Friday......

Apparently Jaylen knew I had lots to do today so she decided to get up at 6:30 to help me get my day started......usually she's not up till around 7:30. Oh well....she got to see Daddy for a little while before he left for work. I've been doing laundry, baking and packing for this weekend. We're heading to Fort Gibson lake for the holiday with my dad's side of the family. My aunt & uncle have a cabin on the lake and it will probably be our last hoorah at the lake for the summer. I still can't believe that August is pretty much over.......that means that I'll be turning 28 soon......yippee.



Jaylen was "helping" me pack today so I took a few pics of her investigating the laundry basket. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Katie, Vanessa & I went to the JBF consignment sale yesterday and got some goodies and here are a few pics at the house before we leave. I think Macy & Jaylen are starting to become good buddies.

jaylen pulled up on macy's car seat and was playing with her....it was so cute

Busy day......

I had a full day up at school today with a teacher's meeting, work day in our classroom and then topped it off with an open house/meet your teacher night. Basically, Jay & left home at 8:30ish, came home at 3:45 and then left again to go back for the open house at 4:30 and just got back home about 7:15. Long day for both of us! And of course she fell asleep in the car about 2 minutes from home and is still sleeping so she won't go to bed until after 10:00 now. Oh well.

Tomorrow is the last day I will keep Viv here at my house. Jay & I will miss playing with her but they will be in class together at school so it's all good. It's been a fun 5 months with her....can't believe I started keeping her when the girls were only 4 months old!!!!!!! What was I thinking?! Just kidding.....it's was lots of fun, work but fun.

We're making probably our last trip to the lake this weekend with my dad's side of the family to celebrate Labor Day. It should be a fun, relaxing weekend with family. We're going to Fort Gibson Lake where my aunt & uncle have a lake house. Always a good time.

Well, I guess I'll end with the most recent pictures I've taken of Jay. She's dressed in patriotic clothes in all of them, I guess she misses the Olympics.....

sitting like a big girl....

going to church.....

gotta love those rolls.....

happy girl with cute shoes on!

Jay's checkup......

I took Jaylen for her 9 month check up today and Dr. Stephens said she's doing great. She gave him a big smile when he walked into the room too! She was having a blast on the exam table messing up the white paper that goes on it.......she loved all the sounds it made when she crumpled it. She weighed in at 19.6 pounds (~50th%) and was 28 inches long (~50th%) so we're back down to the middle of the growth chart instead of almost busting out the top in the 90th%! She was almost the exact same weight as her 6 month check but grew about 2 1/2 inches!

She changes so much on a weekly basis. She's very close to crawling and we expect it within the next couple of weeks......hopefully so we won't have anymore carpet burns! Here are some things she is doing now:
* she has found out how to click her tongue
* she can make fish faces
* says dada and occasionally mama
* she loves all kinds of baby food and is trying a little more table food
* she's mastered the pincer grasp and can pick up cheerios and eat them herself
* she can wave bye-bye (only when she wants to but not on command!)
* she LOVES her piano toy and likes to dance to the music by moving her arms a lot!
* she knows who Paisley (our dog) is and would love to touch her all the time.....she's a big fan.
* she enjoys her Praise Baby dvd
* she still LOVES to be in the water, either pool or lake
* she splashes like crazy in the bathtub and gets so excited when she sees me filling the tub!

Overall, she's just a very fun baby and we're so blessed to have her in our lives. As parents, we sacrifice so much for our children and I know that the sacrifices will continue to get bigger and bigger as they grow up but I feel that they are so worth it. I can't believe that in 3 months we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday.......but on the other hand I'm looking forward to that next stage of life.

Sweet baby Jay

9 months old.......

Where did the past 9 months go and why did they go by so fast?! It's been so fun watching Jaylen grow and do new things each week. I'm still amazed at what babies can do and learn at such a young age and how they develop just as they should. God really knew what he was doing when he created us! We went to dinner with Gavan's parents tonight and after we got home she was in such a good mood tonight that we just sat in her nursery and watched her play. She's very close to crawling and loves pulling up on things, which is her newest discovery. She got her first boo-boo over the weekend while she was learning to crawl. She gets her left foot stuck up under her each time and she gave herself a carpet burn trying to get it out from under her over and over! It's not easy getting a band aid on the pinky toe of a 9 month old either! We go to the doctor on Friday for her checkup so we'll get her stats then.


We had a busy weekend cause Gavan and I, his 2 brothers and their wives all threw his parents a surprise 40th anniversary party. It was a great success.........1) it was a total surprise to Bev & Dennis 2) we had almost 60 people attend 3) us sis-in-laws didn't get into any fights over anything and 4) everything we had planned went smooth. It was a lot of work but lots of fun.


Here are some pics from the past week and tonight. Enjoy!

with Grandma & Grandpa at Earl's........

yes, i'm wiping her while she's standing up cause she just had a blowout that required this.......notice the plastic bag needed to toss the diaper immediately.

after the above incident she went straight into the tub.....

pulling up.......her new favorite thing........her face is priceless.....i love it!

i helped her stand cause she can only pull up to her knees right now.........she thinks she's such a big girl!

starting to get into the crawling position....

pulling up on her crib......

again......i helped her with this one.

she just now discovered the basket of toys below her bed......she emptied the entire thing!

Family updates.......

I just wanted to update on my family health issues. We found out that Myra has a fractured bone in her big toe that she is going to have surgically removed a week from tomorrow. More than likely she had a stress fracture a while ago, probably during intramurals at OC, and then it shattered sometime lately. She'll be on crutches for a week and then a walking boot for a while after that. So its good news to know what the main problem with her foot is and now she can get it fixed. The only bad thing is that she is supposed to start back to school 2 days after her surgery.

My dad is feeling great and doing fine. He did have elevated blood pressure which caused his previous problem but he's on some medication for it and having zero problems, which is great!
Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts for both of them!

You aren't cool unless you blog......

Well at least I felt cool last night at the blogger bash. Thank you Summer & Aubrie for throwing a really fun party. I enjoyed myself very much and even won a gift certificate for a photo session! It was such a good idea and I met a few ladies who read my blog that I hadn't met in person. It's funny when someone recognizes your baby from your blog too!



I was excited because the triplets were all there so we quick got a pic before one left or fell asleep or something! Us 3 mommas sat and talked for a while and can't believe that they are coming up on 9 months already. We were remembering their birth day and what we were each going through at pretty much the same time! Oh memories.

Addi, Jay and Viv

The mommas.......Amy, Me, Mandy

Well, I've got to get back to cleaning the house. I've been doing that and laundry all day. Everything was SO dusty cause it's been ages since I've really dusted the entire house. I hate dusting worst of all. Oh well.......I'm almost finished. Enjoy your weekend!

We have teeth......

Jay got her first tooth just before she turned 8 months and then her second one came in about 2 weeks after that. So here she is sporting her new teeth!

Update.....

They released my dad from the hospital today after running more tests. So far the results that have come back are good but they are still waiting on some and he has to go back for a couple more this week. He's meeting with his doc in a few days to go over ALL the test results to try to see if this was a warning sign for something bigger coming. They said that usually an incident like this is a warning sign, which is good. I still worry about what "big thing" is coming but we'll just have to wait and see.

Thank you to everyone's thoughts and prayers. We are relaxing inside where it's cool this afternoon. I noticed Jaylen burning up during church and she had a 100 degree fever when we got home. She seems to feel okay but not 100% herself. Probably has to do with all the teething that has been going on........at least I'm hoping that's what it is!

Prayer Requests.......

My mom called this afternoon and said that my dad was in the hospital in Wichita being tested and monitored after what they think was a baby stroke. He woke up this morning and couldn't use his left hand. Couldn't close it, make a fist, button his pants, etc. After about 3 hours with a stress ball, he regained full use of it....thank goodness. They are doing all kinds of tests, Cat Scan, MRI, EKG, Electrocardiogram, and blood work. Hopefully everything comes back fine and if so he can go home tomorrow. My dad is not a big fan of going to the doctor so I'm sure he's not really liking being in the hospital but I talked to him and he said he felt fine and had a plasma tv in his room so he was good! Just pray that his tests come back good and he is able to go home.

My sis, Myra, has been battling foot problems for several months now and she's in the middle of switching podiatrists and her feet are hurting her very bad. Mom told me today that when they go in stores she has to push her in a wheelchair cause she just can't walk that far without being in severe pain. She has her appointment on Thursday so let's hope she can make it that long. Just pray that her pain in tolerable and the new doctor can actually help her.

With all that said, pray for my mom too as she's taking care of both of them right now and I'm sure it is a little stressful and tiring.

Things about Jaylen......

Lately there have been some things that Jaylen does that are so sweet and I want to remember them. Still can't believe she is 8 1/2 months old......I feel like these months have been in fast forward. Gavan is at a Chesapeake golf tournament today and Jaylen is napping on my bed right now. She woke up earlier but fell back asleep with me in bed. I love snuggling with her on the days we do that. So sweet. Okay, to my list.....

1. She hardly ever cries when she wakes up in the morning. She just lays there looking at her mobile, wall hangings, bumper, etc and just "talks" so softly. Sometimes I sneak in a watch her be so quiet and gentle.

2. She moves her index finger up and down over things like her crib sheet, her car seat, etc and it makes a little scratching noise. She does it on purpose......I guess she likes the noise it makes and how it feels.

3. When sitting and playing on the floor and she gets all excited, she makes her arms and legs stiff and stick straight out and sort of grunts. So funny.

4. She loves watching Paisley run around outside and when Paisley comes close to her, she leans forward with her hands outstretched and smiles real big.

5. When I go to get her out of her crib in the mornings, she gives me a big smile and then when I pick her up she gives me a big squeeze and buries her face in my neck.......just for a few seconds but I love it.


These are such little things but they make Jaylen who she is. I feel SO blessed to have her in my life and sometimes Gavan and I stop and think, "Is she really our child?". Sometimes I feel like I'm 20 again without a care in the world but then I snap back to reality and am SO glad I'm not 20 anymore cause I absolutely love my life right now. I'm really trying to cherish her for the baby that she is even though she's getting older each day. Kids really are the spice of life. With all that said, I'm so blessed to have Gavan too. After all, Jaylen wouldn't be here without his help!

Have a great weekend!

Thank you huge tree branch for not hitting and damaging my house when you randomly snapped and fell to the ground this afternoon. Now I still have money to go to Sonic for my addiction........