The End of This Chapter

Well, I guess you could say that I'm a little behind on this blog!! This is my last post about the beginning of Jaden's journey….from the joy of us finding out we were pregnant through her first year of life.

We've had so many great moments and are guaranteed to have many more. At this point, I most enjoy watching her learn and discover the world around her. I love seeing the excitement in her eyes and hearing it in her voice. I don't have a favorite moment as they are all my favorites!

She was a good baby and now is a thriving, happy toddler. She's such a healthy girl with a healthy appetite for everything from eating to her favorite activity of hopping like Tigger! Yes, we are approaching the terrible two's now!! She is copying everything we do…she picks up on things so fast...we have to be careful with our words and actions! She has such a warm heart and gives kisses and cuddles her stuffed animals, and she has a light-hearted spirit and laughs easily and makes us laugh as well. As you can tell, she brings us much joy and we are BLESSED and couldn't imagine that life could be so wonderful. We love you, Jaden :)

Thank you all for following along and be on the lookout for a new journal to come soon that will chronicle our daily life in all aspects.

Much Love, Christy, Benny, and Jaden

Happy 2010!

Wow, I am always amazed at how much time has gone by since the last blog. I'm always saying that I thought I was busy before, but I really am now! I don't know what I did with all my time before! But life couldn't be any sweeter :)

Jaden is 9.5 months old now. She has been and continues to be such a good baby. She's happy, she doesn't fuss much (even with teething), she hasn't been sick yet (Thank you, God!), and I just love being with her. I take her everywhere and we've made friends with the gals in the Target Starbucks. They know she is a Starbucks Baby - I told them the story of how Benny and I stopped on the way to the hospital for him to grab a coffee (I passed on my green tea and just had water). The girls always say how good she is and they love talking to her. I'll have to get a picture of them with her soon.

She is so curious and is exploring the simple things around her. It's amazing how the little things attract her - boxes, paper, magazines (just ask Daddy how she tore up his magazine!). And I see her playing with toys that we had from day one that she's just now "finding". She's crawling all over the place and she's pulling up on the sofa...we're getting ready for those first steps!

She's been on formula for about a month and 1/2 now and she's eating lots of jar food. We're working on finger foods and she seems to enjoy her "puffs" - they get stuck on her fingers, on her chin, in her hair, etc. Feeding her is fun - she likes to practice sounds and spits her food out! Also, her hair gets messy - she gets distracted, turns her head, the food gets on the bib, she turns back to me and her hair drags through the food...yuck! Then she gets a little mad when I have to clean her up!

Jaden playing with the drum Grandma Judy and Poppy got her for Christmas

Daycare is going great. I couldn't be happier with our decision to have her stay with Julie. I really like Julie a lot and she takes great care of Jaden. I can tell that Jaden has made great friends with her daycare pals and I can see that she is becoming our little social butterfly...that makes Mommy proud :)

Well, there's a glimpse into what's been going on with JJ (our nickname for her). Funny story that happened at Christmas...we were at the table playing games with the family (get Qwirkle if it's not a part of your game collection!) and we said something about Jaden and called her JJ. Her cousin Gabi said "Don't call her that" and we said "Why not, it's her nickname" and Gabi emphatically replied "Don't call her that, I don't like that word!!". It was a cute moment, but JJ is sticking :)

Just a quick update on Benny & I. We are working hard on our health/fitness/wellness business. In case you don't know, I received my certifcation to be a Health & Wellness Coach almost one year ago. Well, it's been a struggle balancing my time with a new baby, working, getting myself back in shape, etc. Things are leveling out for me now and we are moving forward with our biz. Check out our site sometime - it's a work in progress, but we're on our way! www.activehealthywell.com

A year of firsts

This year we are celebrating many firsts with Jaden. It's so exciting and it makes me a little emotional to think of it!

Jaden is now 6.5 months. At her recent appt we got the wonderful news we love hearing - she is a healthy thriving 6 mo old. She's now 15.7 lbs and 27 inches long. She's hitting all the developmental milestones and boy has she found her voice! She's a little chatterbox and will yell just to hear herself yell!!

At her 6 mo appt

This past week her 1st tooth broke through. Thank goodness she's handling it very well. She's been a little cranky and clingy, but that's it :) She's so close to crawling. She is rocking on her hands and knees and we're watching in anticipation of the first crawl.

Here are some recent pictures. Enjoy!

Much love,
Christy, Benny, and Jaden

Dear Blog...

Dear Blog (and friends that read you),

I'm sorry I've been so neglectful over the past couple of months. You see, I have this crazy, beautiful life now that has me running in so many directions. I know you are important too because you are my way of keeping my friends/family up to date with what's going on in my world.

I promise to be better about updating you. I have so many things I want to share with everyone. I feel like it's been so long I don't even know where to start!! Well, this weekend I'm going to update you on what's been going on with us. Jaden is getting big so fast and I want to share some new milestones we are hitting.

Thanks for understanding.

Your friend,
Christy

Update on contest...Need your vote again!

Please see the post below regarding the contest I entered Jaden in. The rules changed today and everyone was reset to 0%. If you voted before 5pm, please go back and do it one more time. Only 1 vote per email address is allowed now. Thanks for your support!

http://www.magic107.com/pages/hbvote.html

Vote for Jaden as Central FL's Most Huggable Baby!

I entered Jaden in the Magic 107.7 Central FL's Most Huggable Baby Contest. Round 1 for her gallery started this week and will end Tuesday, Oct 20. Please go to http://www.magic107.com/pages/hbvote.html to vote for her. She's in the 5th photo in the froggy towel. You can vote multiple times as long as you do it manually. Thank you so much for your vote!!

Much love,
Benny, Christy, and Jaden

5 months and counting

**Tissue Alert** This might be a bit sappy...darn hormones are raging again!

Jaden is now 5 months old. I know I've said it before and I'll say it again, and I'll probably say it everyday for the rest of my life...I can not believe how fast she grows.

Seems like yesterday it was just the two of us.
Seems like yesterday I bought that pregnancy test along with a bottle of wine!
Seems like yesterday that I stood in the bathroom in disbelief, not knowing whether to cry or laugh...I did both!
Seems like yesterday that I had the greatest pregnancy :)
Seems like yesterday that we had to stop by Starbucks on the way to the hospital!
Seems like yesterday I was bouncing on my exercise ball trying to deal with the pain I was feeling during labor.
Seems like yesterday that this little munchkin came into the world with her head full of hair and sweet little face.

I really can't believe how fast time flies. I wonder why I thought I was so busy before. LOL!

Here are her stats up to her 4 mo appt.
Birth - 7.6 lbs & 18 in
2 mo - 11 lbs & 23.5 in
4 mo - 13.10 lbs & 25.5 in

4 month appt at her Dr's office

She's a healthy girl. And she's a happy girl :) I just love seeing her smiling face and giving her kisses all over. She's a lot of fun and loves to "talk", laugh, kick, etc. I suspect that she will start crawling pretty soon since she's scooting backwards now. I have a feeling that we might have our hands full. I'm already seeing a personality emerge...wonder who she's most like!?!?

She's sleeping pretty well at night. I worked with a lady on babycenter.com and she helped us tremendously with sleep training. I usually put Jaden down between 7-8pm and Benny gives her a "dreamfeed" around 12:30-1am and she sleeps through until 7:20am (sometimes she wakes around 5:30am but I can nurse her and she goes right back to sleep).

Right before bed I give her a partial bottle to top her off and we rock, I sing to her, and we say our prayers. That is one of my favorite times with her (ranks right up there with the mornings that she's in bed with me and Benny and giving her a bath :) One of the reasons I love this time so much is that it allows me to look around her room and see all the things that were given to us. I can pick any item in the room and know who gave it to us and that warms my heart. I also look at the green walls and the bear and bunny decor and I don't regret for a minute choosing that theme/color. It's such a sweet theme and the room is very calming. I just love it and I know Jaden will love it one day soon as well!

She found her thumb and is learning to self soothe.

Our first stroll in the new jogging stroller. I think she enjoyed it!

Until next time...

Much love,
Christy, Benny, and Jaden