16 Months Old!

Josie's 16 month stats: 28 lbs and 34 inches, size 4 diapers, size 18-24 months in clothes, and about 75% the height of a giant Home Depot bear she refused to put down until her mama told her the following story: He is the Chief Hug Instructor and needs to return to the shelf to teach all of the other bears to give babies nice hugs while their parents shop at Home Depot. Without him the others won't know how to snuggle with their new friends. She nodded and waved good bye to him. She also blew him a kiss.  

Josie's new words (these require explanations so hello bullets): 

• "Walkka, walkka, walkka" which means "I want to walk". Special thanks to Grammy for turning Josie's polite little baby dictator command of "WALK" into this. In case you need a reference refresher:                                   
• "Happy!" Perfect parenting moment #43854: Jaimie and Jonathan (showing Josie the pic of herself below): "Josie, look how HAPPY you were last year to see Santa! Babies are happy to meet Santa. HAPPY!" Josie: "Happy!"  35 minutes later... "Josie, this is Santa! Happy, remember!?" "No Santa!" Please note her baby death grip in the photo on the right. 

Ultimately we decided it's okay to stand next to Santa and pound it out, a new favorite greeting.

• "Hooray!" She's learned this from the "If You're Happy and You Know It" song. I never knew there was a hooray verse, but so be it. This video is everything.

• "Again" and "more" are also recent additions, which pleases our mini dictator. She's basically Oliver Twist, sans manners. I recognize "Please sir, may I have some..." is a mouthful for a toddler but c'mon lady! You catch more flies with honey.
• New animal sounds of note include the ssssssssss for snake.

In other Young family news:

We spent Thanksgiving with Grammy and Grampy on a cruise and celebrated Grampy's 70 birthday! Josie was not impressed, but it's because she's can't count past 2.

That's a better birthday snuggle for Grampy!

We also snuck in a quick hangout with Cousin Pierce and Uncle Phil and Auntie Ale! Josie and Pierce remain disinterested in each other. :)

This towel turkey should win an award.

Josie experienced a series of firsts and had a blast in the baby pool with her new toy ship (not pictured).

We watched our first play, Grease! She was perfect and was riveted by the singing and dancing. We were truly amazed, given the chattiness of our child.

We got our first Cabbage Patch Kid! Her name is Kenzie Addison and she's perfect! Please enjoy the "then and now" photo collage. We are the luckiest to have such a thoughtful Grammie! 

We did our first TWIRL! I decided to keep in the part where she spins herself dizzy and I pounce like an overprotective mama bear.

We successfully used a fork for the first time!

We played our first round of mini-golf. Josie confused golf with softball, but it was incredibly adorable. 

Let's be honest: she smashes eggs into her face and I think it's adorable.

Off the ship and stateside, we kicked off a little holiday cheer!

We got our tree! It's Texas-sized and I'm waiting for the big reveal when the extended Young family can be pictured together (soon!).

We made our first gingerbread house with Jen!

Finally, we've got a big Young family announcement!

Jonathan will be the Director of Education at the Georgetown Palace Theatre. We're so, so proud of him!

Until next time!

Xoxo,

J Cubed

14 and 15 Months Old!

Guys, are you noticing a pattern here? Now the months are being paired. Pretty soon(ish) you'll see a blog post entitled 2-6 Years Old! Momma blogger fail.

Josie's 14/15 month stats: The vet says she's bigger than an average two year-old! 27 lbs and 33 inches, size 4 diapers, size 18-24 months in clothes

Check out our Blue Steel

Josie's new words:  One morning this week she popped out of bed and announced "Done!" to indicate she is finished with sleep and ready to start her day. She is a hoot. Other words include: cup, guy, girl, top, ut (combination of up and out), pumpkin, nana (banana), head, tummy (as she pointed out during a 3 am cry fest), and knee. This is getting harder to track because she says so many new things everyday. Josie does not stop talking - approximately 20% of what she says is English while the rest is adorable baby babble. Please enjoy our child attempting to feed herself whilst making animal noises. Folks, we have a multitasker.

We also have a KID! Jojo is no longer a baby, though she insists otherwise. She loves to name everyone in the room and in photographs. Josie is always "baby!" Actually, backing up a few weeks, Grandpa Bob was the first to receive a personalized nickname from the babe. She's been pointing at the mantel for some time saying "Papa!" We just thought she was recognizing Jonathan but then she was looking at a photograph album, pointed to Bob, and shouted "PAPA!" We have a Papa!

Josie made her first FISH FACE. Some parents swell with pride over counting or ABC recitation but not this mama. #swoon

Team No! has switched to Team K!
I've heard about the "no" phase from parents of two year-olds, but somehow it made its way to 13 month old Josie - LOUD and PROUD. Everything was no, even when she meant the opposite. She's finally adopted "K!" so she can tell you, very decisively, where she stands on food offerings, media selections, and evening book choices. It was surreal when we sat in the rocking chair last night next to a stack of books that were either welcomed or waved away. I love that she weighs in on story time.

Josie has feelings
I mean duh but keep in mind her heritage. As a Krause/Young she probably has more feelings than an entire playground of children. Lately she's been demonstrating some pretty intense empathy. She gets really upset when characters in books are sad and cries when babies cry on tv or when she sees this one photo of herself crying. Auntie Ashie play fainted when Josie gave her the first Josie kiss and Josie got super upset.

Josie plays soccer!
Of all of her milestones this month, the fish face and the soccer kicks are mama's favorites. She actually loves to kick her little ball around and she's more coordinated than some adults I know. Cough cough, Jonathan, cough cough.

Josie speaks French! 
Okay, not really. She barely speaks English however she LOVES to watch her favorite artist, Raffi, sing her favorite song: Fais Do Do. It's also mama's favorite song, which might have something to do with the title. Watch the video to see why.

Sometimes she'll fold her arms and sway to "rock a baby" and we know she wants to listen to her song. On the subject of sleep, Jonathan told me she put all of her babies to sleep the other night and "shh shh shh-ed" them as she rubbed their backs. Can you stand it??

In other Young family news:

We visited a pumpkin patch! Actually, we visited TWO - one with Grandma (pictured) and one with our Justice family friends!

Auntie Ashie had her bachelorette party in Austin so we got to hang out with her and Auntie Alyssa. Josie was giving Ashley a little side eye in her photo and Alyssa got a reluctant high five. Can't win 'em all ladies but trust this little babe loves you to pieces.

Speaking of bachelorette parties, Josie's so honored to accept the role of Flower Girl for Auntie Ashie's and Auntie Alyssa's weddings. We're already practicing not eating the petals!

We're having a blast brushing our teeth, although mama's toothbrush has been hijacked! Jonathan makes any activity fun and of course we have a brush our teeth song. I'll try to take a video for our next blog.

Jonathan is filming a sketch comedy web series this weekend - I'll be sure to post a clip on an upcoming blog. He also built a fire in our fire place for the first time! He also made us Meximarts. Grin.

I participated in the Color Run! The run itself was meh but the dance party after was so pretty!

Auntie Jen moved to Austin!! She's working at my company and the Young family is ecstatic! 

Finally, we're spending Thanksgiving on a cruise with Grammy and Grampy headed to Cozumel! Stay tuned for a vacation update.

Until next time!

Love,

J Cubed

Neverland

Allow me to say this before you think it: we're a silly bunch. I own that entirely. There aren't many people I know who've had professional Halloween photos taken and yet...here we are.

It all started with a vision. If you must know, Halloween is my favorite holiday (minus anything that begins with a gh). Think about it - all that's expected of anyone is to dress in costume and collect candy. SIGN ME UP. I love all of those things. Thanksgiving is a close second. I think it has to do with eating copious amounts of green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. This year we'll somehow be doing this in Mexico, which is to say I think my dreams of canned foods dumped into casserole dishes may be postponed.

Also, if you know me at all, you know that once I happen upon a vision, it's over. And by over I mean IT'S ON. Let me explain the genesis of Operation Halloween 2016.

Jonathan and I took a parents-only trip to Disneyland last December because we're 5 and I came across Tinker Bell. Sure, I've seen this sassy fairy many times before but something clicked when I saw her this time: For the love of everything holy, that's my child. A) Josie looks like her. Although I passed all required hard science classes (with great disdain), I will still never understand how I made a blue-eyed, blonde-haired babe. B) Josie is the sassiest little thing you've ever met. Lately she's been faking us out, pretending to offer an object and then snatching it away quickly whilst forming a small O with her mouth to indicate she's well aware of the naughty action. The thing is - we taught her to do this. Well, he did; I giggled and recorded it. #willingaccomplice #parentsoftheyear

Tell me she is not the perfect Tink!

In full disclosure, this is not my first Peter Pan rodeo. I was Pan in high school. I adore him. He's whimsical, adventurous, curious, and mischievous. Check, check, check, check. At this point, Jonathan had two options: Hook or Wendy. While blue is his color, it would seem red is as well. I mean, c'mon. He rocked the heck out of that plastic toddler-sized hook we borrowed from our dear friends, the Justice clan (pictured below).

Okay, I've kept you in suspense long enough. Here's why I forced my family comprised of good sports to take these. Josie is 14 months old. Trick-or-treating happens around 6 or 7 pm, at the earliest. And it's on a Monday. So, if you're taking notes on your own paper, what we have is:

14 month old + one hour before her bedtime routine begins = Halloween meltdown!

So, we'll have one adorable fairy casting spells all over the sideway with her wand as she thrashes her arms and throws a fit, one frantic Pan trying to comfort the fairy, followed by one Hook trying to take a cute photo of his crumbling family members because his wife will throw the next fit over a missed photo opportunity. 

Our besties, the Justice family, joined us!

It took me a while to accept that I cannot control so much of what happens now that this little fairy has joined our family, so I've adapted. Instead of banking on one special night, I've made sure we have adorable pictures of that time our child became her spirit creature.

I enlisted the help of an amazing local photographer, Jamie Grotty, who owns Grey Fox Photography and said, "Humor me. Make this happen." And she did. Flawlessly.

This parenting thing, I'm getting it.

Until next time!

Love,

J Cubed

13 Months Old!

Josie's 13 month stats: She hasn't grown much in a few months - perhaps she's gotten a bit taller. We're still hovering around 26 lbs, size 4 diapers, and size 12-18 mos in clothes...aaaaand Halloween costumes. Insert 300 pumpkin emojis. I CANNOT WAIT FOR HALLOWEEN!

Josie's new words: "Up" is huge right now. Everything is "up", even when it's actually "down" or "please move me somewhere else". She surprises me with new words daily. For example, she picked up a little toy figure and said "cop!" - he is, in fact, a cop. Josie has lots of receptive vocabulary, too. She can point to lots of body parts, including elbow, hair, belly/belly button, and nose. I think I've heard her attempt "elbow" and it sounded a bit like "el-ow". She loves to point to stars in every book we read.

This gets its own paragraph, but I was in the playroom with little Jo as we were looking at her vocab cards. She picked one up and started scooting over to Colby, our adopted dog. I'm sure by now you've guessed she was holding the dog card, but I was blown away! I still think of Josie as this tiny little thing - it's amazing to watch her learn and grow.

Josie's new animal noises: This child has about as many animal noises as words right now. I'm not even sure I know them all but so far I've witnessed: woo woo (dog), hoo hoo (owl), mrrrooow (cat), (baa) sheep, and fuzzy static noise (duck).

Josie's latest feats:

She's a miniature zombie walking!

Every day she gets a little more confident and every day we wrap another household item in bubble wrap. Please ignore my ridiculous excitement and Jonathan's bandaid from that day's physical. I get footage when I can and only think about the cinematography when I'm blogging. Oops.

She eats grocery lists! 
When I put Josie in charge of holding the grocery list and heard "yummy, yummy, yummy!" (her signature meal celebration chant), I validated her like any good parent should: "That's right Josie. Yummy, yummy!" I only thought to look at the delicious item in question a few aisles later. See ya, grocery list. #mychildisagoat

She plays hide and go shoe!
Unlike her mother (and more like her father), Josie is OBSESSED with shoes. She even says "shoe" as she fetches one out of her shoebox and parades it around the house until she's ready for another.

This New York-born lady may have some Carrie Bradshaw in her yet! Apparently Carrie has an illustrated shoe guide. I'm leaving this for little Jo to find one day when she is seeking shoe support. Beyond "go buy a muted, neutral Birkenstock looking thing" I won't be helpful.

Speaking of shoes, here's a game we've been playing since she was a wee babe: Stinky Feet!

I've never met anyone so excited that her feet smell (and boooooy, do they ever)!

She loves airplanes.
We live in the distant flight path of the Austin airport sand Josie will send her pointer finger to the sky and mark each and every airplane. She thinks they are so cool.

In other Young Family news...

We went to the Austin Zoo and a goat ate Josie's shoe!

There's also a shoe-eating goat story from my childhood, which delights me to no end.

We went on a bat cruise!
Austin is strikingly beautiful and has some of the best sunsets. Loved this date night!

I finished Josie's nursery!

I hung Josie's J-O-S-I-E letters made with love from Grammy but the S keeps falling. I know this because Josie says "uh ohhhh" every time it's slipped again. There are a lot of uh-ohs in our house these days. :) #ignorethesafetyhazard

We went on a vacation. It's always nice to get away and we haven't done it nearly enough, but Horseshoe Bay Resort was a blast. We also discovered we love playing tennis together. Jonathan was getting quite good towards the end, even though I still maintain the title of MVP from Plantation Tennis Camp circa 1990.

We celebrated Grandma's birthday at Eastside Cafe, one of my favorite Austin restaurants! We said goodbye to her this day but get to welcome her back this weekend. (yay!)

If you haven't noticed, look at your browser - we got a new domain! Follow our adventures on www.thejcrewlife.com, which is much easier to remember than the nonsense we had before (for me)!

Finally, I will leave you with the cutest thing. The other night as Jonathan was putting Josie to bed he said: "Time to go to sleep and become a president, princess, and firefighter." Indeed, little pup. Indeed.

Until next time!

Love,
J Cubed

Josie's First Year

And just like that...she's ONE! She's a sweet, silly, snuggly one and we couldn't love her more.

::Cue the sappy music::

It is such a privilege to watch her grow up to be this tiny little human, independent of us, expressing her own thoughts and feelings and opinions (albeit strong for such a tender age), and observe her as she discovers the world. There's one thing I can say for sure - this child is really bringing it. Know what I mean? She's such a performer and will work in ways to entertain her audience as she's eating, playing, singing, or dancing. And, she gives the best hugs in the entire world. She hugs with her arms and legs, and her entire little body. And then, when she burrows her little head with three hairs into the crook of my neck...sometimes that sweetness is too much. She does this thing where, during said hug, she pats my back with this reassurance and I wonder who needs that hug more. Sigh. Josiebear, you are perfect.

Okay, on with the blog!

Josie's 12 month stats: 26 lbs, size 4 diapers, size 12-18 mos in clothes but basically wearing my bathing suits and ohmygoodness let's discuss her TEETH...

Josie has 2.75 bottom teeth (two half teeth, flanking her bottom middle guys) and 2 top teeth beginning to come in. She’s teething like a champ and is only *slightly* grumpy. She is definitely her father’s daughter. I’m now convinced of this. My child would be throwing fits, on the hour, every hour and blogging about her misery.

Josie's new words: Josie is an expert at saying “no”. She’ll say it when she means yes, more, please, and – actually – no. Other new words include singing "Ockle, Ockle" (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star). I've tried to record this so many times and it's never quite right. Her favorite line is "up above the world so high". She can actually sing that fairly well. 

Check out her no before she could speak no: 

And then, when she actually says "no" and enunciates it better than Eliza Doolittle ever could:

She's also just mastered "comb" and has earned 3 gold stars for knowing how to use it! Her father has mastered the musical theater version of "Pretty with a Comb". See for yourself (and do not see our messy closet for yourself):

Josie's latest feats:

She has nearly enough hair for a ponytail! Never mind it stayed in for thirty seconds. Do note that she posed like she was being photographed by Annie Leibovwitz. #ham

She had an awesome birthday party! She did not care much for her smash cake, baked lovingly by Danielle, resident smash cake baker extraordinaire. I, on the other hand, cared for it substantially more. I even pretended to help her eat it. :D 

She gives KISSES! This melted my heart, especially because I got the very first one! She also told me she loved me but sounded a bit little Scooby Doo: "Ra rove roo, mama"

She can tell you she's one. It's so cute.

She feeds Colby from the table. Both parties LOVE this.

She owns pink cowgirl boots, which a) is newsworthy and b) are prominently featured in every outfit since we got them from our sweet friends, the Messer family:

In other Young family news:

We had a great visit with both sets of grandparents! It’s the first time they’ve all met each other because they live on opposite sides of the country. 

When we were still up north, I had a vision/hope/wish that Josie would celebrate her first birthday in our new home, flanked by both sets of her grandparents. That thought kept me going through 35 applications, 16 rounds of job interviews (for real), and lots of moving stress. 

Having everyone together made my heart grow a size or two. There's something so special about family, especially spanning generations.

The grandfathers teamworked Josie’s new wheels (thanks, Auntie Ale and Uncle Phil and Cousin Pierce)...

while the grandmothers teamworked Josie snuggles.

We attended a super fun baby shower for Meaghan and met a donkey on their ranch! #Texas 

(Stay tuned for the farm animal tally to date on the next blog.)

Grandma Anne's basically moved in with us. Don't worry - I'm concurrently writing her letter of recommendation for sainthood. Watch out, Mother Teresa.

Jonathan is killing in in the acting world. He's teaching at TexArts, was signed by an agent, has been cast in three things already, landed an audio book, and has many more things in the works. Get it, babe/dad! Oh, and he made fire. I mean COME ON.

I don't have a pic yet but I've been working on her nursery. I'll hopefully have an update by the next blog! I see why it's easier to nest sans children.

Unrelated, but I don't believe I've shared this pic of Jojo yet, and it's one of my favorites. That joy. Those arm rolls.

And finally, because I cannot resist a good slideshow, check out little Jo grow before your very eyes to the musical stylings of The Temptations and Tom Petty:

Until next time!

Love,

J Cubed