Tweedle-cutie and Tweedle-honeybun!

Early update for you, my friends, because I found my camera! On that camera was a precious moment of joviality that had to be shared asap. I give you, friends, another definite reason why Noah is, without a doubt, his father's son:

 Yup, that's Noah curling 2-pounders. His mighty biceps aren't the cutest thing about that video, though. I think it's his adorable counting. Meanwhile, as big brother gets fit and stays active, little brother spends his days sleeping.

  I love them both so much!

Fear not, friends, I live!

I have no pictures for you, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum. (Think "Little Drummer Boy")
More on the lack of pictures in a bit, but first; I have just found out that my home-ting Ashley J is pregnant! Congratulation Johnsons!!!!!  Apparently, that little sneak has been preggers for a while now, as she is in her second trimester already! My prayers and praises to God for your sweet little second helping of cuteness!
  Anyways, less exciting than that news:
Yes, so no pictures lately, as I have been lazy with my camera. I have had ample opportunity to use that thing, but little drive. Also, most of the time, the durn thing's nowhere near me when, say, Witten smiles or Noah's caught climbing something dangerous. I'll try to do better about that. My poor blog needs more pictures.
 This past weekend, My family and I traveled to Dallas to hang out with Uncle Paul, Aunt Erin, Ashton and Julia. Our plans to visit the zoo with my sister and brother as well as our hopes of visiting the aquarium fell through. That was a bummer. We did enjoy a trip to a pretty park and a lot of play time with Noah's cousins. Also, I swear that Noah grows exponentially every time we spend a weekend with those guys. Last time we did, when we came home Noah stood up and started walking. This week, as we have been going about our daily lives, Noah has been acting more and more like a small kid instead of a big baby. He's talking more, he's climbing more, he even looks older. Today, as I sat feeding my little infant son, I looked at Noah where he stood playing with his truck beside me and I saw his eyes. They were crystal clear and so intelligent. And they were smiling, happy eyes. It took my breath away a little; how beautiful my big boy is. And now, he says thing like, "Hi mommy", "yes ma'am", "no sir", and the like. I have stated this so often it has become a blog-cliche, but seriously, kids grow up so stinking fast!  
   Now, I have other things to do. This week is bunco for us ladies, so I am definitely looking forward to that. What I'm not looking forward to is Witten's 2 month check up this Thursday. I'm glad for shots, as they keep my sons safe, but boy are they a pickle to get. Oh yeah, that reminds me, I have to find a sitter for Noah.
Be blessed, readers! Especially you, Johnsons!

So, Come to Find Out, Faulkner Park is Pretty Neat.

Noah, Witten and I went to Faulkner Park with our buds and bud-ettes this morning. The crew consisted of Noah, Lucy, Wyatt and Madi. We quickly ate a picnic lunch and then the herd was off and running. The park there is lovely and wisely constructed, with a picnic table and shade placed nearby the play area. We mothers sat and chatted as we kept keen eyes on our tots, but for the most part, those cray little kids played very well and obeyed our occasional warning shouts when they teetered too close to doing some no-no or another. Meanwhile, Witten slept in his car seat, Ella smiled at anything and everything, and Kyle was stinking adorable! (He has entered that adorable 6-ish month stage in which he's not mobile yet, but he's interacting so cutely with things around him). Our stay at the park ended when the toddlers started looking like tomatoes and then Noah tried to run down a slide.
   Now, both my sons are peacefully sleeping, so I am going to put off my chores for a little bit longer in order to take a nap.
  Witten smiled at me today! It was a HUGE smile! Of course, the camera was nowhere near me. Someday...
Blessings on all of you, my friends!

Mild Panic, but No Big Deal

Yesterday, as I was attempting to take a video on my camera of Noah carting around his baby brother in his little red wagon, my camera stopped all of a sudden and told me that it was out of memory space. *gasp*
 This is only alarming because I have so many unprinted pictures on my camera, I don't know what to do with them! I've been putting off sending them in to walgreens for so long, I'm pretty sure I have hundreds to print and that might be a pricey order to place. Not only that, but there are many many videos I've taken dating back to when Noah was three months old and barely holding up his head. I have a video of his first steps in our house somewhere on that memory card. What am I supposed to do with these precious memories?
   Well, friends, in an effort to be proactive in the preservation of these valuable pictures and videos, I am uploading them all from my camera to this here computer, and I'm using that program that will delete them from my memory card upon completion. Hopefully, I will be able to send off clusters of pictures at a time to print and scrapbook.
Nope, that didn't work. Memory card still completely full.
At least I now have a computer full of memories! Here is one from just this past week:

 Here is my sweet Witten with the adorable Ella. Ella is one of those babies that smiles so big, it's hilarious. You might be able to tell a mild age difference, and that is because Ella is about three months older than Witten. It's pretty astounding the difference that a couple of months makes when babies are so young. With Noah and his posse, a groups of tots varying in age from newly two to 19 months old, you can barely tell any difference developmentally. Whereas with Witten, his neonatal state is obvious when compared to how Ella and little James Evans can hold up their heads and almost sit up on their own. I'm glad things will even out the older they get so that play times will be fun for all.
  Now I must depart. Ya'll have a lovely night now, ya hear?  

tsk, tsk

I follow, like, twelve blogs. Only two or three are updated semi-regularly. A couple of them are like fun treats I get to read once a month or so. Meanwhile, some blogs I follow haven't been touched in months and months. It makes me sad because I'm nosy and I like reading up on other people's lives in detail as opposed to snippet by snippet as is the case with facebook.
  Anyways, This is a very brief blog because friend Meredith is spending the day with me, which means that right now, nap time, there are four sleeping babies in my house. I type with trepidation, as little Ella is asleep in the swing behind me. I just wanted to let you know, world, that I love having friends over, so feel free to be my friend!

Good day

I consider any day in which I feed both my sons and myself, dress Noah and brush his teeth, and at least wash my face and brush my own teeth in the morning a success. Therefore, today has been a good day thus far.
  Noah's on the mend, Witten never got sick, praise God, and I not only showered last night, but I also dried my hair. It's amazing how, as a stay at home mother, the simplest things in life can bring great joy or feelings of accomplishment.

 Last night, after a week of me never leaving this house, my husband once again took pity on me and took the family out to eat. It was only Casa Ole, which, we have deduced, buys tortillas from the store across the street and then nukes them in a microwave before serving them; and the food was alright and all, but the chance to get some air and dress Witten in a winter onsie my mom bought for him the day he was born was a blessing. (I would include a picture of the super cute onsie, but my camera is hiding from me again. After I find that thing and punish it severely, I will post pictures.) Things like that, and how Stephan has meticulously cleaned the kitchen pretty much every night since Witten was born, and how he loves me and tells me I'm beautiful, even when my face is breaking out and I haven't worn makeup in what feels like weeks, makes me feel so very blessed to have that guy as a husband. Not to mention that fact that he started working out with a new fervor that has started showing some impressive results already...but that might be too much information.

   Speaking of working out, I have a confession to make. Since my jogging efforts have been put on hold, I have become rather flippant on my quest to get fit. And by "flippant", I really mean lazy. No, I'm not proud of myself. I could chalk it up to the cold weather, Noah's recent lingering sickness, or the aforementioned doctor's orders, but those excuses don't block off every route to fitness. As Stephan gently points out, I could be doing a work out video or something here in my living room. Therefore, today, I'm going to bust out one of my old "favorites" (those are sarcasm quotations), and bust a healthy move for fitness! Then, after my doctor's appointment this Thursday and the weather warms up, I'll resume jogging.

 Okay, readers, time for momma to get active. I have to deep clean my house very badly. I've been putting it off for way too long. Pray, friends. Pray without ceasing. Worry about nothing, but in everything, with prayer and supplication, present your requests before God. In every situation, give thanks to God, for He is good. His love endures forever.

~~~~~~~~~ta-ta-TA!~~~~~~~~

Here are those there pictures I promised ya'll.

Teddy Witten. Cuteness, thy name is fluffy blue baby.

This was all Stephan. I'll call it, "a Pile of Snuggles"

Noah wanted in on the photo shoot. Notice the snotty nose.

 

Shenanigans of a Sick child.

Here's a glimpse of what Mr Snotty nose has been up to:

 First, of course, he had to start filing his taxes. Tax season sure does creep up on you, doesn't it?

 Then, the usual game of "peek-a-boo" with baby brother. He's only allowed to blow kisses since he's sick. It's sad, because Noah really wants to lay big, slimy kisses on his little brother's head.

Here, Noah is readying his trike to hit the road. Stephan went grocery shopping for me last night whilst I stayed home with the babes so as to keep Noah from spreading his sickness. When he came home, he left the door to the garage open so as to unload groceries more efficiently. Naturally, Noah hopped on his tike bike and scooted out the door. by the time I caught up with him, he was loading his trike into he car. It was pretty darn cute and definitely worth a picture.

 And lastly, another shot to show the size difference between my sons. Currently, as far as we can tell using our bathroom scale, Noah weighs around 35 lbs and Witten is almost 10 lbs. (Holy crap, when did that happen?!?!) That's a 25 pound weight difference. Not to mention, Noah's got Witten beat, height-wise, by at least a foot and a half. But it's all right with me. Witten's growing way too fast already, he'll catch up to his big bro in no time.
  Today, Noah is still recovering, and Witten is still healthy (Praise the Lord Almighty!), and since it's about 30 degrees outside this morning, we're going to spend the day indoors again. Don't worry, folks, I've got my camera ready for more cooped-up craziness. I hope the rest of you wonderful, faithful readers have a blessed day!

Sweet Babies Mine

According to my computer, I have previously titled a post "sweet baby mine". The difference in titles is the plural babies. I love that. I love saying stuff like, "me and the boys", or "my sons" and the like.
  Dad gum, I cannot type today.
Anyways, yesterday was one of those trying days that God uses to strongly encourage me to pray more. I confess, it was mostly my fault. Or, should I say, the fault of my hormonal physiology. Stuff that Noah often does that is usually annoying at best nearly drove me insane with irritation. It was with a relieved heart, and one very grateful to my loving husband for watching the boys, that I picked up my friend Aubie and had a very much needed girl date. After a chatter-filled drive, delicious frozen yogurt that we got to not only sit down to eat, but we didn't have to share any, and then a quick trip to the nice Brookshires on Rice road, I felt dramatically better.
  Today has been much better. Noah, in his sad, sickly state, slept in, allowing mommy some very rare undisturbed snuggle time with Witten.

 Even when Noah got into some minor trouble thanks to his usual shenanigans, I had no problem with reprimanding him gently, (taking the picture you see) and helping him put all the photo albums back on their shelves. Then, we had photo-story time and I told him the story of how Daddy and Mommy met and fell in love while looking through our engagement album. 

 Now, 'tis time for Witten to eat. Then , it's nap time for all! WOOHOO!!

I have not showered in three days.

Last night, one of the first big goals in Witten's life was reached. He slept in his own bed. I would say that he slept through the night in his own bed, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. He ate at 10:00, then would wake periodically , maybe three or four times, to fuss a bit, at which time I would rouse from my own slumber to go into his room to give him is pasi. Each time, he would receive his pasi and fall right back to sleep.  He ate again at 7:00 this morning. I look forward to the night when he will sleep uninterrupted through the night, but, as usual, I am not rushing it. You can stay my itty bitty baby boy a long as you want, Captain Cutie-pants!

   Last night, Stephan and I and our sons (I still love the way that sounds) got to join the Johnson family at their house for some delicious spaghetti and meatballs. We ate and talked and watched clips of very funny comedians on youtube. Meanwhile, Noah and Lauren traipsed about the house, playing and laughing. Lauren almost took a step to me. She's growing just as fast as all the other precious children I love like family!

   Now I must go. Witten's napping and Noah's eating, so I get to eat too. God bless you, readers!  

Nakey!

Ever since Noah was a wee tike, he has enjoyed being naked. Just like probably every other mom out there, I took several adorable naked baby pictures of Noah's cute little hiney in the bathtub or immediately after bath time. As a baby, every time I had him naked as a blue jay and ready to bathe, I would present him, booty out, to his daddy and say "nakey baby!" (What is it about baby tushies that are so cute?)
  After musing over my intro paragraph, I have two observations to make.
Observation #1: Toddler hineys aren't quite as adorable as baby hineys. It's still plenty funny to watch Noah run like a crazy baby down the hallway with nothing but a goofy smile on, but it's just not the same as a cute, little baby bottom.
Observation #2: it could be due to the cooler temperatures (hah!), but little baby Witten is not near the fan of nudity that his older brother is. He's started to cry less during baths, most like because he no longer has to take sponge baths but can actually stew in the lovely, warm water, but he still puts up a fuss any time he's completely exposed. And, the one time thus far that I have done the "nakey baby" bit with Witten, Stephan said "uugh" because Witten still doesn't really have a bo-bo, so it looks a bit weird.  I'm not worried, though. He'll grow himself a hiney and then nakey baby will rise again!
   PICTURES!

Turn your back for a few seconds and Noah's sharing his toy cars with baby brother.

The cars are about as big as Witten is! Poor baby.

He's ready to tear it up!

   The Lord bless you and keep you, readers!

Quick post

Witten is resisting a nap for the first time. It's the first time I've had to let him cry it out. I did the same for Noah and he turned out fine and it worked out all right because it helped him adjust to a good schedule, so I'm trying to stay positive. It's hard, though. Even though I know it's for their good, it's hard to let my little ones endure hardships of any kind.
  To distract myself, I'll post pictures!

"huh, dis my girlfrend!"

Holding his father's hand as his father holds him.

Tummy time.

Noah's foot's a tad squishier. And bigger.

Yup, they're matching. I had nothing to do with this, it was all Stephan.

  

 

 Be blessed, readers!