My Sweet Husband

I love this picture of my very manly-hunting, fishing, weightlifting-husband, snuggled up for a nap with Jocelyn's soft and fuzzy pink blanket!

Trip to the Zoo

Did you ever think bats could be this cute?

Jocelyn had a fun first trip to the zoo with her parents and the Lene family. Jocelyn especially enjoyed the red birds in the new Amazonia section and the giraffe, otters, and monkeys.

The otter tunnel was so neat. We could have stayed in there all day! We felt like we were swimming under water with them. They swam right up to our faces and sat on our heads! It was awesome.

See the giraffe in the background? It was the only animal that didn't make Daddy think about hunting. Isn't that sad?

Katie and Jon...old, but new friends! They have the sweetest little boy ever, Mitchell.

We love hanging out with them!

1st Birthday Girl!

We have so many people in our lives who are close to us and love Jocelyn, that we decided to have 2 parties...one with friends, cake and ice cream and the next with family for lunch. The friend party was Saturday night!

The first guest and present arrived and someone was starting to get EXCITED!

...but became very bashful when everyone was singing Happy Birthday! She is trying to hide!

She finally got to dig in!

So proud to be her parents...and so amazed that she is already one!

Mommy had to keep her focused on her present opening!

Here are some of our friends who came to celebrate! The men were outside playing cornhole, of course!

On Sunday, we had the family party. Look at the cute cake that Aunt Brooke made for Jocelyn with the sweet little duckie candle!

The Birthday Girl!

Grandparents came from Vincennes to celebrate!

4 Generations!

Cool princess car from Grandpa and Grandma Sharon! It plays a ton of songs and you can sit on it!! Jocelyn's dream come true!

And her biggest present of all... a playhouse of her very own from Nana and Papaw and family! She loves to peek through the windows, ring the doorbell, and stick her arm through the mailbox ..she thinks that is hilarious!

Loving it!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOCELYN!

A Look Back

As we approach Jocelyn's first birthday, which consists of a busy weekend of parties, I am doing a lot of reflecting on the last year. It is so amazing the amount of growth that is squeezed into one short year!

Gracie holding her new baby cousin...

Everyone said from the moment of her birth (literally...it was the first thing the Dr. said after pulling her out) that she looks just like Levon. Honestly, I didn't see it when she was this small. There is no denying it now though! She is definetly a little Levon!

2 new members of the family! God is good!

She was only about 1 week old in this shot. I would just sit there with the camera ready in one hand with her in the other arm, waiting for her to smile! I don't believe for a minute that this was due to gas! Levon and I love this picture.

She would sit in her bouncy seat for such a long time, just so content. I have way too many pictures with this yellow and white duckie/lamb background! Speaking of pictures...I averaged about 100 pictures a month of Jocelyn! And I developed almost all of them. I have tons of albums in her room....It's becoming an addiction I can't control. Seriously, how could I delete that sweet face?

This was the perfect shot for our Christmas card last year. Levon loved to brag that she was smiling at him!

We learned so much this year becoming parents for the first time. I managed to narrow it down to some lessons that really stick out in my mind:

• God is an amazing creator and provider. He answers prayers, calms our worries, and feels closer to us than ever each day that we experience this precious gift given to us.
• Having patience with our own child is SO much easier than with other people’s kids!
• Everything we thought we would never do is exactly what we are doing with our own baby!
• You have to come to a point when you don’t care what other people think; you just have to do what’s best for your family.
• There is NOTHING worse than driving with a screaming baby!
• When they are sick in the middle of the night, you are so conveniently given a burst of energy out of nowhere to take care of them.
• Privacy just isn’t an option anymore!
• People have much worse potty mouths than we thought ...or we just notice them more now.
• People who never seemed to be much of “baby-people” become sucked in by her charm!
• No other baby is quite as beautiful as your own.
• Daydreaming about the future…Disney World, softball games, vacations, Christmas… has become our favorite past time.
• Dangerous scenarios can consume your every thought if you let them. Parenthood makes the world look like a much scarier place.
• Small children have no concept of germs. Flip flops and hairballs must be tasty!
• It is never okay to feed children junk without asking the parents first! Or without clean hands!
• Doctors give you their opinions on childrearing along with their medical advice… you have to filter it out sometimes.
• Jocelyn is much more musically inclined than either of her parents.
• Babies are like puppies…they chew everything!
• Each new thing she learns is absolutely thrilling…we want to tell everyone!
• She is growing up so fast, but it only becomes more fun!
• Happiness is this: receiving slobbery kisses, waking up to sleepy smiles, hearing mama and dada with arms reaching out for us, uncontrollable giggles, and knowing that God made this child especially for us and we have the opportunity to give her the kind of life that would honor Him.

A Glimpse into My Joy

Levon and I can't believe that we are the same people who once said that I would never be a stay-at-home mom. Our view on the value of that role has changed drastically since having Jocelyn. Of course we now believe that the best place for Jocelyn is with her Mommy and we are so thankful to God for allowing that to be possible.

I can't believe that she is turning 1 in a week! The year has flown by, yet I can't even imagine what our life was like before her.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalms 127:3-5

sleepy and sweet before church one morning :)

Jocelyn holding 1 week old Lily for the first time. She got VERY upset when I took Lily away!

How cute is this picture of Lily on the way home from the hospital? I love it!

Jocelyn is playing in her crib with her stuffed animals. Yes, that's a pool in her room!

One more glimpse....I love her so much!

Hail to the Old Gold and Black

We visited Grandparents in Vincennes and if you know our family, you know that means put on your best Purdue gear! My Dad has a huge Purdue Pete tattoo on his leg if your wondering how much school spirit the Chapin's have! Of course, we had to take some family pictures of Dad with all his grandchildren. Jocelyn already fits in her size 2T cheerleading uniform!



Jocelyn has these Purdue alumni in her family: Mom, Dad, Aunt, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa, and Great-Uncle. Do you think she'll have some pressure to go to Purdue?



We ventured out to explore around the pine trees in Grandpa's backyard.








Jocelyn is examining some funny poolside garden creatures!


She is finally learning to go DOWN stairs. She mastered going UP at 8 months! These 2 steps inside were perfect for practicing on her own.

Jocelyn has been growing a great deal in communication lately! She can identify eye, ear, nose, mouth, belly, and hair and is trying to say, "eye," "fish," and "ball."
We can tell her to do something, like "Get the phone off the floor and bring it to Mommy." and she'll do it! It's amazing to us that she is understanding so much more!!!

Lily Jean

After a long and hard day that ended in an emergency c-section, Katie and Kelley finally welcomed their little girl into the world. Praise God that Lily Jean and her mommy are both healthy and happy! Katie says she just wants to stay in this moment forever and that she can't stop staring at her. If that doesn't describe new Mommy bliss, I don't know what does!

Jocelyn finally got to meet her new friend that we have been telling her about for so many months! The name was kept a secret until the birth, but I have said all along that it would be Lily!

"Hurry up and grow bigger so we can play."

She is a perfect combination of her parents! Isn't it amazing how God does that!?

The new Aunt (who is due in early November) and the excited friends!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend of fun times with friends! Daddy got to go fishing and hunting and Mommy and Joce spent a ton of time with girlfriends, plus we had some family time together!



Haley and Ella were in town! We have been taking pictures of these girls together since Jocelyn was a newborn in the hospital. Finally, we took a picture of the four of us!


On Saturday we went over for a visit. Ella was super excited to see Jocelyn and gave her lots of hugs. Ella and her parents gave Jocelyn this monkey and a sweet book for her birthday since they won't be able to make it for her party later this month. Jocelyn loves it and already goes to get it when I say, "Go get your monkey!" We also got to visit with them on Sunday when Haley's parents had a cookout.





Next, we stopped by The Lambert's to see our miserably pregnant friend Katie who is due Friday! She was trying to relax by the pool and get her mind off the fact that she wants her baby girl to come RIGHT NOW! Jocelyn is checking out Katie's belly and listenting to Katie say, "Tell your friend to come!"


Saturday night, Jason, Megan, and Drew came by for a visit. Jocelyn is extremely into books and being read to ever since we got new board books handed down from her cousins. Look how sweet to see Bigg Cat reading to Jocelyn! In this book, you stick your fingers through the holes to make the insects' legs move!


On Labor Day, we went to the river bank to fry some fish and play in the water.

Here we are on the boat ride over to the other side of the river. It was a windy ride, so I couldn't get her to look!



She was mesmorized by the waves breaking around her feet! Of course, Mommy couldn't stop taking pictures!

"Look, Mom! I found a stick!"




"Uh Oh! It broke."



"I'll try to put it back together."



"I wrote you a message in the sand, Daddy! Okay, Mommy helped!"









"eewww, what IS this stuff?"



"I'll just wash it off."


Holding onto Daddy's toe for support



"Look over there, Daddy! I see a boat."



Fun in the water with Daddy

Also, over the weekend, Jocelyn peed on the potty twice! I know she is only 11 months old, and I am not trying to potty train her before she is ready. I just know that she needs to go in the morning when she wakes up so I put her up there just to see. I made a shhh noise and she did it! I figure it can't hurt for her to start associating going with sitting on the toilet! She acts proud of herself too. She smiles so big when I sit her on there and she tries to go so maybe she will catch on early!