March Happenings

I feel like this picture sums it up! Always somewhere to be- but oh so tired :)

I kept meaning to upload some pictures earlier, and then something would come up (like both Tyler and I getting the stomach flu one weekend with an active little boy on the loose! Yeah- blog updates were NOT happening then! Let's just say I am grateful THAT weekend is over. Yikes)

Then my summer internship notified me they were going through staffing changes and my supervisor was being relocated to their location in DePere...40+ minutes from Appleton- which wasn't really going to work (as it defeated a large purpose of going to Appleton for the summer if I was just going to have to travel that far anyway). SO- on to the THIRD site for trying to work out an internship arrangement : (
**One might think I'd take 2 "hiccups" as a sign it wasn't 'meant to be' for doing an internship in WI- however, I had already missed opportunities to apply for anything here in Utah. Plus- having Jordy spend the day with his grandparent(s) while I'm doing my internship still seemed like the best arrangement. So- I'm still working on getting the arrangements finalized for a 3rd site. HOPEFULLY, this is the last time I am coordinating all this...

I finished my big class presentation for the semester and then promised my thesis advisor that NOW I was ready to do thesis full-time. Haha! That's when sicknesses came, internship drama, car problems and just general "it's-the-end-of-the-semester"-exhaustion kicked in- so it just turned into a VERY busy month.

How can I work on a thesis when this happens?! I closed the door to our room to try to work without Jordy "helping" me type and this is then what I see...those cute chubby fingers poking under the door. 

And then- during all that- Jordy just kept on getting bigger! :) He is 15 months old and still the BIGGEST joy of our lives! (*At his 15 month appointment he weighed 26.6 lbs (92nd percentile) and was in the 84th percentile for height! Also 97th percentile for head size. Yup...BIG BOY!!)

-He uses signs for: "please", "more", "finished"
-He kind of  "says" up, off, on, hot (and of course, his favorite, "yogurt"!)
-He has another tooth coming in on the bottom (7 total)
-Has cRaZy hair!!!
-Always sleeps with 2 pacifiers (how?- he switches off between one on a clip and one in his hand- ever since he was a little baby and he'd rub our arms as he fell asleep, he just likes to have something in his hand as he goes to sleep-- there could be worse habits, right?!)
-Can identify his hair, eyes, nose, mouth, belly button, ears, and toes
-Loves, Loves, LOVES being outside and swinging!!!
-Definitely has an opinion about things :) (It's amazing how stubborn he already is!)
-Figured out how to open the dishwasher and almost the oven :(
-Loves playing "chase" with his dad!

Some activities from March:

Jordy trying out the orange float we got from the soda shop near campus. Yeah- he loved it!

Look at what a big helper! He LOVED getting to help push the cart around as we were grocery shopping.
He's quite the crazy driver though! 

Playing at the Park

We have a swingset behind our apartment (with 2 swings, that's it- kind of random). Jordy LOVES swinging but I HATE the swings- so we're both grateful when someone else will take him on the swing! 

This is what happens when we ask Jordy to smile...so cute. 

Aunt Julie and her family came to visit during their Spring Break

Katelyn and Jordy

Kyler and Jordy

Aunt Julie and Jordy...he got spoiled and had lots of swinging buddies today!

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Hyatt at the Seville

The framed photo is one of my dad's family -- (he's the one there in the picture in the frame) What do you think? Does Ben look like my dad at all?! 

We visited my Grandma and Grandpa Hyatt after they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary! 

Looking Good!

One Sunday after we got back from church, Tyler immediately took off his Sunday shoes. Jordy went right over to them, picked them up, and brought them over to the middle of the floor where he then tried getting his feet in them. He then got a little help getting them on...

Proud to have these 2 good-looking boys by me at church! 

McKay School Poster Conference 

I was required to participate in the McKay School Mentored Research Poster Conference (nope- not something I would have chosen to do on my own!). Tyler was able to leave work a little early to help supervise Jordy as I was supposed to stand by my poster (yeah- it's awkward! Luckily I used Jordy as an excuse to keep walking around!) 

Jordy getting a little "refreshment" at the poster conference. He was so stinking cute! 

Easter Outfit

 With General Conference being on Easter Sunday this year, Jordy wore his "Easter outfit" the week before to church. He got quite a few compliments! :)

Ben's soccer game

Jordy is in there somewhere...

Spring is in the air!

As you saw earlier- Jordy was swinging with a hat and sweatshirt one day, just a light shirt in another picture and then was bundled up as a marshmallow again for the soccer game. Yeah- it's been kind of crazy up-and-down spring-time weather here. But- we've enjoyed the nicer weather for the most part! AND- in case you were wondering what "popcorn trees" were...here they are! They really do look like popcorn is popping on the trees! :)  

Sorry this video is sideways. Jordy has always danced to music but recently, when he hears it in the car, he starts dancing in his seat. (This isn't a great example, but it was quick on my phone while we were stopped at a light!) 

And this video was from the last weekend in March when it was almost 80 degrees outside! Tyler's other sister, Kristi, and her family were here on Saturday and we met them at a nearby park. Tyler was excited to throw a football around with his nephews, but Jordy wanted to play too... :) 

March Madness! (And we're not even talking basketball yet!)

We made it...to March! :)
Which means the class I was the TA for is over, Tyler finished his MBA math class, Tyler got an interview with UW-Madison (should be hearing back from them this week), we got our taxes filed (we've decided if we're going to be poor- we might as well be poor students - at least we get some credit for it! :) AND...JORDY IS WALKING almost 90% of the time! :)

Jordy's walking process:
Jordy started standing independently the end of October/early November, but he didn't really try taking any steps. In December he got really comfortable walking along furniture and would walk with his walker or car toy. Then in January he had a few random moments (a couple when we were doing Facetime with Grandma Hyatt!) that he just decided to try taking some steps. But we couldn't get him to do it on command (when we had the camera) and he still was dropping down to crawl when he really wanted to get somewhere. But just in the last week and a half, I guess he decided he was ready! He would get up again instead of just starting to crawl when he fell (sometimes the way he got up was very "effortful"- bending one knee and then doing a half lunge thing...more work than I would do to get up!) The last few days he started getting up a little more "efficiently"- putting his butt in the air and pushing off the ground with his hands! He still is a little unsteady- but he can get around pretty fast now (uh oh!) Seriously, sometimes it looks like he is trying to run more than walk! We can hardly keep up with him-- by the time we get him from the kitchen cupboards he's walked to the bathroom lifting up the toilet seat or in our room opening our drawers! He loves being chased- especially by his dad!

I mentioned last update that it's probably about time I get to serious work on my thesis...and I've thought about it! :) It just was a little hard to pick doing that when I could get paid to work! But I've also run out of "excuses" to avoid my thesis chair...uh. If only she had more "sympathy" or saw this video...it explains my life!

Why I get nothing done...


In Jordy's "defense"- he does try to "help",,, even before he started walking he started taking his dirty diapers to the bathroom where we have his diaper trash can. (He's even better at it now that he is walking :)
He also likes putting things in containers (including his babysitter's keys in the garbage) and if you need anything dumped out-- he's your guy!

(Usually he just takes his diaper without playing with it or having us ask him to take it- but this time, he saw we had the camera! But, it does show him crawling with his diaper...now he mostly walks with it. I guess he figured out walking was a little easier!) 

Look at Jordy "helping" at the store...good thing there was a buckle and Tyler was with me this time...he was trying so hard to get that machine! And look how happy he was after reaching it! :) 

Jordy thinks it is funny when I wear my glasses. He tries taking them from me all the time (again, maybe he thinks he's "helping" by getting those things off my face?!) so we put them on him for a quick picture...does he remind you of anyone you know?! (Grandpa Hyatt maybe?!)

A few other updates about Jordy:
- Jordy has 6 teeth showing now
- We had to trim a few hairs around his ears- hopefully the hair in the back won't get too long too fast otherwise he's going to have a mullet!
- He loves walking around throwing and chasing his football or soccer ball or Tyler's basketball...(Tyler is SO excited about this!)
- Jordy knows where specific toys and objects are and will go get them. He also can point to his belly button, hair, mouth and nose when asked to!
- He still LOVES bananas more than anything!
- He likes trying to feed himself with a spoon (sometimes he feeds his ear or his hair...but he doesn't seem to mind) He even eats peas...but only if he can put them on a spoon that he is holding and then try getting that to his mouth.
- Jordy will try imitating some things we say and he says "dad" or "daddy", "mom" (usually when he's upset) and really comes close to sounding like he's saying "hot" (when we were blowing on his food and saying "hot" to him- he decided that was a word he'd try!)
*To be honest- this has been a hard thing for me (again) recently- sitting in a language development class and talking about what's "normal" or not as far as when kids should begin talking. According  to my class- Jordy should be saying several words on his own by now. However- as I've worked with early intervention SLPs these last 2 months- they've told me they don't care so much about "number of words" as much as the functionality of the child's communication- how they use the communication/words they have. I still feel torn with this though- how do I leave Jordy all day long to go work with other people's kids? Am I putting Jordy's language development at risk? I can't tell if these feelings are just me looking for reasons why not to work on my thesis or if I'm supposed to be doing something differently... Maybe Jordy will have need for an SLP at some point- and that's fine if so, maybe I will know how to help him. I know this was a tangent- it's just been on my mind a lot recently, especially as we'll be making a big decision in the next month as to where we'll be for the next 2.5 years (at least) and that will kind of determine what options I might have if I'm going to finish my certification requirements. Ugh! I wish these choices weren't so hard! 

He continues to be quite the ham! (*You'll have to excuse my gasping unintelligibility at the end...Jordy's laugh caught me off guard...)

We went to get icecream one night and before even ordering they brought out a free cone for Jordy...guess they thought he was cute or something! :) He was then very concentrated on finishing HIS icecream! 

Getting dried off with his minion towel after his bath! 

One of Jordy's favorite hobbies! Hiding things! :) He then likes laying down on his belly to look at his handy work! (He actually lays like that a lot while playing...not sure where he saw that...) 

Jordy has been wanting to drink from our glasses recently, so we let him try it out on his own. Yeah-- he gave his face a little bath, but he had fun blowing bubbles first! Maybe it would have helped if his whole face didn't fit in the cup...

Ok- size of cup didn't really matter! He's still working on it! :) 

My aunt Danielle found a Packer football and gave it to Jordy! He LOVES it. Throwing things around keeps him more occupied than any other toy so far!  

February Frenzy?!

If basketball fans call it "March Madness" -- I feel like the term February Frenzy is fitting as well! We have been able to enjoy watching a few BYU basketball games- both from home and at the Mariott Center in the last few weeks.

Tyler has a co-worker who gave him 2 tickets to a recent game, so Jordy got to experience another game from way up high (but at least we were sitting this time, not in the student section where we were for the BYU v. Utah game when we were standing the whole game).

That was his "I don't know about this" face :)

But just this last weekend, Jordy got to experience a VIP-seating for the game! (Tyler won tickets at his work Christmas party- haha--as much as Tyler would LOVE to have seats like that for every game, that's unfortunately not where our money has been going...)

We couldn't get Jordy to stay looking at the camera long enough to get a good picture...because he was too busy looking around! There was plenty to be looking at too, because we had FOURTH ROW seats! (Right behind our team!) 

Needless to say- Jordy seemed to prefer this view!! :) 

Owning the place! 

They actually look like people now instead of little ants!!!
(Poor Jordy! He was getting a cold but he fought so hard to stay awake and take it all in- but that's why he's not his usually "smiley" self) 

 \

I can see their faces-- no zoom!

Tyler was in heaven! It was a fun game (we were playing Saint Mary's- usually a good competitor, but BYU had a blow-out game-- which just meant we had lots of cheering opportunities!) Oh- and we got on the Kiss Cam! :)

For Valentine's Day we stayed in and ate Krispy Kreme donuts! Jess, Carly and Brad, and Ben and Carly came over on Friday night and we ate hot fudge pudding cake with ice-cream and played Last Word and then watched That Thing You Do! so it was a "lovely" weekend. :) 

Unfortunately, Jordy's cold has only gotten worse. He's never really had a cough before, so I think it kind of scares him when he gets coughing a lot. I HATE not being able to do anything to help : ( He has stayed relatively happy, though- we just got to cuddle more this weekend, which was fine by me! He used to ONLY go to sleep when he was cuddled up with someone, now, he won't really sleep at all being held- so, even though he's sick, it was still nice to feel "needed" or wanted by my little man! He's been growing up so fast lately! He tries imitating everything he sees Tyler and I do- from talking on the phone to putting lotion on our hands...he just wants to do things himself! He even will "fold" his arms to pray (sometimes he'll do it when we've already prayed or he won't always keep them folded while praying-but I'll give him a break for now, he is only 13 months old!) but I can't believe how quickly he learned that! It's an exciting (and scary!) thought to realize he's a learning-machine right now..,it makes me feel even less parent-ready! :) 

With Jordy's budding-curiosity and knack for learning-- he just wants to be in the middle of things even more now-- which makes it a tad bit difficult to do most things (darn- couldn't clean the bathroom again!) But my thesis adviser has been putting the pressure on (which just means I have to be more clever about coming up with excuses and ways to avoid meeting with her!) Even though Tyler has been pretty busy himself- he took Jordy with him last weekend just to give me an hour or so of no "Jordy-help" (pushing random buttons on my computer or taking every paper and pen out of my backpack...you get the idea!) This is then the picture I got of Jordy at Target as they wandered around for awhile:

KING OF TARGET! 

I should have known, Jordy's boss no matter where we are! 

Oh, how I love my boys! They both keep me on my toes :)