It's A Girl

For those who haven't heard (or seen for that matter). We are expecting a baby girl about mid March. Ashley has been doing just as good as ever with this pregnancy, except for the usual morning sickness the first few months of pregnancy. Adahleigh is starting to understand that mommy is having a baby, at least when you ask her where her baby sister is she'll point to Ash's stomach. For the first little while when we would ask she'd point to Charles and say "baby Charlie is right there", so she's come a long way in her understanding. Once the baby starts kicking and moving more to where she can feel it she might understand better. This baby has probably been the most cooperative for ultrasound out of the three of them. We ended up getting the most still shots of her because the technician would take one and then move the wand a little and get a lot better view, so she'd take another one.

Getting Old

Ash became one year older this month. It was a pretty uneventful day for her. It seems once you have kids you're really not all that interested in doing anything for your birthday. I had a final that morning and some friends wanted to go hike a ski resort (since there hasn't been enough snow to open them yet) and ski down, and since she's such a great wife she didn't have a problem with me going (especially since I don't go and do things very often with friends). After getting back, and regretting the hike of the day, we had a little party with cake and ice cream. Adahleigh has been into helping with everything lately too, so she got to help make the cake which was really exciting for her. This last week she also got to help make rice krispy treats with mom, which she just couldn't get enough of it.

Ever since her birthday she loves to blow out candles, so we let her help on our birthdays.

Luckily, this time she didn't have any mishaps like on my birthday were she got too close to the candles and caught her hair on fire. She was more scared than hurt, but it must not have traumatized her too much if she still wants to blow out candles. Whats funny is once she gets them all blown out she always asked to do it again.

She was able to keep her eyebrows, but some of her eyelashes are a little shorted like her hair. It's probably a good thing that she didn't have any hair spray in that day.

Keeping up with the "Johnson's"

We finally made the dive and got a bigger car. Now that we have two kids in car seats the Alero wasn't going to be quite big enough anymore (especially since it was kind of cramped for a trip with just the four of us). We ended up getting a Honda Odyssey. It was the first time either of us have bought anything off a car lot. Overall it wasn't a bad experience, we just really didn't expect it to last the 5 hours that it did to get possession of the car (and that was with already having a loan). It's no wonder why people really hate to go and get a new car. We ended up getting out of Salt Lake City since Idaho didn't really have a whole lot of options near by, it was convenient too since we are down visiting Ashley's family for the week for Christmas. Her parents were nice enough to watch the kids while we went lot hopping, so we didn't have to fight them in the process also. Hopefully, we won't have to get another car for at least 10 years. The biggest highlight of it will be having the build-in DVD player to keep the kids occupied while traveling. We tried it out on Adahleigh just in the driveway and she was mesmerized, so we hope that on trips longer than and hour it will keep her and Charles happy.

One Step, Two Steps, Three Steps MORE

Well Charles is officially walking, but it still isn't his preferred means of travels (especially since he's the fastest crawler around, since Adahleigh is so quick and he has to constantly follow her). His first step wasn't just one, but several across the room. We figured he'd been holding out for some time since he has had such great balance standing and moves well along furniture, he just wasn't brave enough to make the giant leap (or maybe he was just scared that big sister would push him over). Now he likes to speed crawl half way across the room, stop and stand up, take half a dozen steps, and then fall down and continue crawling on his way.

His climbing skills are more refined than his walking skills. He now manages to climb on the couch without help or need of anything to stand on. He tried to climb our 4' high table chairs, but didn't get much higher than one foot on the cross bar. His favorite things to climb are the dishwasher and Adahleigh's step stool (at which point he stands up and puts his hands above his head as if he just won a gold medal).

He's also the biggest ham around. He loves to show off for the camera. He also gets into everything, so to be able to keep him out of the kitchen when needed we have to lay a chair across the opening. He figured out pretty quickly how to crawl through the chair legs so we had to put things between to block his path.

He's also a very hands on kid, and learns quickly how things work. He has pretty much mastered the ipod touch, and he loves and knows how a lot of the toys work that Adahleigh hadn't really got the hang of till she was about 18 months.

*O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree*

Every year we try to go and cut down a real christmas tree with my family! Its a wonderful tradition we started a few years ago. We usually do it thanksgiving weekend! Well this year adam thought it would be fun to let the little ones help decorate the tree. I bought some decorations for my tree but most of them i have made. Especially with the two little ones always trying to play with it. So we use popcorn and canvas/yarn stars and then some wooden decorations i bought. I think our tree is pretty! (Well the top half anyways!) Here is some pictures of the kids decorating the tree they both got in on the action!

All About Charles

Charles hasn't had the opportunity to be in the limelight very often, so we figured we'd dedicate this entire post to him. He has changed and grown so much in the past few months, it never ceases to amaze use how much such a small child can grow and change so fast. Charles is a joy to watch and play with, he is always happy whether he's laughing or smiling. He loves his sister greatly and loves to play with her all the time. He has finally gotten big and strong enough to hold his own with her, so we don't have to worry too much about her pummeling him anymore. He even attacks her sometimes by pulling hair, pushing or hitting, so now we have to get after him to be nice to her. He enjoys eating everything (and wearing what he's eating). He has the habit of pulling whatever is in his mouth out 2-3 times before he finally swallows, but he's feeding himself so no biggie. He is actually a better eater than Adahleigh when it comes to different types of food just not volume.

He loves his sweets and if you eat any in front of him without sharing he comes and squawks at you till you share (or tries to take it himself). His sister looks out for him though and makes sure he gets a fair share even if it means sharing her treats.

Charles is still taking 2 naps a day even though we should probably move him to one since he doesn't usually sleep much over an hour either time. His sleep habits are kind of funny since he likes to get up about 7am and play with himself in the crib before getting out at 8. He then eats and plays till 10 if he's lucky and then wants to go back to sleep. We can hardly wait till Adahleigh and him take naps at the same time, but with our luck Adahleigh probably won't be taking naps by the time he's down to one a day.

Charles has mastered crawling (he should've though since he's been doing it for over 2 months now). He will walk along furniture or behind toys that help him stand and walk (like Adahleigh's bike). He has great balance and will stand on his own, even in the middle of the room, with nothing to hold onto for a minute or so. He just doesn't have the courage to take any steps on his own.

Lately, he likes to push himself up to a standing position and show off to everyone that he is able to do it on his own.

His favorite thing of all is his bath time. He loves baths so much that all we have to do is start the water and he comes a crawling to get in. He favorite part is playing in the water as it comes out of the faucet. He likes to stand in the tub, which has been a little bit of a problem since once he's up he like to bang his teeth against the tub and has ended up chipping 2 of them. He also likes playing with his toys and shoving them into cups.He's extremely proud of himself when he does manage to maneuver his toys just right to get them in.
He also loves to drink out of his cup in the tub (a little urine mixed with tub water never hurt anyone). He is extremely good at holding his breath and rarely chokes on the water when giving himself a drink or when he happens to go under the water while playing.He has gotten really good a blowing bubbles in the water. Adahleigh will rarely do this (since she doesn't like to get her face wet), but Charles goes right for it. He definitely loves the water.

He has also learned to splash. We don't have too much trouble with the bathroom being drowned when he splashes since he's not big enough to get it over the edge of the tub. He doesn't even mind when Adahleigh splashes back and gets him in the face, although she doesn't like him splashing her much.

He does some of the craziest things. He likes to get up to the foot stool head-butt it, then tuck his hands behind his back and rock back and forth. He'll do this on the couch, or the cushions when they're on the floor too. He thinks he is just the coolest in the world when he does this.

Who Really needs Tonsils

The other day Adahleigh thought that it would be fun to feed Charles. We don't know if this was because it looks like fun when we do it, or if it just gives her more access to his food since she still likes to eat it. She did a pretty good job of not spilling any on the table or floor (now if she could do that with her own food when she feeds herself).

She definitely has the form down. Take a heaping scoop, open your mouth so Charles opens his, then shove the food in.

I don't know who really got more food between the two of them, since after giving Charles' a bit Adahleigh cleaned off the spoon. Most of the time he didn't get much off the spoon before she was taking it away and shoving it in her mouth.

By letting her do this we no longer have to worry about Charles ever having to get his tonsil out since she took care of that a couple times.

Happy Halloween!

This year for halloween we started off our day with going to the ISU's movie theatre to watch their halloween special which happened to be Winnie the Poohs Halloween!! This is the second time we have taken the kids to the theatre. Adahleigh has done great both times, Charles does pretty good until the end then he just wants down. So we ended up taking him out.

Adahleigh enjoys her popcorn and soda as she watches the show.


Dad and Charles waiting for the show to start. (Charles thinks he can open Adahleighs sucker by himself, which he did get open)

The rest of the afternoon we had our friends over for dinner and then got all geared up to go out trick or treating. This year the weather was really good, just a little wind but still warm. Earlier in the week our ward had a trunk or treat, which the weather didn't cooperate, everyone was freezing within 5 min. and it took a long time to get going, so no one really enjoyed it at all.

Adahleigh was a lady bug and Charles was our little girl ghost! I think 4 out of 5 people thought he was a girl. I guess it didn't help I made him and Adahleigh a hat that looked pretty girly.

Chalres made it to the first few doors then he fell asleep.

Adahleigh enjoyed going from door to door getting candy. She was not shy at all. She also figure out the best way to get the most candy. I people put their bowl down and let her get candy herself she had both hands in and grabbed as much candy as she could hold. We went to an area that was pretty busy too, so she figured if she would just stand and stare at the people, after they gave her candy, while they gave candy to others they'd usually get back to her and give her more. Both of them made out pretty good with candy!

Family Pics

A couple weeks ago, while the weather was still pretty good, Ash wanted to go out and look at the leave that had changed color. There weren't too many of them since we had a few cold spells after fairly warm weather, so most of the leaves just fell off the trees instead of changing color first. She also wanted to take a shot at getting some family pictures, so we took out our camera and tripod to see what we could get.

Adahleigh was more interested in running around and see what she could find than getting her picture taken. To get this one we had to play peek-a-boo.
This is what we got most of the time; her not willing to look at the camera.

Charles on the other hand loves to get his picture taken. The biggest problem we have with his is getting too close with the camera and having him grab it.

The pictures we got of the two of them together didn't work that well either. An airplane flew over and Adahleigh made sure to point it out to Charles.

This is what happened most of the time, Charles fighting off Adahleigh choking him.

We did get some good ones of them together.
The family pictures with the timer didn't go very well and we only got enough cooperation to even attempt about four pictures.

We did manage to get some decent pictures. These are the ones we think are the best.

Pumpkin Eating

The other night we finally got around to carving pumpkins after everyone got over being sick and Adam had some free time after school. Charles was all about participating, but Adahleigh wasn't interested at all. This year worked out a lot better than last year though. I think it had to do with Charles being little younger than Adahleigh was last year. He was more interested in eating pumpkin guts than anything where last year all Adahleigh wanted to do was throw pumpkin guts all over the place.

Adahleigh was excited about having mickey mouse carved into her pumpkin, but not as excited as she was about the banana she found on the counter.

We cut the opening in Adahleigh pumpkin large enough that Charles would fit in. He thought that was the greatest and cooperated for about 15 min while we took pictures with him in it.

He even had to try and eat the whole pumpkin while he was in it.

The end results.