Look at the hair! It is getting so shaggy and I love it!! It also made me smile that we were able t capture bunny in these 12 months pictures! That is all for now - the amazing and talented Mary Pat is going to take some great one year pictures of the little guy - so you can stay tuned for that!

Oh how I miss all those sweet summer clothes!!

I love these, look at those little legs!

You thought I was done with the birthday stuff, weren't you? I am sorry folks - not quite yet. Just a few more so bear with me! I have tried to get some pictures taken of Connor at each of his "milestone" months. I am a little off, ie: this is roughly three months, maybe a little closer to 2.5 months, but you get the picture. I was going through all of them and had to share. Look at how much our baby has grown this year! Remember hern-dog??

Ho, Ho, Ho!

I couldn't resist - how cute is our little Santa man? I still can't believe he is just standing there - how big this sweet boy is getting. Every time he stands we cheer so he know looks at everyone like "come on, I am doing it!!"

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning!! We were so excited to see that Santa made a visit! On a side note, it was REALLY fun playing Santa this year!!!! I already can't wait for next year. We had such a wonderful Christmas and we just feel so blessed. As we drove by the hospital on the way to the Johnson Christmas we just looked at each other and said how thankful we were to spend Christmas with family this year and not in the hospital like last year. We are so thankful for all the wonderful blessings in our lives, especially our sweet Connor! Please excuse my 19 chins - here is the clan on Christmas morning! We were just getting ready to make some breakfast. We had kind of a different Christmas this year - my Granny called on Wednesday night and said she and Clete had just gotten the shingles vaccine and when they went home they read that they were supposed to stay away from children. So, I called the pediatrician the next morning and sure enough, they had to stay away from Connor for SIX WEEKS! Thankfully they are leaving for Gulf Shores for the winter, but we were so sad that we wouldn't be able to spend Christmas with them! So, while my mom and Davey went to my mom's side of the family, we went straight over to the Johnson's! It was a great Christmas and we will see my aunt's/uncles and cousins tonight! No one was too disappointed though when they saw that Davey was here!! :)
Someone is getting really good at standing all my himself!

Our little family getting ready to head over to see Nana, Grandpa, Aunt Jen, Paw Paw and Uncle Johnathan!
Connor and Paw Paw in their matching re sweaters :)
Sampling Daddy's new flask...do I see trouble in our future?!
Loving his retro rocket!
Turning the light on and off in his new kitchen!

standing SO BIG on his own! He is getting so close to taking those first official steps - we THINK he may have taken some - but we are waiting to see it again before calling if official :)
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

So, the pictures are backwards, but I was too lazy to fix them. Anyone else sometimes feel like that after the holidays!? Ha! We started out the holiday weekend with our annual exchange with the Erker/Diehr family. We went to Annie and George's house this year so they didn't have to take their sweet, sweet six week old TWIN girlies out in the cold!! We had such a great time - I held cute babies, Connor and Frankie played - it was great! The food was delicious and the company was pretty great too. It was so nice to start off the holiday season spending time with great friends! After that we went to my Uncle Bill and Uncle David's house for Christmas Eve dinner. We had a great time and the food was delicious! Connor was great considering we were out WAY past his bedtime and their house is not exactly child friendly. Say cheese Granny!
I just thought he looked a little too cute sitting at the big table in his little chair! He seriously ate a pound of sweet potatoes I think - he cleared his plate and then mine!
How cute are these two?! Neither one of them really wanted to have their picture taken, but they looked too cute to pass it up! I have another picture where Connor is just staring at Frankie like, am I going to be that big someday?! Too cute!!
We had such a great Christmas Eve - after dinner we were tuckered out and ready to see if Santa would visit in the morning!

Zoo Lights!

Since Uncle Bubba was in town, we decided we would do something fun with the little man. Zoo lights it was! We had such a fun time strolling through the zoo looking at all the lights. We even got to see the penguins, they were precious. Connor was mesmerized by all the lights he kept going "ooohhh" and just stared from his stoller. The poor guy could barely move we had him so bundled up! He took his first ride around the carousel and loved it!!! He kep laughing as we went up and down, he is too stinkin sweet. I was holding on to him for dear life though, we were going pretty fast - at least pretty fast when it comes to a momma holding on to her one year old on the carousel standards.

These penguins were SO cute! We had such a fun time walking through and checking them out. We saw them dive into the water and huddle around, we kind of wanted to take one home with us. Connor loved them so much that his Uncle Davey bought him a stuffed one at the gift shop, he is a sweetheart that Uncle Davey!

All bundled up! He was so warm and toasty and had such a great time! He is all ready for Santa to visit him in two days :)

SURPRISE!

Guess who surprised us this Christmas? Uncle Bubba!!!! Connor, Bj, the Erker's and I knew that he was coming home, but no one else in the family did! It was so much fun to surprise my mom - she was shocked! She kept saying she was getting so sad that he was going to be alone on Christmas, but thankfully I was able to keep my mouth shut!!!

Connor was so excited to see his Uncle - he couldn't believe it! We are so thankful to have him home this year and thankful he survived the 36 hour train ride from Montana!!

New Traditions

We have been so excited to start new traditions with our little family around the holidays. I spent a lot of time thinking about traditions in the hospital last year and we can't wait to put them all into motion. This is one tradition we are starting next year, the elf on a shelf.
We can't wait for this cute little bugger to join our family every holiday season, making sure Connor is being nice and not naughty! :)

On a more serious note, I knew that once Connor's birthday rolled around that I wanted to do something with him to give back. We are so fortunate to have him and to be able to give him the things he needs and wants, we want to make sure we are always giving and not just receiving. We had so many amazing doctors, nurses, friends and family helping take care of us in the hospital after Connor's birth, and one thing we received that was so touching was two blankets. People made them so that the NICU babies would be warm. We thought this would be such a great thing to do for the NICU babies this year - make some cozy fleece blankets to keep them warm! It doesn't look like much next to Connor, but we will be sending 15 fleece blankies to the sweet babies in the NICU! This year we decided to send them back to Colorado (thanks for the idea Granny) and next year we will send them somewhere else! We are so thankful for our sweet bugster and the generosity shown from others, it is the least we can do every year to celebrate the birth of our sweet baby boy!

Standing Up...

...in the bath tub! This little guy LOVES to stand in the bathtub, he can't get enough of it. He thinks it is way too much fun to stand on the edge and see what's going on. I think he is going to be a shower kid, as soon as he is old enough. He is also starting to let go a lot more when he is standing - he forgets sometimes that he isn't holding on and will just stand. He is getting so close to the walking, it's kind of crazy! I still am not so sure if we are ready for that. I really just though the picture as too cute not to share :) You should have seen the crazy hair he had going on. He stuck his fingers in his oatmeal this morning and then ran them through his hair - my mom said he looked like he was wearing mouse! He looked like the nutty professor, it was pretty funny!

One Year Stats!

I was kind of laughing when I made Connor's one year appointment at the doctor. I said I wanted his birthday to be spent having fun, doing what he wanted to do - so I made the appointment for Friday. I laughed though when I realized that Connor's perfect day would include no diaper changes or face washes! Ha! Okay, I know you are curious to see how big the little guy is, here are the stats:

Height: 30 inches - 30th percentile
Weight: 20lbs - 15th percentile
Head Circ: 47 - 70th percentile

The doctor said he looked great! We have started the transition to cow's milk and he has done great so far. She said not to worry about his weight he would be back up on his curve soon enough, maybe the whole milk will help boost him up. I sure wish I had a problem where I wasn't gaining any weight, or I could lose it! :) Ha!! We just hung out and finished wrapping Christmas presents the rest of the day. Connor got three shots, so he spent the rest of the day snoozing them off. Poor guy, I hate the shots!!

I had to show off his other pair of jammies from Auntie G - he looks pretty stinkin cute in that car, doesn't he? I love the Santa hat, I am so excited for Christmas!!

ONE!

First of all, my little moose, sit back and relax, this is a long one! Connor Francis Johnson, where has this year gone? How is it that I am writing this to you on the eve of your first birthday? We just bathed, lotioned and jammied you - for the last time as an 11 month old. I just finished giving you your bottle and snuggling with you before bedtime. I found myself just holding on to you because I couldn't believe that when I got you in the morning, you would be one. Wow. I don't even know where to begin. This has been the best year of my entire life, I could not even begin to put into words how much of a blessing you are to us. I have enjoyed every single moment of being your momma, and I will continue to enjoy and cherish every moment in the future. I knew I would love you, but nothing could prepare me for how much I would love you. We have watched you grow from a 4 lb baby who couldn't breathe on his own to a 20 lb little man - who is all over the place! We are so proud of you and can't wait to see what you get into this next year! You are not yet walking, but you are getting so very close! Your little personality is coming out everyday and you are such a ham!!! You do this funny thing with you feet - you will use your feet to push around in a circle on the floor when you are sitting - it cracks us up every time! I need to get a video, it's too cute not to share. Your laugh, grin and smiles are contagious and there is nothing in this world like the sound of you laughing. You love your doggies, balls, balloons, your farm set and your family. You make everyone around you happy and you are a total flirt! Every once in awhile you get "shy" but it's pretty sweet because you snuggle in to whomever is holding you. You have the cutest little crawl and you are FAST! You love to play in the dog's water and you will speed up around the corner when you know we are after you. You still love to play outside, turn on the lights and play. The minute you wake up, you are ready for action! I could go on and on, but I will let the pictures explain what we did for your first birthday sweet Connor!

This is the face I got when I sang you happy birthday this morning and said "say cheese, birthday boy!" I love it!! I also need to mention that bunny is your new favorite friend. You have bunny with you all the time and you guys just love each other. You give bunny kisses and hugs too, see - you are the sweetest little man!

We went to Gymboree and did the play and learn class this afternoon. It was so fun, you loved it! As a bonus - the focus of the class was "balls" which are your new favorite toys, along with balloons. You just wanted to sit on the floor and play with all the balls, you didn't care about anything else!

Somehow they knew it was your birthday (ha!) and gave you a balloon and a ball! To say you were excited would be an understatement. In fact, all the kiddos in your class were excited - ones little boy came up, took it from you and ran away! You were sweet as can be though and didn't say a word :)

We had to get another shot of the whole family on your birthday!!

You adore your grandparents and your Aunt Jen - and I think the feeling is pretty mutual on their part too! You had so much fun helping Grandpa and Aunt Jen putting together your ball popper and you LOVED your new toy!! Thanks Nana, Grandpa, and Aunt Jen!

Sweet as can be, our little one year old! All ready for dinner and cake at Nana and Grandpa's house.

By the end of the evening, you had had enough :) You were all partied out - after all, it is hard to party all week long! I think we waited a little too long and he was ready for bed, but it was a very successful first birthday, if you ask me. We cleaned you up, took you home and put you to bed!

But, before going to bed, I had to get one last picture of you with your "I am one" sign! It was a wonderful day sweet boy, we hope you enjoyed your first birthday! Thank you for being such a sweet little man, we love you to pieces!

The Present!

I have been SO excited to give Connor his birthday present. I bought it about three months ago and it has been taunting me from the corner of our bedroom. I couldn't wait to see what he thought of his cozy coupe!! I stayed up until 11pm last night lovingly piecing this thing together just so I could zoom Connor around the house in it this morning. It was a total hit, he LOVES it!!!! He laughed all the way down the hallway to wake up Granny and loved when we went vroom, vroom around the corners! My heart hurt I was so excited, my precious little ONE year old loves his gift and I couldn't be more excited! I took about three dozen pictures, but I decided to only post my very favorites!

What a difference a Year Makes!

This was our sweet boy a year ago, isn't it incredible what 365 days will do? He was so tiny and needed so much help at first, but now you wouldn't even be able to tell! I will admit that I just cried looking at these pictures - all the memories and emotions just came rushing back, December 17th, 2008 was one of the happiest days of my entire life! I still remember it like it was yesterday and I will never forget the first time I laid eyes on his beautiful little face.

Now look at him, what a difference a year makes! He is all grins, giggles and sweet, sweet little boy. He had such a great birthday and we love him so very much!

On the 8th day of Christmas "G" brought to Me...

These super cute Christmas jammies! Thanks "G"!

Ho-Ho-Ho!

It would not be Christmas around casa de Granny without the annual "kid" picture with Santa! Every year since we have had santa, we have a picture of all the kiddos in front of it. Though, we all missed last year and this year we are missing Uncle Bubba. But, it was really fun to have Connor there for the first time, for his second Christmas!

I think Scout was afraid of Santa, he would have no part of posing! I have to say that this might be my favorite year with Santa, I love the balloons!!

They look like they are waiting for Santa!

I just thought this was the sweetest picture. Connor LOVES to look out the window and he LOVES to be outside! I think he would live outside if we let him, and I think that is one of my many, many favorite things about him. We can't wait for all of our camping trips this summer! I also wanted you all to see that his party outfit was not too short, thought it looks like it in all the pictures! :)