Merry Christmas!

2013 has been a big year in the Jordan household!

Cali started Pre-k 4 playschool.  She loves playing with her friends and learning.  Nick has been doing a great job of helping her learn to read.  Her favorite things to do are play with her family, play on the iPad and to play on playgrounds.  If Cali is awake she is talking.  She is so smart, kind and loving.

Henry is a full on 2 year old toddler.  He is 100 MPH and all boy!  If he isn't climbing on, throwing something, bouncing, running and knocking something over he is eating.   Henry loves to play with balls and his sisters.  He started playschool this fall in the toddler room.  He loves it!  Henry is very funny, caring and sweet.

Hannah is a sweet little girl.  She loves to play and do things.  She enjoys working with puzzles, blocks and coloring.  She is doing well in playschool with Henry and loves her teachers.  She prefers to play by herself but does play well with the other two.  She is very happy, sweet and smiley.  

Nick is doing great as the Middle School Director at our church.  We hangs out with 5th-8th graders all week and tells them about Jesus.  He is perfect for his job!  Nick had back surgery in August for a bulging disk and has recovered very well.  Thanks to the surgery he is now pain free!  With any free time Nick mentors students and plays video games.

Pam is working part time as the VP of Finance at a contracting company.  This year she received an honor of Financial Executive of the Year from a local Business Journal.  In October she completed her first half marathon.  She continues to write a Gluten Free blog at I'm a Celiac and published a cookbook this year, Family Approved Gluten Free Recipes.

Thank you all for being a part of our journey!  We love you all dearly!

Merry Christmas!

Twins 2nd Birthday Party

To celebrate the twins 2nd birthday we had a Curious George party at our house with just family.  We decided to go small and simple this year.  It was supposed to be an hour and half but we were having so much fun it lasted three hours!  We had seven kids here under the age of ten.  It was a blast to see them all playing and running around.  

Here are some pictures from all the fun!

Hannah and Henry in their George shirts

Big sister Cali in her party dress

Cake Time

Present Time

The Twins are Two!

Henry and Hannah are two years old today!  Praise the Lord we all survived this long!  There have been wonderful moments, hard moments, funny moments, tears, fits and that is just Nick and I:)  It is such a blessing to experience twins.  The bond they have is something so special!  They love each other fiercely.  They care about one another so much.  It is clear they are two totally different people though.  They have very different personalities, likes and dislikes.

Henry 2 years - This is his face when he says "cheese"

Hannah 2 years - She has a bow like her new doll

For birthday presents Cali made the twins animals at Build A Bear.  Henry got a dog named "Silly Dog" and Hannah got a Hello Kitty doll named "Kitty Kitty".  They both loved them.  Here they are feeding their dolls.  Hannah loves to play Tea Party. 

MONTHLY UPDATE:

Food -  They drink milk, water and juice.  They love to eat pancakes, pasta, cereal, crackers, chips and cookies. 

Sleep - The twins go down at 2pm for a 2-3 hour nap.  They go down for bed at 8pm and get up around 7am. 

Clothes - Hannah is in 18 month.  Henry is in 24 month clothes.  Hannah is in size 5 shoe and Henry is in size 6. 

Weight -  Hannah 24 lbs Henry 29.8 lbs  

Height - Hannah 32 inches Henry 34 inches  

Diapers - Size 3

Health - They struggle with teething and the occasional runny nose.  Other than that they are good. 

Fun Facts - Hannah has started to talk non-stop.  She is very animated when she talks.  However, we can't tell what she is saying.  Henry is all boy.  He goes 100 MPH, loves to wrestle, throw balls, and climb on things.

After dinner we celebrated with cupcakes.  After which they proceeded to run around the house on sugar highs.

The blur is Henry pushing Hannah through the house.  This was shortly followed by Henry running Hannah into the couch causing Henry to fall down.

We are having a small family birthday party for them this weekend.  The theme is Curious George!

Pumpkins

We took the kids to get pumpkins last week.  They had a great time running around hunting for their pumpkins.  The kids kept picking up different ones and showing each other.  It was absolutely adorable!  After tons of running around we ended up with three pumpkins and three happy kiddos!


All three of our pumpkins!

Picking out pumpkins is serious business!

When we got home we gave the kids markers and let them decorate the pumpkins.

A few days later Cali and Nick worked together to turn her pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern!

The finished product!

Twin 22 Month Update

Henry and Hannah turned 22 months old on September 14th.  It was a fun filled Saturday with lots of fun family time.

Playing with blocks

The kids love to play at parks so we visit them a number of times a week to get out some energy.

They have settled into going to play school and seem to really enjoy it.  The teachers say they do great.  Henry is a little helper and very loving.  Hannah was quiet and not interested in being told what to do.  They may be twins but they have very different personalities.

Hannah 22 Months

Henry 22 months

They continue to love each other!  They like to play together but sharing is hard most days.

MONTHLY UPDATE:

Food - They drink milk, water and juice from sippy cups.  They love pancakes, pasta, rice, chicken, cereal, chips, crackers and cookies.  

Sleep - We finally made it to one nap a day.  The twins go down at 2pm and nap for 2-3 hours.  It is wonderful because it frees up the morning to actually go and do something. 

Clothes - Hannah is in 12 month and 18 month.  Henry is in 18 and 24 month clothes.  Hannah is in size 5 shoe and Henry just moved up to size 6. 

Weight -  Hannah 22lbs Henry 26 lbs  

Height - Hannah 31 inches Henry 33 inches  

Diapers - Size 3

Health - Aside from teething they are doing well.  After two laser treatments Hannah's hemangioma is 99% gone!  Henry's head is also all healed from the stitches.  

Fun Facts - Hannah loves to swing.  She will let you push her for hours on a swing.  Henry is a climber.  He will get up on top of anything you will let him.

First Day of School

The kids started play school this week!  It is the same place Cali has been going for the last 3 years and the teachers are wonderful.   Cali is in the 4 year old Pre-K class and Henry and Hannah are in the toddler class.  Day one was easy.  All three kids walked in and started playing.  Day two the twins cried some, while day three Nick had to drag them in to class.  Hopefully next week will be easier!

Here are some pictures from the first few days.

The kids with backpacks on and ready to go

Cali on the first day

Henry all ready to go

Hannah playing

"You are going to bust your head open!"

This phrase is something we say around the house a lot and mostly to Henry.  He is 110% boy and climbs, jumps and destroys.  Well last Thursday he actually managed to bust his poor little head open.

Here is what happened... Henry was sitting on one of our wooden kitchen chairs.  They are pub height so they are taller than most chairs.  I had Hannah in my lap and asked him to get down.  He is a pretty good listener and started his decent down the side of the chair.  His feet hit the floor but somehow he managed to pull the chair down on top of himself hitting his head.  He sat on the floor crying.  My mom was here and went in to get him.  I put Hannah down and as I walked into the kitchen my mom said, "Blood!"  I grabbed a rag to clean it up.  As I looked at him we say TONS of blood all over him and the floor.  I grabbed him as my mom held the rag on this head.  I called 911 due to the volume of blood.  When they couldn't hear me over his screaming I handed him off to mom and went into the other room.  I quickly relayed all the important information and hung up.  I tried to call Nick's cell but couldn't reach him.  So I called the main church line and told the secretary that Henry was hurt, I called the ambulance and Nick needed to come home now.  I then sent Cali and Hannah upstairs with mom, while Henry and I waited downstairs for help to arrive.  I've never been so happy to hear a siren in my life!

My the time the fire department got here the bleeding had slowed down.  The men were very nice and even made a glove balloon for Henry.  The paramedics cleaned him up and said he only needed a few stitches.  They said we could take the ambulance to the ER but an urgent care would be faster.  I opted for the faster route considering it was close to nap time.  The first responders left and Nick came home.  Henry and I loaded up in the van and headed to the local urgent care.  After a brief discussion with a nurse we were told to go to the ER because they couldn't sedate him for stitches and I agreed there was no way he was going to stay still to get stitched up.

So we loaded up again and drove the the ER.  I figured that bringing in a bleeding toddler with an open head wound would get us to the top of the list.  Well it took almost 3 hours of waiting in the waiting room before we went back.  I was told not to feed him, he wouldn't sit down without climbing all over the place and he wouldn't nap.  So for 3 hours I held him and paced the waiting room.  Finally he had had it and head butted me (yes he's a boy!).  This caused the wound to let loose a bunch of blood all over him, me and the floor.  We were in front of the desk when it happened.  I just looked up and said, "Help!"  They quickly whisked us to a room in the back.  If I had known that would have worked I would have hit his head 3 hours ago!

Once we got back to a room and the blood stopped we had to wait for all the nurses and doctors to come in to look at it.  It was determined that due to the position and depth of the cut he needed to be sedated and a plastic surgeon would need to stitch him up.  It took another 3 hours to get the resident doctor, the attending doctor, the respirator guy, the nurse and the plastic surgeon in the room to stitch him up.  By now it is 8pm Henry hasn't eaten since 12 and hasn't napped.   He did great getting the IV and the sedation was just happy drugs to make him calm but he wasn't "out".  The actually procedure took 5 minutes.

Once he came out of the sedation he looked at me and passed out.  Once he was asleep I couldn't wake him, remember no nap, so we had to wait 45 minutes for him to rest.  At this point I was finally able to wake him up and get us discharged.  We finally left around 10pm.  Poor Henry slept all the way home.  Once home we got him out of the bloody clothes, feed him and in bed at 11pm.

Friday Henry was up and acting like nothing happened!  He is actually more fearless now then before the stitches.  So I feel we will to have to say the phrase, "You are going to bust your head open" a lot in this house.

Lessons learned:
1. If the ambulance comes to your house, get in it.
2. Always go to the ER in pairs.  Poor Nick was trapped at home with the girls so he couldn't come help me entertain Henry for the 7 hours.
3. Take the iPod and phone chargers.
4. Bring food to the ER

21 Month Twin Update

Henry and Hannah are 21 months old and getting into everything!  They are now able to do so many things they couldn't do just a few weeks ago.  It is so fun to see them accomplish tasks they have been trying for so long.  Hannah's big accomplishment came yesterday when she was able to climb UP a slide!  Every time we go to a park she tries to climb up and yesterday she finally did it!  Henry has recently improved in his words.  He is starting to repeat everything he hears.

Henry

Hannah

MONTHLY UPDATE:

Food - They drink milk, water and juice from sippy cups.  They love pancakes, pasta, rice, chicken, cereal, crackers and cookies.  Hannah is still Gluten Free and has gained 2 lbs in 2 months so it seems to be working. 

Sleep - Depending on the day sometimes in 2 a day others only 1.  Hannah could do fine with 1 but Henry still needs 2.

Clothes - Hannah is in 12 month and 18 month.  Henry is in 18 month clothes.  Hannah is in size 5 shoe and Henry just moved up to size 6. 

Weight -  Hannah 22.15 lbs Henry 26.10 lbs  

Height - Hannah 31 inches Henry 33 inches  

Diapers - Size 3

Health - Both just had teeth come in so that was a little painful for us and them, but we all survived. 

Fun Facts - Hannah is our morning baby.  She wakes up happy 98% of the time and is ready to go.  Henry normally wakes up grumpy and is slow to get going.

Henry stuffing his mouth with pasta

Hannah showing off her climbing up the slide skills

Update Stuff

I'm behind on sharing this news because we were gone last week on vacation.  So here is what is going on with us.

First, Nick has been having crazy back pain for 3 months.  The last week in July we finally get him in to see a good doctor and the next day he had surgery, July 31.  He is already experiencing a ton of improvement in his pain level.  This is so good to hear, however the recovery will be long and hard.  Luckily we have a wonderful community of people around us who are willing to help with the kids, which is a blessing.

Waiting for Nick to get out of surgery

Second, my running buddy and our second “child” is sick.  And I mean sick and isn’t going to get better sick.  So August 2nd I had to take him to the vet to say goodbye.  It's sad to have a dog-free house after 10.5 years but its bittersweet too.  It is one less being in our house that needs our attention and needs to be taken care of.  But Jack has been a part of our life for a LONG time.  It will take a while to get used to him being gone.

Midweek Randoms

Here is what we've been up to!  Nick is a church camp this week so we have had the grandmas here to play with the kids so I can work.

1. Henry and bug bites do not get along.  If you notice Henry's right eye is puffy!  Stupid mosquito!  A little benadryl and he was good to go.   All bug bites puff up big on him.

2. Friday we had dinner with cousin Leigha!

3. Saturday was a sleepy at home day.  Daddy and Cali watching Curious George.

Henry and daddy watching cartoons.

4. We live close to a Tanger Outlet!  Not only is it great shopping but also a good playground and fun rides.  We put all 3 kids on the carousel.  They loved it and rode it twice. 

5. Sunday Hannah woke up in a cuddly mood and wanted to snuggle with Maw Maw.

6. Twin love!  This is what happens if you ask Henry to give Hannah hug.  SOOOO sweet!

This post is linked to Midweek Randoms.

20 Month Twin Update

It's time for your monthly twin update of cuteness!  And yes, I'm biased!  They are 110% toddlers now and go all the time!  Hannah is our thinker and doer.  Henry is the destroyer.  Hannah builds towers and Henry knocks them down.  Hannah colors pictures, Henry ripes up pictures.  Hannah sits quietly playing and Henry runs around the house.   They may be twins but they are two very different people.

Henry 20 Months

Hannah 20 Months

It continues to amaze me to watch them interact.  Hannah's favorite thing is her bear, Pinkie, and Henry loves his paci.  As soon as one of them starts crying the other searches the house for the crying twin's favorite item.  An example was when I put Henry in time out yesterday (he was throwing toys) and he was crying.  Hannah quickly comes around the corner, arm stretched out, with a paci for him.  My heart warmed at the sight!  I of course had to steer her away since he was in time out.

Henry's chocolate cookie face

Hannah talking 

MONTHLY UPDATE:

Food - They drink milk, water and juice from sippy cups.  Henry will eat anything and lots of it.  The boy isn't picky and he lets you know when he's hungry!   We are still keeping Hannah Gluten Free to see if it helps.  She is a picky girl so some meals are a challenge to find something for her to eat. 

Sleep - The nap transition continues, somedays they nap twice and others it is only one.  They go to bed at 7:30pm and wake up around 7:30am.  The two hour naps in the afternoons are a wonderful gift!

Clothes - Hannah is in 12 month and 18 month.  Henry is in 18 month clothes.  Hannah is in size 5 shoe and Henry just moved up to size 6. 

Weight -  Hannah 21 lbs Henry 26 lbs  

Height - Hannah 31 inches Henry 33 inches  

Diapers - Size 3

Health - Hannah had her second laser treatment on her lip to remove the redness from her hemangioma.  If you look at her now you can barely see anything!  Praise the Lord!

Fun Facts - Hannah loves Micky Mouse and would watch it all day if we let her.  Henry loves to play outside and will reach for whoever is closest to the door.