Five!

Happy 5th Birthday, Cameron! We'll have to celebrate when Malcolm and I come and visit you in San Diego in September :D

Aaaahhhh...Brief Relief

For those of you that watch the news, you've probably heard that Seattle experienced a record high in temperatures this week. Since many of you live in areas of the country that get hot like this every summer, you may be thinking, "When it gets into the 100's around here, I just stay inside." Well, that only works if you have air conditioning which few places in the PNW have. Our good friend, Julie, recently had central AC installed in her house. She just so happened to have a portable AC unit that was going unused that she is letting us borrow. We thought about buying a couple of window units but not until there were no AC units to be found. Thanks to the generosity of Julie, we've been able to sleep.

This morning, I awoke to temperatures in the low 60's. I opened every window and currently have goosebumps from being chilled. It is glorious. The temperatures are expected to be in the high 80's/low 90's later today, so we're enjoying this while we can.

Hot.

Hot.Hot.HotHotHot.Hot.

HOT.

Mal's First Camping Trip

This past weekend, we went on a much anticipated camping trip. It had been 3 years since we had camped last and I've missed it. I found a great deal on a huge tent that Tony thinks is too big. Our other tent was fine for the 2 of us but would have been too crowded for 3 (soon to be 4). We also got Malcolm his own sleeping bag and camping chair that he loves.

I packed up our car Friday afternoon and we picked Tony up from work and headed north. We decided to camp at a campground that we'd been to previously and also try a hike that Tony & friends had done but I missed out on due to my back seizing up. Our trip there took quite a bit longer due to our first car sickness incident (yuck!) and me missing our turn and driving waaaay too long before realizing it. But, we made it there and our friend, Eric, had already arrived and started a fire. Adrianne & Natalie showed up an hour or so after us and we settled in for the night. Although Malcolm loved playing in the tents at REI, he wasn't so sure about sleeping in one that night. After finally falling asleep, he only woke up once during the night.

On Saturday, we headed up to the North Cascade Trail a bit before lunchtime:




We have a backpack carrier for Malcolm that Tony carried him in for most of the way. Mal loved going 'up up in the air' as we climbed. After about 2 miles, Malcolm decided that he'd had enough so The Johnstons headed back down while the rest continued on the trail. We now know the limit for hiking distances with Malcolm at this age. Tony also discovered that it's a lot more work carrying a toddler on your back.

Back at camp, Malcolm spent most of his time throwing rocks which is one of his favorite things to do. We had a tough time keeping him out of the fire pit (when there was no fire going, of course). In the early evening, a fellow camper was walking around with his 3.5 year-old son and he and Malcolm ended up playing for a couple of hours. I think that might of been the highlight of the trip for Mal. He had a much easier time going to sleep that night but had a hard time staying asleep due to the cold and his insistence of not sleeping with covers. He ended up sleeping with us which meant I slept really poorly that night.

We spend Sunday morning having a leisurely breakfast and took our time packing up camp. It was really great to get out in the mountains and spend time together as a family and get to hang out with good friends. We can't wait to do it again.

Welcome, Trekell Boys!

This morning, my fabulous friend, Jill, gave birth to her twin boys; one naturally and the other via c-section. We're glad you are finally here, Max and Alex! I hope to meet them later this afternoon.

My 'friends who are pregnant' list is dwindling quickly. No one else has announced a pregnancy since me. Right now, I have 6 local friends who are pregnant (not including me). I have three friends who are trying to conceive so I'm hoping they'll have news soon.

Babies!

A Quick Hello

All is well in Johnston Land. Not much new to report. I've been plagued with daily headaches and try to avoid taking Tylenol too often since it can be bad for your liver. We've been busy going to play dates and whatnot. Today, my goal is to clean & pull out our camping gear to take inventory. It's now 1:15 PM and I have yet to lift a finger. I blame the headache.

Comparison at 13 Weeks

Here is my belly at 13 weeks:


Looks very similar to this, no?


Guess how far along I am in that second picture when I was pregnant with Malcolm...21 weeks.

Ugh.

I broke out the maternity clothes this weekend. Sad face.

Father's Day

A few weekends ago, we went on a family bike ride. The city closes the street by Lake Washington on Sundays during the summer so bike riders can ride without worry of cars to and from Seward Park. I bought a new bike last summer but haven't ridden it often because Malcolm hated the trailer. I finally got around to selling it and I bought an iBert bike seat to replace it. He LOVES the seat. Tony had bought Chris' old bike from him a few years ago and had yet to ride it before that day.

We had a great time on the bike ride but Tony hated his bike. So, for Father's Day, I got him a new bike (he picked it out). We went on a bike ride to Seward Park; it's this gorgeous park that is just a few miles away from our house. Malcolm loves to sit by the shore and throw rocks into the water. He loves it so much that he throws a big fit every time it's time to leave. Here are a couple of pictures:





We'll be doing the family bike rides for as long as I can manage. Tony is loving his bike so much that he's planning on father/son rides once biking becomes too much for me. He's also eager to get out without me because apparently I ride too slow. Can you blame me? I'm freaking pregnant and carting around a toddler on my bike!

I've also been taking Malcolm out on the bike a few times during the week. We'll bike to the park and to the Farmer's Market. I get stopped constantly by other parents asking me about his seat :)

Atlanta

It seems almost silly posting about our trip to Atlanta 3 weeks after the fact, but I said I would and I'm not one to go back on her word. I'm going to do a short recap.

My awesome friend, Betsy, got married to her awesome girlfriend, Sarah, in Costa Rica a couple of months ago. We could not attend the ceremony for a variety of reasons. They decided to celebrate with all of their friends and family who could not attend the wedding during the last weekend of May in Atlanta. We packed up our bags and got on a plane and went.

We spent our trip hanging out with a bunch of really great people. Kik and Amy came up from Tampa and I actually got to see some peeps from Tallahassee for like, 10 minutes. We also got to hang out with my old friend, Keely, and her 2 daughters. Malcolm still talks about Tuesday (Keely's 4-year-old).

It was a lovely family vacation. Every time I get to hang out with my southern friends, I want to move back just so I can do it a lot more often. Here are some pictures:

After dinner on our last night there:


Malcolm and Tuesday walking in the park:


To see the rest of the pictures, go here.

Results - Thumbs Up!

We got the results from the tests run earlier this week and everything came back negative which is a Very Good Thing. There is no indication of Down's Syndrome or Spina Bifida. For those of you that don't know, the risks of these two things increases an enormous amount once you reach the age 35.

We've been keeping busy with play dates galore. I purposely didn't schedule anything today so I could have a bit of downtime and a few minutes to clean up the house in preparation for tomorrow morning's play date. It's raining on and off today which is wonderful - we needed it very much! Our garden has been a little neglected - there is much to harvest. I harvested the broccoli last night since it looked like it was about to bloom. We'll be noshing on that all weekend. I hope to get out in the garden this afternoon to pull up the broccoli stumps and make room for the zucchini. I also have a ton of kale that needs to be harvested.

A Bee

Here's a little profile of the occupant in my uterus. And no, the technician wasn't even going to try and tell the sex of the baby. Everything looks good so far. At one point during the ultrasound, Malcolm pointed to the monitor and said, "Bee!" We were going to call the occupant 'Jellybean', but now I think it must be 'Bee'.

Checking In

Hi. I'm here. A little tired from lack of sleep. OK, maybe a lot tired. We went to Atlanta last weekend for a little family vacation to visit friends and had good times. I will post pictures sometime in the future.

Pregnancy update: Haven't really had any nausea and my food aversions are pretty much gone. I've started cooking again and buying food which has been nice. My energy is up a little bit but I'm still not pushing myself too hard. Some days it's very difficult not to because, well, the house is not going to clean itself. I have my first doctor's appointment next Thursday and have genetic counseling and ultrasound on the 15th.

Only 30 more weeks to go! Ha.

Comparison

Here's my belly when I was around 7 weeks pregnant with Malcolm:


And now, here's my belly around 8 weeks pregnant with #2:


I already can't fit into most of my pants & skirts and my t-shirts ride up my belly.

Could it be twins?

Dear Energy, I Miss You

Malcolm loves going to the Kid's Corner at the YMCA. He asks for it. Unfortunately, I have had a very hard time mustering up the motivation to work out. When people are usually low on energy, exercise helps except when you are low on energy due to pregnancy. I took him to the gym a couple of times this week and totally took it easy; all I did was bike & walk on the treadmill. It killed my energy for the rest of the day.

I think it's time for me to start doing some menu planning. I've had a terrible time figuring out what to cook for dinner the past couple of weeks because the thought of all food nauseates me. I talked to some of my other pregnant friends to see what they do since this seems to be a problem for every woman when pregnant - they make the standard favorites of the family and *try* to eat it but if they can't, no big deal. Now I need to get off my butt and start the planning.

What did pregnant women eat before cereal was invented?

What I'm Reading

I am fully aware that by the end of the year, I will have very little time to myself. One thing I'm going to do my best not to give up is reading. Right now, I go to bed a little early so I can read in bed for 30 minutes (rarely do I make it that long). I'm currently engrossed in Under The Banner of Heaven and In Defense of Food. I've also started reading Eat, Pray, Love, but it's not grabbed my interest very much. I've been a bigger fan of non-fiction lately; I just haven't read any great fiction recently.

So hey! Happy Belated Mother's Day! Mine kinda sucked. I spent most of it in bed feeling exhausted and nauseous. Bland food is my only friend. Tony gave me the best gift - he took care of Malcolm all day so I could rest. He also got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

First Trimester Blues

Gestation is wearing me out, folks. I am TIRED. I don't have the energy to do all of the cleaning that needs to be done. I don't have the energy to take Malcolm out as often as I should. I drink more caffeine than I probably should. I don't remember it being this bad when I was pregnant with Malcolm, but I have a feeling that it was.

The one difference between my first pregnancy and this pregnancy is the nausea. With Mal, I experienced more food aversions than nausea. Very few foods appealed to me. As of right now, I'm having no problem eating, but I am experiencing a lot more nausea. I'm not actually throwing up thank goodness. Also, when I got pregnant with Malcolm, I lost 7 pounds. This time, I've already gained 5. I should admit that my starting weight this time around was 10 pounds less than the first time around, so I'm sure that makes a difference.

Updated Pregnancy List

One of the Ericas had her baby a couple of weeks ago, so she's off the list. Instead of just adding one more person to the list, there are two to add:

Erika
Jill
Chandra
Lisa
Kristin
Shana
Tiffany
Olga
Vaishali
ME!

For those of you that don't already know, I'm pregnant! Tony & I just started trying and it happened right away. If all goes well, we'll have a new little one shortly after Christmas. I guess we know where we'll be spending this winter holiday this year...

Chirp! Chirp!

Our lovely spring weather is about to turn into our typical spring weather...the day Dad & Carolyn arrive. My back is giving me much grief and I cannot clean the house properly before they get here. I know they don't really mind, but I do. Tony stayed home from work today to help me out with Malcolm & to drive me to the chiropractor's office later this afternoon. Let's hope she's able to adjust something to help me mend. My back has been messed up for a week now :(

The Box

My mom sent me a waffle maker for my birthday (thanks again, Mom!) and Malcolm had a blast playing in the box. It reminded me of stories my parents would tell of me and Jenn playing in boxes as kids. Here's a little clip:

Happy Birthday to Me!

There is a long list of things I should be doing right now during Mal's nap time, but instead I'm posting here. Procrastination!

I took Malcolm to the aquarium this morning; it was the first time he'd been since he was way little. He loves fishies. The crowds of school kids on field trips was overwhelming. Tony bought us a membership for my Christmas present. I'm going to try and take Mal there at least once a month.

To celebrate my birthday, we're going out to dinner tonight and having a few friends over later. I should be cleaning and getting the house ready for guests. It's very hard to clean house with a toddler constantly messing it up :)