Jordan's 1st Birthday Party!!!

Today we celebrated Jordan's 1st birthday and boy, has this year gone by fast!  Enjoy the video of the cake tasting (he ends up wearing more of it than he ate!).

We were lucky enough to have most of our family come in for Jordan's birthday:  Uncle Jeff came down from Maryland on Thursday and he got right to work, helping around our house.  Grandpa Stan and Nana flew in from south Florida on Friday...Jordan even got to open his present from them the night before his birthday--and did he love his water table!  

On his actual birthday, he got to open so many great gifts and entertained us all with his cake eating (or should I say, shoveling in, while half-asleep??).  It was a great birthday and we are so happy and blessed to have such a wonderful son!

With Grandpa Stan and Nana

Water table fun!

Birthday cookies!

Jordan's 1st Birthday smash cake

Diving in for the candle...

.....so yummy!

So many great toys!

With my Uncle Jeff

Snackin' at my big boy table

Trying out my wagon with my buddy Brady

Totally loving the swing!

Here are some things we love about Jordan, age one:

The way your face lights up when we come into your room after you wake up.

The crazy way you open your mouth and "flap" your hands when you're excited.

The way that you call everyone "daddy", including mommy.

The funny military crawl that you are doing these days.

The new way you're eating your meals: all by yourself!  (with an upside-down spoon)

Your four front teeth.

The way you "pet" Queenie so sweetly.

How excited you get when you see Murray or Elmo.

The way you give kisses: with an open mouth! 

The way you "touch noses" with Daddy.

We are so lucky to have you in our lives, Jordan.  You are the sweetest, funniest, and happiest little boy we know.  Happy 1st Birthday Jordan Matthew...Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

New address...and beach with the girls (and kiddos)

We finally moved into our (totally awesome, yes, we're grown-ups now) home.  It's in a beautiful neighborhood in Fort Mill and we have some really nice neighbors.  It's even got a sunroom/playroom for little Jordan!

Our new place

View from our stone terrace in the backyard!

Over Labor Day weekend, Jill and Jordan headed to Garden City Beach for her girls' weekend with Amy (and Charlotte, 16 months), Ashley (and Brady, 18 months), and Cheri.  It was such fun to see all the little tykes play together and entertain us.  Brady wowed us with his vocabulary and Charlotte showed off her killer dance moves (like mamas, like babies!).  Jordan took it all in and loved watching the "big" kids feed themselves and walk around.  In fact, since we've been home, he has become very independent at mealtime!

One thing we noticed was how different our beach getaway was this time around: early (early) mornings, early beachtimes (used to be after lunch before we'd make it out to the beach), and early bedtimes (we stayed up until midnight one night by accident and almost died, it was so late!).  It was a great vacation and we hope to do it again next year.

Good morning sunshines!

Homemade playpen

With cutie patootie Charlotte

Somebody didn't want to nap

Yes, we're big fans of the big holes in the sand

Our son's a SC resident now

Well, we are officially South Carolina residents now!  Jill and Jordan left Florida on August 17th, with a TON of help from John's brother, Josh, and from Ceci, who flew down to watch Jordan while Mommy packed.  And oh boy, did it take some work to pack up all of our things!  It's amazing what you accumulate  during seven years together...and then you throw in all the millions of baby items from the last year--well, it's all in a Pod somewhere now and we will see it all again once we find a place to live.

I love to read! Especially Brown Bear, Brown Bear!

Patiently waiting for dinner amidst all the packing chaos

We've been staying with Katie and Matt for about 5 days now, and it's been tough to find a place...real estate goes quick around these parts, especially for rentals.  But we've been getting to know the area, and Jordan has been enjoying playing with the boys that Katie nannies for: Grasun, who is 2 months older than him, and Reese, who is 2 1/2 years old.  Katie and Jill took the boys to the park, and Jordan went on a swing for the first time (loved it, couldn't stop smiling!).  Then back at home, Grasun liked to push Jordan on his little John Deere tractor toy.

Just making myself at home

Mommy, we're taking this toy with us when we move!

Hanging with my homie, Grasun

Well, we are practically in Tiger country now!

First time on the swing!

Doesn't this make you smile?

On a side note, while we were still in Florida, John turned 36....so Jordan had to send a cute picture of himself to his Daddy.  We also sent John some of his favorite pizza for his birthday dinner: royal feast and hawaiian from Clara's, in Richmond, Indiana.

Leaving Florida! The Big Move

A lot has happened in the last few days! A LOT!  John accepted a last minute job offer with Rock Hill High School and he left for South Carolina today!  He had been applying all summer to jobs and had a few interviews, but nothing had ever come of them until this past Friday, when the principal of Rock Hill High interviewed him and then offered him the job on Monday.  Teachers actually started back on Monday, so we booked it and got John out the door this afternoon.  It was very emotional; his dad, stepmom, and brother were all here to help and see him off.  There were a lot of tears (I mean, he's lived in Florida for the last 18 years of his life!) between all of us, and now Jordan and Mommy are left to finish packing and then get up there to be with him.  Luckily, he is planning on staying with Jill's cousin Katie and her husband Matt, as they live in Rock Hill.  So convenient!  We will look for a place to rent once I'm up there.  Wish us luck!  Goodbye Florida, hello SC!

John about to leave!

Kid's got moves already, my little soccer star

 In the middle of all the chaos, Jordan had his 11 month birthday!  It happened today, so his monthly picture was with his Daddy, who he won't see for another week (the longest we've all been apart!).

Mid-summer fun

We've had a busy few weeks....and just got back from visiting family in South Carolina.  We celebrated Grandpa Stan's (John's dad) birthday at our place and got some cute pictures of Jordan with Grandpa and Nanna.

I can "sippy cup" all by myself!

 Two weeks ago, we took Jordan to our friends Mike and Angie's house for some grilling and swimming.  We played all day, staying in the pool most of the day, and Jordan even took a little catnap after lunch.  Mike was nice enough to share some of his fresh Florida lobster, caught just days earlier in the Keys!  Yummy!  It was great to spend time with them, especially as Angie is expecting a little boy in a month!

Earlier that same day, Jordan graduated from his swim program!  It was challenging for him because he has been teething during the entire program, but we are happy with the results and feel confident that he will know what to do if he ever falls into some water (lord knows there is a lot of water in south Florida!).  He barely even cried during the last few weeks, he was busy concentrating.  The last few classes were done in full clothes, since that's usually what little ones are wearing when they get away from mom and dad, not swimsuits.

As I mentioned earlier, we just got back to Boca after driving up to Columbia and Camden to visit Jill's parents.  We spent two nights at Papa and Mimi's house in Camden, where we played in the (slightly cold!) pool, but Jordan loved sitting on the float anyway.  We drove across town and visited with some horses, and Jordan even decided to start "military" crawling across the hardwood floors while we were eating dinner one night.

The next two nights were spent at Ceci's, after driving across town to visit Erin and her new baby girl Sadie...and to see her gorgeous new home!  Sadie was so sweet, and so tiny (you forget how small they are!), and Betsy and Jordan played with all of Betsy's awesome toys.  We got some great ideas for Jordan's upcoming birthday gifts!

One cool trick that Ceci taught Jordan was to clap his hands, so it was fun to see him clap on command (well, most of the time, but he's trying!).

Summer Fun

This past weekend we decided to take Jordan to the Palm Beach Zoo for the first time.  It was a cloudy day and the zoo was nice and shaded throughout, so we were able to enjoy it without melting in this July heat.  Jordan enjoyed seeing the river otters, who definitely put on a show for him, and he squealed for 10 minutes around the tiger and peacocks, prompting some fellow zoo visitors to comment on how happy of a baby he was!  He also saw a brown bear, which he smiled about because one of his favorite books is Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  It was cool to see him recognize different animals!

Just saw brown bear!

My monkey with the monkeys

Look at his face in the reflection...so cute!

After checking out all of the animals, we took Jordan to play in the zoo's water fountains.  It was full of kids running in and out to cool off, so he loved to watch them and to stick his face in the fountain.  In fact, after swim class every day, he loves to play in the big pool, which has a sprinkler that he can stick his hands in.

This week has also seen some new developments for Jordy:  he now says "Hi Da-da" very clearly and is almost saying "Ma-ma" (comes out more like "Na-da").  He can pull up on furniture if he is sitting in someone's lap and he has also started to cruise for short distances on the coffee table and ottoman!  Believe or not, he's still not crawling but he gets all around the floor by rolling and pushing backwards.  He loves to pick up books and have us read to him...he gets the biggest smile on his face at bedtime whenever we pull out Good Night Moon or Brown Bear, Brown Bear.