Happy Birthday, Edward!

Edward turns 29 years old today! Only one year away from 30, yikes! I always find Monday birthdays pretty depressing but fortunately it will be short work week for Edward. Actually it will probably work out to about a 40-hour work week but just jam-packed into three long days.

I made Edward a cake today...

That's a lion in the middle...

This looks like a cake for a five year old, I recognize that. However, I have a Wilton cake decorating set from when I took a Wilton class in 7th grade (doesn't every 7th grade girl take that class?) and extra time on my hands, so I decided to try some of the basics. I have terrible handwriting but there's not much I can do about that. Next year there will be a baby to make a cake for so perhaps Edward won't get such a childish cake.

In other news, Piper is doing okay. She has figured out how to remove her collar so I have to keep half an eye on her at all times to make sure she isn't ripping out her stitches.


I am now 16 weeks along in my pregnancy and besides the occasional heartburn I am feeling really good. I don't have much of a bump yet but will post a picture when I do. Apparently our baby is about four inches long, weighs about 3.5 ounces and can hear me. He or she is going to be pretty sick of me singing Christmas songs by the end of December. (This is the first year I started playing them before Thanksgiving and I feel a little guilty, but what the heck!) According to my baby books I should be feeling baby movements in the next couple of weeks and we'll find out the sex of our baby in a month!

Poor Piper!

Our poor little Piper had surgery on Friday to remove all her lady parts (aka an ovariohysterectomy). We dropped her off early Friday morning, she had the surgery Friday afternoon, and we picked her up this afternoon. She's been on valium for the pain so she's a little out of it. She is to be restricted to a leash (no running or jumping) and wear a ridiculous "Elizabethan collar" (that's what the vet called it, I didn't come up with such a name) for the next 10-14 days. This was poor planning on my part because she is going to be in NJ the next two weekends where she and Scout like to run and play like maniacs. Oh dear. We'll do the best we can!

Here is a video of her wearing her new collar. She hasn't quite got a handle on it, as you'll see. She's been banging up the furniture for about an hour now.

New Camera!

My parents got me my first digital camera Christmas 2004 and it served me well these last several years, however now the technology is so improved that my pictures were looking blurry compared to other digital pix. Edward and I were planning on getting a new camera before the arrival of Baby Shuman, but my parents surprised me with an amazing camera for my birthday. Hopefully I'll learn how to use all the features by May. Here are a bunch of crystal clear pictures with my new Sony Cyber-shot.

using the sparkle setting

dinner at Outback


birthday flowers from my wonderful husband


Piper at 5 1/2 months old


this is a quilt I made for Edward back in 2003. we finally got it up on the wall when my parents came to visit


I found these old windows at a barn sale, crackle painted them, and filled each pane with family photos. The window on the left has pictures of my mom's side of the family and the right is my dad's side.
Johannessen side

Papa (mom's dad)

Mormor and Papa on their wedding day

Sisti side


my Mom and Dad (nice tux)

Grandma - isn't she attractive?

Grandpa in Korea

Sarah, Jessie, and Beth

Wonderful Week

Tuesday Edward and I went for our 13 week baby check-up. We got blood work results (all is well), I got a flu shot, and we heard the baby's heartbeat (a rapid 155 beats per minute). Our first appointment was at 9 weeks and I'll post the ultrasound picture from that appointment. We saw our baby in action--hands and feet moving and the heartbeat flickering on the monitor--very cool!

Tried to upload ultrasound pictures but was unsuccessful. I'll have Edward help me with this later.

Wednesday was my 27th birthday and the day was filled with emails, texts, birthday cards, and phone calls. Thank you! I had pottery class in the morning, and although Edward got stuck at work until 8:30pm, it was still a nice day. We did have to cancel our dinner plans but we'll try again tomorrow night.

Sarah, Maddie, and my mom visited on Thursday, and despite the horrible rain and hours of traffic we had a great visit. Maddie didn't have such a wonderful time but hopefully once her new cousin is here it will be more fun to visit.

Piper and I are just hanging out today. I'm trying to catch up on emails and some other stuff. I'm looking forward to a wonderful weekend with my husband!

Big news!

What's this???

Baby Shuman is due May 9, 2009 and we can't wait to meet him or her!


Some other recent pictures...

Halloween parade in Haddonfield, NJ

Maddie the ladybug

Edward, Scout, and Piper