Party! Party! Party!

Despite my feelings about Jocelyn turning 5, (see previous post), she went ahead and did it anyway!  But she had a great time partying!

On Jocelyn's actual birthday, I got to co-op at preschool, and she got to celebrate with her class.  As an added bonus, Auntie and Grammy were extra teachers!

Making Ground Hog Puppets...

Jocelyn with her best buddies, Dominic and Faith

Enjoying PINK cupcakes!

Grammy got to be Royal Reader and read to the class...

And then on Sunday, we celebrated Jocelyn's birthday with her friends.  We found an indoor water park that was lots of fun.  Unfortunately, for one reason or another, some of Jocelyn's friends couldn't make the party, and they were missed, but we still had a great time swimming and celebrating!

The Girls

All of us in the whirlpool!

I wonder if there's any chance

 I can get Jocelyn to stop growing now...

Thoughts on 5

I'm struggling with 5.

...  1 was it's own milestone --- it brought on the year Jocelyn finally walked, the year I stopped breast feeding, the year she stopped being an infant.
...  2 brought us into toddlerhood --- learning so much, with music and activity and play.
...  3 came with new interests --- in friends, art, swimming and new experiences.
...  4 was a tough one because it meant preschooler --- and independence.

But now we have arrived at 5.  This number 5 does not mean good things to me.  It's going to be the toughest one by far.  Up until now, Jocelyn was my little one, my baby, toddler, whatever ---  but still primarily MINE.

Five represents to me...   CHILD, LITTLE GIRL, KINDERGARTNER.

When Jocelyn was born, age 5 was eons away.   So far in the future my imagination couldn't grasp the concept.  And I didn't need to.  Why think about something that wasn't coming for a long, long time.

But now we have arrived at 5.  And I'm not ready.  I'm not ready to see my baby grow up.  I'm still so surprised sometimes how present and interactive and opinionated :-) and part of everything, Jocelyn is.  She makes each day interesting, and fun, and memorable and ours.

Five represents the year she will enter Kindergarten.  I will mourn the loss of preschool.  We love her preschool.  The teachers are amazing, the co-op style gives me so many opportunities to be a part of what is going on in Jocelyn's life.  Kindergarten will take her away from me from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm Monday through Friday.  I can't stand the thought.  Everyone I talk to says Elementary school teachers LOVE parent volunteers.  Count me in!  But it still won't be the same.

So now we have arrived at 5.  I love my sweet little girl, but I really don't like 5.

My Baby is 5

I'm sitting here wondering how it is possible that my teeny, tiny baby girl has just turned 5 years old.

Five years ago yesterday, Jocelyn, all 3 lbs, 5 oz, and 16 inches of her, came into my world with barely a peep.

It was a rough few months at first.  We had 33 days in the NICU, then she came home with an apnea monitor for 8 months, physical therapy and nursing care, and pumping for 14 months.  WOW, how did we survive all that and more???

And then of course, there was figuring out how to do this "Mommy" thing.

But through the years, this is what I have figured out:

Children will challenge us - in good ways and bad ways - but the biggest rewards come from the most difficult moments, when we learn that we can handle them, and both of us are better for the experience.

There will be times where it's impossible to be more proud.  With Jocelyn many of those moments took lots of time and patience, encouragement and cheering on.  But when she learned to sit up and walk, and ride her tricycle, and climb the monkey bars, no one was prouder than me.

Many of those proud moments will also make you cry.

The first time I had to leave Jocelyn in someone else's care, was so difficult --- for me.  She, of course, was fine.  I have to remind myself that my job is to prepare her to be able to go out on her own, and I have and still do that.  But that doesn't make it any easier.  The true test is going to be Kindergarten in the fall.


I knew as a teenager that I wanted kids.  I did not want to go through my life without the chance to experience motherhood.  I also decided early in my teen years that if I had a baby girl that I would name her Jocelyn!  There is no doubt in my mind that despite how long it took for me to finally get to this part of my life, every minute was worth the wait.

Last night, after a very busy day and a late night, I sat with Jocelyn rocking in the recliner in her room.  When she fell asleep I couldn't put her down.  I couldn't let the moment end.  It's hard to believe 5 years of those moments have already gone by.

Age 1

Age 2

Age 3

Age 4

Something else I have figured out...  There is no greater love in the world than the love I share with my baby girl.

Age 5

Happy 5th Birthday Jocelyn!

How Could I Forget?

My Mother and my Sister have been keeping secrets.

There have been rumors for months about a very special gift that was originally meant for my birthday / Mother's Day, and then for Christmas.

Because of the mishaps in Mom's life this past year, there were unexpected delays.

But finally just after Christmas, I received one of the gifts I will treasure most in my life.

I try very hard to keep up with Jocelyn's baby book, and I will do the same for her school memories books, but one day when she is grown, she will take them with her into her adult life.

But this gift is a treasured album that I can always have for myself.

Inside this album are about 100 photos of me as a little baby up to about 4ish, and photos of Jocelyn doing the same things!

Here are some of my favorite pages.

Using all 4 's (or 5!) to stand

Riding bikes

Our First School Days

Jocelyn helping Pepere and me as a little girl doing the same

I know now why this project took so long for them to finish.  Just finding the photos, I'm sure was a feat in itself, since most of the ones of me are, um...  well...  really old!  

Thank you to my Mom and my Sister for this most treasured gift!

We Survived!

I was just reading my last post and I can't believe all that's happened since then.

We certainly don't live a boring life here on the homestead, that's for sure.

So Grammy came to visit for Christmas, and not more than 24 hours after her arrival...  and two days before Christmas, she broke her ankle on the stairs at Auntie's house.  Surgery, a week in the hospital, two weeks in rehab, and now hanging out at Auntie's house for some recovery time.  What was supposed to be a weeks visit, turned into a month!

The good news is Jocelyn loves having Grammy close by to drop in on.



So, as you can imagine, this made Christmas a little more interesting!  We still have presents waiting to be opened.  Hopefully we'll get to them this weekend.

Anyway, through it all, Santa still made his appearance!

Reindeer snacks

Santa's leftovers and a note!

Jocelyn had a great Christmas!

Mommy got some very special Christmas gifts from Jocelyn this year!  A hand print soap dish and wreath banner.  My two favorite gifts by far!

Somewhere in the midst of all the insanity, Uncle Steve and Uncle Clayton came for a visit.  We went to 34th Street in Baltimore to check out the lights.  Unfortunately, with the chaos and potential yucky weather (that as is typical MD weather, turned out to be nothing!)  I wasn't able to spend as much time with them as I would have liked, but it was so nice to see them, and we hope to see them again soon!

So the fun continued after Christmas when everyone in the family came down with colds and coughs.  Just to keep it interesting...
But with any luck, we are hopefully all on the mend.  Grammy will be going home after Jocelyn's birthday but with still more recovery to do.  Jocelyn is back to school and hopefully life is returning to normal.

In less than two weeks, Jocelyn will be turning 5 years old.  I can't even bear the thought right now.  But there is no doubt my baby girl is growing up.  This week at school, she was riding a friend's two-wheel bike with training wheels.

Look at that big girl!!

Christmas Celebrating at School

As I've mentioned previously, Jocelyn is in a Co-op preschool, which means I get to be involved in her school life as much as I would like to.  This week was especially fun to be a part of.  Yesterday and today there were celebrations galore!  And I didn't miss a second!

Yesterday, the kids made Fun-do, otherwise known as fondue cheese and chocolate and everything imaginable that you could dip into them.  I was surprised that Jocelyn wasn't as thrilled about the cheese, maybe because this was all new to her, but the chocolate dipped marshmallows were a big hit!

After filling their faces, somehow they managed to get some real school stuff going, but even that was fun.  How about playing "Swat the Letter" with - YES!  Real Fly Swatters!

Then it was off to make felt snowmen!

Now, today was definitely the "Icing on the....  Gingerbread Houses!"  and mountains and mountains of candy!  There are 15 kids running around on a serious sugar high right now, but it was so much fun!  First they made the frosting, then they frosted their houses, because they had to use something to glue all the candy on with!

And then they all just went crazy!  Check out the spread of candy options!

They ate their was through their decorating and then Ta-Da!  The finished project!

So school is over for the rest of the year, and visitors come tomorrow.  Our routine will be thrown off for a while.  I think we will both miss school!  Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!  I'm going to see if I can get away with stealing a marshmallow of Jocelyn's Gingerbread House!  :-)

How Does He Have The Time??

Santa wrote to Jocelyn again this year.  I just don't know how he has time to do that, but we love the letters we get every year.  And somehow, one of those sneaky Elves told him that Jocelyn started preschool.  He really does know everything, doesn't he?!

Every year Santa's reindeer also send Jocelyn one of their leather harness tags with bells.  What a treat!  We now have a collection of 3 -  Rudolph, Dasher, and this year - Comet!  Now Mommy needs to make sure to have the carrots on hand so the reindeer can get their treats too.  Time to hit the store!

Happy Santa Smiles to all of you too!

Catching Up - Again

Here I am again, way behind.  So much has happened since the last post, but the best way to catch up is, as always, through the pictures of our lives.

There was the photo shoot at Patapsco State Park in October.  Here is just a sample of the amazing photos our photographer took that day.











Then Halloween with Ariel the Mermaid.  Jocelyn enjoyed her school parade and party, but Trick-or-Treating was definitely the highlight!  She couldn't decide what she liked more - collecting candy or handing out candy!















There's always something fun going on at school.  I love my Co-op parent days and when any special event is going on, I make sure not to miss it.  There was the Pilgrim Field Trip, the Turkey Trot, and the Thanksgiving Friendship Fruit Salad.

Our yearly venture to the Festival of Trees and a chat with Santa - can't forget that!  This is something we always look forward to.  Each year the experience is a little different depending on what Jocelyn is interested in doing, but she always loves the carousel, the pony ride, and the train display.  This year she was especially fascinated by the gingerbread houses.  And Santa just made her giggle!

Decorating the Christmas Tree with the official job of Angel Topper.  For the last few years, we have put the tree in the front room, but we always feel like we don't get to see it much.  This year we decided to put it in the living room, and we are enjoying it so much more!

Last but certainly not least, Santa came to visit US again this year!  We were waiting anxiously to hear those Fire Engine Sirens, and when they finally came, Jocelyn couldn't get outside fast enough.  One of our favorite benefits of living in a small town.

So there you have it.  Once again we are caught up, though these photos certainly don't do justice to the wonderful experiences that Jocelyn is having at school, and the fun adventures we have often with our friends.  Jocelyn is making new friends at school and starting to look forward to play dates.  I am trying hard to figure out how to use my free time for me.  I'll let you know when, or if, I ever master that.  But though life is busy, it is full of fun.

And of course, Santa comes next week!  Hugs to all!