First Hair Cut

Last week Erik and I decided that Jordyn needed a hair cut. Her hair was growing in an odd pattern (it was getting long on the sides, but was still very short in the back). We decided to even things out so it looked a little better, and maybe it'll grow in a little thicker and a little more even. Here's how things went...

Needless to say, it wasn't as even as we would have liked, but it does look better than before the haircut. Here's proof that we were able to trim a little off the sides and top.

9 Months 1 Week

So, I'm a little behind on doing Jordyn's 9 month post, and I really don't have any excuse other than, I've been busy enjoying my time with my little one. Jordyn is growing by leaps and bounds, and she's had an exciting month. On the down side, she's had two ear infections, and she's teething again (her top teeth are wanting to come in, and she is grumpy when she's teething). However, on the up side, she waves bye-bye (but only to people she knows, she gets shy around strangers), she claps her hands, she can stand on her own, and tonight, she took her first steps. Jordyn's loves to play with balls,my canning lids, measuring cups and spoons, and anything she can take off a shelf (she loves to pull all the DVDs off their shelves). She also enjoys climbing up the stairs (though she hasn't quite figured out how to get down yet.) Jordyn has made friends with the two boys who live across the street. They're a bit older (3 & 4), but none of them seem to care. Jordyn likes having friends that are her size, and the boys love to help Jordyn "walk." Jordyn loves to swim, and loves having her icees. Her favorite foods are hot dogs, mandarin oranges, corn-on-the-cob and soda crackers. To wash this all down, she enjoys ice water and watered down kool-aid.

Overview of the Month of May

Since we were without the internet for most of the month of May, I wasn't able to write about all of our adventures (not that I had a lot of time to post anyway). Instead of writing posts about everything we did, I'm just going to do a quick over view.

We experienced the goodness of pudding cups shared with Daddy, we discovered the joys of playing in the cupboards, We found that food tastes much better when we feed ourselves (our faces, our highchair, and the floor), We went to the moon and back (well, to the space center anyway), we've enjoyed the vastness of our playroom, we've put miles (okay, maybe feet) on our shoes while learning to walk behind Mr. Lion and we've beat the heat by swimming in our pool and enjoying popcicles in our rocking chair on the front porch.

New House

This post is mainly for my Mom who has yet to see our new house. Our house is two stories, it is aproximately 2600 square feet, has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. It sits on a corner lot, and has a pretty good sized yard, especially since Erik moved the fence (you can see the posts from the old fence in the background).

Here is a sketch of the layout of our house, and following are pictures of each of the rooms (except the bathrooms and closets, I didn't think anyone really needed pictures of those, however, if you really want to see what the hall closet looks like leave me a note and I'll send you a picture.)

Study/Library

Diningroom (sorry for the mess, we're in the process of going through our clothes)

Hallway looking into the livingroom/kitchen area

Kitchen

Living room

Master Bedroom (Erik painted the walls the first weekend we were in the house, don't they look great!)

Playroom

Jordyn's bedroom

Guest bedroom

Office/Craftroom/Exercise room

Mother's Day

This year I was able to celebrate being a mom. I got to celebrate the joys of having experiences like this... as well as ones like this... and everything in between. This mother's day was also special for reasons other than being a new mom. Erik got me the best gift that money could buy (in my opinion anyway). On Friday, May 9th, we signed the papers on our house and by Saturday night we were living there (we were roughing it since nothing was unpacked, but we were still living there). I am very grateful for my little family, and look forward to many more Mother's Days.

Uphill Battle

When Erik started looking for a job he had a lot of interviews, but no one ever called him back. After a while this was getting very frustrating, and we were starting to wonder what we would do when he got out of the Coast Guard. Then, sometime towards the end of February, Erik came home and told me that he had an interview with Houston Police Department. I remember feeling the spirit so strong that tears welled up in my eyes. I knew that this was the answer to our prayers. Erik felt the same so we proceeded to pack up and move to Houston. Once there, we started looking for a house as Erik went on to pass all of his preliminary tests and have a second interview. We found a house and got everything ready to close. HPD initially told Erik that they were going to push to get him into the March class, so we came home early from a trip to D.C. to get things moving. Then, things started to fall apart. The background check which was only supposed to take a few days (since Erik has a secret clearance from the military) ended up taking 4 weeks. Because of this the closing date on our house was moved from March 28, to April 7, and then suspended until we got a final offer from HPD. Finally, we got word that the background check was finished, and were told that someone would contact Erik to set up a psych evaluation and a medical appointment. We got these set up for a few days later, and then were called back to push them back a week. Finally those were taken care of and we were told that we'd be notified of the results in three to five days. A week later, Erik got the call saying that he'd passed everything and that they were just waiting for the Chief to sign off on the papers. We were also told that the Chief has never not signed a paper (so Erik was to go to orientation and get things ready to begin the May 12th class). At this point, we got things rolling on our house, and were told that things were good to go, and we could close the following week. Well, that closing date was supposed to be 9:00 tomorrow morning, as of right now, it's been moved back to Friday morning. Added to this frustration is the fact that Erik is supposed to start class on Monday, yet the Chief hasn't signed off on his papers (granted there are about 20 people in the class that didn't have their papers signed as of orientation this past Tuesday). I still remember the feelings I had when Erik mentioned HPD, and I know that those feelings came from our Heavenly Father, but it seems as though we've been fighting an uphill battle ever since we came to Houston. Don't get me wrong, I have greatly enjoyed being able to spend so much time with Erik over the past 2 1/2 months, but being jobless and living with his parents for so long has definitely put a strain in our lives. All of this has also taken its toll on Jordyn, she wakes up more frequently at night, she's a lot grumpier, and she has been getting sick more frequently. Erik's parent's have been great, letting us stay with them for so long, but there are four adults, on very busy baby, an inside cat and an inside dog all living in a small 2 bedroom home. It is so crowded that Jordyn's crib is in the office/den that also functions as our closet. At times, the only thing that has kept me going on this path was the feeling that I had that day in February. The spirit had witnessed to me that this is what we needed to do, and I can not deny those feelings. This truly has been a test of faith for me. It has taught me to rely more heavily on Erik and on our Heavenly Father. I'm not going to lie, I will be very grateful when this experience is over, and I wouldn't want to go through it again, however, I see the benefits that is has brought to our lives. Now that it seems like we're on the downward slope, I can say that I am truly grateful for the uphill battle.

8 Months

It's hard to believe, but our little girl is already 8 months old. She is growing up so fast. To fast for me, (though not fast enough for her it seems). Jordyn wants to be a big girl, so bad that she is frequently frustrated by her limitations. She doesn't understand why she can't drink out of Mommy's water bottle, or why she can't drive the car with Daddy (she enjoys playing with the steering wheel while Erik is cleaning out the cars). Jordyn doesn't enjoy sitting in her car seat because she can't see where we're going, and she'd rather feed herself than have you help her. Oh, the frustrations of an 8 month old. Jordyn is very advanced for her age in many ways. She "walks" along the furniture, she eats "real" food, and she's learning how to wave bye-bye. Jordyn still doesn't talk (knowing my luck, this and potty training are going to be the only things she doesn't do early) but she babbles constantly. She loves to "sing" as she plays, and she'll tell you a story if you let her. Jordyn loves playing with the dog and chaseing the cat (the cat doesn't like Jordyn much, but who would like a monster pulling your tail everytime you turned around?). Her favorite foods are bananas and spaghetti. She also enjoys cheese puffs and oranges. Her favorite activities are swimming, playing with Daddy, and playing with Chloe (the dog).