28 and counting!!!!

june 4th - a wonderful day for our family 28 years ago- jojo," the president of mexico" ," jo jo salero", ( and many other akas, as the girls will probably add) was born.  i was in the grocery store with paul and my labor started, so we went home and loaded up the suitcase and paul's lamaze stuff and off we were to the hospital. i could tell that things were progressing quickly, so i was anxious to get there. after being checked, the nurse informed me that i was ready to go into the delivery room!  opps, one problem, though. another woman was just finishing up and they couldn't take me for a short while- yow! my bearing down pains had already started , so the nurse told me to start panting and not to  give in to the bearing down urges- oh yes, easy for her to say- here it is 28 years later and i still remember!  anyhow, paul was whining that he couldn't even use his lamaze skills, but at that point, i didn't feel sorry for him.  FINALLY, the room was available and in i went. feet in the stirrups, 3 pushes and out came our little pumpkin seed girl.
  we had already decided on a name  for a girl when we went out for dinner one night.  the pianist at the restaurant was playing " when joanna loves me" - that did it for us. i can't remember what we had chosen for a boy's name, but it didn't matter at that point.
   joanna was a good baby- "substantial" i would call her. she fit in her carrier very snuggly and loved to eat. shannon had the responsibility of feeding her sometimes and just remembers huge bowls of food and constantly scraping her chin with the spoon.  we all have many memories of baby jojo- the "corn in the nose" incident, short,short haircuts,  interesting experiences in her crib during naptime, her love of peaches,(right from the bushel basket), aaahhhhh ( her" just about ready to go to sleep" sound- does she still do that today, stephan?)
   i remember a wonderful time i had with jojo. we were able to drive to southern virginia college to look the school over and stay over night. we had a great time but  both of us remember the kind of scary ride thru west va. at night . (what's with that place, anyway???) i also have tender memories of my trip to utah to help her fix up her apt. "jo-jo"style and then going back to sell everything and clean it. those are the times that draw families together, and i remember feeling very close to her in her time of need.
  so, my dear joanna, have a wonderful day and we will have a little party when you get here in july. hope our card wasn't late, but you probably are still on your mini birthday trip, anyway. we love you!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!