Making the move...

to a new blog service - http://castropartyof3.tumblr.com/

Visit and follow us from there.

Why did I move? Well apparently it's "much cooler" than blogspot according to some tumblr users I know ;)

Jocelyn's new toy

So it's very hard for me to NOT buy any toys, clothes, or anything baby related for our Jo.  BUT I have been good lately.  She is literally all set for her 6 months set of clothes.


I did buy her a new toy though, a very affordable one: 

The First Years Learning Curve Star Teething Blanket

only 6.99 from Amazon

She loves it! It crinkles to the touch so she loves making the noise and chewing on all the different corners.  It kept her entertained while I was getting ready for work this AM

Daddy's Little Girl

We had a good weekend with our little girl. Daddy did chores around the house wearing the bjorn.  She loves exploring. 

Bring your child to work day!

Today was bring your child to work day.  Jo may be a little small to understand what I do, but she still enjoyed her day.  She was typing up a storm today! 

This is what new parents look like when they have a night out!

Stage Mom

Ok I'll admit it.  I feel like I could be a stage mom.  I'm sure you can tell with all the photos we take of our little girl and also how sometimes we treat them like photo shoots.

So the Gap had this Casting Call and I submitted JoJo in the competition.  The chances are so very slim, but hey you gotta be in it to win it!  Here are the photos and captions I submitted.  The limit was 5 photos so I took advantage of submitting all the photos I could!

I'm a cool drooly baby and I like to wear shades! Mama says there may be a tooth coming soon, so watch out ice rings, I'm gonna eat you!

I was christened just last Sunday and I did a great job! About 20 people must have held me, but I went along for the ride. Hey, wouldn't you want to be held?

Yawns are contagious! But it seems that whenever I yawn, people just smile and giggle. Could it be that I'm just that cute? My parents tell me that all the time. I'm kinda getting tired of it, but I'll deal with it since they change and feed me.

JoJo is such a fun little gal. She loves being entertained. Her new favorite game is flying baby, the pillow version. Daddy places her on a pillow in the mornings and raises her up and down. Giggles all around!

Our little girl, aka JoJo, is just the happiest baby! She laughs and her girlish screams are just so much fun. She's been rolling over since 3 months and everyday she just amazes us with her tricks. We love her!

2 year anniversary!

Tomorrow will be Nelson and I's 2 year wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that we have an anniversary to celebrate (which we already did) just because we have so many things going on in our lives.  New Baby, New job, Christening, and now our anniversary.  Well we made it a point to go out and celebrate.  We went to dinner at One if By Land, Two if By Sea and it's the same restaurant that we went to on the night we got engaged.  It was very romantic and I think we will try to make it an annual tradition.

This was our table.  A beautiful rose and candle.  I pretty much saved the restaurant from burning to a crisp!  One of the petals of the rose was right on the candle flame.  Nelson "reenacted" what he would do to stop the fire.  He said that he would throw the water at it, towards my direction to get me soaked. Funny!

After dinner we went to a goodbye party to a fellow NBC pal.  We will miss Ryan and Mandy.  They are heading to LALA land!  Good luck Noggles!!!

Of course we were missing our little girl, but it was nice to go home and get a good nights sleep.  Of course I woke up the normal times she would wake up, but I was able to "put myself down" easily. :o)

Update on Jo - She's teething! Well at least we think she is.  She bites down on everything, including me during feedings, OUCH!  She's ALWAYS drooling and her jaw clicks here and there.  She's a little more irritable than normal and she's not sleeping as peacefully as she did.  I guess we're never in the clear of getting full nights of sleep?  She wakes up between 3 - 5 times during the night.  I do the same thing - get up, give her the pacifier, and she goes down again.  An hour later, the paci will fall out and back to square one.  And at least one of the times that she's up, I feed her. I keep on checking her bottom gums and put some pressure to help relieve some discomfort.  We are looking forward to this new milestone but it just seems that she's growing up so fast already!

And to conclude this post, I'll just give you some photos, bc that's more interesting anyways!

Me and Jo in the Bjorn.  We went to the supermarket the other day with Grandma.  I like that she's holding onto her milk supply.  If she could talk, she would say "I own these"

Every evening from 515-6pm, I feed Jo before she goes down.  We listen to New Age, spa like music.  This was a look I got when she was not so pleased with the song that came on.  She pulled off of feeding and just had this face for a good 30 seconds or so. I don't think she liked the drums.

Law & Order Bib!  My old boss/friend was so sweet and sent me the Law and Order baby bib + the beach hat.  I remember when I used to work there, we would always wrap up these cute little girl/boy bibs for gifts and in the back of my mind I always wanted one :) Thanks Bridget, Moe, and Benjamin!

Well that's it for today's blog! Enjoy your week!

oh update

went to the docs for her 2nd round of shots - which of course she didn't appreciate but survived.  She weighs in at 12 pounds 13 ounce, 24 inches and her head is 16 inches.  My arms thought she weighed a lot more bc they've been sore from holding her so much at the Christening the day before.

But she's growing, maybe not at a very fast rate (normal though)!

Doc says that maybe she can eat some rice cereal when she reaches 15 pounds.  No need to rush things.  I'm fine with that.  Let's keep her a baby as long as possible :)

oh and let me just say that the best feeling ever is walking in from work and getting that huge smile from her. love it!

Toga Jo

Doesn't it look like she's about to go to a Toga party?  I swaddled her with 1 arm out for her 6pm-9pm sleep.  No peep out of her :)

JoJo's been rolling over a lot lately.  This morning I left her on her tummy on her mat and then went to the kitchen.  When I came back, she was on her back.  Rolled over without me seeing it! Then she rolled over twice at Grandma and Grandpa's.

like her Jersey? Auntie/Godmother Sabrina got this for her!! Vamos Vamos Argentina! Vamos Vamos a Ganar!

Mohawk Jo

It's BACK baby!

So lately my back has been killing me!  You know what it is? A combination of 2 things:

- lack of exercise
- picking up my little bugaboo (the heavier she gets the harder it is on  my back)

It's sad to say this, but I worked out so much more when I was pregnant than I do now and I'm not carrying a baby in my belly.  I guess what it is that I don't have all the time in the world now to do what I want/need to do.  There aren't that many hours of the day and when she's up, she's my main job, which I love.  Not complaining!  Plus breastfeeding is a big commitment.  It usually takes an hour to feed her, when with a bottle she can take it within 10-20 minutes. 

So after realizing that my back is killing me and that I'm not feeling all that great about myself, I've decided to step up the working out whenever I can.  She goes to sleep from 6-9pm every night so after I take care of everything else, if I can squeeze in 20 min on the elliptical i will.  It's just so tough, when after a full days work, I come home, feed her, bath her, feed her again.  Then put her down, then put my milk in the freezer.  Clean the bottles, clean anything else baby related. Make food for lunch the next day and even dinner.  By the time I'm all done with that, I just want to relax on the couch with a glass of wine. 

On another note, Daddy and Mommy had an Easter photoshoot with JoJo.  It was a lot of fun.  How did we get Jo to smile?  Well mommy tickled her face with the green grass.  Yes very tortuous I know!! here are some other easter shots that aren't on fbook

 

Our little bunny gnawing the couch/hands

 

Jo enjoying her Bumbo seat

 what a happy baby :)

JoJo's first easter gift!

Our lovely friend's Crista and Jason sent us the cutest little gift for our little Jocelyn.  I took pictures of the gift unveiling.

What pretty wrapping! and what a funny face from JoJo

Hmm what is this stringy pretty green stuff?

Oh I just love this wrapping paper

I like this opening up stuff, but I kinda still need help doing it.

Ahhh! Peeps! Mommy why did you snatch that away from me and open it up so fast and eat the bunnies? 

I'm reading... "My peeps" onesie! The cutest!!!

Thanks Crista and Jason for being so thoughtful.  It's so much fun getting a fed ex in the mail that says JoJo Castro on it.  One day it will be illegal for me to open up her mail without her consent.  At least that will be 18 years away!

Sorry Nelson

I refrained too long from posting this on the blog but it is absolutely blog post worthy.  Nelson sings to Jo a lot, which is awesome and amazing to her when she coos back at him.  One day when he had to work on the weekend, my mother and I played a recording that he had of him and JoJo from a previous jam session.  This is a video from that day :)

http://nellykat1.smugmug.com/Other/Jocelyn-JoJo-Castro-12-14-11/20658308_SrchMx#!i=1722336669&k=bhtwsjH&lb=1&s=A

Sorry Nelson! Love you!

Jo in the morning before going to work.

Some new things for Jo

So JoJo's been having a fun time lately!  Just the past few days she's been going through a massive growth spurt.  Oh growth spurts!!! Once we got used to the sleeping through the night schedule, she then decided to wake up at 3am, 2am, 12:40am... It throws me for a loop and yes I'm tired but somehow we get through the day with no problem.  Must be because she's so darn cute.

Here are some photos from my phone.

this is right after she had an up the back poopie.  She's been doing those a lot lately.  Only during the week though! She doesn't want her daddy seeing her messes.  Doesn't it look like she's taking the picture?

We took out the bouncy seat that we got from Nelson's friends Brendan and Stephanie.  Danny (nelson's bf) calls it a Jolly Roger? She really likes it. She doesn't bounce just yet in it.  She just "walks" around in circles in it.  Her legs are VERY strong.  Soccer player anyone?

This is her pulling off her sock the other morning.  She can grab so many things now! Very inquisitive!

Jo doing some tummy time after her bath.  She has bangs! 

We went to the pediatrician for a follow up the other day and she weighs 12 pounds 6 ounces.  So she's getting up there. The doc said she's gaining weight well, 50% percentile and the no milk/soy diet is working great :) I wouldn't be surprised if she now weighs 13 pounds today.  She's been chowing down a whole lot!  My mother fed her a total of 12 ounces today when she normally eats 8-10.

Hopefully she'll be nice and full tonight so she sleeps more :) Either way it's fine!

So how's that for a Jo update?

Jo's major gash

yesterday JoJo really made a dent in her face! i was feeding her and noticed blood on her cheek and saw this huge scratch.  no matter how many times i cut and file her nails, she still seems to cut herself.  as my friend Deanna said, "she has street cred"

quit scratching yourself Jo!! makes me look like i hit you!!

Sorry!

I know it's been a while since my last post.  Working full time then taking care of a baby at night is tough work! But we are doing good! Baby is sick but she is OK.  She is actually sleeping AMAZINGLY! 10pm-6pm and on Sunday we had to wake her up at 7pm.  But I've been thinking that she's sleeping so great bc she doesn't feel so great.

To make up for not posting for a while, I uploaded a video that I recorded on my cell phone a week ago. Enjoy :)

Back to Work!

Friday March 16th was my first day back at work.  I guess I was nervous about it since I woke up at 2:45am and could not go back to bed.  I was actually hoping that JoJo would wake up so I could do something that might make me sleepy. Hehe but she actually slept til 5am.

It wasn't that bad, but I cheated!  Jo came to visit me at work.  Teehee.  She won't do that often because I will be busy at work, but since it was my first day back I figured why not?  Everyone loves seeing a baby!

On that same couch, I was in labor with her! :) Who would know that a few months later JoJo would come and visit me during lunch.

So tomorrow is Monday and I go back to work and I actually feel good about it! I'm able to get home, feed her, give her a bath, and put her down for her night time sleep.  I'm happy that I do get to spend some time with her.  I also feed her at 9 and then when she wakes up in the AM.  This morning she woke up at 5am again and we just hung out in the guest bedroom.  We both laid there and we both fell asleep.  It was pretty sweet. 

She has this new thing that she does with her bottom lip. 

Not a great picture, but if you can see, she tucks in her bottom lip.  I feel like that's her thinking face.  

So every night, she goes down at 6pm and eventually we drop her 9pm feeding and she sleeps 12 hours straight.  It's crazy that kids can sleep that long.  My nephew Jack goes to sleep around the same time and wakes up at 6 too.  I wish I can get 12 hours for 1 night! 

Any who, I feed her around 515/530 and every night, there is no doubt, that she falls asleep in my arms.  I love it. and I just sit there for a few minutes just holding her and keeping quiet.  Here's a picture from tonight.  

When I get up to tuck her in her swaddle she ends up waking up, but it's fine.  I like that she can fall asleep in her crib on her own.  Here are pics of her in the crib and the contraption I have for her.

Oh you can see that she's doing that thing with her bottom lip in this picture.  So let's talk about my wonderful contraption!  Well we have these pillow things on the sides so she feels cozy.  Then I have a towel hugging the bottom and another heavier pillow pushing up against the towel.  I did this so she doesn't slide down.  The mattress is elevated a bit because of her acid reflux and she's used to sleeping at an angle from when she was in her Rock and Play Sleeper.  

We read Good Night Moon to her every night and at some nap times when she's a bit fussy.  She smiles when you read it to her.

I have my nursing pillow under there "My Breast Friend" holding up the mattress.  She eats more at an incline seated position so it's now being used to elevate the mattress. Before we tried pillows but it was always uneven.  With this pillow, it's perfect and I don't need to use more than 1 pillow.

Oh and lastly, we love her swaddle.  We bought this thing after seeing this video:

She's been sleeping through the night ever since we got this. Her arms can never escape but they are also not uncomfortable.  After Nelson and I saw that video, we were blown away by the "escape free" arm pockets.  Definitely a great purchase!

Have a great work week everybody! I know I will, especially when I know Jo is in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa :) 

Three Month Photo Bloopers

Slip Sliding Away!

 Wooooo

WOOOOOOOO

Get me out of this fake tummy time!

Hmm this looks like a tasty dress

Oh Mama you're so funny and crazy for taking a blurry picture!

Yea I'm not sure I'm all into these monthly shots.  You'll have to speak with my agent. 

JoJo Update!

So I feel like we have a new baby these past few days.  She's much better.  Yes there are times where she doesn't want to eat so much during nursing or she squirms here and there, but it's MUCH better.  So much better that she's sleeping more!  Yesterday she slept from 10pm-6am. and last night she slept from 10pm-5am.  Very exciting.  I'm hoping I didn't jinx it!

I ended up canceling her 2nd gastro doc appointment because I felt like she didn't need another doctor telling her anything else.  She's feeling much better and acting much better, so why go see another doctor? She's still supplementing at least one bottle of formula during the day so I can stash some milk in the freezer.

So let's see, there have been so many new things that has happened these past 2 weeks:
- she rolled over - twice.  Once she does it on her own, I get the camera out to get a video of her doing it again, but she's too pooped to do it again.
- she doesn't like pacifiers.  she may take one for a few seconds to a minute or two and then spits it out.  She likes her hands much more!  And she LOVES her giraffe Sophie.  She licks and chews and squeezes her all the time.  It's so cute.
- we listen to Jack Johnson's Curious George album everyday and she LOVES it!  Smiles all around and I love dancing with her.
- She has the prettiest earrings!
- She is SO MUCH BIGGER!

This was taken Christmas Eve :) 

This was yesterday! Everything is so much more plump!  She has chubby legs and arms.  So so so cute.

She loves watching TV with mama and dadda.  We have our baby channel. 

Jo and Soph

Jo before getting her earrings.  Poor girl didn't know what was coming.

 Right after the piercings.  She's cried louder during feedings though!

I shouldn't be smiling in this picture.  Poor thing!

 She cried for maybe 30 seconds total.

What did they do to me???

I took this pic this morning before her nap.  I wanted to see if this dress fit her.

So now that she's better and definitely a lot more fun, I have to go back to work.  I have to admit that in the beginning i missed work because she was a life changing experience that took all of my energy.  Now I don't want to leave her.  good news is that I'll still feed her in the morning and night and give her baths. I'm sure this will get easier, plus I miss my coworkers :) We have fun at work.

That's all for now! More updates in the future!