Daddy brought Jaden out from the bath into the living room and laid him down all wrapped up in his towel. Lotion went on, and Jaden had his plug in his mouth, all comforted and ready to watch his movies. (It's amazing how a bath automatically makes him wind down and turn into a peaceful little boy at night). Daddy put his pj bottoms on and then sat Jaden up and put him on his leg to try and get his shirt on him. Once Jaden was situated on Daddy's leg, he looked up at Daddy, then started patting him on the back with his tiny little boy hand. Jaden then reached for Daddy's shirt and held on tight. "Don't let go Daddy." Then proceeded to rest his cute little head on Daddy's shoulder and nuzzled himself in. Daddy and I sat in awe of our little baby. Another one of those tiny moments that will stick with us forever. Being a parent is awesome :)

Twilight

Okay I am just so obsessed now, I had to write about it. When the book series originating with "Twilight" first came out and I heard about people reading it, I couldn't figure out why all the fuss. Vampires?? Yuck. Who cares. Waste of time. When the movie came out... would have been last on my list of movies to see.. if it even made the list at all.

But the hype kept building. So in some small conversation I barely remember, I mentioned to Cody at some point -- "have you heard of Twilight?? It's supposed to be some kind of romance involving vampires." That was as far as the conversation went. Until one Sunday night he surprised me by bringing the movie home for us to watch. I spent 90% of the time watching the movie bracing myself to absolutely hate it. Then it was over. And next thing I knew, I HAD to start reading the books to see what would happen next. (It's a four-book series). Well lucky for me, our daycare provider, Jami, is a huge fan and owns all four books. So she loaned them to me almost a month ago now. I cannot put them down -- I am already on the fourth and final book. And I am counting down the days until the second movie comes out in November. I've gone so far as to research the gossip news and pictures of the cast. You could call it a twisted version of Romeo and Juliet in a way. It is never-ending drama mixed with love mixed with dark mixed with light... and I'm almost afraid to finish the last book because I'm scared for it be over. I'm scared to no longer be able to visit the lives of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. Cody might have to buy me all the movies when they are all out.

Anyways... point of this post was to tell you all to read the series (I would advise you to read the first book before seeing the first movie -- which is opposite of what I did). The first book just gives you so much more insight and detail and explanation into the whole vampire story that the movie can't quite portray. Twilight. New Moon. Eclipse. Breaking Dawn.

Get them on Ebay or Amazon -- they'll be cheaper that way. But invest in them.

April Videos

We recently cut Jaden's hair... gave him a big-boy cut! It's amazing how much older he looks... and even more handsome as if that was even possible!!

This is Jaden's new dance move!! Normally he only does it when there's music, but he was really happy here cuz Cody was sharing some of his peanut butter and bread with him! ;)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! (The day after) :) Hope everyone had an enjoyable time. Ours was busy, but successful. Except for the fact that Jaden came down with a cold that I had last week. But he's such a trooper... watery eyes, stuffy nose, sneezes and fatigue... he still manages to smile, laugh and make us smile and laugh in return! He enjoyed his Easter and being spoiled by his grandparents and Mommy and Daddy. His new gifts included an Easter book and new Boz DVD from myself and Cody. (If you have small children and haven't seen the Boz series -- you should invest in them. Great fun Christian DVDs that are very colorful and lovable)! Grandma and Grandpa J got him a fuzzy bunny that sings and dances! And the Ubben grandparents got him a lawn mower that blows bubbles. Now if he would just start walking...! Little stinker takes steps on his own only when he feels like it. So stubborn. I don't know where he got that from????! Jaden also has a new "summer" haircut! We decided yesterday to give him a buzz cut like his daddy. He looks so much older!! It is weird to see without his out of control hair that used to always stick up no matter what... but he still looks adorable. When I dropped him off at daycare this morning, his sitter went ga-ga over him!

Other updates.. he has entered a phase of "protesting" nap time or bed time. It's really not that bad though. Lately when we put him in his crib, he tends to throw out all his blankets and pacifier so that we have to go back in there and put everything back in his crib before he goes to sleep. But I will gladly take that over him crying non-stop. He's pretty easy to handle when he's tired :)

Cody and I have decided that since we have slowed down our hunt to buy a house that we are going to try to find a three bedroom rental house. I didn't think I wanted to rent again, but there are plus sides to renting so now we have our fingers crossed that we will be able to find something that way.

Videos for Sally

I've been slacking on the videos lately, and Sally called me out on it... so here we go!

Angel face...

He's our angel... :)

Picnik

I wanted to share a website with you all... www.picnik.com. I absolutely love it. It is a place to take your photos and change them into something sweet and creative. There are so many things to do on there, and I'm still learning, but I wanted to share some of my favorite "picnik" edited pictures with you!

Dancin' in '09!!

Well... I finally did it. I left Jaden for more than one night. The UNI men's basketball team headed to its conference tournament in St. Louis this past weekend. This is a trip that is pretty much an annual event for my family (although I didn't go last year). It is always a blast (obviously even more fun when the Panthers win). I wasn't planning on going again this year... I didn't want to bring Jaden because it's not very "kid" friendly if you really want to have a fun adult time. And I also didn't want to leave him. So I just didn't even consider going... until I got to work Friday morning. I must have had some kind of intuition that UNI was going to win the championship because within an hour of getting to work on Friday, we had made arrangements for Cody's parents to babysit Jaden all weekend and for the two of us to meet up with my parents and stay at the team's hotel downtown STL. Of course I was in complete panic all day on Friday at the thought of not seeing my little boy for potentially more than 48 hours. I cried when I left him. But I'm so glad we went... we had so much fun!!! Our hotel was great with a nice bar right in the middle of the lobby. There were so many Panther fans staying there that there were huge parties every night after the games until like 3 in the morning. (Needless to say we didn't really get much sleep while we were down there). We had some great food -- even walked through the casino that was attached to our hotel... and George Clooney was in the VIP room of that casino. I didn't actually get to see him, but we were told he was in St. Louis shooting a movie while we were there. It's always fun to hang out with a bunch of Panther fans, and there are now lots of great memories of that weekend! Cody got to talk to some of his former teammates from when he was on the UNI football team. I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while. We got to watch FANTASTIC basketball and cheer our team onto an NCAA Tournament birth. I survived the entire two days without seeing Jaden (although I did talk to him on the phone a couple of times) -- and it was fun for Cody and I to have some time for just the two of us. (Not to mention the weather was GREAT). When we got home on Sunday night, it was so nice to see Jaden but it was also nice to realize that I was able to go away and ENJOY myself while I was away. (Not something I want to do very often though --- I love my little boy too much!)

When I picked Jaden up from daycare Monday night, Jami told me he'd been saying "Mom-mom" all afternoon. Good to know I was missed! ;) Cody and I both thought he looked like he grew over the weekend. He looked taller and older! He is looking more and more like a little boy and less and less like a baby. I can't wait to watch him play sports one day. I was so nervous and emotional during the championship game in St. Louis that one of our fans turned around and said to me, "haha - just wait until you're watching YOUR kids play." Which is so true --- if I'm this nervous at UNI games, I will be a wreck when I'm watching my kids!

Hugs and Kisses and Fist Pounds

Sorry it's been so long since I updated! There isn't a whole lot new. Jaden is a pro at giving Mommy and Daddy kisses now. Although sometimes it's more of a head-butt as he tries to lean in for one. Every once in a while he connects lips to face though! He loves giving us hugs at the end of the day --- and loves all of his soft stuffed animals. He really is just a very sweet and cuddly little boy. Lately I've been teaching him how to give me "fist pounds" rather than high-fives. He has caught on better to giving pounds than he has with high-fives. Whatever works :) He does "so big!" and "touchdown" -- although half the time he only throws one arm up rather than two... but again... whatever works :)

He still is not walking. He has taken a step here or there by himself, but he just flat out does NOT want to walk on his own. Whenever he realizes he's standing up without holding on to anything, he immediately sits down. I didn't walk until I was 18 months old... I hope he doesn't wait that long! He LOVES to eat. Cody and I can no longer snack or eat anything in front of him unless we share some with Jaden :) He absolutely loves pizza... got that from Mommy and Daddy, too ;) We had a rough week a couple of weeks ago. He had a little bit of a tummy bug and got two new big teeth in at the top. They still aren't completely through but they don't seem to be bothering him much anymore. Although the last two nights he hasn't been sleeping that great... so who knows. :)

Daycare is still going great. They got a new bunny for the daycare. Her name is Daisy, and Jaden LOVES her! Yesterday morning when I dropped him off, he went over to her and gave her a big kiss and rested his head down on her -- like I said, very sweet and cuddly little boy!

I have started researching toddler swimming pools to find one that I want to get for him. Wow are there some cool little pools out there -- I can't decide which one to get! We will definitely be getting one with a little slide in it. I can't wait to get him outside and swimming and swinging!

Cody and I have been looking for houses lately. It's a very stressful thing to be doing! We keep finding ones that we like parts of, but won't work for other reasons. Either they don't have basements, not enough bedrooms, need too much done to them, not good neighborhoods, etc. We're praying it will happen when it's meant to -- but I sure hope God doens't make us wait too long! I'm so tired of being in a two-bedroom apartment. I can't wait to have my own place that I can decorate how I want -- and more storage space!