Our Cuties

Just some great photos of our kids for you to enjoy... They were both helping Daddy rake leaves in our backyard!

Big brother, growing big

Yesterday was a big day for the big brother, Sebastian. This was the day’s events for a growing 21 month old:

1. Woke up asking for kefir… yes, kefir! How many 21 month olds ask for kefir first thing in the morning?

2. Went pee pee in the potty STANDING UP for the first time!

3. Climbed into his highchair all by himself (see video):

4. Finished the day by eating way more Ethiopian food than I did, all the while insisting that he pull off his own pieces of injera and scoop up his food properly.

Beach fun

The last day of our vacation - before catching the red eye home - we hung out at the beach. Tim & I packed up Sebastian, his two second cousins and some lunches, and we headed to the beach. It was a far cry from bathing suit weather, but we had a blast playing with the kids. And they had a fabulous time, too! Just look at the pictures below – they tell a thousand words… or at least a thousand laughs, giggles and shrieks of joy!

Sebastian LOVED the sand. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he immediately shoveled handfuls of it into his mouth.

The boys became great friends with Sebastian and really seemed to enjoy playing with him. They were so gentle and tender with him – it was endearing. This picture makes me very happy. :)

Here are a few of my favorite pics from our time at the beach (there were lots of great ones; it was hard to choose!).

Air born!

Contemplating the water…

The cold, cold water didn’t go over so well with Sebbie.

We’re making our way to a pose for the camera.

These guys are the sweetest… they call each other “brother” when addressing one another. It’s super cute to hear them talk.

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Everyone was wet, wet, wet! We had the boys strip down to their skibbies before we drove home :).

And these photos just sort of sum up the good times had by all! They make me smile. A lot!

We were so thrilled to be able to hang out with my cousins during the time we were out in California. It was great to get to know the boys better and to just be with the whole gang. Oops! I’m realizing that I didn’t get any photos of the adult cousins! Gulp. Well, I guess we have to make another trip to take some group shots. That’s just fine by me… ;)

Some more photos to come later…

Baby’s 1st Christmas and the holiday in review…

It’s been a wonderful holiday season for us! Last year at this time, we only dreamt of what it might be like to have a child at Christmastime. A year ago I was just starting to feel Sebastian’s movements inside my belly… the awe and wonder of a baby growing on the inside have now translated into the awe and wonder of a baby growing on the outside. He brings us such JOY! Our happy, healthy, smiley baby is really the best Christmas gift we could have hoped for – we are so BLESSED and have so much for which to be THANKFUL!As to be expected at this age, he experiences pretty much everything via his mouth, and opening his gifts was no exception. Many thanks to all our family for the generous gifts. Sebastian is a happy lil’ camper and is totally enjoying all of his new toys. We still have presents under the tree for him, because we have found that any more than one or two gifts a day is a bit overwhelming… and we’d like to extend his Christmas for a little while longer. We actually haven’t done any gifts for the past two days, and Sebastian certainly doesn’t seem to mind. :)He had a great time dressing up like a miniature Santa… followed by an elf. Grandma and Grandpa were excited to be able to share some of the Christmas cheer with our little Santa/Elf/Baby… never mind the runny nose! And Seb had lots of fun exchanging presents with his cousin (and helping open others’ presents, too!). This year the cousins all exchanged names, and Sebastian and Gabe both had each other’s names. One of the gifts that I was more excited about giving this year was an album that I had made for Tim’s mom from the pictures of our trip to the Outer Banks. Each of his siblings contributed photos, plus I managed to sneak some off of my M-I-L’s camera, and it turned out to be a wonderful collection of photographed memories. It was a fun surprise!

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Sebastian even got to spend time with his second cousin, Blake, who’s just two months older than him, but about 5 pounds and 2 inches bigger (note the two happy twin grandpas holding their newest grandbabies). And… he got to hang out and play with his cousins, Isaac and Lauryn, who love to make him laugh. Sebastian just giggles and giggles anytime they’re around. They were kind enough to share their rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” on video. If you pay close enough attention, you can hear Sebastian trying to sing along in the background.



I received a Flip video camera for Christmas (very, very cool and exciting!), which gives me the ability to film videos in a super easy fashion… so stay tuned for more videos to come! Aunt Bev’s been asking for the videos…And one last shot – Grandma Judy with her kiddos. I think I see some resemblance in the genes of these cousins!Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone!

four generations

We had a special day yesterday! Sebastian got to meet his one and only great grandparent - Great Grandpa Martin. It was the annual chicken bbq for the Martin family, and we also were celebrating Great Grandpa's 90th birthday, which is later this week.

We were able to get a picture of 4 generations at the bbq - Seb, Tim, Harold and Great Grandpa.

What a treat to capture moments such as these! There are 25 years between Tim's Grandpa and his dad, as well as between Tim's dad and Tim... but then the trend changed quite a bit with this most recent generation! Someone had to shake things up a bit, right? Sebastian was a very chill and happy baby like usual, and he allowed his Great Grandpa to hold him for quite some time. Take a peek!

There were three other 3 month old babies at the bbq, but we all agreed that Sebastian was by far the biggest... well, at least the longest! He just doesn't stop growing!

And I experienced something new for the first time - candy dropping from an airplane. I guess this is a tradition - an airplane pilot was hired to fly over the field next to the church/school where the bbq was held and drop buckets-full of candy from the sky. What a sight to see! Children scrambled to scoop up as much candy as they could. I guess it's Lancaster County's version of a pinata, of sorts...just without the stick and the pinata! :) Sebastian's cousin, Gabe, was kind enough to share some Milk Duds with Seb... but mommy and daddy had to try them out to make sure they were OK. We decided he should stick to breast milk for now - it seems to be doing the trick!

What's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

-Shakespeare

Kirsten, Sebastian & Tim

J 0 h n s e n M a r t i n

This is our first series of family pictures officially all sharing the same last name! Tim & I have finally changed our last names to match that of our son's and to represent the union of our marriage and our families... as we approach our two year anniversary in just about two weeks!

So what's in a name, anyways? Before we were married (and for the past two years), we entertained a variety of options for our surnames: both keep our own names, both change to Tim's last name, both change to the same, joint last name, or come up with a whole new surname altogether (how about johntin or martinsen?!?). We planned to change our names since we were married, but never "got around to it..." Then we had a baby! And we felt it was important to: a. make a final decision about the name change thing, and b. all share the same last name. Thus, Sebastian was a little bit ahead of the game... he's had our last name since he was born - now over 7 weeks. But now we all have the same last name, according to the Social Security office - it's official and legal and all that other good stuff.

And it feels good. Really good. We're excited to be united in this way! We both loved the names that our parents chose for us - first, middle and last - they have significant meaning for us. And now we love each other and our baby boy, and we still love both of our families. We desired to share both of "us" in our new family name. We didn't get married fresh out of college; instead we had years of experiences, training, careers - all of which continued to define us for many years until we became one. We are excited about combining both of our names to change the definition from the two of us to one...and to now share that with our son as our family grows.

The tasks that lie ahead include changing our licenses (both to drive and to practice medicine ;)), bank accounts, credit cards, passports, and everything else that has our names attached to it! It seems a bit daunting, but so very worth it - to make the change complete once and for all. I'm sure we'll still get all variety of combinations and titles in the mail, as we have since we were first married, but now at least Uncle Sam knows what to call us!

So, what's in a name? A whole lot of love, family, history...and a whole lot of future and great stuff to come!

Surprise! We pulled it off ;)

Last Sunday, we had a surprise 40th birthday party for Tim. It was labeled as a "Father's Day get-together," and he had no idea what was waiting for him when we arrived at his parent's house. The party was also 11 days after his birthday, and we had already celebrated the big day, so Tim was totally unsuspecting. When we pulled into the driveway, Tim saw all the people and the decorations, and he just kept saying "oh my, oh my, oh my word..." and then he asked "did you know about this!?" Ha!!!
It turned out to be a great party - lots of wonderful family and friends, good food (and I'm so, so, so thankful for all the good eatins that everyone brought to share), fabulous music by the Old Time Liberation Front, games and trampoline-jumping for the kids, sunshine, and the beloved birthday boy! Tim had a terrific time and was blessed by all that were there... not to mention surprised! Hooray!
I could never have pulled it off without the help of so many, especially Tim's parents and his sister, Jill (decorator extraordinaire), my parents, and Marvin (thanks again for the Costco run!), Doug & Lydia, and many others, I'm sure. Thank you, merci, gracias, danke, tusen takk!
Check out the slide show of all the fun!

That was then, this is now...

Several months ago, after my cousin's second son was born, his wife posted a picture of their son in a baby basket/bassinet... She wrote that 27 members of the J family had slept in that basket. I had no recollection of it, and didn't think that I was one of the 27. Turns out I was wrong! I still had no idea when the basket was presented to me at one of my baby showers. It was only when I was sorting through old photos to make an album for my parents for their 40th anniversary, (which was this past weekend), that I came across this picture of me:

So, count me in as a J family basket baby, and count our little Sebastian as number 28!
I'm so curious to know who will be the next heirloom basket baby...! Also, I think it would be super cool to document with names and photos (if available) all of us who have had the opportunity to rest our weary heads in this family gem. If you know of any info, please pass it along!

Gadget be gone!

I have been noticing that the gadget on the left side of our blog page that counted down the days til our baby was to be born got to zero (on our due date), but then started counting up! Grrrr...! The floating baby count-down was fun to watch til the numbers were going in the opposite direction. Seeing a higher number every day wasn't helping the sentiments of frustration that have set in by being overdue. Not so fun anymore... So, I removed it today - just like that - poof! and gone! Gadget be gone, and baby JM come on into this world!

When we were with Tim's family on Mother's Day, my nieces were playing dress up, and they gave me one of their baby dolls to "practice" with a little. I thought it was fun and cute, but I sure would like to hold one that wiggles and squirms and actually cries when it's hungry - the one they gave me was all too quiet!

Family Weekend Getaway...to a cabin in the woods!

Tim's parents arranged for a family weekend getaway to a Cabin "up north," and we were all able to make it, except for Jill & Daniel, who live in Florida. Although we missed their presence, we all had a great time - the weather cooperated for the most part, we rested and played, we hiked and skipped stones across small ponds, we climbed trees (well, not all of us! :)), and we enjoyed good food, family time and most of all... being together. This was the first time I had joined in on a family trip since we're married. It was quite a successful weekend, in that no children (there were 7!) got injured, the cousins all played very well together, I was just shy of 31 weeks pregnant and did just fine, and our newest family member, Ryan, did very well for his first trip away at 5 weeks old.

Christmas JOY!

We had full days over the Christmas week, with something to do and somewhere to be every- single-day for 8 days straight! Fortunately we managed to squeak in some rest and relaxation time amidst some wonderful moments with our families.
Our nieces and nephews are such a joy to watch grow up, mature and develop each of their personalities a little bit more. They are each soooo different, and each wonderful. They're all loving and affectionate, well-mannered, and respectful (I'm sure this is how they are always behaved in their own homes, too!). Our youngest niece, Ella, is almost three, and really starting to come out of her shell and warm up to us now. She's so fun to watch and so full of energy! I don't know that my brother ever expected to have his sister reincarnated in his own daughter, but I see little glimpses of myself as a child in Lauryn each time I see her!
We had some time to celebrate Christmas while Jill & Daniel were still up north before heading back to Florida. We also had some time with my parents, and with Tim's family, including all the siblings and their kids. Before Christmas, we attended the annual "Zimmerman Family Christmas," which is Tim's maternal side's gathering of anywhere from 130-160 people (yowsers!). We had a much smaller gathering of the Johnsen family after Christmas, with my dad's siblings and just a few of the cousins.
I think we were both very thankful for the peace, quiet and soft-sung worship that we were able to experience (albeit only for an hour and a half), while we soaked in all aspects of the Candlelight Christmas Eve Service at our church. With all of the hustle and bustle of the season, it seemed like just what we needed to help us inch our ways a little more into the Christmas spirit... the real spirit of the season! We've celebrated the birth of our King and Savior - the greatest gift of all!
Here's a sampling of our photos to share the memories of our Christmas joy! We are abundantly blessed!

Full of Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a very full holiday and weekend, but it was great. I was the rounder all week at the hospital last week, and on call on Thanksgiving Day, but we managed to squeeze in two turkey meals with both of our families. We enjoyed a wonderful time with our parents, siblings and nieces and nephews. I managed to get a photo of the feasting table at my parents' house, but forgot all about it at Tim's parents' house. By the time we got to Tim's parents' house, I was very tired, and the tryptophan was kicking in - I think it took over my photo taking natural tendencies! Friday night we headed downtown to enjoy the Mayor's Christmas tree lighting, a tuba Christmas concert, a walk through Central Market, and a meal at one of our favorite locales - Spyro Gyro. Yummy Greek food! Steve, Isaac and my parents met us down there, while Traci and Lauryn stayed at home nursing a pending cold in my niece.

We had a fun outing on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with my parents, brother and sister-in-law and my niece and nephew. It's beginning to be a tradition now to go to Frysville Farms to get our Christmas tree. We pick out our favorite concolor fur, get some hot apple cider and meander in awe through the aisles of pointsettias. The kids spoke to Santa, ensuring him that they were very well behaved, and each getting a toy in return. And to top it all off, we had a horse-drawn hay wagon ride through the tree orchards. Now we can enjoy the aroma of our citrus-smelling tree as it pervades the living room!
We have so much for which to be thankful. It's so easy to forget that in the midst of how busy life gets, what's going on around us with war, bad economies, global warming, worsening crime, etc. and seeing the sorrow of so many others around us. We have a warm house, good food which is abundant, good secure jobs, wonderful family, health, love, education, our faith, terrific friends, a baby growing inside of me and each other. We are blessed! Thanksgiving shouldn't be just a single day, but a way of life... everyday.