Friday, January 04, 2008
xmas
Well, Josie was definitely spoiled this Christmas! I didn't figure she would really get into the opening of her presents, since most of my nephews and neices had meltdowns on xmas eve at her age. But she actually did really well-maybe because we opened gifts before dinner since the ham wasn't done yet. She didn't appreciate the sleeves on her pretty dress that Papa bought her, but other than that, she was in fine spirits. She had her cousins to play with and lots of attention from the adults. Grandma and Papa got her a princess tenet-and she and Josh had a blast playing in it. And since Josie likes Josh's Duke (stuffed dog) so much-he got her one of her own. We named it Duchess, of course.
After I put Josie to bed, I drove back up to Portland for midnite mass and then back down to Salem afterward. I got to bed about 3:30am and Josie woke up at 6:30am. All I heard was "Whoozzatt?" I assume she meant me since I hadn't been there before . . . So cute. I woke up laughing, which is good since I was so tired.
Christmas Day was full of more presents and lots of family. Just perfect!
After I put Josie to bed, I drove back up to Portland for midnite mass and then back down to Salem afterward. I got to bed about 3:30am and Josie woke up at 6:30am. All I heard was "Whoozzatt?" I assume she meant me since I hadn't been there before . . . So cute. I woke up laughing, which is good since I was so tired.
Christmas Day was full of more presents and lots of family. Just perfect!
18 months . . .
and so adorable!
Hey Josie-bean! You know, I was a little concerned about how little you were talking, but no more! Every day you seem to have a new word or phrase-of course, sometimes you have your own "spin" on the word-but I figure it still counts. My favorite right now? Whazzat? or Whoozzat? (What's that? or Who's that?). It kills me when you wake up in the morning talking like that. So cute.
However-I haven't seemed to figure out where the volume control is. Poor Papa Joe has to take you outside for most of Mass nowadays, not because you're crying or fussy, but because you're so LOUD and you want to explore the church. I fully expect to look up one day and see you up by the altar and priest pointing at the chalice and saying "Whazzat?"
Hey Josie-bean! You know, I was a little concerned about how little you were talking, but no more! Every day you seem to have a new word or phrase-of course, sometimes you have your own "spin" on the word-but I figure it still counts. My favorite right now? Whazzat? or Whoozzat? (What's that? or Who's that?). It kills me when you wake up in the morning talking like that. So cute.
However-I haven't seemed to figure out where the volume control is. Poor Papa Joe has to take you outside for most of Mass nowadays, not because you're crying or fussy, but because you're so LOUD and you want to explore the church. I fully expect to look up one day and see you up by the altar and priest pointing at the chalice and saying "Whazzat?"
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Will the REAL Josephine Mai please stand up?
Oh my! Josie has been so much fun the last week or so. The reason? No teething, cold or lack of sleep! We've been swimming, played for hours at a cool coffeeshop that caters to families, went through a maze at the pumpkin patch, destroyed a video store (note to self: put Josie in a stroller next time!), and have officially instituted the waffle and bacon breakfast on Saturday mornings. She is just freaking adorable!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
6 months 15 days . . .
Happy birthday, my little monkey! Today you turn 16 months old. And you have officially been in my life for 6 1/2 months. Hard to believe. I can't imagine life without you.
Above-this is the way you give mama kisses-big wet, open-mouth ones. Cute, but sloppy!
You are a good eater-everyone comments on how much and what you like to eat. Your faves? Anything green, really. Green beans, broccoli, edamame, grapes. You love french fries. You're not a big meat eater-with the exception of bacon. And really? Who can fault you for that? Everything's better with bacon . . . But the usual kid foods-hamburger, hot dogs, pizza, sandwiches? You rarely eat this stuff.
Speaking of eating-here's some pics of your first ice cream cone. It took you awhile to figure it out and you threw a fit if we tried to help you. DON'T TOUCH MY CONE PEOPLE!
Hmm, what's this?
This doesn't seem right . . .
Oh yeah-that's much better!
There's a game we like to play-called "Mean Face". A couple of months ago-your grandma and I noticed that at random times, like when you were eating, you would just start making faces-raising your eyebrows, looking mad, gritting your teeth. You wouldn't be making them at anyone and then you would stop so you could chew something. Anyway-now we like to make mean faces at each other on purpose and it cracks both of us up! I finally managed to get one on film.
You've been in daycare three days a week for over 3 months now and you LOVE it! You particularly like Bernaditte who is there in the morning and feeds you breakfast. You always have a big smile for her and will even reach for her. This doesn't bother me-it's so much better than crying when I leave like you did for the first couple of weeks. You started out in the infant room but have worked your way up to the Wobbler room now that you're walking. Yes-walking! You still fall over for no apparent reason-but you're getting the hang of it.
It may seem hard to believe-but I tried to comb your hair right before I took these last several pics.
This is in the play structure at the doctor's office-way to spread your contagious snot to every kid in the place! I would have cleaned it off-but I couldn't reach it-and I certainly wouldn't have fit in there!
You are the best thing that ever happened to me! I never realized how much joy I could get out of singing Pat-a-Cake over and over again, or from just walking around outside while you collect pinecones and rocks and hand them to me, or even from playing the "put any random thing thing on my head" game to make you laugh. I could do without the fits over diaper-changing that you seem to only do for me (and sometimes grandma), the whining, the apple juice and milk dribbled ALL over my floor and furniture. But hey-it's all good.
We have so much fun ahead of us-can't wait! Actually, yes I can . . . .I want to savor every moment with you.
Love, Mama
Above-this is the way you give mama kisses-big wet, open-mouth ones. Cute, but sloppy!
You are a good eater-everyone comments on how much and what you like to eat. Your faves? Anything green, really. Green beans, broccoli, edamame, grapes. You love french fries. You're not a big meat eater-with the exception of bacon. And really? Who can fault you for that? Everything's better with bacon . . . But the usual kid foods-hamburger, hot dogs, pizza, sandwiches? You rarely eat this stuff.
Speaking of eating-here's some pics of your first ice cream cone. It took you awhile to figure it out and you threw a fit if we tried to help you. DON'T TOUCH MY CONE PEOPLE!
Hmm, what's this?
This doesn't seem right . . .
Oh yeah-that's much better!
There's a game we like to play-called "Mean Face". A couple of months ago-your grandma and I noticed that at random times, like when you were eating, you would just start making faces-raising your eyebrows, looking mad, gritting your teeth. You wouldn't be making them at anyone and then you would stop so you could chew something. Anyway-now we like to make mean faces at each other on purpose and it cracks both of us up! I finally managed to get one on film.
You've been in daycare three days a week for over 3 months now and you LOVE it! You particularly like Bernaditte who is there in the morning and feeds you breakfast. You always have a big smile for her and will even reach for her. This doesn't bother me-it's so much better than crying when I leave like you did for the first couple of weeks. You started out in the infant room but have worked your way up to the Wobbler room now that you're walking. Yes-walking! You still fall over for no apparent reason-but you're getting the hang of it.
It may seem hard to believe-but I tried to comb your hair right before I took these last several pics.
This is in the play structure at the doctor's office-way to spread your contagious snot to every kid in the place! I would have cleaned it off-but I couldn't reach it-and I certainly wouldn't have fit in there!
You are the best thing that ever happened to me! I never realized how much joy I could get out of singing Pat-a-Cake over and over again, or from just walking around outside while you collect pinecones and rocks and hand them to me, or even from playing the "put any random thing thing on my head" game to make you laugh. I could do without the fits over diaper-changing that you seem to only do for me (and sometimes grandma), the whining, the apple juice and milk dribbled ALL over my floor and furniture. But hey-it's all good.
We have so much fun ahead of us-can't wait! Actually, yes I can . . . .I want to savor every moment with you.
Love, Mama
Saturday, July 14, 2007
More pics . . .
As you may have noticed I've done the last few posts all at once and I'm tired, so I'll just leave you with a few more pictures.
My baby elephant . . .
Josie at first resisted walking on grass-she would always head for the sidewalk and the result never failed to crack me up. She also does this whenever I put her in a dress.
A Pic Post.
Coming after the camera . . .
Sleeping baby.
Helping papa (see that gigantic bandage on her arm-this was after her first doctor visit where they decided they need a vat of blood out of my child!)
Cute in the park.
Itty bitty pool.
Sleeping baby.
Helping papa (see that gigantic bandage on her arm-this was after her first doctor visit where they decided they need a vat of blood out of my child!)
Cute in the park.
Itty bitty pool.
The pussycats . . .
A lot of people have asked how the cats are doing with Josie-and the answer is: pretty good. They are fascinated with each other-Josie watches where they are and follows them-but gets really excited when she gets close and starts flapping her hands around, which scares the cats of course. So-we've been working on petting the cats and she's getting better.
Roxie is interested in Josie but scared so she keeps a bit of a distance. Toby, however, is quite funny. He hates it when she cries and both cats come running if she wakes up in the middle of the nite or something. He meows to her and even jumps in the crib and gets in her face as if to comfort her. This, of course, completely ticks off the girl and I inevitably have to scoop him up and throw him out of the room to calm her down.
Toby also loves bedtime. As soon as I sit in the glider with a bottle and a book (with Josie of course), he jumps on my lap, puts his paws on Josie's lap and gets comfy. Josie will only sit through one book at best after her bottle unfortunately and then I have to disturb him to get up and put her down in the crib. He'll love it when she wants to read and read . . .
The funniest thing, however, is bathtime. Toby has never really been afraid of water. He always jumps in the tub after my shower. He used to get in the shower with me and sit at the back of the tub-but he got nailed with the shower spray one too many times. I never take baths and now I find out I've been depriving him of the experience for years. He even once got in with Josie instead of waiting until she got out-but she gets a bit crazed in the tub and he didn't last long.
Please to enjoy (ever watch The Soup?):
Roxie is interested in Josie but scared so she keeps a bit of a distance. Toby, however, is quite funny. He hates it when she cries and both cats come running if she wakes up in the middle of the nite or something. He meows to her and even jumps in the crib and gets in her face as if to comfort her. This, of course, completely ticks off the girl and I inevitably have to scoop him up and throw him out of the room to calm her down.
Toby also loves bedtime. As soon as I sit in the glider with a bottle and a book (with Josie of course), he jumps on my lap, puts his paws on Josie's lap and gets comfy. Josie will only sit through one book at best after her bottle unfortunately and then I have to disturb him to get up and put her down in the crib. He'll love it when she wants to read and read . . .
The funniest thing, however, is bathtime. Toby has never really been afraid of water. He always jumps in the tub after my shower. He used to get in the shower with me and sit at the back of the tub-but he got nailed with the shower spray one too many times. I never take baths and now I find out I've been depriving him of the experience for years. He even once got in with Josie instead of waiting until she got out-but she gets a bit crazed in the tub and he didn't last long.
Please to enjoy (ever watch The Soup?):
The adjustment period.
The first couple of weeks were really rough-I must say. Josie was sick, teething and jet-lagged. She didn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. So we were both exhausted. She wouldn't let me out of her sight and whined all the time. Unless there were other people around of course. She was always quite charming around visitors and at other people's houses. She's very social.
I finally had to take charge of the sleeping situation because we were both miserable. I was in tears one night at midnite surfing online for sleeping strategies while she screamed in the next room. I finally decided on one and stuck to it and after a week or so-she became a pretty darn good sleeper. Goes to bed about 8ish and up between 5:30 and 6am. She usually takes 2 naps a day too-for 90-120 minutes each. Couldn't ask for much better.
So-now that we've settled into a routine for the most part-she a pretty happy kid. But she's very stubborn and strong-willed. Not a mellow child by any means. And a total ham too. She cracks me up. She does want to be held a lot-actually now she wants to walk holding your hands-which is great, but hard on the back!
Sampling of the mood changes the first couple of weeks:
Happy Josie:
Mad Josie ( I see this face a lot-mainly between the hours of 6 and 7pm):
I finally had to take charge of the sleeping situation because we were both miserable. I was in tears one night at midnite surfing online for sleeping strategies while she screamed in the next room. I finally decided on one and stuck to it and after a week or so-she became a pretty darn good sleeper. Goes to bed about 8ish and up between 5:30 and 6am. She usually takes 2 naps a day too-for 90-120 minutes each. Couldn't ask for much better.
So-now that we've settled into a routine for the most part-she a pretty happy kid. But she's very stubborn and strong-willed. Not a mellow child by any means. And a total ham too. She cracks me up. She does want to be held a lot-actually now she wants to walk holding your hands-which is great, but hard on the back!
Sampling of the mood changes the first couple of weeks:
Happy Josie:
Mad Josie ( I see this face a lot-mainly between the hours of 6 and 7pm):
Yeah, yeah-I'm a slacker . . .
Okay-for those of you that have dial-up service can probably understand why I haven't updated my blog since I've been home-just too frustrating to do much other than check email every couple of days. Oh yeah-and there's a little someone who doesn't like it when I'm on the computer-or actually-SHE wants to play with the computer. So-there you go.
However-I'm at my parent's house this week and after banging my head against the wall and finally giving up on IE and downloading Firefox-I have been successful in logging in to Blogger.
Wow-where to start?
I suppose with the trip home. Gee-that was fun. Can't wait to do it again! Ha! Seriously-over 30 hours of traveling-including an 8 hour layover in Seoul. I didn't sleep for over 50 hours. All in all-Josie did great. Slept the entire flight from Hanoi to Seoul (thanks to a little Benadryl and the fact that the flight was a red-eye.) We kept her up all day in Seoul and did the Benadryl thing again for the flight to San Fran. She slept for the first 4 hours of the flight. Long enough for Mom and I to enjoy the perks of business class. Drinks, dinner, dessert, coffee and a movie. Then came the middle 4 hours of the flight-or Absolute Hell as I remember it. It could have been so much worse. Josie's crying really didn't bother too many people thanks to headphones and the white noise of the air system. But I was so tired at that point that I could hardly function. And mom had taken something to help with the aches and pains and it made her drowsy. She kept offering to take a shift (meaning walk the girl or watch her while she slept so she didn't roll off the seat, etc). So I would close my eyes and try to sleep and hear or feel something and open my eyes to Josie squirming off the seat or attacking the computer as it played a Baby Einstein video or something and poor mom sitting asleep upright. Of course, I didn't have a lot of sympathy at the time. Didn't have much patience for anything really. Shocking, i know! Really, it didn't matter though. Couldn't fall asleep anyway.
Our San Fran to Portland flight was delayed a bit-so we sat on the tarmac in coach with Josie on my lap. I was in a middle seat with her and of course the person in front of me just HAD to recline her seat. Josie's face was about 2 inches from the back of the seat. She was a wiggle worm and I was so annoyed (yes, yes I know-shocking again!) at that person I didn't try too hard to keep her from kicking the seat. She fell asleep right after takeoff and woke up when we landed. Perfect.
Some pics:
Cute kids in the Seoul airport on their way to Detroit for a "creativity competition".
Josie in her very own business class seat-all for the price of a lap ticket! WooHoo!
On our way-I think we look pretty darn good for being awake for about 30 hours at this point . . .
However-I'm at my parent's house this week and after banging my head against the wall and finally giving up on IE and downloading Firefox-I have been successful in logging in to Blogger.
Wow-where to start?
I suppose with the trip home. Gee-that was fun. Can't wait to do it again! Ha! Seriously-over 30 hours of traveling-including an 8 hour layover in Seoul. I didn't sleep for over 50 hours. All in all-Josie did great. Slept the entire flight from Hanoi to Seoul (thanks to a little Benadryl and the fact that the flight was a red-eye.) We kept her up all day in Seoul and did the Benadryl thing again for the flight to San Fran. She slept for the first 4 hours of the flight. Long enough for Mom and I to enjoy the perks of business class. Drinks, dinner, dessert, coffee and a movie. Then came the middle 4 hours of the flight-or Absolute Hell as I remember it. It could have been so much worse. Josie's crying really didn't bother too many people thanks to headphones and the white noise of the air system. But I was so tired at that point that I could hardly function. And mom had taken something to help with the aches and pains and it made her drowsy. She kept offering to take a shift (meaning walk the girl or watch her while she slept so she didn't roll off the seat, etc). So I would close my eyes and try to sleep and hear or feel something and open my eyes to Josie squirming off the seat or attacking the computer as it played a Baby Einstein video or something and poor mom sitting asleep upright. Of course, I didn't have a lot of sympathy at the time. Didn't have much patience for anything really. Shocking, i know! Really, it didn't matter though. Couldn't fall asleep anyway.
Our San Fran to Portland flight was delayed a bit-so we sat on the tarmac in coach with Josie on my lap. I was in a middle seat with her and of course the person in front of me just HAD to recline her seat. Josie's face was about 2 inches from the back of the seat. She was a wiggle worm and I was so annoyed (yes, yes I know-shocking again!) at that person I didn't try too hard to keep her from kicking the seat. She fell asleep right after takeoff and woke up when we landed. Perfect.
Some pics:
Cute kids in the Seoul airport on their way to Detroit for a "creativity competition".
Josie in her very own business class seat-all for the price of a lap ticket! WooHoo!
On our way-I think we look pretty darn good for being awake for about 30 hours at this point . . .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)