This is a tongue-in-cheek love letter to my growing family, better known as The J Crew. You can read about our life as a family of four in suburban Austin but - let's face it - this blog is really about our babies.
This blog is mostly about Josie, but every once and a while, it's about her parents.
Since this is an easy way to start, I wanted to share Jonathan's awesome Superbowl commercial! One of his acting friends joked it was a documentary, minus the carb consumption. He's great in it and I'm super proud.
My latest accomplishment isn't video-worthy, but it is pretty remarkable. I was accepted to Princeton University's AlumniCorps Emerging Leaders program, which is a nine month professional development program targeting 16 promising young leaders annually in the non-profit industry. I began the program eight months pregnant, trekking to New York City with swollen feet and extreme fatigue. This physical discomfort wouldn't keep me home, though! I loved the opportunity to learn again, and it was such a treat to be involved. Nine months later, I gave a speech at our graduation.
Hello and thank you all for being here. I am honored to
represent the Emerged Leaders tonight. Before I continue, I want to briefly
thank Yael, Andrew, David, and the other ELs for such an incredible experience.
I would also like to thank my amazing team: my supervisor Pauly and my
co-worker Mera, for their patience as I tested out different management
techniques on them and for supporting me even beyond when it is reasonable to
do so. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Jonathan, and daughter,
Josie, for inspiring me, keeping me up at night, and completing my world.
In the program we talked a lot about the importance of gratitude and the overwhelming research suggesting all of the positive benefits associated with expressing how much people mean to us. I typically dedicate posts to Josie, but this one is to Jonathan.
Jonathan is seriously the best thing that has ever happened to me. Josie, of course, is an extension of him. Still, Jonathan is an incredible partner and friend. He has generously put his career on hold to raise our daughter, which allowed me to apply for Emerging Leaders and reach so many other professional milestones. I was singing his praises to my co-workers at our NYC office a few days ago and one of them quipped something to the effect of: "He should be celebrated; usually it's the women who sacrifice their careers." That thought had crossed my mind before, but I filed it in the dusty cognitive closet labeled: To Be Reviewed Later. Well, I'm unpacking it now as he and Josie fly 3,000 miles away from me for two weeks.
What's that they say about absence and the heart growing fonder?
I'm the luckiest to have him...and her...and I know it every day of my life.
"It seems like overnight, Josie's size one diaper has become a speedo." This was me asking for help from my two oracles, Trish and Anna, a few months ago. I received an incredibly generous year's worth supply of diapers as a gift and I needed to know about sizing. This was also 8:00 AM.
Within seconds, I had multiple replies from both of them. The thing is: between these two ladies, they know EVERYTHING about parenting and having a wee babe in our community. I have never asked an unanswered question. Also, because their little ones are just slightly older than Jo, they feed me wine as I whine can reassure me that it's okay if Josie refuses to sleep/punches me in the face as we nurse/has dry skin/experiences multiple diaper blowouts.
They should do a podcast, because they are as entertaining as they are informed. Even though I am technically older than both of them, when it comes to parenting I might as well be 16 and Pregnant, except in this case it's 16 and Parent.
We have an ongoing text string and a few weeks ago we were projecting career possibilities and personalities. According to Anna, our resident writer:
Josie: Models with Victoria's Secret but then decides to go to medical school Harper: Earns her MBA and works for McKinsey while running a side hustle Etsy shop that takes off Lucy: Owns a surf shack on the beach but returns to school to become a physical therapist
This is my cell phone. All day long. Wouldn't you dedicate a blog to these two, too??
We also hang out in person! Anna and Lucy recently helped me celebrate my blizzard birthday.
Anna and Lucy
During my exceptionally brief maternity leave, Trish and I would take morning walks which kept me sane.
Trish and Harper
I love when the girls get together. They take the best photos!
"Birthday babes"
"Mittens and Mocs"
"Ladies in Red"
With Valentine's Day coming up, I would be remiss to not publicly declare my love for these two + their incredible babes! It will be so much fun to see who they become.
It's amazing how the days and nights blend together; everything is a blur of cuteness and giggles and a limited amount of tears. We are the proud parents of a six month old!
Before I begin this blog, I want to start with something I recently read. I didn't even know I had a baby book until my mom pulled it out on my last visit home. It amazed me to read all of my parents' thoughts, carefully penned, which is equally as amazing because I must admit my handwriting is utter shit right now. I digress. My dad said something that has stuck with me: "The best way I can sum up this experience is Jaimie is pure magic." Well, it must run in the family because Josie is too. Is someone slicing onions around here or what? Totally not crying as I'm writing this. Ahem...back to little Jo.
First, Josie sings! Really, it's a string of shrieks but she sure draws a crowd. We were at Target recently and she took off her sock (another skill), was waving it around, and "singing". People kept passing us and giggling, but one person came back and said: "I HAVE to see what little creature is making that noise." We will accept that as a compliment, thank you very much.
Next, Josie giggles! She thinks everything Jonathan does is hilarious. When I repeat the experiment...crickets.
Josie eats! She is diversifying her palette daily, and is more open to trying foods than one of her grandparents (cough, cough GRAMMY!). She's gone from sweet potatoes and apples to so much more. So far, her menu has included the following, ranked in order of preference, as indicated by wide, open mouths or grimaces: Avocado, peaches, apple sauce, bananas, green beans, peas, carrots, mangoes, pears, and boots. She also eats tags! Josie seems to prefer the tags of her stuffed animals to the animals themselves. These days I can't tell if we have a human or goat on our hands, but either way she's a kid. Hehe.
Josie stands! Well, almost. She's rocking supported standing pretty hard right now. I can see that she longs for the physical skill just out of her reach. Before she could sit all by herself, she wanted you to steady her in a seated position. Now, she grunts until you help her stand. I'm sure supported walking is not far off.
Josie babbles! More and more, this little babe is expressing herself and she likes to pontificate on a variety of topics, ranging from politics to foreign policy. I can only assume "bababababa" means "Trump is the ba-ba black sheep of the Republican party."
Josie emails! We just created an email account for her, so you can write to her at: josiemarenyoung@gmail.com This is going to be an amazing surprise for her. I can't wait!!!
Josie has new friends. Jonathan and I have been naming her toys, mostly for our amusement. Felicia, the Firefly (thanks, Auntie Mera!), is the latest creature to join the zoo. Josie enjoys shaking her toys and throwing them to the ground. When she does this to Felicia, we say: "Bye Felicia". Explanation: If this doesn't make you laugh, it's probably because you are the 4 readers of my 8 readers total over 40. This is a silly pop culture reference.
Felicia the Firefly
Josie is asserting herself. She wants to hold her bottle, even if it means it's slightly too heavy for her still and she's not eating as quickly as she would if a slightly larger human would hold it for her. #priorities
Josie joins the girls on trips!For the 3rd annual Girls' Weekend, Josie donned her most stylish outfits and painted the town with my friends from graduate school. This is our 3rd annual trip and the girls were nice enough to visit us here. Next year we're headed to Pittsburgh, the home-to-be of Ariana (pictured in the center). Kadie is on the left and Jenn is on the right. We had so much fun!
Josie reads! I've been wanting one of these books for a while, but I couldn't find one I personally wanted to read and eat and smush until this one. I think it's only fair that everything Josie owns is something I would want too!
Thanks for our book, Grandma! I want hair as pretty as yours one day!
This isn't a major skill or true development, but Josie is currently sick. First major cold-check. Because I carried her for nine months and labored with her for 10 hours, Jonathan is on snot sucker patrol. It's beyond gross but so helpful for her.
Quick specs: Size 3 in diapers, 27 1/4 inches tall, 20.11 lbs, size 9-12 months in clothing
In other news...
Mom and Dad went on vacation! Jonathan got me a trip to the Poconos for the holidays and we were delighted when Grandma Anne stayed with us for the week a) so Jonathan could have a few work days and b) so we could have a couple of relaxation days. Nothing really ever goes according to plan, and I'll save you the Murphy's Law version of our trip, but we did enjoy some much needed getaway time!
I celebrated a birthday. IN A BLIZZARD. Never mind the cake is about to combust.
Josie wasn't super pumped about the snow, but we had fun in the second largest snow storm in NYC history.
At the end of the day, I couldn't ask for better presents than these two.
