Big Boy Johnny

I am now the mother of a 2-year-old! On May 15 Johnny celebrated his second birthday. He'd been sick all week thanks to his 2 year molars, so we kept the day pretty low-key. It was great that it fell on a Saturday, so we were able to spend the entire day together as a family. Melinda and her family came over to join in on the fun, and the cupcakes.

He got lots of birthday phone calls. Don't you just love his bedhead?

Johnny and Henry had a blast with the balloons

Doesn't he look so grown up?

Loved his cupcakes

Happy Birthday Johnny, we love you!

Boo!

She just looked too cute in these Halloween pajamas. Well, I actually think she looks cute in everything.

Can It Be?

Yesterday while Brad was picking up milk at Costco, (yes, Brad goes through milk crazy fast) he texted and asked what I thought about picking up a mattress for Johnny. The price was right, so Brad came home with 2 gallons of milk and a big-boy bed for the Johnster. We've been debating for a while now on when to move Johnny out of his crib.

Two big ones on the pro list:

• Baby Sister would finally be able to sleep in the crib
• Possibly have the two kids sleep in the same room

Plethora on the con list:

• Johnny sleeps AMAZINGLY well in the crib. Does not try to climb out (which is ridiculous, because he climbs all over everything else since the day he became mobile) so do we really need to change things up?
  
• He wakes up and usually plays for LONG periods of time in the morning and after his naps, which is a lifesaver for me pretty much every day of my life.
• The easy access to many distracting things in his room that could possibly complicate his going to bed at night and for naps.
• If they do share a room, the likelihood one wakes the other one up with crying in the middle of the night greatly increases.
  
• While our dream is to have the kids share a room, Johnny could possibly seriously injure Bela by reaching into the crib and attacking. As much as he loves her, he loves attacking even more, and it is very hard to trust him around her at times.

We decided to just go for it, and rearranged Johnny's room to fit both the crib and the twin bed. Even though Johnny thought the bed was pretty dang cool, I was too nervous last night to try and put Johnny to sleep on it. Bedtime came, and I laid Johnny down in his crib, sang to him, and then said good-night. Brad was simultaneously laying sister down on the big-boy bed, (we had the mattress on the floor) we turned the monitor on and left.

They did great! Johnny thought it was so fun that he and his baby sister could be in the same room together.

Today Johnny started out his nap in the crib, but then asked if he could sleep on the big boy bed. I laid him down, and he took a blissful almost 3 hour nap this afternoon. Heaven.

Tonight Johnny said he wanted sister to sleep in his room again, but this time he wanted her in the crib and he wanted his big-boy bed. Sister went out like a light, love her so much. Johnny definitely took longer than usual, wanting more songs and cuddle time, but eventually he was asleep as well. I turned the monitor on, hoping if he gets up and goes for the baby I'll be able to hear it before anything too bad can happen.

I'm definitely crossing my fingers that this new sleeping arrangement will continue to work, without too much sleep lost or attacks on Isabela. Wish us luck!

Sleepy Time

When I pick up Johnny and tell him it's time to go night-night, he looks me right in the eye and says, "No nap," and shakes his head. He kicks his legs and wiggles his body as I lay him down in his crib. I hand him his soft blanket and whatever toy he loves the most that day (today was his baseball mitt), and give him a kiss. He looks up at me and says, "Mom hand," and holds me tight, and asks me to sing to him. Every little develish thing he does fades from my memory as I look down and see his sweet smiling face. After a song or two I say good-night and leave his room, feeling so lucky to be his mom.

Love These Kids

The other day I caught Johnny sneaking into the fridge because I'd forgotten to lock it. Yes, we do keep our fridge locked. He looked so cute that I let him have the rice pudding instead of making him put it back.

I was talking to my sister Melinda on the phone and called for Johnny to come and talk to Henry. He usually jumps at the chance to talk to his cousin, so I found it strange he didn't come running. I went into the kitchen and found him in the high chair. He'd climbed in and put the tray on himself. When he saw me he said "Help, stuck!" because he didn't know how to take the tray off.

He pointed at me and said, "Stop!" because he got mad I took a picture before helping him out.

My sweet baby with her sippy cup.

She is so grown up and will be 8 months soon!

I love these kids so much and am so grateful I get to be their mom.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Last Thursday Brad had a softball game. We weren't planning on going because it was so cold and windy. When Brad was literally walking out the door, Johnny just burst into tears completely devastated he couldn't come with him, so we decided to bundle up and tag along.

Love that guy in the green shirt

this is how Johnny opens most every container, with his mouth. Juice bottles, milk cartons, powerade, you name it. He's perfected the method quite well, and can pretty much open anything.

Sister wondering why her crazy mom took her out in the cold

We couldn't even stay for the entire game because Brad had to leave for scouts, but Johnny enjoyed every minute of it.

Grandma Comes To Visit

My mom came for a quick visit this last week. We met up at Ikea on Thursday with Melinda and Henry for a little fun.

Baby Bela in her "I love Grandma" shirt

Melinda taking great care of the kids

Johnny was so excited to see Grandma that he actually didn't want to eat breakfast before we left, he just wanted to get going! So we grabbed some breakfast for him at Ikea.

Henry munching on a little bacon

Sister trying out the birthday hat

Johnny of course had to try it out too

These two could have spent all day playing here

We miss you already Mom!

Nap Time

The other day I laid Bela down for a nap. A little while later I heard giggles and laughter so I went to investigate. This is what I found:

aren't they just adorable?

I love how he makes her laugh

Enjoying the Sunshine

We took a walk last Monday and headed on over to the park so we could enjoy the sunshine. And so Johnny could say hello to his friend Mr. Horse that he'd missed so much while we were on vacation.

He enjoyed getting dirty

Sister took a little nap

Johnny ran over to make friends with the little kid playing soccer across the field. This kid can run surprisingly fast.

He took a water break under the tree

He is just so cute and fun!

Bye-Bye Uncle Stephen

Stephen didn't stay for very long, but we had a lot of fun while he was here.

We discovered he's very good at baby-sitting from the couch

He put on a movie for Johnny

He multi-tasked while taking care of Isabela

and he helped give Johnny a taste of his own medicine.

We miss you Uncle Stevie, come back again soon!