Some fun stories about our little ones...Addie is 21 mos and Joey is 7 mos

Every day our cutie pies make us laugh and smile because of their genius or mischievousness. We know that it's only a matter of time when we are in trouble with both kiddos working together...Heaven help us!!

Joey has been getting his top two teeth and left incisor on the side now. They are showing their little white tips and have been causing this poor little guy some pain. I thought Addie had a lot to deal with together, but I think Joey has taken the lead. I guess that it will help him eat his solids and enjoy food that much more.

He rolled from his back to his front for the first time today while we watched General Conference. He has been flirting with it for quite awhile and got 75% the way, just to roll back as happy as can be.  I think he will be one who takes his time, enjoying life and not being in a rush. At least that seems to be our first impression of his personality. His smile is pretty darn cute with his two bottom teeth sneaking out, but I cant seem to get a good pic of it. Oh well. 

Last weekend of September we visited my family in Idaho. It had been 2 months since we have been there and we wanted to catch a couple of football games too. It was a very fun visit, relaxed. Joey is at the age where we can go out a little bit more and enjoy activities. And Grandma (Linda) Hebdon was very helpful in watching the kids too. So it was fun taking everyone out for Ben's and Adam's football games. Joe and I enjoyed pacing the lines occasionally pushing Caleb and Addie in the stroller while Joey basked in the attention of his Grandma at the end of the field. The boys did an excellent job! However Joe and I told Kevin that we really didn't want Joey to play football due to the accidents and long term problems he might have to deal with if he was to get hurt. Kevin said we better let him play if he wants too. That if he could do it again, he would play again. He LOVED/LOVES football. LOL, so when Joey was having the time of his life playing with the football, I couldn't resist a photo sent to Kevin. I guess we have a few years to figure out what our kids will enjoy doing for extracurricular activities.

We were given some of Jenna's stuffed animals, and the kids have loved them. This "Piglet" is almost as big as Addie and it's so cute to see her dragging him, "Pooh Bear" and the other furry friends. Joey is also enjoying tackling them and slobbering them with his kisses. We are so lucky to get to many fun things from family. The Bares also gave us their Little Tikes playground!! We were so excited when they offered, and our landlord ok'd it. Now that we have it here, we need some time when we can put it together. We have already had some knocks on our door to see if the neighborhood kids could put it together. We have a feeling it might be a mistake to have it here, but are really hoping that it won't cause a problem. Addie has fun  on it and Joey will too when he gets older. 

Addie is really starting to do better with communicating what she wants. The other day she told me she wanted a cracker, which was the first time she spoke what she wanted! I was pretty excited about that and gave her ALOT of crackers for encouragement. It usually is a tantrum followed by my suggestions of what is wrong or what she wants. And eventually I say what she would like. It's a learning process for her and us. She has even learned a little bit of patience as we fill her cup with water. LOL, for the longest time there she would cry in devastation when she handed us her sippy cup and we would have to walk to the fridge, unscrew the lid, fill the cup up with water, screw the lid back on, and finally hand her the cup. It was quite the dramatics, but I think after months and months of the same routine she has finally figured out that we will give it back in a better condition then when she gave it to us. 

And as always, she is so very sweet and loving towards her baby brother. She wakes up and often asks for "Jo Jo", and almost all of the time wants to help me put him down or get him up from his naps. These two are always melting our hearts with their affection for eachother. This a quick pic I got of them in my lap watching TV with me. I couldn't get a face shot, but I thought this was adorable, with Joey's hand on her back. They were giggling and having such a fun time.

Addie is growing up in more ways than one. Today she also came up to daddy and said "poo poo". When daddy checked her, she had a poopy diaper! We think in a few months we are going to try introducing a training potty for her. So she is growing up and that is very exciting. On the other hand, Krystell was taking Addie down for a nap before the Sunday afternoon session of general conference, Addie wasn't thrilled. The next thing I knew, I heard someone climbing the stairs, and  I saw Addie poking her head around the corner of the stairs to see if she could sneak up without being noticed. I picked her up to take her down to mommy, and apparently she had shut the door on Krystell when she was busy adjusting her curtains. Addie was trying to sneak upstairs and get out of a nap. We put her down and shared the story. She made us both laugh pretty good. She is not even two, and she thinks she is pretty sneaky....and she doesn't think she needs a nap anymore.

Joey's first tooth!

So I have been keeping my eye on his bottom middle incisors which are still buds. However, when I went to rub his gums today, I noticed a tooth on the top of his mouth! Who knows how longs it's been there. It looks like his top right incisor next to what would be his middle teeth. Kind of funny location for a first tooth, but it is there!!

A visit from Grandpa Gary!

Grandpa Gary was able to visit us September 10-12. We were very excited to have him visit and this was the longest visit of his yet! This was Joey's first time meeting his grandpa. They have the same middle name, "Evert" after Gary's father.

Gary has a big love for everything horses. He has always wanted to have a ranch and own horses, so when he retired in his 50's from Boeing in Seattle, WA, that is what he set out to do. He eventually bought a ranch in La Grande, OR. So, what else would we do but go to the Utah State Fair in SLC? It was one of the biggest fairs he had ever seen. I have never seen anything like it either. The barns were made of brick, so nice. And it was surprising that they didn't smell like I am used to at Caribou County Fairs. 

It was such a hot day!! The kiddos did really well throughout it all. We finally found a few horses (there weren't many there, I'm sure our timing was wrong). When I looked into their stroller to see how they were doing, Joey was wet from sweat and Addie was red faced. Poor kids were so hot! So we took them out and let them touch the horses. Joey was so happy and loved patting their foreheads. He was so cute! I think Addie was a little spacey because of the heat, but she seemed to be indifferent.

We were so sad to say goodbye to Gary at the airport. He is so fun to hang out with and the kids really warmed up to him. Addie was always bringing him toys, carried around his cane, and played with his things. She even sat on his lap for a few minutes. She doesn't seem to let men hold her unless it's Joe, so that was a pleasant surprise. She likes men, but she just teases and plays around, never holding still enough to be held.

Gary did so well with Joey too. Even though it is hard for him to get down, he still did so he could play with Joey. I had to take these few candid shots of the two. Joey was really jabbering and enjoying the attention.

Hogle Zoo

We have been really enjoying our move to Kaysville. One of the best things is the yard. We love playing in the yard, when it's not raining. This is a picture of Joey with his first grass experience.

Addie loves the freedom. We often go out there in the evening when it cools off and we wait for Joe to come home.

We have been wanting to go to Hogle Zoo in SLC since we moved back to Utah, but it's never panned out. So finally we made it!! And the Addie really seemed to enjoy the animals. Joey did so well and just was happy to be there. Joe and I loved it! We decided to get a season pass so we can visit more often and get a little exercise in as well.

Addie's favorite seemed to be the water mammals. She really liked the seals swimming around.

We tried to do the bird show, but Addie wanted to stand and walk around. We got asked to leave by one of the workers....I guess it's a safety issue because of the birds? I don't know, but I can't wait until we get both kids to the point that they can watch stuff like that and they can sit down....But nevertheless, we really had a fun time.

Addie is 20 months, Joey is 6 months, and they just keep getting cuter!

Where does the time fly? I have loved this summer and wish it could last forever. These two cutie pies are nonstop sweetness!! They seem to be the best of friends and enjoy making each other laugh. We couldn't be happier with that and hope they remain good friends. Oh, we know there will be fights and crying, but I'm sure that they will pull through it all.

Addie: she is learning more and more words. I am sure that I can teach her so much more than I do. It seems like she catches on so fast. She loves to dance around to any music she may hear. She likes to read books by herself (she might last a couple of pages but she quickly pulls the book away and wants to control the reading). She sings songs and sounds so cute. she even fluctuates her tone so she hits different notes. Her favorite song right now seems to be "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". She now understands what "Prayer" means, so she folds her arms and bows her head. She is actually pretty reverent for the most part. We finally put up pictures on our walls in the front room. We have a picture of Jesus, and when we ask her where He is, she points to him and says "Jesus Christ". She wants to feed herself and most of the time won't let us help, unless the food is REALLY good. She is getting really good at helping by throwing garbage away, putting dirty clothes in the laundry, and bringing things we ask her to get. She has learnt how to say "Thank You" too. She is amazing at walking up and down the stairs. She rarely gets down and uses her hands anymore. She can even balance going down the stairs with her hands full of toys without using the wall for support. She has also figured out how to climb up and down the rocks on the side of our house. I was really hoping that wouldn't happen until next year. Oh well, only a few tumbles but she gets up and keeps climbing. She is one tough cookie!

And speaking of tough cookie, we have such a hard time getting a picture of Addie. She hardly sits still long enough for our slow cameras so she becomes a blur. A huge reason why we need to buy a better camer. But we did get these of Addie  reading to Joey one of her books. They were really talking, laughing and playing. Once again, just love this time of being best friends. I had to post all of them because each one has a different expression or action....I am in love with my babies!!

Joey: Oh, and he is teething! It seems like it's been a couple of months of drooling and a few rough nights. He has two little buds on his bottom gums ready to push through any day. Hoping that day will come to offer him some relief. But he is a pretty happy, easy going baby. We are so blessed to have him. Joe took him to his 6 month appointment, I had to train at my new job for the Urban Central Region as an Ultrasound Tech. However, it sounds like both kiddos did really well at the appointment! Talk about a brave daddy taking on both kids, dr's appointment, and vaccination shots!! He is right on where he needs to be for his growth curve. He is bigger then Addie was at when she was 6 months old! Also, he has always been on the higher end of the curve for his head size. But since he is happy and not fussy, they are not worried about him. I took a quick look through his soft spot with ultrasound and didn't see any abnormal amounts of fluid, so that's a huge relief. The doctor says she thinks he is going to be a tall and big. She asked Joe if we have any big men in our family, so maybe Joey will follow his Grandpa Hebdon and Uncle Kevin and be over 6 ft. who knows?! But it is a huge relief to not have to worry about that.

His stats:
Weight 20 lbs 10.5 oz 90th percentile
Height: 28 3/4 in 95th percentile

Milestones:

• He can hold his bottle by himself, at times. He is still drinking 8 oz, 4 times a day. We are working on his solids. Some days he loves them, other days he has absolutely no interest. That's ok though. He seems to be sleeping through the nights for the most part, which is HUGE! We are loving the continuous sleep. And he seems to do better as well.

• He likes to stand up with help. He has really strong muscles! Seriously, there is a thin layer of chub but mostly all muscle. 
• This isn't a milestone, but his hair has really started to come in, especially on the top. And it always stick up in the middle like a mohawk. It's cute, totally fits his cute personality. He has the biggest smile that light up his eyes. Both he and Addie have smiles that get a lot of attention and smiles from strangers.

• He can sit up for quite a few minutes by himself. He needs some assistance at times, but he does really well. 
• He loves playing with toys, especially stuffed animals. He gets them soaking wet, yuck! But he loves them to death. He can hold a rattle and exchange them from hand to hand. 
• Besides his high pitch squeels and skreeches he has started to add "Da da da". He can also pop his lips to make noise, click his tongue, and now he has started to scrunch up his nose and breath in and out noisily. Makes Joe and I laugh, which then makes him smile and to do it again. He is really starting to develop a cute personality.
• He also loves being hugged and kissed, and many times he leans in for more kisses. He is such a loving baby.

This is a picture of Joey after we went to church. He looks so cute in his button up shirts and khakis, just like a little gentleman. I have looked many places for these shirts that are also onsies....LOVE them! They stay tucked in, are so soft, and look so adorable. 

And here is a picture of him wearing an outfit we picked out for him before he was born. It's our favorite!

Some fun high lights of our kiddos

Joey had his first solids 3 days ago and loves eating! He seems to enjoy the rice cereal mixed with peach mango applesauce. Usually I would not have done so many flavors at once in case because of allergies, but I forgot that it can be an issue. Though it wasn't that long ago since Addie was there, I forget about little details like that. But he has been doing great. He can sit up for a few seconds without any help, but does pretty good if he has something to lean against.  Our little guy is growing up. He is so sweet, full of smiles and squeals. He seems more interested in toys now. He really likes to stand up with assistance. And he almost can roll from his back to his tummy. He gets so close but that's usually because he is reaching for something and when he finally gets it, he goes back to his back.

Addie has been really growing in her words. She asks "what's that?" And points to whatever she has interests in. And now she has learned how to say thank you. Her voice always makes me smile.

Addie is such a big helper. She is learning to throw her and Joey's diapers away. In Lehi she kept playing with the garbage and and throwing toys and remotes in the garbage so we put it out of reach. Now, she has the same problem.  So far we have found binkies, bowls, keys, dishwasher knob that turns it on, and more keys. I'm excited for the day when she looses this obsession.

Oh, and we found out a couple of days ago that Addie didn't lock us out of the house. She can do the door knob, but the sliding door locks itself if we close it.....too hard? All the way? Lol we don't know how but it locked on Joey and Addie was down in her room....fun quirks you learn the hard way when you move to a new place.

We finally bought a grill! Well, we actually bought it for our new home back on Memorial Day sale. We decided to keep it because we have been wanting one ever since we got married. Here is a picture of Joe's first meal. He loved it! And boy was it yummy!!

Joey eating his first solid meal of rice cereal and apple sauce. What a good boy!

Adaline is 19 months and Joey is 5 months. ...it's getting hard to keep track

We were able to do so many fun things this month! We have been to enjoy the Fourth of July in Arimo with family. We went to a parade and got some candy. But both kids and parents were pretty exhausted so we had a relaxing rest of the day. We've been swimming at Lava Hot Springs with Kevin's family. We went crawdad trapping up the Portneuf by Pebble. Joe and Addie went with Kevin and the boys wading in the river. Joe jumped off some 6 foot falls and had fun swimming.  Addie couldn't get enough running out in the dusty road. And joey took a nap alongside the river in my mom's arms. Everyone had a lot of fun. And we got to enjoy some tasty crawdad broil, meaning obviously crawdads, ears of corn, potatoes, onions, and sausage  boiled together in a pot of creole seasoning.

Addie was in heaven! She loves loves loves seafood and couldn't get enough of the crawdads. We even caught her having their legs in her mouth chewing away, gross! Lol she is a seafood fan just like her daddy. Joe loved it too, and was so proud addie did so well so young. It took me awhile before I could handle them. I Love lobster and have no issues with eating them. But these little guys were so cute and I saw them a lot before we ate them. It was a little disturbing eating them. But I pushed past it for Addie's sake because Joe couldn't keep up with her demands of more crawdad.  We even had sausage,  potatoes,  and crawdad in front of her and when she could she would eat the crawdad.

Addie, trying to grab some crawdads. She has no fear!

Our yummy dinner

Addie loved living with family. She played a lot with Caleb, but it seemed like she had an attachment with Adam. She leaned in an kissed him on the cheek! She hardly EVER gives me and Joe kisses, let a lone kisses when we didn't beg for them. Adam had that special bond with her.

And Benjamin was so good with Joey. He was always fussing over him, holding him, and wanting to feed him. Joey was loving it. I wish I had a picture of him with Ben.

We also enjoyed running through the sprinklers on a hot July day. Addie really enjoyed grandma Hebdon's swing in their backyard. She would spend hours out there if I would let her. She also enjoys running on the driveway. But tends to not enjoy the grass as mu h. I think because it's lumpy and she trips. That's how she was at the parks too. Hope soon she will enjoy it.

Our last day in ID we went swimming at Twin Lakes up past Downey. We went with Kevin's family again. As you can tell, we love water! It was fun until we had to come home and get this gs ready to pack. We headed to UT July 16, I had a job interview for a PRN US position at TOSH hospital in Murray.  I currently work PRN US at AF Hosp, but am trying to find something  lose to Kaysville.  Joe was able to find us on really nice townhouse in Kaysville that's 3 bedroom and 1.5 bath. On good days he gets to work and home in 25 mins. It's awesome!

Again, Stephanie and Kevin's families helped us move our stuff out of storage to our new place. Aw! It's so nice to have a place again! It was nice to be at my parents and they let us use the basement, so nice!  But there is just something about having your own space where you can be messy, or organized, or be lazy. Lol we missed our bed the most!

Russell Hebdon family reunion at Downata Hot Springs ID

We haven't been able to make it to a Hebdon reunion for 3 years or more so we tried to make sure to make it to this years. We wanted everyone to meet our sweet babies and also get a picture with Joey and his great grandma Hebdon. Her health has been  little less stable so we were so happy to see her looking so well. She was fun to see and talk with. She was swarmed by new born babies. The heritage just keeps growing and growing. It's amazing!  I asked her how many great grandkids she had, and she guessed around 97! And she has great great grandkids too.

It was fun to see cousins and aunts as well. I didn't know half of my cousins kids. Life gets so busy, we need to do better at attending events. Family is important!  Agan, we enjoyed swimming and Joe and i even got to go down some slides. The first since Addie was born. We love slides so we are grateful kevin watched Addie for a few minutes while we went twice. Mom watched Joey the whole time we were swimming,  so sweet. He was tired and so she offered to hold him while he napped. And she chatted with grandma and some others around the tables.

What a fun day! Here's a picture of Joey meeting his Great Grandma Hebdon for the first time.

a little scare...

I'm sure there are just certain "events" that are bound to occur in parenthood,  but it doesn't make it any less frustrating or scary when they occur. And it doesn't help that my mind automatically assumes the worst will happen. We call it the "Johnson" curse. People don't believe us, until they hang out with us and see it happen.

We moved to Kaysville,  UT this weekend with the huge help of Kevin and Stephanie's families. So grateful to them And their kiddos for their patience and muscles. So we are still unpacking, Joe had to work Sunday day and I worked Sunday night. So Monday was pretty much shot for getting anything done,  and Tuesday Joe had an appointment at the 3 in AF, so again with naps and keeping quiet, not much has happened.  However we did make sure to get spare keys copied of the house because Addie has already reached that delightful age of locking us out of the house. Thank goodness the other one of us has always been inside to help the other out. So we moved in on sat and copied keys on Monday.  So today at 5 pm, I'm about to make dinner and I notice our grill cover has blown off our grill. So I go through the sliding back door, and make Addie stay in to prevent her from falling down some serious stairs. I get the cover on in 2 min,s go to get back in and viola, my 19 month old has figured out how to lock the sliding doors... that's ok because we have prepared for this very thing. I get the spare keys, go around the fron,t in the rain mind you. Get the door handle unlocked, try for the dead bolt and the key won't go in past 2/3 of the way....I fiddle with it, no luck! Seriously? Long story short, I left Joey on his tummy in the front room and I'm automatically thinking what if he gets tired and can't keep his head up? What if Addie stumbles on him? Or knocks something on top of him? What if she tries to console him while he's crying and hurts him? I call Joe and ask what I should do? Call the locksmith?  He leaves work early, but of course it's rush hour....what would take only twenty mins will take double if not more. Meanwhile I can hear both babies screaming,  but at least I can hear them, right? Joe calls the locksmith,  who will be twenty mins. I go the the back again, seeing if I can somehow wiggle the lock loose, desperation doesn't always equal logic. But I can at least talk with Addie. She plays around with the handle, but never gets close to the lock, which I am just praying she opens the door.
The locksmith finally arrives, keep in mind I had been crying my eyes out minutes earlier.  He comes out of his car, no shoes, with a 3 yr old girl tailing behind him. Now I can laugh! I'm not sure if he was trying to hurry for my sake or why he was barefoot. Lol, doesn't matter. He fiddles with the lock for what seems like twenty mins. Nothing works. Even drilling through the lock, it breaks his bit. He is frustrated,  and his little girl is drinking from the puddle, running around barefoot too, trying to crawl in his trunk, I'm laughing glad there are other crazy girls like my Addie who no matter how you try to teach and stop from doing things,  does them any way.  I thought girls were suppose to be easier then boys at this stage?
We get in, Addie is fine and happy, but Joey is on his tummy lying very still. I rush to pick him m up and he slowly stirs. He never falls asleep like that! But I am b so grateful my babies are ok. I've  held him until Joe came home 5 mins later. I kept holding him until he fussed. What a relief!
So excited I'm not sure how we will all survive them growing up. It's a miracle Rea that children survive growing up, and that their parents stay sane. Every day I wake up and think how glad I am that all 4 of us are hear, happy,  healthy,  and safe.

Joey rolled for his first time today....

I wanted to write about Joey rolling! He was laying on his tummy, sitting up pretty high and all of a sudden he rolled on his left side to his back. So I put him back on his tummy, thinking I must have placed him uneven. I square his shoulders up and not a minute later he rolled to his left again onto his back! Yah Joey! For a guy that does not spend a lot of time on his tummy, you shocked me! Anyways he did it one more time on his left and then once on his right. He was pretty proud of himself.  Grandpa Hebdon was there too. And big sister Addie patted you on the chest and cheered you on. Grandma Hebdon said you tried to roll over 2 days ago but her arm was in you way of completing the roll. So pretty exciting day!