jordan: month 15

At Jordan’s 15 month check-up she weighed in at 22.6 lbs and was 31” long. She is growing nice and steady. This baby girl is on the move now! She loves to walk, run, dance, and twirl. Her favorite thing is to be chased, which can be fun but now means anytime time I try to go near her she starts to run away. Jordan also loves to be outside. Every time I let Frank out to potty she throws a fit if she can’t go outside either. Some things she likes to do outside include playing with bubbles and “riding” the tricycle her grandparents bought her (she has to be pushed since her feet don’t reach the pedals yet.) Jordan also loves music. If she hears music she will immediately start bopping up and down. She is also getting more and more chatty. A few new words this month were OK, buh-bye, and cool.

This month Jordan spent 2 weeks with her Grandma and Grandpa Franklin while Chip and I enjoyed a vacation to Venice, Florence, and Rome, Italy. She had a great time and I’m pretty sure exhausted my parents. Chip and I had a wonderful time exploring 3 different and fun cities. We’re so grateful to have had the opportunity to get to go.

Another milestone this month was that Jordan was moved up the “walkers” room at the church nursery. After escaping the nursery several times last Sunday, they finally conceded that she was ready to be promoted. It’s a bittersweet moment…my little girl is no longer a baby :( Kitti, the woman who watched her in the nursery, had done so since she was 8 weeks old!

A random thing we learned about Jordan this month was that watermelon makes her vomit. I had fed it to her once and she seemed to like it. Then the following day I diced some up and added it to her applesauce and she gagged a few times and then vomited it out on her highchair. I initially thought she had picked up a stomach bug, but 2 days later I fed her watermelon again and once again she threw it up. I guess she must not like the taste or something. So now watermelon is on her “do not eat” list. I guess she can try it again in a few years and see what she thinks of it then. Oh well!

jordan: month 14

This month marked when Jordan went from a full-time crawler to a full-time walker. She started out the month taking several steps and then falling and by the end of the month she would walk all around the house. It was an exciting thing, but also an exhausting thing. I now have to constantly follow her around to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble. I’m not always successful, as was the case a few weeks ago when I was putting away laundry and Jordan walked in the bathroom and proceeded to unroll an entire roll of toilet paper. She was quite amused, I was not.

Jordan’s vocabulary has been expanding as well. I think she’s said yes, no, dog, all done, and milk. She will point at things and say “that” wanting to know what they are. Of course she doesn’t say them perfectly, but that was our best guess as to what she was saying.

A funny thing Jordan started doing this month was the “raging bull” face. She would scrunch up her face, flare her nostrils, and breathe in and out like a bull that is stamping its foot about to charge. She seemed to do it when she would get frustrated. Jordan also started shaking her head side-to-side like she was shaking her head “no”. Luckily she doesn’t do it when she means no, she just does it because she thinks it is fun. Silly girl!

Another new development this month was her need for her mom. If she fell and got upset or was overtired and grumpy or even scared she would cry “mama” and reach for me. Even if Chip was trying to console her, she still only wanted me. I have to admit it was kind of sweet. We’ll see how long this phase lasts.

jordan: month 13

How quickly another month has passed! Jordan just keeps doing more and more things that remind me she is not a baby anymore. She will wave hi or bye if you ask her, she can point out certain things on command, and now she will blow kisses. Too sweet! She will also give kisses, but it’s more like she leans her wide open mouth into yours. Still adorable! Jordan also took her first steps this month. She was so proud of herself. She can take 8 or 9 steps and then she’ll fall down. She’s still a ways away from being a full-time walker I think, but who knows. She gets so excited to walk that her bottom half doesn’t move as fast as the top half and she usually just lunges forward and falls. She has some bruised up knees right now. Jordan’s vocabulary seems to be growing as well. Several times I feel like she has said yes “ya” when I ask her a question. I think she also said yogurt “go-gur”. She also says ooh and wow, or at least I think that’s what she is saying.

Jordan also had her first trip to the ER this month. Earlier in the day I had taken her to the pediatrician because she sounded congested. The Dr. said she had a sinus infection and gave her some antibiotics (another first), but that night we heard her wheezing in her monitor and just didn’t feel comfortable letting her suffer. The ER Dr. said she had croup. She had a nebulizer treatment at the hospital and was given a prescription for some steroids. It was about a week before she was better. Luckily we caught it fairly early, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. At least our first trip to the ER with her was a relatively calm one. Jordan did great and even smiled and waved at the doctors and nurses :)

Another not-so-fun development this month was the temper tantrum. Jordan had a few days where she would get very angry if she was told no or caught doing something she knew she shouldn’t. She would scream, cry, flail her arms and legs, arch her back, and generally do anything to let me know she wasn’t happy. She got several time outs for her behavior. It certainly tested my patience. Hopefully I will learn ways to diffuse her anger before she gets to the tantrum stage. Fun times!

jordan: month 12

Jordan is a year old now! I can hardly believe my sweet baby girl is 12 months old. Time sure did fly by. At Jordan’s 12 month well baby check she weighed 21.4 lbs and was 28.5 inches long – 50th percentile for both. Also at her checkup she got blood drawn for an anemia and lead test. I felt so bad for my little lamb, but she was brave. She of course screamed bloody murder, but that was remedied with some hugs and kisses from me.

We had Jordan’s 1st birthday party on February 12. We had a house full of family and friends to help us celebrate. It was a great time. Watching Jordan smash into and devour her cake was wonderful. She loved it so much she licked her fingers clean and then ate the extra frosting off her face. She must get that from me :)

Jordan’s new favorite things to do are pointing and waving. I can ask her where Frank is and she will point at him. The other day she was in her high chair eating breakfast and she starting waving. I looked out the window and saw our neighbor out doing yard work. How cute that she was waving at him! Jordan loves to stare and smile at people. If we’re eating out she will usually find someone at another table to stare, smile, and wave at. She seems to be a sweet natured little girl.

That doesn’t mean she always behaves though. We have started giving her one minute time outs when she misbehaves. She will sometimes be too rough on Frank and yank his ears or hit him, so she’ll be punished. She’ll also get a time out if she continually throws her sippy cup or food off her high chair. She clearly doesn’t like her time outs, but maybe if we’re consistent she will stop doing things we don’t want her to do.

Jordan’s separation anxiety hit an all-time high this month. Let me tell you it was not fun! I couldn’t leave her sight for a second without her bursting into tears and crawling after me. That made for some dicey days for the church nursery workers. Her separation anxiety certainly wasn’t helped by the fact Jordan got all her 1st year molars and an incisor in 5 days! Hopefully that teething perfect-storm doesn’t happen again. I felt so bad for her; her gums were so swollen and painful looking. I’m certainly grateful for Tylenol and Orajel.

This month we took Jordan to the Gulf Breeze Zoo. Jordan seemed to really enjoy seeing the animals and would happily shriek at the all. She liked the petting zoo where she could touch the animals – and steal their food. She grabbed some of the food pellets they sell to feed the animals and tried to put it in her mouth. Yuck! Luckily she didn’t eat it.

Jordan is quite adept at crawling now and can really move. She is also standing up fairly well on her own now, but it makes me nervous because she will sometimes fall backwards and hit her head. We have to watch her like a hawk now. She certainly wants to be independent, which is fine, but I just don’t want her getting hurt. To help her with standing/walking, I bought her her first pair of shoes. The rubber soles on the bottom help her not to slide around so much.

Well, I think I’ve remembered it all. It’s fun to continue to watch Jordan grow and develop. Chip and I are certainly enjoying this little girl.

jordan: month 11

Month 11 was certainly not as exciting as month 10 for Jordan. Not much to report this month. Jordan did get her 7th tooth – her bottom right lateral incisor – much to our surprise. I didn’t realize she was teething again. It must not have bothered her too much. My favorite moment came on January 19 when Jordan said “Mama” for the first time. It was a wonderful word to hear. She still by far says “Dada” a ton more, but at least I get some acknowledgement now. Right before Jordan’s first birthday we stopped giving her bottles and gave her only sippy cups. She protested quite a bit at first, but luckily within a day or two got over it and doesn’t seem to miss her bottles at all. Phew! We’re trying to feed her more table foods now, but she is beginning to develop a picky palate. She doesn’t seem to like texture too much, but we’re working on it. Another highlight this month was when Chip and I got to get away for the weekend without Jordan. We spent a few days in Orlando together and went to Disney World. It was nice to get a break from Jordan, but it was hard not to miss her at the place people crawling with kids. We’ll take her one day when she is older and will be more likely to enjoy it.

jordan: month 10

Jordan’s tenth month of life was quite possibly her busiest yet. In one month she got 3 teeth, started crawling on Christmas Eve, and now pulls up on everything! Needless to say life has changed for us quite a bit now that we have to constantly chase after her. She is fast! We had to finally drop Jordan’s crib now that she can stand. We noticed she chewed on the rail. It now bears her tiny teeth marks. It irritated me at first, but now I think it is kind of cute. It was a sad milestone for me to drop her crib - just another reminder how my baby girl is becoming a toddler. When Jordan smiles now you can see her 6 teeth – 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. Jordan celebrated her first Christmas this month. She went to Chip’s work Christmas party and got to meet all his coworkers. Then we spent Christmas with my parents and my dad’s parents. It was nice for Jordan to meet her great-grandparents. Jordan cleaned up on gifts. She got lots of toys and some clothes. Jordan had yet another first this month – she projectile vomited. She was acting totally fine before it happened and was happy and smiling immediately after. About two days later I caught it and 2 days after that Chip got it. I guess this is just a taste of what we can expect in years to come. Other things that happened this month: she loves cold weather and gets a big smile on her face when a cool breeze hits her, she clicks her tongue on the roof of her mouth and will start doing it if you do it to her first, she “dances” when she hears music, smiles when I sing her Feliz Navidad, shows interest in what Chip and I am eating, she doesn’t seem to like grapes or oranges but likes yogurt and pierogies (much to the delight of my mother), and she also prefers Earth’s Best baby food. We discovered this after she was refusing to eat other brands’ stage 3 foods. She would clamp her mouth shut and cry. I happened to have a jar of Earth’s Best and she happily ate the entire jar. So now I gladly spend the extra twenty cents a jar for a more pleasant experience for both of us. Well, I think that about does it for what happened this month. It was an action-packed one. Ten months down, only 2 more until she is ONE!!

2010: year in review

baby:
2010 started off with me being around 31 weeks pregnant and pretty swollen. Jordan was due March 4, but I felt like I was about to split open and didn’t know how I would ever make it 2 more months. Luckily, God, Jordan and my body had a plan for an early escape - like 3 weeks early! Labor went relatively quick once my water broke. After about 5 hours, an epidural, and 40 minutes of pushing Jordan was here! Our precious 6 lb 4 oz baby girl had made her arrival into the world on February 10. Life hasn’t been the same since, but it is good. We’re now the parents of an almost one year old, so we’ve survived the first year! The reflux, sleep deprivation, teething, crawling, separation anxiety, and impending walking have all been worth it. I can say that now at least :) Jordan is such a beautiful, sweet, fun little girl. We’re looking forward to more fun with her in the years ahead!

house:
2010 was also the year we FINALLY bought a house. After looking at what seemed to be close to 100 homes, we finally found the one for our family. We literally walked in, toured for 10-15 minutes, and decided to put an offer in. Two days later it was accepted as-is and that was that. We moved into our new place the end of May. Chip and I crazily decided to remodel the kitchen ourselves in 2 weeks– with no prior experience and a 3 month old baby! Needless to say it was a tremendous amount of work; Chip suffered a few sleepless nights and a 15 lb weight loss, and it was more than we could have ever bargained for. BUT, now we have an awesome brand new kitchen to show for it. Thanks again U.S. Government for paying for it (tax credit was the best!). We’ve now been in our house 7 months and have really grown fond of our place. We are truly blessed to have this home. We love the house and the great neighborhood it is in. Our patience definitely paid off!



family:
2010 also brought my parents back to Florida. First they came to visit in March after Jordan was born. Then the next week their house in Kansas City sold and within a few months my dad got a job in Pensacola. They moved to Pace in August. It is nice to have them so close. The last time they lived this close to me I was still living at home, so a while! They got to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with us this year, so that was fun. We’re glad to have babysitters so close by should we ever need to leave Jordan and Frank for a vacation…say to Italy this Spring ;)

sad times:
2010 also had sad times as well. First, Polly Sauter passed away in early January. Polly was like a Grandmother to me. I met her when I was in kindergarten through her granddaughter. Over the years my whole family has stayed in contact with her and her husband Jack. For several years they would come over to our house for Christmas. Polly and Jack were also at my wedding. I am grateful to have had many years to know her and a lot of good memories.

Another loss our family suffered occurred in late October when my sister-in-law Erin passed away. It was a shocking and unexpected loss. Sadly, Jordan never got to meet her Aunt Erin. It will take us quite a while to process her loss. My heart goes out to Chip and his entire family. It can’t be easy, and probably never will be.

final reflections:
2010 was a year filled with highs and lows. It had its challenges, but also its rewards like Jordan’s smile, all of our family being so close now, and our great friends. All of which we’ve relied on this year. Who knows what 2011 will bring, but as always I look forward to another year of growing and learning as a family.