My Birthday Boy

My little baby boy turned 1 today! It's one of those situations where I can't believe he's already one but at the same time, I feel like he's always been a part of our lives. We are so lucky and blessed to have such a happy and healthy baby. Here's Johnny at 1 year old:

• He is so funny. He knows what he can do to get people to laugh and we fall for it every time.
• He is such a flirt. We dropped Marcus off at the airport tonight and while we were waiting in line to exchange money, he was flirting away with the ladies in front of us. He chats to people, bats his eyes at them, smiles, giggles- the whole shebang! And people love it. But seriously, can you blame them? He's adorable.
• He is getting so close to walking. He will take several steps on his own at a time but only if he decides to do it. He won't take steps when I try and get him to and he still prefers to just crawl. But he is getting closer every day.

• Johnny is a Momma's boy. It melts my heart with how much he loves me. But he definitely loves his dad, too. It took him awhile to realize that Marcus was an important figure in his life but now he really loves his Daddy. It is so awesome.
• He LOVES music! He gets so excited when people start to sing and he'll dance to music all the time. It's adorable and one of my many favorite things about him. He loves singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Patty Cake, If You're Happy and You Know It, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider.
• He inherited his mom's social personality and love of sweets. He loved that everyone was paying attention to him at his birthday party and singing Happy Birthday to him. And he LOVED the birthday cake :)!

 

•  Johnny loves to eat whatever you're eating. He prefers any table food to baby food. He'll eat the baby food every now and then but if you are eating something else, he will beg for your food. He likes cows milk which is nice since we are trying to ween off breast feeding.
• He is a water baby for sure. He loves to take a bath! And he gets super excited whenever we go to a pool. He will get right in the pool and splash around. I have never seen him more excited than when we go to a pool.
• He has 8 teeth but he still takes forever to chew. He will shove a ton of food in his mouth (which can be easily stored in his chipmunk cheeks) and then slowly chew and swallow it. We have to control the amount of food that's on his tray at a time because he will cram everything on his tray into his mouth.
• Johnny enjoys flipping through books but he gets impatient if I try and read them to him. He just wants to keep turning the pages.
• He loves to put things inside of other things. He will always transfer toys to buckets. One time, Marcus went to pick up his drink cup that he had left on the floor and when he picked it up he saw that Johnny had transferred all of his Cheerios from his snack cup into Marcus' cup.
• He is the sweetest, most loving, adorable little boy ever. Marcus and I are so lucky we get to be his parents and so blessed that we get to spend eternity with him

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, JOHNNY. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

A Year of Johnny

In videos

A Year of Johnny

In Pictures
(I stole this idea from my friend Kate. I hope she doesn't mind :)!)

Mother's Day

It is my first official Mother's Day. I was 9 months pregnant last year so we pretty much considered me a mom already but now I have been a mom for a year. It is the best, most rewarding, frustrating, loving, difficult, exciting, spectacular job I have ever had. I am so grateful I am able to be a mom and for the opportunity I have to stay home with Johnny. I love that little boy more than I ever knew I could love another human.

Happy Mother's day to the best mother-in-law a girl could ever ask for! I am so grateful for you and can't imagine what my life would be without you!

Why do I not have a good picture of Johnny and Grandma Gilson?!
That will have to be amended this summer!

An especially big Happy Mother's Day to my AMAZING mom! Thank you for teaching me how to be the best mother I can be. I hope I can be half as good a mom as you are. I love you so much!!

Recent Activities

This blog has really turned into a blog about Johnny. But let's be honest, that's who people really care about.

However, on this blog post I'm going to break from the norm and let you know what Marcus and I have been up to. Back in March, we took a trip up to Rexburg with my brother and sister. My sister is going to BYU-Idaho in the fall so we went up to show her the campus and to visit Marcus' best friend and his family.

 We went shooting.

 We convinced Shelby to shoot a gun. We're so proud of her! :)

 We went swimming in the hotel pool and Johnny LOVED it. He is definitely a water baby!

 Johnny got reacquainted with his friend Ryker.

Best friends and their boys :).

In other news- Marcus's cousin Jack got home from his mission on April 4th. He served in Brazil, in the mission just south of the mission where Marcus served. It's been so fun to have him home!

(Jack is the redhead. Brian (Jack's brother) is holding Johnny)

To end this post, here is a countdown of upcoming, exciting events:

-2 more finals until Marcus finishes his first year of Law School. We are so proud of him!

-1 week and 2 days until Mom and Dad Smith get to Utah

-2 weeks until we fly to North Carolina

-3 weeks until we visit D.C.

-4 weeks and 4 days until Johnny turns 1!

-4 weeks and 4 days until Marcus leaves for Brazil

-9 weeks and 4 days until I leave for Brazil

It's a very exciting time! Stay tuned for an Easter post coming soon!

My Favorite Little Guy...

...turned 10 months old today! What a joy and blessing he is in our lives!

9 Months

Our Johnny is 9 months! WHAT?!? He has officially been out of the womb longer than he was in- YAY! I feel like that's quite a milestone. Here is Johnny at 9 months:

 He stands up on everything. We had to lower his mattress- how is he big enough for that already??

 Johnny watching his Baby Einstein DVD on our way to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Gilson. He loves Baby Einstein and Little Einsteins!

 Johnny and his Great Grandpa Gilson

 He weighs 18lbs 4oz and is 28 inches tall. He's staying strong in the 30th percentile.

 He loves the swings- and dogs. He's staring at a dog in this picture.

-He has become a great eater. He eats three meals of solid foods everyday. He went from going through 1 jar of food in 3 days to 3 jars of food each day plus rice cereal!

-He is definitely a Mama's boy. I love that he loves me so much but I'm excited for him to realize that his Daddy is super awesome too!

-He loves playing Patty Cake and the Itsy Bitsy Spider

-He loves to dance to music. It's so adorable- see for yourself :)

-He doesn't do the normal crawl. He scoots and is really fast at it.

-He loves books. He loves having me read to him and he loves looking through them on his own. He especially loves chewing on the bindings. We have fabric books for him but he won't chew on those...

-He is starting to give kisses. He opens his mouth and plants one on you. It is so cute and I LOVE IT!

-He gives me big hugs when I pick him up. I love when he's cuddly.

-He's even adorable when he's throwing a fit at dinner because he's tired:

Hahahahaha. Marcus and I laughed at these pictures for like 5 minutes.

Happy 9 Months, Johnny! Our family is so much better since you were born! We love you!!