The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last night. Grandpa Bob is sure excited about this, since he has season tickets and is such a huge fan. I think its that French-Canadian blood he has in him.
Jocelyn has such a neat family background, a super melting pot of an American. My mom is from the east coast and is 50% English and 25% Irish, 25% German. My dad is a little tougher to breakdown. . . his family is from the Chicago-land area he is 50% Italian and 25% French-Canadian (with a little native Canadian tribe mixed in there), 25% Irish - I think (backgrounds kinda muddy here). Mom's family background is upper middle class, and making their money in real estate. Always moving around the East Coast and fun times playing with sailboats. Dad's family lower middle class, blue collar hard working people from the Windy City. Also rumored to have been kicked out of Canada for stealing horses and followed the railway to Chicago. Both the French-Canadian and Italian last names were changed when coming to America, making them more English friendly. French-Canadian last name roughly translates to mean "branch of love" which sounds nice but most likely means illegitimate child or love child.
Jocelyn also gets a lot of Scandinavian background from her father. Where his mother is Swedish and his father is Norwegian. Austin also has told me there is some Dutch in there but I am not sure from which side. Both of his parents come from a small but charming town in southern Minnesota. Where its such a treat to have all four grandparents living there today! Its neat to see a street named with the family's last name. Austin is an Electrical Engineer as is his father and his father's father. In this Minnesota town there is a business - Morem Electric, a family owned and operated business. Austin's mother's family built and owned the town's only hotel at one point. That is still there to this day.
I hope Austin and I can leave our own mark on history. I also hope we can pass our family history on to Jocelyn and it won't fall on deaf ears.
Jocelyn is in the 9th percentile for her weight. So, the doc was asking me a ton of questions. . . in the end we decided to try an acid reflux medicine. She spits up, but all babies spit up don't they? My mom said I was a spitty baby, so maybe it just runs in the family right? Well, last week day care teachers called both Austin and I claiming that Jocelyn was projectile vomiting. Stop moving her around so much then! We go in for a weight check at the end of the month, so time to get chubby!
She also received 3 more vaccines, which 2 days later she still has a little fever. The baby Tylenol we had was part of the recalled batch so we tossed it, and the store didn't have any more stocked so we had to rough it out. Which = crabby baby. In fact for the first time ever Jocelyn refused to eat at daycare, so hopefully today she can consume her full 30 ounces. Yesterday she only ate 18 and the day before 24 ounces, its hard to gain weight this way. Jocelyn grew 2 inches though, and that will put her in the 59th percentile for height.
On a side note my milk is starting to dry up. I can only produce 6-9 ounces a day.
I work 45+ hours a week and Austin also works full time. So when I have a day to spare it pains me to waste it. I didn't work on Tuesday and I have a head cold, so when Jocelyn was napping I was napping. Instead of cleaning, laundry, gardening or grocery shopping I slept. Boo.
Today however we went to the zoo! This is the second trip this month, I think I may need to invest in a membership. The first time we went she watched the spider monkeys swing back and forth across their exhibit. She also was quite fascinated with the fish in the reptile house. Cute puzzled expressions as she watched the cheetahs pace in front of the glass. Today she was squealing with delight at the otters and fish. She also loves any exhibit information sign that is lit up.
Jocelyn has found her feet, and sometimes a foot finds its way into her mouth. She will be 16 weeks tomorrow and everything goes into her mouth! I suppose at this age I can also try to feed her some cereal - for fun, just to see if she will eat it. It should make for some fun pictures.
So, this whole breastfeeding thing. . . yes, I know the benefits and yes, I know how much money we save but really its hard to go the recommended year. I started back at work 2 weeks ago. In anticipation of not being able to keep up with pumping I spent 75 dollars on 3 huge jars of powdered formula. I also was feeding Jocelyn a little bit of formula here and there to make her little belly used to the fact she will not be drinking mommy milk exclusively.
I can usually pump once maybe twice a day at work. Which is weird in itself, I refuse to lock myself in the bathroom stall so I go in the back dry storage room. And my freezer supply of milk has run out. So what started as one bottle of formula a day has turned into 2 and soon turned into as much as three. Jocelyn tolerates it well, in fact the breast milk seems to make her spit up more.It feels like my supply is dwindling a little bit so I will try to pump more. My doctor told me that babies are the best milk extractors and if I only pumped that I would make less milk. However, on my last day off I nursed her and she just falls asleep, its so comforting to her. I also noticed she was crabbier with she nurses exclusively maybe because she isn't getting enough, as far as ounces of milk. The books I have read suggested 30-40 ounces of milk for her age and I figured that we were feeding too little. I even got paranoid. . . is she making enough pee diapers when was the last time she pooped does she have tears when she cries??? Errrrr. . . So, I feel less pressure this way and Jocelyn gets her 30 ounces a day. So, everyone's happy right? Then why do I feel I need to justify this with a blog?
Yeah its my first mothers day! My parents and sister came up from Illinois for the day. Really just an excuse to see Jocelyn, but I won't ever complain about that! We made a ham - Alton Browns recipe - it was delish! And Blair brought me this cake from Chicago, it was carrot cake with butter cream frosting. Yum!
I got lots of pretty flowers, I could get used to this! So once this autumn-like weather gets out of town I (hopefully) will find time to do some gardening.
Last mothers day weekend we conceived, so depending when you believe life begins, Jocelyn is a "year" old! She was her typical smiley good little baby. Entertaining everyone while barfing on their clothes.
My first week back at work went well. I am feeding Jocelyn one bottle of formula a day, I can't keep up with pumping at work. That seems to be ok. She also is rolling over a lot now, and sleeping on her belly. I know its taboo but she is strong and comfortable so I leave her on her belly or side.
You are 12 weeks old today! If the rest of our lives go by this quickly I must remember to make time to slow down and enjoy it. I never imagined my life like this and now I couldn't imagine my life without you and your father. I am very lucky to be surrounded by such love.
Next week I go back to work, and you will start daycare. Your teachers are very nice and caring, they will take care of you for a couple of hours three days a week. Your Nana Carol will watch you and your cousin, Ella, on Fridays. I think you will like the newness of it all.
You are such a good baby. Just like your Mom you like to sleep, Papa Bruce calls us mattress muffins! You eat very well, and continue to grow into a cute little baby! Just this last week you started to grab things, and you try to "pick" the animals off the pages in your favorite book. The last couple of days you really started to get an opinion and if you don't like something you arch your back and go stiff as a board. Yesterday you were singing to me! You are quite the talker, and you think its really funny. When you get excited your beautiful big eyes get real wide and you kick like crazy. I hope you will find excitement in the rest of your life and share it with me.
We Skype Grandma Amy and Grandpa Bob almost daily. You look at the computer screen and I wonder if you can make the connection that it is your grandparents. We also occasionally Skype Great-Grandpa Pop-pop. He is a funny man I hope you will be able to meet him someday.
Summer is almost here and I can't wait to show you the world! There will be trips to the zoo and to the beach. And maybe a baseball game and camping trip!
Thank you Jocelyn for giving my life a little sparkle. I love you.
Mom
My little Jocelyn, is such a ham! In these pics I was sticking my tongue out and she was trying to do the same then proceeded to crack up! This was a perfect birthday gift to me on 03.26.2010 she was 8 weeks exactly. My parents came up to babysit while Austin and I went to dinner. We went to Roots in Milwaukee it was wonderful! It was a nice gift and Jocelyn slept the whole time!
Jocelyn is going to be a wild one, I can tell! She loves to be on her changing table where she kicks like crazy. Stretching her legs out by standing (with help of course) she loves to bounce and move around to get different views of the world! Jocelyn wiggles all over her crib, she is never in the same place that we put her down. We had to invest in a breathable bumper for her crib, there were multiple times when I would find her with an arm or leg sticking out of the crib. On one occasion she had both legs sticking out of the slats!
We have had unusually good weather for spring and living in the Midwest so we have been walking around the neighborhood. The first couple of times she would just sleep. Now I really think she enjoys it, and looks at the passing trees. She really hates the sun in her eyes and will screech if it is too bright. But I can't blame her! Finding a little hat to fit her head proved to be a surprising challenge.
Easter we drove down to Illinois, 2 hours, on the back roads with Jocelyn and Leon in the back seat. It was great, everyone slept in the car. Jocelyn was a good baby on her trip, entertaining everyone and sleeping well. Her Easter dress is so cute!
Jocelyn had her first round of vaccinations. She screamed after the first one, a scream like I never heard before. I felt really bad, she cried so hard that when we got home she passed out. When Jocelyn woke up she had a fever and I could tell she was in a lot of pain still. There is nothing you can do and I really felt helpless as she was hysterical. Otherwise the doctor said she is healthy with a minor heart murmur. She now weighs 10 lbs. 5 1/2 oz. and is 22 inches long! That's 3.25 inches longer then birth and 4 lbs. 6 1/2 oz. heavier! Wow!
