Josie is 6 Months Old

Happy 1/2 birthday to little miss Josie!

- Josie weighs 14lb 7oz and is 25 inches tall (2ft 1in). She took her 6 month shots like a champ (cried for a minute and then was done).
- We have one noisy little girl! She loves squealing, giggling, and giving big belly laughs. It is really cute! I love making Josie laugh. It is such a sweet sound. She is pretty ticklish so I can always get a few good giggles from that. Blowing raspberries on her stomach will always get her to let off high-pitched squeals. Even tickling her under her armpits will get some giggles. She also cracks up if I make kissy sounds to her. She still hasn't said her first word, but she uses a 'mmmmm' sound a lot. Maybe next month I will hear the word that I've been longing to hear from her - momma. 

- Josie has tried it a few new foods this month. In addition to the rice cereal and oatmeal that she started eating last month, she has now tried carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, squash, and applesauce. She really likes her vegetables! The jury is still out on applesauce though. We mix it in with her oatmeal, but she still doesn't seem very pleased with the taste. Most days she will get some cereal in the morning and a vegetable with dinner. I can't even begin to describe how happy it makes me to see her eating her food.

- All of Josie's 3 month jammies have been stored away. I have also recently stored most of her 0-3 month and 3 month clothes. I washed her 3-6 month and 6 month clothes and she has started to wear them.
- Josie is such a happy baby girl! Sure she has her fussy moments, but for the most part she is in a good mood. I love that fact that all you have to do is smile at her and you are rewarded with the biggest grin! Her cheerful demeanor makes all the late nights/messes/cranky moments/exhaustion more than worth it.

- Our girl is a drool machine! Her face, clothes and bibs are constantly covered in drool (and spit-up). She gnaws on everything, loves blowing raspberries and constantly has her tongue out. I still do not see or feel any teeth  but I have a feeling they're coming soon.

Notice the drool drop and the carrots on her neck. 

- Josie is so funny in the bathtub. She will rapidly kick her legs so that she can see the water flying all over the place. Her tub mate, Sophie, finds this hilarious!

- A week and a half ago, for about 4 days, Josie had been pretty cranky. I'm not sure if it was a growth spurt or what but it had changed her mood. She was wanting to eat every 2 to 3 hours and was sleeping a bunch. She was so whiny and it not fun to be around. The past few days have been much better, thank goodness! I hate not knowing what is going on with my little one.

- We have been continuing to work on getting Josie to sit on her own this month. She hasn't been wanting to lay down lately anyway. She is doing great. She's gone from only being able to sit up for a few seconds to sitting up for a few minutes. For the most part she still leans forward in a tripod position. She does well sitting until she gets distracted or makes a sudden movement. Then she starts to topple over. I can't wait until she is sitting completely on her own. I think she will be a lot happier when she is able to do that. 

The other morning as Joe and I were talking in the kitchen I looked over and saw that she was sitting up in her Boppy lounger. She pulled herself up to a sitting position all on her own! She has been doing that in her bouncy seat as well, so I haven't been putting her in there for fear that she would topple out of it. 

- Josie is really starting to go to town in her Jumperoo. In the past she used to just kind of sit there and maybe touch a toy or two. She didn't really bounce much and wanted to get out as soon as she could. Now she jumps all the time and plays with all of the toys. She loves it! It is so fun to watch her get excited about playing in her Jumperoo.

- We've been to my parents' house quite a bit this past month. Sophie enjoys swimming in the pool, but Josie gets bored with it after awhile. I decided to bring the exersaucer outside in the shade so that Josie can play and watch us as we are in the pool (usually there are people with us so she is never alone). She seems to enjoy being outside.

- Josie is not crawling yet, but she is getting closer and closer each day. She can do push-ups and can pop up on her knees...just not at the same time. She tries so hard though. She will inch herself forward by wiggling back and forth. She will also put her face to the ground, push her toes onto the floor and propel herself forward (a move that Sophie enjoyed before she crawled). Josie gets so frustrated over not being able to move around like the rest of us. I am confident that she will be on the move in no time (and it is okay if she isn't)! Until then she will just roll (and roll...and turn...and roll) herself to where she wants to be.

Look at that push-up! She just needs to pop up on her knees and she will be ready to go!

"I'll get you, bird!"

- Josie's movements have become very deliberate. If she sees an object that she wants, she goes for it. When she is on the floor she will reach out to grab the toy and rake it towards her body. She also will reach out and touch the different parts of our faces. It is so neat to watch her go from just having reflexes to doing things purposefully on her own.

Whenever I show Josie herself on my phone's camera app she tries to grab the phone. It won't be long until she is stealing the phone from me like her older sister. 

-Last month Josie was grabbing at her toes, but she couldn't quite get them into her mouth. She can get those toes into her mouth this month! Her favorite time to put her toes in her mouth is during diaper changes, which makes things pretty difficult. (There have been a few times where she has rolled herself over to our feet and tries to gnaw at our toes. Have no fear, we don't let things get that far.) 

- Josie enjoys spitting her pacifier out of her mouth. She doesn't just casually drop it; she sends it shooting out of her mouth and across the room! I tried for a long time to catch her doing this on camera, and this was the best I could do (she doesn't get the distance that she normally does):

Here are a few a bunch more photos of my sweet little 6 month old:

My beautiful, happy girl!

I am so glad I was taking pictures of this. Josie wanted those chips so badly! It was hilarious!

Sophie still insists that she and Josie wear similar clothes. She is happiest when they wear the exact same thing. One day they are going to ask me why I dressed them like twins and I will be able to truthfully say that Sophie is to blame. 

Happy 4th of July!

We almost always have Josie sit in her highchair at dinner time so we can be together as a family. We must have bored her one day while she waited for her supper. 

We went to our church festival a few weekends ago. We stood over by a live band to listen to the music (and because it was right next to the pull tabs). Josie stared down the band like this the whole time. I'm not sure if she was annoyed, intrigued, or bored. 

The girls helping us out during game time with our friends.  

On the way home from vacation we stopped for diaper changes and to stretch. The grass was really high so it wasn't very comfortable for Josie is lay on her blanket. Sophie tried to help entertain her.

Josie has such pretty dark eyes. They are grey right now but they are turning more brown-hazel each day.

Meeting Rodger for the first time. Both girls were fascinated by him. 

I love snuggling this sweet little girl.

Any excuse to have cake in this family is a good one! (No, Josie did not have any cake. We just let her play in this half while we ate the other half.)

Potty Training

Potty trainings Sophie has been one of my goals this summer. While we could get her to use the restroom, it wasn't consistent. We were able to create a routine where she would use the restroom after she woke up in the morning and before she put her pajamas on at night. That was nice, but she needed to start using the restroom all of the time. As the summer through to an end, I knew I really needed to get serious with this potty training business. That meant it was time to take away the diapers and have some accidents.

On Sunday afternoon we decided to try having Sophie go without a diaper. At first we were going to just have her be naked but she was not having that. So the next best compromise was for her to wear a dress with no bloomers underneath. She wasn't having that either. So we let her wear bloomers under her dress but without any diaper. She seemed fine with this and continued on with her day. We had her take multiple restroom breaks and she did really well. When it was naptime, we had her put on a diaper and when she woke up it was almost completely dry. There was just a teeny tiny wet spot. We were so proud of her! She did well for the rest the day up until about an hour before bedtime. We were upstairs and all of a sudden she started crying, saying that she peed. We asked her where she peed and she pointed to the stool in her bedroom. We talked with her again about where she supposed to pee and that she should let mommy or daddy know when she feels the urge to go. We reinforced that she should not pee in her panties or bloomers while we cleaned up the mess. 

Monday I dressed Sophie and another dress with bloomers and no diaper. She did well for an hour and then had an accident. We were playing outside and she went inside to get a toy. She stayed in there for a little too long and when I went in to check on her she told me that she had peed on the floor. We changed her clothes and she did great for the rest of the afternoon. She fought me when I put a diaper on her before she went down for nap. Just like the day before she woke up basically dry. She continued to do well with using the potty up until dinner time. After dinner the accidents started. One accident came while she was playing. She ended up pooping in her bloomers a little, but finished pooping on the potty. She was devasted! An hour later she was playing in her room and peed a tiny bit in her bloomers. She immediately cried and told me that she wet her bloomers. About 20 minutes later we were outside playing and she peed again. She immediately started crying telling me that she was wet. At that point I was frustrated and wasn't the most supportive parent. I told her she was going to have to sit in her wet clothes for a little bit. She cried and asked for new bloomers or to be naked. At that point Josie was being fussy so we went inside so I could change Sophie's clothes and put Josie to bed. Sophie continued crying and being loud and I was just done with it. I told her to change her clothes if she wanted and she continued to cry. Then I became a big jerk. I told her she needed to stop crying because she was being a baby. I said only babies pee in their pants and the way she was whining made her like a baby, too. I quickly realized that I was being mean and unfair so I apologized to Sophie and changed her clothes. A few minutes later she came over to me and told me, "I sorry I peed my bloomers. I sorry mommy." Break my heart! Seriously, I am such a jerk! I told her that I knew those were all just accidents and that she is still learning. Most importantly I told her that I loved her. I am very angry with myself for acting the way I acted. I just need to learn from the experience and not allow myself to repeat those actions. Man, parenthood is tough! 

35 Months

Next month Sophie is going to be 3 years old! Whoa!

- Potty training is still going very slowly. Each morning I will have her pee on the potty before I change her diaper. She will pee, dump the bowl from her potty into the toilet, flush, and throw her diaper into the Diaper Genie. She does the same thing at night (one night she even pooped on the potty, much to both her and my surprise). It is hit or miss during the day though. Sometimes I will ask her to use the potty and she will, while other times she flat out refuses. Some days I think I should just let her run through the house naked, letting her have a few accidents so she learns. I don't know. Even though I really want her to be potty trained, I'm not going to push her that hard. I have learned that Sophie will do things on her own timeline, not anyone else's.
- My girl is still a great helper. Most days she will happily grab things for me or throw things away. It is so nice to have an extra set of hands around while Joe is at work!
- Sophie has been going to dance classes this month. Since she is still young (and not potty trained), she is going to a class called Tiny Tunes. It is a 30 minute class that I attend with her. We do a lot of different songs and activities. Sophie's favorite things are playing with the parachute, singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and being a butterfly with the scarves. She gets so excited about 'dance school' and has us practice things she learned from there often.
- Sophie still likes to throw temper tantrums and press her luck from time to time. Time out has been a pretty effective way of discipline. She hates being there (on the stairs) and will stop throwing a fit after a minute or two. Of course some days miss sassy pants will say to me, "Mommy you make me so mad. You go to time out!" Uhhhh...no. (There are some days I do tell her that sometimes she makes me mad when she doesn't listen. She usually responds with, "You make me mad sometimes, too, Mommy." Touché.)
- I'm pretty sure that Sophie is a walking bruise. She is constantly bumping into things, falling, and randomly hurting herself. The worst injury had to be the busted lip from earlier this month. Hopefully that will be the last big injury of her 2nd year of life. *crosses fingers*

Sophie was so excited to get her face painted at our church's festival. 

When Josie takes her morning nap, Sophie and I like to go out on the front porch and play. Besides blowing bubbles, Sophie loves playing with these plastic shapes. She likes to organize them, both by shape and by color. 

Sophie with two of her three favorite men - Daddy and Pawpaw Bill (or Beeeehhhlll, as she pronounces it.)

My sweet girl.

Temporary tattoos are one of Sophie's favorite things. She likes when Joe puts on matching ones. 

Sophie loves coloring, painting, and doing other artsy things. We've been using her paintings as cards for birthdays and other occasions. She gets pretty proud when she gives them to people. 

Daddy's girl

On the way home one day it started pouring rain. Since there was no thunder or lightening I decided to introduce Sophie to the joys of dancing in the rain. She was a big fan!

I still find Sophie sleeping in random places at night. Interesting fact - when she sleeps on the floor or in her tent she wakes up happy. When she sleeps in her bed she wakes up crying. 

One day Sophie asked to nap in Josie's bed. I let her and she slept for over 2 hours! 

Yeah...Sophie enjoys getting in the Jumperoo from time to time. She can even climb in on her own! (Getting out on her own is a different story...)

We love our hair bows from Dandelion Loveys. 

The girls helped to make their 4th of July shirts (an idea from Pinterest). 

Sophie loves 'taking care' of her baby dolls. Anything that we do with Josie, Sophie likes to do with her dolls. They get fed bottles, burped, mouths wiped, put in the swing, play in the jumperoo, and put to sleep. Often I will go to put Josie in some baby thing and find a baby doll there. 

Puddle jumpers!

Josie loves to grab at Sophie. I often hear Sophie saying, "Josie, don't get me. That not nice!" (Usually she giggles while saying this. She loves the attention from Josie.)

My friend, Becki, bought Sophie this old dance costume. She immediately wanted to put it on and refused to take it off. She loves it!

We all cracked up at how Sophie was posing in this picture. She looks like a little southern belle!

Usually Sophie wants her hair wild and free. Some days she lets me put her hair in a full ponytail. Other days I can manage a half pony or even pigtails, which she takes out after a few hours.

Sophie is getting a lot braver in the water thanks to this swim vest. She will even jump into my arms from the side of the pool (sometimes without warning - eek!). She does pretty well in the water unless her face gets wet or she accidentally swallows water. Then she is scared for a few days. 

Sophie likes to 'read' to Josie.

Kaci was able to get Sophie to swim a little on her own. She would paddle over to the stairs or to Kaci.  

Sophie had a wonderful play date with our friends. Hammering toys out of ice, playing in the pool and sandbox were a lot of fun!

She also had her first ice cream cone on her play date! In this picture she is realizing that she can poke holes in the cone. 

Yum!

Stealing some of Aunt Sara's ice ball. We had to buy one for Sophie afterwards because she liked Sara's so much.

Sara's boyfriend is home from Africa! Sophie was so excited to see him again. She adores Rodger!

Well, Sophie loves princess things. I have lost the battle. She enjoys walking around the house in her princess shoes with her 'Cinderella' (aka tiara) on her head. It is pretty cute though, so I won't protest anymore.

Enjoying an afternoon at Totter Otterville

Someone had some fun at the face painting station...

Doc McStuffins

 I never thought Sophie looked much like me (even though many people have said this) until I saw this picture. Upon seeing this I thought, "Oh my gosh...she looks just like me when I was a kid! Or just like Debra. She looks like me and Debra. Oh my gosh, Debra and I somewhat look alike."

Sophie and Josie with Grandma and Pawpaw S

Grandma Z and her grand loves