I know I have not updated for quite some time. As in, months...almost 4 months, but life has been constant and I have been spending my time keeping up with the busy, busy, bundle that is my daughter! We had a very busy few months with a move, illness, holidays, vacation, more illness, more holiday and lots of living life in between. I think we've settled into a good routine after the past couple of months (adjusting to the move, holiday, illness, vacation, etc.) and hopefully I will do a better job of giving at least a monthly update of how amazing the darling girl is doing. The last post was mid-November, so here is a little catch up of the past few months...
November~
We finished the month with a little Thanksgiving celebrating. Including a school feast, (yep, I got to go eat a Thanksgiving lunch with my girl at school. I love being a Mom!) a little church 'Thank-you Meal' choir program and our family gathering to enjoy some good old turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Josie also decided that it would be good timing to come down with croup and miss a week of school prior to Thanksgiving break. This girl and her little airways and low tone mixed with bronchial illness are just not a good combo. Thankfully we have quite a stash of albuterol on hand and our lovely pink 'Claudia the Cat' nebulizer and an amazing pediatrician who will fit us in asap to determine if a stronger treatment is needed or not. Can I just state for the record that I HATE croup!! But the girlie is a rock star and after days of breathing treatments, steroids and some good old, TLC, she was back to her silly, bubbly, self. The positive of being sick...someone took her first few steps while on a steroid high! What a moment that was! I knew she was close but watching her toddle two, then three, then four steps from one place to another made my heart skip a few beats. She is so determined...I love that will of hers.December~
We took a little vacation, before 'school' vacation, and flew back to Chicago for a week. It was possibly the best little vacation ever. I got to spend a week, taking my daughter to all of the places and doing all of the activities that I did as a girl. We went to Marshall Field's (yeah, I am aware that it's Macy's now, but it will also be Marshall Fields in my mind.) and ate under the giant tree in the Walnut room. We were visited by the fairies during our meal, ate delicious pot pie and hot cider and left with souvenir Santa Bear mugs and LOTS of glitter. Josie met Santa and LOVED him (and he, her...it was a mutual bonding). We walked around in the cold downtown, visit American Girl, ate more delicious food and did more site seeing. I will try to write a post about our trip later. It was a pretty great week making lots of lasting memories. We also enjoyed a couple of weeks out of school, which meant TONS of Mama and Josie time. The best time ever! Josie also experienced her first Christmas...and WOW! What a Christmas it was. Just about every aspect that could have been excellent, was. She loved the tree
(including finding one and cutting it down!), the lights, the music, the stories, the crafts and on and on. We did Advent activities to add to our tree and decorations, she learned about the real meaning behind the holiday and still sings (signs) 'Away in a Manger', even weeks after the holiday. She also learned about Santa and will sometimes still 'Ho,ho,ho' if she sees something that she thinks looks like Santa. I may need another post on our first Christmas home experience as well. It was truly magical. One of the big highlights of our extra time together was...walking. Yep, the initial couple of steps turned more into 10 or so at a time...she's pretty amazing!
January~
We finished up our school vacation and started a fresh new year. Someone took a few days to transition from our weeks of 'vacationing' and extra Mama and Josie time, but she eventually got back into routine and was gladly showing off her new walking skills at school. Josie is now walking all.over.the.place!! She still needs to build up
stamina and does still stumble a bit, but holy moly this girl is on the
move! She has also decided that she can climb on everything and discovered that standing on tiptoes gives her an extra inch to reach a little higher. The edge of just about EVERY surface in the house is now off limits. Paper sitting at the edge of the dining room table, reachable. Cup sitting on the edge of the kitchen counter, reachable. Books at the edge of the 3rd shelf on the bookcase, reachable. Thankfully she hasn't actually discovered that she can really reach things in some places, but once she realizes it...all bets are off! We had a few warm winter days and spent time at the park, doing her favorite thing...swinging! She also took her first trip to the library and loved it. We have been back quite a few times to return and borrow new books. I love that she loves to read! J also got invited to a couple of birthday parties. Her first since being home. (She actually got to attend her first birthday party for her friend Sophie while we were still in Colombia! You can read about that here.) Josie's friend Stiles turned 5 and had a party at a gymnastics center....which included lots of bouncy houses, spring mats and foam pits. The girlie LOVED her time
That brings us to February and my attempt to hopefully stay caught up. We have few pretty big events coming up, including a first birthday home (how can she be turning FOUR already!) and a baptism...so happy to be getting that done in our current church before we move! Oh yeah, at that, a move (which isn't actually happening until the end of the school year, but involves quite a bit of planning!)
I will try my best to stay up to date from here on out. There are certainly always things to blog about...just need to keep track of the time to write!!!
