Turn that frown upside down!

Okay folks, in honor of Barack Obama, here is some change I can believe in. I am determined to be positive!! In my quest to enjoy pregnancy more, I have learned to embrace new kinds of cheese- a delicious no-carb snack- and have discovered that the fancy-shmancy gourmet pringles are only 1/2 carb per chip. Amazing!
Also, today I was running very late to a meeting in downtown Chicago, and was driving around and around a parking garage, only to discover a special parking area for expectant mothers right next to the elevators! It was better than being handicapped! So how's that for a positive attitude?

I also realized I have not posted any pictures of my belly. So now its time to play a new game I like to call "Beach Ball, Not a Beach Ball?"

Mommy and Numero Dos, aged 32 weeks!

And the answer is: Not a beach ball!

Only 8 weeks to go...

What's not to love?

Being pregnant is a miracle, right?

This is what I tell myself every day. I am 29 weeks pregnant, so only about 10 weeks to go. But I'm having some trouble loving this of late. Please allow me a few moments to share.

About 2 months ago, I had an unusually busy day at work and ended up spending that night in the hospital. The doctors told us we were losing the baby, and it was the worst night of my life. The next day at a check-up, despite some real problems, it turns out the nurse had just had an incredibly poor bedside manner, and the baby was going to be fine.

Fast forward to the week after that, when at a check-up the doctor said "tricked you! The baby is not fine afterall!" and put me back into a panic and onto semi-bed rest. The baby had dropped and I had contractions if I did anything but lay on my back. I had to start working from home/bed twice a week. When I was at the office, I had to spend part of my day lying on a little bed in my office. I have had very little human contact in weeks and am starting to go a little stir crazy.

Now lets move to week 27. I failed my diabetes test BIG TIME. Now I can do nothing and eat nothing. But this miracle gets even more exciting! Regardless of the strictness of my diet, the "second pregnancy" syndrome is giving me high blood sugar all day long. So yesterday (Friday) they put me on insulin. Now I give myself shots in the leg twice a day, and everyone that knows me knows how tough I am when it comes to needles. (Although, it always surprises you how tough you can be when you have to.)

Today was my first full day on insulin. I ate breakfast and everything seemed fine. A little later Russ, Josie and I were taking down Christmas decorations when I suddenly felt faint, sweaty and cold. Russ was weirded out and suggested I test my blood sugar. It was super low and we got scared. I drank some juice and soon my blood was where it should be and I felt better.

About an hour later I was doing some more cleaning when suddenly I felt very bad. I stumbled to the kitchen to get some food and then collapsed. I was shaking and couldn't talk. Russ helped me take my blood sugar and it was even lower than before- in the very scary range. Then he helped me drink juice while I was shaking like crazy- it was like something out of a movie. We called the doctor and they told us what to do, but it took me several hours until I was normal again.

I had to give myself another shot at dinner, and the same thing repeated itself about an hour later, but luckily not as bad. The doctor said you have to experiment with insulin until you find the right doses. Great, because I love being a science project and sugar lows feel terrific!

I am so thankful for my husband who has helped me with all of this. Whoever said marriage is a team sport was definitely right. Poor Russ! He is amazing though, and managed to help me and keep Josie from getting scared when she was so confused about what was happening.

Oh, and I forgot to mention-- this morning I realized I was coming down with the flu.

I know that pregnancy is a miracle and being a mother is a wonderful experience. And considering how many people can't get pregnant or lose their babies, I feel like an absolute a$$hole for complaining for even one minute. But I will admit this just once, then never speak of it again--- I am REALLY ready to be done being pregnant.

Merry Christmas!

So much has happened since my last posting, I can't even believe it. But I suppose it would be lame to talk about anything but Christmas, so I will start with that. I apologize in advance for the weird collection of pictures. We somehow never managed to get a decent family picture, or even many normal ones of Josie! But I will try to give a sampling here.

I'm sure many of you were dying to know if we bought Josie a train set for Christmas. And yes, we got a train. But fear not, I did find a bargain! I was an unbelievably successful online shopper this year, and actually found a sweet train set on Craigslist! Feast your eyes on this:

I found a train set that had guys that could ride in it, and it also came with a police car, fire truck, and Russ's personal favorite, the CHIPS style police motorcycle! It also came with, randomly, a farm with a crazy farmer in lederhosen- he looks straight out of the Sound of Music. Awesome!

Anyhoo- Christmas was the best ever this year as the Johnson's stayed home on Christmas Eve for the first time. We took Josie to Church in her cute Christmas dress (which I stupidly never got a picture of! I hate myself!), then set up cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. After she went to bed Russ and I spent all night getting the train and dollhouse set up in the living room and reliving all of our favorite Christmas mornings and coolest presents. Being a parent on Christmas is the best! Check out our Santa display:

Josie was just as excited as we hoped she would be. She was kind of in shock when she came out of her bedroom, but then immediately started to play with everything and hasn't stopped since. It has been so much fun to see her playing with these big girl toys!

Ah, but whenever I start to take this dollhouse stuff too seriously, I have Russ there to bring me back to Earth. Check out the picture he took while I wasn't looking. I hope he remembered to put the seat down.

Later in the day on Christmas, we went to Sycamore for the full Johnson extravaganza. It was really fun to see everyone and get a little attention for my belly, too! Josie got one more big present- a new kitchen from Russ's parents- awesome!

All in all the holiday was great. It was fun to have time off from work, fun to play with Josie and hang out with Russ, and really fun to see our family. It was a very Merry Christmas!

Never, Ever, Ever, Ever, Ever, Ever, Ever Try Wrapping Christmas Presents With A 2 Year Old

In preparation for a Plank family Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration this week, I wanted to wrap a few presents. As Josie likes to help me with pretty much everything I do, I thought we could do it together. You know, we like to cook together, fold laundry together... what's different about wrapping presents?

I'll end the suspense and just tell you: 50 YARDS OF RIBBON.

I thought Josie would busy herself with looking at the actual gifts I was wrapping. Instead she wripped 3 different gift bags, crumpled paper, and unwrapped and walked on several different roles of wrapping paper. Then I tried to distract her by giving her a marker to draw on some of the gifts, "writing" her name and wishing them Merry Christmas. Instead she got marker all over my pants. But this was too much:

I left the room for two seconds to get some more tape, and Josie had begun to unroll my jumbo pack of ribbon. That's right folks- 50 yards of ribbon.

I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or cry. Or call Russ and beg him to come home and help me. Or strap her to a chair. Or.... this could go on and on.

I finally just tried to be cool and go with it. My family will probably think the crazy looking presents are cute because she "helped." And the ribbon.... well, I can always buy more ribbon. Besides, she looks so proud, doesn't she?

A Free Train Agreement?

Yeah, I know. Bad pun. But I guess I'm sick of thinking about trains, and got a little desparate. Which brings me to the topic of my new poll, and I really need everyone's help.

I am very excited about Christmas this year because Josie is so excited about Santa. And this year she will actually play with the toys she receives, rather than the past 2 years when presents were basically just things to shake. Oh, so boring.

This year Josie has declared she wants a dollhouse and a train and train tracks for Christmas. This is all she will talk about. Just like with her Halloween costume, we don't know where she came up with the ideas, and we can't change her mind. We even brought her to a toy store to show her all the amazing other options, but she still wants a dollhouse and train set.

Well, we found her a dollhouse on the cheap which was a miracle. We bought it used from a second hand toy store (don't judge!) and were therefor able to afford the whole kit and caboodle. But now I'm looking for trains and coming up short. There are none to be found on Craigslist, and they are EXPENSIVE to buy new. I mean, come on! One train- not the track, not even the whole train, but one car- is $14.99. Ouch.

So I have a dilemma. I really don't want to buy a train set. So let me review my list of pros and cons:

CON:
1) I am not convinced Josie will even play with a train. I think she saw something about it on Barney, and now thinks she wants one, too. Josie tends to play with more traditional girl toys, and I have never really seen her play with things like cars and trains.
2)I really don't want to spend a fortune on presents for a two year old. I sort of feel like at her age, I could spend $5 on a new container for her rock collection and she would be in heaven.
3) Train sets take up a sh*tload of space. I'll probably spend the next year tripping on trains.
4) If we get her everything she asks for, are we creating a spoiled brat?

PRO:
1) Russ thinks- and he's probably right- that because she is so obsessed, on Christmas morning she will say "Where is the train?!?!?!" For anyone that knows Josie, she can be totally OCD (just like her Mommy, how sweet) about things and I'm sure she has it burned in her brain that she is getting a train.
2) Since she has only actually asked for two things, Russ thinks there is no harm in getting them for her. (But see my point #4 above...)
2) I found a generic train set for $30 on sale at Target...

So, this my not be as interesting a problem for all of you, but it is bothering me. So if you could offer some insight and, even better, a vote on my poll, it would be greatly appreciated!

Obama Rama!

Needless to say all the Johnson's are VERY excited about the recent election. With the big Obama rally in Grant Park in Chicago, just a few blocks from where I work, I didn't have to go to in to the office that day. So Russ, Josie and I all headed to the polls to vote together!Josie gets into the spirit before voting by dressing patriotically and kissing her Obama doll.

Since we voted in mid-morning, it was pretty much us and a bunch of old people. One woman in her 70's was so excited about voting for Obama that she asked us to take her picture in several different locations. She said she wanted to be able to prove to her grandchildren that she had voted in this historic election!

Josie was very patient while she waited for Russ and I to vote. Except for when she kept yelling "Where is Barack?!" and we had to explain that he wasn't actually there, we were just voting for him.On our way out, the older woman- who was still busy snapping pictures- took this of us with our "I voted" stickers.

Yeah, Josie's first election!

Worlds Biggest Frog

Happy Halloween!

Josie was determined to be a frog this year, so Russ and I went old-school and created a frog costume out of green clothes and felt. I was mildly humiliated, but as long as Josie could hop and say "RIBBIT!" she was psyched! Josie takes off for some intense Trick-or-Treating! Note felt "frog feet" cut out and taped on her shoes by Mom.

What a difference a year makes-- last year Josie could barely talk and could hardly get up the steps. This year she ran up to everyone's door saying "Trick or Treat! Ribbit!" She corrected a few people who thought she was a turtle, but otherwise her frog costume was a hit.

Temporarily distracted by some cool rocks...

In this picture Josie is oblivious to the HUGE trick-or-treating blunder she has just committed. Some crazy neighbor was actually giving out FULL SIZE candy bars. She had a whole bowl to choose from of king size Reese's peanut butter cups, Hershey bars and butterfingers. There was also a cup of pencils. Josie chose the PENCIL and walked away, leaving Dad and Mom in tears.

One last action shot. Josie was a trooper and made it around two full blocks! In this picture you can kind of see next year's second Johnson trick-or-treater...