Swing Video

I took this video the other day of Jocelyn in her swing. She loves it! We swing in it almost every night (if it's not too hot of course). One night, she actually fell asleep in it. Enjoy!

First Camp Out

This past weekend, we went to Wilson Lake to go camping with my family. This was Jocelyn's first time sleeping in a tent. We left Friday afternoon and arrived about 3 hours later. The campsite was great. It had lots of shade and a nice breeze. My parent's friend Rick and Carol were also there. We went with our friends Lance, Kelly and Jake. My brother Chris and his girlfriend Bridget also met us there. Jocelyn swam all afternoon in her pool since it was rather warm. Later that evening, she went to sleep in her pack-n-play inside the tent. She didn't wake up once. She slept very well. Unfortunately, the next day it rained all day long. Luckily, my parents have a camper so Jocelyn could take naps and play to get out of the rain. Jocelyn tried lots of new food that weekend as well. She had a pancake and scrambled eggs. She even chewed on some beef jerky. It is fun to see her facial expressions when she tries something new. We came home on Sunday. We wished we could stay longer and go to the beach but we had to get back home. Hopefully next time, the weather will cooperate and we can make it down to the beach. Overall, she was definitely a happy camper.

Ear Tubes are Complete

Just thought I would send a quick note letting everyone know that Jocelyn's tubes went well. We arrived at the surgery center at 6:15. She had her procedure at 7:30. It was very quick, only 15 minutes. She didn't have to have an IV or anything. They made her sleepy with gas and so she woke up faster as well. When we went back to see her, she was upset and crying. You could tell she was confused and hungry. After a little lovin' with mom and dad, oh and a bottle, she was back to her happy self. We were home by 8:30. We kept her home from Sarah's that day because we weren't sure if she would get sick or not. She was a little fussy but getting better every hour. Hopefully this will cut down on the persistent ear infections.

(This is a picture of Baby J after we came home. She slept very hard that day.)

Carnival

On Saturday, Jocelyn, Grandma Vicki, and I went to the Down Syndrome Guild carnival. Jocelyn's Aunt Malindi, Uncle Sean and her cousins Jude and Olive also joined us. It was held at Shawnee Mission Park which is a great park with lots of trees and big shelter houses. They had 4 huge blow up bouncing, jumping toys, carnival games, Radio Disney and play sets. They also had clowns, a face painter and a balloon artist. While Jocelyn was a little too small to enjoy everything, I think she will definitely have a blast in a couple of years. We had lots of good snacks including cotton candy,snow cones and pop corn. Jocelyn was having such a great time that she slept for the first hour. However, her cousins did have a great time and were able to participate in all the events. After she woke up, we did have her face painted. She did pretty well until she become very curious and turned her head to see. Her flower sort of became a blob. It was very cute. On Sunday, we bought Jocelyn her first little pool. She enjoyed it a lot. She couldn't get enough. The water may have been a bit chilly though. She even blew bubbles a few times. She became a dare devil a couple of times. I can see that she will be a water baby soon.

8 Months Old and Ear Tubes!!!

Yes, it's true. Jocelyn has turned 8 months old. I know, I know, you are probably saying there is no way but it's true. She has really grown a lot this past month both size wise and developmentally. She is now sitting up completely independently as well as army crawling. Last night I caught her starting to play with this glass bowl in the TV cabinet. Our world as we know it has changed. We have to go through and baby-proof the house. It is funny; I will be in the kitchen doing something and I turn around and here she comes scooting into the kitchen. She is such a social baby and has to be where the action is. So, we went to the ENT yesterday for a follow up the fluid in her ears. They first did the tympanogram test and it again showed that there was fluid still back there in both. Then, after Dr. Thompson examined her ears, he said that the right ear was okay but the left ear had a great deal of puss behind it. So we are once again on an anti-biotic. We just finished Amoxicillin this week but it is not a very good axb for ear infections. We also decided that she needs to have tubes placed in her ears to allow the fluid to drain and prevent her from having persistent ear infections. This will also help with her hearing as well as speech. We are scheduled to have the surgery on Monday morning. It will only take about 20 minutes and she should have instant relief. While you never want to see your child have surgery, this will definitely be a blessing once it is all finished.

Down Syndrome Guild Breakfast

This past weekend, we went to the Down syndrome guild's breakfast. It as a chance for other parents of kids 0-2 to get together, talk and share stories. It was really a great chance to get to know other families and make some connections. There were two other girls there that caught our eye. One girl was born on the same day as Jocelyn and the other was born the day before. Both were pretty small for their ages. One has had quite a bit of feeding and respiratory issues. It was really interesting to meet all the other kids and really see how lucky we are that we have not had to deal with any real medical problems. I think Jocelyn was the biggest baby there. She may have even been bigger than the 15 month old. It was a great experience for us and good way to get our foot in the door. This weekend, we also went and played Frisbee golf. Jocelyn was a great sport. She was our caddie. She was such a good girl hanging out in her stroller. We were able to play 9 holes before she had enough. On Saturday evening, we had a BBQ at our house. Jocelyn was able to play with some more friends, Isabelle and Emma. Aubrey and Kayla came over as well. It was really neat seeing all the little girls running around here. It is funny to think that when we use to have BBQ, it was all about staying out late and partying. Now, all we did was talk about funny things that our kids have done or gave each other advice. Then, Sunday evening, Jocelyn went to her first softball game. I tried to explain to her that she will soon be pretty use to the ball field. She did great even though she slept through half of it.

This week's adventures

This past week has been a busy one for the Green family. Ever since we came back from Hays, Jocelyn has been dealing with the congestion which developed into a cough. She had a very fussy Sunday which is completely unlike Jocelyn. I took her to Dr. Mellick's office Tuesday to make sure were weren't dealing with yet another ear infection. She said that from what she could see, everything appeared okay. She thinks her allergic rhinnitis (aka runny nose) is now turned into a bacterial upper respiratory infection. So we are now on Amoxicillin. It is hard to say whether her crabby day was due to being overly tired, sick or cutting teeth. The bottom gums are getting a little swollen and white. Last weekend, Joce also got to hang out with her friends. We met our friends Rob and Cat's little girl Elodie. She is 5 months old; however Jocelyn's size. They had a good time hanging out Friday and Saturday night. Saturday night we went to our friends Chuck and Emily who recently had a baby, Aubrey. It was babies galore in that house. All the mom's sat inside with the babies talking shop while the dads stayed outside trying not to talk about their kids. However, I occasionally heard them swapping birthing stories. Tuesday evening, we went out to dinner with all the Green's. Joce's great uncle, Ned, was in town on business. We had dinner with Alex's Aunt and Uncle, Don and Roseanne and his cousin Chris and his wife Angela. They have a little girl Hayden who is 18 months. She is adorable and very much a performer. We had a good time getting together with everyone. As you can see, Jocelyn has quite the social calendar. I think this weekend we will try to keep it a little more laid back.