One smart cookie

Is anyone else completely amazed that she can do this entire puzzle on her own?  Did I mention that she is only 1 1/2 years old?  She may not be able to talk yet but she is clearly not lacking in other skills!

Baking bread

I've been trying really hard lately to involve Jordan in the kitchen.  Normally I am trying to find other activities to keep her entertained while I cook and bake but I decided it's time to include her in and she has been enjoying it immensely.  I was making homemade rolls the other day (which are awesome by the way!  I am now expected to bring rolls to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner every year) and brought out the stool for Jordan to sit at.  I gave her a piece of dough and the roller and off she went, rolling and poking away!

She was "rolling in the dough" for quite some time before she finally realized "I can eat this!"  After that, there was no stopping her!

She kept eating, and eating and eating dough.  Luckily she was only taking teeny tiny bites!  She still had time between bites to squeeze in some goofy poses for the camera.

I'm glad that she shares a love of baking with me!  Even if its only because she gets to taste the nummy food during the process!  I love that this can be our special time together and she can be learning and I can be accomplishing an important job all at the same time.  I love showing her that every day tasks and chores can be fun.  I love when she discovers that I'm in the kitchen and runs off to grab the stool so she can be a part of what I'm doing.  I love this kid!  

Halloween 2010

Jordan was a little monkey for Halloween this year.  We dressed her up for about an hour and headed to church for the harvest party.  She's still a little young to be able to participate in the activities they had there but she didn't mind.  She stood in the same place for about 5-10 minutes in complete fascination at everyone's costumes then when she decided she'd seen them all she took off to the foosball table where she remained entertained for another 10 minutes or so.  After that she went in one of the activity rooms and colored for a bit then it was time to come home for bed.  It was just enough to show off the little cutie and give her a taste of what Halloween is all about.

Praying for Daddy

Every time Jordan and I see Daddy off on his scooter we always say a prayer for him.  I know he'll be ok but I still just get so nervous so this has become a ritual for the two of us.  Yesterday we were outside saying goodbye and while I was still caught up in waving as he headed down the street Jordan smacked her hands together and held them there just waiting for me to get to praying.  I thought that was so sweet.

Baby news!

Here is the most recent picture of our new little one!  We had the ultrasound this morning and found out we are having another girl!  It was really cute, for nearly the entire ultrasound she had her feet over her head.  Finally as the lady was about to wrap things up our little missy straightened out a bit which gave us a couple more minutes of getting to see her, which was wonderful!  I think we got a little more of a clear profile shot with Jordan but we will be having another ultrasound in 8 weeks so I'm hoping for some more pictures then too!  

This of course is a picture of little ol' pregnant me.  I was thinking at first that it is weird that my belly is smaller the second time around but then realized that the first time I had a slow desk job in which I could sit and eat to my hearts content but now I just don't think about food nearly as much as I did during my desk job days (I weighed more on a regular, non-pregnant basis when I worked there too) and I think that is pretty much what the difference is.  I could certainly be wrong.  

Dancing Baby

I LOVE feeling my baby move inside of me.  I know by the end of pregnancy I could be very tired of it if this one is anything like Jordan, who would really get to wiggling as soon as I'd lay down for bed at night and who would catch the hiccups what felt like at least twice a day but for the time being I am loving every second of it.  To be quite honest, after having a miscarriage in March (this may come as a big surprise to many of you as we only shared with very few close friends and relatives) I really faced major ups and downs.  I never realized the roller coaster ride that I would face after a miscarriage.  I'd always felt for women before who had lost a baby but never totally grasped the pain they were experiencing until I went through it myself and man was it a struggle.  Even after getting pregnant two months later, I still dealt with the pain and suffering.  I had a hard time getting excited over this baby, plus I wouldn't allow myself to get excited the times that I wanted to until I had reached the second trimester.  But even after being three months into pregnancy I still struggled with my emotions because I had told myself for so long NOT to get excited just in case we lost this one too that it was very difficult to reverse those feelings.  But it seemed as though all those feelings were wiped away once I felt my baby move.  It all finally felt real and I can finally get to know my baby by learning this little one's movements and actions.  I've been feeling the baby for about a month now and each week the movements get stronger and stronger as my little one grows and I'm loving this baby more and more with each movement.  I will never forget the baby that we lost and I will grieve as the due date comes and goes next month but God has His hand on everything that touches our lives and He has provided us with two wonderful blessings of children that we will celebrate our entire lives with.  This Wednesday we get to see our new little one during it's second photo session!  I am so excited to see the little one during our ultrasound.  I'll be sharing pictures hopefully Wednesday afternoon and if we can I'll also post the video of the ultrasound too.

Two quick stories

-Jordan grunts just about every time she bends over to sit down or to pick something up...please tell me I don't do this!

-Tonight at bedtime I was sitting beside Jordan's bed reading her a book.  She "sneakily" puts her blanket over my head and then throws herself back to lay on her pillow and closes her eyes as if to say "I didn't do it!  I've been laying here sleeping the whole time!"  Once I started laughing (because, seriously, how could you NOT laugh at that?!) she busts up laughing super hard.  She has become SUCH a goofball lately and I LOVE it!

Craft time

I got this awesome "craft" idea from the Childhood 101 blog a couple weeks ago and stored it in the back of my mind.  Luckily for Jordan we had to make a trip to Joann's Fabric last Friday for something else and I remembered to pick up some pipe cleaners while we were there for this fun project.

This has become a great way to keep Jordan entertained while I am busy cooking dinner!  Which is always a major blessing!!  I showed her how to slip the beads onto the pipe cleaners, she discovered that she could also bend the ends sticking out and poke them through the holes on top of the container and Daddy loosened the lid and showed her that if she put beads inside and put the lid back on and shook it that it makes a fun noise!  There are so many things that she can do with this project and that means it keeps her entertained for that much longer and who can complain about that?!

Here she is proud of her work and pointing to make sure I see and take a picture.

Bed time story

The other day I was making dinner in the kitchen when Jordan managed to grab the Frosted Mini Wheats off the table.  She brought the box to the kitchen with me, sat down and started chowing.  Then a couple minutes later I realized she was no longer in the kitchen with me nor were the mini wheats.  I went searching for them both and this is where I found them, laying in Jordan's bed.  I laughed, took several pictures then told her she can't have food in her room and took it away.  Such a funny moment.

Speaking of Jordan's bed, we found an awesome deal on a toddler bed back at the beginning of spring.  At the time she was much too little to make the switch from crib to bed so we'd been storing it.  Well with another little one on the way we decided now is the time to make the switch as we want to give her plenty of time to adjust.  We wanted her old room to become the baby's room because it is closer to our bedroom so we packed up all my crafting supplies that was in the spare room and hauled it to another room (which is where it still rests in piles and piles) about a month and a half ago.  I got her things all moved over and her new room situated.  She loved the room to play in all throughout the day but when it came time to actually sleeping in there she wanted nothing to do with it!  Realizing that we still have plenty of time, I didn't force it.  I'd ask her before laying her down where she wanted to sleep and she'd always tease me and run to her new bed and hop in only to then jump up and run down the hall to her old room and want in her crib.  I was dreading the day we would actually have to dive in and make her sleep there, but I really should not have dreaded it at all!  Last week a friend of mine asked me to watch her two daughters, ages 2 and 5.  Jordan LOVES and admires big kids especially GIRLS!  So when all the kids laid down at nap time the youngest slept in Jordan's toddler bed and Jordan knew it.  So the rest of the day I kept reminding her at random that Savannah had slept in her big girl bed.  When nighttime rolled around that night I laid Jordan down in her big girl bed again reminding her that Savannah had slept there.  Jordan wanting to be just like those girls (which I have no problem with because they are wonderful examples for her) slept there ALL night long!  And she's been happy to sleep in it every nap and bedtime ever since!  Thanks girls for doing the dirty work for me!  Now I need you to come back over to teach Jordan how to go potty!  ;)

Tomato lover

(18 months) 

(11 months)

My girl LOVES tomatoes, probably more than any other food she has tasted.  Whenever she sees them anywhere, be it the grocery store, garden or kitchen counter, she immediately starts signing please and if I tell her she can't have one she has a minor meltdown.  I've learned that if I really do not want her having a tomato then I need to hide them completely out of her sight.  I had about seven tomato plants in the garden this year.  Every time we stepped foot in the back yard, straight to the garden she would go and start picking any tomato within her reach.  And if I tried to stop her because I didn't want tomato guts on her clothes she'd take off running!  I should be happy that it's something so good for her that she loves so much and I am I just wish tomatoes weren't so messy!  One day we had come in from picking an armful of tomatoes and I had set them on the counter.  I guess they were a little too close to the edge because I couldn't find Jordan so I set out to her "secret" hiding spot, the dark corner at the end of the hall in front of the bathroom and there she was tomato in hand as soon as she saw me she took off and we had a wild goose chase around the house until I finally caught her and put her in her chair at the table with a bib.  She cracks me up!

Every time she sees I have the camera she immediately starts following me around the house because she wants to see all the pictures I've taken of her (she loves looking at herself!) so it can be a challenge sometimes to get pictures of her in her natural habitat.  This day she trapped me against the wall and I was running out of floor to back up so I could continue snapping pictures so I leaned against the window sill in the dining room and was taking pictures from that angle.  It must have looked fun because Jordan comes to stand in front of the window, turns around so her back is to it and then starts backing up until her little tush hit the wall and she was standing just like I was.

And this picture here I just think is goofy.  She had finished her tomato and had juice all over her face and was trying so hard to get to the camera so she could see the pictures I had been taking the whole time she'd been chowing down.