Upgrade

Over the weekend, baby girl transitioned from an infant carseat to a stage 2 carseat. She now rides front facing and loves it because she is so nosey! Sigh, the one constant is change.

Growing pains

Josslyn lost her grandfather last week. 4-18-13. My heart is too sore and raw to write much. There is so much I need to share with her about who she is and from where she comes. I need for her to understand how much her Grampy loved her and how proud he was. When she suddenly has an urge to fight for the underdog, sings her favorite songs over and over, finds beauty and depth in the simplest of words, or loses her patience with virtually everything: she will know my father lives deep inside her.

Bubble

I understand helicopter moms, I really do. Today, I just want to put Joss in a protective bubble and keep her in my sight at all times! How do we raise our babies to be confident, independent and healthy people when the World is becoming increasingly insane? How do we keep our children safe and give them the wings they need to soar?

Joss is sound asleep. Completely unaware of any evils or dangers, as she should be. This is one ignorance that I wish she would hold forever!

A Shout Out

My friends' twins turned 9 today.  As I was sitting at their movie birthday party, I teared up thinking about how fast they have grown.  It has been said before, it will be said many times again, "children grow up too fast."  The twins are the reason I became most certain that I wanted to be a mom.  The twins are the reason that I can tolerate shows like Yo Gabba Gabba or consider caffeine content before I offer them a swig of my drink.  They are the reason I started to attend birthday parties, participate at the petting zoo, and actually come out of my house on Halloween.  The twins opened up a new door of experience.  The door that says, "see how awesome the world is from our eyes."  Now they are 9 and my baby Joss is 9 months.  If I didn't fall in love with them first, I'm not sure I would have wanted a child as badly as I wanted Josslyn.  They are more inspiration than they will ever know.

Joss didn't go to the party, but I brought her by to see them later on in the day. I love who Josslyn is around Stella, Thomas, and Jo Jo.  She loves to be be thrown into the mix of kids, pets, and  mountain of toys.  I love that she is as comfortable with this family as I am.

They say you shouldn't compare your child to other people's children.  I agree with that to a degree.  Of course every child is unique and should be accepted and nurtured.   But there is such a pure peace that comes from looking at the good in Amy and Tony's children and though I'm not comparing, I am hoping to instill that goodness in Joss.    I want her to have Stella's fearlessness and strong sense of self.  I want her to be silly and loving like James.  I want her to be a leader and considerate like Thomas.  I want her to possess the kindness, intelligence, and love that all three children emulate.  I don't think there is anything wrong in looking at the way things are done effectively with children and wanting the same for my child.  I will accept her for all that she is, but I certainly want to help her navigate through this wide, wondrous, and often unforgiving world.  I am so grateful that I have models of healthy, thriving children around us. 

All too soon Josslyn will be turning 9 years old.  I just want to fill her journey there with many open doors, people who love her, and my hopes and dreams for her health and happiness.

Happy birthday Stella and Thomas.  Baby Joss and I love you!

Taking Inventory

At almost 10 months Joss:

Walks assisted and can stand for a brief period of time unassisted.

Loves to play peek-a-boo and give the doggies, her Pooh bear, and her momma kisses.

Wiggles and tantrums during most diaper changes.

Can climb up 7 stairs (not that we let her ).

Feeds herself solids but refuses to hold her own bottle.

Sleeps 12 hours a night without waking. Takes two naps during the day.

Wears 12 to 18 month clothing.

Is scared of the big bathtub and pink rubber ball.

Loves to play with other kids, especially Jo Jo, Buck Buck, and the twins.

Cries when she doesn't get her way.

Claps on cue.

Has two teeth on bottom and one coming in on the top.

Loves to grab her Momma's earrings.

Tries to eat dog food.

Makes me feel like the best and worst momma all within an hour.

Greets the day with jabbers and a smile.

Is silly, determined, independent, and SPOILED.

Acts so much like my child :)

Peek-a-boo

Josslyn's new game is to play peek a boo under a blanket with Grammy. Her giggles can lighten the darkest of moods, not that it's ever easy to have a heavy heart around this kid. Today is one of those days I'm just thankful. I am so blessed!

"Not Always Rainbows and Butterflies"

I arrived home today just as Joss was waking from a two hour nap. In the fairy tale world of a working mother, her daughter would smile, coo, and in Joss' case climb toward her momma, which in all fairness, she usually does. Today on the other hand, was not a fairy tale moment! Instead of coos and smiles, I received a mean mug and a tantrum when I went to change her diaper. Welcome home Momma!

My happy-go-lucky baby has her moments! Lately she has a complete Elliott fit when ever it is time for a diaper change. She squirms and worms and I swear capturing a mosquito with a tooth pick would be an easier feat!

In the words of Maroon 5, "It's not always rainbows and butterflies, it's compromise. It moves is along."

So begins a lifetime of compromise and many versions of the fairy tale!

A new blog beginning

So now that I gave the world a summary of jossy's life during the past 7 months, I need to keep things current. This weekend Jossy attended a birthday party. She had a great time playing with Cole's presents and eating birthday cake! She made sure to visit everyone's plate to see if they would give her a little nibble! Happy birthday Buck Buck!

Catching Up part II

It is impossible to fill in all the wondrous milestones of Josslyn's life. Trying to reflect on the past months of her life has really helped me to see the value in consistent blogging. 6 months was a very busy month. Baby girl and I experienced our first Christmas together. She loved being around family and friends and looked so cute in her borrowed Christmas dress.
I left her for two nights to go to Dallas Tx for a training. Though I missed her like crazy, I knew she was in good hands! Grammy dotes on her! She began to really get mobile with rolling and crawling! Looking back it makes me laugh that I was actually worried about delayed motor development. Once she became mobile, I realized just how determined and how strong my little bean is!

Our first Thanksgiving was at 5 months. She was so fussy on turkey day. We went to my brothers girlfriend's house for dinner and she had one of the only real meltdowns I've seen her have. I think she was teething and over tired. She did love the mash potatoes though! And I looked at my pretty baby and truly felt thankful and blessed!

4 months brought the farm for the first time with the twins and James. Oh yeah, Aunt Amy was there, too :). She held a baby chicken and swear I heard her cluck:)

She experienced her first Halloween. She was the sweetest ghost! She flew on an airplane to Maine for the second time in her life. She was the perfect little traveler. She slept most of the trip, there and back. Grammy was a huge help as always!

She began to eat cereal and fell in love with food!


During the third month of her life momma spent a lot of time worried about Josslyn's development. I wanted to make sure she smiled, made eye contact. I was worried because she wasn't rolling and wanted to make sure she got enough tummy time. It is so funny to me now that I worried so much about my healthy, energetic, advanced Super Girl! Josslyn mostly took in the debates with Mommy and learned that she too, was liberal :)

She took her first airplane trip to Maine to visit Grampy in the hospital when she was 2 months old. Accompanied by Uncle Troy, she took Maine by storm. She was a great little traveler and it was so nice for her to meet her Grampy and relatives!
She also began to really sleep almost 12 hours a night! Thank God for baby wise!

This is my sad attempt to record all that I didn't share about her life with the blogging World. I know I missed so much of the subtle daily changes of this miracle child's life. But even though I failed to express her impact in words, she has imprinted my heart each day with all that she is and all that she brings to my life. And you only need to know me to know that I am forever better because of her.

Catching up

I can't believe that my last blog post was when my baby girl was 6 weeks old.  She is now going on 10 months and I have failed to chronicle her life through blogging.  It makes me sad, but I know that I can't change it and all I can do it try to be more diligent!  I am going to attempt to fill in the past 7 months of her life so that I have it time stamped someplace other than my heart!  I am going to work backwards so that I may begin with what is freshest in my mind.

  Josslyn had her 9 month check up  on April 1st!  She has two teeth, weighs 19.12 and is 28 inches long!  She crawls everywhere and is standing unassisted at times!  She is silly, determined and soo busy!  She eats everything offered with a smile!  My baby girl is just like her mommy and lives to eat!  She mumbles and jumbles and can say the words momma and hi!  She also just had her first cold.  It broke my heart!

At 8 months old she was cutting teeth but doing it like a champ!  She always slept through the night!  She was mischievous and curious! She even found the stairs and likes to play the im going to climb them game. She really first began to say momma when she saw me or wanted attention!  She began to grow out of 12 month clothes and buying pajamas for her proved a great difficulty.  She loves frozen yogurt and momma definitely became more relaxed about giving her the occasional treat!

When Josslyn turned 7 months that's when all the fun started! She began to stand by grabbing on to furniture! She also learned to crawl like a banshee! She no longer finished all her bottles because she was full from eating real food. 7 months brought a trust of new people and even a few smiles for strangers.