Happy New Year!

Hello all, this is Grandpa Gene.  Craig and Natalie are both working tonight (New Years Eve) and it falls to Carol and I to watch the little one. (and write the blog) As I write this, Carol is walking the floors with a whimpering Kylie who is clutching her little doll in one hand and Carol's iphone in the other, playing Lionel Richie who is trying to sing her to sleep.
      The day started with breakfast here at our house.  It was the first time we had seen the little star since Christmas and while she gave Carol a big hug and wouldn't let go of her, she played the shy one with me and kept looking at her shoes. She did demonstrate her now famous four point crawl for us and was rewarded with the appropriate applause and adulation.
     I got to spend some quality time with a happy but subdued Kylie this afternoon and my folks stopped by to see her.  My mom and dad love her like she was their own and it reminded me of all the people who love this little one, not only on our side and the Johnson's side but just about everyone who has ever met her.  It is a wonderful thing to have that much love in your life.
    Later we all had a turkey dinner that grandma Carol fixed and then Craig and Natalie kissed Kylie goodbye.  She started waving goodbye with a big smile on her face until they walked down the driveway and she realized that they were leaving and she was staying.   To her credit she didn't cry, at least not then.  She has a hard time going to sleep without nursing and she really misses her mommy at bedtime.  After Carol gave it her best shot, I was able to get her to sleep while walking her around and yes, still listening to the sounds of Lionel Richie.  That was 10 pm and its 11 pm now.  I don't think I will last until the new year (Carol has been asleep for an hour) so I will just wish you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year. 

I'm sorry that we didn't take any pictures today, so I thought I would include one of my favorites of Kylie from this past year.

Country Grandma, Grandpa, Aunties and Uncles Bid Kylie May and her Mommy and Daddy Bye Bye for this Christmas 296

Our precious Kylie May,

It has been our greatest joy to have you added to our Johnson Christmas this year! It is with a heavy heart that we assist writing this short little blog as your Mommy and Daddy pack the car in preparation for your departure back to your home. Hopefully it will also be a little bit of a boost though as you all arrive back home after your drive in the dark and arrive ready for bed and a little touch of sleep before another busy day begins for you all tomorrow.

Today has been another fun busy day. We enjoyed attending church as a family, we even got to hear the pterodactyl make a little bit of an appearance during Pastor Al's sermon. We all enjoyed sharing private proud smiles as we caught each others eyes around the room.:) You make all of our hears so happy and yes, so very very proud of all of your growth and accomplishments. :)

Sunday lunch wouldn't be the same without a little bite from El Tap, our favorite after church restaurant. You sat up in a high chair during this visit and even ordered your very own entree, a bowl of fresh shredded cheese! You were so happy as usual and enjoyed your surroundings I'm sure of it.

After church and treat out to lunch it was an afternoon of naps, cards, Aunties Lane and Quin horsey back rides, and lots and lots of across the floor, around the corners, and under the tables crawling It is Mom and Dad's first job to finish baby proofing your house now when you get home. The time has definately come!

 Alisa, Destinne, Auntie Jill, Uncle Mike, Uncle Tim, Taylor, Josh, and Erica , as soon as she got home from work, enjoyed reading you stories, teaching you animal sounds, tea parties, playing the piano with Grandpa, feeding you all sorts of yummy babybullet prepared meals,and just hugging and loving on you . Oh yes, and we must not forget their clapping and applauding for your every movement and action. This attention certainly makes you smile and join in the clapping. I fear you will look around and feel pretty lonely tomorrow when you look in vain for your well trained audience and find them nowhere. Trust me when I say the feeling will be mutual as we all look for your "first thing in the morning smiles", listen for the sounds of your babbles and talking, and try desparately to find the little one scooting across the floor. We will miss you, and your Mommy and Daddy until we see you all again.

Thank you little one for the joy you have brought to our home and family. We love you so big we can not put it into words! Your very first Christmas spent here with all of our family has been the most blessed and best gift this Country Grandma and Grandpa could ever have recieved.  Please remember everyday of your life how very special you are to each of us and how very much we love you, pray for you, and think of you!!!!

Continue to grow healthy and strong and we look forward already to our next opportunity to spend family time with all of you. Safe travels home!

All My Love Sweet Kylie May,
Grammy

Crawling even with spoons in her hand, talented.

Kylie's first horsey ride, thank you Auntie Lane.

Kylie loves playing the piano with Grandpa.

Hey Grandpa, that's me in that book!

Kylie May's Official Crawling Day 295

Was it hours of encouragement and throngs of supporters, or just Thomas Edison's great invention clicking on in her head?... we will never know.  All we know is what we saw, and what we saw was miss Crawly (I mean Kylie) May up on her hands and knees, crawling all over the house.  Wow! It is crazy how one day she is moving like G.I. Jane and the next day she is up and moving like it was never an issue.  We are so proud of you little lady!

That was the big news. Everything else was just about like it always is at Grandpa David and Grandma Didi's house: games, playing with aunties/uncles, naps, and a nice cozy fire.  Tomorrow is the trip home, so we will enjoy the rest of the time we have left here.

More to come soon,

Craig

A few photos from yesterday...

Relaxing with dad while Thad read her some stories, we don't often see her this relaxed, we were ready to have Thad move in and do all her story times :o)

Cousins Christmas, the babies, Phoebe (8 months), Barrett (18 months) and Kylie (9.5 months)

Natalie and Kylie, Melissa and Barrett, Isabel and Phoebe

 Photos from today...

Reading with Auntie Jill and holding her baby

Lunch time with Auntie Quin

Kylie May and The Cousins Party Day 294

In Natalie and I's defense we at least gave Kylie one day off before introducing her to another crowd and another party.  Also, there were no presents involved in the making of this party.  Just dinner, games, and playing with family. It is funny to watch our little socialist because she seems to be getting a bit more stranger anxiety in her old (relative, of course) age.  Usually she is all smiles at a party...even if she doesn't recognize a face.  Tonight, however, she turned into a shy little caterpillar and nestled into Nat's arms.  Never fear! There was a remedy.  A few Cheerios and noisy toy later, the little social butterfly broke free from her cocoon.  She loved playing with her cousins Barrett (18months) and Phoebe (7-months).  Her favorite game of the night was running (supported by Nat of course) and screaming down the hall as she chased Barrett....then running the other way, screaming, as Barrett chased her.  I think I was more entertained watching them play than they were playing.  What fun.

Big Moment: watching Kylie take a few, undeniable, crawling steps.  She has seemed interested in crawling the last few days but today was her day to shine.  She took about 4 good crawls before dawning the camouflage and going back to the army crawl.


Other news for today:  Uncle Thad came over and had story hour with little miss "all ears" Kylie.  She was a bit weary of his Christmas break (he's a teacher) beard, but in the end she had few coy smiles for her uncle.  It has been a few months since we've seen Thad, so it was a lot of fun to hang out for a bit this afternoon.

More to come soon (including tonight's pictures),

Craig

Kylie May's Calm After the Storm Day 293

    When we were kids, the only things that got us out of bed before 9 with a smile on our faces were Christmas morning, Easter egg hunt, and our birthday. Today we added another to this list. We'll give you two guesses what it is. It has four teeth and loves to say "wow". What? You still haven't guessed? It would have to be the one and only Kylie May that holds this overwhelming power over us. We've been hearing about Kylie's impeccable record of waking up at 8:21 every morning on her own, and we were eager to volunteer to babysit so Natalie and Craig could get a few more Z's. Kylie was as happy as a bee in a vault of molten honey to be playing with us for two and a half hours. We played, we rattled, we ate, we walked, and we talked. We are happy to report that Kylie did not shed one tear on our watch. It would break our hearts to see Kylie crying while in our care, so we were happy that our few hours alone together was a happy time for us all.
    After a few hours of playing with us, Kylie was excited to see her mommy and daddy. We all took turns entertaining her with 30+ year old toys that grandma has been saving for her grandchildren. She also enjoyed playing with her new doll from Uncle Tim and her musical walker from Roy and Renae. Despite the busy few days she's had, she has regained enough of her energy to be quite the character. There is nothing like the sight of twelve adults getting more excitement by watching the baby play than the baby gets from playing. She was full of squeals, and words like "woahhhhh", "wow", "da da da da", and "ma ma ma ma ma". We've been doing our best to encourage crawling, but she did her fair share of walking and chasing today. Auntie Quin loved pretending to run away from "Monster Kylie", and Kylie thought it was a very funny game. Kylie opened a few more of her presents today, and was happy to see a tea set from Uncle Mike and Auntie Jill. She wasted no time in putting the spoon in her mouth, only to find that nothing was there. Nonetheless, she still had fun playing with it, and we were all imagining the countless tea parties she will hold in the future. Another fun gift that Kylie opened today was from Uncle Kyle; although she was a little bit unsure of her Cabbage Patch doll named Macy Autumn, we're sure they will warm up to each other soon enough. All in all, everyone had a relaxing day full of games, food, and laughter in the company of family. Since this will most likely be our last guest entry on this blog, we would each like to leave a little message for our little angel so she'll always be able to read it and see how special she is to us.
   
    Kylie May, you should know that I am the one that types out our guest blogs, and your Auntie Quin always gets mad at me for writing your name so much. If it were up to me I would put your name in every sentence because I love thinking about you. You are such a joy in my life, and it brings a smile to my face just seeing your picture or thinking of your name. I have been so excited for this Christmas because I knew it meant spending time with you and the rest of our family. You are perfect Kylie, and no matter how far away I may be, I am always just a phone call away. I love you so much Kylie May!
    ---Auntie Lane

    Kylie Bear ( I've taken to calling you that during this visit.. who knows if it will last), as much as I hate to admit it, that is a hard message to follow. I love to tease your Auntie Ouiser and tell her she is not as good of an Aunt as me, but the truth is that she and I, as well as our whole family, love you more than we can say. We jump at the chance to spend time with you, dread the times when we have to leave you and spend as much time as possible thinking about you and the joy you bring to our lives. Last year at this time, it was hard to imagine having a little baby around all of the time, but now we can't imagine a world without you. I hope that wherever we are in a year or 10 years or 20 years from now, that you will always remember how much you are loved by me and our whole family. I love you soo soo soo much Kylie May Johnson (more so's= more than Auntie Ouiser hehe)
     ---Auntie Quin

So, she doesn't exactly know how to open presents yet...

But it doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy what's inside.

No one tells a story like Grammy.

It's a mirror!

"Mom, you didn't tell me I had a twin!"

Poor Kylie sucked and sucked, but she found no treasure in the Cabbage Patch bottle.

Kylie Mays Christmas Rewind Day 292

Second verse, same as the first.  A little bit louder and a little bit worse (figuratively of course). Today was the full fledged Johnson family Christmas.  Kylie had way too (verified for proper use) much fun? how much? Enough that she gave us our very own Christmas miracle, and ended up taking a two and half hour nap. Yes, that is a new personal best for our little sleep chaser (previous record came in at about 2 hours).

After nap time uncle Roy (a friend since kindergarten) and Auntie Renae came over to play. and yes. They did bring Paige and Liam with them.  This is the first time Nat and I have ever met Liam and the first time we've seen Paige since she was a month old.  It was way too much fun.  After watching the play date, one thing was obvious. The tides of Christmas are shifting from adult back to the kiddos.  That means: soft ornaments, sippy cups, and raids on Toys-R-Us.  It has been verified. Kids at Christmas make everything more jolly.

Besides playing with Liam and Paige, Kylie loved opening all her gifts from her aunties, uncles, grandma, and grandpa. The holiday stamina is still not quite there, though, so we pushed pause on the paper tearing until tomorrow when she is re-energized and ready to tackle the gift opening again.  Our little Who from Whoville thought it was great getting new clothes, books, and toys.  One of her favorites tonight (even though she really loved everything) was the dolly that Uncle Tim got for her.  I have never seen a 9-month old have so much fun with a doll. She hugged it, kissed it, smiled at it, yada...yada...yada, and just couldn't get enough.  Looks like her motherly instincts are shining through.

Another great day with family and Christmas fun

More to come soon,

Craig

P.S. Kylie loved meeting her Uncle Mark and my Uncle Mike for the first time today. She also had the pleasure of getting to say hi to Auntie Shena for the first time since she was a month old.   

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The aftermath of two Christmases

Kylie May's First Christmas Day 291

Here's the scene:  It's Christmas day, the tree is up (as you already know), the lights are on, all the presents are organized perfectly, the music is playing, excitement is in the air, Nat and I anxiously wait for Kylie to crawl (army crawl of course) over and start tearing into her gifts.  Our tiny pseudo Grinch had other plans. She sat smack dab in the middle of the floor without moving a muscle.  Even the best plans don't seem so great without audience participation. Luckily for us, her lapse in Christmas spirit was very short lived.  Despite seeing her new Radio Flyer, jungle gym box, and other fun toys, she still seemed most interested in pulling ornaments off the tree.  It really comes as no surprise, but it did validate all our earlier assumptions.

After some fun at our house, we headed to great Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Gene's  for some more Christmas adventure.  Sporting her festive tights, Kylie loved getting to see and play with grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.  While the whole event was great we did learn one thing.  Kylie's Pirate Gift Exchange skills still leave a little to be desired. 

It was only after the last guest left and the holiday buzz quieted that our busy bee decided that napping was a good idea.  She was exhausted the entire Christmas but in true Kylie fashion she powered through and refused to miss a single moment. 

What she didn't know is that a Porterville road trip and a house full of aunties, uncles, and grandparents awaited.  With enough singing and playing she handled the trip without much ado.   Sleep almost tackled her right before we arrived, but the remedy for sleepiness (at least in this child) is a house full of family waiting to play.  She didn't disappoint. She crawled, talked, scooted, spun around in circles, walked, and ate before finally crashing like a ton of bricks.

Tomorrow is a porterville Christmas with a mountain of Kylie gifts (we should be done opening them sometime in February), so I sure hope she gets some good sleep tonight.

Getting to see her experience Christmas for the first time was indescribably fun. Having a little one really brings the energy, fun, anticipation, and excitement back into all the holiday activities.  I think Nat and I walked around with ear to ear grins for most of the day, and the reason was our little person named Kylie May.

More to come soon,

Craig

Merry Christmas Kylie!

She was not so found of pushing her new wagon, but she loved riding in it.

Mimi and Papa got Kylie a bike seat for Daddy's bike, we can't wait to install it!

First pair of Toms, so fashionable.

Helping daddy open his gifts.

Merry Christmas cousin Liam

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpas.

I guess I'll just be the little girl that sits on the couch with no Christmas presents.