I love my baby brothers!

Oh how our Josie girl has grown! I love this photo of her as it looks like a first day of school picture. So prim and proper! Which is funny because our girl has such spunk and is generally a tom boy just like her momma. The picture of her hugging Will and Ben is priceless. She is such a great big sister. During feeds both Billy and I have our hands full, but 99% of the time she just goes back in forth between the two of us and gives the boys kisses, hugs, and sings them songs. It is so sweet to witness. Other things she does to keep busy when we are attending to the boys is change her monkey's diaper. She will literally go through a whole package of diapers if we let her. Luckily they are reusable. She also feeds and pats this little monkey it is so adorable. Josie loves to hand us a diaper and wipes when we need them and she always wants to know if her brother pooped. She is a big helper and a great sister.

Josie is getting smarter and funnier by the day! Her favorite thing to do is tease daddy that he doesn't get something. Like I'll say oh Josie do you want some milk in a special princess cup?! Then she will respond with a YEAH... I'm sorry daddy you don't get a special princess cup, only Dosie does... I'm SORRY. She tends to say Dosie instead of Josie and really emphasize the sorry, even though she isn't :)

Grandpa!

While mommy and daddy were in the hospital with the twins, Josie got to have a whole week with grandpa. She just loves her grandpa and we don't know what we would have done without him. Josie got to show grandpa her school and how she swings at the park. In this picture, grandpa is reading to her about being a big sister! We can't wait for Josie to meet the boys.

All Aboard

Josie has begun to figure out when it is the weekend as she wakes up on Saturday's and says, "Farmer's market?" Erin and I love the farmer's market too, lots of great food and people watching. Josie especially loves the train. Loves to ride around pumping her fist yelling, "choo choo!"

Up Up and Away

What is Josie looking at you ask, why all the balloons of course! We took Josie down to the Balloon Festival in Indianola, IA. It was our first time there and it was great. Josie got to run around, mom and dad got to relax on the grass, and we all got to eat lots of food. There were about 75 balloons and they just kept taking off. When we left Josie said, "Come back later?" She obviously had a great time.

Josie's ABC's

Copy and paste the link below to see our Josie Girl jumping on the couch and singing her ABC's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tPxRu-3-8o

What a character!

After dinner tonight, since Josie ate everything on her plate, we said she could have a popsicle in the backyard. She decided she would rather go to the park instead (she is smart, as I am sure when she gets back she will ask for a popsicle). So Josie said "Go park instead Daddy?" when Billy said OK. She said, "Bye Bye mommy, relax ok mommy, take care!" and leaned in for a kiss. Crack me up! Obviously when Billy leaves he emphasizes that I should be relaxing and Josie has caught on. When I hang up the phone with people I usually say take care. She picks up on everything!

Josie can...

Over the weekend Josie counted to 10. She knows her ABC's too! Tonight we started working on our last name and what mommy and daddy's first names are. She also likes to practice saying her friend Lane's last name. She is learning so much right now!

I Love Food!

The first photo is from Ribfest 2009. Josie loved sharing pulled pork with dad and thought the beans were delicious too. Her favorite was probably the waffle ice cream sandwich. I thought we were going to share, but Josie wanted it all!

The second photo is the day after Aunt Terri came. We had her left over spaghetti and Josie fell in love with it. We've already put in a request for it when the boys arrive.

Other things Josie is into right now:
She is very in touch with her emotions and others. I am tired more and more now and she will come over give me a kiss and say mommy you rest or mommy go night night. This morning in the car I was drinking a ton of water all at once and she just watched and said Mommy are you thirsty? In this very concerned little voice.

She loves putting her monkeys into diapers then putting them in her stroller or car seat.

Josie is great at singing her favorite songs, and started to spell her name. When she writes she will say "J-o-s-i-e" as she scribbles on paper.

We are working on potty training and she does pretty good!

This is an exciting time as I feel like she is learning something new all the time!

Josie's July

Josie has had a wonderful July so far! She has had many visitors and has loved seeing each of them. Over the 4th of July, Baby Hank (and his mom and dad) came to visit. Josie just loved seeing baby Hank. Even though it rained and was cold all weekend, we had a blast seeing the Frohloff's and catching up.

Grandshe came for a weekend too. While she was here we got to meet Leslie's twin boys Sully and Will. They are 6 months old and it was fun to see what our future holds! Josie loved rocking the car seats when the boys fell asleep. She already has the hang of this big sister thing. Then Sunday, Aunt Terri, Scott, Emily, Kieffer, & Drew. All came over. They made us dinner and cut Josie's bangs.

Last weekend Josie's best friend Marlee came up with Sam and Riann. Josie and Marlee had fun playing in the house in the backyard, sharing the toy vacuum, pretend high heels, and everything else they could get their hands on. We all road in the van together, which Josie thought was so cool. She is still telling me where Marlee, Sam, and Riann all sat in the van.

It was great to have everyone come see us this month!

Josie's 2 year old photoshoot

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY!

We celebrated Josie's birthday over Memorial Day weekend when we were in Omaha. It was a perfect day filled with family, friends, food, and presents! Josie had such a fun birthday, two weeks later she is still talking her birthday party at Grandshe's house.

Yesterday was our Priest's birthday at church. We sang happy birthday at the end, which was funny because Josie thought the whole church was singing to her :)

We also did our family photos yesterday and celebrated Josie's birthday with just the three of us. We got her a club house for the backyard. She LOVES it. The door bell really works and she thinks that is so cool. We figured we would put it in the basement during the winter months.

It's great that we've had a blast celebrating her birthday up until the actual day as this morning, on Josie's big 2nd birthday, she woke up with the flu. She is so sick today. The only good thing about her not feeling well is she is a snuggle bug. Which getting our big independent two year old to stop long enough for a snuggle is nearly impossible!

I remember being in the hospital 2 years ago like it was yesterday. I remember holding our baby girl thinking, this is the greatest day of our lives. It has been such a great experience watching her grow. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our Josie Girl... Happy Birthday!

Hanging with Daddy

We all know Josie is a daddy's girl and this weekend really proved it. Every time I would turn around I felt like the two of them were picture perfect and so I clicked the camera to capture as much as I could. From sitting on the potty, to hanging out in the box fort (boxes from the boys furniture), to playing on the computer Josie and Daddy were two peas in a pod.

My Bestie Lane

Josie had her friend Lane come over for a visit the other night while his mom and dad had a date night. It was a gorgeous night so we went on a little ride to the park in the double stroller. It was great insight for what is to come for us as we chased one kid around the park while the other played ball. Neither were doing the same thing at the same time!

After playing outside both of the kids needed a bath so we hit the tub. They had a great time making bubbles, splashing, and "swimming". Swimming for Josie is when she lays down so we can rinse her hair out. Afterwards, we put them in PJ's and chilled till Jill and Joe returned.

Josie's new favorite phrase...

"BIG Sister!"

I went on the POTTY!!!

That's right boys in girls our daughter went on the big potty today for the first time! She is a week away from her 22nd month birthday. She loves to take off her diaper. When we need to change it she pulls down her pants for us. We started putting her on the potty before bath since she thinks it's cool. We didn't think much of it. Today she pulled off her diaper before we got her dressed (by the way Billy is still trying to get her dressed) and she squatted on the floor, so we said let's go sit on the potty. She ran to the bathroom, we put her on and sure enough she started going!!! I don't know who was more excited in that bathroom. We are still going to let her try before bath or whenever she has interest, but probably won't start really training till after she is 2 years old. Just imagine, maybe we won't have 3 in diapers for very long!

The picture was taken right after Josie went potty and we were all clapping for our big girl!

Josie is also into mommy's new car... a mini van! We had to get it to fit 3 car seats into one vehicle! She likes to just go hang out in there even when we aren't going anywhere. To ride in mom's car is a treat...at least for now.

I love my sunglasses!

Josie is so in to wearing her cool shades (and ours) that we got her another pair as well. They are her "Princesses glasses". They have a little Cinderella in the corner that she loves.

It's been awhile since we posted, life in our house has gotten a little crazy as we await the arrival of Josie's siblings. We have found out they are identical, but will not find out the gender till this Thursday.

Josie will tell you there are two babies and hold up two fingers when she says it. She will also pat my belly when we ask about the babies. She has even tried to share her crackers with them by feeding my belly button.

Go Huskers!

On New Year's Day Josie helped Daddy cheer on the Huskers and it worked! Huskers won 26-21, most likely due to Josie in her Husker gear.

New Year Resolution

Josie has two new year resolutions for 2009. 1. She is working on bringing out her inner clown (hence borrowing Shamrock's wig over Christmas break). 2. She is giving up her most beloved possession... her binky. Not by choice, but mom and dad told her it is time. We are only on day one of a tough road ahead of us. Wish us luck!

Josie is starting the new year off with a large vocabulary, well larger than last year anyways! Here is what Josie can say as of today:
Mommy, Daddy, bye, buddy, ball, Maeve, Jay, baby, belly, girl, fish, duck, peek-a-boo, sad, up, night-night, yes, mine, help, silly, banana, hi, outside, brrr-cold, light, tickle, potty, sock, shoe, sorry, moo, baa, woof, neigh, "sss" for snake, buzz, "eeek" for monkey, "oh-oh-oh" for gorilla, ribbet for frog, growl for tiger, lion, and bear.

Josie's favs to say:
No - favorite word - she says it so matter of fact
Come on - while pulling you
Oh no - hands on cheeks
Where's it at - hands up in the air

She also can do sign language for:
more
help
please
eat
bye
love you
monkey
gorilla
bib
hot
cold
yes
no
up
all done

Merry Christmas!

Josie got to spend Christmas with lots of family. All of which spoiled her rotten. This picture was captured when Josie and big cousin Maeve first saw each other. We said can you give Maeve a hug and Josie screamed "Maeve!" as they both hugged. Afterwards Maeve ran to her mom and whispered, "She said my name!" It was a sweet moment to witness. Hopefully as they grow up the excitement to see each other never changes.