Lots to update

Hi everyone, sorry it's been so long, I was away from home for a while and it's pretty hard to get back into the groove after so long! (Meredith...you should know!) Where to start? Well, if you hadn't already figured out the previous post (and I'm sure you did), I'm pregnant, due on/around August 11th. I hate due dates though, so none of you better start asking those all too annoying questions like, "Are you still pregnant!?" and "You haven't had that baby yet!?" That's a good way to get deleted from my e-mail list for good! Things are going pretty well...I think. I mean, I can't see the baby but I feel tired and kinda sick already but that'll pass, and I think I've probably already gained weight but oh well. I'm not freaking out...just going to have to break out the maternity jeans a little earlier this time.
Fun with daddy before our trip!
Johnny and I took a trip to my parents house Dec. 2-11th. We were supposed to fly home on the 7th, but my parents blessed our family tremendously by buying us a minivan! I absolutely love my new (to me) car and it's great not to have to move the carseat all the time! It is a "champagne" colored Honda Odyssey that fits 7 people, so we're pretty well set for a while, hehe!

We had a wonderful visit at their house and spent lots of time hanging out, sewing, playing, visiting family and friends, eating good food, and shopping of course! John's favorite part of the trip was riding on the motorcycle with Grandpa Cliff (my dad). We all thought he would be terrified since it's so loud, but to our surprise, he was grinning ear to ear when they rode back down the driveway after the first run. John couldn't get enough and was pretty upset when motorcycle time was over, but there will be plenty more of that in the future (Grandpa will make sure of it!). Here's some videos and pictures of Johnny and Grandpa on the motorcycle.





This is Johnny and Alex, a family friend
Well we got home after a 2 day drive and were both wiped out. It was nice to see Isaac again and John is still very attached to daddy since we've been back. Every morning when he wakes up the first thing he says is "Daddy? Daddy?" and he waits for Isaac to go get him up. It's pretty cute and we realized was can't go on too many long trips without daddy again. He's too missable!

Lately Isaac has also decided to switch gears and try getting into a new/old career of firefighting. He has always desired to get back into firefighting or possibly police work and decided now would be the best time in our lives to get things going in that direction. He has already begun to study for tests coming up in January and April, and just decided to get a night job as a security guard, during which he might be able to study a little as well. I'm so proud of my husband for being so determined and doing what he needs to do to switch gears. We know God is going to bless all his hard work in this transition!

Johnny's Drawings

Hi everyone, we just wanted to show you how talented Johnny is...really! He drew these today for when Isaac came home from work, hehe! Get it?...

I'll be due sometime early/mid August!

Making Cookies and Taking Baths

Well we've been stuck at home all week since John is sick...he got rid of the cough (mostly) and now just has a horrible cold with lots of snot! I know, nobody really needs the details, but if I don't tell you then you won't know how bad it is! So in order to stay sane and happy, we baked cookies. (Yes, that's a highlighter in his hand, which he wouldn't let go of, and he dipped it in the dough!) We had a lot of fun, and mostly ate dough!

Johnny has started wandering the house all day asking to take a bath. He goes in to bathroom and waits in the dark for me to come run him a bath. Yesterday I found him playing with bath toys in the tub with no water! He's so funny. He still loves to draw with crayons too...or more accurately, he loves watching mommy draw things with crayons. Last night before bed, I drew some fish on his paper with an orange crayon and he pointed to it and said "cracker." Our boy is so smart, hehe!

I also wanted to let you all know that Isaac is doing well and he is healthy. Last week he was having chest pains one night and so he decided to go in for a physical. His appointment was yesterday and the doctor said everything looked great and even his blood pressure was down a bit! Wheew! We were a little worried but now we're glad to know he's healthy and there's nothing to worry about. Thanks for all your prayers about this :)

Rainy Day Activities

Well it's quite wet already, and we are having to be creative with things to do during the day that are cheap and entertain a 16 month old (like that's hard! he plays with rocks). Last week we went to Chuck E Cheese and discovered the magic of Bob the Builder. John rode that silly tractor toy about 8 times before I had to pry him out of it to let other kids ride. He discovered "money" there also; he still has a Chuck E Cheese token and some foreign change that we dug out of our money jar, which he carries around all day. He loves putting it in a cup and jingling it. So far, he calls it "mummy"! He has also discovered coloring with crayons! My industrious littly boy will sit in his high chair for 2 hours straight coloring on blank pieces of paper. It's a nice break for me during the day, yet I worry about him getting enough energy out if I let him sit still for so long. I guess he's doing what he wants though! Two mornings ago I found John standing on the kitchen table. I went into the bedroom to fold laundry, came out to check (eerie silence in the house) and there he was, standing in the middle of the table grinning at me. I just about had a heart attack and needless to say, now we always push the chairs in.

We are also very into playing in the rain. John looks so adorable in his little rain boots and long rain jacket! He LOVES stomping in puddles! Last week while we were outside he fell into a 4" deep puddle and just laid there smiling until I picked him up. He was so wet that I had to dump water out of his boots!

We all drove the other day just to take pictures for my mom of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge which was built right next to the old one. Here's some awesome pictures...can you believe we live 2 minutes from this?! Very pretty scenery up here in Washington! Oh yeah...and that's "our" mountain from the highway right by our house, Mount Rainier.

We did have an excellent Thanksgiving with Isaac's family. John had a blast running around the Stegman house chasing and being chased by Aunty Abby and Grandpa Stegman, and the food was to die for! We're still working on getting rid of the yummy leftovers that Kathy sent home with us...this afternoon was turkey Sandwiches and tonight is turkey soup with veggies, yum! John, unfortunately, finally succumbed to his oncoming cold and is quite sick. He has had a little bit of a cough and cold for about a week; now, after an exciting Thanksgiving and very unrestful night of sleep in a different place (we stayed at the Stegmans), he has Croup and a terrible cold and fever. Hopefully we dont' have to take him to the doctor, but Croup has gotten the better of John several times now, so we probably will. I don't have any of my own pictures of Thanksgiving, but as soon as I borrow some we'll post them here. See most of you soon, we're visiting CA early December!

Big Fish, Big Cat, Big Cheesy Boy

John and I went with friends to the Point Defiance Zoo last week. It was such a neat thing to do and we met some really neat people and animals! Here are some great pictures from the aquarium in the zoo, and of the amazing lion which was literally 1 foot away from our faces through the glass barrier!! John loved the animals, even though it was sooo cold. I think it was 48 degrees outside as we made our way through the zoo.

John loved the water more than the fish I think!

This guy's name was nibbles...I wouldn't want him nibbling on me!

I took the cat picture for you mom!

John has been teething a lot lately. Last week he got 3 teeth in 5 days and was a miserable wreck of a little boy. I finally figured out that Motrin is the key to everyone's happiness when John is teething, and we're much better now. Because of teething, I've been feeling in his mouth a lot and asking him to smile and show Momma his teeth, and he obliges in a very cute manner! Here's some "cheese" as he was playing today in the toddler play area at the mall.

This past week has been such a great time! My mom came to visit and we had a blast. As usual she spoiled us rotton with quilts and gifts, and we got to show her around our new town. Besides John being a pill half the time due to teething, he was still his cute little self, loving on Grandma all weekend. He loves playing with his new shape sorter set, and now knows "ircle" (circle) which Grandma Hammond taught him. He also now loves saying "I got you!" and calling people "honey". Here's just a few pictures from during the visit. I need to get more from my mom.

Okay, I couldn't get the next 4 pictures to load so I'll try again sometime soon. Have a good week everyone!

Hunter's Farm Pumpkin Patch

Today John and I had so much fun going to the pumpkin patch. We met up with some women and their kids in a stay-at-home-moms group here in Tacoma and made the long (eternally long with unhappy kid) drive south to Olympia (45min). The weather was supposed to be wet and ugly, but the day turned out quite nice. It was cold and slightly drizzly when we got there but warmed up and stopped raining for the 2 hours we were there! Hunter's Farm is by far the neatest place I've ever taken John to. It was extremely kid friendly, with lots of ways to get dirty...and to clean up! There were actually outdoor sinks to wash up after getting muddy, petting animals, and letting them lick food out of your hands.

First we rode the tractor-pulled wagon contraption out to the pumpkin patch to choose our very own pumpkin. They were all different sizes and scattered through about a 2 acre plot, but it was lots of fun getting muddy walking from one side to the other. Then the tractor picked us back up on the other side and brought us back to the main part of the farm. We washed the pumpkins off and took them to the car.

"Alright, I don't know about them pumpkins and mud, but I like this here bush"

"Big..."

"...little" (This is the one we picked!)

"Alright mom, this is too fun!"

"What next? It's cold."

Then we got to pet the animals! John absolutely loved the pygmy goats, and there were lots of them. The goats would eat right out of your hand and let John hug them; they climbed all over the fences and up a huge scaffold made just for them. It was a very neat experience for both of us, and as you can see John had a blast!

After that we took some pictures inside and out with scarecrows, lots of hay, and some cutout picture things. "Smile, here's my toofers!"He's getting so big!Poor tired boy

Doesn't John look thrilled? He was so tired! It was quite an experience for a 15 month old! Oh and did I forget to mention the huge hay maze, created under an old tin-roofed barn structure, and when you reached the end there was a 15 foot high long slide!

All in all it was a fantastic trip and I can't wait to take John (and daddy) back to Hunter's Farm at Christmas to chop down our own tree!

Fall in Tacoma

So beautiful! It has been pretty cold here over the last couple weeks but the scenery keeps getting prettier. The trees are orange and red and yellow, and Johnny loves finding the leaves and carrying them around. Last weekend was Isaac's first weekend off in about 3 months, though before that he'd only ever had Sundays off. We were in heaven with daddy home all day Saturday and Sunday! It was such a blessing to get to go down to the water for a walk on the trail.

Sunday was such a busy day! We went to church with some friends of ours (Shawn and Jodi) and after that we drove quite a way to pick up a rocking chair for Johnny. We were able to relax for a while during John's nap, but after that we drove to Seattle to pick up the Stegmans truck. We drove back home and Isaac went further south to pick up our new entertainment center. It's so neat!!! Thank you Craigslist.com. Anyone who doesn't know what that is should go right now and find something fun. We finally feel like our house is furnished and set up like a home, yay! The kitties love the new stuff too! Okay, hope all is well. We're around. By the way, I lost my Comcast e-mail address so it's changed. If you need it, please call me, or e-mail my mom or one of my relatives, they all have it, but I lost most everyone else's e-mail addresses. So if you want to stay in touch, call me!

"Look at my new chair guys!"

I took John to an open gym playtime for babies today and met up with some friends and their boys. It was lots of fun! Jamie is wearing red and Jodi has on blue. Their sons are Alex and Austin.

The beast