Baby Nonny

Johnny's cousin Mason used to call him Nonny, and it stuck!  We mostly call him Johnny, but we also call him Nonny sometimes.  It's time for a little scrapbooking about Johnny.  He is learning so much lately, and is a
lot of fun.  This is one of my favorite ages.  Here are some things to remember about Johnny at 22 months.

Johnny loves to communicate, and I can no longer list his words.  Some of my favorites are still "mimi" (blanket), and "Did it!" when he finishes something.  He says, "Me!  I do!" when he sees something he wants, and says thank you after EVERYTHING.

He loves to count, and can count to 5.  He loves to try to identify his letters like Peter, even though he never gets them right, he does know many of the names.  He knows his colors but is still trying to get them all sorted out.  :)

He still loves to snuggle.  He gives me hugs and kisses all day, and hugs Peter all day too.  He is a very affectionate child and is going to love to smother this upcoming baby.  Maybe a little too much!  Johnny loves babies.  He is very soft but just wants to hug them constantly so it ends up getting too rough anyway.  He is pretty tough, and doesn't cry much when he gets bonked, but always needs to come to me to kiss it better.  I am to the point that I can even kiss it better from a distance.

He goes to bed as easy as possible, never cries and even lays down when I tell him to and tells me "Night, night," or waves bye to me.  This is probably thanks to the bottle, which I haven't been able to give up yet.

Johnny loves his brother.  He tries to do and say everything Peter does.  They play together all day, which gives me no end of satisfaction.  They went through a pretty bad fighting period, but it's toned down to a normal brotherly level now, and they make up pretty well.  I love so much when they get each other laughing.  One nice thing about Johnny right now, is how he is so good at sharing.  He will give Peter anything, which Peter is not always quite as good at.

He loves animals and knows all the sounds.  A long time ago we borrowed Duck On A Bike from the Library, which features lots of farm animals and their sounds woven into a silly story.  He loved that book so much that we had to buy it from the Library!  He demolished it really by chewing on it and holding it for a month straight and it was completely hammered, so the Library wouldn't take it back.  Haha.  That is definitely the most expensive way to buy your child a book!  But it is a funny memory.

He loves to color and is pretty good at holding the pen.  He has also managed to color on pretty much every surface in our house, including the couch and toilet and floor.  I'm really learning how to clean up after a totally different kind of child!

He absolutely lights up when I sing songs, especially Itsy Bitsy, Wise Man/Foolish Man, etc.  He also can sing parts of the Twelve Days of Christmas with Peter which is hilarious.

One last hilarious memory of Johnny happened when we were on our way to visit their Aunt Michelle in St. Louis last month.  It was about midnight in the St. Louis airport and we were waiting for Ben to arrive to take us to her house.  The kids were running around having a great time, since the airport was empty at that hour.  All of the sudden he managed to run under the caution tape and right into wet painted cement.  He got bogged down after several steps and fell forward onto his hands and knees.  We all just died laughing, but it wasn't so fun to try to get the gooey, scratchy paint off his hands.  When we went back to the airport a few days later, we saw his little white footprints in paint around that spot. :)

Balm of Gilead

Often when I hear a baby cry, I want to try to soothe the baby.  This isn't always reflected in my own motherhood, try as I might.  But, almost every time I see someone hurting, especially a child, I have this instinctive desire to want to fix it.  Of course it gets quite complicated, with homeless people on street corners, orphans and refugees, etc.  I am well aware that anything I could possibly do, might not affect any kind of change or improvement.  Still, I have that same urge to hold the hurt of the world in my arms and cradle it until it melts away.  Even watching movies, most recently Les Miserables, I just wanted to hold Fantine and make everything all better.  Even if she was real, there is little I could have done to make much of a difference.  That's not to say that I believe we shouldn't still try, and do what good we can when we can, regardless of outcome.

As I drove home tonight, after seeing some sadness, I thought about how badly I wished I could do something that really would help.  But in reality, I am powerless to do more than put bandaids on gaping wounds.  Not that bandaids aren't appreciated.  It made me think of God, how He is completely able at any time to absorb all that pain and sorrow and anger, to diffuse it and end it.  How does He stay His hand?  The control!  What pain it must give Him to control His power sometimes.  I'm sure in some moments, that is how He exercises that power.

I am so aware of the greatness of Jesus Christ.  I don't often blog about it, but I marvel at the ability that He has to affect change, to soothe and heal wounds, and to wipe away tears from our eyes.  What a gift to remember these things so poignantly as Easter approaches.

Speaking of, have you seen the Life of Jesus Christ videos?  I had to get used to him at first, but now he is my favorite actor of Christ.  I love these videos.

And that's a wrap!

I just finished about 8 new posts on here, which catches us up from summer to fall...but I don't think I'll be doing the winter anytime soon.  Whew!  That was a lot.  Enjoy.

Fall Fun

Pumpkin picking, more like children chasing and, "Hurry, grab that one!"  We did get to feed the goats though.  I love farms.  This one is so close to our house. 

This picture cracks me up.  Peters look is killing me.

Peter loved meeting this cow at a local Halloween fair.

Having fun with his friend Miles.

This is when I tried to take pictures of the kids since we never got a family photo for a Christmas card. Kind of ended up humorously, but at least we didn't get caught on the golf course!  Oops...

I love this scarf on Peter.  So cute.

They were having too much fun for me to get any really good shots of them smiling at the camera.  Oh well, these are great too.

Picaboo and Spooky

Marie and Jim are always going on adventures, she's the one who inspired me to take a 2 month old on Trek in Wyoming, etc., because she had taken hers to girls camp, and always takes her kids on these kind of trips.  Not like my parents were any different.  I know I've mentioned before the picture of my mom backpacking with us, carrying her own pack, and my 2 year old brother on her shoulders, who was still in diapers!  We were somewhere in Southern Utah. So we tagged along with Marie and Jim and their old college friends and their families to So. Utah to hike some slot canyons.

Can't believe we made this happen! Thanks to Marie and Jim letting us  tag along.

Joanie and Johnny. Little buds. So cute.

You can see how it was a little crazy doing this with baby carrriers! 

Here is a picture that perfectly illustrates the craziness of passing kids and packs up through some of these spots.  An adult has to chimney it by themselves, but passing 1 year old babies from person to person and then making sure an adult was keeping track of all of them at the bottom and top...it was a little crazy!  How many adults does it take to pass a child up a slot canyon?  I count four...

The entrance.  It took quite a while to get everyone past this point, I think we had about 15 kids total, all under 9.

Peter adores Romney, he wanted to sit on his lap.  So cute.  The kids were trying to catch some shade while they waited for their turn to be hoisted up the canyon.

Gotta love the sideways cap.

Peter getting passed up the crack.

This was a high point for Peter, the few spots he could walk through without help.  

Family picture.  Makes it look so easy!

I love this little picture of our whole family in a line down the canyon.  Hope there's a lot more of this in our future.

One of the few moments Johnny could get down and walk, he was so happy! The poor kid, he bore the brunt of the experience.  Carrying someone through these tight places is quite a feat.  You aren't aware of how far you extend with them!  He got quite a few bonks and scratches in tight spots.  I felt terrible.  I seriously thought I was going to make him claustrophobic for the rest of his life.

Ben and Jimbo.

Exhibit A of carriers in slot canyons. This was one of the few places we actually could wear the carrier. Most of the time it was too narrow and we had to pass the packs without kids in them, and then pass kids or carry them if it wasn't too bad.  One part was particularly narrow, and we were trying to pass a group coming the other direction, and then we saw a gigantic tarantula on the wall, about 2 feet up.  I about yelled at the kids that was going to poke a stick at it while I was passing it with Johnny.  So creepy to be so close.  It was as big as my outstretched hand.

 

I always think to myself, "Gosh, this is so fun, why don't we do this more often?" And then I remember how the last two camping trips we went on last summer, Johnny was keeping the whole campground awake crying, so I spent half the night driving him around in the car. Not so fun. Even fine IS adorable!

 

This was actually the day before in a different area, big enough to take this group shot.

Ben was such a great companion, helping all the kids make it without melting down. It was a long day!

The long walk to the spot where you drop into the canyon. This picture reminds me of the end of SO many trips growing up, looking back over the vast expanse you just backpacked and feeling so proud and tough.  Even this was just a little bitty!

Soiree - Best Night of My Summer

Oh! This night! It was such a fun party. Tradition, maybe. We asked everyone to come in a specific dress code, and they sure did. Summer semi-formal, tie required, shorts recommended. Everyone looked amazing. You had to park and walk on a footpath for about two blocks to the interior of the lake to,a spot under a bridge, which was so romantic right at sunset.

The spread was really amazing. My hesitance to lose total control ended up working in my favor. I knew I couldn't do it all myself, but I knew exactly what I wanted. My friends were awesome about bringing specifically what I wanted and the meal came together seamlessly as if it had been catered, even though it was more of a potluck! 

The party from afar, probably 30-40 guests? Can't remember. All from the neighborhood. We set up lawn games and what not, hauled music out.

We had some friends taking pictures of the whole night, and made very couple have a photo snapped on the dock. Such fun friends.

The dimming of the day...

After dinner, had lights on the dock, and turned on some dancing music. It was so fun. Next time we'll have to have louder music though!

We set out gelato from the nearby Soda Row Cafe, I tried to fake petit fours, and had friends bring tons of other delicious desserts!