Christmas Day at the Mince's

By the time we went to Cory's parents Jocelyn really understood that this stuff was for her.


With Aunt Kristy and the beautiful dress she gave J.

Playing with books from Nana

Apparently this computer was super fun looking even in the box.

Another toy that we enjoy just as much as J does. She thought and thinks it is the greatest!

Yes, we got presents too. Crazy how that happens! This is a Channel Islands hoodie. It is lined all through the hoodie and not just the hood. This is not too uncommon with men's clothing but apparently women are suppose to freeze. I have never found one like this. Until this Christmas (I got one too!)

There might be some love between these three. I am not quite sure.

Christmas Day at the Pulsiphers

I really thought all Jocelyn would be interested in would be the paper, however, she seemed to like seeing what was under the paper. I believe she attempted to play with every toy she got, and eat every article of clothing. Since we have so many pictures from both places I made them two posts. P.S. those of you who make fun picture collages, what do you use? I think that could be useful....

Pictures in no particular order.

Anne and Jocelyn with their cute onsies Aunt Becky got them (though breaking your elbow is no fun, it was fun having her in California with us!)
Cory and Sara looking their best for the camera.

She loves to have things in her mouth while playing, crawling really anything. This is part of the bag we put this toy in. What a goofy baby.
Her "big present" She loves it and so do we! (really though, its fun to play with.)
Opening presents with Dad.

Christmas Eve Jammies

One thing I love about Christmas time is all the traditions. I remember when we learned about traditions in elementary school and had to share a favorite. I was so excited to share our Christmas Eve traditions. Every Christmas Eve we have a fon due party and get to open two presents, a book (which my mom always seems to read before we get them that night) and jammies. It was especially fun this year because it was Jocelyn's first Christmas Eve and Cory's family came to join in the fun as well. I was too busy eating to get any pictures of the fon due party. But we got some cute pictures of J with her book and jammies!

What is a first Christmas post without a picture of a baby eating something the present was wrapped in? We all know its their favorite part....

All the kids (who were there) in their jammies. The fact they are all looking is a big win.

For some reason I chose the picture where Jocelyn and I both have a terminator eye. I might fix this later...

Ginger Bread Houses

Christmas is full of traditions for us. One such tradition is making a gigner bread house village But we don't use ginger bread. We use gram crackers. Once upon a time we all just made cute little houses, then we went a little crazy. Now the fun of each year is finding out what each person is going to try and make and if they will succeed in making it. This year Cory and Sara colaberated to make a carosel. Sara would make the carosel and Cory would make a moose for it. Yes a moose. I don't believe either was finished. But out little villiage has a nice sign with a moose face.








I would have had more pictures but I was busy making my row of town homes and taking care of Jocelyn. Rest assured it was a grand time as always.

I really am a Mom.

I have had people ask me when I really felt like a mom.

It wasn't at the hospital when I had her, not when we first held her or when we brought her home. Really, most of it seemed just kind of surreal. Of course I loved her instantly, but most of those moments are not the ones that got me. I think I can pin it down to three instances that really made me feel like a mom. Not just, "holy geeze, I am a mom", I guess I have thought that a lot but...times that make me feel the way I imagine my mom feels about me. Instances that make me feel I am not too inferior to join the ranks of motherhood with the likes of my own mother. Times where I know she knows I am her mom, and I love her.

One: The first time Jocelyn saw me come in to pick her up from the baby sitter and squealed with delight at the fact I was there.

Two: When she was sick with and crying because she had no idea why she hurt so much, and discovering I was crying too because I could do nothing to take her pain away and it hurt.

Three: Every time she crawls up to me, crying or happy and tugs on my pant leg for me to hold her. Not because she wants to be held, but because I am her mom.

Me. I am a mom. How crazy is that? I love her. And I love bing a mom.

Milestone

This one is for me. I put on my pre-pregnancy jeans the other day and for the first time they were not so tight that my hips hurt, and I could button them all the way! Now, I am not quite there as there was and still is some pudge, but I feel so much closer. Just had to share.

Rule

Isn't there some kind of rule that if you child waits until she is 9 months to crawl she should not try pulling up on things until at least 11 months? Apparently Jocelyn things crawling is just a means to an end. That end being walking. Silly child. Doesn't she know life is better on the ground where she cannot get things when I just pick them up and put them on the coffee table or book shelf?

9 Months

This little stinker is 9 months old. And look how chubby she is! At 6 months she was so skiny and long, and now she is starting to even out.

Length 28 inches 75%
Weight 19.13 50%

I am not the greatest of doing an every month post, but some highlights of the last three months are:

She has really begun to giggle. It takes soooooo much to get that cute giggle from her, but its a little easier now and I love it!

She is a completely social baby. She loves having other children around, and talks and talks and talks. Sometimes she just moves her mouth with no sound (its possible she is related to me)

She is still difficult when it comes to sleeping but she is a joy to get when she wakes up because she is always super happy. She loves to play peek-a-boo in her crib

She just started pushing her self into a sitting position

She is a complete and total ham. She could be screaming at me one second and then someone will walk into the room and she will be all smiles and giggles. Stinker

She just started really liking solids during Thanksgiving. Proof of that would be the post below with the chocolate muffin. She went from the baby who would gag at anything to the baby who will eat whatever you put in her mouth......might be helping the chubbiness along.

She has finally decided that, though she was getting very efficient at rolling everywhere, crawling (or at least army crawling) might be a good way to go. Now, most parents say that it is better to have an child who is not mobile. However, I think Cory and I could not be more thankful. Jocelyn did not appreciate immobility in any way. Now, not only can we put her down without her crying, she wants to be put down. I can make dinner with both my hands! Huzzah! Now if only she would not be in such a hurry to walk...

Some of the things she has struggled with in these last three months are- the stomach flu (heart breaking), another ear infection, sleeping (what else is new?), possible teeting (nothing yet so maybe I don't believe it....) and a month straight of congestion.

While I will honestly admit that it has not been the easiest and I am still longing for the day I do not have to struggle so much just to get her to sleep consistently, it has been a fun three months. And, while so many moms wish time would not fly and they could go back in time, I am perfectly fine where we are. Jocelyn is so much happier now and so much fun to be around as she discovers new things, I am really looking forward to these next three months!

One reason I love my In-Laws

Have I ever mentioned how I completely lucked out with my amazing In-Laws? They are so awesome I hate adding the "In-Law" part when I refer to them. They are the best. One amazing thing about them is how giving they are. They truly enjoy doing things for people.
Cory and I spent every Saturday while dating surfing, thanks to his Dad who is the best surf instructor ever. (really I think he should have his own school) Since we have been married he has slowly been converting my whole family to the glories of being out in the ocean with a board and riding the waves. He is so patient and good at figuring out how each person learns and really just enjoys teaching. This is rare as most surfers just want to catch a wave. This has created many wonderful memories for our family. One that particularly stands out being last New Years Eve day when he taught my nephew Christian. It was the best day ever and I am so glad we have that memory now as it was also our last surf day with Steve. I don't think we could have asked for a better day. (he might have wanted to be at a different beach with bigger waves though, ha)

Anyway, during Thanksgiving we (obviously) ventured out to the beach to surf. Though the waves were not the best, everyone was able to have a blast and I do believe we had a few more converts to surfing because of it. Due to the high demand for wet suites, I gave mine up for the day but vowed I will go out during Christmas. It was fun being together and watching Jocelyn enjoy the beach. Thank you David and Shelly for being so awesome and wonderful to my family!

I put Jocelyn on a towel and in a matter of seconds she was off exploring the sand. Some of which included shoving handfuls in her mouth then holding it shut so I could not get it out. Stinker.

Not long after being there I thought I would just see what Jocelyn thought of the cold water. (and I mean cold. Colder then usual this time of year) This water that usually leaves adults and kids alike running away from its chill just made Jocelyn even happier. She just splashed and kicked her feet every time a wave washed it onto her feet. I'm not going to lie, it makes me just a little bit happy that I have such a water baby. Just a little.
One of our newest converts to surfing is Sara. She loved it. To the others who were out too-sorry I did not get pictures.

Jocelyn decided that she wanted to eat everything everyone else ate that day. She discovered that if she would just lay her head in Sara's lap she would feed her to her hearts content. Chocolate muffin, yum!

This is a content heart, or tummy, with a chocolate covered face.

Now I know why my mom loved taking us to the beach. Not only is it the best place ever, but everyone sleeps well after!

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we decided to fly home for Thanksgiving. So when the rumors of the "blizzard of 2010" threatened to cancel our flight, I was just a little upset. However, it was luckily not as bad as it could have been and off to California we went .(by the way if you are wondering if flying was faster, we calculated that with having to get to the airport 3 hours early,transfers and LA holiday traffic we only saved maybe 2 hours and no sleep as Jocelyn missed both naps and did not sleep at all that night.) But, we did have a great time and Jocelyn loved spending time with her grandparents!

Jocelyn liked riding the moving sidewalk (anyone seen the seinfeld episode where they talk about having those as regular sidewalks?)
Playing with Nana and the books she got her. Nana knows Jocelyn well!

What is better then one Grandpa? Two Grandpas! Jocelyn loved all the attention she got.
Thanksgiving day with 2nd Cousin Sarah
Great Grandpa Bryce. I hear he is quite the baby charmer, there is no exception with Jocelyn!
How J passes the time when we are in the target parking lot without keys. Sitting in a box playing with her Christmas present. Yes I know it is not Christmas yet, but oh well.
I feel horrible and do not have a picture of Grandma Pulsipher (I will make sure to have several from Christmas!) However I have a picture of Jocelyn in the oh so cute dress Grandma made her for Thanksgiving. Thank you! She looked so cute!

Sneak Peak

This is for the Grandparents. And Aunt who are in California. Just a little peak of what you have coming your way this weekend.



*Note, she will only do this for those special items she is not suppose to have. Cell phones, cords, paper, computers..you get the picture.

Costume

Remember that post about time? Remember how I had no costume for Jocelyn? How apparently here in Utah I had to get it in August or else not a single store would have one? Well Cory, being the great Dad and Husband he is, decided to take it upon himself to make her costume. And make it he did. A few pieces of fleece, some pipe cleaners, burned hot glued fingers and abedazzling (yes he bedazzled her costume) later. We had a baby star!

Other Halloween fun.

A week or so after we went to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point, Aunt Kristy came to visit so we decided to go to He Haw Farms. Yes, He Haw. Say it and try to say it normally. Just try.
Jocelyn loved it and, consequently, so did we. I really thought she was too young but she proved me wrong.

Jocelyn loves animals. A lot. So going to a place where they actually came up to her instead of running away made her so excited she could hardly contain herself. She really loved when they ate food right out of her hand.



Then we went to the "Corn Box" like a sand box, with corn. I thought Jocelyn would just try and eat it, but she proved me wrong. She loved it! She sat and pushed it around and let it run through her fingers for about 10 minutes. She probably would have stayed longer, but we decided to move on.

Pardon the bad shot of me in this one. But I love how you can see her exploring the corn in it.

Love that face.



It wouldn't be a trip to a farm without some time on the tractor with Daddy.



All in all, it was a grand time and I am very excited to go back next year.

In for it.

Yesterday while trying to put Jocelyn's jacket on so we could leave the babysitters, she threw a perfect tantrum. Yelling, crying, and complete refusal to recognize me. Me, her mother, whom she normally gets all cute and excited to be with. She kept her little ignoring me game up the whole 40min we were at the grocery store and didn't break until we got home. Really, I was actually worried she might be sick because she was so melancholy.

Then we get home, she kind of picks up, but doesn't giggle or seem to care too much about anything. That is, until the members of the relief society come to welcome me into the ward. Then, surprise! She is all smiley, giggly, talkative, getting on her knees and acting like she wants to crawl (which she does not often do and you could tell she was doing it for them because they love it.) and full on being the worlds biggest show off to keep their attention.

Yes, my daughter is 8 months old and already a little drama queen. We are so in for it....

Time

I can honestly say I had NO IDEA how busy I would be working full time and being a mom. I am so blessed and glad that I am able to spend the time with my family that I do. However, sometimes, especially near holidays I wish I had just a little more time to do some other things I see other moms doing.

Decorating our home for Halloween or insert any other holiday.
Making costumes (since apparently you have to buy costumes in August....lame)
And since I have to know how to sew to make costumes...learn to sew...ugh
Making fun Halloween treats again insert other hollidays.
Getting family pictures done- who would have ever thought this would be so hard?
Getting to know other people so we have people to celebrate with! (new ward around the holidays. fun.)

I just don't feel like I am in the holiday spirit. We don't even officially have a costume for Jocelyn, let alone for us. How lame is that?
But, while I am a little sad I cannot seem to get any of these things done, I am grateful for the wonderful job I have been blessed with. It is because of my job we were able to have Jocelyn. Maybe someday I can figure out how to do it all.....

Fall Time Fun

While I am no big fan of winter or the idea of it getting increasingly closer, I do love fall time and the fun activities to go with it! Of course this year Cory and I were excited to take Jocelyn.

Last weekend we went to the petting zoo type place at Thanksgiving point. Jocelyn liked the animals. However, most of them knew that all she wanted to do was pull their ears so they just walked away.



This llama was the only one who thought it might be a good idea to be near her.


While playing with the animals was fun and all...the best part for baby J was when we put her on the grass to roll around.

I Love Him

I just wanted to let everyone know how much I love my husband. I love that we can be goofy together, and snuggle together, and cry together. He balances me out. He is perfect for me. Life is not easy, thank goodness I have him to help me laugh through it.

Dear Mr. Ferber

Can we be friends? Maybe even best friends? For the past 7.5 months I have not slept for more then 2 hours at a time. Lately no more then 15 minutes because "someone" apparently could not sleep unless I was holding her. And not just holding her, but holding her in the rocking chair. Ok so I have a yellow rocking chair and I love it....but not so much I want to attempt sleeping in it. I just might have been starting to go crazy at night. There might have been some tears, it has been rough.

I was a little hesitant to approach you, I kept thinking that maybe we could get along without you. But Cory said to suck it up and give you a chance. So I did. After one 10 minute stretch of crying and one more 40 minute stretch (checking in every 5 minutes per your instruction)...I believe I have come to know the awesomeness of you. Last night= no crying and a baby who slept for 10 hours! Can you believe that? 10 hours?

10 is a lot more then 2. And a whole lot more then 15 minutes. Thank you, my new best friend.

Food

Lately I have been in a food making, good recipe finding rut. For some reason I just could not think of many things to make. With the compination of ; no time, no energy and a VERY picky husband ( I know, I am picky too but believe me, he is picky) I come up blank when thinking of what ot cook

Well at one point I posted on Facebook for some help because I NEEDED new things to make. Cory may love having the menu of chicken and rice, spaghetti, enchilada casserole, leftovers and repeat for the rest of his life, but I just can't do it.(By the way, I absolutely love and adore my husband more than anything in the world. Hense the reason I try to make things he enjoys) After my post I received so much help and I have been so happy! So I decided to share some succeses I have had since then and some hopeful succeses.

My sister has opend my eyes to some wonderful food sites. To be honest, I think they all came through her...

If you have not heard of The Sisters Cafe, you should be happy now. There I have found some delicious recipes that even my oh so picky husband will eat. So far I tried:

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells- Cory devours these. While they are in no way the most healthy meal, I did substitute cottage chesse for half of the ricotta. I like it that way. I would also prefer half the ammount of cream cheese. I thought it was just a little rich. But delicious! (also a great two meals in one idea. Freeze the other half)

What i hope will be a success is : The Spinach Twist (without the mushrooms of course)
Personally, my mouth waters looking at this.

Thats to my friend Heathe I found this recipe on Picky Palate:

Chicken Tostada Upside Down Bake

So good! Cory of course said he liked it but it was not as good as enchilada casserole. But it still works. I did think it was a tad salty, and I love salt. So I would not put the garlic salt in the mix next time.

Another website from my sister allrecipes.com brought me these two:

Italian Green Bean Chicken

We were both shocked that we enjoyed it so much! I put it over whole wheat pasta.

Asparagus Chicken Fajitas

They sound funny, I know, but they are delicious. I usually do not put the corn in them because I forget. And I am not much of an onion fan so I put less. And, per the reviews, I just cooked the chicken with the marinade.

So there they are. Some of my favorite recipes. If you have some you want to share, please send them my way!

Dare I?

I consider myself not too easily rumpled in the feathers as far as things people may say to me as a mom. I am new to it, I have a lot to learn. I also feel that "to each his own." You do things the way they work for you and I will do the same. However, some do not quite feel that way. While looking at articles about the Similac recall I found this blog post. I thought, dare I? And, maybe I am feisty today but I decided I did dare.

Now I will say, I have not encountered many who have been so upfront with me. But I have dear friends who this has happened to and it makes me sad. And I also know how sad I was when I could no longer nurse my baby J, try as I might. I know that I am no less of a mother because I did not nurse her. So there you have it. I dared.

6 Months!

This darling little stinker is 6 months old today. 6 months ago our lives changed more then I could have ever imagined. We love her so dearly but after dealing with colic, constipation (multiple times,) sensitive tummy (with formula), double ear infection, another ear infection and then thrush..we sometimes find ourselves asking," How does anyone do this more then once?" Even so, we are glad we have one! She is so stinking cute! So here are some fun facts about our little Baby J, or as Cory has nick named her "Boo" ( he has not seen Monsters Inc. and won't watch it with me!)

• She screams, when happy and sad (you only know which one by her face)

• She loves to talk, or scream

• She loves the cats, and surprisingly they love her (probably because she can't chase them yet)

• She absolutely loves music. Especially when I do my warm ups.

• The minute you lay her on her back she will grab her feet, say side to side then roll onto her tummy.

• Then sometimes after playing a minute, or immediately, (usually immediately) gets mad and starts screaming. This is because she wants to move. And rolling is not an acceptable way apparently.

• More on moving, when she wants something while on her stomach she will do one of two things. 1) hold her arms and legs up (much in skydiving fashion) and hope she can somehow glide on her tummy to it. Or, 2) try to get on her knees but keep her arms down, which results in multiple face plants. She then gets mad and buries her face in the carpet. (I find this humorus)

• She is starting to get the sitting up thing, which would come sooner if she would practice, but apparently she feels it is quite overrated when compared to standing up.

• She always wants to stand. Always. If her feet come in contact with anything she plants them and locks her knees. This has made the jumper quite confusing to her. She pushes up then lockes her kness resulting in not much jumping.

I am sure there are so many more useless facts to share that really only grandparents read but it is late and I am tired. So , Happy 6 months Baby Boo! We love you!

Taking Time

If there is one thing I really do not feel I have right now it is time. But I did want to take a moment to document my experience this week so I can remind myself why it is important to do what we are asked by the Lord.

As a member of the LDS church we are often asked to serve in several ways. One of those is called visiting teaching. Essentially it is a way to make sure no one is ever without help or lost in the shuffle. The idea is great. But, as many may agree or know, it can be difficult sometimes. I have fallen into that group who has just kind of slacked in that part of my life. I have been busy. After Steve, having Jocelyn, working full time, trying to manage my house hold and help Cory I have barely had time to shower ( literally, I stunk this week.) Let alone go visit people. So I have let it slide. I just told myself that I would if I just had the time.

Well, earlier this week my visiting teaching companion finally cornered me and got me to go with her to visit teach. We planed to go the next day at 8. It just so happened that day was the absolute worst day for me. I had not slept well, I had made a mistake at work which really stressed me out, our house was a mess and I was trying to make dinner while putting Jocelyn to sleep as well. Cory also might have been just a little bit grumpy. I remembered I had to go just in time and left just wanting to get it out of the way.

In short, I am so glad my companion (who also happens to be my neighbor) cornered me and that I went. What I was hoping to be a 30 minute visit became 2 hours and I came home, not feeling stressed about time lost, but relieved that I was able to spend time with amazing women. While I went to see if I could help someone, they ended up helping me. And I also feel I gained a good friend out of it. I have not spoken more then a few words to my neighbor since she moved in because I have been so busy, but now I feel we could get along very well.

In the end, just another reminder that we are not asked to do these things just for fun. It truly does bring blessings and it just so happens that this time, I was the one who needed it. Thank goodness I took some time to do it.

Zion

Cory's Nana and Grandpa celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year and were kind enough to rent a beautiful cabin near Zion so the whole family could join. It was a very fun filled week with some games, hiking, good food, good company, hiking and a lot of fun. I do not have a lot of pictures but here is a run down of some of the things we did.

Jocelyn got a lot of play time in with Nana

And Cory got some play time in with his younger cousins
Jocelyn got to go to Zion for the second time in her short five and a half months of life.
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Before going to hike we stopped to eat lunch. Jocelyn thought even the thought of hiking was too tiring and crashed on this cushy chair


Those of us who could muster the strength to do so (some are a little scared of heights *cough* Cory *cough*) hiked Angel's Landing. If I see or hear switch backs anytime soon, I might cry. But the view was so beautiful! Good job to all who did it!

All in all we all had a great time. Here is to a great trip. Happy 50th Nana and Grandpa!