Holiday Highlights #2

I took way too many pictures of James and Jude playing in the leaves one day while we were raking the yard, but this was just one of those spontaneous moments that turns into an hour of giggling. I'm so thankful for these days that I know I will always look back on as my very best days.

A snowman pancake for breakfast! 

Going to see Santa at a local dentist's office. I read they were doing free professional pictures, and I'm so glad we went. It was so low stress and Santa spent ten minutes talking to each family. James warmed up to him for the first time and even sat on his lap. 

Grandma Collins gave us Christmas money for a Zoo membership. We got to go enjoy Zoo Light Safari. 

His favorite part was the train ride when Santa came out and chose him to receive a bell (like on the polar express!) and these roller racers. Our little boy thinks that he is a race car driver or maybe even a race car. He loved them so much that we found some to rent for his racing themed 5th birthday party coming up at the end of this month. 

Holiday Highlights #1

I'm so behind on blogging... Here are some holiday highlights with our little family in our new home/town in Chelsea in November and December! 

Lego Advent Calendar! James was so in love with this (and it was awesome) that I know we'll continue this new tradition for many years. 

We let Jude open the chocolate advent calendar! 

Decorating for Christmas in the new house. The owners before us left their inflatable Santa (and didn't want it back!) so we had to put it up. They LOVED it! 

What a fun December this little stinker had with the ornaments. We hardly put any out because we daily put them back on and/or glued pieces back on. 

Really out of order but Christmas Eve at our house!

I loved these Turkey Shirts that Nana made this year. I always try to snap these cute, matching pictures before church when I can. 

Stephen turned 30 the day after Thanksgiving! We celebrated with pi/pie(x 30!) and pun!
He's a big math guy too so I knew he'd love this t-shirt!

Thanksgiving Day at my Dad's house.

Our family in Christmas PJs at Nana and Grandpas. 

Holidays with Extended Family

I'm trying to play a little blog catch-up while the boys take naps after a late New Years Eve last night. Here are some pictures with all of our extended family from Thanksgiving and Christmas. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas during a week long trip to South Carolina in November and celebrated Christmas with Stephen's family during a weekend in December.

Christmas Celebrations at my mom's house 

A full day of EdVenture, Yummy restaurants in Columbia, and some bouncy castle/arcade fun!

 The boys always love walking the Palmetto Trail with Grandaddy and Nana!

My children with all of my cousins children at Grandma Collins'  house!

Most of my cousins and I (minus the Tinman family) with Grandma Collins.

A brunch at Mimi and Gramps' house!

A cousin picture (some were missing!) with Mimi and Gramps.

Pushups on Granddaddy's back! I'm pretty sure no matter how old we get I'll just see my Dad as forever strong!

Matching Pajamas at Nana and Grandpas! 

The boy cousins (plus one more when Joah arrives in May!)

The boys and Reagan! 

Jude at 18 months

Jude turned 18 months on December 7. Here is a little update on him.

Wearing: mostly 18 month cloths; size 4 diapers; size 6 in shoes

Growth: 25 pounds and 32 inches at his 18 month appointment (he has majorly slowed down and is now smaller than James was at his 18 month appointment.)

Sleeping: He cut down to one nap a day around 15 months but will occasionally take two if he falls asleep in the car if we are out in the morning or if he woke up really early, sleeps a few hours in the afternoon and 10 to 12 hours at night

Eating: He eats all table food. He is getting a little pickier than he used to be, but will still eat a wide variety. He especially likes cheese, noodles, mac and cheese, LOVES all fruit, frozen peas, pancakes, veggie straws, eggs and turkey lunchmeat occasionally, peanut butter spread thinly on crackers, and he loves cookies and other sweets. He is not a fan of meat. He throws food down that he doesn't like or hands it back to me.

Personality: Content, easy-going, extremely active, fearless, playful, independent, rough, and sneaky. He is into everything now. He is starting to have some little fits lately when things don't go his way but they are mild and totally age-appropritate. He throws his head back and proceeds to (fake) cry. He is pretty obedient right now and doesn't seem super strong-willed. He is such an imitator right now: repeating words, actions, clapping, singing, and just gets so pleased with himself when he's praised. 

Teething: He had 12 teeth (and working on the four canine teeth)  

Look: big brown eyes and curly brown hair. :) I'm crazy about his curls. 

New "Tricks": He has many words now (a few two word phrases like "That's James" or "Bye Bye Dada") and repeating everything. He calls the new baby (Joah) "Jo Jo" or "Do Do." He follows commands very well. He point to things to ask what it is called and then repeats the word back. He likes to "dance" (bounce or move his shoulders) and sing. He is running now and If he falls down he just gets right back up with no tears. He also shakes his head up and down for "yes" and back and forth for "no" too. His new favorite word is "uh uh" and says it to every question and James has taught him to say "no" very matter of factly.  He has also starting moving cars and planes through the air and imitating the sounds that he has heard James make for all the various modes of transportation. He has also started to point to some of his body parts (belly, teeth, head, nose, hands, etc.). He loves to clap his hands and imitates that when others "clap" or if he hears someone say "clap your hands" he will do it. He is a major climber and just into everything. He has also tried to eat with utensils several times and pretend to shoot a basketball. He is just a little imitator right now. He also likes to take things in and out of containers (making him a naturally good cleaner-up for right now.) He learned how to do the shape sorter recently. He also can make several animal sounds. It's a busy, fun age!

Likes: playing, being on the go and into everything, eating, bath time, his tooth brush, being outside, anything that James is doing is where he wants to be, flipping through books and dumping out puzzles, and he still loves dogs and other animals! He also really loves Mickey now! Dislikes are being stopped from all of his adventures and being left in the church nursery (but doing better)

Jude, you are a ray of sunshine in our family. I cannot imagine life without you my sweet sweet one. 

Love, Mama

Baby #3 is...

A BOY! Our house is now going to be pretty much completely blue, loud, energetic, adventurous, and chaotic at times! But I know it will be oh so wonderful! And I'm feeling pretty privileged that, for whatever reason, God saw fit to choose me to mother three boys. I know we'll never be perfect parents, but I pray that we can raise up strong men of God to be a bright light in this dark world and I'm so thankful that I will have a hand in that. Boys were so foreign to me five years ago but the second that I learned that I was going to mother our firstborn, James, my heart swelled with a special sense of pride that I was carrying this mysterious little life inside of me. I never vocalized it to anyone, but I just felt so incredibly blessed. And now boys are not quite so mysterious to me anymore, but I've come to love everything that they represent (although embracing the messes that they make is still something I'm working on!). I know that Stephen will model how to be a godly man for them and teach them so many practical things (he is seriously a jack of every trade imaginable!), and I pray that my tender heart would help in shaping compassionate men that would care about the needs of others and the hurting. I pray they would be the right kind of tough and tender all rolled into one. (I'm actually one that believes a strong man can cry!) And I will always (selfishly) adore how much a baby boy just adores his Mama. It's just a bond like no other! Thank you, Lord, for my three JohnSONS! 

We're naming our sweet boy Joah Lakes Johnson. Joah means "brother of the Lord" (and James and Jude were both half brothers of Jesus so we thought it was very fitting) or "fraternity" which is certainly what we will have in this house. What a tight-knit brotherhood I pray it will be always! Lakes is my maiden name and I wanted him to carry a "family name" as part of his name, and I'm so thankful for the Lakes family's legacy of faith and how it's impacted my own life.

Joah is healthy and growing well! I was 18 weeks and 3 days yesterday, and he is measuring right at 19 weeks. I didn't have a strong gut feeling about whether this baby would be a boy or a girl, but within seconds of looking at the ultrasound screen I recognized that he was, in fact, a boy. I was completely holding it together until James heard the news and said "God has answered my prayer!" and then I proceeded to sob on and off for the next 15 minutes as we examined all his little organs. He appears to have a round little belly, big feet (according to the ultrasound tech), and he was sleeping with his hand over his face. His little profile looks like his brothers to me already. He was being stubborn and we couldn't get a view of his lower spine so they will take a look again in four weeks at the next appointment.

That's just a little update on our sweet Joah! I hope to post again soon with some pictures of all our our fall/holiday adventures!