WOW! Where Have I Been?

Well, since I last blogged, forgive my slackness, I don't feel like we have had a busy summer but I guess we have had lots of fun!  My sweet cousin, Lauren Cross, married the man of her dreams at the end of July, which brought lots of family to Montana from IL!  My dad has 6 siblings including his sister Mary here, and basically 3 siblings and their families came out for the wedding plus my grandma!  That was a ball and all my family came except my dear brother-in-law, next year we are going to get his butt out here!  Pardon my typing!  My family and my cousin Laura were blessed to spend time up at Flathead Lake at the Cross' cabin.  Tom, Titus and I camped one night in the yard there!  We all went to Glacier Nat. Park from there and did an amazing hike at Avalanche Lake there!  I was so excited to show my family the beauty of Montana and to make sure they had a good time.  We came back to Missoula for the wedding and before they all left we did some bike riding and we took my nieces to a sweet park and the Carousel while my parents and sisters went rafting down the Alberton Gorge!  My nieces are 8 yrs. and almost 2 yrs. and both of their first times here and Titus had a great time with them.  Gracie was a great helper with the two younger ones and Bella said Titus' name with the cutest ring to it, I miss hearing her say his name!

We also went for about a 20 mile bike ride on the path along Hwy 93 from Lolo to Florence and back!  When we pulled up to Subway in Florence to eat, this is what Titus was doing in the bike trailer!  So cute!  I thought I was going to die that day and I WASN'T pulling the trailer, Tom was!

We have been enjoying all kinds of food and smiles this summer!

Including trout on the grill and zucchini!  Mmmmmm!  Go hubs!

We went for a hike along Cache Creek Trail down off Hwy 12!  Titus loved the water and loves throwing rocks in the water (or down the neighbors stairs).

We made our first homemade ice cream with the ice cream attachment for the Kitchen Aid (we have had it since we got married in 2009).  Mmmmm!  Homemade Flathead Cherry Ice Cream!  Go hubs!

Labor Day weekend we traveled over to WA and visited some dear friends, the O'Dells, in Spokane.  Titus is missing due to the fact that he had not woken up for the day yet and this was at about 9 am their time!  Yes these 5 adorable kids are all theirs!  (L to R: Acacia, Naomi, Adelyn, John, Justus, Joyalise & Beth)

Once Titus woke up that morning, we headed on to Richland where Tom's brother and family now live.  We enjoyed our time with them as well and the girls definitely enjoyed showing us their ballerina moves, thank you Zowee and Noelle for always being ready to entertain us :)

We got one night of real camping in, which was interesting, Titus woke up and it felt like he was awake for about 2 hours before I could get him back to sleep!  Like our Jumbo Marshmallows?  The smores that night were terrific to say the least!

Our campsite out at Trout Creek off I-90, yes we have a little 2 man tent, which we love and stay warm that way on the cool Montana nights!

Our little camper and his poking stick that he loved walking around with!

Grandpa & Grandma's Visit!

It was so good to see Rich and Carol the 3rd -12th of June here.  They made it just in time for Titus' 1st birthday party and spoiled him rotten the rest of the time too!  Tom had to work a couple of days while they were here, so one day Grandpa & Grandma took Titus and I out for breakfast at one of mommy's favorite places, Paul's Pancake Parlor!  We actually all got pancakes, usually I do not!  I tried their strawberry Swedish crepes, Carol tried their German pancake and Rich got some other pancake that looked more normal than ours but I forget the flavor!  Titus' liked my Swedish ones!  Tom and Rich went fishing a few days that they were here, the first two tries though they got a little wet from the rain but the last day on Saturday that they went, they got to go on a boat with a friend of ours up to Browns Lake near Seeley and they brought home 3 trout to eat!  Mmmm so yummy!  Meanwhile during the boy's fishing Grandma got to play a lot with Titus and she had also brought some of her art supplies with her and she made a beautiful watercolor picture while she was here of a nature scene!  I wished she had grabbed a local Independent paper to see what all was happening around town on those days that the boys were gone.  Grandma, Titus and I could have got out a little and enjoyed some stuff around Missoula!  Next time I will remember!  We did make a trip to Costco hoping to get Grandma some chips but that was unsuccessful, she needs the real salty ones for when she gets low on sodium.  On Saturday before the boys left for fishing we did all go to the market which was fun.  I had wanted to show a couple of neat vendors to Carol while there but we didn't find them!  But we got some fresh rhubarb and I made a pie that night for us to enjoy after the boys finally returned around 10pm!

This was just the neatest little "garden" I thought, this vendor uses mortar in the bottom to hold the rocks together and then she plants plants in them.  This one she called a "fairy garden" with the little fence and there is a clothes line!  So cute, she said she would be there all summer, but she wasn't when we took Rich & Carol!  And she had really reasonable prices!

I thought this coffee table was super cool!  Did not see this vendor there again but I had not asked them if they would be there all summer!

I loved these lamps, but this vendor was from WA and just passing through the weekend we saw him at the market!

We did take Grandpa & Grandma to some our favorite places to eat, like Vietnam Noodle & Fiesta En Jalisco for some good Mexican on Sunday before they pulled out of town to head home! Thanks Rich and Carol for coming to visit! Titus really loved playing with grandma and it was so enjoyable to watch!

P.S. They stayed out at those Jellystone Cabins which were really nice for anyone that may have family coming to visit sometime but the bed was not comfortable for them so they used our air mattress with the mattress on the bed and that worked well for them. 

Mother's Day Weekend with Some Family!

Tom's brother and his family made it here this last weekend after a busy week for them in their travels from AZ.  They visited family in Great Falls, Bozeman and Missoula all in the span of 10 days with their two girls!  Saturday we met them at the market downtown, yeah for spring, that is one our favorite spring/summer things to do, go to the Saturday Farmers/People's market and get some fresh produce while drinking some good coffee and eating yummy pastries from the great vendors down there.  This last weekend had only been their second week down there so some stuff is missing but I was surprised that there was still a lot of stuff there.  Then we went to Costco to get a few things and some of us ate some lunch there and then the boys needed to hit REI to look for some shoes and us girls headed back to Lolo where they were staying for the weekend so that the girls could possibly take some naps!

Cousin Zowee (6 yrs.) & uncle Kevin (ageless!) enjoying some kettle corn at the market!

Cousin Noelle (3 yrs) got to ride with Titus in his chariot when she was tired of walking at the market!  So nice!

Titus got his first taste of chocolate on the way to Lolo that day by surprise to all of us except little Noelle who was trying to feed it to him! It was in a kid's Clif energy bar so needless to say the poor boy did not have enough teeth to chew what he had been given and sadly the poor baby ended up choking on it! Poor Zowee was very grossed out by his chocolate puke all over his face and little Noelle did not know any better and little Titus I think was as scared as his mama was, he was crying and I was about to continue freaking out after my initial reaction but the Lord quickly reminded me that that would not help the situation and Noelle didn't know any better. It had slipped our adult minds to remind them not to give the baby anything without asking the mommy first! Anyway, enough of that, we learn from our mistakes!

We had a little cookout that night in the fire pit at the place where they were staying (Carolyn's parents' place). Had some good turkey dogs. We didn't stay too late, Titus needed to get to bed and hadn't had both naps he usually does during the day. He was very tired!

When we got home Saturday night, Titus pretty much stayed asleep from car seat to house!  Daddy was enjoying this!

...and an hour later, before we decided to disturb him to put his jammies on him.

 Sunday morning we met them at church and we attempted to put Titus in the nursery for the first time! He is just in that stage where he wants to be moving around and so we thought the nursery might be a better option for the time. Well he was not about to adjust to that the first try. He lasted about 10 minutes before our little number showed up on the screen to let us know we were needed for him. We will keep working on easing him into it. Then we all went our separate ways so that Titus could nap and they could get things in order for leaving on Monday. After his nap we went out to Lowe's to look for something to plant some flowers in that we can hang over our rail on our little porch out front and we found something that we think will work. Then we met up later with the fam at a Mexican place in Lolo and that was oh so delicious and stuffing! And then we went back to their place to hang out for a little bit and have some dessert! Carolyn had bought a pie at the market, it was supposed to be a blackberry? pie but it did have an M on it so maybe it was Marion berry? either way it was very yummy!

Uncle Kevin reading Titus a book just before we had to say goodbye!

How was your Mother's Day weekend?  Hope you spent some good time with family whether it was just your own or relatives included!  It was so nice for the cousins to get to play together and see how much Titus was interested in being with them, so cute!  And we had some really good time with Kevin and Carolyn and the girls, although I don't know how fond Zowee is of not having her uncle Tom to herself, now she has to share him with Titus and Noelle.  Noelle has grown so much in many ways and LOVED playing with Tom and I which was something new for us!  So special!

Exciting News!

Hey I have two exciting things to share!  One our family is here to visit this weekend from AZ!  Tom's brother, Kevin, and his wife and kids made it up to MT this week to visit her grandpa in Great Falls and sister who is about to have a baby any time in Bozeman and us here in Missoula!  We are excited for the cousins to play together and get some cute pics.

The other exciting thing is that I am starting my own business from home, which most of you may know!  I am making bracelets for Mothers, Grandmothers, etc. and I am calling it 'Adorned With Your Little Blessings'!  So check it out, I made a separate blog just for this, Adorned With Your Little Blessings , also listed under my blogs I follow down on the right or find us on facebook under same name!  I would love to make something special for you for yourself or for a gift for your mom or your grandma!

Christmas with the Cross', Christmas Day!

Christmas Day we opened our own gifts in the morning which was basically what we got from Toms' parents and his aunt Sharon. I had gotten Tom a stocking stuffer myself but we were just thankful to have our healthy family and we do have to get Titus a new car seat soon along with a high chair so we are saving our money for that. Besides the fact that we have to figure out something for a second car as mine is still broken.

Anyway later in the day we went over to the Cross' to exchange gifts and enjoy their company and more yummy food! Smoked turkey and lots of goodies on the side and I took the pumpkin dump cake which everyone loved! You got to make it if you haven't, see December posts, super easy and yummy.

I did experience my first accident with Titus! I was headed down the steps with him on my one side and lost my footing and ended up bouncing down the steps on my bottom with Titus in my arms! It was scary and I kind of yelled out and scared him even more and he started crying and then I sat at the bottom of steps and started crying because I just realized how dangerous it could have been for him! I had a couple bruises but he was ok and I think everyone else in the house was very scared once they heard him start crying! It made for a good laugh later thou cuz I couldn't get the image of myself bouncing down the steps out of my head and Lauren and her fiance, Jason, were down there and could have saw it but she says she didn't see much of it.


Titus loved the candle light that great uncle Andy found him to suck on!


2nd cousin Heidi with Titus with his new winter fleece hat from the Cross'.

Christmas with the Sells', Christmas Eve!

We went over to Daisy and kids' to exchange gifts with them on Christmas Eve and enjoy some yummy food! She had gotten corn chowder and clam chowder and a jalapeno artichoke dip with chips and I brought my homemade rolls! Mmmm so yummy and she knows me so well, those are some of my favorite soups! Her kids have seriously adopted Titus as their cousin as Daisy always tells me, which is fine with us! We enjoyed some time with them before we went to the Christmas Eve service up at our church which always is so beautiful, it always ends with every person lighting a candle and the whole room is dark and all you see is that beautiful candlelight as you all sing together "Away in a Manger!"


Daisy with all the kiddos, L to R, Lilli (3yr), Mia (7yr), Sior (5yr), Daisy (ageless) with Titus (6mths) and Penny (3yr). I love Titus' Christmas outfit, we actually got that at his baby shower and it fit perfect even though it is 9 mth size!


Tom with the kiddos.


Me with the kiddos.


Mia enjoying her new makeup bag with some makeup goodies in it and her smartwools from uncle Tom and auntie Carrie. Our gift to the kids this year was all a pair of smartwools! Lol!


Sior always enjoys his play time thoroughly with his uncle Tom.

Our Trip to Illinois

A complete family picture of Mommies immediate family, from L to R, Pappa, Gammie, Alicia with Bella, Jeremy (Alicia's husband), Gracie, Becky, Daddy & Mommy with Titus.

We had a very good trip to Illinois this past week. We flew into Cedar Rapids, IA on the 13th from Missoula with only one stop in Denver, CO. Titus did very well flying and I don't think the air pressure bothered his ears too much that I could tell. They say to have them nurse or suck on a pacifier during the take off and landing to help their ears but he only nursed half the time and seemed fine the other times he wasn't. My dad picked us up from the airport and we headed to Galena, IL where both of my sisters and parents live, amongst many others on my dads side of the family. My mom was busy making a big dinner for all of our family to come over and enjoy. We had many good meals while we were there and we had three family Christmas'! My parents just moved back to Galena after living in WI for about the majority of 17 years now. Galena is where they grew up and met and I did also until 8th grade year. The Lord provided them a beautiful place just about 3.5 miles outside of Galena with 10 acres. The house is the nicest house they have have ever had and has 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. So they are very close to both of my sisters and the two grand kids that are there, which makes everyone very happy.

On Wednesday my dad and Tom went and cut down a huge beautiful tree for us to decorate that night before we would have our family Christmas.

Friday Tom got to enjoy ice fishing all day with Jeremy. They both love ice fishing so that is a great blessing for them to connect in that way. I think they caught 12 fish between the two of them. I got to get my trimmed by Alicia, she does hair in Galena amongst other services there.

Saturday was my dads side of the family Christmas at Great Grandmas house. I took my pumpkin dump cake and it was a hit! My cousin had her first baby this year too so Titus got to enjoy little Nolan, he is 4 months old.

Sunday was my moms side family Christmas out at the Apple Canyon Golf Pro Shop! Now my moms side does Christmas a little different than most of you would. We have what you would probably call a 'talent show.' You don't have to participate but some people write a poem to share with the family (yours was beautiful aunt Sandy) and some people sing some of their favorite songs like karaoke but there is no screen with words! Gracie was very brave and got up there and sang a Taylor Swift song! She brought tears to my eyes because she is growing up too fast for her auntie and she knew every word! She went 2nd and when she was done I asked if anyone could top that, cuz I didn't think so! Ha! Then she tried a couple other ones that she didn't know so well but very cute. I think Tom and Jeremy thought this was a very different way to do Christmas but it is fun for the family and very funny at times.

Monday was our travel day again :( We were sad to be leaving and both of my sisters got teary eyed to see us go. Both my parents and Becky took us back to the airport and Tom and I hadn't gotten the same flight home but I went on standby and got on his flight out to Denver with him but once we got there I was stuck there for a couple hours cuz his flight to Missoula was overbooked. So he got into Missoula around 9 pm and Titus and I got in around 12 am! I was so exhausted and had a terrible headache but Titus just slept the whole time. When we got in thou it was just at the time of the lunar eclipse which was cool! It felt nice to be in our own bed but I am still missing them all.


Mommy got to meet her niece, Bella Jean, for the first time. She just turned 1 year November 11! She loves any kind of food, dancing and her big sister.


Four Generations: Great Grandpa & Grandma Berning, Pappa, Mommy & Titus @ Galena Stauss Senior Care where Great Gramps now resides.


Goofy picture of Gracie and us, we had just finished watching the first Narnia movie with her and she was spending the night at Gammie and Pappa's with us. We had lots of fun with her and we hope she comes to Montana to spend a month with us next Summer!


Tom and I got to enjoy a date one night after Titus went to bed! We went into town to enjoy what they call the 'Old Fashioned Christmas in Galena' with the 'Night of Luminaria'. They have around 5,000 luminaries lit along Main Street, hills and stairs throughout the town! We got some chocolate at the old Candy Kitchen store before we climbed the old Galena High School Stairs (around 180 steps), enjoyed the view with some chocolate and came back down.

Our First Family Thanksgiving Adventure

Well our Thanksgiving trip to Colorado was great all the way around. We did end up leaving a little later than we wanted due to weather but we got on the road Wednesday morning just when Titus was ready to take his morning nap. He did really well and actually slept almost the whole way to Billings which was where we stopped to spend the night. Thursday traveling for him was a little different, he was not as happy to be in his car seat as the first day and he was in it longer on Thursday. But I did sit in the back with him for a while and discovered that he couldn't move even his arms a whole lot since mommy was strapping him in with his winter jacket on! But we made it into Colorado to our destination at Larry & Linda's (second cousin of Toms') just in time for dinner. Mmmm, it was all very good, my personal favorite besides the star turkey of course, was the sweet potato dish that Gary (Larry's brother) made. It was soooo good and I thought it was a shame that Tom doesn't like sweet potatoes but I ate his portion!

Then we had to load Titus up one more time to make it over to Rich & Carols' to stay til Saturday morning when we would get back on the road. Our stay was great there and it was so good to see Grandpa and Grandma enjoy their grandson when he would let them. Sharon, Carol's sister, (in picture above) also stayed with us there to visit while we were there. I was determined not to put Titus in his car seat on Friday to give him a break, I thought that was only fair to him with 4 of our 5 days of travel being in the car for long hours. So we played some games and played with the baby, Titus got really tired during the day but wouldn't go down for a nap, I don't think he wanted to miss any action or miss out on time with Grandpa and Grandma.

We had him of course sleeping in the same room as us this whole time on our trip which he hasn't done since he was 3 months old and I was impressed. I did hear him wake up at least once every night and he would just put himself back to sleep. Such a good baby he is.

We headed back then on Saturday and the roads were pretty much fine the whole way, wet in areas. But mommy didn't strap him in in his car seat with his winter jacket on this time and he did even better! He hardly complained at all, if he was awake he would just play with his toys on his bar and I didn't have to even sit in the back with him at all. He was a trooper! Tom did all the driving which was so nice of him.

We had many things to be thankful for over the holiday and everyday we do. God answered many prayers to keep us safe and to keep Titus happy during the traveling. And we had a good visit with Grandpa, Grandma, aunt Sharon, Larry, Linda and Gary. Titus just loved all the attention he was getting at the Thanksgiving table. He was soaking it up the little ham. And our car ran good for that long trip, it has some issues that need to be addressed but it did fine.

Now we will be getting ready for our IL trip, coming up in just 12 days! Yikes! I am so excited, it has been a year and a half since I have seen my sisters and the rest of my relatives. I am so excited for all of my family to enjoy Titus, it is refreshing to me as a stay at home mom to have other people enjoy him and all I have to do is feed and change him. It kind of recharges me and he is such a good boy too.

We will be trying our first foods on Sunday! He will be 6 months old and we are going to try that rice cereal and see what he thinks!? I am just going to take my time with it though if he ends up not being to interested. Everything you read these days as far as development and when you go see the Pediatrician are letting you know that they are finding more and more links to allergies due to starting foods too early in babies and nutritionally they say that they don't need anything else the first year if they are breastfed. But they do after that so they need the know how by then and that is why you introduce it before a year. Besides they are also finding that you as a mom are less likely to get breast cancer if you breast feed. So either way it doesn't matter to me, I plan on breastfeeding til he is a year anyway unless he weans himself before then. With all the allergies that his cousins have on his dad's side I don't want to take any chances. I even am going to avoid introducing potential high risk allergy foods until he is older than 6 months to try to prevent it. Basically no dairy, nuts, eggs, wheat based products, fish or chocolate until he is 9-12 months.


Mommy found some long underwear and some sweet wool socks for Titus before our trip just in case the weather got bad or something and we got stranded. I wanted to make sure he was warm and he was enjoying this box for a little while. His eyes always look big in our pictures because he is looking at the red eye light on the front of the camera! Ha!

Weekend at Flathead Lake

Well we spent the weekend at Flathead Lake at the Cross' cabin again. We were there with them and my cousin Laurens new fiance, Jason and his parents, and a friend of Heidi's. It was so relaxing for us but the weather was kind of weird. It would be sunny and then it also was storming at different times with hail. Titus turned 8 weeks on Saturday and he not only had slept his longest ever on Friday night with 8 1/2 hrs but on Saturday up at the lake he rolled over twice from his tummy to his back. He would only do it when Tom and I were watching and it was so cute. He is really starting to "talk" to us too, he sounds so cute. He has an appointment this week on Friday for his 2 month check up, I am so excited to see how much my big boy weighs. I did go swimming this time and the water felt a little cold but good. I didn't touch it before getting in because I knew it would be a little cold and take me longer to get in if I felt it.

Snoozin' in the hammock with dad, while mom goes for a swim off the dock.

We had crazy weather up there, sometimes it was sunny and then sometimes it was storming with hail!

Hangin' with Nate while he plays Farkle with dad and mom gets something to eat.

Snoozin' with dad on the couch up at the lake.

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.

2 1/2 Weeks Already

Titus and Grandma Mary, he is sporting his new Griz hat that he got at his shower from auntie Nessie & auntie Zoe! How very cute!

Time is flying by quickly, I can't believe Titus is already close to 3 weeks old. We had a nice shower on the 19Th thrown for us, lots of people came and even more had dropped by gifts for Titus. He made out with a lot of loot there!! Thanks to any of you who came :) It was very nice and lots of fun, I was nervous being a new mom and all and being around so many people. My aunt Mary had just made it back to MT the night before from her visit back to IL to see our family and so her and Heidi came and it was both their first time seeing Titus. Heidi had been sick when he was born and couldn't come to the hospital to visit. That was good though, I had her hold him the whole time because I didn't really want him passed around like he's a toy. I will admit that I am kind of paranoid about germs when it comes to him and I think visits at home are much better than large crowds of people because if one person holds him then everyone else will want to get in on it. Anyway enough about that.
My parents made it here on Sunday and their visit has been really enjoyable. I try to let my mom hold him whenever I can which is when he isn't nursing or we are not eating ourselves. I can tell she just really enjoys him and is so happy to finally have a boy in our family. Today Mary actually took them over to Helena to fish for the day, it is beautiful out and the fish are really biting over there on Canyon Ferry Lake I guess. Hope they bring some home, I can never get enough fish to eat.
Well Tom is back to work this week and Titus and I miss him like crazy but I had kind of gotten a little preview of what it would be like here all by myself with Titus the day of my shower. He had gone fishing from 7am to around 8pm and my parents were not here yet. He thought he would be home around 5 but they just kept catching them and I was okay! It was good for him to get out of the house, after two weeks of being home and waiting on me hand and foot and more because he is such a great husband, I was happy for him to get out and enjoy the outdoors doing something else that he loves to do.
Little Titus gets circumcised on this Friday, please pray that it goes well. I of course am a little nervous because I heard how it is done and I am not sure if I will be able to watch or not. I guess they have to strap their legs down which makes sense, you wouldn't want the scalpel blade to cut something it shouldn't but can you imagine. Ugh.

Tom also caught 3 salmon up there too and got to bring them all home because the Olsen's' didn't want any! Mmmmoooorrrreeee for us, we already ate them with Mom and Dad off the grill the other night.

While Titus and I were at our shower, this is the fish Daddy caught with Andy Olsen and his dad with their boat up on Salmon Lake near Seeley, MT. This is the Pike they caught and Tom got to bring 4 of them home. Mmmmmm.

Titus loves getting burped by Daddy, some good "guy time". Sometimes when Titus is fussy we use the exercise ball to bounce him while we hold him and Daddy is the pro at this job too.

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!