Thanksgiving at Nana & Grandpa's

After a whirlwind Thanksgiving day, full of Parades, Turkey and Football games (Chris and I went to the Jet's game that night), we headed down to NJ for a relaxing weekend with Nana and Grandpa.

The girls are slowly beginning to interact with each other. Right now, that means sometimes reading a book together
Logan decorating Gingerbread Men with Nana. She took her job very seriously, especially the part that included eating the candies!
Our little Indian!

Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Our Thanksgiving morning had an early start, as we headed over to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Mima, Aunt Mysh and Cousin Logan. We had an amazing time and found a great spot right along Central Park West inside the park on 66th street. Some fan favorites were Kermit ( a Donlan tradition- Chris and I have our picture in front of this balloon at our first parade together), Micky Mouse (Logan's mouth dropped open when she saw him- adorable!), Sponge Bob (another fav't for Logan) and Jocelyn had her finger pointing in all sorts of directions. J wasn't to picky - she kept on gasping, ooohing and making all sorts of other excited noises for almost all of the balloons.

The girls lasted almost all the way through, but at last even the enormous balloons couldn't hold their attention any longer. Logan just kept on uttering "home, home, home" as she climbed into the stroller.

Chris and I decided this was our favorite part of the weekend and we will absolutely do it again next year.

KERMIT!! Chris and I (along with the two strollers!) made a run for it, and got to the parade just in time to see him pass

We found a perfect spot for Logan up on the wall along the edge of the park. She could see all the balloons and floats this way, but unfortunately, we couldn't' see her reactions!
MICKEY! She gave a great gasp as he came into view

J had her finger pointing in all sorts of directions. Everything was fascinating to her

Bundled up for the cold!

A happy family!

Love that you can both girls plus Shrek

The DeBruyne clan

Balloon Blow-up

The night before Thanksgiving, we headed up to the UWS to see the Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons being blown up. It's something we've always heard about, and now that we have J, felt it was something we should absolutely do!

We headed up around 5:30pm (it started at 3) and as we were exiting the subway station at 81st street, we could feel the excitement in the air! We walked over to Columbus Ave and were then directed via road blocks and the herds of people, towards the Museum of Natural History. It took us about 45minutes of walking with the herds to actually get towards the balloons, but the crowd was great. Almost everyone there had their children with them, so there wasn't any pushing or angry people. It seemed most people just accepted it was going to be crowded and we'd get up there eventually.


Once we reached the balloons, it was pretty cool. They were in the midst of blowing some up, and others were already blown up and being held down via netting. J was awesome and just really enjoyed watching the crowd and the other kids. She did want to get down and walk, but was easily distracted.


We enjoyed the experience, but decided we'd prob. wait until J was much older to do it again (maybe around 8 or so).

Macy's Thanksgiving Balloon Blow-up!

Hello Kitty Balloon under the netting after being blown up.

J had no problem finding things to interest her... the crowds, the kids, the balloons... it was all very fascinating!

The crowd as it wrapped around the museum and headed to the other side.

Jocelyn Turns 1!

Breakfast Muffin celebration!
She dove right into it!

We spent the day walking around Battery Park and just enjoying some family time

I can't believe my peanut is 1!

It seems unbelievable that 1 year ago today, our lives forever changed. This little peanut came into our lives and over the past 12 months has given us so much joy and laughter, I'm not sure where we'd be without her!

Jocelyn meets Jocelyn!

The name Jocelyn is a family name in the DeBruyne family (my mothers side) and it all began with this Jocelyn.


Here is the story as told my Grandmother (Gigi). WWII was ending, and after some very tumultuous years in Belgium, my 19 year old Grandmother left Brugge for England. There she met and lived with her cousin, Margarete who had just had a daughter, Jocelyn. The deal was my Grandma would take care of Jocelyn and in turn, Margarete would teach her English. Well Margarete did such a great job that within a year and a few months, my Grandmother was reading novels in English.
After 3 years, my Grandmother left England for America where she was going to head to Oklahoma to live with her Uncle. Upon arrival in NYC, she checked into the local Belgian club. My Grandfather's mother noticed this beautiful 21 year old at the club and immediately invited her to dinner that night to meet her son. That night she met my Grandfather, and 3 months later they were married.
My mother came along 1 year later, Helen Jocelyn and the name continued. 29 years later, I was born and named Rebecca Jocelyn, my niece Logan Jocelyn 29 years after that and Jocelyn Lillian 1 1/2 years after that.

The other night we were all able to meet the original Jocelyn and had a wonderful time with her and her husband Robert along with a few other family members.

Caterpillar Crawl and other new things

4 days before Jocelyn turns 1 and she is starting to do the caterpillar crawl! Motivated by something cool- like the tissue box, or keys, she'll do the caterpillar crawl / flop across the floor.

A few other new things:
Mamamamama- this means "I want something" "I need something" "I'm bored" "Come get me" "I love you (or so I hear in my own head as she screams it!)

Frustration- when frustrated she will throw her head either forward or back onto the carpet and just give out a grunt. It's quite pathetic and funny to watch

Stepping on Burton- In the mornings as Burton trys to lazily lay in his bed, Jocelyn enjoys walking over (via holding your fingers) and stepping on Burton (stepping only entails her placing her one foot on his foot- it's more like a good morning foot kiss) .

Chasing Burton in the walker- there is little funnier then watching Jocelyn chase Burton around the apartment while in her walker. Burton has learned there are certain places he can no longer go, because it leads to entrapment (corners, the front door, the kitchen). Jocelyn finds it hilarious and goes charging after him (she even backs up so she can get more speed moving forward)

Food in the hair- J has discovered a new type of hair conditioner, and it's called food. She does not discriminate, rather, the gooier, the better. She gets a nice hand full and proceeds to rub it directly into the top and side of her hair.

1st Birthday Party!

Jocelyn celebrated her 1st birthday a few days earlier by having all of her grandparents and some of her Aunts into her crib. It was a great time, and everyone had a lot of fun, especially watching the girls (J & Logan) enjoy their homemade cake from Nana. We had appetizers at the apartment and then headed over to Table Tales, a local restaurant that Chris and I love. Lunch was delicious and it was a very relaxed atmosphere that gave us all time to relax and catch up.

Showing off her party dress!

With Grandpa & Grandma

Pop-pop and Mima

Nana & Grandpa
Our Lunch menu, personalized for the occasion

1st Birthday Cake- homemade from Nana

Cousin Logan helps blow out the candles

Birthday Girl!!

"Daddy, let me at it!"

Delicious!

I'm such a big girl, I even use a spoon to feed myself!

Cousin Logan and Flat Gracie help open presents

Fall Days

We spent Veteran's Day with Mima, Pop-pop and cousin Logan enjoying the beautiful fall weather. It's so much fun to watch the two girls together. They don't interact all that much, but Jocelyn loves to just watch Logan and see what she's doing

Logan helps push Jocelyn around the yard. J had a very strong grip on that steering wheel!

Mima helps the girls to play nicely together.

g. Jocelyn loves her Chef boy-r-dee ravioli's

Books make me smile

One of the things we can always count on is that Jocelyn will instantly smile and get excited when she sees a book. It can be from across the room, and another child will be holding it, but she'll give an excited "squeak" and start flapping her arms.
We started reading with J when she was just a few weeks old, and to be honest, it felt kind of silly at first b/c she didn't even look at the book. But it became part of our nap-time and bed-time routines and now J throws herself over the side of the chair to look for the basket of books we have beside the rocker in her room.

I recently put a few books in her crib and now when she wakes up, she grabs for either her stuffed animals (which she also loves!) or a book. She's still just exploring the books, holding them in different directions, gnawing on their spines, looking at the pictures; but it's all about getting her used to always having those books around.

Grunting & Groaning = Reading

I just watched J, sitting in her walker with her plastic book attached, read to herself. She was slouched back in the walker holding the book and doing long grunts, moans, & growls, then she turned the page and continued on. It was one of the most hysterical things I've witnessed yet.