Rainy Day dress-up

Playing dress-up on a rainy day - a great way to spend the afternoon!

 And when dressing-up is over, it is always a good time to read an animal information book!  Fairies can read about animals too!!

Teddy Bear Picnic

This week the Grade One classes had their Teddy Bear picnic.  It was a beautiful day so it was great to just sit on the grass and enjoy some 'picnic-type' food.       

 And, of course, freezies for dessert!!

Jocelyn, the little chip monster, was in her element munching on chips and cheezies all afternoon!  Oh, to be the third child! "CHEESE!"

Birthday #2!



It was time for another birthday in the deWolde household with the youngest member celebrating her 2nd birthday!  Wow - I can't believe that it was already 2 years ago when she arrived, just in time for Christmas!  Here are a few shots of our day!

The morning pose - Happy Birthday peanut!

 

  As a good older sister and brother, Kendra and Owen were more than willing to help Jocelyn open her presents, read her cards and figure out her toys for her!

 I went with a 'Farmyard' theme for her cake as she loves anything with animals right now and the sounds they make.  (Thanks howdini.com for the tutorial!)

A fun day!  Now on to Christmas!!

Skating

In Grade one at ACS, the students go skating 10 times.  At this age most kids are just beginning to learn to skate and this provides them with the practice they need to really learn and succeed.  Kendra was very excited about 'another fun thing' that she gets to do being in Grade one!  She had a great time and by the end of the hour was skating without the helper bar.  It will be fun to see how she is skating by the end of the skating season.



Smile!!

Younger sister Jocelyn, however, did not think that being at the skating rink was so much fun.  So, she just decided to have a nap!!



Matching girls!

I love a good sale.  A few years ago, I found some material in the bargain bin at Fabricland and I thought it was very cute.  I had no idea what I would use it for but it was such a good price that I couldn't leave it there.  They were both end pieces so I didn't even really know how much I had of each.  Into the fabric tub it went!

Then, a few weeks ago I was cleaning out my fabric tub and I came across this material again.  I had also just seen a pattern for a girl's dress that I thought was very cute and looked very simple and easy to make.  A little cutting, a little sewing and 'voila', 2 spring / summer dresses for my girls!  I think they will look very cute on!  I would have liked to have taken a picture of the girls actually wearing them, but if you know my children at all, that was going to be more effort than it was worth!!  I'll have to wait until they actually are wearing them in warmer weather!!

The only thing that I would change would be to make the ribbon on the top out of the contrasting material.  Oh well - next time!!

Jocelyn is One!!!

Our little baby is now 1 year old!!!

It doesn't seem like that long ago that we welcomed our little tiny bundle into our family! It really is amazing how much growth and development happens in a little person's first year of life. We enjoyed a quiet day at home celebrating Jocelyn's first year, eating cupcakes, opening a few gifts. The 2 older kids were probably more excited than the birthday girl! What a precious gift she is to us!!

Playing in the ivy

On a beautiful fall day last week, I headed outside to trim all the crazy ivy that we have growing on the rocks in our backyard. I plunked Jocelyn down in the middle of it all and she had a great time pulling at all the leaves, climbing in the garbage can lid.

However, there then reached a time when she had had enough!! Time to go inside for a nap! Trimming the rest of the ivy will have to wait until later!

My little mover!

I thought maybe this time, with #3, I might get a calm child. Well, not so much!! Jocelyn has definitely figured out crawling and it moving very quickly all through the house. No more 'sitting nicely in one spot and playing while mommy gets stuff done'! Now, this week she has also figured out how to pull herself up on furniture. She's not so steady once she is up so her mother is a little nervous that she is going to fall over and konk her head on something! Oh well, she is generally still our happy little girl and we are so blessed to have her!

Just lookin' pretty cute in her party dress at Jordyn and John's wedding!

Giggles

Just for fun!

Bouncy fun!

Last week we pulled out the exersaucer for Jocelyn. She is getting old enough to hold up her head and is getting tired of laying on the floor. She loved it in there! I think it was a little overstimulating for her but that could have been the other 2 kids sitting around her making every toy move and make noise! We sure are loving our happy little girl!

Home sweet home

We are now home again from the hospital and Jocelyn is doing much better. We spent 3 nights there and came home on late Wednesday afternoon. Jocelyn received excellent care there but it sure is nice to be back in our own beds and to see that she is so much better than she was a few days ago. She still has a pretty good cough but her breathing is not nearly as laboured or "wet" sounding. She is getting back to being the happy healthy baby that we knew before!!! Here are a few photos from our hospital adventure.

One of the many nurses doing an assessment on Jocelyn.


Every few hours she received some medication through a nebulizer. She really didn't like this very much until one nurse said that she could have it with her soother in her mouth. This made life much better!

Sometimes she looked a little sad. . .

. . . but usually had a smile to follow!

Hospital stay

Right now this blog entry is coming to you via the computer in Jocelyn's hospital room. As per this time of year, kids with colds are pretty common and our 2 older kids each got one last week. (gotta be fair and make sure they each get the same!). So it was no surprise that Jocelyn began to get snotty and have some coughing too. However, with a 3 month old, this can quickly turn into something a little more serious. On Saturday her breathing began to get raspy and laboured and we decided to get her checked out. As all the clinics were already closed, I took her into emergency to get looked at. We were admitted over night and then released on Sunday afternoon because she was looking better. The little trickster had us fooled ! Monday morning she woke up much worse with lots of wheezing, raspy breathing and yucky, flemmy coughing, to the point where she was kinda scaring me. So, back to the hospital we went. They admitted her again and are watching her quite closely.

We are receiving great care here and we will for sure be here for another night yet. She is getting better but still has a lot of gunk in her lungs. Her official diagnosis is RSV and bronchiolitis. So far she has been a real trooper and has remained her happy little self. (I am managing to stay fairly stable too!) It has been a HUGE blessing that my mom was here to visit as she is able to be at home to care for the other two kids. That is a big stressor off of me!

I don't have my camera here with me or I would post a picture of her in her little 'cage crib' in the hospital! I will update this if anything else changes. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

The thumb

We seem to have another thumb-sucking child. It is ironic that in the past 3 weeks, I have finally been able to get the oldest child to stop sucking her thumb, only to have the youngest one start! However, I will not complain if it means that she will be as good a sleeper as her older sister was. We'll just have to break out the Barbie band-aides again when she is almost 5 to get her to quit!

More smiles!

Really, is there anything better to take a picture of!!

SMILE!

Almost 7 weeks old!

Jocelyn is now almost 7 weeks old and we are just loving her to pieces! She is smiling lots for us and starting to make all those cute "baby talk" kinda sounds. She is growing quickly and has already outgrown some of her newborn outfits! Here are a few pictures of our little "peanut"!


Okay, so not the happiest picture but you can at least see how big she is!

All that posing and picture taking was hard work - she was ready for a nap!

Promises

This Sunday, we had the privilege of having our new baby girl, Jocelyn, baptized. It was a chance for us as parents to make a promise to God and the rest of our church to raise Jocelyn to love and serve God. It was also a chance for us and our other children to have a visible reminder that Jocelyn is a child of God, a precious creation that God has sent to our family to love and care for. It was a wonderful day that we shared with our families and friends.

Jocelyn looking very cute in her baptism dress, made by Grandma. A family shot before heading off to church.

Pastor Nathan putting the sign and seal of baptism on Jocelyn.

Proud mom and dad!

Thanks Uncle Sid & Auntie Holly!

I just had to post this picture of Jocelyn. I received this outfit from her Uncle Sid and Auntie Holly and I just love it. It is super soft and is just perfect for December! (the booties were way too big and made her feet look giant size so they are just off to the side for now!)

After 1 week . . .

So, it has been a week since the arrival of little Jocelyn to our family and we are loving her! Here are a few shots of everyday life around our house this week:
Jocelyn posing for a picture in her playpen! Kendra and Owen admiring their new baby sister. I think this was the first time that Owen actually acknowledged that she was in the house! He wanted to give her a toy and didn't quite understand why she wasn't playing with it.

This is a very regular occurance: "Mom, can I hold her?" Kendra is loving being a big sister!

Giving Jocelyn her first bath at home. The kids love watching this!

Another good pose by Jocelyn, this time in her bouncy seat.

There is something just so relaxing and peacful about a house that is decorated for Christmas, the fireplace on, the weather chilly outside and a sleeping baby!

Okay, so this wasn't at home, but we did get a picture of Jocelyn with the big guy in red! This was at the kids' Christmas party at Kevin's work. The other 2 kids still wouldn't come anywhere near Santa!

And finally, today, Owen decided that he would pay a little more attention to the baby that seems to be sticking around!

So, just a few snapshots of life around the deWolde household this week. As you can see, we seem to be a little focused on a teeny little precious miracle!