Jordan's Baby Dedication, July 27, 2008

We had a nice weekend in San Jose visiting with the Mapes and Calls. Jordan had his baby dedication on Sunday July 27th at Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, CA. I have added a video for all the family that missed the dedication. It was a last minute trip, but we wanted his grandfather Galen Call to perform the dedication this year.

Jeannette made a delicious fried chicken picnic on Saturday the 26th.

Here is Jordan enjoying dad's new car. He fits just right :)

(I just wanted to add that the main Sanctuary in the Venture Christian Church is under construction, so the services are being held in another room for the time being).

I also want to give a special thank you to Aunt Emily Mapes for taping the service for us and Uncle Luke Mapes for the photos :)

Jordan Learning to Crawl with Big Smiles and Giggles

Jordan is in the beginning stages of crawling. He started rolling over and becoming mobile in late April at around 5 months. By my friends Mary and Jim's visit on May 3, 2008, we could no longer just plop Jordan down on the carpet surrounded by toys, leave the room and expect him to be in the same place when we came back.

*

He has been teething over the last couple of weeks, sometimes with a fever. His first tooth broke through this month on July 16. Below are a few videos for fun to see Jordan's progress.

Jordan's First Four Months

*

Jordan Learning to Crawl with Some Big Smiles and Giggles

Summer Fun in July 2008

This past weekend we walked over to the beach with Jordan in his bright red Radio Flyer for the first time. Usually we put him in the stroller, but his balance and strength sitting up has greatly improved in the past few weeks. He is extra cute in the wetsuit that Aunt Emily and Uncle Luke bought for him. Thanks Emily and Luke :)

Guacamole Recipe Coming Soon



During Uncle Jon's visit we had some fun meals, which included my new favorite guacamole recipe. I will update soon with the recipe.

On the 4th of July Jordan was in his first parade. All the kids and parents gathered together in the neighborhood and went around the neighborhood, then there was a picnic in the grassy area complete with live Reggae Music.

Also, on July 4th Uncle Jon visited. Jordan was very pleased and gave uncle Jon quite a few big smiles and giggles.

We then went to the first day of church in the new building on July 5th. We sat in the tent as usual, which was great because it was cooler in the tent then it was inside. Plus the tent had nice new chairs and the sanctuary which is in the gym for now still had the older small chairs.

Michael and Jon went surfing every day Jon was here. Here are some pictures and video from the day they went surfing at La Jolla Shores. It was a beautiful day !!

Unfortunately, Jon had to leave before the Switchfoot concert - he also missed the Switchfoot concert the last time he visited in July. Next year, we are going to check the concert schedule before the flight is booked:) After the concert I got my picture taken with the lead signer Jon Foreman.

Jordan is now 8 months old. I would like to end this blog post with a sweet smile from Jordan. He misses you.

Baby Toys Are So Yesterday

Recently Jordan has figured out which toys are meant for babies, and has decided baby toys are oh so passe. If he can get a hold of a household plant, he is over the moon.



With his new found walker freedom he is very content exploring the house and playing with nontoys I tried to master the technique of my brother-in-law with the photos-made-into-a-video. He has some great ones you should check out at: http://www.youtube.com/user/lukeandemily

Here is my poor attempt. Check out Jordan and the laundry basket. It's less than a minute and it's a hoot.

Jordan's Scooter Trouble

NYC Vacation

It crossed our minds to enlist family to watch Jordan for our New York vacation because a five hour flight with a seven month old baby is a challenge. But, when we got there, we would just have had a bunch of pictures of buildings. What's a picture without Jordan's big smile ??

The flight there went more smoothly than anticipated complete with a cute picture of Jordan with the pilots. We did experience stress managing all our 'stuff' and security lines and checkpoints, a few Jordan meltdowns on the plane which only lasted about 5 minutes each (hence, my shiny appearance). Jordan took two decent naps, one for 30 minutes and one blissful nap of an hour. The flight was packed so we had Jordan sleeping on a bed of baby blankets on the floor which at first glance looks like a really bad idea until the baby sleeps for an hour and I have both hands free. The return flight was a different story. Stay tuned .....

We had the great plan of packing light by only taking one suitcase and two backpacks. But, of course, I also had the diaper bag and another carry on with Jordan's toys and baby blankets. Then there was the car seat. Add all that together with the stroller and it looks like we were staying for a month.




We took the shuttle train (pictured above) from JFK airport to the subway and took the subway to Times Square area, where we stayed at the Novotel New York Times Square. We used the stroller to carry all of our stuff. Little did we know that getting off the subway train and out of the subway was going to be such a challenge with no elevators and very narrow staircases. But, there were some friendly New Yorkers that actually helped us get our bags off the subway and carry some of the stuff up the stairs. Above is a picture of Jordan and me right out of our first subway ride; we ended up in front of the Late Show.

You may be wondering why one would need a car seat in NYC with all that public transportation available. It was the great debate on whether we should bring it or not. But, we decided to bring it for two reasons: 1. we might get lucky and have an entire row on the plane and get to use it on the plane either on the way there or on the way back and 2. my aunt and uncle have a car in Manhattan and they offered to drive us to Yankee Stadium for the game and back to the airport on Sunday. They also gave us quite a nice tour around Manhattan. We ended up glad that we had it. However, renting one or buying a $49 cheapy and leaving it there, might have been a better option.

Our first night there we checked into our hotel, had dinner and walked around Times Square taking pictures and seeing the sites. Times Square was a nightly activity for us.

Then for the next few days we travelled all around Manhattan taking pictures of Jordan in front of everything.

Jordan at Yankee Stadium

Jordan and Dad in Central Park

This is one of my favorite pictures that we took the entire trip.

Jordan Sleeping Peacefully in His Roll-Away Bed

We were very fortunate that he slept well every night !!!!

Jordan with Dad in the Financial District




Family Shot at the NYSE

Jordan Napping on the Subway

Jordan with Aunt Anne

Visiting with My Family, Kyle, Anne and Ken




Jordan Loved Looking Out of the Window of Our Room

We managed to get a relaxing yummy sushi dinner while Jordan slept in the stroller.

The Chrysler Building Outside of Grand Central Station

Grand Central Station. Can you see Jordan down by the central information booth? :)

Michael wanted to see Fast Money his favorite show on CNBC. Not only did he get to watch, he got on TV. He recorded it and took this picture.

Here is Jordan looking his usual cute on the balcony of our hotel.

Jordan and the NYPD

.

I wanted to get a picture of Jordan with the NYPD the entire time we were there. The NYPD were absolutely everywhere. The last day I got up the nerve to ask. They were super nice. Other people saw we were getting a picture, and that pretty much opened the flood gates. These officers got their picture taken several times that night.

.

Ok, the flight back. We got to the airport 2 hours early because my Aunt Anne kindly drove us there and there was very little traffic, so we had plenty of time for breakfast at the airport. We sat down in a decent looking place and ordered a couple of breakfast burritos (we wanted to be in a coma on the flight). We sat there for 30 minutes after ordering and our plane began to board with no breakfast burrito in sight. We have an infant so we boarded right away with no food in our bellies (of course , Jordan has all of his food :)

.

It's very nice being the first on the plane ..... well, unless you are starving (nothing served but small snack bags of carbs that fill you up for 15 minutes and then leave you with a greater deficit than before), and there are several delays, including mechanical problems and then 6th in line for take off. Long story short, we were on that plane for 7 full hours straight. Jordan was going out of his mind. We went through three diaper changes and a change of clothes. I walked up and down the isle with him strapped to me in the Baby Bijorn and stood at the front and back of the plane for hours. As long as I was standing or he was eating he was fine. But, there were several times where we had to sit down due to turbulence and Jordan did not take his naps and didn't like the little space. But, we are alive and made it back to our home sweet home.

.

The plane ride back did not take away from our NYC experience !! The best part was seeing Anne, Ken and Kyle for the first time in 5 years. It was so wonderful seeing them again!

.