jojo's first year!

While I have done a good job taking pictures of JoAnne this year I haven't done as great of a job writing about all of the cute things she does before I forget.
Jo has been a pretty easy baby, and I have been lucky to have her. She has been such a joy!

Jo liked nursing but always did so really fast.  people sometimes wondered if she got enough to eat but she didn't complain much and kept growing (near the bottom of the growth chart) so all was well. I think I could nurse her in about 10 minutes total. It was so convenient to have a baby that could eat fast!

One day I couldn't find a sippy cup for her so I have her a bottle. Now she loves the bottle. Who would have thought that on my 4th baby I'd have a bottle lover and just at the time when they're not supposed to have a bottle at all!

Jo slept in her car seat for the first 4 months or so until I thought it might be safer for her to be in bed since she was learning to wiggle out of her car seat.  She liked to be swaddled and I would swaddle her real tight and then put her in hear car seat.  Even when she moved to her bed (a pack-n-play) she still liked to be swaddled tight.  I think I swaddled her all the way up to 8 or 9 months.  Jo woke up once  a night for most of her baby life. I would feed her and put her back to  bed pretty quick so it' wasn't too much of a burden to get up with her in the night. Sometimes I would even let her fall asleep in my ams and hold her for a while knowing that it wouldn't be long 'til she was past the stage of being able to fall asleep while I hold her (and also knowing there was a good chance she'd be my last baby to hold at all).  Dave never lets babies cry at night. He doesn't like to hear them cry and doesn't like his sleep disrupted so we are not ones to sleep train our babies by making them cry for hours at night. Right around 10 months she started sleeping through the night on her own.

JoJo only ate baby food for a few weeks. She did not like any of the fruit purees, barfed up sweet potatoes on 3 occasions which really only left us with a few veggie choices. once she tried all of those she started table food. We'd grind up what we were eating and feed that to her. She loved everything. When she started finger foods she loved to feed herself. She is a great eater. She loves beans, veggies and all fruits. She also likes breads. She went through a phase where she ate tons of hummus and it was her favorite food. Now her favorite food is blueberries.   This baby can really pack away the food!  She eats a ton! She eats more than the other girls!

Jo used to be a calm and sweet little baby. As the 4th she was naturally used to a lot of noise and commotion and was not easily rattled.  Now she has learned to make as much noise as everyone else. She has a loud voice and likes to yell hi and bye and da. She also has a blood curdling scream she sometimes uses if we ignore her too much.   She is playful and fun.  She sometimes gets so excited about all the action in the room she will kick and wiggle and smile and giggle. It is so fun!  She recently learned to sign hungry. She uses it for food and drink and sometimes just for fun since she knows she gets lots of attention for using signs!

Jo learned to roll over and crawl within the normal age range but on the later side like all my other babies. AT 11 months she used the army crawl to get around and now at 12 months she crawls like a regular baby and is picking up speed.  She also loves to pull herself to standing position. It is to see such a little person scooting around the house!.

life is good

Busy! Great!

Good things: Calvin's school, summer swimming, cutest baby ever - crawling, signing, squealing,
Kids sing, beautiful SD weather, great birthday, Dahlquist family reunion coming up in August, went to see Wicked on the 3rd row. Each of these could be a blog post of it's own.

Things needing improvement: Clare whining during piano, kids fighting, my messy house, kids going to bed too late in the summer, cooking slump!

JoJo's birthday bash

We took the family to a local park to celebrate Jo's birthday one evening.

Jo loves playing in the water at the splash park area. She giggles and squeals with delight! It is darling! She only lasts a few minutes 'til she gets cold but it is so fun!

 Jo got a really cute hat for her birthday. She tried taking it off but it was suck on with a strap! When she finally got used to it I did take it off and then she put it right back on. After a few more times wearing it now she is completely used to it and doesn't bother it at all when she wears it!  Thanks Sheri! It is darling!

 While we were at the park someone had a special balloon that got stuck in the palm tree. Dave decided he should climb the tree and get it out. IT was seriously ridiculously funny! Dave is awesome!

 My new friend Jenn!

picture dump

Forgive me for all the unrelated pics, but this was the easiest way to get all these pics up!

My favorite picture of late! Cute Jo and I at dog beach right around her 1st b-day!

 AT the science center.

 A different trip to dog beach with the Gondas when they were here in June! This is coronado - the most beautiful beach in SD.

 Tressel is such a patient dog.

 Out for ice cream after the beach.

 Jo loved her cousin Kate.

 Zoo trip with Grandma and Grandpa Gonda.
Baby giraffe 14 days old.

 This is how life is for Dave - he always has kids crawling all over him.

 The whole gang!

 Clare didn't want to go on the skyfari ride!

And more from dog beach -(ocean beach). Jo is so happy to be in the sand.

 Look how big our dog is compared to little jo!

 I think the beach is her favorite place these days. It is amazing to me that she doesn't try to eat the sand there!

 Even babies need to play DS sometimes.

Usually we go to dog beach on mornings when I have to take Calvin to school and in the lazy summer days this means I pull the girls out of bed and stick them in the car in jammies and we go to the beach! They always grumble that they don't want to go to the beach but then love it when we get there and play happily for as long as I want to stay (less than an hour).

Clare's Dance

This year Clare took a tap/ballet class. It was a nice experience. She had a couple of friends from

school in class with her and a wonderful sweet teacher, Miss Garyn. 

Two weeks before the real recital there was a dress rehearsal.

 Olivia, Clare and Scarlett

The morning of the recital there was a PJ's rehearsal. The kids could wear whatever clothes they wanted but just needed to be there to practice being on the real stage. The girls were so cute!

Here is Clare's class with her cute teacher, Miss Garyn.

 Aunt Shianne did Clare's hair and make-up for the show!

  A few pre-performance pictures!

Lexey wanted to have her hair straightened for a change! Dave thinks she looks just like Clare with straight hair and pretends he can't tell them apart. The girls think it is so silly and fun but Dave told me in all seriousness that he really can't tell them apart! He is a hoot!

Overall dance was great. I am not sure if I will sign up Clare again this year. Even though she loved it she seems indifferent to go back and if she isn't begging me to go back I might be better off saving my $ for fellowship interviews next fall. Plus, if I sign up Clare I know Alexey will beg to do dance also.  Even though they would love it, it would be pretty expensive to have both of them in it and quite an ordeal, especially for the recital!