Spreading the news

When I found out I was pregnant (Wed, June 17th), the first person I called was Christi. I sent her an e-mail of the very faint positive pregnancy tests, which she confirmed were indeed positive! I was giddy. Even though we were trying, I didn't think I would get a positive that early. I'm sure Christi and I sounded like two school girls with all our squealing! She said the sweetest thing to me. She said, "Think for a minute." I calmed down, and waited. She told me, "See, isn't this great! This is what it feels like to be totally happy!" It was a really great feeling!

After I called Christi, I called my sister, Megan. She and I had been making a plan to tell my parents about the expected arrival of their fifth grandbaby. She also shared in my joy, and even though this isn't her first time becoming and Aunt, she sounded so excited that I would have almost thought it was her first time becoming an aunt!

Since this will be our last pregnancy, I really wanted to do something special to tell Curtis. In the past, it's always been me waving the pregnancy test in his face, and one (or both) of us freaking out. The kids and I made him a scrapbook for Father's Day.

We had decided to celebrate Father's Day on the Saturday. I kept my secret from Wednesday at lunch time till Friday night. I just couldn't keep it any more!! I also knew that Curtis had a rough week, and needed a little pick-me-up. So, I gave him the scrapbook early

On the last page, behind the back cover, he saw......

He was so surprised! He had no idea that I had already taken the test! It was a big surprise, and I was thrilled that I had finally done something fun to tell him.

We waited till my parents were in town, and had my sister Megan send them a picture mail to their phones. It had a picture of Jeremiah wearing the onsie below, and had the message "Future Big Cousin". Megan's hubby, Matt, made the onsie. Quite festive, don't you think? It took them a couple minutes to get it. At first they thought Megan was pregnant. Then they realized his onsie would say "Big Brother". Suddenly, my Dad looked at me and went, "You're pregnant!?!"

Then I had Megan send the picture to Shannon's cell. I waited, and waited, gave up and called. I asked her if she had gotten the picture of Jeremiah, and she said, "Yeah, at first I kinda freaked out. But then I remembered that Matt's sister is pregnant, so Jeremiah will be a big cousin." I told her that it wasn't a onsie for Matt's sister. That's when Shannon started screaming. It was hilarious!! I loved being able to surprise her too, and hear her reaction. She was with several friends, helping someone move, and they all got excited too.

Then we waited. We knew that if we told even one or two more people, the news would be hard to contain. We also wanted the kids to be the next people who knew.

So after our first doctor's appointment, where we saw our little Gummy Bear, a strong heart beat and lots of wiggling, we decided to tell the kids.

I ordered them all shirts, wrapped them up, and we gave them to the kids.

Elizabeth "got it" before the boys did. She was so excited, and the first words out of her mouth were, "I need to call Alexis!"

She's been really sweet about becoming a big sister again. We were a little worried that she would only be happy if it was a girl, and we were very quick to tell her that we didn't know if the baby was a boy or a girl, but that we would be happy with whatever God gave us. And even though she's hoping for a sister, I think she'll be okay with another brother. Because, what's better than a big brother when you start dating, three little brothers!!

Micah took a little longer to react to the news. But while Elizabeth was on the phone spreading the news, he suddenly looked at Curtis and I and asked, "We're having another baby??" We smiled, and told him yes. He took off running for the pantry, where he was adamant that he needed a BLUE lollipop.

He sat with that lollipop for several minutes, and didn't take one lick. Finally, we asked him what he was doing with it, and he said, "I'm holding it for your baby. Will he like blue lollipops?" Adorable!

Micah's done a lot of question asking. "Will your baby pull my hair?" "What will your baby eat?" "How big is your baby now?" "Can I feel the baby growing?" This is all quite a change from the first time he because a big brother!

Sweet Ben. Not sure how much he really understands about the whole baby thing though. He gets excited when the older kids get excited. When Curtis or I ask him why he's going to be a big brother, he runs over and pats my tummy and says, "Mommy has baby down there!"

It's fun having a child as old as Benjamin and being pregnant. He's about the same age Elizabeth was when I found out I was pregnant with Benjamin. Crazy! I'm looking forward to seeing the kind of big brother he's going to be.

The kids wore their Big Brother and Bid sister shirts to church this Sunday. Elizabeth didn't even need a shirt, she was more than happy to just tell anyone she ran into! We've used shirts to spread baby news with all the other babies, so I guess this is a Krajca tradition. I like it because the kids spread the news, and I just get all the congrats!

Needless to say, we are very, very, very excited about the new addition to our family!

Little Chefs

Did you notice?

Check out the shirts in the new header!

Did you catch that??

We're........

Being a girl is grand!

When my parents were in town a few weeks ago, my Mom, Elizabeth and I had some girl time. And what better place to go to have girl time than the mall?! There's a new store in the mall called Fairy Godmother. It's the absolute, most frilly, princessy, girly store you can imagine. As a special treat, my mom let Elizabeth pick out a new dress up dress. Elizabeth picked out the pink fairy princess dress. Then I got her the flower wreath and feather fan. The owner of the store let Elizabeth wear the dress out, and even let Elizabeth walk the cat walk, and sing with the feathered microphone. What a time she had!!

A couple weeks ago, Elizabeth dawned her fairy princess dress, her fairy wings, her flower wreath, her pink sparkle wand and her Fancy Nancy high heels (isn't that what all fairy princesses wear on their feet?) and headed to the park for a quick photo shoot.

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I love my rough and tumble little boys. I love their energy, their daring nature, and their sweet, sweaty boy smell. But I am so, so, so thankful that God gave me a girly girl!!

Wordless Wednesday

Awww Hail!

We wen to the pool tonight for a grand total of 30 minutes. Then the thunder and lightning started.

We came home, put in a movie, got some pizza, and listened to a storm. Elizabeth got very concerned, since one of the last times we were part of a big storm was when we were in KS. Then, she remembered last Sept. when we prepared for the possible arrival of Ike. Once we clarified that she could indeed be able to sleep by a window, she was fine.


Then it started hailing! We have a metal roof on our porch, so it was really loud. Curtis went out and got some hail to show the kids. And surprise, surprise, the kids ate it!



And now, the sun in shinning. Texas, you confuse me!!!

To summerize.....

There's been a lot of posting tonight! Here's a quick recap, in case you're worried about missing something.

We are family
Baptism
Grandma and Grand-Daddy
Meeting Jeremiah
Drivin', drivin', drivin'

We are family!

Every time we're all together, we try to get a picture.
This one might be a little more realistic, though!

My sisters and I with Jeremiah.

See how thrilled he is that Aunt Kierstyn and Uncle Curtis have him?

Aunt Megan and her favorite niece. The two brave souls who have married two of the Johnston Girls. And they lived to tell!! And they're happy.

Super Aunt Shannon, entertaining Elizabeth before church.

sissyters! We were watching Harry Potter 5, getting ready for the midnight showing of HP6.

I love my family! I wish we could all get together more often. But I'm very thankful for the times like this past weekend when we can all be together, celebrating, laughing, and enjoying each other's company. Now, how much longer till Thanksgiving??

Baptism

The whole reason for our trip to Georgia was to be there to participate in Jeremiah's baptism. It was beautiful! Matt, Megan and Jeremiah make a beautiful family! And it was such a joy to see them take the vows to raise Jeremiah in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

Jeremiah, this is our prayer for you.

"Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

Put away from you crooked speech,

and put devious talk far from you.

Let your eyes look directly forward,

and your gaze be straight before you.

Ponder the path of your feet;

then all your ways will be sure.

Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

turn your foot away from evil."

Proverbs 4:23-27

Grandma and Grand-Daddy

My parents are amazing parents!!

And they are also amazing grandparents!!!

This trip was the first time when all four of the grand kids had been in the same place at the same time. My Mom, thinking ahead, bought the kids matching outfits. Though it was a bit of a challenge, we got a couple great cousin pictures.

Doesn't Mom look happy?? Those kids sure do love their Grandma!

Meeting Jeremiah!

This was the first time the kids and Curtis had the opportunity to meet Jeremiah. The kids loved him to pieces! Literally, I think they would have help him every second he was awake.

Drvin', drivin', drivin'

Being the good scrapbooker/blogger/photographer I try to be, I documented our trip to GA and back. Benjamin, being a goof ball.
Welcome to Louisiana!!! I had originally wanted to take pictures of the kids with all the state signs. But we crossed into LA while on a very tall bridge. Just didn't happen!

My sweet friend Kristy Bell got Elizabeth this map place mat with the states. Elizabeth loved finding the new states, as we entered them. LA is under the glare. We named this trip our Bridge Trip. There were so many HUGE bridges! This one led over a ton of swap land.

Welcome to Mississippi.

Thank-you Vana!

Curtis did an awesome job mapping out our trip. He then printed out about a dozen maps, and tracked our route while we were driving. So very Curtis!!

This picture was taken on another bridge, this time in MS. Just over the horizon was the ocean. So is the water in the picture fresh or salt? Hmmm......

Welcome to Alabama!

One of my favorite picture from the drive. Isn't she adorable??

We were in Alabama FOR-EVVVV-ER!!!! The kids were supposed to be asleep when we got to Georgia, but weren't. Montgomery, AL was Benjamin's breaking point. So we were glad to see....

Welcome to Georgia!!!! Really, I promise that's what that green blur says.

Sleepy eyes!

The trip from Kingwood to my sisters house in GA took 14 1/2 hours. We made 7 stops, the longest being 30 minutes. We also made one side of the road pit stop to try to save time.

For the drive home, my Mom and I drove from Georgia to Layfette, LA. It was 9 hours of driving, and took us 11 hours. My Dad graciously got us a wonderful hotel to stay in to break up our trip. When Elizabeth walked into the room, she started talking about how beautiful it was, and it was so wonderful, look at the beauty, and ended with, "It's a miracle that we get to stay here!!!"

As miraculous as it was, it wasn't all roses. This morning, when we woke up, Micah was throwing up. We ditched the plans to swim, waited till the puking had subsided, and got on the road. Too bad the break in puking didn't last. (He isn't actually getting sick in this picture. He was just examining the inside of the trash can.)

Thankfully the puking was only once (until we got home) and we made it home in one piece.

I was very proud of us for making the drive!! It's nice to know that the kids can do such a long car trip so well. Who know, maybe there are more road trips in our future?

HA!!! Not for a long time.