Ponytail!!!

At this point, I'm waiting for the screaming!

I wear a ponytail just about every day of my life.  I like my long hair, but have no patience for it in my face, especially since Jocelyn was born.

Today, for the first time ever, Jocelyn decided she wanted a ponytail just like Mommy!!  Last week when we were at Sesame Place I found some hair ties with Sesame Characters on them.  How timely!!  and How Cute!

Not sure what the tongue is about...

I'm not sure if we've started a trend, but I've been waiting so long to be allowed to put something in her hair, I hope she'll let me do this again.  She did keep Cookie Monster in her hair until nap time, so that has to be some kind of record for sure!!  Guess I need to add this milestone to her baby book too! 

It changes her face completely!

Mommy Joanna

The day we took Jocelyn home!

Who is Mommy Joanna you ask?  Well, she was Jocelyn's primary nurse when she was in the NICU.  We call her Mommy Joanna because she was, in so many ways, Jocelyn's temporary "Mommy", and she was so wonderful to her, and to Pat and me.   She was so wonderful that after Jocelyn finally got to go home, I sent a letter to the head nurse in the department (with a copy to Joanna) telling her about our experiences.
I'm thinking about her again because yesterday I had a wonderful chat with her on the phone.
I had called the NICU to find out if there was a NICU reunion scheduled for this year.  There has been only one since Jocelyn was born, and they used to be yearly.  Unfortunately, the answer was "No" and I'm sad about that, but anyway...
When I called, they connected me to the charge nurse, and Joanna answered the phone!!  I was so excited when I realized it was her, and was amazed that she remembered me, but there's a funny story behind that.

This was early in Jocelyn's stay in the NICU.  She was still in the incubator, and was not yet drinking from a bottle, so she had a feeding tube.  Joanna let me feed her one night, which meant I held the syringe that was connected to the tube that drained my precious, pumped, breast milk into her tummy.  Well, Joanna stepped away for a minute and the syringe came off the tube and milk poured out all over Jocelyn, her blankets and bedding and everything!!  I was in a panic.  Everything is SO sterile, so I was afraid to touch anything.  Joanna came running back to help.  This was the first time I held Jocelyn, of course it was at arms length, up in the air, through the incubator holes, and while Joanna changed all her bedding, but I still held her!!  After cleaning everything up, we gave Jocelyn a baby bath and resumed feeding.  What an exciting night for me!   But Joanna seems to have blamed herself!  It's a funny story that apparently, neither of us has forgotten. 

Anyway, long story short, Joanna told me yesterday that she was recently up for promotion to the charge nurse position and she had to write a letter explaining why she felt she deserved the position.  She said she used this story and the letter I wrote to her supervisor as her example, that despite everything, we still loved her and considered her a wonderful nurse.  Joanna got the promotion!!
She said the last sentence in her letter was "No use crying over spilt milk".  How appropriate!
We will always treasure our memories of Mommy Joanna, and be forever thankful for what she did for all of us so early on in Jocelyn's life.

First Day at My Gym

Today Jocelyn started going to classes at My Gym.  It's a local kids gym with fun climbing equipment and games for kids.  I had taken her to their Open House and she had such a good time, I decided to try out the classes.  I was a little nervous about how she would do on the equipment, and this is the first time she had to deal with structured circle time activities, but she did very well, and I can already see that she will be a pro at the routine in no time!

The trampoline is the starting favorite!

Walking across the ladder with Ms. Melissa

We can't wait for next Friday!!

Sesame Place

On Tuesday we FINALLY made it to Sesame Place. I have wanted to take Jocelyn all summer as she is a HUGE Sesame Street fan, especially of Elmo. We decided to drive up and back on the same day, and other than being pretty tired, we all handled it surprisingly well.

I must say, it's pretty neat to get a picture in front of 123 Sesame Street!

It was so hot on Tuesday!  We decided to start the day enjoying the water park areas.

Then we moved on to visiting characters!

And finally we saw some shows, took a flying fish ride, and ended with some shopping.

What a great day we had!  Can't wait to go again next summer!

(Might need some recovery time though!  The morning after was a rough one...  :-)

The Passage Of Time

I recently spent an afternoon chatting with a mother of one of Allie and Shelby's friends.  We had just recently met and were getting to know one another, talking about the kids, our husbands, where we live and what we do with our free time, all those things you chat about when you are getting to know someone new.  Inevitably, I found myself talking about my experience with Jocelyn's birth.  Is there a time where mothers don't find that event to be a huge part of their memory banks?  Maybe it's less so when you have more than one child, or when your child is older.  Since Jocelyn will be my only, and her birth was so...  hmmm... what words can I use?  traumatic, eventful, terrifying, joyous, incredible, life altering?   Does that make it more memorable I wonder?
Anyway, despite the heavy drugs I was given, I still have vivid memories of the whole week I was in the hospital, as well as much of Jocelyn's time in the NICU.
I remember them saying to me right before the emergency C-section, "Don't worry, 32 weekers do just fine".  Then we had the weeks in the NICU, the 9 months with the heart / apnea monitor, the year and a half with the Infants and Toddlers program, the physical therapy, and the many times I spent watching other kids doing what she was not yet ready to do. 
Now don't get me wrong!  I wouldn't trade a second of any of it, not one second!  Having my baby girl slow down the development track only meant that I got to enjoy each stage longer, and each accomplishment was just that much sweeter.
And then we get to today.  Jocelyn is 2 and 1/2 years old.  She's not quite caught up with the physical developments of kids her age.  Sometimes balance and coordination are a challenge. 
BUT...  this girl can TALK about everything and nothing, AND all the time!  She's almost mastered dressing herself with a shirt and shorts.   We're staring down the dreaded potty training.  We have a day to day life together that involves people and activities that I never imagined for her. 

And when she hugs me, my heart melts. 

When I look at pictures of Jocelyn when she was days old, and when I think about how scared we were bringing this little 5lb 2oz peanut home from the hospital, I couldn't imagine then the little girl I see today.  And today, I can't imagine 3 years from now when I send her off for her first day of Kindergarten.  I will continue to treasure every second of every day.  I will continue to cheer her on with every accomplishment, no matter how small, and ...

When she hugs me, my heart will always melt.

Fun with Pepere and Memere

Pepere and Memere came to visit last week and what fun we had! 

We played with play dough...

And ate corn on the cob...

And we went to the Howard County Fair!

Jocelyn had lots of fun at the fair.  She got to ride the carousel and the kids train, sit on a real tractor, and even sing baa-baa-black sheep to a real black sheep!  Of course, riding on a real pony was one of the highlights of the day, and the pink cowgirl hat (that of course Mommy couldn't resist buying) was mighty cute too!  I think we wore Memere out though!  Good thing Pepere and Aunty Lorraine won all those stuffed animals to give her something comfy to rest on! 

Pepere and Memere will be on their way to Arizona for the winter soon, and we will sure miss them!  Good thing they invented the webcam so we can "see" them again soon!  Love you Memere!  Love you Pepere!

The First Haircut

I've been tossing around the idea of taking Jocelyn for her first haircut.  She is now 2 1/2 years old, and finally has enough hair to even consider it!  The back is so curly, and had started to get knotty, but the top and front are still growing in.  I decided to not go with bangs.  I've always had them, but I want to see what Jocelyn's hair will do as it grows in, and I'm not ready to limit her to bangs. 
SOOO, the final decision was made to trim the back and let the front continue to grow out.  A good friend provided incentive in the form of playdough characters that "grow" playdough hair.  That was a big hit, and helped explain what we were doing.  Then, I got my own haircut so Jocelyn could see that it wasn't such a bit deal. 
Then it was her turn.  Unfortunately, I was too busy reassuring her to get more than this one photo of her in the chair, but I got the after photo, and of course, we saved the hair, what little there was! 
All in all, it was a successful event. Jocelyn handled it REALLY well, and I didn't cry! :-)

A bit of nerves

"All done haircuts"

Not much to show for such a big milestone!

Double Kissies!

Every morning when Pat leaves for work, we have a traditional goodbye that I love.  Sadly it means that Daddy is leaving us to go to work, but at least he's sent off with love.  

We call it Double Kissies.  Daddy gets a kiss from Jocelyn, then a kiss from me, then a double kiss from both of us at the same time.  (Since we're all busy at the same time, there is no photo of such an event.  The above photo is as close as I can come!) 

School will be starting soon so Pat will have to leave early, on the mornings the girls are here, to get them to their bus.  Our Double Kissy opportunities will be cut in half, but we'll get them whenever we can! 

Love you Daddy!

Niagara Falls

The last part of our vacation to PA and NY was a stop at Niagara Falls. By the time we made it to this leg of the trip, we were already pretty tired, but I'm glad we went. There is something so peaceful and inner soul serene about that much rushing water. It really was beautiful as you can see from the photos. Everyone says you have to go to the Canadian side to get the whole feel of it, but since they changed the passport laws, and none of us had passports, we had to make due with the view from the American side and the Maid of the Mist boat ride. We were not disappointed, by any means, but I would make sure to have a passport the next time, and there WILL be a next time!

When you go on the Maid of the Mist, you get to wear fun blue ponchos! To start with, you think you're going to die standing, waiting, wearing a plastic bag, in 90 degree heat. But once the boat gets moving, you understand the need. It's that, or you get wet! Hence the name Maid of the MIST!

Our hotel was in the perfect location, very close to the falls. So after dinner, once it was dark, we headed back to see the lights on the falls. It was amazing to see the big flood lights from the Canadian side lighting up the American Falls. Absolutely breathtaking!! We were out there almost an hour waiting for the lights to change from color to color, and hoping to see the rainbow lights. We really wanted to see the rainbow colors shine on the falls, but after an hour, Jocelyn was asleep, and the rest of us were cold and tired and our feet were aching. Of course, wouldn't you know it, we made it 1/2 way back to the hotel only to turn around and see the lights reflecting rainbow shades in the sky. We were just too tired to run all the way back, so we will have to live with our picture post cards!! At least I got these with my own camera!

As I mentioned, the thing that struck me the most about Niagara Falls was the peacefulness you can feel being so close to the power of nature. It was beautiful there. I would love to go back one day. Until then, I have to try to hang on to that feeling!

Vacation Time Again!

Last week we ventured out to Western PA for our second vacation of the summer. Pat's family lives in Butler PA, just north of Pittsburg. Since we didn't get to spend much time with them at the wedding in Indiana, we decided to take the drive to get in some more family quality time. Much to our delight, Scott and Rachel, the newlyweds, traveled in from their direction too! So the whole Desmond clan was together again.
The trip got off to a slow start with rental car and hotel issues, but once we made it to Butler and settled in, we had lots of fun!

We all enjoyed some pool time.

Then the kids all spent time helping to care for their cousin Megan's pony. With Aunt Tina's help, Jocelyn got to feed, brush, and even ride Pip!

I've been keeping a photo book for Jocelyn that has photos of her with family, to help her remember everyone we don't get to see very often. We took the opportunity to get some updated photos with Uncle Scott, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Dan and Aunt Tina, then it was off to "play" football with the sisters and cousins.

Grandma, Aunt Tina and Uncle Dan share a few acres of land in Butler, so there was plenty of free space for Jocelyn to run around in. She certainly took advantage of the freedom!

This was my absolute favorite photo from the whole trip! We miss you Grandma!

When we left Butler, we headed to Erie, PA for a day at an indoor water park called Splash Lagoon. Aunt Tina and the cousins came with us and we all had a blast! There are no photos of that day since I just couldn't risk getting the camera wet, but we had a great time!

The last stop on our trip was Niagara Falls. More on that to come!