Yostee Bean

Mt. Hood adventures

2012-02-04T17:39:00.000-08:00

Today was a reminder of how amazing Oregon can be. SUNSHINE! We went up to Mt. Hood for some sledding and snow fun. Josie was luke warm on the sledding, but loved eating snow (Eric too). She got so excited last night that she had to try on all her snow gear and practice, but today the reality was a little much. Go figure. Anyway, it was a fun time and the sun sure boosted our moods.

2.5 year old speech

2012-01-27T20:33:00.000-08:00

Josie is very verbal and has a constant stream of words coming out of her mouth. To me, it is very intelligible but it may require some translation if you don't speak toddler.

Her inability to pronounce all consonants leads to a few very endearing toddler versions of a few words. She has particular difficulty with the letter 's' followed by another consonant, as in spider, special, smoke, sparkly. We hear a lot of fffider, ffecial, holy ffokes! And many requests for ffffarkly water. Also cute is opameal instead of oatmeal.

She is very imaginative and has a huge cast of characters in her little brain. She will often demand to be called by one of these many names, and play their role very thoroughly (including pretending to pee on bushes when she is a dog and fuss when she is a baby and drink from a bowl or eat crumbs from the floor when she is a cat). Aliases: Peter pan, baby Jesus, Dakota, Lucifer, baby Ruby, Duchess, baby ocelot, Mufasa (mama did you know I got DEAD! Simba is sad!) and many more.

She will sit in the tub or the car or anywhere really and just talk to herself, read to herself and tell stories. One night we overheard her p retending to read her "kindle": Baby Jesus is born. God is great, God is good, and we thanks him for baby Jesus' food. Amen.

Snow 2012

2012-01-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

Well, we have had a busy month since I last posted. We have been house hunting like crazy, finally found one we really like and are moving towards a purchase. I got a job at Doernbecher and a volunteer job teaching parenting classes at Pregnancy Resource. Josie has been busy busy busy and really enjoying the presence of grandma, grandpa and all the family in town.
For a few fun photos, we have today's soggy snow play session in the yard at the Yosts.

PORTLAND!

2011-12-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

We made it, finally. Packed, cleaned and moved down the West Linn in live with the Yosts until we find a place.
Now, we are starting to get the hang of a new routine. It is great to have extra hands around, I actually get to shower and cook and work out on my own, with no toddler to worry about. Amazing.
We are in full blown Christmas mode by now, too. Every day Josie asks, "Is it Christmas yet?" Well, no... soon. Time is a hard concept. We are looking forward to all the festivities with all of our family.
Here are a couple pictures from the last 2 weeks.

November update

2011-11-19T13:59:00.000-08:00

Well, we are busy these days. Our move to Portland is just 2 weeks away! Its very exciting. Josie is getting into the spirit of things, asking every day if we are moving to Portland "TODAY??". Playing in boxes in pretty fun, too.
Today we woke to a snowy and icy landscape. The snow was all hard and crusty, not much fun to play in, but fun to look at. We also made it out to the Children's museum for our friend Stella's 3rd birthday today and had a great time!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

Josie dressed up as a "friendly dinosaur" for Halloween. She says that she does not bite, she only gives kisses.

Corn Maze

2011-10-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time at the corn maze/pumpkin patch today. Lots of muddy running in the "Washington State" corn maze that was complete with landmarks like the Space needle, Tacoma Narrows bridge and Grand Coulee Dam. Some farm animals to see, including some adorable piglets, and an amazingly sticky new experience with a candy apple.

Picture catch up

2011-10-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

A lot has gone on in the past few weeks... Carl moved to town (and got engaged to Ashley, yay!) a trip to Sunriver with the Yost side of the family and a bunch or Eric's old West Linn high friends, a decision to move to Portland in the next few months (!!), and lots of figuring out our renters and such at our Seattle condo. Busy times! Here are a few fun photos and videos to recap our crazy past few weeks.
Some fun things that Josie is doing at age 2 years and 4 months:
- LOTS of pretending. She likes to pretend she has a creature of some sort in her hand, and that creature must help her get through her daily tasks. So I find myself pestering "mousie" or "brachiosaurus" to put on undies, brush teeth, potty, and other such mundane tasks. She also likes it when WE pretend. For example, puppet play has been a hit lately, especially her favorite puppet Leo the leopard (voice by Eric) and the marionette Pedro (an old standby from Eric's childhood).
-Storytelling. She makes up elaborate stories and explanations for things. She is very verbal now!
- Winnie the Pooh. She watched a bit of this movie on her little DVD player and now she is endlessly requesting to watch the scene where Pooh is rescued from Rabbit's hole by Christopher Robin. "Hurray, Hurray!" she says.
- Little mommy. She can feed and rock and shush her babies for ages.

First day of pre school

2011-09-23T12:58:00.001-07:00

I love you so much, Dada!

2011-09-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

Water Park Fun

2011-09-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Better post these pics quick before summer is GONE and this is a distant memory. We were at the water park in West Linn, OR on a 95 degree day. Today was in the low 60s and windy, sure felt like fall is here.

Meemo and Nonno fly by

2011-09-07T11:01:00.001-07:00

Meemo and Nonno were here this morning for a few hours on their way to get Uncle Claude from Germany at Seatac. It's been a while since we have seen them and it was great to spend a little time!

August pictures

2011-09-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Fun with Friends

2011-08-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of short videos of Josie have a wild time with her friends Kate and Miles.

Ocean City State Park CAMPING!

2011-08-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

Meet Pim

2011-08-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend Maria and Kyle came to visit, and along came their new canine addition to the family: Pim the Old English Sheepdog! So sweet, so cute, and so much fun. Josie LOVED her and had so much fun, even crying after Pim left.
We had a little birthday BBQ for Eric today in honor of his 30th birthday. Carl and Ashley also made it for the party. Carl is going to UW this fall and we are looking forward to having him around more.
And, on a random note, Josie has gone into "WHY?" mode in a major way. She reminds me of Heidi, who we called the "whybox" at this stage because she just couldn't stop asking why why why why why???

Burrito

2011-07-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

After her bath, Josie will ask to be wrapped up "like a burrito" and carried around in her towel. Here is a cute shot of her wrapped burrito style with grandpa.

Camp Sealth

2011-07-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a hodge podge of pictures from our 8 days at camp Sealth on Vashon Island. We had a great time despite the rain, and JoJo Bean was a huge hit with all the campers.

Messy face pic and 2 year old update

2011-06-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

I just had to post a picture of Josie licking off the stirrer from our ice cream maker... deliberately messy and loving it.
I am enjoying her so much these days, it is so fun to be able to communicate so much more now. She loves telling little made up stories about baby animals, she pretends to hold them in her hand and they do everything with her. Today it was baby owl, yesterday it was baby ocelot.
She is potty trained now, too, which is fun for her. Its another thing that she can do by herself, which is HUGE right now. And she likes to pick out her undies, and spends a lot of time deciding which pair :-)
Another big milestone we just accomplished is graduating from crib to big girl bed. Eric really wanted her to be excited about it so we spent tons of time talking it up and preparing her for the move. We went as a family to buy a mattress at Costco, and she got to pick her own sheet set out, too (rainbow hearts, pretty cute. I was just thankful she didn't go straight for the barbie princess ones!!). So far it has been really great, she slept from 9-5 the other night in her own bed, IN HER OWN ROOM which is a first for her!

Tricycle

2011-06-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

Josie has had a grand time with her new trike. Here are some pictures of us in Sellwood with Maria and Kyle, trying the trike out on a neighborhood walk.

Rainbow Birthday party

2011-05-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday party with a RAINBOW theme this weekend at the Yosts in Portland. Rainbow balloons, rainbow streamers, rainbow cake, rainbow tutu, and crazy rainbow outfits for everyone! We had a great time, Josie had a BALL.
Nonno also took some fun photos, here is the link: http://www.pbase.com/peterschmidt/josies_2nd_birthday

POD daddy cuddles

2011-05-25T13:21:00.001-07:00

Happy Mophie's Day

2011-05-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hi, this is Eric. This is my first attempt at a post. It took several attempts to get it- but I'll just let Josie do the talking for me.

Take One:

Getting Closer:

Success:

Even Better:

Barb to the rescue!

2011-05-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last week I injured my neck in a freak accident... just turned my head in bed and SNAP! For several days I was unable to lift Josie, and unable to turn my head more than a couple inches to each side. So, wonderful Aunt Barb came up and stayed with us to help me manage Josie and the household tasks while I healed. Thank goodness!
Josie had a great time with her Aunt. She even got to go to Build-a-bear, and she made a cute bunny, named her Fluffy and dressed her in underpants and pink pajamas.

Easter Weekend

2011-04-24T19:24:00.001-07:00

We had a fabulous time at my parents house, visiting Meemo, Nonno, Heidi, Maria and Kyle. Josie had so much fun frolicking in the yard, feeding the chickens, petting Sammy the bunny, eating normally forbidden candy, and generally exploring. It was really lovely and quite relaxing to be around so many loving family members, and to eat my mama's food.
We had our traditional easter egg dying competition on Saturday, and sat around for hours coming up with ideas and dying the ultimate eggs. We totalled around 9 dozen eggs. The Yost grandparents also joined us, so we got the best of both worlds for an afternoon.
Sunday we hunted eggs first thing in the morning. Maria won with 27 eggs found, Heidi close behind. Then delicious breakfast, church, and home for a relaxing afternoon.
Here are a few new portraits of Josie, but only a couple of action shots. I was too busy hunting eggs myself to take pictures, so we'll have to wait for Nonno to get home from his trip home to Germany for Oma's 80th birthday to post all the egg shot and the egg hunters on pbase.

Josie toddler videos

2011-04-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Here a couple cute and a couple humorous videos of Josie.

Kissing grandma and grandpa over the webcam:

Saying her ABCs:

And just plain being silly:

Grandparent visit

2011-04-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Sunny Mexico

2011-03-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful, relaxing week in sunny Mexico. Josie had a fabulous time in the pool, on the beach, and doing yoga with grandma.

Here is a series shot in sports mode of Josie getting tossed in the air. Look at her face!!

Web cam

2011-03-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

Josie just loves talking to Grandma and Grandpa on webcam. They sing songs, tell stories, and give kisses. Here she is, planting big wet ones on the screen.

Cake face

2011-02-24T12:43:00.001-08:00

Today, we made cake . Josie was in the backpack while I got the cake in the oven, and as you can see from the coating of batter on her face, she left no surface untouched. You can imagine what my neck and hair looked like...

The "Look"

2011-02-11T19:29:00.000-08:00

Josie gives her best scowl to the camera...

Josie hoses down the camera

2011-02-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

Fun with Nonno's water proof camera.

NZ Videos

2011-02-11T18:53:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of my favorite videos of Josie from our New Zealand vacation.
This one shows her version of the sign for bug, and Josie's enthusiasm for finding bugs.

POD- Valentine

2011-02-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

Meow

2011-02-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Projects

2011-01-14T12:42:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of Josie participating in some of my projects.
Here she is snuggling a half knit owl I am in process of making up for my friend Alia's baby, due very soon.
And, below she is sitting in a bath tub full of newspaper strips I am readying for our worm bin. Since she discovered how cool bugs are in New Zealand, she has had a new found interest in our worms, too. Yesterday she even held one (with a glove on her hand... I can't convince her to touch one bare skinned).

New Zealand trip

2011-01-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

Well we are finally home after 3 weeks in beautiful, warm and sunny New Zealand. We had a fabulous time. Josie did really well with all the flying, but her parents were exhausted nonetheless! Josie had a mild illness the first week which made her a bit grouchy, but after that she was really a champ. She loved having all the family around all the time and woke up every morning declaring "Nonno, Mommo!" which are her names for her grandparents.
We most hung around Pauanui and enjoyed the water and the beach, but also made it to the top of My. Pauanui, to the abandoned gold mines near Tairua, out for a couple shopping trips in nearby towns, to Hahei beach near Cathedral cove and swimming in the Tairua river.
I didn't take many photos, but here are a few of Josie. My dad will post a thorough gallery soon, I am sure!

POD

2010-12-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

Here a couple shots for today. First, Josie's choice when picking her own clothes. Second, the new sweater I FINALLY finished knitting!

Aladdin pants

2010-12-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

Aunt Ang came back from her 3 month trip to India at Thanksgiving. She came to visit us the weekend after and gave Josie some very fancy pants as a souvenir :-).

Santa

2010-12-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

Santa? Ummm, no thank you. Santa was at the Edmonds Amtrak station today, and we stopped by, but couldn't get too close.

SNOW

2010-11-22T11:39:00.000-08:00

We had a couple of inches of snow this morning. After a couple years with no real snow, it was fun to have some, especially so early in the winter! Josie wasn't too sure about it, though... didn't want to touch it at first. She warmed up to it a little bit, though.

POD- naked shopper

2010-11-12T16:40:00.001-08:00

Here's my little nudist, shopping for groceries. Next, putting her diaper on Mr. Potato Head.

POD- shoes

2010-11-07T18:19:00.001-08:00

PODs

2010-11-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

My future spelunker! She ;oved the head lamp, and LOVED admiring herself in the mirror with it on.

Halloween ladybug!

2010-10-31T20:06:00.001-07:00

This year, Josie was a ladybug for Halloween. We took her trick or treating for the first time, and she was cute as a button! Amazing how much has changed since she was our little monkey last Halloween. This year, we went to three houses for candy. She got the hang of things really fast, trying to grab everything in the bowl :-) She didn't really want to wear her costume and wouldn't keep the wings on. She has a mind of her own now!! Here are a few pictures.

Words

2010-10-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

For posterity, I wanted to write down all the words Josie says now, so that we can look back and see what her first words were. Most of these are "interpreter required", but some sounds clear as day! I think she is going to be really making sense soon.
more
park
pumpkin
baby
milo
mama
dada
heidi
meemo
nonno
no
yes
yay
bath
grandma
grandpa
avocado
carl
kyle
Barb
poo
shoe
cheese
zoo
Josie
tea
toast

Family Portrait

2010-10-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

We recently had our pictures taken as a family by our friends Jeff and Sally Honeycutt, of Sea Studio Photography . I am absolutely in LOVE with how they turned out! They perfectly capture the rainy pacific northwest feel, and Josie was so cute. I was going to save them to show once we had sent out our Christmas card so it would be a surprise, but then I couldn't resist.

Pumpkin carving

2010-10-25T15:52:00.001-07:00

Last night we carved our pumpkins. At first, Josie seemed very upset that I was cutting into her "pahp" and was scared to put her hand in and scoop out the seeds. Eventually, towards the end of our project, she did participate a little.
I can't wait to dress her up in her ladybug costume this weekend! We are hosting October Thanksgiving here on Saturday, so the Grompe's and newlywed Moredocks will be here. Yay!

Pumpkin Farm

2010-10-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today we went to a local farm with our church kids group. There were animals, pumpkins and mud galore. Fun times!

16 months

2010-10-12T19:14:00.001-07:00

A few of Josie's recent adventures... stacking blocks and living room forts!

Grand Poo Bah passes on

2010-10-09T19:40:00.001-07:00

My Grandpa Ted Peterschmidt died yesterday. I am feeling pretty sad about it, and decided to look back at some old pictures. The ones I am posting here are from earlier this year. He was a spry old guy, and loved getting together with family! I will miss him so much. I am so happy he got to meet Josie, even though she won't remember.

Choo Choo!

2010-09-30T13:58:00.001-07:00

We took the train to Portland spontaneously this week just for fun. We had no plans and wanted to spend some quality time with the grandparents.
Josie LOVES the train. She says "choo choo!" and pumps her arm. The other night she woke up super early in the morning from a train whistle, shouted CHOO CHOO and then immediately collapsed asleep again. So funny!
Josie enjoyed the trip a lot. She started saying Meemo and Nonno and "Dee dee" (for Heidi). She loved the chickens as always, and loved reading the Jungle Book with Nonno. We also had a nice trip to the Portland Zoo. She played in Heidi's old pink barbie jeep. And... Now she is zonked out on the seat next to me on the train on the way home.

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POD- messy

2010-09-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

15 months

2010-09-21T21:14:00.001-07:00

15 month stats recorded for posterity: 21 lbs, 31.5 inches, big head (can't remember, but I know she is 25th percentile for weight, 50th on height, and 75th on head circumference :-) She has 12 teeth and is working on bridging the gap between front teeth and molars on the bottom right now.
She can say cheese, bath, grandma and grandpa, more, and most recently NO- accompanied by a vigorous head shake. She can sign many more, including baby, squirrel, cold, water, and apple.
Some funny new things: she has been spinning herself in circles and giggling at her dizziness, and walking backwards.
Also a few recent pics: pushing her own stroller, loving the new hat I knit, and on the beach in Edmonds.
My video posts apparently error every time... Sorry folks!

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POD: glasses

2010-09-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

I find these shots of Josie enjoying her toy glasses in the bath tub so endearing.She just loves the bath, too. One of the new words she can say now is "bath", although it sounds a bit more like "ba". She'll stand at the edge of the tub trying to pry her shirt over her head and shouting, "ba, ba!". Pretty cute.

POD- life jacket

2010-09-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

My mom gave me a thrift store life jacket to bring to New Zealand this Christmas. When Josie saw it, she of course begged me to put it on her... I demonstrated the handy handle feature!

Wedding weekend

2010-09-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

My little sister Maria married her long time love, Kyle Moredock this weekend. It was a very busy weekend, and in the end the wedding day came together amazingly. Really, AMAZING! It was beautiful weather, everything got done, and everyone had a great time. Perfect! Josie even went down to sleep in the house where the reception was, and was zonked for 2 hours until I had danced enough to make my knees and feet very creaky and sore the next day :-). I didn't get to take many photos, but here are a few from the weekend, from before, during and after the festivities. Plus, here is the link to the family photo website if you are interested in more wedding pics: http://www.pbase.com/peterschmidt/maria__kyle_wedding

Maria bought her flowers from a local farm and we put all the arrangments together ourselves:

Heidi's curlies!

Champagne and hair in the morning before the wedding:

Quit taking my picture!!!

Sisters hairdos

Maria pulls Josie in the little red wagon:

Josie tries to kiss a boy on the dance floor:

POD - laundry basket

2010-08-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

Edmonds

2010-08-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

New house

2010-08-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Well, we are mostly settled into our new place in Edmonds. Its really a lovely house, and it suits us well for our current life. It's going to be an adjustment to live in a such a quiet place. We have gotten used to quite a bit of hustle and bustle in the city. It doesn't feel like home yet, but hopefully it will soon! Here are some photos of us during and after the move.

Puckering up for Milo

Playing in a box

Labeled and ready to be packed for the new house

Trying on some toy glasses grandma brought

Bubbly bath in our new bathtub

Moving

2010-08-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we are really and truly in process now for our move this weekend. We have lots packed, but it seems like there is lots left to do, as well. Reinforcements are arriving on Friday in the form of the Yost grandparents and great aunt Barb, which is going to help so much! Josie seems totally unphased by the chaos in the household right now which hopefully bodes well for the transition to the new place.
Also newsworthy- my grandfather had a bad fall a week and a half ago, and broke his C1 vertebrae. He was in the ICU in Harborview, and we were all very worried! This week he transitioned to the regular floor and then home with amazing speed! He is doing really well. A full recovery will take a while, but I am so happy to report that things are really looking up.
Here are a couple current photos of Josie.

PODs

2010-08-10T12:29:00.001-07:00

Eric's 29th Birthday

2010-08-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Eric turned 29 on August 5th, and we went out for a burger and cupcakes to celebrate. Josie also made him a lovely piece of art work (credit for that fun idea goes to my mama friend Cara.

Video mania 2

2010-08-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well, we've got a bit of a backlog of videos we have taken of Josie, back to her baby group birthday party in July. So here are a few cute ones: dancing with her otter, trying to walk in moms shoes, and the babies vs cake melee from the baby group party (warning: that one is 6 mins long... sorry for the lack of editing).

Pt. Defiance Zoo

2010-07-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Today we braved the traffic and the crowds to go to the Pt Defiance zoo in Tacoma. And while it didn't quite live up to the amazing memories I have of the whales, ET the walrus is always pretty fun, and the tiger has 2 new cubs that we got to see up close. Josie had a great time, pointing to all the animals and wanting to walk everywhere.

POD: Heidi's summer visit

2010-07-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

Cowgirl

2010-07-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

This morning I found some fun new cowboy boots for Josie at the consignment shop. Then we spent the afternoon down by Lake Washington at Magnuson park with a friend, Alexis. Lovely sunshine and a refreshing swim... ahh! Josie didn't like the water much but enjoyed throwing rocks and running around the grass. When we got home, she decided she wanted to try on her new boots with her swim top. Funny!

This morning I found some fun new cowboy boots for Josie at the consignment shop. Then we spent the afternoon down by Lake Washington at Magnuson park with a friend, Alexis. Lovely sunshine and a refreshing swim... ahh! Josie didn't like the water much but enjoyed throwing rocks and running around the grass. When we got home, she decided she wanted to try on her new boots with her swim top. Funny!

Daddy daughter moments

2010-07-22T10:46:00.001-07:00

Josie's green room portraits

2010-07-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

I used to take a million portraits of Josie. She would smile and look at the camera, and I had countless opportunities. Now, she is moving so fast and so interested in other things that I can barely get her to stand still and look at the camera for a fleeting moment, which is not long enough to get a good picture!
So, I imprisoned Josie in her crib, and for the few minutes that she would cooperate, got a few nice portraits. I love the expressions on her face!

Maria's Bridal Shower

2010-07-19T17:25:00.001-07:00

This weekend we were down in Portland again for a wedding on Saturday, and Maria's bridal shower on Sunday. With collaboration from my mom and Heidi, we managed to decorate the house with tons of white balloons, tissue paper poofs and streamers, and make a boat load of good food to share. It was a really nice shower, and I think everyone had fun. We even had cupcakes from our neighborhood cupcake shop, Trophy. Yum!
Here is Josie, helping unwrap and one of Maria and her girlfriends out on the lawn.

Seattle summer

2010-07-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

Around our house, summer means the baby runs around naked a lot. And I love it! According to my siblings and cousins, posting pictures of this cuteness could potentially be horrendously embarrassing for her in the future, so I promise if she protests, they will be removed. For now, enjoy!

Baby group birthday bash

2010-07-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Now that all the babies from our June 2009 midwifery cohort have turned one, we all got together to celebrate with a picnic and a little baby fun. Chef mama Mary made a delicious vegan cake and we set all the naked babies loose on it for some MESSY fun. Josie was 10x messier than the next messiest baby though, I think.

July update

2010-07-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

Well, after a long time on the road and a lot of busy-ness, we are back home to the hot summer weather. Here is a shot of Josie helping unpack:

We spent last week Seaside with the Peterschmidt clan (my moms whole side of the family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins galore) and had a great time. Josie was totally at ease with the crowd and went motoring around the big house from person to person. She really loved having the whole beach to walk walk walk walk walk on, but didn't want her feet touching the cold water!
Now that she is 13 months she is walking all over the place, and getting much faster. She has added some signs, including book, up, all done. She has started really being silly and enjoying humor, laughing her head off when we do something silly, too.
We are sailing right into the busy time of summer, with weekend weddings, road trips, Eric's 10th high school reunion and our move next month. Go go go!
Here is a link to my dad's Pbase gallery of our trip to Seaside: http://www.pbase.com/peterschmidt/seaside_2010

Recent pictures

2010-06-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

Father's Day PODs

2010-06-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

Birthday 2

2010-06-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy with visitors the last week or so. My sister Maria and her fiance Kyle came up for the weekend, then my mom and Heidi came up Sunday night to babysit while I was at work on Monday, and stayed until yesterday.
Right in the middle of all that was a fun little get together of all our old college friends to celebrate Josie's birthday, hosted by the lovely Katie. We had a great time seeing everyone, and Josie everyone, too (and loved her cake). Here are some photos of the event. Also, a beautiful collage of Josie's first year, also put together by Katie.

Walking!

2010-06-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos of Josie's new steps! Today she was walking much more even than yesterday, I think she is ready to take off.

PODs- playing in a box

2010-06-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

POD- Nonnomarkus visits

2010-06-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

Birthday bash

2010-05-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from Josie's birthday party and Memorial day weekend in Portland with the family. We had a nice time, and really enjoyed being with everyone. Josie picked this busy weekend to ditch her second nap, which did cause a little bit of chaos, though she weathered it well.
My mom hosted everyone at the Grompe house. We had awesome food: mom made ribs with 2 sauces, a classic sauce and a watermelon BBQ sauce that was a real hit. I made a chocolate cake, which was so moist and delicious that it had trouble staying upright. Heidi did the cake decorations and streamers.
She LOVED the food, especially the cake, and had a great time unwrapping her presents! She was truly the center of attention. Lucky girl!

Birthday memories

2010-05-31T16:18:00.000-07:00

Remember this day last year? I sure do (sort of :-). Here are a few pictures of Josie on the day of her birth. Tomorrow: birthday celebration photos!

POD- sleeper

2010-05-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of my sleeping angel... I used to take lots of these when she was a sleepy little newborn, but as she has grown she has gotten sensitive to noises and wakes up so easily that I dare not sneak in to take pictures! These I got in a rare moment when she was sleeping late and I needed to wake her up. So sweet.

Josie's First Steps!!

2010-05-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today, Josie took 4 steps in a row. She was standing in the bath tub, trying to maneuver her way toward the spout, and just stood up and walked on over to it!
She has taken 1-2 steps a couple of other times, but they have always been steps on the way to a sort of crash landing, and never really seemed all that intentional. So we are counting today as the landmark of FIRST STEPS!!

POD series- Josie has hair!

2010-05-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Josie had a great time trying on some hair yesterday. She looks good with long locks, don't you think? Real hair courtesy of our friend Tiffany :-)

POD- beautiful girl

2010-05-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day PODs

2010-05-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Beautiful weekend

2010-05-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today is such a beautiful day, I can hardly wait to get out in the sunshine. I was scheduled to work 11-7 today, but got a no pay (at least for the first part of the shift... we'll see about the afternoon). Josie is napping, so I am going to head off in search of a craigslist play kitchen for her birthday, and then we'll all go out for an outdoor adventure when she wakes up. Unexpected time like this is such a treat! And, as a treat for you, a naked baby picture :-)

More PODs

2010-05-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more of the pics from the last POD series. I decided I like them all, so they get posted!

POD

2010-05-04T14:33:00.001-07:00

11 months

2010-05-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

Josie turned 11 months old this weekend. We had a nice time in Portland. We went to Heidi's softball game on Friday, Portland State farmer's market and dinner with the Yost grandparents on Saturday, and an outdoor mass in Spanish with a Mariachi band in honor of Cinco de Mayo.
She now proudly sports 6 teeth, stands unassisted, loves to run around with no pants on, and is becoming increasingly insistent on her own agenda. I think she is discovering her independence!
Here are a couple photos of her from this morning, crawling around and over everything like a 4WD.

PODs- silverware

2010-04-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

Today we are in Portland, hanging with the grandparents. This morning Nonno got out the silverware tray for Josie to unload and play with, and as you can see she loved it and it kept her occupied for some time!

POD

2010-04-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

A little humor in your POD today... I think only babies can pull off the shirt and no pants look.
Josie won't hold still to get diapered these days, she immediately flips over and starts crawling at high speed towards ... whatever she is interested in at the moment. As a result, most of our diaper changes have moved to the floor so that I don't have to worry about her flipping right off the changing table. Here, as you can see, she got away from me, and went straight for daddy :-)

POD

2010-04-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

Josie is keeping me mostly too busy to sit down and write anecdotes or post pictures- these days I am after her full time! She now has 5 teeth (2 on top, 3 on bottom), a big appetite (growth spurt?) and a new found desire to get away from mama and dad and be sneaky. Here are a couple of shots of her pulling up on my pant leg as I attempt to download some pics :-).

Cute baby updates

2010-04-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well... my baby is just so cute. That's really the whole point of this post. She is doing a couple of funny new things that I felt I had to document!
One is the little hobble that she can now do with her walker. You will see it in the video, she looks like a sweet old lady! It's a little unsteady and scary still, but I think she will be cruising with that thing in no time.
To our delight, she has also starting signing "more". Just like when she starting saying "mama" in her pleading little voice, it's impossible to say no when she is doing such a good job communicating!
Lastly, she has taken to crawling around like a puppy dog with it's toy in it's mouth. Whatever the toy of choice is, if she wants to go somewhere she simply grabs it in her mouth and hits the road. So funny!
Baby doggie:

Easter

2010-04-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

We had an unconventional Easter this year, at least by my standards as a traditionalist when it comes to holidays. I was at work from 7-4 or so, and when I came home Eric got take out lamb burgers for dinner (lamb is the traditional Easter meal at the Grompe's, so this seemed fitting to me). We had a baby Easter egg hunt in the living room with plastic eggs filled with strawberries and raspberries for Josie. We went to 7 pm mass at the Newman center on UW campus, because it was the only mass time I could find since I was working the first part of the day. All in all, a busy, blessed Easter! Notice Meemo's wild Easter pastel sweater on Josie in the pictures.

10 months!

2010-04-02T08:16:00.001-07:00

Josie is 10 months old! Now I can officially say her birthday is "NEXT MONTH"!!!
She is such a big girl. We have really seen an increase in her language comprehension and problem solving skills lately. She has figured out how to pull on one item to get another to come toward her (the string of a balloon, the covers on the bed). She can imitate sounds and motions, and can wave hello and bye bye. The cutest things is that she has started giving hugs and kisses. She will lay her cheek on you, or open her mouth and sweetly and affectionately slime you.
She is a proficient cruiser and crawler now. She is relatively cautious though, and sensitive to the bumps and bonks that come with learning to move.
Her eyes are still the hazelly gray/brown they became a few months ago, and now I am wondering if she may get to keep her Grompe green eyes! We will see.

POD

2010-03-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely long weekend in Portland. Josie and I took the train down Thursday morning, and Eric came after work on Friday. We got to spend lots of time with all the family.
Heidi and I had a good time sewing- we both picked out neat fabric to make a little case, mine for knitting needles, hers for paintbrushes.
Today my Grandma (Josie's GREAT grandma) and a couple of great aunts are coming by to see her. That should be fun!

J-O-S-I-E

2010-03-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist these beautiful wallpaper letters. So... an impulse purchase becomes super cute new decorations in Josie's room!

Video mania

2010-03-22T11:42:00.001-07:00

In no particular order... funny faces in the tub, verrrry tired girl, turning the pages all by herself. Cuteness!

Spring time in the quad

2010-03-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful 60 degree spring day today. I got off work early, and we headed out for a trip to our old stomping grounds at UW, where the cherry trees are blooming in the quad. Perfect opportunity to take another million photos of my beautiful baby (and her adorable new hat!)