Thanks, Nancy!

Thank you to our next-door-neighbor Nancy for taking these awesome photos of Joss! We love you - even if you threw a scary bear-doll on our balcony!

Joss update: She loves to say "baby" and "doggie"!

another month

Sorry to be so delinquent but here is a brief update. Joss is walking!! I have to get it on video. It is so cute and she is sure enjoying her mobility. I hate it that she falls so much though and am considering putting two diapers on at a time for some extra padding. Okay just kidding. Other than that she continues to astound us with her affection, babbling, and contagious laughter. Joss is also still extremely curious and stubborn (like her mom, but I like to think of it as being persistent). 11.5 months has gone by so quickly but I have tried to enjoy every single day with Jocelyn.

River at Kidspace



Naked naptime - it has been so hot lately!



Garfield Park with Dad



First time at the beach!



Hanging out with Grandma Covington. Check out her camo headband made by Gina!



Just having a good time at home



Happy 4th of July! She still only has two little bottom teeth. So cute.



Riding in her new wagon with cousin Abbie



Big kisses for Grandma Giron

Thank yous . . .

Thank you, Gwen, for visiting and watching Jocelyn! We had a great time!



Thank you, Eunnie and Robin, for helping out too! Robin, you should start a blog and I need a picture of you too.



Thank you, Julia, for snapping these candids! I love them.



And finally, thanks Mom and Dad for all your support too!

Where did the time go? 10 month old Joss

Wow I can't believe my last post was almost a month ago. I started working so being a full-time mommy is over for me. I am so glad I had all this time to spend with Jocelyn. We got to do so much fun stuff together: Disneyland, Seaworld, Garfield, Orange Grove and Lacy Parks, Kidspace, Arboretum, Paseo chalk festival, Souplantation (my new favorite restaurant - highchairs on wheels and special kid trays!), swimming in the pool, and of course fun playdates with her cute friends. So here's what Joss is up to these days. She is crawling like crazy, can cruise with her walker and on furniture, stands up and balances for up to around 10 seconds, and has even tried wiggling while balancing! She eats everything but the kitchen sink. Seriously, mealtime is over when we are tired of feeding her or there is nothing else left to eat. She is getting really affectionate and loves her stuffed animals. Hates the vacuum cleaner and other loud noises. She is getting more and more ticklish and has the cutest laugh. She refuses to take a bottle anymore and is slowly weaning herself. Finally, Joss is babbling like crazy and it is adorable. She is really growing up!

Check out this cute movie of Joss laughing. You can't see her laugh, but you sure can hear her!



Trying to escape from Daddy.



I love kissing her cheeks! I am going to be so sad when she loses all this chub. Some stranger today pinched her thighs. Twice. Kind of weird, but she seemed like a nice lady.



I finally let her play in the sand. She really seemed to like it. Of course I was grossed out when I wiped her down afterwards and the wetwipe turned brown.



Exploring Kidspace



Lacy Park with the Proctors. Joss just loves Eunnie, especially because she has a backpack full of treats!



Her hair is growing!



Peacock at the chalk festival



Peacock at the Arboretum. Trent even fed one out of his hand, but I don't think you are supposed to do that.



You are probably also not supposed to take the turtles from the lake, but Trent wanted to show one to Joss.



Souplantation with my old friend Araceli

Little Ham

Jocelyn is developing such a cute little personality! She smiles all the time, is crawling all over the place, and loves to stand up. She is starting to refuse being spoon-fed and enjoys feeding herself. She is learning how to wave, continues to wiggle while sitting and standing, and will sometimes slow down long enough to put her face near mine so I can kiss her. I can't wait until she learns how to kiss me back.

Here is Joss standing up under the table and loving every second of it.



Really hamming it up for the camera!



Huge smile! I need to get a picture of her new little teeth. The bottom two are coming in slowly.



Enjoying reading a book during potty time. :) I am trying "Elimination Communication." (Developed after observations of babies in other cultures who don't wear diapers.) I don't do it all the time, but basically I sit her on the potty when I am changing her diaper. (Don't you just hate it when your baby pees right after a diaper change?) So far she has peed in it 6 times, woohoo.



I love this picture! I love all that chub.

Joss is growing!

Jocelyn will be 9 months old this weekend and she is growing bigger, stronger, and cuter every day. Here are some updates. She got a new carseat which I love for many reasons: it is safe, PINK, and she falls asleep in it! A few times last week, I purposely would put her in, let her fall asleep, and then park under a tree and read a book. (Trent wishes he could have a cushiony carseat too!)



Joss can crawl and pull herself to standing. She has even figured out how to do her wiggle dance while standing up. I'll have to work on getting a video of that. Here she is playing with some buddies at Kidspace.



Petting goats at Disneyland . . .



. . . and riding the carousel too!



Jocelyn is really enjoying trying new foods, especially ones she can chew on and feed herself. This is a little bit of a problem because she has no teeth! But she loved trying watermelon.



Not the biggest fan of the pool, YET. Here she is giving the camera her Posh Spice pose. Hopefully she will learn to love it as much as her dad does. She does like it when Trent swims in the water and makes ridiculous dolphin noises though.



And finally, she loves to be the center of attention and is already learning how to charm the boys. :) Here she is with some of our Sunday School class.

wigglin'

I finally captured one of Jocelyn's cutest tricks yet - wigglin'! She is getting good at it and seems to understand what we mean when we ask her to wiggle. Please excuse the camera shaking - I was demonstrating!!

**Update: Today Robin, our neighbor and friend, watched Jocelyn for a little bit. She reported that every time she gave Jocelyn a Cheerio, she would do the wiggle dance while eating it. What a character!

A cornucopia of fun

Jocelyn is now 8 months old and I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is learning new things every day and so am I. Here is what life is like for Joss these days . . .

We get lots of Joss and mom quality time now that my schedule is a little lighter. It is so much fun!


Jocelyn seems to enjoy eating solid foods these days. Did I say eating? I mean spreading it all over her face and in her ears!


We get to go to the park and partake in one of Jocelyn's favorite pastimes - staring at all the older kids running around and having fun. She actually enjoys the swing, but hates to wear a hat. No sunburns for you Joss!



She loves to play and is much better at smiling for the camera now.


Playing with one of her favorite toys, her very own cell phone. :)

pondering. . .

I always feel like I have nothing to say when I blog, but I love reading updates on everyone else's blog. I am going to try harder to think of semi-interesting things to write about. I guess I'll just talk about what we all did today. Trent went mountain biking with a friend this morning and supposedly they rode uphill for three straight miles (I think Trent might embellish sometimes). What is true, however, is that Trent fell down at least five times and has scratches on his arms and legs. And he can't wait to go again! We watched conference on the internet which is always a challenge because sometimes it stops and we miss some of what is being said. We did see Trent's mom singing and that is always fun. I think my favorite speaker was Dallin H. Oaks.

I made two new recipes from Deceptively Delicious and they were both good. Even Trent approves. The sweet potato pancakes were a little bit sweeter and fluffier than regular pancakes and were excellent. Then I made peanut butter banana muffins with carrots being the super special secret ingredient. These were also great and I think I have already eaten six of them. At least they are made of whole wheat flour and have some nutritional value.

Other highlights from the day include sleeping in until 8:00 (thank you, Jocelyn!) and then taking another hour long nap in the afternoon. Joss and I went for a short walk and I am sad to say that it is still overcast. I am anxiously waiting for it to warm up enough to take Joss in the pool. I am afraid her belly is going to get too big for her new bathing suit. We also bought her a ladybug swim floating thing with a sunshade that I am dying to put her in. So that is our day in a nutshell. Yeah.

Happy Easter!

Pre-Easter dinner with Grandma & Grandpa Giron. Have you ever seen the ceiling of Buca Di Beppo's? You should check it out. Jocelyn loved it and spent most of dinner arching her back so she could just stare at all the stuff on the ceiling.



Thanks for my new ears, Uncle Phil! And Sarah!



Joss' first Easter egg hunt. She pretty much just played with the first toy she found and wasn't interested in much else. Her older cousin Abby (16 months) kept trying to steal her toys. It was pretty cute.



So cute



Our little bunny