He grows!

Cardon continues to grow--in stature and in our hearts! We just love him! He had his 1 month appointment today and he weighed 7lbs 3oz! He's up to normal birth weight now, but to us he looks huge. I can't imagine birthing him at this size because he seems so big compared to before. I know, I was totally spoiled with a little 5 pound baby!!! So, below are a few more photos. Next time you check in, there should be lots of pix from our upcoming family reunions! Cardon will finally get to meet all his Olson/McNabb cousins!

Checking out the camera

I don't look great in this picture, but you can see his legs are getting a little meatier!

Grabbing Mommy's finger

Okay, this isn't a picture of Cardon (obviously), but have you ever seen a squirrel lounging before? This was out on our deck and this guy was just sunbathing!

This one is my favorite!!! Justin loves to burp Cardon and one time while doing this, Cardon latched onto Justin's nose. Now Justin will just do it because it's so cute!

He's here!!!

John Cardon Olson

So, two weeks after Cardon's arrival, I'm managing to get to the blog. This is actually quicker than I expected, since I'm only on day 3 of being alone with the little man! He is an absolute joy and Justin and I thank Heavenly Father everyday that Cardon has joined our family!

I'll spare everyone the nitty-gritty details of labor and delivery (I think Justin's email w/the picture of me 15 mintues after delivery pretty much sums it up. Remind me to NEVER let my husband post a photo like that again...), but it went fairly smooth. John Cardon Olson was born on June 26 at 10:24AM, 20" long and 5 lbs 2 oz. When we took him home, he was 4 lbs 12 oz and just the skinniest thing you've seen. He had his first doctor's appointment a week later and he was already up to 5 lbs 3 oz, and the following Monday (I took him in for a blocked tear duct), and he had grown to 5 lbs 9 oz in just four days! I can already tell that he's bigger than when we brought him home!

Cardon is a really wonderful baby! If he's not asleep or feeding, he just likes to look around and see what's going on. My mom says it's the same thing I did when I was a baby, just alert and aware all the time. He rarely cries, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that keeps up. He is just perfect (in my unbiased opinion!) and we love him tons!

I know everyone really just wants to see pictures, so enjoy!

My two favorite men!

This one shows off all his blonde hair.

Doing his best Dr. Evil impression...

I know it's not a real smile, but I'll take it!!!

You can really see how skinny his legs are (and Justin looks so handsome!)

Isn't he just beautiful???

A long stretch...

So, it's been two months since I last checked in, and a lot has happened! Congrats to Julie and Daniel on their new addition, Nora Jane, and to Jarom and Cynthia on their Nadia. We'll be joining the ranks soon enough and doing our part to keep the Olson name alive with Cardon! I started working from home and though it's been an adjustment, it's nice to only go into the office twice a week. Justin started his new job at ConAgra on May 19. So, no more cheap yogurt, but now we can look forward to cheap microwave popcorn. In other fun news, we're buying a house! I think it's and even bigger pain to buy a house then plan a wedding (and Justin did most of the work on that!), but we're set to close on June 13. We'll move in on the 14th and Justin's supposed to go to Omaha for training on the 16th. As long as the baby doesn't come, we'll be good!

We have to go way back to catch up with pictures! So, here are a few shots from Easter. Everyone came to Cincinnati, Uncle Lynn & Aunt Darlene from Atlanta and the Stavron's from Chicago. It's always a blast to hang out with all of them and we had a great time.

And here we are with Huey, you can't forget the bunny on Easter!

About a month after Easter, Jarom, Cynthia, and the girls came to Cincinnati because they were adopting Nadia. They got to stay for two whole weeks, so we had to come down to spend some time with them!

It was Madison's birthday while they were here, so we had a party! There was a pinata, but Camden and Madison couldn't quite get the word right, so it came out "pi-nadia." Close enough!

Over Memorial Day, we took our trek to Arizona to spend time with Brett, Barbs, and family. I kind of didn't tell my doctor that I was flying 6 weeks before my due date, but since everything's been problem free, I didn't anticipate any problem. The hardest part was sitting on a plane for 3 straight hours. Otherwise, it was a breeze! While we were there it poured down rain, Megan graduated, there was a big party like "My Super Sweet 16," and we had an overall great time. We love spending time out there with all the nieces and nephews!

Last, but not least, here are a couple pictures of our new house. I think most everyone has seen the pictures, but here are a couple of the outside. It's 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, so we've got lots of room for people to come stay!

I think that's it! If I'm being completely honest, the next time I get around to updating this will probably be after the baby's born! So, apologies in advance if you don't hear from me in the next month. I've got to move into a new house and birth a baby in the next three weeks! We love hearing from everyone and hope all is well!!!

Getting behind!

Okay, I am officially terrible at updating this thing! I can't even post any pictures because we're currently Internet-less at the house and I'm doing this from work. I just had a quick second and wanted to say that all is going great! Since I last posted, we've spent two weekends in Cincinnati with family (it was so great to see everyone!) and Mom came to visit on her cross-country tour! We had a BLAST!! I'll detail those fun trips soon. General Conference was extraordinary! They're always good, but I thought Elder Holland's and Elder Ballard's remarks were especially memorable. And it was nice to see a humorous side of our new prophet, Pres. Monson. It was weird, but I really did feel a different spirit from him when he spoke. He has definitely taken on the new mantle as prophet.

Other than that, it's been pretty quiet. I'm enjoying watching my doppelganger on American Idol (if I had a nickel for everytime someone said I remind them of Brooke White, this baby could go to Yale) and Top Chef. Justin is still actively pursuing new job opportunities, so please keep your fingers crossed. Pregnancy continues to be relatively problem-free (don't hate me!). My only complaint is that this kid doesn't stop moving! Justin and I spend about five minutes every night in bed just watching my stomach gyrate and shift. It does create Alien flashbacks, but it's more neat than weird (though only barely-it is seriously strange to watch your stomach move on it's own). Also, spring has finally arrived in Ohio! Robins and starlings are out, buds are beginning to show on trees, and the thunderstorms are starting to roll in. Man, do I love living in a place with seasons!!!!

So, that's all for now. Once we're connected to the rest of the world again, I'll upload photos and show the progress of my burgeoning belly!

Baby Stuff & A Snow Day

We've been keeping FedEx in business lately with all the packages coming in! Justin went to town on baby stuff while I was out of town on business a couple weeks ago and everything's come in. I'm including a couple pics of the Pack n' Play (which will come in handy at the Olson family reunion!) and the travel system (more boy-colored than I thought it would be, but it's cute!). If I'm being completely honest, it took me a good three minutes to figure out how to get the car seat out of the stroller. I'm not sure I'm ready for this...

In other fun news, we had some MAJOR weather this week. We had a pretty good icestorm on Tuesday and then we got about 6" of snow on Friday. It snowed non-stop from Friday around noon until 3pm on Saturday. We had some crazy wind, so we've got big snowdrifts everywhere. Below is a picture of the yard next to our driveway (where they shove all the snow). That big pile is about 3 feet high.

So, what does Laural do when she's snowbound and her husband's not in town to help her pass the time? What didn't I do?? A Smallville Season 1 Marathon, caught up on the book Seeing Redd (the latest in The Looking Glass Wars series, the story of Alice & Wonderland-I highly recommend it!), watched a documentary on Hollywood musicals on PBS, cross-stitched, watched How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, dishes, dusted, cleaned out the bunny's cage and laundry. I miss Justin like crazy when he's gone, so I just try to keep myself busy while I play Penelope until he gets home. I guess I need to add sewing a tapestry to list then...

Tummy progress and the big reveal!

I can't believe I've neglected things this long! Was my last post really in January! How time has flown! So, this is the latest progress on my tummy. We just took this on Friday, and I can't believe how much bigger I've gotten in just a few weeks! This is actually the second picture Justin took of me. The first one wasn't a real profile and I looked absolutely HUGE! There was no way I was going to put that one up, this is a much more accurate representation!

Our other fun news is we found out we're having a little BOY!!! I thought I could probably muddle through a girl, but I've got no idea what to do with a boy! Claire says you just do the same things you do with a girl, but I don't think Justin's too keen on me playing the Wicked soundtrack non-stop for the little guy...we'll just have to sprinkle some Bare Naked Ladies (that's a band, Mom!) in while we're at it and call it good. At any rate, this kid will have some seriously well-rounded music tastes! We decided long ago that if we had a boy we would continue the tradition on Justin's side of the family of having a John Cardon in every generation, but we would call him Cardon instead of John. So, now everyone can join us in our anticipation of little J. Cardon Olson joining our family! Below are a couple ultrasound pictures. The first is his little face and chest. Hopefully you can make out his closed eyes, nose, mouth, and little heart beating. The second is clearly his spine, and I made the nurse print out this picture because it was the only time I was absolutely sure what I was looking at. Enjoy!

My Belly...

Well folks, here it is, the first picture of my expanding belly. We took this pic on Sunday where I'm 17 1/2 weeks. Pretty exciting, huh? I've got an appointment on Friday to make sure everything's good, and then we find out what it is 2 weeks after that. Then let the buying frenzy begin! I still haven't felt the baby move yet, but you better believe Nebraska will hear my yelp when that first kick happens. And before I forget, a big congrats to my dear, sweet, Erin, and her new addition Emily Anne. No epidural? Man, those Malaysian doctors are hard core! Click on the link to her blog for pictures of the beautiful babe!

In other news, I finished the first Sherlock Holmes novel. Did anyone out there know it took a Mormon turn? The entire 2nd half of the book is about how a man and little girl were picked up by the Mormons on their way out west and they even helped settle Salt Lake. But things took a turn for the worst when the girl grew up, fell in love with a mountain man, but Brigham Young said she had to marry the son of one of the "elders." Fascinating! I'm on to novel number two, Sign of the Four. Just as intriguing, but no sign of the Mormon trail...Is it sad that this is the highlight of my week?

I must mention the passing of our beloved prophet and president, Gordon B. Hinckley. It's hard to describe the impact that he had on my own personal testimony. I was fortuntate enough to hear in a few General Conferences, BYU Devotionals, and in numerous broadcasts, and everytime was a thrill. The Spirit bore witness to me every time that I was hearing the voice of the Lord through this man. His testimony, wit, and humility will be long-lived though he has left and joined his beloved Marjorie. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and with the leadership of the Church.

That's it for now folks! We're hoping to hear about a job promotion for Justin this week, so check back for an update. And we found Fruit Loops with Marshmallows! They're pretty much the most expensive cereal on the aisle, but it's a small price to pay for my husband's happiness!