Simple day

Yesterday Jordan's sixth tooth arrived after all that hard work. Thank goodness. This morning we had fun with breakfast. I enjoyed taking pictures of her and I decided to capture just a normal moment with my girl in video. We giggled at each other while she popped Cheerios and threw her sippy cup on a regular basis. So here's just a little moment in the high chair:



Jordan has been working very hard on words, but lately it seems her standing and pulling up skills are trumping words. But in the last day, she points at pictures and dolls and says: "tritty" I have to believe that means "pretty." I find that to be pretty darn sweet.

Can you believe she's 13 months old now? Just amazing.

I've started working out again... I got up at 5:20 this morning to exercise. So why amd I still awake? That's a good question. Randy just gave me a stern talking to before he went to bed. It just feels like I can never do enough -- with work, with blogging... with just brainlessly surfing the web or knitting (which I learned how to do this weekend). So I should head off to bed. I just wanted to update with a few smiles to share with everyone. I've been pondering heavier thoughts... But I'll hold off for another day.

Who is that?

I dropped Jordan off in her room today... And as I walked out, there was a new little girl sitting at the table in the bigger kid room. I was a bit confused about that... And kept walking. I didn't say anything... But I looked for the director of the school as I ran off to teach a class. She wasn't there. I was steamed... But maybe I was confused.

So I went back to visit Jordan for a little while in between working out and returning to the newsroom. That's when I noticed that there really was a new girl. She was standing at the door to the little baby room. I asked what was going on with the parents when one of the teachers said: "We never had her start day in the computer system. It's just a mess." Of course that wasn't a good enough excuse. Jordan cries every time a baby drinks from a bottle and won't eat big kid food... because the other babies eat from jars. She needs to move into the bigger room so she can have more encouragement to pull up and try to walk. She's trying harder and harder to do just that.

So I was unhappy. Very unhappy. So I went to the owner of the school since the director is out of town. Apparently this child showed up without anyone knowing she was coming. It's still not cool that she was placed in that room before Jordan. He said he was certainly going to look into it and get Jordan into the room -- and he kind of said next week. The whole thing I thought we were waiting on was the arrival of a new teacher -- and that happens on Monday next week. If that is the case, I expect the move to happen on Monday.

So I was livid. Hopefully this will be fixed. But this isn't the first time I've felt slighted by the school. It's like I'm so nice that I get ignored or passed over on things my kids need or deserve. That stinks.

Getting closer

Jordan worked SO hard on standing up skills today. She is standing up onto things and just standing along furniture better. Today, I plopped her down on multiple different spots and she would stand there... Even the chairs in the kitchen. It's very exciting.

During our therapy today, we've decided that Jordan needs to wear more solid shoes to help prepare her for a foot insert. Why? Because Jordan lifts her toes when she is standing... And it could really hurt her ankles if she keeps it up. So this week we're going to just get used to wearing her Nikes and next week, we'll start wearing the insert.

I'll do my best to try and capture some video of Jordan's toes in action.

Another tooth!

Take the number up to five. Jordan had another tooth appear today and I expect the next top tooth to emerge at any moment. Hopefully she'll get a bit of a break from all of this tooth making and feely happier. Actually, she hasn't been that moody, but it's been noticeable to me.

Yesterday Jordan got to play in the bigger baby room almost all day. She does really well in there. It certainly won't be the same lovey and warm environment with little squishy babies. She's ready to be there full time and I'm impatient.

I'm trying to focus on me a little bit lately. I went to the gym twice this week. I even work up at 5:25 this morning to head over to the gym. I will admit: I like working out. The trick is allowing myself time. A good friend and I take a walk every Saturday... So if I can just add one other day of exercise, I'll feel better about myself. I spent the last year focusing a lot of time for Jordan. I'm officially going to allow myself priority again. Obviously that's important for the sake of sanity. So as Jordan keeps growing, I need to keep learning how to be better to me. I will benefit, my attitude with life will benefit and I figure the family will benefit. The trick is fitting in healthy living into my insane life.

Mood swings

Something is going on with Jordan. Today she wouldn't eat anything at school except a blueberry muffin and baby food... She wouldn't eat table food at lunch time. Every time a baby in the room drank a bottle, she wanted one. She desperately needs to get out of the baby room. She's reverting and doesn't want to be grown up in that room. She eats and drinks just fine at home. She also denied therapy today. She was so upset that the therapist left early! No fun. I was teaching class, so I missed that. But we weren't very productive when I met with her last Friday. Jordan knows what she wants to do and she isn't afraid to freak out to get her way. Not too different from her brother.

But after a few positive steps towards standing up this weekend, I'd hate to lose that progress. I guess we'll just take it one day at a time and hope that she will keep wanting to work and grow and move around. I seriously think moving to the bigger kid room will make a HUGE difference.

Money and remote controls

She did it... Jordan stood up on her own today! She stood up on the coffee table twice! Why? She was reaching for her daddy's wallet and remotes... and she pushed up enough to stand! Then I started putting all kinds of things she wanted onto the table. She didn't think I was very funny.

Jordan's been a really good girl... She took a huge nap today to help make up for the lost sleep in the last few days. She's been at work late the last two days. She is really enjoying the many students, reporters, producers and web folks. And she's showed me that she really would enjoy producing a newscast. She loves hanging out in the producer pod area. She's become the fastest one-handed typing producer in the world. Very fun.

We have snow again... And it appears to be the fun, packing snow. So I'm looking forward to a fun in the snow day with Cam and hopefully Jordan if she's interested. I am finally getting our house back in order from months of disarray. We're planning a Super Bowl party, so the house needs to get in control at some point. Today I made headway... So that makes me feel a little better. We actually have empty clothes baskets so we can fill them with more clean clothes!

Fun with a baby

Best meal ever
Originally uploaded by Jen.

Jordan got to hang out at the newsroom for a while today. I love having her around. The funny part is when Stacey and Randy start playing around with the kids. That's when silly things happen.

They decided to put Jordan in a take-out box... a larger than life take-out box. It was full of fortune cookies. Newsrooms that are CNN affiliates got one of these boxes. But I bet none of the other newsrooms got to have a baby inside... At least a baby this cute.

I've been working and going to appointments a lot this week and I feel like I haven't spent enough time with the kids. I've visited Jordan in her classroom for the last few days. Today she wasn't happy I left her to go to work. Her teachers say she called out for me for quite a while: "MaMa! MaMa!" How sweet and heartbreaking.

As for my teeth, the good news is I didn't cause any massive damage to my front tooth. It got polished so the little chip doesn't get worse or bother my tongue. As for the pain I've been feeling, the dentist thinks it's because I bruised my tooth. I should be okay. I got a new mouthguard. I shouldn't feel as much jaw pain using this one. But I have to admit, if my children or husband see me wearing this thing... They may cry. It's not pretty. Randy says if he had to wear something like this, he'd rather have his teeth fall out. I don't agree. So I'll wear this thing and see how it goes.

Another cool toy

Jordan in Pink
Originally uploaded by Jen.

I figured out another way to play with images I have on Flickr. This is kind of fun. The pictures were taken in June... But it's still fun.

Check out this cool thing!

I just found this fun toy:



Run your arrow over the images and they'll go back and forth. Sorry Uncle Jon... That picture had to be posted.

So much focus about teeth

Jordan has two teeth working through her gums... She's a bit drippy and in a pretty good mood. But I'm in the middle of some teeth drama of my own. I've been grinding my teeth at night for a while. I got a mouth guard that left my jaw in pain every morning. I stopped wearing it while I was pregnant because I was uncomfortable enough (thank you very much).

I've kind of noticed that I grind my teeth during the day as well... Not the creepy, noisy kind. I just kind of play with my teeth a lot when I'm stressed... Or working hard on something. I find myself in one of those situations on a daily basis.

So that brings in my tooth problem. Over the weekend, I noticed something pointy on one of my front teeth. I figured it had always been there and I just noticed. So I went to the mirror to discover a tiny chip in one of my front teeth. I'm FREAKING out (but not grinding my teeth about it) Not long after I found it, the tooth started to hurt a little and feel sensitive to temperature: FREAKING out more. So I called the dentist.

I'm going in tomorrow morning really early. I figured that would be a big deal right?

Well, Randy has had to work early mornings because of this non-stop ice issue we have across the state. Schools left and right continue to close. So he's coming in early. I've been working late training new editors. I never see him. But when I scheduled my dentist appointment, I figured he could take the kids to school.

Not the case anymore.

Now I have to get up extra early, feed the dogs, wake the kids, get them dressed, fed and out the door into school before a 7:30am appointment that is NOWHERE close to school.

Wah.

On the upside of my constant work and busy schedule, I've been hanging out at school a bit more with Jordan. She's so sweet and smily. And when she gets hot and sweaty (which happens a lot because scooting is hard work), her hair gets all curly. I'll have to catch a picture of it. I'm kind of hoping she'll have curly hair like her Grandma. Maybe she can get really curly hair like her Aunt Tisha. That would be really cool. Or maybe she'll just end up with boring hair like me. But lucky for Jordan, she'll never be boring. That's one thing she's lucked out on! She still has a mullet. I think we're going to have to trim it soon. But I'd hate to get rid of those blooming curls!!

Jordan was iced into home with weekend while her parents had to work a bit. She didn't seem to mind it a bit. She was content to scoot all over the house and play. Her favorite item to play with: Shoes.

There wasn't a lot of talking for Miss Jordan this weekend. She spent the majority of the time dripping and coughing. I think she has at least two more teeth coming through. So she was more interested in getting hugs, playing with toys and sleeping. The one thing I'm noticing is how she just doesn't use her arm when she wears her prosthetic. She's still holding it behind her shoulder. The one thing she is using it is to help push herself up from her belly. And she's in that position a lot these days: If she's unhappy, she'll fold up and bonk her head on the floor, fall onto her back and then she rolls onto her belly crying. By the time she pushes herself up, she usually calms down.

So gross story of the weekend has nothing to do with Jordan. Big fluffy dog Dudley discovered that an ice storm is the only way he can catch an animal in the backyard. A rabbit got into the yard and just couldn't get out fast enough. I watched Dudley prance by the back door with the rabbit hanging from his mouth. Gross. Gross. Gross.

Teeth troubles

So here's the latest developments in our world: Jordan is officially one week into the four-tooth world. One of the first things she did with a mouth of teeth was grind them together. It was a horrible sound.... Just quiet enough to hear if you were holding her close. I figured that was the worst she could do with her new pearly whites.

I was wrong.

Today she bit one of her teacher's toes. And if that wasn't bad enough, apparently she bit a friend when she wanted a toy back. Two bites in one day. I can only hope this won't be a common occurrence. I've always wondered if I could handle a biter, I'm just going to hope today was an anomaly.

Jumped the gun

So school now tells me the move to the big baby room is delayed until they can hire another teach in the 2-year-old room. Why? Because the move out of the little baby room is dependent on a 2-year-old. When kids move into the 2-year-old room, the 18-month-olds can move into the 18-month to 2-year-old room. Then the one year olds can move into the one-year-old to 18-month-old room. Confused yet?

So the 2 year old room needs a teacher before Jordan moves. So who knows how long that will take. So I'll try to be patient. I asked the director of the school to see if there would be some kind of coordinated effort to let Jordan play with the older babies and help encourage her to pull up and walk. I wasn't snotty about it, I was just asking. But the director kind of snapped back at me... And it made me wonder why I take my kids to this school. I'm nothing but understanding and helpful to the teachers. We're a team when it comes to my kids. It just feels bad when I'm treated like I'm an annoying, needy parent. That's not my style and not how I like to be treated. Okay. I feel better letting that out.

Jordan didn't nap at all at school today. When I got home, she was EXHAUSTED. She actually passed out as I fed her and didn't protest a bit when I put her to bed tonight. Thank goodness I gave her a morning nap... It makes me feel a little better. By the way. This picture is the same as the one above... but if you look closer, you can see all 4 of Jordan's teeth. How cool is that?

Miss Jordan is getting opinionated by the day. She has this thing where she folds up and then flings herself onto the ground. Then she cries. And eventually, she pushes herself back up and all is well. She's also denying food and demanding specific food. She's turning into a person, not a baby.

Big news

It's official. Jordan starts the transition into the bigger baby room next week! I'm thrilled because those walking babies are really going to encourage Jordan to walk. I'm sad because the women who have helped me care for Jordan are going to be in a different room... Jordan and I are going to miss them so much. But it's just another sign that this jabbery, happy, scooting girl is getting bigger.

Experimenting with the girl

So we have a push toy that I bought back in the day when Cam was little. It totally freaked out the boy... He never trusted toys that rolled. His opinion changed about a year ago. So I plopped Jordan on this push toy thing to see what would happen. She thought it was SO cool. And amazingly, she took a couple of steps before falling down. She held onto it pretty tight and tried so hard... And she kept wanting to pull up and try again. The funniest thing is she fell down pretty hard a number of times and that tough cookie didn't mind at all. That is a major development... At least to me. A lot of our milestones have been delayed because Jordan was too concerned about falling down.

It's probably because when she's mad, she's been flinging herself onto the floor in protest. I'm guessing falling onto the floor isn't as big a deal when you choose to do that yourself.

Talking up a storm

Matching girls
Originally uploaded by Jen Reeves.

Jordan is picking up words by the minute. Tonight she told her Daddy: "Night night." Her vocal cadence repeats some of my sentences. And she's catching a little temper. If she wants Mommy cuddles and I put her down, she is not afraid to throw herself onto the floor and cry. I know the cuddles will go away someday, but I have to get things done from time to time, so she can't be in my arms all the time!

She's so smiley and happy at school and at home. She gets to excited to see family members. When Dad came home tonight, she was chanting "Hi da da." It's awesome.

She's trying harder and harder to pull up. Today, she was more comfortable standing (but you have to put her into a standing position). For the first time, I saw her stand along the couch and hold onto it with one hand... and not standing very close to the couch. She was doing pretty good. She had her prosthetic on at the time so I wonder if it was giving her extra balance. I'm torn about what to do with her growing skill of pulling up. She has such a hard time moving up with her prosthetic. I can't figure out what will help her learn how to pull up in the best way. Should I let her go prosthetic-free more often? Should she wear it less? But then there's this challenge: Her feet. When Jordan plays with toys without her prosthetic, she uses her little arm to hold things. When she's wearing it, she pulls out her left foot and gets just about everything done that way. I just can't get her to use the prosthetic arm with her big arm. It's tricky.

Four teeth!

It's official. When I walked into school to pick up Jordan today, her teacher was proud to announce the arrival of Jordan's fourth tooth. Very exciting. SO I gave her a dinner that's fit for a four tooth chewer -- and she took bites out of her peas and beans and pasta. She didn't eat much of any of it. Her new thing is to take a bite, taste it and spit it out. She might put it back in her mouth, but often it's spit out again. Ahhh. The eating habits of a toddler.

Other very sweet things. When Jordan sees herself in the mirror or a picture of a baby, she says "bay-bee." It's great. When I picked her up today, she screamed "HI!" and I picked her up... She immediately opened her mouth and planted a HUGE kiss on my cheek. It rocked.

We start up therapy again tomorrow -- occupational on Friday and physical on Saturday. Hopefully we didn't lose too much ground while we went on vacation.

New year, new tooth

On New Year's Eve, Jordan's top tooth finally popped out. It's amazing to see something other than gums up there! And it's just another tiny little sign of how my girl is growing up.