Our Family

Thank you for checking us out! We set up this site so you can track our progress to adopt a baby from China. We also added some info about cystic fibrosis and other issues in our little corner of the world.

Monday, September 25, 2006

September 25 - Josie is One Year Old



It is difficult to believe that our little baby is already one year old! She certainly has changed a lot in a few months and is acting like a toddler. She's crawling everywhere, pulling herself up, standing, and walking around while holding onto furniture. It won't be long until she's walking all by herself. She babbles all the time and is showing her preferences for books, certain songs, and games.

We had her first birthday pary on Saturday at Colleen's parents' house in Illinois. Her cousin Shad was born one day before her so we had a joint party. You can see how fun it was by their pictures. Shad was so funny with his cupcake: he took the sugar cone off and licked the frosting, then systematically dipped the cone into the cupcake to get more frosting so he could lick the frosting again. And he didn't want ANY interruptions! Josie completely ignored her cupcake and proceeded to eat the plate! Finally she ate the sugar cone after her cousin Janie showed her how.

More Pics


I'm pretty comfortable in a crown.
Shad had his system down right - dip in the frosting, lick the cone, dip in the frosting...


This didn't taste how I had expected...

More Birthday Pics

With cousins Shad and Kirby, all born in 2005




Some of my aunties say that my mom must not feed me enough fiber....


OK, I'll eat the cone if you insist.

Pics

Uncle Joe walked with me - Yay!!


On the way home - with my new dolly!

Friday, September 15, 2006

How is Josie Doing

I can't even keep up with all that Josie is up to these days. I will post pics of some of her latest activities, but others have asked how she is, so I will try to give an update. It is almost sad because she is less and less like an infant and more like a toddler. She will be one year old in 10 days!

She talks A LOT. Lately her favorite thing to say is "daa-wooo." She also likes to point at things and say "ooooh!" and act very surprised. (Every morning she is very surpised by the lights on the ceiling and they are fascinating to her.) She says "uh-oh" when she drops something. She waves "bye-bye" and "hello." When she wakes up from her naps, she waves "hello" to her daycare friends when we are walking down the steps.

She loves to stand up and walks along her play tables and toys. She will play for long periods of time by herself, standing on her tables and moving stuff around and talking. Sometimes she whispers and sometimes she becomes very authoritative and emphatic. She is very excited about standing and walking. Sometimes when she's standing up by herself holding onto something stable, she'll start to bounce up and down and dance and say "woo! woo! woo! woo!" It is Adorable! Last week she really became obsessed with walking when holding adults' hands. She wants to do it ALL the time. When you stop and prop her up against something she won't let go of your hands and starts to cry.

She has been very frustrated the past few weeks as she is learning to crawl but can only go backward while in the crawling position. She spends a lot of her days backed into corners and crying in frustration. But she has learned other maneuvers to get around a little bit and now can cover most of the living room by herself. Actually today I think I saw her crawl a few times, for 3 or 4 steps. We'll see how it develops. She prefers to have her feet on the ground, rather than her knees.

She is sleeping all night her in crib, and is wonderful with naps. She puts herself to sleep when you put her in the crib during the day. Lately she's even stayed awake for a little of her naptime and enjoyed jabbering for a bit before nodding off. This is great improvement because for a long time she wouldn't go near the crib without screaming - really screaming and sweating and sometimes throwing up.

She can pick up finger food, but she refuses to put it in her mouth. She will eat crackers by herself, but that's it. She learned from Ainsely to say "mmmm!" after each bite. She has eight teeth and has at least two more coming in. From past experience with the last four that came in, these next two may take a month or more to actually show up. But she is drooling and chewing on everything, and you can see the bud beneath her gums.

Josie loves to play games and laugh and be funny. She is amazing!

Josie in the Kitchen




Last night I was cooking dinner and Josie was standing and digging through one of the kitchen drawers. She was so happy to be doing so! She sat down a couple of times to get things that she dropped and she was able to pull herself up. The funniest thing was when she came across a very large wooden spoon. She tried to eat with it! When I came over to talk with her about it, she tried to feed me with the spoon. It was absolutely adorable and of course we had to take a lot of pictures. Her sound effects were so cute too!

more pics





Da-wooh!







Squidgy face

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Family Pix




Cheesehead


Thanks Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary!

Sunday, September 03, 2006

New Pics of Josie


Most mornings I don't smile until Daddy comes to say Good Morning. I LOVE hanging out with him. He is SO fun. I love to be tossed round and make funny noises (see pucker face a few pictures down.)












Mommy says I look like my Great Aunt Becky in this photo. What do you think?














I like to pucker my lips.












I'm becoming a big girl! Mommy says I don't look like a baby anymore, but a toddler.

















In my cute jeans skirt.






























I look good in most colors: purple, red, pink.....