Happy Birthday Clay!

Today, my baby boy is offically 6 months! Happy Birthday Clay! We love you so much!

Solids

Last Saturday, Clay hit a new milestone in his young life. We started solid food! It's a little sad to see my little baby grow so fast. Eating solid food from a spoon! He took to it immediately! Even with the first spoonful, he opened his mouth and swallowed it like he had been eating from a spoon his whole life. Of course, he made the whole, "what in the world is this" face, but quickly opened his mouth for more. We find him kicking and squealing during meal times because he loves it so much. And we just can't seem to shovel it in quickly enough! Also, we often find him whining when we are eating in front of him. Well, we went from only one meal a day to 3 meals a day very quickly. His first food (like most babies these days) was rice cereal. Since then he has eaten peas, bananas, green beans, and as of today, oatmeal. He is doing great and really loving it. My plan has always been to make his baby food, but since we started solids a few days before going to Dallas for Thanksgiving, I decided to just start with baby food and make it when we got home. Today, I made green beans. Funny thing, he didn't really love the baby food green beans, but the fresh ones I made for him, he loved. I guess this little guy just loves nice fresh veggies (which I don't mind). I'm looking forward to making sweet potatoes and peas tomorrow! These are some pics from his very first taste of rice cereal!Humm... I think I'm full mommy!

Cousins in Town

This past weekend my brother's family came for a short visit. It was fun to hang-out with them. Their two little guys are growing so fast. Orin and Caiah were a lot more interested in Clay this trip than they have been in the past. I have a feeling it has something to do with their baby sister that their family is adopting from Korea who is only 6 weeks older than Clay. We kept telling them that Sora (their sister) is about the same size as Clay (yes, she is really small). We can't wait to meet our little Sora, who we love already. Hopefully they will be going to get her in February. These were the only pics I got of the cousins lovin' on Clay:

Clay is very into grabbing things, especially faces. Orin and Caiah loved it. too cute.

Caiah kisses
Orin kisses

New Trick

We just figured out today that Clay has a new trick! He can sit up, well, proped up on his hands!! Woohoo. He's getting so big.

Little Rock

A couple weeks ago, I drove with my mom (and of course, Clay) to Little Rock to see my brother, sister-in-law and nephews. We had a fun time running around LR with the family. We were even able to make it to the LR zoo (Clay's first time to the zoo) on a very cold day. In NOLA it had been very warm until recently, so it was quite different having to dress a baby for cold weather, always wondering if he is too cold or maybe too warm. Clay had quite the time adjusting to a new place and new routine, but did ok considering. We had a fun time and I am glad Clay got to hang out with his cousins (he'll remember I'm sure ;)
Sam being goofy by the bears

Zach by the zebras (what a cutie)

trying to stay warm at the zoo

enjoying some baby einstein with his cousin

after school snack time

Clay's Favorite Spot

This, by far, is Clay's favorite spot in our house. He LOVES his changing table. Not sure what it is, but the kiddo loves it. If he is crying, you can bring him there and he will usually (unless it's a major meltdown) stop and even smile at you. Since, he loves it so much, we often stay there for awhile and just play, blowing on his belly, giving eskimo kisses (my absolute favorite). This is probably one of the reasons he loves his changing table so much, because it often becomes playtime! This is a FAR CRY from the first few weeks of his life where he absolutely HATED getting his diaper changed. He would scream and pee everywhere, evertime, without fail. Oh I am glad that phase is over and now we have a little boy who loves it! They grow up so fast. (Oh and he no longer pees everywhere when we change his diaper, well... not everytime anyway :)

Oh No We Missed It

So, I love seeing all of Clay's "firsts." I got the first smile, I saw the first rolling over from his tummy to his back. I got the first laugh, etc. (I know, I am such a 1st time mom!) Well, all day yesterday he was on his back rolling over to his side, and almost to his tummy. He was so close, so I was watching him all day and even video taping him, hoping to get the first on video. Well, he just couldn't seem to make it all the way over. Rob came home from work and I put Clay on his back to show Rob how close he was to rolling over, and again he almost did it, but just couldn't seem to get all the way over. I even commented that it would be fun if Rob were home to see one of his "firsts." Rob went to get on the computer and I went to tend to dinner, leaving Clay in the living room playing under his activity gym ON HIS BACK. I said, now watch, he is going to roll over in the minute no one is their to witness it. Sure enough, I go back into the living room, and this is what I found... Yep, I was watching him all day long, waiting to see the roll over and I leave for one minute and he does it, that little stinker!!! It's like he knew, and he wanted to tease me! It starts already....
I still haven't witnessed it, hopefully he will do it again soon, this time, while I am watching.

My Little 4 Month Old

Did a little photo shoot the other day with our little man, here are some of them. Will try to post more on facebook.

What a Tough Little Guy

These were the exact words out of the pediatrician's mouth this afternoon, when Clay proceeded to smile at her right after she gave him a shot!!! He has never really cried a lot after he has gotten a shot, but he at least gives a pouty lip and cries a little. Nope not this time. Instead he decided to surprise us all and smile through the whole thing! Crazy kiddo. She also called him a little charmer as he kept talking to her and smiling at her through out the whole examination.

Well, here are his 4 month stats:

length 25 1/2 inches in the 75th percential

weight 12 lbs. 10 oz in the 25th percential

head in the 50th percential

So, our little man continues to be a long skinny baby!

From Week One to 4 Months

Since we have fully transitioned Clay from his cradle to his crib, we are getting ready to put the cradle away until the next Johnson baby comes along. I had to take one last picture of Clay in his cradle before it goes to the attic. Clay only a few days old.
4 months

Adoption

My brother and sister-in-law are adopting a little girl from Korea. They just got her referral a few weeks ago and are filling out the paper work, hoping to go get her in 3 months or so. My brother and sister-in-law have been working on adopting overseas for over a year now, and it has definitely come with it's own trials, disappointments, and frustrations. But they will be the first to tell you it was all worth it when they see the pictures of this precious little girl God has chosen just for them! Her name is Sora Bada Daspit and I think she is just the cutest little thing. I CAN'T WAIT to hold my new little niece and just love on her. Not to mention she is only a month and a half older than Clay, so he is going to have a cousin very close in age to him!!! Renee and I have joked about putting them in male/female matching outfits and see if we could pass them off as twins!!! LOL!


I have to say that I MORE than respect my brother and sister-in-law for their attitude and passion for adoption. They truly have a great perspective, one that I want to have more and more. We are called by God to care for orphans in one way or another. While we don't all have the ability to adopt a little one into our family, we can still pray for them, financially support them, etc. After all, it is what God has called us to do. Adoption is something Rob and I have talked about and would definitely consider doing, but we know that it's all in God's timing, whatever that might be.

4 months

Well, our little man is 4 months old. It's hard to believe. I know, one day I will look back when we are sending Clay off to college and think today was just yesterday. I'm sure a mom will always see her baby boy, no matter how old he gets! Since I have decided my blog is going to be somewhat of my journal through out this time of motherhood, I will try to post more often. In fact, I have heard you can make a book from your blog, something I plan on looking more into. I would love to scrapbook, but have decided that i am more of a "social scrapbooker" than a passionate one. I would much rather journal than play with paper. Having said that, I might post a little more than you want to know, but things I don't want to forget.

Anyway... back to the whole reason for this post. Clay is 4 months and here are some things our little man is doing:

- rolling over from his tummy to his back.

- sucking on his hands and fingers.

- he screams when he gets excited.

- he LOVES to have his diaper changed. I think maybe he likes the perspective from where he lays to where we stand. Plus, since he is so happy at his changing table, it often becomes play time, which might have something to do with loving his changing table. This is quite different from the first few weeks of his life where he would SCREAM and PEE everywhere at diaper changing time.

- he makes a good pouty lip

- can grasp a rattle

- hits at toys above him, but more than that, LOVES to use his feet to kick things. He is definitely more interested in using his feet than his hands. (we might have a soccer player on our hands)

- he smiles TONS.

-beginning to laugh

- trys to stand when I hold him in my lap

- HATES the car, he cries harder when we are in the car than any other time. It's mostly when we stop at red lights. so, we pray for green lights and no traffic!! (yeah, you know when you have a colicky baby and they say to take a ride in the car to calm him down, yeah, that would definitely NOT work for our little Clay.)

- has moved from his cradle to his crib.

- has two bumps on his bottom gum??? they have been there for a few weeks, wonder when he is going to cut some teeth.

- thinks pacis are for chewing and not for sucking.

- loves to play peek a boo

- often sticks out his tongue when he smiles

- is constantly moving when he is awake

- loves when his daddy blows on his belly when it's PJ time.

- loves when his daddy gets home from work.

- likes to be outside, ever since he was born, if he was crying and you took him outside, he would stop.

- loves going for walks in his stroller.

-lifts his head up and supports himself on his arms

- loves to stretch, and makes the cutest face while doing it!

He is such a sweet baby and we are so glad he is in our lives.

Our Little Sleeping Pro

Yep. I am convinced that it had to do with the virus I had on Monday, and that my milk supply was not quite up to par. Clay slept all night, back to his little sleeping pro ways! woohoo!!!

5 am feedings

Well, I knew it would happen at some point. It was inevitable. It always happens when you have a baby in the house. Our little Clay is an AMAZING sleeper. I mean really, he is a sleeping pro!! Since he was 8 weeks old, he has been sleeping though the night. For the past two months I always went to bed wondering if this would be the night he would wake-up and I would deal with the "do I nurse him, or just try to get him to go back to sleep" dilemma most moms find themselves in at one point or another. I began to get REALLY use to Clay sleeping until at least 7 am if not later, so I was quite surprised to hear him crying at 5 am this morning. At first, I just thought, ok, maybe he will cry it out and go back to sleep. He really wasn't "crying" it was more of a whine. Anyway, he only got louder and it sounded more and more like a cry, so after about 15 min I decided I should probably do something about it. At first I tried the paci and well, he's not a fan of the paci, so that didn't work too well. So, I just gave in and nursed him. He nursed and than went right back to bed and slept til 9am!
Rob and I were really sick on Monday, throwing up and everything and I think Clay had a touch of the virus too. He slept A LOT on Monday, and ended-up with one less feeding than normal. But slept great that night. He slept quite a bit on Tuesday too and he had one less feeding. I thought maybe he was coming to the point where he only needed 5 feedings a day instead of 6, but maybe I was wrong. So, I guess when I think about the fact that I had not really eaten anything or really drank anything on Monday, and even Tuesday I did not eat as much as normal, I am sure my milk supply was not really up to par on Tuesday plus the fact that he had one less feeding, I'm sure those were factors in the 5 am feeding. Today we are back to the 6 feedings and we will see how he does tonight. Hoping that this whole 5 am waking is not going to become a pattern we are going to have to break. I know... I know... I really have nothing to complain about. I understand that Clay is an AMAZING sleeper and there are plenty of moms out there still waking up in the middle of the night to have to feed their 4 month old. I guess, I was just so surprised because he has not woken up for 2 months. And really, 5 am is not that bad! I guess some people would really not consider that a "night feeding," but this mom is NOT a morning person and does not want to start her day at 5 am. We will see how tonight goes...

Yesterday was quite eventful

Yesterday I went to put Clay down for tummy time, and no sooner do I look over to grab some toys for him to look at, do I see our little man rolling over to his back! I thought it was a fluke because I had just put him down and I thought maybe I had put him a little on his side so it was me helping him to roll over. Well, I put him back on his belly again and sure enough, he rolled over again!!! I got the 3rd one on video. I can't believe it. Now begins the time when they become more and more mobile. So tummy time quickly becomes laying on his back time, which he doesn't seem to mind so much because he has never been a fan of laying on his tummy. He's so big.

This is what I slept next to last night... oh no where did Clay go???
Oh, there he is.. in his crib, in HIS room!

We have been trying to transition Clay from his cradle in our room to his crib in his room. We went on a trip this past weekend, where he had to sleep in many different places, so I thought when we came home, it would be a nice time to transition him, since he probably wouldn't remember his cradle anyway. All the naps since Tuesday have been in his crib, but I still put him in his cradle at night. Last night was the time. I was a little worried because since about 8 weeks our little guy has been sleeping 8-10 hours at night and has not woken up in the middle of the night since. So, I felt like changing his environment might do the trick, and we would be up all hours of the night. Plus, I kind-of like sleeping in between my two favorite men. And I like having Clay at an arms reach (you know, like all new moms do, you have to check sometimes just to make sure they are breathing!). Well, last night went great. He slept through the night like the little sleeping pro that he is. He woke up only about 30 min earlier than he has been. He had scooted himself up all the way to the top of the crib, and his head was hitting the top of the bummer, so that might have woken him up, who knows?! I'll know to position him a little lower tonight. It's a little sad to me. I mean, he is not my little newborn anymore. I almost felt like he was going to be so lonely in his room all by himself (I know, he doesn't really care, he just wants to eat, sleep, poop, and now ROLL OVER!). His room is right next to ours and we left both doors open which made me feel better, like we were sort of in the same room. I know he will only get bigger and bigger and hit more and more milestones, which is sad and exciting all at the same time. In some ways I want him to be my little baby forever and in other ways, I want him to grow into (Lord willing) a godly man who loves the Lord with all his heart. I know, I am already missing the newborn stage and he is only 15 weeks old, that's a little ridiculous.

Clay's 3 month appointment

Well, went to the pediatrician today for Clay's 3 month appointment. He took a 3 hour nap this morning, I didn't want to wake him up because I knew what was coming, wanted him to be rested. Well, he is 12 lbs. (I know, he's a little guy.. I promise I feed the kiddo all the time, I think he is just not going to be one of those chubby babies. If the kid would stop pooping all the time, maybe he would gain a little more weight ;) He is 24 1/4 inches long. So he continues to be about in the 25th per for weight and 75th for height. But the pediatrician had nothing but great things to say. She checked him all out and said that he looks very healthy! Of course at the end of the appointment comes the shots, 2 of them this time. And he was a trooper. Of course he cried, but really not for long and ended up falling asleep on the way home. Appointment couldn't have gone better! Thank you Lord for a happy, healthy baby boy. We love him so much

O the Joys of Traveling

This past weekend we flew (yes all 3 of us) to Pennsylvania for a friend's wedding. I have decided that it is much easier traveling when it was just the 2 of us. (I know, I am stating the obvious.) who knew you had to bring so much stuff for such a little person. I mean, we had the diaper bag, stroller, car seat, not to mention a third of our suitcase was filled with stuff just for Clay. It is quite the process getting through security with all this stuff. Our flight there was a direct flight and everything went well. Clay nursed on the way up (thanks mom for letting me know I needed to do that, never would have thought about it otherwise), was awake for a little bit and then slept the rest of the way. We had a great time in PA helping our friends get ready for the wedding and being there for them. Rob was a groomsman, so he was a little busier than I was. Friday came and so did a virus. I was running a fever and felt EXTREMELY tired and nauseous. I knew exactly what it was, and was actually expecting to get sick with this virus because it had gone through everyone in my family. (Rob still hasn't gotten it, what's up with that??!!!) So, Friday was not the best of days and of course Clay has been sleeping great lately, doing a 6 hour stretch, but on the night I am running fever and sick, he decides to get up every 3 hours (that little stinker). The people we stayed with were great. The lady took Clay the morning before the wedding while I got ready and took care of him until it was time to leave. She was really sweet. Although I wish they hadn't had cats. Yeah, not only was I sick with this virus, but I was also dealing with allergies for their cat, and well, I also got a plugged milk duct too, not sure if there was anything else that I possibly could have gotten at that point. Let's just say Friday was not the best of days.

The wedding was great. It was sad to see them drive off. Do you know what I mean? I know at our wedding we were so excited to just be married and go on a honeymoon and just spend time together, but, when you're the friend, there is all this excitement and activity and it is fun and exciting, and then they leave you, and you just find-of feel sad. ya know? Like they left you behind. Anyway.

Then comes our attempt to get home on Sunday. During Saturday night, I could hear a little bit of thunder, but it didn't seem like a big huge storm. Well, come to find out, it was a big huge storm. We were on our way to the airport (it was about an hour and half from where we were staying) and all of a sudden we hit all this REALLY slow traffic. We thought it was just a bad accident, but then we heard on the radio that there was all this flooding around Philadelphia, and a lot of roads were closed. Well, eventually we find that there is a cop directing everyone off the interstate onto an exit. Thank goodness for our GPS or we would have been lost. We finally find our way to the airport and go to check in for our flight only to find out that our flight was delayed and that we were probably going to miss our connecting flight in Memphis. (now begins when I began to feel like we were in a comedy on a movie) So, this crazy lady begins to tell us all our options non of which got both us and our luggage to the same place at the same time. At one point, this woman says, "I don't know who is more confused, you or me." Yeah, not a good sign that this lady who is suppose to be figuring out a way to get us home, is super confused. Eventually we opted for the only choice to get us an our luggage home, which was flying to Memphis, getting a hotel there and leaving the next day on a flight in the afternoon. So, finally we get our tickets, accepting the fact that we are going to be stuck in Memphis for the night. we go to security they send us through the "family" line, which just takes us all around and eventually back to the same line everyone else was in??? Not sure why they even have a family line. Then we give the lady our ids and tickets and she tells us that we have to have an infant stamp on our tickets for Clay and that she could not let us through without it. So, Rob had to go all the way back downstairs to get this stamp from the crazy airline lady so they would let us through security. Meanwhile I am waiting by security holding Clay because we had taken him out of the carseat and stroller to go through security, when he starts grunting, and yes he had a major blow-out. At this point his poops have just begun to be "blow-outs." and I was a little nervous about all of it staying in the diaper. Well, I look down and sure-enough, yes poop all over me. Poop on my arm, poop on my shirt. Great! Here I am holding a baby with all this stuff, waiting for Rob to come back with poop all over me. (OK, "all over me" might be a bit extreme, but you know what I mean...) So, Rob gets back we show the lady the "stamp" and are able to go through security. Not sure why but Rob had to get "frisked." The alarm didn't go off or anything in fact they told him he would have to before he even went through the metal detector thing. So, while Rob is getting frisked I am trying to hold Clay with poop all over us and get all our stuff coming off the conveyor belt. I finally just gave up and let our stuff pile up at the end until Rob could come help. So, thus began my adventure to find a bathroom. I find one and go in, no changing table. I come out and no Rob. I was so frustrated, I just sat down on the ground, right there in the hall that lead to the terminal, where EVERYONE passed and changed his diaper. Of course Clay begins to cry to bring even more attention to the crazy lady changing the poopy diaper in the terminal hall. I get both of us all cleaned up and who comes traipsing back from a book store, MY HUSBAND! Glad he had a great time shopping for books while I was changing his diaper in the middle of the airport!!! (I still tease him about this :) I go back into the bathroom, go into the stall, and guess what is hanging on the wall... of course a changing table!!! argg.... oh well.
we finally make it to our gate, eat some lunch and wait. We called a family member to book us a hotel in Memphis for that evening with a hotel shuttle. We get to Memphis only to see that we had made up time in the air and probably could have made it on our connecting flight to NOLA. We shouldn't have looked, it was too late, our bags were only checked to Memphis and we had tickets for the next day. Anyway, we go to the hotel shuttle place, our van comes, we get in and it is hot!! yeah, their AC was broken so the only source of ventalation was the 2 windows in the front. We see our driver talking to the other people waiting for other hotel shuttles and then about 6 other people get in our van and we drive off, only to realized that he was taking them to a completely different hotel with their promise to "take care of him." So, we finally drop off these other people, at this time Clay has had enough and begins to scream. We finally get to our hotel, told them we needed a crib and went to our room. Well, we call 30 min later to the front desk to ask when the crib will come. She tells us we have to wait until the shuttle bus man comes back because I guess he is "house keeping" too! We get a call 30 min later to find out that their one crib was broken and there was nothing they could do. Sorry. OK??!!! So, we had a couch with a pull out bed, can we have some sheets? OK. 10 min later the shuttle bus driver shows up at our door with a bundle of sheets blankets and pillows. He said that he had gone to the room next door and pulled all the bedding off the bed, and hands Rob this huge bundle? Talk about great service?! Wow, it was the weirdest hotel experience we have had. So, we put Clay in the middle of the pull out bed with a pillow below him, and just hoped that he wouldn't squirm his way down. He did great! Anyway. It was a very strange day, probably one of the strangest days I can think of. The rest of our trip was pretty uneventful, we made it home Monday evening.

2 peas in a pod

We had a great time visiting with Rob's parents a few weeks ago. We were able to take them downtown, to Oak Alley Plantation and on a swamp tour. Clay sure did love meeting his grandma and grandpa and definitely misses them :)

I think Clay is going to take after his grandpa. We went to the doctor last week. Clay is now 23 1/2 inches long and weighs 10 lbs. 7oz. Probably more now that it has been a week. It's amazing how quickly they grow. Since he was born, he has always been in the 20-25 percentile for weight and 75th percentile in height. I am curious to see if he is going to take after his grandpa, being tall and skinny. Rob's dad is about 6'3" or so, can't remember exactly what he said. Anyway, seeing the two laying together, you could definitely see the similarities in their body shape. I have a feeling Clay is going to pass-up both his parents one day. We will see.

A Paci Theif

I thought this was hilarious, but I don't think Rob did...

So, last night we went to my brother and sister-in-laws for dinner. They have 3 kids, ages 5, 4, and about 18 months. Well, there was a thing at our church to help out preparing crafts for the upcoming VBS. I had just fed Clay so I asked Rob if it was ok for me to go and help out. I would only be gone for an hour and a half. The only time I have ever been away from Clay was for 30 min and my mom was watching him. So, Rob has never had him all by himself. He said it was ok. So, off I went.

Well, I get this phone call about an hour and 15 later, and it was Rob and I could hear Clay screaming. Of course Rob was asking, "So when are you coming back?" Then Rob told me this story:

He said that he got Clay to sleep with his paci and he put him in his car seat to sleep. Well, he left Clay in my brother and sister-in-law's room, but he forgot to close the door. Rob said he went into the living room and just as he was thinking that he should close the door, my 5 year old nephew says, "Eli has Clay's paci in his mouth." Rob was like, "no he doesn't." He looks over and as he realizes that Eli DOES have Clay's paci, he hears screaming from my brother's room. So, I guess, as soon as Rob left the room, Eli went in, found Clay and STOLE HIS PACI!!! Well, I guess Clay did not like this because Rob said he kept trying to give the paci back to Clay and calm him down, but it was not working. Rob said he tried everything to calm him down, but nothing was working. So, when I arrived, the house was quiet. I go into my brother's room and I find Rob in the rocking chair and Clay swaddled with the light on and just laying there on their bed looking at the light with a mad look on his face. Rob said this was the only thing he could find that would make him stop crying. As we are on our way home, Rob says, "ok Christina, that's the last time that is going to happen." I guess it will take a lot of convincing the next time I want Rob to babysit.

Growing... Growing...

I can't believe our baby boy is one month already. Before we know it, he will be off to college! Here are some one month pictures: