Fun times with family

Justin, Blakeley, Nana and I were able to go to Pine Mountain to see my grandmother, Ma (aka Montie to all the Great-Grandchildren - and no, I don't know why).

When we first arrived at Ma's house, Blakeley wanted to explore outside. Nana was more than willing to follow this little one around. And I was more than willing to follow with my camera! ;)

Ma has lived in the same house for over 40 years, so needless to say, my family and I spent a lot of time here growing up! I have a lot of wonderful memories exploring around her house, and helping in her vegetable garden. Ma has a decent sized yard, but I always thought it was so much larger when I was younger !

Blakeley had a ball running around on such a beautiful day!

Someone needs to tell her that running with your eyes covered up makes things difficult and dangerous....

After Blakeley was done running around, we went for a late lunch to the Country Store on Pine Mountain. Then we walked across the street to take a picture in front of the wonderful view!

She is soo cool!

The whole point of the visit, (besides getting to see Ma) was to take Blakeley to Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens. We were hoping that she would enjoy the lights, and definitely running around on the field in front of the beach!

We first went to the Christmas Village to see all the decorations. We were happy to see Frosty, Gingerbread Man, and a Penguin. Blakeley really liked walking up to them and saying Hi, even if that meant she was in another child's picture.

She was not excited to get real close to them in our own picture.

She preferred to keep a safe distance at all times.

For the grande finale, we went on the trolley to see the lights! We had to bundle up and snuggle close to stay warm!

And like many 18 month olds, she wanted down...

Then up....

Down....

Then up......

It was a crazy, fun, and TIRING day trip!! Spending the whole day away from home is hard work!

And don't ask me why, but Ma was not in any of the pictures....she was totally there the whole time! (It might be that Blakeley isn't so sure of Ma still...which is more reason that I need to take her to see her more!)

Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas Y'all! This was Blakeley's 2nd Christmas, but her first REAL Christmas. Last year, Blakeley was only 6 months and I'm proud to say we did not go overboard with presents then. We knew she would be happy with tissue paper, and just hanging out! This year, I feel we didn't go too crazy. We got her one big present, and a couple of extra toys because she honestly doesn't have a ton of toys. (Which at times I worry I am neglecting my child of fun because we don't buy her toys very much - though I know later that will change when she can tell us when she wants something! :))

This year Justin and I stayed up late working on Santa presents (ok, really it was Justin who did all the work, I just stayed up for moral support!) Blakeley woke up a little earlier than normal, but not too early (she must had been excited about Santa coming to visit her! But I can say that it was AFTER sunrise!)

We were all prepared for Blakeley's first reaction to presents under the tree. Justin had us stay upstairs so he could video tape her coming down and seeing her new toys. I was assigned to take pictures as she came down. However, while she waited, she went ahead and found some toys and we had to coax her to come down the stairs! :)

Slow and steady, and on her bottom!
She instantly ran for the playhouse because she has one at school.

You can tell this is not her first time!

She is such a good girl, she closed the door behind her!

"Hi Guys!"

"Whoa!"

Daddy was very eager for her to use all the parts of the playhouse...

And wanted to show her that she had a place to sit...

Somone did not like that at all!!! (She just wasn't ready to sit down! She was too excited!)

But Daddy made it all better by "making coffee" with her! ;)

I made myself cozy in someone's purple chair! (And no, I did not get stuck!)

Blakeley's Buddy and Mimzy were sweet enough to get her a play kitchen, and she loves everything about it!
"What do I want to eat?"

For the rest of the day we lounged around in our jammies, had wonderful visits and skype sessions with all the grandparents! And to top it off, I decided to really excite Blakeley by getting in the playhouse! (And No, I did not get stuck! HA!)

(disclaimer: Blakeley is not wearing a shirt because she had just made a huge mess of her dinner....call me lazy but, it was too close to bath time/bed time to worry about putting on a new shirt! :))

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sweet Baby Jesus

Blakeley has discovered our Christmas decorations. I picked up my camera when I saw her playing with our statue of Mary, Joseph, and sweet baby Jesus. Even as an 18 month old it seems that Blakeley understands the true meaning of Christmas. That it all started with giving gifts to Jesus.

Blakeley so often says "Hi guys" - so I can't help but think that is what she is saying here...

What are you doing???
I want to give you something...

"He go" (which is Here ya go)
Now, she is "layin' it all down for Jesus!"

Thank you Jesus!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

18 months

(This picture was taken at day care on 12/16/11 - last day of school before Christmas break aka Pajama Day!)

Blakeley Grace is 18 months old! I can't believe how much she has already changed since she turned 1! Here are some things that you are currently up to:

You have been steadily increasing your number of words you can say, and can repeat many words we say as well! So far your vocabulary consists of Mama, Dadda, Buddy (Bubbie), Mimzy (Mimmie), Baby, Bye, Love you (ooooo), No, Ya, Thank you (Day-doo), Uh-oh, Oh-No (one of our faves to make you say), and a whole bunch of other gibberish we can't understand just yet.

You are sensitive (like Mommy) and cry super hard when your feelings are hurt.

You have a pretty good appetite, and you eat a decent variety of foods.

You LOVE day care, especially your teachers Mrs. Katie and Mrs. Alisha! (I like to think that you are a favorite there!)

Every day, your daddy and I are amazed that we continue to love you more and more. We love talking about your personality that has started to show, and we especially love to talk about just how STINKIN' GORGEOUS you are! (like seriously - you are beautiful!)

You went through a phase of being sick and not sleeping well. But thankfully that is over (and actually you stopped that the day you turned 18 months!) You are now back to normal and you go right to sleep after we read our "Night Night" stories.

You also went through a phase where Mommy was your absolute favorite, and you wouldn't give Daddy the time of day. Luckily, that is over and you are back to loving daddy! He loves you so much, and I am totally fine if you are a Daddy's Girl! :)

You also love to sing. Your sweet voice MUST be what heaven sounds like! :)

And of course, you love to dance too! Your dancing consists of spinning in circle, marching, and swinging your arms. Your favorite songs to dance to are "The hot dog" song from Mickey Mouse Playhouse, and "The Big Bang Theory" theme song. ;)

I wanted to share some pics of Blakeley at Thanksgiving, (1) because I wasn't able to post at Thanksgiving, and (2) because it was only a few weeks before she turned 18 months, and (3) they are just fantastic pictures! :)

swinging at Nana's house!



This is my absolute FAVORITE! I got lucky that she looked at me when she did. What a sweet face!!

Baby Girl - you are an answered prayer, my dream come true, and I love you sooooo much!! You have made my heart so happy!

Santa

We finally took Blakeley to see Santa for the FIRST TIME today. I know some of you are thinking, "But Blakeley is 18 months old....this is her second Christmas". And you would be right. This is her second Christmas, however, last year I never took her. I know, I know, Mother of the Year! But last year at Christmas break we all got a stomach bug one after another and so we never got around to it. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure that Blakeley will not be traumatized by not visiting Santa at 6 months old.

So back to visiting Santa today. We had high hopes! We went to Lenox knowing that we could use our own camera to take the pictures and not be hounded to buy anything (thanks for the tip Amy)! Everything started off great! She was happy to play in the North Pole "tunnel".

And we even made sure that she got to have a snack while she waited...


Sadly, we waited almsot 45 minutes, and it was getting close to nap time, and well you can put two and two together...someone went hysterical! Justin said he knew it was going to be bad when it was Blakeley's turn and she had a death grip on him.

She was literally only there by herself for 10 seconds...


Unfortunately, even when I tried to help out, Blakeley immediately hugged Hop Hop so tight and tried to get into my lap. She wanted NOTHING to do with Santa. Poor guy! And Poor Blakeley!

Doesn't she look traumatized and relieved all at the same time?

But she felt much better once we left the mall, and Daddy put her on his shoulders!
We also had high hopes for the wodnerful Atlanta tradition of riding The Pink Pig. However, the line for that was 10 times worse! There was no way! Maybe after Christmas we can make another city adventure!

Halloween 2011

Halloween/Fall 2011 has been quite uneventful for the Johnson household. We didn't carve a pumpkin ( I know, mother of the year!), which also means that we didn't go to a pumpkin patch either! So needless to say, I was pretty intent on Blakeley, Justin, and I going trick-or-treating as a family. (Justin thought it was going to be a BUST!) But boy, was he wrong! I don't know if I am more excited to say that the night was a success or that Justin was wrong, and he actually had to admit to me that I was RIGHT!

Here is how our night went. Blakeley was a cute little ladybug or "Blakeley Bug". We of course waited until we saw others trick-or-treating first before we left the house. As soon as we open the door, she darted for the street - she was FREE!

We went to our next door neighbor who had some scary ghosts outside the house, and someone wasn't too sure about going any further....

So, she ran back home to get Daddy....

And then, we tried again. What was different about the second try is that Blakeley had little kids to follow. She LOVES to follow kids around, anywhere! :)

Of course, we had to stop and take some pics (this was high on my list, b/c I am NEVER in the pictures with Blakeley b/c I am always taking the pictures).

We successfully walked to a few more houses (though we didn't hold hands the whole time like I wanted).

Blakeley was a pro at trick-or-treating. She just went with the other kids and walked right up to the peoples houses.

But don't worry, I made sure to run and catch up to help her pick out appropriate candy.

Blakeley loved meeting all of our neighbors as well!!

It was a great night!! My little bug is growing up! I'm so thrilled with all our new experiences, but I wish everything could slow down!

Happy Halloween!

Who's with me??

As many of you know, over the summer I started Weight Watchers. I had hit a point in my life where I was beyond just unhappy with my body. I had become so insecure and depressed about how I looked that it was affecting every aspect of my life. That was when I knew that I could join Weight Watchers and actually be successful - and I WAS! Over about a 12 week period I lost 10 lbs! (My goal was 20 lbs, but then school started back and it has been a whirlwind ever since!) I knew that I couldn't rush the weight loss, that if I was going to keep it off I had to be as healthy as possible about it. I became obsessed with tracking my food and weight. I would eat as healthy as possible (lots of fruits and veggies) so that I could have a treat (which was usually a COKE!) every day. Though, I am pretty proud that overall, I have made the switch to Cherry Coke Zero. All of these changes has helped me to keep the 10 lbs off ever to this day (and maybe some stomach issues that I was having! eek!)

Any way, I do feel much better about myself, but I am still not where I want to be. I found this on pinterest today, and I think I am going to try it. It won't take too much time, and for me, working out is the key to any weight loss.

Source: gonnagiveallmysecretsaway.tumblr.com via Mary on Pinterest

So who is with me??? I would love if I could actually have some arm muscles ( but Lord knows, I am a Cozart and I don't need to work on my calf muscles! HA!) I am honestly interested in what changes I would see in a week...a month???

And just a side note - I am not sure what a sumo squat is, but I will find out from my hubby!