Lake Taylorville

Jayden went out on our boat for the first time this year. He didn't really care for the life jacket but managed to adjust. Although his time on the boat was limited to about 20 minutes, it was great for him to have the experience. He loved the wind in his face and held on tight. Jayden and Daddy splashed around in the water for a few minutes while we took a little stop.

He was happy after to be on shore. He was so happy he didn't even know I put his hat on him. He really hates his hat right now, but we will continue to put it on him everyday.

Playing in the water

The weather was beautiful this weekend and perfect for Jayden to play with his water toy. At first he wasn't sure about all of the water squirting on him, but then he decided it wasn't bad.

He tried to grab the water as it shot up.

Mia decided that she wanted a drink. I think she was a bit jealous of Jayden.

He was nice and decided he would share with Mia.

Knight's Action Park

While Aaron and I enjoyed a day at Lake Shelbyville with the Doan's and Doug & Amy, Jayden headed to my Mom's house. They played at home and then headed to Knight's Action Park just before evening. Jayden loved playing in the water. I can't wait to take him there! Thanks to my Mom, Dano, Cassidy, Reagan, Livia, and Adan for watching Jayden all day!

School's Out!

Today marked the last day of the 2009-2010 school year and the "first day" of school for Jayden. I am very excited to spend my summer at home with him as we are going to be busy with a variety of activities. I am going to miss my class from this year. They were a good group of students who worked really hard. They were smart, funny, artistic, talented, and over all a successful group of young people. Jayden entertained them in the cafeteria this morning when I handed out report cards. The kids were happy to see how much he has grown and he was happy to see them!

He got his picture taken at the front of the school. He even picked out his own outfit for his "first day" of 5th grade! He saw a lot of his friends at school today too. Payton, Madelyn, Hadley, Rosalie, and Layne all were at school too. It was very cute to see all of the little ones at school today.

It is going to be fun to take a picture of Jayden at the end of each school year until it is his REAL first day of school just to see how much he grows.

Before and After Part 1

Here are a few pictures of our blue house that is now tan! Yea :) We still have a new porch to build, landscaping to finish, and windows to paint. I'm thrilled to have a house that matches our garage.

So many people have driven by and stopped to tell us how much they love the change. I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't care for the big blue house! Thanks to our painter for getting the job done!

Adios Blue Siding!!!

I couldn't be more thrilled to be the proud owner of a tan house rather than a blue house. It is looking like our newest home improvement project will be done by the end of the week. Next up, a front porch. I will post before and after pictures of our house when it is finished. Some people think the color blue is perfect for our style of house, but I was more than ready for a change!

Jayden is 10 months old!!

Jayden is 10 months old today. He really has changed a lot in the last month and still surprises us everyday. We are so lucky to have such a good little boy!

1. I am not exactly sure how much he weighs right now, but he goes to the doctor this Friday, so I will know then. I am thinking he is 20 lbs and is 28 inches long.

2. He is wearing size 12 to 18 months clothing and still wearing a size 4 diaper. He is now helping put his arms inside his clothes and assisting with taking them off. He started doing this last month, but he is much better at it now. He likes to wiggle and squirm when he gets his diaper changed!

3. He is crawling and pulling up on everything! He loves to open cabinets and clear them out. He hasn't taken any steps on his own, but will walk fine when someone is holding his hands.

4. He loves his toys and can managed to play with different toys after being finished with one. He knows exactly how to put the eggs where they go on his farm as well as "shoot" baskets on his basketball hoop. He loves to play with his shapes and try to put them in his airplane. We now have Madeline's old swing set so he loves to swing and go down the slide. He has spent some time with his little friends Henry and Layne as well. Jayden steals toys from them right now, but soon both of them will be fighting back!

5. He still loves his bottles and is finally starting to hold them on his own. He loves to throw them too! He has been drinking from a little cup with a straw. He hasn't nursed in 2 weeks, so we are finished with that. Today he had 2 oz of whole milk with 2 oz of formula and no problems. I will continue to give him 2 oz of whole milk once a day this month.

6. He is doing much better with food. He loves mac n' cheese! We have allowed him to eat some nibbles of bread, crackers, baby puffs, and a few other foods. He has tried real food but isn't ready for it yet. We will continue to try and when he is ready, he will eat!

7. He officially has 2 teeth! We are waiting for more, but find it funny to see him with little white specks in his mouth. He likes to bite and those little teeth are sharp!

8. He still loves the bath and soon he will have his first pool adventure as we will be taking baby and mommy swim class at the park pool. Hopefully, he will be a water baby!

9. He continues to sleep in his own bed. He had been sleeping all night until 7 am for the past few weeks, but last week (starting Sunday night) he decided we needed a 3 am wake up call everyday last week (all the way until Saturday). He was then up at 5! Aaron and Jayden spend some quality 5 am time as I took the 3 am duty! Last night was the first night he slept until 6 am. Hopefully, I can get him on an 8 to 8 pattern. He really needs to be sleeping for 12 hours per night.

10. Jayden is still babbling a lot! He is really starting to understand that Aaron is dada and I am mama. He loves to laugh, smile, snuggle, and entertain the crowd. He is also starting to get attached to both of us. I hope he doesn't have a hard time when I go back to school in August after spending all summer with me. Only 5 more days of school left!!

To see Jayden's 9 months pictures go to: www.photographybykimjones.com

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-Click your proofs

-Click Jayden's 4th Session

Uncle Adam Visits!

Uncle Adam stopped by tonight for a visit before heading to Springfield to see some of his friends. He is going to stop back by on Saturday and spend the day. We haven't seen him since he was home at Christmas. Jayden was pretty happy to see his uncle tonight and enjoyed a nice dinner. Hopefully we will be able to fly out to Denver and visit sometime soon!

Baby J

Baby J has sure grown! A few weekends ago when I was out shopping, I found an outfit he had when he was a 3 week old baby. Tonight he wore his new jammies to bed, so I was able to get a few pictures of him to compare. Baby Jayden at 3 weeks old...............

Baby Jayden almost 10 months old...................

Baby J at 10 months old--awake, but blinking due to the flash.

Baby J 3 weeks old sleeping peacefully in his Grandpa's baseball mit.

Vrooom

Jayden had a chance to enjoy his winter jammies again on this chilly night. His jammies were perfect for crawling all around the house and visiting the outside to checkout the landscaping that Daddy recently has been working on.

UIS Graduation

Today marked my graduation from UIS with a Master's degree in Teacher Leadership. A group of Chatham teachers worked together throughout the entire program. I think we all graduated with a 4.0! Aaron ordered me a cake-pink and brown-my two favorite colors. It was very thoughtful of him!

My two boys who were very proud of me!

With my Dad before leaving for graduation. Madeline had a basketball tournament, so they had to leave as soon as I received my degree.

My Mom also came today. She was able to escape and have some time away from the little ones to watch her oldest graduate!

My biggest fan was so happy to see me afterwards. You can tell he loves his Momma!

Also, a thanks to Sarah for letting me borrow her dress--it was perfect!

Baby Basketball

Jayden loves to play basketball!
Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul4vRsBF9N0

Jayden's Zhu Zhu Pet

What is one way to wear Jayden out before bed? Let him chase his Zhu Zhu pet! This video was taken on my new Flip HD camera, a gift for my grad school graduation from my Dad and Marcy. Thanks for the camera--I love it!!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day has become one of the best holidays of the year. I had such a special 1st Mother's Day with my family. This morning we joined my Dad, Marcy, Jordan, Mollie, Maddie, Matt & Mary Ann for breakfast. After breakfast we headed to St. Louis Zoo. I wanted to teach Jayden about the different animals. I am pretty sure he enjoyed the trip! He slept the entire way down so Aaron and I were able to spend some time together and I was able to talk to my Mom too. While we were at the zoo, we were busy! We looked at the reptiles, zebras, monkeys, lions, sea lions, elephants, and rhinos! Jayden and Daddy crawled through a tunnel too. I think visiting the zoo in St. Louis may become a Mother's Day tradition. It was such a beautiful day. Click on the picture to make it larger. More to come later!

Jayden and Mommy

Just a few pictures of me and my little man in celebration of Mother's Day!

Photo shoot with Mommy

Jayden was scheduled to have his 9 month pictures taken this weekend. I decided to cancel because it was simply too cold for him to be outside. We rescheduled for next Sunday at 10. Hopefully, it will be a little warmer and the sun will be shining. We had our own little photo shoot at home just for something to do! Here are a few pictures of Jayden. The sun was shining in his little eyes and he was intrigued by the grass! Click on the picture to make it larger for your viewing pleasure.

Good Morning

Jayden is back to sleeping all night starting around 7:30/8:00 to 5:30. What does this mean? Well, it works wonders for a full night sleep and also means that Aaron and Jayden get to hang out in the morning from 5:30 until 6:00 when I finally get out of bed. His tooth is finally getting visible to us and he likes to bite :)

My two favorite boys before one heads to work and the other to hang out with me while I get ready for work.

Playing with the farm

Jayden loves to play with his farm. Here is a little sneak peak!

No no

Jayden shakes his head "no, no" when you ask him but he thinks it is really funny when I copy exactly what he does.

Little Buddies

The three little munchkins enjoyed a nice stroll in the park with their mommies tonight! All three ended up taking a little snooze while we enjoyed the beautiful evening. These boys are going to have so much fun growing up together!

He loves his toys!

Jayden had to entertain himself on Saturday while I worked on my paper, which is finished and submitted! He was such a good boy and played with his toys for about 45 minutes while I diligently typed away. He would play with a toy for a while before moving on to the next. It was fun to watch him mess around with the different gadgets. We also took a drive to Chatham to get a few documents from school. He slept the entire way there and back. We then headed over to Lilly's 3rd Birthday party and Jayden had a chance to visit with family. I sure hated not being able to play with him on Saturday but I will make it up to him this weekend!

He loves playing with his rings. He is able to take them off and put them back on. He doesn't get them in the correct order, but I think it is amazing!

Action shot!

Playing with Henry

The Doan's and Giger's came over on Saturday night for a visit. Jayden and little Henry were able to play with some of Jayden's toys. Henry is getting a lot bigger now and the two of them are able to interact with each other. Jayden kept trying to feed Henry a fake egg and Henry accepted. Jayden also stole Henry's pacifier but when he tasted it he didn't like it. I am sure Jayden and Henry will have a lot more play dates this summer!

Soooo tired!!

Jayden must have had a big day with his cousins Ellee and Emlyn last Thursday because he couldn't keep his eyes open during dinner. We let him sleep for about 15 minutes before waking him up and starting our nighttime routine. It was pretty funny!

Hanging out with Aunties

Mollie and Madeline did their part in helping take care of Jayden the past few weeks while I have been working on my paper. They played both outside and inside with him, fed him dinner, and gave him a crazy spiked hair. Jayden sure does love them!