Two Years Old!

I know that I owe you much more detail about what has been going on in our lives (all the way back to November 2009) but at last those posts will have to wait another day.
Today we celebrate! Two years ago the inspiration for this blog and my personal ray of sunshine was born. She has grown so much in the last year, physically and developmentally. She talks non stop now, and most of the time articulately. She knows her colors, most of her numbers (but only counts up to 3) and is working hard on learning the alphabet. She also takes every opportunity she can to practice her jumping skills, she is not quite up to two feet off the ground at the same time...but I can tell she will get there before the end of summer. She likes to run and has shown a lot of interest in both golf and t-ball. She loves Elmo, Nemo, Mickey Mouse, baby dolls, the pool, dancing, chocolate, pasta, hot dogs and french fries. She demonstrates her independence daily, but is a good listener and helps mommy and daddy with chores regularly. Her giggles light up our world and she is a true joy to be around.
As much as I love seeing her grow and learn, part of me aches as she gets older and farther from being my baby. My heart is overflowing with love for her. I am truly blessed that God brought us together and I was chosen to be her Mommy. I love you Joey!

Back when I left you....

I will go back to about the time that I left you and try to bring you up to speed in the next several posts. During that time our home computer died and unfortunately none of our photos have been moved over to our new machine. Until then, I will sprinkle a few pictures in the posts as well as try to get video taken back then edited and posted. Living without a home computer made life a little difficult for several months...but I think living between three machines (old, new and my laptop) is more difficult!

September - Steve and I got to take a mini-vacation just the two of us when we traveled out to San Diego for our good friend Kristin's wedding. Kristin is one of the elite eight, a member of the BP. It was a beautiful occasion and such a fun time. We got to sleep in, stay up late, drink lots and hang out with the best of friends. We even got to eat at Cafe 222, which we had seen features on the Food Network about 6 weeks prior to our trip. If you know me, you know that I always work a dining plan into my vacations!

Meanwhile, Joey was off having her own getaway and Gigi's house. I'm not sure what they did, but I know that she gets spoiled rotten by her and Grammie every time she goes out there to stay. I usually don't get any pictures from those trips, but this time I got lots. It was the end of summer and Gigi had left her pool up a bit past labor day, so there was a lot of swimming going on!

October - The whole family took a weekend getaway to Boston to see Nana and Grandpa McRae, Aunt Bronnie and cousins Catherine, Mathew and Casey. An interesting coincidence put us in the area at the same time that Grammie was in town to celebrate the baptism of my cousin's new daughter Tess, so we also got to see my Uncle Rob, Aunt Diana and family. It turned out to be a great trip. It also snowed while we were there, enough to cover the deck...snow before Halloween, that is why I don't live in Boston!

Halloween was so much fun this year! Josephine dressed up as a pumpkin and I must say, the cutest li'l pumpkin I've ever seen! I had tried for a few weeks to get her to try on a costume, but she was not having any of it...I had pretty much resigned myself that Halloween might not happen for us this year. But then school had a party where all the kids dressed up and they managed to get her to put on a cheer leading outfit. Well I guess all she needed was to see other kids doing it to know that I wasn't crazy! We took trick-or-treating on the road to Gigi's house as she lives in a much nicer neighborhood and there are more houses to visit. She took to her costume well and it only took her about three houses to get the hang of putting her hand out, accepting the candy and placing it in her pumpkin bucket. At one point she looked so grown up that I lost it and started crying. At which point Steve told me to stay on the sidewalk cause I was embarrassing them. The best part was when we got back to Gigi's house and she thought that nobody was looking, she took handfuls of candy out of the "giveaway" caldron and loaded her pumpkin bucket up! We would keep dumping it back into the caldron and she thought is was so much fun to take it out, what a great night! Already thinking ahead to next year's costume...Gigi is pulling for her favorite - Dorthy and Steve would like to see a little Princess Leia, but I just don't know yet.

I'm Back...

I could offer a thousand appolgies for taking the last 6 months off, but I'm sure you would just rather that I pick up blogging and never leave you hanging again. Well, no promises...but I sure will try to update weekly (deja vus - I think I have said that before). The truth is that there is a ton going on, and not a lot going on all at the same time. Our lives have gotten very busy and that seems in direct correlation to the more active Josephine gets. But for the most part it is just everyday life and you have not missed a whole lot.
We have vacationed and had holidays and more first moments. Over the next few weeks I will try to reach into the far depths of my memory and recount some of the more noteworthy adventures and times we have had since that last post so long ago. Don't give up on me just yet!

General Update

Things have been very busy of late. Normally our summers are so out of control that I look forward to the slower pace of fall, but this year the opposite is true. We had a fairly relaxing summer and fall is off to a crazy start!

At the end of August I took a nice long weekend and went to San Francisco and Santa Rosa (Sonoma area) to hang with my college girls for Kristin's bachelorette weekend. I had a nice time getting out for a few days and Steve took totally advantage as well and sent Josephine off to Grammies and Gigi's houses. Just a few days away renews our patience as parents, we are so lucky to have them so close and willing to help out.

In the mean time we also got to squeeze in very quick visits with Aunt Holly, Uncle Skip, Aunt Chris and Uncle Doug as well as a much anticipated stop over by Pop-Pop VanWegen.

This past Saturday Steve and I got to have a great date night at the Buffett concert, always a good time! And well, Joey went back out to Gigi's for a night. Then on Sunday we had a nice short visit with Zoe, Dereck, Garrett and Alec (the photo above was taken by Zoe).

This weekend will prove to be the busiest yet as we have a flea market from 8-12 (trying to get rid of the stuff we don't use), Steve's companies annual family picnic from 11-4, and my good friend Brooke's birthday party from 7-10...all events on Saturday!

And the month rolls on when Steve and I go to San Diego next week for Kristin's wedding and Josephine goes back to Grammies. I think that I will relax in October!

A little bit of local press...

While the article is about some neighborhood kids, Josephine stole the show.
Here is a link to the article with a picture. I was hoping they would show her face and some big famous casting director would happen to look in the local neighborhood paper and give us a call, but that hasn't happened yet!

http://www.gazette.net/stories/08242009/montnew130957_32533.shtml

Party time!

We just wrapped up a fantastic 1st Birthday party for Josephine. We had planned (and rented a picnic pavilion) to do it in the park, but big rains came through this morning so we decided to have everyone come to our house instead. Needless to say, it turned out to be a gorgeous day with no rain at all during party time. We had such a great time gathering with friends new and old and family too!
Even though we requested no gifts, she got quite a few items. Some discover and learn toys like a cell phone and camera (baby toys - not real), some very cute outfits, stuffed animals, puppets, gift cards and books. There were also a few donations to her college fund, which is always a great gift.
I was the perfect ending to a long, exhausting but wonderful year. I can't wait to see what this next year has in store, hopefully it will be some sleep!

A look back...

Here is a video that I made to celebrate Josephine's first year of life. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it.

The first day being one...

Today we had our 12 month check-up at the doctors...nothing says "welcome to one" like shots! She got a clean bill of health and is right on track (actually ahead of it) with her development. Here are her 1 year stats:
Height: 31 inches, 97% percentile
Weight: 23 pounds, 75% percentile
Later in the day our friends Azure and Kep brought over their son August for a pool play date. Gus is exactly two weeks younger than Joey and it is so much fun to see the two of them playing together. Overall it was not a bad first day.

Happy 1st Birthday Josephine!

Right about this time last year I was making my way to the mother/baby suite where I would spend my first night cuddling with my baby girl. I was so excited to meet her and get to see her and hold her...the words "it's a girl" were so worth waiting 38 weeks to hear! I can remember that first night like it was yesterday. She cried almost all night and Steve and I were definitely freaking out about what we had gotten ourselves into. If I sit and reminisce I can remember a lot of firsts that took place this year just like they were yesterday.
We started the day spending a few early morning hours snuggled in bed with her and then we settled into our normal Wednesday routine of daycare and office work. She came home today with a big happy birthday banner with hand prints from all the kids at daycare so I know she had a good celebration there with her friends today. Tonight we gave her some cake and then spent an extra hour and fifteen minutes trying to get her bed!
I am a bit sad today as I am feeling like she has moved out of the "baby" phase and I am not so sure that I was ready for that to happen. I'm sure every phase comes faster than we'd like it to, so I will continue to snap photos, take videos and journal here to try and capture some of the memorable and every day moments that I get to share with her.
I know that today will not be memorable to her, but it was such a bittersweet joyous day for me. As I told her as I was rocking her to sleep tonight...today is the day she changed my life and I am so glad she chose me to be her mom!

water baby...

She loves the water...doesn't get the kicking or the blowing bubbles, but enjoys spending time in the pool with other kids and mommy and daddy.

the next generation...

Here are my good friends Janet and Amalie and their children Nicole and Peter with Josephine and I. Amalie hosted us at her parent's house one weekend. It was nice to meet our newest friend Nicole and well as catch up with the old ones.

sugar and spice...

She is all girl! She loves purses, shoes and jewelery. This too is a candid picture...she managed to get the purse on over her head some how and just happened to pose perfectly for me. What a doll!

her first BFF...

You can tell from the smiles on both of their faces that they were enjoying each others company very much!

chillin after breakfast...

Just kicked back with a full belly of waffles. I mean really...she has the life!

she is her father's daughter...

If you know Steve, then you know that this is Josephine trying to be just like him. This is not a posed picture...she took the cans out of the bin and did this all on her own. Now we know that she really is watching what we do and mimicking us!

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe it has been so long since I last published a post...many a family member has reminded me along the way, but time got the best of me. I am also having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Josephine will be 1 next week! So much has changed in this last year, but I will save those memories for her birthday post!


Here is what has been going on since my last post.
She has 10 teeth now, 4 top and 4 bottom front teeth and 2 back molars that just cut the gums. They all came in so fast that I have been expecting to see more everyday.
Climbing...she was already a master at the stairs (and took her first tumble down them tonight as well) but now she is climbing onto everything she can; small stools, toys, snail rocker, but not quite up to the sofa yet.
Words...this and that, me (although I'm not sure she says it as a word, but more a sound).
She has gotten good at trying to articulate what she wants by pointing to objects, many times accompanied by the word "this" or "that".
Sleeping continues to be the biggest problem we face. Sometimes she goes down easily and sometimes not; sometimes she takes good long naps and sometimes she just doesn't want to go down; some nights she wakes up in the middle of the night and then there are a few nights that we all get a full nights sleep! She continues to wake up early between 445 and 530am. We try to keep her in bed (hers or ours) until 530 or 6am, but I have started to give up hope of ever sleeping in again!
We are finishing up a 6 week swimming lesson this Sunday. She has not learned much as the class is focused on getting babies adjusted to the water and we have had her in the pool since she was 3 months old. But it has been a fun family activity and we hope to build on the skills over time.


I was traveling for work last week in New Orleans and Nana McRae came down with cousin Catherine for the week to help out Steve. Joey fell instantly in love with her cousin and they played together to the exhaustion of both everyday. Work was very busy getting ready for my trip so Gigi and Grammie came down on Monday and Tuesday to help out the week prior. Needless to say she is one spoiled and loved little girl.


I'll make no promises for upcoming posts. August is turning out to be a very busy month with every weekend booked and some weekday activities on the calendar as well - not to mention I still work a full-time job. Sorry to disappoint all the fans, but better to be honest!

Happy Birthday Grammie!

This year you get to spend a weekend with your granddaughter...it is the gift that will keep on giving!

The weekly update

It has been a pretty low key week. We had a lazy weekend last weekend, but did manage to get out to a bbq and to the pool for a few hours. The weather has been hot and humid here and it has been raining almost everyday. So it was nice to get out some over the weekend. A coworker had a bbq at his house Saturday night and we had a ton of fun and stayed a bit later than we should have pushing bedtime until 9pm! Sunday we went to church. Yes you read that correctly. It is something that I have been interested in for awhile and this Sunday we finally found one that I think we will enjoy going to. It is important to me that Joey grow up with some type of "faith".
Monday was a busy day for me, so Gigi came down to entertain Josephine while I got some much needed work done.
We continue to work on sleep. While she is sleeping through the night now, she is still having a hard time going down for the night and naps too. For the past two nights we have done family dinner together at 630 followed by tub at 7 and bed at 730. So far the earlier bedtime has worked out well. I think that we might have been letting her get over tired and that is why she was having a hard time.
This weekend Grammie and Gigi will take Joey for the weekend so that we can celebrate and early father's day. Grammie will come pick her up on Saturday and bring her back on Tuesday. It will be a long time for her to be away and I am kinda sad thinking about it. I always worry that she will get off schedule while she is out there and that means holy terror for me when she gets home (especially since Gigi lets her sleep in her bed with her). Stay tuned for the recap next week!
Videos have been updated on the left hand side. I will be adding some more in a few days so be sure to check back. I caught more of her walking today. Everyday she gets a bit braver and takes on more space. It is amazing to see her grow and change.

So many changes, so little time

I'm sorry for letting almost a month pass between posts. Getting into summer and it is always a busy time of year, not to mention working from home with a 10 month old will keep you pretty busy as well. So much has happened in the weeks between posts, as always I'll do my best to catch you up on all that is new.

Josephine had tubes put in her ears on Thursday, May 21st. The procedure was done at Children's Hospital Outpatient center and it was so quick. We got to the center at 7am and we were on our way back home by 820! She took it like a champ and we started to hear the results right away...as she started talking a whole lot more.

Josephine has also gotten a ton of family love in the past weeks as well. She spent a nice weekend out at Gigi's house visiting with Grammie. And Memorial Day weekend Nana and Grandpa McRae came down to visit. These are not only nice for Josephine, but the give Steve and I some great time to ourselves to do things we used to do like go out to dinner later than 5pm and even see some movies!

We have also been working on sleep training finally. I am happy to say that after about 4-5 days she adapted pretty well. She is now taking 2 naps a day routinely and sleeping through the night. She has given up the night bottle as well.

Here are some of the milestones that we have experienced recently:

• First Steps: Yes! She has taken her first few steps and everyday she gets a little more daring and willing to take a few more.
• Stairs: She has become a pro at climbing the stairs. While we are impressed with her skills this one is a bit a a pain to deal with.
• Clapping: I have yet to catch it on film, but I try everyday...it is so very cute!
• Food: Her new favorite is grilled cheese sandwiches. She loves them so much she eats a whole sandwich! She has also been working on her sippy cup skills.
• Her 7th tooth also came through...4 on top, 3 on the bottom.

Back From Vacation

We have been back for almost a week and I think we have finally settled back into a routine. We had a nice relaxing trip to Florida. We went to Universal Studios as well as Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We spent the mornings at the park and then returned home after lunch to spend our afternoons hanging out at the pool. I stopped nursing just prior to vacation (actually our last "latch" was while on vacation) so I spent most of those afternoons with a frozen drink in my hands. Joey is a water baby...she loves it. We bought her a nice floater prior to vacation and she got to use it while we were down there, it was the perfect tool to help her learn to walk in the pool - I think that we have some video of this that I will be posting soon.

There were just so many exciting "firsts" while on this trip that I'm sure I'll never remember to recap them all here. Like I mentioned earlier, we did stop nursing on this trip. We made it 9 months and I really feel like I have given her a good start. We also tried to switch her over completely to eating whatever we are...it makes meal time so much easier! She learned to climb stairs while on vacation too. There was a little lip around the edge of the pool and she quickly learned how to climb up to get out...she is so smart it is amazing (even her pediatrician was amazed when we told him). We learned that she is not a big fan of the "characters" around the park when she screamed in horror at the sight of Mickey and Minnie, this is something that we hope she will grow out of!

We had our 9 month Dr. apt on Monday when we returned home. Everything looks great and she continues to be off the charts for length and high on the chart for weight...however she is perfectly proportioned and really starting the lean out. The nurse thought she was in for her 1 year checkup! The only milestone she has yet to reach at this time is holding her own bottle and that is because we have not really forced the issue. Needless to say we have been working all week on it. We have also started to introduce the idea of the sippy cup, I think this might take awhile, but I know that she will get it soon. She has been crawling like crazy and starting to cruise quite a bit more lately. She even took 1 step the other day while holding on to nothing trying to get between two toys. We think that we have about a month before she starts getting really brave, but we went ahead and put the gates up this week anyway! She has started sleeping a bit better now too. We can go several nights without her getting up in the middle of the night (early morning hours). However she does consistantly want to wake in the 5am hour so I have given in and am now started my day unusally early!

We went to see an ENT specialist on Tuesday to address the issue of constant ear infections. We battled a serious infection prior to vacation that was stubborn enough to resist two antibiotics before giving in to a 3-day series of injected antibodies (boy was that fun!). We have been recommended to get her tubes and have gone ahead and scheduled the procedure for next Thursday.

I'm sure that there is a ton more to tell you, but my brain is fried from a very full week. I promise to write again soon.