Catching up on Autumn 2011

As Josie naps, I figured it would be a great time to update my blog.
Miss Josephine is now 6 weeks old. I have survived the first 40 days! I have to say, I have a greater appreciation for single mothers now than I ever had. I'm not sure how I could have gotten through the past six weeks without the help of Jerill, his mom (who is living with us for awhile) and my parents.

We celebrated Josie's first Thanksgiving at my sister's house in Redmond, WA. She slept through most of it and when she was awake, she was a delight.  As always, I brought the vegetable dishes to Thanksgiving dinner this year. I made:

• sweet potatoes with maple syrup and pecans
• green beans with slivered almonds and lemon
• roasted root vegetables (parsnips, turnip, sweet potato, rutabaga and carrot)
• orange-cranberry sauce
• roasted red potatoes with rosemary

My sister is an excellent turkey maker and didn't disappoint this year. My mom brought her famous blueberry and apple pies (home made of course) and Jerill's mom put a caramel bread pudding together that was a total hit and will be a new Thanksgiving staple going forward.

Lucky, our 8 year old Maltese/Shih Tzu is still living with my parents but during the times he has come home for a visit he has not involved himself with Josie much at all. He enjoys living with my parents and they enjoy having him. With Lucky (aka 'the barker') out of the picture, we are able to focus on Scott and Mattie, and my mother-in-law's Sheltie Bart, to transition to life with baby. Scott and Mattie have both taken on specific roles in the past 40 days. Scott pretty much ignores Josie, coming around only during feedings to see if anything is spit up that may be worthy of eating. Scott's main job now is to be my "nurse maid." He is my right-hand, er, paw, when it comes to all things dealing with nursing and pumping. Sometimes he will lay on my feet to keep them warm if I am caught off guard and are not wearing socks or slippers. On the other hand, er paw, is Mattie. Mattie is a very engaged participant in all things that happen with the baby. For the first few weeks, Mattie was extremely interested in feedings, diapering, sleepy time, crying time, play time. We have found that Mattie will alert Jerill as to when Josie starts to fuss or wake up from a nap. Mattie also makes sure Bart the Sheltie and our cat GiGi didn't get too close to Josie at first. She has now loosened up a bit about that but I definitely would not want to be a stranger approaching Josie with Mattie on watch! It seems Mattie has taken on a motherly-type role with Josie. Mattie is quite a maternal dog and is very tuned in to Josie's care and well being!

So, if you're wondering about Jude during all this, here's the update on him! The day before I had Josie, we took Jude to Diane's farm to live with her for awhile. She worked him on sheep and honestly, he didn't seem to miss me much at all. Yes, he is a total mama's boy, but in the presence of sheep, he is infatuated with working them. A few weeks later, Jude left with Scott Glen for sheepdog training. So right now, Jude is living in Alberta, Canada for the next few months (all of the winter) at the Alta-Pete Stockdogs training camp. And honestly, I do not believe Jude is missing me all that much  - I am missing him a lot! It's hard for me to compete with sheep lessons every day with one of the best sheepdog trainers and trialers in the world. Plus Jude is up there with a couple other dogs he knows too. Scott's wife sent me an update and a picture of Jude. Things are going well for him!  I am eagerly awaiting him to come home in March 2012.

I've really enjoyed the last 6 weeks with my daughter and being at home with family, my animals (sans Jude). I really don't want to go back to work! I am very thankful that my work schedule is flexible and I will be continuing my weekly routine of telecommuting two days a week. I'm very thankful that Josie's grandmas are helping out for the next 4-6 months too, being our nannies - it's incredibly awesome to have this help and flexibility.




Tonight I'll be going out to sushi with Diane - I haven't had sushi for 10 months and I've missed it! Hmmm, Josie is starting to move... must be time to eat again. Ciao!