First flight and Oklahoma

I am sitting in my dad's house typing as we speak. Joanna is (hopefully) having a little more sleep this early morning. I'm off to check on her in a minute because I'm not totally sure I can hear her from here. Joanna's first airplane ride was fantastic! I spent Wednesday and Thursday being a little frazzled getting things together. I tend to stress about packing, and I wanted to make sure I had everything all planned out (as if that would help.) Matt dropped Joanna and me off at the airport around 6:40 Friday morning. We flew out of terminal B, which is smaller, and at that time there were no lines! A very nice check-in lady helped us check in and got my bag where it needed to go, then pointed us to security. I had Joanna in the carseat at the time, and I was also carrying the diaper bag and my computer bag. I ended up right in front of a lady I know in the security line (yea!) so she held Joanna as I put my shoes, belt, and laptop in a little tray thing on the conveyor belt and fed all of our bags through. Joanna and I didn't set off the metal detector, none of our bags were suspicious (yea, again!), and it was a short walk to the gate, so we ended up ready and waiting for our 8:30 flight at 7:00. Oh, well. Much better early than frantic. Here we are waiting for our plane. It was one of those teeny-tiny express jets with only 3 seats across the whole plane. Joanna and I had the best seat in the house: the bulkhead window seat, so there was lots of leg room. There was a nice lady sitting next to us who slept most of the flight. Joanna nursed for the first bit, looked around for the middle bit, and nursed again. Here she is looking out the window. After the flight, my dad met us at baggage claim and helped us out to the car. The whole thing was a very good experience!

We stopped by the hotel where my sister works to say hi, and to pick up a port-a-crib for Joanna to sleep in. Yea for sisters who work in hotels!

Joanna and Aunt Kathryn

Joanna spent most of yesterday exploring Nana and Popo's house and sleeping in the car. She took some pretty good car naps; she was whooped. We also went to Target and Barnes and Noble, two of my (and Joanna's) favorite places.

A new trick: steps are not a problem. She went up and down it for a while once she figured out how. Nana and Popo have a sunken living room, so there are a few spots to go up and down.

Still sleeping after a car ride

Meeting the dogs The big dog is Matilda, and she's crazy about Joanna. She spends her time guarding her while she plays. There is also a little dog, Missy, and she worries a little if Joanna tries to play with her toys. But there have been no problems so far.

Well, Joanna's up. I think she didn't go back to sleep when I layed her down earlier, but she had a very good night in a strange place. I'm very proud -- what a good girl!

The Many Adventures of Joanna the Giraffe

As soon as I saw this costume, I knew that Joanna simply must dress up as a giraffe. You see, her very favorite toys are the plastic giraffes from Noah's Ark. She loves to hold them and wave them and chew on them. Now, here she is as a giraffe herself.

Mommy and her little giraffe.

Did you know that giraffes have to ride in carseats, too?

We went up to the church Wednesday afternoon to show her off to the staff. She hammed it up by waving and scootching and being so cute.

We went over to Mamma and Pop's that evening with our little giraffe to have some yummy chinese food and watch the trick-or-treaters. And, of course, we had to show off our cute Joanna!

Mamma and the giraffe.

Joanna is such a good scootcher that even the giraffe doesn't hold her back!

Watching Wheel of Fortune having shed the giraffe. Joanna is a very good puzzle solver. I think she's chewing on her sock here. She really loves chewing on her socks. I guess that's kind of weird, except I think she just loves having a tiny piece of fabric to carry around with her to chew on.

Nothing much here...

I really don't have anything too interesting to post, I was just tired of looking at that bug picture when I opened the page! Joanna and I are getting ready to fly to Oklahoma on Friday. I'm a little nervous, but mostly very excited about going. My dad, step-mom, and sister haven't seen Joanna since she was about 3 months old. At that time, she was still pretty rotten (sorry, Joanna!); she wouldn't sleep, we couldn't put her down, and she cried a lot. These days she is very fun, and I know that "Nana and Popo" will go crazy over watching her scootch around and discover new things.

My mom and I spent yesterday moving furniture around (I chose to do this, and my mom got drafted to help!). I guess I'm the type of person that can't handle her furniture in the same place all the time, even if it is a perfectly good arangement. We came up with a new arrangement that is a bit awkward, but I like it. It opens up our "great room" a bit and allows me to see the living room floor (where Joanna often is) from the kitchen. I think Joanna enjoyed discovering the new arrangement yesterday. Every time she turned around, something was new or different.

Joanna has started to pull up in her own unique way. She is really small, but quite strong. She can't actually reach the furniture around here, so she pulls up on other things like pillows, laundry baskets, my lap. Today she pulled up to a kneeling position on the laundry basket. She was doing really well until she let go to grab some laundry to chew on. She fell straight back, and it made her pretty sad.

Speaking of laundry, our dryer stopped drying today. The clothes will tumble around in it, but the heat is gone! It is very sad. My dryer is also my iron, so I'm really set back. I'm going to have to go dryer-begging before my trip (or I suppose I could pack dirty stuff and let my dad wash it...).

Well, I'm off to make some packing lists. I'm a little obsessive when it comes to packing, and I've never really packed for Joanna before!

It was really just a matter of time...

Given Joanna's scootching ability, her knack for putting things in her mouth, and my level of housekeeping inadequacy, it was bound to happen sooner or later. She ate a bug, or part of a bug. I recovered what looks like a tiny pincher from her mouth. Keep in mind the picture is like 25 times bigger than the actual thing.The rest of the insect...who knows...ew.

Oh and Gran was on duty at the time, just FYI. :)

First Tooth!

Joanna was chewing on my fingers just a little while ago, and I felt it: her first tooth! It is her lower front left tooth. It has a very nice texture, but so far has been impossible to capture on camera. Joanna is also exactly 8 months old today, and I will be posting some pictures of her cute self, so you can just imagine the little tooth in there. I haven't actually taken these "8 month" pictures yet, so here are some recent shots that I haven't posted to hold you over:

Sitting up so well at Aunt Mindy's house.

Shopping at Walmart -- notice how the belt comes under her armits.

Such sweet feet!

Playing with Daddy. (not pictured: Daddy making Elephant noises)

Okay, now we've taken "8 month pictures," and here are a few!

Swimming!

Yes, I know it's October. But Joanna and I wanted to swim, and Aunt Mindy invited us over to swim in her pool. The water was a little cold, but except for when I dunked her, Joanna enjoyed every minute. In the few weeks since we went swimming last, she really has developed a lot, and I can definitely see why you have to keep your hands on a baby absolutely constantly near/in the water. They have NO FEAR. So here are a bunch of pictures Mindy took. Enjoy!
Is my child photogenic, or what?


We put her on this float, and she enjoyed playing on her tummy in the water. She was pretty good at grabbing this ball when if fell off into the water.


"Mmm...This pool water is yummy."


Of course, Mr. Giraffe had to come to the pool, too.


Rescuing the giraffe.


So tired...


Mommy and Joanna.


Out of the water and drying off.

Thank you Aunt Mindy! We had so much fun!

Getting in to things and playgroup

Joanna was scootching before, but now she is really on the move. She has gotten really fast at propelling herself around on the floor. I'm actually having to keep the entire floor clean, not just a 6X6 area. Bummer.

Joanna thought it would be fun to climb around in the laundry basket the other day. She got a little stuck and uncomfortable after a minute but she had fun for a while.

We had playgroup today, and Joanna had lots of fun! She took a fantastic morning nap, so she was very happy to play. At one point she scootched under the coffee table and explored under there for a while. Anna crawled under and "borrowed" Joanna's giraffe, so Joanna went after it. It was pretty cute. "Um, excuse me, could I have that back please?" "So, what can I give you for the giraffe? It is really yummy, and I like to chew on it. How about a dead leaf?"

I didn't think Joanna had enough hair for one of those clippy bows, but here she is wearing one of Anna's! I'm not sure it would stay in for more than a few minutes, but...

Here she is getting percussion lessons from Miss Lisa. I think she has a strong natural talent. Right.

Here is a video I took this afternoon of my scootcher. You will see a few fun tricks in it: scootching, push-ups, and full body excitement. Enjoy.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com