Naomi

Naomi Adella joined us on Saturday, May 27! Rachel and Naomi are doing great; they went home yesterday. Naomi was born with a full head of long, dark hair. She was born 2 1/2 weeks early, but had no trouble breathing--she started crying immediately. As you can tell from the pictures Josephine isn't too excited about sharing Granna's attention. Josephine seemed to quadruple in size in one day after holding Naomi : )

Friday was the last day of school for me. I'll go in on Wednesday of this week for inservice, but after that I'm "retired". I'm happy that I will be able to stay home with Josephine, but I keep thinking of all the things I want to do with my school kids. Maybe years down the road I'll go back to teaching school, but right now I'll stick with "homeschooling" Josephine.

It's been a big weekend! Friday was the last day of school for me, Saturday Naomi was born, and Sunday we had my birthday lunch with my family and a cookout with some of our friends that evening. Actually, it wasn't much of a cookout since it was so hot outside and we have no shade. We stayed inside while Nathan grilled. We had a good time. As usual our conversation was mostly about pregnancy and babies. I'd hate to hear what our neighbors think about us . . . .

Josephine Update:

• Josephine is starting to pull herself into a standing position if she has something to grab onto (usually my fingers). She does all the muscle work herself, I just provide balance.
• She's starting to "walk" when she stands (with help). Her feet move, but not necessarily forward.
• She still hasn't rolled over from her back to her stomach. I think she'll crawl before she does that.
• Josephine is sitting up without the Boppy all the time now. She does so well that I let her sit up on her own in the bathtub now, she doesn't have to sit in the seat. She has alot more fun now that she can splash and reach for her toys.
• She pulls my hair constantly. It's not too bad if she grabs a handful, but if it's only one or two strands--ouch!!! It's almost impossible to get her to let go too, she has strong fingers. I keep telling Nathan that he's going to come home one day and I will have shaved my hair off. We'll see.

Bye-bye infant, hello baby.

Josephine is a full-fledged baby now, no more newborn left. :( and : ) She likes to roll the soccer ball with her dad, and enjoys interacting with other kids. She opens her mouth as wide as she can when she's happy or anticipating something.

I only have a week of school left. In two weeks I'll be a full-time stay-at-home mom. I'm sure I'll have plenty to do. Josephine's cousin Naomie should be arriving within the next couple weeks so we'll probably do alot of visiting.

Josephine Update:

• As I said before, Josephine is starting to play with other people now instead of just by herself. She likes to "play soccer" with Nathan. He'll roll the ball to her, she'll pick it up, put it in her mouth, then drop it so it rolls back to Nathan. They'll do that for five minutes or more. (I think Nathan enjoys it more than Josephine : )
• I think he sleeping habits are getting a little better, slowly. The going-to-bed-early routine isn't working as planned, though. We'll get ready for bed around 7 (bath, pj's, read, eat, sing, sleep) and she'll usually go to sleep then, but only for 30-45 minutes. She'll stay up for 1-2 hours after that then go to sleep for the night. She's starting to sleep 3-5 hours for her first nighttime sleep. Better than 1-2 hours!!! She woke up at 5:50AM the other morning! She went back to sleep around 7:30am. That's not normal thank goodness.
• Josephine loves to play with Nathan's PlayStation keyboard. She keeps changing the settings on his game, it's funny. Nathan can't play right now because she's changed something and Nathan doesn't know how to fix it.
• She had her first bit of cereal two nights ago. She seemed to like it, but she doesn't know how to swallow it yet. She did much better yesterday. Her eyes get really big when the spoon comes to her mouth. : ) She stares our food and drink when we eat. I was drinking from a plastic bottle and she grabbed it out of my hands and brought it to her mouth. Luckily there wasn't much left in it. She knows how it works, though.

Josephine's Favorite Toys:

• Computer keyboards
• Remote controls
• Wet washcloths
• A toy mirror that has two big, red wheels. She likes the wheels.
• Teething rings (aka Slurples)
• Mom's hair
• Toy frogs
• Fingers (hers or someone else's)

Notice that only a couple of them are "real" toys.

What makes Josephine Josephine.

• Foot stomping when she's happy.
• Her amazing grip on my hair.
• Her red hair.
• Endless (loud) conversations with her frogs.
• Loooonnnnggg fingers and feet.
• Alert, intense stares.
• "Chicken wings" (the way her arms are always out).
• Legs that she crosses at her ankles when she's sitting or laying on her side.
• Perfect elipse-shaped yawns.
• Bunz that are Fuzzi (her thick cloth diapers).

5 Months Old

Josephine turned 5 months old last weekend! Her new trick now is chewing on her toes (as you can see in the picture).

Josephine Update:

• Josephine slept in her own room for the first time last night. I slept in the other bedroom upstairs. I didn't want to go up and down the stairs in a sleepy stupor (sp?) all night long. She's gotten a little bit better at night. She'll sleep for a couple three-hour stretches at a time now, but mostly wakes up every 2 hours. I'm hoping that by sleeping in her own room Nathan and I won't wake her up and it's a bit darker in her room too. We're also trying an earlier bedtime. She was asleep by 8 o'clock last night, but then woke up at 8:45 and would't go back to sleep until 11:00. Maybe tonight will be better.
• She's rolled over from her stomach to her back twice this morning. She doesn't try to go from her back to her stomach. She just lays on her side and puts her head back as far as it will go to see what's above her head. She can almost touch her back with her head, it's kinda creepy.
• She's discovered a "new voice". She makes kind of a short, screechy yell, it almost sounds like she's trying to clear her throat. She likes the sound.
• As I mentioned before Josephine has discovered her toes and loves to put them in her mouth.
• My hair has become a big attraction for Josephine. She's starting to put it in her mouth. Yuck. She's always pulled my hair, but it's becoming more purposeful now, she seems to search for it. She likes to hold on to it when I'm rocking her.
• She's back to the preference of me rocking her to sleep. She'll still go to sleep in the swing, which is where she is at the moment. She's been asleep for an hour now, very strange. She usually only sleeps for 30 minutes at a time.
• She sits up on her own for the most part now. Although she likes to throw herself back. She hasn't hit her head on anything hard yet, so she doesn't realize it's a bad thing. If I walk away from her I still keep the Boppie around her.
• She is very aware of people eating and drinking. She starts licking her lips and follows the food/drink from the table to your mouth. It's funny. I'll probably start her on cereal in the next couple weeks since she's so interested. The pediatrician recommended waiting until 6 months to start solids, so it's pretty close to time.

Drinnen

The first of many of Josephine's new buddies arrived last week! Drinnen Randolph and his mom are doing well. Josephine isn't sure what to make of him yet, but I'm sure they'll be great buddies. : )

Aunt Rachel's daughter should be the next to come in about a month!