The Mystery Has Been Solved!

We drove to Temple this evening to "reveal" Baby J's gender to our family in person.  Kim & Kirby were kind enough to host our gathering on The Porch.  In attendance were Mary Helen, Tyler, Pat, Melissa, Sally, Lee, Jenna, Kim, Kirby, Nelwyn, Eldo, Tanner, Betsy, Alana, Jerry, Jana, Natalie and Lance.  It was such a fun evening!  We made everyone wait in suspense during our dinner (pizza & salad) before we cut into the mystery cake to reveal if we would be having a baby boy or girl...

On our way down to Temple from Dallas, my very creative husband came up with an idea for an activity that would entertain everyone while we ate dinner.  Yes, Tyler is much more creative than I am.  He tends to remind me that he was Art Student of the Year at Bonham Middle School two years in a row quite often!  I loved his idea, so we stopped at the Temple Target and bought a game of Scrabble.  We then placed the letters to the baby's first, middle and last name, along with a few extras to make it fun, into a bag.  Tyler placed the bag on the coffee table and let them have at it during dinner!  A few people came close to guessing the correct name, but no one got it exactly right.  They did guess the middle name correctly though.


The icing inside the cake was either pink or blue to reveal the gender...

It's A Boy!!!

We revealed the name to everyone afterwards...

Carter Lee Johnson

Doesn't he sound like such a gentleman already?!?!

We could not have asked for a more fun evening.  I would love to do this for each child that we have!  We even enjoyed keeping the secret for a few days in order to build up the anticipation, although it was hard not to accidentally let it out.  I knew it would be hard especially for me not to tell Sally and I slipped during one of our conversations on Thursday and said "his room" to her, but played it off like it was no big deal.  Well...she heard me, but didn't say anything until Friday night after we cut the cake.  She was right all along, but my big mouth confirmed it for her a little early.  It is hard to keep something so special from your twin sister for 3 days!!!

Thank you to everyone for making this such a special evening!  We cannot wait for Carter to meet all of you!

Introducing...

Below is an email that went out to our friends & family earlier this evening.

We are excited to announce that we are having a baby...


BOY

Tyler and I are beyond thrilled and wanted to share the big news with all of our wonderful friends & family! Our ultrasound and doctor appointment was actually on Tuesday, but we waited to announce the gender until we could tell our family in person, which we were able to do this evening in Temple. Our due date is still February 2nd.


We have also decided on a name for our precious child...

Carter Lee Johnson

He will share a middle name with his daddy. Thank you for your continued prayers and support during this special time in our lives! We appreciate all of you so much.


Blessings,
Mary Helen & Tyler

One down, two to go!

Now that I am 14 weeks, I am through the first trimester and onto the second!  Here are a few shots and notes from my first few weeks.  I was not very "disciplined" about taking the pictures, so I only have a few.  I promise to be better in the 2nd trimester:

5 Weeks - Please excuse the crazy hair!

5 Week Tummy Shot

6 Weeks

8 Weeks

I have not been "sick" at all for most of my first trimester.  The main symptoms that I have experienced have been fatigue, complete & total exhaustion, a few upset stomachs and my burping has multiplied...and did I mention that I am ALWAYS tired?!?!  That is the only complaint that I have from these first few weeks.  I have been going to bed earlier, taking naps on the weekends and just skipping tasks/activities that I usually do in order to rest more.  It has been an adjustment for me, but it has taught me one way to put someone else before myself.  I rest so that the baby can grow!  Supposedly it goes away during the second trimester, so I am looking forward to that for sure.  It has been a wonderful experience so far and one that I am very thankful for.  Tyler has been a trooper and has pitched in to help me with so much around the house without complaining one bit.  I am so thankful for a wonderful husband.  I know he is going to be such a great daddy!

Only 26 more weeks to go until Baby J is in our arms!!!

Happy Independence Day!

We are so blessed to live in the United States of America!  Thank you, Lord for our freedom in Christ and for the freedoms that we enjoy because we live in the USA!

And thank you to all of the amazing men and women who protect our country on a daily basis.  Words cannot express our gratitude for such sacrifice.

I hope you all have a great day and get to spend it doing something fun and relaxing with friends and family.  We will be in Temple celebrating with our families!

I am so proud to be an American!  Happy 4th of July!  May we all reflect on what the Lord has done for us and pray that He would work through our country's leaders!

First Craving

Well, today I had my first "craving".  Food has not been sounding that great to me recently and I have had a hard time finding anything around the house to eat for dinner, so...

we went and picked up a Box Combo from Raising Cane's and it was delicious!  I had been wanting some type of fried chicken for a couple of days and this was a great solution!  We'll see what else this baby comes up with over the next 31 weeks...

Letter from Baby J

Below is a letter that Baby J sent to all of his/her grandparents, aunt & uncles and great grandparents this morning!


Family,


I just wanted to say hello to all of you for the first time and show you how cute I am! Mom & Dad had their first sonogram this morning and I got to show off how fast my heart was beating and how I can move around all by myself. It was so fun! I am healthy as can be and cannot wait to meet all of you in February.


Mom took pictures of the sonogram pictures on her phone, so the quality isn't too great. I think you should still be able to see my head, arms and feet (I am upside down in most of them!). She can send out better ones when she gets home tonight!


Love,
Baby J

Ultrasound #1 - 9 Weeks

Upside Down Baby

My heartbeat was 183 beats per minute!

Here is a close-up shot!

Our Big Announcement!

This past weekend we were able to share the news of our pregnancy to both sides of our family.  On Saturday afternoon after Jenna's party, we threw it in as an extra birthday gift (for mom) and Father's Day gift (for dad).  We tried to think of a creative way of telling them and we came up with this:

We put these pictures in two cards, one for each of them and gave them to them after all of the Father's Day gifts were opened.

Needless to say, I think they are excited!  We spent the rest of the evening celebrating all three fathers in our family - Dad, Lee and Tyler!!!  We drove down to Austin and had dinner at Chuy's and then took a boat tour to see the bats come out from under the Congress Avenue bridge.


The next day we were able to celebrate Kirby, Eldo (Poppy) and Cody (father-to-be) with church at Temple Bible Church and lunch at Kim & Kirby's house.  After all of the Father's Day gifts and cards were distributed, I told them that I had actually gotten Tyler a Father's Day card as well.  We were not sure if this "hint" was going to be enough for them to know what was going on or not, but it worked (Thanks, Taylor!).  Tyler and Tanner had lunch with Tara on Friday to share the news with her, so she was prepared with her camera and captured these great shots:

Grandparents-to-be

Tara & Baby C and Mary Helen & Baby J

The Girls

Parents-to-be

Grandpa-to-be with the girls

Great Grandpa Poppy

It is going to be exciting to go through the next 6 months with Tara expecting Baby Campbell on December 23rd.  Our babies will be about six weeks apart and I think they will have a great time growing up together.  I think Kim & Kirby are overwhelmed with not only becoming grandparents of one, but TWO in the next few months!


We also went down to Nelwyn's (Nana's) house to share the news with her.  It was a bittersweet day because of Shari's current battle with breast cancer, but she was excited for us.  We are all praying for Tyler's aunt Shari, uncle Joel and cousins Gracie & Jacob as they go through this difficult time.  We know God is the ultimate Healer and will take care of them through this challenge.

Photos from Kim Here

We were happy to share with everyone and not have it a total secret anymore!

One Year of Jenna Mae

Today marks one year of our precious niece, Jenna Mae Armstrong.  I cannot accurately express what a blessing she has been to both of us over the past 365 days.  It is hard to believe that she is one year old already, but I also have a hard time imagining life without her!  She is the perfect combination of her mom and dad - brown hair, brown eyes, smart & sweet with a zest for life and a little bit of stubborness thrown in the mix, just to make it more fun.  She has such a sweet smile and a contagious belly laugh that gets me every time.  She is extremely observant and is always on the move and learning new words or things.

Sally put together an adorable ladybug-themed birthday party and JMA had about 50 of her friends and family attend to celebrate the first year of her life.  Jenna Mae, I hope you realize one day how much your Uncle Tyler and I love you.  You are an angel from above and we believe that Jesus gave you to our family as a very SPECIAL gift on June 19, 2009.  I will never forget that day as long as I live.  Happy 1st Birthday!  I know you are going to be the best cousin ever to our baby.

Cute ladybug party decorations & food

Cake table

More details...

Ladybug skewers

(The guys stayed up late making these for Jenna Mae!  What a sweet Daddy & Uncle!)

Lissy, Birthday Girl, Sally & Aunt Mae

The Armstrong family

Back view

Getting ready for cake...

Do you want some, Mom?

The Johnson clan

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, JENNA MAE!!!  WE LOVE YOU!

First Doctor Appointment

Today was our first pre-natal appointment with Dr. Farrow at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano.  I was so anxious about the appointment that I ended up leaving work a couple of hours early just because I could not concentrate on anything else.  I think part of me believed that I was pregnant and part of me still did not believe it could be true.  We are both so excited, but do not know what to expect over the next 8 months!

Dr. Farrow and all of the nurses at her office were so sweet and understanding.  We went through all of the routine medical exams, questionnaires and paperwork and they let me (us) ask any questions that we might have.  Since I tend to forget things easily, over the past few weeks I have been keeping a notebook in my purse and writing down questions that I have as they come to mind.  This has proved to be a great resource and something I would recommend to other expectant moms or women who tend to forget things unless you write them down (that is me all the time).  We are truly happy with the doctor and hospital that we have chosen and we look forward to our next appointment, June 29th, which will be our first sonogram.  I cannot even imagine how amazing it is going to be to SEE our child for the first time.  We are praying for a healthy baby with no complications.


We are heading to Temple this weekend for Jenna Mae's 1st birthday and Father's Day, so we have decided to share the news with our immediate family then.  I will let you know how it goes!

Memorial Day Weekend in San Antonio

This past weekend we had the wonderful opportunity of spending the weekend at the beautiful Hyatt Hill Country resort in San Antonio with the Mullins family. We started out by getting up extremely early and driving down to Temple on Friday morning. We arrived just in time to meet up with Sally, Jenna, Mom and Dad and start our way down to SA. We made a pit stop in New Braunfels at Lee's job site so that we could see what he has been working so hard on.  Jenna was so excited to see her daddy at work!

This weekend was full of many "firsts" for miss Jenna - her first swim, first taste of ice cream, first s'more, first dinner at a nice restaurant, etc.  Here are a few pictures of some of our activities:

First Swim (she loved it!)

First S'more (before dinner - oops!)



Guys golfing on Saturday morning

First Taste of (Homemade) Ice Cream

Dinner at Antlers

S'mores around the campfire

Fun around the pool

Mother & daughter walking

Showing off her walking skills with Aunt Mae!

This might be the sweetest face I have ever seen!

The whole gang - Tyler, MH, Dad, Mom, Jenna, Sally & Lee

Our wonderful hosts

It was a great mini-vacation and everyone had a fun time.  Sometimes you just need a few days away from "life" and this was the perfect solution.  If any of you are looking for a great "family" spot for a vacation or long weekend, I would definitely recommend the Hyatt Hill Country Resort.  Happy Memorial Day!  I am lobbying to make this an annual trip.  Thanks, Mom & Dad!