Spa evening

I'm fresh from GJ thanks to saved up Christmas and Valentine's gifts from Nick and Deven.  Maternity massage and pedi can't go wrong.  I'm feeling pretty comfortable so I thought it would be a good time to document the 'ol belly so I can remember why we will be done after two!! : ).  37 weeks tomorrow!

Christmas wishes from Deven.

We didn't get much shopping done but Deven had a blast!

Santa's sleigh

We heard through village gossip that Santa was one busy guy today due to a groupon that came out.  So I decided that Santa's sleigh was where it was at this year.  Deven was just as excited I think because right before it was his turn two older boys were there with their Santa hats and he thought they were the coolest guys ever.  We just happened to have thrown in Deven's Santa hat so I pulled it out and he was thrilled.  All three boys compared hats with absolute awe!  I think we got some great pictures, can't wait to add baby sister next year!!

Christmas shopping!

We ran in to Santa's sleigh today at uvillage and a nice man took our picture!

Christmas 2011 Preparations

I think this may have been the earliest we have ever decorated for Christmas.  We had both the tree and the decorations up by December 1st.  I'm pretty sure Deven might be driving this new schedule we are on but I'm having a good time.  We've got a new advent calendar, we've watched the Polar Express three times and counting, and hot cocoa has now become a staple.  Let the festivities begin...or rather...let them continue.
Pics above are: a. A post xmas tree hunting hot chocolate treat, b. X
xmas tree all decorated, c. Deven and xmas tree 2011.

Pacific City - Post Xmas Trip!

Deven is 18 months today. I wonder if this means I can start saying he is a year and a half rather than the monthly equivalent?

We celebrated by taking a trip to the beach. Actually, it was our bi-annual Oregon beach vacation with our friends Codie and Alex. This time the Blocks were back in the US so they decided to drive over from WW to join in the tradition. I must say I was a little apprehensive about the 6.5 hour drive to Pacific City, OR but Deven was actually pretty good. We only had to stop twice; once for a diaper change and again for some lunch. We rolled in just in time for afternoon snack. It's interesting how we have started to measure the day in terms Deven's food schedule.

Codie and Alex were able to research and locate a house with five bedrooms (and a spacious laundry room) fitting our 6 adult 3 children and 2 dog brood perfectly. The beach was just a quick walk around the local surf shop, perfect location!

The weather this year was not very kid friendly though. Nick and I were thinking about it and a couple of years ago when we did this trip it wasn't great either but with kids I guess it was a different ball game. The first afternoon was pretty good but not until the morning we left (pictured herein) did it clear up for an extended period. Everytime we tried to get the kids out the rain, wind and freezing temperatures would get the better of us. Thankfully the house was huge and the kids got along well (unless Deven decided to steal hadley's baby doll stroller).

As I am sure everyone is aware little tykes like ours are always fighting off some sickness and it is always a toss up as to whether or not it is going to get better or worse when decide to risk it and leave the house. Deven and hadley both had a nose and cough issue when we got to the beach. Unfortunately while Deven got better hadley got worse. So much so that the blocks had to make an early departure. Deven was having such a good time with hadley learning new words like, oat meal, baby, hadley, light, beach, toast and more I'm sure. We were sorry to see them go but when kidos are sick the best place to be is home!!

We had one last stormy night at the beach house hanging with Codie and Alex and then one last walk on the beach in the morning and now we are on our way back to OUR home. 2 hours in and Deven has been asleep for 1.5 hours of it. Cross you fingers folks!

PS, Deven has an official check up first thing next week so I will give an up date on stats and other milestones then!!

Christmas 2010

We are just about ready for Christmas here at the Johnston household. I have officially completed my shopping and only have a few more presents to wrap. This year Deven is old enough to recognize that something is going on around here and just loves looking at the tree all lit up. We developed a little routine that has helped us (for the most part) keep the tree in tact which includes a count before I switch on the lights and then he says hi to the rocking horse ornament and the chu chu (train) ornament. Then we ring all the bells (my favorite ornaments) and say night night to the tree! Routines are a very good thing I have discovered these past 18 months! Here are some fun pics of Deven saying hi to the ornaments. ; )

Baking

Per my previous post I have had a little more time on my hands and I have rediscovered my love for baking, much to Nick and my waste-line's dismay. I think the holidays have played a role in this but non-the-less I have been trying new recipes and we have been eating some good sweets lately. To my surprise I realized that I had never made gingerbread cookies before. I decided that this tragedy had to be fixed. I ended up not being able to find a gingerbread man cookie cutter so I made due with a snowman, a Christmas tree and a holly sprig. Nick, who is not known for his unearned cookie complements, approved and so I believe we have a new December tradition!!

SNOW!!

We ditched plans for our first bus trip into Seattle and decided to play in the snow instead. The snow suit was supposed to be a Christmas present but I figured the snow and ice were a sign and I let him open it early. It was a challenge keeping Deven entertained inside all day but getting to play with him in the snow for the first time really helped balance the day! It's 15 degrees in LS right now. Though its about a month before the winter solstice I think we can say it has officially arrived non-the-less.

November! ?!

How is it November already? How is Deven 16months old already? Do I really need to start thinking about Christmas already?

These are the questions going through my mind this 4th day of November as I sip my short soy no water chai tea latte in its red holiday cup - which incidentally answers my last question above.

Working backwards - Deven is now 16 months old. Nick and I are amazed how the time flies. We have no official stats as his next doctor visit isn't for a couple of months. On a side note, we are also amazed that we haven't had to take him to the doctor in between our visits. That isn't to say there hasn't been all sorts of nastiness floating around in the Johnston house...if Deven doesn't get a bout of wheezing or febrile seizures everything else seems doable! ; ) So back to the 16 month Check in. He likes to weigh himself like a big boy on my digital scale, so with his cloths on he is over 26 lbs. Not sure if that is big or not but when he wants to be carried all evening after school it feels pretty big to us! Height wise, not too sure on this either but his head almost reaches our cutting board and he can definitely get into the bathroom top drawer. The past two weeks Deven has had a streak of no biting. It was great, but on 11/2 the streak was over. I am convinced that it was because he got bit the day before and now he is just getting the little fella back ten fold! So really this is just about Deven defending himself, right? Fortunately Deven has been learning some signs to help him communicate, which is why I think he hasn't needed to bite as much to get what he needs. He knows: more, please, food/eat, water, up and hot. This last one is definitely his version of the sign but it works none-the-less. So. in general, things have been a little less challenging around the house. We are working on teaching Deven to brush his teeth but last night I had to take matters (devens mouth) in to my own hands and what did I see in there but a ginormous molar. Tylenol and a numbing agent are the best. Hmmm anything else you all would be interested in (I'm assuming I've kept your attention thus far)???

I guess that leaves me with my first question - November? This can only be answered by relating the events that led up to this late date. Most notable, was Halloween weekend. We started on Saturday with the husky v. Stanford tailgate. It was sort of miserable weather but Deven and I decided to make do and went next door to do a little shopping, please note his little frogger boots in the pics above. The next day was Halloween and we decided to go to the Everett museum for their story time and disappearing ghost poop. We never did see the said poop but perhaps that was because it had disappeared before we got there? The story time, however, was a huge success. For all that have spent even a few minutes with Deven you know that him sitting still for the 10 minutes it took to read the story was a down right miracle. After nap time and a visit to the jungle gym mecca at the local elementary school we hit the Lake Stevens town center for a mini trick-or-treat session. The two biggest hits were the fire truck and a blue lolly pop. When Deven saw that truck he must have said every babble word he knew. Pointing and running back and forth, he just couldn't get over it. The fireman noticed Deven's "interest" and offered to open up the cab to show him. I lifted him up and he was speechless - in total awe. The city opened all the business so the kids could trick-or-treat safely; we went to the bank. They had lolly pops there, he couldn't say trick-or-treat but he signed please and the candy was his! I still wasn't sure I was going to let him eat it but he seemed to know just what it was for and stuck it in his mouth. I took the wrapper off for him and it was love at first taste. Needless to say Nick and I had to wrench it from his hands a while later when blue goo had made it down his whole front and we were afraid he was going to choke when if it came off the stick. By then it was getting dark and little man was getting pretty tired. The next day we woke up and poof...it was November.

Winter Cleaning

By default I think Nick and my new year's resolution seems to be getting rid of the clutter. With our new addition we have been re-thinking all the random "stuff" we have laying around taking up space - space that could be used by our little man's "stuff." For the past few weeks we have been good willing, dumping and re-organizing. We spent this morning getting Christmas all put away and sort of finishing up this purge. Deven, even while teething and pure frustration at being unable to move as fast as his will moves, was a great little kid. Though a teething biscuit did give me an extra 1/2 hour before he demanded full attention for the rest of the day...totally worth the clean up!

Deven's first Christmas

So I am a little out of order but I wanted to be sure to document our little guy's first Johnston/Bodle xmas extravaganza x's four.

1. We packed up the trusty Kia, told Sam to be good and we drove down I-5 to Lakewood for the Johnston xmas eve homemade sausage fest. Deven sported his first xmas jammies (see xmas morning pics below) and was a hit. He was even able to stay up passed his bed time because he got in an extra nap on the drive down. We had such good time catching up with Nick's extended family and I am bummed we didn't get any pictures. After celebrating via food: homemade sausage, potato salad, m&ms, cookies, and various other fabulous snacks we headed back up to our lake with an extra passenger. My brother Aaron came along for the ride so he could spend xmas eve and xmas morning with his nephew!

2. Christmas morning was so fun, Deven was obviously a good boy this year and Santa made a special trip to our house:

3. Next we were off to Nana and Bubba's house for Christmas breakfast. Deven had on a new outfit for the occasion and had tons of fun with his cousins:

4. Finally we all landed at Nick's parents house where we all played with Deven's new toys and ate dinner from the new Johnston kitchen. It was delicious and someday Deven will be able to eat some too.

Last minute shopping

Deven skipped school and I took a day off from work so we could sleep in and do some last minute errands before our first Christmas together. We ran to the YMCA, became members and signed up for swim lessons to start in January. Then we went to visit Nick at his work (no hooky for dad). We finally made it to the mall where we roamed around for a while trying to figure out what to get all the special people in our lives. Thankfully Nick got off work early, came to our rescue and we picked up some fun stuff. Here are a couple of fun picks of Deven's first Xmas eve day...unfortunately spent at a mall but he didn't seem to mind! More picks to follow as we head to T town for the Johnston Family festivities!!

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