He Eats Food!

Today was a milestone. Jadyn had his 4 month check up and the doctor said he was perfect, which of course I already knew. Check out his new stats on the left. Dr. McCall was wonderful and gave us the okay to start cereal and graduate over the course of the next couple months to veggies and fruit. He was great the entire visit until the nurse came back with a liquid vaccine that he had to drink and two shots. The shots got him going, but he calmed down as we reached the lobby when we left. The reward of the day, Samantha got a Batman sticker for being good, doesn’t seem fair huh? As soon as we got home, we had to try out cereal for dinner. As you can see, Jadyn was somewhat uninterested in these pictures.

Samantha has to be in the pictures too! She's 5 you know.

Here is a video that brings it to life.

He is doing very well and growing so fast.

An Update in Pictures

It has been awhile, but there is not much going on. Things are status quo at home. Bruce and I have finally settled into the routine of both of us working and juggling the kids. Outside being tired all the time, we are doing well. From what I understand, I will be tired for the rest of my life, so I guess I’ll just get use to it…Lots of pictures in this post. Here is Kyle and Samantha looking cute!

Samantha and Jadyn on Valentine's Day!

Samantha continues to do well in Pre-school. Her teachers are always praising Samantha for her behavior at school and have commented numerous times on how much she likes to school. We received all the information necessary to register Samantha for Kindergarten. She is supposed to attend Prairieview Elementary School this fall; however, Oswego has a pilot program for an all-day kindergarten. We also received this information last week and plan on putting her name in the lottery to attend school all day. If she is accepted, she would attend Southbury Elementary School instead. If this ends up being the case, she will take the bus to school in the morning, which I think she will really like. She thought she would get to take the bus when she started pre-school and was disappointed to find out that we would be driving her to and from school.

Samantha had to pose for the camera!

Here is Jadyn Looking Cute!
Jadyn is growing fast and time sure is flying. He is already 4 months old. He is sleeping through the night, but wakes up every few nights around 4:00 a.m. because he is cold or wakes up and needs something to sooth him back to sleep. He is very smiley and giggly these days. Unlike Samantha, I think he is camera shy. Every time I take out the camera, he decides he is not going to smile for me. Here is Jadyn in his Bumbo Seat!

He is trying to roll over lately but gets frustrated when he gets half way over and rolls right back to his back. Just like Samantha, he absolutely hates tummy time and starts screaming after about 5 minutes. The one thing I have really enjoyed is watching the two of them bond. Samantha still loves to help us out and can get Jadyn giggling pretty well. Other than a couple pokes in the eye and one curious bite on the hand, (she has spent some time on the steps for her “curiosity”) she is adjusting well to being a big sister.

We have been locked up in the house for the past four months so we welcome a change to this crazy, long and cold Chicago winter. With daylights saving time next weekend, we look forward to more daylight and anticipate the warmer weather. We are definitely looking forward to Spring!

It Has Been A Busy Month!

It has been almost a month since I last blogged so to all the followers out there I apologize for the lack of updates. However, I have been very busy, even without working (going back to work tomorrow, blah, blah, blah)!

First and foremost, thank you to everyone for offering condolences and prayers to our family after the unexpected and sudden loss of my father just a couple days after Christmas. It was very much a surprise to us all. We were extremely grateful that he did not suffer and that we had a chance to enjoy the holidays together. He truly enjoyed traveling back and forth from New Jersey to Chicago to watch his grandchildren grow. We are grateful that he was with us during his final days and enjoyed his time during his visit. Bruce and I are both extremely saddened that Samantha and Jadyn will not have an opportunity to truly known what it is like to grow up with either set of their grandparents. It has been a tough couple years. Since Samantha was born, we have both lost all of our parents and our kids their grandparents. As difficult as it has been, we are comforted to know that we have angels watching over us. Here are a few pictures of “pop pop” with his grandkids to remember him by.

With the passing of my Dad, Glen, Matt and I headed back to New Jersey to have a memorial service, settle some of his affairs and clean out his apartment. My dad was born in Newark and lived in the city almost his whole life. A couple years ago, dad sold the house we grew up in and moved into an apartment just across the street. Here is a picture of the house that now stands at 68 Plymouth Street in Newark, NJ.

Although virtually identical, this is a different house than the house we grew up in. The original house was demolished and the new owners re-built an almost identical replica of the old house. The windows are the same and the only external difference was a stained glass window that was missing and the garage was not re-built. The tree I remember outside my bedroom window is still standing too. I remember the street light used to cast a shadow of the tree on my bedroom wall when I was a kid. I remember lying in bed, listening to my clock radio and looking at the shadow of the tree on the wall when I fell asleep at night.

Many of the neighbors still live on the block. They knew we coming into town so several neighbors came over to see us and offer condolences. Glen and Matt remember more neighbors than I did as they both spent more time in New Jersey visiting Dad and I was so young when we left. Being back in the neighborhood was interesting, weird and scary. It is exactly the same. The same old store fronts, just more run down and some with newer businesses. The park just down the block looks the same too, but it has a new playground, very new from what we could tell. It is a very urban area that has continued to deteriorate both physically and socially over the years. Glen, Matt and I reminisced at one point and wondered what would have become of us if our parents hadn’t separated. Regardless, we recognize that the time we spent in New Jersey was part of our foundation and that we were able to appreciate our backgrounds and our blessings because of it.

Here is a picture of the three of us with our Aunt Jacquie and Uncle Elliott. It was nice to see them, but need to have a better reason next time.

In other news, we did manage to have a Merry Christmas. Here are a few pictures to prove it.

Sam & I made cookies for Santa. Yes, I baked again and everyone loved the cookies, they were perfect! Those of you who started laughing can stop now!

Here she is pouring the milk for Santa, no spilling either!

She has really been enjoying her new tag book system (that is when we don’t take over possession of it for not listening)

Here is Jadyn and Auntie Amanda

Christmas was somewhat a bore for Jadyn

Devin enjoyed our stairs

They all enjoyed destroying Samantha’s room

It was just simply exhausting to Kyle

On New Year’s Eve, Samantha got a kick out of wearing the hood from her coat

Here is Michelle and McKenna at the New Years Celebration

And Kobe trying to fix Uncle Matt’s motorcycle

Jadyn is growing fast (check stats on the left). He smiling more and more and has more wake times during the day. Here he is on his activity mat. At first he just ignored it and acted bored...

After a few weeks of laying on the mat, Jadyn gave up and started to enjoy it!

I even managed to get a documented smile...after numerous attempts!

In closing, if you could help Jadyn out, his parents would be very appreciative!

“Handsome future doctor seeking attractive female with wealthy father. Must enjoy Peanut Butter, toy trucks and frogs” Thanks Liz!

Happy Holidays!

During the past week we have been preparing for the Holidays and enjoying time with friends and family. Last Week, Samantha celebrated another first, first school Holiday Concert. She was very excited and I knew she was ready. She’s been singing her songs for weeks. When we arrived, she was very shy around her classmates. Something I am definitely not use to. Overall, it was a success. The kids were adorable and it was nice to know other parents were doing the same thing as me, taking lots of pictures and being proud!

Here she is singing with all the kids in her class. As you can see, she is the tallest!

Here is Sam with one of her best girlfriends, Lia!

Santa also paid a visit to the concert!

Here is Sam singing her favorite Holiday Song!









She really thinks she is missing a tooth in the front so the song is appropriate. Wait til she really does lose her two front teeth!

On Saturday, we had an annual Holiday Celebration with friends and family at the Johnsons. Here are a couple cute pics of Auntie Cheri, Jadyn and Kyle too!

And a couple cute pictures of Sam and her Dad!

Sunday marked the first night of Hanukah. Here are Sam, Jadyn and Bruce lighting the candles!

From our family to yours, Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas!

Happy 5th Birthday Samantha!

We celebrated Samantha’s 5th Birthday on December 5th! Per Samantha’s request, she headed off to school to celebrate and treat her class to cupcakes! Since Dad had to work, Mom and Sam were on our own that evening. Before opening presents, she enjoyed her favorite dinner, a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Mom sang a solo “Happy Birthday” before we cut into the cake. Being at home the last couple months, mom has turned on the oven on several occasions (no jokes necessary).

Like with the other ventures, the cake was a success. But as you can see from the picture, I made the mistake of covering the cake. When I uncovered it, some of the frosting and words came off so the cake looks worse than it tasted. Samantha insisted on a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. She started eating her cake and loved it. As soon as she realized that the bottom of the cake was white (from the flour), she decided she didn’t like it and refused to eat anymore, regardless of the fact that she like it up until that moment. Oh well, better luck next year. Baking tips on how to prevent this in the future is appreciated!

The next day, we had a small celebration at Chuck E. Cheese with Ethan, Kyle, Kobe, McKenna and Jadyn.

The kids had a great time while the moms (and Nancy too), got our fair share of birth control!

In other news, we celebrated Kobe’s 4th Birthday a few weeks ago. Here he is enjoying the new “Iron Man” action figure we gave him for his birthday.

As always the kids had a great time!

After sleeping through most of the party, Jadyn enjoyed a nice rest on Mickey's sister in law Kris’ shoulder while he looked around at all the chaos!

McKenna enjoyed the party too. Here she is with Auntie Cheri. She is already 6 months old. I can hardly believe it!

Thanksgiving was a little different this year. I usually cook, but had decided not to cook this year thinking I wouldn’t be up to the task. After enjoying dinner out, we headed to Matt and Cheri’s to have dessert and play games. Jadyn slept through dinner, but managed to wake up and enjoy some time with the family.

Pop pop (Grandpa Johnson) finally got to meet Jadyn too!

Devin enjoyed his first vertical Thanksgiving, he is on the run these days!

The kids were very energetic after dinner. Here is a calm moment with Auntie Cheri and Kyle!

And Auntie Amanda and Jadyn!

We actually managed to get all the Johnson/Berman kids together for a picture too!

With the holidays fast approaching, I took another attempt of capturing the perfect picture for the holiday card. Samantha did a lot of reassuring, as she knows mom likes to take lots of pictures. We had lots of pictures that looked like this.

Here is one of the better pictures!

After I got a shot of the two of them, I decided to try to get a solo shot of Jadyn. He was very cooperative. He fell asleep in this position for about 20 minutes.

You’ll have to wait til you get your card to see my favorites! I’d love to know who is reading this blog. If you are, please post a comment or e-mail us to let us know at docward@sbcglobal.net