Jordan: 1 Year Old!

Every mom says this, but I truly cannot believe that it has been a whole year since Jordan joined our family. On one hand, it feels like time has just flown by us; on the other, it seems like she has been a part of our family forever. This happy girl makes us smile every single day. 

We had quite an eventful month, so have lots of pictures to post. After I had my gallbladder removed, Chris felt left out so decided to give himself appendicitis and have his appendix out only 3 weeks later. Gamma came to help take care of Jordan and she really started to practice her standing! Such a big girl and so proud of herself. She did take her first steps with Mommy and Daddy this month but was not interested in us capturing it on camera quite yet!

I think every infant has at least one spaghetti face picture.

We took Jordan to our neighborhood pool to test our her new float and see how much she liked the water. (While Chris and I showed off our brand new surgery scars.) It took her a while to get used to it, but she loved it!

That next week, we took the dreaded trip down to Texas Children's Hospital to get tubes in our little girl's ears. She was such a champ the whole time and waited so patiently for her turn. We were concerned since she wasn't able to eat that morning that she would be...well..like Jordan when she's hungry, but she was a great! After her nap on the way home, she was back to herself and ready to play!

Daddy had a very special year this year as his first official Father's Day fell on his 30th birthday. We went out all day Saturday to celebrate as a family. We went to play class, out for dinner and then to the Waterway to hear the live music and people watch! See  Father's Day/Birthday Post for more pictures. Happy Father's Day/Birthday, Daddy!

                                                   

We took one more trip down to Texas Children's this month, just for fun!  I think we just all wanted to make sure that we each took one trip to the ER in a 5 week period. It's called family bonding.  As evidenced by this picture, Jordan was just fine and probably had the time of her life on this bed watching and playing with anyone who would look her way. Man, I love this girl. 

Our next stop was the beach! We took a short day trip down to Galveston to help celebrate Ashley and Lauren's birthday! I think Jordan liked it. She loved being outside and there was so much to see. 

Still loves her bath time!

What a year it has been! We are so in love with this little girl and she has brought so much joy into our life. We cannot wait to see what the next year has in store for us as her little personality begins to shine through and we continue on this adventure of our little family. We love you Jordan! Happy 1st Birthday!

                       (One year photos by Laura Hollander Photography)

Things we don't want to forget:

- The "Where's Jordan?" game works almost every time. She'll either crawl where she can see you or peek around the corner

- She loves playing with her basketball. Here is her first turnover caught on camera. (She went to time out)

- She hates her afternoon nap

- It's impossible to eat in front of her. She will eat every chance she gets

- How she checks herself out in the mirror

- When she lays her head on your shoulder after her night time bottle when she is really sleepy

-She points at things and shows you what she has in her hand

-She LOVES playing on Mommy and Daddy's bed

- She's starting to like TV and dances to Mickey Mouse

- She bounces up and down (dancing) to music. Current favorite song: Happy by Pharrell

More pictures we love:

Father's Day/Birthday

Happy first Father's Day and Birthday. We thank you for everything you do for our little family. I have enjoyed watching you love our little girl over the past year and cannot wait for all of the adventures we have ahead of us. There is something so sweet about the way Jordan smiles at you and the way you make her laugh. You are the perfect daddy and husband for your girls and we love you so much! 

We had a fun family day to celebrate Chris' first Father's Day and his 30th Birthday! 

We went to play class: 

Hung out at the mall:

Went out for drinks/appetizers/cheerios/veggies:

Went to the Waterway in the Woodlands for music and people watching:

Father's Day Breakfast before Mommy and Daddy went to San Antonio to watch the Spurs win the NBA Finals! :)

Family pictures are not always easy to come by!

Hope you had a great family day celebrating! We love you!

Jordan: 11 Months Old

Look at this big girl! We cannot believe this girl is about to be an entire year old. It has been the most amazing year for our little family and cannot believe how fast time flies. Jordan's personality is just starting to shine more and more every day.

Chris and I took our first trip away from Jordan for a friend's wedding in Virginia. Was nice to get away, but knew Jordan was well taken care of at Gamma and Poppy's house.

These are the pictures we got while we were away. I'll say she had a good visit.

One thing I'm sure we find adorable now is that when you tell her "No" she gives you this face. At some point we will have to actually be stern with the word No, but for now, this is quite hilarious. "No, Jordan! Do not eat your shoe" And then this face:

Soon after this picture...she climbed in the entry piece...so I shut the door:

We made the entire office room in our house into a playroom, yet all Jordan wants to do is get under the desk and look outside. She walks around the chair and ducks underneath the desk. We find it quite hilarious.

We had a wonderful first Mother's Day (See Mother's Day Blog Here), but soon after we realized that I was going to need my gallbladder taken out. This was a picture of Jordan and I going through the mail in her wagon outside waiting on Daddy to get home. I couldn't exactly stand up for a long time or pick Jordan up, so I put her in the wagon and played with the mail for a while. We were in survival mode!

We were so thankful that Nani was able to come into town and help out with Jordan while Chris and I were in the hospital waiting on my surgery. She brought Jordan up to the hospital to help make me feel better! It worked!! :)

Such a sweet little smile and even better when she flashes those 6 teeth. She loves to show them off! This face definitely made recovery much better.

This girl loves her books. She was just sitting up reading in her chair like a big girl!

We wrapped up the end of the month with a special celebration surprise in Austin. We were happy to join the entire Mudge clan and be a part of the engagement surprise for Aunt Lissa.

 

Things we don't want to forget:

- She loves the game of peek-a-boo and will play it with anybody who will ask where Jordan is.

- Her giggles when we play "couch" (just standing up on the couch and falling down)

- Banging things together. Anything that makes noise

- Her babbles "Dadadada" and her clicking noise

- Learning to turn the page of her books 

-Loves to knock off anything on the table or top of her play cube

-She loves to clap her hands together

- Perfecting her wave. It's an underhanded one hand clap, but we take it.

-She stands up on the entertainment center and gives herself kisses in the glass

-Notices herself in the mirror and smiles her big toothy smile.

More pictures we love:

                                         
                                          

Our First Mother's Day

I was so happy to celebrate my first official Mother's Day. This time last year, I was certainly Jordan's mother, but I didn't quite know the joys (and stresses) of what that meant that allowed me to truly celebrate being a mom. First and foremost, now that I have been through almost a year of motherhood, I have more respect for my mom than ever before. I had no idea of the sacrifices, struggles, love, dedication and pure joy that comes with being someone's Mommy. 

Jordan was helping Daddy hang a shelf in her play room. I love that she is already searching for the right one with her 'Stud' finder! :) We just hope he's 'level'-headed! Ha! Get it?!

With the first warm weather of the year, we could not WAIT to try out Jordan's swimsuit and start getting her used to the water for summer. There is so much about this picture that makes us laugh every time we see it. I don't know if it's the hat, the belly sticking out or those precious leg rolls! It really is just too much!

We went to dinner to celebrate my first Mother's Day. Chris did a great job and helping Jordan plan everything and making me feel special!

After and eventful day, we played peek a boo as Jordan walks to the other side of the furniture and peeks around to make sure we're still there. One of my FAVORITE things about her is the way she peeks around the corner when we ask where Jordan is! This second picture is exactly the face I'm talking about.

I love this girl more than I ever knew I could! I am so thankful that God has put her in my life and let me be her Mommy! I can't wait to celebrate many more Mother's Days with this little one!

Jordan's Dedication

On April 27th we had Jordan's dedication at the church. We dedicated her to God and pray she will love Him with all of her heart, her soul and her mind from an early age. We tell her each and every day how loved she is by God and what a special gift she is to our family. We feel incredibly blessed to be her parents. 

Chris and I stood in front of our church, our friends and all of our family and promised to Jordan that she would be raised in a Christian household.  We promised that she will be in a family that will love and support her every step of her life. We promised that we would pray for her and with her and that we would seek God's wisdom for her throughout her life. 

We were so happy that all of our family members were able to come to witness our promise to Jordan and celebrate our little girl. This group of people will be the largest influences in her life and we have no doubt that they will also love and support her throughout her life, reminding her how loved she is by God and how He has such great plans for her future.

The Barrett side

And the Mudges (Well one of them!) They were all there :)

Jordan was kind of done taking pictures, should have taken this one sooner!

Our letter to Jordan:

Dear Jordan Elizabeth,

We are so thankful to God for the incredible blessing that you are to our lives.  We pray for wisdom that we may be good examples to you and lead you on the path to knowing Christ from an early age.  

Our prayer for you is that you become a strong God fearing woman with the traits listed in Colossians 3:12 & 14, “Put on then compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. And above all these put on love.”

Our promise to you is that we will love you unconditionally and throughout this journey of life challenge you to seek God in all that you do. 

We love you, Mom and Dad