New Accomplishments!

Thankfully, Jocelyn is feeling better, recovering from her ear infection. Her parents are relieved that the struggle of giving her medicine is over. I pray that she doesn't need antibiotics again for a LONG time! Her tooth is popping out even more and will probably make her even cuter-if that is even possible.. when we can see it when she smiles! She can now roll from belly to back as well as she can back to belly, so she rolls across the room sometimes- occasionally running into walls and furniture! She is also getting stronger and can stand holding onto furniture and can sit by herself for long periods of time- I still have to spot her or put her back against furniture if I walk away because she will fall over eventually. This last week, she is starting to resist her naps again. She is sooo tired, rubbing her eyes and needs to sleep, but will scream at me while I try to rock her to sleep. I will admit, Jocelyn and I BOTH had a couple of meltdowns this weekend while trying to get her to sleep. Every once and awhile she will just cry for a minute or will curl up on my lap and go right to sleep. I am so thankful for those times! When Levon tries to rock her she straightens her whole body up and yells and he gives up after about 2 minutes! Usually, Levon is the patient one out of the 2 of us... not when it comes to that!





Our big girl is also drinking from a sippy cup now! She would drink water all day long if I let her and wants a sip of everything we are drinking. I've let her try 100% juice and she makes a face and gags. In fact, she gags when I give her any fruit babyfood. On the other hand, she loves the vegetable ones! I'm happy with that! Of course, she still nurses for her primary nutrition!

Check out her cool Purdue sippy cup! Her grandpa got her a Purdue cheerleader outfit recently, but it won't fit her until she is 2. I can't wait!



Jocelyn got to visit with her girlfriend Ella last weekend. Below is a picture of them together. Ella is 3 months older and is crawling everywhere and starting to talk!! I can't believe Jocelyn is going to be doing all of that soon! In just a couple of days we will find out what Katie is having! We suspect it is a girl! We can't wait! We also can't wait for baby girl Rice to be born in just 3 months! God is blessing Jocelyn with so many new friends!!




For Jocelyn's first Easter, we went to church and then to Grandma and Grandpa Gray's for a visit. Nana got her a Hello Kitty Easter basket with some toy keys and a cross inside. She looked so precious in her dress and matching bonnet.



Here is our sweet girl holding her first Easter card from Great-Grandma in Florida with her Easter basket next to her



Jocelyn is going through what is hopefully just a stage where she is really out of sorts and not herself (very grouchy) at new places. She is to the age when stranger anxiety sometimes kicks in and she just isn't as playful and fun when we go somewhere else. Then, we get home and she is just as happy as can be, rolling around, laughing, and smiling. Either she just likes to be at her home like her mom, or it's just a stage, we aren't sure! Anyways, we love having visitors at our house so anyone who wants to see the "true" Jocelyn, please come visit us! We are almost always available!!!

Sick Girl

What a week! First I decided to take on a project of taking down the border and painting the kitchen all by myself (since Levon refuses to help-he hates painting more than anything). People may think that I have all of this time on my hands but it is really hard to get anything done with a 6 month old yelling at you the entire time! I think she is frustrated because she can't get around yet on her own so she has been a little high-maintenance! Anyways, I had to start and stop my project a hundred times to tend to her and it took me 5 days to finish! At one point, I got so desperate that I put Jocelyn in her walker and put her out back with the dogs while I worked on the kitchen! It sounds crazy but I could still see her and she was instantly happy as you can see from the pictures! One time when I looked out, she had Reagan's cheeks tightly in her fists trying to pull her close to put Reagan's nose in her mouth! I always knew they would be good with her, but I have to say I am very impressed! She just beams when she sees them.

Tuesday night Jocelyn was up several times just screaming when I tried to nurse her or put her down flat. I knew right away that she probably had an ear infection because the same thing happened with my friend, Haley's baby, Ella, a few months ago. I took her to the doctor the next moring and he confirmed that she did indeed have an ear infection. He said that she should sleep at an angle since it hurts to be flat on her back. He suggested that she sleep strapped in her carseat in her crib. I just nodded my head while thinking, "Yeah, right!" So that night Levon made us an angle out of blankets and pillows on our bed and it worked great! She slept wonderfully! I'm sure the Tylenol helped too. Here is a picture of Jocelyn on Daddy's creation sleeping in Thursday morning.

And here she is giving me a look after I had to force the medicine in her mouth. Notice the bib with all of the medicine that she spits back out on it. It actually takes me FOREVER to get her to drink it. It's even the yummy pink stuff! She acts like I'm torturing her. I hate it and I have to do it for 8 more days. Poor baby!

While at the doctor, we found out that she now weighs 19 lbs. 6 oz. She is sooo heavy! I should know since I carry her all the time. I can't believe I don't have huge arm muscles by now. We also discovered that her first tooth is starting to pop out! Her bottom middle left-a little sharp thing right now! She has some more new accomplishments, but I better save that for later.. I have a squirming, complaining child on my lap now!

Cribs are for sleeping? What?!

Yes, our spoiled little girl doesn't sleep in her crib. Mimi (Grandma Connie) laughs at this since she paid quite a bit for Jocelyn's pretty crib bedding. Jocelyn loves to roll around in there, reaching for and chewing on her toys and looking at the butterflies on the crib bumper. She is such a happy little thing! Sometimes I see other babies her age and they just don't seem to smile and play as much as she does! I'm so grateful that I get to be with her all of the time, enjoying her and not missing a thing!

These days Jocelyn has been smiling and hiding her face when she meets new people. Maybe she will be bashful, or she may realize how cute she looks when she does it! She has this stuffed frog that plays music and turns it's head side to side, which Jocelyn loves. When I hold it up and make it turn on, Jocelyn hides her face from it and then looks at me and smiles so sweetly. I think she thinks it is a real person since it moves! She doesn't do that to any of her other stuffed animals!




Here is our other sweet girl, Reagan, taking a break from playing in the snow to look through the window at us!





Jocelyn is finding it so funny to be naked lately! As soon as I take off her clothes, she starts laughing! Cold hands or kisses on her belly are extra hilarious to her! After a few minutes of playing, I put her clothes on her and she starts to complain. I can't wait until it is warmer so I can dress her in less and let her roll around and be the happy little naked girl that she wants to be! The few warm days that we have had were great. We went on walks and hung out with the dogs. Jocelyn LOVES being outside. Levon can't wait for it to get warmer so he can go fishing and for Jocelyn to get bigger so she can go too. It won't be too long.. she's getting big so fast!

Hanging Out With The Cousins

Jocelyn loves to hang out with Grace, Luke, and Anteneh! They make her smile so much! Grace and Jocelyn already have a bond-they both light up when they see each other! She is taking after Grace in a lot of ways, like her growth rates and some people think they look alike. I think they will be good buddies!







Jocelyn does this new thing now where she pulls our plates to her mouth and leans down for a bite!! We have to really watch her because she wants to eat EVERYTHING! She will eat baby food somewhat.. but would much rather have what we are eating! I give her bites of potato, applesauce, and other soft foods and she absolutely loves drinking water. She actually drinks pretty well out of a glass, taking sips! She wants to be a big girl so bad!