Here are some new Josie videos for your enjoyment.

This first one shows Louie tickling Josie. We've decided that she believes my sole purpose is to feed her, and Louie's sole purpose is to make her laugh. He absolutely cracks her up! See for yourself in this video.

This video shows Josie in her first swimming pool. It was only about 7am, so Lou & Josie are both a little sleepy-eyed, but we had to get one more dip in before leaving LA.

Updates

I forgot to mention - Josephine had her 6 month check up last week. Here are her 6 month stats:
18 lbs. 5 oz. and 27 inches! She's growing like an adorable little weed.

In other exciting news, Josie's new nanny - Carissa - started today. We've already dubbed her "the baby whisperer" because she got Josie down for two naps pretty effortlessly. She is absolutely wonderful with Josie, and I know that we made the right decision. I got lots of work done and Josie got lots of one-on-one attention, definitely a win-win situation. Carissa will be here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I feel like our lives will *finally* settle into a routine, which is very exciting because it's been sheer chaos lately. Life is good! :)

And - happy 2000 blog hits everyone!!! I know there are lots of you out there, so leave some comments just to say hi. (That means you Ava.) Love you all, us

Our little Gerber baby

My friend (and fellow Hypnohottie) Alison sent me an email comparing this photo of Josie to the Gerber baby. I thought it was pretty hysterical so I decided to share it with all of you. Thanks Alison! :)

In honor of Valentine's Day

Although the flu has kept me curled up and begging for mercy the past several days, Josie's first Valentine's Day did not come and go completely unrecognized. I was really in bed all day on the 14th, so I passed the time coming up with the following list. My goal was to put it on the blog once I felt better. So, it might be the 17th now, but it's the thought that counts.

So, in honor of Josephine's first Valentine's Day, here are 14 things I love about her:
1. the way she almost always gives herself the hiccups when she laughs;
2. how she plays with my hair when she's nursing herself to sleep at night;
3. the great big, opened-mouth smile she gives Louie when he walks into the room;
4. actually, I love every single smile - each and every one of them;
5. the fact that you can see her little brain learning new things every day;
6. waking up next to her in the morning;
7. the dimple in her chin;
8. the long piece of hair over her right ear;
9. those big, beautiful legs that love to bounce...and bounce...and bounce;
10. her twinkling bright blue eyes;
11. the fact that she thinks Louie and I are the world's best singers, dancers, and comedians;
12. when she falls asleep in my arms or on my shoulder;
13. her blossoming personality and preferences;
14. the fact that our lives are infinitely more meaningful and fulfilling now that she is here.

California Dreamin' On Such A Winter's Day

No doubt about it - the weather in Ohio is miserable. I've always hated Winter, but after spending 5 days in California's "Winter," I have a reached a new level of hatred for snow, wind, and gray skies. It was around 80 degrees and sunny the whole time we were in California. Maybe that was a contributing factor to the 500+ photos that we took. (I actually couldn't believe it when I uploaded them all to my computer.) So, I've chosen about 20 for the blog and about 100 for the Shutterfly collection. www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com

So, let the virtual slideshow begin. One big highlight of our trip was definitely taking Josie to the beach for the first time. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway (spectacular views) and stopped at a good spot to introduce our little lady to the ocean. She loved the whole experience - especially the sand. Here are some of our favorite photos from the beach. She just couldn't get enough of sifting that sand through her fingers and crunching it between her toes (like mama, like baby).



Although the ocean was too cold to swim in, the pool at the Wilshire was just fine. We know how much Josie enjoys bathtime in her tub and in the big tub with me, so we had our fingers crossed that she would like the pool just as much. And she did! Here she is in the swimsuit we bought her for the occasion.

You'll notice that the top of it is missing. That's because it didn't fit (it was 12 month size). Luckily, we predicted that this might be a problem and brought along the 18 month size suit that the Hogans bought her for this summer. It was a little big, but worked perfectly. Seeing her in that swimsuit cracked me up. Here she is before, during, and after her big pool adventure (I'll include a video later).


Here are some other random photos from our trip.

I had to include the obligatory palm tree shot. Basically, if I see palm trees, I know I'm in a happy place.

Here's a photo from the PCH - our drive from LA to Santa Barbara on Sunday. It was breathtaking!

Here's Louie & Flake. He's the reason we drove to Santa Barbara. We had a great time with Brian as our tour guide - and a ridiculous amount of Mexican food (which was well-deserved after hours of walking up and down the beach and State Street). Here's the sunset over Santa Barbara. Ahhhhh...
This begins the section of my photos that I like to call "only in Cali." Because, only in California, will you see the following:

1) A rockband of kids probably 11-12 years old that can do perfect renditions of The Cure songs.

2) A restaurant whose sole purpose is selling the biggest, most delicious cupcakes you've ever seen in your life (actually, now that I mention it "Crumbs" is a NY thing that has just found a home in LA). Delicious (although, take it from me, sushi and giant cupcakes don't mix well).
3) A "band" on the beach whose instruments are made of cardboard. (They had music playing and from a distance you assumed they were playing, until you got closer to see everything was paper.) This is a photo of the guy coming after Lou asking for money (to "support the arts") since we were taking his picture.
4) A dog in a Beverly Hills doorway wearing a rhinestone t-shirt and pink pearls.
5) Breakfast on the street corner with skateboarding elementary-aged kids and their skateboarding dad passing by. (Skate or Die.) Other insane Cali higlights included: seeing Usher in our hotel lobby (who was in town for the Grammys), everything about Rodeo drive, eating Pinkberry (and discovering that it's much better with fruity pebbles than Oreos), and going into a store in Beverly Hills to buy Josie something "no matter how much it cost" until I realized a t-shirt was priced at $105.00!!!

Here are some more photos from the trip.

Josie & I at a crappy diner (yes, crappy diners even exist in Santa Monica).

A couple of family photos near the pier in Santa Barbara.

Oh - and this one which has nothing to do with California but cracks me up. You know how bags always say "this bag is not a toy"? I've always thought that was the dumbest thing. Who would give their baby a plastic bag as a toy and what baby would want to play with one? Well, this is what happens when you are talking to your mom on your cell phone and walk away for just a minute. Note her leg stuck through the bag handle. She was having the time of her life with that thing. Please send my "Mother of the Year" award to 18 E. 4th St. Cinti, OH 45202.
Here we are on our balcony in B.Hills.
These are just a few photos that I took of Josie one morning while Louie was at his conference. The lighting was perfect so we had a little mini 6 month photo shoot.

So, the trip to California totally exceeded even my super-high expectations. It was beautiful, relaxing, and all around perfect. Josie was an absolute angel on the plane and for the duration of the trip (even in an unfamiliar crib and an unfamiliar carseat). She was perfectly content to spend at least 6-8 hours a day getting pushed around Cali in her stroller.

All in all, it was wonderful to spend the time as a family. We are definitely looking forward to lots more family vacations & already have a couple of things planned for the fall.

Now, there's lots of laundry and things to do to get everything back to normal around here, so I gotta get off the computer and get to work. I'll leave you with a photo of Josie totally passed out on the airplane, where she had lots of fans since she only made happy noises and no cries. That a girl!

Don't forget to check out the Shutterfly collection for lots more - www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com

Happy Half Birthday!

Our little girl is 6 months old!!!!
Happy Half-Birthday Josephine.

To celebrate, we were going to bake half a birthday cake. But, we had more than enough sweets in Cali. Plus, I think the time will be better spent sorting through the 300 photos we took. I hope to have them posted tonight.

California, California...Here we come!

In the interest of clearing out my camera to make room for vacation photos (see below), here are some good ones from this week showing a few of Josephine's new faves. (And yes, I should be working right now instead of doing the blog. But I couldn't deny you your daily dose of Josie-inspired joy.)


This is our busy little bee playing with all her favorite toys. It's hysterical to me that she has clear preferences. And, like a good little girl, she really prefers cloth and wood to plastic.

In addition to chewing on her toys, she also can't get enough of chewing on those toes - probably because she's seen her mama do it so many times. I just can't resist kissing those feet.

Here is Josie on her new favorite thing in the whole world. It's an awesome JellyCat Cow that showed up in our elevator on my birthday from our friends Chris & Nicki. She absolutely cannot get enough of this thing. I can't blame her - it's the softest, cutest, floppiest little creature you've ever seen.
And, Venus continues to be one of her favorite things in the world. Josie rarely takes her eyes off of the cat if she's anywhere near her and if Venus is in reaching distance, this happens:
That first one is so funny, because they're totally staring into each other's eyes. This next one is more typical. Note: if Lou or I did this to Venus, we would need reconstructive surgery and months of physical therapy. Venus really is unbelievably patient with the baby.
Oh - did I mention that we found Venus all curled up in the corner of Josie's crib last night? She used to do this before Josie started sleeping in there, but apparently has decided recently to start it up again. The funny thing is that she used to jump out of there as soon as we caught her, but last night she just looked up at us and went back to sleep. She must figure that sleeping in the crib is the only fair trade-off for putting up with numerous ear-pulls and tail-tugs.

In other news...

Louie & I are leaving tomorrow afternoon for a much-needed trip to California! (I can just feel the sunshine on my shoulders already.) Louie has a legal conference in Beverly Hills (ooh, la la) so I get to tag along for just the price of airfare. The conference is only until Saturday, so we will have Saturday evening through Monday just to hang out in Cali. On Sunday we're headed up to Santa Barbara to see our friend Flake and to drive up the coast and introduce Josie to the ocean! Other plans include Josie's first dip in a swimming pool (we even bought her a swimsuit & those wacky swimmy diapers) and an afternoon at the Getty Museum. And, we're staying right on Rodeo Drive, so there will also be some shopping (thank goodness I'm back to work).

Oh goodness, gotta run - Josie is very clearly making a big mess in her diaper. (I sure do miss the days of breastmilk-only diapers, these food poopies are quite a different animal.) Wish me luck.

It's photo time!

Here are some recent photos of Josie courtesy of my sweet new camera, some decent lighting, a little patience, and Josephine's glowing personality. You can also find these photos and all the photos from the month of January in her Shutterfly collection at www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com

Yes - she has recently discovered the joys of thumb sucking which is convenient since she is less and less interested in her Nuk these days. Lou calls this next one her "little rascal" pose. It's also the photo we entered into the Cincy Enquirer's Newspapers in Education fundraiser photo contest. (More details on that later this month.)

This is a good one to click on and enlarge. What a sweet little face. And I just love those rosebud lips! :)
The next three just make me smile, so I included them here because I thought they might make you smile, too.

You take the good, you take the bad...

This week has definitely been an emotional roller coaster. Really, I don't know how else to describe it. There have been a lot of bittersweet moments coming one after the other. Like the trip to Kokomo. Saying goodbye to Nana was one of the hardest things I've done, but getting to spend time with a part of the family that we don't see nearly enough was wonderful. Here's a photo (click on it to enlarge) of Josie with her cousins - Kinley, Daire, Arielle, Sydney & Madison- I hope Josie turns out just as sweet, adorable, smart, and funny as each of these girls. She had so much fun with them! And it's so funny that I remember when they were all Josie's age! In other bittersweet news, today was Josie's first day at day care. Well, let me clarify that. It was Josie's first and last day at day care. I won't go into too much detail here other than to say that we really did give it an honest try. Here's Louie heading in. At this point, we were both having reservations (especially after some of the things we observed last week during our transistion visits), but we decided to give it a shot (even though I think both of us knew in our hearts that it wasn't the best idea).
Here's Josie playing with some of her new friends. Unfortunately, this is how Josie would spend most all of her day at the center. We observed very little interaction with the adults & what we did see definitely lacked the degree of nurturing, responsiveness, and stimulation that we would expect (and that Josie is used to).
This picture really does say it all. Poor Josie in her day care crib - no frills - just bars. She even has her hands clasped around the bar like a little prisoner. Poor thing. :(
So after several phone calls & a couple of visits, all to find Josie crying (and no one hugging or soothing her to calm her down), I plucked little Josie off of her spot on that carpet remnant, squeezed her tight, and raced her home.

I don't want to totally bad mouth the center, but it just wasn't right for us. If my number one job as a parent is to do what is best for Josie, then I would've been failing miserably if I decided to keep her there - even for only 2 1/2 days a week. Because the way I see it, I can sit Josie on the carpet and ignore her all day right here in my own home & save myself $220 a week! So, the decision has been made and the steps are already in place to have someone come and watch Josie in our home - with her toys, her crib, her germs and most importantly - her mama! :)

You may be asking yourself what the "sweet" part was of this whole day care mess. I guess the best way to describe it is the joy of knowing that we did the right thing today. Really, we should've trusted our instincts all along. But I guess we had to just prove to ourselves that we weren't just being stubborn. After what I saw today, there is no doubt in my mind that we made the right decision.

The last bittersweet thing was my birthday on Saturday. 31 - ugh! Saying that out loud will leave a bitter taste in your mouth for sure. But, what could be sweeter than celebrating a birthday with the perfect husband and our perfect daughter? Absolutely nothing!

With that, I hope you are all doing well. Thanks for all of the thoughts, prayers, and kind words about the loss of my Nana. I am so blessed to have such amazing friends!

In Loving Memory of our Nana

I wish I never had bad news to share on the blog, but such is life. With a heavy heart and a lifetime of wonderful memories, I must dedicate this post to the loving memory of Estella Johnson - our Nana and Josephine's great grandmother - who passed away this morning at the age of 86. I am beyond grateful that I had Nana in my life for a few days short of 31 years. Those who knew her will understand when I say that there truly are not words to capture the woman that she was - full of such a fire for life, a compassion for all she knew, and a sense of humor that kept a smile on all of our faces - traveling through life with a song in her heart, dancing shoes on her feet, and a fishing pole in her hand. :)

Here are a couple of photos from the first time Josie and Nana met. I will never forget the way Josie found comfort in her arms and the way that Nana's mind seemed to come springing back to soothe Josie with one of her loving songs.

We will be traveling to Indiana at the end of the week to lay sweet Nana to rest. As much as we all hate to see her go, my Papaw has been waiting for over 25 years for her, so I can't be too sad in knowing that they are finally together again. Plus, we are all fortunate to have one more person looking out for us all from "the other side". :)

I flip for books!

Now that Josie is rolling like it is what she was put on Earth to do, it's a lot easier to capture the elusive roll on film. Introduce a book that she wants to read, um I mean eat, and she'll roll like crazy. Here's a picture of her getting a good taste of a favorite book. (Her expressions really do crack us up.) And here's some video of her rolling from her back to her belly to get to her book for another bite! Enjoy!

I should mention that Josie is rolling so much now, and with so little fanfare, that it's not usual to lay her down in one spot and find her seconds later somewhere else. We're in real trouble once she starts crawling.

Sweet! Sweet Potatoes.

We can officially add sweet potatoes to Josie's list of favorites. Here she is after a messy meal last night. She's trying to feed herself (what a big girl), but totally has the wrong end of the spoon. I won't show you the picture I took right after this one which was of Josie totally choking herself by sticking that spoon half way down her throat (oops, lesson learned). Our little "sticky face" needed a bath last night & we finally got a photo of a clean little Josie in her new puppy towel from Grandma and Grandpa. Now that we have perfected the after-bath routine of a dryer-warmed towel and a Nuk, bathtime is fun for everyone.

Jumperoo Part II

Here's another installment of Jumpin' Josephine! ENJOY!

To brighten your day

I hope you all find these photos of Josie as hilarious as I do. It's just so much fun to watch her personality developing. She is unbelievably active, always smiling, and a total giggle box. Her expressions just crack me up. Take, for instance, this first photo. She's totally getting too big for the Boppy, but here she is just chillin' in it. Doesn't she look like she needs a drink in one hand and a remote control in the other? This week we have embarked on the great adventure of experimenting with solid foods. Here's Josie eating some delicious mashed bananas. As usual, she gave them a good lick before she would eat and swallow. But, once she got into the swing of things, she enjoyed herself quite a bit.
Josie is also beginning to sit up unsupported. For the moment, we only try this trick in the crib in case she wipes out (which she does quite often).
Today we moved on past bananas to try a little bit of baby oatmeal mixed with breastmilk. Here Josie is after the first couple of bites. I was about to give-up and try again later when she suddenly started "opening wide" as the spoon approached her mouth. There were a couple of times when it looked like she was one of those snakes that can un-hinge their jaws to eat large animals. So, the verdict is in... Josie loves solid foods. (Really, are any of you surprised?)
This is the end of the oatmeal bowl. I think she looks like a little Buddha. (Rub her tummy for good luck.)
I'm also pleased to report that Josie continues to sleep long stretches at night. Last night she set a record by going from 8am to 5am (9hours!!) without waking up once. (Actually we heard her waking up a couple of times, but she put herself back to sleep.)

Here's another video to brighten everyone's day! Josie's Great-Grandmother (Nana) has just had a stroke and is having a hard time in the hospital. In times like these, there is truly nothing better than the laughter of a child. (And to all you out there in blog-land, please keep my Nana and our family in your thoughts & prayers.)