Blog Posts to Come

This past April, I have had the best blogging stats in the history of my blog. I am so excited! The last time I had a month this good was over a year ago and I posted something sort of political and I ended up with a lot of first time readers and trolls, so I’ve never really counted it and I’ve always wondered if people cared enough about my little meanderings to ever match/beat that one political post. And the answer is YES!

Thank you, readers!

I just wanted to give you a sneak peak on some posts to come (can’t promise when, but this is what I am working on).

• My terrifying encounter with a rotating door.
• The first sighting of my ghost cat!
• My demands as a diva
• A super fantastic beauty secret to clear skin—I wish I knew this when I was 12, but I am still glad to know it at 30!
• Why people who blog are happier
• More details on Jocelyn’s adoption than I have shared before
• A small excerpt from my most recent novel
• A tutorial on how to make cute, customized clipboards—I did this for teacher appreciation.
• An ode to my husband—he is fantastic all around, but he is a really, really sweet dad.
• Some fun Joci anecdotes.
• And probably more adoption planning stuff (7 weeks!)
• Something special for the 5-year anniversary of Pocket Full of Prose

So thanks again for all your support, for reading regularly, for following the blog, for sharing it with your friends, and your comments. MWAH!

I Feel Like I Peaked at My Christmas Present - Squee!

Our baby! Look at that delicate nose and that awesome chin! I am so jealous. I have a lousy chin.

Baby Names from the Vault

Less than eight weeks to go until the due date! (I don't want to say "my" due date because that sounds weird and I don't want to simply say "her" due date because it's a little bit mine, I feel. So "the" due date will have to suffice.)

We're still working on names. It won't be settled until the ink is on the paper. I decided to go to the good ol' family tree for inspiration. Justin and I do a bit of genealogy occasionally. And lucky for us, we both have family members somewhere who have done a lot because both of us have lines that go back into the BC years.

I hopped onto new.familysearch.org and took a peek at both our family trees and wrote down all the names I like.

There were the expected names:
Sarah
Emily
Elizabeth
Helen
Rachel
May
Catherine (available in many various spellings!)
Marie

Some names that seem a lot more modern than they are (I was often surprised how old these names were - Hillary was from the 1500's):
Isla
Madeleine
Annekka
Nicole
Christina
Katrina
Alicia
Clarissa
Diana
Hillary
Jacqueline
Isabel/Isabella
Annabelle
Matilda
Abigail
Amanda
Lucy

And a few gems that I really, really like:
Veronica
Vera
Charlotte
Eve
Lilly
Clara
Lydia
Stella
Nora
Julia
Cora
Mariah
Lorraine

And a few names that were so...unique...I just had to share them, even though I would never consider them in a thousand years. (I apologize to all my kindred dead for poking fun at your names. It's a cultural thing. Nothing personal.):
Hextilda
Myorg
Kunigunda
Mehitable
Ethalreda
Winithar


Can you tell I am having fun with this?




P.S. Anyone can sign up for an account with new.familysearch.org. It's free. And it's really fun to find out who your ancestors are. Go for it!

Joci's First Haircut

We thought our little lady might enjoy a haircut to celebrate her graduation from toddlerhood into preschoolhood.


We took her to a real salon - The Defining Line Salon - for a real cut. She said she was scared when I sat her in the chair but she got over it fast. She got to wear a "big bib" as she called it and Shauna the stylist cut her hair. Joci was wiggly, but didn't cry or freak out ever. We decided to give her a stacked A-line bob. How many three-year-olds rock an actual style? Mine, for one. :)

Like a dorky mom, I swiped some hair remnants for Joci's baby book and to send to her birth mom. 

Joci cooperated a little bit better when Mom stepped out of sight and another stylist Grayce helped coax Joci into holding her head just right. Today Joci is still talking about laying on Grayce's arm. 

Shauna was so sweet and patient. Joci still talks about how Shauna gave her a haircut. 

Ta-da!

Enjoying her new hair in the breeze. 

The haircut is so cute it almost - ALMOST - distracts you from watching Joci pick a wedgie. :)

At home we curled the ends under a bit. 

Joci is proud of her cut and talks about her experience a lot. She seems to love and we think it seems to fit her spunky personality!



P.S. I also have to say that I loved that my husband was so excited to "tag along" and watch every snip. He is such a good dad for a little girls.

Most Moms Regret Their Baby's Name

I obsess about most things in life. It's just something I do. Remember when I considered naming my baby Poop? 


I figure naming a human is a pretty important thing. It's a decision that must transcend trends. It must transcend impulses. 


I love my daughter's name. Jocelyn. Love it. Love her nickname Joci. I am still not sure I love how I chose to spell it, but it's just a nickname, right? My sister loves the name she gave to her oldest son, but isn't so sure about what she named her daughter. I think she wishes she chose a different name. 


I read this article from The Stir the other day saying that 54% of moms in the UK regret the name they gave to their baby. 


Whoa!!!


That's a majority. 

photo cred

Quoting the article:  Twenty-six percent said they felt the name they selected got too popular, and about half said that their child's name just doesn't fit his or her personality.


The writer of the article comments that most of us wait until we bring a pet home and play with it before bestowing a moniker. But we do it backwards for babies. We settle on a name months before we even see the baby. 


So true! We didn't name Jocelyn until we spent four days with her. We have the same plan for baby #2. Now, some family members have been nagging for a name - you know who you are! :) We have a handful of favorites. And then we will meet the baby and see! My sister-in-law thought she was expecting a girl during her first pregnancy and had a name picked out early on. She didn't know her baby was a boy until he was born. Four years later, she had a girl and the baby got the same name. Obviously it was a name she loved and so it wasn't just a fad or a whim for her. But I find it slightly odd because they are two different kids with different personalities.The name that was in second place for Jocelyn isn't even a consideration this time around. It just isn't working for me right now.


The list of names I made in fourth grade just doesn't seem to apply anymore. That seems kind of like a one-size-fits-all kind of approach. 


So I want to know, do you have any second thoughts about what you've named your kids? Leave a comment or vote in the anonymous poll on the left! 

Birthday Pictures

We had a fun-filled weekend celebrating Joci's third birthday. Lots of pictures. Settle in. 

Since Grandma and Grandpa Z were here for the weekend, we did a birthday celebration a few days early. 

Joci adores helping her 2 month old cousin baby Kaylee. And everything Kaylee does is "so cute." I think she's going to be a great big sis!

A few days later, as I ate a piece of Blue's face, Joci freaked out and sent me to time out for hurting Blue. Be careful with three-year-olds and character cakes!

The lighting is horrible, but Joci had the sweetest grin the whole time we sang to her.

She insisted on doing the candles twice. She had a hard time with them. Cousin Haiden helped from a couple feet away and actually got them all out without Joci knowing. 

Presents!

A pink trike from Mom and Dad and a helmet from G & G!

Joci has been begging for a bike for probably a year. She figured out the pedaling in no time and cruises down the street and around the corner faster than I expected. 

Haiden on his scooter 

Pin the paw on Blue. Justin spent every evening for a week creating our Blue's Clues decorations. Truly a dedicated daddy. 

I can't get the helmet off!

We watched Tangled and Joci wanted to have a lot of flowers in her hair like Rapunzel.

Joci, Haiden, and Kaylee - the three grandkids

On Joci's real birthday, I made her a "3" pancake

She wouldn't let me cut it. 

I was torn about the cake situation. I had spent hours making Blue over the weekend. I didn't have the time or resolve to do that again. But I also didn't want Joci to get a half-eaten cake for her actual birthday. Gourmet cupcakes were the compromise. Joci picked the grasshopper cupcake in the middle for herself.

A birthday crown from daycare.

Uncle Jordan and Cousin Paige

After blowing out the candles. Look at that grin!

Blue left her paw prints around as a scavenger hunt. 

Let's use our handy dandy notebooks to draw the clues we see!

We think and then...ahah!...it comes to us. Blue wants to play the sock monkey game!

We played and Paige won!

Thomas the Train railroad set

Notice the baby Tiana Joci is holding. She hasn't gone anywhere without it since Tuesday. 

Coloring the purse Joci got from her cousins. 

The Ladybug Game from Grandma and Grandpa Hays. Fun!

Mailbox! Another one of Justin's creations.

A letter from Steve and Blue. Joci would open the card and excitedly say, "Hi, Steve!"

More decorations. 

We had a blast! Joci thinks every day should be her birthday now! Such a fun age and such a fun girl.