Swanson & Johnson Christmases

This year we had our Swanson family Christmas at Nate & Jenny's house in KC.  The weather was beautiful and we had a great time!  Then we traveled back to Omaha for our Johnson christmas at my parent's.  The boys are certainly spoiled and got a lot of great toys.  Jim and I also made out pretty good. :)

Luke fell asleep while watching Lion King. 

Brady and Luke playing with the presents

Brady dressed up for church.  He enjoyed "singing" along at church :)

Luke wanted his picture taken too.  Such a handsome boy!

Family picture

Nate and Jen with their nephews

Grandma Jo and Grandpa Neil with the boys

The Swanson siblings

The in-laws

Tara with her nephews

Luke has always been nervous around this....creature, I guess...at the right of the picture.  

Luke helping to open a gift for Buster

Jen with Brady modeling his new hat

Luke got a fishing pole from Santa!

Grandma Jo helping Brady with a new toy

Luke was the assistant present-hander-outer.  Luke got his Batman shirt with a cape from Santa

Amanda and Luke distributing gifts

Brady loved the tissue paper - it makes fun noises :)

Luke cutting up some of his new play food

such a big boy!

Patrick trying to convince Luke to become a Packer

Amanda and JR trying to sway Luke to be a Bears fan

Luke and Brady's daycare has been closed all week so Jim has been home all week and I took a couple days of as well.  We visited the zoo one day because it was in the 50s!

Christmas Festivities

Wow, December has flown by!  The month was busy and filled with Christmas festivities.  Here are some pictures from the month.

Santa visited my mom's work, so we took Brady and Luke to see him.  Luke was scared of Santa but Brady didn't seem to mind him.  

Brady's first Christmas! 

Luke and Jim playing in the snow after our one and only snowfall so far.

Luke with his snowman

Luke posing in front of the tree

Attempt at getting a picture of Luke and Brady in front of the tree before opening presents.

Luke with his presents - he couldn't wait to open them!

Brady with one of his gifts.  He is pulling up to stand all the time now!

Mommy and her boys :)

Crawling and Teething

On the day of Luke's birthday party (Nov. 26th) Brady started crawling!  He has been getting around pretty well in his own little way of sitting, rolling and pushing backwards for a month or so, but he is now crawling.  And he crawls for the things he shouldn't play with.  If he is surrounded by his baby-friendly toys, he'll crawl through all those toys to get to the Christmas tree, Luke's snack or Luke's little toys.  Oh boy are we going to have our hands full! He's also starting to try to pull himself up to his knees.  He's ready to go!

Brady also has his two bottom teeth that are going to pop up any day now.  His little gums are so swollen and he gnaws on his fist all the time.  Poor thing!

Bye Bye "Binnie"

As of November 26, 2011 Luke is pacifier-free!!  Yippee!  Hooray!  Yes, it's probably two years too late...but better late than never. :)

Always a binky nearby....

....in the car...

 Since day one (well, actually day two...after a sleepless night one) Luke has loved his binky.  For the first year and a half of his life, his binky was never far...often it was attached to him with a binky clip.  Then we limited it to only nap time and night time.

...during playtime...

...at the pool....

At Luke's two-year check up his pediatrician recommended that we take away his binky after the holidays.  Well, we didn't have the heart to...and then a few months later Brady was born and we didn't want too many changes in Luke's life at once.

...weddings...

...in the wagon...

So finally we started prepping him to get rid of his binkies by his 3rd birthday.  We have been talking to him for about a month about how he will be a big boy when he turns three, and big boys don't need binkies.  We told him that the new babies at the hospitals need them.  At first Luke argued with us, saying that he didn't want to give away his binkies.  But after a couple weeks he warmed up to the idea.  And as his birthday got closer, when we'd ask "what happens on your birthday?", he would reply "we get rid of my binnies".

...while playing basketball...

...and baseball...

 I was not sure how it would actually all go down on his birthday.  I was sure there would be a fight and we'd be consoling him all night!  Luke had only one night without a binky and it was not a fun night.  He found so much comfort in his binkies...the second he popped one in his mouth he was calm and relaxed and ready to sleep.

...sleeping...

 Jump ahead to the day of Luke's birthday party.  Everyone had arrived but Amanda and JR.  Luke was patiently waiting for them to arrive so he could finally open his presents.  Once they go here, I told Luke that he should go sit on the potty before he opens presents (he's pretty much potty trained!).  To my surprise he said "Yeah!  And we have to throw away my binnies!".  So he ran into our room and found his binky, then he ran to the kitchen trash and threw it way.  Simple as that...no tears....no fighting...I was shocked!

...on the beach....

After everyone had left for the night and it was time for bed, Luke said "I'm going night night without my binnies".  AND HE DID!  He didn't ask for his binky at all.  He woke a couple times and never asked for it.  We were so surprised.  The next day before naptime he whined for it a little, but then a few minutes later he said he doesn't need his binky because he's a big boy.  

At daycare on Monday he even told Joy that he was going to throw out his binkies, and threw them away.  

....and the boat.

It makes me realize how much of a "big" boy he really is.  He's so smart and understands that he no longer needs that binky.  I think it may have been harder for me to give up the binky in a sense...letting go of that last bit of "baby" Luke.   We are so proud of him!