Apologies....

For the very large lack of posts from the Seattle Johnstons these days. Lack of sleep, working 4 days a week and the arrival (sort of) of summer have made blogging very low on my priority list. We are having so much fun with our little people. Avery is so fun to talk to these days. We love hearing the things she come up with on a daily basis. She has created her own language now too, so half the time we have no idea what she is saying! She is becoming such a huge helper with Gerrit (even feeding him solids) and he falls more in love with her every day. Speaking of Gerrit... Where has our little baby gone? We had to lower the crib mattress today because someone has figured out how to stand up already! I didn't sleep at all last night because I was so worried he was going to crawl out of his crib. He is officially crawling as of last Friday too. It's so fun to watch him grow, but so sad that my baby is growing so fast. Though, at his 6 month appointment he was only in the 25th percentile for height and weight coming in at 15 lbs, 10 oz and 27 and 3/4 inches. I'm ok with that, it makes it easier to snuggle him! Here is a link to some photos from the last few months. Everything from Avery's dance class, her first real race, swimming (and swimming lessons, which did not go the greatest) and everything in between. I'm only posting on this other site because I had so many photos I wanted to post, it would have taken me 2 months just to upload them all to this site! Hopefully I'll be able to post more regularly in the future. See you in Michigan in 3 short weeks!

Happy 6 months Gerrit Christopher! And happy Independence Day!

Click on this photo to view the entire album

4 months!

Gerrit is 4 months old already! He had his 4 month well-baby check today. He is doing really well and growing just as he should be! 


Head: 42.5 cm (50%)
Height: 25.5 inches (75%)
Weight: 14 lbs 1 oz (25%)


He's becoming quite the active little man these days too. The doctor actually said we should not be surprised if his weight gain keeps slowing down for a little while because he is so active, it will be harder for him to keep gaining so quickly. Here are a few things he is up to...


-He is the happiest baby during the day, all smiles unless he's tired or hungry. He smiles the biggest for Avery. He already thinks she is the coolest person in the world! If she sings to him he can't even contain himself. 
-He loves any one to sing to him. His favorite is "Happy and you know it". 
-He is a flirt already. When I'm feeding him and not looking at him, he'll stop and stare at me until I look and then give me a huge smile, then go back to his business. 
-We're starting to get little giggles out of him, which is so fun, especially given that Avery didn't give us a real laugh until she was like 9 months old. 
-He can roll multiple times, back to front and front to back. It's really funny though, he will roll to his tummy and then get mad because he dislikes tummy time! 
-He already loves the jumperoo. He loves to jump while you're holding him too. It reminds me of his cousin, Hunter, who use to do the same thing when he was just about the same age. It's super cute, but exhausting after a while. 
-He is NOT sleeping through the night. Not even close. He still likes to wake up every 2-3 hours. We've tried many things and this was a big topic of conversation at his check-up. We've tried many things, and we have now decided that he is just a baby who doesn't sleep great yet and we've got to be patient. It stinks at night, but as soon as it's daylight again and he gives us one of his huge, toothless grins, I forget (almost) all about the nights!


We are so thankful for our little family of 4 and can't imagine our lives without our newest addition. We love you so much Gerrit Christopher!

"Stronger"

I shared this on my facebook page already, but it's too good not to share as much as possible. This video was made by some of my awesome coworkers on the SCCA unit and the amazing/inspiring patients we work with. Wish I would've been there for this. So great! Check it out....

3 year and 3 month photos.... respectively.

This was our 3rd attempt at Avery's 3 year photos and 1 and only attempt for Gerrit's 3 month photos. I guess 3 is the magic number! It's amazing what a little bribe of ice cream can do to get what one wants. Just the mention of it and Avery was the most cooperative 3 year old I've ever met! Here's a preview of a few of the photos....

Menchie's!

Avery loves her ice cream. We have a new frozen yogurt place near us that she and I frequent. She gets to choose her flavor and toppings all by herself. We decided to take daddy this weekend for a date.

Smiles!!!

Finally captured some real smiles on camera! Love this boy so much. I can't believe he'll be 11 weeks tomorrow!

Beach combing.

Chelsea and Liam were in town, so we got to spend a night with them at the beach house. Sadly, we didn't get any photos of the babies together, but I did capture Avery collecting some shells at low tide.

Showing me her loot. Check out the mountains in the background.

Bucket full of sand dollars.

Not hard to collect sand dollars when they're this abundant.

Self Portraits....

This is what happens when Avery gets a hold of the camera....

Time flies....

Time flies when you're having fun. Gerrit is such a joy. He's so happy most of the time. We've had a rough couple of nights after one really great one. Poor little man has some reflux. But during the day, he is so smiley and talkative. If you put him on the changing table, you are sure to have a nice conversation with lots of great smiles. He makes this really cute face where he squints his eyes and coos at you and smiles. Makes me melt every time! He also loves to be sung to, he is starting to "sing" along now too. Big sister, Avery has been a good helper still too. We've noticed that she's started being a little less gentle with him the last week or so. We're wondering if it's just because she's getting more comfortable with him. She's still doing well at school and is now taking dance classes on her own every Wednesday! She's slow to start every week, but by the end of class, Miss Amber (her teacher) tells me what a great job Avery did. On another, sadder note, I have to go back to work 3 weeks from today. I do not feel ready yet.

Learning how to hold his own toys.

How can you resist this face???

Big sister helping to make tummy time more enjoyable.

Much time is spent in the Baby Einstein gym.

Avery enjoying a little beach time on a very cold. windy morning.

She wore her runners so she could run on the beach!

Happy 6 and 7 weeks Gerrit!

Our sweet boy is becoming more and more fun. Lots of smiles every day and he loves to talk to let us know if he's happy or not. If he needs to see me, he makes just a little fuss to get my attention. He only uses his real, big cry if he's hungry or needs his diaper changed. He is such a great baby. Avery is proving to be a wonderful big sister too. She loves to help when she's in the mood. We're still in that transition phase where she acts out to get our attention, but we're hoping that it will get better soon. When she's happy she loves to sing (Taylor Swift is her favorite right now). She remembers the words to some songs better than I can! She is using her imagination more and more, and today was a kitty cat who wanted to be petted on her belly. The photos are in somewhat of an order from most recent back.

Look who's 7 weeks old!

First bath time together!

Gerrit wasn't so sure about it. He does love bath time though!

Trying to capture a smile on camera....

6 weeks old

Big girl jumping in the pool

Having so much fun at Bennett's pool party birthday!

Sister accessorized him for play time

Sweet sleepy boy.

(He sleeps so much more than Avery did at this point. Such a blessing.)

One of her belated Christmas gifts from Gramma Beth.... Chocolate anyone?

Gramma's reading her a book.

Taking it all in

First bottle at home from dad.

One of his newborn photos. He decided to stay awake for most of 2 sessions, so we didn't get many of the traditional newborn shots, but I love this one.

Snow angel!

Time flies....

The past 4 weeks have gone by so fast. Hard to believe we've been home for 4 full weeks today. I am still trying to figure out how to get everything done being a mommy of 2. Life definitely seems more hectic. Most days I feel like Avery's not getting enough attention. Most days she lets us know by acting out. But, she is also so sweet and helpful most days too. She loves to give Gerrit hugs and kisses and rarely has to be reminded to be gentle. She also likes to copy what I'm doing with Gerrit, with her baby Vivian. If I'm feeding Gerrit, Avery feeds Vivian; if Gerrit's in the carrier, so is Vivian, etc. It's very cute. Speaking of Gerrit, he is such a sweet baby. He is more mellow than Avery was at this age, we are also more mellow though. He really lets you know when he needs something though, screaming at the top of his lungs. He is sleeping fairly well at night, usually giving us a 4-5 hour stretch at the beginning of the night and then waking up once more. Avery has been waking up at 5 or 6 most mornings though, so we aren't getting as much sleep as we'd like. He's already given us smiles too! I got my first real smiles on my birthday. Best birthday gift ever! We had newborn photos taken a couple of times, little guy didn't cooperate very well though. Ideally they sleep for newborn photos, Gerrit had other ideas and stayed awake for most of the photos. I'll post as soon as we have those. Here are some photos that we've captured over the last few weeks.

First bath at home.

Enjoying a giant steak bone. She asked for everyone's bones.

Chillin in the papasan.

This is what happens when big sister helps with tummy time. Notice Vivian has joined the fun.

The epic snow storm! Sledding fun.

First nap at home.

All ready to go home! FINALLY!