When you just have to be WACKY!

Yesterday was Wacky Wednesday in preschool, in honor of Dr. Suess' birthday this week.

Jocelyn got dressed up in polka dot shirt and pants, purple socks and a poofy tu-tu.  She looked great, but I have to admit, Ms. Judy and Ms. Kathy took the prize!

5 Year Photos

Now you had to know these were coming!

Our Friend Gus Appears Again!

My Favorite for Obvious Reasons!

Funny Faces

Just for fun, some of the latest funny faces from my favorite girl!

Happy Monday!!

Having Fun

We've had a fun week!

Earlier in the week we went on a field trip with Jocelyn's class to the fire house.  The kids got to see how the fire men live, and they got to climb through the fire trucks and ambulance.  What an experience!

Yesterday, Jocelyn and I went to Disney on Ice!  I went a lot as a kid, but I had never taken her.  Well her eyes were glued to the ice the whole time, and she talked about it non stop last night.  She had a great time, but I also had a great time watching her enjoyment!

She said her favorite parts were Ariel and Cinderella.  I really liked Ariel as well.  All the costumes were iridescent, so they showed up beautifully in the light.  Of course Mickey Mouse and friends were there, along with Lion King, Peter Pan and Captain Hook, and all the Princesses!!

Ready and waiting!!

What a great show!  I can't wait to take her again next year!

One of those moments

Once in a while we get reminded that we are but a speck in the universe and there are things in the world much greater than us.

Last week I had one of those reminders.

My sister and I drove out to Delaware to bring Mom home.  She was here a month after she broke her ankle.  As soon as Jocelyn's birthday was over, she was ready to go home... understandably so.

On our way home from the trip, my sister and I stopped by the side of the road to watch this...

This was a gathering of multiple flocks of birds, millions of them coming in from every direction to land in an open field.  I'm not sure what kind of birds they were.  We thought they might be Canadian Geese, but they were white.  Maybe seagulls, but the wing span seemed much bigger than seagulls, so we're still not sure.

But it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

How did they know to all meet there?
Where were they coming from and where were they going?
What made them stop in that spot?
We'll never know, but I'm so glad in that moment, we stopped to watch this amazing event transpire.

That white line down the bottom of this photo is the countless birds that had already landed.  Amazing!

February 16 - update.
After talking with my Mom, about the birds, she was able to give me more information.  The birds are called Snow Geese, which is why they were so similar in size to Canadian Geese.  Apparently, they fly through this area around this time of year, and land in the fields to clear out the leftover corn.  There's still plenty of mystery as to how they all know where to meet, but at least we figured that much out!   What an amazing sight!

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!!