Monday, March 22, 2010

Big Day!!!

I did it!!! I got a picture of Jocelyn smiling! Isn't she so cute? Her whole face smiles when her mouth smiles. She really is a sweet, sweet little girl. Her teacher, Ally, just left and is very impressed by the progress she makes each week.
A little smile...

Abby started preschool today. It made me a little sad leaving her but I know it's the best thing for all of us! She will go two days a week (monday and friday). She had such a great time!!! The whole way home she sang a new song or maybe it's a story that she learned (Chicka Chicka boom boom). While I was putting her down for her nap she told me some of her friends names from preschool and told me about the games that they played. It makes me happy knowing that she had such a fun time:)

A fun and busy weekend

What a fun weekend we had! We had beautiful weather and got to be outside for a lot of the time! BaPooh and Maggie came up to watch the girls while Mommy and Daddy went to a wedding. They all had so much fun:) Thank you!!!
We got to go with Daddy to see a new foal and mare. Abby was pretty excited to see this baby. Maybe Abby will ride this little pony one day! If Dacia (a client and horse trainer) has her way Abby will ride and show english on her Pony! We'll see.....

Guess what?? We celebrated another birthday! Grandma T's this time. Abby helped blow out the candle and eat the cake and ice cream. Great Grandpa,Great Grandpa, Ted, and Mr. Ed came too:) It was a perfect afternoon.


Abby loves "helping" open presents!


We went and rode Barbie with Travis and Summer. Travis (a client and horse trainer) is already talking about abby training with him doing reined cow horse events.





The whole family went for a ride on the golf cart to go and see Barbie! So much fun to live where we do:)


Thursday, March 18, 2010

A Blur

This last week has been a bit of a blur. I had surgery last Wednesday and it took everything I had to keep myself together. Thankfully I have a great family who helped take care of me and the kids. These pictures are pretty silly, but it's a little glimpse into what we did (when I remembered to take pictures).

Daddy and Abby made purple pancakes. They also made blue eggs! How do you like the face Abby makes when you tell her to smile????

Abby got to hold Jocelyn under very close supervision!


Jocelyn got to drink from a bottle for 24 hours after the surgery. She kind of liked it:) It was a very serious task (take a look at chris' face)!!!

I entered a whole new level of parenting when I let Abby go to get doughnuts looking like this!!!


Yup, Jocelyn still has a mohawk. She is smiling now and I determined to get a picture. I ALMOST got it this time.

Jocelyn attended her very first bridal shower. It was a lingerie party and I am so glad that she will not remember what she saw:)


Sweet Jocelyn Rose:)

some time spent out in the sunshine!

Hanging out in the backyard on a very nice springlike day!


Abby loves her new turtle sandbox!


Blowing bubbles with Daddy!

Ohhh man...I almost got her smiling this time! I'll keep trying..........

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Checking things off

1. Jocelyns appointment at the Childrens Hospital Down Syndrome clinic (CHECK)

The appointment went very well. Chris took the morning off work on Tues for the appt. We. saw 7 different specialists in 2 hours.....INCREDIBLE!!! First we were checked in where they weighed and measured Jocelyn. Then the clinic director who is also a Dr. met with us. She did an overall check on Jocelyn and made a list of questions we had. Then we saw the geneticist who gathered family history and talked to Chris and I about Down Syndrome. Jocelyn has a type of down syndrome that was not inherited meaning it was just a fluke chance. The chances for people in our age category is about 1 in 800 and goes up as you get older. If we decide to have more children the chances of this happening again is about 1 in 100. Again a fabulous doctor that truly cared about our family:) Next it was on to the Social Worker who wanted to check in on Chris and I to see how we were doing and make sure we had made all the connections that we wanted to with support groups, Regional Center, Early Start, etc. The Social workers at Childrens are such sweet people. Then we went to the next room where there was a Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist who looked at Jocelyn and gave us some excercises to do with her. Then on to the Ears, Nose and Throat Dr! They were happy to see that Jocelyn has open ear canals now and talked to us about some of the complications she may face with her Ears, Nose and Throat. She will be prone to gathering fluid in her ears, ear infections and hearing loss. So far so good! Next to the Pediatric Dentist. She will be seen at the dentist at childrens as her teeth come in! I am hoping to get Abby in with them too. The dentist said that sometimes they will see siblings of special needs children. As Jocelyn gets older she will see the cardiologist, Behavior Specialist and Opthomologist when we go to the clinic.

After all the doctors and specialists see Jocelyn they all meet up and develop a plan on what we need to do and when they will see us again. They will make referrals to Physical Therapists, cardiologists, etc. They will send us a letter on what they decide. Such a great way to practice medicine with this group of doctors all working together. It also relieves a lot of anxiety for me knowing that she is seeing the best doctors and nothing is getting missed! From what we gathered we are on track with everything and Jocelyn is doing well. There was a sweet volunteer in the waiting room who chatted with us and gave us a little gift from the San Diego Down Syndrome group.

We are so fortunate to live so close to such an amazing hospital that offers such wonderful services for our sweet Jocelyn.

2. Surgery for Mommy (CHECK, CHECK, CHECK...so glad it's done!)

Yesterday I had surgery. Ugh. It went fine. I had a dermoid cyst that had to be removed. It was a laproscopic procedure where they went in through my belly button with a camera and then removed it through two incisions in my belly. They ended up having to remove the ovary too. That's OK because I still have one more:) It was an outpatient procedure so I was home by yesterday afternoon. I am feeling OK. Very sore but hopefully in a week or so I will be back to chasing Abby and playing with Jocelyn on the floor!

Thank you to everyone for helping out with things!!!!!

3. Jocelyns Birth Certificate
Can't check this off yet. Still trying to get all the paperwork in order. Having a baby at home involves a crazy amount of paperwork to prove that she really is my baby and that I had her in Riverside County. Once we have all the documents we need Chris, my mom (since she witnessed the birth), Jocelyn and I will have to appear at the Riverside County Courthouse. Ohhhhh Sweet Jocelyn Rose we are learning so much from you:)

Monday, March 8, 2010

A poem


WELCOME TO HOLLAND
byEmily Perl Kingsley.


I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.



Sunday, March 7, 2010

Birthdays

This week we celebrated Daddy and Grandma Liz's Birthday! Abby really thinks that life is one big birthday party:) We got daddy some seeds for the vegetable garden that we are going to plant!
If you ask Abby when Daddy's birthday is she will say, "March 2nd"! Abby requested that we put a candle in Daddy's breakfast burrito to start the AM.

Grandma T and Mr. Ed had us over to celebrate Daddy's birthday. We had yummy ribs and played Wii bowling. This is Abby and Grandma T doing the, "Turkey Dance".



Grandma Liz also had a birthday this week. Abby loved singing happy birthday. Abby didn't quite understand the keeping a secret thing and would tell grandma liz that she got her a duck! Really it was a charm bracelet with a duck on it:) Grandma Liz adores Jocelyn. She held her while we had birthday dessert.

Tyty shares the same birthday as Daddy. We went to out to sushi to celebrate! It's a great place to bring kids because the have play area:)

After sushi dinner we got this great shot of all the big siblings with their baby sisters! Jocelyn(9 weeks), MacKenzie (2 weeks) Megan (7months)!


All the moms with their babies. So fun to have friends with little ones. These girls will have fun growing up together:)
Up next......Grandma T's Birthday!!!!







Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Jocelyn's First day of School!

Here is Jocelyn and her first teacher, Alli. Alli is so sweet to Jocelyn. She comes twice a week for an hour each time. We have been working on tummy time and tracking with her eyes. So much to learn when you are 8 weeks old:) So far she has straight A's and perfect attendance!

The Girls

Ok I know...the bow is a little big...but isn't it too cute on her? Jocelyn loves laying over her boppy pillow and looking around at whats going on. There is so much to see when you have Abby as a big sister!
This is big sister Abby, "nursing" her baby. She likes to nurse her baby while mommy is nursing her baby sister. Such a sweet little girl!

Wild Animal Park!

Abby, Jocelyn and I got to go to the Wild Animal Park TWO times this week. First we went with the Caudills and Grandma Liz and then over the weekend we went with Daddy. It's such a beautiful park. We are going to start trying to go more often:)
Daddy and Abby rode on the carousel.

Is this the cutest thing you have ever seen (besides Abby and Jocelyn)? He was born on Valentines day! He was learning to walk and kept slipping and falling in the mud.





Abby loves to feed the Lorakeets. She talks about them all the time because they remind her of her Aunt Mimi and Uncle Clay. While we were in Australia we saw and fed lots of Lorakeets.

Finally...Jocelyn woke up and Grandma Liz got to hold her!

A happy Mama with her favorite girls:)

Tyler, Flora, Grandma Liz and Abby. Poor Jocelyn and Megan didn't make the picture!!!


Great Grandma and Uncle Steve's Birthday

We went up to Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's House a while back and celebrated Great Great Grandma and Uncle Steve's Birthday!
Abby loves Great Grandma and Great Grandpa!

Jocelyn got to meet Great Grandpa and Great Grandma:)


Feeding the ducks at the pond is always fun when we visit. Hanging out withe Great Grandpa and Uncle Jerry!



Aunt Susie and RayRay:)




Abby loves RayRay!!! Aunt Susie and Rachel taught Abby to put her hands in the air and say "WEEEEE" when she is going down the hill in the golf cart. Now she does it in the car when we go down hills.
Thanks for a fun day French Family!