Baby Johnson

I've mentioned a few times on this blog that we are expecting another boy, but I don't think I've actually posted specifically about it.  So here is the belly picture that people always ask for:

Me, at 37 weeks.  Some people look like they swallowed a bowling ball, some people look like they swallowed a basketball, and I look like I have swallowed a beach ball!  Such is life when you're barely over five feet tall.

This has been my most difficult pregnancy for various reasons, but it will be worth it when we have our sweet little boy in our arms.  I am crossing my fingers that this will happen sooner rather than later, but as I usually go all the way to my due date and beyond, I am not too hopeful.

The kids are very excited.  When I had the 20-week ultrasound and Joel and I found out the baby was a boy, I made cupcakes filled with blue cream and gave them to the kids.  One bite in and they could tell another Johnson boy was going to join our family!  Everett cheered and Ashley burst into tears.  "I wanted it to be pink!" she said of the cupcake.

Well, she did get over it.  Once in a while she comes up to me and conspiratorially references our being the only girls in our family.  And she is the only one of our children that has prayed for the baby during every single prayer she has uttered since she found out he is a boy.  Sometimes she prays that the baby will be healthy, and sometimes she prays that the baby will hold her finger.  She is very excited about that particular aspect.  She will be a great big sister and she will love him as deeply as she loves her other brothers, I'm sure.  

Everett loves babies, especially the babies that live at our house.  He takes great pride in being the big brother.  Mostly, Everett just has a big heart and is always willing to help someone who has trouble helping himself (which is basically the definition of a baby).  He has especially had a fondness for James, I think because Everett is getting older and it is easier for him to understand babies' needs.

One day Everett said to me, "Mommy, James is just so cute!  I wish he would stay a baby forever and ever so that I could always snuggle him."

Everett has also pleaded with me to let him share a room with James AND his new little brother who will be born soon.  Since I care about my sleep and my sanity, I told him no.

But that did not stop him from bearing his testimony at Church last month and telling everyone "I am going to have a baby after Christmas."  He really does feel like the baby will be his.  I'm not going to burst that bubble!