Monday, November 17th – Redskins no longer Josie’s favorite team

That’s right, she told me so herself. After our abysmal loss against the Cowboys Sunday night, it was clear that Josie no longer wanted to have any sort of association with the team. In fact, she actually gathered up all of our Redskins paraphernalia, took it out back, and burned it. That’s how embarrassed and disappointed she was. And I agree completely. To come out and display such a lack luster performance against a huge interdivisional rival on a nationally televised Sunday night game at home just plain hurts. The offense is struggling with getting it done. The Redskins have now lost two consecutive home games, and have scored just one touchdown in the last 8 quarters. How does anyone expect to win football games with those kinds of stats? But I digress.

I didn’t get to make it to Josie’s check up the other day but I was glad (and proud) to see that she’s doing so well growing. I just can’t believe how she has practically doubled in weight! It must be because I see her everyday but for whatever reason, I just don’t think she’s all that much bigger than when she first arrived. I mean I know she is getting bigger; she’s filling out her clothes nicely and her cheeks are getting chubbier practically every time she eats. It’s just the change that has taken place isn’t quite as apparent for me. Everyone that sees her always comment on how much bigger she’s gotten, so I guess I’m on my own with this one. I think the change will be more noticeable for me once she starts to grow in length.

Josie’s sleeping certainly has improved compared to the beginning, but it’s still no where we’d like it to be. Jen’s up with her most nights, while I take over once the weekend hits. Basically, she sleeps just fine during the day, but she’s wide awake right when we’re ready to hit the sack. She will eventually go to sleep and sleep for 4hrs or so, but it’s just the time prior to getting her the sleep that’s the hardest. She also doesn’t eat as well during those hours either, so it feels like all that’s happening is feeding and changing, feeding and changing. It’s ok though because we know it’ll get better. It just takes time.

We’re going to be taking Josie on her first road trip next week for Thanksgiving. Now that she’s bigger and has gotten her first round of shots, we feel comfortable taking her out. She’s already been out a few places but this would be her first long outing. We’ll be heading down to Virginia to celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family. It should be a lot of fun since everyone other than my parents will be meeting her for the first time. They’re all eagerly awaiting her arrival so I hope she’s ready. As some of you are aware, I have a pretty big family.

A Preemie No More

Josie had her one month check-up today and she is “perfect” (the doctor’s words, not mine, although I whole-heartedly agree!). She is growing so quickly and is in the 25th percentile for her height, weight and head size … you would never know that she was a preemie now!

Weight: 8 lbs. 12 ounces (she gained 3 lbs, 14 ounces since birth)
Height: 20.75 inches (2 inches longer!)

YAY Josie, what a big girl you are!

Monday, November 10th – Oh let me count the ways

Little Josie has been doing her share of growing as of late. Her cheeks are puffier, her legs are chunkier, and her hair is coming in nicely as well. Most if not all of the outfits that have been in circulation since she was born are starting to fit perfectly. In fact, there are even a few that are a bit snug when she fully extends herself. Although these are all signs of that she’s blossoming quite nicely, there’s a part of us that’s sad to see her grow. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like years from now.

Speaking of signs of development, Josie is steadily gaining strength in her neck and back. Holding her now no longer feels like holding of a 5lb water balloon with a mind of its own. In fact, we’ve noticed that she’s starting to lift and hold up her head, all by herself. According to Jen’s fancy baby books, this isn’t supposed to happen for a while longer. Naturally this means that she’s gifted and talented, and probably at the very least will have the combined intellect of a supreme court justice and a neurosurgeon.

We had a pretty laid back weekend. The Redskins had their bye this week so my blood pressure stayed at a relatively normal level. We did have a special visitor come by for the afternoon. Dan (aka Uncle Dan) and his brother stopped over on their way back from New York. I won’t go into the details of his visit. All I’ll say is that sauce was made, and cuddling was involved. That’s it for now!

FYI: I’m currently working on a separate page on this blog which will contain a compilation of the interesting tid-bits which occurred during those first few weeks when I didn’t have a chance to update the blog. Look for that shortly.

What a strong grip!




Bonding with Uncle Dan




Big girl holding her own bottle!


With Mable


aaaaragaowuwrharaaaaa

Thursday, November 6th – Happy 1 month birthday Josie

As of 7:18 PM this evening, little Josie Kaye officially reached 1 month old. It’s been an eventful month to say the least. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had so many new and exciting experiences one after another in such a short amount of time. We’ve had our share of trying times, but it has been everything that I had hoped for, and more. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It’s amazing how this tiny little package has brought us so much love and joy from the very moment that she arrived.

I realize this blog has dried up a bit in terms of content and updates; it’s been a lot harder to keep up than I had originally anticipated. The initial week when I returned to work was rough. I didn’t feel well at all and that’s really when the blog began to fall off track. I was barely getting any (good) sleep at night, and I ate at most just once a day. When I got home, all I wanted to do was to crawl into bed. The last thing that I wanted to do was sit in front of the computer, gather my thoughts, put them into words, and try to make sense of it all. It just didn’t happen.

Being at work in general has also put a damper on things because I no longer have the ability to be around and to make note of each and every little thing that happens throughout the day. I get just a few hours each night to eat dinner, shower, take care of things around the house, and spend time with Josie before it’s time for bed. That in turn has made it quite easy to put off blogging, among other things. Honestly speaking, most days I just don’t have the time, and some days, I’m just tired and laziness gets the better part of me.

A lot of people have told me how much they enjoy this blog and that they continually check back for updates. I really appreciate all the positive feedback that I’ve received. It makes all the time and effort that I’ve put into this really worth-while. In order to restore some consistency with the blog while retaining part my sanity, I’ve decided to make weekly updates (most likely on Sundays) from here on out. I had originally intended this to be a daily blog, but clearly that’s not going to work. So check back at the beginning of each week for the latest happenings and developments on our little Josie girl.

P.S. I changed the commenting feature to allow anyone who’d like to say a few words to do so without having to sign in to a specific account. Simply write in what you’d like to say, select the ‘anonymously’ radio button, and publish. Don’t forget to include your name so we know who you are. Feel free to drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you!

Monday, November 3rd - What a big girl ... 4 weeks old today!

Josie is four weeks old today. I have no idea how that happened. The days have flown by (which is why this blog hasn't been updated quite as much as we had hoped) and she has grown so much in just 28 days. She's also a very busy girl: eating, napping, pooping, peeing, baths, etc. Today though, she wanted to take time out of her busy schedule to wish her daddy a very happy birthday.

Love you, Daddy Duck! Happy birthday!


Trick or Treat, what cute little feet!