Dirty looks...gotta love them!

Jordan has now truly mastered the art of pouting and the dirty look. Yesterday I told Jordan that we needed to change his diaper and get him ready for the day...and that is all it took. He did not agree with the plans that I had in store for him, and he let me know it through great facial expressions. Poor kid, all I could do was laugh and take pictures, and even after all that, Mom won. He still had to get changed and dressed for the day. I even found myself egging him on a little so I could get some great pictures. Enjoy, I did!

At one point he thought it would be more effective to turn around completely and ignore me. It didn't last long. He couldn't help but turn around and give me the look again.

Later that night he was giving the same great looks to Glen. I'm glad that he thought they were just as cute and couldn't keep from laughing as well. I guess we are going to have to work on it.

School & best hubby ever!

Monday I started school. A little nervous starting school after taking a few year break. It was challenging before, but now I've added a 2 year old and a pregnancy. I will be 24 weeks to due during the duration of this semester, so I am a little bit nervous. It felt great though to get out of the house and go/do something on my own (usually I have a cute 2 year old munchkin holding onto me). Granted, I do technically have one kid with me, but she is pretty good at this point:)

I have one class on campus, and one class online. I will be starting that one tonight. I just hope I can keep up my motivation for the online class, since I don't have to meet in a class room once a week.

My sweet hubby has been and is such a support. When I woke up Monday morning, there was a sweet note attached to my backpack. Love you sweetie!

I am also proud and excited for him. Glen is also going back to school, after a long time. I'm excited for this new adventure, and that we will both be experiencing going back to school together!

Jordan's 2 year pictures

A few weeks ago we had Jordan's 2 year pictures done. Like last year we went to Carma Gray Photography ( www.carmagray.com ). She did a wonderful job again. It is nice to have someone who will work with Jordan, especially since he can be hard to work with. In between Jordan being shy, getting nervous, crying & not wanting to work with anyone, and just wanting to play instead of pose (where was my "cheese" guy when I needed him) she was able to get these amazing pictures of him.

During the session, and one of his crying fits, we were able to get him to be happy by putting Glen's glasses on and giving him his binky. Needless to say, we were able to get this cute picture from that.

Of course he had to get a picture with his George.

I am really glad his pictures turned out so great! I love my cute little boy!

Cheeeese!

So my little guy really is a big ham. Today he came and pulled me into the kitchen, he had his chair set up with George on it and told me "cheeese". Then he sat down and smiled and waited for me to get the camera and take the picture.

Don't mind the crazy bed head hair and pajamas...we hadn't gotten ready yet for the day:)

Then after his picture, he set George up and wanted me to take George's picture.

Heck, maybe I have a photographer in the making:) I just love that he likes me to take his picture.

Jordan's 2 year well visit

Today was Jordan's 2 year well visit. I always enjoy these visits, well until shot time. I love to see how he's doing and progressing and what we have to look forward to next. As we walked in today, he didn't want to take off his sunglasses, or did he want to take them off for his weigh in. So we stripped him down to his diaper & glasses. He weighed in at 22.13 pounds. He is finally on the growth chart now. Before this appointment he was below, now he is in the 3rd percentile. In height he is in the 50th percentile at 34.5 inches. Overall he did really good when it came to the shot and flu mist.

The doctor says that he looks good and healthy. But we need to give him some tough love on getting him to eat more than his usual 4 things that he will only eat. Also, that it would help with his talking and playing if he were to play with other kids his own age and get involved in some play groups. We tend to be content playing at home ourselves. He is a super big Mommy's boy. If anyone has any ideas, playgroups or wants to do a play date, let me know!

Busy Busy Busy

These last few weeks have been fun, stressful and busy.

We had our 20 week ( I am actually 22 weeks) doctor appointment and ultra sound. Everything is looks good and she is still a girl. They measured everything and she comes in at about 16 oz. She has all of her limbs, her heart looks good, her spine looks great and so does everything else they checked. They couldn't get a well enough look to rule out cleft lip, but as far as the ultra sound lady could tell, she looks fine. So I have to go in for another ultra sound next month. Which I don't mind. I really love having ultra sounds and seeing my sweet baby girl move. She definitely is more of a mover than I remember Jordan being at this stage of the pregnancy. I absolutely love feeling her move! I need to figure out how to scan pictures on to the computer so I can show off her cute ultra sound pics. My next appointment is on August 31st, and I can't wait.

Also my little boy is now 2! I really can't believe how fast time goes by. I have gotten teary-eyed the past few days with my little guy growing up...not quite sure if it is just because I am an emotional person to begin with, if it is the mom in me, or the pregnant hormones....or maybe a little bit of all three! I am really excited to experience the next mile stone to age three with him now (it also helps that I will have a new baby girl to take place as being my newborn and baby). He has been so much fun up to now, and continues to be such a sweet and fun boy. I will have to also post pics and more detail of his special day.

Also, Glen and I have decided to go back to school this fall. It has been such a stress and hassle getting everything figured out. Both Glen and I in the past have made some bad decisions with school. Which now is coming back to haunt us in getting our financial aid and school loans. Fortunately, they have decided to give me another chance and grant me financial aid. Which is great and not so great. I was only planning on taking one online class this semester. I will be 6 months pregnant starting school and be due the week of finals. Not sure if I'm up to it, but I will have to be. I have to have at least 2 classes (6 credit hours) to be eligible for student loans and financial aid. Now I will be doing one online course, and one course at the U. I'm not excited to have to walk the hills in the cold 9 months pregnant, but that is what is going to have to be since they don't offer all the courses I need to take online. Unfortunately, Glen was not granted the financial aid we needed, making it even more important that I do school so he can also do school. We can't afford to do school on our own, so this is our only choice. One good thing is that his boss is being great to work with. He is going to cut back hours at work so he can do school, and still be able to keep insurance....which is wonderful and a must for us right now! I am also going to have to check with my professors and make sure they will work with me in case I go into labor early or during finals. Hopefully all will work out.

I am also wondering if I can get any advice. I am a little nervous doing school so far along in pregnancy and having finals at the time of my due date. Has anyone, or if you know anyone, done school pregnant? If so, how did it go, and is there any advice you can give? Also, am I crazy to try and take on a two year old, a pregnancy (possible newborn) and school all at the same time, all when my husband will also be trying to go back to school as well?

Colorado & Moab Trip

Jordan and I started our journey to Colorado on July 9th at 5am. Little did we know, the 9 hour trip would take all day long. On our way my parents van (Little Ann) had a hard time with the heat and hills by Vail, Colorado and kept vapor locking. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that great and stressful day. Driving through the mountains of Colorado were just breathtaking. Finally around 8pm (15 hours later) we reached our destination of Colorado Springs.

The next day started off much better. We went to Manitou and saw some cave dwellings. They were really neat, and dirty (red sand & khaki pants don't go well together!). Jordan had a great time there. We were able to walk through some of them and check out some Indian dances.

The family in front of a cave dwelling

Cliff Cave dwellings Jordan was more intrigued with the "bunny ears" I was getting than the camera! What? No ears for them?

After we visited the cave dwellings we walked around Manitou Springs. It was a neat little city. There were a few interesting stores. One of them was called Poppy. It was a little hippy store. My brother Zack was in heaven there. Jordan loved the colors and the music in there. This was the sign on the door. In the store, all the mannequins had hair underneath their arms. Very interesting and comical! Personally, I think it takes away from the shirt, what do you think?
Walking around town there we enjoyed an ice cream cone, played at a park, and Jordan was spoiled by his uncles and aunt. He saw a carousel and of course wanted to ride. Each of his aunt and uncle took turns paying for his ride! At first he was a little nervous, and didn't dare move, but after riding several times, he became a pro.Here are some more pictures from Manitou and Manitou Springs.

Later that evening we rode the Cog Rail Road up to Pikes Peak. At the bottom of the summit was 92 degrees when we got there. Once at the top it was 45 degrees, and with the wind chill it made it feel like 32 degrees. The views on the train ride were unbelievably beautiful. They said that at the top, on a clear day, you could see as far as Kansas. It was a little harder to breath up there and I did get a little light headed, but it was great. The top of the summit is 14,100 feet about sea level.

Jordan and I freezing at the top The cog rail road car that took us up View from the top
Here are some more amazing pictures from the Cog Rail Road and Pikes Peak. If ever in the area, I highly recommend going!

Later that night we decided to drive to our next destination. Since Little Ann (van) had acted up on the first day, we had to rearrange a few of our plans. One was were we were going to stay the second night. This is one of those stories that is funny now, but at the time a little creepy and not so funny. We found a little place to stay at, that was in the middle of nowhere, that reminded us all of a movie named "Vacancy".

As we showed up, no one was there. The owner, that was expecting us, had gone into town. Once he returned he had us pay in cash for our room, one of the air conditioners was broken so he mentioned we would be safe sleeping with the window open, and there was just an Erie feel to the place (it didn't help that it was midnight, in the middle of nowhere, and a car full of people with imaginations running wild). I really don't think anyone slept very well that night...well, besides Jordan. He seemed to miss all the fun. Excuse the poor quality of the pictures...in all the fun and excitement I had the camera on the wrong setting! Here's some more pics of the motel.

Overall, the motel wasn't as bad as we thought it was once me all made it alive through the night!
The next morning we went to Royal Gorge...another breathtaking place. While at the Royal Gorge we did a lot of great things. We took a Ariel tram ride across the gorge. This is the tram we rode in.

There were some animals there (I think either a reindeer or elk...sorry, horrible with certain animals) that Jordan insisted were cows. He mooed and mooed as we walked past.
Jordan thought the best seat was Grandma's feet. He's no fool, he doesn't sit on the hot ground to play in the dirt!

This is the bridge that you can either walk or drive across. We walked. It was neat and scary all at the same time.

A picture of the family on the bridge.

Here is a view from the bridge of the sky coaster. It is like the one at Lagoon, but you swing over the huge, and very high, Royal Gorge! Tyler, Zack, Wyatt, Missie & Megan all went on it...they are much braver than I would have been:) Darn it, I was pregnant, so I couldn't be persuaded to go on it with them.

We also took a tram ride to the bottom of the Royal Gorge. Here is a view looking up at the tram and track that took us down.

This is a view of the bridge we walked across from the bottom of the Royal Gorge.

This is another place I would highly recommend going to. Maybe not on a day that was 100 degrees though!

Here are some more great pictures from the Royal Gorge.

At the end of the day, when we got back to the hotel (thank goodness not Vacancy), Jordan was so tired he fell asleep with the snake he got at the Royal Gorge (one of his new favorite toys).

The next day we spent hanging out in Durango. We walked and checked out the shops of the downtown area, it is a neat little town. Jordan recently has become a fan of trains, or Choo Choo's. He loved seeing the Durango Train stationed at the downtown area. He was so sweet and would get so excited every time we saw it.

We found a little Mexican restaurant to eat at for lunch. Jordan was such a good little boy and a cutie. Here is a fun picture of him being goofy.

Later that night we went and saw a play, "Dames at Sea". It was a really fun play. Originally I was really nervous on how Jordan was going to do during the play. So I packed a bag full of goodies, toys, and planned for the worst sitting next to the aisle so I could make a quick exit if needed. He did SO good. He sat and watched the entire show on his own chair. He would laugh with everyone and would clap at the end of each act. He was the perfect little boy. It made me want to cry with how well he did.

Here's a picture of him sitting on his chair waiting for the play to begin.

Here are some more fun pictures of our adventures in Durango.

After we left Colorado, our last stop on our trip was Moab. It was great because we met up with my Mom's side of the family that lives down there along with several other families that went down to visit as well. It was great seeing everyone there. We met up at a neat little park and had a BBQ.

The park was really neat. It had an area of musical instuments. Jordan loved playing on them. He was a little musician.

Here is a fun picture of my Mom & her sister Julie (my mom is youngest of 10 kids, 8 boys and 2 girls).

Here are some other fun picutres of our Moab trip.

The trip was a lot of fun. The only thing that would have made it the perfect trip, is if Glen would have been able to have gone with. Jordan and I was just spoiled by everyone. Mom & Dad, the boys & Auntie M were wonderful with helping me with Jordan. It was really cute, whenever Jordan wanted anything he would look at them with the sweetest face and do the sign for please. With that he was even able to get everyone into a cold swimming pool to play with him! He had everyone wrapped around his little finger. Jordan also did very well for all the time spent in the car during the trip (all 1500 miles in 5 days).

Thanks mom & dad for taking Jordan and I with you. We had a great time.