this and that

the few of you who read this might want to know how life has been at la casa johnson these days. miss stella had her two-month appointment a couple weeks ago. she is 13 lbs and 1/8 of an ounce and 24 inches long. her head measures 15 1/2 inches. the pediatrician listened to her heart and was unable to hear the murmur, so he believes the 2mm hole has closed. we will get official word on that when we take her into the pediatric cardiologist next summer. i love her pediatrician. he is the same pediatrician that cared for my siblings and me when we were babies and school-aged children. he is very thorough and gentle.

it is still difficult to get anything done around here, but stella is priority, and so dusting and vacuuming and other things are falling to the wayside for now. sometimes i don't empty the dishwasher and clean the kitchen until 9:30 at night. sometimes i can get it done at 7 in the morning. it just depends. stella has been sleeping really well lately! she slept for 11 hours saturday night, and 10 the night before. she loves kicking and now she has started to scoot backwards a little, so we have to be extra careful when we are changing her diaper because she scoots on the changing pad, which we haven't bolted to the top of the dresser yet. she is almost through her size 1/2 diapers (she grew out of size 1, but wasn't quite ready for size 2 yet) and we have ordered size 2 from amazon moms. she is so alert when she is awake and loves to study my face and other people's faces. it is so fun when she wakes up and she beams at me and starts kicking when she sees my face peering down at her in the crib. i hope she is still that excited to see me in the morning when she is a teenager!

my cousin bethany got married last friday night. stella fell asleep during the ceremony and then had a couple meltdowns afterward at the reception at como conservatory in st. paul. all in all, she did very well. i enjoyed the ceremony and appreciated the pastor's message. bethany walked down a staircase for her main entrance to the song "liz on top of the world" from the pride and prejudice soundtrack. since the staircase was narrow, her dad (my uncle peter) met her at the bottom of the stairs and then escorted her over to the groom, jon. bethany looked beautiful. you know what? i brought my camera and didn't take a single picture. ugh! i am so disappointed.

brett and i attended a class at bethlehem last saturday. it is called foundation builders 1 and it is a prerequisite for getting stella dedicated. her dedication will be at the 5 p.m. sunday service on september 11. brett's parents are planning on being here for her dedication! the class was led by a pastor and his wife and another couple who is involved in children's ministry at our church. the class was very helpful. i would summarize it right now, but my brain is drawing a blank. i want to review the materials soon so that i don't forget things.

sunday we went to church during the day (we usually go sunday evening) because brett's sister barbie, her husband walter, and their sons clint and nolan were driving through from a trip out west and wanted to meet stella and see us. they had taken a motorhome on a 20-day trip to colorado, yellowstone, the black hills in south dakota, etc. we met them for dinner and then went for a walk. barbie has a knack for handling babies and stella just loved her to pieces. their boys are so sweet and it was so nice to see the whole family. the last time we saw them was christmas 2010 when i was a little into my second trimester of pregnancy.

brett's parents are slated to arrive september 9 or 10 and will be at stella's dedication on the 11th. depending on brett's mom's work, they may travel further west to the black hills, which they have never seen. if God gives us more kids, i would love to go to the black hills with brett (he has never been) and our kids when they are school-aged. it is so pretty out there.

i typed up a post last week about how things were difficult emotionally, but i decided not to post it because i am feeling better this week. i was a little worried depression was returning, but i am wondering if i am perhaps still experiencing some postpartum hormonal roller-coasters. i think only time will tell.

i love being a mom. stella is so precious to us and i am excited to be with her every day. i pray for her a lot and her future. above all things, i pray that she would know Jesus at an early age. i pray that she would love and serve Jesus with her life and find true joy and peace from knowing God and having a relationship with him. i also pray that she would be sweet, loving, kind, gracious, compassionate, and merciful; the kind of person who befriends those who don't have friends; that she would be discerning and wise; that she would know from an early age that she can trust us.

smiling with her daddy