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<title>our life - Homeschool Blogger</title>
<description>My name is Erica, I am newlywed to the best husband in the world, Eric Johnson, Yes, Eric and Erica, cute isn’t it?  We like it, and it’s easy to remember us! We are raising 3 wonderful children. I have been homeschooling since 2005. We are striving for a CM education, but I fall short most of the time. 

I love Babies, photography, camping, checking my email way to many times a day, dressing our daughter head to toe in gymboree clothing, reading…but what I have time for is God, my husband, my children and taking care of my home. I was blessed with a husband that can COOK, so most days I am off the hook there. My cooking just doesn’t taste the same anymore! 

We enjoy roller skating together as a family, going to the zoo, and being outside in the sunshine.  Soon, I am looking forward to family bike rides as our youngest rode her bike about 10 feet by herself yesterday. She will be going strong soon!  I love being with my family, I am with them nearly all the time, and the days still fly by way to fast! 

My husband and I are in ministry training at our church. I love getting God’s good Word engraved on my heart. Each day we are growing and learning to live the life God has set before us, and are striving to become a great example for those around us. God is good, and our life is greater than I could ever imagine! 

</description>
<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed,  5 Nov 2008 13:23:00 -0600</pubDate>
<lastBuildDate>Wed,  5 Nov 2008 13:23:00 -0600</lastBuildDate>
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<title>9 months and FINALLY a good night's sleep!</title>
<description>Well, about a week ago we decided to rearrange our Master bedroom. We were pretty sure that the reason Corban wasn't sleeping through the night was because he could see us and just wanted to visit mama in the middle of the night. We figured this out when we could option1: let him cry it out and he would just cry and cry and cry...or we would Option 2...both of us get up and sit on the couch...minutes later he was asleep! We had suspected it before because when he would sleep in another room he did fine sleeping through the night, but being pregnant and nursing him I kept thinking my milk supply was dropping and he needed the extra feedings. Anyway....so we got creative...our dressers are now in the middle of the bedroom, acting as a &quot;headboard&quot; to our bed...and Corban's crib is on the other side of them. He has his own little area now and he has been sleeping wonderfully! We also upped his bedtime to 7:30. So he sleeps till about 6:00am (when Eric's alarm goes off) and has a &quot;dream feed&quot; eats and goes strait back to bed...until about 8:30-9:00. Then he gets up to start his day. He's eating solids 3 times a day and taking 2 naps...one at 10:30 and one at 2:30...the rule is it has to be alteast 1&amp;frac12; hours, and he can sleep up to 2&amp;frac12; hours before I wake him up. We have also been working on our wake time activity schedule...we started Blanket time training and he's progressing slowly. I've also tried to incorporate some outside time with him since we have had such beautiful weather. He Loves the wind blowing in his face and&amp;nbsp;checking out all the crunchy leaves. He tries to eat them, but we remind him that its &quot;not food&quot; and I think he's starting to learn to not eat them, he doesn't try nearly as often as he did at first! Today when we went out there, we sat in the driveway and he waved at several of the cars that drove by, it was so cute!&amp;nbsp; I also saw him move from his knees to both feet then back to his knees again for the first time. I think it won't take long for him to figure out he can stand up once he get's his balance. He has been pulling up for months now, and several times a day we see him let go and try to balance for a second before sitting down.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;
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<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/615074/</link>
<pubDate>Wed,  5 Nov 2008 13:23:00 -0600</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/615074/</guid>
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<title>Pack the Pantry</title>
<description>&amp;nbsp;

Guts Church is Packing the Pantry for Thanksgiving this year and Perry decided that he wanted to sponsor one of the 1,000 families Guts Church will be feeding. So, for his special day activity in November, we went to the grocery store and picked up the non-perishable items on the list, which Perry paid for as well as the $25 contribution for the perishable items that the church will add to meal, to make it a real Thanksgiving. I&quot;m so proud of Perry for his generous heart! 
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<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/614548/</link>
<pubDate>Tue,  4 Nov 2008 18:08:00 -0600</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/614548/</guid>
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<title>Halloween Fun 2008</title>
<description>Well, the Kids informed me that this weekend (October 23-26, we even&amp;nbsp;started a little early on Thursday!) &amp;nbsp;was the BEST weekend ever! 
Thursday we celebrated Aunt Sara's 30th Birthday! 

I promise we didn't think it was Christmas...even though almost all of us have on red or green! 
Friday, they went to spend the evening with Aunt Cassie, Marcial, Eiley and Hayden while Eric and I worked at the Nightmare outreach at our church. I did make up again this year and Eric was on the security team
Saturday, we went over to our our friends house for a pumpkin carving, chilli-cook off, and bonfire! The kids played with all their friends from my girls night group, Eric carved the pumpkin, Libby painted a pumpkin, we all enjoyed some yummy chili and smores! Corban especially liked the pinto beans! 

Sunday was the annual Guts Church Pumpkin Smash....No&amp;nbsp;pumpkins were harmed during this event. The kids enjoyed playing on inflatables, face painting, games &amp;nbsp;snacks and candy of course! Libby dressed up as a ballerina, Parker was a Magician. Corban wore his costume to the nursery, our little sock monkey! 
&amp;nbsp;</description>
<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/610798/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:22:00 -0500</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/610798/</guid>
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<title>8½ months old....new things are happening!</title>
<description>Corban cut his first TOOTH! I've been checking daily and finally I felt the little sharp points...and&amp;nbsp;he sure&amp;nbsp;HATES it when I try! He is just a few days away from being 8&amp;frac12; months old, I think that is much later than the other 3. I only know that Perry cut his first&amp;nbsp;tooth the day before he turned 7 months old...the others, well, &amp;nbsp;I couldn't find where I wrote it down. I'm sure it is somewhere, but I havn't taken the time to research it beside glancing through the baby books.
&amp;nbsp;
He is also babbling a bit more and starting to&amp;nbsp;say the DA-DA-DA sound...usually at a&amp;nbsp;very high pitched squeal...he says the Bu or Ba sound&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;now also. 
&amp;nbsp;
He is pulling up on everything! We finally lowered his crib mattress on Sunday night. Every once in a while I will see him let go&amp;nbsp;with both&amp;nbsp;hands&amp;nbsp;and plop to his bottom, but I think he will be starting to balance very soon. TOO SOON! 
&amp;nbsp;
He is STARTING to sort of sign Night-Night. ..he cant do it by himself yet, but when we put his hand up to his head he will leave it there and babble a little. Before, we&amp;nbsp;nearly had to wrestle him to just get his hand up there! 
&amp;nbsp;
He is supposed to&amp;nbsp;get his first haircut tonight, but I may wait till tomorrow, so we can&amp;nbsp;borrow my mom's camera for before and after shots.&amp;nbsp;I'm not sure if it will even be noticable, except that its gonna be an &quot;at home job&quot; by a mama who hasn't ever cut hair before! 


He has offically started self feeding in the past few days. We've been trying some brown rice crispies for a couple of weeks, but I think they were too small for him to pick up, so I had to feed them to him. Next we tried bananas coated in brown rice crispies that had been ground into a &quot;flour&quot;. It coated them very nicely and now he can pick them up with out a problem. 2 days ago, I found some puffed red wheat cereal, and he LOVES those! Its just like super Golden Crisp, with out all the sugar. Its really pretty tastey...eating them dry at least! 


He loves eating his&amp;nbsp;oatmeal, well actually&amp;nbsp;eating ANYTHING&amp;nbsp;I am spoon feeding him. He lets us know really quick that he wants another bite NOW...he kicks his legs and fusses and says a sound with an &quot;M&quot; sound. We are trying to teach him to sign MORE, but he gets mad when I hold his hands to help him. We'll keep working on it, and he'll have it down in no time! </description>
<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/601448/</link>
<pubDate>Tue,  7 Oct 2008 18:52:00 -0500</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/601448/</guid>
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<title>Corban update</title>
<description>Well, Whoops, where did the past 3 months go? Lots has happened since our last update! I'll be racking my brain trying to think what was going on 12 weeks ago, but thanks to my calendar and my need to share with the world online I can usually piece it together. 
Patta-Cake---not quite clapping, but sorta dusting his hands off when we sing the song
Pulling up- He did this for the first time the day he turned 7 months old. I stood him up in his crib to make sure he wouldn't fall out if he did happen to stand up, then he flopped to his bottom, reached back up to the rail and pulled right back up! With in a week he was a pro, as long as he could get a grip on something to pull on. 
Cruising in&amp;nbsp;bed and playpen- with in a few days he decided he can get around a little bit as long as he's holding on. He's a brave boy, most of the time he only uses one hand at a time!
Says Ma-Ma
bouncing on bottom&amp;nbsp; and bouncing when standing ( not doing seat drops quite yet!)
CAN sleep through the night, but doesn't usually. He needs his own area where he can't see Mama! 
Eating Solid food- we&amp;nbsp;tried a tiny bit of cereal around&amp;nbsp;5 months and Corban&amp;nbsp;wanting nothing to do with it, so we waited.&amp;nbsp;We tried solids again at 6&amp;frac12;&amp;nbsp; months and&amp;nbsp;he did much better. I&amp;nbsp;did some reading up and&amp;nbsp;we decided to start with &amp;nbsp;Avacado thined with a little breastmilk and he did really good. Next was &amp;nbsp;Sweet potato, Banana, Apple Sauce, Rice Cereal, ground organic Old Fashioned Oat Meal, Old Fashioned Oatmeal,&amp;nbsp; and Pumpkin. He Tried a pickle and LOVED it, but he got sick that night, so I'm not sure his tummy was ready for it!&amp;nbsp; We are also making his baby food at home, instead of buying the stuff in the jar, and I think its a lot yummier! 
Uses Self Feeder (mesh&amp;nbsp;holder)- Apple, Pear, Kiwi, Cantalope
Crawling- September 9th, crawled for daddy, the next day he crawled across the room for mama and he's been chugging along since! 
September 13th, started waving Hi and Bye Bye, sometimes he says this at night-night time, we are working on the sleep sign but he hasn't caught on yet.
Recognises&amp;nbsp; his name, and even stops to look when I call him. 
&amp;nbsp;Play &quot;Boo&quot; with Big Brothers laughs and squweals. He just started doing this after the kids got back from Montana on September 14th
Plays independently for up to 1 hour in the playpen
8 months old and no signs of&amp;nbsp;teeth! 
Loves to hang upside down and he sure loves to try to eat&amp;nbsp;daddy's shoelaces! Sometimes I wonder if&amp;nbsp;is&amp;nbsp;more of a monkey or a puppy dog....instead of a baby...but&amp;nbsp;no...I still do not believe in evolution,&amp;nbsp;haha. 
Here's a little slide show...I love the&amp;nbsp;background, but unfortunately it just randomly shows the pictures and sometimes it&amp;nbsp;takes several times to&amp;nbsp;get around to viewing all 4 of them. So if you want to see them all just be patient! &amp;nbsp;

</description>
<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/595300/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:05:00 -0500</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/595300/</guid>
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<title>Dance Camp and the daily drive</title>
<description>Libby attended a Dance Camp a few weeks ago, she got to try out several different kids of dancing. She decided that she likes Tap best, then Jazz and Hip-Hop. Ballet didn't make the list, but I'm thinking maybe it was just what she's always done and is ready to try something new. 
Since dance camp was 5 days plus a performance day we did a lot of extra driving. Libby pointed to a beautiful place and said everyday that was where she wants to get married. Unfortunately, although it is beautiful, it is the Memorial Park Cemetary. She doesn't seem to care though, there was no convicing her that it wasn't the perfect place. 
Here is her picture of her in her Noah's Heart costume for the recital this year.</description>
<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/557176/</link>
<pubDate>Sun,  6 Jul 2008 13:43:00 -0500</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/557176/</guid>
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<title>Corban is 5 months old</title>
<description>I can't believe that Corban is already 5 months old. He is such a sweet boy! He's figured out how to sit up, although he's still working on the balancing part. No teeth yet, but he is chomping on everything he can get into his mouth. He likes to&amp;nbsp;try to get both fists in at once. He LOVES to stand up, just like his daddy, no sitting down on the job! He would love to be naked all the time, and kicks and squeals with delight during diaper changes.....until we have to put his diaper back on, he is not so happy about it. He is a big boy and uses the toilet&amp;nbsp;nearly every time mama takes him. He knows exactly what to do when mama holds him over the potty, he starts grunting, it is so funny!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
Splish splash,&amp;nbsp;Corban loves taking a&amp;nbsp;bath! He will kick and splash&amp;nbsp;as long as I will let him play, he loves being in the water! He can roll over from his back to his side, and from his tummy to his back. He is so sweet when daddy puts him down to sleep for the night. He can't wait for daddy to give him his blankie he smiles and kicks around, then cuddles up his blanket and has been rolling to his side to sleep. 
Here's his photoshoot slideshow taken yesterday! 




</description>
<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/552390/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:26:00 -0500</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/552390/</guid>
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<title>Corban Joseph has arrived!</title>
<description>Our Birthstory, written by Daddy...
This is the story of how our son Corban came into the world.&amp;nbsp; Let&amp;rsquo;s set precedence by sharing what Erica and I have been in faith for since before we became pregnant.&amp;nbsp; There is a wonderful book called &amp;ldquo;Supernatural Childbirth&amp;rdquo; by Jackie Mize which is full of testimonies as well as scriptural references, evidences and a guide to having pain free childbirth.&amp;nbsp; Sounds crazy right?&amp;nbsp; You might even be thinking, it&amp;rsquo;s supposed to hurt or it&amp;rsquo;s impossible considering the physics involved for that to actually happen.&amp;nbsp; I mean let&amp;rsquo;s face it, it hurts to poop sometimes and those little guys never weigh 6 or 9 pounds.&amp;nbsp; Well, thank God He left us a book that shows us exactly what we can expect from His word, and that if we trust in Him with all our hearts and never lean on our own understanding, how we &amp;ldquo;feel&amp;rdquo; or what makes sense in this world as we know it we can have exactly what it promises because if you are a follower of Christ you are in this world but not of it.&amp;nbsp; Understand if you have made Jesus the Lord of your life and thus are a follower of Christ, you are redeemed from the curse of the law that came through sin because of the price God paid with the life of His Son and the only thing left is the new and better covenant He promises us and it&amp;rsquo;s nothing but blessing if you&amp;rsquo;ll only walk in it.
&amp;nbsp;Erica and I met at the women&amp;rsquo;s health clinic to see Dr. Nilson for our regular weekly visit to check up on Corban to see how and what he was doing.&amp;nbsp; We waited for the usual thirty or forty five minutes to get called back.&amp;nbsp; Once we were in the room Dr. Nilson came in and checked the ultrasound and he got really quiet when usually he&amp;rsquo;s pretty goofy and fun and told us the baby had his head down in the correct position which we had been waiting for.&amp;nbsp; We had a couple visits close to her delivery date and the doctor said he didn&amp;rsquo;t need to check her until he was in the right position; his head was more to one side both times.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Erica asked Dr Nilson to go ahead and check her so he did and she was already dilated to a four and hadn&amp;rsquo;t even had any contractions so we were surprised to say the least.&amp;nbsp; The doctor told her to get dressed and come talk to him in his office.&amp;nbsp; We never go in his office for anything; he always talks to us in the room.&amp;nbsp; At this point my stomach was turning and the best way I can describe my excitement is to say my spirit was literally dancing wildly inside my body while I was forced to sit still and pretend to be calm.&amp;nbsp; He said &amp;ldquo;so are you ready to go have a baby&amp;rdquo;?&amp;nbsp; She said she didn&amp;rsquo;t know because we we&amp;rsquo;re trying to wait until February (don&amp;rsquo;t ask).&amp;nbsp; He said he didn&amp;rsquo;t think we&amp;rsquo;d make it to the hospital if she waited until she thought it was time to go and I would end up delivering the baby myself.&amp;nbsp; Gulp!&amp;nbsp; He said think about it and told us he was on call that night.&amp;nbsp; We left the office and talked about what we wanted to do and decided we wanted to go ahead and go to the hospital and try to have him on the 23rd since the 23rd is the date of her birthday in December, her sister&amp;rsquo;s birthday in October and my sister&amp;rsquo;s birthday in June.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; So we went home and started packing our goodies to take to the hospital.
We left home for the hospital at 6:47 p.m. on January 23rd.&amp;nbsp; We joined hands and prayed over Erica and the baby that God would put a hedge of protection around us, that as God offered us the opportunity to raise this son, He would give us the wisdom to walk in His ways and raise him according to His Word and that Corban would be a light to the world like a city on a hill.&amp;nbsp; I was excited and a little nervous although confident God would honor His word.&amp;nbsp; I couldn&amp;rsquo;t get settled down for most of the drive and then the hospital came into view and I suddenly focused on what my job was and that fear was not a part of it.&amp;nbsp; The moment I realized it I became strong for her and an amazing peace came over me and I knew God was with us.&amp;nbsp; We arrived at the hospital at 7:23 p.m.&amp;nbsp; Erica walked to the door with me after we parked the van.&amp;nbsp; We went to register her and filled out some paperwork and sat down.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; After just a few minutes they admitted us to a room and got us settled in and Erica changed into a hospital gown.&amp;nbsp; I was so excited I could barely sit still so I wandered around the room asking questions about every piece of equipment and trying out every chair and then bouncing back up again.&amp;nbsp; I took my long sleeve shirt off because I was burning up and I emptied my pockets of all the contents (while still at home I had gathered about eighty dollars worth of change to put in my pocket and four packs of chewing gum).&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I went down to the van to bring up our suitcase, blankets and pillow we brought for comfort during our stay.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Cassie, Erica&amp;rsquo;s best friend showed up and boy was I happy to see her, she kept track of everything that happened during labor and delivery and offered a ton of support both emotionally and spiritually.&amp;nbsp; Ryan Pickle, our nurse came into the room and checked Erica&amp;rsquo;s cervix at 7:58 p.m.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; She was dilated to a 4 and her cervix was 50% effaced.&amp;nbsp; She received an I.V. for fluids at 8:01 p.m. (Aunt Cassie called this &amp;ldquo;Gatorade&amp;rdquo;).&amp;nbsp; Ryan asked if we wanted to have Erica&amp;rsquo;s water broken to start the process and we said yes; so at 8:57 p.m.&amp;nbsp; A resident doctor came in and broke her water and the amazing spiritual journey began. 
Erica&amp;rsquo;s contractions started light, she spent most of her time lying in the bed with me walking around constantly asking her if there was anything I could do, she typically smiled at me and calmly said no, I&amp;rsquo;m fine.&amp;nbsp; We talked about what we were expecting and believing for and Cassie and I prayed over her while laying hands on her and massaging her shoulders and neck.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; At 10:15 p.m. the nurse came in and checked her again and she was dilated to a 6 but the cervix was still about 50% effaced.&amp;nbsp; Ryan brought in a birthing ball and Erica began to bounce on it to help get the baby in position and help things along a little bit.&amp;nbsp; I remember thinking how cute she looked while bouncing on that purple ball with her adorable belly poking out in front of her and her hands on her hips so I walked over and started helping her bounce; pressing down on her shoulders and dribbling her like a basketball.&amp;nbsp; The contractions came on a bit stronger and Erica&amp;rsquo;s legs began to shake, I came and held her in my arms and prayed over her, reminding her of what we were believing for and speaking the Word and Gods promises over her.&amp;nbsp; Erica took a journey to the restroom while Cassie and I trailed along rolling her I.V. rack behind her.&amp;nbsp; At 11:15 p.m. Ryan came in again and checked her cervix and she was still dilated to a 6 but she was now about 80% effaced and the baby had dropped into position.&amp;nbsp; I asked Ryan if she could feel his head and she said yes, I remember feeling both excited and tingly on the inside and we had been praying continuously, all three in agreement in prayer and it was amazing, I felt a lightness and there was a tangible presence of God in the room, I don&amp;rsquo;t know that I&amp;rsquo;ve ever experienced it that strong.&amp;nbsp; 
The most powerful moment in the room that night was when Erica sat on the edge of the bed facing me, I pulled a chair up to her and she put her forehead on my shoulder as Cassie and I massaged her back;&amp;nbsp; we started speaking the word over her and taking authority over her body, claiming God&amp;rsquo;s promises,&amp;rdquo; we are redeemed from the curse of the law&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;only blessings remain&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;God put us over all the works of His hands&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo; we lay hands on the sick and they recover&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;God is fully able to perform what He promised and He is always watching over His Word to perform it&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp; There is a supernatural anointing that comes over our hands when we raise them to God; they become Holy.&amp;nbsp; Her contractions were strong but as we continued to pray and stand in faith a tremendous peace came over the entire room and I found myself feeling very light and completely at peace knowing God was prepared to be faithful to our requests and His promises.
Ryan came in and checked Erica again at 11:49 p.m. She was dilated to a 7 and was fully effaced and the baby was fully engaged and daddy was becoming very excited; I was going to meet my son soon.&amp;nbsp; Ryan called Dr Nilson.&amp;nbsp; Erica is doing great at this point, her legs are shaky and her contractions are very strong but she remains at peace and in control, I remind her to stay focused and never left her side again until Corban was born.&amp;nbsp; Dr. Nilson arrived at 12:05 a.m. (Darn, we missed our 23rd date, oh well; Corban will have his own special day).&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Dr Nilson washed up, sat down at the edge of the bed, looked up at Erica and said &amp;ldquo;push and you&amp;rsquo;re gonna have a baby&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp; Cassie left to go announce to our family in the waiting room it was time to push and everything was starting.&amp;nbsp; I held her head in the crick of my arm with her head pressed against my chest and whispered in her ear &amp;ldquo;are you ready?&amp;nbsp; It&amp;rsquo;s going to be amazing and quick, just relax and stay focused.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; Erica started pushing and then altered with her breathing, she kissed me as I held her and it seemed to bring an amazing peace over her even when the pushing became very tiresome.&amp;nbsp; I said come on baby, you can do it, and we grunted together each time she pushed as I was trying to encourage her to push harder and stronger.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I could see the top of Corban&amp;rsquo;s head crowning and he was faced the wrong direction but just at that last hard push, Dr Nilson helped turn his head slightly; the first thing I saw were his eyes which of course were closed and then he turned over and slid the rest of the way out into the Doctors hands.&amp;nbsp; They cleared his mouth and nose and handed him to momma.&amp;nbsp; Erica looked amazing the first time she laid her eyes on him, I&amp;rsquo;ll never forget the love in her eyes and the happiness evident in her heart because it filled my entire world with joy, I will never forget that moment the rest of my life, it was amazing.&amp;nbsp; They called me over to cut the umbilical cord and then the nurses came in to clean him up a bit and to check him out.&amp;nbsp; Everything was perfect.&amp;nbsp; We had a truly amazing experience and we can offer no other thanks other than to God and His truthful Word full of the promises we can walk in every day of our lives if we&amp;rsquo;ll only stand.&amp;nbsp; Erica, Cassie and I stood that day, we never faltered, we never gave up on Gods word and He brought a perfect boy into the world in 8 minutes without tearing a single part of momma; she was in perfect condition after his birth.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; 
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<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/473168/</link>
<pubDate>Sat,  2 Feb 2008 13:18:00 -0600</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/473168/</guid>
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<title>Pregnancy</title>
<description>Well, I havn't updated in a while and thought I'd send some pictures and updates on the pregnancy. 
Here is&amp;nbsp;our &amp;nbsp;first preggo picture taken at 8 weeks along....

&amp;nbsp;
Corban is a good little grower,&amp;nbsp;and a wiggle worm! We get 4-d ultrasounds at every Dr. appointment and it has been so cool to see him grow and change! 
Corban at 21 weeks

Here's me, my belly, and my sweet&amp;nbsp;hubby at 24 weeks

&amp;nbsp;
Well, we had a bit extra long between appointments this time so our next peek was at 28weeks. He had grown quite a bit, and we were taken back looking at a picture that looked more like a man than a baby...we ended up deciding that he must have just gone through a growth spurt and is awaiting his baby fat! 
&amp;nbsp;
I'm getting&amp;nbsp;bigger! Only 10 weeks to go! 

This picture was taken at the Baby Shower&amp;nbsp;at 32 weeks along

&amp;nbsp;
One of the most exciting parts of the Shower was getting to see the baby bedding I designed. We had it shipped to my mom's so it would be a surprise.&amp;nbsp;I love the way it turned out! Eric wanted real looking muscle cars, and I wanted a trendy colorscheme...I think we found the perfect combination! 
&amp;nbsp;
Here's a wide shot of all the baby furniture, and sister's mirror...it won't fit in&amp;nbsp;the kids&amp;nbsp;room, so for now mama is getting some good use out of it. Pooh bear is trying out Corban's little potty that we will use right from the begininng while teaching Elimination Comunication. 

This picture is of of the crib set up as a toddler bed. I had a flat sheet made and made a pillow case for him to use when he gets into his big boy bed. 

32 weeks- the cord is covering up his face a bit, but thankfully he's started putting on his baby fat! We also found out he is head down now!

34 weeks- we got several different views this session. He kept trying to put his foot in his mouth and making cute baby faces at us. They measured him and he is weighing in at &amp;nbsp;5lbs. My weight gain has been suprisingly good...I'm up 14 lbs so far! I think this is the sweetest picture of them all! 

Well I am now 36 weeks and we go back to the Dr. in 2 days. Saturday I had my first timable contractions. They were about 4-5 minutes apart, but only lasting about 45 seconds and then after an hour they started spreading out to about 10 minutes apart. &amp;nbsp;I know that my body is just gearing up for the real thing. Corban had had enough of them after about 4 hours and he would get extremely squirmy in between contractions. I was trying to sleep and ended up waking up often that night until early in the morning. I think it was probably 3-4:00am before I really got any good sleep, and the contractions finally stopped. Since then I've contracted a bit more often than before, but nothing timable. We hope to find out at the appointment Thursday if I've started progressing at all.&amp;nbsp;I am blessed to have had a comfortable pregnancy, and so far I'm not even anxious for it to end.&amp;nbsp;He will get here&amp;nbsp;in God's timing and we will be so happy to finally get to meet him.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;
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<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/453404/</link>
<pubDate>Tue,  1 Jan 2008 09:28:00 -0600</pubDate>
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<title>Back to School!</title>
<description>We officially started back to full days of school on July 31st. We are using our new schedule using the Robinson Curriculum method with the&amp;nbsp;AO booklist for now. I have so many of the AO books, and I'm having a hard time finding books from the RC list...and I&quot;m not so gung ho on printing and binding all the books. We made it through our first full week, I think we only need a few minor adjustments.
We did take Friday Aug 3rd off to go up to the river.&amp;nbsp;It's just over an hour drive to the trailer, so we listened to the Magicians Nephew on the drive up and back. We got there around 3:00 and Grandma and Crapaw were already there. We played in the river a bit, and prepared dinner....which ended up taking forever to cook! I don't think we ate until nearly 8:00! After dinner we got ready for bed and played a game of Who-nu and it was lights out early for us that night! Saturday,&amp;nbsp;Aunt Debbie, Marsha, Grannie and Gramps came up in the morning. We played in the river and&amp;nbsp;looked for crawdad's under rocks, the boys went fishing a couple times and caught 3-4 fish each, Libby loved&amp;nbsp;catching baby frogs on the bank and playing with them in the river. We had a wienie roast at&amp;nbsp;lunchtime, and gramps and aunt debbie played a game of horse shoes. 
Libby sittin pretty in the river!

Parker reels in a little perch...mama got it off the hook for him...I was surprised I was able to! 

&amp;nbsp;Perry reeled in a big one...he also caught a 2lb catfish the night before! The boys had a great time fishing! 
After lunch,&amp;nbsp; we&amp;nbsp;celebrated Grannie's birthday and had cake. Then, we drove about 2 miles up river and floated on tubes and rafts back to the trailer.&amp;nbsp;Finally it was time to&amp;nbsp;get everything cleaned up and head back home Saturday evening. 
Monday it was back to School again! We had a great week!
Libby finished her first level of hooked on phonics on August 7th, and is now on to level 2 and very excited! She has spent this week learning new sound combinations. CH, SH, TH are still giving her a little trouble so we will continue to practice them before we start the workbook. She will have it in no time!She has starting to pick up on her reading really quickly lately.&amp;nbsp; We read a small excerpt from the bible each day, A chapter or 2 from the Burgess Bird Book, and maybe a short book that she picks out from the shelf. It usually measures out to 45 minutes of read aloud time. Soon she will be buddy reading with me, I can't wait! On Friday (Aug 10th) she finished her Math U See Primer. We didn't quite get it finished last year, and have been working through it a little bit over the summer.&amp;nbsp; We hit it full speed ahead once we started school. She has been breezing through it! Monday she will start Alpha, and continue to listen the Math U See Skip counting CD each day till it is ingrained in her brain! 
The boys are doing 2 hours of reading, 1&amp;frac12; hours of math lessons/drills, 1 hour of copywork, &amp;frac12;hour of vocabulary lessons. We have an hour each day that I hope to use for various activities, like going to the park, a trip to the library, or craft times.&amp;nbsp;the boys read from their bible (1 chapter a day)&amp;nbsp;and a literature selection&amp;nbsp;in the morning. In the afternoon they read&amp;nbsp;either a Geography, Biography, Science or History book. Perry finished reading the Wind in the Willows, and&amp;nbsp;has decided to start reading Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan next. He's really&amp;nbsp;enjoyed reading it the few times we have started it, but we never made it all the way through, but our new way of reading seems to be working much better!&amp;nbsp; He's reading It couldn't just happen by Lawrence Richards in the afternoon.&amp;nbsp;Parker has been reading shorter books...so he's read Joan of Arc by Joan Stanley, George Washington by D'Aulaire, and he just finished Tree in the Trail by Holling and Doctor Dolittle. He is starting Mr. Poppers Penquins and&amp;nbsp; The Burgess Bird book, this one will take a while to read through as it is a much longer read! 
I'm still working on&amp;nbsp;our schedule to work out&amp;nbsp;the kinks, but all in all I think we have had a great first week of school! 
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<link>http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/erica23johnson/371649/</link>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:41:00 -0500</pubDate>
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