Work or Play?

Yep, that's right... He's not even 2 and check him out!!

"Hey Papa, I'm coding!"

OR

Ah! Nuts! Nope, just being a boy!

(LOVE his chubby hands!!!)

Just to say I did...

I just might manage to get 2 posts up this year... And by now you've all stopped looking at this thing!

I'd be lying to say I'm sad to see this year go, I'm glad 2010 is wrapping up. It was probably the hardest year we've faced, but God is faithful and we've survived! Our family is whole and healthy and for that, we are incredibly blessed! Our beautiful, funny, healthy, and awesomely sweet little boy has kept us going through all the gunk and we are so, so thankful for him!

Speaking of Luke, he's awesome! He's going to be 2 soon, he's not my baby anymore... He's is the happiest kid I've ever known. We rarely have a tough day and if we do, there's is always a medical reason for it. A few weeks ago was rough for him, he had his second ear infection ever, in both ears and was cutting just about all of his back teeth. The doc said it looked like 8 were all trying to come through at once. Beyond that, everyday is a pretty happy day.
Luke hasn't really been up for real word talking but he jabbers a lot! The last few days he's really been open to repeating words though, so I've been trying to add at least 2 words to his vocabulary. He understands everything you say to him now and will follow tasks, like putting away toys, going to find his blankies at bed time, etc. Not only is he happy, but he's super sweet! He loves kisses and hugs and despite being REALLY busy all the time, he likes to snuggle for a few minutes at a time - frequently throughout the day. Luke LOVES Elmo right now, I don't know what it is about that little monster but Luke fell into his trap! Sesame Street is a favorite and we'll catch Luke repeating letters and numbers, singing and dancing along with songs, and giggling with the kids when they laugh. It's adorable! We've also been going to Little Gym once a week and Luke does very well! Typically it's been a Mommy & Luke thing, but Ben joined us last week and Luke was so excited to show his Daddy all that he could do, making it even more fun for Daddy - so I'm pretty sure Daddy will be joining in &/ taking turns with me. Luke is in love with his Daddy! Daddy's little shadow, wherever Daddy goes - Luke is RIGHT behind him, if not attached to his back ;)
The feeling is mutual, Luke has gotten more and more fun everyday and Ben is really loving this stage with his little boy. They laugh and wrestle and chase and dance... Ben's an awesome Daddy! Even though he works nights, on his days off he switches up his schedule to be able to spend time with us, loving on his boy and helping me as much as he can. As difficult as our year has been - we are all in a really good place right now! I almost wish we could just live in this time for awhile and refill our emotional/mental tanks.

Early in November Ben and I made a rather spontaneous decision to get away. We needed it desperately. It was the fist time I'd spent a night away from Luke - and it was a full 6 nights away! My Mom stayed at the house with Luke and kept him busy and Luke got visits and trips with his other Grandma's too. He did great, thought he got REALLY attached to his binky with Mommy and Daddy gone.

We had a wonderful time in Kauai, Hawaii. We stayed on the South Side of the island aka 'the sunny side'. Which was great, because every time we left outside a 2 mile radius of the resort, it was raining. Ben and I got to enjoy each other again like we haven't been able to in a very long time. No phones, no computers/internet, etc... (We had my phone but with all notifications disabled so that the only thing incoming could be an emergency call from my Mom) I thought for sure Ben would go stir crazy without outside contact (and only me!) but we really had a blast! I only cried once, when I called my mom to check in and Luke was awake and I heard him jabbering and laughing in the background... Other than that I was a big girl!
Since then, Luke has stayed a few more nights away :) Ben and I celebrated our 6th anniversary at Salish Lodge a couple weeks ago and Luke stayed with Ben's parents and did awesome again. We had a really great time there too!!! :)
We'd always been told how important it was to get time away together without the kids, once they come but never really made it happen... We found out for ourselves the importance of staying connected outside of Luke, and are now making it a priority to have our time too.

I'm on Ben's little netbook and don't have access to a ton of pictures, but I'm sure there's enough on here to give you a taste:

Our little Snowbaby

Our fireman and his pirate princess, Kaelyn on Halloween

Checking out his reflection in the fridge, with his favorite (Elmo) slippers!


Our favorite beach in Kauai, we found it after missing our turn to go to see the canyon, and following a 5 mile rocky dirt road to the end... And ended in Paradise!

On our Resort's beach at Poi'pu





Family picture time! Aubrey was over and took our pictures after Thanksgiving :o)

Try and forget the scenery in these photos, we loved it and you'll probably see more pictures of our family at this place... I hate to repeat and be 'un-original' but this really was a fun spot.

Attempted Revival...

It has been months since I've posted! I thought I'd try and get at least one post up this year... I can't believe it's already almost June!

Anyway, I am not going to do several posts with pictures I'm just going to recap this year thus far, with some random photos of 2010. (for those that know the 1st of the year drama, feel free to skip the first bullet)

• This year started out quite rough for the Johnson family. If anyone remembers the 'fence incident' with the crazy neighbors from last summer, and how we had to go to court... We thought it was all done and over with, and we thought we had protected ourselves - Wrong! Said crazy neighbors went to Ben's work and made horrible, awful, untrue statements that not only couldn't be proven, but also contradicted what they submitted to the courts and what they said to the police when I had to call them for throwing beer bottles at our house and all the glass shattered all over the back yard. I thought lying to the police and the judge and the sheriff's office would surely be enough to prove that they couldn't be believed. A normal person would think that this, along with all the other neighbor statements verifying that these people are off their rockers and often try and russle up some neighborhood drama - would be enough to assume that Ben (who's normal and has no complaints from other neighbors or anyone from work, ever!) just might be telling the truth about his side of the events... Nope! Ben got put on admin leave and we waited for 8 weeks to hear whether or not he'd lose his job. We were pretty certain it wouldn't be going our way, the case was very one sided and it was clear the internal investigator didn't do his due diligence to really 'investigate' the situation... And then the whole command chain just signed off at the recommendation of the ones below, it was evident that they didn't actually READ the investigation. It was completely mind boggling! All those that read the case were left completely confused as to why this was even an issue, from us, to the guild, to our attorney. After weeks and weeks of prayer Ben got his turn in front of the 'boss' and she dismissed (saying it wasn't her concern) his proof of them lying and submitting false evidence to do so and spoke to him like he was some criminal. Thankfully God put someone in that with a brain and ears who had to have told her that they needed to review his evidence before making a decision. He expected to hear within 30 minutes that he'd lost his job and would have to fight in arbitration to get it back (minimum a year wait) but instead it took 2 more weeks to get the call. They had determined there wasn't enough evidence to continue on and that he would be able to go pickup his car and return to work! PTL!! The alternative was Ben going active on the remainder of his inactive Marine Corps contract and going back overseas... BUT God was there, completely in control and put a stop to all the nonsense. The entire 10 weeks was like a marathon prayer. A big and special thank you to all of those that were praying with us, I know there were a great many that were all over this too!!

(insert somewhere up there that on Valentine's Day Luke started walking!

• ... A few days later, Ben turned 27 and our sweet little man turned 1! Luke's party was insane, so many people that loved him came out to help us celebrate.
  
• Right around the time that Ben went back to work things started feeling really off for me at my job. Let me rewind though a bit, I went back to work when Luke was 4 months old part time. I had been full time prior to Luke and had worked a new schedule with the partners' approval for a part time return. Going back part time was odd for a while. I don't know that I ever really got back into the swing of things... And people didn't quite respond back to me the same as they did when I was full time. It was very difficult for a while to figure out where I fit back into the office. Flash forward to this year and I just felt off. It became increasingly harder to leave Luke for so long during the day. (I was only at work for 8.5 hours, but I had over an hour commute to Bellevue each way.) It was the middle of busy season so nothing really could be changed at work anyway, and I was putting in extra time when I could. Ben and I decided to spend the rest of busy season praying for a solution. That either things would calm down with Luke (the days I worked were awful when I got home, I couldn't put him down with out him breaking down into and sobbing mess... Not to change, not to cook dinner, not even to pee. The weekend's were just as bad, he didn't want to play with his toys, he pretty much refused to eat at home and naps were almost non existent unless I held him the entire time. I would get him down to a schedule again by Tuesday, so that I could go back to work and start all over again Wednesday) ...Or we prayed that a door would open for a something better for our family. We enlisted the help of some close family and friends to pray this with us and on April 15th busy season ended, and April 22nd I got laid off. Apparently my part time schedule wasn't working for the company anymore. I wasn't aware that it had been an issue for them but instead of being upset about not being offered the opportunity to decide whether or not to go back full time, (after almost 4 years with them) I completely felt like it was God giving me what we'd been praying for... The company was great and offered up referrals and letters and all those good things for my job search... And my friends there have reached out and been great since I left too. I am still looking for part time income closer to home but I am really trying to take advantage of time with Luke... And he seems to love it too!!!
  
• We got to go on a family weekend vacation to Port Townsend with the Baumgartner side which was really fun! Ben took the time off and got to come too which was a total treat! The only real bummer was that Dad and Nick had baseball so they didn't make it out, and the weather was pretty misty too... But we managed to have a good time!
  
• Luke and I are spending time with Emily and Kaelyn doing weekly play dates which have been really good for both kids I think. Emily is less than a month away from popping out and finally sharing Landon with the rest of us... And is now working from home part time, so we have time for fun dates.
  
• There's another baby on its way this year too!! NO NOT OURS! We aren't pregnant! ...However, I have known about this little one for almost 2 months, but Mommy and Daddy aren't sharing the news yet, so I get to celebrate on my own still :)
  
• Planning for a getaway to Moses Lake to play with Aubrey soon!
  
• Went to the Tulip fields with the Trowbridge's and got some great pictures! (this actually happened before I lost my job but I didn't get around to editing until after) Still loving our weekly dinners with them, it's tradition now! There's no question, no firming up plans, just an automatic given that Monday night is dinner - which we love!
  
• Took Chelsey's little brother's senior pictures last weekend which was really fun. I remember going to Chelsey's and Chase would be in underwear and a cape running around, and here I was taking his senior photos... Made me feel a little old, but it was still fun!

The day after Mother's Day Luke got his first haircut! He cried and cried, the woman kept laughing at him while holding the clippers in front of his face, which didn't help. (at Kid Cuts no less) The pictures are still on my camera and if I walk down and get those pics off the memory card this post won't end! Another time, I promise!

So there it is, 2010 in a nutshell. Sounds dramatic, but it was all very good for us. God is working in us and our family right now and we're trying to be receptive and we're really in a good place. It's been a trying but very fulfilling year! Oh and Luke is amazing! We are so in love with him! Still! I have had the most fun seeing Ben interact with his son, Luke is in the Daddy worship stage, right now everything is "Daddy!" Daddy songs, Daddy stories, he'll jabber on for 10 minutes and all you can really make out is Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! It's adorable!

On to the random order of pictures!

Luke's 1st birthday and birthday gifts...

Singing in my wagon!

Daddy's lips

Luke's FAVORITE thing to do!

Tulips

Chase

Merry Christmas!

WHAT!?!

I finally remembered to throw my camera battery on the charger so tonight I thought I'd take a few pictures of Luke's new thing: Crawling, but over the last 36 hours he's gone from just crawling, to crawling over to something and rising up on his knees to a kneeling position. He rests on his bum and then rises back up again, so I got a couple pictures to show off my big boy:

Then....

I'm cleaning up his dinner, we tried meat for the first time tonight. Jury's still out for both of us. He ate half the container and was excited for each bite, but after it went into his mouth there was a definite moment of apprehension... And I just still don't know how I feel about some of these baby food flavors. (Gooey meat in a jar, and don't get me started on the mac and cheese??) Anyway, I'm not sure if he really liked it or was just excited to be playing with my water bottle between bites, so we'll try some more Turkey and Rice Dinner tomorrow for comparison. Daddy's discovered that Luke's going to be an artist. When he feeds Luke and is messy by dropping some on the tray, Luke takes the messiness to another level by finger painting! This too evolved a bit tonight when he put his finger in his mouth after a turkey bite and then painted on his tray.

Anyway! ...So I'm cleaning the dinner tray and I look up to see that he's crawled over to his 'drum' that I left on the floor for him (aka my big pot) and used it to do this:

Ahem! Little boy, are you STANDING?

All by himself, with something half his height to aid him up, not pulling up to a coffee table or couch - but he got his feet under him, his weight right and pushed up to stand!

"Excuse me Mister, Mommy is NOT ready for this!"

Family Pictures!

Aubrey took our family pictures last weekend!

Click here to see!

Thank you dear friend, you are wonderful!

Howdy!

Grandpa brought over a very old roasting pot and lid for halloween, to use for the lobster picture, but Daddy thought it looked more like a 'cowboy tub'... He shouldn't have said that, Mommy ran upstairs and came down with her camera and this silly hat!

Momma, no more pictures!

Lobster Boy!

Luke O'Lantern

Happy Halloween!

GO DODGERS!!!