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: