that I basically just had "skid marks" down there and no stitches were needed! God had answered our prayers for that drug to work and for our healthy baby. He was born at 5:22 pm on June 5th, weighing 8.49 lbs. and just under 21 3/4 in. long. He is so amazing and doing well. When we left the hospital he had dropped down to 7.11 lbs. and the next day at his weight check he was 7.15 and then at his first well baby check on Thursday he was up to 8.6 1/2 lbs.! They were so shocked because it usually takes them 2 weeks just to get back to their birth weight! He sleeps well and obviously nurses well although it can take him a while because he is a little Jaundice and falls asleep a lot. Mommy works really hard feeding him every 3 hours.

Titus does not seem to mind his car seat at all, we have gone on a few outings besides his checkups so far, he has been to ShopKo, Target, the Vet Clinic (to be admired!)and to church this morning, the ladies (mostly girls from youth group) were swooning over him! Look at those long fingers, those are from his dad :) Uncle Kevin called them monkey hands! Mommy disagrees of course.

This adorable outfit is from Auntie Daisy, for all those aunties out there, Titus wears it for you!

Even Grandpa Bob was here to see little Titus the next day after his birth, he was on his way to Seattle with a load to deliver there and he came through Missoula just at the perfect time, Thanks Grandpa!

Titus roomed in with us in the hospital, which was great! This helped for breastfeeding for me because you are able to catch on faster to their cues for feeding time so that you get it down before you leave the hospital. With him being with with us there all the time also helped my milk to come in faster. You can't tell from the footprint, but Titus has really long toes just like his daddy also, the actual foot in his newborn socks is too short already!

Daddy helping with his first bath!

Tom's Birthday

Today is my favorite mans birthday! It is his tradition to take the day off of work and do something special to celebrate the day and he asked me to join him and I was able to thankfully. We snuggled in bed til about 9 am this morning catching up on some much needed rest. Then we got up and I made him breakfast, german pancakes for us, and we watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie while we enjoyed our pancakes. Tom had wanted to go to Seeley Lake today but we were not sure that is what we wanted to do after just going up there (50 miles) on Saturday evening. But Tom explained to me that he wanted to go there to have lunch and get coffee at a nice shop up there where he actually wanted to buy me a necklace & earrings for Mother's Day! He is so thoughtful, how many people want to buy other people stuff on their own birthday? I said as long as we made some stops on the way home to stretch our legs I thought I would be fine. So we headed out only after we made an "emergency stop" at the grocery store so that I could get him a hot cocoa from Starbucks, his favorite hot cocoa. I slept on the way up to Seeley and then we finally found a spot to eat that was still open (town of about 2600) and then made our way to the shop and we found a very pretty set that was made by a local person there and she is actually a client at the vet clinic and I didn't know she made jewelry. After spending a good amount of time there we headed home, we still wanted to try to see Toms brother and wife and kids before his special day was over. We stopped on the way home at a lake Tom usually fishes in the early morning when we are on Spring Retreat. Nice pretty little lake, Harpers Lake, pictured above.
When we got to town Tom wanted to do a little grocery shopping for his brothers family to bless them with since they have many food allergies and some things they are limited to are very expensive. We came home and I started working on a homemade apple pie for Tom (his favorite pie) and Kevin and Carolyn and the girls came to visit us since they were in town for other stuff and we got to visit a little and then give them the groceries, I think they were surprised.
It has been a wonderful day and what a blessing to be able to spend it in a special way together with our lil muffin we are eagerly awaiting.

Catch Up

So our retreat went well a couple weekends ago, there were times (mostly at night) when I thought to myself "What have I done to myself?!" Our speaker that the youth pastor brought in was from Denver, CO, and was very good. I thought that God used him to speak very well into the students lives right where their hearts are at for the Lord. He shared about how people are in one of three places in their lives, either "in the ditch" where you don't know who God is personally, or you are "in the middle of the road" where you know God but you haven't fully decided to give everything over to Him and with some things in your life you live the way the world does but you follow God in other areas of your life or you are "on the narrow path" where you are completely sold out for the Lord and you want Him to have everything in your life. He challenged the students in each session with them to be on the narrow path and he even had brought each of them a gift from CO, an "invisible" tent (Exodus 33) to help encourage them in pursueing that narrow path. But at night for me was the difficult thing, my mattress was okay, better than I think the bunk mattress would have been but I had 5 girls in my cabin and a couple of them would keep me up til about 1 am each night! Since I had to do potty breaks in the night, I kept our wood stove stoked and we were warm and toasty!!!!
This last weekend we were pretty busy, I had to work Saturday, we went up after work to Rainy Lake, past Seeley Lake, to visit some friends who were camping up there and Tom and our friend Tim went fishing while Pam and I played cribbage and caught up with each other. Their limit on the cutthroat trout was 3 each and they caught about 25 in their 2 hour outing. Mmmmm more fish for our freezer. I love it and so does lil muffin. Then yesterday we were babysitting my good friends kiddos for her after church til about 7pm. So I was very tired needless to say and had a meltdown last night just crying because I was so tired and thought that would make me feel better. But it is nice to catch up with friends and to be able to bless others even if it stretches you to the max at times. And I discovered yet again how great Tom is, when I am the weak one of the two of us, he steps up and does great even with 4 little munchkins.
Well I should go, I need to work on some stuff for tomorrow, it is a very special day tomorrow, my husband will be 39 years young!