First Trip to McDonalds!

Trevor had his first visit to a McDonald's on the way to GG's in Toledo on the 25th. He loved it. He ate four McNuggets and a good portion of our french fries. Which was quite a sacrifice for mom. Ask Al, I am usually very territorial about my fries. (So territorial that I would not let Al use my fries for the first picture. I made him use his own!) Just goes to show you how motherhood can change you!

Later that day he went with me to buy coffee at a Starbucks on the Ohio Turnpike. Culturally speaking, I think that these two acts officially qualify him as an American Citizen.

December 21st

On the 21st we had "Christmas Morning" at our house. Not a lot to tell. Trevor was still not so sure about opening presents. One of his presents played music and he would turn on the music and start dancing. But he stopped when I got out the camera to take video.

Here's a picture of him eating his Christmas waffles. I know it's not very exciting. But there aren't a whole lot of good pictures of him from this morning.

December 20th

Ok, going to make up for the posting drought. We'll do this by date.

December 20th was "Christmas Eve" with Grandmom and Grandpop Johnson. Aunt Sis, Ellen, and Peggy were there too. Trevor isn't so sure about the opening presents thing. He wasn't real interested, which made the present opening portion of the evening a little longer and more tedious than it needed to be. But the company and the food were excellent and we had a good time. The best part of the evening was watching Grandpop, Ellen, and Sis try to put on Trevor's shoes for about 20 minutes before asking me to come in and finish the job. I wish I had gotten picture!

Anyway - here are some things I did get pictures of...

Trevor and Grandmom

Trevor and Grandpop

Grandpop chasing Trevor, trying to get him interested in opening presents.

Grandmom and Trevor playing with one of his presents.

Long Time No Post

So, Matt (my advisory buddy teacher and fellow MHS marching band director) comes into advisory on Tuesday and the first thing he says is, "It's been a month." And I felt guilty for neglecting the posting for so long. I'd like to to apologize to Trevor's adoring public.

And now that we are in Illinois and Trevor is playing with Grandma and Brian's flight is delayed, I find my self with some time to update the blog. So I will start a posting spree and put up as much as I can before we have to leave to go pick up Brian and D. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot done, but don't hope for too much because B and D are sitting on the runway with someone blasting Madonna very loudly and no way to escape. I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone.

Thanksgiving Weekend

This weekend was a mix of awesome and not so awesome. Thanksgiving was great! The food was fantastic! (Janet is an AWESOME cook!!!) And, of course, the highlight was introducing Trevor to several of his aunts, uncles, and cousins. Trevor was awesome and everyone loved him and took pictures of him like the paparazzi. Trevor also had a great time playing with his cousins, Ben and Evan. Ben and Evan were awesome with him and it was really fun to watch the three of them.

Then came Friday. During the day, I baked the cake for Trevor's birthday party on Saturday. But toward the evening, as Al and I started to decorate the cake, we began to feel a bit queasy. We thought that maybe one of the ingredients of the cake was bad, so we decided to be on the safe side, we'd throw it out and get a cake from Shop Rite in the morning. Then over the course of the night, we both threw up. So we thought maybe it was something we ate at dinner on Friday night. Then Al's mom called to say she and Grandpop were sick and so were several other family members. What we think happened is that we caught a stomach bug. The end result of which is that we had to cancel the party. Thankfully Trevor did not get sick, but he was very put out that mom and dad opted to lay like lumps on the couch on Saturday and watch the Avatar marathon on TV instead of playing. What can I say, we were both sick we could barely move, let alone play. But hey, at least Avatar is quality television.

Anyway - We are disappointed about the party, but, it's OK, these things happen. We are just happy that everyone is on the path to recovery!

We thought you might like some pictures of Turkey-day so:

Trevor and Grandpop

Trevor and Uncle Ron. Trevor liked Uncle Ron and sat happily on his lap several times!
Trevor playing with Ben and Evan. (That's a coaster on his head. Apparently he likes the coasters at Grandmom and Grandpop's. I don't know, the kid walks with socks in his mouth and wears coasters on his head. What can I say?)
More play with Ben and Evan. Ben and Evan were crawling on the floor with Trevor and Trevor decided that Ben was a horse. Like I said, they got along really well and I am so glad they got the chance to play.

Trevor and Aunt Sis watching Uncle Bruce carve the turkey. I love turkey.

Trevor eating the turkey that Uncle Bruce carved. His bib is pretty cute. It says, "I'm stuffed" and has a picture of a turkey on it. We tried to take a picture of it, but Trevor wasn't cooperating during that photo session and most of them turned out like this:
and we wouldn't want to post pictures like this one. Oh, wait...

Trevor and Daddy taking a Turkey nap!

Trevor's Chew Toys

I don't know how many people have commented on what a happy baby Trevor is! Well, he is, most of the time. But he's also teething and so he often takes on the persona of "Mr. Grumpy Pants". We just usually don't take pictures and video of this alternate personality. It also means that he puts just about anything in his mouth. So I thought for this post it would be fun to share some random pictures of some of the things Trevor has chewed on in the past couple of weeks.

Beaded teething rings.

Baby nasal aspirators.

Shapes from his elephant shape sorter.

Ice Packs.

And, of course, the a fore mentioned sock.

Keep in mind that this is just a short list consisting of items we have captured in his mouth on camera. The complete list is much, much, much longer!!

Trevor's New Talent

Here's a video of one of Trevor's new talents.

Videos of Trevor Walking and Socks

Hi All! Sorry it's been a while since the last post. And since the complaint department is experiencing a back log due to the lack of posts ("Can't wait to see more pictures!" "I watched Trevor chasing Grendel AGAIN today." "Where are the new pictures?") I decided that maybe it is about time for me to post something new.

Now, Trevor hates socks. He is always pulling them off. I'll put him in his car seat with two socks on and when we get to where we are going, he'll be bare foot. We'll be in a store and I'll look at him and he only has one sock on. Jill and I had to back track our steps through ALL of Macy's the other day to find a missing sock, and we almost missed it!! I'll put them back on, only to have them pulled off again. Often times, in order to avoid frustration and missing socks, I just take them off until we get ready to leave the store. (Inevitably when I do this I get some short comment such as, "He's not wearing any socks," or, "Where are his socks?! It's cold out!" And get a "you're an inept parent" stares. But it's easier than keeping track of what Trevor does with his socks and I DO put them back on BEFORE we go outside...) For those of you who still doubt Trevor's feelings on socks, I caught him putting socks into his Diaper Champ the other day, and Allan once found one of his socks in the middle of an intersection with tire treads on it. Sigh.

There is one thing he does like about socks though, he can put them in his mouth, which is the measure of how much he likes anything these days. These two videos were taken back to back and show off Trevor's feelings about socks and his new talent, walking!!!

Enjoy! We've taken a lot of video and pictures over the last few weeks. I'll try to post some every day or so for the next week.

(Yes, that's a bib he's wearing as a cape. Al realized at dinner that Trevor's shirt was blue and his bib was red, so he did the logical thing and put the bib on backwards, turning our mild mannered little boy into...SUPER TREVOR!!! for the rest of the evening.)

For those of you wondering how Grendel and Trevor are getting along...

This video is a riot...

OK, here they are! Both Allan and I were asked where the Trevorsaur pictures were today. Sorry it took us so long to post them! :)

Trevor wasn't so sure about his dino costume at first, but after a while he got used to it. After we wrestled him into the costume, we put put him down and when he started to crawl the stuffed tail started to wiggle. It was very cute and very funny.

He was a big hit at the football game (whose idea was it to put Halloween on a Friday anyway???). Although a lot of people asked why he wasn't a cougar. At least he was cougar green and gold. Again, he was a very good boy and let everyone hold him!

There's also a picture of him in a drawer. Yeah, I don't know. Kids get into the darndest things!!

Random Thoughts

Hey all!

I know I am posting in bulk tonight, but I finished all of the school work I brought home and until a few hours ago, I had planned to be watching Sunday night football right now. But apparently someone in sports scheduling land has decided that the World Series is more important than Sunday night football and did not schedule a game for tonight. What's up with that?!

Anyway - a lot of people have been asking me how Trevor and Grendel are getting along. They are doing pretty well. They don't seem to be afraid of each other (although maybe Grendel should be), and Grendel does not seem to be as jealous. He is chasing her and she is always able to stay just out of reach. On Friday, Trevor started to fuss a little before I was ready for him to get out of bed so I brought him into our bed and laid him on my chest and Grendel curled up on my legs and it was absolute paradise. Until the alarm went off. I was told I should have called out. Reason for absence? Covered in cuteness!

We're still adjusting on all ends, but it is getting better every day. I can't wait until I am off and get my time to stay home with him!

Terhune Orchards

We took Trevor to Terhune Orchards on a whim today. We were going to take him to a park when we decided to see if Terhune was open so he could see the farm animals. He was a very good baby in his ATS (All Terrain Stroller - although it was a little rough going through the corn maze). He wasn't scared of any of the animals, even the horses. We weren't there for very long, but it was a beautiful day and we had a good time.

Football!!

We took Trevor to his first football game on Friday night. Go Cougars!!

He stayed for the whole time and was an absolute angel. He let the kids and band parents hold. He even let W and K hold him. Now, the kids warn me not to give him to Adam because they are afraid he will throw him. See, since the start of the marching band, he has been telling the band that if they give a good enough performance, the audience will throw babies at them. And recently he has been saying that Trevor is available for throwing... Now, the band gave their best performance of the season, but we did NOT throw any babies. Including the T-Rex. Trevor was aloud to hit a bass drum after the game, and he enjoyed it a bit too much. With the way he likes to bang on things, I am very scared he will become a drummer. I'll have to make sure he hangs out with the trombones and tubas more often...


Trevor meets Guardie (the color guard's mascot).

Trevor and Kawika.

It's the Toys You Don't Buy...

Recent Photos!

Trevor playing in his cool football outfit!

Trevor getting some work done at Mommy's school. (Maybe he can help me grade some papers this weekend...)


Trevor pushing his fire engine. He's almost walking!!!


Trevor and Grendel. He's about to start chasing her. The fear is gone!! Well, at least Trevor's fear is gone.

Trevor and his football. My future wide receiver!!
Grendel wondering what has happened to her life, her house, and her food bowl! Poor kitty. We still love our little princess!

Rock Star Baby!

Trevor has had a busy few days meeting people! Our neighbors, Audrey, Pepper, and Samantha, stopped by the other day to say hi and so did Patty and Charlie.

On Saturday Daddy took him to meet his Aunt Jen, Uncle Jon, and BFF Ryan. (This gave Mom a chance to grade papers and write college recs in peace). Al said that Trevor and Jen hit it off right away and that they couldn't get enough of each other! We think, however, that the four month age gap between Ryan and Trevor is a big one at the moment seeing as Ryan can't crawl and Trevor is almost walking. But it won't be long before they over come that gap and are building the Death Star out of Legos, challenging each other to games of AOE, and hauling a fire place surround +1 through dungeon after dungeon after dungeon together.

On Monday Al took Trevor to the WWP district to meet all of his colleagues and on Tuesday he brought Trevor to see me at work. I know he was a hit at WWP, but he achieved rock star status at Montgomery. Everyone in the English office was very happy to meet him (Al was afraid that some of my colleagues might try to kidnap him). And once the students found out he was in the building they came searching for him in packs. We were mobed every where we went! I would like to appologise to anyone whose class I might have disrupted with my child!

I hope that it's not too cold to bring him to the football game on Friday. The whole band didn't get to meet him and I know that the Band Parents want to see him too.

It is really awesome to get such a reception from everyone! We really feel lucky for all of the support that everyone has given us through out this entire process, but especially now that we are home. You guys rock!

The Craziness!!

Sorry for the lack of updates as of late. We've been trying to get on a schedule and settle in.

I've been pretty busy. I have a lot of grading to do before the marking period ends. Grading papers and writing college recs is hard enough as it is, let alone when you'd rather be playing with constant attention boy!

Allan has been doing the Mr. Mom thing. He's doing a good job, but I think it's wearing him out! He brought Trevor to High School North to meet his colleagues yesterday and he's coming to Montgomery to meet everyone here today.

Anyway - I'll try to post once or twice a week for a while with some pictures and such to feed the Trevor addicts out there. (Maybe more once I take off).

I'll post some pics and video of Trevor later this week!

The Pictures I Promised

Hey! Here are some of the pictures I promised you two days ago! They are in no particular order. Like I said in the last post, it's a game.

Adjustment is taking a little bit of time. Sometimes Trevor is happy as anything and sometimes he is all tears and fuss. But the happy moments are stretching longer, so hopefully he will settle in quickly.

Life is pretty busy. We both went to work yesterday. Al will only be working on Fridays for the next few weeks, but I'm back full time until November 17. My students were all questions and excitement yesterday and they can't wait to meet Trevor, especially the band. I showed my classes a slide show of our trip, which was awesome, because all I want to do is talk about how wonderful it all was and I had an interested (if captive) audience five times yesterday. I also had a football game yesterday. It was pretty far away, and I missed Trevor a lot during my 16 hour day, but hey, I am guaranteed sleep on the bus rides, so that's not all bad. Al is playing with Trevor right now, and I'm supposed to be getting ready to leave for our band competition tonight, which I guess I better do because I need to leave in less than an hour. But I thought I'd take this opportunity to get you those pictures I promised and let you know how things are going.

Finally Home!!

Well, we made it! It's been a busy few days and there is a lot to say. So, I'm just going to type. Then, I'm going to add posts with pictures of what I talk about in this post and you can match up what picture goes with what part of the story. I can't promise that the pictures will be posted in order, so it will be kind of like a game...

Anyway - Trevor was very good through the 30+ hours of travel. He slept for most of the flying time and in San Francisco. We let him crawl around in Atlanta and he pushed his stroller around. Mostly on his knees, but a few times he got up on his feet and walked as he pushed!! (We are thinking about starting a pool and taking dates for when he starts walking. I think it will be before the end of October. Poor Grendel!) The only really tough part of the travel time was on the second flight. He got fussy and we knew he wanted to be held and walked, but the fasten seat belt sign was lit, so we couldn't get up. He was not a happy baby! Allan tried to make him happy by military pressing him in the air till his muscles gave out. At least the other passengers enjoyed giggles rather than his cries for a bit.

Getting off the plane in San Francisco was probably the best part of the trip. As soon as we set foot in the airport, he became an American Citizen. We tried to wait until most of the people got off the plane so we could tape the moment, but I think we annoyed people anyway. But we were excited. Immigration was easy. We just handed the nice man our envelope and he checked to make sure we had all the paperwork and told us we should get his certificate in the mail with in a couple of months!

Trevor also has a way with the ladies. We lost count of how many girlfriends he picked up on the way, but every flight attendant, every woman we sat near, every ticket agent, random people in the airport, fell all over him and his cuteness. I don't know if we have said it before, but we are in trouble in about 12 years!

Aunt Jill and Da were at Newark to meet us. They were both very excited to meet him and Jill did the best impersonation of Niagara Falls I have ever seen! When we got home, the neighbors came out to meet him and we found our house decorated. Aunt Jill is responsible for the stork and Aunt Jen, Uncle Jon, and BFF Ryan came to our house and decorated our living room and Trevor's room with banners and balloons and streamers. It was a great homecoming until...

Trevor saw Grendel. Al and I went in to give her some attention before we brought Trevor in. She was interested in him and came onto the stairs to sniff and check him out and he started shaking and howling. We don't think he had ever seen, let alone been near, an animal. (Maybe if he hadn't slept through the zoo...) Grendel, being Grendel, was pretty chill. She just trotted away. Every time he saw her for the first few hours he clutched at us and shuddered and screamed. It made his whole transition to our house harder than it had to be, because he was scared of her walking into the room. She just walked away every time he started crying, but she also cried quite a bit for attention. Between Trevor being scared of Grendel and Grendel being jealous of Trevor, it made for a stressful couple of hours.

Now if you think jet lag is bad, it is nothing compared to a jet lagged baby! He slept in the pack and play for about four hours and then woke up. Al got up with him and put on some Baby Einstein. He said that by the end of the video, he had Trevor sleeping next to him and G-Cat laying on his legs. He didn't put Trevor back int he pack and play when he came back to bed and I woke up to find Trevor sleeping on Allan's stomach and Grendel sleeping on mine. This morning, she was laying next to him and he put his head on her for a brief moment. So I think they'll get used to each other and be friends before too long.

Today we unpacked and ran some errands. Trevor was not too sure about car seats, shopping carts (howled getting into and out of both), Babies R Us, Sam's Club or Shop Rite.

To make a long story short, it's been a rough 24 hours. Between all the new experiences, the cat, the fact that we don't actually live in a four and a half star hotel, and that he hasn't seen Grandmom and Grandpop today (I think he really misses them), we've all had a hard time. But hopefully we'll all get used to this "new normal" before long.

We'd like to thank every one for the emails and messages over the past couple of weeks. Your love and support are very much appreciated. We are all very lucky to have such great family and friends!

XO
JL, Allan, Trevor, and Grendel

Ps- stay tuned for pictures!
Pps- please excuse any typos/bad usage and mechanics. It's been a long couple of days! I'm not thinking too gudly...