Someone loves her Mama!

A few weeks ago we realized that given the right motivation ( or bribe) Blakeley can CRAWL! Now, at first it was just an army crawl with her elbows doing most of the work, and her belly completely dragging on the floor. Like most first time parents we were ecstatic about this milestone. We would purposefully put the TV remote or a cell phone in front of her and slowly move it forward as she got closer. Well the whole reason for this post is to actually tell you that today, my sweet baby girl looked at me and started to crawl towards me!!

I mean, look at this sweet face! My heart just melts!

Here I come Mama!

So close! So close!

Blakeley did you forget your dentures? ;)

I'm sure there will be more silly posts just like this! Hope you enjoy!

Spring is here!

I know Spring doesn't officially start until Sunday - but I had some great pictures to kick off the warm weather!

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Roly-Poly random post

For those of you who don't know, Blakeley is a BIG girl. She's not fat, just has sweet little rolls in all the right places. And speaking of rolls, she has become quite the roly-poly! I was worried for a while that Blakeley hadn't learned to roll over at 4 months, because to be honest my niece Hadley had - and its just hard not to compare babies - even when you know that every baby is different!

During Christmas, Blakeley got a lot of tummy time. She became excellent at rolling from tummy to back, (if we first placed her on her tummy)but couldn't really get back to her tummy, (and honestly didn't seem to care to get back to her tummy). And then there were times when all she would do was hang out on her belly and do what I like to call a little "sky diving".

She likes to hold up her arms and legs, and it really looks like she is practicing sky diving!

However, during the week off of school we had from the snow storm, my baby girl learned how to roll from back to belly! She has become quite the pro! So much in fact that she rolled herself into a little burrito ino the blanket she was on!

What a happy baby!!!

The Day Blakeley was born....

Like most people, this is a day I will never forget! For some reason, I was in major denial that the baby could come early. I thought for sure, I would be one of those people who went past the due date (which was June 30th). So on the day of my 38 week check up, I went and got my hair cut ( ya know, one last time before the baby came!) Well, the appointment went a little longer than I had anticipated, and when I got home from my hair appointment - it was time to go! Not only was it time to go to my appointment, I didn't have a bag prepared in case the doctor said I couldn't go home! But I wasn't too worried because of course, I was in denial! Well, we get to the doctor, my BP is sky high, my blood work was way low, so my doctor said I was safe to induce!!!

This is a picture of my swollen self right before I was induced.

Well, after hours of nothing happening (not even tiny contractions) my doctor broke my water. Well that started it all! Contractions are NO JOKE! I feel like my labor experience was just like on the movies...I was hot and sweaty, screaming (b/c my epidural didn't work right and as I pushed for an HOUR I felt EVERYTHING!). Any way, after 19 hours of what was mostly an intense labor Blakeley Grace Johnson was born!!

Blakeley was born at 6:28 pm, weighing 6 lbs. 12. oz, and 21 inches long! She was soooo tiny! And look at that dark hair!

Proud daddy!!

Mommy looking absolutely ROUGH!!! ( I can't believe I am putting this picture up -- I may delete it later).

Proud Aunt Amy!!

Some of the Grandparents.....

OUR FIRST FAMILY PHOTO!! (please notice how much better I look after a few hours of sleep, shower, and make-up!) ;)

Family Photos

So I know I haven't blogged at all since Blakeley was born but I wasn't sure I wanted to. But this day was definitely worth sharing. In the beginning of November we had our family photos/ Blakeley's 6 months photos taken. We were able to take pictures at McDaniel Farm Park in Duluth, and my sister Lucie and her family took theirs right after! However, Blakeley was not in the mood because she had started TEETHING! So there are few of just her that turned out well, and even less of us as a family that turned out well. Here are a few that actually look decent.

Justin, Blakeley, Me, Jeff, Ethan, Hadley, and Lucie!!!

I'm going to try my best to start blogging at least twice a month....I also need to rewind and blog about when my sweet little one was born! That will be my next blog!

The Day Hop Hop was born

Over Spring Break, Justin and I did not go out of town. We had intentions of beginning the process of packing up our house for the big move coming soon, but that did not happen. What did happen is that I slept A TON, we went to a Braves game, and we made what will hopefully be Blakeley's favorite stuffed animal.

Now, this whole idea of making Blakeley a stuffed animal first came to me when I saw that all of my kids in my class had bears from Build-A-Bear. I thought it was so cute that they all had stories of when or why they made their Bear. I decided I wanted our child to know that her Mommy and Daddy made her stuffed animal with love! I wasn't sure if Justin would think it was a good idea or not, but thankfully he did! We checked out Build-A-Bear one day to decide what we would make her. Justin picked up a super soft and super cute Bunny (though he of course called it a Rabbit). Right when I saw it I said, "Oh! She can call it her Hop Hop!!!" And of course, I almost cried thinking about my baby loving on her Hop Hop, and decided right then this was the stuffed animal we would make her!

So during Spring Break, we finally made it to the mall and began making Blakeley's Hop Hop.

This is me hold the lifeless "Hop Hop".

The lady told me to help stuff by placing my foot on the pedal. But then she pressed a red button to turn it on, so I'm not sure how much I actually helped. :)

Time to Fluff!!

Ta-Da!!! Hop Hop is here!!

I do realize that Blakeley may not actually call her Bunny "Hop Hop". But for now, that is her name. And when she starts to speak, I know I will love whatever jibberish comes out, and I know I will call this Bunny whatever Blakeley wants me to call her!

Catch up time

Here are some pictures of our sweet baby at 18 weeks, when we found out she was a girl!!

I think she totally has my nose in this one.