Joking aside, it has been a crazy four months since Josephine's been born. Lots has happened so I will just touch on the highlights and major happenings.
I guess the first thing is that we had a pretty bad scare right after Josie was born. Her newborn screening tests indicated that she had cystic fibrosis. No other way to say it - scary sh!t. After several more tests and several nerve wracking weeks, we got the final diagnosis that she is just fine. Thank God! The first test was a false positive. As you can imagine, life got much brighter and I could make it through a day without crying.
Next, we got a quick visit from Aunt January in February. The girls adore her and it was so nice to have her here. Having two girls has definitely given me plenty of opportunities to pause and reflect upon my relationship with my sister. Sisters are the best and I really hope my girls can be the blessing to each other that my sister has been to me. (Shawn - you're pretty amazing too - don't want you to feel left out!)
Then, Chris was fortunately to get two offers in Billings. Both were great opportunities with great practices. He chose St. Vincent's and will be starting to work at St. V's West Grand Family Medicine Practice in August. It's a great group of doctors and it is where Chris really wanted to be. Initially, they were insisting that new doctors in that group do OB/GYN...something Chris had firmly decided he did NOT want to do. He held his ground and it's worked out great. I can't believe we'll actually be done with this residency business in June. We've been scoping out houses in the area. We're likely going to have to wait until August until we can buy but it's been fun looking in the meantime.
In March, George and Debbie (Chris' brother and SIL) came out to MT for a conference in Big Sky. They came early so they could hang out and meet Josie. It was fun. Then, at the end of the month, we drove out to the Oregon Coast to spend a week with my best friend from high school, Renee, and her crew. Aside from a ridiculously long car trip and non-stop torrential rain, it was a great time. (yes, I mean that) Ava caught a horrible cold and a newborn really limits your daily outings; it forced us to just hang out rather than try to do too much. I would say the highlights of the trip were our stay at McMenamin's Kennedy School in Portland and camping at the Yurt on the coast. Ava had her first s'more and it's now an obsession. Which actually brings me to my next highlight...
...campfires and fire pits. Over Easter, we spent a quick weekend at my parents' house and convinced Big Papi to build a fire pit. The nice thing about growing up on a farm is that there is always extra junk lying around. We used an old tire frame and built a huge fire pit and my dad whipped out the blowtorch and customized a cover/grill. It was great fun and Ava had more s'mores. I think this will be a regular occurrence at Grammy and Big Papi's house.
Finally, April is now here. Josie just hit four months. I cannot believe it. She is getting so big. Overall, she has a disposition very similar to Ava's at this age. Very happy and smiley. She will sit and ham it up for me whenever I drag out the camera. She is bald and doesn't show signs of having any hair anytime soon. I do think she'll bust out with some teeth sometime this month. She is also very strong, just like her sister. Unfortunately, she is NOT sleeping through the night which is constantly disappointing me as Ava slept through the night at six weeks. I totally had unrealistic expectations with this one. I'm still nursing non-stop. Somehow, I don't weight 125 pounds. Josie is such a delight. It's amazing how much you can love someone in such a short amount of time.
As for Ava...oy...she's two and asserts her need to establish her independence at every single possible moment. It's like pulling teeth and some days I end the day in tears because I am so tired, frustrated and overwhelmed. All of my veteran mommy friends assure me they went through this too and it shall pass. Good to know. Despite the craziness of being two, she really is a sweet little girl. She really cherishes her "mommy" time and is constantly telling me she loves me. She's very cuddly and is always up for a game of hide and seek (always hiding in the same spot) or a quick run down the halls of our apartment complex. She's almost able to completely undress herself. She INSISTS that she does the whole brushing teeth routine. In fact, she insists on putting her shoes on herself. While she still loves the princesses; they have been knocked down from the top spot by Scooby Doo. Ava has also become the typical two year old in that she will only eat certain foods. Peanut butter is hands down her favorite. I have had to become quite devious in my attempts to get veggies in her.
Well, lunch is ready and my few minutes of free time are now at an end. Enjoy the pics. See you again in a few months. :)
Lounging in the soaking pool at McMinemin's
Cuter than the real Easter bunny!
Egg hunting with Grammy and the new puppy, Hunter
The fire pit. Notice the bench seating...
Josie taking advantage of the extra seating.
Ava and her little BFF, Mabel.
The only day it WASN'T raining in Oregon!
Camping in the yurt.
Hamming it up!
Snoozing in mom's lap...still her favorite past time.
Posing with sissy.
I find her like this A LOT!
Snuggling with Aunt Deb.
Tummy time.
My little beauty.
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