Addie is 17 months and Joey is 3 months old!!

I made this goal that I would write about my kids each month until they were 24 months old. But it has proved to be a little hard, so I will combine their posts once in awhile just to make it easier.

This month has been a little bit crazy!! And these kiddos have been pretty good troopers. We have spent a lot of time in the car....first of all let me explain!

We have been looking for homes to buy since we moved here, but we were planning on staying at our apartment for 2 years and save up some money. But April we decided that if we were going to buy, we needed to do it now, because prices were just going up and up. Since we left 4 years ago, prices are just getting out of control. SO we took it more seriously and looked throughout Utah and Salt Lake counties for at least 3 bedrooms, 2 bath home, and hoping for at least 1800 sq ft. Needless to say that was out of our price range in these areas. So we extended our search to Tooele, a town 45 mins South west of Salt Lake, on the other side of the Oquirrh Mountains. And after looking for a couple of days there, we put on offer on a house on April 29th!! Wahoo!! We are suppose to close May 29th....we will see how that goes.

And I had was offered a PRN (as needed) job at American Fork Hospital as an Ultrasound Tech where I worked before. My start date was May 5th and I needed to do a three full days in a row to orient. Unfortunately this was also the time that they readjusted Joe's schedule so we decided to take the kids to Mom and Dad's, and Kevin's in Arimo to have them look after them. This was our first time away from Joey overnight. It was easier to let them go because of our experience with Addie in day care.  We knew they were in loving hands. It was so weird to be in meetings all day, and then to go home with no one home. I didn't know what to do without my babies!! But they did so well!! We are so grateful to Kevin and Mom for helping us out so much. What would we do without family?!

Addie on our road trip (sorry about the blurry quality). She was eating a Nutri Grain bar....and she wanted to stick some between her nose and binky.

This is the aftermath...messy!! Wow, does she like to make messes....in the worst places too.

Milestones:

• A few words that she knows are: Momma, Daddy, Addie, Joey, Shoe, Hi, No, Yes. She likes to chatter a lot and is eager to tell us what is going on. She has such a cute voice and is so expressive. 
• She has started to help put away some of her toys in their bins....only to pull them out again. I am however grateful for the attempts. 
• Some of her favorite things are her books. She likes to hold them and open the pages. She will hand them to us to read to her, but that lasts for only a few seconds. Then she wants to take over.
• She is running around, twirling, climbing on furniture, flipping light switches. She almost refuses to climb down the stairs like a baby. She likes to hold onto our iron railings and walk up and down the stairs. And she is pretty darn fast. It's hard to beat her if I need to get something really quick without her following me into the bathroom or our bedroom. And why don't I like her to follow me? Because she is like a tornado! Everything in her path is thrown around.

Once again, what a trooper!! He doesn't like being in the car very much though.

Joey with Grandpa Hebdon, they did really well together.

Joey was getting some smiles and cooing in. 

Milestones:

• He can almost roll all the way to one side while he is on his back. It will only be a matter of time before he rolls over. He really likes to stretch and stretch. And he likes to have his time on his back without being held. If we pick him up before he is ready, he lets us have it!!
• He is drinking 6-7 oz now of formula. He transitioned well and we are so grateful!! He still likes to be swaddled when he sleeps. He likes fluffly blankets up close by his face. If his hands are free, he pulls the blankets over his face. 
• He is really jabbering right now. There are times that I think he is crying, but he is just happy and talking to his Angel friends.
• He loves to smile and has started to giggle. It's a 2 syllable giggle and makes me so happy. My favorite times with my babies are 3-9 months. They are so much fun but still like to be held. Their personality really blossoms during these months.

This was on May 17th, a Sunday. Addie wanted to hold Joey. She kept trying to pick him up off the floor. So I had her sit in the chair and I picked up Joey and placed him in her arms. She immediately wrapped her arms around him like a pro! It was so stinking cute!! LOL I know that he is almost as big as she was, but she was so happy. She loves her baby brother and he loves her. We sometimes think that his biggest smiles are for her.

Joey is 2 months old

Joey has really seemed to change a lot these last few weeks. He had a lot of gas and seemed like digestive issues. When he wasn't asleep or eating, he was crying. Poor little guy wasn't very happy. But now that his tummy has matured he is a lot of fun. He is starting to smile. It starts our as a crooked smile, his left side going up first. We love it!! He looks around with so much curiosity, his big blue eyes trying to make sense of his surroundings. 

We sent to Lagoon, and he was so good!! For the most part he slept through it all, and was watched him while his daddy and big sister tried on the rollercoasters. He made the whole experience so pleasant. We didn't know if it would be a disaster or not. Thank you Joey for being so easy going!!

This is our little guy sleeping in his car seat while at Lagoon:

I attempted to capture one of his smiles. My camera is to darn slow though!! He has one of the sweetest smiles that makes me laugh. I love to see his personality blossom! We can tell he is going to have a sweet spirit about him. And he is a cuddler and is the happiest being held. That's when his smile is the biggest! Sometimes, especially during his night time feeding I look down and he is looking up at me with a huge smile and his eyes full of brightness. We think he is going to have a big heart!

When he does cry, his lips turn upside down, chin starts to quiver, and then the tears and cries come out. Just like his daddy and big sister. They have the same crying face, which tends to melt my heart and make me want to fix whatever is making them sad. Cute little Johnsons!!

Milestones:

• He can lift himself up to 90 degrees for a minute or two. He still doesn't like his tummy time. The first few weeks we didn't really push it, but now that he is better at being put down we will work harder. I know it's important for development and also for helping to prevent SIDS.
• He is smiling. I have talked about that a lot, but we just love his smiles!!
• He is starting to sleep better too. He sometimes only gets up once during the night. Most of the time he is up twice.
• He is eating 4-5 oz. We are feeding him both breastmilk and formula. He now seems to prefer breastmilk, but its a little late to show preferences!! I dried up when he was 1 month, so hopefully he will do ok on the formula. 
• He likes to put weight on his legs and try to stand. He has really strong legs!! And also his arms, it's hard to keep him from pushing the bottle or binky away. His hands are his biggest enemy at times

His Stats:

• Weight: 13 lbs 1 oz
• Height: 22 in
• Head: 99th percentile. He does have a bigger head, but the doctor isn't worried about it and says he will grow into it. You wouldn't notice that it's bigger, it has such a nice shape to it. 

Adaline is 16 months old

I feel like this month flashed by. I am slowly but surely adjusting to having two kiddos. Addie has been teething her left top and bottom molar FOREVER. Poor girl. I have heard the incisors are worse. I am not looking forward to those. Hopefully we will be done with them soon.

She loves loves loves going to the playground.  When it's not completely cold and rainy we try to go there. She likes going down the slide and trying to climb back up. She likes going up and down the stairs even more. She also enjoys the swing.

She climbs on top of everything and anything. How she survives is a miracle. I try to monitor, but trying to take care of Joey too makes it super hard. I am glad she is pretty tough.

Addie LOVES her baby brother and wants to look at him often. She has starting to say a version of Joe for her baby brother. She can say shoe and loves to wear them. She tries to say balloon that sounds the baabaa. Though my favorite thing she says is hi and loves to put anything to her ear and pretend it's a phone. She says it with 3 different notes in it, Melts my heart every time.

She is becoming more and more snugly, I love it. She also likes to snuggle up while I tickle and run her back. She has moved to wearing 3T now! Such a big girl. She also likes looking at books and interacting with the flaps or textures.

She is so much fun and keeps us on our toes. We have gone to Lagoon for a Saturday.  She loved loved loved it. I was so surprised! She did quite a few rides with daddy while I choose to watch with Joey on the sidelines. Both kiddos did so well! So proud of them. Joe said a few times Addie would say "Ooo!" When they would go backwards or up and down. We always knew she would be our Rollercoaster girl.

Joe forgot that he was oncall at the hospital for xray this weekend. So he got called in for some emergency surgeries at 4 pm. He was only suppose to be 2 hrs. So I took the kids to Temple Square to look at the pictures, statues, and play around on the grounds.

Addie really loved running around on the yard that they have the Nativity set up for Christmas time. There was a group of Asian tourists that came to see this blonde curly haired girl. They kept touching her hair and tried to talk with her. At first there were just the two of them....and then before I knew it we were swarmed. I tried to talk with them and let them see Joey. Then before I knew it a lady had picked Addie up and was holding her. My heart sank and the momma bear wanted to come out. I started to wonder what I would do if they kidnapped her....I know that seems irrational, but it could easily have happened. Thank goodness Addie started to act nervous and the lady put her down. Addie came running to me. I was so relieved when they left a few minutes later. I love that people enjoy my babies and think they are so cute. Hey, I do too!! But at the same time, don't push it! There are limits to what I can handle.

She got a little sun-burnt, but she had the time of her life. Unfortunately I got a phone call from Joe after 2 hrs that it was going to be another 2 hrs. By now it was 6:00 and Addie's confidence was growing and she started to want to get further and further from me. So luckily my friend who lives in Bountiful texted me back and said we could come visit. Which was a huge relief!! It's so much easier having walls to contain this energetic girl that is doesn't quit. She never just sits there, even when she is eating. She always wants to be running around and doing things. She is a handful, but a lot of fun too. 

Joey's photo shoot

We were able to schedule a photo shoot of our sweet baby boy when he was 6 weeks. He was so good!! We couldn't have asked for him to be better. The photographers even commented how well he did for a 6 wk old. We were so happy with how they turned out. We will get Addie in the family pictures soon. We wanted some pictures just of Joey, like we did for Addie. We are trying to decide when to do full family shoot and get some of Addie growing up.

These are my favorites:

Joseph Evert has been a wonderful addition to our family. For quite awhile he seemed to have tummy pains and gas. We tried probiotic and used the Dr. Brown bottles which seemed to make a dramatic difference for him. It has been so much better for us too. I can put him down for a few minutes at a time to play while I take care of Addie and play with her. He is still a big cuddler and prefers to be held. However it seems that his next favorite is his swing. That is actually where he sleeps too. It has been a life saver for daddy and me so that we can sleep too.

We love you Joey!! We can see your personality start to shine and you get more and more handsome over time, if that is possible because you were a beautiful newborn. Your big sister loves you too and likes to try to hold you. Sometimes she rests her head on you, it's her way of giving a hug. You two are pretty special, and already have a special bond.

Joey is 1 mo old

I can't believe my baby boy is one month already!  Blows my mind,  and yet a lot seems to have happened that I almost forget what it was like before we had him. He LOVES being held, and cries the second he is put down. He is very snuggly which I love except when I need to sleep or pump. We have found that the swing buys us 3-5 hrs if sleep, so that is nice. We are still working on nursing. It seems to be a constant trial for me and my babies. I am hoping for that to change soon. It's hard taking care of a newborn that cries when they aren't being held, has a hard tine nursing, a 15 mo old who wants to play/needs attention, and pumping enough to keep my supply up. But all in all, we have 2 wonderful sweet babies! We love them so much

He seems so small to me, I don't know what I would do with a smaller baby. My favorite thing is when he lays on my chest, on his tummy, with his arms folded under his little head. His cute little face and hands Melts my heart! I also remember having him in bed with me at the hospital, tucked in my arm. His arm rested on my arm, like he was a big kid, not hours old. Such a cute little man. He is opening his eyes more, they are so big and blue, blue, blue! I would be surprised if he didn't stay blue eyed. He has dark brown hair, but it almost looks like it is lightening. He is adorable. Joe's favorite thing about Joey is his big blur eyes. He also things his skinny chicken legs and small bum are cute too. We are always surprised how different our two babies are. But they are both adorable in their own way.

He is getting so strong. He has a lot of neck strength and can almost hold his head up by himself. When he is lying awake on his tummy in my arms he pushes off with his legs, trying to climb up my chest. He has been eating 3-4.5 oz of breast milk. His second day he had jaundice and weight loss, but he is doing and looking so much better.

He was blessed the 29th of March by his father in Lehi 20th ward. Those in attendance were: momma and bug sister Addie, Grandma Linda Hebdon, Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Jeff Bare family, Uncle Kevin and  Aunt Rachel and family. It was a very special day and he was a perfectly behaved baby. We were so proud!

St. Patty's Day and our Adaline is 15 mos

The Loyd's (Joe's mother's side) are Irish. I love that, and so I have made it my goal to celebrate it for our family. I can't wait to do some fun things when our kiddos grow up. But until then, I will be content on silly hats. We went to my family's in Arimo because I needed help to watch Addie while I was still re cooperating from my C-Section. They were sweet to help me out.

Our little leprechaun, Joseph Evert, toppin' him off with a wee bit more milk.

 I have one of Addie, just waiting to get it from Aunt Rachel.

Grandma Hebdon with her youngest grandchildren. They sure do love her.

I am still kicking myself for not getting pics of Joey with Grandpa Hebdon. I don't know why, I guess I got distracted. Soon....


Adaline, our baby girl doesn't seem like such a baby any more. She is growing up so fast. She has barely started to wear shoes and they make her seem older then ever. We really wanted her to get used to them for playing outside. We bought her shoes for her birthday, but she wanted none of that. But now after a lot of encouragement and some tantrums, she loves them. So that's exciting.

She is also such a good big sister. She has learned to not mind Joey's cries as much. One time in the car I heard her try to comfort him. "Shhh, shhh, no no." It was pretty cute. She loves rubbing his soft hair on his head. She also likes to be held while he is being held. She likes to point at his features and "oooh, ahhh" over him. And most of all she likes stealing his binky.  They both have the exact same kind, so who can blame her?

Her new thing is walking on her tip toes. She cracks me up. One time she had one shoe off, so she walked around on her tip toe with her other foot to balance her out. She is always doing new things and being silly.
She is a smart girl. She knows how to turn knobs. For example she is obsessed with my breast pump and likes to turn it off and on, taking advantage that both my hands are busy. She wants to play with everything BUT her toys.

She went in for 15 mo check up. She is 25 lbs 15 oz and 31.5 in tall. She is staying pretty consistent with her growth curve. She is pretty cute, and loves all of the attention. She loves smiling and flitting with strangers. She had no fear, which makes me nervous that someone could kidnap her and she would not fight or cry at all.

Her grandpa Hebdon has started growling with her and gets the biggest giggles from her. He loves that about her and is always telling me he is amazed how pleasant she is and that i am so lucky. I agree, she is pretty special. Most kids would get scared, but not Addie!  She can growl with the best of them.

Here are some fun pictures at the Bare's. She has had so much fun with them and their fun toys and back yard. She is in heaven!!

Stephanie sent me this picture with that caption, "Our own Rapunzel" fro the movie Tangled. So cute!!

Joseph Evert Johnson is here!!

We are excited to announce that our baby boy is here safe and healthy. However, there was some excitement before his big day. I went in for my appointment Feb 4th and had an ultrasound. They estimated him to be 9 lbs 6 oz right then, so the Dr estimated him to be 11 lbs by 39wks. They also saw that I had too much amniotic fluid and sent me to specialists at Maternal Fetal Medicine.

So we went there, 2 wks later and they got 9 lbs 2 oz. LOL, considering he should gain .5 lbs a wk, not too confident in ultrasound right now. And I had gained 10 more cm of fluid to total 30cm. That's double what I should have. Oh, and he was lying sideways when 2 wks ago he was head down. So after checking over and NST'S (non stress test) we made sure he was healthy. But he kept moving to different positions.

So we went in for a scheduled C-Section Feb 27TH at 7:30. I was always hoping he would move head down, but he never did. However things went smoothly and he was born 8:05 am 9 lbs 4.5 oz 20.5 in long. He was wisked away, I only got to kiss his face, and didn't see him for 2 hrs. I hated that. I wish I could have held him skin to skin and nursed him right then like I did like Addie. But Joe was with him the first hour and got to feed him some formula (his blood sugar was too low, but I believe that's because I has to fast for 12 hrs). So that was special for Joe. They also bathed him, too. I wish so many things could have been different, but I am grateful he was alright.

He has brown hair and deep blue eyes. They remind us of Addie so he might stay blue eyed. I was told by a lab tech he had the most perfect head. I guess that is a positive about having a C-Section. He is very loud when he is unhappy, but has a sweet spirit. He just likes to be held and rocked ALL of the time.

Grandma Hebdon (my mom) came up to help with Addie and between her and the Bare's Addie was in heaven. Our visitors at the hospital were Grandma Hebdon, Stephanie, and Jeff. They brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Joe also brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers and some balloons. It was fun to have visitors. With Addie we lived far away and mom was recovering from her back surgery.

We went to his 2 wk Dr appointment March 13th. He is almost free of jaundice, yah! He gained back his 10 percent weight loss. He also was circumcised,  poor little guy. The doctor said they have never had a circumcision go so smoothly. Joey slept through most of it.  He did such a great job for the visit. What a good boy!

Addie is 14 mos

Adaline Mabel Johnson

She is so muzuch fun and getting smarter everyday.  She knows her stuffed animal "Molly the Moo Cow". We were watching a baby program on TV and a cow came on. I said "Addie! It's a Moo Cow!" She ran over and grabbed her stuffed animal. I a didn't know she understood that much. So I am working on helping her know her other animals.

Her favorite TV show is "Notekins". She enjoys books but gets frustrated being read too at times. I don't know if it's because she wants to do it herself? Anyways she enjoys throwing the ball, or anything really. She has a pretty good arm. We just might have a softball player on our hands. She is also doing better at taking a nap in the middle of the day. It's been such a good thing for her and me. She is doing better in her carseat since we turned it to forward facing. She is always jabbering and I wish I could understand her.

With her stuffed toy "Gerry the Giraffe". She likes to hold their ears or tails up to her nose. So cute.

Valentine's gift from us to her. She really liked him. And held him for awhile.

She discovered her belly button. It was so cute and sad at the same time. She was very concerned and kept trying to grab it.

We went to the Orem mall on Joe's day off. Addie LOVES the slide.  She wanted to go up and down nonstop. I can't wait til I am not pregnant so I can run around with her better. We will see how I hold up with a newborn and her energy.

We love our baby girl! She is so much fun and has so many wonderful qualities.