Everett Matthew is Seventeen Months Old - 03.10.2019

Everett Matthew is seventeen months old!

In the last few weeks, Everett has picked up a few more words. He said "die" [slide], "sue" [shoe], "tee-dee" [TV], "bah-poo" [bathroom], and "dee!" [beep! - as in the microwave or kitchen timer]. Everett seems to understand a lot, but doesn't seem to feel the need to repeat me when I try to get him to say things. He will (well, he *can*) get his shoes when asked to, he will go get something you say to go get (again, he can, but doesn't always want to, of course). On Friday, we were finished working in our home office, I said "bring your book" and when I looked back at him, he was actually carrying his book.

When he stands in front of the heat vent or the space heater or even the warm salad bar at the grocery store, he sticks his hand out (palm up) and says "aaaaahhhhh" like he's feeling the hot air (even if he's too far away to feel it).

A few weeks ago, the heat vent in our room turned off, and he ran toward me with a bit of a concerned look saying, "ah ah ah ah!" And I said, "are you scared?" And he quickly said, "no." Then he walked toward it and took a hard left and came back to me saying, "ah ah ah ah!" Silly guy!

When I move in close and say "can I kiss you??" he waves his hands and says "no no no."

When my cell phone makes noise for a notification, Everett says "oh!" and will even leave the room to retrieve it, and then swipes the message off the screen. I'm starting to wonder if he's reading my messages!

Everett is still working on all those teeth, top and bottom, between the front two and the molars. It's hard to see which ones have poked through, if any, because of course he won't let me look closely.

Everett likes to "read" books and will flip through several books in a row, declaring "ah duh" [all done] as he closes each one.

Everett is such a fun little guy!

Emery Annabelle is Seven - 02.27.2019

Emery Annabelle is 7 years old! We enjoy this sweet girl, her inquisitive and detailed nature, and we're impressed with who she's becoming. 

Emery is reading chapter books and has a visual learning style that has allowed her to memorize words quickly as she reads. And now in first grade, she is learning to spell and write, and she is beginning to meet those two skills together (i.e., she has memorized how to read words but has not memorized their spelling. But she's continuing to improve in both). 

Emery loves her little brother admittedly more than the rest of us and he loves to be where she is, mimicking and following her around. She also loves her two little one year old friends from our Bible study - the love is mutual. She is also very excited about her other little sibling to come in August, and this time we're tracking its size as compared to a fruit or vegetable. This week (17) the baby is the size of an onion!

Emery loves pretend play, craft projects, puzzles, cooking tv shows, playing school, and playing outside regardless of the weather. When she grows up, she wants to be a veterinarian. She particularly loves marine animals and knows lots of interesting facts about them!

To celebrate her birthday this year, Emery decided to have a few school friends and her little friends over for an Adopt-A-Pet birthday party today (March 2). The kids got to pick a stuffed pet, decorate a house, make a collar and leash, and do a vet check -- giving bandaids and "medicine" (tic tacs). After adopting their pets, we played some fun games. They did a "dig" for plastic eggs in our toy box (relay style), "dressed" a princess (Blake's mom and our friend Alison), raced to assemble cereal box puzzles, and played "telephone." Then we had fruit skewers, goldfish, and cupcakes. And Emery opened presents. It was a super fun party!

Emery on her actual birthday (Feb 27) opening presents from mom and dad, grandma and grandpa (Tiffanie's folks), and avia and avi (Blake's folks). 

Opening an Ariel doll that really swims in water (a gift she really wanted).

Assembling a fun globe kit from Aunt Cindy and playing with presents from Uncle Bryan and Aunt Sherry.

At Emery's Adopt-A-Pet birthday party!

 "Dress a Princess" relay

 Playing "telephone"

Everett Matthew is Sixteen Months Old - 02.10.2019

Everett Matthew is sixteen months old!

Everett is now a walking pro and can almost run a bit. When he picks up the speed, he puts his arms straight in front of him instead of up at his shoulders.

He has started saying "dath" [bath], "bubba" [bubba], "guh-guh" [thank you - in response to being handed something], "dy-der" [diaper], and he can sign "more" "please" "thank you" "water" and his version of "no" which involves saying "no" and waving his arms like an umpire calling someone safe. He's fairly reliable with communicating whether or not he wants something, although he also uses the word "no" for the answer to a lot of questions: "what does the cow say?" "No."

If you tell him to give Emery a hug, he will. But she's the only one!

His top right tooth next to the center set has poked through and we're wondering if the other ones
nearby are coming soon. He has started preferring to hold food and bite it, rather than have broken up pieces given to him.

I (Tiffanie) started working from home part-time a few weeks ago and though Everett is napping through most of that time, sometimes he's awake. He will occasionally play in the room with me (climbing on Blake's guitar case, pulling books off the shelf, opening boxes in the closet, oh and maybe playing with actual toys), but usually he begs to sit on my lap (uck! uck! [up! up!]) but it's really so he can attempt to touch the keyboard, mouse, cell phone, etc. Sometimes he leaves the room, saying "buh bye" or "ah dun" [all done] - probably trying to convince me to end my work!

A few weeks ago, Everett found out he is going to be a big brother in August - about 2 months shy of his 2nd birthday! Emery is thrilled and Everett is of course clueless about what that will mean for him! Today he had Emery's doll baby, and he was hugging and patting her back. Minutes later, he had her by the leg and was swinging her around - big brother in training!

We were busy today and almost didn't get pictures done - so we took them in his jammies right before he went to bed!

 

Everett Matthew is Fifteen Months Old - 01.10.2019

Everett Matthew is fifteen months old!

The biggest change since last month is that Everett started walking! The week he turned fourteen months, he went from taking 4-5 steps at a time to taking as many as 10. And by the week of Christmas, he was toddling all over. So far he can't stand up on his own without grabbing on to something.

Everett started asking to be picked up, but instead of saying "up," he says "uck!"

Everett still only has four teeth and molars poking through on the top and almost on the bottom.

Everett can go up and down the stairs pretty well (on his belly of course). And he can now go forward on this ride-along car. He recently switched to a bigger car seat too.

Everett enjoyed Christmas, including taking ornaments off the tree and putting them down people's shirts. He liked to push the angel on the top of the Little People nativity to play the song. And he got a new slide! He has already figured out how to climb the ladder and slide by himself - but still needs someone to catch him (whether or not he thinks that's true!)

At today's check up, Everett was 19lbs 5oz and 29.5in long.

A lot of times, Emery can get him laughing so hard he gets the hiccups, but not today. He's a very serious guy!

 

Everett Matthew is Fourteen Months Old - 12.10.2018

Everett Matthew is 14 months old!

Everett can take about 4-5 steps before going down to his knees and crawling the rest of the way. He seems pretty sturdy and controlled in his steps unlike Emery at this age who took a few wobbly steps until she fell over. Everett has started trying to cruise the walls and furniture, staying on his feet for longer.

Everett can say several words such as: go-gur [yogurt], cah-cuh [cracker], hah [hi], bye, nigh nigh [night night], gir [girl], coo [school], di-duh [diaper], bo [bow, as in rainbow], ba [ball], doh [throw], Ada [Emery], no!, no no [neigh neigh, as in what does the horse say?], dih dah [fig bar, a favorite snack], dada, mama, ba-doo [balloon, and also uses this to refer to a light], and probably others I haven’t picked up on!

Everett still has four teeth, two on top and two on bottom. And the two top molars have poked through, before any teeth in between! He’s drooling a lot, so it’s possible he could get several breaking through in a short amount of time.

Everett loves TV remotes and he knows which ones actually do something - so you can’t trick him with an old one. He also likes cell phones (and cordless phones, and ipads, etc.), but again the same logic applies; old ones aren’t good enough. And if you take one of these away from him, the reaction is exactly the same as if he’s fallen and hurt himself; the tears and crying are hysterical. What a passionate kid!

He often gets told no and has been known to shake his head no and wag his finger at us, Emery, and even other babies. He also says no while doing exactly what he’s not supposed to do - Emery did the same thing and I wondered if she just thought those things were called “no.” Haha.

Everett can throw a ball (or any toy for that matter), and also roll a ball and put it a box or bowl. He likes to ride his ride-along car but he can only seem to push himself backwards. So he will even get off, turn around and head back the other way (backwards). He likes to strum Blake’s guitar (and also drop picks and the occasional tiny pool ball inside it.)

Everett loves bathtime and even knows the sign for bath and uses it when we look at our picture book with a bathtub in it.

He adores his big sister and laughs hysterically at all sorts of silly things she says. She can often get him going with some silly phrase or word just on our drive home from school. If you ask him: Where’s Emery? He answers: “coo” [school] - even if she’s in the room! But when he wakes up from his afternoon nap and it’s time to go pick her up, I’ve heard him say: Ada! Coo! [Emery! school!].

This little guy is turning into such a fun and busy toddler!

Christmas Letter 2018

Merry Christmas from the Johnson family!

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. 

If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, 

because you will have the light that leads to life." John 8:12

In January, Blake was offered a job at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, WY. And (on our 11th anniversary to be exact) we decided to take it! That meant moving across the country with a new baby (4.5 months when we arrived) and an almost-6-year-old. But we made it. Now Blake's folks, brother, and some aunts, uncles, and cousins live only a few hours away.

We decided after years of renting, we'd like to buy a home and settle in. We found a ranch-style house with an addition on the back that has lots of bedrooms (the extras of which we use for a play room, home office, and guest room/storage room) and plenty of living space and storage space. Overall the house is modest, but certainly much bigger than any condo or townhome we've ever lived in. We are enjoying our new home and our new town!

Front of the house

Back of the house

Emery's room

Laramie is a small college town at 7,220 ft elevation. We can see mountains to our west and hills to the east. The shopping is certainly more limited than it was in northern Virginia, but there is never any traffic in this 4-mile wide town and the people are friendly and not in a hurry. Our first Sunday in town, we started attending a great church only 1 mile away and we've loved it ever since! We've met so many incredible new friends through a weekly small group, a moms Bible study, MOPS (Mothers of preschoolers), and through Blake's job.

Emery turned 6 a few days after we arrived in town. Before we left Virginia, we had a gymnastics birthday party with her friends from school, church, and her former preschool. When we arrived in Laramie, Emery transferred to a kindergarten class at Indian Paintbrush Elementary School. Her teacher said Emery transitioned well and was already ahead of the class.

Emery's 6th birthday party

The birthday girl

In March, we attended a UWyo women's basketball game in the first round of their tournament. It happened to snow about 8 inches that day, but we made it to the arena - it's only about a mile away.

UWyo women's basketball tournament

For Easter, Blake's folks came to visit. We have enjoyed having them come over several times this year!

In April, Everett and Tiffanie traveled to Indiana to visit some college friends while Blake and Emery took a trip to the mountains.The following week, we had carpet installed in nearly every room of the house. This is one of the only major house projects we've done so far; the rest have been mostly small projects.

For Memorial Day weekend, we drove to visit Blake's family and introduce Everett to the most important family member... their dog, Jaxsyn.

At the beginning of June, just shy of 8 months old, Everett started crawling and within a month, he was cruising the furniture! He also had his first trip to the ER for an eye infection :( And his first tooth!

At the end of June, I resigned from my job at NOVA (I'd been working full-time remotely since we moved). I will start back at that job part-time in January 2019. In July, my folks came to visit us in Laramie.

With Grandpa & Gramma at the park

In August, Emery got to go on her first sleepover! Jo and Alan came down to pick her up and take her back to Gillette for 3 days! They had fun at the fair.

Jo & Emery at the fair

Emery at the fair

Emery & Uncle Brandon posing on a tractor

At the end of August, Emery started 1st grade at Indian Paintbrush Elementary School. She is in advanced reading and math groups. Her teacher says she's very cooperative and attentive in class. Her class plays outside 4 times a day, and she enjoys art and music classes too. At home, she is over the moon for her baby brother, and she likes to draw, play Wheel of Fortune (hangman), make up stories, and play pretend with her dolls.

First day of 1st grade

Emery & Everett at her school

Emery's 1st grade school picture

In September, we drove to Vedauwoo, a park about 18 miles outside of town. It was a beautiful day to hike and explore. Emery wished she could play in the mountains every day!

On October 10, our baby turned 1! We celebrated with a birthday party with Jo, Alan, and Brandon! Everett enjoys playing with cell phones, remotes, and all sorts of gadgets he isn't supposed to have. He likes books and throwing balls. He loves to climb up on the couch and over any barricade we set up for him. He loves his big sister, Emery, whom he calls "Ada." Since his birthday, Everett has learned to say several words, including: no, bye-bye, hi, tee-too (thank you), mama, dada, all done, mum mum (yum yum), mo (more), doh (throw), bah (ball), ba-doo (balloon), da-deh (jaxsyn), dih-dah (fig bar, a favorite snack), go-gurt (yogurt).

Also in October, we got to go to the UWyo Homecoming football game!

For Halloween, Emery was several characters. She was a butterfly for her school parade, Strawberry Shortcake for our trick-or-treating in downtown Laramie, and Princess Tiana with her Frog Prince for our trick-or-treating on campus.

At Emery's school

Halloween parade at Emery's school

Downtown Laramie

Princess and the frog

Trick-or-treating at UW 

In November, Everett took some steps, and in early December, he continues to work on this skill. He can take a few at a time, but goes down to his knees and crawls - it's so much faster! For Thanksgiving, we traveled to Blake's folks' house to spend the holiday with them, his brother, his aunt, uncle, and cousins - 21 people in all (and one dog)!

With cousin Cameron, Elena, & family

We are grateful for our first Christmas in this home, where we have space to decorate. It's the first time ever that we haven't had to move our kitchen table to put up our tree! And our first time ever with a fireplace mantel for stockings! 

Christmas lights

Christmas trees

Mantel with stockings

Basement

We are grateful for friends, new and old. We are grateful for loving, supportive family. And we are grateful for these two sweet miracle children.

With much love,

Blake, Tiffanie, Emery, and Everett Johnson

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; 

I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. Psalm 9:1