Date #3 - Happy New Years to Us!

Once again, (much to Janet's dismay I imagine), Eric decided to stay yet another night in Chicago with his friends so that we could be together for New Years Eve. Not only that... but he graciously invited me over to their house to celebrate! By day 3, we were both getting a little tired. Two extremely late nights were taking their toll... so a night indoors of games and Dick Clark sounded pretty good. (Wait... Dick Clark didn't do the ball drop thing last year did he?) Anyway, had someone told me what game was going to be played... I probably would have reconsidered my trip downtown. But, Trivial Pursuit was not mentioned until I arrived... and since I really didn't know these people, I kept my mouth shut... and unbeknownst to them, willingly agreed to subject myself to total humiliation and torture.

Here's the thing about me. Right around the time that Ricky came home with me... I developed the worst case of "mommy brain" that I think anyone has ever had. My memory went completely in the toilet. Give me half a second - and I will forget the person I just met. Ask me what I had for dinner last night... and you can expect to be waiting for about 2 hours for an answer. Ask me when the Civil War happened... and you might as well move on to the next victim completely because I guarantee... I will look like the dumbest person you've ever met.

So... it became the night that Eric learned this woman he was "falling for"... had a brain made of jello. I on the other hand, would learn quickly that Eric... was a wealth of trivia knowledge both useless and useful. We were paired together. Great for me... not so good for Eric. I don't even think I answered one question correctly. Eric on the other hand... didn't miss one. He even guessed right! It was disgusting. I was completely embarrassed by the whole thing - especially in front of these people I didn't know... but thankfully they all allowed me to stick around. It was my last game of Trivial Pursuit... I'm pretty sure no one ever wants to play with me again anyway!

Date #2 - Rice Water

First a little background:

For those of you who were curious about how Eric and I met in the first place... let me give a summary. Here's the version we plan on telling our children:

We originally met 1 & 1/2 years prior to the first date, at a wedding of mutual friends. Eric was the best man, I was a soloist and bridesmaid. Therefore we had "known" each other all that time. :)

The truth is we exchanged a couple of sentences at that wedding at the most. I definitely noticed Eric - and even inquired as to why he was single. But I was seeing someone else at the time... and Eric didn't seem the slightest bit interested when I did make an attempt to converse. (I believe my exact words were: "oh, that's so sad... you're sitting at the table eating your cake all by yourself".)

Anyway... fast forward a year and a half. Honestly, I never thought about him again after that wedding... until early December, 16 months later. I was talking to my friend who had been married and suddenly asked what had ever happened to "that guy" that was the best man at her wedding. She said he was still single... and hung out with them quite a bit. I asked her what was wrong with him... (you single girls no doubt understand my asking that... the decent looking, successful ones inevitably seem to have something wrong with them... or they're already taken). She didn't seem to think anything was wrong with him - that she knew of... to which I replied...

"Then how come he never called?!"
"Why would he call you? You live in Reno and up until a few months ago you weren't even available."

I finally managed to talk her into suggesting to him that he email me. (Too forward?) Hey... all I can say is it worked. :)

A couple weeks later, Eric did indeed email me. You can imagine the many hesitations along with the confusion that he must have had... emailing a girl he had barely even met almost a year and a half ago - who lived in Reno, Nevada - 2000 miles from him. But he did! We exchanged messages for a couple weeks leading to Christmas, and then I reeled him in. Here's how the emails went:

Me - "So what are you doing for Christmas?"
Eric - "Spending time with my family, then heading to Chicago to visit John and Janet (perfect!). What are your plans?"
Me - (dropping the bate) "My parents will be out here for Christmas, and then I'm heading back to Chicago with them for a week. Maybe we'll be there at the same time!"
Eric - "Maybe we could get together for dinner one night." (Fish hooked!!)
Me - "OK, that sounds good." (HUGE smile on my face but carefully choosing my words to sound cool, calm, and not too desperate. I think I even waited a day or so to respond.)

So there you have it. NOW. Date #2:

After the first date and much to my excitement, Eric decided to stay another night with John and Janet so we could go out again the next evening. This time he planned to head out to the suburbs and meet me at my parents. We headed to downtown LaGrange, got some coffee, and walked around a little bit. Since it was raining, we headed into a little Mexican place for something to eat. To keep the story short... I'll skip to the juicy details. At some point, the conversation lulled a little... and Eric reached over and took my hand. Right about then... three things came into my mind:

1) My hair must look horrible after being out in the rain.
2) Oh - my - gosh. I'm totally going to marry this guy.
3) I think I'm going to be sick.

Our waitress came over and chose that moment to tell us how cute we looked... and I think we were asked about dessert. I noticed something on the menu and couldn't help but ask... "what is rice water"? She asked if we'd like to try some - and Eric ordered me a glass. Basically - it tasted like it sounds... but it makes for a good title to the story right?

After that we headed out for some more walking in the light rain. If you ask Eric... I believe he will tell you that shortly after walking out of the restaurant, he took my hand and knew himself that we would get married someday. Soon after, we wound up under an awning somewhere... talking for what we later realized had been 3 hours. Towards the end of that three hours... the conversation went something like this (and for the record... Eric will tell you a slightly different version but trust me... he's wrong).

Eric - "I kind of feel like I just met my wife."
Me - "Yeah, you did."

I'm not sure we really said much more that night - because neither one of us could believe that we had said or felt what we had... It was overwhelming and terrifying to say the least...but I guess things worked out. :)

The next day was New Year's Eve... as luck would have it, neither of us had a date for the evening... so Eric decided to stick around for yet another night before heading back to Indiana. (Poor John and Janet. I should mention that Janet was about 11 months pregnant at the time, and kept asking John when his friend was going to be leaving!! Sorry girl... but I'm SO glad you tolerated the extra company for a little longer!!)

P.S. MORE friends have started blogs!!! Check out Amanda (we go way back to high school) and a nursing school friend, Michelle.

Date #1 - 1st Date Anniversary

Today is the two year anniversary of the first date I ever had with my husband. For me, this Anniversary almost feels even more special then the Anniversary of our wedding. It was the first of 6 dates in a row - before I would return to Reno confused, excited, and overwhelmed. We met at the Italian Village in downtown Chicago for dinner, and then spent the evening walking around the city enjoying the Christmas lights and decorations.

Prior to our meeting, Eric had mentioned that it would be fun to "dress up" and have a nice dinner somewhere... so the morning of the big date... I frantically combed OakBrook mall with my mom, looking for the "perfect-first-date-dressy-but-not-too-dressy" outfit. I was a mess - ask my mom. I couldn't find anything that looked good enough, and still fell in my budget. Finally, after about 3 hours and out of complete desperation, I plopped down $80 for some pants at Limited, and another $75 I believe on a cute sweater set. I was still looking for shoes when I noticed a voice mail on my cell phone. It was Eric. The message went something like this:

"Hey Meghan, this is Eric. Uh... I think I said something awhile back about us getting dressed up for dinner tonight... but I only brought jeans and a shirt up with me, so I won't be wearing anything that nice. I just wanted to let you know so you didn't show up and feel too overdressed."

You gotta give the guy credit... at least he thought enough to let me know ahead of time.

I believe my mom's response was, "well now you don't have to buy something to wear!"... to which I replied, "NO... NOW I have to find something really CUTE and really CASUAL!!"!

SO.. the next 2 hours were spent running BACK to Limited where the original outfit was exchanged... and the search began all over again.

Despite the drama of the morning (which Eric remained clueless about for quite some time after), we had a fabulous time on our date. I have a picture of the two of us, that was taken by a photographer somewhere downtown - and I've been scouring the house looking for it today. When I find it I'll post it.

At the risk of sounding really cheesy, I knew on this first date that Eric and I would have some kind of a future.... can't say I knew just what that would be. THAT certainty, did not come until the next evening... when we both knew we would be married someday....

But that story will have to wait until tomorrow...

Return of the Bloggers!

I am VERY excited to report that Jessica is BACK!!! And Carrie is making her blogging debut!! I am SO excited that they have decided create a blog so I (as well as others... I'm sure they didn't JUST do it for me!)... can stay up-to-date on what's going on in their lives. Please leave them a comment and welcome them to the club when you get a chance...

Jessica's blog is: http://boysmakenoise.blogspot.com

Carrie's blog is: http://carelizabeth.blogspot.com

Now who's next?! You know you want one!!!

Ultra Sound Images

Here are a few shots taken during the ultrasound...

This shot is a profile view and you can see the head and some facial features




Here you can see an arm and a foot. This morning I felt that foot kick Meg in the stomach. Its a pretty amazing feeling to know there is a small baby growing inside my wife and that in just 4 months we'll be getting no sleep and changing diapers.

The Results are IN!

Well... we were set on boy names... had the boy clothes... picked out the boy nursery bedding...

None of it will do us much good now unless we're willing to subject our child to some serious gender identity issues!

I have a feeling that the tighter Eric tries to hold onto that wallet... the more girls we'll see in our future! :)

We're both very excited... although I'm pretty sure I did see a look of momentary dizziness fall over Eric as visions of hormones, credit card bills, and expensive weddings flooded his mind. She also appears to be taking after the feistiness of her mother already. We could barely get her to stay still and cooperate during the ultrasound! (Another groan from Eric) Don't worry.... he's already over it and now I'm dreading the fact that no doubt this will be "daddy's girl". Chances were he'd be a far better disciplinarian with a boy. (*sigh).

Congratulations to those of you who guessed correctly! Thanks for playing!!

Pink or Blue???

OK!!! Tomorrow morning is the big day!!

If this kid cooperates we should know if it's a BOY or a GIRL!!

Let's take a poll... what do you think it is??

What do you win for guessing right??? I have no idea. Just humor me on this one. :)

Christmas Photos

I've decided that one of my favorite things ever - is receiving
Christmas photos each year. Seriously... I absolutely love seeing
updated pictures of friends and family that I haven't seen in awhile.
Receiving one of these awesome photos in the mail makes me feel
special... and in some twisted way it takes me back to grade school
when the more school photos of friends you had, the cooler you were!
(I'll ignore the eye rolls from my husband, and probably many others,
for that comment).

Listen. I was never popular... so this is my chance.
I've decided to make it a personal goal to collect as many Christmas
pictures of people as possible. Sure, I'd prefer to know them... but
really - no one who sees my collection will have much of an idea as to
whether I know everybody or not! I suppose this goal would also require
that I continue to make as many friends as possible.

So please. If you haven't sent me your family photo, either incidentally
or intentionally... would you mind re-considering for the sake of my
collection and my quest for "coolness"? And for those of you who opted out of this somewhat
oppressive project, maybe you could just take a quick snapshot for my
benefit?? Sure, I'd prefer the fun decor and layout of the Snap fish or even Wal-Mart variety, but Christmas is in fact just 9 days away and I'll make exceptions for the sake of time.

Another point I have to make because it's a little pet peeve of mine. Please don't take offense if you are already guilty of this issue... but please include yourselves in the photos rather than JUST your children!! I LOVE to see those adorable kids growing up... but unless they are paying rent and having the pictures printed themselves... I want to see the adorable parents faces plastered right along next to them as well! Give yourselves some credit! Who cares if you haven't been to a hair salon for two years and have wrinkles mapping their way across your face! Those kids PUT them there and you deserve to be recognized!!

Another tip since I'm now setting some Christmas photo guidelines:
While I have received a couple very lovely "Costco Christmas
Photo" specials... I personally cannot recommend them from my own
experience. Those of you who were privileged enough (or burdened
perhaps), to receive Eric and my photo this year, will notice that we
are a lovely shade of Grinch green. If I had been my mother's daughter,
I would have promptly returned to the counter and demanded they be
re-printed. But... I am pregnant... the line was forever long... my
feet were hurting... and I had to pee. Enough said.

Merry Christmas from the Green Johnsons.

(P.S: Where is everybody out there in blogland???)

Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy

My mother-in-law keeps finding these great YouTube videos. This one will have you crying in about 3 seconds. It's an actual radio show that broadcasts from Houston, TX - KSBJ. Pastor Mike received this call from a 13 year old boy named Logan who lives on a ranch in Nebraska. We can all learn from kids...

Life

Well... it's been awhile since I've updated (as several of you have been kind enough to point out)! :) Life has been a little busy. I'm trying to grab some overtime shifts whenever they are available while I am feeling good. As I approach my 20th week of pregnancy I'm enjoying the energy that had left me for awhile... and trying to make a few extra dollars to go towards maternity leave!

We found out last week that Eric's step-mom was going to be having a last-minute hysterectomy. Debbie lives alone now, since Eric's dad past away 3 years ago from colon cancer, so we rushed down to Louisville, KY to be with her for surgery Friday morning. The surgery went well, but we received the devastating news that they found she has ovarian cancer - stage 3. It was a difficult weekend for all of us - most of all Debbie... but she is recovering well from surgery, and hopes to be home tomorrow. The road ahead will no doubt be extremely challenging and full of unknowns, as she begins chemotherapy in a few weeks... but we are praying for miracles and hoping to be there for her anyway that we can.

We returned home late this afternoon... I am now at work and Eric is in the middle of his 1st final of the week. He is thrilled that the end of the semester is finally here, and looking forward to a 3 week vacation of baby room projects!! We will know next week whether this baby is a boy or a girl and I cannot wait!

Stay tuned for belly pictures (really guys, are they THAT exciting?). I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that we have not taken even one... somehow the photo documentation of an enlarging stomach along with boobs, chins, cheeks and thighs are really not all that exciting to me. NEVERTHELESS... I know that ONE day MAYBE I will enjoy looking back on these (wonderful??) body changes this baby is putting me through.

For now... you'll have to wait just a little bit longer. At least until I catch up on a little sleep and the bags under my eyes tone down a bit.

Merry CHRISTmas

The video is lacking... but the words are pretty cool!