11 year Anniversary!

We went fancy shmancy this year for our anniversary and left ALL four boys with Mandi for a couple hours while Ben and I went downtown for lunch in the top floor of the Hancock building. It was a fun date with a wonderful husband. Being married, and being married to a very poor busy and never home student.resident, is not easy or fun most of the time, but to quote Kelly Clarkson 'What doesn't kill you makes you STRONGER' so cheesy I know but it's how I feel. Sometimes I was afraid this path would kill or relationship and at time it felt it was dead, but I think all marriages go through these times in one way or another. We've stuck it out and worked through things and really are very happy together!!

Christmas 2014

 This was such a fun Christmas!! Ben requested some time off so he was home and it was so so so so so so so so x infinity wonderful!! I felt myself start to thaw out from the zombie mode I'd been in since Cody was born. I didn't thaw completely but it was a start and it has felt so wonderful to feel human again. Ben was a ton of wonderful help and a fun dad the whole time. We spent Christmas Eve at my dad's family party seeing my grandparents and cousins and other extended family. It was pretty much the same as every other year. The kids loved it. Christmas morning was a blast. They were spoiled as usual, partly from us and mostly from the grandparents!

 The three older boys had each made eachother a handmade gift. Brannon had made some crayon art for Colin and Evrett...

 Cody wasn't really a fan of the morning. He mostly cried and was a little entertained by the garbage laying around.

 Melted Crayon art by Brannon

 Colin made Cody a Chewbacca stuffed animal. I can't find a picture of it though! It is so so cute.

 Aunt Megan sent the boys some really cool books on Aliens and Greek Mythology

 Brannon FINALLY got the Star Wars movies he has always wanted.

Gramma Lala gave the boys their own pairs of moccasin slippers. Evrett was so excited he stripped all his jammies off to be able to try them on :)

 The boys sweet homemade gifts for me and ben. hearts melt.

 And then days and days of lego, snap circut, erector set playing

 Fancy Christmas Dinner

 And then lots of playing on their kindles. Thats what Ben and I gave them. I found an awesome deal on black friday

 lots and lots of fun relaxing and movie watching!

 We went to an outdoors store one day that had fun exhibits to look at.

 But cody was kidnapped by a bear!

 Ben surprised me with one of his sister's paintings. I love it!

I'm writing this post three months after the fact so I'm not as emotionally involved as I'd be if written closer to christmas but I really do love this time of year to focus on our Savior and the ultimate gift he has given us. I am so grateful for the gospel in our lives and for the influence it has on the boys.

The big Boys happenins...

Brannon and Evrett looking very nice for church

 Evrett made this cute playdoh guy and named him "Alberto". I thought it was so funny because he obviously has been influenced by the area we live in which is mostly hispanic. When Colin was his age in Philly he had a teddy bear he names "Kishawn" -a very Philly name.

We had a ward party that Melanie Beemster and I decorated for. We made paper snowflakes and hung them from the ceiling. It was pretty cute.

 The boys and their Legos! Brannon made a football player and field for Ben...

 The boys being silly. They are General Grievous from Star Wars. They guy with the extra two arms who uses four light sabors.

 Evrett loves "washing dishes" aka playing in the sink

 and we found him exercising in his birthday suit one night...

 Brannon drew pics of Ben....

Evrett drew a self portrait.

Colin and his Lego guys

 Brannon made me  the "Hunger Games" girl

Fun boys.

Cody at 7 months

 You are suddenly grown up!!

And one very handsome little man.

 You are army crawling everywhere!! and seem to know where trouble can be found...

 Johnson Grandparents came to visit and you loved Grammy J.

 You have great older brothers who hate to hear you cry. I got out of the shower to find Evrett had dragged your highchair all the way to the front room to be by the piano and he had turned on some fun music for you to listen to so you'd stop crying :)

 you love love love to play

 And are just so stinkin adorable!!!

 but you still wear me out. You aren't sleeping well. Every once in a while you will wake up only once or  twice during the night but usually its 3-5 times. One of you brothers caught this lovely pic of me...

 And you love playing with the Christmas tree and gifts.

Silly Ben

 Ben brought me home my tag for his Dental Implant conference. It's hard to see because of the flash but he registered me as "Jordan Hotty Johnson".

And we got a kick out of this box that arrived for him labeled "HUMAN TISSUE" Gross.

6 months!!

So 6 months have flown by, despite life not always being very easy or fun! But even with all the difficulties Cody has brought so much stinkin joy to our family! just looking at him makes us all so happy! He has this infectious smile that literally lights up the whole room (and his whole face), even random strangers comment on how adorable his smile is. So lets see, some 6 month facts:

Is 27.25 inches long-putting him at 75% in height
Weighs 17.7 lbs-50%

He has the softest little peach fuzz hair that is still a mix of dark hair and newer blonde hair
His eyes are

He LOVES his brothers, but he really lights up when Brannon is around. We say they must have been best friends in the pre-earth life. He used to be a little hesitant Evrett came around but now he just laughs and smiles...maybe because he has a form of defense against him...hair pulling! If your head is anywhere near his hands he swiftly snatches onto handfulls and pulls!! Ouch!

He likes to play with and eat his feet. This has lead to many lost pairs of socks.

He sometimes sleeps well, waking up only once at night. But small things can throw him off making him wake up very often and only mom can get him back to sleep. If he wakes up and someone else comes to get him, he is MAD. We tried letting him cry it out once and he was so mad at mom for a full day after. While nursing he would suck a couple times, catch my eye, unlatch, look and me and scream in my face, then turn back to latch on and suck a few more times before repeating. A bit dramatic. :)

He sometimes takes naps. Sometimes he likes to go places, sometimes he likes to be home. Sometimes I manage to get it right and we have a happy baby all day & night. More often he gets dragged out to something we have to go to and he isn't too happy about it.

He has been eating baby food since 4 months old and he LOVES it. We recorded the first feeding. He literally lunged at the spoon and we couldn't feed him fast enough. He still is that way. He will eat anything we feed him. All the baby food, rice or oatmeal cereal, cherrios are a favorite!, graham crachers, ritz, little pieces of cheese, pancakes, bread, avocados. He loves it all!

He has been rolling over since:

He has the cutest laugh but he makes you work for it. Once you've got it though he loves it.

He tries to give kisses by eating your whole face.

He can sit up really pretty well.

He likes playing with his toys.

He Hates his carseat. period.

He has been sucking his thumb, and still does, but not as often as he used to. When he does it is very very cute.

He handles loud noise and chaos just fine.

He has been "talking" for a little while but it is more like scretching. He opens his mouth up wide and does this high pitched scretch/talk. Its funny.

He likes being in the bath and has started splashing like crazy.

He doesn't miss a thing. He has always be so very alert and responsive. He can be very intense and determined. He likes to feed himself and he is so quick to grab anything within his reach (that he probably shouldn't have). He reminds me a lot of Colin's personality as a baby.

From mom: These last 6 months have been hard. My body is very physically and emotionally and mentally exhausted. Ben went back to work 12 hours after I got home from the hospital and has had maybe 3 or 4 days off since then so I am just plum worn out. I'm still primary president and helping at the school and in cub scouts so there is just a lot to do. The house is a mess most of the time and I don't always think straight. I have had to give up exercise because it makes me too hungry and worn out to handle right now. Most afternoons, when the older boys get home from school, my head just spins. They all want/need attention at the same time and I never get a break to relax and recharge to be ready for the next day. I pretty live in a constant state of headache burnout. BUT I wouldn't trade all of it for anything! Each of these sweat kids make my like much HARDER but they make it infinity time BETTER.  I love them each so very much and they are such good boys.

Happy 6 months Cody Bear.