Driving South...

to the the Marion County courthouse in Indianapolis, at 2:45pm today the judge will grant us legal and permanent custody of our sweet daughter forever and ever. It's a big day for us, we're beyond blessed to have started this journey on January 5th 2008 (the first week of the year) and to close the circle the last week of the year with finalization today. Remarkable, and so very lucky. Most adoption stories don't come in such perfect little packages like this.

My 1st Christmas

Josie's first Christmas is a white one! We've gotten lots of snow already this year, and it's so special to us that her first Christmas is even a WHITE one too! Our Christmas day is going to be very busy, from our own morning festivities here at home and then we dash to Mimi's house, and then on to the family party. We're excited to see Nate, his first Christmas where he really knows what is going on... and can't wait until the year that Josie knows the same. Until then, we're enjoying starting our own traditions and loving every minute of it!

Get Me Out of Here!

Merry Christmas Eve! Oh how nice it is to be home with Josie and dad today. Playing Christmas songs, cooking and getting ready for Church. We're so blessed this Christmas, our best Christmas ever. Josie's wish for Christmas? To get out of the butsie seat :)

Happy Three Months Old!

On Josie's three month birthday, we're going to have a super busy day! I have lots of last minute things to shop for, so I'm heading out early this morning. Tomorrow is a crab and steak dinner at Uncle Brian's house - so lots of cooking going on here this afternoon. I'm in charge of bruchetta and another appetizer... whew, will be a busy day!

At three months old, this girl is laughing up a storm. She's really getting into the whole "peak a boo" thing, especially when dad does it! He's the comedian in the family, who wouldda guessed? Josie is sleeping from 8 pm until 4ish, every night. Gets a bottle around 4, then right back to sleep. It's sometimes a struggle after 5:30 to keep her asleep, but the soothie helps and she doesn't get up for the day until 7am. Our days are filled with lots of time spent with her bum in the bumbo seat and playing on her play mat. She's successfully rolling to her tummy, but once she gets there, she doesn't quite know what to do. It's pretty funny. Her hair, wow, still wild as ever - but she's losing it by the handful lately. It's still plenty thick on top, which somewhat conceals the bald back and sides for now. :)

Tasty!

You would think her hand tasted like candy and ice cream with the amount of time she keeps it in her mouth :) You would also think she would have found her thumb by now!

Santa Told Josie...

Santa told Josie he will bring her lots of binkies and wrapping paper to play with! This was simply the best Santa :) We had heard that Santa would be visiting Bass Pro Shops (of all places ;), we've never been before) and that his wonderland was magnificent! It SURE WAS! And to top it off, Santa wasn't charging anything for a photo op and we were able to use our own camera too, unlike when he's at the mall or the candy store. Josie was so good, we waited in line for only a short while, no drool or spitup on her pretty sweater and just "chilled" in Santa's arms! What a fun morning it was.

The symphony was magnificent! What a magical evening out celebrating the holiday season. The talk of the night was our little Josie, which of course we didn't mind. I dressed Josie up for her play date with grandpa, isn't the curly headband adorable? Her face looks so chubby and cute, but I think it's b/c she was smooshed into the bumbo ;) We opted not to stay afterwards for drinks and dessert in order to get home to see how grandpa and josie had fared. To our surprise, we walked in and Josie was fast asleep, had been since 8, and grandpa just watching the Bears game :) haha! We worried needlessly, but were glad to be home in any case!



We've been scrapbooking lots this week while keeping warm and staying home. These are my two recent favorites. I never realize how much fun it would be to scrapbook about my favorite little girl!

Getting closer to calling the nursery complete. Last week I bought the paint and went to town. Josie sat in her crib and chatted with me the entire time! I think it came out pretty cute, in the end I couldn't bring myself to paint pink, and so I chose this minty green and LOVE it! It's so refreshing and perfectly girly :) I have a third print on order for over her crib and can't wait to get it!


As for her closet, it's a wonderland of diapers, lotions, shoes, and clothes. This lucky girl has a walk in closet, AMPLE room for her changing studio. We've had these picture ledges in storage for years, and deemed her closet a perfect home for them to shelve diapering supplies and a gallery for shoes and bows when we start to accumulate more. Josie enjoys this spot of her room, loves having her diaper changed and watching her butterflies flutter about! I loving having all the diaper clutter in her closet and just adjacent to her table is all of her clothes and jammies. I had considered for a moment painting a wall in her closet either green or pink to compliment her room - but I'm a believer in closets being fresh and bright, so the white stays.


This week has been a relaxing week at home, staying inside and keeping warm! Have enjoyed quite a bit of scrapbooking and organizing! Tonight Ed and I are going to the symphony for their holiday pops concert and grandpa J is coming to play with Josie, should be a fun evening all around!

A Special Day

Josie was baptized two weeks ago, but I'm just now getting the photos. Here are a few from our special day. It was a private gathering, just our family - in which Grandpa J did the baptism. He's baptized hundreds of babies, but never one so special and dear to his heart.

Festivities

Things are looking pretty festive around the house these days! We've had a super busy week, from painting Josie's room and putting up all the Christmas decorations. We LOVE Christmas, easily observable by our 8 Christmas trees! There's lots of talk and excitement around here in starting some new family traditions, even though J is too bitty to remember, we're excited to start the fun this year. One of the cutest families I know does the Magic Elf with her girls, and the love it - so we're off to find an elf for our very own. I have a few more traditions we're going to start, but I'm most excited about this one - and especially a few years down the road! We haven't had a chance to visit Santa just yet, but hopefully soon. Dad wants to make sure he's with us, so we're going to have to fight the crowds one of these weekends.


Josie's growing and growing. I'm not sure exactly how much she weighs these days - but I'm thinking at least 13lbs! This girl smiles CONSTANTLY, even in her sleep! Speaking of sleep - she's started this waking up at 3 am thing (after several weeks of going from 8pm to 5am straight), and we don't know why. But after the bottle goes right back to sleep until 7ish - so it's still a good schedule we think. I know one day I'll be sad and miss the middle of the night cuddles - so I'm not going to worry about it. She'll usually even go back to sleep until 9 after her morning bottle. We love the little undershirts with the hand flaps, and we still use the little mittens to keep her hands warm. We keep the thermostat up, but it's so easy to catch a chill - plus we think she's pretty cute in her "boxing mitts", as dad calls them ;) Photo taken this morning during her nap, she doesn't usually have the big blanket, for saftey reasons - but a little cover while I was sitting next to her watching her sleep.

OH! and she's LOVING the Bumbo (we call it a butt-sie seat ;)). We made cookies this week and she just chatted my ear off enjoying her new sitting perspective. She's a wee bit young for the Bumbo, but we decided to give it a try (with constant supervision) considering how very strong her legs, back and neck are - and she's loving it.

Nursery In Progress

Bits and pieces of her nursery are coming together and we're so excited to bring it all together. Paint is yet to be decided, still waiting on a chair slipcover and then I hope to have a pretty darn cute room for Josie Pie. The bedding is made with fabric from Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market, we're sooo in love with these fabrics (i'm going to make pillows and a photo board with some of the fabric too! I bought the baskets from Marshalls and spray painted them pink. Ed wasn't too happy about the pink film on everything in the garage, but I'm pretty happy with the baskets, so it all evens out :) I'm planning on one more framed print to make a trio of frames over her crib, but am still pondering what I want in the 3rd frame.


On the other end of the room is her new dresser! This lamp is one of my most favorite purchases for her room. We leave it on all night long, and it illuminates the room with little dots of light - very whimsical and captivating :) The Beatrix Potter collection, along with the bookends are mine from when I was a little girl. I'm so glad my mom saved them all these years. And see that Precious Moment there on the left...? Precious Moments aren't usually my thing, but my dear friend bought this one for us. It's titled "Adopting a Life of Love" with two blonde parents and baby with dark hair!!!!!!!!! How'd they get that so perfect? :) What a treasure, for sure.

More photos to come as we move along in getting the room all decked out. I even spray painted the cutest scallop-edged night table to go next to her rocker. Cute cute cute :) oh, fyi, wonkiness of the photos due to fisheye lens. Frames are hung level :)

Thankful

Thankful takes on an entirely new meaning to us this year. I remember starting 2008 saying this year was going to be a good year. There were some bright spots, and some dark spots - times we started to lose hope that 08 wasn't really going to be all we hoped for. Needless to say, 2008 is a year for the history books for us and I can't wait to spend Josie's first Thanksgiving here at home, as a family of our own!

Catching Up.

Sooo... I needed a few extra days to work on her 2 month photos. And THEN nothing but a cloudy day and a fussy little girl - not an optimal combination for photos, but I'll take what I can get at this point. Last Thursday, Josie's 2 month, was her immunization day, and the day I was up all night with the flu. I haven't had the flu in, in.. , in.. since... well, I can't remember. Suffice to say, Ed rushed home from work to get Josie to her immunizations in time, and I laid in bed all day - with MY MOM here to take care of Josie and to keep me in quarantine. While that kept me down for several days, I just prayed I felt better by Sunday - Josie's baptism day.

Luckily, by Saturday I was at least able to start getting the house cleaned up and things prepared for our families to arrive on Sunday after the baptism. It was stressful pulling it all together, but turned out to be such a lovely day! Ed's dad baptized Josie, wearing my mother in law's baptismal dress from 56 years ago, and wore my baptismal shoes from 28 years ago. She looked beautiful to say the least. What a magnificent day it turned out to be! My dad was the photographer, and I have yet to see the photos, but soon to come!

{almost} 2 Month Checkup

So the doctor says we have a perfect little girl. We already knew that! Officially checking in at 11 lbs, 22.5". He was congratulatory of our success in getting a full nights rest at only 5 weeks. We're not due back to the doctor until her 4 month visit - at which time doc says we'll start talking about introducing baby food. Until then, we are anticipating the "roll over" pretty soon. She's up on her side all day long, it's only a matter of time before it's all the way over. Newborn diapers are officially retired, and FINALLY filling into the 0-3 clothes! In other news, immunizations this Thursday. Yikes. Should be interesting to say the least.

Best of Friends One Day...

Ed and I hadn't seen Nate since the first weekend Josie was home with us... and boy did we miss this little guy. It's hard to believe Josie will be that big one day, and just as cute. While out visiting at my parent's house, we were also thrilled to pickup Josie's new dresser at the furniture store. Her room is really starting to come together, a few other key pieces arriving this week yet.

Baby Snuggles

Could she be any more snuggly? Just before bath time, she's always tough to keep awake... but I don't care because it's just the best snuggling ever! Not to mention, although we have many blankies we love, this is one of our absolute favorites to cuddle and keep warm with.

Goo's and Gaa's

This cracks me up. Josie has really added a lot of goo's and gaa's to her vocabulary this week, so I was trying to catch a little video of it - but instead had to catch Josie from rolling away. Too funny if you ask me, but I think that's my job as mama. And just cute as a button. Not to worry though, she was in no danger of going very far...

good catch from on Vimeo.
and we found a more comfy spot to get some goo's here...

GooGaa from K on Vimeo.

Weekend Update

Completely uneventful weekend. Lounged around the house watching football, napping, bottles, no cooking. Great weekend :) Josie is sleeping a solid 7 hours each night, yahoo!!! And on the weekend Ed gets up with her in the morning so I got to sleep in today. Blissful. Just what I've needed after such a long week of major sinus problems.

Busy Week

It sure has been busy around here this week. Seems like we've been running out just about every day - which has been fun! We went to the bank yesterday and opened Josie her own bank account, have had a few successful trips to the grocery store, and even spent that 70 degree day out at the outlet mall strolling around. The Carter's outlet has the most amazing deals, and Josie is in need of bigger jammies. We walked out with a handful of cute jammies, but alas, I tried them on her and she just swims in them. She's very much between N and 0-3 sizes, darn it ;) I'd love her to be a little peanut forever, but her little bum keeps popping out of her N outfits...hahaha... so once she gets a little bigger she'll stop swimming in the next size up. We also went for a ride into the office this week, all my friends and coworkers have been begging to meet Josie. It was so much fun having her meet everyone. They thought she was ADORABLE, and I couldn't agree more. We even had a chance to weigh her (on our highly calibrated analytical scales ;)) and she weighed almost 11lbs with a clean diaper, onsie and socks! I'd guestimate that means she's right around 10lbs, yet still doesn't quite fit into the next size clothes.

In just the last few days, we've noticed many goo's and gaa's coming from Josie and we laugh every time. Speaking of laughing, J laughs all the time in her sleep. Last night she was in her swing and laughing, smiling and LAUGHING so much that the swing was bouncing up and down. I love a girl that loves to laugh :)

I think that's about it. This weekend Addision is getting baptized, so we'll be going to her celebration tomorrow. Ed is obsessed with getting all the leaves off the grass, so I know Josie and I will have fun watching him from inside the house. I've always been very hands on working in the yard, it's a welcomed change of pace that I have other (more fun) obligations keeping me from yard chores this year!

Dad and Josie needed a nap...

Not much to say this Monday morning. We had a great weekend just bumming around the house enjoying dad being home with us. We're feverishly getting the yard cleaned up for winter, pulling flower beds, mulching leaves - and yes, splitting wood! We have the wood all stacked up and ready to go for the winter. Yesterday was filled with sloppy joes and football - which obviously tired out Josie and Dad ;)

90% Luck/ 10% Technique

Lucky, I know. Ed's been on the night shift for about 4 nights now as I fight off the sinus congestion that has taken over my head and chest. I even went to the doc for some more serious meds. Thus the reason Ed is on night watch, so I can take the meds that will most be able to help, but make me very drowsy. Maybe Josie is giving dada an easy time, maybe it's luck, maybe it's technique - no matter what the reason, we can not believe how LUCKY we are that little Josie slept 8 whole hours last night. EIGHT! I don't claim to have a super human secret to lasting night sleep - but what we're doing has seemed to work. So I give credit 90% to Josie having the best temperment, but maybe 10% credit to our bedtime routine and conscious effort to keep her nights and days balanced.

And I'm moving right along with adding pages to Josie's baby book. I have so many ideas in my head, I can't scrap them fast enough. So here's the story of her name :)

Dad and I had tossed around names that we liked for the last few years. We thought girls names were so easy, and boys names were tough. Even so, we never said “That’s the name if we have a girl!”, but had a list in our minds of possibilities. When we became “paper pregnant” waiting for word from the agency of a match, we said we should get more serious about a name b/c we could get the call any day and be surprised. Yet, we never thought that would really happen, so still – no official girl name. Then the call came. The surprise call on a Sunday afternoon that there was a little girl that was possibly ours. You. From Sunday when we first learned of you, until the time we knew for sure you would be coming home with us, we didn’t even discuss names. The whirlwind of calling friends and family, wrapping up work and getting all the details ironed out consumed our day. It wasn’t until 10pm, Monday night, the night before we were to come bring you home, did dad and I sit down and get serious. We’d tossed around names, like Tessa, Lauren, Isobel… but came back to Joselyn over and over. I’ve long adored the nickname Josie since I met a Josie years ago and never forgot how sweet I thought that name was. Now, I couldn’t picture you having any other name. Dada’s favorite was also Joselyn, and Josie for short. Middle names were more tricky! I wanted something short and cute to sandwich between Joselyn and our last name, and after searching far and wide for the perfect middle name, Ann it was. Ann is a long family middle name, including myself and your Grandma Dorothy to name a few. Joselyn Ann it was to be.

Josie "Pumpkin" Pie

What a beautiful day for Halloween this year. We're expecting close to 70 degrees for trick or treating time! I can remember years of wearing winter coats and snow on the ground, so this is a memorable Halloween for that reason too. Not to mention, Josie's very first! We thought it fitting that our Josie Pie became our Joise 'pumpkin' Pie for her very first costume. Albeit, not exactly a costume, but I don't think she could be any cuter. I'd had these knit caps bookmarked on Etsy for such a long time, it was exciting to finally have a reason to order one. Cute, don't you think?

A moment to scrap...

For years and years, my supplies have been void of girly products. I never really thought I'd be so lucky to have a little girl, and am still on cloud nine that this little girl is my daughter. Anyhow, back to srapbooking... thrilled to have a free moment (and one in which I wasn't completely exhausted) to spruce up the first page of her official baby book. Grandma D found this great leather 3 ring book, with adoption pages also. It's a lovely book, but even lovelier when adding my own touches to the pages. I'm going to follow the same format of the book, to make sure I have all my important baby info covered ;). Hoping this enthusiastic start continues through the 5 years worth journaling prompts!

Side note, last night Josie redeemed herself by sleeping 5 whole hours. Which, btw, according to "the book" that's the clinical definition of sleeping through the night. Not MY definition of sleeping through the night, but it was truly a hallelujah moment when we checked on her to see if she was still breathing at 3:45 am ;) She was, and I'm thrilled! The previous night was a doozy and I was a zombie yesterday - the extra sleep last night is much appreciated today. I'm sure I just jinxed myself and this will never happen again until she's 2 - but here's hoping!

Monday Playtime

Josie loves her SkipHop play mat! With every passing day, I can notice her focusing in on each individual toy and just enjoying the time stretching out and looking around.

Today we're going to head out to lunch with Addison (Josie's girlfriend, only 17 days older than J) and Brenda, and for a stroll around the mall. We're getting a little cabin fever these days... which is scary considering time hasn't changed yet and it isn't even winter! Yikes. We're going to stroll around the mall and see what's new - haven't done the whole stroller/gear out with just the two of us, so it will surely be a learning experience.

Regarding a Costume...

This is going to be my first Halloween that I'm not at work during trick or treating hours, and what a delight it is to be home and planning the first Halloween for Joselyn! I admit, no costume for her this year, but I have a super duper cute outfit and hat that I can't wait to photograph my Josie 'pumpkin' pie in ;)

We've had awesome success the last few nights with a bed time routine that involves HER CRIB! YAY! I thought the first night was just dumb luck that she fell asleep so easily, but after a second night of the routine and long periods in between eating - I'm so thrilled and so proud that I seemed to have gotten the hang of this, hoping I don't eat my words tonight!

Mid-week Update

Joselyn and I are catching our stride these days. Not to say we're finding a routine, but mostly finding what works for us and just going with the flow. After that rough night earlier this week, Ed and I realized that maybe there are too many bubbles in her formula that just don't escape when she burps, and that created her upset belly. Since two nights ago, we've premixed the formula and let it sit for the bubbles to escape. Her belly has been much more content and has been sleeping more easily. Maybe that does the trick, maybe it's dumb luck. Either way, mama is glad to get more sleep and have a giddy happy baby in the morning. I think today we're actually going to venture out of the house to visit with Mimi, and possibly (hopefully) run into the furniture store to get a dresser ordered for J! I'm sure they'll give us a lengthy lead time until it arrives, but can't be any longer than the insane 12 week lead time for a slipcover from Land of Nod for her rocker. So, expect a finished nursery no sooner than 12 weeks, God willing!

On Josie's One Month Birthday...

She's testing how long mama can go without sleep. Sigh. Josie had an upset tummy last night, or so we think, and hope that tonight goes much more smoothly. I'm not complaining though, she's usually a great night sleeper, but last night was the exception. Even so, we're happy and surprised to be at ONE MONTH OLD already! We didn't get much done around the house today, but that doesn't matter b/c at least we got some pretty darn cute photos :) At one month, Joselyn is starting to give us big smiles at our silly noises and faces, is eating a hearty 4oz bottle several times as day, and I can only guess is zeroing in on 9lbs here pretty soon. Her size N diapers are getting a bit snug, as are her newborn size clothes. Pretty soon we'll be digging into her closet and discovering all the 0-3 sized pretties that are waiting for her! Many outfits that were gifts that I have yet to even really "ohh and ahh" over b/c we've been just too darn busy. But soon, and we can't wait!

Rock Star Hair

To say this girl has a lot of hair would be an understatement! She has tons, and it's long. There's been much debate around here whether or not she's going to lose it or not - and I think we now know the answer is YES. I'm finding bits of dark locks on her blankie and the crib. I think there's maybe a more tame head of hair on its way in, or at least I think Josie hopes so ;)

Rise Up This Mornin'

"Rise up this mornin,

Smiled with the risin sun,

Three little birds

Pitch by my doorstep

Singin sweet songs

Of melodies pure and true,

Sayin, this is my message to you-ou-ou...."

Oh Josie, your mama can't sing to save her life. But that doesn't stop me from singing to you! I've been searching far and wide for the sweetest lullabies for us to listen to. You and I spend most of our days with the tv off, and the music on and we need more variety. I hope you have a love and appreciation for music throughout your life. Mimi was headed to the mall this week and asked if I needed anything. Since I haven't been getting out of the house very much, I told her yes! Please stop by Land of Nod and check out their lullaby collections. I've strolled through that store many times before, waiting for the day to shop for my little one - and they always have the BEST music playing. I immediately thought of Land of Nod when wondering what lullabies I needed for our collection. Boy, does Mimi love us, she bought us several cds - and we love each and every one. Mimi, Pops and I have a shared love of Bob Marley, strange but true, you'll know one day - but until then - we're really going to enjoy Bob Marley's best songs in soothing instrumentals. And my all time favorite, we've already listed to over and over again, is Elizabeth Mitchell's Three Little Birds Bob Marley Rendition (a pleasant surprise to see that in the mix on this cd!!) - so so so sweet, as is the entire You Are My Little Bird cd. We're going to have plenty of music filling our days!

Introducing "every month" Friends

Bunny and Fuzzy Bear. Inspired by Mel and others to do an "every month" photo with a special friend (or two, in this case) to show how Joselyn grows throughout the year. Bunny is my special animal for Joselyn, bought it for her long before we met her. Bunny has waited in the crib for quite a while for Joselyn to come home. Fuzzy Bear is a gift from Joselyn's birth mom for this exact reason so she can see Josie's growth throughout the year as we share photos with her frequently! Only 5 more days until Joselyn is one month old and her first in a series of 12 begins.

Regarding Sleep...

I'd like to say a few things. I've never been so happy to be awoken in the middle of the night, than I am to soothe Josie. But there's no doubt it is a definite change in my entire balance and my ideals of what a good nights rest consists of. I feel like I could write a book about the things "no one told me" before baby arrived... and raking high on that list is what it's like to get up after only one-two hours of sleep, after an already long day - and struggling to keep my eyes open and the bottle in her mouth at the same time! It's been a challenge.

_

My other question would be, what did humankind do before the invention of the baby swing? I try and try, over and over again, with marginal levels of success to put Joselyn down in the bassinet to sleep at night. But try as I might, last night was a no go on sleeping in the bassinet. Last night, like most nights, I put her down for what I consider her first "down for the night" at 10pm and she rested peacefully in the bassinet until 12. Usually she lasts longer, more like one, but 12 it was. Normal routine of diaper and bottle, quietness, darkness... and she'd usually go right back down. After several attempts of picking her back up, rocking, soothing, soothies, butt patting... just when I'm CERTAIN she's out cold, and even giving it a few extra minutes for good measure and place her back down, alas, no luck and eyes are open. I do the whole hand on her, holding her hands, patting her belly/back, rocking etc... at least three rounds before I couldn't do it any longer and into the swing she went, slept peacefully until we did that whole routine again at 5 am, with me crashed on the couch in the mean time. Swing, priceless.

Sealed and Sent

I'm proud to say that I have every last birth announcement out the door! I'm glad I went with a more simple design that I originally planned, and even so, it was a lot of dedication to get them done. At the last minute, I almost took the easy route and just ordered a digital version but am so glad I stuck it out and found the time to get them done exactly as I'd always dreamed they would be - complete with photo stamp and all!

Weekend Update

We had a blast this weekend, especially with dada home with us! It gave me a chance to catch up on some sleep in the early morning when Ed would get up with Josie, and we enjoyed a few outings too. Saturday morning was filled with stops, including Babies R Us. I have a whole new appreciation for baby gear and what's necessary and what's just frivolous. I still enjoy the frivolous once in a while, but enjoyed the chance for Ed and I to just slowly peruse the aisles of babydom and find things we wanted. We're definitely all set in the stroller department - a stroller for our county roads, beaches and trails, we opted for this beauty, the Baby Trend Expedition (mp3 player and odometer!):

Not that I'm going to be jogging any time soon, but it strolls along so beautifully and with little effort for long walks. But not practical for hauling in the car to the mall, to grandma's house etc. Ed tested them all for weight and foldability and we're happy to have gotten this stroller:

We now have a stroller parking lot in the garage that suits us perfectly! Other goodies we picked up included more bottles and other snuggly things.

We also stopped to visit Pops and Mimi, uncle Brian too! Uncle Brian ran the Chicago marathon today, and while we were a little bit disappointed we couldn't be route-side cheering on the runners with the rest of my family - we are SO PROUD that he finished his first marathon and in pretty great time!

Good Morning, Morning

ahhh. Morning time. How I love it. It's the best part of our day. Josie and I are both refreshed after a decent night's rest and ready to start our day. Every morning we start out with a bottle and some swing time. The sun coming through my kitchen window makes me smile, it's my favorite time of the day, and a time that used to go unappreciated being at work every day. As Josie naps throughout the morning, I have a lot of energy and keep things picked up around the house and usually have a "task of the day". So far, my bathroom cabinets have been organized and cleaned out, our closet and drawers have been switched out from summer to winter clothes, cabinets have been reorganized to accommodate all the new baby goods - and today I'm making progress on getting the birth announcements out the door.

Taking a Stroll

I think we got lucky this week and are going to enjoy some really fantastic weather! It feels great to have the windows open and the sun shining through today. I've been praying for some nice weather so we could get out and try our new stroller - and today turned out to be just perfect.

Best Birthday Gift

The last few days have been super busy in Josieland. For starters, it was Ed's birthday on Saturday, and probably his best yet. We couldn't think of a better gift to have for a birthday than our Joselyn. We celebrated from home, a special cake and dinner - and of course photos with da da and Josie.

Two Weeks Ago

Two weeks ago, Josie girl, you were born. I feel like you've been home with us only a few days, and here we are, almost 2 weeks ago you came home with us. It's been a whirlwind two weeks, but things seem to finally be settling down a little bit and dada and I are getting the hang of this mom and dad role. We're finally catching our breath.

13 Days Old

Good morning my sweet Josie! Today you are 13 days old. For the last 11 days, I've been wanting to sit down and take time to write you about everything. Everything from the day we brought you home, about all the people that have come to meet you, the cute things you do - everything. I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to keep up these good intentions of keeping up with this journaling - but somehow I think this time my journaling efforts are a wee bit more important. You are so special to us and I want to savor each and every moment. So here goes my attempt to catch up with the last 13 days, the best of your mama and dada's life so far