Two months flew by...

I'm on a roll! Here is Josephine's second month of life in pictures.

This is one of my favorite pictures. I have no idea what she's looking at but it made her smile :)

Here she is enjoying her play gym from IKEA

And wearing the cutest little terry romper with matching hippo blanket!

My tiny hippo is a sleepy hippo.

Despite loving her pacifier, Josephine has decided her thumb is quite soothing, as well.

Tummy time is a piece of cake!

Such a sweet smile. This melts my heart!

Two months! She's getting more and more interested in her surroundings...and her hippo chair!

One Month

Since I'm writing this well after the fact, this is what I have to say: I had a one month old! So much happened in the first month of Josephine's life. Here are a few moments I will never forget.

Josephine has her first milk mustache on Day 3 when my milk came in. She clearly enjoyed her first real meal!

Josephine's umbilical cord fell off on Day 7 so she got her first bath while daddy was still home.

Early on Day 9, Jake flew back to Afghanistan.

Love those cheeks! 

She makes some of the funniest faces I have ever seen!

She wasn't a big fan of tummy time but sure looks cute in her helicopter sleeper!

Penelope decided to try out what Josephine was doing all day. Got her all the attention, didn't it? She got a good belly rub for her effort!

Josephine is officially one month old! Thanks again to Uncle Ben and Aunt Liz for this most awesome hippo chair!

And THANK YOU to my mother for helping me out those first three weeks. I couldn't have done it without you!

Josephine Marie

On May 3, 2012 at 12:20 a.m., Josephine Marie was born via c-section after a very long induction that was going nowhere. She weighed 9 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. Jake had made it home from Afghanistan a few days earlier and was there to welcome her into the world because her mommy slept through the whole thing. Yup, that's right. I was so doped up on meds because the epidural wasn't working properly and just sheer exhaustion that I was out cold and didn't wake up until about an hour after Josephine was born. Oops.

Here I am meeting my precious girl for the first time in the hallway on our way to our room.
Photo courtesy of Volker Schmitt-Illert

Here we are again, getting to know one another a little better. This is the first time I held Josephine.
Photo courtesy of Volker Schmitt-Illert

Funny story. Jake and I are raising Josephine bilingually. During the pregnancy I really didn't speak German very much but when I first held Josephine I automatically started talking in German. No real reaction from Josephine and I thought that was normal for a newborn. Then I said something in English. Wow. Josephine's eyes opened and she looked at me. She recognized my voice! I really didn't believe that that was even possible until it actually happened!

--------------------------------------------------

Considering how far away we are up here in Alaska, we had so many loved ones here for Josephine's debut. My dad, Jake's mom, and even my brother-in-law David! My mom flew out a few days later and we picked her up from the airport the day we were discharged from the hospital. I am so grateful for all the help, before and after Josephine arrived! That includes my sister-in-law Anna, who dropped everything to help me out for a few days after a surprise hospital stay back in February.