Getting ready!!!

I know it's silly to put the kids in their costumes already... But they arrived in the mail yesterday and I let them try them on. They are both SO excited. Cameron is going to be Anakin Skywalker and Jordan is a butterfly princess. I got them both to pose in character. Too freaking funny.

I also took Jordan to the local cheap haircut place to get a trim. I wanted to take her back to the girlygirl kid hair place where she went this summer but the place closed down. Darn economy. You're taking away the fun stuff! Anyway, I was worried the traditional setting may not be fun enough to keep her from crying but I was SO wrong. We walked in asking for a princess haircut and Jordan walked to the chair, listened to the person cutting her hair and even had a small talk conversation. I stood there and wondered who the heck was this little person getting her hair cut. She's growing up so darn fast. The personality is huge and only growing bigger.

A new look!

Jordan's had her hair cut one time... Until today. I wanted to help her hair take shape before we head out for a big mega-vacation. So I looked into places I could take her and the price wasn't any different between a nice grown-up hair place or the new local girly-girl salon.

I went with the girly-girl salon. She loved it. (Cameron was not that interested in being there... When we got to the door, he stopped and pronounced: "I am NOT going in there.") Jordan got her hair washed with chocolate shampoo and raspberry conditioner and seemed to enjoy the experience. She listened really well while her stylist did her hair (the barber chair was a pink Barbie Corvette). She even had her hair blow dried. SO funny.

I have to say, I kind of miss the little ragamuffin girl I had. She looks so clean cut and pretty with the new hair. I'm hoping her bangs will continue to grow and catch up with the rest of her hair. She's never had them trimmed and yet they're SO short!

Tomorrow is Jordan's last dance class of the summer. I talked to her dance teacher who says she can tell our girl loves to dance and encouraged us to keep it up in the fall. She also did a really wonderful thing: she asked how to help deal with the kids who stare at Jordan. She thought it might be too personal to ask, but I really appreciate it. I gave her tips on using Nemo's little fin as a guide to kids to help explain that Jordan can do anything! I'm so happy ABC ran Finding Nemo recently so more kids had a chance to watch it. I love that movie and of course I love it even more since Jordan arrived. I offered to talk to the kids in the class, but my feeling is I don't want to call it out. I'd rather kids learn about Jordan more organically, but if there's enough of a disruption already, I'd be happy to chat with them all. I also encouraged the teacher to see if Jordan would like to talk about her arm. I'm not sure if she's ready... Since I realized I haven't given her a chance yet. It's time to start letting go. I want to protect her and it's scary to know that she had to be able to hold her own. I realize she's only close to two and a half, but the sooner she learned, the stronger she'll be!

In the holiday mood

We're enjoying family time for the holidays -- I'm doing my best not to hop online as much as I normally do. Jordan is getting better at saying words like Santa, Ho ho ho and tree. She's also saying more sentences. REALLY fast sentences.

I wanna eat that sounds like "Iwannaeatthat." She'll say it rapidly five times in a row before I realize what she's saying. There are other sentences - They are all very fast and I'm floored every time I translate it and realize this little baby is NO baby.

I'm also talking her into doing a few things with actual logic. If you've noticed, her hair is constantly in her eyes because I'm growing out her bangs. Bangs suck. It's a BEAR to grow them out so I figured we'd just grow them out from the very beginning. Well, she has started complaining about her hair in her eyes from time to time - And I've jumped onto the opportunity to actually put a bow into her hair. Check out the picture of her at her school holiday party. I've been able to get her to wear a clip two times in the last week. It doesn't always work, but it's progress.

I've also found that I have to count to three every once and a while -- To get her to move away or stop doing something she shouldn't do. The down side, she screams the moment I say "One..."

She's screaming a lot these days. It's loud here. It's very loud.

She's full of waves

The girl stayed up late tonight and went to Cam's big t-ball game. She is so happy to just play around the grass, rocks and pull all the stuff out of her diaper bag.

Her hair is growing and the longer it gets, it just gets wilder. CRAZY. I have no clue what to do with it. She hates bows and hats. So I'll just let her live it up in her happy, curly ways.

I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to actually go to bed at a normal time tonight.

In a funk

I've been a bit down today... So it's great to know I have my kids to bring in the smiles. I let Jordan take a big long morning nap before heading to work today. She decided to try and play with head bands that are too big for her head... and just slightly too small for mine. She thinks it's funny when we both wear them at the same time. As you can see in this picture, she's giving me my head band for silly dress up time.

Cutest moment not caught on camera: I snuck in to watch Jordan nap and found her sleeping butt-up. You know, curled up in a ball, with the butt sticking up in the air. It's the sweetest thing and I've never seen her sleep that way before. It was Cam's constant sleep position when he was a baby... And I'll tell you: he sometimes still does!

Baby's first haircut

Hair before and after
Originally uploaded by Jen.

Jordan is done with her baby mullet. Today her Poppy trimmed her hair for the first time. She was pretty darn good sitting on my lap, eating cheesy bunnies. She was so good! The funny thing is her thin hair... It's so fine that it was hard to collect a little memory for her baby book. You know, the baby book that I haven't really done a thing with.

Jordan enjoyed a visit with her Grandma and Poppy... Showing off her smiles and desire to move all over the place. She's doing a few fun things -- When she smiles at things she thinks is fun, she strikes a smirky smile where she kind of bites her lip and crunches up her nose. She's also tackling things. She and I were rolling a ball between us. Almost every time I rolled the ball past her a bit too far, she'll throw her entire body on top of the ball. Apparently she tackled the pug just like that. I also watched her try to roll a hot wheels car across the floor just like her brother. She pushes the car as far as she can until she falls down. Then she sits back up and does it again. It's sweet... And kind of sad at the same time. I never thought how challenging it will be to have car races along the floor with her brother. She'll find a way. I know she will.

And the biggest developmental moment of the day: She pulled herself up from the living room into the hallway. It's a tiny step up but I and her therapists haven't been able to get her up. Today she did it! All she needed was the right moment. I was so proud and gave her a HUGE hug.

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!!