A Full Set!

just so i can remember...and let josie know. she got all her teeth as of sunday! So she was 18 months, 3 weeks and she's gotten all her baby teeth!

Josie's Personality Caught on Camera

These photos catch her as she is....dare-devil, adventerous, active, and messy!

Exploring Lincoln Park Zoo

Shedd Aquarium, Chicago

So Curt, Josie, and I went on a "babymoon" last weekend. This will be our last big hurrah before baby brother arrives. It's good timing because I was exhausted after walking around Chicago for the weekend. We went down early on a Friday and then went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, a free zoo, that was great. We rode the L train which was Curt's and Josie's first time. Josie thought it was a ride. Saturday we met up with my friend Tracy, her husband Bryan, and their little girl Chloe who is about 6 weeks younger than Josie. We all got in free so we enjoyed strolling around and not worrying about seeing everything! The girls really loved the slides and water table as you can see. Sunday on the way home we stopped at the outlet mall and did some Xmas shopping and Curt shopping. This was our first vacation as a family of three; otherwise we have always been with family. I'm glad we snuck this vacation in for the three of us.

Potty Training...Not Really

So we bought Josie a potty chair and she wants nothing to do with it! She only wants to sit on the big toilet. We are not potty training but I thought I'd get one and have her get used to having one around, sitting on it, climbing on it. Nope, she does none of these things...screams if I sit her on it. HOWEVER, she climbs on top of the big toilet and will sit for 10 minutes just loving it. This past Thursday she actually was sitting and went potty. Total fluke, she didn't know what happened nor why we cheered but she's addicted to sitting there.

Oh and that's me with about a 31 week belly.

Pumpkin Farm with Josie's Boys

After our weekend in Green Lake we headed down towards Racine and went to a pumpkin farm with Denise and her boys. Josie loved the train and got to take several rides with her boys!

Other News???

Let's see...

1. I had a birthday about a month ago.

2. School started about 6 weeks ago. I am no longer a teacher in the classroom but the Math Teacher Leader in our building. I don't love it or hate it, it's just a very different role compared to being a classroom teacher.

3. We are having a boy and are due in 8 weeks and 3 days. However, our doctor mentioned last time about moving the date up a week so that would be only 7 weeks and 3 days. Yikes...we have a lot to get done around the house before then! But my mom and dad have started to help us with lots of little projects I want to make and do! Nursery overhaul to make it gender neutral!

4. No names picked out.

18 Months!

Josie is now 18 months and of course the smartest baby we know! Really she is teaching us so much about being parents and how to interact with a smart, strong-willed, independent little girl. She is now above 40 words and started around 17 months putting two words together to make sentences...I don't think I've heard a three word sentence of her own yet. She has started "counting" it sounds like tee, ine, ero, tee, ine, ero (three, nine, zero) over and over again. So cute. She is an adventurer...she loves to climb, jump, run, play with balls and cars. She is a tomboy to the fullest and I love that about her. She falls and just gets back up and at it. She weighed in at 20 lbs 10 oz (5%) and 33 1/4 in (75%). Her favorite foods are fruits and vegetables, pretzels. chocolate and popsicles. She will eat all her fruits and vegetables before other food and often fills up on just her fruits and veggies. Healthy baby but you need more I tell her! What else? Unfortunately, she has bitten about 8 times in the past 3 months and she went through a hitting phase when she wasn't getting her way. However, that seems to be slowing down. At 18 months she had all of her teeth but the "vampires". Two weeks later she now has 3 of the 4. Josie is still going to DeeDee's and doing extremely well. It took her less than a week and she was totally back into the routine; waving and saying "bye bye" to me. Even at school when Denise is there for her boys Josie knows not to be clingy because I have to work and I can't hold her and love her up but keep moving through the hallway. So proud of her for that.

Pumpkin Farm on an 80 degree day

The second weekend in October we headed to the pumpkin farm with my nieces. It was a hot, sweaty day but because I had a cute pumpkin shirt...she had to sport it for the hour we were there so we could get some cute pumpkin farm pics; I know torture the poor baby!

Green Lake--September weekend

The last weekend of September my whole family (no Curt though, he went fishing) headed up to Green Lake to stay in a rustic cabin and enjoy a fall weekend and Harvest Festival. Side note...our rustic cabin ended up being without hot water so they moved us to a three bedroom farmhouse which was an amazing upgrade (minus the mouse who paid us a visit!)

One day we went to a street festival and Josie loved, loved, loved the music. Here she is dancing to the band...she was the only one dancing but that didn't bother her. She also got a personal serenade of an Elvis rendition!

Papa treated the girls to a couple of turns in the bounce house. Josie loved this as much as the big girls! I told Curt that I would only make a big deal out of her first bday but wouldn't this be FUN for her 2nd birthday?!?!

Gymanstics

Josie is now enrolled in gymnastics. The class is for 18mo to 3 year olds. Josie started at 17 months and is the youngest by six months. You can definetely tell in the listening skills. She just wants to run and jump and climb and swing on her own schedule not the classes :) Her favorite things are to hang. She is starting to do sommersaults and backward bends. Doctor told us she was double jointed so anything like dance or gymnastics would be easier for her to do. We'll see about that. Here is a pic of her hanging from the "big" rings. Her class is upstairs with toddler size equipment. And there's me with about a 24 week belly.

Favorite Friend

Josie has really been into her "baby" for the past 6 weeks or so. She sleeps with baby every night and a lot of times when I take her out of her crib she hands me baby first. Baby is one of her new words too and she loves to call other "littler" kids baby. Hopefully she loves her new baby brother just as much!