Proud as a Peacock

I love halloween. I love the costumes, the candy and the fun. Even more, I love finding ridiculously cute costumes for my kid and making her wear them. I am already sad about the day when Josie wants to choose her own costume. That will probably be the year I start dressing up again myself. And as fun as that will be, I will probably only dress up on Halloween. Quite different than the 30 or so times I made Josie put on her peacock costume this year and strut around.

quicker and quicker

time keeps moving. yikes. So it's been a while since the last update, but fear not, there is much coming your way.

Food Lover in Training

As anyone who knows us knows, food is a huge and wonderful part of our life. We have been determined to introduce Josie to lots of flavors hoping she will have a nicely developed palate when she gets older. So far, she is particularly fond of tart and/or vinegary things, cheese and fruit. There hasn't been much that she doesn't enjoy (with brussel sprouts topping that list), but lately she has been refusing a food one day and gobbling it the next. Oh well, we'll keep offering and I have no doubt that she will keep eating.

Food is so very exciting


Sometimes she likes to lick her bowl
(I think she gets this one from grandpa hamlin)


Even raw fish is delicious


But she especially loves pickled tomatoes
--or maybe she just loves Superdawg


Even bad pizza is good


Sometimes she likes to eat tomatoes like apples


and the most exciting of all: In-n-Out

Happy New (Josie) Year

I was told this would happen but didn't quite believe it. Time keeps just moving faster and faster. This is the longest I have gone without updating the blog but I feel like her birthday was yesterday. We have had an incredible year and are looking forward to the one ahead. It's funny, but we haven't really been measuring our years the normal way. Lately our new year starts the day Josie was born. So here we are celebrating the new year (or Josie's birthday if that's the way you think).

Welcome everyone to my house!


Won't you come in and stay a while?


Birthdays are super cool. People bring you these great boxes that have nice noisy paper and tissue paper to play with.


My friend Josh even brought me my very own tiger! Now I go for tiger rides every day.


As if there isn't enough stuff going on, I get to take my very first bike ride too.


Safety first of course.



Presents are great, but I think we should celebrate by eating cake!


It's really good. My grandpa made it himself.


I love cake


A lot


I think I'm gonna be sick


Now it's time to say goodbye. Bye now.

Coolsville

Future's so bright, she's gotta wear shades.

Happy 1st Birthday Josie!

I cannot believe it. Josie is 1!!! Wow. Her birthday has been great but completely surreal. Cliched I know, but where did the time go? This has absolutely been the fastest year of my life. We visited the doctor today and Josie has jumped to a whopping 28th percentile for weight (from about 20th at our last appointment), still has the big noggin in the 77th percentile and has jumped again in height to the 80% percentile. We have officially switched to whole milk and have been given the okay for her to eat EVERYTHING. This even includes sushi! That should be an interesting meal.

Speaking of meals, Josie was treated to a yummy steak dinner at Outback by her Auntie Jay. The servers just loved her and did not at all mind singing their birthday song when they brought dessert. She didn't realize people had gathered around her to sing and the expression on her face when they start is priceless. Just as they finished, the guy at the neighboring table thought she deserved the real happy birthday song and so we all joined in. Josie loved it.

the video's a little dark, but you can hear the lovely voices just fine:

L.A., Take 4

Yes, we went to L.A. again to see Nana and Grandpa for two whole weeks. Unfortunately, Nick couldn't take time off work and it was just Josie and I. 16 days is definitely too long when daddy isn't along. But we did have fun and Nana and Grandpa were thrilled. This is the longest I have been both in L.A. and away from Chicago since I moved here nearly 11 years ago. It was great to have plenty of time to spend with friends and family and we were even able to have tacos at Alison's birthday party and surprise Auntie Erin by attending both her baby showers.

One of the first things we did after arriving was join Aunt Michelle, Uncle Malcolm and Cousin Cashel at the beach. We walked from their condo and spent an hour or so on the sand. Josie wasn't really sure how to take the surf. Here she is experiencing it and then looking a bit shellshocked.


but she loved playing with her cousin in the sand


And then we all enjoyed a yummy lunch at The Shack. While the last time we went I had the Shack Burger (a yummy cheeseburger topped with a Louisiana Hot Link), this time I opted for the delicious Patty Melt. Soooooo good. Everyone was tired but in surprisingly good spirits.


We also went to a farmer's market on Sunday and the playground on many other days. It was an outdoor playground with these nice padded floors and great stuff for all ages. Some of the times we went everyone thought Josie was a boy. I can't imagine why.


We also took a trip to the aquarium in Long Beach. It was great. Josie got to pet some sort of ray, was mesmerized by sharks and kelp and had a great time watching her cousin get super excited by all the fishies. We even fed some birds, though Josie wasn't nearly as interested as Cashel.


Back at my parent's house, Josie showed us again what an avid reader she is


Took some piano lessons


Hung out with Cashel


Discovered child cabinet locks


Learned how to go up and down stairs



and slept really well


But perhaps most exciting, Josie took her first unassisted steps!


Of course, a visit to LA wouldn't be complete without a visit to the sushi bar


and now we are back in Chicago for a little while at least. No more LA until Christmas but maybe we'll visit somewhere else in California.

Slacker McSlackerson

I know, I know, I have been really slacking when it comes to updating the blog. There is definitely lots of stuff to catch up on. Let's start by heading back to June...

when Josie had fun exploring the Portage Park pool:


which was almost as much fun as playing with Brett in his pool:


But as we moved to July and the (theoretically) hotter weather, we thought some indoor activity would be nice. And since I just happened to be at the library when the Museum of Science and Industry passes were being returned, that is where we went.


Then, for the second half of July we went to LA...again. That post will be coming soon.

Is it really July already?

Because I am having a very hard time wrapping my head around the fact that in a few short weeks not only will summer as I see it be half over, but we will be just a few more short weeks away from Josie's first birthday. Really?! Wow. July also brings yet another trip to Los Angeles. Not that I'm complaining and I can guarantee you that my parents are definitely not complaining. However, the imminent trip did make me realize I never posted pictures from our trip in early June. We (Nick, me and Josie) traveled with Erik, Nikki and Paul to LA to go to the tattoo convention on the Queen Mary in Long Beach and stayed a few extra days with my parents. It was a great time.

Josie got to spend lots of time with her cousin Cashel

Playing


Eating


and more playing


and she got to spend some quality time with Grandpa


We also went out to a fun restaurant that has an honor system when it comes to drinking the wine. Judging from this photo, I think Josie may have been abusing that system. Either that or she has a future conducting orchestras.


either way, she was definitely having fun


On a side note, apparently the Queen Mary is haunted and the ghosts like to push unsuspecting people carrying a baby down the stairs. I experienced this first hand when I missed a step, thought I broke my ankle and in the process nearly gave Erik a coronary. I quickly realized I would be hurting quite a bit more if my ankle was broken and thought I must have imagined the loud cracking sound when I hit the floor (Erik assures me I did not imagine the sound, but I guess it just wasn't a bone cracking sound). Josie, by the way, didn't even notice the fall. I was thankfully able to walk just fine on it and four weeks later it is getting closer to pain free. The night it happened, though, wasn't so pretty...


so here's to hoping we don't encounter any more ghosts anytime soon.