Hope everyone had a good Christmas.
Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm leaving for Dallas early in the morning so I thought I'd update real quick. I wanted to post pictures but I have not pulled pictures off of my camera yet so when Greg does that for me I'll post some Christmas pictures.
We had a great Christmas with Greg's side of the family. Kayla had a lot of fun opening presents and even more fun playing with new toys. She especially liked her stacking rings and her John Deere tractor but she also loved the books and horsey balls and many other great gifts she received. Thanks to all who gave her a gift she is very spoiled. We came home from Austwell Christmas afternoon in time to see our good friend, David, who stopped by and visited for a while. Kayla had so much fun she didn't want to sleep but she is catching up on missed sleep today.
Also today was Dr. appt day for both Kayla and myself. Last week we saw a substitute Dr. who seemed concerned about her weight for her age. I really didn't think it was an issue but when a Dr. makes such a deal of something you start to wonder. I did everything she said to do for a week and today she still hadn't gained even an ounce. My Dr. and the PA both saw her today and both think that she is fine and told me not to worry about her weight. They are both impressed with her developement (doing most of the things they expect a 2 year old to do) and told me she is just an active healthy child. I was relieved to hear that so now life can get back to normal.
The good news of the day is that
we heard the fetal heartbeat today! Yay! It was 160 bpm and the Dr. is content that this is a healthy growing baby. And yesterday morning an extra little Christmas present was that I felt the baby move! I turn 35 tomorrow and it sure feels old to be pregnant with a toddler but I couldn't be more thankful.
Enjoy the end of the year and keep checking back for pictures coming soon.

Merry Christmas

We finally got our Christmas tree up and decorated. We chose to make our dining room the "Christmas room" this year since we have that room gated off and we can see it from the living room but Kayla can't get in too much trouble. All of our shopping is done except Kayla's Christmas present isn't available in our area and to have it shipped would delay it's arrival until the middle of January. We have tried buying it over the phone and having someone else pick it up for us but that hasn't worked either. Oh well, She will either have to wait for it or get something different.
Trying to make Christmas gifts this year has posed its own challenges since I thought I had the supplies and found some of them didn't work right so I have had to improvise and I'm not as happy with the results.
Christmas cards came in and now I just have to go buy the stamps and hook our printer up and print the letter to include. Maybe they'll leave here by Christmas eve but you should receive one eventually. If you don't get one we must have missed you on our mailing list, please let us know so we can add you.
We will be going to Greg's mom's in Austwell on Christmas eve and will come home on Christmas afternoon. Kayla really understands the concept of opening gifts so I'm sure this will be an exciting time for her. She has been enjoying singing Happy birthay Jesus and loves the lights and decorations.
We are 15 weeks pregnant now and both Kayla and I see the Dr. on the 26th so we'll update the medical progress then.
We wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas filled with Christs Love, this wonderful season of Celebration.

It is harder to keep this blog updated than I thought it would be. I feel as if our life activities aren't really that interesting to people but I have been getting emails asking for an update so here it goes.
We had our Christmas musical at church sunday and it turned out so well. We all really enjoyed being a part of it and it was a special day for us as we looked out into the congregation and saw a larger group of people than normal all sitting in beautiful brand new pews. God is so good!
I am nearing the 14 week mark in my pregnancy now. Some days I have less morning sickness than others and I do think it is getting less and less all the time but it is still there. I am starting to really feel pregnant. I still haven't decorated for Christmas or done the small amount of baking that I want to do. I can't even seem to get my dishes done! Hopefully today I will make great progress in getting the house cleaned because I have set aside most of the day just for that.
Greg continues to work long hours and we all seem to be exhausted by the time he gets home. Kayla has been going to bed at 7pm and some days like today is still asleep at 8am. She plays hard during the day. She is talking more and more each day. She loves to go outside and play and she has an amazing ability to find water! Her favorite activity at the park playground is to pick up gravel and put it in a cup or even better her friends Tonka dumptruck. She still loves bracelets but she also loves to be a tomboy. Animals seem to be one of her favorite things right now. Yesterday we took our big fuzzy dirty dog, Chuwy, to the groomer to have his hair shaved. The groomer wasn't able to fit all 120lbs of him into her sink so she shaved him and I brought him home and bathed him. It took up the whole day for me but it was all worth it because now I don't mind him being in the house as much. Kayla is so excited to be able to crawl all over him and I'm glad that she isn't getting dirty when she does so. Our other dog, Oscar, felt rather left out and has been bouncing around like a pingpong ball.
We hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season. It is still possible that we might get some Christmas cards out before Christmas but if not you might expect one before the New year. Maybe.

Todays Dr. appt

Well today I went in to see the Dr. for a routine pregnancy checkup. Kayla was happy to have her Grandma Johnson come and stay with her so she didn't have to go with me. Well actually I was as happy as she was because I was able to think while I talked to the Dr.
It was dissappointing that we still couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat. Dr. McLeod said that I am always stingy with sharing my baby's heartbeats with him. He wasn't worried about it and said that next time we're sure to hear it. (I think he said that last time too!). I'm 12 1/2 weeks pregnant and I can sure feel it. I have lost weight but my clothes are shrinking. The baby should be about 3" long now and looks much more human than in the beginning. I think it is interesting that the baby can now cry (silently) and can feel pain. Hands have feeling now and thumb sucking is common even at three inches long. How tiny must that little thumb be?
I will go back to the Dr. on Dec. 31st and I better hear the heartbeat then.

The Johnson household is back into fullswing activity this week with appointments and committments everyday. Greg has been working long hours. Even our 4 month old calf has been busy turning all the water faucets on. I guess its time for her to join the herd of horses. That will keep her busy for sure.
This week we are busy preparing for our Christmas musical at church that we will perform sunday morning. We have worked long and hard at it and we are excited because we will also have new carpet and pews in our church by this sunday. If you live in the area be sure to come watch this sunday at 11am.

I think its naptime for a worn out 16 month old sitting next to me so I'm off to get her to bed and who knows I might take a nap myself.

Puppy Love

Aren't they cute?

yummy thanksgiving dinner

Finally getting around to posting pictures from Thanksgiving. Kayla thought the feast was Very yummy! I'll try to get more pictures posted tomorrow. It is late tonight but I wanted to post while I was thinking of it. I'll post some pictures of Kayla with the puppy soon so stay tuned!

Tomorrow we will be 12 weeks pregnant and all is going great. Last week Kayla, Mommy and Daddy all had the stomach flu so we weren't much fun but this week we hope to get back to our adventures.

It has been a week since I posted anything and I keep thinking I'll get our Thanksgiving pictures onto the computer and I planned to post some pictures but instead I'll just say that we had a great Thanksgiving with the Johnson family. Kayla had fun entertaining everyone and she really had fun playing with her cousins new puppy. She didn't get to join the rest of us in a game that afternoon but she did really enjoy all the good food. The love of rolls that my family (The Goodall/Dickey family) has grown to expect during holiday dinners is now becoming a favorite in Greg's family too. My rolls may not be as good as my mom's rolls were but my nephew, Frank, makes sure to assure me that they are an important part of our meal. I'm glad because I can't imagine not having them. We ate about 60 rolls between the 9 of us! (we'll all have to be good between now and Christmas so we can eat rolls again).
I am 11 weeks pregnant now and according to my reading material the baby is now the size of a plum. I thought I could report that my morning sickness had gone away but I'm afraid that isn't completely true. I am feeling better than I was and Kayla having the stomach flu was no help so maybe now that we are over that things will improve.
I'll try to get pictures posted soon so keep checking, I'll try no to go so long between posts.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We are thankful for each and every one of you. We hope your Thanksgiving is a day filled with blessings and good memories.

9 1/2 weeks pregnant

Well this morning was our Dr. appt for both the pregnancy and Kayla's 15 month exam. Kayla is doing great and only needed one shot which was nice. I am also doing good other than a lot of morning sickness so the Dr. gave me a prescription for phenergan so hopefully I'll become more useful again and won't just lay in bed trying to survive all day each day. I had hoped to hear a heartbeat which is possible this early but I guess it is still too early. Dr. said in 3weeks he's pretty sure we'll hear it then. Baby has reflexes now and is breathing amniotic fluid into and out of the lungs. Even though only about the size of a grape, arms and legs are free moving and elbows alow baby to suck a thumb even at this age. I can't wait til next visit when we hope to hear the heartbeat. Thanks to all who have been praying for us. We love each and every one of you.

Kayla looks like a little Morgan horse in this one

She's having fun being horse for a night

Last night we let Kayla dress up in her halloween costume that she couldn't wear on Halloween because she was sick. We went across the street and let her play in the grass. She had so much fun. She did everything but whinnie (lol). People driving by wondered what kind of animal we were playing with out there. We thought this was a cute costume of course. But the little girl wearing it is the cutest!

Kayla is training her pony

Whew! Today I am feeling MUCH better than I have in a few days. I have been incredibly sick and I honestly can't decide how much of it is morning sickness and how much is a stomach bug combined with a cold. Kayla is doing much better also and our sores have almost healed. I'm so glad we got started on good medicine. Kayla is jabbering constantly now I wish I could interpret her stories because I'm sure they are quite interesting : ). Last night Greg was good Daddy and took Kayla to the ball field to play with her dodge ball. Kayla had so much fun, mostly running from fence to fence but she did throw the ball a time or two. I thought all that running and playing would help her go to sleep early but that didn't happen. Poor Kayla has quite the yeast rash from all the antibiotics she is on and that kept her awake for a while. I was still not feeling so good but I did manage to get enough energy to make chicken and rice soup. Kayla has gotten quite spoiled with all the pudding, yogurt and other sweet treats she gets to eat her medicine in so she didn't eat much soup, But Greg and I did.


It amazes me that we are in week 8 of the pregnancy now. Our little baby has elbows now and has functioning kidneys. I don't have another Dr. appt for the pregnancy until the 15th and most likely I will have an early ultrasound done soon after that. We won't find out sex yet but we will be able to get good measurements to check on babys health etc.


We are in the month of thanksgiving and we have so many things to thank the Lord for and we want all of you to know that we Thank God for giving us friends like you.


Take care we'll be back soon.

The drama continues! My energy level is low right now maybe because of the headcold that I was gifted with or maybe because I have spent so much time at the Dr. office and taking care of Kayla but anyways the long story made short is:
I called the Dr. yesterday because Kaylas sores were multiplying and I was concerned. I asked if the culture results were in and was told that the preliminary results were but not the final results. They told me the Dr. would call in a prescription topical for Kayla. I went today to pick it up and what I got were two prescriptions for me of oral bactrim that the Dr. had told me I couldn't take at this stage of pregnancy. I was confused so I went straight to the Dr. office. I ended up seeing the PA not as an appt but just as she was between rooms and she saw me there and asked how I was. (I felt bad to bother her but I was desperate and she said she didn't mind). She looked at Kaylas sores and agreed with me that they looked just like ringworm. She called the pharmacy and told them that the medicine I had just picked up was a mistake and asked the phamacy if I could return them. They said I couldn't return them and told her they only cost $8 and anyone could afford that. (The PA wasn't impressed with that attitude). She gave Kayla an oral medicine as well as a topical and also gave me a topical that is safe for pregnancy. The walmart pharmacy didn't have the oral medicine for Kayla but another pharmacy in town had it so I was glad about that just exhausted and not feeling well and I didn't want to deal with it today. Greg was a great help. I arranged to miss sunday school and church tomorrow because I don't want to spread ringworm. This is like a nightmare! Hopefully vitamins, hot lemon water and oranges will help my cold since I can't take anything for it. Kayla is feeling good and has shown us some of her new climbing moves today. I'm not as excited about them as she is. Her balance is amazing I know I couldn't stand on the back of the couch the way she does but my heart gets weaker everytime I see it. The last time I caught her trying it she saw me and quicly slid down (that alone is scary to watch) as she ran to the other end of the room she said "no no no no no no no" Please pray that her ringworm spots heal quickly with the new medicine. Her smile still melts my heart so even in the midst of sickness my days are filled with Joy and excitement.

Before anyone panics the miniblind cord is safely out of reach now : )

Kayla came out of her sickness FULL THROTTLE! She is running, climbing, talking and jabbering. Her sense of humor is back and you can't even tell she is the same child that just layed around miserable for two days. She is willing to take her medicine when I mix it with pudding. I tried giving her last nights medicine in Jello and, well lets just say that we went straight to the bathtub without knowing how much she actually ingested. We won't even talk about my floor and ME!
I am absolutely exhausted! I feel like I haven't slept in weeks but I have slept well. My sores seem to be healing which is making them itch even worse but at least they are shrinking. I remember being tired in the early stages of pregnancy with Kayla but I had forgotten how drained I really was. Hopefully today will bring some rest and I'll feel refreshed and ready to go again tomorrow.

Today I took Kayla to the Dr. for her followup visit. She still had a fever of 100.6 even with the ibuprofen and tylenol she has been receiving. She still doesn't feel well. The Dr. put her on antibiotics (bactrum). She doesn't like the flavor of the new medicine or the motrin so I put it in Jello tonight and when it was all gone she looked in the empty container and started sobbing. I was so disappointed that I didn't get to take her to the Fall festival at church tonight. Her Grandma came over to see her and I went ahead and put her in her adorable costume and she just cried so I took it off without even a picture. When she is feeling better I'll get a good picture to post. We stayed home and handed out candy and tracts. Kayla really had fun seeing all the trick or treaters. Greg went to the church and worked at the festival. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day for us we are ready for a break from all this stuff.

My blood draw at the hospital went well and the results were reassuring. I don't have to see the Dr. for 2 weeks but I'm still not sure what all this means. I'm thankful that the bloodwork was good today. I was looking foreward to a relaxing day at home after my Dad, Julia and the Gapens left for Arizona but that didn't really happen.
Seems Kayla decided it was her turn to go visit the Dr. so after watching her suffer from fever all day I took her to the Dr. I was hoping the tylenol and motrin was going to fix the problem so I could stay home and relax but she still had a fever at 4pm so I took her in. Then from there it was off to the hospital for tests. On the way to the hospital poor little Kayla started vomiting so that slowed our trip and I stopped at home to give her clean clothes and wash her carseat. She seemed to feel much better and after the tests were completed at the hospital she finally got to sleep. She woke up later in a much happier mood so hopefully she is over her "bug". I take her to the Dr. for a followup visit tomorrow.
She is now sound asleep and I'm thinking that would be a good place to be myself. I'll update as I get new news.
We are so thankful for all of you that are praying for us and supporting us. You are all very important to us.

This has been a very busy week for us. Kayla has had a great time showing off for her Grandad Goodall, Grandma Julia and our other guests, Virginia, Cliff, Nancy and Karen! We have gone to Corpus Christi and watched all the marine life at the TX state aquarium, We have had BBQs at the town lake and much much more.

Today should mark the 7th week of pregnancy for us if our due date is correct. There is some concern about some bloodwork that was taken on friday so we appreciate all your prayers as we wait to learn more. Today at the Dr. Office many attempts were made to get some of my blood into the little tube but none were successful. Not even a drop of blood was found so tomorrow morning I am headed to the hospital to let the experts try. My Dr. will meet with me there at the hospital once the results are completed. I'll try to update this site once I know something. I am thankful that Grandad is willing to put off leaving tomorrow morning until I get home so Kayla doesn't have to go with me to my appt.

That was a yummy Nana can I have more?

6 weeks

Well today we are at the 6 week mark! It seems so far away yet I know that before we know it we will be holding our new little one in our arms. This baby that is only about 1/4 inch long is forming lungs and brain tissue. The heart is already beating around 100-160 beats per minute. That is just amazing to me.
I don't know how often I'll update this blog but I'll try to update it each week if not more often.
Kayla has finally caught up on some of her sleep from the weekend chaos. She thinks all food is "nana" which translates to bananna but today I offered her a cracker and she pointed to the banannas on the cupboard and said "no, NANA!" Yes they are definitely her favorite food and we almost have to hide them after she has had her daily fill.
In just a couple days Kayla will get to share her home with her Grandad Goodall, Grandma Julia and the Gapens (friends of Grandads). I'm sure she'll have a great time being the center of attention for a while.
Thanks to everyone who has emailed us their congrats. We always enjoy hearing from all of you.

Things are going pretty well so far other than the fact that I can't eat early in the morning without feeling sick. I can't not eat either! Really the trick is that I have to eat a little bit very slowly and sit up for a few minutes before I get too active. All I have wanted for breakfast lately is gingersnaps. I have never ever craved them, bought them or even eaten many of them but for some reason they are the thing right now. It is pretty neat to think that right now this little baby's organs are forming and the heart is dividing into chambers and beginning to pump blood. There is nothing more precious than having a tiny life forming inside of you.
Kayla is already used to the idea of hearing that there is a baby inside of mommy. If asked to kiss the baby she kisses my belly. She'll have a very long time to get used to the idea of a new baby.
Kayla's week has been filled with activities. She is handling our busy schedule quite well. Today we spent the day at her Grandma Johnsons house with her cousins, Abby and Frank and Uncle Gordon and Aunt Lee Ann. We made a birthday cake and celebrated Grandmas birthday. We got to have a picnic at the Aransas Wildlife Refuge and walk out on the peer and look out of the slats at the bay water. Kayla definitely had fun on the peer. Then back at Grandmas house while everyone else cleaned and hauled things to the dump, Kayla got to explore Grandmas toy boxes, that was fun too but the best part of the whole day was eating birthday cake. I think a goodnights sleep and a bath will be quite inviting to this busy little toddler tonight!
I'm trying to post a picture with this blog but can't get it to work. Eventually I'll learn how to run this blog for now you'll have to be patient with me.

5 weeks 2 days pregnant and no morning sickness

Welcome to our blog. This blog will be the log of what is happening in the life of Greg, Linda, Kayla and our new baby that is due on June 17, 2008. We confirmed our news today at the Dr. office and we are excited to announce that Kayla will get to be a big sister. I'm not sure she knows what changes she is about to endure but she's about to enter the adventure. For now this blog will be a pregnancy blog as well as a blog of all Kayla's adventures. Thanks for visiting and please comment and share in our joy as a family.