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!