Fantasy of Lights

Sue had come home that day saying that we should, if we wanted to, take Josephine to this drive thru lights. Of course I wanted to, since I love Christmas lights and we did. Josephine wasn't really into the lights and that was cause just yesterday we had drove all the way to Columbus. So I just put some Mickey in the back for her, and she loved the drive. Here are just a few of my favorites from the experience.

Mom, Why are we in the car again? It's cold outside and I'm tired...

At Grandma's for Christmas time

So Josephine got to wake up this morning to the smiling face of her Grandma Sue! Josephine slept like a champ in her pack and play and acted like nothing had changed. I'm really very proud of her. She has turned into a perfect sleeper. Didn't look like that the first few months, but now I would never be able to tell she would only sleep with Momma.

She soon started to realize that Grandma and Grandpa's house is not child proof and she could get into everything she wanted. First was the cookbooks, to probably make some demands for her xmas dinner.
Then she crawled her way into the bar room and found the tree and her presents. This is her first look at presents. She was just so curious by them. For an 11 month old, I wasn't sure just how well she was going to do with the tree and the presents, but she didn't bother them for the most part. She would play with the presents before the tree and ornaments. (Wow that was a mouthful and probably could have said that better, but alas I'm also watching Josephine and making sure she doesn't hurt herself.)

My Bed "Mate"

What a drive!!! Thank god we got Kerry's old room cause she had two beds in there. One for Kevin and one for Bailey and I. What a wonderful situation! The drive went great, just extremely tired! Looking forward to the rest of our trip and to Josephine's first Christmas!

Over the river and through the woods....

to Grandma's house we go..... So today we did the drive from Norfolk to Columbus. We left at 8am and made it all the way by 630pm! GO US! The drive is suppose to take 9 1/2 and we did it in 10 1/2 with an 11 month old. We only had to make 2, yes I said 2 stops total! Our first one wasn't until 1130 and the second one was at 330. Way to go Josephine! Santa may be bringing you an extra something.... ;)

The drive was uneventful which are always the best kind. We hit absolutely NO weather and NO traffic. Awesome! We are just happy to be here and really looking forward to Josephine's First Christmas!

Do you see what is there on the top? Her 2 front teeth!

GONE... All gone

The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey a la King! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, ALL GONE! From A Christmas Story!!

Well in our case, it was my (Avi's) steak! Kevin decided to make us a fantastic dinner and guess who thought she would jump up and take the raw steak? Bailey! I could not believe it when I was in the living room and next thing I know she is dragging it across the living room floor. So Kevin got the steak dinner and guess what. I got the chicken nuggets which is what Josephine was having for dinner. The asparagus was AMAZING. Thanks Kevin

Sons of bitches.... bumpuses!

SANTA!!!!

So having Josephine meet Santa was not on our agenda today, but as you can see. It did happen today. We had to go to the NEX to finish up our shopping and there was no line, and luckily Josephine was in red. So we figured why not right? At first she started to whine and we were just bracing ourselves for the crying photo. But then she looked toward him and was fascinated by him. I do like how her little hands are almost fists. Maybe she was planning how to take out Santa? Either way. I love it. My baby's first Santa picture and meeting! I love how it turned out.

The caption should read "You stink! You smell like beef and cheese. You're not the real Santa"

My Purple Grape

As Josephine gets older, her love for Bailey grows to. She talkes to Bailey throughout the day. She squeals when Bailey runs laps around the house. Giggles uncontrollably when Bailey plays with the squeaky ball. I just love how this photo shows that. Josephine stands up to get closer to Bailey and Bailey makes room for her. Love. Pure Love.

So today Katie came over so we could all go to our favorite store. Target! Josephine needed to all bundled up warm so under her jacket she had her awesome snowflake fleece. Every time I put her in purple, Kevin likes to call her a grape. She's a cute grape though
I wish in this photo you could see her top two teeth are coming in on the bottom of the gums. Soon there won't be any more gum smiles. (Which I really love the no teeth smiles on babys) Why must they grow up so fast :(
Our afternoon naps have been getting a little longer, and that makes me wonder in the next month or so if we are going to phase out her first morning nap and just have one really long afternoon nap. Maybe... Maybe not. Most likely I am just reading too much into it. As usual. So in this photo I had to wake her up from her nap cause it was already 5 pm. So I just brought her downstairs, kept the pacifier in, and I got some cuddle time in my recliner. It was amazing. I miss our cuddles. I can't believe 6 months ago she was taking all her naps on my chest. I do miss it.

Daddy is home!

So this week we got a taste of what our lives are going to be like for the next, oh I don't know, 156 weeks? Yea I know right? Kevin had his first duty night on Wednesday so Josephine saw him Tuesday night and not again until Thursday night. In that time she kept saying Da da da da da. I already missed him, but she made me miss him more. Later on during her bath time, Josephine actually looked up at Kevin and said "Daddy!" and pointed! My mouth dropped and my heart melted. It was the cutest thing I have ever heard. She is just a little talker!

While Kevin was on duty, I decided that I was tired of it not feeling like xmas, so I decorated all by myself. YAY ME. Not it feels so much better. You are asking, why 5 stockings? Well first off there are 6, you just can't see the 6th one (It's for pancakes the guinea pig) but the 5 Stockings are from L to R: Mine, Josephine (who has gotten a different one since I took this photo), Bailey, My dad's (It's not right to me to not have it up, who knows maybe next year he will be spending it with us) and Kevin's (who should be home next year from deployment)
This photo cracks me up, cause Josephine was so happy he was home that she would just sit near him. But anytime Jeopardy is on she just watches it, like she is playing along. In this photo I can see the similarities between them. Like father like Daughter.

Mmmm Water.

So as you can see, and I know I have posted this before, she is a huge fan of her straw cup. She especially seems to like her dinosaur cup. When I went to the NEX to buy her first straw cup all they had were boy cups (apparently people only buy the girl ones) so we ended up with this. I'm pretty happy with this purchase! So the drinking of water has been going fantastic and she is starting to drink more and more, sometimes with just a little splash of juice. Looks like the weening should go pretty smoothly hopefully. Yes you read that right, I'm still nursing Strong! GO ME! 10 months and 3 weeks later still going. My goal is 12 months and I know I can make it. WooHoo

Snow in Norfolk

"MOM!!! IT'S SNOWING!"

So today was a nice surprise. Had no idea it was suppose to snow, but here it is. I noticed some flurries mixed in with the rain before Josephine and I went down for our nap and when we woke up this is what it looked like! Pretty cool. And yes that's my car covered in the snow in the driveway.
I really wanted to get Josephine to pose with the snow without taking her outside all bundled up to see it. I will wait until it is deeper to do something like that. She really was mesmerized by the white stuff falling from the sky. (isn't her penguin outfit cute! Thanks Melissa W for it)
Her favorite thing to do was to have me help her stand on the windowsill and let her pound her hands against the glass or she would wave (at what not sure). I love the snow, but I sure as hell do not like the cold!
PS: Hope finals are going well Krystle! POKE! ;)

PJ'S

Last night we decided it was time to break out her Old Navy Merry Christmas PJ's. I can't believe how stinkin cute they are! They really do look like adult flannel pj's. I would totally wear them! This was her this morning watching Handy Manny and playing on the floor with her Christmas Dolly.
This was her getting all excited at me taking pictures of her. I have created a monster huh? She saw the flash go off and then her face lit up and she got all excited!
I want to title this one "Ta Da" As you can see, she is a very happy baby in the morning, especially when she is playing with her Black Kitty that her Uncle Greg got her.

Is there something in my hair?

So during our Mac and Cheese dinner tonight, Josephine decided she wanted to wear a few noodles in her hair. It was hilarious. We were just sitting, eating our dinner and then look over and she gives us this goofy smile. We start laughing and then she laughs. It was pure entertainment!

GO Navy GO!!

GO NAVY GO! Josephine was all decked out in her Navy Cheerleader Uniform that Daddy had bought her in Newport. In this one she was yelling and excited about a touchdown! GO!

This was before the game had started and we had gotten Josephine all ready to watch it!
She she already knows how to do the Number 1 with her hands! Navy is number 1!
She has also learned how to take over the recliners to watch her football game with her christmas dolly! It was a fun day today. N*

Wetting Down

So tonight we got all ready to head to the current OPS of The Ramage's wetting down. For you non military folk, it was his promotion party. We dressed Jo up in her Baby's First Christmas outfit and off we went. We finally made it downtown to where the place was, comes to find out it looked like a dark bar (the guy told Kevin it's kid friendly) and then we couldn't find parking or where to park. After driving around about 30 mins or so we gave up and came home. It was nice to dress up and put on makeup, even if we did a date night at home with Pizza. Here is my cutie pie!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

or that is what Josephine is singing today. :) It's official the top two teeth have broken through the skin. Not sure if it happened yesterday or today but I can feel the teeth now. So we have 4 teeth total. WHOA two at once is kinda nice. What a big girl Josephine is becoming. Funny thing is I knew something would happen on her milestone list during our move and I was sure it would be walking, but teeth are just as important! Go Jo Go

Got it

I thought this was HILARIOUS. Josephine decided to try and look in the bucket, for what? I am not sure. She would just pull one thing out, look at it, kinda shrug and throw it. Then we would continue looking. It was like she was digging in a carpet bag, like the one Mary Poppins uses. She would get her whole head in it.

It's hot

So I found out the hard way that the lights above the oven are HOT. Yes it hurts and now my knuckle hurts to bend. Guess a move cannot go that smoothly right? At least we have the washer working now and the heat is on!

First day as a DH on The Ramage

Today Kevin had to report to his new ship to start the turning over process of being OPS on the USS Ramage. Josephine was really excited to see her Daddy after his long day of being on the ship. She will just have to start getting use to it.

Enjoying the living room

They are already back to stealing each others stuff and playing together. Josephine is always so determined to get Bailey's rawhide and Bailey is never in a hurry to get it back.

First night in her new room

So the movers brought our stuff today and right away I went up to the nursery and got Josephine's room put together. I had to. That way she could have her life as normal as possible. Here is Kevin and her getting back into their reading routine.

This is sorta how her room is laid out still. I did push the crib in the corner more (angled it) and moved the rocking chair, but here is her room so far.
And here is where all the playing and Mickey happen. In our new place they have extended the house so we have the brick and wood and I really do enjoy this room. It's huge and lots of room for Josephine to play. She is a big fan as well. Plus we were able to keep Pancakes in the room with us. (see cage in the bottom right corner).

Grandpa our Savior

Papa Don, Kevin's dad, flew in on Friday and met us in Rhode Island and then drove us down to Norfolk and then flew home. WHEW what a trip for him. I'm so grateful for all he did. He drove me and Josephine so I could just rest and relax and take care of Josephine. At the time of planning this, it was just to make things easier but as I got Strep being able to not drive and think was fantastic. Here is Josephine with her grandpa in our new home! Thank you again Don for driving. It was a great trip with great music.

Together Again

So our first night here in Norfolk we stayed at La Hotel de Gahl. She was so kind to put us up for two nights. Here is a picture of Tessa and Josephine (6 months later) enjoying a meal together!

We are in Norfolk!

Lucky for us, our second day was really an easy drive. One stop and 5 hours later we were there!

It was such a beautiful drive on Sunday going over the Chesapeake Bridge/Tunnel. I had never been over this road and I will take this drive again.
Here is Josephine checking out our new living room (and the left behind tv). She had a blast just using her walker and making it all over the house!
It's so nice to be home finally. More pictures to follow of the actual house later!

Our hotel in Wilmington Delaware

The whole trip Josephine and I were roomates in our hotels together. It was easier for me to go to bed early, get some sleep while Josephine was sleeping and if she woke up hungry I was there. This is Josephine really enjoying my bed with Rudolph.

Laying on my pillow, relaxing and reading her dinner options. :)
Loving my baby Jo time.

Our first day driving

She did amazing on our first day driving down. As you can see toward the end she got a little restless so I plugged in the portable DVD player and on came Mickey! We were pretty happy at seeing Mickey.

In our hotel room, she had a great time showing off her skills to Grandpa. This is her playing with her Christmas Doll. It rattles when you shake it and that is what she is doing.

Her enjoying some Grandpa time.