Big Night Out

So last Saturday night, Alex and I went out by ourselves for the first time since baby J was born. One of our good friends was celebrating his 30th birthday. Jocelyn stayed with Grandma Vicki and Papa Tom. This was her first evening without us as well. She did great, from what I hear. They went to my brother's house in Baldwin City to hang out with her cousins. Her and her cousins get along so well. They just love all over her. I can't wait until she gets a little older so that she and Olive (her cousin that is only 10 months older) can run around and cause trouble. I have a feeling that we will have our hands full. I was worried how Jocelyn would do getting ready for bed since she wasn't with us, but she didn't have any trouble. She even slept all night long, which was really nice for Mom . ;-)

Her Routine

It is amazing how babies can begin to get into their routine at such a young age. While she doesn't necessarily take naps at the same time each day, she usually has her eating times down. Like a nice alarm clock, we have been getting up anywhere between 4:30 to 6 every morning. She usually nurses and takes a bottle then goes back to sleep while I'm left looking at the clock wondering if I should just get up or try to take advantage of 15 more minutes of sleep. Throughout her day, she spends it mostly with Sarah. Sarah grew up with my sister-in-law, Malindi, and her family. She runs a daycare out of her house. It is so nice having quality daycare with someone that you actually know. Sarah currently watches 4 other little girls that range in ages 9 months to 2 years old. All the little girls love Jocelyn. After I pick her up, it's usually time to eat again. Then we play for about an hour. She usually takes a power nap the middle part of the evening. We take a bath about 9 or so and then its usually time for the last feeding. Most nights she is asleep in her bed by 10. She is such a great sleeper. Once she is asleep, it is usually for the rest of the night. She is such a big girl now that she is sleeping in her own crib all by herself. It was definitely time though, she is all over the place in that crib. That is usually our typical routine. The weekends tend to through it off some but she is a trooper and is able to adapt pretty well.

What a difference a few months makes

Looking back at her pics from the day she was born to the present, it is amazing to see how much she has changed. It is hard to remember how tiny she was when she was born. Here are some of the pictures put together so you can see the difference too.

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4 Month Check Up

This week, Jocelyn had her 4 month well child exam. For the first time, we actually got to see our own Pediatrician, Dr. Mellick. Jocelyn is doing great and growing like crazy. She currently weighs 15lbs. which is in the 76% for typical kids. She is 25.8in tall, which is in the 92% for typical kids. Both of these are completely off the charts for kids with Down's. Her exam checked out great. She doesn't have any lingering symptoms from when she was sick. She also had the unpleasant experience of getting her shots. She took them like a champ. She did great, only a few tears. She is also right on track developmentally. She is rolling over from tummy to back and getting good at holding her head up. We are working on sitting up and rolling over more. I think that our OT is really helping a great deal. So we are good to go for another couple of months and don't need to go back until she is 6 months old.

A Not So Fun 10 Days

About two weeks ago, we finally experienced Jocelyn's first illness. Up until then, she hadn't had so much as a cough, Jocelyn and I went to Hays on our own for a weekend. She did great by the way in car. Perfect angel. Friday night she started becoming very congested and then over the weekend, she started coughing more. By Monday, she was pretty miserable. We went to the doctor to make sure that her lungs sounded okay, along with her ears. She was doing okay that day but by Tuesday, her breathing became much more labored. We went back to the doctor and they were thinking that she may have RSV. It is a virus that many kids get at sometime but the younger they are when they get it, the more serious it can be. Many kids become hospitalized with it. So, they gave her a nebulizer (breathing treatment machine). We were doing treatments about every 4 hours to help her breath. There were a few occasions when we couldn't get her to stop coughing a calm down and were very close to going to the ER. But after about 9 to 10 days, she started coming around. Then one day, she was just fine. But thankfully, throughout it all, she was still her happy, go lucky self. One of my big concerns why she was sick was that she didn't want to take the bottle anymore. All she wanted to do was nurse; and that wasn't cutting it nutritionally. But she actually gained an ounce during it all. We were very lucky that she made a full recovery and did not have to spend any time in the hospital.