Long Overdue

Ok, ok, I know it's been way too long. The last few weeks have been busy, but I really have no excuse. So, to start things off, we successfully navigated the road back from Texas to our cozy home in Orem. By "we" I mean "me" because Kate and Kennedy flew directly from San Antonio to St. George (courtesy of Johnson airlines, thanks Jer!) while I drove the 1,200 miles all by my lonesome. The drive really wasn't too bad, so I can't complain.

Erin is the one in blue. Her husband also did an internship with USAA and I was in the same class with him over the past year of school. We all became good friends over the summer and Erin was kind enough to fly with Kate and Kennedy then meet up with her family and husband in Las Vegas. She is also expecting soon, so I guess it worked out good for both.

Despite being totally nuts going out to Texas this summer and having a baby, we are really glad we did it. Who knows, maybe we'll move back next summer for a more long-term commitment.

Upon my arrival in St. George, I found this:

and this:

She's already got them wrapped around her miniscule finger.

Grandma Barb and Grandpa Kerry held a lovely barbeque in honor of Kennedy to introduce her to more of the Johnson side of the family. Here she is meeting her cousin Arden:

After taking those, I kinda forgot about the camera and didn't take any more pictures during the BBQ. However, to my delight I did find a few gems similar to this on there afterwards:

For those of you who don't recognize the face, that is my foolish, unshaven and elder brother Andy.

We had some car troubles while we were in St. George and ended up staying an extra day, which was good because we needed to take Kennedy to see grandma and grandpa great (Muir). It's a good thing we did too, because grandma elicited what we believe were some non-gassy smiles out of Kennedy and I had the camera handy.

We are glad to be home, and despite the fact that we are still dealing with unpacking all of our boxes, things are going great. We missed Utah.

Closing in

  The end is near. This is the last week of my internship and we will be heading home sometime soon after. Kennedy is doing good. She's been a little more difficult to photograph over the last week or so, and so the pickings are slim. However, I did manage to snap this one the other day. She makes the funniest faces all the time.

I almost forgot about this one. Do you see what a mischievous sister I have? I had to constantly watch that feedbag of hers to make sure it wasn't moving, especially when it came time to leave.

                

Our Family is Flippin' Awesome

Ok, so I know that we shouldn't brag but we really have a fantastic family and I just have to let them know it. Also, I understand that when you have a 10-day old, you aren't supposed to be able to utter anything other than "I feel like a zombie" or something, but we had a really great week. First of all, Grandma Rose has been here since the day after Kennedy was born and she has been such a great blessing to us. She's sacrificed a good deal of sleep and energy to help us adjust to parenthood and we can't imagine how we would have survived this first while without her. We will really miss her when she leaves on Tuesday. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

To add to the amazing spoiling that Grandma Rose has been showering us with, Grandma Barb and Auntie Piglet came to visit on Thursday. They spoiled us rotten up until the very minute that they left today and we are really missing them now. We really enjoyed their company and their help and we seriously can't say enough about how awesomely thoughtful they are. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So you'd think that we really couldn't have it any better, but you would be mistaken. Late Friday night (Saturday morning actually) Grandpa Jim flew in to San Antonio and surprised us! He could only stay for the morning but we were really happy to see him, Kennedy was talking about him all afternoon. Thank you for coming!

Kennedy is doing really well and she even lets us sleep for long stretches at night. She is so awesome, and makes me laugh all the time with the funny things she does. Everyone that came this week commented on how small she is. I guess our pictures make her look like a chunk, but she is quite petite, at least for now...

Thanks again to everybody that came to visit. We will be coming home in a couple weeks to see the rest of you.

Sunday Dress

                       

For Grandma Barb

My apologies for the poor lighting. I just figured out how to get the videos off the camera and compatible with the blog. More to come...

Welcome Kennedy

We are proud to present to you the newest member of the family:

Kennedy Rose Johnson.

She was born at 1:31pm Central Standard Time at St. Luke's Baptist Hospital. She weighed in at 8lbs 3oz, and measures 19.5 inches.


Kate did an absolutely amazing job, seriously, it was awesome. She went into labor at about 7:00am but wasn't sure if it was the real deal so she sent me to work. Two hours later, I was on my way back home. She labored at home for 45min before we had our doula come over. The doula checked kate and she was dialated to a 5 (she told us 3 so it wouldn't scare Kate) and we headed to the hospital post haste. Upon arrival, there were no rooms available, so she went through a few contractions in the lobby while they got a room ready. 15 minutes later, we were in triage and she was dialated to a 6. another 20 min later and we were in the delivery room. at that point Kate was checked again, and she was at a 10. They made a quick call to the doctor (who luckily is in the office building connected to the hospital) and got ready for delivery.


Not so fast, baby wasn't coming out just yet. Kate pushed like a champ for over an hour and baby finally arrived. Kate planned on, and accomplished her goal of an unmedicated birth and I am totally amazed at how tough she is.


After delivery, Kate had a somewhat shaky afternoon, she lost a pretty good amount of blood and wasn't able to go to the bathroom without fainting. So she is taking it really easy right now. I followed baby to the nursery and gave her a bath and now, a few hours later, we are finally catching our breath and enjoying time together as a family. It was a total whirlwind, and such a humbling, amazing experience. Thanks to all of our wonderful family and friends who have been such a great support to us!

Worthless Update

Unfortunately, there is nothing to update you with. Baby is a few days overdue now, despite what that countdown clock on the left says. We are going running tonight, then jumping on a trampoline, and maybe a jeep ride all whilst Kate downs a large jar of jalepenos and polishes it off with a gallon of castor oil.

Here are some recent belly shots for your viewing pleasure:

40 Weeks

                        

39 Weeks

                       

35 Weeks

                        

34 Weeks