Just some Jordie pictures

Jordan loves her little "car."  She can go backwards on it!  And she loves finding the little surprises Mommy puts in the "hood" of the car!  Actually I think she gets quite annoyed by it; she will get off the car and crawl around to the front just to pull the toy or sock or paper or whatever I have chosen at the time to fill it with and you should see the look on her face!  It's like she's thinking, "Why in the world would you do that, Mom?!  Geez!"

I don't know what I was thinking giving Jordan a snack in the living room.  I guess I thought she knows enough to eat out of the bowl like she's doing in the picture.  Nope!  That lasted for a couple minutes then she purposely picked up the bowl and tipped it over.  She had Cheerios surrounding her!

Don't worry Kelley...I have a climber too.

SAHM

I just realized that I never posted on my blog that I am now a STAY AT HOME MOM!!!!  My last day of work was December 4th.  I am loving being home with Jordan all the time!  I have learned a few things so far that are necessary for a successful, productive day as a mom & housewife:

1.  I have to wake up before Jordan.  We have a much smoother day if I have already gotten myself up, exercised and ready for the day.  When I wake up to her rather than before her I move a lot slower and am more tired and sluggish.  Which brings me to my next learned lesson.

2.  I have to get dressed in "real" clothes.  Dressing in comfy, lounge-like clothing sets me up for a lazy, unproductive day.  I don't know what it is about it but the way I dress really affects my attitude and the way I feel.

3.  I need to have an "end" to my day.  Once dinner is over, my work day is over (for the most part).  After the table is cleared I make sure the rest of the evening is spent NOT doing housework.  All three of us usually hang out together until Jordan's bedtime then Brandon and I watch a movie until it is our bedtime.

4.  A To-Do list is essential!  You other moms out there know how difficult it can be to remember things nowadays!  But I've also found on those days when I feel like I haven't done much I can look at my list and see so many things crossed off that I HAVE accomplished and realize it was a successful day!

I know there are plenty more lessons I have learned but for right now, those are the main ones coming to my mind.

Playdate!

Jordan and I love play dates!  Actually I think at this point Momma enjoys play dates much better.  Jordan really hasn't been around a lot of people during her 11 months of life, which has been our decision and I don't regret it one bit, but it has caused  Jordan to be pretty clingy when we are around new people.  She will smile and tease...but from a distance.  It's something we are slowly working on.  Once she switches over to just one nap a day instead of two we plan to start going to the library's story hour that currently falls during her first nap.  I think it will be so great for her to be around other kids and make friends plus she LOVES books!

All this to say that we had a fun play date with Abi and Joaquin about two weeks ago!  I love when they come over.  Abi and I hit it off from the very first time I met her at Bath and Body Works about 3 years ago (that seems absolutely crazy that it's been that long ago since we've met!); it's one of those friendships where there is nothing awkward or forced about it.  AND Joaquin and Jordan share the same birthday!!!!!  Jordan is just 12 hours older than Joaquin.  During our hospital stay I wheeled Jordan two doors over to visit them in their room when they were both 1 day old.  It was so neat!

Joaquin and Jordan play so well together!  We just went out to their house for the first time a couple of days ago and Jordan felt right at home!  She surprised me so much when I set her on the ground shortly after we got there and she took off down the hall into the playroom by herself!  And she surprised us later too when she actually let Abi hold her while I went to the bathroom and went out to start the car.

I knew it's just a matter of time before she gets more comfortable with people.

I didn't take my camera when we went to visit Joaquin but I did manage to snap this picture with my cell phone while we were there.

The end.

Minnesota

I am SOOOO behind! We went to Minnesota at the beginning of OCTOBER and I am just now blogging about it over three months later!

Jordan and I took a trip to visit our wonderful friends. They used to live in Montana but moved back to Minnesota to be near family especially with a little guy now. Their dream came true of celebrating Brayden's first birthday in their own house in Minnesota with all the family! I am so excited for them but yet at the same time I "lost" my best friend! Not really lost though because we still talk all the time and follow each other's blogs to keep up to date AND we make random trips to visit each other kind of. This trip was really spontaneous. One evening Kelley and I were talking on the phone about how much we miss each other and ended up planning this whole trip. We tried not to get our hopes too high but just couldn't help it! By the time we got off the phone I was thinking "What did I just DO?! There is no way I am going to be able to go to Minnesota. Here I am trying to quit my job to stay at home then I start planning this vacation and getting not only my hopes up but Kelley's too?! I am crazy! BUT I have to ask Brandon anyway because I'm too excited about it!" Needless to say he said we could go. Within 24 hours I had my plane tickets in hand! This was my second plane ride (my first was to our honeymoon destination!) and Jordan's very first! Both my first and second times are very special to me. Jordan did SO well on both flights!

I did have trouble on the way there getting her to take a nap but she finally got worn out enough that she zonked out. It was such a blessing to have an empty seat beside us both to and from MN so I could just lay Jordan on the seat beside me while she slept.

Right before getting off the plane I got the very nice and very helpful flight attendant to take our picture.

We got to visit the Mall of America, which, before going there myself, I never realized what the big fuss was about. But now I realize how neat it really is! Am I the only one who never knew there is an amusement park in the middle of the mall???? Look at Lego Land inside the mall (below). Everything is very intricately designed with LEGOS!!! Very neat.

Jordan and Brayden shared pretty well...

Well...maybe Brayden shared pretty well...Jordan...not so much! You can see her eyeing the ball in the above picture then going for it in the one below.

Brayden even let Jordan use his Johnny Jump Up!! Since Jordan practiced walking while we were there we thought she would really enjoy it. Yes, Jordan, at 7 1/2 months old, started "walking" while we were there BUT as it turns out she was only teasing us. She took six steps more than once so we thought for sure she would be walking up a storm by the end of the month but I guess she was just showing off for Brayden since he could crawl and she couldn't. After we got back to Montana she completely put walking behind her (unless she was holding onto our hands then it was, and still is, her favorite thing to do) and picked up crawling.

Another Minnesota discovery: cat beds are a blast for kiddos! Here Jordan was using Peanut's cat bed to be spun around by Kelley! She had tons of fun! Thanks Peanut and Kelley!!!

This was at Walmart the day after teaching Kelley and her mom a few coupon tips I've learned from Money Saving Mom. She was really excited to put the tips to good use and start getting lots of groceries for super cheap! (I hope this is still working out for the two of you and that you are able to pass the knowledge onto someone else!) Jordan had so much fun playing with Brayden's cart cover.

Jordan's first bath with someone other than Momma.

Kelley holding both babies!

We went to an apple orchard! A first for both Jordan and I since there is nothing like that here in Montana. Big bummer! They are ALL over Minnesota and the Suggs are lucky enough to live less than 5 minutes away from one. Here is Jordan and I picking our first (of many) apples!

Bye Brayden! Thank you for sharing your home, your parents and your pets with us! We miss you SO much! I can't believe you are a BIG one year old now! I hope it's not much longer before we get to see you again! Thank you Kelley and Jeremiah for such a fun visit! We had a great time and wish we could have stayed longer. Although we were quite excited to be home and see Brandon again. Your house is beautiful and I am totally in love with the yard and super jealous of your garden-to-be!

My first video on our blog! Hope it works!

All you Facebook fans out there have probably already seen this but for those of you not on Facebook, I hope this video cracks you up as much as it does me! It was recorded in November. Jordan was using my computer to record herself. I love the way she points at everything.

Cooking day

My sister and I decided to try our hands at Once a Month Cooking. It was a very long day of cooking but we are VERY much enjoying the fruits of our labor. It was about a 13 hour day that left my kitchen full of dishes but we learned a lot that will make our day shorter next time; when we first started neither of us really knew what was in store so we started out a little slow but once our eyes were opened to the task ahead of us we kicked it in gear and everything went a lot quicker. We had both babies (9 & 5 months old) to take care of throughout the day that also slowed us down a bit but as they get older and more interactive that will be less of an obstacle. We are so thankful that Brandon was off that day and entertained Jordan for a while after his test for school; it made a huge difference! We have our freezers stocked full of breakfasts, lunches & dinners for the entire month and only spent about $125 a piece! So not only are we saving ourselves a lot of time throughout the month but cooking this way is also saving money! If you are interested in trying OAMC out I suggest using Once a Month Mom to help you get started then once you are comfortable you can start incorporating your own family favorite recipes. She does all of the work for you; all you have to do is print, shop & cook! She picks all the recipes, doubles & quadruples, creates the grocery list (in a spreadsheet so all you have to do is type in the prices and it totals how much you spent making it easy to divide the cost in half with your partner), gives you an outline of everything you need to do on cooking day, and makes labels to attach to everything in the freezer so you know what to do the day you plan to eat that particular dish, plus when she is creating the menu she keeps in mind what is projected to be on sale that month. She does all this for FREE!

I didn't get any pictures of us during the day or the final product of all our food because we were in such a hurry by the time we finished but because I was not in such a hurry to clean up I was able to snap a few shots!

Please don't get intimidated by the pile of dishes. If you have a dishwasher the clean up is actually very easy. In about three runs of the dishwasher my counters were completely cleared and I was able to watch a movie in the mean time!

Halloween 2009

Some pictures from Jordan's first Halloween! I've never really been the type to get excited about Halloween. We never went trick or treating when I was growing up. Our church always held a fun event that we'd go to each year that I loved! My favorite activity was the cake walk, hands down. Least favorite: bobbing for apples. Anyway, especially since Jordan is too young to eat candy we didn't take her out to trick or treat or to any fall festivals at church but I did get her dressed up and took her to my work to show off.

Ok I know I've been gone for an extensive period of time and hopefully I will be back for good and stop taking these ridiculous breaks from blogging. I apologize for my absence! Anyway, today I am not sharing anything about our lives (although I've got plenty of new things/pictures to share!) but rather, I am posting something I recently read on a blog that stumbled across my path and really stood out to me. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did. It comes from Ordinary Days, Diapers & Dishes.

I do my best thinking in the shower. I've had tremendous spiritual growth in the shower. Seriously.

However, this week I needed to clean the shower. So I did.

Nonetheless, I still had a spiritual moment:


Me: "Man-o-mighty, if I would just clean this shower regularly it wouldn't get like this."

Holy Spirit: "It's kinda like your quiet time in the morning that hasn't been so regular."

Me: "Hmmm, I would be really embarrassed for anyone to see the INSIDE!"

Holy Spirit: "This is where you come clean. Keep cleaning. Don't fear judgement, you'll get there."

Me: "Okay, I'm really gonna start doing this more regularly, because it feels great to have a clean shower!"

Holy Spirit: "Come to me regularly also and you'll be refreshed!"

Me: " Oh, wait now I have to clean the soap scummed glass doors. Darn."

Holy Spirit: "It's also true that you should be transparent(just like your shower doors) so everyone can see how clean and made new I've made you."

Me: "Saweet"

Father, thank you for reaching me in the ordinariness (is that a word?) of today.

new camera

Can you believe this little girl is 8 months old now?!?! It blows me away!

We normally do not allow Jordan to even touch the cell phone. Today, however, we were talking to her Nana so I set the phone beside of her to play with our new camera while visiting. Little missy here took it upon herself to grab the phone and have her way with it. Needless to say, we had to cut the photo shoot short so I could confiscate the phone.

my FIRST giveaway!

And the winner is......Shannon Lee!! Congratulations Shannon!

I have been super excited about this since I first found out I'd been selected to do a giveaway by MyBlogSparkTM. They sent me a prize package of my own to try and now one of my lucky readers will get their very own prize package to enjoy! Are you ready to find out what it is?!

We are giving away a Wanchai Ferry stay-at-home prize pack that includes these adorable placemats, rice bowls & chopsticks (a set of two) along with coupons for FREE Wanchai Ferry frozen entrees! (I find them at Smith's a Kroger affiliate.)



I was very impressed with the entire kit...the food was wonderfully delicious and the placemats haven't yet left our table! We had some fun, ok, ok, I had some fun with the whole Asian themed dinner; Brandon thought I was a little goofy going all out the way I did.




Anyone is eligible to enter; all you have to do is leave a comment answering the following question.

What is your favorite Asian dish?

I will accept comments until Monday, October 5th at 8:00 am MST. I will use a random generator to choose the winner who will be announced later that same day. If you do not have a blog in which I can leave you a comment, please leave your email address with your answer so I have a way of contacting you if you are the winner. Thanks!