Ferrell Clan

What the Kids are Doing Now

2012-02-05T19:16:00.000-08:00

Tristan at 16 months old- He loves to climb. No place is safe- chairs, tables, toilets. He's also the master at throwing food and his sippy cups. If he gets in trouble, he gets a very cute pouty face and tears up, and it's hard not to laugh at him. He likes to imitate big brother, and do what he does. He likes taking baths and playing in the water. He still likes the pacifier, especially when he's tired. He'll trek back to his room, put a paci in, and come running out with his hand in his hair. It's funny to see that when the paci goes in, his hand automatically goes up to run through his hair. He's a very sweet little boy. Sometimes when I rock him before he lies down to sleep, he'll rub my hand with his. He also has a great laugh- even the daycare folks have commented about how entertaining his laugh is and that he laughs so much. It makes you smile to hear him laugh, and if the two of them laugh together, it's even better.

Jordon at 3 years, going on 4- He loves his cartoon DVDs and books. He also likes to climb and jump. He talks nonstop at times. He likes to play outside, ride his bike, and play ball. It's awesome to hear him say so often "I love you Mommy (or Daddy)". He shares well (most of the time) with Tristan, even sharing his cookies and snacks. Sometimes he shares with little brother without even being asked. He's crazy for his Cars, including Lightning McQueen and friends. He's growing so much with knowing his ABCs, learning to write and working on letters and numbers. Recent funny/ cute things he's said...
"Tristan, remember that time you pooped in the tub? Do that again."
"Momo, are you big like Clifford?"
"Momo, I just want a quick hug and a smooch."

More Christmas fun at Grandma's

2011-12-31T21:47:00.000-08:00

More Christmas

2011-12-31T21:40:00.000-08:00

We all had a nice Christmas and the boys got lots of great gifts. Thanks to our families for all the great stuff for the boys!!

Jordon's Christmas program

2011-12-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

This was Jordon's Christmas program at Milestone Academy. He sang songs he had been practicing for weeks. The teachers told us that Jordon was "their loudest singer" so they wanted to make sure he came to the program! He sang Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, and an Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas song. They had sweatshirts done with the first initial of their name to be similar to the chipmunks. The picture of Tristan was pre-show when the big kids were gathered up around him checking out "the baby". Tristan had a show too but it was the night before, when I was unable to go due to a work event, and Don forgot the camera that night. Grandma came up to watch Jordon's program too. We were really proud of how well he did!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-31T21:22:00.000-08:00

We closed on our new house in Pleasant Hill on 12/8, so we had just enough time to get moved, get a tree up and a few Christmas decorations up for the kids. The visit with Santa was at Concordia Community Center. Jordon talked about what he was going to tell Santa he wanted, but when he actually got around him, he would not talk to him so Mom had to tell Santa that he wanted a "Mater Monster truck".

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-12-31T21:15:00.000-08:00

Aunt Sharon made the boys turkey shirts to wear around Thanksgiving. They were really cute and we got a lot of compliments on them. Too bad we had to fight Jordon to get his on. I think it had something to do with being traumatized from the turkey bite at the pumpkin patch and not wanting to have anything to do with turkeys- ha!

Packing Helpers

2011-12-31T21:08:00.000-08:00

So this is the boys helping with packing (or at least playing with the packing boxes). We have moved twice in 6 months and are ready to try to settle down and get back to some kind of normal!

Good Times

2011-12-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

Just hangin out around the place when we lived in Warrensburg. The boys have always enjoyed playing outside.

Happy Halloween

2011-12-31T20:54:00.000-08:00

We went trick-or-treating just at the businesses on Main St. in Concordia this year (and Grandma's).

More Karli B-day pics

2011-12-31T20:48:00.000-08:00

Karli tried on her ladybug Halloween costume for us at her party. She seemed to be not a huge fan of wearing it- I think she preferred the chicken better :) Also couldn't miss getting pictures of Jordon having "tea" with Karli and playing with her dolls. These will be great as he gets older!

Happy 1st Birthday Karli!

2011-12-31T20:44:00.000-08:00

Family pictures at City Lake

2011-12-31T20:37:00.000-08:00

Kaleb did some family pictures for us in October at City Lake. These are a few of our own pictures we took while we were there. It was a beautiful warm day in October.

More Pumpkin Patch pics

2011-12-31T20:32:00.000-08:00

Trip to Pumpkin Patch

2011-12-31T20:18:00.000-08:00

We decided to check out a local pumpkin patch around Warrensburg this year- Buckeye Farms. They had hayrides, pumpkins and animals like turkeys and goats. The picture of Jordon holding up his finger was because he stuck it in the turkey's cage and the turkey bit his finger! I'm not sure that it really hurt as much as it scared him, so of course there was a meltdown after this happened. We didn't stay too long- it was really hot the day that we went- like a summer day in the fall and it made the kids cranky!

J & T

2011-12-31T18:32:00.000-08:00

More of Tristan's 1st Birthday

2011-12-31T18:25:00.001-08:00

Tristan was not a fan of trying on the chicken/duck Halloween costume. Karli seemed real interested in it so she ended up wearing it too- only she didn't throw an fit and didn't seem to mind having it on!

Happy 1st Birthday Tristan!

2011-12-31T18:18:00.000-08:00

We had family over for a birthday party for Tristan, and taco bar (Don's idea). The food and cake were good and the party was a lot of fun to watch the kids playing together.

Tristan and Aunt Sarzah

2011-12-31T18:14:00.000-08:00

Sarah got us tickets for a Mizzou football game on my birthday this year. Mike and Christie watched the boys and Don and I went with Sarah to the game. Everyone likes getting decked out in the Mizzou gear, tailgaiting, and cheering on the team!

Fun around the house

2011-12-31T18:04:00.000-08:00

Mom remembers that I used to love playing with a broom (or maybe a mop) at Tristan's age. He certainly likes playing with the broom. Laundry baskets are another favorite of the boys- they like to push them around the house, throw toys in them, and hide under them. Don thought it was real funny to give Tristan a set of wooden spoons to play with, until he started beating on everything and people with them!

Zoo visit with Adi

2011-12-31T17:51:00.000-08:00

This is Jordon's friend Adi. The two were nearly inseperable from toddler up to 3 at their daycare when they both went to Bright Horizons at Research Medical Center. When we moved in June, and the boys switched to a daycare in Grain Valley, we were all wondering how they would do cause they seemed to be such good friends. As life goes, we all move on and adapt to change. We were able to work it out with Adi's parents to get the boys together for a play date in September at the zoo. It was a lot of fun getting them together to play again! Although if we do it again, we will be leaving Tristan at home! It was a little difficult to manage them both at the zoo with Tristan learning to walk.

Prize Winners!!

2011-12-31T17:40:00.000-08:00

Tristan and Karli both won first place at the baby health contest in the boys and girls division for ages 6 months to 1 year! This was a lot of fun. Look at Tim towering in the line with all the Moms. This contest was part of the Concordia Fall Festival in September. At the fair I also ran into my old friend Kasey who lives in Oklahoma now. We used to run together a lot when we both lived in the Concordia area. It's always fun to catch up with old friends.

Fair Fun

2011-12-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

Riding rides at Concordia Fall Festival, always held the first week after Labor Day in September.

On the go

2011-12-30T20:23:00.000-08:00

Tristan on the four-wheeler and Jordon on a family hayride at Uncle Tim's place

Growing fast

2011-12-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

Tristan started walking around 10 months old and has been into everything since then! Some of these pictures are of him really getting the walking thing down! He also likes playing with cars and trucks as much as big brother, but at this age doesn't like reading as much. He gets impatient with sitting still and has to get up and move around, or tries to turn pages to close the books. We'll see if that changes as he gets older. Jordon still loves reading books.

Playin' with Gary

2011-12-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

Tristan playing ball with our longtime neighbor friends, the Meyers. We had them over after we moved in out in Warrensburg for lunch and to see the place once we were settled in.

Swinging in the backyard

2011-12-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

This is a swing Don picked up for Tristan- he really liked it and so did Jordon with saying "I wanna push" and "where's my swing?"
This was during the summer that we stayed out at the brick ranch home in rural Warrensburg. We only stayed there about 6 months and really liked the place, but the commute was brutal and the time on the road was hard on the kids. Jordon used to say "it's a long way on the highway". The place did have a beautiful backyard, lots of hostas, rose bushes and some of the prettiest crepe myrtles of different colors that I have seen in Missouri.

Fun at Concordia Park

2011-12-30T18:43:00.000-08:00

Fun at the pool

2011-12-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

Jordon loved it and the slide that was just his size- Tristan not so much... which was surprising to us considering how much Tristan loves splashing at bath time. But it was really hot the day we went and he couldn't tolerate the sun for very long.

Powell Gardens

2011-11-26T18:36:00.000-08:00

Beautiful in the summertime!

Grandpa Don and Joyce visit

2011-11-26T18:10:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Don and Joyce came to visit us this summer. It was hot but we had a good time visiting Powell Garden, going out to eat, and just hanging out with them.

Brothers

2011-11-26T17:04:00.000-08:00

Several of these are with the boys in their Gonzaga outfits from Grandpa Don and Joyce. They look pretty cute in their matching outfits. One day it took us a bit to figure out we had Jordon's on Tristan and Tristan's on Jordon. One was really big and the other was pretty tight. Jordon also likes the stickers that Aunt Sharon sends up- here he has about a whole sheet on his shirt!

Cars 2

2011-11-26T16:50:00.000-08:00

Here's Jordon with his first movie theatre experience at 3. We went to see Cars 2. He was incredibly patient through the 12 or so previews that they played before the actual movie. Mom and Dad were wondering when the previews were ever going to end. Jordon actually did really well through the whole movie- better than we expected. We all liked Cars 2, but not as much as the original Cars. movie.

Baby bubbles

2011-11-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

Tristan enjoying his first bubble bath with Mom!

Happy Father's Day 2011

2011-11-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

We went out for brunch for Father's Day. As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, Tristan provided Dad an extra special present of crapping all over the place, including through his clothes. We had just enough wipes on hand to get him cleaned up for the ride home.

Mischevious Tristan

2011-11-13T13:27:00.000-08:00

Tristan playing hard and all tuckered out! He's been getting into everything- nothing is safe. The butt paste incident happened when I took two minutes to go to the bathroom myself. That one took a while to clean up.

Tristan and Kathleen

2011-11-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

Kathleen is a friend and nurse from work that watched Tristan at our home in KC a couple days a week for about 6 months. We are very glad to have had her help! I think they both enjoyed their time together. How lucky can you be to have a peds nurse watching your kid? Thanks Kathleen!

Hanging with cousin Karli at Grandma's

2011-11-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

Spring 2011

2011-11-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

J and T playing in the backyard at the KC house and just having a good time together

Just like Dad

2011-11-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

Here is Jordon with a do-rag on like Dad wears when he runs. We have a similar picture of Don and the two look a lot alike!

Happy Easter 2011

2011-11-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

More 3rd birthday shots

2011-11-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

Mamo made the cake- it was not professional by a long shot- just tried to do something little man would like. The middle cake ended up being like Buzz really landed on another planet- it had a big crater down one side. Oh well, at 3 who cares? He loved the bike and all the other great gifts he got, and the time he got to spend celebrating with family.

Happy 3rd Birthday Jordon!

2011-11-06T07:28:00.001-08:00

Jordon had a great 3rd b-day! Here he is opening some gifts from Grandpa Don and Joyce and Uncle Jon, and trying out his new Cars bike at Grandma's place!

Second set of tubes

2011-11-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

Poor Jordon started getting more ear infections again after the first set of tubes fell out, so he had to have surgery again to have a second set put in. Too bad the first chance we had to get it done that worked for both of our work schedules was 3/31/11- his 3rd birthday! So yes he had surgery on his birthday in the am, but got to spend the rest of the day with Mamo and Dada and did great! He was ready to "go see friends" by the next day. A couple of these pictures show Dad pushing Jordon in the buggy they had at the hospital. He played in this the first time around too! Only this time Dad pushed him much faster down the hallway and I believe was told to slow down. People get weird about that liability issue.

Cheese!

2011-11-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

Hangin' Out

2011-11-06T05:15:00.000-08:00

More S & M

2011-11-06T04:54:00.000-08:00

Aunt Sharon and Megan come to visit

2011-10-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

This was around March 2011

Big Snow 2011

2011-09-25T05:11:00.000-07:00

While living in KC we got quite a bit of snow this past winter. One of the snow storms brought about 8 or 9 inches. Here are the boys (and Buzz Lightyear) out in our driveway in February.

First solids

2011-09-25T05:07:00.000-07:00

First cereal around 4 months- was not a huge fan!

We love Grandma

2011-09-25T04:58:00.001-07:00

Brothers

2011-09-25T04:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Tristan

2011-09-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

Reading time

2011-09-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Catching up

2011-09-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

These photos of Tristan and Karli were taken around Christmas 2010. Hard to believe how much they have grown! In an attempt to not leave out a lot of great photos and memories of the kids, a lot of the posting I will be doing for a while will be backtracking from around Christmas through now!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jordon!!

2011-09-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Little man turned 3 on 3/31/11. Poor guy also had surgery to place a second set of tubes in his ears and an adenoidectomy. He was pretty grumpy immediately afterward but improved as the day went on and seemed to be feeling fine. Soon after he woke up from anesthesia, he wanted "to go see friends"-- code words for going to daycare. He did get to stay home the rest of the day with Don and I but went to daycare the next day.

Updates

2011-05-25T19:42:00.001-07:00

So much has been going on I'm not surprised it's been 2 months since the last posting! Tristan is nearly 8 months old now, and in the last 3 days he has figured out how to crawl and is trying to pull himself up. He's become more mobile over the past month or so, but was doing more scooting around and seemed to have trouble getting a leg out to get the crawling motion down, but now he's figured it out and it was exciting that Don got his first crawling to me on camcorder a couple nights ago! I am happy to say Tristan and I are feeling better. I am on a second round of antibiotics for a sinus infection that I apparently shared with him, so he is taking his first antibiotics after 3 days of fever, congestion, and runny nose. So far Jordon and Don have managed to stay healthy, so we'll hope that continues.

Jordon is saying some fun things now. Here are some recent things he's said. The first 2 were on our way to the ENT for his f/u after having the 2nd set of tubes placed in his ears. He was looking at me from his carseat and said "Mamo, I like your earrings". Then he said "Mamo, you look like a girl". I was glad to hear that :) Recently we were walking into Wal-Mart and he said "I like holding your hand". He has also picked up on some things we say to him- he now says "Mamo and Daddy, I'm talking to you" to get our attention and make sure we are listening. He recently has been very excited about his new Buzz Lightyear, a gift purchased with a gift card sent as part of his birthday goodies from Grandpa Don and Joyce. This Buzz has many different sayings, spreads his wings, and has laser and light functions. He has barely put him down and wants to take him to daycare to "show friends". Don said the first day he immediately heard him tell a friend not to touch but things improved from there.

I still need to go back and post pictures from Jordon's 3rd b-day, but will get it done eventually. Right now we are in the midst of selling our home, packing, and trying to find a place to live and move within 3 weeks! I'm sure it will all work out.

Aunt Sharon and Megan visit

2011-03-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Aunt Sharon and Megan came to visit the boys last week. Jordon got to spend lots of quality time with them and kept saying "they're not going home". They brought the boys lots of goodies including a quilt for Tristan and a cute stuffed Mississippi crocodile, and a Cars chair for Jordon, lots of Cars stuff, a "Buzz puzzle", and awesome Louisville slugger bats for both boys with their names on them. Later Jordon referred to his Cars chair as "Jordon's bumbo- that's not Tristan's bumbo".

Tristan updates

2011-03-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

Little man is working on his first tooth. He's been a droolin' and bitin' fool and I can feel one poking through his bottom gums. He's also fond of peeing in the bath. He used to do it right away, but now he waits a little bit and then lets it go. Tonight he peed in my face-barely missed my mouth. He's also jumping like crazy in the jumperoo and doorway swing. He really likes watching Jordon jump on the bed and then he tries to do it too. They are already doing monkey see and monkey do at age 3 and 6 months. We got some good footage on the camcorder with both of them laughing hysterically together. Here lately, they have been doing that at night. It takes very little to set them off. Jordon tries to do something to make Tristan laugh- then when Tristan starts laughing Jordon goes nuts. I agree with Don that it's like the best sound ever to hear them both laughing so hard together. Jordon has been more engaged with Tristan, and wants to keep tabs on what he's doing. He likes to give him toys and his pacifier. He likes to hold him (for a short period of time). What he already doesn't like is sharing his toys, if Tristan goes reaching for Lightning McQueen.

Sickness sickness go away!

2011-03-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

Jordon is now on his 3rd ear infection and has had 3 rounds of antibiotics over the past 2 months. I'm still not sure it's cleared up. We have an ENT appt. next week but may not make it till then. Tristan's had 2 rounds of bronchiolitis and another virus with fever, cough and runny nose that had him sent home from daycare last week. Seems like it's never ending with the sickness... which has us on a hamster wheel of taking off work, running them to the pediatrician, staying up all night listening to whichever one is coughing, and wondering if things will ever get back to normal.

On a better note, Jordon's saying some really cute things right now. He told me on the way home from daycare the other day "Mamo, you're my best buddy". I think he says those kinds of things to Don all the time since he has most of the car time with him to and from daycare. He's also doing more "reading" of books, or reciting words from memory. It's pretty cute. The teachers at school have been excited that he knows his letters and the letters of his friends' first names. He is getting ready to transition to the 3 year old room soon! Tristan's becoming more talkative and smiles all the time in the presence of his big brother. He's been eating some solids since about 4 months of age and is doing better with that... he likes to watch us eat and drink and is grabbing for cups and utensils. He's become a rolling machine and prefers to sleep on his side or stomach. Jordon's becoming more interested in wanting to involve Tristan in activities, unless it's sharing his Woody and Buzz.

What we're doing and saying now

2011-01-19T14:31:00.001-08:00

Tristan rolled over from tummy to back today for the first time and I got to see him to it-- yay! He was all smiles when he saw me cheering afterward. He's been working on it for a while but finally did it today. He is such a good boy- laid back and mild mannered for the most part. When he talks or whimpers he reminds me of a little lion cub.

Jordon's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds. The other day I was taking him to daycare, and he told me, "Mamo, I don't like fire drills. (It's true, they have them often at daycare and they scare him). Then he went on to say, "fire drills need to go home". In church last Sunday, I told him the name of the priest was Father Bruce- he said "looks like Santa". He also keeps saying "Santa's gonna bring me more presents"... to which we say, "not till the end of the year, if you're good". He's done really well with potty training, and now wants to go poop "by myself". He also likes to help in the kitchen with things like making cookies, or anything that allows him to "dump" ingredients into a bowl and mix.

We are finally recovering from a rough last couple weeks with Jordon having a fever and cough, which led to vomitting a few times at night. On a routine f/u appt. with the ENT doc, she found that both tubes are now out of his ears and he had an infection in one ear and fluid in another, so we're back to that routine of antibiotics and possibly a need for more tubes to be placed. We had hoped he would outgrow this since he's almost 3, but doesn't look like that will happen- he's got his Dad's ears. Tristan has had bronchiolitis, and so he's had a bad cough, wheezing, fever and lots of snot. Don and I both took turns staying home with them last week. It was helpful that we had some snowy weather that closed schools so Don was going to be home anyway some of those days. We've had the nebulizer fired up and both boys have been getting breathing treatments. I'm glad they're both doing much better now!

More Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T21:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T21:27:00.001-08:00

Visit with Santa

2010-12-31T21:20:00.000-08:00

Santa is a hospice volunteer and we met up with him at our annual work Christmas breakfast and at the Hospice House. Tristan was nice enough to drop a load for Santa while he was holding him.

"It's OK Baby Brother"

2010-12-31T21:16:00.000-08:00

Jordon's favorite line in talking to Tristan-
"it's ok, baby brother". Tristan loves his big brother and watches everything he does.

Tristan Growing Like a Weed

2010-12-31T21:11:00.000-08:00

Tristan is loving the jumperoo and working on rolling over. He's more active and getting stronger all the time!

Jordon

2010-12-31T21:08:00.000-08:00

Being silly with Dad and lovin' the new CARS pillowcase from Aunt Sharon!!

Karli and Family

2010-12-31T21:04:00.000-08:00

Look at Me Grow

2010-12-31T20:57:00.000-08:00

T & J

2010-12-31T20:48:00.000-08:00

Cousin Karli's baptism

2010-12-31T20:46:00.001-08:00

KC Zoo

2010-12-31T20:42:00.001-08:00

Lots of fun at the zoo on a warm November afternoon! Nikita the polar bear was very active diving after fish and entertaining the crowd.

Mizzou football game

2010-12-31T20:39:00.001-08:00

MU vs. KSU game 11/13/10- it was so cold! Thanks to Mike and Christie for the blanket donation!

Tristan pics

2010-12-31T20:25:00.001-08:00

If not swaddled, Tristan sometimes sticks his hands straight out while sleeping, like a little mini-Frankenstein.

Grandpa Don and Joyce visit

2010-12-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Don and Joyce were able to come back and visit for a few days around the time of Tristan's baptism. We had a fun time and I think they really enjoyed seeing the boys!

Tristan's Baptism

2010-12-31T20:01:00.001-08:00

November 6th, 2010- Everyone was being entertained by Jordon during the ceremony and wondering if he or Grover would end up falling into the baptismal fountain.

End of the Year!

2010-12-31T19:48:00.000-08:00

What a slacker I've become with no posts! We'll see how many updates we can get in by the end of the night. A few recent highlights...

Jordon's been saying lately with brushing his teeth "I wanna do it the hard way". That's my threat to him when in the past he tried to refuse brushing and I would sit him on my lap and pretty much force him down to do it. Well, apparently now that's the way he likes to brush his teeth. Go figure.

I was so proud of him the other day when Don brought him home from daycare and repeated what the teachers said about him. There is a kid in his class who is not exactly easy to deal with- he takes toys from others, and has actually bitten Jordon before hard enough to leave marks on his hand. Apparently the kid has had it hard at home and so that's why he's got some behavioral issues. Anyway, Don likes to check in and make sure Jordon's not getting whipped up on by the kid, so he occasionally will ask how things are going with him. The teachers said the other day that Jordon is a great kid, and shows this other little boy more compassion than any of the other kids in the class. Yeah, that's what I like to hear. He gets that from his Mamo. If he hits back, that comes from Dada.

Yesterday was an awesome day with being in the 60s on December 30th!! We took the boys for a walk around the neighborhood that night. Really strange to be out for a walk looking at Christmas lights in warm weather, but we enjoyed it!

Welcome Karli!

2010-11-13T02:02:00.000-08:00

Cousin Karli was born 10/26, a week late, and weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz, 20 and 1/4 inches long. She's not too fond of her ladybug Halloween costume. Here is a picture of "Aunt Sarzah", the baby whisperer with Karli and Tristan. It's fun to compare the babies with being only 27 days apart!

Halloween

2010-11-13T01:49:00.000-08:00

Jordon was a member of the Lightning McQueen pit crew for Halloween. We spent part of the day at Tim and Lauren's visiting new cousin Karli, then home for trick or treating. He busted out the zipper of his costume just as we were leaving to go trick or treating. We visited the "Halloween house"-- a house in our neighborhood that has the entire yard and house decorated with tombstones, zombies, and other scary stuff. Jordon was scared of the place at times and didn't want to get too close, but always wanted to drive by and see "Halloween house" for as long as the decorations were up. It's funny what kids hold on to from what they are told by parents-- when we would walk by the house on walks in the neighborhood, we would tell Jordon there was nothing to be scared about, so that Halloween night, he walked down the street from one house to the next yelling "There's nothing to be scared about" when he would see halloween decorations. It's funny too how one day he's all of a sudden scared of something that hasn't scared him before. Example- I had a pumpkin in our living room that plugs in and lights up. It was in the same spot for at least a week. One day Jordon decided he was scared of it and wanted it moved. I moved it for a while and then later put it back in the original spot. Jordon later said that "Lightning McQueen is not scared of the pumpkin" so apparently Jordon wasn't either.

Life with 2 little boys

2010-11-13T01:31:00.000-08:00

At this time, Jordon's going to daycare 2 days a week, so I have both boys the other 3 days a week. On those days, I often find myself thinking that going to work is easier than taking care of the 2 together. Usually, if we go out, one or both ends up wailing, or Jordon throws a fit and I have trouble managing the two together... no matter how hard I try to plan well to avoid feedings, nap time, potential potty accidents, etc. Don has yet to take care of both boys alone for any period of time longer than a couple hours but he will find out how challenging it can be when I go back to work and have to work the weekend.

We have lots of potty talk at our house right now, and some days it feels like that's all I deal with, between Tristan pooping constantly, Jordon potty-training, and him being fixated on bathroom issues. Jordon is potty trained and does well for the most part, but still has some accidents. Here's a recent conversation.

Jordon- "Mamo, I pooped in my McQueen undies".

Mamo- "Lets get you on the potty and clean you up. Sit there for a minute while I change baby brother's diaper- he's crying."

Jordon- "OK. Let me see it. I wanna see it" (referring to Tristan's poopy diaper)

Mamo- "Sit down and worry about your own poop."
I then turn around to check on Jordon, and he's picked up the potty ring and is trying to put it over his head, dripping pee everywhere.

Jordon- "I took a big poop in potty". He likes to use the word 'big' in front of everything these days. Another time he said, "I gotta big one. I gotta big wee wee."

More Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-13T02:54:00.000-07:00

These pics are all taken at Pumpkins Etc., a place we go every year. It's a nice little Mom and Pop shop- nothing fancy but they have nice pumpkins and mums at reasonable prices, and every year they have a new litter of kittens that they give away on Halloween. The only down side was stepping in some cat poop that took multiple treatments to get off my shoe! Oh, and I think Don might have banged Tristan's head off the scarecrow cut-out sign. Note to self- trying to get a newborn and a 2 year old to pose for a picture is an exercise in futility. Jordon insisted on sticking his head through the sign instead of just looking through the opening. At least we managed to get something besides just the top of his head!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

2010-10-13T02:49:00.000-07:00

This year we took Grandma along with us to visit pumpkin patches- we went to the Red Barn pumpkin patch in Weston and Pumpkins Etc. in Platte City. Here's a shot of Don doing double-decker Dad duty. The place in Weston had farm animals, including piglets, chickens, horses, turkeys, etc. They also have a very nice country store with some unique items- we were able to do some Christmas shopping while there. Tristan was awake the whole time and seemed to be just taking everything in. It was a beautiful October day in the 70's- great day to be enjoying the outdoors. And, for this being our first real family outing with Tristan, I think things went very well. No major meltdowns and everyone had a good time!

Tristan

2010-10-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

"I Wanna Hold Him!"

2010-10-13T02:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some cute pictures of Jordon being a great big brother. Notice in the picture that includes Don which one is watching Sesame Street!!

Adjusting to Home

2010-10-13T02:40:00.000-07:00

Here we are giving Tristan his first bath at home- he was not a happy camper. Since then we have done a couple things to make the process easier, and he seems to like getting baths most of the time. One thing Tristan does that Jordon never did is pee all over any time he gets a chance and the diaper is off. He's sprayed two bedrooms, our bed, his bath tub, and my vehicle to name a few. We're also battling a wicked case of diaper rash but it's hard to get it healed since he's constantly pooping. He is an eating machine and wants to eat all the time. Other pictures here are first car ride on our way to get ice cream and Grandma reading Elmo book to Jordon.

Kirchhoff Family Comes to Visit

2010-10-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here are shots of some of my family-- Uncle Tim and Lauren, Uncle Jon and Aunt Sarah, along with Grandma, who all came to visit on Saturday. Lauren is expecting Baby Karli any day now (due date 10/19) so Tristan will have a cousin his own age to play with! The girls brought us pizza for lunch, and later we went to Culver's for ice cream.

Coming Home

2010-10-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

Of course I was ready to bust out of the hospital as soon as possible, and my OB doc had already said I could go home the day after Tristan was born if I wanted to, so we went home Friday October 1st. We weren't really prepared for how the 2 car seats would take up the whole back seat, but otherwise, things went smoothly. Look how small Tristan looks in his crib- he looks like a kidney bean! It's hard to believe Jordon was once that small...

Big Brother Jordon

2010-10-09T04:53:00.000-07:00

Here's Jordon, being a great big brother and doing what he does best, which is climbing on stuff. He has really turned into a "big helper" lately, even before Tristan arrived. But now that he's here, some of the things he says and does are pretty cute. If Tristan's crying, he'll say he needs to go check on him. He wants to give him a pacifier a lot... even if he's not crying and just sleeping. He'll hand me diapers to change him. He's asked to hold him a few times... including at church so that got a lot of attention and smiles. When we go somewhere, he'll say we need to bring baby brother along. One day he made the remark that baby brother was sleeping "he's not screaming". It's a lot of fun to watch the two of them together!

Baby Brother is Here

2010-10-09T04:46:00.000-07:00

These are some of the first pictures of Jordon and Tristan together when Jordon came to visit at the hospital. He was surprisingly gentle with him (aside from the one where he poked him in they eye). Jordon's been talking about "baby brother" for a while now, and seemed excited to meet him. He told a lady at church that "baby brother was not in Mamo's belly anymore- he's out!"

Welcome Tristan!!

2010-10-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

After lots of wishing and waiting (not so patiently at times) Tristan arrived on his own time, on his due date 9/30/10 at 10:54 am. The day before I had been trying all kinds of things to try and naturally induce labor-- primrose oil, spicy food (voodoo chicken from Jazz), and others but I'm not sure any of it really did the trick. I have to lean toward him just coming because it was his time. I had scheduled an induction on 9/28 as my OB doc was planning to be out of town later in the week, and I was getting pretty uncomfortable... but ended up cancelling the induction the day before at my routine follow-up appt. It just didn't feel right. I'm glad I did now. On Thursday 9/30, I woke up a few minutes before 6 am with the feeling that my water had broke. Mom had been staying with us for a few days to hopefully be there to help with Jordon when the time came for me to go to the hospital... and she was actually in KC for medical care herself having spent the previous weekend in the hospital getting IV antibiotics for an abscessed tooth... but by the time Thursday came around, she was doing much better. Don took Jordon to daycare, and Mom and I went to St. Joseph-- I actually drove cause I thought Mom might drive too slow and the contractions were not that bad yet :) I was surprised to find out that I was only at 2-3 cm upon getting to the hospital-- no wonder it was no where near as intense as when I arrived at the hospital with Jordon and was already dilated to 6 cm at that time. There was plenty of time to get the epidural, which helped a lot. I was aggravated that the hospital had lost my pre-signed consent forms somehow with the scheduling of the induction, so I had to fill out everything again while having contractions and before the epidural. I was fortunate enough that my OB physician, Dr. Bret Gordon, was still at the hospital doing rounds after having done a c-section delivery earlier that am. He was getting on a plane to Vegas later that afternoon, but managed to stay with me as things moved pretty fast. I went from 4 to 8 cm very quickly, and Tristan was born about 5 hours after labor started. The similarities between Jordon and Tristan were amazing. They both weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz, and labor for both was about 5 hours. Tristan was born on his due date; with Jordon I went into labor on his due date but had him at 4 am so he was born the following day. Jordon was 20 inches long; Tristan was 20 and 1/2 inches long. Don and I thought that they looked alike also as newborns-- we'll see how Tristan changes as he gets older. The one thing that is very different about the two boys is their personalities. Jordon was difficult to soothe and cried all the time; Don would work up a sweat doing stairs trying to calm him. Tristan so far has been layed back and quiet for the most part; he cries at predictable times with diaper changes and when he's hungry. At the time that I'm writing this, Tristan is 9 days old. We are adjusting well and things seem a little easier and more comfortable every day. We're looking forward to the journey ahead with our new little one!

Baby Harry

2010-10-09T04:31:00.000-07:00

This is Uncle Tim's orphan calf Harry. Lauren's been bottle feeding him twice daily. One day we were down visiting we got to see him eat. Jordon was interested but didn't want to get too close, and stayed on the safe side of the fence.

Balloon Fest

2010-10-09T04:26:00.001-07:00

We had hoped to be able to make it out in the morning to see the balloons take flight, but didn't make it in time due to J's multiple morning meltdowns... will have to try again next time as I'm sure it was something to see. We're not sure what these folks were doing, but we were glad to get the chance to see one of the balloons aired up. Jordon also scored a bubble gun which is pretty cool but it took him a whopping 10 minutes to use up all the bubble soap that it came with.

Making Cookies

2010-10-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

Jordon loves to help in the kitchen- here we were mixing up some oatmeal scottchies. His favorite part is being able to dump all the ingredients in the bowl. He did a good job of mixing too (with minimal mess)!

How funny is that?

2010-09-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

Background info- right now at our house we are into bribes for doing things like using the potty and taking a bath without tantrums and fights. We usually use either gummy worms aka "gummies" or stickers as the reward for cooperating.

The other night we were reading books at bedtime like we do most nights. Jordon has a book about cats that his Grandpa Don and Joyce sent down that show a variety of cats doing different activities. We talked about a cat who was wet and grumpy cause he had taken a bath. Jordon's response was "he got 2 gummies". Thought I was going to fall over laughing.

Another thing he's saying now that is not as funny but really cute-- he has a tendency to easily smash certain body parts when climbing on my lap (which is easy to do at 37 wks pregnant) so if I say "oww" he says "I'm sorry Mom" and gives me a hug and kiss. He even does this if I hurt myself (ie stub toe) and it's not his fault. He can be a real sweetie when he wants to be!

Tim's Big Rig

2010-08-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

Jordon likes to talk about Tim and his farm machines but gets a little scared at times when it comes to actually getting in them and going for a ride. But then again, it's usually ok if Mom, Dad, or Grandma has him but he's still not sure about Tim at times.

The other shot is just another one of him "shooting hoops" at the basketball museum.

Grandpa Don and Joyce visit

2010-08-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Don and Joyce have been coming to visit Jordon the last few summers, and they came this year at the end of July. Jordon had a great time with them- I'm not sure about what all they did since I was working most of the time, but I heard them talk about visiting Deanna Rose Farmstead, the basketball museum, St. Joseph, and Columbia. Don will have to fill in more details about their time spent together. I liked the shot they got of Jordon as a Mizzou basketball player- I think that was at the basketball museum.

New Big Boy Bed

2010-08-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

We got Jordon a new bed a few weeks ago in order to be able to use the crib for the new one coming. We had converted it to a toddler bed, but now it's back to an infant crib and ready to go for when the baby makes his arrival. Jordon's been pretty happy about his new bed, although at first he still wanted to get into the crib and said it was his, not baby brother's. Since then he has said all kinds of things, including that baby brother won't sleep in the crib, but can sleep in Jordon's room, and that he would like to name him "Puppy Dog". He used to pull his shirt up and point to his belly when we talked about baby brother, now he says he's in Mamo's belly.

We got a bedroom set on sale at Costco, and so it will be fun when the boys get older to get the bunk beds set up so they can use them. For now, Jordon's pretty content with his twin bed that has cars and trucks on it. Which brings us to Cars, as that's what he is currently fascinated with. He could watch the movie on DVD all day long if we let him, and will carry the car characters all over the house. He even had Grandma watch the movie with him the other day-

His language skills are improving every day, and he is talking in complete sentences some. He's done very well with potty training for #1 but still working on #2. Seems to do better at daycare than he does for us at home- same goes for taking naps. I guess he saves the meltdowns for Mom and Dad.

Love my Aunt and Uncles

2010-08-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

Jordon's been spending some time this summer hanging out with Aunt Sarzah (how he says Sarah), Uncle Tim, and mostly time with Uncle Jon. You can see they like to horse around- Jordon loves to be tossed around, hit with pillows, tackled, you name it. He doesn't quite understand why Mamo doesn't like to continue this kind of play at home, but Dada does a good job of it. He's still not quite sure about Uncle Tim and thinks he's scary at times- it helps if he has a cookie to share.

Goofin' around

2010-08-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hangin' out with Uncle Jon... wearing Dad's shoes, and got some goodies in the mail from Grandpa Don and Joyce! The lion backpack was a hit and has come in handy for taking matchbox cars with us when we go out to restaurants!

Visit to Wonderscope Children's Museum

2010-08-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I posted anything- have been working lots with not much free time so lots to catch up on. I think we actually visited Wonderscope at the end of June. Jordon really seemed to enjoy it- all the slides with the balls to roll, waterplay, and of course legos. The air duct system that blew the scarves around was a big hit with all the kids there. And we couldn't leave without getting a 4 foot firetruck puzzle that he has since mastered putting together.

2010 Jordon Family Reunion

2010-07-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

Jordon and Don went to Don's annual family reunion this year; it usually falls on a weekend in June when I am working so I am not able to go, which was the case this year. Sounds like the mood this year was not as light as usual since 3 family members had died in the past year. The reunion is usually held in southern Missouri, not far from where Don's Mom is buried, so he visits the cemetary whenever he's down in that area. From the grave site you can see "Lily Ferrell Jordon", who was Jordon's Grandma that unfortunately he never met. We often talk about how she would get a kick out of him, and we're sure she's looking down on him with pride.