Finally allowed to celebrate!

Now that we are in the month of December, my family and I are able to come out of the closet and officially start celebrating Christmas! It's not much of a secret that Todd and I love Christmas. It's not a secret because we basically put our Christmas tree up the begining of November and well...I've been known to make it into a "Valentine's" tree in February, a "Clover" tree in March and an "Easter Egg" tree a month later. Call me what you will, but I heart Christmas.

My disclaimer for having the tree up for so long is that the tree is a small, decorative type of tree (in a pot, nonetheless!) -- not one you hang actual ornaments on. So there. Anyway...the weekend of Thanksgiving (after our family gave thanks, ate delicious food and then threw all of that food up (sorry for the gross description) because we ended up with the stomach flu...well, not only us, but our entire extended families)...anyway, after the Thanksgiving of 2010, which we will never forget, Todd and I started feeling much better and took Josie to St. Michael's down the street to get our Christmas tree from the Boy Scouts.




Josie loved seeing the trees, loved wearing her big puffy jacket and furry hood, but most of all loved the little 12 year old boy that helped us find our tree. Her first crush. She was so in awe of him. It might have just loved the tiger hat he was wearing, but whatever the case, she just smiled at him the entire time and then cried HARD when we had to say good-bye. Of course, a few raisins and goldfish in the car made the entire world right again.



If only all problems could be solved with raisins and goldfish...

Brush 'em, Brush 'em, Brush 'em

The title for this post is taken from a scene in Grease. Anybody?

Ok, ever since Josie got about a million teeth within one week (seriously) we've been trying to teach good, healthy oral hygiene habbits. If there is one obsession I can pass onto my daughter, let it be the compulsion of having clean teeth! Oh how I love to brush and floss...it takes me to a happy place. But I digress, that shall be another post (and likely a boring one at that, so really, nevermind). Anyway, my point is that we've been starting to brush our teeth during bath time. Well, sort of...

Halloween? Been there, done that.

This was last year. Josie's FIRST Halloween at 2 weeks old. What a little snuggle bug. I just can't believe she was ever that tiny. The thought of her asleep on my chest seems like a million years ago.


Fast forward to this year, Josie's SECOND Halloween. Here's our little ladybug and she's one year old. Mama dressed as a bumble bee, as you can see below (of course, staying with the insect theme) and dad was dressed as...well he's uh, professor/slash/grad assistant/slash/something else...to be honest, if you were to ask him today, he still wouldn't really be able to put his finger on what he was dressed up as. I love you, Todd.


Even honorary Auntie Kate stayed in the costume theme...at least in terms of things that fly. She was Tinkerbell.


Josie and her Gigi. Watch out though, little one. The flower on her lapel actually sprays water. Seriously. I learned that the hard way.


We loved, loved, loved taking Josie trick-or-treating. We went to a few houses. Yes, it felt rather odd letting Josie reach into the candy dish when we knew far and well that we would be eating the candy ourselves later. That's why you have kids, right? To eat their candy? She's wondering where her giant Hershey bar went...in Mama's tummy, little one.

She's ONE!!

I have a sweet, darling little one year old. I can't believe it. Josie turned one October 15th and we had so much fun celebrating. Kind of like how I've always wanted to celebrate MY birthday for an entire week (it's true), I wanted to celebrate Josie's birthday throughout the ENTIRE month of October. Just to prove that's true, come over to our house. Almost two weeks later, we still have some party decorations up.

I've learned several lessons (millions, really) throughout my single year as a parent so far. One of them being...no future child of mine will ever receive shots on their birthday. Where was my brain the day we scheduled this appointment? Who knows. Although she's never had an adverse reaction to her shots in the past, her 12 month shots (including her vaccination) really knocked her flat on her rear end. So, on her very first offical birthday, she was a glossy-eyed, clingy (which of course I didn't mind that one; I love when she snuggles me), super hot to the touch, not wanting to eat a thing, little bug. Ladybug, that is. Lesson learned.

So here are a few highlights from her actual birthday (the day before the party). We had lunch at Ingrediant with the grandmas, Kerri and Emri. My mom brought mini cupcakes, which Josie devoured. That's my girl. :-)




Please, please, please note the tiny, little gold ring on Josie's pinkie finger. Not only was this a precious gift from my mom because it was MY ring when I was a baby, but I love that Josie is wearing this ring on her pinkie. I just feel like she should have on tons of make-up, a fur coat and be saying something like "daaawwwling" (and at the same time, trying to get me to buy some of her black market gold jewelry). What a fancy little chubby finger! :-)

Birthday Eve

On the eve of Josie's first birthday, I'm thinking back to this night last year. After writing an eviction notice (Josie was 6 days overdue and was finally going to be evicted from her warm, snuggly home in my belly) on our dry erase board, Todd and spent our last evening together as couple without kids. I knew we were going to meet Josie (although at the time, we were still deciding between Jane Elizabeth and Josie Lynn) the next day and I could barely get myself to fall asleep that night. It was like Christmas Eve. The BEST Christmas Eve I've ever had. :-)

So this is us the next morning...



And 12 short hours after arriving to the hospital, our sweet little Josie made her debut to the world.


Nothing changes your world like having a baby.


On this day last year, I knew my life would never be the same. But at the same time, I really had no idea what I was about to experience. I had no idea that I'd love, worry, obsess over, snuggle, want to pinch and squeeze, sometimes get frustrated with and adore more than I do this little girl. I'm in love.

Happy Eleven Months!

It's less than a week before Josie's birthday and I realize I haven't posted eleventh month pictures. Better a few weeks late than never. I'm realizing that's sort of how things go when you have a little one to take care of. :-)




Josie's first taste of cake. Just a little lick. Funny how a little lick turned into frosting smashed all over her cute chubby little cheeks. Her first real cake on her birthday this weekend should be interesting. I bet she'll eat the whole thing! Josie's sweet tooth has already begun. Greens beans? No way. Carrots? Never. Whole grains? Yeah right. But frosting? Oh yeah, baby, bring it on!

Look at Me

I may not be walking yet, or crawling for that matter (hey, we all do things in our own time), but I'm sort of a pro when it comes to standing all by myself. Just make sure you put me up against the wall because I like that little extra support. I'm almost tall enough to start putting my height on my Josie Measuring Stick. Maybe next month when I turn one, I'll be tall enough. :-)

Bath Time Baby

Although Todd is the musician of the family, I've taken it upon myself to write a song for bath time. I sing it when bath time doesn't seem like Josie's idea of a good time. You know, to keep her entertained. The song is entitled, "Bath Time Baby" and the words go a little something like this. Try to keep up because the lyrics are a bit tricky.

"Bath time baby. How I love my baby. Bath time baby. Yeah!"

The "yeah" at the end should be dramatic and I would definitely recommend using jazz hands, if not, at least spirit fingers during that part.

The song is simple and if performed correctly (and at least 175 times in a row), you should have quite a happy and content little bather on your hands. See above. It works like a charm. :-)

Happy 10 Month Birthday!

10 months?!?! Unbelievable. Happy 10 month birthday, sweet little Josie. I just wanted to share a few thoughts. I think I'm feeling sentimental because we have only one more mini-celebration before the big one arrives in October. I love how you bury your head in my shoulder when you want to play or when you're shy. I love how you crack yourself up, even when you are so sleepy, by touching my face or waving your arms. I love how excited you get when I pick you up. I love when you snuggle up to me and your daddy. I love how you are so happy all of the time. And...I love how you keep me on my toes, especially when I think I've got you all figured out. :-)

My Summer Vacation by Josie Heitshusen

My mom and dad took me to Colorado this summer. It was my first trip to the mountains and the longest road trip I've ever been on. I was pretty awesome in the car on the way there, but I was sure to make up for the good behavior by waking up throughout the night demanding food once we got there. Hee hee.


I loved riding the gondola up the mountain in Vail, although I'm pretty sure it terrified my mom. So what? There's a lightning storm and the gondola cart is rocking a little bit more than necessary, big deal.


I loved riding bikes with mom and dad, although I pretended to hate it once we were nearly 5 miles from the house. I started screaming and acting like I was hungry or tired, but really it was super cool. I love to get a rise out of my parents.


I loved watching the burrow races. I guess they have a 30 mile race where you have to run the whole distance with a donkey. It sounds kind of weird, but the donkeys looked like they were having fun. My favorite part were the cheerios I got to eat while waiting for the winners to cross the finish line.


I loved being with the my cousins. Miles is a good reader, but seriously, I have that book memorized and can really read it by myself, thank you.


I loved hiking on dad's back.


I loved riding in the burley.


And I really loved watching mom pan for gold with Miles and Max, although she became a little obsessive and we had to practically drag her away from the gold panning station.


What a super fun trip that I'll never forget. And those are all the things I loved about my summer vacation in Colorado.

J is for Josie

Nine Months, Baby

Happy nine month birthday to me!! At nine months, we have Josie charting at the 30th percentile in height (what?), 70th percentile in weight (that's more like it) and 85th percentile in head size (that's right..big brain, baby). I always knew Josie was a bit more advanced in terms of cognition. :-)


"I just can't believe I'm nine months already. It just seems like yesterday I was sitting here as a two-month old, all slunched in the corner. And here I am, all grown up..."


Cupcake A La Mode at Towncenter hit the spot with their delicious flavor of the month...keylime pie. I sort of have a keylime obsession.


Almost got it. Josie is going to be amazing at the sit-and-reach. Todd and I competed with the sit-and-reach a few years ago. Todd scored in the superior range and I barely made it into the poor range. Should I really be admitting that?


I mean, seriously, look at those fine motor skills.


First time we let Josie get a tiny taste of her cupcake. She's diggin the new flavor.


And yes, as she attempted to take a bigger finger swipe, I of course took the cupcake away and like any good mom on a birthday, forced her to take more pictures. So yes, that's why Josie appears to be crying and is not looking at the camera. She's still staring at the forbidden cupcake. Josie, just wait until your first real birthday and then you can have all the cake you want!