New photos on Shutterfly

Forgot to mention - Josie's February Shutterfly album is now up at www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com Enjoy!

Embracing the mama in me

I'm a mom. And everything that comes with that. And I love it. There are just these moments when it all hits me that my new life is so unbelievably in contrast to my former life and I just have to smile. Last night was one of these moments. Josie was sleeping soundly in her crib, Louie was doing work stuff at the kitchen table, and I was busy learning the fine art of making baby food. It was a simple enough thing, but one of those moments that will always stand out in my mind as a "mama moment" - one of those instances when "I'm a mom" bubbles to the surface and fills you with this overwhelming sense of fulfillment. I love when it happens.

Here's a photo that Louie took as I was spooning winter squash puree into ice cube trays for future Josie use. Last night I tackled pears, peas, carrots, corn and squash. Tonight it's on to plums, peaches, apricots and sweet potatoes. Oddly enough, as I was just typing this the phone rang & it was my (beloved) UPS man letting me know that my shiny new 50% off Cuisinart "Smart Stick" hand blender has arrived! Let the good times roll!
So I also had another "mama moment" this morning at about 9:30AM when I pulled into the parking lot of Springdale Cinemas and realized there were no other cars there. My first thought was, "I wonder why the movie theater is closed?" Then I realized "Duh, it's 9:30 in the morning. What did you expect - a full parking lot?" See today we had our first Hypnohottie Field Trip to "Baby Pictures / Movies for Mom" at the movie theater. It really is a great idea!

You get to see new movies for just $5 and not have to worry about the possibility that your baby will cry or otherwise freak out. Babbling and cooing is totally allowed! And they keep the lights on dimly so you can still see, but turn movie volume down lower so as not to damage little ear drums. They even laid out changing pads so you could take care of a dirty diaper without missing a second of the movie. Ingenious! Here is Josie, Andrew, and Ryan soon after we arrived. You'll notice they are checking out the previews and couldn't care less about having their photos taken. Too funny!

Today we saw "The Other Boleyn Girl." Not the best example to set for dear sweet Josie, but she wasn't that interested in the story line, so I don't think any permanent damage was done. :)

And, to finish off today's blog, I just thought I'd share this funny photo. I almost deleted it as I was sorting through the new photos until I realized how hysterical it is that Josie has the exact same look on her face as this cute puppy that her Grandma got her for Valentine's Day - tongue out and everything. :) She really does crack me up.

Logging some miles

Well, it's Monday afternoon and we're finally recovering after a long, exciting weekend. On Friday we had a visit from our friends Dennis & Natalie and their three cuties - Anthony, Mary Beth & George. Then, we went to bed early to rest up for Lou's big event on Saturday. It was an event that raised money for the FreeStore FoodBank and required that Louie wear a skirt - okay actually a kilt - okay actually a utilikilt. See for yourself: In honor of Saturday's annual Iditarod dogsled race through Alaska, Cincinnati held the first annual Cinciditarod through downtown and Northern Kentucky, and of course the residents of 18 E. 4th St had to represent! Except instead of dogsleds, there were grocery carts and a ho-ho eating contest, and a skit, and costumes, and insanity. Okay, so maybe it would be better to say that the Cinciditarod was "loosely based" on the Iditarod, but any excuse to celebrate the city and raise money for hungry folks and act crazy sounded good to us. Here's the team photo. Chris "Utilikris" Weideman supplied five kilts and Brianne created the 60" kilt for the cart. They finished the approximate 5-mile race in the Top Five, and we all had a great time. Plans are already underway for next year's race. As if Louie didn't get enough action pulling a grocery cart back and forth across the river on Saturday, we decided to set out on foot for our first "warm weather walk" of the season on Sunday. Actually, the plan was originally to take Josie down to Sawyer Point's park for her first swing ride (we just found out they have infant swings there!) but since Josie was sleeping so soundly when we got to the park, we decided to head out on across the Purple People Bridge and over to the Newport Levee.
And once we got to Newport, Josie was still sleeping soundly (holding on tightly to best friend Sophie the Giraffe) so we decided to head on to Covington.
And 3.5 miles and 2.25 hours later we made it back home just in time for the sunset. It was a great walk and good to know that Josie enjoys a good stroll in the Midwestern sunshine. Although we did learn that 2.25 hours is exactly .25 hours too many, which is why Louie and I had to take turns squeaking Sophie the whole way over the Roebling Suspension Bridge and past the Freedom Center. All in all, it was an excellent weekend and we're thrilled for the warm weather to settle in so we can have lots more weekends like this one.

In other very exciting but completely unrelated news - the dairy ban has been lifted!! For 6 months I had to delight in the wonders of soy (milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, etc) because all-things-dairy aggravated Josie's reflux. But...drumroll please...I am now happy to say that Josie no longer requires her daily doses of Zantac and she no longer reacts to dairy in my breastmilk. So, we celebrated with a trip to Whole Foods for yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, etc. and of course we already took a trip to Graeters.

On that note, Josie is all bounced out and ready for her afternoon snack, so I gotta run. Hope you all have a great week!

Baby Idol Update

After the first week of voting, Josie is currently in the Top 25 of babies in the NIE Fundraiser/Baby Idol contest. This is impressive since there are almost 300 babies! To review, she needs to be in the Top 100 on March 14th in order to move on to the second round. Right now, there doesn't appear to be any urgency for any more votes in the first round because she's in the Top 25 and only needs to be in the Top 100. That said, they will send another report to us next Friday and we'll see how her rank changes. At that point, we may need more votes to secure her in the Top 100. Also - when the second round begins, vote tallies will be shown right on the website so we'll always be able to see how she's doing. Thanks to everyone who has voted! :) Here's the link - www.cincinnati.com/babyidol

So, lots of good photo opportunities today. The first two photos are of Josie and Louie playing this afternoon. In the first picture, Josie looked like she was trying to whisper a secret in his ear. And in the second photo, it's clear that the secret was "I want to eat your face."
There was also a perfect photo-op this afternoon at the Blue Manatee. Here's Josie with three of her hypnofriends. She was the only girl today, so I had to take some photos of her with all her boys. From left to right, there's Andrew, Josie, Ryan, and Milo.

It was hysterical to watch the four of them together. I absolutely love the fact that she has these little friends that she's growing up alongside. They've all gotten so big! :)
I promise to get some photos of the whole hypnobaby crowd next time we're all together. The two pictures above were just seconds before Josie had a total meltdown, so hopefully the photo shoot will last longer next time.

And here's the promised video of Josie with her beloved mirror, except this is actually a different video than the one I promised. The other one was actually too large of a file for the blog, so I took another video of her playing with the mirror again today. And then, Venus decided to get in on the action, and Josie reached out for her, and I held my breath. And just before I got ready to put down the camera and toss the cat out of Josie's range, she got distracted by the mirror again. Whew. Anyway, here's the video. Enjoy! :)

Hanging out around the house

Now that we have Super-nanny Carissa and I have clearly distinct work days that are different from my clearly distinct play days, we're able to enjoy more relaxed time together because I don't have to run for the computer every time Josie is occupied. That means that quality time is even more widespread than it used to be. And that is fantastic.

Here's a photo of Josie and I enjoying the new Fairy Tales book that her Granddaddy got her for Valentine's Day. This was her first time hearing "Goldilocks & the Three Bears." She was particularly fond of the baby bear's voice.
And Josie was quite into her story until she realized her daddy was taking pictures - at which point she switched from "story mode" to "posing for the camera mode."
And here's Josie with her absolutely favorite new "chew toy" - Sophie the Giraffe. Seriously, I kept putting off ordering this thing because I didn't want to pay for shipping. But, if I would've known the joy this little squeaker would bring, I would've ordered it months ago!
She's got a little tooth bud popping through on the bottom, and Sophie is really helping her out with that. Plus, it's just so freaking cute!

In other Josie-related news, thanks at least in part to "The No-Cry Sleep Solution," she has been sleeping much longer stretches at night and during the day. The past three nights she's had a 7 hour stretch followed by a 4 or 5 hour stretch. And she even took her first ever 2 hour nap over the weekend. So, our little mama continues to grow and grown. With that, it's time to put her in her jumper while Mama & Daddy enjoy a delicious 4-star lunch of pb&j and goldfish. Hope you're all doing well.

Oh- regarding the photo contest - they'll send an update to us on Friday showing where Josie ranks. If she's securely in the top 100, then there's no need to vote anymore until the next round. We'll let you know. Thanks to everyone who has voted. :)

Ready, Set, Vote!

Okay all you of out there in blogland - time to participate in the Newspapers In Education fundraiser - "Baby Idol 2008." The hypnomamas decided to enter our babies into the Cincinnati Enquirer's photo contest. Each vote costs 25 cents. The money goes toward Newspapers in Education which provides newspaper-related resources, lesson plans, etc. to K-12 teachers. And the winner gets over $500 in baby-related prizes!

There are almost 300 babies in the contest & the first round of voting starts today (and ends 3/14/08)!

You can vote a couple of ways:
1) Visit http://www.cincinnati.com/babyidol and use your credit card to vote (the minimum for credit cards is $5.00 for 20 votes).
2) Voting ballots are also available in The Enquirer, CiNWeekly & the Community Press. You can also send votes to the Customer Service Office at 312 Elm St. Cincinnati, OH 45202. There is one free vote per paper ballot.

JOSEPHINE is #233. Online, she is in the bottom row (you have to scroll over). In the newspaper (today's edition) she is on pg. 11.

So, best case scenario - Josie wins & gets some cool prizes. Worst case scenario, she got her picture in the newspaper and a great organization raises funds for a great educational program. Sounds like a win-win to me!

Email me if you have any questions. (Good luck Josie.)

Josie has great friends!

As if Josie isn't already a lucky little girl due to a family that loves (and spoils) her, she also has lots of great friends that love (and spoil) her. Here's a photo of Josie in her awesome hat from Cat. How on earth she had time to knit this for Josie when she has her own 6 month old at home, I'll never know (you can check out the link to Ronan's blog below). It is SO cute & it keeps that little head warm in this horrible weather. (Thanks again Cat!) Here's Josie sporting a gift from her friend Kelly! This fuzzy little number makes her even more cuddly than usual. (Thanks Kelly.)Although I must say, Josie's favorite friend is the new one that she discovered in this mirror. It's been attached to her playmat all along, but now that she's sitting up she figured out how to detach the velcro. It's hysterical how she stares at the baby looking back at her and then searches behind the mirror. It's just another amazing example of watching her little brain work.
Speaking of Josie's friends, she continues to enjoy the time with her fellow hypnobabies. I *promise* to get some photos of Josie with her baby friends next week at the Blue Manatee.

New page element

I just added a cool new feature to Josie's blog - a daily age ticker. The only bummer is that it will only fit at the very bottom. So, from time to time, feel free to scroll on down to track Josie's march to one year. She's already half way there!

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.