New family pets

Kayla is really having fun with our new pets, Molly and Dolly. They serve two very important purposes: weedeating and entertaining Kayla. They were given to us today and Kayla had so much fun picking grass for them and following them around the pasture.

More Kayla pictures just for fun

Kayla loves to clap
and she loves flowers. Getting her to stand by her cousins for a picture doesn't always work out.

Easter

Kayla loves flowers. This is Kayla with her cousin, Abby.
Kayla with Abby and Frank at the Easter sunrise service we went to. Abby and Frank are Kayla's only first cousins.

I survived the day whew!

What a day the Johnson home had today! It started with my early morning Dr. appt which I barely got to on time. I didn't completely understand what was in store for me at my appt with the sugar test but I survived drinking the terrible tasting sugar drink and getting my finger pricked twice to check my sugar levels. I knew my levels would be good and they were amazed at how good they were so that was a relief. My wait was a little long and my appointment went well. I have gained 3lbs this whole pregnancy which my Dr. is very happy with. I was instructed to slow down and lay down more often which will be a challenge. I am now scheduled to see the Dr. every 2 weeks for the remainder of the pregnancy.
Now we'll skip a bunch of other junk that happened and move right on to the point when I was home and just ready to lay Kayla down for her nap so I too could get some rest. It happened so quickly that I couldn't prevent Kayla from climbing the book shelves and managing to pull one shelf over onto herself! The empty shelf landed on her nose right between the eyes leaving a big mark. The mark was the least of my worries because she immediately started bleeding through her nose and throwing up. It was a bit scary but after some calm down and cleanup time and some conversations with the PA at my second home (Dr. office) Kayla seems fine. I had to keep her from napping all afternoon and watch her which made my afternoon incredibly stressful. Hopefully tomorrow will go a little smoother and I am praying Kayla doesn't end up with a black eye or two for Easter!

Easter egg hunt

Today Kayla got to hunt Easter eggs at playgroup. She would find an egg and immediately open it and throw the egg shell and start trying to eat the candy right through the wrapper. I was so busy keeping Kayla from eating candy wrappers that I didn't get any pictures of her hunting eggs but I did get pictures of her inspecting her eggs : ) After the egg hunt they got to eat a cookie and make a craft. I didn't get pictures of craft time but I did get pictures of snack time and here they are. She loves playgroup.

Another ear infection

Well Kayla completed a full course of Amoxicillin for her double ear infection discovered on Feb. 28th and seemed much better but now is sick again. I took her to the Dr. this morning and found out she has another double ear infection. It is possible the first one never healed completely but the Dr. thinks its likely that this is a whole new infection caused by a whole new strain. There are a lot of respiratory sickness going around right now so who knows.
Kayla did have a good week. Playgroup is always her favorite activity of the week and we went to that wed. morning then when we got home Grandma Johnson was here for a visit so Kayla had double fun that day.
Thursday was a particularly bad day for me. I was sore and tired and just not up to par! I got almost nothing accomplished that day and then that night Kayla stayed awake half the night and woke up at 4:30 am friday (obviously because her ears hurt). I felt much better friday and spent the whole day running errands and making neccessary phone calls. I managed to accomplish about half of my agenda that day ; ).
We did find out that we are definitely insured now with health coverage. I'm not sure how good the coverage is but its better than none.
Greg started a new job on Wed. at Warm Springs in Victoria. He really likes the job so far and they made an agreement to pay for our Cobra until the insurance with that company kicks in about June 15th or so. I am very happy that he is at this new job that is closer to home and offers better benefits.
I must go now and see about baking a pie for tomorrow evenings pie baking contest at church.

Busy week

Well, This has been an incredible busy week for us. Kayla finished her ear infection antibiotics today and is doing great. Last night she squealed with great surprise when her Grandad Goodall, Grandma Julia and Uncle Frank showed up at our house. Tonight when we were all getting out of the truck and Grandma Julia got out before Kayla she got very concerned and kept yelling "Grandma, Grandma Grandma!". We missed getting to see Grandma Johnson today when we went to Victoria. Kayla is pretty attached to all her Grandparents and also spoiled by them. In a couple days our house will seem empty when Grandad Goodall and crew leave us to head back to AZ.
I walked into the room the other night where Kayla was playing and Kayla screamed with excitement and started babbling wildly. She must have woke baby Eric up because from inside my womb I felt some incredibly strong kicks and tumbles that lasted for a few minutes. this surprised me because Eric had been so quiet before I walked into that noisy room. We are at 26 weeks now and June is coming quickly. I am feeling pregnancy pretty strong now and am not looking foreward to my physical weakness to come in the next couple months. I am already starting to avoid lifting Kayla because she seems so much heavier than she used to.
A new changing table is our first big purchase in preparation for the birth and I can't wait because it will have dresser drawers as part of the unit and I will be able to start putting away all our little boy things. I'll try to keep the updates coming but I don't expect things to slow down now before delivery. Soon I'll be decorating for VBS at church and decorating one side of the nursery for Eric. Kayla is 19 months now and says more words than I can count and is incredible agile so she keeps me running at all waking hours. Sorry for such an unorganized post but this is what I have for an update today.

Need prayer for friends

Things are going ok for our family even though Kayla has a double ear infection. Kayla is on meds and will heal quickly I'm sure but we have some close friends who are going through some tough times so we would like to ask all of you to pray for these families.

Wayne and Patsy Russell are close friends here in Cuero, in fact most of you know that I call Patsy my Cuero Mom! Wed. their house caught fire and is pretty much a complete loss! I'm sure this is especially difficult for them because they were already going through a tough time dealing with some serious health issues. Patsy is on Kidney dialysis and is on a special diet. They are currently staying with Patsy's mom. Please pray that we will know how to support them and that they will have peace during this tragic time.

Some close friends of mine in Page, AZ have been struggling the past few months. Teaia in her 20's and diabetic just gave birth to a premature little boy in January. Teaia fought for her life through the whole pregnancy before baby Elijah was delivered via C section in attempt to save her life. Baby Elijah is doing well but Teaia passed away thursday morning from pnemonia. Please pray for her parents, Steve and Joanne and for my great friend Donnalee who is her Aunt as well as other family members and especially pray for Baby Elijah. I don't know many details yet but hope to find out more soon.

We appreciate your prayers and we know that God will work in any way we allow him to work for his Glory in these situations even though they seem so incredibly bleak to us at this time.