Jo-Si-Jo

I just want to munch on those cheeks

Second babies get the short shrift. You've been there, done that, so while the baby is cute and sweet and all, the first couple of months aren't really that interesting, particularly because the first child is likely to be so much more engaging and time-consuming than the newborn. The adjustments, jealousy, and just the fact that in my case, I'm dealing with a 2-year-old who is going through astounding changes and who, right now, is a million times more work than his sister is. The quiet little baby who causes no trouble tends to get lost in the shuffle.

Looking back over my posts the last few months, there isn't much about Josie. And that's not fair to her (to the extent that fairness is even a relevant concept in assessing my choices of blog topics). Because she's fucking adorable.

Her goofy grin cracks me up

She has a habit of sitting with her arm up, making a fist. Fight the power, JoJo!

Zeke was not a difficult baby, but he was definitely fussier than Josie is. She's just so mellow and happy. I sit with her and talk to her, and she smiles and laughs. I make funny faces and she grins and tries to make the face back at me. I put her on the floor in one of those little baby activity-center thingies, and she bats the toys around and squeals with happiness.

My favorite thing to do is hang out with her resting against my legs. I'll read a magazine and chat with her about it. I'll tell her about my day. We watch sports together -- she's learning about football. And she coos and gurgles and blows spit-bubbles and gives me this huge happy face that starts with the twinkle in her insanely beautiful navy-blue eyes and ends with one side of her mouth cocked up in a silly half-smile, and we sit there grinning at each other like a couple of goofballs.

And she's just so damned easy. She goes to bed at 7 every night and sleeps until around 3:30 or 4, takes a bottle for about 15 minutes, and then goes right back to sleep until 7:30 or 8. She enjoys taking a bath. She likes everyone. Seriously, the only time she cries is when she gets overtired sometimes and will have a little bit of a hard time settling down to go to sleep, but even then, it's a matter of 10 minutes tops, and then she's fine.

I look back at pictures of Zeke and think about his developmental milestones, and I get so excited. "In a month or so, she'll be rolling over! Then she'll be sitting up! Then she'll start babbling in discernable syllables! Then she'll start to crawl! Then walk! Then talk!"

I know, I need to slow down and give her a chance to catch up. But I can tell that she's going to be so much fun, and I can't wait to get to know her better.