Judson is 5 Months!

Our sweet baby turned 5 months old the day after Christmas. It is so hard to believe that he will be half a year old already next month. I absolutely love this age! I think 5 and 6 months are my favorite age! The smiles, the laughs, the coos, and the new-found skills just make this age so enjoyable! John Turner has spent the night with Grandparents several times this month so I have gotten one on one time with this baby! I just can't get enough of him!

He is just full of love and laughter these days!

He loves to play on his belly. If you lie him down on his back, chances are he will be on his belly a minute later. He still gets stuck on his belly sometimes and it just makes him so mad!

He loves to play with his feet this month! I find him like this most days!

We have started using the exersaucer this month. He likes it for short periods of time. He is getting stronger and liking it more and more each day.

We started rice cereal and oatmeal this month. The boy LOVES some oatmeal but is not too fond of the cereal.

His favorite place to be right now is in this doorway jumper. He will bounce in this thing for hours! He just bounces and talks. I love watching him in this! His brother was also a huge fan of this.

My beautiful blond-haired blue-eyed baby boy!

Judson at 5 months:

-weighs around 16 lbs

-wears size 2 diapers

-wears 3-6 month and 6 month clothes

-eating oatmeal or cereal twice a day; takes a few ounces of milk with it

-takes a 6-7 oz bottle first thing in the morning and before bed

-goes to bed around 7:30-8:00 and sleeps until around 6:00---this past week we have had some bad nights!! Due to some major teething, we have been waking up several times during the night!

-drooling and chewing everything in sight! Also irritable the past few days--waiting on a tooth any day now!

-takes 3 naps a day that are usually around 1 1/2 to 2 hours in length

-sitting up pretty well with little support-loves the sitting support pillow we have, but doesn't really care for the Bumbo seat too much right now

-grabbing and playing with his toys a lot this month

-loves his toys that play music

-rolling all over the place and even trying to scoot around

-talks and squeals while he plays

-grabs our faces and pulls us toward him(loves this!)

-watches every single thing his brother does

-his hair is getting thicker but it is so blond you can hardly see it

-loves his bath time

-he is a snugly baby--JT was not, so we just love this about him!

-truly a happy and easy baby; we can take him anywhere and he never fusses or makes a sound

We just fall more in love with him each day!!

Man, this is just flying by way too fast for me! I am ready to hit pause now!

My Artist

John Turner LOVES to draw these days. He is quite the little artist for a three year old. Here are two pictures he has drawn on his new doodle pad that Santa brought. I, of course, think they are very good! I am thinking that art lessons will be in his near future!

First, this is the kite that he drew.

Second, this is an elephant that he drew.

Christmas Day 2011

And Christmas morning we woke up to find this....

"Look! Santa has been to our house!!!!"

We really had a fabulous Christmas this year. Since John Turner was really into everything this year, Christmas morning was so exciting for all of us. Judson woke up in time to see what Santa had brought as well. This post will just be a bunch of pictures that I want to have to remember this day by.

Judson was thrilled with what Santa had left under the tree for him! He is the sweetest.baby.ever. Last year at Christmas we had just found out that we were pregnant with him! I just can't imagine life without this precious angel!

Big brother enjoyed opening all of Judson's gifts and showing them to him.

Sophie Giraffe is one of our favorite gifts from Santa!

Sweet Brothers!

Now to take a look at John Turner's Christmas. First of all, he only asked for a few things from Santa: a John Deere Gator, paint, tape, and scissors. Here he is with his new Gator!

Paint and a horn for his big boy bike. (His GiGi got him a big boy bike for Christmas. I will post pics of him on it later. He looks like the biggest boy ever riding it!)

Some appliances for his kitchen. The boy loves to cook up a meal. The coffee pot even works with water like a real coffee pot!

He had outgrown his old chair so Santa brought a new big boy chair for him to read and watch movies in.

My little artist can now draw anywhere he wants!

The stockings were also full of goodies. Lots of candy, more paint, a set of paintbrushes, bandaids and a flashlight

And Scissors and tape!!!!!

It rained the entire Christmas day! Not fun when Santa brings you a ride on toy! So we just backed the cars out of the garage and John Turner rode around and around the garage for hours!

He got two buckets of pretend animals and I just love to watch him use imaginary play with them!

Mommy and Daddy also wrapped up a special gift for him under the tree. He opened it Christmas morning. He got a LeapPad. We have already downloaded two books and two movies. He LOVES it!

Me with my two boys! I love this picture!

And finally, our annual family Christmas Day picture in front of the tree. This year we have a new addition. Makes the picture even better I think!

Christmas Eve

We started off Christmas Eve with a brunch at my sister's house with my family. We have started this brunch tradition since having kids and I just love it! We come in our pajamas and just have the best time! John Turner got two of his favorite gifts while we were there. He got his very own karaoke machine and a really big fire engine. These are two things he has been asking for lately.

That afternoon we headed over to Carlton's Grandmother's house to do Christmas with his Dad and that part of the family. Santa Claus even made a visit to that one. I wish I would have had my camera. I swear with two kids I barely remember to get dressed before we leave the house!

We didn't arrive back at our house until pretty Christmas Eve night. Judson was beyond exhausted so Carlton bathed him and put him to bed while John Turner and I baked cookies for Santa. This boy was filled with such excitement knowing that Santa was coming to his house that night! This is the first year that he has been this way at Christmas. He has loved everything about it this year. The carols, the stories, the movies etc...He also asked for certain things this year which he hasn't done in the past.

After baby brother was down for the night, we went outside and sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn so Rudolph would be sure to find our house!

We got our cookies and milk ready for Santa. John Turner decided that he should try one of Santa's cookies before bed!

We then gathered around our tree and read " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and we read the story of Jesus' birth.

Then is was time to say goodbye to our little elf, Elvin. I never knew how hard it would be on my boy! He just cried big tears and hugged him. He said, "I just love him so much, Mommy!"

After the tearful goodbye, we got him in bed and awaited the arrival of Santa!

Cinnamon Salt Dough Ornaments

Another fun activity that John Turner and I did this week was to make cinnamon salt dough ornaments. It was such a simple project! And John Turner truly had a fun time doing it! It is probably going to be a yearly tradition from now on.

We first got all of our ingredients and supplies ready. It is such a simple project that it didn't take very much prepartion on my part. That is my kind of project!

John Turner enjoyed measuring out all of the ingredients.

His favorite part was mixing up the ingredients with his hands to make the dough. He had the best time! Seeing his face doing this made the project totally worth it!

We then stuck the dough in the fridge to chill for a bit.

After chilling the dough, it was time to roll it out and decide which ornament shapes he wanted to make.

He did a great job rolling the dough and cutting out the shapes all by himself. He is mister independent these days!

After baking them and then cooling them, John Turner decided that the perfect thing to do was to use them to decorate our chandelier in our kitchen area. I tied some ribbon on them and hung them for all to see! He also chose some special ones to wrap and put under the tree for two very important people!