Cambria's new chair!

I was so excited tonight when I found a Bumbo at Target for $20- it was on clearance because the box was torn. For those of you who have never heard of such a thing it is a baby chair that allows the baby to sit up fully supportive. I've wanted one since Gavin was a baby, but never wanted to spend the $40. Even Kyle was impressed with my purchase, that isn't always the case- but I do love a good deal. When I got home Cambria was sleeping, but woke up soon after that to nurse and once she settled down and didn't seem tired I thought I'd try it out. She loved it! She sat there for over 45 min. before she was ready to go to bed. What a little blessing in such a little chair! I look forward to getting the tray so we can put toys on it and eventually food- this will be great since she seems to respond the best when things are right infront of her face.

Zoo!

We finally made it to the zoo with Daddy! It is the first time he has been able to go with us since last summer and of course it was wonderful. The kids had a great time- nothing beats having Daddy around!

The kids wouldn't smile for a picture, just kept acting like garillas! You can just see their passion and imagine how loud the 2 of them can be. We do Love the Zoo!

Avalyn playing on the old train. Her new shirt says "Made You Smile," so perfect for her- she can definantly put a smile on anyones face!

Photography by Gavin

Gavin's Grandpa and Mau Mau gave him a great little kid's Fisher Price camera for his birthday. He love's the thing and is always taking pictures with it. It is great because it has been dropped so many times and still works! It has taken a while for me to actually put some of his pictures up, at first he kept deleting them and then of course there are always lot's of blank or blurry pictures. These were his favorites he picked out to show everyone. He is excited to take it to the zoo today, so I am sure there are more to come!

Our little Fashion Queen!

Here is Avalyn's latest fashion creation. Avalyn has always loved dressing up and the passion just gets stronger as she gets older. The child loves shoes more than anyone I know. I am always taking pictures of her in the creations she comes up with. I think someday she may just be a designer, watch out Project Runway here comes Avalyn. It's funny because she walks around in these outfits for such a long time and she ussually has a "baby" with her wrapped in one of her princess skirts.

Here are just a few of her past outfits, thought you might enjoy!

This of course has it's challenges, she is very opinionated about what she wears out. We saw this early on when at one she refused to wear panty hose or socks (she would just take them off), making dressing for cold weather a little difficult- thanks to footless hose and leggings we survived the winter. There was also the hatred of long sleeves- solved by showing her I could push them up for her and the hatred of the coat- a few weeks of taking her out in the fridged cold of Nebraska took care of that and within a month of winter she was just fine with wearing a jacket and I bought her a new shiney coat that she loved to wear. Praise the Lord it's warm again and she can wear her skirts and sandals all she wants! She loves flip flops, sandals and of course her bright pink crocks. Her newest favorite pair of shoes are princess flip flops my mom gave her, they have actually made her feet bleed but that is what she puts on every time we leave and there are no complaints about pain. She does love jewelry and sunglasses and those are on her all the time. I ussually let her pick what she wears out and as long as it is not dress up clothes or pj's we haven't had too many problems. When she's at home she can wear whatever her little heart desires and she enjoys all her dress up clothes- not too mention changing her outfit several times a day!

Go Spurs!

Avalyn has not been willing to put her jersey on for a picture, but Gavin was more than willing to take his tradional yearly picture in his jersey. Thanks to Mau Mau he has a new one that will fit him for at least another year! We don't hear much about them up here in Omaha, but we have cable so we like to watch the playoffs and of course always show our Spurs spirit. Go Spurs!

Cambria has moved on to oatmeal!

After 2 months of sleeping through the night Cambria decided she would start waking up screaming at 2 a.m. After 2 days of feeding her when she woke up, I realized she was only eating a little bit and it was probably time to start solids! That is one step closer to being done with nursing, I know I still have several months to go but it is nice to lose a few feedings and solids is the begining of that. The first feeding she screamed at the rice cereal, for some reason none of my children have liked the rice. That night she awoke again and I let her cry until she went back to sleep, it was about an hour (so sad, but it worked and she slept fine). The next day I decided to try oatmeal and had a much better response, she at least slurped up some of it. She can't see the spoon and she still doesn't react to facial expressions (she can't see that either- as far as we can tell), so she doesn't know to open her mouth when the food is coming to her. I basically have to shovel it into her mouth. For the past 4 days we've been doing oatmeal at least once a day and I am happy to say she has slept for 10 hours for the last 2 nights! I don't think she loves it, but she is eating more each day and as long as she is happy and not tired or extremely hungry she eats it fine. It is a huge mess, but good to see her progressing well!

BIG Brother Gavin!

Gavin has always been such a wonderful big brother to Avalyn and with Cambria it is no different. He is always talking to her and loving on her, when she is laying on her play mat he loves to get really close to her face and let her touch it and ussually start sucking on his nose. She absolutely loves this and it's funny that when I put my face close to her she doesn't even try to "kiss" my nose- only Gavin.

The other day I walked into my room after laying Cambria on our bed (while I went to get something) and when I walked back in there Gavin was "reading" to Cambria. Cambria just layed there content and Gavin was so proud to be reading his ABC's to her.

Tonight I had to get something and Gavin was sitting on Kyles lap, so I placed Cambria on top of Gavin and she layed there and looked at him for at least 15 min. She doesn't always like to be held by anyone but me especially when you are just sitting on the couch, but she just let Gavin hold her. Kyle and I were so impressed, she is really does love her brother.

What's up at the Johnston's?

Cambria hanging out with her favorite doll- Zoe from Sesame Street. It's actually Avalyn's but Cambria does love to hold her and Avalyn ussually doesn't mind. I didn't put her arm around Zoe, just put it beside her and when I looked back she had her arm around her- so cute!

We've not been up to much lately, just hanging out at home and enjoying having Daddy back and not so busy with school and the basement. He has begun studying for the MCAT (he is taking it on Sep. 13th), but he ussually sets aside 2 hours a day right now to work on that. His 2 months leave for the summer is in the books and Kyle is looking forward to tackeling organic chemistry 1 and 2, along with preparing for the MCAT. He is such and hard worker and we are so proud. The kids and I will be headed to Texas June 4th and will be there till the 24th! We can't wait to see everyone, especially our soon to be new cousin/nephew Briley who is due on June 14th! I am also excited to see all my old class mates at my 10 year high school reunion, crazy it has been 10 years. Wow! It has been 10 years, so much has changed. You think you have your life planned, or at least an idea, after high school and it's amazing to see how God works! I always wanted to be married, have at least 3 kids and to be staying at home raising them by my 10 year reunion. Crazy to think how that has all worked out, now Kyle wasn't in that plan (I didn't even know him), the Air Force definantly wasn't in that plan, and OMAHA wasn't even on my map- but God is great and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Cambria is 4 months old today!

Time sure does fly right by you when you have little ones. Cambria Faith is 4 months old today and is such a source of joy in our home. A lot has happened in the 4 months she has been on this earth and she has blessed every single day. I am still working on a picture of her beautiful smile, maybe when Daddy gets home later today I will give it another shot. Thank you for all your prayers!

Thanks Luke! (Kerry, Dave, and Breaden)

Kyle returned on Thurs.! Praise the Lord! We are so happy to have him home. He had a good time in Japan seeing some good friends of ours that are stationed there. Luke picked out some great toys for the kids and I managed to snatch a picture of Gavin with his, but Avalyn was a little too busy. We miss our friends so much, Gavin talks about them all the time- it was nice to get a little piece of their world now and look forward to seeing them again someday!

Cambria talking

Cambria was cooing today, a lot more than ussual, and I thought you might enjoy seeing and hearing her. Her "talking" is becoming more often, it is so cute and fun to hear her respond to you. Of course she only did a little for me while I was recording her. I was so proud of her today, she actually layed on her play mat for over 45 min. and she started reaching for the toys hanging down over her. She is delayed on reaching for toys (because of her sight), so it is wonderful to see her do this- not to mention nice to have a break while she entertains herself. She does apear to see better with the glasses, even if her eyes are still crossed, when they are not on she doesn't reach for things or focus on certain objects she just moves her eyes all around and ussually just looks up. You will also notice her nystigmus (the rapid movement of her eyes back and forth)- I don't know too much about this, but there is probably very little we can do about it and she will just adapt to it.

When Daddy's Away

Life just isn't the same. It has only been 3 weeks, but I am definantly ready for Kyle to be home. We have been trying to keep busy, but the kids miss him and I could use some help. A couple days ago we walked to the park on our street and played for a while. We do love our park! Here is a picture of her glasses transitioning, they get a lot darker on a sunny day- but never seem to be dark enough (eventually we will probably have to get prescription sun glasses- when she is big enough). She doesn't like to be outside much at all, I guess the light bothers her. I keep her in her car seat in the stroller, so I can completely shade her but after a while she wants to be held. She's fine once we go inside or if I wear her in a sling- so she can fall asleep, her face is covered and she can be held.

Gavin finished up his soccer season and was so proud of his medal. "I WON" is all he could say when his coach gave it to him. We definantly have many more soccer seasons ahead of us!

I have begun potty training Avalyn. She has been wanting to go for about 10 months now and I finally got fed up with her taking off her diaper. She sleeps through the night dry most of the time and goes dry for 4 to 5 hours all the time, so I figured we'd give it a shot. Gavin was definantly easier to potty train, but I did wait till he was 3 since he had no interest. We are on day 3 and it is going okay, she does well when she is naked but put on a pull-up and she treats it like a diaper and try panties (her favorite) and she forgets to pull them down. I am just praying this doesn't take too much longer, I am tired of cleaning the floor and making this a "fun" experience since she tends to want to make it a game with me and not listen when I say go sit on the potty. Oh, the Joys of Motherhood! I can't wait till she is 3! Here is a picture of Avalyn after a bath, after an accident- I know I should have gotten a picture of her actually succeeding on the potty! More to come on potty training- hopefully not too much more.

They LOVE their bath and their animal towels!

MRI Results!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. The doctor called today and everything was clear on the MRI! We are so thankful for this good news. The next doctors appointment is with the genetic specialist on June 26th and then back to the opthomologist on the June 30th! Please continue to pray for her eyes!

I'm making pancakes Mommy!

My mom and I awoke on Wed. morning to a very proud and excited Avalyn. She was making pancakes for everyone! In the last week and a half she has discovered she is able to get out of her crib, YEA! Ya right, I thought it might be nice not to have to get her out of bed in the morning, but she has now begun waking up 2 hours earlier around 6 am. I am hoping this excitement of her new found freedom goes away and she goes back to sleeping till 8. It isn't all bad, she ussually comes down stairs and turns on cartoons and sits until she decides she wants milk around 7. At least she doesn't make me get out of bed at 6. She has always been my messy one and loves to get into things- soap, make-up, lotion, mommy's clothes and shoes, laundry, cereal, and her favorite pens (she loves to color). It is a scary thought to think of her alone in any room. Well, on Wed. she decided to get out a zip-lock container and pour a box of Bisquick into it in order to make her favorite breakfast- pancakes. It was really cute, but very messy- at least nothing was ruined and we still had a little left over for breakfast. Don't worry from now on the Bisquick will be placed in the top of the pantry.

Video of Cambria

I was attempting to get another picture of Cambria smiling and of course it didn't work, but I realized I had the camera set on video. I thought you might enjoy seeing her look around!

I found the pictures!

Sorry it has been a while. I found the pictures I thought I lost!

The other day I woke up from a nap to find Gavin standing in front of me fully dressed in a button down dress shirt, new jeans, socks and shoes, and his jacket. He has been able to dress himself for quite some time now, but he was so proud. He was a little over dressed to go play at a friends house, so I took a picture before he decided he wanted something else on (the pants were actually a size 5 for next year and they fell off while he was walking).

I also had some of Cambria looking at her hands. It is the only thing I can tell she is trying to focus on. It is a little sad, because she holds them right up against her glasses when she is trying to look at them- but before she never even tried to look at them, so that is some welcome progress. She does like some bright toys and seems to look at those. I'm still working on a smile, but I did pretty good on the picture of her in the yellow. When she does smile it is a beautiful big smile, like her brother and sister have. She doesn't do it much and that makes us a little sad. A couple times a week we catch her smiling with her eyes open, but I ussualy don't have the camera with me and she stops by the time I get there. We can't tell what she is smiling at, sometimes I'm talking to her or letting her stand up, but it is ussually at a random time (I wonder what is going on in that cute little head of hers).

If you are wondering about the MRI results, we still haven't heard anything. The MRI was on Tues. morning and everything went fine. My mother was able to come up to be with me, since Kyle is still gone. It was wonderful not be alone and I was sad to see her leave this morning around 4 am. I am hoping to hear something later today from the doctor and I will let you know. Thanks for all your Prayers!!!

Progress?

Here is a great link in understanding how Cambria sees. We look forward to sharing more information with her condition and thank you so much for all your prayers!

http://www.parentofachildwithalbinism.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/hps-conf-bte.pdf

It has been over a week since she started wearing glasses and progress is slow. Before glasses I couldn't hold her facing out (against my body), she would tighten up and scream and as if she were being thrown off a cliff. It was really sad, I knew about this sensitivity but others didn't and it was a little scaring when they would try to hold her facing out. After just 2 days in the glasses she was doing much better when I heald her out and now actually likes to be that way as long as I am not moving to fast. She is also looking at toys a little bit more. Still no smiling or tracking. That web sight is a great way of understanding how blurry things are and all the visual complications people with Albinism face, I don't know exactly how bad her vision is- hopefully that will be easier to answer as she has more eye appoinments in the future.

Her MRI is on this Tues. May 6th, so keep that in your prayers! Kyle is out of the country now and hopefully will be back within the next 2 weeks. I am surviving with the kids, it's definantly more of a challenge with 3! Thanks for all your prayers! We LOVE You ALL!!!