Just Jordan

We headed out to Leask the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with Hugh's family. Hugh's mom had to work Christmas and our sister-in-law's family was coming in for Christmas from B.C., so moving up the celebration a few days worked really well for everyone.  Boone got really into opening the presents. Hugh's mom made each of us a stocking and she wraps LOTS of the stuff inside. The kids loved it (I can't even fathom how long it took her to wrap everything!). Boone was excited to tear off the paper and even gave a couple of ooo's when he saw what was inside. Boone really likes "guys" and Auntie Abbey, Uncle Billy and crew got him this Duplo lego set that contained 2 guys. He carted around one of those guys and the police car most of the weekend. His cousin Pace carted around the other guy and the motorcycle!   Calder got LEGO from both his uncle and aunt and grandparents. He hasn't really been playing with LEGO recently, but the ne...

Merry Christmas Family and Friends, We will start with our most exciting news. If you did not already know, Jordan is pregnant again. She is due in February and we are excitedly awaiting the new arrival. We really need to get on thinking about possible names! Calder is excited for the baby…we think it is mostly because he will be getting bunk beds. Boone isn’t sure what is going on but loves giving his mom’s belly zerberts all the time. Once again, Jordan goes weekly for IVIG. Even though it is hard on her body, she feels much better after each of the treatments this time around versus when she was pregnant with Boone. Boone started the year off taking his first steps, but then took his pretty little time starting to talk. Luckily, it feels like his continual screaming is finally tapering off now that he has a few words in his repertoire. Boone is picky at the table and has learned how to scowl at food he doesn’t like and say “yuck”. Hugh and I can’t wait to lay down the law when ...

I realized on December 23 that I hadn't made the outdoor ice candle holders I usually make. Maybe not a big deal, but the very first year we had Christmas without Tripp, I made some for our front step and for beside Tripp's tree in his memory.  You might also remember that many of my neighbors put them outside of their houses to show me their love for our boy. Once I realized my blunder, I instantly started sobbing. There are so many things to think about and until I started thinking about visiting Tripp's tree on Christmas morning, I had forgotten about the ice candle holders. After a brief meltdown, I gathered my strength and reminded myself there was likely still time to get a couple of candle holders made. . . And then I couldn't find the mold. That evening we went into the city to see Santa. We got to the mall and headed to Santa's chair. We were the first ones in line. I took a quick glance at the Santa hours and my heart dropped. The hours on the 23rd were ...

Calder was pretty pumped to show us this gingerbread man he decorated last week at school. Even proclaiming, "Isn't he crazy, Mom?!" I was a bit tongue tied as I couldn't take my eyes off the gingerbread man's right leg and didn't respond. I was supposed to be looking up to the gingerbread man's "crazy" mouth. Eventually, Calder pointed out the BANDAID on the the man's right leg. According to Calder the "crazy" gingerbread man missed his owie (the dot) and put the sticky part of the bandaid right on top of it. Rosie is back! She didn't come until the second week in December. Last year she came on December 1 and it felt like she was around too long! In the week before she arrived, Calder kept speculating when she was coming and if it would be Rosie coming back or some other elf. Rosie has been up to no good and even spent two days up in our chandelier. Calder wasn't sure if she got stuck or was just really tired and spen...

This fall we bought Calder a LEGO Advent calendar at Costco. It was pricey as far as Advent Calendars go ($40), but he is having so much fun with it! He made me take a picture of the set-up! Question: Do you open #1 first in an Advent calendar and count up to the 24th? Or do you start at 24 and count the days remaining? Calder and I decided to count down, but when he opened #24 it was Santa, so I am pretty sure we were supposed to go the other way. I am glad we went this way. Every day he tells me how many days are left until Christmas. He is SO excited. I was worried about Boone not having his own calendar, but save a couple moments, he isn't that interested in Calder's display. I wish I was one of those moms who creates there own advent calendar with unique little items in each slot, but that is not one of my talents, nor one I have time for come late November. Anyone out there make their own? I would love to hear about it! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!  Hoo...

I am getting SO excited for Christmas and have been doing some thinking about what Christmas means to me. . . Love and family are the first words that spring to mind. They make me think about the reason we celebrate Christmas. The birth of Christ. His story is filled with love and family.  Other words that spring to mind are awe and joy. The excitement surrounding Christmas morning has been strong in our house every since I can remember. In fact, as a kid whoever woke up first of my siblings and I, would rush to the other one's room and crawl in bed with the other. We would then wait until 6 am to get up. We had a rule at our house that stockings could get opened at 6 am and presents could be opened at 7 am!  Getting up that early didn't end when we realized when we got older. In fact, even in our 20's we would get up at the crack of dawn to race to each other's rooms. Now, we all get up with Calder. It is such an exciting, fun time. . . . You often here people say, ...

Here I am at 28 weeks. I am currently 30 weeks. I have been WAITING to get to 30. It feels like 30 is so much closer to the end than 29! I will also be excited to get to January, which is the next milestone I will be counting down. I don't want this baby coming early for obvious reasons, but I especially want it to wait until 2015 to make it's appearance. I know I had the big rant about my weight the last time I posted. Well, I had an appointment on Friday and I basically didn't gain any weight the last month. Don't panic. I wasn't dieting. I just stopped eating before bed. The main reason for this was my acid reflux. It got so bad that I actually had my doctor prescribe me some medication for it, because I was struggling so badly to control it. I have acid reflux when I am not pregnant and it shows itself mainly by giving me a very sore throat and scratch voice. I will have an ultrasound at the start of January. This would be considered routine for my ...

Calder started minor hockey this fall. He was excited and not so excited. New things are hard for Calder. He is our introvert and being on a team with new kids and new coaches was challenging (especially since Hugh had to miss the first couple of skates because of other obligations). Calder loves skating and for the first few practices announced he didn't want to play hockey that he just wanted to skate. We actually had to pull the "You wanted us to sign you up for this" card and with a little pep talk and reminder of what he loved about hockey, we managed to get him to the rink. He always told us he had fun after practice, so as it turned out getting him to the rink was the hard part. Calder still will sometimes say he doesn't want to go to hockey. I honestly don't think it is because he doesn't have fun there. Sometimes it is because he is tired and just wants to stay home. Full days of school tire our boy out! We have also had the odd week of hockey with ...

I have had a couple of seriously proud math-teacher-mama moments with Calder the last few weeks. Who am I kidding? Principal Hugh was equally as proud! Both moments happened on play dates. The first I was actually a bit shocked to over hear. While sitting at the table having a snack, Calder's buddy asked him if he wanted to do hard math questions. I couldn't believe it - another 5 year old who liked to practice math facts! LOL. The first hard question was to Calder. One hundred plus one hundred. Calder quickly said, "200, but that's too easy." His buddy knocked it up a huge notch on the next one asking Calder 99 + 99. I smiled on the couch. We give Calder 2 digit addition questions when we play our game, but nothing where you are carrying a bunch of digits. Calder paused for about 3 seconds and announced, "198". I could not believe it. I actually had to leave the room. I was beaming from ear to ear and stifling a giggle. Later when Hugh asked him how Cal...