Happy Valentine's Day!

2010

Josie - 7 months

She's actually 8 months tomorrow - 8 months!?!?

This little CUTIE is addictive! I love holding her, kissing her, snuggling with her, sleeping with her - I can't get enough!! "They" say the third child is the easiest and I have to agree. Josie is so easy-going, attentive, social, and happy ALL THE TIME!

She's mastered SITTING and is still a little unsteady when STANDING, but she loves to JUMP in her jumper! She babbles constantly - BA BA BA and (Alex's favorite) DA DA DA - are her most popular sounds with lots of SQUEALS and GIGGLES thrown in. She has a hearty BELLY LAUGH when you tickle her or when Justin pays attention to her.

She loves to EAT! Bananas, mandarin oranges, black beans, green beans, carrots, ravioli, cheerios - anything she can pick up and shove into her mouth by herself! Often I have to put a cheerio on top of a spoonful of cereal/fruit to get her to eat it - not that she doesn't love the flavor, but that she wants something she can sink her teeth/gums into, not something so pureed. Except YOGURT. She'll let me shovel that it as quickly as possible! She has her two bottom teeth and is working on the top two. She can drink from a SIPPY CUP when she wants to but I think it's more for recreation - she still nurses quite a bit, and I don't mind.

She's BLONDE and BEAUTIFUL! Okay, so it's a dark blonde, but we're moving in the right direction!

A warmer bedroom

We did a lot of painting over the holidays. This was probably the biggest project. I painted it one color and it was all wrong - think school bus yellow. Yeah. So, another two cans of paint later and we love it!

I didn't take a before picture. Click here to see a movie from late 2008, when we first moved in.

AFTER:

Josie - 3 months!

Where does the time go?! This was her three month picture that I never posted.

By four months she was sitting by herself and very interested in real food. Look at those cheeks!

Projects

We decided to take advantage of the break and knock out a few more home improvement projects.

The "piano room" BEFORE:

All one color! Ugh!

AFTER: (now known as the "green room")

Color! I love this room in the daylight.

The pantry BEFORE:

A funny story is that someone actually took all of these

metal shelves when we set them out for garbage pick-up.

AFTER:

The shelves are from Ikea.

Alex painted them with a very dull polyurethane,

then put them together in the pantry.

I love this chocolate color on the walls -

it really makes the shelves stand out.

Quite easily one of my favorite rooms in the house.

You've gotta love a well-organized, accessible pantry!

And not just its contents!