Pig tails!

Jordan's hair is finally long enough to go into pig tails! Yay! I LOVE this!

Ok so much for that! I ran down and took a shower right after this picture was taken and by the time I got back upstairs Jordan had already managed to take a pigtail out. Darn!

Guess who's walking?!

Ok, ok, so she's not quite walking all the time. In fact she pretty much only walks when some one really exciting is enticing her. But it is still really exciting for us!

So many posts in such a short time

I like to try to spread my posts out over time instead of posting a bunch all in the same day, but I've also been trying to make Monday my dedicated Blogging Day (in the same way that I have deemed Wednesday as Laundry Day) so I make sure to set time aside each Monday specifically for blogging.  This said bloggin time is always saved for when Jordan is napping (she hates when I'm on the computer and complains the entire time; makes it really hard to think!).  As you can see, this is my FOURTH post today!!  This is the result of Jordan taking an extra long nap.  I've been able to give my undivided attention to our lonely blog.  I have gotten so far behind that I've been having a hay day today and wish I could just keep going and going until I'm all caught up but this will be my last post of the day as dinner needs my attention now then it's family time for the rest of the night!  Keep tuned for more throughout the week (hopefully!) but if not come back for sure next Monday!

Swimming

Heidi and I took the babies swimming a couple of times last month.  They both love the water.  Ivan gets so relaxed, he's even fallen asleep in the pool before!  Don't worry, he wears a life jacket and someone is holding him constantly...he is only 6 months old after all!  Jordan gets relaxed but sometimes she gets silly too.  I've been trying to teach her 1, 2, 3, GO!  Then I dip her under the water.  I think she was beginning to catch on but we haven't been again in about a month.  I try it in the bath tub but it's not quite the same.  It is quite unfortunate that we didn't get any pictures of the babies in the pool but after I took these two pictures my memory card was full because I didn't think to check before we left the house.  Hopefully that is a lesson learned.

Bear-bear and hair bows

Jordan LOVES Bear-bear.  I have tried to get her to like her dollies and other girly things (which she really is beginning to enjoy as she's getting older) but there is something about this bear that she can't part with.  It's quite sweet actually...even though I really hoped that my kids would not get attached to one thing in particular.  Jordan really does have a "thing" for bears but it's incredible the extra love she has for this one bear.

The picture below is the reason why I have come so close to surrendering when it comes to doing Jordan's hair!  She always takes head bands off and rips pony tails and bows off the top of her head (ouch!).  The pony tails she will leave on almost all day but if I leave her alone for too long (in her car seat for a trip across town is usually when this happens) she will yank it right out then she has a big patch of hair that sticks straight up like a mohawk that just looks so silly, especially for a girl!  But those darn head bands I cannot get her to keep them on!  If I tell her how pretty it is she leaves them in for 3 minutes, maybe 5, 10 at the most, if we are really lucky.  I keep trying though.  One of these days she'll stop...right?!  I sure hope so.

When she takes these beautiful hair decorations off her head, can you guess where they immediately go?  (see below for answer)

Silly girl!  I love you so much.  You are beautiful to me without any head bands or hair bows.

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.