The Road Princess fueled by Rice Cereal

Where do I begin...It has been a crazy month in Josie's Journey.

Thanks to two planned vacations and two power outages (thanks Pepco!) she spent 19 of the past 31 days in New Jersey. This little road princess become quite a good traveller...I am pretty sure we could turn off the GPS and her cries could guide up The Shore!

These trips to the OC did lead to a few other firsts...Josie can now rollover from her back to her belly (she hasn't mastered the opposite just yet) and she made her first trip to the beach and put her toes in the ocean for the first time. She loved being on the sand, but when her toes hit the water...she made a sounds none of us had heard before. It was a combo squeal/cry...I am sure she will grow to love it.

I am glad after a crazy month to have both may favorite ladies back at home -where they belong.

Since their return, Miss Josie has also become quite an eater. I had the pleasure of feeding her rice cereal for the first time on August 18th (Tammy had done it several times before)...It is a learning process for both us us, but we made it though and I think half of the cereal ended up on her bib...a quarter on her face and a quarter in her belly. Since then though Josie has moved on from just rice cereal to start tasting other baby food favorites like squash and bananas. While she liked both - it appears the bananas don't like her back. She has tried them twice and each time gotten a little rash. It doesn't take a CSI detective to realize that she might be allergic to nanners...We are hoping this will change.

Then there was sadness in the Brown household over the past few days as we prepared for this morning...Josie's first day at day care. She seemed to take it all in stride...It's her parents who are sobbing messes. I am thankful that my in-laws came down to help and ease us into the new routine.

That being said...When I walked away from Josie this morning and she was in some one's arms other than Tammy's it was tough. I love that little girl more than she will ever know!

They say it gets easier...I hope they are right!

Sleep Roller Coaster

It is the second most important thing to a new parent. 1) Health of the baby 2) Baby's sleep habits because their sleep habits are your sleep habits. And our sleep schedule has been a roller coaster ride.

About a month ago Josie slept thru the night for the first time. This creates panic and joy in a parent's mind. Your first thought when you realize you've been asleep all night is "Oh My God - The baby must be dead!" Once you realize that she slept thru the night a feeling of unbridled joy comes over you, especially because everyone says it's like a switch...Once they sleep thru the night, they always sleep thru the night.

Well, Josie is not one to follow the trends so we haven't found a sleep schedule just yet. This week is the perfect example...

We tried "big girl pajamas" for a few days, but she kept waking herself up with jerky movements...so it was back to the Swaddler...But that still didn't work...so we put her in her electric swing...

She slept thru the night and Tammy and I were so excited you would've thought we found the cure for cancer. We were convinced this was the answer...swaddle and swing...

Just 24 hours later...we were on the down side of the sleep roller coaster. The swaddle and swing miracle was over faster than it began...Josie was wide awake basically from 11pm until 5 am...Now I can't complain too much...My saint of a wife spent most of this time with her so I could get some sleep before going to work...

We were concerned she might never sleep well again...I was searching for answers on the internet while Tammy was struggling to make it thru the day...then another miracle..Josie took two good naps...I came home from work and Josie was in a great mood...She went to bed at 8...but was back up at 11...fear was setting in...we gave her another bottle and went back to our new favorite savior...the S&S...after eating she was asleep by midnight and didn't wake up until 7:30am...

So will it stick...only time will tell...the sleep roller coaster is always unpredictable!