I Like Snow, Snow Tastes Good

It was a fun holiday week here in the Colella household. Josie was very excited about Santa coming to her house and reminded us to leave him milk and cookies and carrots for the reindeer. She did have a moment of panic when she thought that since Santa was bringing her new toys, she may have to get rid of old ones. We assured her that wasn't the case (at least not this year) and she was happy once again.

Right after Thanksgiving we visited the real Santa. Oddly enough he lives in LA.

For the actual Christmas holiday we stayed right here in Chicago. Not only was it Chicago's turn, but with baby brother due in late January, traveling was not really a possibility. Sadly, none of my brothers and their families could join us, but my parents made it and enjoyed a quiet week. We started the festivities as usual with a seafood feast at the Colellas:

and continued with Christmas morning at our house. Josie gave some great gifts, but didn't always understand the subtleties of giving--as you can see here when she wanted to wear the PJs she had given Auntie for their upcoming slumber party:
Josie got lots of fun gifts too. One of her favorites was a sled from Grandma and Grandpa. With all the snow, we were able to enjoy it almost right away. Daddy pulled Josie through the alleys and down the street while Noni, Baba and I followed. Penny lasted for about a 1/2 block before wanting to turn around.

and of course, a winter blog post wouldn't be complete without pictures of Josie eating snow.

We had a couple new ones this year. 1) snow angels:

2) pretending that snow is sand and begging to be buried in it over and over again. This kid does not feel the cold:
It was a lovely week. Here's hoping you all had as nice a time.

Feeding the Animals

Josie definitely loves our animals. She is particularly fond of Artie who she calls "my Artie" and often uses as a pillow. She thoroughly enjoys the other animals as well and likes to help out by putting food in their bowls. She doesn't quite have the idea of fresh water yet as she continues to try and wash her hands in their bowl, but hey, she's two.

Though she is well aware that feeding the animals from the dinner table is not allowed, she does try to sneak the animals treats. She also knows when she's got a free pass and takes full advantage...as you can see here when Daddy knew the memories captured would be well worth letting some discipline slide:

(for those of you viewing this on Facebook, it is definitely worth the trip to thecolellafamily.blogspot.com to see the video)

and some translation in case you didn't understand:
-a little singing
-"here you go. here you go."
-"oh no! oh no! my sandwich"
-"I want my sandwich back"
-"here you go. here you go."

Pictures in the Park

I was really planning on working backwards and trying to catch up on my posts. Easter was supposed to be next...but then I received some wonderful pictures from my friend who was visiting and I just couldn't wait to post them.

In the past, Michelle and Gabe have visited Chicago during the coldest months. Needless to say, they didn't have the greatest impression-especially coming from Hawaii. This time they got to enjoy a Chicago summer, including a Cubs game, Italian ice on Taylor St and (probably my favorite) lounging on the porch. Michelle is a photographer (I Do Believe Photography) and I am thrilled that she decided to take some pictures while here. By the way, in case you are planning a trip to Hawaii, Gabe is a dive instructor on Oahu (Kaimana Divers).

So we headed out to the park (yes it was one of those 90+ degree days) and played on the play ground:

Then we ran around for a little while, though I had to remind Josie that she's a lady:

She thanked me for it.

It was a fun day. We just wish Daddy could have been there too. Thanks Michelle!

Cashel's New Sister

On May 15th, 2010 we were all thrilled to welcome Caydea Irmchen Alissa James to the family. Josie and I were lucky enough to be in LA almost immediately after she was born and could meet her right away. Unfortunately, the reason we were there is because my mom had to have surgery on her foot. For a month afterward she had a pin sticking out of her toe.

And of course it only took one day for Josie to fall on my mom's foot and rotate the pin sideways. Thankfully the doctor said rotating was not a problem as long as the pin didn't get pushed in our out. My mom is now back on her feet and even in regular shoes, but while we were there she had to use a wheelchair-which Josie thoroughly enjoyed.

Josie rode all the way into Malcolm & Michelle's home (and Cashel & Caydea's) and then quickly displayed her baby obsession by not leaving Caydea alone.

She relaxed after a while and Cashel joined in the fun.

We had a lovely time and can't wait for the next time we get to hang with the James'.

Now I (Kinda) Know My

Josie has a new favorite pastime--singing. Unfortunately her voice and handle on the lyrics are about on par with mine. Fortunately though, she is a toddler and so it is considered cute rather than painful (as I have heard my singing called on occasion). Here we are both singing the classic ABC.

A Sucker Born Every Day

Including my birthday...

So Josie and I took a quick trip to Old Navy today to look for toddler sunglasses to shade my dear daughter's delicate eyes. Unfortunately they had none, so we meandered over to the clearance section. I held up a pair of sweat pants and asked Josie if she liked them. She grunted in the affirmative but almost immediately lost interest when she saw It. The Raincoat. She zoomed over while frantically shoving her sweatshirt off her shoulders and yelling "Auff, Auff." I helped her out of her sweatshirt and into the shiny, flowery wonderfulness that was The Raincoat, telling her she could wear it "for now." Josie then commanded "bop-p, bop-p" so I quickly buttoned up her Coat. She didn't like that I had left the top button undone and told me so. After I corrected the situation she settled down with a satisfied air, gave me a little smile and pointed to her chest (and The Raincoat) while saying "Josie." I looked at her and knew there was no contest. "Yes baby, that is most definitely Yours."

I, of course, called Nick as soon as we got in the car. He pointed out what I already knew; I had just gotten hustled by a toddler.

The Doctor Is In

Surgery totally sucks--especially when it's your one and half year old getting cut. Thankfully it is now over and she is doing great, but it was definitely really scary.

The surgery was to remove a little bit of tissue that was connected from her bladder all the way through her bellybutton. It has bled a little bit every day since she was born and stained nearly all her clothes. We found out not long ago that she would definitely need surgery and scheduled it for three weeks from that day. Nick wanted to do it right away, but I just wasn't ready.

It was done at Evanston Hospital by a University of Chicago surgeon (who was awesome). The hospital has a great program where you can visit beforehand and take a tour to understand what will happen on the day of the surgery. You can even bring your older kid with so it is not so scary and unfamiliar when it actually happens. They sent us home with a little box of medical items so that we could get Josie used to seeing them.

We pulled them out every day to play with.

Even Artie got into the spirit and let Josie practice her doctor skills on him.

On the day of the surgery Josie was not allowed to eat or drink anything prior. We expected her to be a screaming mess, but thankfully we had the first surgery of the day and she did great. It helped that the hospital has an awesome play room with every kind of toy, book or craft project imaginable.

Finally it was time for the surgery. We took a last goodbye picture of her belly

and then walked her down to the holding room where we waited for the nurses and doctors to take her in for the surgery. I hate to say it, but those little hospital gowns are awfully cute.

The surgery took just over an hour and once they got her back in the holding room, I was able to sit with her until they got her detached from the machines and brought her back to the pediatrics area. She was still really sleepy from the anesthesia.

Nick met us back by her room and we settled down to wait what we expected to be two hours or more.

Thankfully it was only about 30 minutes before we were on our way home. Once there, we all just vegged out on the couch or in bed. It took a lot out of us all.

By that evening Josie was interested (really interested) in food and was running unsteadily around. She fell right to sleep and slept through the night no problem. Just a day later Josie seems basically recovered, if a little cranky. Now if only Nick and I could recover...

snnnn-ohhhhhh!!!

Josie loves snow (or nnnn-oh in josie-speak). We have had only a couple opportunities to discover this love, but have tried to make the best of them. After bundling up

we headed outside

where Josie had a nice little snack

and then stayed for an HOUR. Even after an hour (and a snowball in the face), she did not want to come in. Maybe it was because I was doing all the heavy lifting. Whenever we approached thicker snow on the sidewalk, Josie stopped, requested "up" and sat quietly while I walked through the thick snow. As soon as we reached the end, she would wiggle to get down and was off again.

I can't say I blame her for wanting to stay outside. It was such a beautiful evening, with snow blanketing everything and piled knee high on all sides. In fact, the piled snow was the perfect height to push a toddler into.

What you can't see here is that Josie insisted I join her. First she had me sit down next to her and then she told me night-night so that I would lay down next to her in the snow. Good times.

Christmas 2009

This Christmas was a traveling year, so the three of us headed out to LA for almost a week of mid to upper 60s sunshine. First stop: Santa pics. Josie was definitely a little more wary this year of Santa, but overall it went pretty smoothly and we got this lovely picture.

We had fun hanging out with the family and even managed to have some cuddly nap time.

And we had tons of fun at the (now semi) annual Christmas party.

But best of all was Christmas day where Josie had tons of paper to tear! She has since come to love all of her fun gifts, but really, the paper and empty boxes were the main attraction that day.

Christmas was also filled with great photo ops and the super cute duo of Josie and Cashel did not disappoint.

Just a few short days after the holiday, we were headed back to Chicago (which had received about 8 inches of snow in the six days we had been gone). We got to celebrate Christmas again and it was just as fun the 2nd time around.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!