Hanging with her homies

In addition to our weekly playtime and music class at the Cincinnati Family Enrichment Center, we also usually get together one other afternoon each week with our mama/baby friends. The Children's Museum has been a favorite spot lately with this frigid Cincy weather. It's such a great spot for the kids to run around and explore.
Here are Josie, Andrew, and Aoife doing some important work in the sandbox.Here is Josie being a total stinker. She was, of course, eating the sand. And this is her testing me by sticking out her tongue and slowly approaching another taste just to see if the rules had changed. Gotta love toddlers. ;)Here's Andrew taking the girls on a bus ride while Ang, Ciara, and I spiritedly sang "The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round".

And Josie taking Aoife for a spin. I'm not sure if you can tell in the small version of the photo, but this is a good example of the way Josie sticks out her tongue when she's really concentrating or trying to do something that's really hard for her. It makes me smile. Here are Aoife and Josie playing Legos. This was just moments before Josie decided that all of these blocks and animass belonged to her, evidenced by the fact that she screamed "NO" and swatted at an unsuspecting little boy & tried to push a tiny girl named Charlotte out of the little red chair.

And, Aoife trying to convince Josie to go down the slide all by herself, which didn't work. But maybe next time...

And a little hugfest in the tower...

We are very excited to share some happy news about Aoife... on Saturday she became a big sister when her mama Ciara gave birth to little Sophie. Congratulations to the whole family! We can't wait to spend time with your growing family. In fact, fellow hypnomama Jen also had a new baby girl over the weekend. WOW!

Here is Josie getting very up-close and personal with the fish...so up-close and personal in fact that she left a big wet lip print on the glass.And finally - one of the joys of city living - Josie is very familiar with the sound that a firetruck makes...

Josie is so fortunate to have little friends to play with, and I am so fortunate to have big friends to play with, too! :)

Some loose ends

Here are some loose ends from the past couple of weeks.

Josie in my hat, scarf, and gloves after insisting: "Hat...Glubbs...Hat...Glubbs"Josie falling asleep while standing up - even though she *refused* taking a napJosie at the "Cavalcade of Customs" carshow with her Daddy and Grandpa Bob who invited them to join him for checking out some sweet cars and motorcycles. Here's Josie checking out "Kit" from "Knight Rider" - which she apparently thought was so cool that she wouldn't even smile at the camera. :)

Historic Happiness

Happy Inauguration Day everyone! It's hard for me to even express the joy, hope, and optimism that I feel as an American today. We ended up having a little impromptu "watch party" at the house today for our friends who work downtown that needed a place to celebrate. Josephine actually napped through the actual swearing in ceremony and inaugural address, but she woke up in time to watch the end of the parade and all the evening news coverage. As I said in another email today, I think it's pretty cool that today is really "just another day" for Josie, because it's my hope that one day I'll have to explain to her why today was even such a big deal. I hope that by the time she's old enough to have a conversation about politics that our country will be so far removed from the hate, intolerance, and war of the past that she won't even be able to comprehend it. For me, today was definitely more than "just another day". Tonight I will go to bed feeling less concern and fear about the world that we brought Josie into. Here are some photos of Josephine on this historic day.

Little things that make me smile

Now that Carissa is back from her winter break, it was time for me to get back to work this week. There aren't many photos because this was a very busy week of "catch-up". I did manage to get a couple of things this weekend, because I didn't want to totally leave you all hanging. :)

Here's one of Josie "reading" in her car seat. Josie loves looking at all the pictures & it's such a huge book that usually when we look in the backseat all you can see is the book with tiny little legs sticking out. Thank goodness books keep her occupied in the car, because there will likely be lots of trips back and forth to Chicago in her future. These next two are more for Louie & I than anything. As Josie grows older, I don't want us to forget even the most seemingly-mundane moments. In this case, it's Josie & her oatmeal. She loves the stuff - more than anything. And, as you can see below, she really shovels it in and manages to eat two full adult portions for breakfast (and usually fruit as well). "Oatmeal" is seriously one of the first words out of her mouth when she wakes up in the morning. It is not unusual to hear "Mom...Dad...Up...Oatmeal" on the baby monitor at 6am. Then she stands and calls out "oat-mee-ow, oat-mee-ow" over & over for the 10 or so minutes it takes to cook it. We even have to spell it instead of saying the word or she will insist that we make her a pot. So, here's to Josie and her oatmeal...Here's a quick video that serves two purposes. As I was talking to my mom today on the phone, Josie taught herself how to scream - loudly. She thought it was hilarious. She would take a big breath & just let it rip. Mom & I were cracking up because she just kept repeating the big scream, cracking up, catching her breath, then doing it again. She was quite proud of herself. So I went for the video camera and (of course) only managed to capture one last squeal before she decided to end the screaming game. But - this short little video captured something else that Josie is doing now that I think is really cute. Whenever she wants something that she doesn't know the word for, she calls it "this." My guess is that it's the result of me asking her "Tell me what you want. Is it this? This? This? etc" as I point to or hold up objects trying to determine what she wants/needs.

Learning by leaps and bounds

I've been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with Josie over the last few weeks due to the holidays. Since Carissa went home to Syracuse for winter break, I had over 3 weeks of time with Josie. It's unbelievable how much she has changed in the last month. Those of you with children probably notice with your own how they make developmental "leaps" - sometimes they're physical, sometimes they're emotional, and in this case, they're cognitive. We've been shocked by the things she has started to do lately.



Here's one that blows our minds - she can identify letters! She points to them on her easel, in books, on blocks, etc. Here she is identifying "A, B, and C" on her magnadoodle.







She's also gotten a very active imagination lately. Her play is much more intentional and planned-out. It's amazing that she amused herself by shaking toys a few months ago, and now she is acting out things from her imagination. Here are some examples from the Museum Center this week.

She put out food bowls for all the puppies, set them by each one, and made eating noises while they dined on imaginary food. Then she gave them baths...

Here she is (the next day, hence a new outfit) pushing her baby around in a stroller... And pushing her baby in a wheelbarrow over to play with her in the sand...

I'll continue to try to capture her "leaps" on film - in the meantime, here are just some more photos from our week.

Josie - who sat like this starting at me for a full 2 or 3 minutes in protest after I bundled her up in all these layers...

Baby J with her "heavy baby" Waldorf doll that we got her for Christmas. It has actually accomplished its intended purpose - comforting her at night so she gets better sleep. Dare I say it, our sleep issues have finally been resolved. She loves cuddling with what she calls "Bay-BEE" and who wouldn't? (It's soft, cuddly, and even filled with lavender.)

Oh - so in big news on the Josie front - I CUT HER HAIR!!! Those of you who are loyal blog followers may have noticed a curious absence of Josie's trademark piggytails in these photos. And, while they are not gone in their entirety, they are on hiatus. You see, only Josie's most trusted confidants knew that all this time the piggy-tails were actually a necessity. Since birth, she has had these really long strips of hair over her ears while being almost bald in the back. We thought, for 17 months, that the back would eventually catch up, so we were afraid to cut the sides. When her hair was down, it looked pretty crazy so we had to put it in piggytails every day to protect her cuteness. :) With her increasing-toddler-squirminess, this was getting harder and harder. So, I cut it into this little bob. No worries, it still goes into piggytails just fine. Here are some photos of her new 'do.

And, last but not least, I'll leave you with some photos of Josie cuddling with Louie. She's going through a "daddy" phase right now. "Dad" is the first word out of her mouth when she wakes up - followed quickly by "oatmeal, oatmeal."

Here's the seat she made for herself when she found Louie lying on the floor - she brought over the monkey and there they all cuddled together.
And this was just about 5 minutes ago as I was starting to update the blog.

To close...

JOSEPHINE MARIE IS NOW 17 MONTHS OLD!!!! (That's almost a year-and-a-half which blows my mind.) My goodness, this means Lyla is 3 months old now?!? Where does the time go?

A few more random fun times to share. I hope you all enjoy this video as much as we do. We were lucky enough to capture Josie teaching herself how to jump on film. Get ready to laugh...


Here's a cute one of Louie & Josie cuddling together on the couch. She's such a little cuddle-bunny these days; it's the sweetest thing ever. (Sorry the photo quality stinks - I took the picture from far away to not disturb them.)
Here's Josie sitting inside her "Bilibo" snacking on some bread. I love the "really, another freaking picture?!" look that she's giving me & I'm posting this because I wanted to show Aunt Manda how cute Josie looks in the dress she bought her. :)
I hope you're all having a good week. :)

Fiss & Ockpoos

We capped off our winter "staycation" with a trip to the Aquarium. Before too much exploring, it was necessary to get a photo of Josie with the only Santa she would get anywhere near this year. :)It's funny how the Aquarium's appeal has changed over the last 17 months. When Josephine was teeny tiny, she used to just love looking up from the stroller at the lights and colors. Then, I used to carry her in a sling and she really just enjoyed hanging out on my chest but couldn't care less about her surroundings, and now she is completely engaged in the process like these photos show -
Reaching out to touch what she calls the "fiss" and the "ockpoos" - Trying to pet the otters - Saying hi to the turtles -


Breaking her neck to get a good look at the live shark swimming overhead - And overall just enjoying the whole thing.

We captured this little gem on the car ride home. This is actually the abbreviated version, because I had to cut it down to fit on the blog. Well, let's just say it's clear from this video that even though Josie's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, her favorite word these days is definitely "no". :)

Happy New Year!

In exciting news, Louie & I actually made it out to celebrate the New Year. Grandma & Granddaddy graciously gave up their evening to watch Josie so we could go out for dinner and to see our friends Lee & Alesha from SanFran. Here we are just before running out of the house at 8:25 to make 8:30 dinner reservations at our favorite restaurant - Riverside Korean. The funny thing was that we were um - starving to death - because we normally eat by 5:30. We were actually pretty proud of ourselves that we were out with the "cool kids" not the "early bird dinner special" crowd.

Here's a good one of Lou & Lee looking fabulous in their party hats. :)

And a couple of Louie and I just to prove to all of you that we actually do stay out past dark once in awhile. I promise these really were taken at midnight, not staged in our living room some afternoon. :)

Here's to a fantastic 2009 - which we are hoping brings some exciting changes to our family! :)

Christmas Continued

I had to share a couple of these photos that my sister took at Christmas, then I promise I'll start acting like it's actually January and not December anymore (call it food ole' fashioned denial).
First of all, here is Lyla Anne looking absolutely adorable - I'm sure Manda will get some more photos up on the Three Austins blog soon (hint, hint). Here are Josie and I playing - actually I think we were dancing, which usually has an element of flying just to keep things interesting.

And this was a big moment - Josephine and I having our very first tea party with the adorable cloth tea set from Grandma & Granddaddy. Since this one, we've had several more at home. It absolutely cracks me up that Josie blows on the tea to cool it down before drinking it. Yesterday she even invited her doll and monkey to the party, and even gave them dessert first. She has a very vivid imagination already!

And here is one of Josephine on her awesome new baby grand from Tia & Tio Austin. When she's not trying to stand on the stool, she's actually pretty good on the piano. Obviously she's hasn't composed any masterpieces just yet, but she's very deliberate when playing.

Alright, now on to 2009. I'll get some more photos and videos from the final days of our winter vacation posted soon (or even sooner if Josie stays asleep for awhile).

Updates to Shutterfly Collection

Hi all, I've just updated Josephine's Shutterfly Collection with all the Christmas photos, her monthly album for December, and the photos from her one year photo session earlier this month. Enjoy! :)

www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com

Oh, and I also added the new "Followers" option in the left column over there so you can follow this blog. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but give it a shot and let me know what happens. Thanks!

Ho, Ho, Ho

A late Happy Chrismahanukwanzakkah to you and yours from the "Three Schneiders". And, my goodness, it's 2009 too now isn't it? Happy New Year everyone!

So, to recap our holidays, here we go! The season started with a visit to the other Schneiders on the morning of Christmas Eve (Lou's brother Robert, his wife Michelle, and cousins Morgan and Katrina) where Josephine thoroughly enjoyed her first up-close-and-personal experience with a real Christmas tree. Ours was fun and all, but only topped out at 10 inches, so this was much more spectacular. Here are the big girls showing Josie all the ornaments. She was very impressed.
And I even managed to score a photo of the three of them all actually looking at the camera and smiling, thanks to some good big cousin-work on Morgan's part. :)

After opening the first Christmas presents for 2008, Josie went on a pony ride. (Sidenote: we actually bought this for the girls ages ago, well before Josie, so it was very strange to see her riding it.) Thanks very much to the Schneider family for the cool new music table and jack-in-the-box. They are both a big hit in these parts! :)

We then made the annual holiday trek to Xenia, where we spent a quiet Christmas Eve night at the Johnsons for what would be the first of several days with Grandma & Granddaddy, Aunt Amanda, Uncle Michael, and Baby Lyla. After some last minute wrapping, we hit the sack and woke up Christmas morning to lots of surprises from Santa!

After some breakfast, Josie got started and really enjoyed opening her gifts and some of everyone else's. She was definitely into it this year, and I cannot even imagine what it will be like next year when Lyla is a toddler and Josie is (wow) 2 years old. Here's Josie opening her tea set from Grandma & Granddaddy (more photos of our first tea party in a later post).

And here she is opening her super cool shiny red baby grand mini-piano from her "Tia & Tio" (that's Aunt and Uncle in Spanish because Aunt Amanda and Uncle Michael is just too darn hard to say). The piano is awesome and we're already having a blast with it. In fact, Louie mastered "Three Blind Mice" just moments ago. (Thanks M&M!)Besides the great new table and chairs from G&G, Josie got her first tricycle!!! Her Kettler Blossom was an instant hit as you can see from these photos of her first ride. (Thanks G&G!)

Oh, I should mention that these are only photos from the first half of Christmas morning. Unwrapping all these gifts wore Josie out so we actually had to stop midway through and let her take a nap before launching into phase two. I didn't get any photos of the second half, but I'll try to take some pictures of her with those things - namely her new doll - and get them posted soon.

Now, for the rest of these photos, I'm not going to try to pretend like I remember which day is which. Since we were lucky enough just to have a few days of relaxing and spending time together, we spent the majority of the week just hanging out - which was wonderful. Here are some highlights.

Josie holding Lyla in the bouncy seat - "Tio" feeding Josie Sunchips -

Josie playing dress-up with Grandma's Who Dey scarf -

"Tia" and Josie enjoying the new jack-in-the-box -

Manda & I doing baby exercise with our girls together - In fact, let me say here that one of the highlights of Christmas this year was definitely watching my little sister be a mom. I always new she'd be a wonderful mother, but it's something different to see her in action. She's a total natural, and Lyla is truly blessed to have two such loving and devoted parents. Here are Manda & Lyla having "tummy time" -

This next one cracks me up! We'll call it "I"ve Got My Eye on You Bella" -

Followed by "Man, I Just Turned My Back for One Second..." Here are all of the girls - Claire, Josie, Claire & Lyla (and to think it only took about 30 shots to get one good one) -

Josie in her new chair - Granddaddy-o and all his girls - Grandma and her girls - The three of us cuddling on the floor watching "Mama Mia" (which is way better on stage than on film) - And now we spring forward to back home in Cincinnati. After what was probably the best Christmas we've ever had (thanks so much mom & dad, manda & michael), we headed home to totally rearrange Josie's playland, put away some outgrown toys, and settle in for another week together. Here are some photos from the days since we've been home -

Starting with Josie sporting some of her new duds, including her new Uggs that her Daddy totally spoiled her with - Oh and this is one of Josie's new favorites. We'll call this her "Ewww face" and I see it about 50 times a day. Her new thing is going around and pointing to things on the ground (like cat hair, or dust bunnies, or lint, or whatever) and saying "Ewww" until I come and get it. This was actually a teeny tiny piece of paper that she braved picking up herself, but I still got the "Ewww" and had to promptly remove it and throw it away. Too funny. Here's Josie enjoying her new Magnadoodle, which she loves when Louie & I aren't busy playing with it -

And playing with her letters and numbers on her new easel -

And hanging out in her new chair, that she can now get into all by herself -

And coloring with crayons in each hand, because it's just more fun that way -

And taking off her pajamas, which has happened a few times now that she's conquered the zipper -

And sitting on Venus now that she's conquered the cat - There are lots more photos to share from this holiday season which I hope to get posted soon here as well as on Josie's Shutterfly collection. Stay tuned & Happy Holidays to you all!