NEW BLOG!

Hi-

I'm please to announce that the whole Johnson family blog has moved to a new location. If you are reading this, you will need to either change your bookmark or your RSS feed. The new URL will remain www.kellerjohnson.com and the new RSS feed is ( http://www.kellerjohnson.com/blog/?feed=rss2 )

Hop on over and check it out. More posts to come soon!

-Justin

Brandon & Rachel swing by

Here are a few videos my brother took while he and his wife were here over the weekend. They were able to drop down from Atlanta where they've settled in over the past few months. We had a great time with them and Keller LOVED having them around.

Language Development

Keller and I have an arrangement. He knows which name he's supposed to get down first :)

j.

Long Time No Talkie

La da da da - di da la da.

Oh, hi. Sorry, I didn't see you standing there waiting for 4 weeks for a real post.

It has been wild and crazy around the Johnson house to say the least. Keeping up with the blog has unfortunately taken a back seat to what feels like mere survival. We'll post some more soon in regards to changes coming up for us.

In the meantime, here are some fun videos of Keller and a few pics. Since he changes almost daily, I know a lot of you enjoy seeing recent ones.

Slowly but surely, we've been able to get him taking some steps on his own now.

These few pics are from when my mom and dad were here a couple weeks back. It's always fun when they come to town because Keller is so different than the last time they saw him.

We just got back from North Carolina where Beth's family was all together for a long weekend in the mountains

He had a great time with his 2.5 year old cousin Zoe

Our first hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Playing at a toy store in Waynesville

Walking with Grandpa Jim

Emptying Grandma Renee's purse

j.

Remember when...

Remember when my parents used to post blogs on a regular basis? That was fun. They used to be awesome.

K.

Summer Time Fun

I (Beth) subscribe to a lot of blogs. Most of these are girlfriends I know from college or childhood so that I can keep up with their lives.

It's been really fun reading these blogs the last 6 weeks or so because they are all about summer and the events that are associated with the season. It's fun for me because all of these girlfriends live in northern states and are doing the kind of things I did when I was growing up in Massachusetts - bbqs, parades, days at the pool, evenings on the lake etc. etc. I'm reading about these events with some envy because we in Florida are currently going through our months where all we can do is STAY INDOORS. The oppressive and suffocating heat makes it miserable outside and all we can do is hurry from the air conditioned house, to the air conditioned car, to the air conditioned mall, etc. etc.

Having a 13 month old that is now crawling (yes, I know but better late than never) I have been trying to get creative with places we can go that would be interesting for him. Today I went to the Orlando Science Center and we had a great time but it was hotter in the building than it was outside because, ironically enough, the air conditioning was broken. Keller and I soaked through our clothes but at least we were out of the house for a little bit.

Here's a pic of Keller having lunch and trying to figure out the Triceratops puzzle.

Beware the cookie thief...

What happens when uncle Ryan is in town...

After driving through the backwoods of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama for three days taking pictures, my little brother Ryan spent the long weekend with us here in Orlando. We had a great time since this was the first time since Christmas he was able to see with Keller.

Over the course of those 4 days...

- Beth got hit with a burst of sparks as a piece of shrapnel from our out of control neighbor's fireworks fell from the sky onto her lap in while on the back porch

- Ryan used the baby to hit on a girl at Publix

- Keller may or may not have missed a meal due to slight oversight of his father and uncle

- Michael Jackson seems to have died. Did anyone else hear about this?

- Keller picked up walking really well while holding onto someone's fingers

- A lot of great photos were taken by my brother...

j.

Just because I have long blonde flowing hair....

Beth and I are starting to lose count of how many times people call Keller "she" or "her" out in public. Honestly, it's an almost daily occurance. I guess being delicately handsome has it's draw backs.

And maybe I shouldn't have made that pink shirt for him on cafepress.

j.

What is the opposite of the Atkins diet?

Well, whatever it is... Keller adheres to it. He goes through carbs like a terror. Only a few bits of chicken, veggies or fruit before he gets tired of them. But take your eye off the high chair while there's a box of waffles on the table and you're about to see something reeeaaaaal special. I guess when you're over the 100th percentile in weight and height that's gonna happen to your appetite.

Cake and Presents!

Happy Birthday Keller!

Today is that super fun day - Keller is 1 ! Some days it seems like a decade ago we were driving to the hospital. Other days it seems like it was last month. Nonetheless, it's been an amazing/crazy year on many levels. But we are so blessed beyond our imagination to be able to have him in our life.

Even though his birthday is today, we celebrated on Saturday so we could have a party.
Some of our close friends and family came for the afternoon. We had a great time and were really excited to reach that fun milestone. Below are a few pics from the day. Click here for the full gallery.

Swimming Elmo cake in honor of Keller's love for the water. SO cute!

Not too sure about either the open flame or the baby cake.

Justin's mom was able to fly down for the party and stay a few days after to spend some time with us.

Most of the time he loved the paper more than the presents. Got lots of fun stuff for him.

His little buddies Reese and Jacob were able to come.

Here he is rockin' one of his presents - the AC/DC shirt.

Thanks again to everyone that came. And we wish all of you could have been here for it! Hopefully Justin will have a video up soon from the day.

How To Get Kicked Out Of Publix

Publix, for those of you up north, is the grocery giant of the south. Where shopping is a pleasure.

Now, I believe Beth may have posted something in the past about Keller's public screaming fits. Like the time she had to get up and leave Barnes & Noble with her friend because he went grape nuts in the cafe and made people spill their drinks in startlement. Not crying screaming fits, but really-excited-that-he-can-hear-his-voice-echo screaming.

So yesterday all three of us went to Publix to grab some stuff for Memorial Day weekend cookouts. The place was packed and we had successfully made it to the opposite end where we had a few tomatoes to grab from the produce section.

Enter psycho boy.

Without warning, he takes a deep breath, gets that crazed look in his eye, and unleashes the siren. Now, there's a big difference between unreasonable parental discipline in public vs. judo chopping your way past the produce manager to stuff your hat in your kid's mouth before the elderly couple by the avocados unhinge a joint trying to ramp down their hearing aids. It was so embarrassing.

Blushing and hatless, I led us out of produce toward the checkout (possibly without tomatoes)... where I realized I forgot a six pack of - soda. So as I leave them in line and disappear half way across the store, I hear it. I'm a good 7-8 aisles down and in the middle of the store at this point, but it's like he's in the shopping cart next to me. Without even knowing what kind of soda I'm pulling off the shelf, I make my way quickly back to checkout as the store manager's voice on the intercom booms "Would the unreasonable person with the bank vault alarm in their purse please leave the store immediately."

I may or may not have made the last part up. But a look is worth a thousand words. And with all the happy Memorial Day weekend shoppers' looks we got, I feel embellishment is warranted.

The soda was delicious.

-J

First Mother's Day Photo

Here's another taken on Mother's Day along with the one in the banner above. Good Lord am I lucky.

-J

One Fine Momma

I just had to give her recognition to everyone that reads this blog. Beth has been an amazing mother over the past 11 months and it's been a lot of fun to watch her in that role and see how natural and wonderful she is at it. From that very first morning of the pregnancy test through this weekend, I've never been less than amazed by her enthusiasm for motherhood.

Through the months and months of uncertainty with not getting pregnant, she was admirably cool (most of the time;). And once we did receive the good news, she lit up everything around her with that joy. I've never been so happy for and with anyone. Being a proud mom wears her well and both Keller and I are very blessed to have her.

I threw together this little video saga of the first year of our life with Keller tonight. It's mainly for her, however, I figured if others want to check it out as well, it wouldn't hurt.

I love you very much Beth, and am really, really happy to celebrate your first Mother's Day together.

I need to get some sleep now. Somebody's gotta make waffles and mimosas for breakfast!

Happy Mother's Day to all the other baby mommas out there. Much love.

-Justin

Best Alarm Clock Ever

So this morning I was having a little trouble waking from the ice cold grasp of slumber. Beth was already up with Keller and came in to get me moving. So she put him on the bed next to me and said "good morning da-da." He repeated it as he has before, but not convincingly enough to make you do a double take. But she said it again, and he takes a breath and undeniably says "da - DA!"

Sadly, this was not his first word period. That would be "cat."

Shut up Ryan.

I need to work on "momma" a little bit more apparently before Sunday :)

-J

Mom's First Trip Away

This past weekend I was able to get away to Los Angeles for my first trip away from Keller. I hated to leave him but was really excited to see three of my good girl friends from college who happen to live within 2 hours of each other out there. Two of them have had girls since the last time I saw them so I got to meet both of them. It was a wonderful weekend spending time with good friends and enjoying the spectacular weather!

I was with Erin, Jenn and Jen but it was a little bit of a whirlwind weekend and I just realized I never got any pictures with Jen and her daughter Gretchen! Trust me - they're both gorgeous. :)

Jenn and Me:


Jenn and Erin:


Erin and Me:

Erin's daughter Avery and Me:

We survived!

So this past weekend was Beth's first time away from home since Keller was born. She had a free plane ticket about to expire that she used to go to LA to see some of her good friends from TU. I had just gotten back from Seattle myself, so things were a little on the hectic side.

My dad took a few days off of school to come down from Indiana to hang out for the weekend. We got a lot done around the house that I had been unable to get to, and had a blast with Keller. These are some of the pics he took while he was here.

They worked on their caveman fire-starting skills...

Thanks to grandpa and grandma Swanson for the Cardinals PJs...

Thanks to aunt Rachel for the awesome handmade blanket she made in South Africa...

He makes this hilarious face when he sees the orange light on the camera before the flash goes off...

Admiring the fresh mulch in the flower bed...

And possibly the greatest photo ever taken....

-J

Slurp, slurp. Giggle, giggle.

Ahhh Rewards

I've slept til 7:00 the last five mornings (deviating from the normal 4:00 - 5:30am) so mom and dad treated me to my first kay-sa-dilla.

friggin' delicious!

-k

Anxious Over Wyoming

I'm 32,000 feet over somewhere in Wyoming on the red eye flight from Seattle to home. I was at Beth's brother's place for a creative brief on the next version of the online journal he heads up. I was just listening to Gabriel by Lamb and got really excited about seeing my kid when I get in. There's plenty of screaming youngins a few rows behind me, but rather than obnoxious it's endearing.

It's been a long while since I published anything - and thanks to Beth the past few months are somewhat caught up now. I just felt the new phase of travel mentality hit me full force and wanted to jot it down. I'll publish once I land in Charlotte and grab a bagel on the way to my connecting flight to Orlando, and an incredible 10 month old.

I hope everyone is well today.

-j

Baby's First Easter

I was super excited about Easter this year because we had just recently gotten Keller on a good schedule so that we could go to church consistently. Well, of course the morning of Easter he didn't nap so Justin and he stayed home while I met my parents at church. Later in the afternoon we met up with family and friends for an amazing dinner made by my mom. Keller had his first Easter Basket etc. We had such a great time!





Oh - and this is a random photo that I couldn't resist adding on:

Making up for lost time

Unfortunately it's been awhile since we've posted! Things are crazy here just like they are with all of you. We've had a great and busy month. Justin's parents were here for their yearly Spring Break trip.





Keller is growing like a weed. He's 10 1/2 months now. We get shocked faces everywhere we go when they ask how old he is. We constantly get "He's so tall!" He's doing so great. Still no crawling but we're getting there. :)



Justin made a shirt for Keller that he proudly wears:

And here's a recent family shot :)