I've Been Busy

Recently I made a list of goals, things I'd like to accomplish, things to help keep me busy during Jordyn's naps and to give me something to do while waiting for Erik to get home. For the month of June, my goal was to make Jordyn a blanket, a bedspread for her new big girl bed (not yet purchased, we're getting a great deal on one from a friend of a friend. We just have to wait until they get their replacement furniture, most likely the end of July). I did a sudoku quilt (yes, just like the puzzles, you have 9 different fabrics and cut 9 squares of each and piece them together as you would do a puzzle). I happened to have a few extra squares so I made two square pillows and then another coordinating pillow as well. Here's the finished pillows. The quilt has been sent to my mom so she can quilt it for me (and I forgot to get a picture before I mailed it, but I'll post one as soon as I get it back). Jordyn just LOVES her big girl pillows, and is very excited to get a big girl bed.

My Little Girl

With Jordyn's 22 month mark just a few days away I thought I'd jot down a few noteworthy facts about my little girl. First off, she's not so much a little girl, but more of a little lady. She's very good at saying please and thank you. She'll also say sorry and she's learning that big girls don't scream, but it's okay for them to giggle. Jordyn has an extensive vocabulary and uses most of her words in the correct context (she is a bit confused with her pronouns, but we're working on that). She's well on her way to being potty trained -- she'll tell us when she needs to go, and then she runs and sits on her little potty chair. Today we're attempting a nap without a diaper and soon we might even brave running errands without one. She can count to 7 all by herself and knows her colors. Right now she's VERY fascinated with BIG TRUCKS! (firetrucks, trash trucks, dump trucks, etc). She also loves it when Daddy takes her to feed the horses. Here's a list of some of her favorites. . .

Movie: 101 Dalmatians (it's like pulling teeth to get her to watch anything else; it's great, she walks around the house yelling "this retched, retched pen")

Toy: Care Bears

Food: Hot Dogs (and she likes them cold. YUCK!)

Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

Song: I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home and Old McDonald's Farm

Treat: otter pops

Finger Paints

For Father's Day, I had Jordyn draw pictures for her Daddy and her Grandpas. Since it was a special day, not just any pictures would do so I got some finger paints and set up our little artist out side to create her master pieces, and create she did. We ended up with 4 beautiful paintings (I guess she thought I needed one as well). In between all the picture painting, Jordyn decided that she needed a little more color in her life as well. Yes, she purposely painted herself, good thing it washes off with water! Here is our little artist admiring her finished paintings, and showing me what an artist's hands look like.

*just as a side note, I am just learning how to make storyboards in Photoshop so you might see a lot of them in the next few weeks, sorry if they get old, I need to practice!

Two Peas in a Pod

I'm Washing My Hair. . .

For years this has been a famous excuse to get out of going out, or just to get out of doing something you didn't want to do. Well, my little one decided to use this excuse the other day to get out of running errands. As I was getting ready to go, Jordyn decided to play in the bathtub. A shampoo bottle later, she walks out crying rubbing her soapy eyes. We rush back to the bathroom, where I about slip and fall on the soapy floor, to wash the shampoo out of her eyes. Several minutes later, as she's lying on my chest wrapped in a towel I ask what she was doing. She replies, "wash hair".

*no we didn't end up running errands that day. Jordyn's eyes were red and hurting for several hours after.

Making Cupcakes

Yes, we make a lot of things at our house, it's one of Jordyn's favorite things to do. She's always wanting to make pancakes, cup cakes, juice (smoothies), or her favorite it to help daddy make kool-aid (because she's helping daddy). So the other day, we made chocolate cup cakes (we never make cakes at our house, only cup cakes because my strange husband wont eat cake, but he'll eat several cup cakes a day; go figure?!). Jordyn enjoys helping pour the water and oil into the batter, and stirring the ingredients together, but her favorite part is cleaning the beaters when I'm done (another silly tidbit about my family. Jordyn LOVES eating the batter off the beaters, but she won't eat the cup cakes once they're cooked). Also, Jordyn has to have BOTH beaters, I asked her to share one with her Daddy and I got this look. . . Then she quickly decided that wasn't the right thing to do and she offered me one.

Making Necklaces

The other day while browsing the aisles at Wal-mart (yes, we were very bored), I came across these wonderful foam "beads" and decided to get some so that Jordyn could make her own jewelry. I got home and was delighted to discover that the box came with its own plastic string and needle. We got Jordyn a little bowl to hold her "beads" while she worked and off she went. With her nubby little fingers she had a difficult time getting the needle through the hole in the beads, but she eventually got it figured out, though she did get tired of stringing beads very quickly and decided that she wanted "Mommy do it" while she handed them to me. In no time, she had this wonderful necklace which she was quite pleased with, so pleased that she had to talk to Grandma on the computer (skype) just to show her.

Quarantined

We haven't really been quarantined, but we probably should have. A couple of weeks ago, Jordyn started acting quite irritable and wasn't eating much, we thought she was teething. A few days later she got a high fever and quite eating/drinking all together. We took her to the Dr. and were told that she had a viral infection in her mouth, most likely hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD). She got HFMD last fall causing her to have sores on her hands, feet and diaper area. This time the sores were only in her mouth, but they were HUGE. She didn't eat or drink anything for about 2 days and after that she still didn't eat very well. As soon as she got to feeling better, Erik started feeling sick. After a long week of work he found time to squeeze in a Dr. appointment for himself. The Dr. said he was suffering from heat exhaustion and was VERY dehydrated (so dehydrated that the Dr. was tempted to hospitalize him); Erik also had a pinched nerve in his upper back so the Dr. gave him an anti-inflammatory for it. The drug gave him more problems than it was worth (he had major headaches, blurred vision, dizziness and numbness/tingling in his left leg). He quickly stopped taking the pills and is feeling much better now. Jordyn on the other hand is starting to act like she's getting sick again!


*Oh, and don't worry, I've been fine through all this. I'm the only one in the family who didn't get a flu shot, and the only one NOT to get the flu!

I LOVE NURSERY

I enjoy teaching nursery, and Erik is VERY glad that he gets to attend his classes now that Jordyn is in nursery, but we LOVE the things that Jordyn in learning in nursery (and she LOVES going to nursery). Today I had the following conversation with Jordyn. . .

Me: What are you doing? (she was looking through my planner)

Jordyn: Reading scriptures

Me: Oh? What are you reading?

Jordyn: About God. (yes, we read scriptures with her at home, but we reference Him as Heavenly Father at home, so we know she learned this in nursery).

Me: What else are you reading?

Jordyn: About Jesus.

Me: Tell me about Jesus.

Jordyn: He died for us.

She said all this very seriously and then she went on to play with something else. For those of you who haven't seen us in a while, Jordyn's speech is at the level of a 2 1/2 to 3 yr old, so the words she used didn't surprise me (other than the use of the word God vs Heavenly Father). It was the context of the conversation, and the confidence in which she spoke that stood out to me. Every week after church we ask Jordyn what she did in nursery and all we ever get told is that she played toys and sang nursery songs (occasionally she'll tell us about her snack), but in unsuspecting moments she'll give us insight to what she's learning. The other night during her prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for Noah (we don't know anyone named Noah, and we're reading in the D&C, not the Old Testament). It's these little moments that give us a feeling of assurance that we're doing something right, and reminds us how much we LOVE nursery!

Baby Birds

The other day while visiting her Mimi & Papa, Jordyn got to see a special treat. Papa took her to see the eggs in a birds next by the side of the house. He too was surprised when they saw this instead. . . The eggs had hatched and inside the little nest were three tiny babies. Unfortunately, we fear they've been abandoned because mama bird was no where to be seen. Jordyn also got to see another birds nest, though this one didn't have any eggs, or baby birds inside.

Budding Artist

We have a budding artist in our family. Jordyn has been so busy creating new master pieces that her art board is full. We have Nursery pictures, color pictures, sticker pictures, and finger paint pictures. We have so many pictures we don't know what to do with them all (the board has had several added to it since I took this picture). So here's my plan, we're going to have an action. Anyone willing to pay BIG MONEY for these beautiful works of art let me know and we'll arrange a deal. The money will be used to send our budding artist to art school (in about 20 yrs when she's old enough to go to college; oh and probably used for groceries, diapers, and whatever else I think the money should be used for). So who wants to start the bidding?

Skeeter Syndrome?

Remember this? And now this?

I'm thinking maybe this?

More Severe Reactions to Mosquito Bites: "Skeeter Syndrome"

More severe reactions -- rather than the typical itchy red bump experienced by most people as a result of a mosquito bite -- occur less commonly. These may result in blistering rashes, bruises, or large areas of swelling at the bite sites. People who experience extremely large areas of swelling after a mosquito bite (such as swelling of most of an arm or leg, for example) have been dubbed as having "Skeeter Syndrome."

In rare situations, some people may experience anaphylaxis after being bitten by mosquitoes. Other people may have experienced whole body urticaria and angioedema (hives and swelling), or worsening of asthma symptoms after being bitten. Typically, these symptoms occur within minutes after a mosquito bite, compared to Skeeter Syndrome, which may take hours to days to occur. (http://allergies.about.com/od/insectallergies/a/mosquitoallergy.htm)

Froggie

The other day Jordyn and I decided to play outside for a little while before bed. As Jordyn ran around and played on her "park" I started to open our deck umbrella. Between the folds of fabric on the umbrella I saw a bright green tree frog. As I tried to catch it to show Jordyn it hopped onto the patio furniture and then onto my leg, which startled me (who expects a frog to jump at them?) so it got away. The next morning, I went to see if our frog had made his was back to the umbrella, and sure enough he was there. This time I was able to catch him for Jordyn. We put him in a glass jar so Jordyn could look at him better. After showing him off to daddy, we took "froggie" outside and let him go. Jordyn was so excited to see him hop away. All day she kept telling us "see froggie, go ibbit, ibbit".

Unfortunately, we haven't seen "froggie" since. I think he's found a new hiding place, but everytime we go outside, we have to check the umbrella, just in case.

Funny Face

Ask Jordyn to make a funny face and this is what you get. . .

An occasionally, you'll get this. . .

While Daddy's Away

About once a week while Daddy's away at work, Jordyn and I turn on a movie (usually 101 Dalmatians) and have some quality girly time. Jordyn loves to have her nails "colored" so I let her pick out what ever color she wants for both her fingers and her toes. This past week, she picked out two color changing polishes, a yellow that turns peach in the sun for her fingers,and a blue that turns purple in the sun for her toes. I got red for my toes and clear for my fingers. When we're done, Jordyn is so excited to show her Daddy that she wants me to take pictures and send them to him.

Sticker Queen

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Her Highness, Jordyn Queen of the Stickers. . .



*this little girl LOVES stickers. She puts them on herself, on the pictures she colors, on mommy, on her babies, on anything she thinks she can get away with putting them on. Last time I flew to Utah, I took stickers with me on the plane, and they kept her occupied for most of the flight (almost 3 hrs). By the time our flight landed, there were stickers on the window, on the seat in front of us, and all over both her and I. Most (if not all ) of those stickers ended up in the trash, but I still think I'll be taking stickers on every future flight I take with my little Sticker Queen.

When It Rains, It Pours

Now that I'm back online, I've decided to start the catch up process by telling you why we've had no computer for over a week. 8 weeks ago, we had to take the lap top to the repair shop because the keyboard was falling apart (we literally had keys falling off), so we were down to one computer, until last Friday (May 29th) when DISASTER hit. Jordyn and I had just arrived home from running errand and I went upstairs to put the mail next to the computer and found that our food storage shelves had fallen. They didn't break, they didn't cave in from weight, no, they tipped over as if someone had pushed them (which isn't what happened since there was no one there to push them). Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this stage of the mess, I was too shocked to even think about taking pictures, instead I called Erik and started to cry. I didn't know where to start cleaning up the mess, and from the looks of things at that point, it didn't look like many of our home canned goods had survived. After I got off the phone with Erik I started the clean up process. As I started cleaning up the broken bottles I found a few bottles here and there that seems unscathed. Two hours after I'd found the mess I took a breather to reassess the situation (and to put Jordyn to bed). At this point my mind was clear enough to take a few photos of the mess. I found that I had three boxes worth of broken glass and spilled food (along with the fabric for a baby blanket that I had laid out on the floor).

The rest of my house was now a mess (everything from the office had to be cleared out and put somewhere).

The computer stuff made it to the spare room, the rest of the food storage was split between the bathroom (the stuff that needed to be cleaned off)

and the playroom (the stuff that had survived and wasn't too dirty. Oh and the computer which needed a good cleaning since it was in the middle of the mess).

I also found that I still had quite a few bottles that had survived.

Don't get me wrong, we lost around 20 bottles of food including apricots, raspberries, tomato soup, green beans, corn and salsa. To add to the stress, I was sure we were going to have to replace the carpet. After I got Jordyn to sleep and the trash taken out, I sat down to wipe down the computer and asses that situation. After I got everything cleaned and hooked up I turned on the computer and got the wonderful message that said, "disk boot up failed, insert system disk." Now, I'm not a computer wizard or anything, but I don't think that was a good message, especially since that was the last time the computer would even power up. Yup, that's correct, Erik went to check it out the next morning and it wouldn't even turn on. So that left us computerless until Erik picked up the lap top this past Thursday evening. Now, since I'm sure you're all wondering about the stain in our carpet, the following morning, we got up and rented a carpet shampooer, and while my dear friend Michelle watched Jordyn, Erik and I cleaned the carpet. After about 100 passes over the stain, you can't really tell anything had happened. The carpet is a bit stiff next to the wall where the shampooer didn't get very well, but overall it looks great. Now we just have to repaint the wall and then we can move everything back into that room and our house will start to get back into order. To answer a question that everyone has asked when they hear about our computer, I still have all my pictures, I keep them on an external hard drive which still works fine. The only things that we really had on the lap top was our finance programs and Erik's papers from his Master's program (which we have hard copies of if we can't get them off the computer). That was my weekend, how was yours?