So today is the day after Christmas. I think I am a bit hungover from the holidays but we had a great one. We spent Christmas morning with the kids. Eric brought Kylie downstairs and she ran to her Rose Petal Cottage and pretty much stayed there all morning. Logan seemed to like tasting his new toys as well. It was peaceful, the kids played with all their new treasures, and Eric and I sat in the living room and enjoyed the morning with coffee and Christmas music. It's funny how we wanted to find our traditions but sometimes traditions just find you. I imagine all of our Christmases will be similar to this year.

My sister came over later in the afternoon on Christmas and Kylie had a great time hanging out with Uncle John. He is her buddy. They went outside and walked around and John told Kylie the names of all the plants and such outside. He was then allowed to come inside the cottage (first person all day) and enjoy some snacks with Kylie and Winnie the Pooh. I've never seen such adoration on that child's face. I love it. With our shortage on grandfathers, I am happy that John is such a willing volunteer.

We are spending New Year's with Selena and Tyson. The boys will watch bowl games all day while Selena and I explore Chattanooga with the kids. I'm looking forward to it. I miss my best buddy and since we have already arranged Kylie and Emmett's marriage, it is important for them to know each other as well. KIDDING. They are great friends though.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. This was our best yet. Kylie understood what was going on and having Logan this year made it very special.

In Search of Christmas Traditions....

So this year Kylie is a little older and understands the gist of Christmas....the commercial part anyhow. She can say Santa and Ho Ho Ho. When Eric brought the tree inside on Friday she was really excited about the Kissmiss Tee. She told me where to place the ornaments and while the tree isn't pretty this year, it is exactly as Kylie wanted it....as it should be.



We are trying to come up with our own unique family traditions this year. We are going to leave cookies for Santa, presents in the stockings, the normal stuff....but we thought it would be fun to take the kids out to see Kissmiss lights too. I googled a couple of places online...Stone Mountain was expensive, Tanglewood Farms too far away, and then I found it, the perfect place and only 45 minutes from home! It is an operational farm that has reindeer, camels, a live nativity (for the real meaning of Christmas) and 80 acres of lights. I'm not going to name it because it isn't fair to poke fun at a place online. People can make up their own minds without my input....



So, it looked something similar to this



Kylie was relatively indifferent to the whole experience. There was a Winnie the Pooh at the entrance and that was about all that caught her eye. Logan slept the entire time. I told Eric that I now understand why parents are bummed when they take their kids out and the kids are just like whatever mom. It wasn't Kylie's fault, I mean it was a little country and slapped together, but one ooh would have been enough :) So for this Christmas, the tally is as follows: Santa (check, hated it), Christmas cookies (check, hated it), Christmas light display (check, hated it). I'll update as needed.

Only Daddies Know How to Brush Teeth....

Our night routine is pretty much like this---I take Logan up at 730. He fusses a little so I stay upstairs until he is asleep. At 8, Eric brings Kylie upstairs, brushes teeth, and puts her to sleep. Tonight, Logan went to sleep pretty fast and Eric was watching something on TV so I went downstairs to put Kylie to bed. We go to the bathroom and I pull out the toothbrush. She immediatly starts screaming Noooooooo and crying. I had to call Eric upstairs because I do not know the ritual of brushing teeth. Apparently, you first sit on the counter, attempt to turn off the light and then turn the water on yourself (no help from Mommy or Daddy). Daddy brushes teeth and then wipes off hands because hands are messy (repeat this ten times) and then you kiss yourself in the mirror and go night night. I did not know any of this. Good thing I got a lesson tonight since Eric has a work thing tomorrow night. Toddlers are so ritualistic.

Not much new to report in the Johnson household. Logan is FINALLY on a sleep schedule. I know that could change at any moment but for now he is taking an afternoon nap at the same time as Kylie and both are going to sleep at 8pm. He has adjusted well. Both kids are in good health too.

I'm looking forward to the holidays this year. Kylie is still a little young, but I think I'm going to let her help me bake cookies and such for Santa this year. She pretty much hates Santa, but it will be a fun tradition to start. Logan is growing so fast. I accidentally typed fat instead of fast...both apply. He is now eating first stage baby foods, and loves everything, even the green ones.

This year has been full of changes for us, new baby, new stay at home mom, Kylie is a new big sister, etc etc....but it has been a good year.....probably our best yet as a family.

Pictures as Promised

Cry It Out--For Babies or for Mommy?

I am trying the cry it out method with Logan. It is a modified version. I'm not leaving him in his room to cry for hours on end or anything. I go check on him every 10-15 mins and usually by that 15 min mark he is asleep. We figure it must be annoying the neighbors who live to the left of us. However, it annoys us when they leave their big rig in the middle of the street and when their dog wakes Kylie up every morning. It also annoys us when they get tasered in their front yard on Memorial Day but that is another story. We figure baby crying vs 20 cop cars on holidays=even.

Back to cry it out...I can't remember how much we did this with Kylie. Aunt Keri watched her during the day and then she went to daycare. When she returned to me she was already a programmed napper. I'm putting Logan on a schedule for his sanity and my sanity. I'm tired. We've been up the past three nights with teething and getting adjusted to the crib and I'm ready to cry it out. I think I may have slept 10 hours in three days and I'm starting to get snippy. Eric was trying to be cute tonight and said something that began with "You know, if this was 1950......" I stopped him right there. I really didn't want to get all Ike Turner on him.

That's the funny thing about kids though. You think you have all the answers and have everything figured out and then they throw you another loop. Logan has started eating solids..just oatmeal and prunes so far. It dawned on me this morning that I now have to figure out how to feed two meals to two children at the same time. Kylie feeds herself but she sometimes wants that extra attention. Just when I thought I was Queen on the Two Kid Parenting I realize that I now must start from scratch. Goodness.

We went to visit Santa today. It isn't the official Santa pics. Wolf Camera was offering free pics with Santa. Logan's will be adorable, he is in his Christmas outfit and is wearing a Santa hat. Kylie? Weeeeellll here's the thing. She didn't want to take a nap today. When she saw Santa she ran between my legs and tried to get me to sit on his lap. I don't know Santa like that ok? So I picked her up, warned the photographer I was about to put her on Santa's lap and then he snapped the picture. The picture should illustrate "angelic"

Teething, Tantrums, and Wii Fit

Both kids had their checkups on Monday. Logan is 17lbs and in the 75% for his height and weight. We were worried that he might have some of Kylie's eye issues but the ped thought that his eyes looked fine. She is referring us to Kylie's eye doctor just to be cautious though. We mentioned to the ped that Logan had not rolled from his back to his belly. Of course, in typical Johnson fashion, he promptly rolled from his back to his belly to prove us wrong.

Kylie's checkup went well too. She is 25lbs and in the 50% for her height and 25% for her weight. Everything was right on target. Of course, Kylie threw the biggest tantrum known to man in the dr's office. Our ped suggested timeout. Our biggest issue right now is biting. She didn't "pick it up" somewhere because she is home. I don't bite the kids (believe it or not) and we don't bite each other so I have no clue how she decided to do this. She bit me today while we were out in public. I'm really kind of clueless on how to stop her. I don't believe in that whole biting back thing (I think that is nuts actually) and time out is a joke to her. It also doesn't make sense to me to say don't inflict pain on me with your teeth by inflicting pain on her by spanking. Ahh, the joys of parenthood!!

Eric bought me Wii Fit for Christmas. I found it on sale at Target so I bought it, brought it home and said Hey I found my present at Target! We have been playing it for a couple of days. Yes, you break a sweat with some of the aerobic games. However, I think it would be very hard to lose a ton of weight even if you played everyday. My most favorite part of the game is when I was weighed, classified as overweight, and my character in the game now has a bulging belly. THAT, my friends, is what we call a good time!!

I have a few new pictures of the kids but I'm too lazy to walk downstairs to get the camera. I'll get them up soon.

I'm Not As Young As I Once Was....

Yes, yet another title stolen from a song. However, it is fitting for how I am feeling tonight, at 8:30pm after returning from the UGA/GA Tech game in Athens.

First let me say that we had a GREAT time. Time spent with adults only is so sacred these days. It was nice to just be Jennifer and Eric and not Mama and Daddy. We had a great dinner at one of my favorite places (California Dreaming) after the game and we got to watch a SEC game for free! With that said, today was indeed a learning experience

Lessons learned from Athens:

I do not like drinks in plastic cups. Anything that costs 5.00 and is in a rolo cup just isn't my thing anymore. The drink really didn't taste that good and for 5.00 I can get a nice pumpkin latte at Starbucks. The positive part of that story is that when we stopped at a bar to have a drink on the way to the game I was carded by the nice 15 year old bartender. This made me a little happy inside. Look, when you are 31 years old, 20lbs overweight, and greying in the temples, you take it where you can get it ok?

If you are a cute 21 year old college student OR a 50 year old woman and intend on drinking until you puke....here is a helpful hint-- wear underwear and dress accordingly. Yes I know this should go without saying but the 21 year old girl who wore a skirt without underwear and then rolled around the sidewalk missed that memo. The 50 year old had the underwear part down, but her skirt was a wee bit short and a wee bit tight so when she fell down she exposed everything anyway. I'm all for having a good time, but maybe planning ahead in the wardrobe department would enhance the time of us passersby....Just a thought.

I love football, but I do not love the old redneck that always sits behind me at every SEC game I attend. He always says the same thing--it usually sounds like #($))(#* $#$#O*$ Mark Richt (or insert other coach here) should be fired, that #$E(* #$()#$* SOB!!! I always sit in front of that guy....always. Why are you asking for his job this week when last week you were wanting to somehow father his children? It's always about having the coach's head on a platter with those guys, and they always sit next to me at any sporting event I attend.

If it is the 4th quarter and your team is losing, keep your seat until the end of the game. This was a rule of ours in college. You stayed at the game until the band played the Tennessee Waltz. Why call yourself a fan, pay 5 million dollars for a ticket, another small fortune in parking and food just to get up and leave when the going gets tough?

I'm not as fun as I once was.....I know this probably goes without saying to those of you who knew me BC (before children) and AC (after children) but it was glaringly obvious to me today. I had to be super cheery nice to the wife of Eric's guest but she was OUT. OF. CONTROL. It wasn't just the forty PBRs that she tried to get us to drink after she poked a hole in the side of the can or the makeout session with her husband during the middle of the game, but also the chain smoking of camel lights on the way to the game that made me realize that I'm pretty boring these days. I'm not complaining, but it was an eye opener. I. am. not. cool. and best of all, I am happily not cool.

One last thing, I'm from Tennessee....I didn't drink moonshine when I lived in Tennessee and I'm sure as heck not going to drink it now. I don't care if it does taste like cinnamon and has fresh "spices" in it. It's kind of a rule of mine....if it comes in a mason jar, I probably don't want any.....but thanks for asking!!!