Some Jordan updates

Most excitingly - JORDAN SAYS MOMMA!!!!


We have been letting Jordan feed herself finger foods for a couple weeks now. She improves more and more each day (obviously) but it seems that since she knows she can do it herself she doesn't want any help. In other words, she quit eating from a spoon. She turns her head as far away from that spoon as possible and refuses to eat until we give her finger foods and let her feed herself. What an independant little stinker!

This is the very first time I had put Jordan's hair in a pony tail. Since then I have learned I can pin her hair back more stylishly. I was planning on showing a picture of the improvement but I couldn't get her to hold still!

Grocery fun!

I have been having a wonderful time becoming a couponer and getting fantastic deals! I can't help but share with all of you. I bought all of this for $40.21 saving $80.59; that's 66% savings!!!!!

Here is a list of everything I got in case anyone is curious:

Wanchai Ferry dinner kits x2
Natures Valley Nut Clusters x2
Natures Valley Granola Bars x5
Quaker Life cereal x2
Total cereal
Quaker instant oatmeal x2
SoBe Lifewater x2
SoBe Green Tea x6
A&H Baking Soda
Lentils
Grands Biscuits x2
Margarine
Always pads
Colgate toothpaste
Snickers Fudge candy bar
Yoplait Gogurt x4
Egg Roll Wrappers
Tofu
Nectarines x2
Toaster Strudels x2
Cabbage
Baby food jars x4
Bread x2

We have several healthy snack options to choose from and I've been able to make a weeks worth of meals combining the above with a few items we already have on hand. It's kind of neat because we've actually been able to get a few "treats" that we normally wouldn't buy but because I have been able to get them for free or even make a little money off them so we get to live a little more luxuriously. I have gotten a bunch of tips from Money Saving Mom. I definitely recommend giving her site a look if you are interested in saving lots of money on groceries & toiletries; she's very inspirational.

Just some pictures taken over the weekend

She's been sleeping like this lately. It makes me smile everytime.

Jordan is an outdoorsy girl already. It's really her favorite place to be. We walk to the post office every other day and she absolutely loves it. Here she is all ready for our walk today.

And with Daddy in the moutains (they were both putting their arms around each other). We stopped in the mountains outside of Missoula for a bit on our way back from Washington a couple of weeks ago. She got her diaper changed while we were there and really enjoyed grabbing the dry grass & dirt that was at her sides. The only pictures we took on our trip were a few in the mountains here or I would share more about it. (We traveled there for Brandon's cousin's wedding. It was a nice little vacation.)

Rolly Pollie

I have been waiting to share this news until we were able to get the video on here but I have a feeling that isn't going to be happening any time soon so I need to share before it's even older news than it already is. Jordan rolled over!!! She actually did it over a month ago...on July 6th she rolled from her back onto her belly and a few days later she rolled from her belly onto her back. It was really quit comical because my girl hates being on her tummy so when she learned how to roll she kept wanting to do it but she'd get really upset after she did because she'd realize she was on her stomach. It was a really good thing for her when she learned how to get back over. Now she's an ol' pro at rolling and has begun sitting up by herself. She still needs some padding around her because she does tip over at random but she's getting really good. She's about ready to start getting baths in the full tub instead of just her little one. AND she's also getting her first tooth! I just found it yesterday! She's doing really well with teething. If I hadn't felt inside her mouth I would not have even known yet that her tooth is coming through.

Now wait a second!

Do you think our tree is confused?!

Ivan Gabriel

My sister gave birth to her third son, Ivan Gabriel, about 1 1/2 weeks ago. He's a little sweetie! He weighed in at 8lb 2 oz. We didn't realize how much Jordan has grown and changed until we see little Ivan and remind ourselves that Jordan was even smaller than him! He's got two very proud bigger brothers. The oldest has even changed a poopy diaper! Ivan's collarbone broke when he was in the birth canal. Please be praying for healing and that he would experience minimal pain during the process.

We're going schwimming!

I set up Jordan's swimming pool over a month ago! She had such a blast I was super excited to get the photos posted right away. I was so proud of myself because once we came inside and it was Jordan's naptime I went right to work transferring the pictures onto my computer then looking through them to find the perfect ones for blogging about. I even started a post! But then I looked at the time and realized I was about to be late for Bible study so I put my blogging to the side and ran out the door and as you can see I never came back to it...until now...over a month later. It's terrible. Is the saying "Better late then never" true? I hope so!

I love how it looks like she is about to blow bubbles in this picture. This girl hates tummy time but doing tummy time in her swimming pool is a completely different story!

Kicking back and relaxing. Aw, life is good!

Cloth Diapers

I am really loving our cloth diapers! I have to admit that I was a little nervous about it at first but it didn't take but a couple of days and we became very used to them and now I sometimes forget there are even disposables available out there. I was just thinking the other day how much money we have saved by choosing to go this route and it is just incredible! We should never have to spend another dime on diapers even for all of our kids down the road! Ok, that's not quite true...we are going on vacation for a couple days this summer and will be using disposables because we won't be around a washer during that time and I do not want to have to carry those dirty diapers around. I can just imagine how terrible the car would smell with the heat of the day cooking all those poopy diapers. No thanks!



We'd been feeding Jordan in her vibrating chair for quite some time and kept having trouble with her putting her hands in her mouth or getting her hands under her bib & lifting that up to her face. Mealtime always ended in such a MESS! For a week now she's been eating in her high chair and we have not had a problem since (knock on wood)! She likes being in there and now we can use her vibrating chair for playtime again; we quit using it for playtime because I was afraid since she was eating in it that she'd make the association and think it was time to eat when we would put her in it to play. She loves her high chair especially because it's right by the window so she's got quite the view while she eats! I think she likes being up at our level too. I've been making her baby food. So far she's eaten sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots (her favorite!), peas & applesauce.

Frustrations of being a baby!

I went to peek at Jordan after laying her down for a nap & I looked in to see her pacifier stuck on her thumb and my baby struggling to get that thing back in her mouth! I stood and watched for quite some time then hollered down to Brandon to tell what she was doing then came back to keep watching her. The problem wasn't really getting it back into her mouth, no, the problem was once she got it in there her thumb would pull it right back out! Poor thing! Finally, after about 5 minutes, it fell off her thumb and landed right beside her little head in eye view and she burst into tears...but was quickly distracted by her mobile and now I'm pretty sure she's snoozing. What a challenge for a wee little girl though!



I had just sent the video camera downstairs with Brandon to be put on the charger otherwise I would have video-taped it. Bummer. But how about a couple pictures instead?!

(This shirt used to be a dress of mine when I was a baby!)