Thanksgiving

Yes I know it's almost Christmas but I figured I had better post about Thanksgiving. We truly have so much to be thankful for and I am glad that there is a day set aside to reflect upon those things. This year was a nice change for Rick and I as we only had to go to ONE dinner! Usually we run around all day trying to make it to see all of our family but my mom had surgery and so we celebrated Thanksgiving with her the Sunday before.
We started the day off watching a little bit of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This reminds me of being little and knowing the holiday's were here - not as much fun for Rick but he humors me because he loves me! We had an early dinner meeting at a church at noon with Jeanine's side of the family. It was great to see everyone and spend time visiting with one another. That night we came home and set up the Christmas tree.
All in all it was a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving had by all!

J & Meredith during the parade (guess I was the only one who wanted to watch it!)

Baby's 1st Turkey Day!

Uncle Billy & Mozart

Grammy Jeanine, J, & Aunt Elaine

J & Great Grandma Schofield

J & his best buddy Ethan

Dad, Mom & Jord

So little yet so destructive

Last night I left Jordan in the bathroom to go and get his towel and came back to this...




yes, the ENTIRE roll of toilet paper unraveled and on the floor. Such a busy little guy!

Jordan is now beginning to stand on his own and forgets at times that he doesn't quite have his balance. He had a rough day yesterday; first falling down into the end table with rod iron legs, then he fell out of his car seat from the kitchen table landing on the tile floor (at this point we did look for any signs of a concussion), and then while in the tub he slipped and smacked his head where he had hit it earlier on the end table.

I felt so bad for the poor little guy - but he did get me back for his injuries by breaking the "shift" key on my laptop. So please forgive me now if I have any typographical errors that would require me to utilize the left shift key on my computer.

My Edward

When I was first pregnant with Jordan I started to read the Twilight series. I never imagined that I would turn him into a little Edward of my own by doing so! Tonight I was laying on the floor playing with Jordan just before I put him down for bed. We were playing with an old laptop that he loves and we were having a great time together. He leaned forward with a smile on his face and an open mouth like he was going to give me a great big smackeroo on the cheek when...OUCH!! He bit me! I let out a big yell and that only made him laugh harder; I think I could be in trouble with this one...

Do you see that big red mark - no, not the zit, the other one - yeah, that is the bite!

Don't worry, Momma still loves you J!

My Little Spooks

Okay so neither of my kids were anything scary but we had fun with them this year. Of course it was Jordan's 1st Halloween so that was exciting in and of itself but to top it off his big brother and sister were here to share in the fun so it was super special! Taylor decided to go to his cousin Taylor's Halloween party since he is getting so big so he didn't dress up. This year Bennett was an angel and Jordan was Mickey Mouse. I was so excited for Jordan to be Mickey because he LOVES Mickey on T.V. - the only problem was everybody thought he was a ladybug! Oh well...I still thought he looked cute. Bennett had so much fun getting ready and being all sparkly; she is still such a girlie girl and I love it!
After the kids got ready we went up to Shane and Keri's house to meet up with Drew and the kids. We walked around and did the whole trick-or-treat thing which was right up Jordan's alley since he likes to go on walks and be outside. We got back just as it started getting dark and cold and had pizza (thanks Mike!). Drew took Mason, Bennett & Addy out for some more trick-or-treating and we stayed back at Shane and Keri's with the little ones and watched the World Series. Tay had fun partying with all the boys - you are a brave woman Court! They watched the World Series and ran around playing games knocking on peoples doors and laying on their steps (yeah I don't get it either but apparently it is a really funny game if you are 12).
Everybody had a really good time and it was so much fun to see all the kids dressed up! Bennett brought home enough candy that Tay didn't even need to go out and get his own. Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween; I know we sure did!

My Little Angel

Mickey Mouse

Bennett in action

Jordan munched on these Mickey hands until he finally got them off!

The first house of many...

Princess Jasmine - Emma looked amazing! She didn't even look like herself with her hair sprayed black!

Happy Halloween everyone!

9 months old??

My dear sweet little baby where has the time gone? You are 9 months old now; it kills me to even say it! Where did my little immobile cooing boy go? I am so proud of you and the new things you learn every single day! I am excited for what is ahead but can't believe how quickly the time has gone. You are such a little angel and such a blessing to our family!

Here are some things you can do now:

**Crawl, crawl, and crawl even faster - you see something you want or have somewhere you want to go and you go into a gear I didn't know existed! You also have this "stink-bug" sort of crawl/walk thing that cracks me up! You get up on your hands and feet with your bum in the air and walk around on the floor.
**You are a little climber - you can climb stairs, you attempt to climb the tub (a little slippery and not Mom's favorite to be honest), and you climb over any obstacle or person that might be in your way.
**You can say Dada - I will look at you and say "Jordan, say Mama!" and then you will turn to look at me and say with a big cheesy smile "Dada!" It is pretty hilarious! You actually jabber a lot now, and REALLY loud just in case the neighbors wanted to hear what you have to say.
**You can dance! You love your little stand up toy that plays music and when the lights and music come on you start bouncing up and down...so cute!
**You give kisses - granted they are big open mouth slobbery kisses but kisses nonetheless and Mmmmmmmm Mommy loves them!
**You pull yourself up onto everything - you want to walk and stand on your own so badly, you just aren't quite there. Lately you think you are so tricky and you will let go of the couch or whatever is holding you up but then of course you fall down and then you aren't so happy for just a minute until we smother you with kisses!
**You are starting to wave bye-bye - it is so adorable, your hand is turned backwards (facing you) but still adorable!
**Tantrums - Oh man are you getting good at these! I didn't know a 9 month old could be so determined in what they do or do not want but man oh man do you throw a fit when it's time to change your diaper. I am hoping this is just a phase otherwise we are starting potty training early my dear!
**You don't like baby food - I have to buy you the toddler foods or you insist upon eating whatever we are having for dinner (doesn't always work if we are having steak). You are such a good little eater though so I can't complain really!
**Separation anxiety has started - you really are a pretty friendly baby, but if you don't really know the person, you make sure that we are close by to keep you safe. Don't tell anyone but I kinda like it!
**You are wearing 12-18 month clothing now - Daddy swears you are going to be a giant athlete of some sort, we just haven't figured out what your favorite sport is yet!

Jordan, you are so much fun and make our family SO happy! You love your Daddy and think he is the greatest, you think your brother and sister are hilarious, and you melt my heart every morning that I have to leave you and hear you cry as I walk out the door for work; but oh how I love to see that beautiful smile you give me when I return! I wish I could stop time and just enjoy you a little longer while you are so small and will let me love on you. I love you my sweet little boy...but stop growing up so fast! :) XOXO - Mommy

Busy, busy, busy...

Jordan is getting to be SO much fun I can't stand it! At the same time it is so much harder now that he is mobile and getting into everything. His newest thing is to pull himself up onto the couch, the edge of the bed or one of his toys and let go with one hand leaving only one arm to support him. Why do they think they are so big at such a young age? Anyway, with the mobility comes a lot of messes/injuries! Here are some photos from some playtime and discoveries made while crawling around...


This is his FAVORITE toy right now!

Taking a crawl through the tunnel

Tearing clothes off of the hangers in Mommy & Daddy's closet

Pulling laundry out of the hamper in the closet

Really, really proud of himself for sneaking into Mom & Dad's closet

We left Jordan downstairs for a minute to come back down and find that he had crawled into his big brother's room and gotten into his nightstand and found some fun treasures! Needless to say his brother likes his bedroom door shut now :)

Getting Mommy's shoes

Hmmm...how do you turn this thing on?

Isn't he a cutie pie?

We are all loving having Jordan around to keep us entertained! He is such a wonderful addition to our family and even though he keeps us all on our toes, we couldn't love him more!

Choking Hazard

Last night scared the crap out of Rick and me. We were out at dinner with our kids and Rick's brothers and their families. Jordan had eaten a truckload of food and we were just finishing up. He was given a little piece of food to eat and all of the sudden was gasping for air. Rick saw him first and started to pat his back and swept his mouth. At that point I noticed what was happening and jumped up to help. J was in a high chair so I tried to pull him up out but of course he was buckled in and wasn't moving. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady at the table across from us notice what was happening and reach for her mom. The lady turned around and jumped out of her chair just as I threw J (and the highchair) over my arm and started doing back blows. After three or four hard thrusts poor little Jordan puked all over but the object was out. It was then that the woman had gotten over to us and made sure everything was out; come to find out she was a nurse and was coming to help us. It all happened so fast but I am so thankful that everything turned out okay. Jordan was just fine and didn't even cry over it but it scared the rest of us to death! This transition to solids is hard and the kid doesn't want a whole lot to do with baby food...maybe we should just stick to the little netting thing for a while. I think this is one of the greatest inventions of ALL time!

The Stair Climber

Uh, oh! Jordan made his first attempt at climbing a stair tonight and mastered the entire flight on his first attempt. And we thought we would only have to worry about him going down the stairs for a while...such a little smarty pants now isn't he?!

Splish Splash Jayzer LOVES the Bath!!

Jordan loves, loves, loves bath time! He has so much fun splashing and now clapping afterward when he makes an absolute mess. When he was sick a couple of weeks ago he was crying and I couldn't get him calmed down. I started up the bath tub and he immediately stopped crying and was happy as could be in the tub! Here are a few pics and some video from recent bath time fun...

Happy Boy

I have too much fun playing with his hair when he is in the tub - This do kind of reminds me of the baby off of the Adam's Family Movies from the 90's

He REALLY likes to play with his tub toys

The Splash Zone

Look out Mommy!

Yay!!

He has what?!!

Wow...it has been a long hard month. Poor Jordan has honestly been sick almost the ENTIRE month! This is what most of our month has consisted of...

On September 2nd we took him into the Dr. because he was acting extremely irritable, pulling at his ears and not sleeping. This generally indicates an ear infection but he hadn't had a cold or anything leading up to it so it kind of took me by surprise. The Dr. told me that he had a common viral infection that affects small children in the late summer/early fall months. I would later find out that it was another form of the virus you will learn about below. Just about the time he started to feel better he caught a cold on the 10th. I mean the nasty dark green snot can't breathe out of your nose kind of cold. The poor kid was absolutely miserable. The following Monday night he started to fever. This continued until Wednesday when I decided to take him in to make sure his ears were clear. Of course we left the Dr.'s office with no problems just a viral infection we couldn't do anything about. Thursday night was yet another sleepless night and the fever continued into Friday. We decided that we had better take him back in because the poor baby just wasn't feeling well at all. Sure enough there was an ear infection just waiting to grace us with it's presence 2 days after we had just been in to see the doctor. Jordan also had his flu shot that same day (I know I am a mean mom) - with how often this poor baby gets sick I don't want to chance going through that nightmare. We started his antibiotic that Friday the 18th. By Monday he was starting to seem a little happier and like things were finally on the mend. On Wednesday he was a pill all day for his Dad; that afternoon my sister watched him and said that he had cried for almost 2 hours straight and no matter what she tried she could not console him. I left a message with the pediatrician letting him know what was going on and he called in Omnicef thinking that the Amoxicillan wasn't working. By Thursday he was hardly eating and had started a new fever. After yet another sleepless Thursday night I called the Dr. to see what I should do. Jordan's fever was getting worse, and at this point eating was the last thing to do on his list of priorities. I finally went into the office and as the Dr. was looking at his throat he said "Oh...I think I know what happened. Have you ever heard of Herpangina?" Obviously while trying not to laugh my response was "nuh uh." "Yeah, it's a form of the Coxsackievirus (again trying to hold back laughter). He has sores all over in his mouth and it is a whole new virus aside from what he has just had. Watch for the signs of dehydration but it will just have to run it's course."
So I left the Dr.'s office with a child that had Herpangina Coxsackievirus. So this is the worst/funniest name I have ever heard in my life! It took everything I had not to burst into laughter while he was telling me all of this. Maybe it was named so poorly because of how bad it really is...all humor aside Friday was one of the hardest days of being a mom for me. Jordan drank maybe 15 ounces all day long and refused any kind of food. He would go through little spurts where he would scream and you could tell he just hurt so bad. I felt absolutely helpless. I was so scared that he was going to get dehydrated or that his fever would get too high and I wouldn't notice because he was so loaded up on Tylenol to try and help ease the pain from the sores in his mouth.
I am so lucky to have such a wonderful mother in-law. I talked to her on Friday night and I was so upset - I felt like I was doing everything wrong...he had been sick for almost a month and I just wanted him to feel better. She rushed right over and spent the rest of her Friday evening with me. Thank you Jeanine for the self-less person that you are!! You are such an amazing woman and a great Grandmother. We are all so blessed to have you.
I am also blessed to have such wonderful men in my life that live worthy and honor their priesthood so that they can bless our family in times of need. Paul came over and helped Rick give Jordan a blessing for the healing of the sick. I am so grateful to have this assurance as we watch our children go through these afflictions. The blessing was given last Thursday and while things got even worse after that - all day Friday I had a feeling that I needed to have faith that he would get better and everything was going to be okay. Sure enough yesterday was a night and day difference for us! By 11:00 a.m. Jordan had already surpassed his food intake from the day prior. He is happy and laughing again and I hope that he can go a little while without being sick!
Thanks to all of you for your help this past month - my mommy brought me dinner, work has let me miss a few days, and there are tons of others but this post is already a mile long! Here's to a HEALTHY winter!

Stressed

Man...it has been one of those days! I am feeling so stressed and it wears me out. I just needed to vent so should you feel the need to skip to other posts I can't say I would blame you. For starters I am tired of being tired. I love this sweet little baby more than words can tell but the poor kid has the hardest time sleeping. I feel terrible because he has been teething (he is cutting his 4th tooth!) over the past month and I am sure that makes him uncomfortable. To top it off he just got over a viral infection with sores in his mouth and now has a cold to grace us with its presence this week. The poor thing is sick all the time and it is just really starting to wear on me. All weekend long he wouldn't let me do anything but hold him or sit next to him while he played - I didn't get anything done! Sunday my mouth was killing me so my sweet uncle was kind enough to meet me up at his office in Centerville to take a look at things for me. After X-Rays and an exam he narrowed it down to a potential root canal. My mouth is still throbbing as I wait to see if the antibiotic will take care of things or if I have to get the dreaded dental work done. Work has gotten really busy all of the sudden which I am grateful for but it was a full and very fast paced day. I got home from work today and Jordan was just the same way but I had to cook dinner. I am a ditz and didn't put 2 and 2 together and forgot that when I dumped the frozen chicken into hot oil it was going to go everywhere...needless to say my kitchen is still greasy. While in the middle of cooking the chicken the power went out for about 20 minutes. We got done eating and the the power went out again for over an hour. I had to give the baby a bath and get him ready for bed by candlelight. I feel guilty sending my baby to the sitter and feel like I should stay at home with him but I also am concerned about missing work being the sole provider for our family for the time being. I am scared to see what the winter will bring for us since we have dealt with so many colds, ear infections, etc. all summer long!
My house is a wreck, my mouth is killing me I wish I had a baby that felt good and I want so badly to just sleep! I know I shouldn't be whining about any of this because I know there are others who have things MUCH worse than I do but I was just feeling pooped today and needed to get it off my chest...Ahhhh, I feel much better, thanks for listening blogger! :)

Jordan's Pic's

I had my sister's brother in-law (does that make sense) take Jordan's pictures for me. Shane did an amazing job taking Jordan's pictures when he was just a month old so we thought we would try it again. He is so patient with us and I am so happy with the way they turned out! Here are a few that I pulled off of a website (that is why they are a little bit grainy - I will post the crisp ones when I get my CD)...






Thanks so much for taking these Shane...you and Ellie did a great job :) If you want to get a hold of Shane to take some pic's for you he is available @ 801-798-8308.

My Daddy is FUNNY!

Jordan thinks his Dad is hilarious! He loves it when he plays with him and will give him a laugh just for giving him funny looks. The other day we were sitting downstairs and Rick was playing peek-a-boo from behind his laptop. As you can see Jordan thought it was pretty funny!
I love his little laugh and I am so thankful for modern technology so I can remember it forever

You're Pretty Lazy...

Tonight we had all 3 kids home and staying for the night. I am sure that many of you know how busy nights can be especially when you get a late start on everything if you are gone to work all day long. My evening went something like this: walk in the door from work @ 5:40, open the mail, clip the coupons for baby gates that we will need sooner than later, get water boiling for corn on the cob, tell Bennett it is time to start homework, start cutting up the cards needed for the game to do the math homework, think I might hear the baby crying from waking up from a nap, put the corn in the water to start boiling, go back to cutting up the cards, wonder what it is I was going to do as I am cutting away, Rick walks in the door from putting the chicken on the grill, heads upstairs and I hear the baby's door open and him crying, remember that I thought I heard him cry and that is what I was supposed to go and check on before going back to cutting up the cards, take the baby in my arms and smother him with kisses since I have not seen him all day, start the math game, discover that holding Jordan and playing the math game at the same time is not going to work since he tries to eat the paper cards, put him down to play, boil some water for potatoes, finish the math game (lost by the way) and finish making dinner,sit down to eat, rescue the upset baby and feed him while attempting to eat my own food, start to clean up from dinner, clean the baby up and get him out of his high chair, realize he has a messy diaper, change it, go back to helping clean up from dinner, get the family out the door to Mason's game, run to the car for a blanket, have the FHE lesson in the car on the way to Coldstone, get ice cream, get home, make a bottle, get Bennett in the shower, feed the baby, put him down to play, go upstairs and get Bennett out of the shower, start picking out Bennett's clothes for tomorrow with her, start doing her hair, hear Jordan crying again and ask Rick to please start a bath for him, finish styling and drying Bennett's hair, hear the baby tip over in the tub, rush in to help and finish up the bath, tell Bennett to start reading, answer 25 questions regarding what book to read, get Jordan out of the tub and start putting on lotion etc., tell Bennett that I will be in in just a minute to help her read a word, overhear Taylor ask his Dad to put lotion on his back, Rick tells him to do it himself, Taylor calls for me to ask if I will put lotion on his back, tell him I will in just a minute I just had to get the baby's pajama's on, hear Rick tell Tay he will do it because he can't let me do everything then I hear this..."Uhh, I'm pretty sure Ali does everything anyway. You're pretty lazy!" :) Just when you think your kids don't notice how much Mom's do they go and say something as priceless as that was; cracked me right up!! I love my sweet Taylor and how observant he is!

DISCLAIMER: While this story is hilarious (to me anyway) let it be known that Rick really does help out more than the average husband/father and we are all truly lucky to have him!

Chirp

So this is dumb but Rick and I were laughing so hard at what dorks we are. I just climbed into bed and all of the sudden we hear the dreaded "chirp" come from one of the smoke alarms in our upstairs level. I look at my hubby and ask "Is that in the hall?" he says "Sounds like it." I rushed out of bed worried that it would wake the baby - nothin'. I look up trying to see if any lights are blinking to indicate that there is a low battery but I couldn't see a thing. I walked into Jordan's room and there was a red light on. I hurried back in and told Rick "You go down and get a chair, I'll run and get a battery." We met back upstairs and hurried to get the problem fixed. Rick got the new battery in and I went downstairs to dispose of the old one and re-organize the bin full of batteries that I had left in shambles. While down there Rick rushes back in "I need another battery. It must have been the hall because it just chirped again." Again we haul the chair up and put the second to last 9V battery inside the smoke detector. Going to finish the organization task I had started I went back downstairs. One more time I turn to find Rick laughing telling me that it was in Bennett's room the whole time. 3 chirps and 3 batteries later the mystery was history. Funny how much parents value the quiet time a baby is in bed for the night!

Owlz Game

Last week we were able to go as a family to an Orem Owlz game. My work has great season tickets that they make available for their employees to use and it is nice to get out and do something different that doesn't cost anything! We took Jordan to his first baseball game which I was sure would be an adventure but surprisingly enough he did great. Bennett wasn't nearly as restless as she was last year and Taylor of course enjoyed chasing every foul ball imaginable trying to retrieve one for his stash.


Favorite and J


Tay & Roo


I love this picture - Jordan looks so big and like he is actually enjoying the game


Jordan & Mama


Jordan devouring his first taste of ballpark food


Can you spot Taylor? Here he is waiting for someone to hit a foul ball


Such a sweetie!!

As I was snapping away trying to get the perfect photos, Jordan pulled a few funny faces that I couldn't resist posting. Guess I know how he really feels about my picture taking!




We had such a great time together! Hopefully we can catch one more game before the season comes to an end.