Happy Birthday Jasmine!!

It's hard to believe that at exactly this time one year ago I was in the hospital an hour and a half away from seeing my beautiful little miracle for the first time. I finally laid eyes on her for the first time July 30, 2008 at 10:28 pm. Two more minutes and I would have been in labor a full 12 hours! Though for me it didn't seem that long at all.

When the Dr. placed her on my chest after delivery i was in such awe of this little human, laying there crying, breathing, blinking, kicking, LIVING. I couldn't believe how beautiful and amazing she was, and I was in awe of the lord our god who had allowed me to carry her those nine months she was developing in my growing belly.

The entire week I have been thinking back to those first few days in the hospital new baby, new parents, and lots of visitors! It almost seems like so long ago!



Here is a picture of my baby girl at 1 day old!



And here is our angel one year later!

My how the time flies!

What's up Doc?

On Monday Jasmine, Rob, and I took a trip to Durham NC to visit a very highly recommended Ophthalmologist! I must say that I was very happy and content With Dr. Spencer here in Greensboro, at least until Monday I was.

It's official! Jasmine will be getting the cataracts removed before she turns two, I was so happy with Dr. Spencer and all the information he had given us until our recent visit to DUKE eye center! (YAH DUKE!!!) The visit made me a lot more comfortable with the surgery! In the beginning the Dr. wanted to remove the cataracts, guess what size lens Jasmine would grow into and she may possibly need glasses when all is said and done! After hearing what our new Dr said we are thinking about going in a completely different direction! Its crazy how quickly you can change your mind. Especially when you are given all the details and not just what the Dr. wants you to know.

Now we are leaning more towards having 2 surgery. one to remove the cataracts and place a placement lens there sort of like a place holder and getting very thick glasses or contacts that she will wear until she is older and they can do a better Job at fitting her for the lens which is a totally separate surgery all together.

When leaving the Dr's office that day I felt some what relieved, very humbled, and so very very thankful. According to Dr. Spencer Jasmine vision is just fine, but the Dr from our second opinion strongly disagrees with that. She found that as of right now Jasmine is way below average when it comes to her vision and if she were older and this had occurred she would be considered legally blind, though she can still see things that are very close up. She also believes that the Cataracts formed some months after Jasmine was born and they seem to be getting worse as time goes on. (Yet another thing that Dr. Spencer left out! 8-[)

With all that being said we are going back to the pediatrician soon because Jasmine's blood sugar cam back as a little high when they did the blood work and I want to get that checked out. Hopefully we can figure out where these cataracts came from so we can keep it from happening again later on.

On a much lighter note, Jasmine will be celebrating her first birthday a week from tomorrow! I can't believe how much she has grown!

God bless,
<3 Rilda Johnson

Jaz, Warrior Princess......

I like to start this post off to thank those of you who were praying for my baby girl. Her eye exam went off with out a hitch and I know that god heard your prayers as he watched over his beautiful little angel.

Normally Jasmine sleeps like a rock through most of the night. I say most because she always wakes up for a bottle and a diaper change at least once per night. The past three nights she has been up every two hours! Rob and I feel like we've got a newborn all over again! Out of all three nights last night had to be the worst. It seemed like as soon as she fell asleep and we put her in her crib, she was right back up again crying. My motherly instincts were screaming that Jaz was more than likely hungry, and I felt so horrible because due to the anesthesia she would be getting in the morning she couldn't eat anything after 12pm only juice and water till 4am and after that she had to do without! I felt like a terrible mother!

Then 6:00 am came too soon! Once we were ready and we packed up a little diaper bag for Jasmine we were out the door and on our way to the Surgical Center. After getting lost and taking a wrong turn we finally arrived, late as we usually are, at 7:10 am. Now we had to play the waiting game. After about an hours wait we were finally called back to get Jasmine's weight (18.05 lbs!), change her into these a pair of cute hospital PJ's and then wait for the anesthesiologist to come in and answer any of our questions.

2 1/2 hours after we arrived we were STILL waiting! All I could do the entire time was watch my little angel. It isn't until moments like this that you really appreciate everything that god has placed in your life. I knew in my heart of hearts that everything was going to turn out ok. I just couldnt shake the small case of "what if's" that had been going through my mind for the past few weeks.

Here are a couple pictures I snapped with my cell phone just before the nurse came in to take her into the O.R.



I will never forget the look she had on her face when I handed her over to the nurse. I almost broke down right there, but I didn't. I had to be strong for her. I had to show her that she could face anything.


I had to post another happier pic as I would feel awful knowing the last thing you saw was my sad, scared baby girl.

Once again thank you all for your prayers!
God bless!
<3>

Please Pray!

Just a little note to ask that you all keep my family and my little one in your prayers as we head into unknown territory tomorrow. Jasmine was born with Cataracts in both eyes. We aren't sure how that happened but we are grateful that in spite of the brownish film covering both lenses in her eyes that she has been able to have perfect vision. The Optometrist says that we will have to get them removed before she turns two years old or they will interfere with her developing vision.

I know that god is in control and that he knew we would have to face this even before Jasmine took her first breath.

We are going to the Surgical Center of Greensboro tomorrow morning where they will give my little angel anesthesia that will put her to sleep so that they can get a better look at those cataracts from what the Dr says its a pretty routine procedure and everything will be fine.

Thank you all for your prayers! May god bless you all!

Jasmine's first 4th of July

As you all know this past weekend was July 4th! Let me just start by saying Jasmine is definately a Johnson! She is so much like her father it isn't even funny! With that being said she had a blast this weekend! We attended two cookouts and she ate so much food!

The Dr. is always worried about the kinds of foods I am feeding her, but all I can say is when she wants something she wants it and she will scream until she gets it! And I know that most of you are thinking just let her cry and scream eventually she will stop and calm down. NO! She will cry however long it takes, and she is not so easily distracted, at least not when it comes to food!

Jasmine is a very smart, very spoiled little girl! She surprised her Nana this weekend by chasing her dog (Jade) around the house yelling "Doggie" and "Woof, Woof"! I must say that I haven't ever come across a child that can do that at 11 months old!

All I can say is thank you LORD! Thank you for giving me the time and patience to teach her on a daily basis, and thank you for giving me the power to speak this into existence!

The entire 9 months that she was growing inside me I kept saying she is going to be the smartest baby we have ever seen! I said it over and over again and I tried everything I could to make it possible from eating a lot of green foods and playing lots of classical music and to this day I haven't had one problem and she has turned out to be very bright!

She's going to be a year old soon and I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by! It seems like just a few weeks ago I was sitting here four days past my due date trying to figure out if the contractions I was having were braxton hicks or the real thing! My how the time flies!

Busy Bee

That's what they call me!

So I've been so busy that I really haven't had the time to post! I've got a lot to update you all on so bare with me!

First I'd like to say that everything for the wedding is coming together nicely. It isn't that far away now and I am steadily working on one thing at a time day by day! I'm starting to get the invitations out and after that we are working on food and finding shoes for me and Jasmine and then we are working on finding Nana's dress and shoes!

I can't believe I am actually getting Married! I have always dreamed about my wedding day! Since I can remember that was all I wanted to do! Get married and have a family! Now that the day has actually come I can't believe how much time has passed!