Family/One-Year Pictures

October 2013

Toward the end of October, we had our first "Family Pictures" taken. These were also his one-year pictures (a little late). Erin Alies Photography did the photo session, and as always, she did an excellent job. It turned out to be a very chilly day that we were out in the park, but Andrew was a pretty good sport, other than his shoe issue. Chris and I made a rookie mistake as we let Andrew go barefoot all summer since he wasn't walking yet. Well this presented quite the conundrum when Andrew did start walking (and the weather starting getting cooler) as he had no interest in wearing shoes. We would put the shoes on his feet, and it was like we glued his feet to the ground, he just would not move them. So...in the family pictures, you will see that he is wearing shoes in some pictures (where he is either sitting or standing still as a statue) and socks in the pictures where we are trying to get him to walk along the trail. Andrew - 1 point; Chris & Amy - 0 points

If You Ain't First, You're Last

October, 2013.

Since Chris and I have morphed into redneck, "rubbin's racin", NASCAR lovin folk, we spent a weekend last October in Alabama for the fall Talladega race. Mom and Mike also flew down there (we can't do these things without Mom...she runs the show!) and Lizzie and Jason drove over from Memphis. We had a fantastic time.

The people in Alabama love their racin and love their football. This was evident from our numerous ventures that we took in the golf cart around the campgrounds. It is a different world in the campgrounds!

We missed our little guy and can't wait to take him to a race, but we had a fun adults-only weekend!

Rashes, Headaches, and the Hospital

October 2013

The events of last October should have given me a clear picture of the winter we were about to face "health-wise." At the beginning of the month, Andrew broke out in a rash, which the doctor determined to be hand, foot, and mouth disease... a very common viral infection in toddlers that results in blisters on their hands, feet, and mouth. He had various other symptoms that I won't go into, but it was not pleasant. We rescheduled our family pictures (see later post) and buckled down at home for a few days.
As Andrew appeared to be on the mend, Chris suddenly started getting headaches. He NEVER gets headaches. He is also not a fan of taking any medicine, but I convinced him to take to Motrin and that seemed to help a bit. This went on for a few days, but by Friday he couldn't get out of bed or hardly open his eyes. He started vomitting very early Saturday morning and we decided it was time to hit up urgent care. Two hours later, we were out of there. Chris had a shot in his butt, and by that point, I had dog-cussed every nurse in the place as they seemed to think that discussing the activities of the night before was more pressing than assessing Chris who was laying on a table in a dark room because the light made him sick. They gave him a pain shot in the arse, told him it was a headache, and we were on our way. Two hours later he was back to puking in the bathroom so our doctor told us to head to the ER. As the ER doctor was assessing him, I noticed that he had broken out into a rash similar to Andrew's. Coincindence?? The doctor tested for Meningitis and also checked him to ensure there wasn't a brain bleed or other brain related concerns, and determined that he likely had a virus (similar to Andrew) that might have caused a deep sinus infection. They hooked him up to an IV with some drugs and sent us home with some strong stuff. A couple of days later, Chris was back to normal and has been ever since (knock-on-wood). No more headaches in the Johnson house, please!!!

All About Tonight

Pretend this post was from September 28, 2013!

Once again, 5-Hour Energy hooked us up. Mom has some great connections through the NASCAR world to the country music world. We have been lucky enough to meet Blake Shelton and attend his concerts numerous times.

The story started back in 2011 when Blake Shelton was in Grand Rapids for a concert. This was right before The Voice started, so he wasn't as big of a star as he is now. It was a relatively small outdoor concert, and he put on a great show. We were able to get backstage passes and ended up spending a few hours after the concert hanging out with Blake Shelton and his manager on his tour bus. We had such a fun night, and it is a story that I'm sure we will all tell for years to come.

Almost exactly two years later, we were lucky enough to attend his concert at the Palace. This was a much larger venue, and he was the headliner. A lot has changed over two years. Chris was unable to attend the concert with us as he was going to Vegas early the next morning (boo-hoo). So my great friend Lindsey tagged along with me as my date! We took a limo to the concert and really lived it up. We were able to go back stage again and chat with him before the concert, but you could quickly tell that it was a completely different ballgame now than it was two years ago. Now he is a Big Star :) Once again, he put on a great concert and we had a wonderful time!!

How Old Is Andrew??

Pretend this was posted on September 14, 2013 =)

It is so hard to believe that one year ago, Andrew joined our family! The year has gone by so quickly, and Andrew continues to amaze us everyday with his development. He has developed quite the little personality. The sign below indicates all of his stats at his one-year old birthday. At one year, Andrew is 24lbs and 32 inches tall. He has 7 teeth. His favorite food is cheese. He loves "Brown Bear" and he says five words. We think he is a baby genius!

Below are some pictures from the cake smash. Andrew takes after his dad and hates getting his hands dirty, so the cake smash was no smash at all. He wanted his hands wiped off as soon as they were dirty.

He loved opening the presents with his buddies. We are so lucky to have so many friends with children Andrew's age. We are going to have so much fun watching them all grow up together!

August - Clapping & First Haircut

Pretend this was posted at the end of August 2013!

August passed by in a blur, but there were some exciting milestones for us during the month.

Andrew learned to clap in the beginning of the month. Of course, the first time we got it on camera, he was clapping to the Hot Dog dance on the Mickey Mouse show. This continues to be his favorite show on TV and our life-saver on those fussy evenings when nothing seems to make him happy between daycare and bed time!!

Andrew also got his first haircut during August. The Butlers hosted all of the Sohasky sisters and families at their house for a pool party so Aunt Carolyn cut Andrew's hair. He had quite the mullet prior to the cut, and he didn't seemed phased that his aunt was very close to his head with a pair of scissors.

The Butler's pool party was also Andrew's first real experience in a pool. He tolerated it, but I would not be surprised if he prefers to be a "land mammal" like his father =)

Back To Blogging

So Andrew is now 22 months old, and I am one year behind on the blog updates. That is the story of my life! I am going to make a valiant effort to get caught up this month and get back to blogging going forward so that everyone can be up to date on the activities in the Johnson household!