My baby and her (our) many shoes

Every girl needs brown heels

Afterall, they go with a variety of outfits

And brown sandals

And knee boots, er, well, you know...

Men's size 13 on a toddler size 5/6 is always the way to go!

Have a very happy 4th of July and happy birthday Nana!

Moving furniture is hard work!!

Months ago I saw a toddler sized patio chair at Big Lots that I didn't buy. I eventually broke down and went back to buy it because I knew Jordan would love having her own chair on the back deck- especially since "mine" has become a favorite word around here. Of course, all she does is push and carry that chair all over the deck.

And after all her hard work to find the perfect place for her chair, she sits in the adult chairs anyway.

Clearly an exhausting job!

I know I've been a slacker lately, but things were pretty busy for a while. After a fun-filled week in Elkins, the week of June 15, I came home and unpacked and then repacked to leave for Cinci the next day. Of course, we couldn't leave until I finished depos in Huntington, but those ended by 4. We made it to Cinci just in time to catch a Red's game. We bought tickets from a scalper, so I was a bit nervous until our tickets were scanned at the gate. We had a good time at the game and then made it to our hotel without incident. The next day we went to Jeffersonville to shop at the outlets, to Carrabbas for a late lunch and then showered and got ready for my brother's engagement party. The party went well with the exception of on of JC's friends getting a bit drunk and talking some things he shouldn't have in front of my brother's fiance's father- don't ask. We didn't take Jordan on that trip because we knew we could only stay at the party for 45 minutes if we took her, which would obviously defeat the point of the weekend. I was excited to get back to town and spend some QT with her since I had barely seen her in a week, so we've spent this week hanging out and playing together.

I'll post more catch up pics soon.

The Memorial weekend un-vacation

For Memorial weekend we decided to head to Snowshoe. This was our first vacation as a family and as you can tell by the title, things did not go as planned. First, we planned to leave town around 12:30 so Jordan would sleep part of the way up and we would be there in enough time to get settled in a run around a little before dinner. That plan went out the window when the 11:00 hearing I was covering included an 11:50 conversation with the judge during which he told us all to come back at 1:15. I didn't end up leaving the courthouse until 3:15, which was actually later than my office was even open that day. Poor Dave was keeping Jordan up from her nap and just sitting around waiting on me to call so we could leave town. Jordan slept for over half the trip up, which was great, but when she woke up, she was pretty whiny. We were thrilled to finally get into our room around 7.

We had dinner with Kim, Steven and Sophie on Friday evening and then got back to our place a little after 9. Jordan was whiny again, but we figured she was just overly tired and out of sorts. In the middle of the night she felt really warm, so she got some Tylenol. She kicked around and kept Dave and I up a lot, so we were all pretty tired on Saturday. We had breakfast with Kim, Steven and Sophie and then the boys went to play golf. Jordan and I did a few craft projects and then we headed to the pool. It was clear Jordan was miserable since she didn't want to get in the pool and just kept clinging to me screaming.

Here is what I learned about Snowshoe- the clinic is useless unless you have some sort of cut or something along those lines. During the summer they don't have a doctor there or any type of thermometer for the ear or forehead. The closest pharmacy is 30 minutes away in Marlinton. Thankfully my Uncle John called in some antibiotic for the suspected ear infection and things got a little better. However, Jordan wasn't exactly up for dinner on Saturday evening. The food at the restaurant was DELICIOUS but Jordan would only eat gummies from the diaper bag. Oh, well...

Jordan and I had some quality time on the balcony outside our room.

We had a lot of fun with stickers and once the stickers were gone, we decorated Jordan's shirt with the stuff that goes around the stickers.

Foam stickers are awesome. They are the one thing that seems to keep Jordan entertained for more than 5 minutes. We decorated 1 wooden frame and 1 foam frame with them.

Jordan dressed for dinner on Saturday evening.

Jordan and Dave the morning we were leaving. I swear I think they have the same expression! No one is questioning who her father is!

And to top everything off, the MRSA is back. We are trying something new that Uncle John had at his office and it seems to help minimize the place on her butt. I am at my wit's end with this stuff. We have an appt with an infectious disease doc, but they didn't have an appt for almost 3 weeks so we are also on the cancellation list. Please wish us luck that we can get this completely out of her system and find some way to prevent her from getting it again.

Styling and profiling!

Jordan may have interesting fashion sense, but at least she is a true WVU fan!

Mother's day 2009

Yeah, I'm behind yet again. I hadn't loaded pictures onto the computer in forever, and Jordan is with Nana and Bo bo right now, so I actually have time to get a few things done. After an afternoon of planting flowers and painting, I'm hiding from the rain indoors with Maddie napping on the couch beside me.

We started Mother's day by opening presents at home and then going to Berry Hills for brunch. Isn't the expression on Jordan's face lovely?

And Jordan with Nana.

A better view of how adorable Jordan looked in her dress. With a room full of tons of good food, all Jordan wanted were grapes. Dave and I had tons of good food to make up for how little Jordan ate though ;)

Then we went home and changed into more comfortable clothes to go to Ma Maw's house. We hung out with Ma Maw for a couple of hours and then went to Dave's sister's house where Jordan and Zach played on Zach's swingset for a while. Unfortunately, there were ticks playing on the swingset as well, so I got 1 tick off of Jordan's shirt and another off of her leg where it was headed north. Dave killed 2 or 3 others on the swingset itself. Be warned, according to several people this is supposed to be a bad year for ticks. If the afternoon of Mother's day is any indication, I think they're right!

Jordan's 1st trip to the circus

A couple of weeks ago we took Jordan to the circus for the first time. On the advice of a friend, we made sure to take her to the pre-show, so we got to go down on the floor and watch and elephant paint a picture, see the clown on stilts and lots of other things. I think it also made her a bit more comfortable once the show started because we had been in there checking things out for so long.

Here is Dave holding her while we were watching the elephant paint with a paintbrush.

Still the pre-show checking out juggling clowns.

During the circus she kept clapping with the music. Whenever I tried to snap a picture, the red eye reduction thing on the camera would light her hands up red and she would stop to try to figure out why her hands were suddenly red.

Since the whole experience was new to Jordan, she didn't point at any of the crazy priced items or food or ask for anything. Since we had animal crackers, raisins and juice in the diaper bag, we made it out of there spending only $3.50 for a Diet Coke Dave and I split (and Jordan had a few sips of). I'm guessing this is the only year we're getting away with that.

So, after the first place on Jordan's behind started healing, another one popped up a couple of inches over. We saw the pediatrician on Wednesday who got an appointment for us with a surgeon on Thursday. Thursday morning things were looking much better, but we wanted to take her in for the appointment to be sure. After waiting about an hour and a half in the waiting room and another 10 or 15 minutes in a room, we got in to see the surgeon who said it looked like things were healing just fine. Thankfully, it looks like that is continuing (knock on wood). Jordan seems to be fine, so she is going back to daycare tomorrow.

I'll post pictures later, but we got to do a wonderful brunch this morning with Nana and Bobo where the only thing Jordan would eat were grapes. Dave and I definitely ate enough to make up for Jordan's lack of appetite. We came back to the house and changed clothes before going to Dave's mom's for a couple of hours and then to Dave's sister's house to play on Zach's swing set. Unfortunately, there were an abundance of ticks at Dave's sister's house, so we had to pull one off of Jordan's shirt and another off of her leg.

For all of the mothers, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!

What a difference a few months makes

Last fall, sometime in late September or early October (I think), we went with Kim, Jenny, Andrea, Carrie and all of the kids to a great little park. Dave and I took Jordan back to that same park last weekend, and it was amazing how much more stuff Jordan could and would do on her own.

Here is Jordan with Dave on the swings in the fall.

And last weekend.

Since she was afraid of the slides last time, this was probably her favorite thing.

Last weekend she checked it out as she wizzed by. She looks so much taller and older now- it is crazy!

We didn't let her climb very far on her own, but that sure didn't stop Jordan from trying to climb almost everything at the park.

We will definitely be headed back to that park again this summer.

So, the bad news is that Jordan probably has MRSA again- this time on her behind. The good news is it doesn't seem to bother her too much, though that could change as it gets bigger. She is hit and miss on whether sitting hurts, but we hope this will open and drain on its own like the last one did so no one has to open it surgically. Dave was supposed to leave town Monday and be 4 hours away until Friday, but he thankfully cancelled the trip because things with Jordan are a bit unpredictable at the moment. Please keep your fingers crossed that this passes quickly and with as little pain as possible!