Did you miss us? 8 month Chioma update

SO the last 2 months have been a blast I wish I could slow down time but it just seems to be picking up speed the older and older Chioma gets. Here are some highlights from September and October.

• We went to Vegas for Brian's cousins wedding and Chioma flew on a plane for the first time she was a champ! She only cried on the way home but it was only because she was constipated. She also survived a three hour delay in Richmond VA because our plane ran out of fuel from flying around and not being able to land in NYC. That trip is a whole blog in itself I may get around to it later
• Chioma loves to wave bye and says "Hi", "dada", "bye-bye", and something that sounds like "all done." (I'm still working on her learning "mama"
• Brian quit his retail job that he's been doing for the last 7 years of his life and traded it in for books at the local community college and his midterm grades are 2 A's and 2 B's (That's after not being in school for 10 years way to go baby!)
• Chioma started climbing up stairs and off of the couches.
• I'm still working at the same job with the same pay (Albany Medical Center Endo clinic administrative staff) but now I'm the bread winner (scary) budgeting has never been so FUN :)
• Brian got 2 tickets a speeding ticket and a cell phone use ticket while driving it was on two different days at the exact same exit (like I said budgeting is fun lol)

That's most of what I remember from the last 2 months that warrants blogging and now for the good stuff here are some pics for memory sake.

Chioma spending quality time with her aunt Susie and aunt Judith it's always a good time with them.


This is when we took Chioma and my nephew Kayson on a nightswim in Vegas Chioma loved it Kayson not so much


Finally this is how she lets me know that she's hungry for real food lol


Chioma would really like to come out and play (notice he drool down the front of her shirt lol)


The Dawson Family at the Enrnestburg/Thompson wedding (Brian's cousin)






Chioma loves following her older boy cousins around above she is insisting that she be let out to play with Cousin Kayson and below she sits with her adorable cousin Ocean


Acting real cool because they are swimming at night those two are such a cute pair.



Chioma waving bye bye as we get ready to take her to the pool

6 months

Chioma is now six months and is actively crawling, screaming, falling, laughing, and playing. She is so much fun at this stage and she has so much personality we can't keep all of this to ourselves! So I will be nice and share some fun pictures and videos of her and her silly self.

Chioma's new hobby

For the last 2 weeks our little Chioma has been on the go. It is absolutely amazing to see this little child progress. It all happened one day at church as she watched the older children crawl around her and crawl away from her. She tried earnestly to grab onto one of them and keep them next to her but that was to no avail!! So I guess she decided if you cant beat them then she might as well join them.When we came home that day she started imitating what she saw the "big kids" do. Anyways ever since she started she just won't sit still and it's very entertaining watching her crawl after daddy's remote controls and keys. We thought we had at least a month more before the need to baby proof the home arrived but I guess we were wrong our 5 1/2 month old baby is a genius as is destined to keep her parents busy. Enjoy the videos

Dawson Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family web sites - Geneology

This is really funny to me because ever since she was born everyone has commented on how she looks just like her father spitting image even. Well HA I guess this proves some people wrong it seems she needs more facial hair in order to look more like Brian... lol. OH well 6% more like me isn't saying very much I mostly think she's a pretty good blend of the 2 of us.

Chioma Jane's week of firsts

OK so no one wants to play the memories with us game the way they are supposed to so I guess that I'll just post a new blog about our little Chioma's exciting week! So a week ago the poor little child had a runny nose the sneezes and a light cough with a phelgmy (sp) sound to it and I thought OH NO! She caught an ear infection from my friends child who had spent a couple days with her without knowing she had an ear infection. Needless to say being the overprotective new mom I decided it best to keep her away from people for a day or two to recover. At the end of the two days shes she was doing much better but also awoke with a new little friend.






Yes siree she got her first tooth that pushed through and Susie and I fought tooth and nail (ha ha ha) to get these pictures. But she did really well handling her teething, she only woke up in the middle of the night once and stayed up for 2 hours but eventually we were able to put here back to sleep.

With this new development I thought it very appropriate to finally introduce her to solid foods. My preference was to really wait for her to be 6 months but hey the way she's moving and crawling around she might as well be 6 months. Anyways the first feeding was really annoying because she hasn't figured out how to swallow yet without her tongue getting in the way and so it was wayyy messy



Anyways we have been practicing eating rice cereal everyday this week and she has been getting much better. I think next week we'll move on to bananas I know she just can't wait I sure can't!

Memories with us

Memories with us?
I copied Jenny's post b/c I thought this would be fun

Please play along-b/c that's what makes it so fun :)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I or you and Brian had together. It doesn't matter if you knew either of us a little or a lot, anything you remember will be just fine!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Simple steps really-just think about something and comment about it. :) Thanks so much!

Hooray for July Birthdays

This photo courtesy of my sister Judith aka "J-fast hands" the candles were all lit for less than 3 seconds

So the day after our trip to Palmyra we had a family get together for both Brian and JB since their birthdays are on the 1st and 2nd of July. It was really just an excuse to get together with the family and catch up on old times and laugh and feel loved... and I know that sounds cheesy and corny but it's really what it was.

Telling stories about when we were kids and how Alfred my older brother always got the rest of us in trouble.


The youngest girls on the Ojukwu family side and they all have great smiles!


We went on a walk as a family to get ice cream from upstates New Yorks finest ice cream store STEWARTS!!!! and it was a hot day too so it made the day so much more bearable.


Chioma and Uncle Kenneth staring each other down (both of their stares are very intimidating)


This was such a funny moment because I think sometimes we all want to do this to Alfred because occasionally he talks too much... but Chioma was so entertained by her cousin Aiyanna.

A big shout out to all our friends and family with July birthdays! Wish we could celebrate with all of you! (Ashley this means you too and thanks for the friendly reminder to blog more)

Hill Cumorah Pageant

The Hill Cumorah and its stage





Last week we were so lucky to go as a family to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY. We had such a great time while were there. We first picked up Susie from Young Women's camp. Then saw a bunch of church historical sites like the Smith family log cabin and barn, the location of the first BOM printing press, and our favorite the Sacred Grove. We had a great time watching the pageant in the very front row on the grass. And it was a really great time to bond as a family not in front of a TV lol.


This was on our tour of the church history sites we love the temple peeking through the trees in the background.





Sitting in the Sacred Grove and Brian and Susie in a tree in the Grove



On the Palmyra Temple grounds.



Our front row seats as you can see Chioma was very excited.

The last 4 months

Our baby CJ is 4 months old today and in the last four months she has grown up so much. I work full time so just haven't had as much time as I would like to show off all her new skills she has gained and all the fun she's had. So let me catch you up on her short but eventful life.

She's celebrated Michael Jackson's 25th anniversary Thriller album


She's learned to be tough even when people tease her about her pants being pulled up really high


She's realized that her mom is the coolest woman she knows that was the same day she received her baby blessing surprisingly enough.


She's hung out with her cooler older cousin Kayson.


She's learned to stick her tongue out at people


She's tiptoed through the tulips with her aunt Susie





And most recently she's begun to sit up on her own and roll over not sure what she she has in mind to do next but I'm sure it will be big!

Flashback Friday:)

After checking out some other people's blogs I found some cool ideas for writing topics. One idea I especially liked was Flashback Friday. I'm not promising that this will be a recurring thing for our blog but I thought that this Friday would be an appropriate Friday for walking down memory lane, especially since our 3 year anniversary is coming up on the 24th of this month.

I am so grateful to be married to my hubby for so many reasons... 1) because he's so much fun 2) I never have to worry about finding a date for friday night. 3) He always tells me what happened at the end of the movie if I fall asleep 4) He takes every opportunity he can to tell me how much he loves me.... and many many more. Below are just some flashback pictures of our dating and engagement days

Well that last picture was actually on our wedding day. The last 3 years have been so much fun, I never want to go back to the single life again.