Fun around the house

This is what happens when you leave your baby alone with her Dad during bathtime:

And this is what necessitated the bath in the first place. Ladies and gentlemen...I give you Josie's first spaghetti dinner:

You see, Josie has decided that spoons and bowls are for babies and she is a big girl. It's actually a bit of a problem, because she simply does not want to be fed anymore. She wants to feed herself. So - case in point - her delicious jar of Earth's Best Organic Summer Vegetables quickly gave way to a heaping portion of Daddy's spaghetti and meat sauce right on her tray. She loved it! Seriously. Crazy. She sat there and ate hunks of french bread with cream cheese, spaghetti, and pieces of turkey. Unbelievable! So, the pureed food days are numbered (just when I mastered it). Wish us luck as we move into the next phase of food!

And - I should also mention that she drinks out of cups without lids and cups with straws now. In fact, she absolutely cannot get enough of her new Dora sports bottle from Grandma & Granddaddy. I promise to get a picture of that (and Josie with Mrs. Beasley) uploaded very soon!

And - while we're on the topic of food - have I mentioned Josie's addiction to peas on here before? My friend Cat recommended the line of "Just Fruit/Just Veggies" dehydrated snacks & we bought several kinds for Josie. But, nothing tops the peas in her book. I'm not kidding - she's addicted to them. She even had them for breakfast today! They were sitting out on the counter & she kept reaching for them instead of eating her apples & yogurt. So, I handed them over and she ate a huge pile. So funny! I mean peas for breakfast?! Yuck! Anyway, the cutest thing in the world is that she feeds them to me now. She feeds herself one, picks one up and puts it in my mouth, then absolutely cracks up. It's SO cute!

In other adorable Josie news...she's obsessed with the computer. I may even have to sign her up for her very own blog soon (haha). Anyway, as I was typing an email to my sister the other day, Josie finished her lunch and I foolishly thought I could hold her in my lap while I finished the email. Luckily I had the camera nearby to capture the fun that followed:

New Blog Feature

You may notice a new feature in the left column. It's called "Blog Feeds" and it allows everyone (especially us) to see when our family & friends' blogs have been updated. It will readjust itself to keep the most recently updated item on top. :) Cool, huh? We'll keep the original list of blogs posted below it because not all of the baby's sites have feeds. Enjoy!

Our Little Reader

It's funny. My friend and fellow mama Cat asked about Josie's favorite toys in a recent email. And while she enjoys lots of her toys, her favorite thing right now is BOOKS! Seriously, she can't get enough of them. When she's crying, a book makes her smile. Before bed, she wants her dad to read her "Charlie Monkey" and "Peek-a-who!" She knows all the right places to point to and feel in all 6 or 7 of her "Touch and Feel" books. And, she'll just sit with a stack of books and "read" for 15-20 minutes at a time.
Case in point: The other day I was talking to my sister on the phone and Josie was making all of these squealing noises. I looked over and she had taken a stack of books, opened them all up, and placed them in a circle surrounding herself:
She literally had 8 books around her & just sat there thumbing through them babbling, squealing, and "reading" aloud. It was SO funny!
And here's another favorite - magazines! Although - unlike the books - what she likes best about magazines is the sound they make as she's destroying them. (Finally a use for all those old copies of "Dwell" and "Domino.")
And - I just had to share this photo because it makes me laugh (and may be foreshadowing the future). This was just after I took the magazine photo. She realized I was taking pictures and quickly dropped the magazine and crawled over to me. Then, she just looked up at me like this as if to say "enough with the camera already!" And, it's scary, but I also see a little teenager in her eyes. See what I mean?!

A Trip to "Hot Doc's" Office

Josie's 9 month appt was yesterday. She had two shots and a finger stick. She was a brave little lady for all three. Her hemoglobin levels were excellent - which made us happy because iron in breastfed babies can be a problem. Lucky for Josie, she loves her leafy greens so she's doing just fine in that dept. And she only cried for a few seconds after her shots. Our doctor continues to be very supportive of our decision to follow Dr. Sears alternate vaccination schedule. He also told us that he has decided to delay MMR until 15 months for all of his patients. I'm glad he is so open-minded.

Here are Josie's 9 month stats:

WEIGHT - 21 pounds (80th percentile)
HEIGHT - 29 inches (80th percentile)
WEIGHT-for-HEIGHT - 50% (which means she's the "right" weight for her height)

Overall - we've all noticed that she is slimming down - probably because she's on the move now. She's definitely gotten taller. Her legs are also crazy-long! (She is wearing 18 month sized pants & 12 month sized tops.)

We feel so fortunate to have such a healthy, happy baby! :)

LOL!

Here is your daily dose of quality Josie entertainment. It really needs no explanation except I will say that Venus is in real trouble when Josie can run on her own. Enjoy!

Josie the Explorer

Who needs "Dora the Explorer" when we've got Josie? Anyone who has spent any time with Josie knows just how curious she is. She is always studying things in great detail and trying to figure out how things work. This past weekend, we put her curious nature to the test.

The "exploration weekend" started accidentally when Louie came home from work early on Friday. We decided to walk over to Newport on the Levee for dinner and ended up making an impromptu trip to the Aquarium. We practically had the whole place to ourselves. Josie's favorite spots were of course the tunnels & Louie's favorite spot was the big interactive "Frogger" game in the new "Frog Bog" exhibit.

On Saturday, we decided to head out to Grandma & Grandpa Schneider's house for some quality outdoor time in their yard. We pulled the lawnchairs into the grass, spread out Josie's big blanket, and took a deep breath of non-city summer air. Ahhhh....

Until we heard the unmistakable "chirp,chirp,chirp" of CICADAS!!! Oh NO! I'd heard from the ladies in my mama group that the cicadas were coming, but since we live downtown, I didn't worry too much about them. But, they were EVERYWHERE at Bob & Phyllis' house. So, it wasn't long until we decided to test Josie's curiosity....Louie handed her a stick with a great big cicada hanging from it! She just sat there calmly checking it out:
Then it fell on her leg. And she just let it crawl around on her for about five minutes! Check out this look on her face - hilarious!!!
As it turns out, I was way more grossed out by the cicadas than Josie, so we decided to move indoors for a feast courtesy of LaRosa's. After pizza, Phyllis suggested we head down to "The Schoolhouse Restaurant" to pet the goats. And...leave it to Josie..even when that big 'ole goat came up over the fence, she laughed out loud instead of freaking out.
I'm SOOO glad Josie loves animals!
After the exciting day on Saturday, Josie spent all day Sunday with her Daddy while I went to a yoga workshop with my friend Alicia in Dayton (which was awesome by the way). She & Louie walked over to Covington to have lunch at JeanRo's Greenup Street Cafe and hung out all afternoon together. Apparently, she spent a lot of time crawling because her little knees were bright red when I got home:

So, we just keep exposing Josie to more and more, and she just keeps soaking it all in. One of the best things about being a mom is definitely sharing these explorations with her (although I could definitely do without the cicadas)!

I've just added the May 2008 photo album to www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com ! Check it out for more photos from Memorial Day weekend, more photos of the "beets mess," and a whole lot more! Enjoy.

Hiking with our Daddies

Overall Memorial Day weekend, Josie and I got to go hiking with our Daddies. Josie got to see Glen Helen in style - from the backpack we borrowed from the Roundtrees. (Fortunately for my Daddy, I didn't make him carry me on his back.) It was an absolutley gorgeous day in Yellow Springs!
Josie's Granddaddy picked these flowers for her that she carried around until she fell asleep and dropped them on the ground. At one point, we joked that she was playing "he loves me, he loves me not" as she picked off the petals one by one.
Here are three of my favorite people in the world in one of my favorite spots in the world. It was so surreal for me to have my daughter on the same trails I used to run around as a teenager. The next step will be taking Josie to her first Yellow Springs "Street Fair."
And here's the family photo in front of the actual "yellow spring" itself.
Perfect hike. Perfect day. More perfect memories. :)

HAPPY 5000 BLOG HITS!!!!

Thanks for your patience everyone. It's been a busy week since I had Monday off. There are three new posts below. And I'll add the photos from our Memorial Day hike in Yellow Springs over the weekend. Enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend

What's not to love about long weekends? Our Memorial Day was perfect! We joined my sister & Michael at my parents' house on Friday night and got to spend the whole weekend together! It was SO nice just to get to hang out together AND to get the extra help with Josie. (We even got to sleep in!!!)
Here are some of the highlights of our weekend. Starting with Josie's absolute favorite thing - her new swing from Granddaddy that he installed on their newly-remodeled deck (that's one talented Grandaddy you've got there Josie). The "Supercruiser" was definitely a huge hit - as you'll see in the next few photos!
She loved it!

And once she learned how to hang on, she could swing even higher. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
You wouldn't think it could get any better for Josie, until Grandma busted out the baby pool. Josie was in heaven. Check her out!

And, after some splashing around, it was time for warming up in the sunshine. I couldn't resist a quick photo of that precious little tushy.
On to the annual Roundtree bash featuring our very own concert by Granddaddy & the Dwellers. That's Granddaddy on the keys, Kevin on the bass, Pat on the drums, and Bill (is a Jedi) on Aretha his beautiful new guitar.

Scratch that - it's Josephine on the drums. We figured she loves banging on the pots & pans with wooden spoons at home so she was bound to love a real drumset. And we were SOOO right. Looks like we've got a little drummer girl on our hands.
Seriously - both hands at once? Two different drums even? And the cymbals?! This kid is a rockstar in the making.
The party at Chrissy & Kevin's house was great! We got to see longtime friends, spend time with family, eat lots of yummy food, etc. And Josie definitely enjoyed being in the middle of all of the action.
Sunday was another exciting day. After all the fun, Josie was definitely in major need of a bath. Here she is in Grandma's kitchen sink. Does it get any cuter than this??

Then we were off to Debbie & Phillip's house for another cookout. Here's Josie being entertained by her favorite Xenia friends - Kalie and Claire. It's so strange because I totally remember when Claire was Josie's age! Time flies!
Josie got to spend lots of time with Aunt Manda and her growing tummy (check out www.threeaustins.blogspot.com)
All in all, it was a perfect holiday weekend!! Oh - before I go - two more random photos to share because they make me laugh.

The first is Josie's latest funny habit. We removed the bar across her stroller because it was kind of pointless, but there are these little holes where it used to connect. Now whenever she gets in her stroller, she finds the holes, sticks her fingers in them, and rides around like that all day. Too funny!

And lastly, I just had to share Josie's "what ya talkin' about Willis" face. I have no idea what she was looking at, but it's clear that she didn't like it whatever it was.

Motorin'

I thought you all might enjoy this quick video of Josie zooming around in Claire's walker. Her new favorite thing is chasing around the cat, Carissa, and us. Pretty funny stuff. And, I also think this video is hilarious, because she has now mastered waving without being waved to. If you just say "Hi Josie," she stops what she's doing and waves. It was cracking me up in the walker because she couldn't wave and walk at the same time. Enjoy!

Ahh...Mobility

Josephine is definitely enjoying her newly-discovered sense of mobility. And, while we're of course happy for her, our lives have definitely changed. For example, I was sending a quick text message to a friend today and looked down for about 10 seconds. When I looked up, Josie had made her way under my desk and went straight for the wireless router. My goodness! I had to snap one quick photo on my way over there to save the computer. (And I had to take photographic evidence to prove to Louie that we can no longer live in denial about the need to babyproof.) So, if that first photo was "Exhibit A" then this is definitely "Exhibit B." Now that she is crawling more efficiently (I'll get another video soon) - she has a whole new world of shiny, lit-up knobs and buttons to explore.
Enter "Exhibit C" - after pulling some things off of the shelves, she decided it was time to have her way with the cable and desperately wanted to remove it from the wall. (Oh No!)
So, long story short - Josie wants to crawl everywhere & it's finally time to do something about it. Now that she also has fallen in love with Claire's walker, she wants to walk everywhere. The only problem there is that she can't walk on her own yet, but *really* wants to. This means hours of breaking our backs leading a walking Josie around the house with her holding our index finger. She's definitely ON THE MOVE and there's no looking back now! (Help.)

I just added the full set of Josephine's 9 month photo shoot to her Shutterfly collection - www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com
Now you can place your orders. :)

Um...Make that five

After two toppies popped out the other day, the left center tooth on the top made its appearance over the long weekend. And, her sixth tooth is just below the surface. Cutting four teeth at once has made for some less-than-appealing behavior such as biting her mama, drooling like crazy, and grinding her teeth like a little machine. Poor baby - she is obviously in a ton of pain. Add to this the fact that Sophie the Giraffe (her favorite teether) is M.I.A. and things are not the best for little Josie. I guess the up-side of this is that although she's in agony right now, it will be awhile before another round of teething.

And then there were four (teeth, not Schneiders)

Josie officially has top teeth - two to be exact. The top two "right" poked through this morning and you can see the top two "left" teeth moving down. That means she'll have six little chompers in no time. Crazy!

G.I. Josie

Well, it isn't a prefect crawl, but it's something. The good (or bad) news is that she's now mobile. Check out her "Army Crawl" in this video:

Right now she only crawls if she really wants something, so we knew the phone would do it. Since this "first crawl" on Sunday night, she's discovered the joys of hiding under the bathroom mat, playing "human Swiffer" on the floor, sticking her fingers into the dirt of a potted plant, and repeatedly making her move toward the cat. Life at Chez Schneider is definitely changing quickly as Monday has already been declared "Babyproofing Day." Wish us luck!

(P.S. I just watched this video again & I'm amazed at how much better she has gotten with crawling in just two days. We're definitely in trouble if she keeps improving at this rate.)

I decided a good old fashion "this is what we did this weekend" post was in order. So, here it goes. This is Josie on Friday night - totally sacked out after a long week. Remember how I told you all about "crib gymnastics" - well this is the end result of it: Now, on to the rest of the weekend. Here is little miss Josephine enjoying a delicious meal of pureed beets. (Note: she is naked and sitting on a towel, so what could possibly go wrong? Or so we thought.)
It was about this time that she decided to stick both fists in her mouth. Soon after that she decided to stick her hands in her eye and this is what happened next:
WHAT A MESS!!! Needless to say, we snapped a few photos, headed straight to the bathtub, and promptly threw away the remaining bag of frozen beets. (What were we thinking??!)

On Saturday we finally made it out the Carrie (Schmitt) Harrison's house in Wyoming for a perfect afternoon in the 'burbs. By the end of the day, Louie & I were totally craving our very own porch swing and herb garden. It was SOOO nice to spend the day with Carrie, Skylar, and Blane. Here's Sky playing with Josie.
And the three of our little cuties hanging out in the backyard.
And while Carrie made a delicious dinner, I was entertained by this impromptu concert. (That's Louie on the piano in the background.)

Carrie (who is "Schmittee" to many of you) was such an important part of my life at Miami and I'm unbelievably grateful that she's back in my life now. It's hilarious to think about how much our lives have changed since those days Above Bagel & Deli. It makes me so happy to know that she will always be a part of the story of Josie's life, since I truly believe her support as our doula during Josie's birth was crucial to making it through without medication or medical intervention. I look forward to many more years of watching each other's kids grow. :)

Soul Shakedown Party

We spend a lot of time dancing, singing, and making "music" around our house. I couldn't resist sharing Louie and Josie's "soul shakedown party" the other night. Watch her little feet when she bounces up in the air. Hilarious!

Josie Learns To Wave!!

Oh my goodness - Josie has learned to wave! This morning I was working on the computer & Carissa brought Josie out after her nap. I said "Hi Josie" and waved to her, and this is what happened next! (Excuse the poor video quality, but I had to act quickly before the moment passed.)

And - much to my surprise - this wasn't a total fluke because we've exchanged several waves back & forth since this happened this morning. Wow!