Johan....that silly little elf!

 

Elf on the Shelf

 

We use elf on the shelf a little differently than most.  Instead of Johan being that big bad mischievous elf who is always walking around keeping an eye on Evin reporting back on all the bad things Evin does; Johan is a silly little elf that likes to tell Santa AND Evin when he's doing a good job! 

 

Sometimes our elf is really creative and does super awesome things and sometimes he just shows up sitting on a shelf hanging out.  Evin doesn't care, he thinks he's the coolest thing in the world! 

 

Filling his cotton ball jar!

 

Johan showed up with some cookie making supplies! YUM!

 

Johan's arrival!  He was ready to decorate!

 

Johan's last day....Evin was wearing the socks the day after Christmas.

 

Auntie Alysha bought Evin some awesome turtle gear!

 

Evin had a pool date, Johan wished he could go!

 

Every year my sister makes Johan a cute little photo album of the previous years fiascos. 

She could make you one too!

 

Johan's annual trip to the Aquarium, he got caught fishing in one of our tanks. 

Briggs is born

Welcome Briggs!!!

 

The real reason I've been so behind on my posts! 

On the morning of July 20th, 2014 I was feeling a little off.  Slight cramping in my stomach and other things but I'll save you the details.  I went in to work, it was keeper appreciation week and I was bringing donuts!  

After about 1 hour of still feeling off, I called my doctor and described my symptoms.  She didn't think my water had broke yet and didn't think my contractions were close enough.  I called my mom however and she jumped in the car and started driving.  Then she called my dad who also jumped in the car and started driving.  Hmmmmm.....  I kept working.  

About 45 minutes later I was having a conversation with a particularly awkward and talkative volunteer and I couldn't focus on anything he was saying.  I decided baby or no baby I was going home.  On the way home I downloaded a contraction timer and my contractions were 1 1/2 min to 2 min apart.  I called the doctor back once I got home and she said to come on in.  

Nicole was camping in the mountains, my parents were 7 hrs away at this point, and all my other plan B's were out of town so we loaded up Evin and his big brother gifts and headed to the hospital. 

After two hours I was dilated to a 9.5 and no one was any closer to arriving.  Karl was going to have to wait in the hallway with Evin and I was going to be on my own!  

Then nothing..... for 6 hours.  Soon everyone was 10 minutes away and it was time to push.  

Then Briggs made his appearance!

It became pretty clear that Evin wasn't going to leave his brothers side.  He stayed at the hospital until 9pm and was back at 7am the next morning.  

 

Summer Fun Calendar continued

Only a little behind on the blog.....darn babies need a lot of attention!  :)  

Keep up we're going to play some catch up!

 

The last month of my pregnancy was less packed than the rest.  We still made time to go to the nature center to learn all about bees!  Evin's favorite fact that he was awake for was that honey is basically bee throw up!  YUM!! 

Auntie and Evin made a pretty redneck pool to play in in the yard!

We saw some great fireworks!  We'd been telling Evin all along the baby would come after the fireworks.....then you notice how many times you see fireworks when it isn't July!

At 37 weeks pregnant Evin and I took a 1 mile plus walk/strider ride to the splash pad park!

We also built a fort....I guess so Karl could nap in it....

Had a fun time making a color matching ice cream busy bag.  

We used a duvet cover and a fan to make a cool and fun fort!

Seeing Evin get creative is always my favorite so this activity was really fun!  I called it spare parts play and we just made a ton of random cool stuff with the parts I had laying around the house!

Here's our spare parts list: 

toilet paper tubes

six packs

cans

bottles

tape

rubber bands

straws

paper bags

paper 

scissors

Baby Sprinkle Hostess Gifts

Baby Sprinkle and Hostess gifts! 

The girls from work put some amazing effort in to an amazing shower!

They decided since it is my second baby it should just be a "sprinkle."

Though I think they do a theme like I do and it turned in to more of a shower for sure!   

There was a station where you could take pictures of Karl and I build a picture of what the baby will look like!

A onesie decorating station.  

Guess the belly size

Diaper notes

60 seconds to make a playdough baby.  

The yummiest sprinkled food ever and an ice cream bar!

Three of the best ladies a girl could ask for!

I wanted to return the favor and stay on theme so I went to town on making a gift basket for each of them.  I couldn't find candles or soap with sprinkles in them so I made them myself.  

I put some tea lights in a pan and heated them up, then poured in sprinkles.  The sprinkles sunk at first but as the candles cooled I kept adding more!

I found some great loofah packs.  

Then made some soap out of a kit I found at hobby lobby and added sprinkles to that too.  

My sister made me a fun little card that said, "Hope your next shower is as good as mine was!"

Some fun shampoo, shower gel, and lotion and voila!

Alright baby....any day now is fine with me!