Eating is fun!

This kiddo loves the food his mommy makes for him! I hope he laughs like this forever!

A good dose of happy!

If you're needing something to brighten your day, take a look at this cutie pie having a grand old time in his bouncer!

Laughs and kisses for mommy

Baby Seb shares laughs and kisses with mommy... at least when not distracted by daddy. We're learning just how easily distracted an almost 8 month old can be during pretty much all things. And, we're having fun with our new Flip video camera - capturing memories!

Light shines in darkness

Back in 1996, I attended Urbana '96, the missions conference for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which occurs every three years during the last week of the year. It remains one of the most memorable and powerful experiences of my college years and my faith walk. I recall being deeply moved during that time - it was a phenomenal experience! There were thousands and thousands of students gathered together in a large university stadium, worshipping together, listening to powerful and engaging speakers, attending workshops, praying and pursuing God on a more intimate level.

My parents had attended Urbana as college students as well... about 30 years before me. Although the make-up and style of the conference continues to change over time, the message and the moving experience remains the same - even after all these years. My dad still tells the story of how he got a speeding ticket while I was at Urbana, because he was listening to one of the speakers live on the radio, became overwhelmed with excitement and joy, stopped paying attention to the speedometer, got engrossed in the talk he was listening to, and bam! got pulled over. What goes on at Urbana really is exciting! Really. Really. Exciting! (and sometimes a little expensive!)

Anyways, we have good friends who are on staff with InterVarsity, and they just got back from Urbana '09. Our friend e-mailed us an update after the conference and shared some links of some of his favorite talks, presentations, and drama from this year's conference. I'm including the video below, which I encourage you to watch, if you have about 15 minutes to spare. I hope you'll be moved by this form of experiential worship. It is rich. And it's good.

This is what my friend said about this video: "This is the theatre and dance intro to the conference- literally the first thing we saw onstage. So well done, so beautiful. I wept at the artistry of it as I realized it's been a while since I've experienced really good art. The guy tap dancing is incredible."

I have to say I agree with him. The presentation "combines beat-boxing, spoken word, hand drums, tap and interpretive dance to bring the message of the Gospel of John to life in a musically and visually inspired performance."
 Take a peek!

Theatre and Dance: Word and Pictures from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

For Aunt Bev...

A video especially for Aunt Bev... Sebastian checking out his new sippy cup!

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!

View Full Album

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!

a little holiday diversion

Since we got back from vacation, life has felt a little rough.  Sebastian hasn't been himself and has been very clingy, not sleeping well, occasionally refusing to eat - we're wondering if this is just an adjustment from being back from vacation or something else - illness lurking, teething, etc.  His poor sleeping patterns have been trying on us physically and emotionally - we've both been exhausted, and I seemed to manage to mess up my neck royally by sleeping in a very akward position several nights in a row so as to protect my little babe - who would only sleep if sleeping with us. 
I also began a new schedule at work which includes multiple double bookings in order to increase productivity by accounting for our no-show rate.  I was the last provider to move to this schedule, because they were waiting for Sebastian to start solids.  For that, I'm so very thankful... but it was a difficult transition to go back to work after a week of vacation.  The mommy guilt was at a high level - I almost felt like I was going back to work after maternity leave all over again - and I had this new schedule to deal with... 
In the midst of it all, I have not felt like I was in the Christmas mood or spirit at all... it's barely crossed my mind, and I recognize that it's fast approaching.  We don't have any decorations, I have no gifts (let alone ideas!), and I haven't been in church for almost a month because of being on call and then vacation... so the concept of Advent floats around in my head, but doesn't yet seem a reality.  Sigh... Not exactly how I'd like to feel or be around Advent... especially for Sebastian's first go-around with Christmas.
In an effort to relax a bit this afternoon (I had a very early meeting that I was NOT looking forward to this morning, followed by a long day of rounding at the hospital), I decided to play around a bit with the Jib Jab Elf videos to get some comic relief and work towards some holiday cheer. 
So, here you have it - live and for the first time - the Johnsen Martin Elves performing a holiday disco dance.  There were five options, but I chose to post this one, because it seemed to be Sebastian's favorite.  He squealed in delight and flapped his little arms and legs when he saw this video. 
So enjoy!  Here's to the holiday season... may it find its way into our home and hearts very soon! 

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

And yes, we ALL can dance like that in real life. Ha!

For the first time

Sebastian got a taste of something other than good ol' mother's milk. His smart daddy thought to grab my BlackBerry to capture this moment on video. He's still not entirely convinced, but we're getting there, poco a poco.  Mostly, he just wants to chew on his spoon or grab it like a big boy.  We're already convinced that he's going to want to feed himself sooner rather than later.


I was anxious to try some rice cereal with him, because he seemed to be very interested in watching Tim & me while we're eating these days. He doesn't want to miss a beat, and he's been grabbing for everything in sight. But, at the same time I felt a little bit guilty, because he's two weeks shy of the six month mark...which is the new-ish recommended time to wait for any type of solids.
My doctor mommy guilt was kicking in..., til the next day when I saw an 8 week old for a well child check, whose mother told me she started rice cereal a couple of weeks ago (insert YIKES here) and her son just LOVES it...and she did it because her mom told her to... you know, he'd sleep better! And that was right before she told me that she always puts him on his belly to sleep, because he LOVES to sleep on his belly and sleeps so well that way! Ugh... sigh... wiped away any feeling of guilt I was having pretty darn quick. And guess what - my word over her mom's? Not a stinkin' chance. Sigh... (again).
And yes, I did tell her that she was giving me chest pain.

Newsflash!

Check out the latest news!  I've won a very special award! :) 
Click on the link below:
CNNBC video

Round two (or should I say 4) and toes

Sebastian had his 4 month well child check today and his second round of shots. He weighed in at 14 lbs, 12 oz and 25.5 inches. He was a super champ about his shots (always does better than his mom), and he's been chill all afternoon and evening. We spent the afternoon with Erica at Rachel's (the restaurant, not the friend's house), chatting, sipping on latte and chai and eating yummy crepes. Sebastian felt so comfortable in the warmth of Erica's arms that he took his afternoon nap right there - snuggled in her arms.
Over the past two or three weeks, Seb has discovered his toes and chooses them preferentially over anything else that could possibly go in his mouth whenever they're unclothed. He especially loves the toes during bath time! Check out the cutie pie sucking on his toes - I figured out how to make my new BlackBerry take videos.

P.S. Notice the toes heading towards his mouth in the picture on the scale at the doctor's office. Toes, toes, toes - so much fun!

The first dance!

We had a very busy weekend, celebrating with two great friends, as they joined the ranks of married folk. Sebastian got to go to both weddings with us, and did extremely well...never mind the clearly audible sucking noise heard during "silent worship" at the Quaker wedding... that was his THUMB, even though those around me didn't believe me as they witnessed a squirmy body underneath my nursing cover!
It was great fun to witness couples so in love making vows to one another - brings back such wonderful memories!
And Seb had his first dance on a real dance floor... Maureen swept him off his feet!

A (powerful) word about diapers...

In honor of Earth Day, which is coming next week (April 22nd)... and in honor of our baby, who will be coming who knows when, but who will be garbed in cloth and/or hybrid diapers, check out this video! It's a bit shocking and a good reminder for all of us about how much of an impact our everyday actions have on our Earth!

This video comes from g-diapers, which are "hybrid" diapers - they have cloth covers on the outside, but biodegradable, flushable and compostable liners. The liner can go straight into the compost as long as it's not poopy. Those have to be flushed :). Our plan for our primary diapers at this point will be bumGenius all-in-ones, but we'll have the g-diapers on hand for going out and about, traveling, etc.
Also, in case any of you are interested in buying baby stuff or kid stuff, if you go to www.diapers.com and use my referral code: KIRS1934, you'll get $10 off your first order of diaper related stuff plus free shipping on orders greater than $49... and I will get credit in my account for referring you! They have a pretty large selection and good prices, plus super fast (and free) shipping. I ordered some stuff yesterday, and it's slated to arrive today!
Happy Friday and happy diapering!