Pregnancy and Ryan Update — The Johnson Family

Chris is Busy

Chris is very busy keeping up with the demands of school, family, basketball and Young Mens. He is in the midst of the two busiest months of the first two years of med school. He just finished two tests last week and has 10 more between now and the 17th of March!! At that time Pathology will be over and the rest of the year lightens up considerably. Then his attention will be directed to preparing for the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1, which he will take at the end of June. He is heavy into basketball again with two or three games every week for the next couple months. Young Mens is going well. He is excited for the return of Doug White, YM president and John Bruun, 2nd counselor who have been away for several months on medical rotations.

Almost Half Way Through Pregnancy

I’m doing very well. I’m 19 weeks... almost half way through my pregnancy and it’s going really fast. I’m not sick or nauseous at all these days. It’s wonderful. I feel the baby move quite a few times each day... especially at night when Chris is using his stethoscope to hear the heartbeat and pushing around to determine the position of the baby. I think I even felt it with my hand this morning. I definitely have a ‘poochie’ now and I’m so close to being out of my jeans. I hate that in-between stage where you’re not big enough for any of your maternity clothes yet! Chris and I went Maternity shopping last night. It was really fun. There are so many cute clothes but they all look too ‘frumpy’ on me now. When I ask Ryan where the baby is he now points to my belly button. I’m quite sure he doesn’t have a clue what I’m talking about.

Family Home Evening Packets

I’ve been working hard on my Family Home Evening packets during the last little while. I got some laminated and they look great. It’s been fun to meet with Lisa Curran, Terri Breinholt and Geneva every Wednesday night. We have so much fun talking!! I’m also working on my scrapbook but my biggest interest now is doing my ‘Personal History and Genealogy.’ It’s really quite addicting. I’m going to get Chris to start doing his too. A perfect on-going Sunday project.

Ryan at 20 Months

Ryan is such a big boy these days. Everyday he does something that amazes me. When we put Ryan to bed every night we say prayers up in his room and it's like a race. He waits through the whole thing and then as soon as I get to the "in the name of..." part he knows the end of the prayer is coming and he's up and running towards his bed saying 'AMEN' on the way. We're going to have to work on that. But it is nice that he likes to go to bed so much. He also has a hard time waiting through the prayer at dinner for his food. He looks for his bib, climbs into his high chair all by himself and even buckles himself in. Then I say ‘Tell Daddy it’s time to eat”. He yells “Dada, EAT!” By the time Chris sits down at the table Ryan can’t wait a minute more. I have to make sure his food is sufficiently cooled before he even knows its dinner time.

His favorite pastime is watching Disney movies... particularly the ”Buzz moomoo” (“Buzz” movie... aka... Toy Story) and Tarzan. Every time the bad lion comes on Tarzan he says "No no no no" the whole time. It’s cute. He also loves to line up all his little people and animals in a row. We find them in various places of the house like on the stairs, on the shelf, on the desk, on the laundry hamper all neatly arranged into a line either all facing forward, all facing to the back or all to the side. It makes us laugh.

I still can’t comprehend having two sometimes. Wow!

Letter from Lisa - February 22, 2000

Our weekend has been great. When Chris got home on Friday, we ordered Chinese food and watched a breathtaking episode of ER, taped from the previous night. Boy was it intense. Then we met up with “the five couples” at Doug and Missy’s house and had a little desert and the guys had a little pre game strategy talk. Then at 9:00 the guys had their stake basketball final game and we all went to watch and cheer. It was a tight game at the beginning but then we pulled way ahead and won the game. It was fun to watch. Now Ryan’s new phrase is “ALL RIGHT!” which he learned that night from watching everyone cheer. We have a couple more weeks and then the regional tournament will start.

Saturday we headed up to Hagerstown, a city about an hour north of here with a huge outlet mall. We exchanged Chris’ basketball shoes and then went crazy with clothes for Ryan and our new boy or girl. Great deals!! We had lunch up there and then came back and played with Ryan, ate leftover Chinese for dinner again and rented”You’ve Got Mail” at the $1 video store and watched it after Ryan went to bed. Chris didn’t do any studying. It was wonderful.

Sunday Chris and the YM’s presidency spoke in church. It is always one of the best sacrament meetings of the year and it was again. The three of them are absolutely amazing. It was such a good meeting. Chris arranged for all the young men to sing a song together and then recite the STANDARD OF TRUTH.

Sunday night we got some things organized, read scriptures, had the Chuggs over for dessert, and worked on Chris’ personal history. It was a very nice Sunday. For dinner we had chicken tacos. Ryan helped me set the table for the first time. I handed him everything one by one and he’d go put it on the table anywhere he wanted. The knifes were in one pile where Mommy sits, the spoons were where Ryan sits and the forks were where Daddy sits. And everything else was all over the place. It was so cute - I almost took a picture.

Today, Monday, we are relaxing. Chris had basketball this morning and is now taking a nap. Ethan is over to play with Ryan and the two of them wander all over the house keeping themselves busy.

Letter from Lisa - February 28, 2000

On Friday afternoon I went and met Chris at the rotation pick meeting and stayed for about the last 45 minutes. It was kind of fun to be there amid all the excitement. We were so looking forward to receiving our 3rd year schedule - and are very excited about the way everything worked out. We will be going to Madigan in Tacoma, Washington for our #2 rotation so that’s good news. Chris will do Pediatrics there. We only have one other out of town rotation and the rest are here so we really lucked out. We are planning on taking the whole family to Madigan. The new baby will only be a month old! My mom already made her reservations to come when the baby is born. She’ll come on July 4th and leave on the 18th! I’m so excited!

Saturday we spent the evening with the Chuggs again and watched the movie Entrapment. Sunday was a busy day with ward conference and a fireside. We hardly had any family time.

Chris is starting another hard week. Only 3 weeks until midterms and then Spring Break.

I’m doing well. Within the last 2 weeks, I have just popped out! I’m out of my jeans and am just dying to wear anything that is comfortable for my poochie. Now everyone can tell I’m pregnant. I’m almost 5 months along.

The weather last Thursday and Friday was wonderful. Bright and sunny. Ryan and I wore shorts and did LOTS of walks outside and trips to the park! Saturday and Sunday were cool, but this next week is supposed to be nice and sunny all week. It’s been so nice to finally take my preschoolers outside to play. We’ve been inside the classroom too much the past couple months. Ryan is in my class every Thursday now and it enjoying it. He even does the art project with the rest of the kids and is excited to bing it home and show Daddy. They are all over our fridge now. I’m sure it’s the beginning of many years of art work on the fridge.