New Word for a New Year

When I was younger I always loved to make New Years Resolutions. Most never panned out and after a month or so they were forgotten. Last year I took the advice of Ali Edwards, whose blog I follow to pick one word to focus on for the new year. Last year we were just getting home from Kyle's heart transplant. After all we had been through I wanted to just get out lives back to as normal as possible, especially for Kyle. I have a friend who had been in Vietnam and I asked him once what made the difference for him when he got back to the states. I knew he had been through so much like so many others but he seemed to not have had the problems like PTSD that affected so many others. Although I would never compare the stressful time we and Kyle went through with what happened in Vietnam I did use remember what my friend told me. He felt he did so well because he immediately threw himself back in society, back into life. He got a job immediately, got involved with family and friends and tried to get his life back to normal as soon as he could. That was my goal last year and the word I chose then was "live". I wanted to help Kyle and our family "live" again. I knew life was different and we had new things to do, watch for, etc, but I did not want us to be afraid, or dwell on the past, especially Kyle. I think we succeeded in "living" again. Kyle seems happy and adjusted. He has chores just like other kids that he is expected to do. We try to treat him as normal as possible. I still worry about him, and about his future, but I try not to dwell on the fact that he is a transplant patient. We are doing what we have to do to keep him healthy, otherwise life goes on and is as normal as it can be.

So here I am starting off 2010 ready to pick a new word for this new year. I decided to borrow Ali's word from last year, "Nurture".
nur ture
verb [trans.]
-to care for and encourage the growth or development of
-cherish (a hope, belief, or ambition)
noun
-the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something

It seems fitting as we will add a new baby to our family this year. I want to focus on nurturing so many things this year, not only the new baby, but my two other children, my husband and myself too. There are relationships with new friends and old that I want to spend time nurturing. I want to nurture the relationships I have with my parents and other family. With the new baby coming our lives will change this year. I am nervous and scared yet excited and looking forward to it all.

I encourage you to pick a word for this year to focus on. It actually worked so much better for me than specific goals. It easily reminded me last year where my focus was. You can read more about Ali's word and other links here: http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2009/12/one-little-word-2010.html
What will your word for 2010 be?

Christmas Wrap Up and a New Year

It is hard to believe Christmas came and went so quickly but it did. I felt like I didn't get a lot of good pictures this year. I guess I blame it on being pregnant and tired! Ha! The kids were happy with their presents but I didn't think they would want me to post pictures of them in their pajamas and bed heads so I won't. When I asked them Jessica's favorite gift was her new guitar and Kyle's was his new Ipod. I did get a picture of our tree before we took it down. I love Christmas ornaments so we have quite a collection. We didn't even put them all on the tree this year because their are so many. Each year I get the kids a new ornament, usually one they have picked out from the Hallmark collection. But this year we opted for a photo ornament from pottery barn with a picture of our dog, Ralph, who passed away this fall.


In other news I am almost 18 weeks pregnant now. I had to finally break down and start wearing maternity clothes. Last Tuesday Kenton and I went to St. Luke's for our prenatal visit. It took most of the afternoon but was quite interesting. We learned a lot from the genetic counseling, then they did a level 2 ultrasound and finally an amniocentesis. Only preliminary reports back so far but everything looks great. We are expecting a healthy baby BOY! Here is one of Baby Boy Johnson's official ultrasound pictures.

We will return to St. Luke's next month for a fetal echocardiogram due to the congenital defect that Kyle was born with. They are not expecting anything to be wrong but want to check his heart because of family history.

We were so blessed in 2009 and are now excited that the new year is underway. We are looking forward to a great 2010. We hope you all have a blessed new year also.