14.2 pounds!

Jordan had her 2 month well baby visit on Monday and had to get her first shot since the hospital. After the nurse weighed and measured her, she informed me that Jordan is off of the weight charts for her age, as she was 14.2 pounds! I knew she was a little chunk but had no idea she was already 14 pounds. She is now 23" long, which puts her in the 75% for height. Hopefully she will be taller than me since I claim I'm 5'4" but that is being generous.

Today was Jordan's first Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, she has had the croup and has been coughing and sneezing. She scared my little brother's girlfriend this evening because Kate was holding Jordan when Jordan started coughing badly and then threw up a bit and scared herself. We will be having yummy Pedialyte this evening to make sure she doesn't throw up during her sleep. I hope she feels better soon because her cough is the most pitiful thing. On a positive note, she did very well being drug to 2 Thanksgiving dinners and being passed around a little.

Although you can't see the full thing, her bib actually says "I'm cute- buy me something"

Sewer gas, crap and a condom

Yes, you read that correctly- unfortunately. Dave, Jordan and I had a heck of a week last week, which is why I have been MIA. If you ever think you have bad luck, just call me, and I'm sure I'll be able to tell you about our luck and make you feel a little better.

Last Tuesday, Dave called me while Jordan and I were on the way home to say that we had a major problem because we had sewer gas in the house. When our neighbors 2 doors down had Roto Rooter come to their house due to slow drains, they managed to force the main line sewer into our basement. Dave was 2 floors up on the computer when he smelled sewage and quickly traced the smell to our basement. That's right, he went to our basement to find sewage and a condom that came up through the sewer in to our basement. It got to the carpet and a little bit of the dry wall, so we had to evacuate our house for almost a week. There is nothing like fleeing your home with an 8 week old. We stayed with friends, family and at a hotel one evening. The basement had to be professionally cleaned, and we are now in the process of picking out new carpet and paint. A contractor is supposed to start on the drywall on Monday. This has been a HUGE pain! Oh, well. At least we are back in the house now (knock on wood) and doing alright.

I had to share a picture of some of the items from our laundry room that were destroyed because they were graced by the presence of crap (yuck!)


And most of the basement furniture on our back patio. You can also see some of the ripped out carpet in the grass on the far side of the patio. Thank goodness you can't see the back patio from the front of the house!

And on to happier things...

Jordan is now smiling a fair amount now. Unfortunately it is hard to photograph. Here are a couple of attempts at capturing what I believe is an absolutely adorable smile.

Here is Jordan hanging out on the morning of Oct 30 in her Halloween bib my cousin Reggie got for her. Even though her hands were doing their random flailing, I love that it looks like she is smiling and waving.

And smiling during a diaper change laying in the changing part of the Pack N Play. She hated diaper changes at first but really finds them fun now since I feel the need to blow on her stomach and make faces at her while dealing with the diapers.

Surviving

Last weekend Jordan attended her first baby shower. My friend from work, Marsha, is due right before Christmas, so we went through a lot of pregnancy stuff together. When Marsha came to visit in the hospital, I told Jordan she had to be good so she didn't scare Marsha. We had the same talk before the shower (not that I really thought it would work either time), so I was happily surprised that Jordan didn't cry or fuss at all. When the quivering lip appeared, I gave her a bottle and all was right with the world.


Then, at the firm Halloween party on Friday, Marsha held Jordan in her Halloween costume. Don't you just love the sea shells on her chest?!? I didn't know until later that Marsha had never held a baby under 6 months of age, so I'm glad I took a picture of the big occasion. At the start of the Halloween party, Jordan was extremely alert and looking around at everyone and everything. By this point, however, she was dead to the world in a cat nap.

I'm happy to report that we survived our first week back at work. I was pretty tired much of the time, but we all seem to be doing better in a routine. Jordan has been sleeping better and has only been doing 1 middle of the night feeding for the last few nights. We were home alone for most of Thursday evening, and I was reminded of how sweet she can be when we are alone. When I visit Jordan in day care during the week, I love that she looks up at me with her beautiful eyes and really seems to recognize me.

Mixed feelings

Jordan will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, so I'm returning to work on Tuesday. I am ready to have a break from being home with Jordan all the time, but it is going to be a major adjustment. Pitifully I'm tearing up thinking about being away from Jordan so much and handing her over to strangers. I'm so glad she'll be right there in my building so I can pop in at lunch or whenever I start to miss her too much and can watch her on the daycare cameras.

I took Jordan to a baby shower today, and I'm happy to report that she behaved very well. I was so nervous she would throw a fit and scare the mother to be and was happily surprised that she was very good. Many of the women commented on how alert she was. Jordan always loves looking around and often gets irritated if you don't change her scenery often enough.

On that note, here is a picture of Jordan hanging out in her bouncer but reaching for me. She always has her arms, hands and legs going, but I love when she seems to be reaching for me.

And this is a self-portrait kind of shot during a moment of peace when Jordan and I were home alone together. Often after a bottle and some burping, she loves to sleep on my shoulder, holding on to make sure I don't put her down.

Jordan and Zach

This picture is a couple of weeks old, but here it is anyway. This is the first time that Jordan's cousin Zach held her. Obviously she had no idea what was going on, but Zach is a ham who loves having his picture taken. He and Jordan's Aunt Julie came to the house after a field trip which included a scavenger hunt. Zach was more interested in Maddie most of the time he was here but was happy to pose for a picture with Jordan.


During that same visit, Jordan spent part of the time passed out on my stomach on the front porch. Even if it isn't the most flattering picture of me, Jordan looks very peaceful. She loves just being outside sometimes since there is so much to look at outside.

Naked baby

Jordan has mixed feelings about being a naked baby. Actually, when I snapped this lovely photo, Jordan was wearing a diaper before I got her dressed. I tried several times to get pictures of her laying on the loveseat looking content, but she wouldn't hold still for more than a split second. Putting my hand on her chest and stomach made her hold still for a moment. However, if you look closely, you can see that Jordan picked this exact moment to spit up a tiny bit. As I've said before, she certainly has her mother's timing. Although she is a good sized baby, I think she looks small compared to my hand.

On a side note, we are going to a free baby massage class tomorrow. As long as she does alright, we will then head to my office so more of the girls from work can meet her. I haven't taken Jordan anywhere alone yet, so wish us luck.

Sometimes we'll try anything

So, Jordan has quite a set of lungs and likes to show them off from time to time. When she is screaming bloody murder when it isn't time to eat and the diaper is fine, we end up walking from room to room moving her into a thousand different positions and trying the pacifier trying to find something that makes her happy. Thankfully, these episodes are decreasing in frequency since we are learning her different cries, but they are definitely not gone.

This picture shows one of the odd positions that Jordan found relaxing after Dave had tried a bunch of different things. Sometimes you just have to go with what works...