First Week of Summer

Jo did not like me fixing her hair in the bathtub. I think it's kind of cute, she did not appreciate it.

She does, however, enjoy this part of bathtime. Go figure.

Here she is practicing her "Dog Pound Rock" for football season. She's getting it, although I'm not sure she knows what she's doing. It's just born in her - that's what I get for having a baby with Chip!

No, we don't smile like this normally. We went to the dentist today and got our teeth cleaned. We were just so proud we didn't have any cavities!

As you can see, Chip has set our bedroom up like a home theatre. I have plans for the wall with the projector (Chip got me a piece of art for mother's day that I was planning on putting above the bed). My plans will, obviously, have to wait because Chip's enjoying our big screen. (We've even made up the bed the opposite way for optimum viewing!)

I'll start summer school on Monday - so long to all these lazy days. I told the dentist yesterday I was thankful for summer and it was embarassing, but really nice, to have to set my alarm for an 11:00 appointment. (What? We get up before the sun every other day in the year, we deserve to sleep in during the summer!)

Jo's so strong!

Chip told me I had to quit taking pictures/videos of everything. I told him I didn't want Jo to think we didn't care about her, that one day these videos would be important to her, and that because she is my daughter she'll want pictures of everything she ever did.

Anyway, below is a video of her sitting on Chip's lap - he'll pull her to sitting position. Most of the time she sits up and holds her head really well (as you can see at the end of the video). This is how we play. What else are you supposed to do with a 7 week old?? :)

Our last week of work for 08-09!

Chip and I had one last week at school for the 2008-2009 school year. (It was exam week, so really, we were reviewing and scrambling to get all our grades in.) This was definitely a year - and we were glad to see it come to an end. Unfortunately, my kids are going to the high school so I won't see them next year. I think next year I'll be teaching 7th graders, so pray for me! :) I posted this picture mainly because no one has seen how LONG Jo is. You can really tell in this pic! She's definitely not sitting up yet, but she tries (and does a pretty good job until she starts slinking down - as you can see.)

Here she is after bath time. I really need to get a picture of her during bath time for her baby book, but I always forget the camera. She's so cute in those hooded towels! She really likes the bath now and enjoys the time after bath where she can hang out naked! (You can't make that time too long or you'll have a mess to clean up.)

Here's Nana putting the finishing touches on Jo's bumper for her crib. Nana made the bumper and the quilt for Jo's crib and it is so cute in her room. Jo LOVES looking at it. All that contrast keeps her attention. We have to keep turning her head to the left because she's flattening out the right side from looking at the crib so much. Chip and I have decided we're just going to have to turn her around.

I realized no one knows what her nursery looks like since we've finished it - Here's a picture of one side (while Nana was finishing the bumper). Isn't the comforter cute?

Photos (as promised)

We tried putting Jo on her play mat and allowing her to have "tummy time." She did not understand it and was ok for a few minutes, but eventually wore out and got cranky. If you can see the inchworm next to her, we measured and she's about 24" long. (Assuming the inchworm toy is accurate.) She's quite long, that's for sure. We have no idea what she weighs. Less than Stella.

Here's our baby relaxing while Chip watches TV (see below). She's pretty comfortable sitting up and in your lap. She really doesn't like to be left alone (except to sleep).

Here she is trying to figure out "tummy time." This is not her idea, but she did enjoy chewing on the baby boppy. She'll get there.

Chip sat and watched TV (I think this was last Saturday) and Jo sat and watched her daddy. She loves him... he's so entertaining!

Like I said, my battery was dying on my camera. It's upstairs charging now. I'll get some pictures of Jo with her grandmothers this week and post them later. She has no idea how much they love her, but she will!

I'm also posting a short video which shows her doing what she does... lying around. Not a whole lot to it, but I figured I'd post it anyway.

Back to work.

I went back to work on Monday. Man, those children have a lot of energy! It was wonderful to be back though. I felt much more human doing my daily duties (even those I don't like so much).

The students were glad to see me back, but not too bad. On my 1st day back they had a test to take. They were also testing for the MCT this week. Three days of tests and each one took an hour and a half - two hours. Poor children! On Friday we had awards day in the morning and one of my students cleaned up the awards - she was an outstanding math student, my history winner for the year, honor role, etc. Also, one of my students received the citizenship award for the school. I love my kids - they're such great people. We reviewed for exams and took all our kids to the library that afternoon to watch a movie. I voted we watch Cool Runnings. None of the kids had ever seen it and many of them were unfamiliar with bobsledding. I think that was a cultural experience they couldn't miss. :) They had a great time. Monday begins exam week and their last day is Thursday. Our last day is Friday and then it's time for summer! Sort of excited, but genuinely nervous about what next year holds.

Josephine's grandmothers (and great-grandmother) came to babysit this week. They'll be here next week too. Sorry I have no pictures - my camera died and I've got to charge the battery. I will get pictures next week and post them.

Jo is growing so much! She's really awake and interacting a lot more. She's able to see so much more and is really enjoying her play mats (thanks Tracy and Winnie). Now, if we can just get here to sleep from 2-3 until we wake up at 6 or 6:30, we'll be set! She (for whatever reason) thinks that 4 am is a perfect time to rise and shine. Um, no. I probably wouldn't mind that wake time if I slept all day too.

Rainy Days...

Chip and I were going to take Josephine to Lowe's the other day to get a few things for the yard, but it rained. I'm not crazy, I'm not going to take this baby out in the rain! Then, this morning, I was going to go to the grocery store (a long overdue trip) and - it's raining. I'll brave the weather soon, but when will these storms stop!?

The good thing is that, with all the storms lately, the baby doesn't mind the thunder. Thank goodness! Stella's more upset about the storms than she is.

I go back to work tomorrow. I'm excited about seeing all my other children again. So sad... I've been with these kids for two years. They're about to leave and go to the high school! I know they have to grow up sometime...

Josephine will have a wonderful two weeks at home with Mamaw and Nana. Good luck, grandmas! :)

Happy Baby!

Josephine and Stella spent a good part of the morning watching daytime television. I can't remember if this is College Jeopardy or the Today show. Wait, they're pretty interested... must've been College Jeopardy. Josephine knew all the answers in the presidents category. Well, I helped a little.

This IS Chip's daughter. Here's a picture of her mid-bottle. Chip gets that same look on his face when he's eating!! (Love you Chip.)

Teenie weenie Josephinie has really enjoyed her baths as of late. This afternoon we spent a good 15-20 minutes in the bathtub... she's getting so BIG and OLD. I know people who aren't with her everyday think I'm crazy when I say that, but she's grown SO much.

Now, if I could only explain to her that Mommy has to go back to work Monday and that there are about 30 + projects I still have to grade. She has excellent timing, and by excellent, I mean that she cries every time I sit down with a project! I think this is the way it will go for some time though.

We're having a great time! Babies are so fun!

Pictures of Elizabeth's Birthday

This is the best picture we could manage of all the grandchildren. Emily was not all that concerned that the bouncer was already occupied. After this picture, Emily threw her leg up to get in and knocked poor little Jo in the head. No damage done though. I'm convinced Emily's going to be a stunt woman... she's just practicing.
There's a picture somewhere of Lilly Grace holding Jo. She is very good with babies and really enjoys them (as you can see by the picture above).

Mary is always on the go. I guess she did not want to be held in this photo. There was too much going on! She had a really good time with the cousins!

Here's Lilly Grace after her first cupcake. I know Max and Leigh wanted to limit her sugar... but she loves desserts so much! I thought she should have one of each cupcake... and some jelly beans.

Annie mid-dinner. She likes to eat, but I don't think anyone can compete with her twin, Emily!

What a good picture of Emily! She's very content here... I think dinner was over, but she wasn't finished eating. Shortly after this picture she found Grandma who was handing out chocolate cupcake!!

All my nieces are so cute and Chip and I had such a great time hosting them. Their little personalities are all so unique. We can't wait until Jo gets older and we can see what she's like. So exciting!

What a week!

This past week was especially busy with cousin Mary and Aunt E coming in town. They stayed Tuesday night - Sunday morning and were a huge help to me! I think Elizabeth really enjoyed holding a new baby and I much enjoyed being able to play with her baby. Mary is quite interacitve and very busy - so different than my little one!

On Saturday the rest of the family came in town to celebrate Elizabeth's 30th birthday at our house. Josephine was really pretty good when everyone was there. She was passed around a lot, but it didn't seem to affect her at all (well, maybe not until that night... she had had enough by the time we took her up to put her to bed!)

The birthday party was wonderful. Grandma and Grandpa arrived first (a little before three) and then Kirby, Max, Leigh, Lilly Grace, Emily, Annie, Aunt Therese, Uncle Terry, Evan and Lisa. (Nana came down Friday night.) Nana did a wonderful job with the menu. We had fruit and dip, salad (tons of it), Stromboli's, and some awesome cupcakes. I really really like desserts and I'm going to have to get the recipe for this dessert - it was SO GOOD! My mom made whipped cream pound cake into cupcakes and frosted them with buttercream icing. YUM! Fortunately or unfortunately everyone left us with most of the leftover food. We have TONS of Stromboli's. Chip and I have been munching away all weekend. So much for fitting into the rest of my clothes. Sometimes it's worth it though, you know?

Josephine was up a lot last night, so I thought she would sleep a good deal today - but no. Babies never do what you want them to do. Anyway, she's been wide awake since around 11:00 so I took that opportunity to bathe her. She didn't originally like baths, but she's getting much better about them. It's almost enjoyable!

She's finally drifted off to sleep which means that I am now allowed to eat lunch and clean up this mess around the house. Maybe I can get a nap too... oh, wait, it'll be time for her to eat again in about 45 minutes.

No rest for the weary.

I'll post pictures of the birthday party soon... when Josephine gives me another hour or two of good, solid sleep! :)