johnson family tales: this week

Thursday, February 6, 2014

this week

This week is really dragging, and it feels like it should have been Friday three days ago. Brett returned from his ski trip yesterday afternoon. He was supposed to fly back the night before, but his flight was canceled due to bad weather. I picked him up from the airport at 3 p.m., and we had some nice family time together. He returned to work this morning, and as of now (9:08 p.m.), he is still there. Fortunately Stella went down at 7 p.m. She was tired from a pretty full day. We tried an introductory gym class at The Little Gym this morning, and then this afternoon we hung out at the library. She loved the gym SO MUCH that I signed her up for the class that will be every Thursday until June. She was running around with her tongue sticking out, which means she is really having fun. There was structured learning time with the other kids and the instructor, and then "exploring" time for the kids to run around freely and play on the gym equipment. I walked around holding Grace, and Grace enjoyed watching the kids running by, and listening to the fun music.

Tomorrow will be Stella's second time going to Music Play class. The instructor goes to our church, and she teaches the class at the home of another mom that attends our church, too. Stella absolutely loved the class last Friday, and I know she will love it tomorrow, too! It's been so fun to sign her up for things and watch her learn and grow. She's still my baby, and always will be, but it's exciting to see her development. Speaking of which...Stella is potty-trained. The process has gone so unbelievably well. We still put her in a diaper at night just in case, but she wakes up dry every morning, so we might stop putting her in a diaper. She lets me know when she has to go. She had an accident once per day for the first three days of training, but nothing since then. Today was the first day that she wore underwear outside of our home, and she even tried going at the library bathroom. She still has a fear of public bathrooms because the toilet flushing sound is so loud that it scares her, but I think she will overcome that fear in due time.

We are looking forward to some quality time as a family this weekend as Brett was gone six days, and we all missed each other so much. Brett's parents are driving out to visit us next weekend, and to meet Miss Grace. Our little two-and-a-half-month-old is becoming quite plump these days. She is such a happy baby, and she smiles easily, laughs, and is just overall very engaging and expressive. We are very smitten with her! She loves looking at Stella, and Stella loves interacting with her.

She calls this her "pony hair"; her reaction to the loud whistling sound of the tea kettle

She LOVES her swaddle blanket

She put Snoopy on top of the trash can while she was eating breakfast so that she wouldn't get him dirty

I was doing something in the kitchen, and when I peeked into the living room to check on Stella and Grace, Stella proudly said to me: "I swaddled them (Snoopy and Grace) up!" She had put Snoopy next to Grace in the swing, and tucked them in with a blanket.