November Fun Video

Having a great and relaxing Thanksgiving today at the Blue's house and getting to play with Annette's new MacBook - very cool! She and I put together a video from some clips that Andrew had taken - here it is! You can see how Johnny is really starting to talk more and more :)

Late September 2010

It's been a crazy-busy week this week. We had a great time on Sunday afternoon visiting with Andrew's family at the Hoover reunion. Johnny had a rough night Saturday night with some congestion, and didn't nap well on the way to Asheboro, and he actually fell asleep on the way back at 5 PM!

We put him on to bed, thinking he might actually be down for the night - but he woke up at 7:00 - ready to go! We fed him dinner and Andrew chased him around the house hoping to wear him back out - and he actually went back to sleep at 8:30 without a fuss. We were amazed! He had some more congestion and a little coughing, but seems to have shaken whatever it was. He seemed tired all week, though. Andrew is playing softball, and Johnny and I were planning to go to a little bit of the game and to have dinner with Andrew beforehand, but the other team forfeited, so we had a picnic (in the front yard). Tuesday we had a date night, and Wednesday was Softball, and Johnny and I took a walk with the neighbors. Thursday I had a faculty meeting, so Andrew picked up Johnny and they went to Chick-fil-a for dinner. We were all pretty happy that tonight was Friday night, and have enjoyed pizza and relaxing!

A very happy birthday to Bryan tonight!

Johnny really seems to have turned a corner with daycare this week - he seemed excited to be there on Monday morning when he saw where we were. On Thursday - he asked for "Kelli Kelli" (the teacher) when we got there and hardly cried at all when I left! So relieved that he seems to be doing so good.

I have to work tomorrow, but we're all looking forward to Sunday when we get to go visit the Monroes and to see Baby Claire again!

Late September 2010

Is it already mid-September?

Well, not sure how that happened. July and August were a blur between teaching Summer Session and then all the traveling for work and pleasure in August, along with a sick Johnny and Dada at the end of the month so we were pretty happy for September to arrive with some cooler days and more of a routine. I thought I'd try to make posting pictures and updating the blog a new Friday night routine! I usually don't have enough energy on Friday night for anything besides laying on the couch anyway - so why not do it with the laptop in my lap?

We've been enjoying the cooler weather with lots of playing outside, swinging, playing in the sand, stroller rides, and "mowing" everything. After being not-so-interested for a while, Johnny is back in love with the swing! He is talking more and more and is really getting the hang of riding around on all his riding toys. He knows his name and has changed from calling Andrew "Dada" to him being "Daddy". He loves using his little stool and climbing up on the couch and just hanging out.. and coloring Oh coloring! Enjoy the pictures! :

Early September 2010

Post for Andrew while he's in Ireland

It's been a crazy month, with me going to Texas, us all going to the beach with the Blues, and now Andrew is in Ireland for work! This has also been the first week of classes for me, so it was a crazier schedule than I normally have. Mimi has been here and has been a huge help, and I think she and Johnny have had a lot of fun together!

Johnny has pretty much mastered climbing on lots of things and running. He wants to jump, but can't quite seem to get any air :) He seems to really be concentrating on talking and is repeating all sorts of new words! He is also cutting 3 new teeth in the back. He also had his 18 month check up this week and was so brave for his shot and was in the 85th percentile for height and weight - pretty much tracking right along where he has been.

Mimi and I haven't gotten too many pictures this week, partially because Andrew has our camera, and partially because I haven't been home much! Here are a few pictures from yesterday afternoon and last night in the tub :)

August 2010

August 2nd 2010

I know how much I always enjoy seeing blog updates and pictures while I'm away so this is for Liz!

Liz went to a conference near Dallas and left on Saturday. Johnny and I have been bachelors for 2 days now and we haven't burned the house down yet!

Liz left before Johnny took his nap on Saturday. He took a good nap. Right at 2 hours. After he woke up we played around inside because it was kind of rainy outside. We had a good supper and then Johnny went right on to sleep. I think Johnny slept better than I did Saturday night because I missed Liz!

Sunday we woke up and messed around inside before going to church. Johnny had a good time playing in the nursery and then we came home and had some macaroni and cheese with deviled eggs for lunch. He took about an hour nap and then we went for a walk down to the Mexican grocery store to buy some lettuce and hamburger buns for supper. Johnny played outside on his sand and water table while I got everything ready to cook for supper. I cut up a watermelon, cooked some rice, and got some tater tots ready to go in the oven. Johnny helped me light the fire in the grill and then continued to play while I cooked the hamburgers. Grammy came up before the burgers were done and ate supper with us. Johnny played for a while after supper and then took a good bubble bath and went to sleep.

He woke up this morning around 6:15 and we did a dry run of getting out of the house on time while Grammy was here to help. We did just fine and got out the door in plenty of time. Johnny had a Nutri-Grain bar and some yogurt for breakfast and I carried some watermelon to school for him to have as a breakfast desert when we got to his class. He apparently had a good day at school. He was playing with a little girl in class giving her hugs and apparently both of them were laughing and having a good time. At some point, the little girl bit Johnny although he didn't notice it! He also apparently had a good time throwing his duck-duck around the room with his friend Roscoe. Grammy picked up Johnny around 3:00 and cooked us an awesome supper of BBQ chicken, green beans, rice, and squash. Johnny ate a good supper of mainly Rice-A-Roni and green beans. Then we had a video call with Liz over Skype. That went OK. Johnny seemed to get upset that he could see Liz but not touch her. He's been fighting some bad diaper rash for a while now and it flared up again today. He got upset towards the end of the call when it was time to go change a dirty diaper. He had a good time in the bath tonight though. We read Goodnight Gorilla, said our prayers, and he went on to bed with no fussing. Grammy left after Johnny went to bed so I'm out on the screened porch now enjoying the nice weather and working on this blog update!

I'll try to do another blog update tomorrow. Dennis is coming over to help me bottle beer. Wednesday Grammy is coming back so I can go to softball practice if it doesn't get cancelled.

Now for the pictures!

Too long

It has been waay too long since I have posted and much too long since we have put any pictures up. Things have been crazy-busy all summer, although we have had a lot of fun. Johnny is growing by leaps and bounds, and doing so many new things every day. He is pretty much running and playing new games and starting to say more and more words everyday :) Andrew and I are doing well, but seem to always have too much work to do and very busy, but fun weekends!

I kept Johnny home with me for most of June - although we kept the road and rails hot to Carthage and Marion to get some doses of grandparents!

Johnny started a new day care when I went back to work, and things were not going so well at first, but he seems to be doing much better this week, so hopefully he will like it!

Andrew took Johnny to get his first "real" haircut at his barber's on Friday - and he did great! It looks much better than my totally unprofessional halfway haircuts :) You'll see the change about mid-way through the pictures.

Here are some pictures from June and so far in July - we will fill in the backlog soon, I promise! I have a week "to myself" in Denton, TX at a conference in early August - so I will try to "catch up" then!

June and July 2010

Last full day! Tues. Mar 23rd

It's always hard for me to get to work on time on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have my 8 AM lab, even when Andrew is home, so I was lucky to make it with almost 10 minutes to spare this morning. Johnny slept a little later this morning - 6:30, although I don't think he fell asleep until almost 7:20 last night. So I think he is starting to be an 11-11 1/2 hour sleeper, whereas for a while he was doing almost 12 hours. He woke up in a good mood, and even was ready to part with his lovey. He has gotten more and more attached to it recently, but this morning, he pointed to his crib after I got him dressed, and I walked over there, and he dropped it right in! We both had a good breakfast (him rice cereal w/applesauce and cheerios, me leftover tortilla espanola ..mmmm). He did OK when I dropped him off, and I was on my way!

Work was pretty good, although it was a much longer day than I had planned, and felt more behind than I started out by the time I left, unfortunately. I had hoped to pick Johnny up early today, but it was 5 by the time I got there. I just kept getting waylayed. He was so excited to see me when I got there, which was so nice - he just giggled and giggled! I think he's going to be really excited to see Andrew tomorrow. Even though it was close to his normal dinner time, he was eating crackers when I picked him up, and it was so amazing outside that I couldn't resist some yard time. Of course I forgot to bring the camera outside, and didn't really want to deal with the tantrum that would ensue if we were to go inside to get it. So, I just have a couple of pictures from breakfast this morning. Sorry, Andrew. We piddled in the front yard, and I pulled some weeds and trimmed back some perennials in the front yard. So therapeutic! I really needed that. Then we came around back and Johnny showed off his mad slide skills. Not only does he have the hang of pulling his leg out from under him and sliding on his own, but he has figured out how to pick his feet up so he goes faster! He sends a stick down the slide for a test run, and then down he goes! After that it was almost 6 already, so we headed in for dinner. We talked to Andrew on Skype while Johnny ate dinner and I cooked myself some food. Casey stopped by to return the truck, and then Johnny toddled around a bit while I ate my dinner. He ate a pretty good, if odd, dinner of peas, cheerios, goldfish, milk, cheese, and a little mac and cheese once I got it ready. Then it was time for a quick bath, getting ready for tomorrow, and some reading! He went on to sleep really quickly a little before 7. Hopefully he'll make it to 6 tomorrow morning. I'm not setting my alarm! Can't wait to see Andrew tomorrow afternoon!

March 23, 2010

Monday, March 22

It was a busy Monday and we got off to an early start. Johnny woke up before 6, and I woke up before my 5:30 alarm clock went off! Not sure if me showering woke him up or what. Putting him to bed at 7 didn't really seem to help him sleep much later, though. Oh well! We had a good morning - he had a good breakfast of yogurt and graham crackers, and I had my cereal. I did some chores and cleaned up the kitchen while he played around. Right now his favorite thing to carry around is the trailer from the car and truck set he got from Grammy and Grampy. He "helped" me fold and put away his laundry :). I took him on to Elsie's and he did OK with me dropping him off. There is a new little boy about a month younger than Johnny that started today at Elsie's and he was getting there about the same time I dropped Johnny off - he's a cutie, but very serious - Elsie said she tried all day, but couldn't get a smile.

I had a busy day prepping lab, neutralizing peroxides in ether (explosive!), consolidating and labeling wastes, and getting ready for lecture - oh yeah, and actually teaching. All in all a good, but busy day. I stopped by McPhail's Pharmacy in Lillington on my way home to get some more hydrogen peroxide for lab. Then, I picked up Johnny and played with the new little boy, and Maya who is always very excited and expressive! So fun. We met with the painter and looked at some more paint chips. I'm going to try to go get a few more samples tomorrow to help us try to decide on the color for the house. While we were looking at the samples, Johnny was climbing on the slide. He's been needing help getting his leg out from under him before he slides, and so the first time I helped him pull it out, but the second time, he did it himself! Such a big boy.

Then it was dinner of cheerios, chick-chick, and peas for Johnny, and peas and pasta for me. Then we both had a treat of a shortbread girl scout cookie :) Before dinner we talked to Andrew on webcam chat on skype :) After dinner, we played in the den with the see& say shapes, shooting some hoops and building towers of blocks and knocking them down. Bath, bed, and book were next - although he didn't fall asleep until at least 7:15 - we'll see how he does in the morning. Hopefully he will sleep a little later! Sorry - no pictures today :( I will be sure to take some tomorrow.

Busy Sunday, March 21st

Well, the weather wasn't as good today as yesterday, but we still had a good day, although I have very little photographic evidence of it. Today there was a combined church service at 10, followed by a covered dish. So, I spent most of the morning cleaning the kitchen, getting ready, doing laundry, and preparing the tortilla espanola. I regret choosing such an involved dish to make after giving up the morning nap! Johnny had a pretty good morning. We played some in-between chores and while waiting for the potatoes and tortilla to cook. Thankfully, snack time coincided with the sauteeing of the onions. He got hungry early - and I really think he would have taken a morning nap this morning, but unfortunately with me aiming to get to church by 9:30 to rehearse with the choir, that just wasn't in the cards. Some of you may know that I get cranky when I am hungry, but some of you may not know that Andrew does too. He hides it better, though ;) Pre-dinner time around here ain't pretty. I appears that Johnny has definitely inherited this trait from one or both of us, unfortunately. Johnny does not hide it well, and it's really best to just go ahead and feed him. Anyway, today's morning snack was at 8:30 instead of 9 or 9:30.

We *actually* made it to church at 9:40, then it took me 10 minutes to drop Johnny off at the nursery after talking to Mrs. Sharon. That was too long, and Johnny screamed bloody murder when I left! Sigh. Church service was very nice, and the women of the church gave out lifetime service awards. One of the ladies that won was Bonnie Wade - very deserving, in my opinion. Such a warm, wonderful person, and she supplied us with at least 3 meals between my time on bedrest and after Johnny was born. It ran a little over, and then I went to get Johnny. He seemed pretty happy to see me. I didn't think through how difficult it would be to go through the covered dish line with him solo. He can walk, but he will run off, unfortunately. I made it through, although with a numb arm, and then we had a pretty good lunch. Sat with Lydia and Baby David, Marilee, Carol, and Heather and Chris Daniels. Good times :).

He took a good nap today - a little over 1 1/2 hours, and we then went over to visit my friend DeeDee that I was at NCSU and Wake Tech with. She and her husband are now foster parents to a sweet, sweet 17 month old little boy. He and Johnny had a great time, chasing each other around and such. So glad we went. There may be some pictures that DeeDee took, but I may not be allowed to post them b/c of the foster care rules. After we came home we spent some time out in the yard checking out some of the new flowers and buds, and then came on in for some dinner. Thank goodness for leftovers! He had a great time in the bath tonight, and chose "Good Night Gorrilla" for the bed-time story over "Kiss Good Night". I installed the baby gate on the deck - I think it will work well, although it may need some shoring up. I did some chores and am in the midst of trying to get some work done, and soon I'll be following him on to dream land! Only a couple of pictures today one from just before bed and the new baby gate, so I won't bother with Picasa:

2 Months, really?

Has it really been almost 2 months since I've updated the blog - so embarrassing! I didn't even manage a birthday post. I have a backlog of pictures to post - and I will get to it eventually! Since I last posted, Johnny has turned 1 and now 13 months old, gotten really good at walking - even on uneven surfaces, and has just blossomed into a toddler, really. He rarely is still, but is getting really good at understanding what we're saying to him, and sometimes even does it! The reason I initially started this blog was to keep Andrew informed of what was going on with Johnny and me while he was away on business, and well, he's away again - this time to DudeU @ Myrtle Beach, so I think I'll start updating again!

Andrew left around 11 this morning, just in time for Johnny and I to have lunch. He pitched a royal fit before I got him some lunch. I guess a combination of being tired and hungry + I think he understood that Andrew was leaving for more than just the afternoon. :( He felt better after lunch and we played around a while before his nap. He's been fighting his morning nap for the past month or so (playing for an hour in the crib and not falling asleep), and when he did take it, he would really fight the afternoon one and not sleep well. So, we have pretty much given up the morning nap. But, some days he has a hard time making it all the way to the afternoon. He took a good nap this afternoon, and I took a little one too, as I woke up extra-early this morning. I also did a little work and some bare-minimum housekeeping. I tried to arrange a playdate for this afternoon, but no luck!

After his nap, we went outside and played for a long time. I asked him to bring his shoes to me so I could put them on him to go outside and he did! We mostly wandered around in the front yard, and then he played on the slide for a while (thanks Uncle Bryan and Aunt Christy!). He wanted to swing, but I was really thirsty, so we took a water break and then went back outside and then I swang him for a while. Then it was snack time, so we came on inside, and then he played around inside for a little while and I did a few chores. Then it was off to the grocery to pick up some stuff to make something for the covered dish at church tomorrow - I've decided on tortilla espanola, as that will still be good a few hours after it's been cooked. He seemed to really enjoy the grocery store, as usual, and riding in the cart. I thought about going to the paint store again to pick up some more paint chips for the house exterior (we're thinking about grey now), but I was too tired.

So, we came on home and I started dinner cooking (tortellini and tomato sauce), and I attempted to get Johnny to sit and watch the NCSU game with me, but as I mentioned, sitting still is not his strong point, so he would bounce on and off the couch while I sat and watched the game. Dinner went pretty well, although it was quick, and we cleaned up toys (i.e., I tried to put away toys faster than he could pull them back out!) and then it was bath, story and bed! He had been yawning on the way back from the grocery store at 5 PM and seemed tired a lot today, so he fell asleep at 6:30 without a peep! I think I will also go to bed early tonight. Not sure why I'm so pooped.

I did manage to get some video footage of Johnny coming out the cat door today - which he had done last week as a big surprise to me - scared me as the deck is not gated! I've also posted another video where he shows off his mad hoops skills and some pictures from March and his 3rd haircut today - with new clippers!

March 2010

Snow!

Johnny got to see his first snow ever this weekend! It snowed a few weeks before he was born last year, but he missed it. He wasn't feeling great this weekend, so we didn't spend a ton of time outside, but who knows when he'll get to see it again? We had about 5 inches or so, I think. He wasn't too impressed on Saturday with it, but we think he was nursing an ear infection, plus it was bitterly cold and still blowing snow/sleet a bit. He warmed up a bit to it today and did a little more walking around in it, and a little sledding!

Snow!

Here's some video showing how good he's doing walking with the popper and then trying to walk in the snow/ice:

Walking!

Johnny has been working his way toward it, but we can officially say now that he is walking! The 2nd weekend in January he really got the hang of it, and for about 2 weeks now, he has been walking instead of crawling. He's starting to get really good at it!

Video of the earliest attempts:

January 2010

Pictures from January 2010: a "boy's weekend" with Daddy, walking, and playing with friends.

January 2010

December 2009 and Christmas

OK - Finally posting the pictures from December and Christmas - sorry these are so delayed! We had a fantastic Christmas this year. We made up for not traveling at all last Christmas while I was on bedrest by going to Marion, Carthage, and Chesapeake. We had a great time, and while Johnny didn't really "get" Christmas, he enjoyed all the visiting and attention, love, and of course, all the new toys! Pictures from both December and Christmas below, plus a couple of videos...

December 2009

This video shows Klay singing Happy Birthday to Andrew (sort of), Johnny starting to get tired, how good he's getting at feeding himself, and then fun times with Daddy and with the chaos at Christmas:

Christmas 2009

Christmas Cantata 2009

Our church held it's annual Christmas Cantata on December 7th. It was the first time I have sung in it, and it was pretty exciting - and a really nice evening. We worked really hard on the songs in the weeks leading up to the Cantata, and although I wasn't as comfortable as I would have liked to be with the music, I managed to sing more quietly through the parts where I didn't know the notes, and I don't think that I wrecked it! During one of the first songs, I saw one of the other moms in charge of the "living nativity" scene come over to Andrew and Johnny - and I knew something was up! Our little man was was one of the lambs! I was so proud and he was so cute. He did great with it and hung in there well past his bed time - he even made it through part of the cookie reception afterwards. Here's a few pictures:

Christmas Cantata 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was extra-nice this year, because in addition to having something (someone) to be extra-Thankful for, Andrew and I both had Wednesday off! So, we headed out Wednesday morning to Carthage and had a great time there hanging out with Klay and Olivia and everyone. Olivia did a great job helping Klay ride Princess - Johnny didn't get to ride Princess, but he did get to do the next best thing, which was riding on Mom or Dad's shoulders!

We had an awesome meal on Thanksgiving day, and headed to Marion after Johnny woke up from his afternoon nap. At Mimi and Gramps' we had a lot of fun and saw some friends and helped to put up the Christmas tree! We also go to hang out with Thomas and watch him dance :) We had a fantastic meal that night with the whole Marion/Chesapeake Dodge family.

On Saturday we headed out as early as we could stand it to drive back towards Raleigh. Johnny did well on the trip, but we were all ready for a break as we hit the triad area, so we dropped in on the Monroe family and got to meet baby Claire! She is so sweet, and was so tiny! We had a really nice visit, and I loved getting to hold Claire, and Johnny loved their stairs :) We made it the rest of the way to Raleigh and I dropped Andrew off at the NC State/UNC game (Go Pack!) and headed on to complete my "Baby Tour" of NC! Johnny and I went to see Kaye and Kelli and to meet Baby Meridith, who was about 4 months old that day. We essentially invaded the Brookshire Thanksgiving celebration, but they didn't seem to mind too much. Johnny had fun playing with the other kids (and their toys), but had a hard time with not getting the ones that he wanted! State won the game and we picked Andrew up and headed home for some unpacking and rest and relaxation.... and thus ended the weekend of Andrew's favorite holiday...

The pictures (including Claire and Meredith!):

Thanksgiving 2009 and Babies Claire and Meredith

November 2009

November was a bit of a whirlwind month - I was very busy at work with the semester starting to wind down, and just trying to keep up with it all at the house! We cruised along, and Johnny got faster and faster at crawling, and better and better at cruising and pulling up! He also mastered waving (and saying bye-bye), and learned how to give high-5's! One of his favorite toys this month has been a cardboard box - he really likes climbing up and down thresholds.

Pictures from November:

November 2009

Giving "5" :):

The Box!: