Back-walk-over Josie

I grew up loving gymnastics and that turned into a love of cheerleading in high school.  I have been very blessed to get to coach school and competitive teams for moast of my post high school life.  I wanted so badly for my daughter to love it too.  So far I have that little cheerleader.  She has been around practice, games and competitions since birth and taken some kind of class since she was 10 months old.  Last summer I put her in her first gymnastics class where I was not her teacher and she loves her coach who has taught her alot.  She also started a rec cheer class with me last summer and this year moved up to the competitive team.  She works hard and I cannot believe she has mastered a back-walk-over at such a young age.  When she wants something she goes for it.  She has been practicing at home, at gymnastics and cheer since December and when she nailed this all by her self a couple of weeks ago she was ecstatic, and I may have cried a little! I don't know where this will go for her and I promise I am trying really hard to push her too much, but to share a love for something with your child is totally indescribable!

What we have been up to!

 Josie turned 4 on March 25th and this is her last picture as a 3 year-old. She was very excited and still almost 2 months later tells everyone she sees, "I'm 4"!

 I covered her bed in balloons for her to wake up to a little surprise.  She loved it! We had a fun day letting her pick whatever she wanted to do.  We went to get doughnuts before church, played at the park and ate at Red Robin for dinner.

 The next weekend Josie and I went to her first musical. I wasn't too much older when my dad took me to mine, so he got her these tickets for her birthday.  Shreck! We got dressed up and I let her pick where we ate lunch.  She picked Chipolte, her fav, well after sushi, but I can't eat that right now, so she had to settle =)

 We painted our fingernails green for the occasion, but she need a little pink too, being the girly girl she is.

 My dad even got her these Princess Fiona ears to wear during the show.  We were two rows back. She loved and watched the entire thing without taking her eyes off the stage.  We even got to get a good look and the orchestra pit.  What a cool and fun experience.  She is ready for another show already! Yay!!!

 She also got to sing at my parents Church, where she goes to pre-school.  It was super sweet and I loved watching her.

 I am loving this age because her friend are having really cool birthday parties and at this one, she got to ride her first real pony.  She had a blast and can't wait to do it again!

 I am coaching competitive cheer this season and Josie is on my team.  It is awesome to watch her learn and grow at each practice and I am so blessed to share something I love with someone I love.  I don't want to push her to do this but for now she loves it and I will take it for as long as I can.  So my 3 hours a week I work, I still get to hang with my Jo! She is the youngest on the team by a year but (and yes I am biased for sure, but it is true, and will change as the year goes by and the other girls catch up) she is one of the most talented.  She has a gift of flexibility, and athleticism and since she is 4 she will try anything without fear.  She can do splits all the way, all three ways, a back-walk-over, beautiful cartwheel, front limber, and she is even starting to understand what is means to do it all on an 8 count.  She loves her teammates and looks forward to her two practices every week.  Also being 4, she cries at every practice, mostly when she tired or gets kicked or messes up a tumbling trick, she is already her fathers daughter, very competitive, even with herself.

 We go to the park almost every day.  She loved it and I love the exercise she is getting. Me too, haha, we walk at least a mile there and back, its awesome.

 I am almost 29 weeks pregnant and its crazy how it is flying by. Josie is very excited to meet her brother and I am too.  She hugs and kisses him all day, every day. I love it.

 We got to do a 3D ultra sound this time and it was incredible.  I cannot believe the details you can see.  Here is baby Jack, not to long til we are looking at him for real.

We have had a great few months and I am really enjoying my time with my new 4 year-old.

Trip to KS

 We went to Wichita for Easter weekend and had alot of fun. We stayed pretty busy seeing family and friends. I was totally overwhelmed with all of the baby boy gifts we received.  Tons of clothes, and even a car seat and jogging stroller! One of my students made this KU pillow for the baby's room!

 We colored eggs at Grandma's and Jeff's artist sister made him this Jayhawk egg.

 One of my close friends had a baby shower for me, it was fun to see everyone and different to see so much blue =)

 We are not super big on Easter gifts, but Jeff got this Mickey stuff for Josie to find before church.

 After church we had a little family outing to Botanica to check out the new kids garden and enjoy the warm weather. Here I am at 24 weeks. My mother in law asked if I was sure I was due in July.  I am also shocked at how fast I have gotten big this time around. I don't like this front view, not very attractive =)

Josie is 4 now and loves to tell everyone from friends to strangers.  She is super sweet and we hug allllll day.  She loves to play and pretend and can do almost anything by her self.  She is really excited to have a brother in July saying, God wanted us to have a boy this time. She is constant material for my status updates on Facebook.



4 years old, the party

 We had Josie's 4th birthday party at the place she does gymnastics.  It was such a fun party and all I had to do was show up with a cake! We invited 21 kids and 16 came. Wow, did she ever feel loved.  I was really proud of her, she spent time with all of her friends.

 There was a huge bouncy slide, a big swing hanging from the celing, a foam pit to jump into, and trampolines everywhere.   

 We managed to grab her for a family picture, it was hard for her to give up those precious seconds to play =)

 A few days before the party she asked me if she was going to get presents all for her, and boy did ever.  She was totally overwhelmed by gifts, each one seemed better that the last.  She was, and still is in total toy heaven.  She helped me put together goody bags for her friends and was excited to hand them out too.

 She picked out her cake at the grocery store a week before and told every. single. stranger. she passed by she was getting her birhtday cake. 

 So much fun with friends. This birthday was so much fun now that she totally gets it, and could be a part of planning it.  So I have a week left my three-year-old and then on the four. So grown up, she even wrote her own name on all of the invatations!

So Proud

                                            

 Josie has been in a gymnastics class since she was 10 months old.  She has continued with it and added a recreational cheer class last year.  I have coached cheer her whole life and she has grown up around the sport (yes I called cheerleading a sport) and cheerleaders.  Its no wonder its her favorite thing to do and so far won't try anything else. 

 So since she won't play soccer or be on a t-ball team, take a dance or ballet class, all things I'd love her to try. She has not had nay games or recitals for us to watch. Until Sat March 17th, 2012.  Josie and two teammates did a one min cheer routine.  They rocked it, all three of them did every bit of that routine, dance, jumps, cartwheels and even two simple stunts. Did I get it on video, nope, I was the coach so I was too busy telling them what to do and where to go.  Josie had her big moment when she bridged up and kicked over. (she can backbend kickover, but it made her too nervous and I wanted her to be comfortable)  It was awesome and I was soooooo proud, and dad, who was watching, had some tears in his eyes.  They preformed in front of parents, and all of the other teams of older boys and girls.  When Josie kicked over and stood up with such a proud look on her face, the gym went nuts, yelling and screaming.  It was awesome. Let me tell you I get a super proud feeling every time any of my teams are out there, but when it was my daughter it was awesome.  Wow, it was something I had never experienced before. I love her so much!

And don't worry, NO THE LITTLE CHEERLEADERS DID NOT WEAR THE TUMMY SHOWING UNIFORM!!! They looked cute in their full uniforms.  I just didn't get a pic of her in that one, this one is for dress up, don't tell my mom or Jeff but I think she looks pretty cute =) After the  show Josie and her teammates tried out for the competitive team. I am excited to coach them next year!

Its a BOY!!

On Wed we had our 20 week ultra sound.  I was excited and praising God to be this far along in a pregnancy and ready to the baby again, ANND find out the sex of course.  It was so different from our experience with Josie.  I was just so shocked to hear, well its  boy, and then to hear the tech call him, a   him and he and his for the next 10 min.  Everything so far looks good and healthy.  Jeff and I didn't do anything special announcing Josie was a girl so this time, we made our parents wait all day and told them and Josie together on skype.  We had Josie pull out a Little Bro onsie.  And as soon as she saw blue she said, "oh my goodness" in a NOOO, ITS NOT A SISTER kinda way. It was super funny to see her face at first.  Then about 30 sec later she was thrilled and still is talking about her baby brother. It helps that a bunch of her friends have or are having little bro's too. I was nervous and first, I mean I've had 4 years to get used to a girl =) but the more I think about it I am more and more excited for a new experience, and maybe saving money in the clothes department =)  Josie is busy being three and will be four in three weeks.  She must have been super tired to sleep like this >

Amy and Susan

                                                

Josie and I go out for lunch every Wednesday after her school and before Bible Study.  This week we went to Panera.  It was packed and full of women out together in pairs.  We sat down and Josie says, "mom lets pretend we are both mommies going out to lunch together, I will be Amy and you can be Susan".  She played her part the entire time we were there.  She told me about her two kids, how old they were, their names,, what they like to do.  It was crazy how she kept it up, and she did almost all of the talking.  There were four ladies eating next to us and stopped  talking to listen to her, til she noticed and was a tad embarrassed, but went right back to it.  I love how creative she is, and how much she loves to play and pretend.  I try really hard not to laugh at her, even though she is so funny at times =) We are one month away from four, and while I can't believe her life has flown by so fast, I love her more and more every day and I just can't wait to watch her grow up!