Columbia College Chicago Library outing

Yesterday Jack and I took Josie downtown for a meet and greet with my coworkers.



Josie is ready to go on her first trip to a library.








She's pretty excited.











CCC pride








Josie was the center of attention. We met in the Library's classroom.





Look at the beautiful box Shirley made to put (more!) gifts in (featuring a fabulous quilt from everyone, a Dick & Jane book from Paula, and super cute outfit from Shirley). My generous coworkers have already sent us a photo printer and a box set of music by Slim Gaillard who plays kind of humorous boogie-esque music and is best known for adding "o'rooney" to the ends of words.



Here's a closeup of the box...there is sheet music from a song called Come Josephine in my Flying Machine on it.

Naperville outing

Here are some shots from last weekend's roadtrip to Naperville. My cousin Joe lives there with his wife Janet and their kids Natalie and Anthony. My cousin AnnMarie and my Uncle Bob and Aunt Wanda were visiting from Wisconsin.

I was trying to get a shot of Josie riding on my uncle's giant yellow lab, St. Francis (aka "Franky"). It didn't quite work.







Josie is smiling for my Aunt Wanda.











Me and cousin AnnMarie








Cousin Joe and his wife Janet and Natalie (gently being pulled into the picture by her mom). Natalie (my second cousin? First cousin once removed? Hmmm...) is an amazing baker. I wish I had taken a photo of the beautiful fruit tarts she made. She also made a carrot cake with frosting that I'm still dreaming about. I've never had better.







My dad's brother, aka Uncle Bob.

Two excited big sisters and one lucky baby

Kitchen sink strategy

Josie graduated from sponge baths to the real thing today.

Welcome cousin Katherine!

We interrupt this Josie blog to bring you news of her cousin, Katherine Rita, who was born yesterday morning in Albuquerque. She weighed in at 8 pounds, two-tenths of an ounce which is just about what Josie weighed in at on Thursday (she was 8 pounds, four-tenths of an ounce). Katherine is little sister to Cassandra Amy (six in August) and Isabella Julie (four in May). Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law!

You may remember the receiving blankets shown in the pic...they're the same kind as the ones that wrapped up Josie when she was born almost six weeks ago. The company that makes them must have a corner on the hospital receiving blanket market.

A few pix

Josie is hanging out on her boppy pillow in this shot. I think she sort of looks wistful, like she's remembering her youth.









Here's a close-up of Josie looking pretty happy after a bath.








Here's a family self-portrait. This was the only one we took where Josie's face wasn't scrunched up or our eyes were closed from laughing too hard.

Furry sister

Zeeb has been spending a lot of time in our armoire on the sweater shelf. We have to make sure that the door doesn't shut too tightly on her so she doesn't get stuck in there.






When Zeeb's not hiding in the closet, she likes to stand guard under Josie's crib. She has even been sleeping there at night (Zeeb, that is, not Josie).






Zeeb also likes the Tiny Love gym that Scott & Cybele sent to us (for which a thank you note will be sent out soon...same for the many other gift givers who have yet to be formally acknowledged!).

Head turning

Here are some live action shots of Josie turning her head during tummy time in the crib. In this first picture, she is sort of slavering for her worm.






Here she goes. Notice the lift action from her forearms.









And...she's turned!







Later she lounges at the other end of the crib.

Catching up on photos

These pacifier things are aptly named. Although Josie has a slight look of consternation on her face, they really do help to calm her when she's fussy (which, thankfully, is not very often). This particular brand is called a Soothie.











Some crib time shots...she's not spending the night yet in her crib (we haven't even tried), but she does hang out in there. The soft pink bear in the first shot is a recent gift from Uncle Roland :) The second shot shows some worm love.













Josie likes to sleep on whatever bosom is available.

PS Happy 5-week birthday to Josie as of last night! On Monday at the pediatrician's she tipped the scales at exactly 8 pounds making her, in the doctor's words, a "good eater." I think they were being a little generous, as they really had to nudge it to get it to read 8...she then promptly spit up from all of the jostling which probably subtracted at least a few ounces. But it's nice to see she's packing on the pounds and inching up on the charts!

Dryer lint

Whenever we wash a load of Josie's laundry, our dryer lint comes out pink.

Novelty t-shirt

Milk addict


They tried to make her go to rehab, but she said no, no, no.


On the wagon (for now).

EARTHQUAKE!!

Celia and I were both awake last night around 4:30 when we felt the building wobbling. As it turns out, it was a earthquake- a rare occurrence in Chicago.

Josie slept peacefully throughout the tremors. I think she would prefer it if the earth constantly quaked, since she doesn't like sitting still.


Here's a picture of Josie rolling through Smith Park, before the great quake of '08. The Sears Tower is barely visible in the distance.




-Jack

Josie's one month b-day bash

Josie hit the one-month-old mark yesterday and to celebrate we took her on her first non-pediatrician-related outing. The weather has finally started warming up in Chicago, so we weren't as worried about exposing her to the elements. Jack and Josie and I went with my mom and her friend to a nearby restaurant called Bite. It's within walking distance, so we figured it would be a good testing ground.


She slept--yes, like a baby--the whole time. We just stashed her under the table in her car seat and she paid no attention to the music, the pots clanging, the espresso hiss or any of the other ambient sounds.

Her head is a little cut off in this shot, but we did manage to take one picture showing her on the way back from dinner. This is outside of one of the nearby Old Style bars--if you blow up the photo you can see the "Zimne Piwo" on the sign. This means cold beer and is the only Polish phrase we know.

Nana is here

My mom and her friend arrived yesterday after making great time (2 days) driving from NH. They have a whirlwind road trip planned that involves staying at a nearby B&B here for about a week and then heading back through Pittsburgh to visit some of my Dad's relatives. They even have tickets to go see the Moody Blues in Philadelphia scheduled into their itinerary. Here's a pic of Nana and her newest (for now) granddaughter (my brother's third daughter is due to arrive April 25th in New Mexico). Unfortunately, I don't have pix available from Jack's parents' visit which was right after she was born. I'll have to look back through the files because I know we took some of Grandma and Grampa Simpson.





Here's one of the first pix taken showing Jack and I with Josie. We've been so busy taking photos of her, we hadn't thought to take one with the three of us.

Baby wearing

Josie and I are sporting an EllaRoo wrap that we're starting to get the hang of. She's tied snugly to me and, as you can see, conks right out. Then I can move about the house with my hands free allowing me, for example, to type this post.

Sound advice from the AAP

We inherited a "Caring for your baby and young child" guide published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. One of the charts in it offers tips on stimulating infant brain growth and suggests things like providing healthful nutrition, giving consistent contact like hugs, talking and singing to your baby, and placing colorful objects of different shapes and sizes near your baby to stimulate them visually. Makes sense. Additionally, they recommend that we "avoid subjecting your baby to stressful or traumatic experiences, physical or psychological." Did they really need to add this to the list? Just to be on the safe side, though, we've now suspended our pre-naptime waterboarding game.

Chillin' before fillin'

I know, I know...that post title is almost as annoying as those Dr. Scholl's "Are you gellin'?" commercials (as in "I'm gellin' like a felon...care for some melon? I'm gellin' like Magellan." Huh? Sorry if those quotes are rekindling any latent homicidal rage left over from the commercial's original airing).

Anyway, this is a shot of Josie lounging peacefully before a feed.

Rainy morning photos

Here are some pictures of Josie from this morning, plus a picture of a cake they were selling at the bakery.
-Jack

Three weeks old

Josie is three weeks old today! I got an early present yesterday when my doctor took pity on me and released me from my wound vac hell. I'm no longer tethered to a machine and tubes and dreading the visit from the home health nurse for my "repacking" (I'll spare you the details). I've still got to watch the incision, but I'm a little more mobile now and feel a lot more normal--I was even able to shower for the first time in a long time last night. Things are looking up.

It's pretty amazing to think that Josie wasn't even due to arrive until tomorrow. These past three weeks have been a whirlwind of Josie, doctors visits, Josie, prescription medication, Josie, lactation consultants, Josie, breastfeeding, Josie, diapers, Josie and Josie and Josie.