Jane vs. Cold, round 2

Poor little Jane has had a cold these past few days. I think she got it from Wal-mart. As we were out running errands, Jane got a little restless being stuck in her car seat. So when we got to Wal-mart, I took her out of her car seat and put her in the cart, where they have the section for the babies. She looked so cute and small sitting there, but she looked so proud of herself. I sanitized the cart, but only where you'd put your hands. Jane ended up grabbing all over the area around her and probably picked it up doing that. Poor girl. But it seems she is on the mend now (hopefully!)

Jane also started eating a couple of new foods this week. We introduced her to acorn squash and she loved it! She just loves all types of squash and I'm glad this one was no different. We also gave her some avocado, which she did NOT like. Danny was slightly bothered by this because he said we could have used it for guacamole! (He wasn't really upset, but bummed that Jane didn't even like it, haha). We have some broccoli we will be trying with her soon.

I recently discovered her new favorite thing is dancing!! She loves jumping (see video below) and she also likes it when she's standing on Danny's lap and he does some dance moves with her. But the other night, she was acting fussy so I picked her up and started dancing with her to the music we had on. She loved it! 

In other news, I learned how to play the organ. Well, the basics on how to play the organ. I'm excited to play! My first time playing in church will be in a couple weeks, so I need to get practicing.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last week...

Jane trying to play with Daddy, but he was tired. She's like, "C'mon, Dad! Play with me!"

'Helping' Mom fold laundry

Catching Up, Pt. 2

Just a few more things to catch up on before I forget...

DANNY
- Danny has been loving his new job!! It's exactly what he's always wanted to do. He's working with a team of researchers who are developing and creating new types of cheeses. He is also bringing home LOTS of cheese for us to eat! When I say 'lots', I mean like, there are 30+ pounds of cheese in our fridge right now...seriously.
- Danny is also still working on his thesis. He spends a few hours a week working on it. He has a good plan in place to get things finished in time. He is planning to graduate this fall and walk at commencement next spring.
- He also has received a calling in our new ward! He is the assistant teacher's quorum adviser. He will get to go to the weekly mutual activities and will help them with scouting activities as well. He'll also get to teach the teachers about on Sunday a month.

VANESSA
- I have been loving staying at home! Jane is a lot of fun and it's exciting to see her progress each day. There are days (and nights) that aren't quite as fun as others, but being home with Jane is what I want to be doing. I'm excited for spring to come so Jane and I can venture outside more often.
- I have 2 callings in our ward: ward organist and achievement day leader. There are a few organists in the ward so it seems I'll only have to play once a month or so, which is nice! I learned this past week how to play the organ, which is something I've always wanted to learn. I just need to practice it so I feel comfortable with it! :) I'm also excited to work with the achievement day girls. I've been to one activity so far (one more tomorrow) and it's a fun age group!

JANE
- Jane has been up to some fun stuff! Her newest trick is being able to sit up all by herself! I think she likes it because she can see more things and is able to reach more of her toys. It also allows me to do a few quick things around the house without having to carry her or have her cry because she can't see me!
- Her other newest fascination is jumping. We have a Jenny Jump-up that we hang up in her doorway and she loves it! We first put her in it a few months ago and she didn't really get the whole jumping idea, but she seemed to like to stand up. But now that she understands the jumping, she can't get enough!
- As for her solid food progress, we've introduced her to a number of foods and seems to like most of them. She's had peas, green beans, carrots, butternut squash, and zucchini. The one she doesn't like is green beans. Everything thing else she enjoys. We will be trying some acorn squash this week and some avocado and broccoli real soon!

MISCELLANEOUS
- We've been doing Bountiful Baskets on a bi-monthly basis, which has been great. We like it because we usually get a couple of items we can use for Jane's baby food, but it also encourages Danny and I to eat more fruits and veggies. We've also branched out a little bit because of it, too. We had some cabbage last time and I ended up making some coleslaw out of it, which ended up alright!
- For Valentine's Day, we just stayed in (pretty lame, I know). In our defense, we still don't know many people up here so we didn't have a babysitter for Jane. We exchanged gifts and Danny got Jane and I some flowers, but we didn't go out to eat until the following night. Even then, it was pretty low-key. But it was still fun! I made some heart-shaped cookies earlier in the week and made some heart-shaped pancakes for dinner, so I guess it was still romantic :)

To end this post, here are a couple of pictures from my first 'photo shoot' with Jane. The pictures are pretty poor quality (my apologies), but she is just so darn cute, I can't resist :)

Catching Up

Ha! Bet you thought you wouldn't hear from me again, right?! Just kidding.

Time for another update about the past few months of our life. I'll try to keep it short, but chances are...it won't be short.

However, I've made a New Year's resolution to keep this blog updated weekly. I really want to write about the things that we are up to and the little things that happen. This blog is mostly for our posterity to look at later on, just so you are aware.

So, since August, we have done a number of things...

* I went back to work. I started back at the beginning of September. While it was super hard to be away from Jane all day, my employer made it worth it. The company I worked for (Conservice) was awesome and worked with my schedule. They treated me awesome and I have nothing but good things to say about them. The other thing that made it super nice was knowing that Danny was home with Jane. I think if it had been anyone else, it would have made it even harder! And luckily for me, I only needed to work until the end of December because...
* Danny got a job offer with Glanbia! They hinted at wanting him to come back in 2014, and we were assuming it would be May, but before we left, Danny let them know we could come back as early as January. They gave us the offer and we happily accepted, which brings me to my next point...
*We moved to Idaho! Yes, we are now officially Idahoans (Jane has technically always been an Idahoan, I guess :P ). We moved right after the first of the year, so it was a hectic holiday season for us. But, with the help of my parents (which we can't thank them enough for!), we made it up here. That means that I got to quit my job and now I stay at home with Jane...and I LOVE IT!!! It's seriously the best. (Disclaimer: I'm not putting down any moms who are working...it's tough work, I was with you for about 4 months!! But for me, staying at home is where I belong :))
* And last, (but DEFINITELY not least) we bought a new truck!! We've been saving up for a while for one and Danny LOVES it. It's a 2013 Ford F-150. It's really nice and will be a great vehicle for us!

Sorry, the pictures a little dark, but it's a very nice truck!

Enough about us...let's get on with how JANE has been doing. She has been growing so fast and I can't believe she is 7 months now. Here are just a few highlights from the past few months...

She started smiling...

This one is a little blurry, but so sweet :)

She was blessed...

Jane, with her middle name namesake, Great-Grandma Jordan

Isn't she beautiful?

She started laughing (sorry, my videos are too big to put on here...I will have to post one later!)

She dressed up like a cow for Halloween!

She started talking (you know, just baby babble...) Again, my video is too big, but I have a video on my facebook page with her talking away!

She started eating REAL food :)

And started sitting up on her own!

Here are some other fun random pictures we have of her!

Jane and her cousin Russ (sorry, I can't rotate it for some reason...)

Christmas presents!!

Love her :)