Aloha and Mahalo

In the interest of finally getting these pictures posted, here are some of the "greatest hits" with a whole lot more to be posted soon in her Shutterfly collection (I'll let you know when they're there).

We'll call this one "The Reason Why 9 Hours on a Plane Wasn't So Bad Afterall" although it could just as easily be called "The Reason 'Yetti' Was One of Josie's First Words":

This is the reason we went to Hawaii - the marriage of our good friend Dave (old school Miami crowd) to the beautiful Krista. We could not be more excited for them. Congratulations Mrs. and Mr. Matto! And thanks so much for inviting us to share this special occasion with you.

And I had to include this photo of Krista doing the special Traditional Hawaii Wedding Hula dance for Matto that she had learned as a surprise because it was one of the most beautiful, touching things I've ever seen and stands out as a highlight of the whole week.

Here are Louie & I at the reception:

Although the Matto nuptials were the reason we went to Hawaii, we were able to extend the trip to get some Hawaiian vacation time as well. This is Waikiki beach from the hotel where we stayed.There were lots of great beach moments. Man I love the ocean. Josie was just short of old enough to really enjoy it, but it was good practice for all the family beach vacations to come. Here we are at Kailua Beach. Josie and Louie playing in the Waikiki surf...

Josie and I "hanging loose" in Waikiki... Building sandcastles with our rented beach toys from "Baby's Away"... Playing Airplane with Granddaddy...

Posing with Daddy... Hanging out in the sand...

Playing with her little friend Stella from Thailand... Building sandcastles at sunset...

Hanging out on the hotel's beach with the whole crew (minus mama who took this paparazzi-style from the hotel balcony while I was sick)...Louie snorkeling at Waikiki (also shot from the balcony)... Hanauma Bay - a highlight of the trip - amazingly beautiful, perfect day at the beach! BIG thanks to Grandma who spent the better part of this day sitting on a park bench under a palm tree while Josie slept on a towel for at least two hours (more on that later) and the rest of us snorkeled for hours...

Louie actually relaxing... Josie chasing wild chickens at Hanauma Bay (just before the rooster got really mad at her)...And while we spent lots of time on the beach, we also had some fun just clowning around in our room...There's so much to see on Oahu as well and the smallest things amuse Josie. Here she is having the time of her life at a koy pond in the International Marketplace. This was almost called "Josie Goes Swimming with the Koy"....Here is Josie chilling with Daddy at one of the overlooks (the day that the sandfork was her best friend)...This is one of my favorite photos from the whole week - the three of them holding hands walking back from the blowhole. There was definitely some good ole' fashioned bonding going on this week. You'll have to excuse me for not posting any photos of our day driving up to the North Shore and all the way around the island. We unfortunately spent the majority of the 3-4 hour trip trying to convince Josie that we'd all be much better off if she would just sleep like we had planned. Fortunately she was match more content to sleep in the hotel beds than she was in the car.

As you can see from this next series, being a 15 month old tourist can really be exhausting. Here is Josie passed out at Hanauma Bay... And although it's probably pretty hard to see on the blog, I thought it was pretty hilarious when I realized she was laying next to a sign that said "Danger: Falling Rocks" :)

Sleeping peacefully under Granddaddy's Beatles sweatshirt...Sleeping with Grandma's cell phone (hey, whatever works)... Josie didn't spend the whole time sleeping - here she is playing in Grandma & Granddaddy's room with the super-cute hairstyle courtesy of one very talented Grandma...

Before I go, I thought I'd share some of the fun random photos from the week - starting with this great one of my parents. THANK YOU SO MUCH for coming with us on our first Hawaiian family adventure. You were unbelievably helpful & Josie had so much fun with both of you. Really, thanks for everything. We are so blessed!!

I had to share a couple of the photos of the sunflower field we stumbled across on our drive. Unreal...

These were taller than us and just went on as far as you could see...

Here's a cool storm on the horizon... Last but not least, some holiday-fun from Hawaii. As the week went on, more and more holiday decorations kept popping up. They were even building a Christmas tree made out of sand in the lobby when we left. This was the first thing we saw along the roadside and it totally cracked us up. Gotta love the Christmas trees in the same yard as the palm trees...

And this really says it all - Josie in front of the hotel Christmas tree in her sundress. :)

There are actually some more photos I still need to post - including the ones from our morning swimming with the sharks and the Schneider family photoshoot courtesy of Granddaddy. Look for those later this week. :)

We Dive Waikiki

So I'm breaking my blog code a little bit here by posting photos that don't include Josie but I thought you might enjoy the photos from our diving trip. (Plus these were the easiest to get posted so I'm starting there.) Just to give you a little bit of background, my dad and I got SCUBA-certified several years ago before Louie & I went to Tonga and this was actually the first time after all those years that we were able to finally go diving together. It's probably important to also note here that your Three Schneiders (plus Grandma) were attacked by some mutant-strand of a stomach/intestinal virus for 24 hours each during our trip. Josie and I were completely bed-ridden Monday, then it skipped a day and attacked Louie the morning of our dives. (The boat captain ended up having to call a cab to come and pick him up from the boat dock parking lot because he thought he just might die if he actually went out on the boat.) So, Louie didn't get to dive with us - which is a shame because as you'll see below these were some incredible dives.

This is just a small sample of our undersea adventure. Check out the full album of SCUBA DIVING PHOTOS by clicking HERE!

Here are Dad & I headed down the line giving the "ok" sign to our divemaster on our way to 40 feet.

As soon as we hit bottom at Pa'awa, Divemaster Adam found an octopus for us to play with. After it expelled a ridiculous amount of ink, it calmed down enough for some great photos. Here's Dad with it in his hand.

And the two of us taking turns with the octopus stuck to our masks (which felt pretty strange I'll admit)... It's good to know there is still beautiful living coral out there, although the population is definitely declining. Here's a large coral head, that housed a huge eel.

The highlight of the dives was definitely the sea turtles. I've always wanted to dive with them, so this was an absolute dream-come-true. We saw two on the first dive and a few more on the second dive (which I went on solo because Dad was having ear-pressure problems). We were unbelievably close to the turtles (although it's a $25,000 fine to touch them).

They are so graceful, peaceful, and friendly.

This little guy actually has a turtle disease that will eventually kill him. It's attacking many of the green sea turtles in Hawaii's waters (this was at Koko Craters) and scientists are busy trying to discover why. Poot little guy!

These are some more photos from the second dive. Since Dad was having ear trouble and the rest of the group that was supposed to go with Adam was seasick, I got a personal dive tour which meant lots of fun playing with the sealife. Here's me with a sea cucumber; Adam wrote "aloha" in the sand.

Here I am with an urchin which felt very tickly on the palm of my hand!

And a beautiful Buddha statue that someone sunk, covered in live coral. Beautiful.

Here I am feeding the fish with a piece of coral.

I'll leave you with this photo of Dad & I "hanging loose" on the way back to the surface. I can't tell you how much fun I had diving with him. I will always remember those moments deep under the water with nothing but the sound of my breathing, looking back over my shoulder to see my dad suspended in the water behind me enjoying the miracle that is the ocean. Thank you so much Daddy-O for instilling a love and appreciation of the ocean in me from such a young age. It's a gift that I hope to pass on to Josie as soon as she is ready.For lots more photos - including many more of the turtles, click here.

We're back...

Well, we're back from our trip to Hawaii (note: by the end of the week, we decided to refer to it as a "trip" and not a "vacation"). I'm busy sorting through the photos from my digital camera, 35mm, two underwater cameras, CD from the divemaster and awaiting submissions from Grandma & Granddaddy's two cameras. So, if you're counting, that's a whopping seven sources of Hawaii memories. Bare with me. I promise to get at least an appetizer posted tonight, although it will likely be several days before I deliver the main course.

In the interest of getting you caught up first - I did finally get around to updating www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com with the October album.

And - while we were gone - Josie turned into a very chatty 15 month old (she's talking up a storm)!

Okay, I promise there will be more soon. :)

I can already smell the pineapples...

Early tomorrow morning, the Three Schneiders (plus Grandma & Granddaddy) are heading to Hawaii! We promise to take lots of photos and videos of all our adventures including a 9 hour plane-ride (yikes), swimming with sharks, scuba diving with sea turtles, and attending our good friends' Dave & Krista's wedding. Josie won't be participating in the latter three, but we have no doubt that highlights of her trip will include lots of time on the beach, in the pool, and generally "hanging loose" with the family.

Before we go, I have one more announcement. Josephine would like to congratulate her little friend Ronan who is going to be a big brother!! We just found out that Cat & Brandon are expecting Baby #2. We couldn't be more excited for them and know that Ro with be an incredible Bro. Check out their site at http://web.me.com/marchfish/Runyans_Big_and_Small/Blog/Blog.html

Yes We Did!

As you all know, I try to keep this blog about Josephine as much as I can. Maybe the connection between yesterday's presidential election and Josie's life isn't immediately apparent to all of you, but to me it couldn't be more clear. Over the last 15 months of Josie's life so far, I've had moments where I look at her and my heart just breaks to think about the state of the world that Louie & I brought her into. But today, for the first time, I look at her and I feel truly hopeful. Of course Josie isn't old enough now to comprehend what happened last night, but I have no doubt that by the time she is mature enough to understand history that she will be proud of her parents for helping to elect Barack Obama. It was very important to me to take Josephine to the polls yesterday so that I could one day explain to her that she was there with her Mama to cast her vote in the most important election of our lifetimes.
Here is Josie reading her favorite book while waiting in the line (which was about 1.5 hours long)...

And here she is right before I cast my ballot...Recently, I had a long conversation with my dad about everything he went through in the late 60s with being drafted for Vietnam and everything that this era in America's history entailed. I felt so far removed from the reality of that turbulent time in our history and, while I know it existed, it is hard for me to even comprehend it fully. It's my hope that when Josie looks back on the lives of our generation that she will feel just as far removed from America's long history of racism. Electing Barack Obama was a defining moment for my generation, a moment I will always remember like those who came before me remember Kennedy's assassination or Pearl Harbor. I will be proud to tell Josephine the story of the day our country did what was right - for America, for the World, and for all of the children that will one day inherit it all. And on that day, I have no doubt that she will thank us.

HAPPY 10,000 BLOG HITS! Thanks to all of our visitors. We are so blessed to have such great friends and family.

Playing Dress-up

This weekend was all about playing dress-up, beginning with Halloween on Friday. Here is our Busy Little Bee:

Our friends Erik & Kim invited us to hang out with them & borrow their neighborhood for Trick-or-Treat since not much of that goes on around our condo. It also worked out perfectly because they live in Old Milford where many of my former students live, so I got to see some of my very-grown-up little ones (who are now 7th graders & I had them as 2nd graders). Josie is too young for candy (and don't even get us started on the peanut allergy & Halloween) but she enjoyed a picnic of peas and turkey in the front yard while all the kids came up to get candy.
I thought I'd include a short video of her in her costume as well, because there's something more fun about seeing her buzz around in it than just seeing the photos. We'll call this one "the barking bee" because she was too busy "woof, woofing" at Kim & Erik's dog to bother learning how to actually "buzz".



And - before I go on to other dress-up festivities from this weekend - BIG PROPS to our friends & neighbors Chris and Nicki who actually bought this bee costume for Josie. All we had to do was add our own wings and body suit and voila! It was SO sweet of them to pick it up for Josie when they saw it at the Thrift Store and knew we didn't have a costume yet. We have such great friends!



In other dress-up news - here is Josie's new snowsuit. She looks a little bit like Barney in it, but she's so adorable. Actually, if you think this one makes her look like like your favorite big purple dinosaur, you should've seen her in the 24 month size. This one is actually 18 months - we took it and exchanged it for a 24 month - brought that home to try on & then took it back and swapped it for this one again. I can't wait to take her out to run around in the snow!
Totally unrelated to the snowsuit, here is Josie saying one of her favorite new words - "Up!" Her vocabulary is really taking off. She also said "Go" tonight. The whole "Up" thing is so cute. She's been using sign language to communicate her wants/needs for a couple of months now, but there's just something so sweet about her walking over to me, tugging on my leg and saying "Up." See for yourself... :)



In the most exciting dress-up news from the weekend (according to Josie) - we went shoe shopping!!! I promise that Louie & I started with the best of intentions to get Josie her first pair of totally sensible, practical big-girl shoes but this is what the three of us agreed on. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Josie's new kitty boots....


Here is Josie wearing her new kitty boots... (insert your own "Meeooowww") Here is a photo of just how happy Josie's new kitty boots make her...
And here is a video of Josie dancing with her new boots, which she either wore, carried, or spun around with for several hours over the weekend. She really does love them & if we would've let her, I'm sure she would've slept with them too.



Here she is just before bathtime in nothing but her diaper and boots. Clearly, she was quite pleased with herself and I think she's perfectly adorable in all three of these photos so I had to share all of them with you.

Holy Molars! (and More)

First, let me explain that subject line. Just when I almost had myself fooled that Josie was still counted as my "baby," she went and sprouted to great big giant MOLARS! What? There's no looking back now - I've got a KID on my hands (although we will call her "Baby Josie" until she begs us to stop).

Okay, now to catch you up on the past week. First and foremost, I GOT TO SEE BABY LYLA AGAIN! Here are proud mommy Manda, Lyla and I...
My mom spent the week with the "Three Austins" to help them out & my daddy-o graciously offered to swing by Cincy to pick me up so I could ride with him to Chicago to pick up my mom (did you follow that). Anyway, it was a very short trip - right about 24 hours - but well worth it for the view alone - Friday night also went down as my second night away from Josephine since she stayed home with her daddy instead of making the road trip. Just to note: my first night away from her was the night my sister was in labor. It's amazing how much I miss Louie & Josie even when I'm just away for a day.

Back in Cincy Saturday night and a fun week around the house. Here are some fun moments from the week...

Josie getting cozy in a new seat she found (the rice drawer in our pantry)...

Josie striking her best pose in her fun poncho from her Great-Uncle Denny and cousins Sam & Katie in England (and of course her rainbow legwarmers from last year)...

Josie carrying the diaper bag around the house (all morning long)...

And now for some videos!

Here is Josie creating her first masterpiece with the cool crayons that her little friend Maya got her for her first birthday. She had so much fun doing this that we've created more drawings every day since this one...

Here is a video of our big girl Josie feeding herself Oatmeal with a spoon. Of course she got tired of the whole spoon thing about the same time I grabbed the camera, but that just makes it even more funny if you ask me...

And finally, here are some of Josie's favorite animal noises. You'll have to trust me that there is usually a bigger difference between the sounds, but she had a mouthful of oatmeal and I just filmed it "on the fly" because she normally won't do it for the camera at all. Enjoy...

Please read

We would really appreciate if each of you would please take the time to read this blog entry from a parent of a child with a severe peanut allergy like Josephine. It's a bit long, but well worth every word. I feel like it perfectly captures our situation. Thank you.
http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2008/10/what-id-like--4.html

A day at the museum

When the temps dip below 50 degrees, options like the zoo and the park quickly slip off the list of possibilities for playtime. So, today I took Josie on her first trip to Cincy's Children's Museum which is less than 2 miles from our condo. We met our friends Krista & Milo and we all had a blast! We headed there for the new interactive Clifford exhibit, but never made it because we had too much fun in the regular Children's Museum. Thankfully we went ahead and bought a family pass & will definitely be making this a regular (if not weekly) part of our rotation.

First things first, here is a video from when we first arrived. We were hanging out in the "ball room" and Josie just kept looking around and saying "Wow!" She was very impressed!

Here are some other highlights from the day...

Driving the tractor:

Hanging out on the farm:
Playing in the sand: Climbing the stairs (again and again and again):

Playing "store":

Pushing a doll around:Picking out the best produce:
Taking a stalk of asparagus for a ride:

And I'll leave you with the best part of our first day at the Museum - the grocery store! It's just so amazing that these little ones are such little "sponges," soaking up the world around them. Josie and Milo did this on their own. We didn't show them what to do. I guess Josie's had enough trips to Whole Foods to know what she's doing. Seriously, How cute are these two together?

Josie Update

Well, I know it's been awhile since the last Josie update. Things have been busy with the latest addition to the family (see http://www.threeaustins.blogspot.com/ for more photos), some big projects at work, and with the decision to put our condo on the market and start looking for a new place to live. (We totally underestimated how much work it is to get a place ready to sell and to find somewhere new.)

But, amid the sea of chaos around here, Josie cracking us up has been the only constant. The new thing this week is "helping" around the house. I'm not kidding. This was totally unprovoked and if you would've asked me before this happen if she'd ever seen me unload laundry, I would've said no. But, apparently she picked this up somewhere.

She literally walked into the laundry room, opened the dryer door, and started pulling her clothes out and putting them into the laundry basket. I watched her do this for about 10 minutes and took three separate videos, but all three of them are too big for the blog so you'll just have to use your imagination. When you're envisioning the whole scenario, be sure to take into account that she also paused to try to dress herself and got really excited about finding socks (probably because of their close relationship with shoes).

The next day, she decided to help Louie load the dishwasher. She loves opening and closing the dishwasher door, so we've learned quickly to keep the knives in the back.

So in addition to doing laundry and dishes, she has also begun making her own homemade applesauce, which we find in piles throughout the house.

Step One: Take the biggest bite of apple humanly possible. Then repeat (but don't swallow the first bite). The repeat (still remembering not to swallow). Then repeat. Once your cheeks are stuffed like chipmunks, move on to Step Two.

Step Two: Walk up to your mom, say "AHHHH" and show her all the crushed up apple chunks in your mouth.
Step Three & Four are unclear, but somehow involve removing the homemade applesauce and smearing it on the furniture.

In other exciting news, we bumped into Sarah Palin the other day on the way to the parking garage. She was in town for a speech and was spending the night at the Westin that backs up to our condo. Here are Josie and I posing in front of the McCain/Palin tour bus, looking a bit skeptical about the whole "Straight Talk Express" thing.

We decided to stick around to see her. Turns out she's more pretty (but just as unqualified) in person.

In other news, we had another wedding this week. Our friends Natalie & Dennis got married and we were there to celebrate the big day which was 14 years in the making! It was a gorgeous evening on the river in Milford. Here are Josie and I being silly. Oddly, out of all the photos I've ever seen of Josie, I think she looks the most like me in this one. One last, "that silly Josie" photo for you before I tackle my overflowing inbox. We were desperately in need of new laundry hampers, but we were fooled by ebay and ended up with two hampers that were much smaller than we anticipated. But, leave it to Josie to turn lemons into lemonade. Here she is watching Thomas the Tank Engine at about 6am on Sunday morning.
Here are some updates on Josie developmentally (now that she is 14 months old)!

• She can now sign about twenty words in the proper context (new ones include cheese, horse, flower, car, frog, and giraffe).
• She now says "hi" at appropriate times (and whenever she sees another baby or child).
• She blows kisses.
• She purposefully gives hugs and kisses (my new favorite - nothing sweeter than when she comes bouncing across the room with her lips puckered and arms open for a big hug).
• When asked, she will tell you what all the following animals say: dog, cat, cow, sheep, horse, monkey.

Oh, and in BIG news - Josie is officially weaned. This is unbelievably bittersweet. Today marks one week since her last mama's milk. I'm very proud that we made it to 14 months and that she led the weaning process, which happened very gradually and at her own pace. Not that any of you all care about the last time Josie breastfed, but this blog serves as our family record as well, so I want to just say that our last time was really special. It was our favorite kind of nursing - during a nap. She was all curled up with me in her tie-dyed onesie and we both drifted off to sleep together one afternoon. I'm glad I had no idea at the time that it would be our last one, because I know I would've laid there crying about how fast she had grown up. But, it was time and we were both ready. Another milestone crossed for little Josephine...

Josie has a new cousin!!!

HOORAY - BABY AUSTIN HAS ARRIVED!!!

On Sunday at 7:28am, Baby GIRL Austin came into the world!

LYLA ANNE AUSTIN
8 lbs. 5 oz.
20 inches

I have never been so proud of my little sister who putting everything she had into birthing her daughter. (Although my favorite moment of Amanda's labor was Lyla's birth, a close second was watching Amanda do her "fantasy football" picks between contractions.)

I'm sure Amanda & Michael's blog will be updated soon with more details but suffice it to say that they are VERY happy to now be home with a happy, healthy, and BEAUTIFUL baby girl. Stay tuned to www.threeaustins.blogspot.com

You can see the beautiful photos taken at the hospital by visiting:
www.bellababyphotography.com
-click on "website"
-click on "client"
-enter password "0556austin"
-get ready to "ooh and ahh"