The Animal Cracker

Jeremy, being the awesome employee that he is, is always winning stuff at work for doing such a great job. Usually the prizes are in the form of $25 Visa gift cards, but this time, since it's Christmas, he won tickets to see the Texas Ballet Theater perform "The Nutcracker". Jeremy was not exactly thrilled about this. I was excited though, because I love doing Christmas stuff, and I thought Shelby would love it. All week long we had been telling Shelby we were going to see "The Nutcracker", but she kept insisting that it was actually called "The Animal Cracker".

We got to Bass Performance Hall in Ft. Worth a little early so we could look around. They had all kinds of tables set up with beautiful Nutcracker ornaments and figurines- all kinds of stuff little hands can break easily. So we stayed away from those. We headed over to the huge Christmas trees in hopes of getting a good enough picture for our Christmas cards that still had not been made or sent. Shelby was cooperating at first, but my camera wasn't. By the time I figured out that the switch was in between settings, the batteries died. I was so mad! Jeremy tried to get a few pictures with his phone, but by this point, this was all we got:






I appreciate the free tickets and all, but seriously, we were three rows from the very top. This pregnant lady was WINDED climbing up all the stairs. Shelby was into it for a while, but about halfway through the first act, Jeremy had to take her out because all she wanted to do was play on the steep stairs. She does great in movies, so I thought she would do great here, but I think since we weren't more at a head-on level it was harder for her to get into it.

At intermission, we went out to get something to drink and were able to take a picture with the Nutcracker and two of the rats. The photographers were amazed that she went to them with no problems, but she has never really been afraid of things like the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. I apologize for this picture. I need to reinstall the scanner software on the computer, so for now I just took a picture of the picture. Horrible, but at least you can kind of see the costumes.



We also saw a group of the dancers in the downstairs lobby area, so we ran over and asked to get a picture. You can't tell from this picture, but Shelby was actually really excited to see the ballerinas.



All-in-all, I loved it, Shelby liked it, and Jeremy hated every minute of it. But I figure I have sat through MANY football games for him. He owed me.

30 Months...Almost

Shelby is almost 2 and 1/2 now. I can't believe how fast that time has gone by. Since I haven't done any monthly updates for her lately, and I have a small window of time, I figured I would go ahead and do one now, before things get too crazy with Christmas and I don't have time to do it later.

Shelby is such a big girl. She talks so much and so well- she really surprises me with things she says. For example, we were just walking into the other room and she stroked her hair and said, "My hair's a hot mess!". Another thing she says that makes us laugh is an expression she came up with. If Shelby puts a spell on you by saying "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" or "Expecto Patronum", you have to fall asleep. Then, she will come and kiss you to wake you up, just like Sleeping Beauty. She'll say, "I kissed you up"! Or, if you put a spell on her, she'll say "Kiss me up! Kiss me up!".

She also LOVES to sing. You can often find her playing her guitar and singing "Once Upon a Dream", or making makeshift drums and singing "Jingle Bells". She gets it from her daddy, not from me. She loves to dance, as well, and really loves when Jeremy "dips" her.



Shelby also has a deep love of Walmart. I have raised her well. I have always said that if I could, I would live in Walmart, just like Natalie Portman did in that movie. I think Shelby would too if she could. She is always asking to go to Walmart, and the other day, she informed me that she has a friend, Stacy (a boy), that lives there. She will get out her phone to call Stacy and ask what he's doing and say, "Oh, you at Walmart? Ok, we'll come."

Over the past couple of months we have been working on potty training. I definitely know now that we will be doing things a little differently with Joey. For example, we will never buy another Pull Up again. I think that is what caused Shelby to take longer than we thought, especially considering she had been wanting to sit on the potty long before her 2nd birthday. Anyway, she is finally fully potty trained. Well, I say fully, but we still put her in a diaper at night, just to be safe. But she is doing great with telling us when she needs to go potty, and will only have an occasional accident if we have been out in the car too long and don't stop in time.

I love listening to Shelby talk about "Baby Joey". She is going to be such a good big sister. She likes to feel Joey kick, and she talks about her as if she is already here. The other day she came into the office with a handful of Little People, and said, "This is daddy, this is mommy, this is Shelby, this is Baby Joey, and this is Roxy!". She had pulled out all the correct people - the dad, the mom, the girl, the baby, and a dog, and was playing with them. So cute!

Shelby is really excited for Christmas, and I have loved doing all the fun little things with her this Christmas season- looking at Christmas lights, going to see Santa Claus, going to see "The Nutcracker", the advent calendar, and of course, looking for "Buddy" (our Elf on the Shelf) every morning. I cannot wait til she gets to open her Christmas presents. I have been SEVERELY tempted to go into the garage and get her "big" gift out already because I know she is going to have so much fun with it.

Anyway, that is about it for my update. Hopefully after the 1/1 things will slow down a bit so I can resume my regular Shelby updates, but I won't hold my breath!

November

I hate that I have been posting monthly updates lately, rather than as the events happen, but that's just the way it has to happen these days. We just have been way too busy. We went out of town all but one weekend in November.

Our first trip was to Bastrop, LA to visit Jeremy's grandparents. His dad met us over there and we had a great visit. Shelby was so excited to get there and give them the pictures she had colored for them. We got to go out to eat with Mamaw, which is a treat for her (and us) since she doesn't get to go out of the nursing home much. Sadly, I was HORRIBLE (again) and didn't take any pictures. Jeremy's dad did get some pictures though, so I'll have to have him send them to me.

The next weekend we went to Beaumont, TX to visit my sister and her family. She just had her fourth baby, Laurel Jane. Laurel has a hole in a wall in her heart, so she was in the NICU the whole time we were there. We did get to see her through the window though. She's definitely a Gilmore! What a cutie! She is home safe and sound now, and the doctors say the hole will hopefully heal on its own.



We had a lot of fun staying up laughing with my mom and other sister who were also visiting.



Shelby was sad to leave all her cousins. But, it wasn't long before we were off to see another set of cousins...

Our third trip was to Hattiesburg/Corinth, MS for Thanksgiving. We got to Hattiesburg at about 11:30 Wednesday night. Of course we had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. We had fried turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cornbread dressing, rolls, and so many other side dishes and desserts I can't even name them all. Mmmmmm. Shelby had a great time playing with Peyton, but again, I was horrible and didn't take pictures. Maybe it is because I am afraid if I pull a camera out I will end up IN the pictures. I think Alex and Jeremy's mom got some pictures, though, so I will have to get some from them.

We left Friday for Corinth and spent some time with Sean, Brooke, Mattie, and Timmons. Saturday, while Sean and Jeremy went to the Egg Bowl, Brooke and I took the kids to Tad's. It is kind of like Chuck E. Cheese, but smaller and not crowded. And the pizza is better. They had so much fun jumping and sliding on all the bouncies.







After Tad's, I took Shelby over to see one of my best friends and her two kids. Shelby loved getting to play with Isaac and Abby on the swings and trampoline. I got some cute video of Shelby and Abby dancing, but blogger is being weird and isn't letting me post video right now.







All-in-all it was a great month and great Thanksgiving, despite the 11 hours it took us to get back home. I don't know if we will be able to travel for Christmas. Of course, we were planning to go back to Hattiesburg, but every time we make these long trips I have some bleeding. I don't know if it is just the placenta previa, or if the long hours in the car have anything to do with it. It only happens when we make the long trips, so I am inclined to think that has something to do with it. I will ask the doctor on Thursday and see what he thinks (and I'll get to see if Joey is still a girl!). Other than that, the pregnancy is going great. I can't believe I am already 20 weeks. The shots are nothing to me now, although it is a little bit harder now that my belly is getting harder. I am feeling Joey move around more and more each day, which I love. Can't wait for the really strong kicks!
Hope everyone else had a great November and a Happy Thanksgiving!

What's in a name?

Well, I think we have picked a name for baby girl #2. Honestly, I had not really even been thinking of names yet. Jeremy was the one who kept bringing up names, but I would just kind of shrug them off. I don't know why. Maybe cause I was secretly waiting until my ultrasound on 12/3 to make certain she was still a girl. Mostly we had just tossed around Bailey or Riley, both names we were considering for Shelby. But today, as I was talking to my friend, she mentioned a name and it just hit me. This was the name! It is:

Joey Frances Jordan

Jeremy's grandfather and dad are both named Joseph, and my grandpa's middle name was Francis, and my mom's first name and my middle name is Frances. I know. Joey is not traditionally a girl's name. But, way back when I was born, long before Sex and the City made it popular, my parents gave me a traditionally boy's name. I love that it is different, but not so out there, like Starshine or Pilot. She might be relegated to a lifetime of teachers looking at the roster on the first day of school and be expecting a boy, or getting mail addressed to Mr. Joey Jordan, but I think she'll survive and love how unique her name is.

October Part 2: Happy Halloween!!!

Well, I was thinking my Halloween post would be long because I planned to do lots of fun Halloween stuff this week. However, things didn't quite go as planned. Jeremy and I got hit with a 24 hour stomach bug on Monday. It was not pretty. Let's just say I lost 4 pounds in one day (don't worry, I've pretty much gained it all back now). Thankfully Shelby didn't get it. Most of the rest of the week I had horrible sinus issues, which caused migraines- well, you get the idea. We were at least able to make it to the ward trunk-or-treat on Wednesday, and of course out trick-or-treating tonight.

Shelby could not wait to trick-or-treat. She was so excited to go up to each door, knock, say tick-or-treat, thank you, and then run back to show daddy that she "got a trick-or-treat". It was kind of funny to watch people try and figure out who/what Shelby was dressed as. Most older people don't really know about Clifford the Big Red Dog, so to them, she looked just like a little girl wearing a cute shirt and skirt. Oh well, Emily Elizabeth was the only thing she wanted to be for Halloween.

Shelby and the neighbor boys at Trunk-or-Treat


Kind of hard to see, but here are the pumpkins we carved. Mine says "Happy Halloween" and has a ghost. Jeremy's is a scary jack-o-lantern face.




Ready to trick-or-treat!





Shelby and her loot

October: Part 1

I have been super busy and tired lately and have fallen behind on my blog. I am sure I will have tons of Halloween pictures next week, so in order to avoid one reeeeaaaalllly long post next week, I decided to go ahead and post about the first part of October.

The first weekend in October we decided to go "Camping for Conference". The temperatures were supposed to be perfect, and we found a park about 20 minutes away that was supposed to have Wi-Fi so that we could watch conference in our tent. Well, it ended up that they only had Wi-Fi around the office area, so we only spent one night there. But, we found out that Shelby shares our love of camping, and it was a great trip.







Two weeks ago we went with some friends to the Fall Roundup at Nash Farms in Grapevine. It was really cute. We decorated pumpkins, got to pet lots of animals, and Shelby rode a pony. It was really chilly that day, but the kids loved it.









Starting this past week, and for the next two weeks, I am helping my neighbor out during her job training and am watching her two little boys for a few hours a few nights a week. Shelby LOVES having them over. I have been trying to do some fun Halloween crafts 1) to help kill some time, and 2) because who doesn't love Halloween crafts? Here's some pics of what they have been up to:











And, just a quick update on Baby #2. Shots are going fine- getting used to them more and more. I went to another appointment today and everything is going well. Starting at 20 weeks I will have monthly ultrasounds (yes!) with the high risk doctor just to be sure everything is ok. Other than some nausea, things are good!

12 Weeks!

I can't believe I am already 12 weeks today. Time sure flies! Things have been pretty good so far. I usually am not really sick during the day (unless I don't eat), but I do get pretty nauseous at night. Usually just as I am trying to settle down to go to bed, I get that sick feeling and have to run to the bathroom. Hopefully that will pass soon.

I had to go see the high risk doctor last week to discuss my Factor V. This wasn't that big of a deal when I was pregnant with Shelby, because I didn't find out I had it until I was about 6 months pregnant, and at that point they decided not put me on medicine since my pregnancy had been uneventful thus far. This doctor would rather be safe than sorry, however, so I have now started the daily shots of Lovenox in my belly. It's not too bad unless I don't do it right and jab the needle in too slowly. Then it kinda hurts. I'm a wuss.

The good part about meeting with the high risk doctor was that they did an hour long ultrasound. I wasn't even expecting an ultrasound at all. So I was really surprised when they asked if I wanted to know the sex of the baby. I said, "What?! I'm only 11.5 weeks! Isn't it too early?!". The doctor then proceeded to explain how they look at "the angle of the dangle" (not his words) in relation to the spine, etc., and that they are 95% sure it's a GIRL!

I was so shocked. With Shelby, I knew from day one that she was a girl. But I have had no inclinations with this baby, so I was totally surprised. I felt bad, afterwords, too, because Jeremy wasn't there. Neither of us thought I'd be having an ultrasound that day, let alone finding out the sex of the baby. In retrospect, I should have asked them to write it down and put it in an envelope so we could find out together, but I was so caught up in the moment I didn't think of that.

Anyway, the doctor says so far we have a "text book, gorgeous baby". We are very excited for another girl, and have already started thinking of names. Shelby is also excited to have a baby sister, and talks about "changing her poop", "getting her paci's", and helping "give her baths".

Her are the latest ultrasound pics: