She Ate It!

It's been a bit tough convincing Jewell to eat other foods that are "mushy" lately. Fruits have been especially tough. She would either throw the pieces on the floor, mush them up, or just plain cry when I offered her most fruits. Today I decided to try banana again since I was tired of giving her crackers for a snack. I'm proud to say she ate it!!! She actually had a conversation with each piece of banana :). It was really cute. This small accomplishment has greatly encouraged me.

Too Cute

The Differences

Now that we are settled in Oregon I can finally sit and write down the big differences I've noticed between South Carolina and Oregon. I find some of them to be quite humorous :).

1. It's illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon. Of course, gas is much more expensive, but it's still cheaper than California and they have to pump their own gas there.

2. The food here is basically all Organic. They have normal less expensive food too, but since every type of food has an Organic brand you'd feel quite guilty buying the cheaper "unhealthy" version. I had no idea there was such a thing as organic chicken broth or organic pasta. Your grocery budget can add up very quickly when buying ALL organic foods. I quickly learned the balance of the organic world out here and I stick to organic produce. Sorry Organic Chicken broth...I'll make my own.

3. No one has an accent.

4. The schools have excellent scores.

5. The weather is unusual. I think I have experienced 5 days without rain since being here. Apparently this is what it's like until the Summer months. We will soon have no rain for 3 months. I also woke up to snow this week, a few hours later it was raining, then hail, then huge snowflakes, a little later sunshine, and then rain and hail all in one day. Needless to say, I was quite confused seeing that we experienced so many seasons in less than 24 hours.

6. Everyone loves the outdoors here. The streets all have bike trails and I constantly see people getting camping gear ready :). RV parking is a must around here. That's just part of life...camping.

7. The sky is huge. You can't understand this unless you've been out West.

8. The dress is MUCH more casual. Yay me!

9. I think this is the strangest one that tops them all. The trash system is a bit well, ridiculous. Basically, my recycle bin is the size of my trashcan from SC. Here is a picture that helps explain. The red topped bin is my recycle bin, the middle is the regular trash that gets picked up, and the white trash bin is the trashcan I COMPLETELY fill with just diapers each week. I fill half of the middle bin with diapers which leaves me about 1 other trash bag full of room. This wouldn't be a problem if the recycling rules actually made sense. I can only put paper and plastic in it. Plastic bags, coated cardboard, and glass are not allowed. I have yet to fill my recycle bin. Let's just say, I'm very grateful for a kind neighbor who doesn't have diapers to fill her trashcan up each week. She lets me finish filling hers every Friday!


So far the long journey of the Oregon Trail has been full of fun adventures!

Bumps and Bruises

My good friend brought her little girl over this morning for our weekly play date. We decided that instead of staying inside we should go for a walk. We went to a cute little coffee shop not too far from our house. While we were eating our muffins and drinking our coffee, Jewell decided to stand up on the chair (they didn't have a high chair). She turned around while standing and fell flat on her face. The floor wasn't carpet either, it was ceramic tile. Jewell started screaming and screaming! It took her a bit to calm herself, and she refused the ice I tried to put on her head. Once she was calm she scooted around the coffee shop like nothing happened. Leave it to a toddler to forget the hard things in life!

I'm afraid she has a knot on her head the size of ping pong ball :(. This is the best picture I could get. Boy did it swell up fast.

Jewell seems to be doing okay now. I gave her some ibuprofen and put her down for a nap. What a trooper this toddler is.

Just the Right Size

A few weeks ago I unpacked the bumbo seat for Jefferson. Jefferson sits in it fairly well, but he hasn't really had the time to practice sitting in it due to a certain toddler who thinks it's hers :). So this past weekend we decided to look for a little kid chair for Jewell. We found a cute little wooden rocking chair at a cool "antique" store called American Mercantile here in Medford.

This is first thing in the morning. You can definitely tell she just woke up :).

She was much more outgoing after breakfast and ready to play in it!

After nap time, Jewell attempted to sit in it this way. It was rather cute watching her figure out that it wasn't going to work.

Ah, finally!

And here she is watching her letters DVD so I can make dinner.

Jewell seems to really like her big girl chair. It definitely seems to be, just the right size.

All About Jewell

A few days ago I realized I had quite a few cute pictures/memories of Jewell that I hadn't had a chance to share yet. I plan to make my blog into baby books for my kids. That way when they get married, I can hand them their copy of family memories in hardback covered books. So before I forget, I better get caught up on Jewell!

Jewell is starting to finally attempt walking. At 18 months, I think I'd be tired of just scooting and crawling around too! Sorry, no pictures of that yet! But hopefully soon we can share a video or two :).

We lived in Medford for 2.5 weeks before our stuff got here. After staying in a hotel for 9 days, we were able to get into our rental. We borrowed a little table and 2 chairs from a friend. Here's Jewell eating at the table :).

She preferred standing...

Jewell has grown to love climbing and coming down the stairs! Here she is in all her cuteness.

We stayed in our house for a little over a week before our stuff got here. Jewell was extremely fascinated by the movers and moving truck. She got very upset when we tried moving her from this location.

It took me quite a while to find the tray to her highchair. I turned around to get something for her when I heard, "ball, ball, ball." I turned around, and Jewell had climbed out of her highchair onto the table and was taking all my oranges out and playing with them. She thought they were balls :).

Jewell still thinks her old baby toys are her toys. So when Jefferson is using one of them, she tries to play with it or get in it too!

She has enjoyed skyping with her grandma a few times as well!

If there is one thing that I have learned about unpacking it's that you can't leave any type of box that needs unpacked out! Fortunately, Jewell preferred to climb and sit on this one :).

Jewell is growing up so fast! She's adjusted rather well to her new routine with Mommy. She is definitely in the "toddler" stage, but she's still as sweet as ever.

Happy 2 Months Jefferson

Jefferson is 2 months old today! I can't believe it. He's huge!

Jefferson eats every 3 hours. He sleeps between 6 and 8 hours at night before needing fed for which I am grateful. He cat naps in the morning and takes about a 3 hour nap in the afternoon :). I'm pretty sure the 3 hour nap is what makes me survive life with 2 under 2. Little man really hates baths. Typical boy I guess. I'm sure he'll love them one day when he can play with toys. He does enjoy his swing immensely, and I'm pretty sure he will be the challenge when it comes to breaking the pacifier. Boy does he love that thing!

My little one isn't quite so little anymore I'm afraid. He's been wearing size 2 diapers for over a week now. Seeing that Jewell didn't need to switch to size 2 until 4 months old, I was pretty shocked.

I took some 2 month pictures this morning of Jeffers wearing his Little Brother shirt. Poor little guy really is treated like a little brother. Jewell enjoys jamming the paci into his mouth until he screams. She also likes to "burp" him. And I must say, my all time favorite/tragic big sister moment was when she tried to sit on his head. I have a feeling, he will learn to defend himself very quickly.