Month 12

birthday pie
Originally uploaded by wi77ow

12 months

Nicknames: Scooter, Turkey legs, Stinky McGillicutty,
Favorite foods: avocado, yogurt, scrambled eggs, cheese, chocolate, cheerios, boob, superfood juice
Favorite tricks: dancing, walking backwards, spin in circles, singing, undoing diapers, pretending to read, pretending to talk on the phone
Thoroughly uninterested in: television, small chairs
Unfortunate common occurrence: tripping
Worst habit: never sleeping for longer than 3 hours at a time
Best habits: kissing, babbling on and on
Favorite places to be: by the door someone just came in so you can play with the snow from their boots, lying down by the coffee table so you can peek at us through the legs, on my hip.

Josephine, this has been the fastest year of my life. I’m at a loss as to how I’m supposed to sum up this past month in this letter, let alone your first year. I do have one thing going for me this morning though, you actually have given me three nights in a row with 5 straight hours of wonderful sleep.

Your aunt Sarah came home from school a week ago and to all of our surprise you reached for her immediately and never looked back. Even though you hadn’t seen her in almost 5 months, you must remember her because you will not allow strangers to touch you. You still are cautious around your uncle Josh and he comes over about once a week.

This isn’t your first winter, but it’s the first winter you might be able to enjoy. I searched and searched for a snowsuit that was waterproof and didn’t have feet so you could use your own boots, and oh yeah, one that would fit a one year old and wasn’t $100+. I guess most babies your size aren’t allowed to walk in the snow? I don’t know but I finally found one and it’s a little big, but it does the job and you think the snow is awesome. You were born in a snowstorm, maybe that says something.

So you are a whole year old now baby. I didn’t throw you a grand birthday party with balloons and streamers, and I didn’t make a cake and take pictures of you smearing it on your face. You’ve had cake before and you were wearing a white dress so you only got a few toddler snacks while the rest of us had a berry pie I made instead. It was a nice day in the end, we sang, opened presents and for dinner we went to a friend’s house where you had the best time feeding their dog every last one of your cheerios. Unfortunately the day started a little rough because you got your 12 month immunizations in addition to a super fun iron test and flu shot. Then! There was a super awesome snow storm the night before and the roads were so bad that the 2 mile drive from the clinic to our house took about 30 minutes. We got stuck in the middle of the road several times and I had to maneuver and spin the tires this way and that while all these SUVs drove past and you screamed the whole time. Happy Birthday!

This month has been a little extra stressful for me. I am trying to sign up for some classes which means that I would have to leave you with someone else for part of the day. Even though you are a charmer and everyone wants to play with you, you are very anxious around strangers. I’ve left you with your aunts, grandma and papa a few times and you do fine for a short amount of time but even though I appreciate a break now and then, I hate walking out the door without you.

When I’m not freaking out about how many hours I have to be away from you, I’m freaking out about how you just dove head first into the coffee table again. (I bought you a pretty, retro icepack for your birthday.) You try everyday to break your personal speed record by picking up something you know you shouldn’t have and sprinting to the next room. Sometimes the coffee table, couch, dog, or a rogue shoe gets in your path and all 22 lbs bounces and rolls across the room. Fortunately, you usually think it’s pretty funny.

No matter what stresses have come this year, I would take them all times 10 if I had to because the joy you bring me trumps them all.

(video of 13 pictures: first one is Josephine 3 days old and every one after was taken on the 23rd of each month)

Check-In

I'm sure the three people that still read this blog are just as busy as I am right now and haven't even noticed my lack of posting...
Josephine's birthday is tomorrow, then the whole Christmas Eve/Christmas Day extravaganza, and hopefully before Feburary I'll have some pictures and re-caps up for all to enjoy.
My sister that goes to school in Alabama is home and Josephine took to her immediatly, replacing Martha with her as her favorite for the first few days. We were all surprised since she is still nervous around my brother and his girlfriend even though they come over for dinner every Sunday.
I had pictures up several weeks ago with Josephine in the snow. That snow melted right away and we had plenty of sunny warm days since then. Until now. The yard is a winter wonderland, the stroller is retired for the season, and taking the dog out to poop in someone elses yard is a dreaded chore.
ok, I don't let her poop in someone elses yard, but I try to keep her from doing it in our yard because then I have to shovel it up. No one is at risk of walking in her non-yard poop, FYI.
stop talking about dog poop.
ok.

some stuff

• I use "smell ya later" as my preferred salutation.
• I believe bananas are the only fruit that should ever be pared with chocolate.
• My favorite song is Love of My Life- Erykah Badu (link is to the video that frankly leaves a lot to be desired)
• I was told to read books and magazines while I was pregnant because once Josephine arrives I won't have time for those luxuries. The truth is, I have time to thumb through a magazine once in a while...I just can't find one that hasn't been shredded and chewed beyond recognition.
• This morning Josephine went down for her nap in my arms and just as I was thinking about putting her in her bed she threw up a festive mix of milk and cookies. As soon as I changed her shirt she was fine and took a few minutes to play with some toys and then went back to sleep. I can't get the smell of stomach acid and arrowroot cookie off my hands.
• In 10 days my baby will be a whole year old.
• My body will re-experience emotions from the past. That's not unusual, I know. The triggers are common ones like smells and certain songs, but I've noticed I also re-live emotions as the seasons change. This past summer I spent many days re-experiencing the stresses of the summer before for no reason other than that I could suddenly remember them so vividly. Upon the fist real snowfall of this winter I was suddenly taken right back to the snowstorm Josephine was born in. I felt the anxiety of knowing I was going to have a baby soon and the stress of being in so much pain and just wanting to enjoy my new daughter. I think my body remembers the bad days much stronger than the good ones.
• I realized that I have a geeky crush on Bobby Flay after I had a dream that one of my friends married him and I was quite jealous.
• Josephine has figured out how to drink from a straw and it's the only way I can get her to drink anything other than water or Odwalla Superfood juice.
• Now that my hair has grown out a little bit I have no idea what to do with it.
• My computer died a few days ago. I revived it but everything was lost...i don't even recognize her anymore. Anyway, the thing I'm missing the most is the billions of links that were in my favorites folder. Now I'll never know about all that cool stuff I was going to get back to. (I don't keep my pictures on my computer, so, phew!)

cast iron crown

There are two styles of cornbread.
Southern style and New England style.
The former has more of a corn flavor, a grittier texture, and a crispier crust than the latter. If you ask a yankee to make some cornbread for you you'll get a sweeter and softer bread, almost a corn cake. If you search for cornbread recipes on the Internet you'll mostly get the northern version; I think it's because if you have a good southern recipe you keep it a secret, possibly only sharing on your death bed.
My dad has been on a mission to make good southern style cornbread for several months now and has been failing miserably. I mixed up a couple of batches and even though he didn't think it was a competition, I won.
The first batch was a fail because I forgot to add the salt.
By the third batch I had made the best southern cornbread you can possibly make in a glass pan. That's the thing, authentic southern style cornbread is baked in a cast iron pan...which I don't have...glass is the next best thing.
I know you are dying for me to reveal my recipe...
I'll say this, on a scale of just add milk to childhood memory my bread lands pretty solidly on we could make this when grandma visits.