Before and After

     About a year ago, Tyler began "Eating For Life" when he realized the importance of eating right and being healthy.  Since that time he has lost 50 lbs.  During the time that he started eating right and exercising I was expecting Nehemiah.  After Nehemiah was born I realized that all the weight you gain during a pregnancy doesn't just dissappear the day after the baby is born!!  I was also about 40 lbs. heavier than I should have been so I  began to "Eat for Life" and exercise with Tyler.  As we ate healthy and worked-out our inspiration to keep on going was a picture that was taken of us at our 2012 Sweetheart Banquet at church.  At that point Tyler had reached his all-time highest weight and I of course looked pretty chubby myself since I was expecting a baby.  This year we had our picture taken at the Sweetheart Banquet again and it was funny to see the difference!!  One thing we have learned is that when you eat right, exercise, and do not have extra pounds on you have much more energy and feel so much better!!  

BEFORE

AFTER

 



Our Cute Little Guy

 This picture just makes me laugh!!  I sat him in the high chair with cheerios so that he would remain entertained while I cooked supper.  I had a craft project on the table which I had set on pieces of newspaper to dry.  When I turned around he had grabbed one of the paper pieces out from under part of my project.  Then he gave us this little look that you see in the picture.  Earlier this week he also grabbed a container full of peas off the table and was dumping them as I came around the corner into the kitchen!

I just love this picture of him in his froggy towel.  Bath time is one of his favorite times of the day!

Update on the Last Month

     I know that Christmas was more than a month ago now, but I want to show a few of our Christmas pictures.  We had a wonderful Christmas.  It was especially fun since it was Nehemiah's first Christmas.  He, of course, had no clue what was going on, but it was still fun.  He was much more interested in eating the wrapping paper than anything else.  We spent the 22nd with Tyler's family doing our Christmas together.  The 23rd was our church's Christmas Cantata in the evening, and on the 24th we flew out for Indiana!  We had such a great time there!  It just seemed like we did not have enough time there!!!  I was not quite ready to get back to "real life", but time keeps moving on!

This picture makes me laugh...Nehemiah was not sure what to do with all the presents!

 



As I said before, he was only interested in playing with the paper and eating it.

 



Tyler's mom made Nehemiah a quilt...it was beautiful!

 



Opening a present from Great-grandpa and Great-grandma Johnson.

 



I tried to take a nice picture of Nehemiah in front of the Christmas tree, but as you can see I did not have much success!  He was too intrigued by the lights to look at the camera.  I also was worried that he might try to eat the lights!

 

Tyler got the blessing of carrying this chubby baby through the airports!  He was very good on the airplanes, which we were so thankful about! 

 

Reading the gun magazine with Uncle David

 

With Grandpa on Christmas morning 

 

Aunt Lorena had a grand time with him!!

 

When we got home from Indian, Nehemiah seemed to have a little cold.  After a few days it got a little scary because he was barely breathing, no matter what I tried to do to help him.  I had to take him to the doctor.  They gave him steroid shots to try to open up his airways, and also put him on a nebulizer.  Thankfully after about 3 days he started to get better!

 

A new development in Nehemiah's little world was the addition of "real food"!!  He LOVES to eat, and would eat all day long if I let him.  He gets so excited every time he sees me carrying him over to his high chair.  He gets very impatient when Tyler or I pray with him before its time to eat!  So far he has gotten to taste: bananas, carrots (his favorite), avocado (another favorite), peas, green beans (least favorite), apples, applesauce, cereal bars, rice cereal, cheerios, beef & barley soup, frosting, and ice cream.  Cheerios are his "comfort food".  No matter what is wrong, cheerios make him happy again:)!

 



First time eating carrots

 



"Bad Guy" Nehemiah

 



 Happy Nehemiah! 

This is how we like to see him!

 

 

Only To Me!!

     As I go through life, my days are often peppered with what I would call my "Mary moments".  They are crazy things that seem to happen only to me.  I like to think it is just a coincidence, but I have a feeling that it is because I am a little ditzy.
     Today I had one of those moments in the Wal-Mart parking lot, and I think my friends who know me well will appreciate it.  I went to make some purchases for the church, and paid for them myself and was then going to be reimbursed by the church finance office.With that in mind I kept telling myself to make sure I returned with the receipt.  I put the receipt into the front of the cart, with something heavy over it so that nothing would happen to it.  Half-way through the parking lot, I picked up the very thing that was holding down my receipt without thinking.  Of course, my receipt quickly "took wings" and began to fly away.  Leaving cart and all, I began to frantically chase it through the parking lot.  Hey, someone may run off with everything I had just bought, but at least my receipt would be safe...maybe!!  As I chased it, I saw it take a dive under a van.  I got down on my knees to try to get it, but it was too far for my reach. I quickly ran back to my car and pulled out the ice scraper.  When I got back to the van (hoping that the owner of the van would not show up at that moment), I was able to  successfully retrieve my receipt!!  Victory at last!!!
     Thankfully no one ran off with my cart of groceries, no one hit it with their car, or any other such disastrous thing that may have happened!!  I am still wondering if anyone saw me (which is very probable in a busy Wal-Mart parking lot), and what they thought of the crazy girl in a skirt chasing a receipt.

Little Friends

     We are enjoying our time in Indiana with friends and family.  We have been very busy fellowshiping and eating (of course)...I'm afraid I added a couple pounds:).  Ashley was over here yesterday for a few hours with Emily and we enjoyed talking and catching up!  When Nehemiah and Emily saw each other they screamed with excitement...it was pretty funny! They became fast friends, and  sat together contentedly for quite a while "talking" to each other and playing. A couple of times a problem arose when they wanted the same toy, but we tried to quickly resolve the problem. I snapped several pictures, and wanted to post of one of my favorites.  Later I will do a post with more pictures.

O Christmas Tree!!

     We finally got the time on Saturday to go up into the beautiful Black Hills and pick out our very own Christmas Tree!  It is quite wonderful to pay just 10 dollars and have miles and miles of hills to choose a tree from.  There are thousands of trees, and you have your choice of any one of them, as long as it is not taller than 20 feet!  We decided to leave Nehemiah with our friend Rachel, since we did not think he would really appreciate being carted around the forest in the very cold weather.  It was kind of funny because the very first tree I saw when I stepped out of the truck was "the perfect tree" in my mind!  It was tall, and full.  Since the trees in the hills are obviously not cultivated in special tree farms, etc. it is sometimes hard to find a tree that is nice and full.  Just for good measure, we walked around the forest for about 20 minutes, to make sure that there was not another good tree out there.  No matter how many trees I saw, though, I kept going back to that first tree, so finally we cut it down and took it home with us!!  It is all decorated now, and I think Nehemiah is still not quite sure what to do with it!

 

A self-portrait...I look like an Eskimo!!

 

 

Tyler carrying our beautiful tree!

 

 

Tyler's Dad was kind enough to take our picture...by this point we were VERY COLD!!

 



 

The finished product...not the best picture, but it will have to do!!

 

     Since Nehemiah is REALLY what everyone that reads this blog cares about:), I will put a couple pictures of him...

 

 

His favorite toys right now are plastic kitchen utensils

 

 

 

They often end up in his mouth...he likes to try out his two little, VERY SHARP teeth!



Daddy's Favorite Picture