Is This Month over yet?????

WARNING THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN WHINING!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets start on the 5th when we got into that little fender bender in Chicago. $850 worth of damages.

Then my dog was so deathly ill (from the kennel? we will never know) and after IVs and tests and antibiotics = $900+ worth of damages.

At the same time baby had a fever, the stress thinking the dog might have contaminated the baby was high.

Next week, "oh I think I am getting a sty my eye hurts." Nope pink eye in both of your eyes. Two days no work = no pay.

Now the baby is super boogie factory and I have to suck the long strands of mucus from her screaming little face while my husband holds her face still.

Then one early morning Austin asks "Did you like do a load of laundry in the middle of the night?" Me - "Are you crazy? Why?" Apparently the spin cycle was on all night. And consequently the washing machine is broken - well kinda - you just have to move the dial manually.

Just today - damn its hot in here. . . thermostat says its 80 but its set on 74? Wait the air conditioner is not turning on?! Great!

6 more days. . . . will next month be better?

Summer thus far.

So far a great summer! I stepped down at work, taking a pay cut, to have nights and weekends with my family. So far its been a great decision. Although I have to stop myself from online purchases and other cutesy things for Jocelyn. And weekends have been filling up faster then I ever imagined.







My first weekend we went to the zoo. This is Jocelyn's third time there. But our first time going as a family. Once again she was memorized by the fish in the reptile house and the spider monkeys.


The following weekend was fathers day, we spent it in Lake Geneva at my in-laws house. My parents came over as well as my sister. And of course the Hunkins clan, with my cute niece! Guys golfed and the girls hung out, entertaining Jocelyn - or was it the other way around?

I finally brought Jocelyn down to Illinois to meet the family friends. My family isn't that big so my parents' friends have been almost like family to me. Jocelyn was the guest of honor and the life of the party, that was when she was awake! That little girl sure likes to sleep! I got this action pic of Jocelyn with her Auntie Blair. . .

We had to bring Jocelyn back to the doctor for a weight check. At the beginning of the month she was 11.1 lbs. and in the 9th percentile. Now she weighs a whopping 13 lbs. and in the 25th percentile! Girl likes to eat and consequently likes to spit-up. I decided that 8 oz. is too much in one sitting and we are trying a 4 oz. bottle or cereal every hour and a half and it seems to be working. Anyways daycare girls are happier that they get puked on less. Everyone wins!

So, now here we are on the weekend of the 4th already! Three day weekend! We are traveling to Muskegon, Michigan. Normally we take the Lake Express ferry across Lake Michigan, but since we are trying to conserve money we decide to drive. This SHOULD take about five or five and a half hours, and we know it will take longer because we are traveling with an infant . . . under normal conditions it takes about 2 hours from Milwaukee to Chicago this being a holiday weekend it took a little over 3 hours to get to Chicago. Luckily I know people, so we took a small pit stop by Lauren's house.

Nearly 8 hours later we arrive at the parents condo in Michigan. My grandfather from Maryland drove 13 hours to join us for the weekend. Jocelyn gets to meet her great Pop-pop and we take a four generation picture. And I am reminded of the remaining baby weight.

The weather couldn't have been nicer! I wonder why it always seems nicer on that side of the lake? We went to the beach. Jocelyn seemed to like her first beach visit. We did not go into the water, it was delightfully rough. I did get these cute photos. . .

Over all a nice trip. Jocelyn really found her voice and laughed a lot. She also likes music, my sister's boyfriend, Zaid, had her in a little guitar trance and she banged on the piano.

I am not sure that we will drive there again in August. It took 10 hours to get home. Jocelyn was a trouper. We hit construction traffic in Michigan, normal traffic in Indiana, stopped to feed the baby and ourselves. Then continued with heavy but moving traffic in Chicago, was rear-ended on the south side - baby was sleeping then screaming. But we are all ok. It was just stressful and added at least an hour of travel time. Stopped at my sister's on Chicago's north side to feed the baby and chill after accident, and finally made it home smooth sailing to Waukesha. *Sigh* Can I really use this to justify the $500.00 ferry ride? Maybe.

Hockey and Stuff

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.

Doc visit

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.

Time not wasted

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.

pumping . . .

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?

Mother's Day

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.