Andrew's Quote of the Day

Driving in the car...

Me: "Arrrrgh!"
Andrew: "What is it?"
Me: "The other people aren't driving very well and it's frustrating Mommy."
Andrew: "It's okay, I'll give you a hug when we get to the restaurant."

That just about melted my heart.

He's Crawling!

Benjamin was just spotted doing something new. He was army crawling across the room toward his wooden teething ring. In the past he had to roll to the side to get anywhere, but now he's moving directly ahead!

Overdue: a video of Ben's first word "dada". He says it a bunch these days.

Merry Christmas

It was a wonderful Christmas. The weather cleared up enough that we were able to spend some time with the whole family.

I think this has been the best Christmas so far with kids... Andrew really got the concept of Santa for the first time this year (although we reminded him about what Christmas is really about) and Ben had a look of pure glee sitting amidst all the wrapping paper and rustling it around. I'm pretty sure we could have given him a roll of paper and he would have been just as excited. Andrew told me before he went to sleep that his favorite presents were the digital camera that Santa brought and the Leapster from my parents. Both good solid choices.

Scott and I scored too - I got Wii Fit and some sewing paraphernalia and Scott scooped up the usual video game and video game related items. We also got an awesome calendar my mom made with pictures from the whole family and all the family birthdays and holidays printed it. I love it.

Overall a good day, other than Andrew still being sick. He's already woken up every hour tonight crying because he doesn't feel good. Poor little buddy.

Andrew's Quote of the Day

Grammy: "Should we sing happy birthday to Jesus?"
Andrew: "No, he's in my heart and can't get out."

Andrew's Quote of the Day

Scott: "I'm making you toast because you're hungry. Hungry mungry."
Andrew: "What's a mungry?"
Scott: "There's no such thing as a mungry, Daddy just made it up."
Andrew: "But that doesn't make any sense to me."

Snow Pictures

Andrew Quote

I just had to write this down before I forgot. Here's a little conversation Andrew and I just had. We were listening to a Christmas playlist I put together.

Me: "I made the best Christmas compilation ever."
Andrew: "Why?"
Me: "Because I'm awesome."
Andrew: "Well, you look awesome but you're not."

I guess at least I look awesome...

Baba Ben

Baba Ben, originally uploaded by zorakisking.

Ben's finally starting to make some new sounds! Here's his latest... baba.

Happy Halloween!

Here's some pictures of the kids to enjoy. In case you can't tell, the kids costumes are as follows:

Andrew: Spiderman
Ben: Giraffe
Kayla: Hannah Montana
Kaitie: Tinkerbell
Jesse: Black Spiderman (with symbiote)

Andrew did awesome trick-or-treating. He went for two hours straight and I'm pretty sure could have gone for about two more. When we got home we had to have had at least 5-10 pounds of candy and I'm not exaggerating. Whenever his bucket got too heavy to carry he'd dump his stash in the storage bin of the stroller Ben was contentedly sleeping in. We went with our friends the Schwarys just like we did last year, it was a blast.

*The pics taken with their cousins were from another night when they all dressed up for Grammy and Papa.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Happy Bday Papa, originally uploaded by zorakisking.

We hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Andrewisms

Andrew tends to talk. A lot. This is a conversation we had this morning.

Me: Do you ever stop talking?
Andrew: No.
Me: Why?
Andrew: Because I have a mouth.

Well I can't argue with that logic.

Thank You Auntie Heather and Uncle Aaron!

Ben LOVES the Jumperoo Aaron and Heather let us borrow. And I love it too, it keeps him occupied for quite a while!

Andrew's First Day of School

Today was Andrew's first day of preschool. He was sporting his new dinosaur backpack that Grammy gave him the night before. He wasn't the least bit nervous, and when I said I had to go; he barely even noticed. Sigh... my little boy is growing up.

Ben's First Food

We gave Ben his first taste of solids today. It didn't go so well. He kept gagging and throwing it back up. I think we'll put it off for another month or two but here's some pictures taken in sequence to enjoy in the meantime. As you can see - not a fan.

10 Reasons Scott Can Never Leave Again

This weekend Scott went up to Washington to go to the Penny Arcade Expo with his brother. I stayed at home with the boys so he could get away for a bit and have some fun. This is why he can never leave again:

1. Andrew incessantly asked "When is Daddy getting home from work?"
2. There was no one to take out the garbage.
3. At the end of the day when I finally got the boys to bed there was no one to talk to.
4. Andrew was messing around with the settings on his game system and now it won't work.
5. Andrew unraveled an entire roll of toilet paper and flushed it down the toilet. Now the toilet is so backed up no one can use it and I can't fix it so we have to go next door to use the bathroom.
6. When I heard a noise at 3 in the morning I had to check it out myself - eek!
7. I felt like there was no one to cook for so we ate entirely too much fast food.
8. Ben finally rolled over and Scott missed it.
9. I was freezing in bed last night and there was no one to put my cold feet on to warm them up.
10. And most importantly - I just missed my Honeypoo.
    

Happy Birthday Aunt Karri

Happy Birthday Aunt Karri, originally uploaded by zorakisking.

Have a wonderful day!

Outdoor Play Day

I thought I'd share a few pictures from our outdoor play time last week. Andrew got to play with his cousins Kayla, Kaitie and Jesse and our friends Maddie, Erin, Nate and Joe. Fun times were had by all. :)

Video of Ben Laughing

Ben Laughing, originally uploaded by zorakisking.

Scott and I tried so hard to get a video of Ben laughing. He does it all the time now but as soon as I whip out the camera he stops, of course. Here's the best we could do.

Andrew's Songs

Some pictures to enjoy...

My two cute boys

Ben has a little bit of the Elvis lip going here

Andrew for some reason pulls his pajama pants up to his "man buttons" (aka nipples)

Video of Ben

Ben, originally uploaded by zorakisking.

I took a video of Ben smiling and talking a little bit today... I thought I'd post it for those who haven't seen him yet, or in a while.

Big Boy Undies - Update

The good news: Andrew didn't have any accidents in his underwear yesterday!

The bad news: He waited until his pull-up diaper was on for bed and went poop in that.

Still no poop in the potty, but I'm going to consider this progress. Maybe we'll try underwear at night. He wakes up most mornings dry... but it's still a little risky.

Big Boy Undies!

After having a ton of "accidents" in the last week (he totally knows what he's doing), I'm finally ready to try something new. Today Andrew is wearing big boy underwear for the first time. They're Mickey Mouse ones, which he asked for a while ago. I'm hoping this will motivate him to poop in the potty. Lord help us!

I just had to share this cute picture I took of Ben today:

Ben's 2 Month Check-Up

Ben had his two month doctor's appointment today. Here are his stats:

11 pounds, 1 ounce - in the 50th percentile
22 3/4 inches - in the 50th percentile
Head circumference of 15 1/4 inches - in the 25th percentile

We also switched his medication to Prevacid for his reflux. Hopefully this will help - he's been having massive amounts of projectile spit up. Not fun!

Ben Smiling

I finally got some decent pictures of Ben smiling:

Milestone

Ben rolled over for the first time! I put him on his tummy and left the room for a minute, and when I got back he was on his back with his arms waving away.

2 Week Checkup

Ben had his 2 week doctor's appointment today. Everything is looking good. He's now 8 pounds 10 ounces, 21 inches long, and has a head circumference of 14.5 inches.

Benjamin Ryan Johnson

Baby Announcement

Benjamin Ryan Johnson was born today at 3:57 pm weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

Benjamin

Ben with Mommy

Ben with Daddy

Andrew kissing his new baby brother

Pregnancy Update

I had my 37 week appointment today. I am 2 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and the baby is in posterior (or "sunny-side up") position. I've been given some exercises to do several times a day to try and get the baby to move positions - otherwise I'll be in for some pretty painful back labor. Yikes!

Chuck & Chuck

It's been quite a while since I've updated, mostly because I've been put on modified bed rest for the last five or six weeks and nothing exciting has been happening. I've spent most of my time watching crappy movies, reading crappy books, and watching crappy television. Can you tell I was a little bored? Now that I'm able to be up and about again, I'm so hugely pregnant I'm too miserable to do anything. But that's enough complaining...

This morning I asked Andrew to throw away a napkin in the kitchen (we were in my bedroom at the time). He went out to the living room and came running back in, informing me he couldn't throw it in the garbage because there were two pigs in the kitchen that were trying to "get him." Scott asked what the pig's name was, and Andrew told us it was Chuck. I asked what the other pig's name was, and apparently it was named Chuck as well. We let him know that Chuck & Chuck were friendly pigs and they wouldn't harm him, but it still took a five minute pep talk to get him to go into the kitchen by himself and throw away the darned napkin - with him running as fast as he possibly could both ways.

Dinosaur Poop

An Andrew quote from this morning - "I'm not dancing. Just my teeth are dancing."

I took Andrew to the park today for about an hour and he made a new friend. He got asked for his digits for the first time ever - his new friend Hunter ran up to me and asked what Andrew's phone number was. It was pretty cute. Hunter also taught him something new... there was some bird poop on the play equipment and Hunter informed Andrew it was dinosaur poop. I let it slide at the park, but after we were home and I had heard about dinosaur poop for 30 minutes I decided to set him straight and told him it was bird poop. After going back and forth for a few minutes and a lot of "but he said it was dinosaur poop..." I finally asked Andrew "who are you going to believe, your mother or a three year old kid you've known for an hour?" He responded with "it's dinosaur poop." I guess I know my place.

Potty!

It seems we may finally be making headway on the potty training. Saturday morning Scott got Andrew to go pee on the potty after about 45 minutes of sitting on the potty chair. It's been a long, frustrating journey (for me at least). Andrew has no problem sitting on the potty, it's just a matter of getting him to go. It doesn't seem to be the best time to teach him since I've got very little patience now that I'm pregnant and I've heard everywhere that most kids revert a little when they have a little sibling born. But he seems to be somewhat interested, so I'm going to encourage it all I can. We've got a bribe system going... he gets an M&M for trying, one fun size candy if he pees, and two fun size candies if he poops. So far he's still only peed once, and refuses to try and poop on the chair, but I'm still proud of him for trying!

P.S. I should mention that all the credit for this milestone has to go to Scott. He worked out the reward system and is the one really encouraging Andrew to use the potty. If only he could take a week off work and do all the potty training for me!

Snow Day

We had some snow yesterday. I was busy getting ready for the birthday party but Andrew was able to go and play outside with his Grammy and Papa.

Papa pulling Andrew on the sled

Andrew enjoying the sled on the hill

Making a snowman

Andrew and Papa with their snowman

Andrew and Grammy

Andrew's 3rd Birthday... part deux

We had a full day yesterday. After getting up and giving Andrew his presents, we played with his new castle for a while and watched his new movie Robin Hood. Once that was over we took advantage of the gorgeous day outside and went to the park for a while. We went and had lunch at McDonald's (his choice), then came home for a short nap. After he woke up his Papa took him down to the river on the 4 wheeler and they played down there, throwing rocks in the water. We went to Tebo's for dinner with Grammy and Papa. We came back to Grammy and Papa's house after dinner and played Dominos and he got his present from them, a sweet bicycle. Here's a few pictures from the day. The main birthday event will take place Sunday when we have his actual birthday party.

Andrew's 3rd Birthday

Today is Andrew's 3rd birthday. We've been counting down for the last week or so. Andrew's most excited about cake and presents. We'll be having a party for him on Sunday for family and friends. I wanted to make today special too, and had planned on taking him this morning to the zoo and/or the children's museum. But after we gave him his presents this morning he decided he'd rather stay home and play with his new toy and watch his movie. We thought long and hard about what to get him, and finally settled on the Imaginext Castle and the Disney Robin Hood movie. We decided to stick with a medieval theme. I'll post some pictures of Andrew with his present and dinner later - but for now here's a stock photo of his castle. It's pretty awesome.