More, more Christmas

After opening presents and eating a messy breakfast of cinnamon rolls, we headed for Dave's sister's house for the next round of Christmas. Our nephew Zach had gotten a Wii from Santa, so the whole family was playing with it and trying to figure out all of the different stuff. Jordan didn't pay a bit of attention to the Wii, despite the fact that the TV it was hooked up to is much taller than Jordan. Oh, well. She liked the book, the vacuum and some of the other toys she got to play with there.

Zach was more willing to smile for the camera than Jordan. As a side note, Zach was given some money to spend at school when the kids got to do their own shopping for whoever they wanted to buy for. Maddie and I received presents from Zach, which was very nice. He was so excited to hand out the presents he picked out by himself. It was so cute.

Then we ventured to Dave's aunt's house right across from Dave's sister's house where Jordan got more presents, and we visited for a little bit.

Then, the last stop before home was Nana's house. Mom had a family friend repaint a very old rocking toy that her father (who was born in 1899) gave her. Jordan loved rocking in it, though we were afraid she was going to bust her face on the front bar because she was rocking so hard.

Jordan got her first American Girl doll from Nana which is a bitty baby. She had to carry it over to Nana for her to check out.

And like any good Nana, Jordan's Nana got her several books as part of her Christmas presents. This book has pictures of babies, which makes Jordan repeatedly say, "baby, baby, baby..." which is very funny coming from a "baby".

And Bo Bo was also present for Christmas at Nana's, but both pictures I took of Jordan on Bo Bo's lap were pretty bad. Hopefully some of the Christmas eve pictures taken with his camera (that I need to load onto my computer) turned out better.

More Christmas 2008

We managed to forget our camera on Christmas eve, so those pictures will come later. These are some pictures from Christmas at our house. Here is what our poor, deprived child woke up to find in our living room. By the way, the cards were the presents from my dad in NC, not some strange decoration. Santa doesn't wrap presents in our house, so the unwrapped stuff are gifts via special delivery from the North Pole.

Jordan went straight for this wooden block toy that has a ton of different things to play with. It was actually hard getting her to move on to any of the other toys because she really liked this one. Jordan's dotted Christmas pj's show Santa holding a stack of gifts. Just below Santa, they say "Santa's favorite".

And the biggest present from Santa was her play kitchen which was fully assembled in the basement.

She had to check out the "silver" ware, cups and accessories.

And Daddy got to help with the kitchen play.

We videotaped some of Christmas morning. Jordan really seemed to enjoy some of her new toys. I must admit that I have somewhat turned into my mother. I forgot to take some price tags off, I couldn't remember what was in which package and I still can't find clothes that I swore I wrapped for Jordan. I'm hopeful that in cleaning and packing up the Christmas decorations the outfits show up. There will be a couple more Christmas posts to come. Merry Christmas (again)!

Merry Christmas

On Sunday we did Christmas with Dave's family, and Jordan had a ball opening presents. One of her favorites was definitely the shopping cart. She cried because we wouldn't put it together on the spot. Of course, she had plenty of other toys to distract her and to play with.

She is still at the stage where the boxes are some of the best gifts. This box originally held a very soft Bath and Body Works blanket. I can't explain the look on her face...

Her cousin, Zach, was happy to help with presents. He even connected the handle of her vacuum so she could play with it.

This Leap Frog caterpillar thing was/is also a lot of fun.

Jordan has her 3rd ear infection in 3 months. According to the PA at the pediatrician's office, if she has 1 more before April, they will have to refer us to see about tubes. I have mixed feelings about that, but we will obviously do whatever is best for her.

We did Christmas eve at Robert's house, as usual, this year. However, we (read Dave) accidentally left the camera on the kitchen counter. We took pictures with Robert's camera that we'll load on the computer sometime soon. Christmas this year was a lot more entertaining than last year because Jordan got excited about some presents and really got into playing with some of them. Of course, baby's firsts are important, but there was something special about this year because it seemed like Jordan really enjoyed it. I hope each of you had a good Christmas!

Christmas 2008 is almost here

Last Christmas Jordan was too little to be into anything. Of course, at 15 months, it is her mission to be into EVERYTHING. I was excited to have the tree up and decorated when she got home last weekend after being with her Ma Maw overnight. I was careful to leave ornaments off of the bottom branches, and all of the ornaments within her reach are not breakable. Here she is trying to grab an ornament from the tree.

Admiring a small red ornament that looks like a miniature version of the one she threw all over the Capitol Market while taking Christmas pics.

Can't you just see the wheels turning as she goes for it?!?

Apparently all of that hard work wore her out!

We went to a first birthday party today for my friend Marsha's little girl Paige a.k.a. Rubie- for those of you who know Marsha, you understand why this poor child has 2 names. Since Rubie was not very interested in opening presents, Jordan got in on the action. She really enjoyed playing with Rubie's brand new popper and some of her other toys. Hopefully that means she'll be excited to open Christmas presents.

Christmas pictures

Most of you already know that Kim did a PHENOMENAL job taking pictures of Jordan the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Since Jordan has melted down the past few times she has been in any type of studio for pictures, this seemed worth a shot. I knew Kim would do a great job, but I wasn't sure Jordan would be the best subject. I ended up sweating keeping up with her all over the Capitol Market, but it was definitely worth it for the pictures Kim was able to get. Since most of the Christmas cards have been delivered, here are some of the pics I loved.

And then there was the big red Christmas ornament. Kim mentioned that on some of her photography boards people had taken kid pictures with big ornaments. We headed to Big Lots, and I found a large, red plastic ornament for a whopping $2, so it made some of the pictures. Of course, Jordan thought the ornament was a fun ball. She started off holding it like a sweet girl and quickly realized it was much more fun to throw it all over the place- under Christmas trees, down concrete steps, down the sidewalk, etc. If you look closely, you can clearly see where she chipped some of the paint off with her throws.

Since it was a cold day, Kim was nice enough to share Sophie's red coat from last year with Jordan. I thought it looked perfect on her, not that I am biased at all.

I didn't even notice the string of lights on the walkway covering until I saw the pictures. It added more interest to the pictures though.

See ya' later!

THANKS AGAIN KIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bad blogger- oh, well, we'll blame it on the Holidays

When WVU had its last Thursday night game of the season, the daycare had WVU day. Several of us brought in football/WVU themed snacks and drinks, and the kids had a special snack that day. Jordan had to wear her new cheerleading outfit for the occasion. Unfortunately, she wasn't into posing for pictures that morning. Any of you with kids, especially kids in daycare, know that the outfit doesn't look the same by the end of the day, so pictures of cute outfits must be taken before leaving the house.

Since it was cold, she wore leggings underneath to stay warm. Yes, that is a spoon sticking out of her mouth.

And why, you may ask, do I have a picture of a "hamburger" included? This special hamburger was 1 of 48 that I made for the daycare kids for a snack. For those who were at Jordan's birthday party, you know what this little burger is made of. For everyone else, these "burgers" are actually made with vanilla wafers, a mint cookie and icing. Typically you use green, red and yellow icing to look like the typical hamburger toppings. Of course, for WVU day, they had to have blue and gold icing.

We had a crazy Thanksgiving, but all is well. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving Jordan was diagnosed with 2 minor ear infections, so she had to go on a stronger antibiotic than normal which meant fun in the diaper department beginning on Thanksgiving morning. This was only after she threw up twice during Wednesday night/Thursday morning between 4:30 and 5:30. Thankfully, most of the rest of the day was better. Jordan was fussy at the first Thanksgiving dinner until the Tylenol kicked in since she is getting several teeth at once. I don't know what is going on with her mouth, but she is getting her front tooth on one side, the one next to it (further back) and a molar! Craziness. All 3 teeth are on the same side of her mouth, so it looks pretty pitiful right now. Hopefully her other front tooth will come in soon to help even things out.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving!

Little late on more Halloween posts

On Halloween we stayed in and handed out candy rather than taking Jordan out trick or treating. She doesn't each much candy, which I understand considering she really only has 2 teeth to chew it with, so it seemed crazy to take her around the neighborhood collecting candy. She only handed candy to 1 little boy, but she had to run to the door each time the doorbell rang or kids came to the door just to check everyone out.

Although she wouldn't wear the headpiece for her own costume either time she wore it, she wore the headpiece for Maddie's for a few minutes the night of trick or treat.

Yes, Maddie and Jordan had matching costumes. I swear to you Dave was the one responsible for Maddie's costume though!

Jordan appears to be getting 3 teeth right now, though they are strangely all on one side of her mouth all on the top. I hope that is the reason she has been waking up once per night recently crying. We didn't realize there were so many coming in until yesterday evening when Dave was holding her upside down playing with her in the kitchen where the lights caught the glimmer of the teeth. Ouch! Not much else going on around here except getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mom may keep Jordan for us this evening so we can sleep! Sad that that is what we look forward to now...

Halloween pics- round 1

This is the third time I've tried to load Halloween pictures from our home computer- frustrating! But anyway...

The Sunday before Halloween our neighborhood had a Halloween parade for the kids. As usual, we ran a minute late and missed the group picture. Maybe next year.

At the end of the parade everyone went to a neighbor's garage where there were lots of goodies and snacks for kids and adults. There were games, but Jordan was really too young for hot potato or eating the donuts tied to the tree. She had a good time playing in the neighbor's side yard with the soccer balls (whenever the big kids took a break).

Here is my little ladybug with icing all over her fingers. Why wouldn't she do this at her birthday party?!?

And a better view of my little lady bug. She refused to wear the hood for more than 2 seconds and ended up with icing all over her tights, but she had a good time.

Happy (belated) Halloween!

Rotten but cute

What happens when you leave a 13 month old alone with an open can of pop? Hmmmm....

I don't know what happened to the pop... (I'm sure that is what she could say if she could articulate what she was thinking here.) Dave was in the kitchen while I ran down to the basement for a minute. When I came back up, this is what I found. Nice. Dave explained he forgot there was an open pop in there. Whoops!

Do not adjust your computers, Jordan is upside down. Upside down is fun when you are being tickled!

The Halloween pictures are yet to come...

BTW- I'm still not sure if Jordan had pink eye. The good news is that if she did, it was only contagious for 24 hours, so she is safe to go back to daycare and attend the Halloween parties tomorrow. Woo!hoo!

Fall fun

Colorful leaves in a field beg for fall photos. Although Jordan wasn't dressed for pictures, I borrowed Robert's camera to take a few pics. These ended up in the opposite order I intended, but you get the "picture"- ha!

It is always a good time for a wagon ride.


Playing in the leaves in Robert's side yard.


Such fun!

Jordan was nearly knee deep stuck in the leaves here, but she had a good time with it. Of course, everything is more fun with a stuffed frog in hand. The frog is one of the toys she keeps at Robert's house. When you press the frog's stomach, it says, "Ribbit! Ribbit!"

I got the dreaded call shortly after 4pm today from day care. Jordan may have pink eye, so I got the call to pick her up. I really don't think that is what she has, but to be safe she is staying home with Nana tomorrow and going to visit the pediatrician tomorrow afternoon. Since the daycare, firm and Twinkie Halloween parties are all Friday, I REALLY hope she doesn't have pink eye. Not to mention not letting her hand out candy to the neighborhood kids tomorrow evening.

The park is more fun with friends

As most of you who read these blogs know, Carrie and Rick brought Vivian down for a visit 2 weeks ago, and we got the law school crew and kids together at a local park. I was impressed this park had a variety of things to entertain kids from the ages of about 6 months and up. I think Jackson had fun, too, though he needed a little extra help from Jared and Jenny to enjoy the park.

Jordan had fun "steering" this thing.

What do you do after you go down a slide? Try to climb back up, of course.

Emma, Vivian and Jordan all had fun on the swings.

The impossible picture of all 6 kids.

See ya' suckers... I'm outta here.

Daddy's girl

For those of you who have seen Dave, Jordan and I together in the past few months, I'm sure you've noticed that Jordan is already Daddy's girl. That cuts both ways for me. However, it is adorable watching them together at times.

These are from the park a few weeks ago.


Still at the park. Since this is how I spent much of my childhood on a road once known as Bee Tree Hollow, I was glad Jordan liked playing near the creek. She tried to go in completely, but we had to put a stop to that one. She also plopped her behind down on the wet rocks.

And sharing a drink at a new restaurant we tried out while Carrie, Rick and Vivian were visiting. I had finished my Sprite, and Jordan wanted to test it out. Since we were just waiting to sign the sales slip and Jordan had been pretty good during the meal, she got out of the high chair to be closer to the action.

Last night Dave and I got to have a 1 month late anniversary dinner. Uncle grandpa Robert treated us to a delicious meal at the same restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner. Although I'm sure I gained 15 pounds at the table, it was amazing! Any meal that starts out with a pineapple upside down cake cocktail and ends with a chocolate souffle has got to be good!

Although I managed to forget a camera, we took Jordan to the Capitol Market today to pick out pumpkins and other fall decor. She quickly realized that holding 2 small pumpkins was a bit difficult. We did get a Jordan-sized $2 pumpkin that we let her carry around. I'm afraid to leave it out for her to play with though because I'm afraid it will meet an untimely end on the steps...

Park days

We have been pretty busy lately, so I've gotten behind in blogging. At the moment Jordan is taking her second nap of the day (yes!), so I had a few minutes to load pictures and post. A couple of weeks ago we decided to explore some of the parks in the area to find one that had options for Jordan. The first park looked good for older kids but had nothing for Jordan. I put her on my lap, and we got in a swing for a few minutes. We then decided to go to park #2. All of the shelters in that park had a bunch of people in them, and we didn't see anything for Jordan there either. However, we pulled in at a picnic table to feed Jordan.

Since we let her sit on the picnic table, she seemed to think standing on it was a good idea, as well.

After her tummy was full, we drove to another park to look around. We had more luck at park #3. There weren't any other kids at this playground area, but there were several things for Jordan to check out. She is a fan of swings.

Going down the slide was alright, but climbing up was apparently more fun.
Jordan also had fun on the metal rocking horse, though we had to make sure it hadn't gotten too hot in the sun before letting her try it out.

On a side note we got the results back from Jordan's allergy tests, and it doesn't appear she is allergic to anything. That is good, but that still means we have no clue why she coughs. The pediatrician said he still thinks "there is an allergy component to it", so if she keeps coughing he wants to redo the tests when she turns 2. We may get things straightened out at some point...