Halloween Take One

We kicked off Halloween this year with a trip to the zoo's Halloween festival.  The crazy thing about it this year was that it was hot, hot, hot.  Luckily, we got there early and Josie had Makayla & Ava to keep her busy.  It was a great afternoon & a fun way to kick-off the season.  Josie wore her first of what will be a total of three costumes. She decided to be a veterinarian since we were going to the zoo. And it was the perfect costume to buy because she can play dress-up with it well beyond Halloween. Here are some of our favorite pictures from HallZOOween.

Head on over...

...to www.fouraustins.blogspot.com for some really great pictures of our weekend in Chicago for little Lylabird's second birthday!

Ta-da!

Ready for fall...

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We LOVE Elizabeth Mitchell!

When Josephine was just a wee little thing, I saw a review for Elizabeth Mitchell's "You Are My Little Bird" CD in Mothering Magazine and that was the beginning of what has become a complete love affair with her music!  Fast forward three years and the full collection later ("You Are My Sunshine," "You Are My Flower," "Catch The Moon" and her latest "Sunny Day") and we are still over-the-moon about the songs that she and her family have added to our own family's history.
I really could go on and on for days about how these songs have formed the backdrop for our lives since Josie was born - only three voices on the planet could calm baby Josie: mine, her dad's and Elizabeth Mitchell's.  There are so many memories of me nursing her off to sleep singing "Los Pollitos" and the day when she was old enough to add her own "pio, pio, pio" just about melted my heart.  And then there's her rendition of  "Three Little Birds" which will get its own post very soon.  And Josie's newest obsession "Shoe Lie Loo" where they sing "Hey Miss Jojo" and Josie screams, "That's me! She knows my name!!!" All told, Elizabeth Mitchell and family (and the "and family" part is a big deal) make brilliant music. It's not "kids music" per se.  Sure, there are silly verses and sing-songy rhymes but they are paired perfectly with beautiful, peaceful, lyrical songs with depth and meaning.  As I said, I could go on and on for days.  But, I'll stop there for now and leave you with this.  If you don't own any Elizabeth Mitchell CDs. Get them NOW.  Here - I'll make it easy for you!  Two - if you still need convincing, check out this video of the snippets I put together of Josie and Lyla at her concert in Chicago earlier this month.  It was Lyla's second birthday and Josie's "Beatles moment."  Front row. Absolute awe. Pure Joy. Tears in her mama's eyes. A flood of memories. The passage of time. Absolute gratitude. Enjoy.




Oh - at the end of this video Josie is pretending to be Elizabeth Mitchell on her own stage. She's singing "Three Little Birds" but you really have to crank up the volume to hear it. Technical difficulty. Sorry.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well, obviously we've got some catching up to do...

Lou's birthday was October 1st. Having just come off of what was a pretty stellar celebration of her third trip around the sun (that lasted well in October itself actually), Josie was really psyched about Lou's birthday.  I wanted to give her full freedom to get him whatever she wanted as a gift. We talked about it for almost two weeks, and *finally* she came up with the "perfect" present.  "We have to get Daddy a stuffed animal for his birthday! He doesn't have anything to sleep with. We should go to Target!"  So, with that, we went to Target and she picked out this little monkey "so Daddy will have something to cuddle with at night."

She was insistent that he wanted a blue bag with the biggest bow you can find.  She spent a good ten minutes in the card aisle and then quickly made up her mind when she found a card with dogs that bark to the tune of Happy Birthday when you open it.

She chose big shiny My Little Pony stickers that she just knew Louie would love and then rounded the whole thing off with a Fruit Loops t-shirt that she thought he would think was funny.

 

She was so excited that we had to get the present ready in the parking lot so we could give it to Lou as soon as we walked in the door.  I don't know what was sweeter - Lou's reaction to opening the gifts or Josie's glowing smile at seeing Lou's reaction. 

(I am truly the luckiest person in the world!)

Breaking Costume News

After some gentle nudging from mom & dad, Josie is going to be a veterinarian for at least part of October. The hard part was getting her to commit to one costume that was good enough for HallZOOween, her best friend Lucia's costume party on the 23rd & Trick or Treat.  So, we all comprised on the vet costume since that was something she could keep playing with well beyond October.  She's pretty pumped about being a vet at the zoo (although I think she's pretty sure she gets to actually climb in the cages to give them check-ups, which could obviously get a little interesting).

Swampthing

I haven't forgotten you, my dear readers.  It's just that I am full-on *swamped* right now!  I'm hanging there, going to bed early & taking my vitamins - so don't worry too much about me.  I hope to get some quality blogging time in sometime before the end of the week. My phone is overflowing with pictures & videos.  I promise it's all worth the wait. (xoxo)

elizabeth mitchell!!!

i will do a full post about this soon, but suffice it to say that this was an absolutely magical experience.

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Quick Quotes & Crazy Costumes

First, let me direct you to the right column over there ---> where I will be keeping a running tally of the things Josie wants to be for Halloween. I'm not quite sure where she got these wacky ideas, but I'm really hoping I get at least one more year of ordering from amazon before I have to start hiring a team of experts to put together a size 4T lake costume, for example. So, enjoy, watch the list grow, and make a little wish that she settles on something easy...and soon!


A quick quote for you, live from Josie's tricycle: "Mom, you gotta see this. I'm going to go SO fast, you just can't believe your mind!"

A quick quote for you, from last night, as Josie walked down the stairs all alone, talking to someone. I listened closer. She was saying, "Come on Bella. You can do it. Be careful. I'll show you. Slowly Bella..."  (Bella is Grandma & DD's dog & apparently Josie's new imaginary canine friend.)

[Here are Josie and the real Bella on Sunday.  Josie dressed up Bella in all the Bengals gear - including a necklace - while Grandma & I were in the kitchen.]  

Some phone favorites

We are loving our new Droid phones. Among the many great things about it, the ability to easily snap and upload pics to the blog.  Here are a few of my phone favorites from over the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!

We'll call this one "Proof that Josie is 3" -

 One morning at Lunken Park -

 I love that Lou gets just as excited to run to the swings as Josie does -

 The outfits she comes up with are my absolute favorite -

 Two of my favorite pictures of her ever -

 Can't you just hear the giggle?

 Important for two reasons: 1. Josie is part frog  2. She has been referring to Lunken Park as "The Pig & The Whale" since she started talking.  This is the pig that gives the park its name. 

 Posing (no kidding, she calls this posing) -

 And, one morning, way too close to the TV. She rode her trike all the way across the room pulling the scooter beside her. When I asked her what she was doing... Her reply: "Me & my trike want to watch TV. The trike wanted me to bring her cousin the scooter."

Josie & her long-time friend Ellie going on a bus ride at the Museum Center

 Josie, in a mechanic's coat, seriously focused on some tools -

 Making our "coughing cookies" on Saturday (preschool = constant cough = germy cookie batter = "coughing cookies")

 Amazing how much two pillows, one blanket, a bunch of polly pockets & a Word World marathon can do to cure a cold -

 Little girl - big smile! (Her teacher even told me that she has such a hard time getting a picture of Josie with her eyes open because she smiles so big her eyes inevitably close.)

 Posing (again) - she insisted on the flower for the finishing touch!  (Thanks grandma for the cool yard decor!)

 Here's one of Josie's pictures from school. She's getting really good at writing her name.  Lucky for her, she's got a nickname & isn't stuck learning "Josephine."

Have a great week everyone!

Random Thoughts

Just a few random things I have to share before I forget to do so:
* I CAN FEEL THE BABY MOVING! I've been able to feel her in a very subtle way for a few weeks (especially in the bath) but I can officially feel that funny little pretty-constant tickle now. So amazing! And something I definitely do not take for granted.
* Josie has a new best friend. Her name is Lucia and she's just a few days younger than Josie. They're the youngest two kids in their class, and they are two peas in a pod. The teachers say they walk around the classroom holding hands, reading books together, and sharing activities. Josie got an invitation to Lucia's Halloween Party in a few weeks and you would've thought she had been invited to high tea at the White House. She was over-the-moon!
* Another funny Josie moment that I forgot to even tell Lou: Josie and I were playing with her dollhouse the other day. There's a doll family with a mom, dad, kids, etc. Josie was acting out activities with the kid dolls. One of the kids said, "I'm hungry, we should eat our dinner!" Then she hopped the little doll over to the Daddy doll and said, "Daddy, what are you making me & mommy for dinner tonight?" Pretty revealing, huh?!

More Baby News

After yesterday's ultrasound and dr's appt, we have lots of wonderful news to report:

• If you didn't hear already, it's a GIRL!  My favorite thing about getting the news is that the ultrasound tech told us by saying "Josie is getting a baby...SISTER!"  Hearing it that way gave me chills and tears and a rush of lots of happy memories of having a little sister myself.  
• Even more important than the bonus gender news was the "healthy, strong and well-developing" baby news.  We've heard lots of heart-breaking news in that ultrasound room, so this was an unbelievable moment of joy, relief and gratitude!
• I'm now at the 17 week mark and can hardly believe it.  This all just makes it feel so real now.  Lou and I had lunch at Ambar afterward (yum) and somewhere over our mango lassi we kinda looked at each other and said "oh wow, this is really happening!"

And I absolutely could not wait to tell Josie.  Who, until this moment, was hoping there was a baby bunny in there.  (And regularly told me that I had a boy in my tummy and she had a girl in hers.) Here's the video of us telling Josie.  (And a couple more photos from our "tell the world" photo-shoot.) He reaction is pretty priceless. So I'm so glad we captured it! Enjoy!

Oh - and to answer what has already been the most frequently asked question - we don't have any names picked out - but we are leaning toward one. It's a secret though and it will remain that way until we're holding that little girl in our arms in February.  Until then, we'll be referring to her as "bunny."  :)

Thanks to everyone for sharing this wonderful journey with us - the highs & the lows. As I said before, this baby belongs to all of us because we all helped bring her here!

And one more thing - we would love for you to leave your comments here. We print the blog into a hard-bound memory book at the end of every year & I'd love for our little girls to read your comments one day. Thanks!

it's a...

girl! josie is getting a baby sister!!!

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early sunday...

...at the park

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Here's the deal...

My "part-time, not-so-bad job" has turned into my "full-time, extremely stressful and overwhelming, highly-politicized" job.  Add to that the fact that UC starts again this week and I will now be teaching two classes at a time instead of one (so double the work). Add to that the fact that Josie has officially given up sleeping anywhere besides our bed plus the fact that she will no longer let her dad have anything to do with bedtime.  Then sprinkle in the realization today that Josie is going to have to start staying at after-care even longer each day and start staying now on Fridays (good-bye Friday Mommy Fun Days) to accommodate my out-of-control work schedule.  Add a dash of major pregnancy hormones and nausea, an empty refrigerator, piles of unfolded laundry, and no end in sight and what you get is two solid hours of tears and a blog that probably won't be updated for awhile. 
Rest assured that Louie is being his normal super-awesome, husband-of-the-year self and even brought me lunch today because it was 11:30 and due to back-to-back conference calls I had not yet eaten. I have budgeted for the house-cleaning services of one very amazing woman who has helped us immensely around here. And, if nothing else, I get through each day knowing that in February we'll have a new little one that will force us to slow down!  (And this report to the Governor is due in December, so hopefully things will ease up just in time to enjoy the holidays.)
I'll try to at least get some pics posted from my cell phone. I have some really, really, really good videos on my phone that I hope to share soon as well. Love you all - gotta run!
(Oh and one more thing, I hope you all realize that I'm grateful to have a job and blah, blah, blah - just wanted to give you some context for my out-of-character behavior - not returning emails, phone calls, texts, etc. I am literally barely putting one foot in front of the other at the moment so thanks for your patience.)

Quick Quote

So, I was picking up Josie from school on Friday. Her principal and I were standing there chatting while Josie gathered all of her things.  Josie went to her cubby to grab her artwork from the day & was very excited to hand me this painted paper plate project. It has a note on the back to parents that explained that the paper plate was a visual representation of the Earth and that the students had used proportionate amounts of green and blue paint to represent the ratio of water to land. (Clever, I know.) 
Josie was very excited to show it to me, so I was excited to say: "Wow Josie, is this the Earth?!"
Josie looked at me with a very serious face and said, "No mom. Look at it. It's just a paper plate!"

Allergy Update

Yesterday we had Josephine's first allergy appointment since the original discovery of her peanut allergy two years ago.  Here's the full report:

• The "bad" news: The doctor did not want to re-test her for peanuts because he said there is "about a 0% chance she will outgrow such a severe allergy." He said he'd like to wait until she is a teenager to re-test her and that we should continue to very closely monitor any potential exposure to peanuts.
• The "good" news: The doctor said there is very little likelihood of her developing any additional food allergies since she has made it to age 3 without any new ones surfacing. This is good news, because it means she does not and should not develop a tree nut allergy.  He advised us to make sure to avoid all tree nuts anyway because many peanut reactions come from cross-contaminated nuts of other types.
• The "ah-ha" news: Josie was diagnosed with dermographic urticaria a.k.a. dermographism or "skin-writing disorder." This explains all the bumps, scratches, and hives that she has gotten since she was a baby that we couldn't attribute to anything in particular (i.e. if you remove a band-aid, it will leave raised welts for several hours; spaghetti straps leave hives on her shoulders; sunglasses leave a raised welt on the bridge of her nose). What's good about this news is that is completely harmless. What's bad about it is that it's not curable, she'll have it forever, and it can be a real annoyance. It also complicates her peanut allergy because we can never assume that any hives she gets are from dermographism and not from potential peanut exposure.  Click HERE or HERE for more info on the condition.  (We are SOOOO relieved to know what this is & to find out it's not another hidden allergy! Note also that people with this condition suffer from difficulty sleeping - ah-ha!)

All in all, we still feel very lucky that Josie only has one allergy and that she hasn't had a reaction since the first one. This appointment also served as an important reminder to Louie & I that we have to remain very vigilant as her allergy is indeed severe and life-threatening.  (I'll admit, no reaction in two years started to make me feel foolishly relaxed about it.)  So, thanks again to all of you who go the extra mile for Josie in terms of her allergy and thanks for continuing to do so.  As we heard at the parent's night at her school, "It's not an inconvenience, it's a child."

Summer Blog Wrap-up

Just yesterday as I was walking up the driveway, I looked at Louie and said "Stop a minute. It smells like FALL!"  It was at that moment that I realized I was crunching orange leaves at my feet and summer was officially over. 
Autumn is by far my favorite season and it's even more special this year.  The first summer in our new house was great, but it felt a little harried and frantic. Looking back on our first three months here, it's a blur of boxes, weeds, and chaos. We're all really looking forward to things slowing down so we can settle in this fall and completely nest all winter in preparation for our new little one just in time for spring to begin.
As I was looking back through our summer photos, I realized there were a few that got lost in the shuffle of the last few weeks.  So, here it is - our Summer Blog Wrap-up.

We love having a yard. Most of this summer was spent trying to clear out the old so we can make it new in the spring.  It's still a work in progress, but we'll get there. The big news this summer was that we planted pumpkins. Actually Josie planted them in gardening class and when it was clear they were thriving, we put the vine in the ground. And my oh my how it has grown. Here they are tending to the pumpkins.  Note the cute little "Planted by Josephine 2010" tags that Tia made Josie!

These guys are now about triple the size of this photo and it looks like we'll have our own pumpkins by Halloween!

We do love our yard - especially our little bird buddies.  Here's a milk carton we turned into a bird feeder. 

And here's Josie going on a ride to fill it up with birdseed. I think that smile is a little devious, and you'll see why in a minute:

And here's Josie pouring birdseed in Louie's hair:

More fun with the Tonka Truck (and Polly Pocket drivers this time):

A view of the sideyard, complete with the "play park" transplant from Grandma & DD's house:

And looky here - we have a whole bed of Black-Eyed Susans that just sprung up out of nowhere:

Meanwhile - back inside - Josie asked me to peel her a mango one afternoon. So, I peeled it and left her on the counter while I went to answer the phone. Normally we cut it up into big chunks, but this is how I found her moments later. I guess she just got tired of waiting and went for it.  (You wouldn't have believed the sticky mess! So worth it though. We both decided a mango tastes even better this way.)

Here are a few pictures of Josie & Louie clowning around. This was actually from the weekend that I was on bed-rest because of the bloodclot. They kept me pretty entertained! If I remember correctly, Josie declared that the ottoman was a boat and Lou was rowing her to St. Thomas.

On the way there, they turned into pirates.  And here are their "pirate faces" to prove it.

It's apparent that pirates also giggle quite a bit:

(I should also mention that the last photo highlights another summer standout which is Josie's perpetually-skinned knees!  She's one "rough and tumble" little lady. And she's got all the bruises, scrapes and nicks to prove it!)
Last but not least, here are a couple of photos from Josie's first week of school. Her teachers sent us several photos, but I didn't feel comfortable posting any of the ones that pictured other children.  As you can see, Josie loves it!

So, with that, Summer - I bid you adieu.  Autumn, bring it on! We're ready for your leaf piles, apple farms, Halloween costumes, cool evenings, and all the sights and smells you have to offer!