Girly Girl...Not so much!

When I found out that I was going to have a little girl, I was so excited! Not that I wanted to dress her in pink every day, but maybe every other day. Pink and brown were my colors of choice for the first year of her life!



In recent months, Josie has started to have her own interests, none of which are princesses, fairies or ballerinas! My girl loves animals, Sesame Street and lawn mowers. I was a tomboy growing up as the only girl in the Baxter family. I can remember playing Star Wars and Planet of the Apes like it was yesterday. I can't say I remember ever wearing a tutu or waving a magic fairy wand, so I guess I really shouldn't be surprised the the apple didn't fall far from the tree in this area!



What has stumped me is Josie's love of Count Von Count from Sesame Street. She adores this odd purple vampire and walks around each day saying "Ahh, Ahh, Ahh!" She gets so excited when she sees him on tv or in books, even kissing him and trying to sit on the book to be near the Count. I've fed into this obsession by giving her a stuffed Count doll, a Count driving in his purple car, several Sesame Videos and well, you get the picture. If the Count is on it, we probably own it. Josie will even be getting Count Von Count sneakers at her upcoming birthday party. Yep, you guessed it we are having a Count inspired birthday party! I guess it suits since her birthday is Halloween!



I really struggled with deciding on her birthday party theme because I wanted it to be cute and girly! I was hoping she would change her mind and all of the sudden like Zoe, Abby or Rosita from Sesame Street, but Josie is sticking with the Count! As a dear friend told me, it's Josie's birthday, not mine and I should stick to doing what Josie likes. I can only hope in the next few years she will tell me she wants a princess or fairy party. If not, we are blessed to be having two sweet little cousins coming into the world, Faith and Elliana! Rest assured there will be plenty of tea parties and princess sleepovers in our future! Until then, I have an owl Halloween costume to make and some creepy bat shaped party favor ideas flittering through my mind. And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way! Ahh, Ahh, Ahh!

Daddy's Girl

I do plan on taking a trip down memory lane to get all of you caught up on Josie's last 21 months, but I have to tell a story about the cutest things she is doing these days!

I am the lucky one who gets to spend the most time with Josie, but boy does Josie love her "Da!" She shouts it from the rooftops. Well maybe not the rooftops, but from the Walmart shopping cart, the car seat and anywhere else there are people who will listen! It is really funny to see what she associates with her Daddy. For now, it's any bald man, silver SUV's, tie-dyed t-shirts and lawnmowers that seem to really get her "Da" chants going!

Josie is so fond of her Daddy that she now insists on taking his sneaker with us everywhere we go. I couldn't figure out why she didn't want to leave the house the other day and she kept pointing at Erik's sneaker. She picked it up and carried it like a baby doll the whole way to the car. I know...it's a gross, germy sneaker, but it keeps her content! I am trying to get her to bring along his t-shirt or some thing a little more cuddly!

My Mom (Nana Jan) tells me that I used to be the same way about my Dad. She says you could see my entire personality change the minute he left or entered the room. I apparently was a little pistol until I heard "Wait til your Dad gets home!". I never imagined myself as a Daddy's girl, especially because I was always so close with my Mom. Seeing Erik and Josie interact is a beautiful thing and if I was able to bring one ounce of joy to my Dad's life the way that Josie brings to Erik, then I am thrilled to have been a Daddy's Girl. Love and miss you Dad! I can only imagine what you would think of your beautiful grand daughter!

It's about time...

I have been wanting to begin a blog about life with my daughter, Joslyn (aka Josie), for over a year now. Now that she is 21 months old, I guess it's better late than never! It's amazing what you can do once you get motivated and have a few uninterrupted moments. Like the title of this post says, it's all about time! Usually, my free time is for napping, but I've decided that it's worth giving up a little sleep to share our story with anyone who cares to follow us.

So, welcome to Just Josie! I came up with this title for our blog for a few reasons. Mainly because Josie is the center of our world and provides us with so much laughter that I wanted to share some of the unique quirks that are "Just Josie!" It's also been weighing on my mind that if Erik and I should never be blessed with a brother/sister for Josie, I want to make sure I celebrate every moment with our little girl and not take a moment for granted. So, if we only have "just Josie", it's "just fine" with me! I am finding contentment with all the blessings I have in the present instead of longing for what the future may hold.

I hope you enjoy our stories and pictures (this is one of my all time favorites from Josie's 3 month photo shoot). Thank you for taking time to read our blog!