The First Birthday Party

I think it's safe to say we've finally recovered from the party and life with a one year old has begun! The party was a blast, perfect weather with lots of friends and family to help us celebrate. Josie was adorable in her party dress, complete with curly pigtails and shimmery pink shoes!

I'd started to doubt my decision to have a moonwalk at the party, it wasn't exactly cheap, and Josie would never remember... but it was SOOO worth it. I'm trying to figure out a reason to rent it again in the Spring just because! It was so much fun, for the kids and adults alike, worth every single penny :)



So that's how our morning started, with the moonwalk guys setting up. All the kids in the neighborhood came down to play before the party started, I got all the balloons filled (special order pink, blue, and green polka dot helium balloons) and surprisingly had the house ready to go well before the first party guest arrived!

But as soon as the party got under way, everything became a total blur and the party was over in the blink of an eye. That's the downside to being the hostess, not really getting to enjoy your own party, but it was still a lot of fun. I've "thanked" all my friends with kids for not forewarning me of the chaos that is present opening time. "OPEN THIS ONE!!" Cards and wrapping paper flying every which way.



Loved every minute of celebrating Josie's first year. Next year though, pizza, cake and ice cream. Low key ;)

For the Love of Candy Corn

Although today could hardly be considered a fall day, it being 75 degrees and all, the leaves are changing and falling off the trees already... so I felt it appropriate to do some seasonal baking inspired by Sugarcrafter. These were almost as much fun to photograph as Josie!

First of all, these candy corn kisses, in and of themselves are delicious (can be purchased at Target)! Wow, who knew?!?


But they're doubly amazing atop peanut butter cookies...



Yeahhhh... these aren't going to last long. Super tasty :)


Otherwise, not much new around here today. JJ was cute and fun today :) We didn't do much today excpet go for a long walk with Josie in her wagon and toddled around the yard!

At one year...

Josie weighs exactly what she weighed at her 9 months appointment (which was actually 10 months)...23 lbs (85th%). Her height is 30 1/2" (90th%) and her head size is in the 5th percentile. hmm. Whatever that all means, it all adds up to cute and healthy and that's all we care about. Our doctor loved seeing what a happy social little girl she is as asked, "Is she always this happy?" I laughed and said yes.... everyone asks us that :) But as we were waiting patiently in line to make our next appointment, the fussing, wiggling, whining started. This is somewhat new to me so it was a task to manage to say the least. We ended up coming straight home and down for ANOTHER nap today. This chickadee has been napping a lot lately!


At 12 months Josie is a walking pro. She entertains herself really well toddling around the kitchen, laundry room, living room, and dining room. She has lot of fun toys that she loves, but goes to her stuffed furry friends usually first.


She's really great at cleaning up after her breakfasts lunches and dinners. I think she likes eating her meals more off the floor than in her chair ;) Luckily I keep the floor spic and span!



We're still doing a bottle once or twice a day. I think it's harder on us to give it up than it likely is on Josie, but we're working on it. We've introduced milk and lots of other regular foods that she's enjoying. Favorites include peas, carrots and green beans of all choices!

She cracks us up with her babbling, but is still only clearly saying dadda. We're hoping mama will make an appearance soon!

A Year Ago Today...

Josie came home.

We'd started the day off bright and early, out the door by 4 am to be "in town" ready and waiting for our lawyer when he arrived at the hospital. It was a wonderful drive, a good 2 hours, and we stopped for breakfast. We'd finalized and agreed on our name, talked about how this day was going to go... we were nervous but ready to get the day rolling.

We'd still arrived too early and needed to kill some time. Target WAS RIGHT THERE and I couldn't help but run in and look. LOOK at all the baby things that I'd wanted to buy for so long, and now I had a purpose... and I don't even think I bought much more than some receiving blankets and maybe some baby lotion. But it sure felt good. I couldn't believe I was buying for our baby, let alone a baby girl. I was still, and am still, in disbelief we were going to have a daughter!

Finally we took the steps into the hosptial... it was actually several hours we sat with the lawyer, talked and signed papers, and waited. We know Josie and her birth family were upstairs doing the same, and getting Josie ready for her ride home. Finally it was time to make our way up to Josie's room, and it was with bittersweet excitement we sat and talked about Josie, talked about what happens from here, talked about this not being a good bye, but a beginning for all of us and we'd always be close, especially at heart.

The time came where we all parted ways and Ed and I were "prepped" to be parents by the hospital nurse and they sent us on our way. Boy, we had no idea what we were doing, but amazing how we figured it out. We headed out the door for the long drive home... I don't think I took my eyes of this for a second:



Home was never sweeter a sight than that day, having my mom and dad waiting for us... a room FILLED with baby girl clothes, baby bassinet ready and waiting... and we welcomed Josie home forever.

A Year Ago Today: The next Call

A year ago today, we carried on with our normal week (it was monday morning), not really knowing how the day would go, if we'd get a good call or a let down call... Ed and I rode to work together, and parted ways.... knowing we'd be on edge all day waiting for the phone to ring again. We cautiously told our coworkers what was going on... trying not to get too ahead of ourselves, we (especially me) assessed what was going on in the office, things I'd need to wrap up, things I needed to explain... I'd potentially be gone for quite a while and it was overwhelming wrapping up my job in a single morning.

My phone rang. The answer we'd been waiting for, she was ours. This is when things turned frantic and FOR REAL! It was with great excitement that I shared the news with all my coworkers and family via phone and email... there was little time to explain, Ed and I had to wrap up work and get home and GET READY! I think I spent the time home that night frantically getting our house cleaned up and it wasn't until 11pm that night that Ed and I realized we needed to get serious about this whole name situation. Overwhelmed to say the least, we had a restless night waiting for 4 am to arrive, the time we set to leave the house to be at the hospital in time to meet up with our lawyer and get the next day underway...

to be continued...

A Year Ago Today: THE CALL

It was a year ago today that we got "THE CALL". We had no idea it was coming, we'd started that day like any other day.... (written on September 28th, 2008 a few days after bringing Josie home):

The previous day (actually, Josie's birth day) we had hosted the neighborhood block party, it was a great time lots of people, house a mess... hadn't slept well for days b/c I was so busy getting ready for it. Party was great, knew that on Sunday we would have all day to relax. We're big bike riders, but this summer we had really slacked - so was saw it fitting, on the last day of Summer, to take a nice long bike ride - for us, that means 30 miles. So, off we went, beautiful day. About 22 miles into the bike ride, I'm b*tching and moaning about how I'm out of water, I'm hot, sweaty... we were out of shape from not doing a long ride this summer, etc... When all of the sudden, Ed's cell phone rings. That's highly unusual for the weekend. So we stop, I don't think anything at first, but then Ed gets off his bike and I walk over to him. I hear a woman on the phone, talking loudly and quick. (My heart is racing just thinking about it) My ear is up against Ed's, and I hear - baby born yesterday HOW QUICK CAN WE GET TO THE HOSPITAL?!?! I start crying, saying "oh my God!" and we're standing off the side of the road, in the middle of NO WHERE. Literally, in the middle of a corn field. We were still 10 miles from home on our bikes, and the hospital was almost 2 hours away. So we immediately got on our bikes, peddled as fast as we could to get home as quickly as possible, at the same time, frantically calling my neighbor/friend to come and get us RIGHT NOW!

We peddled at mach 10, my heart racing, tears running down my face… until our friend found us and rushed us home. We RAN into the showers, packed a few things (we had no idea if we would be spending the night there or what) and raced out the door. It was a calm ride to the hospital, believe it or not. A lot of happy but nervous talk about how this might be our baby girl (we wouldn't know for sure until the next day...), about how we might want to seriously start talking about names... and just happy to be on our way!

Upon arrival at the hospital we met this sweet little peanut, her cubby little face, and a full head of hair. We cuddled her and loved her to pieces, and left the hospital that night already falling in love and not even knowing she was ours yet... but we had a good feeling.

Ed holding Josie for the first time


to be continued...

mmmmm cake, i love you so!

great party. great cake. I've forced mimi into making the cupcake cake a tradition, starting with Nate and now with Josie.... more to come after the house and I recover :)

Party Day

Today's the party day. We're getting there, slowly but surely! I'm surprised it's a general aura of calm and excited for the day. Josie is still playing in her crib, coffee is ready and we have a list of things to do for the day. Balloons and more balloons are waiting for me to fill... so I must not sit here too long!

A year ago today... (actually a year less one day, we'll say, the 3rd Saturday in September...) I woke up with a similar game plan. No, I didn't know Josie was going to be born on that Saturday, we were having a big party at our house... all our neighbors and friends. I don't do a whole lot of parties at my house, so it is rather notable that here we are, a year later having a big ole party on exactly the same day, just for a better reason. We had no idea that morning that Josie was born, we wouldn't know until the next day..... that story to be continued.

Until then, we've already gotten a few goodies in the mail for J, from some really wonderful friends. Snapped a few shots of these cute "guys" (we call all her stuffed animals that she loves to carry around "her guys". We say, "go get your guys..., or hold on to those guys, she loves her guys ;) Silly but cute), as we call them... she loves these guys lots. And love all our thoughtful friends.

Well... I'm off. Off to start my whirlwind day :) The moonwalk will be here any minutes, oh dear.

At the Beach

On Sunday, Ed and Josie tagged along with me to the Dunes for a family photoshoot I had that afternoon. I thought it a good idea to have them tag along and have fun at the beach. Josie has actually not played in the sand yet, so this was a good chance to break her in.





We set up our picnic blanket and plopped her down with a few toys, and would you believe, she would crawl to the edge, feel the sand and crawl back to the middle of the blanket. We thought this was PERFECT! It contained her and kept her mess free :) Well, I went off to do my photos for the family... and I come back to find this!!! Dad couldn't resist getting Josie more acclimated to the sand and sure enough, she ended up having a good ole time (dad dug a hole big enough to put Josie it ;)) putting sand in her hair, down her shirt and into her mouth. When we got home to take a shower - her diaper was full of sand ;)

Gallery Wrap

Oh man, I love it! I can't believe how quickly it arrived from the day I ordered it... and I giddily (is that a word?) unwrapped it and sat in awe of how cool it is. I actually ordered it in their metallic finish, which is so stubtle and interesting. I don't know if this is where it's going to stay displayed in my house, but for now I love passing by and catching a glimpse!

Walking Shoes

Given we can actually call Josie a walker, we felt it "fitting" to take her to pick out her first official walking shoes. We love Stride Rite for measuring and having the perfect fit. And we love buy one get one half off, so we're actually went home with her first pairs of shoes ;) Nothing wrong with that, right?

Josie did NOT think the foot measurer thing was cool, and in fact, didn't like anything about having her feet measured or trying on new shoes. It's actually been a few weeks already that she's been toddling around in her shoes (just discovered the photos today while clearing out Lightroom...) and we're happy to say that she does walk more steadily and on a flat foot now that she has the perfect fit!

Family Portrait

Over the weekend I actually took two minutes to set up the tripod and take a family photo. I've done a LOT of family photo shoots over the last few months (at least a few a week), yet can't find the time to photograph the J family. On our way to the the party on Saturday, we all looked halfway put together and it was the perfect setting outside to give it a try. I'm not much for too posey of a photo, but I'm so happy with this one, that I finally ordered it in 2" gallery wrap canvas for our mantle in 30x30 (HUGE) and can't wait for it to arrive. I'll post an update with it shows up!!!!

Yummy Neck...

In this photo, Josie knows the tickly kisses on her neck are coming... bracing for it...


Oh, there it is... dads give the best kisses :)

Labor Day Parade

So I get a lot of crap at work about living in, technically, a podunk town (mostly from other podunk-town-living coworkers ;)). Although our address reads another town all together, we're in an unincorporated area that is a little bit country ;) and we love it. Living on the outskirts, the sticks if you will... my neighbors are pretty much farmers, we don't have a post office to call our own, my internet connection is slow at best, tractors are pretty common road blocks, and I can hear the baby cows in the distance mooing for their mama's on a summer's night. It's pretty great... and especially on Labor Day each year... our little podunk town has a parade. They close down the main highway and line 'em up. Ed and I have been going every year we've lived here (4 years, last year the exception...), and we weren't going to miss taking Josie this year. This parade is not like one you probably see in your hometown, this one has a character all it's own.

Josie waving the firetruck along.

A good view from Dad's shoulders.

Our buddies loving the big tractors.

We sit on the corner in front of a shack of a long since gone little country store, and watch one after another HUGE John Deer tractors, and combines roll on past. The little boys OHHH and AHHH the whole time, Josie mesmerized by the candy being flung in every which direction. Sure, there was your typical marching band (which I LOOOVE), and Shiners in funny cars, but the best part is all the local farm kids driving their antique tractors for everyone to admire. You just don't get that in a big city parade :)

And that shack we camp out in front of to watch the parade, pretty darn amazing backdrop to photograph all our favorite kiddos. This picture will long be a favorite, one I think I'll look back in 20 years and just shake my head...

first Piggies :)

Heartbreakers, no? UGH! I had a dream about pigtails last night, who knows why! As we were rolling around on the floor playing this morning, and Josie's hair in her face and a total mess, I thought I'd give them a try for the first time. While completely consumed by all things Tigger & Pooh, she let me put these little piggies in her hair and my heart just broke in half. I can't even believe she hasn't pulled them out yet, SUCCESS!!!! I just love them, and I love her to pieces :)

As a side note, has anyone noticed all the cute "monster" things out in the stores lately? I think completely unrelated to Halloween even, and I'm loving the cute girl versions. I think these pajamas are adorable and upon browsing Garnet Hill a few weeks back, I discovered these monster sheets and just about died from the cuteness.


Obviously I ordered the crib sheet and am just slightly bummed that I don't know what size bed she'll go into next, otherwise I'd have ordered the next size up...I love them THAT much (oh, and they're the softest sheets, even nicer than those on mom and dad's bed! Lucky girl!) I think the movie Monsters, Inc. is on our next Target shopping list!

Loved Rocking Horse

Ed's been working on a handful of projects around the house in preparations for the party in a few weeks, and I was so happy when he told me to go get the rocking horse... he was ready to work on it. I fondly remember this rocking horse in my cousin's room when I was little. This horse is even more special to me as a reminder of how much we love and miss him. So many kid things get tossed or given away, but this was one thing that was saved and stored at my grandma's house for many years, and when she passed away, I was happy to give the rocking horse a new home in hopes I'd have a little one one day to play with it. I actually need to ask my aunt why this was saved, it must be more special than I even know. It had been well "played" with, marked up with crayons and pens (eekks! I might even be the culprit on that one... but we'll blame it on my brothers or even my cousin ;)). In any case, it needed a little bit of love, and I knew it would be so special to have cleaned up and ready for Josie to play with when she gets old enough.

I should have taken a before photo, but it slipped my mind.. Well here it is, sanded and a litght coat of stain and it looks like a million bucks...

September Babies -

Addision and Josie are only 2 weeks apart, it's been a fun year watching the two of them grow and seeing how each has developed in their own way. Addison is such a sweet little girl, quiet and content... and when Josie comes along and plows her over, A isn't too happy with J! We joke, but it's true, Josie is rough on Addison... and pretty much all other little ones. I'm sure someday they'll be best of friends, but for now... they keep to themselves :) Addision's party was lots of fun and it was nice to have a party before our party to make my check lists!

Pancake Saturday

Pancake Saturday is quickly become our favorite day of the week! This mama is getting pretty great at pancake making and this morning was no exception. We had scrumptious banana pancakes. We all gobble up every last bite and now I'm sad it's a whole week before pancake Saturday comes around again :)

Although it being Pancake Saturday should be special enough, we have a birthday party to attend this afternoon. Josie's girlfriend Addison turned one this week and we're excited to go to the party! Lots of birthdays this month, luckily Josie has a party dress (or two) :)