Getting Ready for Christmas

So I'm sure everyone has been just as busy as we have been getting ready for Christmas. This past month has just flown by. It started with Jocelyn's Grandma Vicki, (Oma) coming to stay for a week while Sarah, our day care provider went out of town. We had a great time shopping all day long. Well, my mom and I did. Jocelyn was a pretty good trooper and wasn't too annoyed while we shopped all day. I was able to get most of my shopping done since I took a couple of days off. We then celebrated Alex's birthday with dinner with all the grandparents. Jocelyn's cousin, Olive, also had her 2nd birthday party. That same day, our friends' Rob and Cat's little girl had her first birthday party, Elodie. Jocelyn was very popular attending two birthday parties in one day. By the end of the weekend, I think she was all partied out.
Lately, she is pulling up on anything in site. She can even pull herself up to the wall. We know it won't be long until she is moving on her own. She has also recently shown a big interest in her books.

(probably because she can actually see them now) In OT, we are now working on her feeding herself with spoon. I am really amazed how easily she is picking it up. She needs little assistance. We are only working on yogurt right now, but I think she is going to master it in no time. This picture I posted is of her one night feeding herself.
This past weekend was the Kansas City Down Syndrome Guild's Holiday party. There were LOTS of people there. We got some goodies and had a great breakfast. Jocelyn also got to sit on Santa's lap. She just sat there staring that him. No crying but no smile's either. I think she will definitely have a great time next year when she can run around and participate more.
We are getting things ready for Christmas week. We will be traveling to Hays for a couple days and then back to KC to hang out with the Green's. I'm not sure yet exactly what we are going to do with all of her new presents and toys, but I'm sure it will be fun letting her open her gifts. She has already ripped into one. I will be sure to post some pictures after the Holidays. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Sorry it has been almost two weeks since our last update. It was been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Jocelyn has been busy getting into everything. She can now pull herself up on almost anything she chooses. She is also starting to get around on the furniture. We recently had our family pictures taken. It was a lot of fun and I think they turned out pretty well. We went back to our friends at Portraits Today Studio.

Last week, we went to Hays to celebrate Thanksgiving. The food was excellent. Jocelyn greatly enjoyed the turkey, potatoes, green beans and corn. Most of all, she was all about the pumpkin pie. She couldn't get enough. The whole family came back into town to enjoy some time with the family. Both of my brothers and their families were there as well as Jocelyn's great aunt Jen and great uncle Gus with their two girls. Jocelyn spent a lot of time with her cousins. Jocelyn and Olive had matching clothes every day that we were there. They had matching dresses, sweaters and even their KU cheerleading outfits. They were so adorable. We had a great time with everyone but were glad to get home on Sunday for some much needed rest before the beginning of the week.

Getting over the crud

This past week was not a very fun one for Jocelyn. She came down with a little cold that left her completely snotty in the mornings. Every morning last week, her eyes were sealed shut from eye goobers. She never ran a fever which was good. She didn't really seem to let it bother her much. Since she was doing better by the weekend, she was able to go to her Uncle Sean and Aunt Malindi's house. She played all day long with Olive and Jude, her cousins, while Mom and Dad went to the KU game. Since it was pretty chilly and rainy outside, we didn't think it would be the best idea for her to go out. She had a good time playing with everyone. Other than that, we have just been hanging out at home lately. Jocelyn is now pulling herself up on anything she can find. The dishwasher, open cabinets, all the furniture (short or tall) and even people. She is pretty proud of herself too when she does it. She always has a big smile on her face, like "look at me!" This weekend we are finally taking some family pictures. I will post them online when we get them back on Saturday.

13 months, new teeth and IFSP

Well, we have had some new developments in our house hold in the past couple of weeks. Jocelyn now has three teeth. Her top one just popped through this past weekend. I think every once in a while I can hear her grinding those little teeth together. We recently started working a speech therapist. She has over 33 years of experience and works both in school and with kids in the home. Paula is very knowledgeable and of course just loves Jocelyn. We also met with our family service coordinator, Bev. She was very impressed and surprised how well Jocelyn is doing. She hasn't seen Jocelyn since she was 6 months old. We are going to continue with weekly OT and every other weeks PT and Speech therapy. Also, in the past couple of weeks, Jocelyn is able to pull herself up all by herself. She can pull herself up to stand up on almost all of our furniture. She has even started to cruise (walking along the furniture). Once she gets a little more strength in her lower legs and core, I think she will really start to move. Then, we will all be in trouble. As it is now, she is all over the place. Even though it has only been 2 weeks, Jocelyn pretty much keeps her glasses on at all times. I really think she has figured out how much clearer the world is with them on. She only snatches them off when she gets tired or bored (like riding in the car after she throws all of her toys down). It is really amazing to see all the changes that have occurred in just a small amount of time. It makes us really excited to see what is to come.

Happy Halloween!

As you know, it was a very busy weekend. While Jocelyn was born before Halloween last year, I would consider this to be her true first Halloween since she was only 2 weeks old last year. We spent the evening at my brother Sean's house in Baldwin with his family. We thought it would be more fun to go trick or treating with Jocelyn's cousins. Jocelyn dressed up as Baby Jayhawk for Halloween. (I know, surprise surprise) She was so adorable in her little costume. Her cousin Olive was a KU cheerleader. They were so cute together. So just after dark, we loaded the girls in the wagon and along with my nephew Jude, we all went trick or treating. It was a gorgeous night; not too cool and perfectly clear. Jocelyn got some candy but she was mainly just there for the ride. After we got home, she played for a little bit but then was pretty worn out. I am really looking forward to next year when she will be able to participate a little more. We have already started thinking of next year's costume

Oh and the last picture is Jocelyn wearing Alex's mullet wig. It was hilarious.

New Glasses!!!

Today we got Jocelyn's glasses today. You could tell she was a little taken back at first. The lady who was helping fit the glasses showed Jocelyn in herself in the mirror and all she kept doing was trying to grab it. She even smiled. Back at Sarah's she did a pretty good job keeping them on. She kind of goes in spurts. She will keep them on for awhile and play and other times they really irritate her and she tries to pull them off. Thankfully, they are indestructible. My biggest problem is the smudges on the lenses. They say it may take a week or so for her to get use to them. Hopefully it's sooner than later. Here are some pictures that I took tonight. Enjoy!

Step Up For Down Syndrome Walk

This past Saturday we participated in our first Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk. As many of you know, we have been fundraising for this amazing cause since June. We had team of about 35 family, friends and co-workers. When people registered for the walk, they received a t-shirt. On the back of our t-shirts was our team name, Jocey's Jaywalkers. It was a really neat idea which really personalized the event. All together, there was roughly 7,000 people that showed up at Arrowhead Stadium for the walk. Our donations goal was $2,000 but thanks to all the support we received, we broke our goal and raised $2,330. Thankfully, mother nature was kind enough to stop the rain for the day and make it a beautiful sunny day. They had food, rock climbing walls, horses, moon bounces and lots of performances. There was a large area for everyone to set up their awning for their camp site. This being our first year, we weren't exactly sure what to expect or to bring. So next year, we are planning on bringing more chairs, tables, breakfast and really make it comfortable for our team. It was really neat to see so many people there out to support our daughter and other people with Down syndrome. Around 12 o'clock, all the teams lined up for the one-mile walk around the parking lot. It was kicked off by the Chief's offensive linemen. The walk was a great time to talk and laugh with everyone. We brought Jocelyn's wagon so she and Olive could ride together. She really enjoyed her wagon ride, maybe too much, she actually fell asleep half way through. After the walk, we invited some people back to the house to watch KU play football. While we had a great day, they did not. But Jocelyn still got to wear her new cheerleading outfit and cheer them on. It was a great day and we are all ready getting prepared for next year. Hopefully we will have more walkers and will be able to raise more money. He are some pictures from the day.