Our little "sticky face" needed a bath last night & we finally got a photo of a clean little Josie in her new puppy towel from Grandma and Grandpa. Now that we have perfected the after-bath routine of a dryer-warmed towel and a Nuk, bathtime is fun for everyone.
This week we have embarked on the great adventure of experimenting with solid foods. Here's Josie eating some delicious mashed bananas. As usual, she gave them a good lick before she would eat and swallow. But, once she got into the swing of things, she enjoyed herself quite a bit.
Josie is also beginning to sit up unsupported. For the moment, we only try this trick in the crib in case she wipes out (which she does quite often).
Today we moved on past bananas to try a little bit of baby oatmeal mixed with breastmilk. Here Josie is after the first couple of bites. I was about to give-up and try again later when she suddenly started "opening wide" as the spoon approached her mouth. There were a couple of times when it looked like she was one of those snakes that can un-hinge their jaws to eat large animals. So, the verdict is in... Josie loves solid foods. (Really, are any of you surprised?)
This is the end of the oatmeal bowl. I think she looks like a little Buddha. (Rub her tummy for good luck.)
I'm also pleased to report that Josie continues to sleep long stretches at night. Last night she set a record by going from 8am to 5am (9hours!!) without waking up once. (Actually we heard her waking up a couple of times, but she put herself back to sleep.)
I'll try to get some video of those early morning moments added to the blog soon. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite Josie videos yet! It was too big to add directly to the blog so I had to use Google Video. TRUST ME - it's worth checking out.
Josie also continues to practice standing and walking. She has really strong little legs, especially after all the bouncing (see video below). She loves standing up holding on to Louie's hands.
And now...Here's the long awaited video of Josie going to town in her Jumperoo. She's actually gone a lot more bananas that she does here, but it's been awhile since I posted a video so this one will have to hold you all over until I can grab the camera when she's absolutely losing it. So, here it is: Josie doing her Jumperoo Jig! ENJOY!Well, that's all for now. At the rate she's going, I'll probably be able to report that she said her first words by the end of the week. :)
So we were off to a good start for the weekend. Saturday was wonderful. We met one of our favorite families - the Haddens - for waffles on Saturday morning & then stopped by the library on our walk home. We figure Josie might as well get used to "the stacks" early on. Besides the fact that a very creepy man was circling me like a vulture while I was nursing (apparently he thought breastfeeding was a spectator sport), we realized the library is another good spot downtown to hang out, read the paper, etc.
Here's another photo from the library. I think it's funny because of the way Josie is sitting. She totally has her hand "all sassy" on her hip - already looking like a teenager. You'll also notice that this is the third photo of Josie wearing a bib. We don't leave home without them. She is a total drool monster & it's much easier to go through 4-5 bibs a day than 4-5 shirts.
Now, on to more funny stuff. This is Josie with one of her new toys from Christmas (thanks Roundtrees). She loves this little duck. Last night she was sucking on it so hard that you could hear her across the room. Actually, she alternated between "nursing" it & biting the heck out of it. It was too funny!
I seriously wish I would've had time to grab the video camera, because she was really going to town on it. This photo shows you the intensity.
So life continues with little Miss Josephine - never a dull moment. As I mentioned above, she's been having some sleeping trouble. Louie gave her tylenol last night (she was doing her "pain cry") and she actually slept for 6 hours without waking up once! Tonight we tried some homeopathic teething tablets & so far so good. I've totally given up on forcing naps. Every thing I've read (which is a ton) tells me what babies "should" be doing as far as napping, but our little mama must not be cut from the same cloth as all the other babies in the universe. She's a total power napper & is revived and ready to party after only 30-45 minutes. I guess that's better than nothing.
In other news, I just signed my contract with KnowledgeWorks today & will be back as an independent contractor doing education policy/advocacy research starting Monday. My plan is to work "full days" on Monday & Wednesday and "half days" on Friday (for a total of about 20 hours). This means that Lou & I can no longer delay the "daycare decision." So much to figure out - maybe tomorrow. Ugh.
Alright, Josie is snuggly sleeping in her crib (after drifting off to her "Rockabye Baby" Beatles CD from her grand-daddy). Lou is playing Wii, and I *finally* got caught up on the blog. Hope you're all doing well. And thanks for being patient. :)
Here's Josie just being adorable as usual:
And here's the little lady performing one of her "feats of strength" (just in time for Festivus for all you Seinfeld fans out there). She *loves* standing up and has a whole little routine worked out. If you let her grab your fingers when she's on her back, she pulls up to sitting & then once she's sitting she pulls up to standing. Here she is multi-tasking by standing and watching tv over her shoulder at the same time.
These photos and many more have been added to Shutterfly collection. Enjoy!
We also had a visit from the other Schneider girls - Morgan & Katrina - Josie's cousins. Unfortunately I had an appointment for a (long overdue) massage, so I didn't get to hang out. But, Louie took lots of photos.
For New Years Eve, we decided just to hang out around home. We bundled up and walked over to the Square to see the live performance of "Team Lachey" from the tv show "Clash of the Choirs" (sans Nick). It's always funny to see people in real life that you've only seen on tv. We also saw Mayor Mallory again & we were pretty close to making him pose for another blog picture, because that just would've been funny. Here's Josie all bundled up in her winter best (thanks Mary) to head to the Square.
We also decided to try out the new Moby wrap that we got from Grandma & Granddaddy (thanks Cat for the enthusiastic recommendation). We *love* the new carrier. Josie loves being close to me & up until now I've just used the slings. This one goes over both shoulders so it is much more comfortable, plus it doesn't have all the straps and buckles like the Bjorn. We'll definitely be spending much more time in the Moby.
So, as you can probably tell, we're big advocates for "baby wearing." Check out Louie and Josie playing Nintendo Wii (too funny).
I must admit that our actual "celebration" of New Years Eve rivaled last year's living room camp-out (with pizza) for the NYE farthest from what you might expect from Lou & I. This year we watched Shrek 3 in bed and tried to make it to midnight. Josie was in bed around 9, but we didn't plan very well for the fact that we were just one block from New Years festivities - complete with fireworks. Needless to say, between that and all the whoopin' it up in the alley, she was wide awake and ready to party just in time to watch the ball drop with Dick Clark. We actually ended up keeping her in our room all night, which was a good thing because it was a noisy night with all the wind & the rattling fire escape. So, maybe it wasn't spent in the Everglades with Phish celebrating the new millenium, but it will still go down as one of the best New Years celebrations on record. What could be better than ringing in a new year with your beautiful baby girl in between you in bed? What a year 2008 promises to be!
And me doing my best impression of "Josie pose" (she definitely has the widest smile you've ever seen):
And Louie going in for a kiss during his nightly dance with Josie (this time it was to her new favorite thing to watch on tv - the Flaming Lips Halloween concert on DVD):
And, as promised, here's a good one of that sweet little face and those darling baby blues. Really, could she be any more precious?
Lots more photos to come of course. Practice your "ahhhhs." :)
She even tasted this new cuddly to make sure it met her approval. As it turns out, this is her new favorite toy for sure! (Try clicking on the photo to see it larger.)
This Christmas was also the time for starting new family traditions. Here we are looking at the book "Polar Express" that Lou & I bought for Josie. We're going to start reading it together every Christmas Eve.
Obviously the holidays are also about spending time with family. Josie really enjoyed getting to hang out with her Grandparents and Aunt & Uncle. And we really enjoyed having a couple extra pairs of hands to help out. :)
Here is the obligatory family Christmas photo which Josie apparently thought was pretty funny. 
And here's Lou & I relaxing in the hot tub. Okay, so relaxing is a bit of a stretch. We were too curious about what the baby was doing to totally relax. After all, it was the first night we were there and it always takes a little while to realize that the baby will survive if we're out of the room.
In fact, one of the great things about spending time in Xenia is that there is no shortage of love for Josie to spread around. We feel so fortunate that she has so many people that love and care about her. Even Claire - who was Josie's size not too long ago - loves her "Juicy." Here she is giving Josie her Nuk. Too cute!
Overall it was a wonderful Christmas. It had all the necessary elements - family, friends, food, giving, receiving, reminiscing (did I mention we spent 5 hours on Christmas day watching old home movies?), resting, relaxing, and all things merry and bright. Everyone was right, sharing all of these things with our baby girl definitely made it all even more special. 
There are *lots* more photos of Josie's first Christmas on her Shutterfly collection at http://www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com/. They are the combined photos from my mom, sister & me. There are a lot of them, but I of course think they're worth sifting through because there are some real gems that I wasn't able to include here. So if you have some time on your hands, check them out.
The things that Josie finds hysterical never cease to amaze us. We'll just say something and she'll burst into laughter. I'm not sure if she found the words "Cute Patootie" hilarious or the fact that I would actually utter those words in the first place (I've never been a fan of the phrase & would probably deny ever saying it if it wasn't captured on film). Anyway, I finally got one of Josie's giggle fits on film, so here it is for your enjoyment. I honestly don't think there is a sweeter sound in the world than the laughter of a child, especially your own. ENJOY!
The older Josie gets; the more fun we're all having. And all our antics definitely wear her out. Now that she's a sturdy little lady, we can engage in crowd-pleasers like "Daddy's Silly Socks" (Lou was wiggling his toes & singing a little song and she was cracking up) -
Other favorites include, "Daddy Belly Ride" -
And of course "Super Baby" never disappoints -
With all the fun we have with Josie, you'd think we would never leave the house (okay, so we rarely do), but the annual Kohnen & Patton Christmas Party got us out of our "comfy clothes" and into adult attire. (I had to resist the urge to wear a burp cloth on my shoulder. And it just felt too strange to carry a cocktail purse instead of a diaper bag.) So, here we are all gussied up -
Another week has passed & Josie continues to change more every day. It's certainly a busy time of year, but we're trying to enjoy every minute of it. We still don't have a Christmas tree (maybe one day without rain would change that) and of course we aren't finished shopping yet. We do have a whole list of things that we want to get Josie for her first Christmas (again, it's okay to do at least half of the things you swore you would never do as a parent). Really, we're just stuck on the fact that it's mid-December and Josie is already four months old. We even moved the co-sleeper away from our bed today, so Josie will have her first night on the other side of the room (which will probably be worse for us than her as evidenced by the fact that we both cried as we detached it & Josie didn't bat an eye). With that, it's pushing 9pm & the little lady needs nursed down to sleep. She just watched the 49ers score against the Bengals and decided it wasn't worth staying up any later to watch football. .jpg)
Here's a photo of our little Penguin. Lou got bored when I was talking to my mom on the phone the other night & decided to play dress-up with Josie by revisiting the Halloween outfit. She was much happier in it this time. Isn't she cute?
And here is what happens when it's going on 4pm & you haven't taken a nap because you just want to party like a rockstar all day. Eventually you can't take it anymore & pass out head first into your toys. Too funny!
Speaking of sleep, Josie just woke up from a much-needed (but short) nap. We went this morning to tour the day care center that is around the corner from our house (one of only two in the city) & that threw off Josie's schedule a little bit. More on the day care thing later. Gotta go rescue the little one from her Pack & Play.
Parents have always said to me that the holidays take on such greater significance when you see them through a child's eyes. Although Josie is still too young to know one day from the next, I'm already sensing that there is a degree of truth to that. Last night we took Josie around the corner to Fountain Square to see the first weekly performance of Santa rappelling off of the Great American Building. She couldn't have cared any less about that, but she thought the fireworks were pretty cool. (The photo above is our little bundle all wrapped up in her stroller with the ice skating rink behind her.) It just made me feel all warm & mushy to have our daughter on the Square amid all the holiday lights, music, etc. So, I have no doubt that going to the tree farm to pick out Josie's first Christmas tree next weekend will be just as special. Typically, I'm already annoyed by all the Christmas kitsch by the second day of December, but it's definitely different this year. To prove that, see the link below. (Thanks to Schmittee for passing this on. It's totally disturbing, but makes me crack up for some unknown reason.)
That's right - Josie has officially added "Rolling" to her list of credentials. We were having "tummy time" like any other day, when Josie pushed up on her arms with much more authority than she ever has before. She got this very proud "check me out" look on her face (see photo above) and then started to wobble. That's when I switched the camera over from still photos to video and managed to capture her very first flip from belly to back on film. (You'll hear the obvious excitement in my voice.) So, here it is! ENJOY!In other Josie news: we have decided to stop swaddling her at night. Actually, this was more of Josie's decision than ours. For one, she got too big for her swaddling blankets, and she also spent so much energy trying to "Houdini" herself out of the swaddle that she would wake herself up at night. So, I must say the last couple of bedtimes nights have not gone as smoothly as we're used to. Typically I would just feed her, bundle her up & put her down for the night. Getting her to sleep now is a bit more of a battle, but we're getting there. Wish us luck! :)
This second photo is only funny because a little time has gone by. It wasn't funny at all when it happened. Pictured below are four new onesies, two packets of new socks, and a couple of other random things that I foolishly washed with my orange maya wrap sling. The color bled and turned an full load of laundry completely peachy-pink! Thank goodness we have a girl. And, conveniently, now her onesies and burp cloths perfectly match her socks. :)
I'll try to update more this weekend & also get that video uploaded. She's really learned a lot in the past week and is even beginning to roll herself over. I'll share some more highlights soon.
