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