The big birthday party

Jordan's birthday party this year was at the Clay Center which was a lot easier than her 1st birthday party. I think the kids had a great time playing in the 5 and under area after the eating/present part of the party. We had a good turnout, though we missed Vivian and Jackson who were understandably unable to be there.

Instead of a cake, we did cupcakes and Jordan's cupcake topper was a cute little dog painted to look like Maddie who Jordan recently decided was her puppy.

One of Jordan's favorite presents was this chair from our friends Matt, Caroline and Hope. As soon as Jordan spotted it, she grabbed it and carried it all over the room with her. It definitely became the princess' throne! Of course, Jordan sported her birthday shirt for the occasion.

It is so hard to catch a genuine smile on film!

And some of the decor. The banner had puppies and paw prints.

As did the confetti on the tables. The gift bags included candy, dog bone shaped cookies and small stuffed dogs.

I have a confession. I have misplaced the USB cord for my camera, so I can only load pictures on the computer with the memory card. The card will only work with the home computer, so I'm not so good at loading pictures on the computer right now. Hopefully we'll find the USB cord again soon.

This past Sunday was our neighborhood Halloween parade, so I got some cute pics of Jordan and the neighborhood kids having a good time. She is one of the youngest in the neighborhood at the moment, so she was clearly a bit scared of some of the people and costumes. She has her Halloween party at daycare tomorrow, but the parents aren't invited due to parking and the knowledge it would be pure chaos if everyone was there at the same time. However, we are going to take Jordan trick or treating for the first time on Thursday. My prediction is that she will not go to a single door outside of our cul de sac without one of us carrying her, so this could be interesting. As a bonus, my mom is handing out candy at our house (she doesn't get trick or treaters at her house) and is bringing us dinner. Wish us luck trick or treating!

2nd birthday- first celebration

I have to say that Jordan had a really good 2nd birthday. She started out with mini-cupcakes at daycare during snack time and ended the day with lots of fun presents and a giant cupcake at home.

One present she got a little before her birthday was this fabulous swing set from Robert a.k.a. Bobo. I'll post lots of pics later of her playing on her swing set.


Every 2 year old needs to rock out in Barbie heels- right? Of course, Maddie was nearby keeping an eye on everything.

Jordan's other "big" present was a playhouse from her MaMaw, Aunt Julie and great aunt Charlotte. She absolutely loves it and I'll admit that Dave and I have both already made it inside the thing. We've also eaten a lot of imaginery pizza that originates from the playhouse.

Blowing out the candles on her huge birthday cupcake.

This is the only picture I got of the cupcake before Jordan's finger went in the icing.

Jordan started out in a cute birthday shirt, but thanks to the first round of cupcakes and a water incident at daycare, she ended up in the change of clothes in her locker. I didn't feel like changing her because I was so excited to take her out back to see her playhouse.

My 2 year old baby girl

It seems like yesterday I held you for the first time. I was so scared taking you home because the nurses wouldn't be there to watch you when we were sleeping. I woke up so many times that first night to make sure you were still breathing in the cradle beside the bed. Now you are learning to do front rolls, climbing the ladder to your swingset without any help and even swinging on the rings in your gymnastics class.

You don't miss a thing. When I walked in the door with your giant cupcake last night, inside of its plastic container and 2 grocery bags, you immediately asked what was in the bag and kept telling me you wanted cupcakes. Since I had mentioned it 30 minutes earlier, you knew that is what I had. You are so strong and strong willed. You have to have it your way or no way, which is why you threw a fit this morning when you did not want to wear your shoes to "kool" since my shoes looked so inviting. Everyone keeps implying that you get that from me, but I don't know about that...

You give the best hugs, and when you are in the mood for kisses, you give them, a lot. Every freckle is a boo boo, so it must be kissed. You love to sing Twinkle, Twinkle and humming it is almost as much fun. Occasionally you'll mix Happy Birthday with Twinkle like only you can do. Hearing you count to 9, always skipping 4, is adorable, even if you refuse to believe that 4 exists. Your recent love of rocks is pretty cute. I'm guessing not too many kids keep their rocks in a purple satin box like you do though.

I hope you have a great second birthday and that your next year is as amazing as the last 2 years. You are loved by so many, and I hope you always know how much you are loved, especially by your parents. We love you baby girl!

Firetrucks, boats and planes, oh my

On Jordan's first beach trip, we managed to cram in her first trip on a plane, on a firetruck, on a golf cart (forgot to take a picture of that) and on a boat. Not bad for just a few days in the life of a 1 year old.

This was in the Atlanta airport before the big storm clouds rolled in. We had more quality time there than we anticipated, so Jordan ended up falling asleep on the flight between Atlanta and Wilmington.

And my aunt and uncle who live in Southport, NC, are part owners of a 1960 firetruck which has been altered so there is bench seating in the back and a cute little table. We rode in the back to an ice cream parlor across the street from the marina and had a great time.

Jordan with my aunt Marta checking out the side of the firetruck.

And on the ferry back from Bald Head Island with Dave.

And a picture of Miss Attitude for good measure. This was her reaction when I asked her to look at me and smile.

Tomorrow is the big day, so I'm not going to be sappy at this point. I will say that I can't believe my little baby Jordan is already turning 2!

Bald Head

On what we thought was our last full day in NC we spent the morning on Bald Head Island. It is a neat little island where the main mode of transportation is to ride around on golf carts, which I must say were surprising expensive to rent for a couple of hours. We rode around the island and explored on our golf cart while getting off at some of public beach access points. Jordan was not in the mood for pictures much of the day, and the golf cart made things interesting. At one point Dave's hat blew off, and he had a minor pop spill incident, also in the golf cart.

Here is Jordan on one of the beach access walkways.


Dave holding her since she wasn't so willing to pose on her own. Notice the ocean in the background.

Bald Head Island is also the home of Old Baldy, a neat old lighthouse that is no longer in service. It was closed that day due to a pirate event in the afternoon (thus the pirate behind the fence). I quickly realized there was no way I was fitting Jordan and the entire lighthouse in a single picture.

So, Dave posed with Jordan much further from Old Baldy. I tried to hold her for some pictures, but by this point she was not the happiest baby, so the only ones I have of the 2 of us show her with her head on my shoulder. We were bribing her with cookies to pose for pics, but she still wasn't into it. Oh, well.

And a pic from my phone of the beautiful scenery at one of the public beach access points. It was gorgeous!! You can see the mainland in the distance.

Catching up- beach trip

Just when you thought I had abandoned my blog, we're ba...ack...

We had a good trip to the beach at the end of July, including Jordan's first trip into the ocean, first plane ride, first boat ride and even her first fire truck ride. She handled flying better than I did since I ended up crying in the airport the day we were supposed to come home begging the jerk manning the gate to get us home the day Delta was supposed to get us home but was unable to do because of mechanical issues (in combination with weather issues in the preceding days).

Jordan was only so-so on the ocean, though I will admit the waves at Holden Beach were pretty rough. When I was on my knees holding Jordan in the water, several of the waves were strong enough to knock me off balance, but Jordan didn't go under water or anything like that. She was clearly more impressed with the pool at the beach house and the pool at Dad's housing development. It is like when we go to the park and all she wants to do is swing when we have a swing at home. At least we all had a good time and were able to spend time with my dad, his wife and her son.

Here is Jordan the first day at the beach checking things out.

In the ocean with Dave.

Playing in the sand. Dave would make the bucket-shaped mini castles and Jordan would knock them down. We bought a really cheap, small video camera for the trip, and we got some lovely footage of Jordan knocking those things down like it was her job.

This was the second day at the beach. Don't believe for a second she went into that water alone!

I have more beach pics to post, but long story short 1 case has taken over most of my summer, sending me to Elkins repeatedly, Parkersburg and Greensburg, PA, not to mention some all day depos in Charleston. I'm leaving for Motown/Morganhole on Monday for a 2 day mediation and keeping my fingers crossed that that will be nearly the end of the case for me. For that reason, I've felt like an absentee mother a lot lately and have gotten behind on blogging and lots of things, not to mention it now being a joke that I actually still have an office at my firm.

Potty training!!

I can't believe I forgot to mention that Jordan has peed in the potty several times now. She isn't so good at letting us know she has to go (yet), but she loves to sit on the potty and has peed in it several times since Friday. At least it is a step in the right direction!

iphone and Festivall

I finally figured out how to get the pictures from my phone on to the computer, so these are from the library's 100 year celebration during Festivall. The paper had said there would be activities for families with young children, so we thought it was worth checking out. We had a fun morning and early afternoon there, and it was nice to do something different (especially since it was free!).

We got in line for the balloon animals and were happy to find sidewalk chalk to play with while we were waiting, even if it ended up on Jordan's clothes, as well.

Then Jordan got her balloon flower which she toted around for several days afterward.

Her new model pose- over the shoulder look with the wind blowing her hair.

Her favorite activity, by far, that morning was fishing the plastic ducks out of the fountains in front of the library. The entire front of her shirt and shorts were soaked, but she didn't mind one bit. We lured her away from the ducks with cake...

And last but not least were the buckets of bubbles. We didn't have much luck actually making bubbles, but Jordan slung the stuff everywhere and made a sticky mess. Notice she is double fisting the bubble wands.

Well, I'm getting ready to leave town AGAIN. I have depos in Elkins M-F next week, though I'm hoping I get to come home Tuesday night since we aren't scheduled to start on Wed until 11. Keep your fingers crossed I'll get to make the quick trip home because I will really, really miss Jordan, Dave, Maddie, Sloopy and even Miss Kitty if I'm gone for 4 nights in a row.

On the afternoon of July 28, Dave, Jordan and I will take our first flight together on our first beach vacation. After Jordan screaming for 1.5 solid hours coming back from Snowshoe, I was terrified of driving 8 hours each way with her. Robert was nice enough to give us frequent flyer miles so we can fly down and back at no cost (except Delta's lovely fee for each and every checked bag). Dad will pick us up at the airport Tuesday evening, and we will get to spend Wed, Thur and Fri lounging at the beach and visiting with my dad. Wish us luck and please feel free to share travel tips, especially related to toddlers and airplanes!

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!