She has arrived!

Emma MacKenzie Johns was born at 9:59 pm on January 17, 2012. She weighed 6 lbs 14oz and was 19 inches long.


The delivery was wonderful! I had a routine appointment Tuesday at 4:30. My doctor told me to come prepared just in case there were any issues with my blood pressure or platelets. (These were both an issue with my first pregnancy) So the bag was in the car just in case. And it's a good thing it was! My blood pressure was slightly high and I was dilated to a 4 already, so my doctor said it's time to have a baby.

We headed straight to the hospital from her office. It's only about a ten minute drive. I was checked in by about 5:15. The doctor broke my water at about 5:45. The pitocin was started shortly after that. I felt just a few contractions for thirty minutes or so. Since my water was broken the doctor said I could have the epidural whenever I would like. So the epidural was in by about 6:45. The nurse came in to check on me at about 9:00 and I told her that my contractions were stronger or the epidural wasn't working as well. She checked me out and said that's because you are about to have a baby! The doctor arrived by about 9:30 and then at 9:59 (and 59 seconds) Emma was welcomed into the world. She came out with even more hair than Hudson (which is hard to believe!) and she is just beautiful.

She has been eating like a champ! She hasn't had a hard time taking her bottles at all. She is eating every 3 hours and has gone from taking about 20-25 mL to her last two bottles being 40-50mL. We were released today at about 1:00 to come home.


We see our pediatrician first thing in the morning for a weight check and jaundice check. Both were perfect at the hospital, but the pediatrician wanted to double check her since she went home at only 36 hours and the weekend is upon us!


Hudson is doing great as a big brother as well! He came up twice yesterday to see his baby sister. At first he was trying to figure her out.


He gets very concerned when she is crying. He is staying with my parents for a few days while I get back up to speed. He saw Emma at home today, but I'm still not sure if he understands she is staying with us. Overall, he has been very sweet with her!


Last night before he left the hospital he covered her up with her blanket and gave her his teddy bear.

We are now a big happy family of 4 and I can wait to see us all grow together

Family Pictures

One of my teammates, Jon, does photography on the side. In early December he took some family pictures for us. They turned out great! You can check out his website at here

School Baby Shower

My team and the first grade team hosted a baby shower at school on November 30th for baby Emma. Another first grade teacher is due a week before me and so we had a double shower. She is also having a girl and naming her Layla. Here are a few pictures from the shower...

Nathan, one of my teammates, made these cute flower pots with "gift card trees". We decided it would be easiest to ask for all gift cards. So Cody and I had a blast shopping at Target a few weeks back.

Sweet cake

The two mammas

Lots of yummy food!

Emma Mackenize

It's official we have decided on a name! It seemed much easier the first go around (with a boy's name). This time we went back and forth with a few different choices. We both really like Emma as a first name. No real significance other than we just like it! Cody's middle name is Mac. This was also is grandfather's middle name and a family name. We used his dad's middle name as Hudson's middle name so we still wanted to incorporate Mac. That's where we came up with Mackenzie!

The day before Thanksgiving we went in for a 3D/4D sonogram to see what our little girl looks like. Here are some pictures from the sonogram....



Today I am 31 weeks and 1 day, so that means only 9 weeks until we will see her in person! This pregnancy has just flown by compared to the first time!

Scroll down for some Thanksgiving fun!

Thanksgiving 2011

Yesterday afternoon we head to the Johns' house for Thanksgiving dinner and some Cowboys football with Cody's side of the family. The Cowboys keep surprising me every week, but I guess a win is a win!

This is what trying to take a picture with an almost 2 year old looks like! He did NOT want his picture made.

A little later we tried again...


All smiles for Uncle Matt (Cody's brother)


"The boys": Poppy (Rick-Cody's dad), Uncle Matt, Hudson, and Da-Da



"The grandmas": Grandma Vi (Rick's mom), Hudson, Lala (Teresa-Cody's mom), and MeMemaw (Teresa's mom). Hudson got lots of loving from his Lala and two great-grandmas.


Tomorrow we are headed to my Aunt's house for Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family. More family pictures to come after that!

Halloween 2011

This was Hudson's second Halloween and it was SO fun! He was a glow in the dark skeleton this year.


Once he understood the concept he loved every part of "trick-or-treating".

We took the wagon out with his friend, Dylan. We would roll them down the sidewalk and they would walk up to the door.


At first Hudson didn't get it and wanted to eat every piece he got, but then once he realized we kept going he just kept saying "more!".

Every house we went up to he said "knock knock". Then he said "treat". He always remembered to say "thank you".

He liked the houses where the people let him get the candy and put it in his own bucket. If they did it for him he got confused and didn't think he got any.


When we returned home, he practiced handing out candy. He LOVED this too! He was chasing people down the drive way trying to give them more candy. He even started giving candy out of his own bucket.

He is such a people person and I love that he enjoys being around people. I think he will enjoy trick-or-treating for many more years!

Room makeovers...in progress

With the exciting news of the new addition to our family, we knew that we had to say goodbye to our extra room that has served as the office/man cave/guest bedroom. Cody has been hard at work preparing decorations and furniture for the baby girl's room. We have decided to go with a vintage/antique style decor.

We found the crib first on Craig's List for only $100! Cody went to work sanding and distressing it. We found the shelving above the crib at Canton.

We also found the chandelier and dresser/mirror at Canton. I can't decide which of these two pieces is my favorite!


Cody found some very cool items at a local antique mall for the baby girl's room. He took the time to paint them all white and give them that distressed look.


We found some very beautiful vintage looking fabric at a local children's consignment store. My mother in law has taken on the task of turning the fabric (two huge window panels) into a bedskirt and bumper for the bed. The colors are cream with different shades of pink and olive green. I can't wait to see how it turns out! We found this lamp at Hobby Lobby that matches the decor perfect! It's going to go on a side table that is still in progress.


We had a ton of cool deer mounts that we did not want to just "store", so we decided to go ahead and give Hudson's room a little makeover too. We took out all the transportation theme and went with a general hunting theme (deer, ducks, turkey, etc.) His is still in progress as I'm still trying to find bedding and curtains that I like. But here is what it looks like so far..
We passed the changing pad onto sister and replaced it with a deer hide.

Still working on the decorations for the shelf on the right. It is going to be a shadow box with pictures of Cody turkey hunting as a child, turkey beards, and empty shotgun shells. The trunk has all his toys in it..another Craig's List find!

And we found a good home for the deer mounts! (The sheets are serving as curtains while I look--I know not the classiest!)


Keep reading the post below to see our fun at the pumpkin farm!