A Day In The Life of "Little J"

Judgy Pants

2012-01-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

So I'm writing this because I find myself feeling very defensive with many acquaintances, though I realize I'm pretty sensitive about it because I'm already feeling guilty on my own without any help. I know that no one else's opinion really matters and that I know I'm doing my gosh darned best, but after awhile I can't help but let some of it get to me. I realize some of it is really meant to be helpful and some people have good intentions, but it's the indirect comments or the need to "help" me by providing suggestions, which of course totally implies I'm either ignorant or not trying, that bother me. I appreciate advice most times, especially from mommas I really respect, but as always advice given is unsolicited from people that just have know it all syndrome and need to share.

SO. Just to enlighten you.

I have not mentioned this in any of our updates. At Jocelyn's 15 month appointment she weighed in at 24 lbs 6 oz, naked. A couple days ago she weighed 23 lbs 1 oz, fully clothed with her sweater & boots on. Her weight is another sensitive topic for me. It's really starting to drive me crazy when people say to me "Well, she's obviously still growing and is healthy" or "Well, she's obviously not starving" etc. Because she's losing weight and hasn't grown. She still looks healthy because she was a chunky monkey to start with, but that doesn't mean YOU know she isn't actually starving. GRRR!! We keep her well hydrated so she isn't looking sickly and I'm doing my best to force food in her, getting more creative than I ever thought possible, but you can't literally "force" it.

I know all toddler's are picky, but I've been so anxious about her eating because of (obviously) her weight & growth.

My dad was so awesome and gifted me 3 months of cleaning service bi-weekly for Christmas. I'm thinking I should have asked for a part-time cook instead! Cooking for Jocelyn has been my biggest challenge yet. We've been mostly eating organic and I've gotten super creative with mixing pureed veggies w/ teeny chunks of meat and whole wheat pastas. The problem is she will spit out the meats and more often than not she will just turn her nose up at the whole thing before even trying it. Amazing how they can have such strong opinions about food just based on appearance alone, so early on! Before we went on the no milk/no soy diet she was doing awesome with at least yogurt, cottage cheese and edamame. The child loves dairy, soy beans, peas, carrots, celery, ALL fruit, chicken nuggets and that's it. So of course we're cutting out the dairy & soy and we're pretty limited on what she will put in her mouth. I only just barely got her to eat a little peanut butter. Oh and she loves oatmeal. The other thing is, she may love one meal one day and the next day decide she doesn't want anything to do with it. I know this is completely normal....but it definitely makes feeding her a bit trying.

Here's where my guilt comes in.

I have to be honest and say when the mommies meet for play group at Chick-fil-a I'm almost a little relieved (and feeling super guilty) to head out the door and take Jocelyn for some nuggets & fruit. The relief is two-fold. One, I need to get her out of the house to burn some energy and play. Two, she will eat chicken nuggets and at least CFA uses real chicken and very little breading. (Can you feel my guilt? lol) We do go much much more often than I'd like, but some days I just need her to eat and have already tried 5 different meal options before giving up. For playdates, I almost always bring other food options with me, but she never eats any of it. Chicken nuggets are 75-80% success. BTW, I do make chicken nuggets from scratch at home in huge batches along with the million other meals I make from scratch. I think we end up having a lot of pictures on facebook of Jocelyn at Chick-fil-a so I'm sure everyone thinks that we live there and probably eat there a lot. While we do eat there much more often than I'm comfortable with (meeting friends) I always try feeding her at home first. Sometimes I'm successful and she just gets to go and play with friends. Sometimes she only gets fruit and sometimes she eats a ridiculously huge meal of nuggets & fruit when we get there.

BUT, to my judgy pants acquaintances (who I'm sure read that beautiful article about not judging other moms, and are still judging other moms ;)): If you had a child that was super picky and losing weight, I'm pretty sure your strict meal schedules would change some and maybe everything you knew would get thrown out the window too. And if you have a child that isn't picky and actually eats all that organic home made whole food you prepare, well good for you. Even more reason you shouldn't judge because you have no idea what the rest of us have to put up with. Your snarky indirect comments are just changing my opinion of YOU.

Just sayin'.

Doctor Update

2012-01-26T21:55:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I thought we had J's tummy issues all sorted out finally and was so excited about it. Not so much excited that we had to avoid dairy, but feeling like we finally had an answer. Well, that good news only lasted a week and then everything just went right back to "normal".

Last night was horrible and I finally called the dr again this morning. I have been so frustrated and last night got so emotional about it after googling all the possibilities. Bad call momma. Google is a heaven send sometimes and sometimes the worst resource ever!!!! THIS is why we pay the DR's big money, see what happens when you leave us mommas to do our own research? We're left with google :) I couldn't sleep last night after imagining all the worst possible scenarios and kept my notebook on hand to write everything down so I wouldn't forget to take it with me this morning.

Here's a quick rundown:

Dr. ordered a full blood panel, to include testing for Celiac Disease. Gave me some sort of antibiotic (I believe) to kill anything that MAY be present in her colon if that is the cause and also referred us to a GI specialist.

After the appointment, we headed straight to the lab. Oh my heavens. It took them 45 minutes to draw blood at the lab because they couldn't find a vein. She got poked so many times I can't believe she wasn't screaming. They poked and prodded and poked and prodded and poked some more. It was SO hard to watch them stick the needle in so many times and then move it around like that. You guys...she didn't even make a PEEP. Didn't flinch or even move an inch until they were all done and then she started crying. Even then the crying only lasted like 15 seconds, but it was heart breaking. They had every available phlebotomist, including supervisors, there to try and tap a vein. Actually, I'm the one that balled my eyes out, and she was totally fine. She was SO good, just sitting there all cuddled up against mommy letting them hold her arm and go to town with the needle.

You will LOVE this part: All of the techs agreed that she was the most mellow baby they had ever seen!!!!!! LOL LOL OMG I was cracking up. If they only knew! Though, in her defense, she is always super duper quiet and cooperative at dr's appointments. I think it's just having a stranger in her face doing stuff. But it's still funny to hear someone tell me that my baby is any kind of mellow!

Anyway, the results are supposed to be back by Monday (hopefully).

I called the GI specialist on the way to the pharmacy and they told me the earliest available appointment was late March. She started asking me a ton of questions and suddenly there was an opening available for next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully this is the beginning of getting some answers. Seriously that guy is awesome. He told me that if I needed to call him every single day, even for nothing more than peace of mind or somebody to talk to, that I was more than welcome to do so and he would speak to me personally. AHHHHHHH, I told him that we were soooo grateful to have found him.

Seriously.

Not a Spec of Dirt!

2012-01-01T01:04:00.000-08:00

It was 55 F yesterday, so I took Jocelyn to the park. We haven't done anything "fun" in a few days and she was going crazy. We haven't seen any of our friends in a couple of weeks, so she hasn't had any social interaction with other kids, though I did take her to a play area a couple of times while Papa was in town. Anyway, we both really needed this nicer weather to get out of the house and get some play time in! She had so much fun! I didn't even consider the fact that she was in pale pink & white, but she didn't get a spec of dirt on her. I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but she does not like to be dirty. She could care less about food spills, but she does not like to have dirt on her, or anything on her hands. She will wipe her hands over & over and/or finally come running to momma with her hands spread for me to get the teeny tiny spec of whatever it may be off. :) Pretty funny!

This child LOVES to play on the slide. I mean, once she gets started she just goes over and over and over again. This was her first time on a BIG slide at the park, we've been on smaller ones at indoor play areas & at home. She also went down the spiral slide, which about gave me a heart attack but she LOVED it!

Look at that smile :) having so much fun!

2012 Goals

2011-12-31T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today we totally just took it easy and had a lazy day. It really doesn't feel like New Years Eve, Mike is actually off but we didn't make any plans. I still have a hard time leaving Jocelyn. I would have a hard time anyway, but might find it easier if she didn't have such serious people anxiety (I say people instead of stranger, because she won't go to anyone that's not family. Even familiar faces). Dinner is steak & crab, which we still have not actually consumed yet. lol We are SUCH late eaters, that should probably change. I made another batch of stock today and spent a lot of my time planning some changes for the new year. I've never been huge on new years resolutions, I will occasionally set some new year goals, but generally they're the same goals I try to achieve in daily life. This year the timing just happens to all coincide.

I always have a million back stories before ever getting to point. This is SUCH a problem for me because one back story reminds me of another, which reminds of another and then I completely forget my point altogether! Fortunately I'm writing, which helps me keep track of where the heck I was going with my story.

SO, back on track with my backstory so I can tell you my real story ;) HA!

I have recently been diagnosed with ADHD. Mike has been telling me for years that I am ADD and I have always suspected that I may be, the whole easily distractable thing.... (Not to mention that my dad is diagnosed ADHD and I suspect my brother is as well.) I've always managed just fine, but I think being unemployed without a rigid daily schedule, along with my complete focus and attention being on Jocelyn, my brain goes every which way....ALL. THE. TIME. I did try setting a schedule for myself and it worked fabulously...for about a month. My point is, I've been driving myself CRAZY. I can't carry a complete conversation because I get distracted and off track, forgetting what I was saying in the MIDDLE of saying it!! I kept telling myself, and everyone else, that I had serious preggo brain, then baby brain, which I know is normal, but I'm not sure how long I can use that. It's seriously disruptive to my daily life as far as getting tasks accomplished. I think the only place I don't fail is with Jocelyn, and really, it's not like that's optional. Even when we leave the house to run an errand or attend a playdate, I run back into the house at least 5 times before ever pulling out of the driveway (sometimes after getting down the block) to grab things I've forgotten. Offending people unintentionally because I get so frazzled and/or hyperfocused.

OKAY, my reason for sharing all this is: I've decided I need some serious organization in my life to help me get my brain back. I already have a planner, that I would be lost without, but I mean organizing the whole house to the extreme. There will be a place for literally everything. Labels, tags, bins, baskets, jars, etc. Purging items that go unused, take up space, or just not my taste and learning not to be sentimental about everything. Creating a schedule for both Jocelyn & I and sticking to it. It's time...much overdue actually. I think maybe having an organized home, and a better structured day, will create an oasis of peace in this life of chaos. I don't really talk about how chaotic things are because it's a little (a lot) embarrassing (though I'm sure you've noticed in pictures). I've never been a neat freak, though I prefer things that way. I feel stressed and can't fully relax if there's junk everywhere, but finding the motivation (then keeping focused) is a challenge for me. It's a million times harder when you have a monkey for a child, but I need to put a lot more effort into trying. When the house is in order, I feel more put together and like I can concentrate a little better on the task at hand and anything in general. I know this is probably true for everybody. This will be a serious challenge for me and one I desperately need. I will probably start a blog just for organizing to help motivate me. Wish me luck!! I'm gonna need it.

So my top 3 goals for this year are:
1) GET ORGANIZED!
2) Get back into aerobics (I've taken a 2 month break and CAN TELL).
3) Find a church home.
And...
Get Jocelyn potty trained.

If you wanna come visit and help me out with any of the above, I won't say no ;) LOL!

Signed,
Overwhelmed Distractable Momma (maybe that's what I should change my blog name to)

Christmas (continued)

2011-12-26T14:51:00.000-08:00

Playing in the dirt. Fun times for momma!

She loves to just sit on the bottom step and play there.

Inside the gift bag.

The loot. I have to say, this was our most modest Christmas by far. All the stuff was just BIG.

And this is how we got the Christmas Stocking finished on Christmas Eve! Whew, JUST in time!

Pretty little monkey climbing on the pretty packages.

Helmet and sled from daddy. (She had pulled all her clothes off at this point. I didn't fight it!)

Having SO much fun w/ daddy pulling her around on the sled :)

The finished Christmas Stocking!!

I hope you all a very Merry Christmas!! It was really nice at our house this year, though it usually is. We did NOT go overboard on presents this year (well, for us). Jocelyn is old enough to really enjoy present time a little more and just generally more fun (especially for daddy & PaPa). And OMG the turkey turned out even BETTER than at Thanksgiving!! Though, really, I paid an arm and a leg for it. I really need to get with the program at Thanksgiving and go back for a 2nd turkey to freeze for Christmas.

Merry Christmas! We miss and love you all!

A Million Outtakes w/ PaPa

2011-12-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

I guess the pictures files are too big for one post.

Most of these are action shots. In case you were curious what it is like to go out in public with this little monkey :)

What a 1 year old with sass looks like. lol

We have a million of these little outtakes trying to get a cute picture with PaPa lol

More monkey business!

Awwww, time out for PaPa kisses.

She really is quite a little monkey, though the monkey business is usually pretty entertaining :) I think it may be her temper that leaves mommy a little unsure of what to do. I keep saying she comes by it naturally, though neither Mike or I have explosive tempers. It most definitely is a trait that runs through both our veins. Hello, she's Korean & Irish. Poor baby ;)

Christmas (major picture overload)

2011-12-26T14:03:00.000-08:00

Taking baby for a ride on the sled

Taking all of her toys to daddy to show him

Trying to talk PaPa into prying open momy's present. lol

She LOVED these little cars!

"Vroom, Vroom!" On the stairs!

Lining her cars up on daddy's present.

Loving her big girl chair!

Little Miss Independent refused help peeling the banana. So we let her go to town with it on her own.

Santa & Christmas Card Outtakes

2011-12-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

So, just as I suspected, pictures with Santa was a disaster =) lol My child doesn't like anyone over 4" tall, forget having to sit in some stranger's lap.

But, I think it will make a great photo for her Christmas album. :) Am I mean that I think it's cute & funny? lol

Here are all the Christmas Card outtakes:

We thought it would have been super cute to have the dogs dressed as reindeer & Jocelyn as an elf or little Mrs. Claus or something. Really. It was a GREAT idea. Super. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?! LOL Do you know how impossible it is to get 3 dogs and a busy baby to ALL sit still and look in one direction? I just need ONE decent picture. We sorta got it, if you're on our mailing list you'll see. I have to admit, it was pretty entertaining if nothing else. Dolce didn't make it into any of them, because well, he just doesn't listen. At least the labs are mostly obedience trained, so it took one person controlling them and one person controlling baby. We would have needed a 3rd just for him.

Jocelyn kept trying to stick her finger in Cooper's nose :)

A Day in the Life of Little J

2011-12-07T22:36:00.001-08:00

We went to go get our Christmas tree today and as you can see Jocelyn slept through the whole thing! We covered her head using my scarf, because I forgot her hat (bad momma!!). This child pushes herself so hard all day and fights sleep like you just would not believe. I think she still needs 2 naps a day, but we are down to one nap now and she goes until 2pm. Today??? She finally zonked at at 4 after we'd been in the car for 20 minutes heading to the tree farm. Yesterday was at 3. I think when daddy is off and at home, there's just way too much excitement.

Oh, my silly silly baby girl!!! She was twirling, dancing, laughing, eating! I know this picture is a little blurry, but you get the idea. This is what everyday is like for us. ALL day everyday :) I bet you wish you lived in my house, the level of fun is out of this world! lol

My favorite, cheesy, sweet and oh so very happy little crooked smile that I LOVE SO MUCH!!

The look.

I missed the big moment. She realized she could fit her round cracker perfectly in the circle slot on her little picnic plate. The picnic basket & toys usually stay in the car because they go with us to aerobics, so she hasn't played with these in awhile.

We have a gazillion pictures of Jocelyn <strike>harassing</strike> loving on Dolce, but I just barely caught this one on camera tonight and thought it was so sweet!

One of her many faces.

I love how her chunky little legs stand out in the picture :) I was looking through pictures from just a couple months ago (which I do ALL the time) and it's amazing how much she's slimmed down already. All those baby rolls are nearly gone! *sniff sniff*

My blue eyed baby!

Party in the Dressing Room!

2011-12-05T21:31:00.000-08:00

The back story: We were in the Dino Room (playroom) at the mall, and Jocelyn found this little boy at the top of the slide and decided he needed a big wet one. So they kissed at the top of the slide. He went down, she followed and they decided they needed to kiss again at the bottom of the slide! You GUYS. Baby kisses are all wet & slobbery, the germ factor was killing me. Anyway, this little boy and Jocelyn kept following each other around. They kept hugging & kissing (lip to lip) the entire time we were there! It really was ridiculously cute though, and of course I forgot my camera and my phone is super blurry for any action shots. Anyway, this family ended up at the same dept store as us. The little boy must have spotted me heading into the dressing room and Jocelyn was laying on the floor looking out at him from under the door & giggling, so then..... well you can see the rest :) LOL SOOOOO FUNNY!!!

Combing daddy's hair

2011-12-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

2011-12-03T21:33:00.001-08:00

Skyping grandma. :) She actually pulled the laptop down onto her lap herself.

This one cracks me up because the bag is as big as she is!

Jocelyn was trying to make daddy "pretty". Such a good daddy to play along!!

Me thinks she is going to have curly hair!

Not a fan!!

2011-12-03T20:46:00.001-08:00

Of molars, that is (and convertible carseats, keep reading). Seriously, these molars have been killer. She's not really a great teether to begin with (poor baby :( ), but molars are a whole different story. I just feel so bad when I see her gnawing on her poor little chubby, raw fingers. Fortunately, we've only had 2 nights of interrupted sleep.

I actually came on to blog about parenting issues, but totally had to throw in how much I'm not enjoying molars ;) SO. Moving on.

I realized yesterday, it hit me in the middle of the day, that I've become one of those parents that gives their child whatever they want just because it's easier. I don't do it because it's easier per say, but I can't stand to hear her cry. The crying just makes me feel bad and I always justify it by thinking well, it's not actually hurting her to have that. I don't want her to turn into this enormous brat just because I can't say no every time she pouts. She totally knows how to work me. Tonight Mike set his foot down at dinner and she got all pouty and instantly started to behave. Then she slowly looked up at me and smiled. OMG, it is SOOOOOOOOOO hard not to laugh!!!!!!!!! I think we need Mike to be home more so he can set his foot down when mommy can't, though I know really I just need to step it up and not allow her to get away with so much. I keep saying she just doesn't understand anything yet, but really, she's going to go her entire life without understanding why we say no to a gazillion things and that is why we are the parents. To make judgement calls that she can't possibly understand until she's older, and all for her benefit. Plus, I know that she really does understand a lot already and is such a smarty. So poor thing (and mommy) are just gonna be miserable for a little while, because I'm gonna have to start putting my foot down to say no. I guess she's just gonna have to scream until she realizes mommy's not giving in. Wish me luck, that is way easier said than done.

Speaking of screaming. WHY DO BIGGER CARSEATS NOT COME WITH CANOPIES?!?!?!?!?!?!?! This is my newest, biggest pet peeve. Jocelyn cannot stand the sun to be in her eyes and my car does not have tinted windows. She screams bloody murder when the sun is in her eyes and this, I've come to realize, I cannot handle. The high pitched, ear piercing scream in enclosed spaces. Holy Mother of God. I want to shoot the manufacturers of convertible carseats. I actually pulled over in someone's driveway, stuck a blanket in the window and drove around with a huge blindspot in my newly ghettofied car. AND? I totally didn't care. It was better than the screaming. Plus, who can blame her?? I don't like the sun in my eyes either! I have those little window shades to put in the back, but really? Those things are worthless. Firstly, they're constantly falling down. Secondly, they're SQUARE! So if you're not driving an SUV, then I guess it's supposed to magically cover your perfectly unsquare windows.

That is all.

Playing with daddy

2011-11-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

Playing with daddy on his day off :)

Dancing to The Wiggles...Again :)

2011-11-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

Turkey Stock

2011-11-26T21:46:00.001-08:00

I just made my first batch ever of stock. Super exciting!! I think I will be making my own stock often from now on, it's so super easy and it smells good. Not to mention that it's obviously healthier and why not put all the scraps to good use before throwing it out! And since I was going to all that trouble, I just went ahead and pulled all the scraps off the bones and the lucky dogs got a super Thanksgiving too!

I figured this was the best time to give it a shot since the bones have already been roasted along with the turkey and there are SO many scraps leftover from meat & veggies.

I was told basically how to make it, by a friend, but I still googled it. It's all the same, pretty basic, nothing super picky with measurements.

In case you're interested, this is what I ended up doing:

Turkey Stock

1 carcass (& and all scraps)
2 medium onions
3 ribs of celery (leaves & ends included)
1.5-2 cups of carrots (peels & ends)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp sea salt
dash of pepper

I chopped all the veggies into big chunks and threw everything in the pot. I had to break up the carcass to get it all to fit in the pot. Filled it with water until everything was covered, only an inch or 2 beneath the top. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover & simmer for 3 hours.

I read somewhere that after you've strained all the chunks, throw the broth in the fridge overnight. In the morning the fat will have solidified and you can easily remove the fat then.

turned out pretty yummy for stock.

I plan on making some soup with this and leftovers tomorrow, we shall see how it turns out!

14 months

2011-11-25T23:20:00.000-08:00

A few of my favorite pictures at 14 months.

Recent Milestones

2011-11-25T22:14:00.000-08:00

Jocelyn has been trying to eat with a spoon...actually, demanding it. Every meal, she refuses to eat a bite unless she also has a spoon to feed herself. So I usually have one to feed her in between her bites. Tonight, she totally ate an entire meal feeding herself with a spoon. With very few misses and very little mess, I might add. I almost cried, as silly as that may be. It just makes me sad everytime she takes a step towards being a big kid. She hasn't been a baby for awhile already it seems. It's like she woke up overnight at 12 months and suddenly turned into a full blown toddler. It's crazy how fast they grow up!!

She now climbs up the stairs to the playhouse (at home and at play areas) and goes down the slide all by herself. It makes me nervous, so I hover, but she insists and really LOVES going down the slide. Over and over and over again :) She's quite the pro.

She's also really trying to talk. She tries repeating a lot of words that we say, anything she doesn't know how to say still comes out as "dada" or "baba". I really need to write down her list of words. There's a lot that I understand she's trying to say, but pretty sure no one else could make out. Right now she can very clearly say: Dolce (he gets yelled at a lot :) lol), shoes, dance dance dance (accompanied by a little dancing), jersey, fish, bye bye, hi, no, I'm sure there are a few more. Words mommy understands: thank you, doggy woof woof, kitty kat, also a few more I can't think of right now.... And she knows the signs for: milk, eat/food, more, and come.

PaPa bought her an iPod touch while we were in WA. I'm not kidding, just for her. So we put all kinds of kid friendly music, including an album of The Wiggles (which she flippin' LOVES!!) as well as a few educational/baby learning apps (and games). Pretty cool because there's one where she picks a picture of different animals or other objects, it states the name and makes the noise. She loves that one and plays it all the time. Along with angry birds ;) lol She also knows how to play her songs, she almost always chooses The Wiggles or Johnny Cash. :) She actually will bring her iPod to me and (in her own way) request a song. There's a song called "Rock-a-bye Your Bear" and in the song they clap, turn around and say "sh sh sh". She follows along with all the motions and does the shushing. Anyway, she will bring me the iPod and say "sh sh sh" (she does the shushing with her finger in front of her lips b/c that's how daddy taught her :D) and refuses anything until I play that song for her. Today she figured out how to put it on repeat, so it played over and over and over again with her holding it up against her ear listening. Pretty cute if I do say so myself :) This child loves her music! I think she's going to take after her daddy in that area.

And TOTALLY random last comment for this post: My turkey turned out freakin AWESOME yesterday!! I'm totally tootin' my own horn, but it was the best turkey I've ever tasted, EVER. period. Hopefully I can repeat for Christmas and again every year!! The entire turkey turned out moist and juicy (white meat and all) and very flavorful. Mmmm! Eating leftovers will be a piece of cake this year =)

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (Updates)

2011-11-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

Man, I have a lot of catching up to do. I didn't even realize it's been so long since I posted last.

I don't know how other moms can keep up with a blog. I just don't have the energy to THINK about recapping the day, or week or month to share with family/friends. Did I mention that having a baby totally sucked all the brain cells outta my head? I kid not. She's smart, I think she totally stole what little I started with ;)

Most everyone keeps up with us on facebook, I send quick updates on the spot when something funny happens, but I know we have family that check in on us in here. So in case you haven't already heard...here's our udpate:

Jocelyn measured at 99th% for height at her 12 month check up. I have NO idea how she is so tall. We have extended family members on both sides that are around the 6" range. My family is actually taller than Mike's, but not by much. We're all mostly pretty much on the average or shorter than average side. I'm interested to see if she will start leveling off around 24 months as everyone keeps telling me. The Dr told me that would start happening at the 12 month but instead she jumped up a few %s.

I can't believe I never posted any pics on here from her 1st birthday. I take a million pictures, nearly daily, but it just takes forever to get them on blogger. Not a fan of the process, unless it's changed in the last 4 months.

Last week Jocelyn and I went to spend a week with my dad. He just came home from Afghanistan. We had so much fun, and Jocelyn really did so well!! She came down with a really nasty cold just a couple of days before we were to fly, but she still did amazingly well on the flight and every day of our trip. Of course, we always end up running around all day, everyday hitting up spots I don't see out here or just miss seeing over there, visiting with old friends, etc. Basically running PaPa ragged, plus I think just watching Jocelyn run around 24/7 is exhausting to a grandparent. =) Jocelyn, though highly entertaining and so loveable, has a way of draining your energy....fast. lol Did I mention she is a busy little bee? :) Everywhere we go, she usually ends up playing with kids 6 months + older than her. It's SO hard not to be an annoyingly braggy parent, but I try really hard not to be. However, when I was with my dad...it's totally a grandparents right to brag. It was awesome :) I could gloat without coming across as the annoying parent because I never had to say a word! :) LOL

So today is Thanksgiving, I think this has been my most challenging Thanksgiving to date. It beats even my first Thanksgiving, but only by just a little bit. I've been cooking the entire Thanksgiving (and Christmas) meal alone for 5 years now. I was really counting on getting up a couple of hours before Jocelyn, so that I could get a start on dinner preparations without the extra help ;) Well things didn't really pan out that way. She decided she wanted to be wide awake and full of energy at 6:15 this morning. The last month or so, she's been waking up between 8-9 and still pretty groggy. She's just like mommy. We wake up a little cranky and need 30-40 minutes before we're actually fully awake. Not today!! LOL I actually tried laying in bed with her hoping she would doze off if we curled up in my bed, but she was all smiles and jumping around. And how could you possibly be cranky when there's a silly smiley little girl climbing all over you? lol You can't, no matter how much you wanna be. Anyway, we came downstairs and she was getting into absolutely EVERY-thing. So I didn't get the turkey in the oven until 10am, which ended up being totally fine since Mike didn't even make it home until 5. My neighbor dropped off some yummy treats and suggested that I throw her in the kitchen sink to splash around in the water while I cook. Why didn't I think of that?? She LOVES playing in water. If this child could live in water, I think she would. So it totally worked for a little while and she got PIPING MAD when I took her out :) lol But I was getting to the point that I had to turn my back a couple of times for a second and that just made me way too nervous. May be okay for a mellow, immobile baby, but not for this little monkey! I say all that, but really, she did AWESOME today. We had a couple of melt downs during the day, but minus the rough start this morning, she was SO good. I was really proud of her. I had to be in the kitchen ALL day basically cleaning up and cooking and cleaning up and cooking some more and she kept herself entertained in the family room for most of the day. AND WITHOUT THE WIGGLES!!

Speaking of Turkeys (sort of), I got a 19.3 lb turkey for just us. I know right?? Ridiculously huge. But it was the same price as a 16 lb turkey. might as well get the big one and find creative ways to eat turkey for a week (or more). Anyone have great leftover turkey recipes?? Guess I'll be spending some time on pinterest :)

I only got a couple of pictures of Jocelyn today, they were all action shots so we don't have a pretty Thanksgiving picture this year. I'm gonna try and get us all dressed up this weekend since Mike has off and get a family picture in. Would just be fun to compare to last years. I'll try and post pictures tomorrow.

I know, super long post without pictures is NO fun. Pictures will follow soon!!! I'll try my best. =)

How shopping is done with a 10 month old

2011-07-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

The Princess

2011-07-29T06:43:00.001-07:00

So I don't think I've mentioned yet. This child gets freaked out excited when she sees her daddy walk through door at the end of the day. lol It's SOO cute and I'm sure daddy loves the welcoming party. Funny because Jocelyn and Dolce both hear the front door open and immediately jump up to make a beeline for the gate. Then they both stand there side by side (I know, I really need to get a picture of this) shrieking, squealing, whimpering, jumping, until daddy comes to pick them both up. lol Jocelyn just shakes the gate, lifts her arms, shakes the gate, lifts her arms all while making a fuss until he finally comes to get her. OMG it's the moment every single day that totally melts my heart :)

Splash park

2011-07-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

She just wandered around checking everything out. And also really wanted to see what the big kids were doing :)

Entertained by the dogs, 10 months

2011-07-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

She LOVES watching the dogs. She actually spends a significant part of her day at the door watching them and giggling when they run around. Of course, they run around because they get excited seeing her standing at the door.

Playing Like the Big Kids

2011-07-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

Update

2011-07-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

We went to see a new Pediatrician this morning to get a 2nd opinion. I'm SO glad we did it, I left feeling a million times better.

She looked up the lab results from the stool culture the other Dr ordered and saw that he didn't actually even have the culture done. In the exam room, he had listed off like 4 or 5 things he was going to have tested when actually they only checked for the common tummy virus. So our new pediatrician, handed me a kit to take more samples to finish the testing.

But that's not what made me feel so much better. She actually took the time to explain all the possibilities and started me out with a plan of action. She said if all the results are normal and it turns out nothing is working, we could see an allergist to do a skin test. She did say there was a possibility that she simply has "toddler's diarrhea" which has no known cause or cure. In that case we really would have to ride it out until she grew out of that stage. I can totally understand the need to "ride it out" if there is at least an explanation provided. At least she told me there was that possibility and at least it's an answer you know? I'm not paying a friggin Dr just to blow me off and dismiss my concerns.

We are switching to soy milk (which I actually did over the weekend) and cutting out all fruit juices. I guess there's a possibility she's having difficulty absorbing and digesting the milk protein and/or sugar in fruit juice. So that's where we are for now.

In other non-medical news:

It's SO funny to watch her copy and repeat the actions of other kids or even us adults. The other day, she saw me eating chicken and dipping it in sauce. She grabbed a piece off my plate and immediately dipped it in sauce before taking a bite! lol So funny because she had never done that before.

She figured out a new way to play with her puzzle mat today after watching the big kids put their faces through the round hole. :)

Poor little Asher from our baby playdates gets beat up regularly by Jocelyn. She wants to play so badly but she's just not super gentle! lol While it's kind of funny, I probably wouldn't be happy if it was my kid getting beat up. I try saying "gentle" and stop her before she gets too rough, but it's really hard to get a 10 month old to understand that. She doesn't know what she's doing and she just gets so excited!

OKAY!!! Birthday planning!!!!!!
OMG I'm so excited about getting to plan birthday parties! SO MUCH FUN!! It took me forever to decide on a theme and as unoriginal it is, I've settled on doing a ladybug theme. (You thought I was gonna say princess theme didn't you??! :D haha) I plan on making EVERYTHING. So I will keep you posted on the birthday party progress. Hopefully it'll go well.

I think that's it for now! We still only have 1 tooth and we've already conquered walking and climbing. I can't imagine what else could be next! lol

Baby Playdate

2011-07-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

OMG

2011-07-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

OMG I'm so frustrated. I feel bad that I haven't posted a real blog update in awhile and now that I am it's not a super upbeat one. Pictures really are probably more fun anyway, right? :)

Jocelyn has had diarrhea for nearly a month now. I started out calling the Dr's office when it was just over a week and they told me to wait until 2 weeks. I ended up scheduling an appointment anyway because I wanted to rule out ear infections. Her ears are clear and the Dr said it's most likely just a tummy virus to wait it out. So I waited another week, called back and they made me come back in again. We went to the appt and the dr didn't do a friggin thing. He told me once again to wait it out another week and do a stool sample. Well I brought a fresh dirty diaper with me and handed it over and told him to do it now. They never called me with the results, so I called after a few days and they said all the results came back normal and that "There is nothing wrong with her". Holy moly, I don't think I've been so upset or angry in a long time as I was when the nurse said those words. I said "Well, there obviously IS something wrong with her. SO NOW WHAT??" She was supposed to talk to the dr and call me back. I got off the phone and started crying because I'm so frustrated. Apparently being a 21st century mom means it's your responsibility to rely on the friggin internet and do all the research for causes yourself. Apparently having an M.D. no longer means that you're qualified to provide information and educate your patients.

Anyway, that was Thursday. After spending all weekend asking around for Peds referrals and interviewing friends, I've found another physician to take her too. But out of principle and pure frustration, I called the other office back and left a message saying I'd never received a return call and after nearly a month of dealing with this, I'm pretty fed up with the physicians in their office. They just called me back and you are NOT going to believe her response.

Apparently they have it recorded in her file that someone did call me back on Thursday and left a message. Well this most certainly did NOT happen. Then she continue by telling me that the Dr. wants me to WAIT A FEW MORE WEEKS and then go see a GI. OH. MY. GOSH. I can feel my blood boiling just writing those words again. I'm pretty sure my blood pressure is through the roof. If it was HIS child would HE FREAKIN WAIT THAT LONG??? NO I don't think so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The diarrhea is making her poor little tushy SO raw, no matter how hard I try to keep her dry.

We have an appointment tomorrow to see someone else.

July 20, 2011 6:28 PM

2011-07-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

Puppy Kisses

2011-07-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Chasing Dolce

2011-07-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

Rockin' out!

2011-07-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

Such a silly kid =)

Walking!!!

2011-07-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

The lighting sucks, so look for better video soon!

10 Months: First Tooth and Walking

2011-07-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

We finally got our first tooth!!! It popped up on Wednesday, July 6th.

AND, she actually took her first steps a few days before that on July 3rd. She's been taking a step or two here or there for a few weeks, but without realizing it. She took her first real steps when I called her to walk towards me! Pretty exciting! She's still cruising mostly, but will let go every few steps and take one on her own.

I haven't been able to catch the walking on video, I always have the wrong camera out (but I have a couple of pictures). And of course when I have the video ready, she decides to get down on her knees instead :)

But here are a few pictures from the last week or so.

4th of July weekend:

Little Miss Mischievous:

10 Months Old!!!

If you click on this picture and make it bigger, you can see her little tooth!

Lotion

2011-07-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Look mom!! So proud of herself. What you guys don't know is that she pulled the entire caddy down herself and THEN got into the lotion. What I don't know, is how on earth she got the lid off.

She's only 9 months old. I can't even imagine what the next 2-3 years is gonna be like. LOL Oh my gosh, I love this kid =)

Walking toy

2011-06-30T22:11:00.001-07:00

Throwing the ball for Jersey

2011-06-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Emptying the candy dish

2011-06-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Splash park

2011-06-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

New Jersey (picture overload)

2011-06-19T21:24:00.001-07:00

Sorry pics are all out of order.

This is how to properly utilize a carseat, in case you didn't know.

Looking out the window.

Hugging daddy.

She's figured out that if she can stuff something in her mouth (snack, toy, etc) she still has two hands free to grab more and/or play with something else.

Visiting grandma and grandpa. :-(

Hanging out at Uncle Jack and Aunt Sue's.

Buddy Gabe

At the shore house.

Hysterical right?? lol

Living Planet Aquarium

2011-06-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

Drinking out of a straw

Penguin exhibit

She is only 2 days older than the baby on the left! lol

Country Fest

2011-06-19T21:15:00.001-07:00

Hanging out at the fair

Her first pony ride!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Look Ma! No hands!

Standing

2011-05-22T11:55:00.001-07:00

This crazy kid is standing unsupported now. She climbs up on the couch or this toy station and then lets go. I'm thinking she may be an early walker, she does already walk along the couch. Hopefully not too early :) She's already cruising at a fast pace! lol

2011-05-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

My 1st Mother's Day & Jocelyn turns 8 months.

2011-05-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

6 & 7 months

2011-05-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

6 months (still catching up)

We played outside in the beautiful weather today. she was getting a huge kick out the grass.

Crawling, giggling, pics outdoors

2011-05-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

Trying to crawl!

Crazy busy girl!

This last video was taken like a week ago, when she was feverish and really not feeling well. You can tell she's sick even though she's giggling. so sad!

2011-05-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

Standing

2011-04-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

Crazy girl. She has been trying to walk along the couch and her exersaucer. Right now that's all she wants to do! She has no fear and is constantly letting go. Agh! Give momma a heart attack.

Recap of month 6

2011-04-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty much MIA on my blog and baby forums. This child keeps me busy. I'm usually pretty exhausted by the end of the day lol She is a busy busy busy busy busy little girl! She's a super happy baby, so it's actually quite a LOT of fun! She's SO incredibly silly, this child of mind. =)

So I'm thinking I will try posting pics more often, but there will be a LOT less words to accompany them. lol

She army crawls, and gets up on her hands and knees to rock but she isn't crawling that way. She's now standing up against the couch or toy station without my support. Think we're just gonna skip crawling and move straight to walking? I'm pretty sure I'm not prepared for that =)

Vegas

2011-04-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

We met up with a couple of friends in Vegas for a couple of days.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

2011-03-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

This is how we're getting around these days =) Though she is getting up on her knees and rocking! AHH she's gonna be crawling before we know it.

The Park

2011-03-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

Turns out, this kid LOVES being outside!! It was nearly 60 degrees yesterday, so we walked to the park and played in the grass. She just kept giggling and giggling, and there was no other explanation for it other than she must have just been loving the outdoors. It was so stinking cute and funny =)

This was right as we got there.

Happy 1/2 Birthday Baby!

2011-03-08T15:42:00.001-08:00

Jocelyn is 6 months old today. I seriously can't get over how quickly it's come!!

Today we did pictures and prepare yourselves, because there's a LOT of them! I know I haven't updated as frequently as I had been, little miss Jocelyn is quite the little busy body =)

Shopping Cart & Other Cuteness

2011-02-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

This is the only time I've been able to say that I see a similarity between this picture of her and myself as a baby.

Another Milestone

2011-01-24T22:30:00.000-08:00

She has been sitting all on her own this week. It's exciting and sad all the same. Part of me can't wait until she's a little more independent because then maybe I can get a little more done around the house. (I know, I know, really I'll just be chasing her everywhere instead.) On the other hand, I want to always have this very cuddly, sweet baby. She puts her little hand on my face when she's sitting with me and buries her little face into my neck, I just love it. I'll be sad when she'd rather go explore then cuddle but I'm hoping I can get some stuff done.

We started her on cereal, mostly for practice swallowing, tasting, etc. I didn't want to even consider solids until 6 months, because they don't receive any nutritional value from it until then, but not everything always goes as planned.

The absolutely HYSTERICAL look she gives me when she is all DONE eating. It doesn't even look like her!! And makes me laugh, which then makes her laugh :)

4 Months Old

2011-01-17T23:24:00.000-08:00

Baby Updates:

(I will try and stay better updated with maybe a little more info. The holidays were a little busy :-)

So about a week before Christmas, Jocelyn rolled over from back to tummy. It's really rather funny to watch because she rocks and grunts and kicks her feet. :) Here's a video for giggles =)

Oh yeah, did you check out those thighs?? LOL Her daddy teases about this so much and shows off those baby rolls to everyone! :)

Here's my FAVORITE!!!! Grandpa got her to giggle on Christmas Eve, it was so cute. Baby giggles are so contagious!

She has recently started this squealing business, which is absolutely hysterical! lol Sometimes she gets so loud she's practically screaming.

Don't you just want to eat those cheeks???? AHH!! Poor child. I just can't seem to be able to leave them alone.

So we had her 4 month well baby checkup last week. She measured 90th percentile for height at 25", and 95th percentile for weight :-) at just over 16 lbs. lol And she's hitting a major growth spurt this week, I wouldn't be surprised if she's already even longer and another pound heavier! Anyway, she's still measuring 2 months ahead of average girls her age. Which seems right. She's fitting perfectly into size 6 month clothing. We pretty much skipped size 3-6 months....I should have left tags on some of those outfits.

I can't believe how big she's getting. It's so incredibly much fun watching her play and learn everyday. She's actually sitting really well on her own already. She teeters to the sides still, but she's already learning to use her hands to catch herself and to use them for support. We're not good about tummy time because she's gone back to hating it again. But the few times we put her down, she's figured out how to scoot on her knees! She hasn't figured out how to lift her upper body, so hopefully crawling is still a couple months out yet.

We have made some really great friends in our area. We meet with 3 other mommies and baby girls about once a week. It's so great because we know that our kids (the 4 of us) will have a few friends to grow up with while we're here. It'll be fun watching them grow up together. We actually had a birthday party for two of the babies turning 1. So that was fun!

Here are some recent pictures from the last couple of weeks:

Her new thing is playing with her feet which is also pretty funny :)

Jocelyn and her ferocious gaurd dog Dolce :)

Jocelyn's First Christmas

2011-01-17T22:54:00.000-08:00

So this will just be mostly pictures.

I haven't updated on Christmas posts or anything. Sorry.

Picking out our Christmas Tree:

This was the person helping us out with the tree. A little 8 year old kid. lol

Our tree is the giant one in the middle =) I LOVE LOVE LOVED our tree this year!

Posing with the pretty trees.

This is how we got the lights and ornaments up this year! The tree was so tall, I had to get a chair to stand on.

Standing in line to see Santa! (Grandma knit her sweater)

Hysterical because some lady was apparently standing behind me making faces. She succeeded in making daddy smile. lol

With santa. She was sooo smiley and talking up a storm. Of course the camera guy caught her mid smile. However, a minute later she looked up at Santa, stared at his beard, then his face and suddenly wasn't so sure about the whole thing. lol It was really pretty funny :) But she did not cry!

And now a million pics from Christmas. I'm sure they'll be all out of order.

Ack!

2010-12-27T01:22:00.001-08:00

I have SO much to update on. Things have been crazy, so maybe sometime in the next couple of days I'll have time to actually sit down and post a nice long entry with a million pictures.

In the meantime: christmas was awesome! jocelyn isn't feeling so hot. She's rolling over both ways and trying to sit up on her own.

It's ridiculous how much I love this child :-)

Blog post, pictures and videos to follow in the next few days or so.

2 Month Old Teething?!?

2010-12-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

(I wrote this a week ago waiting to post until I could get a picture. Not happening, if you can imagine she doesn't like having her mouth pried open :) lol)

What??? LOL Okay seriously, so far everything my child has done has been much earlier than expected age; ie: smiling, rolling over, holding her head up, attempting to sit on her own, and now teething??

I swear she was born at 2 months old.

She's been a little fussier than usual for the last week and she's been drooling like crazy for a few weeks now. Today, I see a tiny white tooth poking through her bottom gums.

HOLY MOLY. I thought she had all the symptoms of teething, minus a fever. But she's just way too young for that to be possible, so I never bothered to check. Then today she clamped down while nursing and I thought, that kinda hurt I wonder if there's seriously a tooth in there. So I looked.

Let's hope she walks and potty trains this early :-) LOL

Funny Daddy

2010-12-03T21:18:00.001-08:00

How daddy holds baby with a poopy diaper! LOL Cracked me up I had to get a picture. And yet look at that adoring look on her face as she stares at him. :)

Earflap Hat

2010-12-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

I crocheted this earflap hat for Jocelyn. I wanted a ginormous Pom pom and I got one!! LOL Mike thinks it's a little big, but I love it. Yes, I know it's as big as her face :-) haha

Such a happy baby! I love it!!

1st Thanksgiving (picture overload)

2010-11-25T18:51:00.001-08:00

This year I have SO much to be thankful for. 2.5 months ago I could not have imagined my life being any better than it already was. I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but I had NO idea just how rewarding it would be.

I am so incredibly thankful for my wonderful husband, my beautiful baby girl and all of our extended family. My parents, brother and all of the Warrens. They're not my blood family, but I really get homesick for them all the same.

I am so thankful to be the heck out of Elko :-) I love the Salt Lake City area and our new home. I'm really enjoying all the new people I've met!

Moving On...

This year I changed up our menu just a tad bit. I followed a couple of recipes from the same source.

Green Beans:
I normally hate green beans, but found a recipe I wanted to try instead of green bean casserole. It turned out GOOD. Like I actually had two helpings. I normally never finish the first! I made the dish with fresh green beans and shallots.

Cranberry Sauce:
Then I wanted to try making cranberry sauce from scratch instead of buying jellied in a can. It turned out omg yummy!

I always make the gravy and this year it turned out the best, imo.

Dinner Rolls:
I made the absolute easiest dinner rolls ever, which was a bad idea since I seem to be addicted to them.

I took a million pictures since it's Jocelyn's first Thanksgiving! They're totally in random order. I had to include all of the last 3 because they were so cute :) She's such a happy girl!

Etsy

2010-11-23T13:37:00.001-08:00

I will be opening an etsy shop soon! As soon as I can come up with a cute catchy name for it. :-)

I have a few things ready to go and will also take special orders.

This will be mostly baby/toddler items, mostly girly :).

Some of the items I will have listed: (NO knitting, it takes way too long)
Flower and Ribbon headbands
-silk
-satin
-crochet

Baby Bracelets

Binky Clips

Tutus

I'm thinking maybe burp cloths and nursing covers if I have time.
Maybe a knitted kids hat if I like you and have time. :-)

Name possibilities: (I'll probably go with none of them)
BabEssentials
Sunshine Baby Treasures
Butterfly Kisses Boutique
Maya's Memories

I'm not very good at coming up with creative catchy names. I'd love input.

SLC Mommies

2010-11-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

I found a playgroup in my area and today Jocelyn and I went to our 2nd playgroup date! I meant to blog after the 1st one and forgot :) If you can imagine that!

Jocelyn LOVES babies and little kids. She just stares at them with this look of adoration and then gets this HUGE grin on her face and starts cooing. SO. SO. CUTE!! AND. Both times we attended playgroup, I actually liked every single mom there. I know. That sounds pretty snotty. But come on. How often do YOU attend, well, anything and actually like everybody there? See. It's not just me ;)

So, I'm pretty excited!! Jocelyn and I have made some new friends and really having fun. I took my camera with me today but didn't take any pictures. So I stole these pictures from the host. This little girl was the host's oldest daughter, she and Jocelyn adored each other. Ohmygosh, it was SO cute to watch them. And isn't that little girl just beautiful?

She also LOVES her bumbo and LOVES LOVES LOVES the fish tank. It's really pretty awesome. If she gets fussy, we can go stand in front of the fishtank and she calms down and just watches them. So I did a little rearranging and put a table next to the fishtank so that I could put her bumbo next to it.

She also loves being cuddled up in the moby wrap. Which is GREAT when I need to get stuff done around the house. I let her face out like this when we're at home. This is also SUPER for when we go out, I turn her the other way so we're tummy to tummy and she can people watch until she falls asleep. This works WAY better than putting her in a carseat, which she hates, plus I'd just much prefer to hold and cuddle her :)

The Sophie and one other dolly are really the only toys she sort of plays with right now. I think this is cute, looks like she's hugging her Sophie :)

Oh daddy! Why is it everytime I turn around he's holding her like this? LOL Apparently it's more comfy than it looks lol. And daddy has actually changed a few diapers this week! Even a dirty one! YAY DADDY!! I told him that changing a diaper may very well be the sexiest thing he's ever done :)

Just being cute :-)

Mmmmmmm MMmmmmmmmmmmmmm Good!!

2010-11-16T15:36:00.001-08:00

I made roasted butternut squash soup again. OH MY GOSH, It's so yummy!!!! I think I could probably eat a little everyday until it's no longer in season. Seriously. I made a HUGE pot of it and plan to devour it ALL. I made it a couple weeks ago and put a little too much pepper.

I'm starting to get super excited about Thanksgiving!! I love cooking on the holidays (definitely not the cleanup). This will be my 5th year making everything myself. My first year I thought every meal had to be made from scratch. haha :) We almost didn't eat because it took sooooooo long!! Like I even set out bread to dry for stuffing/dressing and I don't even like it! However, buying a few items in a box or can totally feels like cheating. Doesn't mean I won't do it :)

Our Weekend Adventure

2010-11-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

We took Jocelyn to get her ears pierced!! Ahh I felt SOOO guilty and selfish making her sit through that, but oh my gosh it's so cute! She cried the second this stranger got in her face trying to mark her ears. It took forever to get it right b/c she was so wiggly and crying her little eyes out :-( When I finally approved and he pierced those cute little ears, I turned my head and closed my eyes!! I couldn't bear to actually watch. lol She screamed when they punched through, but was perfectly fine the second I got up from the chair and walked away.

She sorta did the same thing at her dr. appt. She was all smiley and chatty until the second the doc walked in. She's not a huge fan of perfect strangers. Which is good (mostly). It's probably good I'm now a stay at home mom (for a million reasons), I don't think she'd do so well at daycare/babysitters.

Blowing spit bubbles is her newest thing.

Her expression totally cracks me up :) She makes the funniest faces!

2 Month Appointment

2010-11-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

Jocelyn had her 2 month appointment today, poor baby :-( She got 3 shots, a combination of a million things so she's been sleeping the better part of the afternoon/evening. However; only in my arms. The second I try to put her down she starts whimpering :(

Anyhow, the dr told us she was measuring 6 weeks ahead and even acting like a 4 month old with her rolling over and attempts to sit on her own and stand! Yay! So we're doing good! She's not the biggest baby ever (12.6 lbs, 23 inches) or smartest/most advanced but she's higher than average so far in all of the above. We think she's a little smarty :)

2 months

2010-11-08T16:30:00.003-08:00

My baby is 2 months old today!! Man time flies!

Rolling Over

2010-11-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

BG hates tummy time. She cries the second her tummy hits the playmat, so I haven't been a great encouraging mommy and giving her nearly as much tummy time as recommended. It makes me feel awful to see that pouty face and hear that sad sad cry. Well that is, she's hated tummy time until yesterday when she magically started loving it. She loved it because she suddenly figured out she could use her arms to lift her upper body and not just her head, and she also figured out that she could just roll right on over to her back and skip tummy time altogether! LOL The next couple of times I put her on her tummy yesterday, she immediately rolled to her back. Too funny!! But today she actually spent some time on her tummy with her head and chest up, kicking her feet, looking at the mirror, smiling and having a good time before rolling over. YAY!!!!!!!!

I have a hard time putting her down. I hold her probably 90% of the time. It makes getting things accomplished around the house pretty difficult to impossible, but she's happier that way and I'm happier that way :) And all the new info out there says you can't spoil a newborn, so I'm totally going with that :-)

I'm very curious how much different I would be if I'd started the baby thing much earlier when I was still pretty young. My family have all commented on how patient and calm I've been and, though I'm sure some of it is my personality, I'm thinking a lot of it is because I'm older. (I'm guessing). And not feeling super selfish and wanting me time, my new selfish is actually wanting to hold her all the time.

K anyway, back to rolling over! I have no idea the time table for these things, so I have no idea if she's late, early or on time with this new accomplishment. Anyway, I took a video this morning and wanted to share! I don't know why, but watching her do this totally cracks me up!!

And here's another one of her talking:

She has been smiling since day 1 and I think I mentioned she's been smiling socially or in response to talking or making faces since around 3-4 weeks old. This week (8 weeks) she's started smiling in response to a smile! It's SO SO cute watching her smile back at you :)

Because I Can't Sleep....

2010-11-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

yes, I know this is my 3rd post for the night!

Last night, I put Jocelyn in her crib. I had decided before she was born that she would sleep in our room for the first 2 months and then move to the nursery in her crib after that. Well...She will be 2 months in just 6 days (ALREADY!!), so I thought maybe we could practice and give it a try. No need to practice, my baby took to her crib on the first attempt!

She slept in her crib the entire night, waking at 2:00 for feeding then going right back to sleep in her crib. She did wake again when Mike was leaving for work, so I just brought her to bed with me (I know this is ridiculous, but I MISSED her!!) and we slept until 10!

A couple mornings ago Mike woke me up when he was leaving for work and I'd realized that Jocelyn had slept through the entire night! I couldn't believe it! I actually woke her up to feed her and we slept in. Hopefully this will happen on a regular basis, though I think I will be sad the first few nights since she'll be in her crib.

Am I ridiculous for feeling that way? :-) Because I feel a little ridiculous. I should be excited (and I am! kinda) because I will get more quality sleep. "Should" being the key word here. I couldn't fall asleep for a few hours because I was staring at the baby monitor watching her move while she was sleeping. And here's where my title comes in. :-) I put her in her crib again tonight and she's already been in there sleeping for 2.5 hours. And again, I'm still awake staring at my baby on the video monitor when I should be taking advantage of this time and sleep! (Hey, at least tonight I'm not crying)

I haven't really slept hard in a couple of months anyway, I'm so very aware of her every movement and sound. However, I could relax knowing she was right next to me and I could easily check on her. This crib thing gives me anxiety and also leaves me feeling a little sad. I'd realized this morning, after I was so excited to go get her, that this has been the longest that I have been physically separated from my baby!

Oy, I'm gonna be a mess when she goes off to college. :) Okay, so we've got years until that happens. OMG or start kindergarten!!

Are any of you feeling sorry for Mike yet?

8 Weeks

2010-11-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

Man, time flies!

Nursing in Public

2010-11-02T19:45:00.001-07:00

Not sure why this is such a big deal. This is a topic that a lot of people seem to have some pretty strong opinions about, or just simply get embarrassed about. I have to admit, I could have cared less about it myself before having had Jocelyn. Well, that is as long as they were attempting to be modest and not just hanging it all out there.

I've come to realize that Americans are very funny about this. I don't get why it's such a big deal when it's such a natural thing. Initially, I was pumping and bringing a bottle with me every time I left the house. I forgot a couple of times and ended up feeding in the car even though I always carried a nursing cover in the diaper bag. Then I'd be in a restaurant or at the mall and she'd have a fit, knowing she was hungry, I just fed her right there. Now I just cover up and feed wherever we are because it's important to feed her (duh) and to keep up my supply.

I guess I say American's are funny because I belong to an online forum for girls w/ September babies and it's an international group. The Europeans think us Americans are crazy for making such a big deal for every time any of us make mention of nip'ing. I think it's important that we're all encouraged to BF period.

Anyway, so one time I was nursing at the mall. I had my cover out and was sitting on a bench, I really thought I'd be shy about this but I'm surprisingly comfortable with it. Back on track...so this elderly woman walked up to me and said "I think you are a wonderful mother for doing that." Oh my gosh, that made me feel SO great!! There should be more people like that.

Pumpkin Baby (added more pics)

2010-10-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

We couldn't find a single costume small enough for her first Halloween, so I may try and whip one out in a couple of days.

In the meantime here's our little Pumpkin Baby :)

Poor baby, mommy was torturing her :

Snow!!!

2010-10-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

Ugh. It might be pretty, but doesn't mean I have to like it!! What happened to Fall?

Baby Talk

2010-10-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

6.5 weeks

Little Miss Busy Body

2010-10-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

6.5 Weeks

2010-10-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

We put this on a her a few weeks ago and it swallowed her whole! I was changing her and saw this and decided to try it again. The little hat totally cracks me up so I had to get pictures, she was none too thrilled with me :-) But I did FINALLY get a picture of her smiling!! She's been smiling since day one, but smiling socially for weeks now. She's even laughed 3 times when daddy makes faces at her :) OMG it's the best!! LOL

Trip to Grandpa's

2010-10-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Mom and I decided to make a trip up to Washington while she was here. So we made the 14 hour drive (the way up was more like 20 hours) and took our time since we had an infant on board. I was totally sick at my stomach anticipating a miserable trip, assuming that Jocelyn would be fussy. She was a PIECE OF CAKE!! I was very surprised and hugely relieved!!! She did awesome both on the way up and on the way back.

Here are a bunch of pics from our trip! My brother also flew in from NY to come and see us all.

Anniversary and House Pics

2010-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

Mike and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary last week. Well he was out hunting in Nevada, but we went to dinner when he got home the next day. My mom and aunt offered to babysit if I left enough milk, but I just couldn't do it. Jocelyn is so good when we go out anyway. It's the first time we've been out as a little family and it was nice. :)

Have I mentioned how much I love being a mommy? And how much I adore this little girl? I've always been very happy with my life and the decisions I've made. I've been incredibly happy since getting married (even despite the not so ideal residential location). But I feel like I'm going to burst and overflow with happiness now! I can't describe it, though I'm sure all other mommies out there know what I mean. My life is just so much fuller, more meaningful and validated. And I've never felt that I was missing any of that before I had her! I guess those feelings have intensified and appeared when she did. And when I think about my husband as a daddy, I get teary eyed. It's such a sweet thing!!

Okay, I got off track :) Mike sent me a beautiful bouquet of roses so I took pics to share! Then I realized I hadn't posted any pictures of the rest of the house yet (still) so I'm sharing pictures of the formal living room, now finally all done. Well, with the exception of Mike's Caribou head in the corner and a few things to still put up on the wall :)

Oh, and I threw in a random picture of Dolce watching me from the top of the stairs :) lol Such a cutie!

1 Month!

2010-10-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it!!! My baby is a month old as of yesterday! It's so weird how it seems like she's been in my life forever and I already don't remember life before her, and at the same time I can't believe she's already that old!

She's still doing awesome, she LOVES to eat and is starting to get the chubby baby look :-) LOL She seems huge compared to a couple of weeks ago. It's amazing how fast she grows, every week I already have a pile of clothes she's grown out of.

She's also quite the show off! She LOVES going out in public. She's always calmest and sleeps the longest when we're out running around. My mom is still here, my aunt is here for the week, so we've been running around shopping and seeing the sites (meaning really mostly just shopping :D). I put her in the baby sling or moby wrap and she cuddles right up and sleeps. I've never been stopped so many times in my life...everyone wants to stop and look at the cute brand new baby. Anyway, she loves it! I'm sure it's just being cuddled up against me and me walking around that she loves, but we've all decided she's already a show off. :)

And she smiles ALL the time and talks to us ALL the time! I love all the cooing and the smiling, it's SO awesome! And she's ticklish! Which is really pretty funny :)

She has not been a baby that loves the swing or bouncy seat, but in the last week she's finally decided it's not so bad. It's the cutest thing watching her in the swing because she watches the mobiles!! Actually we've noticed that she watches the mirror dome in the middle, she probably sees her reflection along with the mobiles. She watches them and smiles, SO cute!! She won't fall asleep there, but she'll play there for a little while :)

Baby Quilt and Pics

2010-10-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

My aunt made this baby quilt!! It's BEAUTIFUL and has her name and birth info embroidered on the top! How awesome is that?? It's hard to see, but the pink squares have a lace overlay, super cute! And of course, you have to check out the adorable outfit my baby is wearing :)

My ridiculous child holding her head up :)

Tummy time and holding her head up! (On the mat Jessica got us!)

Just cute :)

Was trying to catch a picture of her smiling, I caught a half a smile

Diaper Choice

2010-09-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

The majority of my friends and acquaintances recommended Pampers Swaddlers for newborns. We had a couple of packages from the baby shower and also bought a package. They leaked SO bad!!! I don't how many times we had to change her outfit and wash the bassinet sheets because the diaper didn't contain it all. So we switched to Huggies and so far so good!! They fit better and not a single leak yet!! I was just surprised because so many people recommended pampers over Huggies.

Okay, so totally random and vain/superficial whatever. But I'm SO excited and just have to share.

I have been shocked at how quickly my tummy disappeared. It's completely gone! I still have weight to lose and the only pants that fit are my maternity pants, so that's what I've been wearing, but I fully expected to have a 6 month prego belly for weeks/months. I fully expected that I'd have to bust my butt to work it off. I think it's because I busted my butt before I got pregnant, and though I didn't work out through the pregnancy (though I had every intention on doing so lol), I walked a lot. It's the only thing I can think, because I do not have genetics to thank. Anyway, I'm super excited about this, because as soon as I'm given the okay to start working out, I plan too, but I won't have as much to do as I'd anticipated. So maybe I can get in even better shape than pre-pregnancy. YAY!

3 more weeks and P90x here I come again!

Daddy and his mini-me

2010-09-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

Super sweet and adorable, right?

Difference between mommies and daddies:

Mommy: In the middle of the night, mommy hears the rustling of pajamas on bed sheets and wakes up to make sure baby is okay.

Daddy: Daddy is asleep in the recline with baby on TOP of him and still doesn't wake when she slides off to the side. lol BUT it's so precious to see them together like that. :)

2 Weeks!

2010-09-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

I don't want my baby to grow up and she's only 2 weeks old! I know a lot of people aren't fans of the newborn stage, but I just think she's so precious and sweet right now. I realize they're a lot more "fun" when they start interacting with you, but she already has so much personality right now.

We had 2 week well baby check up today. Poor baby got the heel prick :-( it was sad. And she's so strong and squirmy it took so much longer because they had to fight against her to enough blood to send in. The doctor came in and told us that she is really quite advanced for her age! yay!! She's holding her own head and neck up pretty well, I still support it because it makes me nervous, she's really quite ridiculous! lol

At 5 days old she was 7 lbs 13 oz and the doc said he wouldn't be surprised if she gained 8 oz by 2 weeks. The goal for 2 weeks is to reach her birth weight, which was 8 lbs. WELL. We did even better! lol Today she weighed 9 lbs 1.5 oz(awesome for breastfed baby!) and measured at 21.1 inches, which puts her in the 95th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight.

Today she also got her first real bath. We've been sponging her up until now, she didn't seem to mind so much! :)

Bath time!

Sucking her thumb :)

Miss Demanding

2010-09-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

Our little bundle of joy has quite the personality! She's really a lot of fun and sleeps well, but boy when she wants something she's sure to let you know :) lol She grunts because she's mad or frustrated and it makes me laugh every time! Then she continues with kicking her feet. I feel bad because I have to quickly figure out what it is that she wants/needs, but it's still hysterical. Should I be worried about the toddler and teen years to come? ;)

We were given this ergo baby carrier by friend Amy (THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!). Jocelyn and I both LOVE it!!

My cutie pie!

Giraffe soothing sounds stuffed animal aunt Georgia sent on her pack n play. Love it!! And her first puppy stuffed animal that daddy found and bought in the hospital gift shop when she was just a few hours old :)

Daddy multi-tasking. lol Poor baby doesn't look very comfy, but she obviously didn't mind!

Thank you Ian and Erika!

2010-09-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

We got a huge package in the mail yesterday from Ian and Erika and this cute little sleeper was in there!! Thanks!!!!!

She totally has Mike's expression here!!

Dolce thinks Jocelyn is his baby :) He is wherever the baby is

Gloating!

2010-09-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry, but every new mom wants to do it right?

I have a 10 day old that only wakes twice a night for feedings and diapering. Insane right?? She sleeps all the way until 2:30 and then wakes again at 5:30 as daddy's leaving for work. I still can't get over it myself! And she lets out little whimpers, fussy sounds but no screaming. Now...during the day? That's a whole different story :-) She doesn't sleep for very long increments during the day so she let's me KNOW when she is hungry. Actually she lets the whole neighborhood know when she's hungry :) lol And she's still eating like every hour and half, which goes by super fast, especially when we're out and about. (Which we have been with my parents here). And I really really don't mind.

Baby blues? I know it affects 60-70% of women and everyone told me to expect it and I've read about it. But I have no idea how I could possibly feel blue about anything. I just absolutely love and adore her. Fussiness and all!

Daddy's back to work now after a week of vacation. :-( *pout*

And totally random! I lost 23 lbs in the first week!!! I assume all due to breastfeeding, freakin awesome right?? I'm totally excited about that. I thought I'd be sporting a 6 month preggo belly for months. I'm still super paranoid about the little jiggly belly that's there now, but I'm SO SO grateful that that's what I'm left to work with. I can totally bust my hiney and work that off! As soon as I'm given permission :( It's really hard to wait. However; I am still in pain, so I probably wouldn't be making any small attempts just yet.

So alert this morning!

Yoga baby?

Sleeping in her bassinet, it just cracked me up.

SOOOO cute right???

Napping with grandma

Posing with grandma

Hanging out with grandpa

2010-09-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

The awesome view from my hospital room. Just wanted to share! Under the window is the sleeper sofa for daddies.

Silly daddy changing her clothes

1st Time Momma Freak Out :-) w/ Super Baby

2010-09-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

Soooooooooooooooo

1st time mom freak out. :) I didn't even make it a week. LOL Last night she screamed her head off and I balled my eyes out. Not out of frustration or sleep deprivation because it seriously hurt my heart to see her so upset. I really thought she had a tummy ache (actually I'm pretty sure she did).

Long story short: I thought she had a super tummy ache by her behavior. Over the course of the day yesterday she started to get a little fussier and blowing diapers up like crazy and feeding as though she were never going to get milk again. We waited over night to see how she'd do and I decided this morning that we needed to see a pediatrician. So I called someone off our insurance list that got the highest rating available and an education from a school we approved of :D lol Anyway, they got us an appt for 2 hours out.

I explained all of her symptoms to the doctor, and since we were seeing the doc anyway, I also provided a list of other things I had noticed and needed reassurance was just normal for a newborn. You know, since we were already there :-) Anyhow, so he examined her after listening to all the symptoms we described and he said that she might have a little reflux but that really what we had here was a RECORD BREAKING 5 DAY OLD. Yup. Those were the exact words that came out of his mouth.

Everyone keeps telling us that she is so alert for a newborn and that she doesn't look like a newborn. I keep replying, jokingly, that it's because she was so late coming out, she's really much older. hee hee!

K anyway, so the doctor confirmed that today. He said he has never seen a newborn as alert as Jocelyn. Or as strong!! He was a little shocked and his reaction cracked me up. She already holds her head up on her own, she's been trying to do this since within an hour after she came out. I swear!! I knew that was advanced, but thought it would take awhile for her to master. She kicks and throws her hands around like crazy and is very very strong and has a super strong grip. Dr said he wouldn't have expected all of this at her 2 week appointment even. Then he laughed and said "You guys are gonna have your hands full!" lol She also was 7lbs 13 oz, so still very very close to her birth weight. Dr said it usually takes most babies 2-3 weeks to reach their birth weight but he now expects her to be 8 oz over her birth weight at her 2 week check up. He said she is hungry and feeding a lot because she's so active and burning a LOT of calories. Obviously she's blowing up diapers because she's feeding a lot. He said he wouldn't be surprised if I was feeding every hour to keep up with her level of activity. Well it's true!

So pretty much we have a super baby on our hands :-)

All I have to say is: I TOLD YOU SO. I knew she was super active and nutso in the womb :) lol Now she's just confirming it to everyone, she really was kicking the crap out of me. :) But I loved every minute of it!

K now you guys are gonna be sick of me. You can pretty much expect to see baby pics like nearly every day. :) We're very proud parents!

I always rolled my eyes at the parents that said how cute their own kids are, and now I'm one of them. So roll your eyes away because my baby is SUCH a freakin cutie pie!!

Holy Boobs, Batman!!!

2010-09-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

Didn't realize I'd be waking up to implants. LOL Sheesh.

Breastfeeding is going awesome. She's a total pro!! Came right out and knew exactly what to do! She is such a good baby, I can't believe how blessed we are. She's SO stinking cute I can't get over it!! I just wanna eat her up!

She really is a little mini-Mike. :) She even already has some of the exact facial expressions he has, which totally cracks me up!!

I am totally addicted to my baby, I seriously cannot get enough of her!

people were nuts when they told me I'd miss being pregnant. I had a very great, easy pregnancy (past 1st trimester) and actually even enjoyed being pregnant. But how can it possibly be any better than THIS???? Sleep deprivation?? Pfff, I don't even notice when I see that sweet little face!!

Coming home from the hospital :)

Birth Story

2010-09-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

I had my 41 week appointment on Tuesday and after a lot of weighing our options, I let the dr talk me into being induced. I'm still a little surprised at my decision actually, considering how terrified and dead set I was against induction and/or c/s.

So we checked into the hospital on Wednesday morning at 7am. I had tested GBS positive, so they started the penicillin drip right away and doc came in to break my water around 8am. 9am they started the pitocin. I was already contracting before we checked in, started having contractions tuesday evening and all through the night. So the pitocin really got things in gear. After 6 hours of active labor I was still only dilated to a 3. In the 7th hour, I began experiencing very very painful contractions and was still determined to go naturally, though at that point I was literally in tears. I was really concentrating on my breathing and trying different labor positions to help ease the pain. Within like 10 minutes, the pain was over the top and I could no longer communicate with anyone. Suddenly it felt like I was in a completely different mental state, coping with that sort of pain was just absolutely unimaginable. I could hear the nurse asking me if I had reconsidered and wanted to try meds and explained my options to me. I could not imagine giving in, so she checked me and I was at 5cm. I realized there was just no way I could continue only being halfway through labor in that much pain. Mike asked if I wanted an epidural and I just nodded. Apparently what only took 10-15 minutes, to me felt like a lifetime. (I don't think I had opened my eyes in over an hour) I must have dilated more in that 10-15 minute window. I felt the blood gushing (sorry tmi) and I suddenly had the huge urge to push. All while being told I had to stay completely STILL. It took every single last drop of energy I had to not scream and to lay perfectly still. I'm pretty sure I was shaking uncontrollably and sobbing. It took a few contractions for the epidural to kick in. The nurse checked me as soon as it kicked in and I was fully dilated at that point.

I was thinking man, if I had just waited 10 more minutes I'd have been fully dilated and pushing med free. But the nurse and Mike told me that they think I dilated so fast because I finally was able to relax after a couple of hours of really hard labor. It took me just over an hour of pushing and Jocelyn Grace was born at 5:24pm.

I have NO regrets. I gave it my best shot and made it the majority of the way med free. I'm not so sure that if I had access to classes and practiced breathing all day everyday that it would have been much easier for me. I DID notice, though, that when I was actually able to concentrate on breathing, the pain was a tiny bit better. Concentrating on anything other than getting through the pain was the tough part :-)

I'm pretty jacked up down there but it was ALL so worth it. I had no idea you could be SOOOO in love with one tiny little being. She's amazing!!! And she's such a content little baby!

I also did not realize just HOW much more I could love my husband. Watching this proud new daddy melts my heart and she is already a daddy's little girl.

Cute story: The second we pulled into the driveway Mike got the carseat out and said let's see if the neighbors are home! Walked across the grass and rang their doorbell to show the baby off before we even unlocked the front door! LOL I was totally cracking up, it was seriously the cutest thing ever. Daddy is very proud of his little girl. :)

2010-09-09T19:54:00.000-07:00