18 months!

I had had big plans for getting a lot done (both with school and moving) during the month of June, but, well, let's be honest, it's ME we're talking about here and I never get as much done as I imagine I will. So even with classes being over, there was still a LOT to do in the 3 weeks before Jordy and I left Utah.

Once again, I'm playing catch-up here...but I'll try to go in some order...

June 30th Jordy turned 18 months old!! How to describe the last 18 months?! Exciting -- Emotional -- Exhausting ... so many words! I've tried sharing some "snap shots" of Jordy through the months, but even as his mom, I almost don't believe this is the same kid we brought home from the hospital! Jordy is a bit of a handful at times, but also the true joy of our lives as well! We are so glad he is part of our family! I started a list when I had a few minutes to spare, but, it is not a very good list and now, when I'm finally getting around to writing this, it's hard to remember what he was like even just 2 months ago! But here are some of the things I remember for his 18 month-old "milestones":

-Jordy gives big, juicy, LONG kisses on checks!
-He figured out how to actually blow kisses now :)
-Has been using a fork and spoon pretty well on his own for the last couple months actually! 
-Imitates EVERYTHING Tyler does, such as:
-practice golf swings
-throwing balls
-throwing balls from his back
-flinging balls
-fetching balls
-kicking balls (catching on to the theme with Jordy?!!)
-tries putting on deodarant :)
-He also "helps" around the house by "sweeping" or "dusting", putting things in the washer and throwing things in the garbage (most of the time it's something that can be thrown away, but every once in awhile, it's something we still wanted!)
-When Jordy sees any bottle with a pump he acts like he is "washing" his hands
-Gets really excited to brush his teeth
-Likes to comb his hair, especially if he sees me doing my hair as well
-Can almost assemble the magic bullet himself :) (he LOVES fruit/oatmeal smoothies in the mornings and that's how I make them for him- so anytime he sees the magic bullet, he gets quite excited!)
-As mentioned earlier, he has a bit of an obsession with balls and can't go out to the car without a ball in hand (we have quite the collection started in the car now!)
-He'll go down slides by himself (his favorite is the slide in the baby-pool at 7 Peaks...he could do that forever!) **I'm just proud of myself that I am okay seeing him on a slide again. I'm just happy I didn't traumatize him from playing on slides for the rest of his life...I might just never be the same...
-Jordy gets so SO excited when ANY sport is on TV!!!
-He thinks it's really funny to try tickling us!
-Is pretty picky with food-- doesn't eat anything green
-Is a sweaty little boy all the time because of how active he is! :)

Says: off, on, up, grandma, mom, dad, Jordy, yogurt, football, uh oh, bathroom, hot, woof, moo, vroom, basketball, more, and UNDERSTANDS SO much! I know it shouldn't surprise me so much, with me studying language development and all, but it is still AMAZING to me to see such a little person putting together the pieces of language! He really is learning new words each day and it's quite a fascinating thing to be experiencing first-hand. I'm grateful for the background I've had in language development, however, sometimes I do think it's more a curse than a blessing because of how aware of his language (both expressive and receptive) I am!

And just to keep with tradition- here are some pictures we took to show how much he's grown around his half-birthday!

This picture makes me laugh...because as you will see in the sequence, this was his best picture...haha. (He was actually in the process of doing his more typical "Jordy smile"...)

THIS! Oh Jordy! I know why he squats down, but at the same time, I don't know why he started "smiling" like that. Hmmm...if I can blame him imitating me for the squatting, can I blame Tyler for the smile?! He MUST be imitating one of us or something... hahaha!

 These pictures almost make me a little sad...when we started doing the "milestone football pictures" Jordy couldn't hold the ball, and now...he's running with it! OH- my baby isn't such a baby anymore!

I love this picture for what is implied: Jordy really does LOOK UP to Tyler in so many ways! He sure LOVES his daddy and especially getting to be outside playing with him! (Side story: Jordy not only enjoys throwing the balls himself, he really likes watching Tyler throw them or kick them. But sometimes Tyler has kicked the ball into a tree, and then throws the football, (and sometimes then the soccer ball to get the football and other ball) out of the tree! SO- now Jordy seems to think that is the POINT of the game...to get balls into the tree. Hmmm...how to explain that one?!)

I am debating if we'll keep a "half-birthday" celebration going for Jordy. I feel a little bad his birthday is right between Christmas and New Years and he'll always have to "share" celebrating with everything else going at that time of year. SO- at least this year, we made a "half" cake and let him have another go at trying out cake. (Spoiler: He's still not super interested in the frosting. Hmmm...is he my kid?!) 

 Tyler was trying to tickle him to do a more natural smile (he can smile 'normally' when he's not thinking about it!)...

...but this ultimately was how he smiled when he saw the camera! :)

We had some sparklers as well (almost July 4th!) so we wanted to see how Jordy would do with those...

(We tried having him hold it in a cup, but he wasn't really getting the idea of the sparkler in the first place...)

But then we showed him the "poppers" or whatever the little things that make a snap sound...yeah...those were by far his favorite!

Oh that laugh makes me so so happy! We love our little bud more and more each day!


**And just because this doesn't really "fit" anywhere else (our blog is more like our family journal anyway)- Tyler's co-worker created this video of them having a SpikeBall tournament during their lunch hours during June/July. It apparently was getting pretty intense! (Glad he was getting exercise in while at work, right?)

Spike Ball Video

And Tyler's work also did an eating competition (ironically right after doing a weight-loss competition!) where the participants were given 15 minutes to eat all of this:

Tyler received some "sponsorship" to participate...and he's not one to turn down a challenge...especially when food is involved! But even Tyler only got this much eaten in 15 min.

Wimpy, right?! Hahaha!
I give Nuvi (and other similar companies) a hard time- for all their "gimmicks" and tricks to keep their sales team motivated (or so they claim that's what they are doing!) but- I do have to admit some amount of gratitude is owed...or at least I'll recognize even if this job is not ideal or any "dream job" for Tyler...it's been a blessing for our family. When Tyler was unemployed for over a month last year- it was the only company to make an actual offer. We had already moved to Orem, and so Tyler only having to drive 10 min. to Lindon was very convenient (and was about all the 20+ year-old Toyota was going to make!). Tyler's work was also pretty flexible for him to be able to leave a little early as needed or at least was close enough that Tyler could come home quickly if needed. Tyler didn't love the work he did, but he got lots of free food and snacks and even though it was kind of "mind-numbing" and got old doing the same thing every day (without getting the salesmen credit), he got to wear basketball shorts to work and didn't have to bring his work home with him. We are just grateful he's had a paycheck, got some more work experience to get into a MBA program, and we got health insurance with it all. We do feel grateful for this!