12 months

This is very surreal. We have a one year old. This past year feels like it’s been a blur. So many milestones. So many smiles. So many nursing sessions. So many tears. So many diapers. All worth it. There were days that dragged by and there were days that felt like they were over in an instant. I wouldn't trade any of them, even the ones that found me covered in bodily fluids with a screaming mess of a baby and no sleep. Watching our baby girl grow from a little bundle of newborn goodness to a cruising, laughing, babbling one year old love monster has been one of the greatest joys in my life.

Josie is growing and learning so much these days! She is (I think) close to walking. Though I apparently should stop trying to predict her development because I said she’d be walking by her first birthday and that hasn't happened. She will cruise on furniture and will stand up by herself in the middle of a room and has even taken a couple steps holding onto our hands. However after a step or two she’ll squat down to her knees and crawl to us. She crawls like a champ and has gotten pretty fast.

She is very much "in to" things. When I cook dinner I now have to be prepared to clean up multiple messes created by Jos while I cook. Her favorite things to do include:

• Opening the recycling bin, pulling out cartons and plastic bottles and chewing on them (eww)
• Putting her hand in the trash can (double eww)
• Pulling all the brown paper bags out from their storage space between the fridge and the wall
• Opening the lazy susan and gnawing on all my spice jars (this has been prevented by a lovely baby proof latch. But if I need spices while cooking, I make sure I know everything I need and go for it- while fending off two grabby arms)
• Opening Paisy’s food container and playing with the measuring scoop and occasionally the food
• Splashing in Paisy’s water
• Crawling under the table, putting her little hand on Aunt Megan’s knee and freaking her out while she’s studying (this is pretty funny)

So- she’s everywhere! Everywhere except the nice little play area (complete with foam padding) we made for her in the kitchen. I guess that’s the way it goes though, right?

She has 4 teeth and is currently getting her top middle two. She had gotten her the two teeth on either side of the middle teeth so until now she’s had “fangs”. They are so funny and cute.

We went to the doctor for her one year well visit and she weighs 17 pounds, 7 ounces and is 27.5 inches long. This puts her in the 5^th and 7^th percentiles, respectively. She’s still a teeny little thing! We did just “upgrade” her to a convertible car seat. So far she seems to like it- it’s more upright than the infant seat so she can see out the window better.

She now says mama, dada, night night, dog and a version of “woof”. The clearest of all of these is night night and she mostly just repeats it when I tell her it’s time to go night night. She has the funniest gestures. She will often wave her hand back and forth in front of her like she’s throwing up gang signs, often with a deadpan look as if to say “what homey?”. She also loves it when we lay on the floor and she crawls right over and will often lay her head down on our stomachs and suck her thumb. My stomach is apparently her favorite and she will often lift my shirt to put her head down on my bare stomach. It’s so cute and endearing. She is a snuggle bug often, which I love!

She continues to love Paisley and Paisley is still very good with her. We’re working teaching Josie how to gently pet Paisley as she will often hit instead of pet and likes to grab fistfuls of hair. Pais is so good and just takes in stride. Josie is also very into the water. She likes the community pool and loves the little baby pool we’ve set up on our deck for her splash in. We’re heading up to Loon Lake so we’ll see how she likes the lake.

One Year

Clothing size: 9 months

Favorite foods: cheese, bananas, strawberries, kamut puffs, hummus

Least favorite foods: avocado, baked chicken

# of Words: 5

Driving a tractor on my birthday

This "nature" stuff isn't for me

During a lunchtime picnic

Being a super hero at Shelby's 3rd birthday party

Hanging with Desmond on a visit to WV to see Aunt Anne

cuteness

Watermelon. MINE.

11 months

I know, I know. I'm sooooo late. 

Not cool mom, not cool.

If you feel like Josie, I apologize. On to what is probably going to be a quick 11 month recap.

11 months! That is thisclose to a year! I can't believe/accept that our baby is almost one.

Josephine had so many milestones last month that I feel like I don't have much to share this month. She did get/is getting two more teeth. This resulted a few sleep disruptions, including the first time I've had to go into her room after we put her to sleep in months. But it was nothing a little medicine and mommy snuggles couldn't fix. The two teeth she's getting are not her middle teeth on the top, but the ones right next to the two middle teeth....the incisors? It's sort of weird that she has two bottom teeth in the middle and then two "fangs" up top. Ha! Of course I consulted Dr. Google and this seems to be perfectly normal to not get her two middle top teeth first.

She is a faster crawler these days! And she pulls up on EVERYTHING. She has also been able to stand by herself for a second or two. I predict that she might be walking by her first birthday if not, soon after. She has mastered crawling up our one step in the living room but hasn't attempted to go down it, other than falling off of it. (She was fine!) One of her favorite things to do now is to pull all her books off her bookshelf in her room. It entertains her to no end and when they're all off she'll flip through them and chew on them. It does make a mess for Mommy to clean up though.

Favorite activity

This month Josie has had the pleasure of seeing lots of family. Aunt Megan moved in to live with us for the summer while takes classes at our local community college and Josie loves having her around. At the end of the month we took the trek up to Gram and Pop Pop's for a week long visit and had a great time! Each morning Josie got to sit on Pop Pop's lap and chat before he left for work. A couple days we got to see Aunt Kristin, Uncle Nate, Weston and Jordan and Josie got to go swimming in Weston's pool with him. We visited Gram at work one day and hung out with her on her day off that week. I even got to relax in the evenings on the deck with my parents. It was lovely!

Diaper modeling at Gram and Pop Pop's. 

morning routine

Mildly obsessed with Gram's name tag

Loving Weston's pool

Josie also attended her first wedding- our friends Shelley and Andrew got married on May 19th. I was one of Shelley's bridesmaids. Charlie, Megan and Josie came for the ceremony and then Meg took Josie home and put her to sleep while Charlie and I got to enjoy the reception. She was such a cutie in her little dress!

11 months
Weight: my guess is around 17 lbs?
Clothing Size: Finally made it into the 9 month clothes!
Likes: the swings, Paisley, flipping through books, her sippy cup, her doorway jumper
Dislikes: having her face wiped, long car rides, being contained anywhere too long
New foods: hummus, PB&J (liked both!)

Mothers Day

My first Mother's Day was simple but nice! Charlie made breakfast (waffles!) for me complete with mimosas.

Then we went on a walk and a picnic for lunch. I love picnics so this was great. Paisley forgot to mind her manners though and stole a piece of Josie's cheese and a piece of dark chocolate (which Charlie quickly wrestled from her jaws). In the afternoon I relaxed while Jos napped and then Meg came over (she was staying the night) and Charlie made dinner. I received four sweet cards (from Charlie, J&P, Meg and my parents) and two beautiful bouquets of flowers.

I'm so thankful for those two who make me a mommy (and a fur mommy). 

10 months

My apologies to Josie's fan base for the lack of posts over the last month and the lateness of this post. I know some of you were getting impatient (DAD).

This month has been full of milestones! First- Josie finally got two teeth! Her bottom two front teeth are in and they started cutting through on the 15th. We had about a week of some general fussiness and trouble going to sleep (never waking up in the middle of the night THANK THE LORD) and then they finally appeared. No idea if she'll get more anytime soon but I am looking forward to eventually being able to give her food that requires more chewing. She is a pro at chewing with her gums though. She was even "chewing" her applesauce the other day.

A little burry but you can see her new pearly whites!

The other big development is that she is full on crawling. As in can now move distances and I can't leave her alone for a minute and assume she'll be in the same spot. She first crawled on April 14th. She had been trying to move around for little while and would scoot a little here and there. Then I went out on a Sunday to go do some work at Starbucks and Charlie called me to tell me he saw her crawl. Of course! But I've gotten to see plenty since then. She is now pulling up on things and I fear it is only a short while before she starts walking. The other day I saw her standing in her crib and talk little steps along the side. Oh my.

She had also learned how to give kisses and high fives. Kisses are only given when she's in the mood though. At our playgroup last week she was sitting next to her friend, Ellie (who is 2 1/2 months younger) and she crawled right up to Ellie's head and gave her a kiss. Megan (Ellie's mom and my friend) and I just died. It was the cutest thing ever. She will also now just imitate the kissing noise by smacking her lips together if you do it to her first. Below you can see her giving Charlie a smooch when he got home from work one day.

Her favorite place to high five is on the swing. She'll swing back and forth and stick her little hand in the air as she comes forward. Sometimes she'll just be sitting around and her hand shoots right up, demanding a high five. It's so cute.

She's also getting the hang of waving though it is still a tad similar to the high five action.

One less fun development is separation anxiety. This is most apparent when we try and put her in the nursery at church. She gets so upset and will not calm down. We put her in a few times over the last few months and she was ok the first few times but it has gone downhill as of late. She also will not be held by strangers and sometimes even by people she knows. Other times she's much better with people who aren't Charlie or I. I'm not really sure what to do about the nursery situation. The volunteers are great and are willing to work with her but she gets so upset that when I come and get her she will not stop crying until we physically leave the nursery room and even after that it takes a while for her to stop doing the super sad "cry-sniff". She now will get upset as soon as we approach the nursery door. So the past few weeks we've just kept her with us and stayed in the cry room. I don't want her to scream her head off for an hour and a half but I also want her to be able to adjust to child care situations! And as an aside- I'm not that mom who just can't leave her child- I leave her with Charlie all the time and we've had friends and family babysit. I feel I have to make that caveat because I've been asked!

Despite the separation anxiety, this stage is really fun! It's so fun to watch her explore and she's getting pretty good at entertaining herself with toys for a little bit while I do a chore or drink my coffee. 

We had a couple of really hot days in April (high 80s, low 90s) so one day I set a towel down on the deck, took her diaper off and let her play with some water and stacking cups (from Gram!). She L-O-V-E-D it and it easily kept her attention for half and hour. Some (modest) shots are below. 

Love my puppy!

This month we also participated in a baby swim class at a local community center. Megan and Ellie joined us and it was so fun each week. Josie loved the water, though she would start to get cold by the end of each class. I see a little water baby in our future.

She's still eating pretty well though some meals are better than others. She is a cheese monster. Loves it. Can't get a enough. She apparently felt a bit possessive about this spinach as well:

10 months:
Milestones: crawling, two teeth!
Favorite Activities: Swinging, bath time, crawling on Paisley, playing with her activity table
Favorite Foods: Cheese, puffed brown rice, strawberry yogurt smoothies
Disliked foods: Avocado, blueberries (I still plan to expose her to these- I mean, come on, who doesn't like blueberries?!)
Weight: no idea but my guess is over 16 lbs

Swinging with Aunt Megan

Crawling all over the chair in her room

Girl time with Ellie

Hi Mama!

Looking out the window

9 months

Just a girl and her dog

This month has felt like a turning point for me. It's a combination of things really. But they have all come together to create an fantastic time in Josie's life (and hence, mine). It was a slow progression but this month there seem to be waaaay more "good" days than bad. Not that our days were that bad before, it just feels like life is extra sweet now.

First and foremost are Josie's naps. As in, she is predictably taking two longer naps a day. HALLELUJAH  It only took 8 months but she is finally on a basic, predictable schedule. She now naps for about an hour and a half in the morning (usually 9-10:30, unless I'm feeling lazy and we sleep in) and an hour and a half in the afternoon (usually 1:30 to 3 but this is based on when she wakes up from her first nap). Her longer morning nap developed right around the first of the year (so, 6 months) but her afternoon naps were still short 30 minute little devils and that meant there was usually two of them because she just couldn't go from 1pm till 6:45 with only one nap. She started showing signs that she might develop a longer afternoon nap around the beginning of the month. She began completely resisting a third nap, even if she hadn't slept well for her afternoon nap and the afternoon nap began being 45 minutes, sometimes even close to an hour. But not consistently. Until Friday, March 22nd. Oh yeah, I remember the day because I had been waiting so long for it. Charlie suggested to me that instead of putting her to sleep 2 hours after she had woken up, that I try and keep her up for closer to 3. So I tried it that day. And she slept for the hour and a half afternoon nap. And has repeated this since then. It is fantastic. It's so nice to know that I basically have about 3 hours to get things done during the day, particularly paid work. Plus, Josie is well rested and much more easy going now that she's sleeping well.

Best picture I got

So THAT has been the highlight of my month.

In addition, since daylight savings, the days are getting longer and we're able to get out and about more in the late afternoon and with the hopefully nicer weather that is on it's way we hope to get out even more. Because of this, I've been feeling more active in general and was recently able fit (read: squeeze) into a pair of pre-pregnancy pants. Yippee! And yes, I'm still not back to my original pant size but it I am S-L-O-W-L-Y getting there. Last Sunday I competed in a mini triathlon and though it really was fairly short distances (1.5 mile run, 4 mile bike ride, 250 yard swim) it did a lot for my mental state. I had to go by myself because it started in the morning and was 45 minutes from our house. At first I was bummed about this but afterwards it felt so good to go and accomplish the race all by myself. I'm toying with the idea of signing up for another one later this year.

I was VERY brave for my shot!

Josie has also been more into food lately. As I noted in previous monthly posts, she wasn't thrilled about food at first and wouldn't really take anything off a spoon. Well, she has progressed to letting me feed her some things off a spoon and it's become obvious that she really likes things with more flavor (duh..don't we all?). I've made a couple different soups for us and just pureed them more or adapted them slightly and feed them to her. She loved them. Her favorite seemed to be a curry butternut squash soup, though she also enjoyed a kale and white bean soup and a black bean tortilla soup. We introduced yogurt a week ago and she also seems to really like this. I made a little smoothie for her with yogurt, frozen strawberries and fresh basil (we had it on hand) and she loved that too. She is just apparently not a fan of the blandish baby food, and I can't say I blame her.

All these things have combined to make my days a joy. I love that my job is to hang out with my fantastic and adorable kiddo but I still get to earn a little income and keep my adult mind occupied through my part time work.

Sigh, the days of good chair pictures
are over

So, back to Josie! She is still not officially crawling but can get around in her own way. She will get on all fours in the crawl position but still hasn't made the connection that she can crawl. She'll scoot backwards and will also roll to get whatever it is she wants but no crawling yet. Shows you what I know with my predictions! She does love to stand and hold onto things, if we stand her up. She will push up on things- in particular- us. But she isn't pulling up yet- more like pushing on our legs to climb up on me and using me as a balance to reach toys she wants.

As I mentioned, Josie is eating more food. She now eats breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast is usually scrambled eggs and fruit. Lunch and dinner are often a mish mash of things we have on hand including: peas, cheese, purees mixed with yogurt, beans, more fruit and veggies, anything from our dinners that I can adapt for her. One thing I should note. Girlfriend could live on cheese and puffed brown rice. She will NEVER refuse either of these things and now gets excited when shes me or Charlie pull either package out. If we're out at lunch time (often playgroup) she will eat one of the baby food pouches.

She still has no teeth. As much as I'm looking forward to her being able to chew more things, I will miss that gummy little smile when it's gone! She's also still pretty bald, though this month her hair has started to come in a little more. It's more visible and fuzzy.

Hello there!

She had her 9 month check up on her monthly birthday (April 1st) and she is doing great! The doctor is not concerned about her weight, even though she is now in the 5th percentile at 15 lbs, 6ozs, because she noted that Josie is becoming more active AND her height is proportional to her weight. She was 26 inches, which put her in the 7th percentile. She's just a teeny little babe! Her head however is still right around the 50th percentile. Which I fine, but I'm pretty sure she gets that from her Daddy.

This past month we started swim lessons at a local community center, thanks to a gift from Gram and PopPop! Josie loves the water and is not afraid to get in it or have it poured over her head. She's quite the water baby and we can't wait to take her to the pool and the lake this summer!

Last, I just have to say how good Paisley is with Josie. She let her pull her fur and explore her face and just lays there. When she's had enough, she'll just get up and walk away, but usually not without a face lick for Jos. She follows me into the nursery every morning to get Jos and will sometimes sniff at the sides of her crib. Josie, also always looks for Paisley when I pick her up each morning. Paisley has also of course become very faithful during meal times, per her Lab pedigree.

Paisy giving Josie leg kisses

Just sitting on my dog...

9 months
Favorite foods: Provolone cheese (this just happens one type of organic cheese I can find at Wegmans and we haven't tried others yet), puffed brown rice, flavored soups, yogurt with pureed strawberries, peas, pumpkin pancakes
Foods she's not crazy about: Avocado (still!), my homemade applesauce (I don't know what is wrong with her), some purees
Stats: 15 lbs, 6oz, 26 inches long
Favorite Activities: Bath time, swinging at the playground, crawling on Mama and Daddy, "petting" Paisy

Moving and grooving means no good pictures for Mommy

Standing pretty