Is anyone really surprised?

Did people really think you could substitute good parenting with a colorful video? Most of the parents I know that have these videos are really good parents and only have their kids watch every once in a while. I'm not trying to judge, I just think this is funny. I'm sure I will be guilty of shoving Disney at my kids so I can have 30 mins. of peace, but for now, I'm glad Josie could care less about TV. : )

On the front page of yahoo news:

The Great Baby Einstein Scam

by Mira Jacob, Shine staff, 14 hours ago

Of course it was too good to be true.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Disney is offering a refund to buyers of its ubiquitous “Baby Einstein” videos, which did not, as promised, turn babies into wunderkinds. Apparently, all those puppets, bright colors, and songs were what we had feared all along—a mind-numbing way to occupy infants.

This news has rocked the parenting world, which had embraced the videos as a miraculous child-rearing staple. Videos that make your kid smarter while you prepare dinner? Genius!

Or not. According to the article, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two years old stay away from watching screens. In the letter threatening Disney with a class-action lawsuit for "deceptive advertising," public health lawyers hired by Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood cited a study which found a link between early television exposure and later problems with attention span.

For many parents, this was the most unsettling of "duh" moments, and a confirmation that nothing, when it comes to child-rearing, is as ever easy as we'd like to make it. So why were we so quick to seize on Baby Einstein videos as technological tutors?

Call it the perfect storm of parenting. Who doesn’t want to believe that there is a magical, wondrous, no-parental-guidance-required product that will turn their kids into Mensa members? The combination of our lack of time, our paranoia over our kids performance, and our faith in technology primed this generation of parents to accept the clever advertising around "Baby Einstein" as truth, just as parents before us have seized on corporal punishment, or the teachings of Dr. Spock.

Still, the idea that a caper this big could be pulled off (according to the Times, in “a 2003 study, a third of all American babies from 6 months to 2 years old had at least one 'Baby Einstein' video") is mind-boggling. Disney’s refund is about as close as we’re going to get to an actual admission that we were sold snake oil, and it casts a pall over the other "educational" toys out there.

So now what? Lose the Leapfrog? Whisk away the Wii? How do you plan on keeping (or cutting out) technology in your child's life?

On Top of the World.....

 A couple weeks ago, Kevin needed to go out to Chicago for "work" so we decided to tag along and meet up with some friends. We had never been to the top of Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, so we thought that might be fun. We met up with our friends Kelly and Nate and their little 10 month old, Lyla. The lines were outrageous!! It was worse than Disney! First you waited out in the cold for about 30-40 mins. Of course, I forgot a heavy coat for Josie (the weather did not say it was going to be that cold) so daddy bundled her up in his jacket again. After getting in inside, it was another 45+ min. wait just to get tickets. After getting tickets, it was another hour of lines and a short movie until you finally get in the elevator and go up to the sky deck. The elevators were really fast and very cool. Your ears pop the whole way up and down. It was worth it though, cause the view was amazing!!

Waiting in line:

Waiting and hanging with daddy:




She loved the view!! She just sat there and stared.
Josie and Lyle staring together. They are such cute friends!

The have these new glass rooms that hang over the side of the building that you can stand in. They are so cool and not as freaky as they look. They actually feel very safe. It was neat to look down and feel like you are in the air. 

I don't know how and why she took her shoes of but when I turned around they were on the floor, lol.

As I said, Kevin had some work to do in Chicago. Taylor Swift's drummer is one of Kevin's endorsers, so we had to go to the show to meet up with them. Kelly and Nate were kind enough to let Josie play and sleep at their house while we went to the concert.  Thanks again, guys!

Kevin and I have been to many shows, perhaps hundreds. I have been to many loud arena shows (Paul McCartney, Prince, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, to name some of the loudest) This was BY FAR the loudest show we have ever been to!! It was all teenage girls with healthy lungs. We were VIP's so we sat at the sound booth which next to the small stage that she sings at for part of the show. Right before she came on, we heard this huge roar of gasps and cheers and saw people taking pictures. We turned around and saw this guy right behind us in the sound booth:

Kevin and I are not "Twilight" fans and had to be told who he was. We spent the rest on the concert with flashes in our faces from girls trying to take a picture of him. The loudest part of the concert was when Taylor hugged him after one of her songs. They had some kids, probably from the "make a wish" program or something in the area too. After she finished singing, she went around and hugged all of the kids and people in the sound booth including Mr. Hearthrob.  It was really nice. Kevin and I felt weird about hugging her since we weren't there for anything special, so we stepped back and let all the other people get up close.

I only know some of her songs from the radio, but it ended up being a really good concert. It was nice to get out and not worry about the baby too.

The band and production crew are super nice. 

My mom was here this past week and stayed for Josie's birthday. We were spoiled all week! I need to compile all the video's and pictures from her birthday to post. I'll try not to take so long this time.

Big Girl

My baby turned a year old today. More to come.......

Also, we celebrated our 6 year anniversary and my birthday is on Wednesday!!

Lots to blog about. I promise I'll catch up soon.

Stay tuned............

11 Months- Way past due!!

Josie will be 1 year old in a few days,  so I better do an update before then! 

At 11 months Josie:

*is WALKING!! 

*eats everything and anything

*favorite foods are wheat tortillas, ham, spaghetti, and bananas

*has a 6th tooth coming in (4 on bottom, 2 on top that I can see.)

*is experimenting with new words and sounds

* loves to warm up (sing) with me and will copy some of my sounds

*says "hi dada" and "this" sometimes

*loves to clap, wave, give kisses, and high fives

*understands lots! I know she knows bath, ball, "daddy's home,"nose, food, milk, cup, sleep, daiper, baby, and probably countless other words.

*sleeps 11-12 hours at night and 2-4 hours during the day

*takes 2 naps still

*is still breastfeeding, but also drinks whole milk

*has a fake laugh she does when she knows something is funny

* loves all soft things and will snuggle with EVERYTHING (it's super cute!)

Josie took her first unassisted step at about 10 months. She walked across the room this last month and is walking on and off now. She still crawls to things far away but is walking more and more.

Josie gets some crazy bed head when she wakes up. I love seeing this face when I get her up in the morning! 

She sucks on her 2 fingers and snuggles things when she is tired.

I also have to say that her eyes are the weirdest color. I can't even tell what color they are. A kind of greenish, bluish, grey.

She will snuggle ANYTHING that is soft. Clothes, blankets, towels, and yes, even cotton balls:

Her favorite thing to snuggle is her half blanket, half bear "snuggly." She sleeps with him every night and carries him around in her mouth sometimes.

She loves playing the piano.










I can't believe you will be a toddler soon! You will always be my little baby!

Blueberry, Marshmallow, Popcorn, Apple, and Fall Festivals!

Ok, I'm going to try to be better now. It got suddenly really busy. I have good reason for procrastinating, I promise. We will discuss that later, though. 

Now for the update.

We are really trying to go to as many of the local festivals as we can. They are so much fun and each season brings new, great things. Now we are getting into the fall festival period full of pumpkins, scarecrows, yummy smelling cider, hayrides, corn mazes, etc.

But first, the end of summer ones.

We went to the Blueberry Festival last year, and had to return this year! We had blueberry cobbler, blueberry ice cream, blueberry parfait, and my favorite, freshly baked blueberry donuts. 

The whole town was having garage sales. At least every other house had one going. We stopped at a couple and found some awesome things I can't believe anyone still had in their possession.

Josie loves festivals.

Mmmmm........blueberry ice cream!

It's cold!! But, so yummy!!

It was Labor Day weekend so we got to hit 2 that week. We went to the Marshmallow Festival on Monday. We wanted to go last year cause it sounded really cool. It was kind of a let down. Most of these festivals stem from local industry or farming. Apparently, before being bought out by Kraft, a major marshmallow factory was there and sponsored a festival every year. Kraft still sponsors it now, even though the factory has shut down. They give away free bags of marshmallows to everyone! It was kind of a weird town and the festival was pretty boring. Not enough marshmallow treats in my opinion either. I guess I had imagined sculptures out of marshmallows and all kinds of interesting treats. 

Josie enjoying marshmallows:

Marshmallow mustache:

The best part was actually the drive there. We drove through the beautiful farm country. We also stopped at a little Amish bakery on the way and got some yummy treats.

The next weekend was the Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Festival. Apparently, it's where Orville grew up.This one was lots of fun! We went early so we could see the parade. It was the usual small town parade. Lots of firemen and police driving with their sirens on, random people in cars or walking, and lots of floats made out of popcorn. Pretty much every float and person in the parade was covered in popcorn!

I think the whole town was there. The streets were so crowded!

Mr. and Miss Popcorn

I just loved that the Republican party was selling Elephant Ears

Josie's favorite part was the balloon I tied to her stroller. 


That evening we went to the Popcorn Festival Balloon launch. They lit up about 20 hot air balloons. We only stayed for a few minutes since it got kinda cold and was late.

It was such a warm day, I neglected to bring a warm enough sweater for Josie, so Kev zipped her up in his jacket.

Last but not least, the Apple Festival. This one was in Nappanee. It's in the middle of Amish country and this festival was mostly Amish. I tried to respect the fact that they do not like to be photographed, but I couldn't help it cause they were everywhere. I really like the Amish and think they are very kind people. Plus, they make good food.

Since life is a little slower in Nappanee, they have a town motto: Embrace the Pace. You always see the motto next to a picture of an Amish buggy.  Love it!

All over town they had these apple posts set up where you could take one and put a quarter in the box.

All over town they have big painted walls for each business. Most of the businesses are old and family owned.

We watched a log sawing contest......

And a tractor pull......

And listened to a crazy lady preach about how we are all going to Hell.

There was this puppet show that all the Amish children were watching. It was very cute. I just love how cute the children are in their traditional clothes.

Of course we couldn't leave without getting some yummy apple treats.

Josie really liked being our guide.

I really wouldn't mind living in Nappanee. It's very charming and seems like it has a very Christian atmosphere. They only problem is that it is kinda far from Kev's work and most of the shopping. Maybe someday when we are old. If we did, we might buy this house:

Whew! That was a lot of catching up to do! Now I need to post about Josie's 11th month. Stay tuned!