Back to the mothership!

There have been a lot of changes in the Johnson household lately, one of which is me going back to work full-time.  I'm back at Dell...AGAIN!  I started last Monday and I'll be doing sales in our Large Institutions division with Government and Education accounts.  So, basically the exact same thing I did when I left 5 years ago.  My desk is actually one row over from where I sat the last time!  Since Hunter was born early, I literally left on a Friday afternoon for the weekend, had Hunter unexpectedly on Sunday and never came back, so it has kind of been like a 5 year long weekend! :) 

It has been kind of fun seeing old, familiar faces that I haven't seen in a while.  That has made the transition easier.  It's about a 15 minute commute from my garage to my desk so it will be easy for me to run home and lunch and see the boys, plus I don't have to spend a lot of time on the road commuting that I could be spending at home.  I am so thankful for the 5 years that I was able to spend at home with my boys.  I loved it but I also know this new venture will fulfill me in many different ways as well!

Spring Break

We had a pretty low key Spring Break. So much so that I kind of felt bad about not planning anything special! I guess Spring Break in preschool isn't all that big of a deal anyway....we only go 4 days a week for about 4 hours so it's not like we were craving a break. Next year I'm sure it will be a different story. :)

We played outside with friends, saw a movie, and made a trip to Chuck E. Cheese with April and Owen. Here are a few pics from our week --

Whee!! 

Coley wanted to be a part of the big kids group... 

Hunter Bear having fun. 

Duck, duck...

Goose!

Back at it!

We're baaaack!  Yes, we're still alive and well in the Johnson household.  After a 15 month hiatus, I figured it was time to get back in the blogging game.  Keeping up with a preschooler and an active baby/toddler, blogging moved way back on my list of priorities. :)  I have missed out on recording a lot of things about Cole's development that I did with Hunter.  I love that I kept track of those things with Hunter -- his words, social/physical development, what he liked to do at a particular age, etc.  I enjoy looking back on those things, not only for comparative purposes with Coley, but because you forget a lot as time marches on.  I'm going to try to be much better at updating this than I have been!

Cole turned two on February 10th!  He's fun, opinionated, sometimes shy, mostly sweet :), and VERY active.  He loves to do whatever Hunter is doing.  He's a little parrot and a copycat and I just love when they play sweet together.  "Hunter" (un-tuh!) is one of the first things he mentions when he wakes up in the morning.  He wants to know where Hunter is before we even get downstairs.  He's a pickier eater than Hunter was.  His favorite food right now is Nutella sandwiches.  His vocabulary is growing almost daily.  He loves "Melmo", balls, light sabers and Hexbugs. :)  His new fun thing is to watch Elmo in the car and now he asks for it every.single.time.  He recently went through a phase of only wanting showers but now is back on a bath kick.  He's a pretty good napper wherever we can fit it in but our schedule mostly revolves around Hunter's school and activities....such is the life of baby #2!

At his well-check, he was 33.15" (20th %) and 25 lbs, 12 oz (25th%).  He's proportionate, but still on the small side.  He may shoot up, he may hover around here....we'll see.  Hunter was very small until his 2nd birthday so maybe Cole will have a big growth spurt soon.  He had a great 2nd birthday party at our house with some animals from Tiny Tails to You joining in on the fun!

Hunter is in Pre-K.  He is at the same place he went to school last year.  It is the preschool at our church and I just love this little school.  He's in to a lot of boy things now....Star Wars, Skylanders, sticks, rocks.  He's in a Spanish class offered after school one day a week.  He just started in January and officially knows more Spanish that I do already.  He likes all sports and likes playing outside.  He likes learning about bugs, birds, and astronomy.  He got a Wii for Christmas and we like playing Just Dance together.  His favorite dinner requests are spaghetti and meatballs, curried spaghetti and lasagna.  He has fallen asleep to the CD story version of "The Polar Express" every night before bedtime for the last year and a half.

Here are a few recent pics:

 Coley at his party.

 Elmo cake!  Made by yours truly. :)

New tradition -- we chopped down our own tree at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm.

Our 2014 "snow" day.

Bubbles! 

Mmm....lemons!

Our first trip to Dell Children's -- croup with possible walking pneumonia. :( 2/14

AJ and I are both doing well.  He is busy with work and I am always busy with Junior League, teaching Sunday School and staying involved in Hunter's school.  Drop us a line in the comments and say "hi" if you're reading!

9 months

Cole had  his 9 month checkup yesterday.  He did pretty well - only one vaccine, his second flu shot and a toe prick to check iron levels.  He also has his very first ear infection.  Ugh!  It seems like someone is always sick around here these days.  Hunter comes home with something then gives it to Cole and then by the time Cole is better Hunter has something new.  It seems like we caught it pretty early but he still got his very first prescription of Amoxicillin.  (Which is totally a blast from the past, by the way.  It smells the exact same!)

He weighed in at 19 lbs, 5.5 oz (30th percentile) and was 26.5 inches (3rd percentile).  Dr. Dan said that the length measurement was probably short though.  I should have asked to have him remeasured but he didn't seem too concerned about it and there were other things going on with his vaccines and ear infection that it just seemed like a hassle at the time.  He's pretty proportionate....maybe a tad on the chunky side....so I'd guess his length is really more around the 20-30th percentile (whatever that is!).  I measured him around 29" but my measurements probably aren't very accurate either.  It's hard to get a squirmy baby to stretch out long enough to be measured!

He is army crawling but doesn't quite have the full blown crawl down yet, at least consistently.  He has a little wave down which is SO cute.  His 4th tooth on top finally popped through a couple of days ago as well so he has had 4 teeth come in in the last 5 weeks.  Poor little guy.  Hopefully he gets a break from teething for a while!

Mimi and Papa visit, the Pumpkin Patch and a 3 1/2 year old!

We had a great time with Mimi and Papa last week.  They flew in for a visit and so Brad could go to the Texas/OU game in Dallas with AJ.  AJ has really been wanting to take him....it is quite the experience!

While the guys were in Dallas, Mom and I took the boys to the Sweetberry Farm pumpkin patch on Hunter's half birthday!  This is the 3rd year we have been to this patch and Hunter definitely was able to do the most this year.  He painted a pumpkin, fed the goats, picked flowers and rode the barrel train.  We went on a Friday afternoon which was the perfect time to go....no long lines, crowds, easy parking.  Perfect!

Hunter is about 36 lbs and 39.5 inches tall.  He loves school and always comes home with new songs, tidbits of information and stories about his day.  He's lost some of the cute names he used to have for things ("My" for "I") and has a better memory than I could ever hope to have myself!  He's in to Jake and the Neverland Pirates at the moment as well as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Doc McStuffins.  He still loves the PBS morning shows such as Sesame Street, Super Why, and Dinosaur Train.  He's becoming very independent and loves to help or try to do things by himself like pouring milk, making his own sandwich, helping cooking, etc.  While we have our moments as any 3 year old does, he's a great friend, is very social and just a sweet little boy.

8 months

At 8 months, Cole is about 18 lbs and 29".  This seems a bit off compared to what I estimated him to be at last month so I'll be anxious to see what his official stats are at his 9 month well check next month!

He's become a master sitter and just got a 3rd tooth last week.  All 4 of his top teeth are looking like they are going to break through at any moment.  Teething has been a little rough on him!  He's rolling everywhere.  He's really fast and sometimes lodges himself under the coffee table and needs to be rescued. :)  He still loves his big brother, his Baby Einstein jumper, and the activity table which he just sits at at this point.  He's eating puffs now and is doing a good job at picking them up.  We're still trying to get the hang of the sippy cup though.  He prefers to chew on it rather than drink out of it.

He's so chunky and squishy and I just love snuggling with him!  Such a fun age!

Vacation

Last week we celebrated our 5th anniversary by going on a family vacation to Florida.  We actually went to the same place that we used to vacation when I was a child so it was really nostalgic for me.  It looks the exact same!

It is steps off of the beach so Hunter and I enjoyed walking on the beach in the morning and finding seashells.  We had to stop and inspect nearly every one so sometimes it took a while. :)  It is sea turtle season so there were several "do not disturb the nests" signs around so we had plenty of discussions about sea turtles.   The weather was pretty nice....a little rainy and cloudy on some days but we still had plenty of sunshine and enough good weather to enjoy being outside.

Hunter had fun building sand castles and "fighting" the waves with daddy, swimming and playing putt-putt.  One night we went out to dinner at a restaurant that had catfish swimming below.  Kids would feed them any random piece of food they could find.  Hunter contributed his french fries and pickles.  He really got a kick out of it.  Those fish had quite an appetite!  Cole napped on the beach and decided he wanted to be an official unassisted sitter while we were there!

Travel was relatively easy other than the fact that we didn't have enough arms to carry all of the stuff we had.  The flight was direct and the boys were well-behaved.  A success!