Fall Festival at St. Margrets

Today we went to see Papa so we could all go to the Fall Festival, It was a fun day! The entire day really took me back to my childhood and the Ox Roast Fair we would go to every year and all the beer fests in Germany.

As we where getting in the car Johnny was very concerned about Elmo (he had fallen on the ground), so had to buckle him in in the next car seat, and Johnny felt MUCH better, and we all got to the carnival in one piece.



Our day didn't start great, Johnny is apparently not a big fan of rides, but he survived and we moved on to the rest of a happy day.

Johnny wasn't so sure about this really big slide, but in the end he LOVED it!! They did it a couple times, Johnny kept running back to it, spending some time with Uncle Tommy.

Daddy thought it was time for a game, so they went fishing.

Johnny lost intest and wanted to play with all the prizes, but Daddy won and $5 monkey.

Uncle Tommy haven some more fun with Johnny.

Some skee-ball fun! Johnny got the hang of this quickly. He loved it when the balls would be dropped and then he would take two at a time and hurl them towards the goal.

After some good fair food (pitt beef and hot dogs) Johnny decided to play a game with Aunt Natnie and Ella by running away and having them chase him! They all had a really good time.

Papa says " you want one the these?" :)

ahh dessert! He held it so danty like! The entire time he ate it, he held it like that.

And then some games that the monkey could do all by himself...games I remember from when I was a kid...pick a lolly pop, if it has a mark on the bottom you get a prize, if not, you get a lolly pop :)

This was his favotie game...duck pond. Pick a duck, any duck and the number on the bottom dictates what size prize you get. But really Johnny just wanted to play with ducks.

Another fun Saturday with our family!

5 Weeks Pregnant

5 weeks down and ONLY 35 weeks left to go.

This week I felt like the week went by fast, one day I am only 4 weeks pregnant and the next I am 5, but at the same time I realized how far we still have to go! How long it will be until we know the sex, or get to meet the baby. This week the excitement started to slow, and the worry set in. Thinking of all of the dangers and how delicate the baby is right now, there is still more then a month before we can hear the heartbeat, and 2 months before we are safe in the 2ed trimester. It is hard to just go through the day without thinking that everything I do and eat and breath is going to the baby. I don't know that I felt this scared when I was pregnant with Johnny.

Momma added some extra folic acid and calcium supplements to her diet, as well as drinking organic milk with DHA and light V8 Splash (fruits and veggies in juice form.) This week was about settling into being pregnant again, going to bed earlier, eating better, and avoiding what I should avoid, such as cleaning out the litter box, blue cheese, lunch meat, and caffeine. But also this week I hung up ALL of the maternity cloths I have inherited, there are a LOT of really cute cloths!!

Ah Ah Ah

This morning as we sat in the waiting room at the dr's office Johnny was flipping through a Sesame Street book and was naming the characters and items, he saw the Count...and said "AH AH AH" It was shocking and cute, so we went with it.

18 Month Well Baby

This morning our 18 month old had his 18 month well baby check up! He was so good!! The dr was amazed at all of his developments, he is ahead in everything. The dr said 10-20 words would be average for his age, Johnny knows at least 30!! Everything she asked us if he was doing he has already mastered and moved on!

Johnny is officially
33 lbs and 2 oz which means 99th percentile
34 inches tall which means 88th percentile
his head is 19.69 inches which means 94th percentile

wow that is a big kid!!! But super healthy and the Dr was very impressed with him in every way, especially that he was taking interest in potty training, most boys don't until they are 3! We spent a LOT of time talking to the Dr and she just reinforced everything we where doing and was really supportive!

After the appt Johnny had to have three shots (flu, Hep A #1, DtaP) Johny did not make a noise!!! Just layed there and held Daddy's hands, it was like he didn't even notice the shots! After the shots he had to have some blood taken (a routine lead screening that they do between 12 and 18 months) I was so scared they where going to have to go into his arm and pull out the blood, but they pricked his finger and squeezed it out. This time he had a lolly pop and didn't notice the lady squeezing blood out of his little finger!! He didn't fuss at all the entire visit! He is such a brave and good little boy!!

Really Fun Week end!!!

Johnny and his little friend Chloe on Friday. I did not set this up!!! We where all watching Elmo, when I got down and Johnny climbed back up and tucked them both in.

Saturday all the Dennisons got together at the duck pond for some family pictures and then everyone came over to our house for a birthday dinner for Daddy, ribs, macaroni salad, potato fries and Boston creme pie!

Thankfully Uncle Chuckles, Aunt Chel and Wyatt where able to come and visit for the week end!! Ella loved that Uncle Chuckles was reading books to her, and Johnny joined right in when he learned they where Elmo books.

While the adults talked and drank some beer (non alcoholic for Mommy) Grams and Pops took all the grand kids to the local park.

Johnny had a runny nose all week end, but it didn't slow him down!!


Swinging away with Cousin Wyatt.

When they got back from the park, it was time for a diaper change! Sam needed one too :) and Johnny just loves his little cousin. Yes that shirt is a picture of two monkeys and says "I'm the big brother!" Uncle Chuckles picked it up from the Carters outlet in Ohio...it is perfect!!!

Ella and Johnny put the candles on Daddy's pie!

Then we all sang to Daddy. Wow Momma's hair is long!

Ella teaching Johnny how to play games on the computer.

Sunday we dressed Johnny up and took him to the Renaissance Fair, isn't he cute? Those are Christmas pants that Mommy adjusted to make nickers. We are going to expand this into his Halloween costume.

Johnny wasn't so excited about the turkey leg, still a little much for him to chew, but he did like feeding it to Daddy :)

Ahh the Ye Olde Play Ground, we spent a good hour here and Johnny could have spent much more!

See him clapping? He really loves slides!

But he always goes down backwards, at least he doesn't go forward.

Moving on the pirate ship, arrg.


Now this was a real slide!! I thought the toddler would be scared, but he did it 5 times!!!

After the playground we walked around for a little while and heard some really exciting Irish music, Johnny started jumping around in the stroller and clapping, so we stopped to listen.

We discovered a teething monkey today, so we let him have him binky on and off. (He has two new teeth, that makes 14 teeth now!!!) When he would get excited I would ask for it and he would happily hand it to me. Here he is getting happy and dancing to the music.

Then we moved closer so Johnny could see everything and the women started dancing, the classic Irish step dancing, and Johnny joined right in and started to copy them!

Letting Johnny pick out a toy was a lot of fun! This "war axe" had a foam "blade" and he thought it was hilarious to attack Mommy.

Then given this little untreated wooden dagger he like to "stab" Daddy :)

So we got him the dagger and now he is plotting world domination.

The Day at the Renn Fair was A LOT of fun, I really treasure being able to share these things with Johnny and especially when he enjoys them too :) He fell asleep very fast in the car holding his binky...that is how tired he was!

When we took Johnny to Walmart on Friday this is what he picked out...a "qwak qwak." For some reason he really loves ducks right now. This one is extra cute since it is a big duck and a little duck, big brother and little peanut :)

4 Weeks Pregnant

So today I am officially 4 weeks along, that means 36 weeks left to go...wow! I thought that every Friday I would post a picture in this dress and an update of that week. Admittedly I didn't want to post a picture this week, I retained a lot of weight from the last year, and I don't look all that great, but I wanted to start this, and have a point of reference.

So this past week as we learned we where pregnant, we spent most of the week excited and in shock. Momma has been really tired!!! Falling asleep almost randomly, and having little energy. Momma switched from the fertility vitamins to her chewable prenatal vitamin and set up her first appt for October. We have discussed gear we have and gear we will get or borrow and how to clear out and set up our extra room for the baby. We have even thrown around names, so far we have Lilly or Aurora for a girl, but boy names we are a little stuck on. It has been a very exciting week for all of us and I know it won't get any less exciting as the weeks go on. Sometimes I think that it all hasn't set in yet, I don't think I feel that we are pregnant and I keep reminding myself, and Shawn. We are at the beginning, again :)

We are Doing it Again!!!

We are proud to announce to the world that we are officially expecting our second baby around May 28, 2010....this means that Mommy is only 3 weeks pregnant, which explains the extremely light line on the home pregnancy test above. Yesterday morning when we saw that line we went right to the clinic here on post and had a blood test done!!! It was positive and now we are on this road again!

Johnny is finally getting the baby he has been asking for for so long.

I wish I had more to tell, but truly we are just so happy to know that we pregnant, it is really enough. Mommy is tired, but still feeling pretty good!! Daddy is in shock but handling it all very well. Everyone has been so supportive and and the blessings and well wishes make us all feel so great!

Sesame Street Live

Thursday Johnny got to go to Sesame Street Live with Grams, Pops, and Ella. I got many phones calls that night from excited Papa telling me how great he was being and how sweet and excited he was. Everyone had a GREAT time.

Ahhhh dinner at Grams and Pops house, yummmmmmm!


On the way to PA for the show. Johnny and Ella sat in the back seat of the car talking to each other, Johnny was roaring.

Getting his suvernier...surprise a ball :)

The seats they got where four rows from the stage!

I love this picture, even though Johnny is looking away and Grams eyes are close, but Grams is smiling and she really looks happy!

A 90 min show, who would think that a 17 month old would have the attention span for that, when it is Elmo anything is possible! He sat with Papa the entire time and watched very attentively, not once did he want down or throw a fit. Just pointed and said "wow," a lot.

At this point in the show Johnny peed on Papa!!! All the way through his diaper and all the way through Papa's shorts!!!! So during intermission Johnny got a new set of cloths, and Papa was still cover in pee, but it was okay!

When Momma was a little older then Johnny she got to go to Sesame Street live with her Uncle Mark and cousins Michele and JR. I don't remember a lot about it. I remember having a really good time, I remember it was about aliens and I remember getting a balloon! So I asked Papa to get Johnny a balloon too...so they paid $10 for a big Elmo head balloon, when I picked up Johnny the next day the first thing he said to me was "balloon" and pointed to it, before even hello.

THANK YOU GRAMS AND POPS!!!!

See how his eyes never leave the stage even when eating cotton candy.

I am not quite sure what happened here, but it looks like it was fun....and still Johnny is undeterred from staring at the stage.

Going home, notice only one shoe, this is when it was learned that Johnny no longer wears a size size shoe!! His feet are super fat and the shoes kept falling off.

That night he and Ella stayed the night with Grams and Pops. When everyone woke up and went into Johnny's room he got really excited to see Ella!!! He squealed and jumped up and down and called out her name.

OH NO he dropped Elmo, whatever will he do? Who will come to his rescue?

Big cousin Ella, that's who :)


I really liked this picture as Johnny is playing with the fish mobile he used to when he was a baby.

Everyone had a really good time at Sesame Street Live!