Houston. . . we have lift Off!

Mission control to Houston. . . we are go for launch! This past week, after I got home from work and Miss Pretty and I were chillin' downstairs, playing with toys and watching Oprah. . . she surprised me by showing me her new skillz!! One minute she was crawling, the next, standing! She is now able to pull herself in to the standing position and she also dances once standing. She gets her moves from her momma fo sho!

Step 1: One must find something to lean against.Step 2: the stare down with the kitty! "What Gracie? You want some of this?"Step 3: Lift off! She was so proud of herself!One of the downsides of becoming more adventureous is that there are bound to be battle wounds :(. Miss Pretty was playing with her closet doors and pulled herself up a little, lost her balance and conked the noggin. I felt so bad.
Here she is in her cute red overalls. She looks so cute in these!

She's cutting a lot of teeth this week. (Sonja, be glad that you're not babysitting her this week, she's sooo winey!) Her two top front teeth are finally breaking through and it looks as though her eye teeth are next. So today has been rough for her. We've been putting the orajel on her gums. Has anyone tried that stuff? BEGACK!!! I had a little on my finger and wanted to see what it tasted like. I almost yacked! It reminds me of the stuff the dentist puts on your cheek before he's gonna give you a shot. It seems to be helping her though!

She is also not liking changing time so much. It's seriously Wrestle Mania IX! Once the diaper's off, she off and headed for the door! It takes 20 minutes to get her into her jammies every night.

Weaner, weaner. . chicken deaner. . .

I neglected to mention in my previous post that we have successfully weaned Miss Pretty off the bottle. Dr Dreamy suggested that we do it at 12 months for many reasons: it's easier, they don't need all the nutrients from formula any more, they won't develop bottle rot, etc. etc. Whatever Dreamy wants, Dreamy gets! Not to mention it's much more economical! So the Sunday after her party, we did the cold turkey method. Worked like a charm! (minus the bottle that daddy snuck in there the next day! He was reprimanded!) She had the hardest time in the mornings and would whimper a bit, but other than that, she hasn't been upset about it at all! We've chosen the Nuby sippy cups. We tried countless others long before weaning time to get her used to it, but she wouldn't drink out of them much. I finally bought the Nuby brand, and she guzzled them. YAY for Miss Pretty!We have also changed babysitters this week :(. Shout out to Sonja. What a champ for taking care of her as long as you did! I wouldn't have been so nice when I was prego! Thanks so much for taking care of my lil' lovey for us!
The transition has been harder on mommy than it has been on Miss Pretty. I can't believe how guilt ridden I've been! But it seems to all be working out one way or another and next year, she may be on her way to being a Highland Ram!! They have an awsome daycare for District Employees and she's on the waiting list. Keep your fingers crossed!
Here's her cute dress that Gma Johnson made for her. She wasn't very happy about picture time in this pic (hence the grimace) but I had to get a pic before naptime!

She's become quite the pro at pushing her baby around in her stroller!

Playing with Gpa Johnson's funny stache!! She got a kick out of that!

And last but not least, her cute new cruiser. She likes to be pushed around on that thing.

Party like a rockstar. . .party like a rockstar. .

So I totally agree that I've been a slacker at getting Miss Pretty's party posted! (say that 3x's fast!) It's been a busy couple of weeks for us here at the Johnson ranch! But fun! Miss Pretty's Birthday was very reminiscent for me! I am amazed at how fulfilling motherhood is and how much i've enjoyed this past year with her! I'm still not quite sure why Heavenly Father had us wait so long, but i'm sure one day I'll see it more clearly! I am very greatful to Him for sending her to us! She is an amazing little person and I'm so excited to watch her grow up and do amazing things with her life! I am constantly worried that I will do something wrong and forget to teach her something. I just wish that I could be assured that she won't make any of the same mistakes as her mommy and that she'll just make good choices. I'm not sure how my mom handled me at times! (sorry mom!)
Anyway. . . it's definately been an awsome year with her here! I mentioned in my last post, that she's a crawlin' machine! Here's a pic of her crawling around in her jammies. She's so cutE!



The Birthday girl and her daddy!


I wanted to get some pics of her in the morning when I went to wake her up to take her to the babysitters. She's been quite mobile in her sleep lately and falls asleep on her tummy. Here she is on her Birthday with her blankies pulled up over her. So adorable.


I even pulled the blankies off and she stayed a snoozin'!


Her princess party was a big success. All the fam was there and we had fun celebrating! Thanks so much to all of our family for coming and for the wonderful gifts! We are so greatful to have such a wonderful family!
Here she is with her first doll from her Auntie Kyr! She loves on that thing whenever she sees it!

She got loads of new clothes and toys! I had to clean out her closet today so that we could fit it all in!

Grandma Johnson is so talented! She made this adorable princess castle cake for Miss Pretty and she also made a cute new dress for her!

This was the cake that she got to dig into and make a mess with! She did love the frosting, but was very modest and didn't get as messy as I thought! I envisioned her tearing the thing apart and having it everywhere!

Instead, this was all the damage she did to it!

It was a fun party!

As for the family updates. . . .I also celebrated a Birthday this past week. The big 29er. It was a much better birthday than last year. Not as weepy and I wasn't in the hospital, so much better. My mom sent me flowers and my friends at work all celebrated with me. Thanks for all the shout outs on FB and all the wonderful gifts!

Slick is doing well. He had his head split open at work last week (he didn't even call me! so fired!) and he had 7 staples put in. But he's better now. Got the staples out a few days ago. He's ready for fishin' weather!

I'm ready for the nice weather! Ready to lose all this annoying weight that inhibits me from wearing most of my cute pants that I can't get rid of! I just can't seem to find the time! But I must, because I refuse to buy a bigger size! So that's my goal before my brother in laws wedding this summer!

I'm also considering going back to school. I've been thinking a lot more about it lately and just know that it's something I need to do. I'll keep you posted on that!

Strike a pose. . there's nothin' to it. . .Vogue. . vogue

Today was the monumentous 1 year picture day for Miss Pretty and 6 month picture day for her cuz. . .baby sis. Let me just tell you that these two lil' girlz were full of drama today and I doubt i'll ever go and get her pictures taken again until she's in preschool. Too much stress! But. . .they did turn out dang cute once we got out the blocks and let them play with them. Not too pleased with the photographer who kept scaring Miss Pretty and not encouraging much!


Cuz Queen Bee and Miss Pretty at their finest. These are classic faces for the two of them so we thought it was hilarious! Of course we couldn't get one of them smiling. It was all we could do to get one or both of them to stop crying!

So sweet and innocent! I just love her so much!



I love this one! She's very focused on those sparkly shoes! So pretty!

And my favorite one! Just makes ya laugh doesn't it?

Happy Birthday to Miss Pretty this week!

I'm sending out an SoS!

So I got the sad, but expected news on Wednesday that our favorite babysitter is going to need to possibly go on bed rest at the end of March :(. All the lil' chitlins are giving her high blood pressure and that's not good for her or baby (trust me, I speak from experience!) So I am now asking for any help that I can get to find a new trustworthy babysitter for 2 1/2 months. My contract ends June 14 at East. I would need someone to watch Miss Pretty, Wednesday - Friday. I would need to drop her off at 6:30 AM and she would be picked up by 4 at the latest, but a lot of times daddy gets off at 2. I would prefer that they live fairly close to me, or on my way to East, but if they're good and trustworthy, we'll take what we can get. Let me know yo!

On to some more exciting news. . . Miss Pretty decided that yesterday would be the day that she's an official crawler! She was cruisin' all over the place and I was crying the whole time! I can't believe it! She's also upgraded to first class travel in Stella (that's my car's name)! We got out her new "Big Girl" car seat and got it all strapped in. She will be riding in style!

Both of our birthdays are next week! We are in need of baby gates if anyone is wondering! Now that she's on the loose, I don't want her falling down our hardwood stairs! As much as I'd love to see Dr. Dreamy . . . .(sigh)!