What a Difference Nine Months Makes...

Yesterday Josephine Kate Brown celebrated her 9th monthiversary! What a difference 9 months can make...

She's gone from this...(day one)

To this...(a few months)

To this...(eight months-ish)

To this...(nine months)

What a stunner! My life has been changed by this girl. In fact, my life has been changed by two females hugely in the last 4 years - I feel like a blessed man indeed. Josephine Kate is the biggest time-waster known to man, I can watch her being her for hours. She looks just like her mom (thank goodness) and has the most relaxed temprement I've ever seen in a baby. I'm biassed, I know, but this is one special little girl who warms the heart of whoever meets her.

She is a tribute to the wonderful mothering of a fantastic woman.

One day soon my little darling will start crawling, walking and talking- she won't seem so little then. I'm cherishing these days with her more than I thought I ever would. At the risk of being soppy... I love my girls!

Recent Distant Memories...

From nowhere I was just reminded of a conversation I had with my dad the day we brought Josephine home. It went something like this:

Me: I can’t believe she’s so long… she can’t even see her feet

Dad: How far can she see?
Me: About a foot, and she’s 18 inches (or something like that length – I can’t recall exactly)
Dad: She can see her feet!
Me: A foot is 12 inches, Granddad.
Dad: [Laughed a lot] Oh yeah.

It’s a conversation that I don’t expect dad to remember, heck, it’s a conversation I’m surprised I remember. I don’t know what makes it so memorable, or why it warms my heart so much. Was it that it was the first moment I had alone with my hero and my daughter at the same time; was it the fact that dad got it wrong (and he never gets it wrong) because he was overjoyed at seeing his first granddaughter (I assume)? Or maybe it just warms my heart thinking about the early days with my daughter?

She already seems so grown up – supporting her head, occupying herself by talking and playing, the need of independence already and awareness of the outside world- I wonder where the time has gone! I am truly besotted with my daughter – every morning I now have to catch my breath twice; when I realise who I’m married to, and when I get the first glimpse of Josephine before work. I am blessed.

Dogs...

I've been in an exceptionally good mood these last few days. I have a loving wife, the cutest daughter in the world and a God who works all things for His glory. Yet I've been in a ranting mood. So we have the following to add to yesterday's rant...

Last night my friend got chased by a large dog. He had to go to hospital, is now on crutches, has many injuries, and had major shock. He broke his phone, he has a family with 3 children under 20 months, he's had to stay off work today.

Can you imagine the outrage if I were to chase a dog down the street for no reason and cause these injuries. Can you imagine the call for me to be locked up.

Why is it that people care more about their pets than, well, people. Why is it that there is a greater call for justice when a man attacks a dog than a dog attacks a man? That's twisted in my opinion.

How Freakin' Cute is My Daughter...?

Josephine Kate is now 8 weeks old. Can you tell how she's already managed to get daddy wrapped around her little finger???

It's a Girl...!

It’s probably an indication of how I’ve become a [lacklustre] blogger and a slightly more devoted reader that I feel guilty for not posting about our new delivery yet – despite how demanding having a new baby can be. I think people will be more compassionate about the lack of blogging than the Facebook photo requests, but still, this is my platform to brag about my wonderful daughter!

So, my son certainly knows how to make an entrance – mainly due to the fact a daughter popped out! Josephine Kate was born on Sunday 27th June and thankfully came just in time to save me from the apparent disgrace that was England 1 v 4 Germany. This is the first World Cup in memory that I’ve not suffered some form of England-not-being-as-good-as-I-thought-they-were-depression. This is an indication of how much love I have for out new bundle of joy!

After 47 hours of labour, 4 different world cup games watched, countless games at Wimbledon seen through, wearing my Marathon Men tee for most of the duration (I think Liz blames this a tad), Liz kicking my butt at Nerts a few times despite having awful contractions and having a diet of Doritoes and Haribo for three days, a wonderful surprise package came out.

It took me three attempts to wipe away tears and check to see if it really was a daughter before coming to the conclusion that our darling girl must have produced the mother of all finger-wieners during our 12 week scan. Proud moment for me right there. What’s more is that despite calling her “him” for so long, it didn’t feel weird or wrong holding a daughter, it felt natural and right. Not that I wouldn’t have been over the moon with a son, but it doesn’t feel like there’s a son shaped hole in our lives – Josie is more than I could ever have wished for and if one day I’m blessed with a son I will be equally overjoyed.

She has gotten all of her positive attributes from her mom – her good looks and her chilled out personality – and a double chin and big hands and feet from her dad!

In short, I am the proudest man alive – have been for 15 glorious days now (she’s only 12 days old, but the Friday-Sunday of labour Liz was astonishingly laid back, coped fantastically well and made me beam with how well she coped with the ordeal!) and will be for the rest of my life. I know every child is the most beautiful and the most special and loved alive, but Josie is the real deal. There are so many things that I love about her already, when she yawns I swear there is nothing cuter, after she sneezes she makes the most hilariously funny noise which has her dad in hysterics, she finds the best positions to get out poop causing her to either throw herself around my torso or demand mom so that she can poop on her (3 times now!).

I’ll try not to make this a “Phil is bragging about his family again” blog- but no promises. They are simply and utterly wonderful.

P.S. Good luck Sarah Nichols… who is having a girl (??) so very soon. We can’t wait to meet her!

*Regretfully, I will not be posting pictures on this blog – we have taken the stance that only password protected sites will have photos on them.