july 31st

there’s something about jovie being a year old (*gasp!) that has changed the way time has passed this month.  i remember vividly this time last year.  we were still counting her life in weeks.  somewhere down the line, we began counting in months.  and now- save for a few milestone-ish-type-sounding months, we’re likely to just brush off and say she’s a year (*gasp!).

which is somehow making this time sorta fly by.  i looked at the calendar and saw that it was just a few weeks ago that we celebrated her birthday.

yesterday, i made a remark to The Mr. how “wow- tomorrow’s the 31st…” & he responded “yes. it’s usually the day where we’d have to take a picture with zigzag.”

i promptly threw a shoe and told him to shuttup.  ok, really i didn’t –but man! why they gotta do that?  her with the growing, him with the reminding.

so, yes. today there’s no picture with zigzag.  but she’s still fighting naps like she did one year ago.  anyone have a remedy for what to do when the baby won’t nap just b/c dad is home breathing the same air??

tutu redu

here she is at 2mos

here she is at 6mos

and here she is now, at 1 year*.   as you’ll be able to see, getting a decent picture has gotten considerably harder, now that she’s not a blob content with being blobby.  even at the 6mo, it was right before she was sitting up.  now….  sitting up is a rare occurence.  b/c that gets her in prime position for crawling all over the joint!

all this hair makes me look like a bighead

mommy's right. i can't keep still!

i've got the toe-flex AND the toe-point down pat!

*i always thought how silly it is that people tend to speak in “months” for an insane amount of time… for instance: “my child is 46 months old. ”  no…… that means you’re child is about 4.  but now? i sorta get it.  b/c for me to say one YEAR is just gut-wrenching. 

still, i hope you never meet me & hear me respond that jovie is 139 months old!

(thanks, again, aunt barb! we’ll make this great tutu worth your while)

requisite photos

i apologize for not posting some pics earlier.  last week was pretty busy, i guess.  aunt jo-jo & michaela came for a visit.  then we headed to gramma & grampa’s for a visit and a very helpful babysitting deal while The Mr. & i went to a friend’s wedding.

the birthday weekend was a success.  thursday (actual bday), The Mr. & i went to lunch, ran some errands, and got her pictures made.  we gave her our gift to unwrap.  i’d post the video of her unwrapping, but really, we don’t want to waste about 10min of your life watching her watch the box.  we gave her a little push/ride-on car that she has no interest in yet.  well, save for the little piece that she likes to pop off in the front.

saturday the 11th (her due date!) we had gramma & grampa, and kenny & amy & their baby over.  unfortunately, my bff wasn’t able to make it with her daughter.  but amy had made the cutest ladybug cake for the occasion (thanks, amy!) and we all enjoyed ourselves watching the babies watch each other.  we dipped in the pool and then cut the cake.  this time, we even tried ice cream.  let’s hope she does, in fact, have some grampa & me in her.  b/c at first taste, ice cream was NOT her friend.  we have good video, at least!

but here are the money shots:

actual birthday, first tastes.

ladybugs galore

(by the way— the plates/napkins came from the cutest online store! they sent me better than average emails tracking my order with poetry. was fun! the cups i had fun dotting myself. i’m quite the talent. you know, compared to the awesome freakin cakes that amy made. that were also delish!!!)

i like this birthday thing!

thanks to the participants.  & thanks to The Mr.  (greatest ever!) for cleaning her up & feeding her a lot of supper afterwards.

(we missed you, beck!)

happy birthday

happy birthday jovie! our pretty little baby.

new developments

just in time for her birthday, jovie’s on the ball with keeping me pretty active.  in the past week or so, she had a few more breakthroughs (a la what happened late April)

2 weekends ago, she enjoyed some pool time w/ Dad.  & i heard him shouting for me.  so i quickly ran outside to see what was the matter.  and he said she’d been trying to climb the steps.  i saw her make a few attempts before i went inside to make her dinner.  when he came in he said that she did, in fact, climb 2 stairs.

the next time i took her to the pool, she spent some time climbing 3 stairs- and thus getting out of the pool altogether.

she hasn’t stopped since.  now she spends much of her pool time trying to hoist herself out of her raft & crawling out of the pool.

oh, and those 13 stairs we have in our house?  the ones w/o baby gates.  yeah.  she climbs those too.  all day if i’d let her.  we usually crawl up for a naptime and for bathtime.  and sometimes once for fun.  she was pretty cute today b/c there was a tiny wrist-book on one of the landings, and instead of stopping to play with it, she grabbed it and scaled the mountain with it. 

also, early last week, The Mr. was giving jovie her bath when again i was summoned.  this time, she decided to pull herself up to stand.  she has been doing this from a different angle.  usually she’ll crawl all over one of us and push down to stand up.  which i think is easier than trying to hoist yourself up from furniture (or bathtubs) at your height.  so finally, she pulled herself up legitimately.  and the next day, she cautiously tried again on the chair where i was sitting.

nowadays, she spends a lot of time finding me when i’m sitting & standing next to me.  the pride you see on her face is just melting!

as is her pride when she figured out how to sign “more”…. it comes out as a clap mostly, but she’s trying to “aim” it right.  she’s hit-n-miss on understanding exactly that it means “yes, please. i’d like some more of that”  because sometimes she’ll ask for more and then push it away when i give it to her.  she still doesn’t do the “all done” sign.  which may help.

now that she’s more active  (and i’m tired of her crawling around the same place overandoverandoverandover), i like to get her out more.  we’ll take some classes/activities in the fall when things start up again.  but i did find a gym down the road that opens for 2 hours so your kid can tumble & use the fun activities.  we’ll get a lot more out of it when she’s walking, but she had the BEST time crawling really fast over the squishy mats & going all over the place.  she was squealing and pointing excitedly.  The Mr. came with us & he said he’s never seen her like this.  it was a lot of fun. 

(it’s a great idea, too…  b/c i’m sure it helps promote gymnastics.  they start as early as 18mos w/ a mommy&me class.  so we’ll likely be doing more of this come january!)

she has even surprised me with at least 2 real kisses— mouth closing sloppy wet and all.

and to think it was one year ago today that i had my last dr’s appt where they said things were already progressing.  but to relax, b/c it could take even a week before i start real labor.  hmmmm the fun started in the middle of the night (2am on the 8th) & 26 hours later….   the journey began.

just add water

here you have it, folks…

the growth of a little bean:

on second thought, i guess you add very little water.  supply lots of milk & food.  need ample amounts of patience.  plus another heaping tablespoon.  a few scoops of humor, and a bucket full of love.