Holy crap! I (almost) have a Kindergartener!!

It's true...Chris is getting old. How old, you ask? So old that we registered him for KINDERGARTEN yesterday! It's truly amazing how quickly the past five years have flown past. It seems like just a couple of years ago that we were taking my sisters down to the bus stop for their first days of school...

Anyway, I don't want to wax nostalgic or anything. Just thought I should share. Here's a picture of Chris at his new school. The reason that he looks less than happy is that he was completely exhausted from a trip to the circus. Enjoy! :-)

Mr. Whizzer!

** - Note to non-parents: The following post will be meaningless, and frankly a little odd to you...get over it!

One of the great joys of parenthood is the seeming endless carousel of dirty and wet diapers that you get to change. Then, one day, it happens...your child decides he wants to wear - wait for it - UNDERPANTS! This day actually came a few weeks ago for Matthew, and we've been sending him to school in underpants ever since. The funny part so far, though, has been that he usually only made it about half-way through the day before he invariably had an accident. Always prepared, we sent him to school with back-up pants and a full complement of pull-ups (think Depends for kids).

A few minor accidents aside, Matthew was cruising along nicely. He made it almost the entire day on Tuesday, but missed the full-day mark by about three minutes - he had an accident just before Holly picked him up. But yesterday (cue herald angels singing, trumpets blaring, etc.) he made it all the way through the day! WHOO HOO!

There's truly nothing more exciting than knowing that the days of Matthew diapers are almost behind us. Granted, we've got another two-plus years ahead of us with the arrival of 3.0, but we can totally handle it!

Anyway, just wanted to congratulate The Moo. Have a great day!

Three-Point-Oh!!

Excited!

Enthusiastic!

Elated!

What do these words have in common? They all perfectly describe how I feel about the following announcement... Holly is pregnant!!!!!

That's right! The imminent arrival of Baby Johnston Three-Point-Oh (as we've come to call it) was confirmed this morning by Holly's doctor, and we couldn't be more excited, enthusiastic, or elated!

We (I say "we," but we all know that I really mean Holly) are about 8 weeks along, which gives us a due date of sometime around the end of September. We had an ultrasound this morning, and everything looks great. There's a heartbeat, and our baby looks something like a little lima bean at this point. In the coming weeks, it'll take on the size of other edible objects (though there are those who would argue the edibility of lima beans!), which I'll do my best to keep up with here. I'll also be sure to keep the blog updated with ultrasound photos when possible. There should be another one here in about four weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

Holly's doing great, though she's been really tired so far. It's actually kind of like having a third child in the house already...she's constantly hungry, and she goes to bed at 8:30! :-) (Love you, Holly...don't kill me!)

The boys are also very excited, and were the ones who got to break the big news to my parents. We bought them both shirts that said "Big Brother," then let the boys take it from there. They grabbed Mom and Dad, and said, "Look at our new shirts!" There was a brief moment of silence, then Dad said, "Wait a minute...TWO big brothers?!?" What followed can only be described as a melee. Hugs were flying around the room at light speed, and my mom's excitement was probably audible about a mile away!

We took a few pictures of the boys in their new shirts, then sent them to Holly's folks as part of a birthday card that we sent her dad (Happy Birthday, Mike!). Thinking (correctly so, I might add) that they may not catch the subtleties of the "Big Brother" shirts, Holly signed the card, "Love, Holly, Brian, Chris, The Moo (Matthew, for the uninitiated), and Baby 3.0". Since we weren't there in person to witness the excitement, all I can tell you is that the phone call I received after they got the card was filled with the same level of excitement exhibited by my parents...though for some reason I was branded a "little stinker" by my mother-in-law. Presumably, this stemmed from my not having told her sooner.

I've attached a picture from our ultrasound this morning, as well as the tell-tale photo that we used to share the news with the in-laws. Hope you enjoy! :-)

El Nino Karaoke

A few weeks ago, I put up a post about Chris's love for Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, and their smash hit, "Broken Lady." Today, I'm pleased to say that Matthew has joined the ranks of Karaoke Kids with his intense desire to sing along in SPANISH (!!) with Andrea Bocelli's "Pero Te Extrano" (which roughly translates to "I miss you"). I'm not sure how we got into this particular realm of music with The Moo, but I can say this...for a VERY long time, this song served as our "calm The Moo down" music. If Matthew was out of control, cranky, or otherwise unpleasant in the car, all we had to do was play this song, and he'd calm down almost instantly.

After a few months of self-calming with the song, though, it appears that Matthew thinks he's a blind tenor! He asks for the song by name ("Strano, Daddy! Strano!"), and then proceeds to sing right along with Bocelli. The funniest part, though, is the soaring "PERO TE EXTRANO" that gets both Matthew AND Chris singing at the tops of their lungs. It's absolutely hysterical, and I'll do what I can to post video of it sooner as opposed to later. :-)