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."

Ten Years Together!

Today marked 10 years of Louie & I being together!

So, we decided to commemorate the occasion with a trip to Miami to revisit where it all began. It was an absolutely perfect fall day in Oxford. Those of you who went there know it well. We really couldn't believe it. When we stepped out of the car, it just looked, smelled, and felt like Miami. There's just something in the air there. And to make it even more perfect - it was fall break so we got all the joys of Mother Miami without any of the hassle - I think we only saw about 4 students all day! We were amazed at how much has stayed the same, despite all of the obvious changes. It was odd to see University Ave running the opposite direction & the doors of the Fiji house all boarded up, but was comforting so still be able to walk across the slant walk & eat a steamy bagel from Bagel & Deli. (I should probably mention here that my freshman dorm - Reid Hall - has been destroyed in order to build the new Business College. Oddly, I didn't feel as bummed about that as I probably should. That place was just weird & the only good things to come out of that place - Molly & Cat - aren't going anywhere.)

There are lots of photos from the Oxford trip & many other Josie photos from this past week in the latest album in the Shutterfly collection - http://www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com/

The photos I've included above are our first two homes - the place where Lou & I fell in love 10 years ago (Above Bagel & Deli) and our first "house" (above a garage). We've definitely come a long way in just 10 years. :) The top photo is Lou & Josie headed down the slant walk.

That's our girl!

Okay, so this first picture of Josie is not at all flattering. But, it is hysterical. Note the ring around her mouth from sucking the heck out of her pacifier.

Here's a cute photo of our little lady to make up for the not so cute one above. YEA - WE FINALLY CAUGHT THAT SMILE ON FILM! :)

(There are even more smily photos on the new album in the Shutterfly collection.)

Baby Got Back!

Big news on the baby front - Josephine is in Stage 2 diapers now!
This seems strange since the baby on the front of the Stage 1 package is this tiny little baby laying down & the baby on the Stage 2 diaper looks about 6 months old and is sitting up!

At this rate, we'll need to buy Depends Adult Diapers by her first birthday. :)

Pediatrician Cont'd

I forgot to mention these two additional things from Josie's 2 month pedi visit yesterday:

1) She is now weighing in at 13 lbs. 8 oz. and stretches to 24 inches long. That's almost 5 pounds heavier and 4 inches longer than birth. No wonder her clothes don't fit. She's in the 99th percentile for height & weight. We're hoping this is just an indication of the percentile she will be in on the SATs in 17 years. :)

2) Our doctor is not only hot but also funny. When he came in & saw Josie sucking the heck out of her new best friend (the Nuk), he told us we should tie a string to the end of it just in case she sucked the whole thing down her throat. She really does go to town on that thing. In fact, she has now taken to sucking on her own bottom lip if she doesn't have the Nuk. We're trying to use it sparingly so she doesn't become a total addict. She's also starting to figure out how to get her hands into her mouth. Note: starting to figure it out means she still punches herself in the eye more often that she finds her mouth, although her aim is improving.

Have a good day everyone!

OUCH....ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz!

Poking tiny baby girls with needles is no fun! Josephine had some immunizations today. (Thankfully, she only had to have one shot because we're following Dr. Sears' new alternative vaccination schedule which spreads them out.) So, she had the DTap shot and the Rotavirus oral vaccine and she definitely isn't feeling quite right. She passed out for about 3 hours without a peep (see photo) and then woke up screaming at exactly 3:30. Oddly enough, this was exactly four hours after her first dose of Tylenol which supposedly only last four hours. Strange. With that, she's fussing again so I gotta run.

Exciting Weekend

Just as we anticipated, it was an exciting (and exhausting) first weekend away from home. If you would've seen us packing the car, you would've thought we were going to be gone for a week. Turns out, it was only about 24 hours & I still forgot some pretty crucial things (like the important half of the breast pump). All in all, it was a great trip to X-town. Josie finally got to meet some of her biggest supporters from GCCHD; she took a bottle for her Grandma; I got a couple of really delicious glasses of rum apple cider; Mad Dog & the Basement Dwellers brought the house down; and we all successfully survived our first night in a different place. So, the Bengals lost (Boo Dey!) but Josie still looked adorable in her Orange & Black cheerleading outfit courtesy of Grandma. Additional photos from the weekend are up in the Shutterfly collection - http://www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com/

Two months already?!

Josephine hit the two month mark yesterday and we can hardly believe it.

Every day I get more confident as a parent and more settled into my new life as a mom. Just this week I feel like I'm finally able to accomplish things in addition to taking care of the baby. I'm getting laundry done, starting back up with yoga, doing work again on the book project, and slowly but surely re-establishing contact with the outside world. More and more I'm beginning to wonder what I ever did before Josie came along. It's just a good feeling that things are starting to seem "back to normal." (A new "normal" for sure.)

Josie continues to change every day. Her eyes have gotten so big and bright. I hope they stay blue like this forever. These two photos are some of my favorite of her "baby blues." Of course you have to see them in person to truly appreciate them. :)

In other news, Josie and "the Nuk" are now best friends. (My breasts are jealous.) I swear that thing is like baby crack. When she sucks on it, her eyes roll back in her head. It's hysterical. We've been working with her for several weeks now & she finally caught on to it (thanks mom). And, at the risk of jinxing myself...she is also starting to get the hang of the Nuk bottle. (I tricked her by putting the bottle in her mouth when she dropped the pacifier and it worked.) She's not a huge fan of the bottle yet, but at least we know now that she can do it. I continue to work with her on it every day. So far, she's up to almost a full ounce from the bottle which is a long way from the few drops she would tolerate a couple of weeks ago. We'll keep trying.

And, she continues to smile like crazy. It's the sweetest thing in the world. There are lots of photos in the new album in her Shutterfly collection of me trying to capture the smile on film. Check them out - www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com

I hope you're all doing well. It's a big weekend for us - another trip to Xenia for a Roundtree blowout & the Bengals game on Grandmama & Granddaddy's big screen on Sunday. Who Dey!Of course, I'll be sure to take plenty of photos.

Comments

Hello everyone,
I (think I) just changed the settings on our blog so that people can leave comments without having to sign up for a google account. So, give it a shot. Try to leave a comment on this post or any of the others. I enjoy reading them & like knowing that folks are stopping in.
Thanks!
Carri

Looking Ahead...

Now that we've had Josephine, many people have starting asking if and when we want to have more kids. For the past several weeks, I've been telling most people that it's too soon to know. But, I took a big step today that I think answered the question. I just reserved "fourschneiders.blogspot.com" :)

8 weeks old!

Our little Josephine is officially 8 weeks old. It's amazing that she will hit the two month mark this week. Even more amazing is how much she has grown, changed & learned in these 8 weeks. Come to think of it, it's also pretty amazing how much Louie and I have grown, changed & learned as well.

Josie has hit many little milestones lately. She is bearing weight on her legs, smiling often, beginning to giggle & almost fully controlling her head. She's gotten much more interested in her toys and is very attentive. She even has a favorite book already! All in all, we're excited for the progress but also sad that it's all going by so quickly.

Louie & I also hit a major milestone this week -- we left Josie with my parents for our first date night. We went to dinner at Jean Ro & pulled out all the stops - even champagne & pot de creme. It was delicious and really nice to eat a meal out without the baby in the sling in front of me. The picture on the left shows us just before we went out. (I had an even bigger smile after the glass of champagne!)

On Saturday we headed up to Ault Park for a picnic and some fresh air. The picnic park went well, but the fresh air part did not. Turns out it was almost 90 degrees by noon & there wasn't much shade. We did manage to snap a few family photos before we returned to the comfort of the air conditioned car & headed to DSW. Thanks to my mom's skills on Friday night, Josie finally took a pacifier so the Nuk bought us almost an hour of shoe shopping. The photo above is from the park.

So, all is well. No true success on the bottle just yet, but we're getting there. With that, I gotta run. My little lady has just woken up from her nap & has requested lunch. :)

Favorite Photo Ever!

Here is a picture from our recent trip to Indiana to celebrate my Nana's Birthday. My cousin Evelyn took a lot of photos & used a special computer program to do cool effects like the one above. This is definitely my favorite photo of Josie so far. She's holding onto her great gradmother's hand. She just looks so calm & so peaceful.
(See the rest of Evelyn's photos to the Shutterfly collection - www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com)

My How She's Grown!

Here's a picture of Josie the day after she was born. This was taken just a few minutes before we were leaving to go home.
Here's a picture of Josie in the SAME outfit a few days ago (7 weeks old). Notice how much shorter the outfit is in her arms & legs. Her face also looks completely different. People always say, "they change so quickly" & they truly do. I swear there are days when she changes from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed. Oh & she's not wearing the cute little hat in the second photo b/c it was too small. She never could fit the booties that matched the outfit. Not with those monster feet. :)

SMILE!

Yesterday was a big moment - Josie had her first big, intentional smile!

She had just woken up from her nap & started making her "I'm awake, so come and get me" noises. I walked over and bent down to pick her up and started talking to her. She smiled the biggest smile & let out a big "coo"! So, I of course smiled right back at her and she did it again! Another huge, toothless grin! We just sat there smiling back and forth at each other & then I started crying (tears of joy of course). That probably confused the heck out of her, but she just kept cooing. It was a really special moment - confirmation that she knows who I am & is happy to see me. I imagine she'll have a big smile for her daddy very soon.

Happy Birthday!

Josie is 7 weeks old!
And Louie is 1612 weeks old!

(HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY LOUIE.)

I've also added some new photos to the Shutterfly collection -

http://josiemarie.shutterfly.com/ Enjoy!

The Times They Are A-Changin'

So, life is definitely different these days. And it's definitely the best kind of different there is.

We just find ourselves in these moments where we look around and realize our lives have completely changed. For example, we now have a "breastmilk shelf" in the refrigerator instead of a beer shelf. Instead of going out for drinking and debauchery with all our friends to celebrate Lou's birthday on Friday, we went out with our beloved "old school" crowd for pizza & Graeter's ice cream. [See photo above.] We spent our Saturday afternoon at the law firm picnic & went to bed exhausted at 8:30. We had hoped Josie was as tired as we were, but we had to wait until 10 for her to go to sleep so that we could. Today, Lou is getting one of his birthday presents from me (his birthday is actually Monday 10/1). When asked what he wanted this year, it was to spend at least 8 hours on the Nintendo Wii so he could finally save Zelda & move on with his life. [The photo above was taken during Hour 3.] If you were out for Lou's 30th last year, then you definitely know the difference between this birthday & the last one. :)

It's just funny how we spent our 20s "dreading" the days when we'd be the ones shaking our fists at the kids making too much noise & promising ourselves that we'd never be the kind to be in bed when it was still light outside. But, we're slowly figuring out that our priorities have completely changed -- and for the better. Sure, we'll never stop enjoying hanging out & partying with our friends. Just count on three people showing up instead of two. :)

Venus & Josie

TWO NEW VIDEOS!

The first video shows our jealous cat Venus. I was filming Josie on her playmat b/c she discovered the joys of sucking on her hand (hopefully a pacifier is next). Venus literally got between me and the camera. Too funny. Click HERE to watch it.

The second video is very quick, but significant. This is the closest Venus has ever gotten to the baby. It was shot a few minutes after the first video. I guess she figured this was her best chance of getting a good sniff since Josie was down on her level. Click HERE to see our courageous kitty.

The Grandpas

Josie is a lucky lady to have 2 grandmas & 2 grandpas. Here are some photos of her 2 grandpas.

There's her silly Grand-daddy-O yawning right along with her & her Grandpa Schneider celebrating his 70th birthday this week. (Speaking of the 70th birthday celebration, many thanks to Grandma Schneider for boxing up her whole dinner to eat at home so she could hold Josie while we ate.)

More Josie Songs

Thanks to Kelly's obsession with babynames.com, we now have quite a few more songs to add to our "Songs about Josephine" list. I think we've got enough to make a CD now. :)

Here are the ones Kelly found -

Good Night, Sweet Josephine - The Yardbirds
Hello Josephine - Fats Domino, Dave Edmunds, The Flamin' Groovies
Them Josephine - Chris Rea
Josephine - Teitur
Josephine - Terrorvision
Josephine - Tori Amos
Josephine Baker - Sailor
Josephine of the Swamps - Grant-Lee Phillips
Ride On Josephine - Bo Diddley, George Thorogood

Josie - Blink 182
Josie - Donovan

This just in...

Josie slept for 7.5 hours last night, 8 hours the night before, and 7 hours the night before that! WOW! Now, as great as that is...she has given up on sleeping during the day. So working on day time naps is the next big goal. One other down side (confirmed by the pediatrician) is that she still eats the same amount every 24 hours, so she has to make up the two night feedings that she is skipping sometime during the day. Maybe that would explain why it seems like she's eating every hour on the hour during daylight. Hmmm...maybe I'm ready to go back to her only sleeping 4 hours at a time. If not, I may have to start getting up in the middle of the night to do everything I would normally do during the day. :)