Sneak Preview

A couple of weeks ago, we had a friend-of-a-friend professional photog come over & take Josie's "official" three month photos to serve the dual purpose of gracing our Christmas cards (remember I said it was okay to do at least 1/2 of the things you swore you would never do as a parent?). Yesterday we got the proofs back, went through the 200 or so photos, picked our favorites & then promptly ordered our cards. We only got to pick 4 pictures for the card & I'll order others to hand out when I'm in Xtown for Xmas, but I thought I'd give you VIPs a sneak preview (mostly because I can't resist sharing this sweet little face with the world).

Josie's First Thanksgiving

We definitely had a lot to be thankful for this holiday & that made celebrating Josephine's first Thanksgiving even more special. As if turkey and mashed potatoes aren't enough to make a day great, we also got to spend more time with Josie's great-grandma and our family in Indiana and extended the trip to a weekend in Chicago with Aunt Manda & Uncle Mike. Since they hadn't seen Josie since she was born, this was an important trip for all of us! And it couldn't have been more perfect.I'm actually getting a little ahead of myself. The photo above was taken at M&M's at the end of our weekend, but as I said, the festivities actually began early Thanksgiving morning. We woke up around 6:30 am with intentions to leave by 8, but after an earth-shaking diaper blowout that ruined Josie's thanksgiving attire, we didn't make it to the car until just after 9. (And not a moment too soon, because just as we drove away, the first runner in the annual Turkey Trot race came buzzing down the street with 11,999 people behind him.) The drive to Marion, IN was uneventful - just the way we like it. Josie slept almost the entire way & played happily for the twenty or so minutes that she wasn't sleeping. We arrived in Indy safe, sound, and hungry. Douglas & Brent certainly didn't disappoint, and we had quite the Thanksgiving feast. Here's a photo of Josie having her first Thanksgiving dinner with her dad.

After dinner, it was playtime. Josie spent lots of time making faces for her Grand-daddy and Great-Grand-nana. (Poor Ollie the dog got a little jealous.)

After playing for a while, Josie (and the rest of us) assumed the normal post-turkey pose and just spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and watching football. Here's Josie sacked out with Grandma on the world's coziest chair.
So, I guess it would be dishonest of me to say that the relaxing only lasted one afternoon. Actually, that's what we spent the remainder of the whole weekend doing. This trip to Chicago wasn't about great holiday deals on Michigan Avenue or another trip to IKEA. It was all about chillin' out together & everyone getting in their cuddle time with Josie. Here's Josie with her Aunt Manda.

And a big double kiss from her Aunt & Uncle M&M:
And watching football with Daddy- (yes, we're aware that our daughter has an addiction, and recognition of the problem is the first step toward recovery):
I should also mention that the full set of Thanksgiving weekend photos from me & from Manda are now added to a new album in Josie's Shutterfly collection - www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com - you'll notice that there are a lot of photos where Josie appears to be staring off intently in the opposite direction of the camera into the exact direction of the tv.

Here's Josie & I settling down for a long winter's nap while M&M went out to the store to get the fixins' for our Thanksgiving Mexican Fiesta.

And here's Josie all snuggly in front of the fire. I think it's safe to say that Josie loves her Aunt & Uncle.
Overall, it was the perfect weekend! We left Saturday afternoon after filling up Josie's belly and (unbelievably) made it home in about 4.5 hours. We only stopped once for gas & a quick trip through the drive thru. Thanks to the CDs of white noise that I made, our new favorite "kids music" by Elizabeth Mitchell & the back seat full of toys, Josie was very content for the whole drive. She slept all but about 1/2 hour or so. I had pumped some milk on the way to Chicago from Indy & saved it for the ride home, so I just fed Josie in her car seat instead of having to stop to nurse her. We also spent some time "reading" her Spots & Dots book (which mesmerizes her). All in all, it's great to know that Josie does so well in car. I'm sure there's another trip to Chicago right around the corner. Heck, maybe next time we'll actually leave the house. :)

Thanks Douglas & Brent for a delicious dinner! Let us know when you open your B&B and we'll be your first guests. Thanks M&M for letting us rearrange your furniture & totally take over your house. You don't know how awesome it is to have someone cook & clean up after you. It was like a vacation! It was the perfect weekend!!

What a weekend!

This Thanksgiving weekend has been nearly perfect! We arrived home from Chicago last night after a delicious dinner in Indiana on Thursday & are taking a brief hiatus from the holiday festivities at the moment - that is until Chrissy, Kevin, PJ, Janelle & the girls get here in a few minutes to cap off this perfect weekend! I promise to get all the photos added to the collection & the highlights added to the blog by Monday afternoon. Hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving!

WARNING: T.M.I.

Let it be known that I recognize that this might be Too Much Information for some of you, but it's a big day for those of us here at Chez Schneider. Today is the Anniversary of Josephine's conception. That's right - one year ago today her journey began as a microscopic clump of dividing cells. (And I'm willing to bet she was the cutest fertilized egg anyone has ever seen.)
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! This year we definitely have something extra to be thankful for! Gobble, Gobble!

New Links

For all you parents out there (or people with gifts to buy for little ones), I just added a whole bunch of new links to cool baby toys, clothes, etc. on the left under "Our Links." Enjoy!

HAPPY 100th!

Okay, it's possible that I may be coming down with a bit of Blogger's Anxiety. I added a "hits counter" to the website in the middle of last week, and it's already up to 100 hits! YIKES! Glad you're all visiting. I'll try to keep up my end of the bargain. :)

Busy Weekend

We've officially decided to re-enter the world. With that, we had three parties on the calendar for this weekend. Unfortunately, the Hypnobirthing Reunion had to be cancelled (poor Jill and her massive sewage back-up). But, we were able to make it to Jodi & Larry's Beaujolais Nouveau release party! Josie was a trooper, and I really enjoyed the vino! :)Grandma & Aunt Manda - that's right - Josie is officially fitting into the (4-6 month) dresses you bought her. Here's a close-up. Too cute!
I thought I'd also post the photo of Lou doing the vacuuming this weekend, although he didn't opt for the sling. She seemed to be just as content propped up on his arm.
And here's something for you Grand-daddy: Josie in her first pair of jeans (handpicked by Grand-daddy himself). I finally got a photo of her wearing them. Believe it or not, they're already getting snug. No worries, I jsut bought her some more jeans last week.
So, another week has gone by. We wrapped it up with football & chili (and what Louie swears is the last Bengals game he's going to watch) yesterday at Helene & Andy's house. This week is going to be an exciting one: off to Indiana for Thanksgiving on Thursday, then on to Chicago for our first (of many) trips to Aunt & Uncle M&M's house. I'm sure it will take us the whole first part of this week to get everything ready that we feel like we need to make the trip. :) Wish us luck!
FYI - I added the photos from the last couple of blog entries & a few others to the Shutterfly collection. Enjoy!

That silly girl

If it hasn't already been made clear to you from the fact that this blog even exists, I'm a bit obsessed with taking photos of Josie. But, there's good reason for that. She's hysterical. Take this first photo for example. I like to call this her "Legwarmers are #1" pose! Seriously, can you believe she did this? On the topic of her legwarmers - equal parts Rainbow Brite & Punky Brewster - I now know that one of the laws of the universe is that I get to dress her in whatever I want for the first few years, but then I can't complain when she seeks revenge as a teenager.

My other favorite photo of the week is this one. Here's Josie with her new little giraffe cuddly blanket.

Besides the fact that she was absolutely cracking me up trying to fit the whole thing in her mouth, the guilty look on her face as she hugged and cuddled it was made the whole thing hysterical to me. It was like she was afraid I was going to be jealous that she could possibly be enjoying something else besides me.

And finally - here's another video of our girl. As I said, my goal is to get that giggle on film. By the time Lou got the camera rolling, she wasn't really laughing anymore, but it's still pretty cute so I decided to post it. Enjoy!

Another pedi trip

Josie had another trip to the pedi this morning for two more shots (and has a big Bugs Bunny band-aid on each leg to prove it). She did very well, despite the obvious torture. The first shot totally didn't phase her, but the second one definitely more than made up for it. What a scream! She seems to handling the vaccines well but is pretty drowsy.

Oh - and I forgot to mention she weighs 15 lbs. & 8 oz! (Three cheers for mama's milk!!!)

Happy 3 months Josephine!

Josie turned three months old today! So, we thought we would have Cincinnati's Mayor Mark Mallory help us celebrate. Here we are commemorating the event below: Actually, Mr. Mayor was also having coffee & waffles on Saturday morning downtown & we thought it would be funny to get Josie's photo taken with him. So, we interrupted his breakfast with Councilmember Cranley. Cranley took the photo & Mr. Mallory asked us exactly what a "baby blog" was anyway. (I walked up to the table & said "Excuse me, Mr. Mayor, can you take a photo with our daughter for her baby blog.") Truth be told, we felt a little funny asking him, but now I'm glad we did. :)

Josie is getting more & more fun everyday. And she seems to be enjoying her life outside the womb even more. Here she is before her bath on Saturday night. (That's right - Lou & I now spend Saturday nights bathing our baby & watching a movie in bed. Had we known just much fun this would be, we likely would've had children a lot sooner.)

Yep, she's all smiles these days. And she's even giggling like crazy. We're convinced that making your own child laugh is the reason why people have kids. Lou got her laughing so hard today by jumping across the room and saying "Hi Boo-Boo" over & over again that she was laughing so hard that her face turned red & she gave herself the hiccups. Lou actually had to stop because she was cracking herself up. I was of course crying at the cuteness of the whole thing. It's just so funny to see what makes her laugh. My next project is to capture those giggles on video, although I'm not sure Lou is willing to do a repeat performance of "Hi Boo-Boo" for the entire viewing audience.

Another one of my new favorite things that Josie is doing started happening this week while she is nursing. One day this week, I was feeding her & watching tv. Suddenly I realized she wasn't attached anymore, so I looked down to see if she had fallen asleep. Instead, she was staring up at me with those huge sparkly blue eyes with one of the biggest smiles on her face that I'd ever seen. It was as if she was totally saying "thanks for the milk mom; this is great!" Then, she kept doing it. Eating then pulling off to smile up at me. It was so funny. So, the next time I nursed her I grabbed the camera in case she did it again. And she did! So, I'm sharing it with all of you in this photo. (I decided it would be best not to share my nipple with all of you, so this is the least revealing photo of them all.)

We've also moved to the front carry position in the sling now that Josie is such a big girl. On Thursday evening, I decided I couldn't stand the cat hair anymore so I put her in the sling & grabbed the vacuum. Lou came home to find me happily cleaning the carpet with a very happy little snuggler sound asleep in the sling. I think the sound of the vacuum totally knocked her out, which I will definitely have to remember in case of emergency.

In other news, it was a busy week for this little girl. Friday I went to Xenia for some much-needed pampering at the salon & an overdue trip to Mom & Dad's offices. It made for a long day for Josie since he took her to the law firm that morning. By the car ride home Friday evening, Josie was ready to reach around from the back seat and strangle me. 20 minutes of motor boat noises later, we made it home safe & sound. I learned a very valuable lesson: Josie does in fact have a schedule & if I deviate from it too much, there is hell to pay. (Lesson learned.)

I guess that's it for now. She's had a busy day today (her three month photo shoot was this morning) & she needs some attention. As I type this, she is laying on her playmat & is learning at this very instant that she can hit the orange duck above her head and make it rattle. It's an amazing thing to watch that little brain working. Gotta go enjoy the moment... I'll leave you with a close-up of those baby blues.

Oh yea - and there are more new photos in her shutterfly collection - www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com Enjoy!

Gotta Love that Grin!

I apologize in advance for my terrible singing, but I thought you all might enjoy Josie smiling at her new favorite song. "Itsy Bitsy Spider" is also a favorite, but you'll have to wait to see that in person some time. I haven't quite mastered the song, the hand motions, and the video camera.

12 weeks of sunshine

Well, Josephine turned 12 weeks old over the weekend. To celebrate, she took two full bottles of mama's milk from her Grandma while her mama & daddy went to David & Diem's wedding. (I also celebrated with two pretty hearty glasses of red wine.) Of course we missed her more than anything while we were gone & it didn't help matters that the people sitting next to us had their three month old daughter with them (Oh - the torture!). Anyway, it was good to know that Josie can actually survive without us. The question is how long we can survive without her?! So far, that seems to be a maximum of 5 hours. I mean - look at this face - how could anyone stand being away from those big baby blues for any long period of time? Josie continues to crack us up on a daily basis. Here's a photo of her passed out in her swing with her Nuk. It fell out of her mouth, but stayed positioned on her shirt pushing up her top lip. (She looked a bit like Angelina Jolie if you ask me.) She seriously stayed like this for at least 20 minues while Lou & I ate dinner. Too funny!
Here's Josie in one of her favorite outfits. It's her "Little Hippie" onesie from Kristen & Keith. She has great political sensibility for such a little girl. Here's the smile she gave me when I told her that it was only one year until the election for a new president:
When I asked her what her opinions were on the war in Iraq, this was the look I got:

This weekend we will celebrate Josephine's 3 month birthday. It's absolutely crazy to think how quickly these months have flown by! Every day gets easier & even more fulfilling. Those big bright eyes and gummy grins make all the life changes totally worth it.

Oh Happy Day!!!

THIS JUST IN...
Yesterday, like any other Tuesday, I left the house to attend my weekly Hypno-mamas group at the Blue Manatee. However, unlike all the Tuesdays of the past, I attended this week's meeting in my PRE-PREGNANCY jeans!!!! HOORAY! I have less than 5 more pounds to go before I'm back to my pre-preg weight, so consider this yet another enthusiastic endorsement for breastfeeding!!!

A day in the life of our laundry

If you're already a mom, you completely understand the sheer volume of laundry that a baby makes in a day. But, the truth is...I really didn't get it until we had a little laundry maker of our own. Just for fun, I decided to keep track for a day. Here are the results:

Outfit #1 - pee - had to be changed
Outfit #2 - poo - had to be changed
* Poopy blanket also had to be washed
Outfit #3 - spit up - had to be changed
* Also required a change of my clothes
Outfit #4 - put a new outfit on her only to realize it was way too big, so had to take it off and start over
Outfit #5 - lasted until bedtime
Outfit #6 - pajamas
* Plus one swaddling blanket, three burp clothes & three washcloths

Goodness gracious! I guess it's a good thing that she has two full drawers of clothes! :)

Things she loves

I thought it would be fun to share with you some of the things little Josephine likes and dislikes. So, let's start with some of her favorites. Obviously, she can't get enough of her mama & daddy (or the Nuk) but there are some other interesting passions that have recently developed. Josie is obsessed with showing off her tummy. Since the day she was born, we've been referring to it as her "Honey Pot" because it's so big and beautiful that it deserved its very own name. So, Josie loves her Honey Pot & wants to share it with the world. Hopefully this is the result of her Feminist pride in her own body & not the result of too much tv which I'm ashamed to admit is also a new favorite (she stares at it when it's on in the same room).
This photo shows two of Josie's new favorites. It's from our first day out in the stroller with the upright seat attachment instead of the bassinet. She *loved* it! We had such a nice walk yesterday. (Thanks to Grandpa for the perfect fall outfit and jacket!) She just looked around & smiled & did a lot of the other thing that she loves - spitting massive amounts of baby bubbles! Look closely and you'll see some of her record-breaking slobber. The good news is that she hasn't had any projectile spit-up in almost 2 weeks! The bad news is we're still washing several outfits a day due to the new slobber habit.
One of Josie's favorite activities is passing out! Here she is completed K.O.'d by a delicious afternoon meal! Notice how she strokes her full Honey Pot. This was also her last day in the newborn size gDiapers - as you can see they're clearly a bit snug on those adorable legs! And - last but not least - the last thing Josie loves is looking adorable in her new wardrobe. Now that she's into 3-6 months sizes, she has a whole new world of clothing. I'll admit, I'm a little jealous that I don't get to completely swap out my wardrobe for the latest fashions every 3 months. By the way, apparently she's also into flashing gang signs as this photo also indicates, but that's something we'll have to deal with later. :)

Things she hates

Maybe she'll be a fan when she's older, but at this point, the girl hates Halloween! We thought the penguin outfit was the cutest thing in the world, but apparently she disagreed. It even had a little penguin tail, but she couldn't care less. So, Josie's first Halloween costume lasted all of about 5 minutes.

There are more photos of Halloween & the rest of October in the new Shutterfly album at www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com !

Undecided

Even though Josie definitely has obvious likes & dislikes, she's still unsure on a number of things. For example..Although she now fits in her BeBePod seat, this photo perfectly captures the "what the heck is this thing" look that she gets whenever we put her in it. Lou's convinced that she's annoyed because it's just one more thing to hold her that's not our arms.
Here is Josie after a bath. Don't get me wrong - she loves the bath part - it's the "bath aftermath" that makes her scream. I don't know what it could be about being naked and wet on the kitchen counter that seems to bother her. We're working on improving the after bath routine, but we're definitely not there yet.
Doesn't this look just say it all?

Ask and you shall receive...

At the request of Aunt Manda, here are some more videos!

Click here for a special shout out to Aunt M.

Click here for a video of Josie & Louie hanging out & being adorable (both of them).

Click here to see Josie chillin' after her bath.

Enjoy!

Around the house

As Josie is getting more and more responsive to play, we're having more and more fun. It's only fair that since I witnessed the first smile that Louie got to be the one to hear the first giggle. But, as we all know, Lou is hysterical so I'm not surprised he was the first one to get her to laugh. Anyway, this first photo shows us being silly. There's been a lot of that going on lately.
And, as proven by this photo, Venus is finally starting to get used to the idea of having Josephine around. Yesterday I found myself in this position on the couch for over an hour while Josie slept on my chest and Venus snuggled up on Josie's tush. I'm still not convinced that Venus realized what she was doing. I think she just saw the snuggly blanket and went for it. All in all, it was pretty funny and a pretty cozy way to spend the first chilly afternoon.
Lucky for my poor abs, I've finally figured out how to get in an afternoon yoga workout. It looks something like the photo above. Sure the whole process takes about 2 hours by the time I get everything set up and take a few breaks to shake a rattle or give Josie a kiss, but it's nice to squeeze in some time to relax every couple of days. I think Josie picks up on the zen mood because she usually sleeps through at least half of the workout. Ohm...

It's hard to believe that November is just around the corner and that our little mama will be three months old in a couple of weeks! You all know that I'll be sure to keep you updated on every little thing. :)

Oh, and I've added a new section to the column on the left. As it turns out, this baby blog thing is really catching on. If interested, check out the links to many of my fellow mama's blogs.

Coming Soon...

Hi all, Sorry I haven't posted yet this week. It's been a bit hectic. I have taken some more videos and as soon as Google Video decides to cooperate, I'll get them posted here. In the meantime, life with Josie continues to be a laugh a minute. Gotta run... I need to do some research on 12 steps programs to combat "Nuk addiction."