Happy New Year!

I'm here at work, the day after New Year's Day and although I typically like when it's quiet here (I can actually get my own work done & not be bothered by everyone else & their stuff), I must say that I have ZERO motivation! It's just too quiet. I would rather be at home in my cozy bed, where I happen to have spent a good majority of yesterday! Kris and I spent New Year's Eve at our next-door neighbor's house with our typical group of neighbors that hang out together (Nicky joined via baby monitor...love that thing!). The instructions were to bring an appetizer & a bottle of champagne. Well...I couldn't let the champagne go to waste! :) I love that stuff...until the next morning rolls around. This was our first day spent with Nicky after an evening of imbibing. Not that it will be our last mind you, but those kinds of evenings will be few and far between going forward. Although, I must say, Nicky was so good all day. He played on the couch next to me (as I was all stretched out under the covers barely able to move), and gave me kisses every 15 minutes or so! He played with his tools (drilled my head a bit...); he was "Dr Nicky" (we got him a vet doctor kit thingy for Christmas)(he listened to my heartbeat in my cheek, took my temperature under my nose and gave me "medicine"); then played with his RC firetruck for almost 3 hours straight in the afternoon! Thank goodness he's able to play on his own a bit more now, or the day could've been quite different.

Proof that 2008 was a good year...
1. Started the adoption process in January
2. Hung out in San Francisco, Napa, Monterey & Carmel for Kris' birthday
3. Visited friends & family in St Louis, MO
4. Spent 4th of July meeting Nicky in St Petersburg, Russia
5. Travelled back to Russia for our adoption hearing in August & stayed with some new friends
6. Visited friends in Basel, Switzerland & took a trip to Locarno, Switzerland
7. Picked up Nicky from the orphanage in St Petersburg & brought him home!

I'd say we had a truly blessed year! I hope you all had a wonderful 2008 and wish you the best for 2009!

Nicky's Test Results

We went to see Nicky's GI doctor this past Monday and I'm happy to report that everything seems to be good to go as far as his guts are concerned! We are definitely very happy about that and thankful that he doesn't need any major procedure to straighten him out. So - what's with all the explosions? The doctor seems to think it's a combination of "Toddler's Diarrhea" and "withholding". He said to continue with the probiotics, as this is know to help with issues regarding Irritable Bowel Syndrome & malabsorption. The thing that gets me (other than the actual explosions themselves!) is the fact that most doctors think that "toddlers diarrhea" is caused by an excessive intake of juices (especially apple & pear). Well, those of you that know me, know that I am not a fan of giving Nicky juice & the only juice he does get is the V8 Fusion (because it claims to have a full serving of fruit & veggies per serving). So, we're going to water down the juice we do give him & push the water. I guess I'll have to talk to his teachers again about not giving him as much juice. The doctor also said that the explosions could be a residual effect caused by the parasite he had when we first returned from Russia - it could have done a bit of damage to his guts & it will just work itself out eventually. As for the withholding, well, unfortunately we'll have to wait that one out too. He said not to push "ocaccalo on the potty", but to just reward him excessively (gotta love cheering for poo!) when he does happen to go on the potty.

Now, you may be asking yourself, what's with the picture of the pink dinosaur?! Well, that was the "prize" Nicky picked after visiting with the doctor. I just had to post a picture of it because Kris' oh so favorite color is pink!!! Well, not exactly, it's actually the complete opposite! He can't stand it, so when Nicky chose the pink one I just had to rub it in! :)

Happy New Year!

Austin Matthew Sutten

A few posts ago I mentioned that one of our friends had their baby, very prematurely (he was due at the very end of February). I can now make the announcement more official & say that it was our friends Ramsey & Shelly Sutten. I am very happy to announce that everything's going well so far! He's a little fighter and is making progress every day. When he was born (12.18.08) he was 16 1/4 inches long & 2 lbs 10 ozs. He's now 2 lbs 13.9 ozs, so he definitely has a long way to go, but the important part is he's thriving! There's even a picture on their blog (http://austinmatthewsutten.blogspot.com/) of him giving "the bird"...too funny! He's already just like his mommy & daddy :) They are able to go up to visit Austin for feedings and "touch times", but they don't get as much contact with him as would be ideal and it's been tough for them to leave him each day. I couldn't even imagine having a baby, yet not really having the baby. Please keep them in your prayers as the new year approaches.

Nicky's 1st Christmas

Well...maybe not his first Christmas ever, but his first as a Johnson! As I mentioned in a previous blog, they celebrate the Russian Orthodox Christmas in January & their jolly man is referred to as Father Frost. Kris' parents (Granny & Papa) arrived the afternoon of Christmas Eve and Nicky went to work decorating cookies with his Granny.
Later that evening, we put out cookies & milk for Santa and some carrots for his reindeer. I think Nicky was most excited to get to eat a cookie for himself!

Kris came home from work early Christmas morning and we woke Nicky up at 7:25am - proof that he doesn't quite "get it" just yet! We looked at the evidence that Santa had, indeed, visited us (cookies were eaten, milk drunk & carrots nibbled upon).Then the three of us checked out our stockings to see what Santa brought. Nicky peered into his, saw his stickers & "lips" (chap stick) and was good to go!

One of the wrapped presents in the stocking made noise and he recognized the Elmo song, so he ripped the paper off that one.
We handed him another one that was wrapped & he said "don't want it"! Too bad we didn't get that on video...we could use it against him in the years to come!

After stockings we ate breakfast then proceeded to sit by the Christmas tree and open all the other gifts.

Nicky would open one, play with whatever it was, then lose interest.
We started opening presents around 10am & he still had a pile waiting for him after nap time! He finally opened the last one late in the evening. I'm sure next year will be the opposite...he'll wake us up at 7am and he'll tear through the presents with gusto!

Some of his favorite gifts were a pair of gloves he insisted on wearing right away (from Granny & Papa)...

A pair of sunglasses he refused to take off all day (from Granny & Papa)...

An Elmo "see & say" (from Santa)(notice he's still wearing the sunglasses)...

and a Little Einsteins piano (from Aunt Caroline & Uncle Brent)(you can just call him "Nicky Wonder!)...
The rest of our visit with Granny & Papa was spent playing and hanging out. Momma & Daddy actually got to spend a little time alone & even got to go see a movie! We walked through Deerfield (the neighborhood next to us) to see all the Christmas lights. We had a record high on the 26th here in Dallas...it was in the 80's! Crazy! Last week we had freezing rain & snow and we started out this week in the 20's! Gotta love Texas weather!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make Nicky's 1st Christmas memorable! He loved all his presents and we appreciate all your thoughtfulness! We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread House

My friend Veronica (or as Nicky says "Onca") gave us a Willy Wonka Gingerbread House kit for Christmas this year (it contained a full pound of candy!). She thought it would be something fun for us to do & would maybe occupy Nicky's attention span for more than 10 minutes. Well - it did to that, however, I have to say, it's a good thing I didn't become an architect! I should have thought ahead and put the house part together before I sat Nicky down to do the decorating. The icing that comes in the kit, although very tasty, is not very good at holding the house pieces together! I managed to get the walls up without too much of a problem, however the roof turned out to be rather tricky. So with my left hand I held the house together, and with the right hand I iced the different parts of the house for Nicky to decorate! Quite comical, actually, especially the part when the whole thing came crashing down! The look on Nicky's face was priceless! I felt so bad; but once I got over the shock of it all, told him it was ok, gave him a few more pieces of candy to sample, and let him proceed in decorating the piece of the roof that survived the fall, all was good in the world again. Even though our house might not be showcased on any HGTV show, I have to hand it to Veronica - the purpose of the mission was to occupy Nicky's time & it did just that!

Here are a few pics of the disaster...

We started out so strong...all prepared for our masterpiece!

Nicky's face after "the fall"...

Nicky after realizing the fun wasn't all over...

Nicky decorating the roof...

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll post pictures of Nicky tearing through his presents on Christmas morning later this week!