Welcome Cousin Charlie

On September 28th Brian's brother David and his wife Alexis became parents of a beautiful baby boy named Charlie Joseph. He was 8 pounds 13 ounces at birth and has fabulous red hair (like his daddy). Below are some photos of the first time we met him.

Introducing: Cousin Charlie!

Baby & Daddy
Proud Cousin MuluTwo happy Mamas and their babies!

I'm not sure why, (maybe I assumed all Caucasian babies looked alike - kind of like little old men) but I thought the two cousins were going to look alike when they were born and was shocked up at the hospital as to how different they really were . . . who knew?

Aria Theresa and Charlie Joseph.

Some photos of Aria's first week!

IT'S A GIRL!

Aria Theresa Johnson arrived this afternoon at 4:48 pm. She is a perfect 8 lbs 10 oz, 20 in long, with curly brown hair and, as expected, is incredibly beautiful. More to follow!

September 9th has arrived - but Ziggy has not...

Today is the day - September 9th, 2007 - the totally arbitrary day chosen by a little calendar wheel that I have been referencing for 40 weeks now and holding onto emotionally as THE day -
aka my due date.

And . . . our little precious one (affectionately referred to as "Ziggy") is still tucked up all warm and snug in my uterus.

I'm doing great - well that's what my doctor says at least - and hanging in there - wondering if every little weird feeling (which there are a surprising number of at this stage of the game) is the start of a contraction

I've given my sister my password for this blog & she is planning on posting an announcement after Ziggy has made his/her appearance. So we'll be able to share the news long before we're home and organized enough to be back on the computer again.

Please wish us a speedy delivery and send good thoughts our way!



~C

Mulu's 1st day of school!

Its hard for me to believe that Mulu has actually started school - like the real thing, all day - on his own Kindergarten! It feels like Brian and I are now in the "advanced parenting" stage - now that we have a school aged child (even though we've only been at the parenting thing for 27 months).

Its probably NO surprise to anyone who knows him well, but Mulu did fabulous his first day and week of school. When I went to pick him up the 1st day he was beaming he was smiling so hard, seemed like he was just going to explode with positive energy and said "hey Mama - I get to go back tomorrow!" - the best thing an over emotional and worried Mama could hear.

The whole way home he talked & talked & talked about his day. What colors he used on his picture, some new songs he had learned (I asked if his teacher taught them the songs & he said "no, we went to a room and a drummer boy taught us" - so they must have had music class that day), how to turn the sign on the bathroom from green to red so people know your in there, etc, etc, etc. I asked him if he met any new friends in his class, and he rattled off about a 1/2 dozen names - all of them little girls. And he explained to me that "when its hot and we are done on the playground we can get a drink and we say '1 banana, 2 banana, 3 banana split' and he is done and its my turn" - the 1st day of school and he already knows the little water fountain/bubbler song!

He seemed to do best at all the parts Brian and I were most worried about and was even excited to do his 1st homework assignment Friday after school. Just another example to show us, himself and the world how fabulous he really is.

August fun!

August is coming to an end - so I thought I'd loop all our fun August happenings together.

As of August 12th, I have been unable to travel more than 50 miles away from my hospital - so on the 13th, Mulu & Brian went to a Brewer game and Aaliyah and I had a girls night out. I found a shop that would paint her little fingers for $4 - Aaliyah loved every minute. She is definitely a girly-girl.

This is Aaliyah showing off the paint color she picked - the pinkest pink they had :^)




Showing them off after they were done - the nice woman even put some sparkles on over the pink polish. Aaliyah thought they were great - but did have the paint picked off of three of her fingers off by the time we got to the restaurant (about 3 blocks away).
"hanging out" at the botanical gardens near our house - we had a blast just walking and looking at the flowers and little pathways.

Another picture of Aaliyah at her dance class that she loves so much.
Mulu & Aaliyah got to go meet and play with 7 four week old puppies. This is right up at the top of what Mulu thinks is the coolest - romping around with other "little ones" that have as much energy as him!
Aaliyah - not so much. She likes the idea of dogs/puppies and likes to look at photos of them, but is very apprehensive when they get close. I couldn't believe she got into the pen with them - you can see the forced smile on her face (trying to convince herself "I'm having fun, I'm having fun") and she wouldn't put her blankie down for a second!

A slew of the puppies chasing Mulu - fun for all!
One of the puppies "playing" with Aaliyah - her face says it all!Dancing in the streets at a friend's wedding - they hired a New Orleans band that we followed. Every time we stopped to dance, Aaliyah was out of her stroller and joining in.

Summer T-ball

Mulu just finished up his summer t-ball league - which was fabulously fun for him and all who came to watch! Witnessing 4 & 5 year olds trying to negotiate a t-ball game is incredibly entertaining and should be considered a mandatory event for anyone down in the dumps.



There were no outs - everyone on the batting team each got one hit and ran one base - with everyone running home after the final batter. And the outfielders all through the ball to 1st base - no matter if the runner was there already or not.



It was pretty amazing to see how much the kids improved by the end of the 6 weeks. The last week they all new which way to run after hitting the ball!

batter up!

Wow - what a hit! He was very proud of this one - he ran all the way to first looking at us and smiling. You can see that the runner on third and the third baseman are thoroughly engaged in the happenings. :^)

Mulu running into home getting a high 5 from his coach.