Teething Troubles

It has been way too long since my last blog post! I can't believe how quickly time has passed since Jayden's birthday! We've been on-the-go since her party so I feel like I just now found the time to sit down and blog.

Jayden has been a little cranky these days...I contribute it to her 5 teeth coming in! Poor babe :( I can't wait for her to feel better! She's not napping or sleeping very well, but when she's out, she's OUT!

There's definitely a recurring theme...she loves to have a blanket or stuffed animal touching her face! 

And when she's up, she LOVES to be walking with her toys and crawling EVERYWHERE! She's now trying to climb up the stairs! YIKES!

And she thinks coming down the stairs is hilarious! :)

I love that laugh :) It brightens my day!

Last week we had our little big Maverick for a few days. And Jayden LOVES dogs...she gets so excited and literally chases Maverick around the house! 

And now she's figured out whenever she is eating, he sits right next to her high chair hoping and waiting for food to drop....now that she's caught on, she just drops it over for him! 

The two youngest Ericksons...awww I love our little troublemakers <3

To Our Sweet Jayden

To our beautiful daughter Jayden Faith on your first birthday...

One year ago, at 11:23 pm, you came into the world and changed our lives forever.

Without a doubt, the past year has been the best year of our lives. 

Because of you, we became a mommy & daddy and we now know the deepest meaning of love. 

Because of you, we strive to be the best we can be and you have changed our lives in the absolute best way possible. 

It’s amazing to see how much you have changed over the past year.  

You went from a tiny 2 pound 15 ounce baby to a walking and talking 15 pound one year old.  

You went from sleeping the day away snuggled on our chest to climbing on us like we are a jungle gym.  

You went from reaching at objects on your play mat to learning how to wavy bye bye.  

You went from baby cooes, to babbling, to your first words, mama and dada. 

You went from rolling, to crawling, to walking! 

You are such a happy girl and have a smile and laugh that literally lights up the room. 

From your smiles, to your hugs and kisses...we just can't get enough of you. 

You, little Jayden, are Ms. Independent.

You can watch me and daddy do something and you can immediately mimic us.

You are so inquisitive and we love watching you explore the world around you.

You are such a special little girl and you bring so much joy into our hearts.

We have so many hopes and dreams for you in this life.

We know that God has a purpose for you and He is going to use you to do amazing things.

We hope you have the confidence and courage to be who you are. 

We hope that you have the determination to go after your dreams. 

We hope you have the perseverance to never give up on anything.

We hope that you are brave when faced with difficult situations. 

We hope that you have compassion for others and a loving and giving heart. 

Most of all, we hope that you get the most out of this life you’ve been blessed with. 

No matter what, daddy and I will always be here for you and the most important thing we want you to know is that you are loved.  So very loved.  

Happy 1st birthday, our precious daughter!

We love you past the sun, the moon and every star in the sky!

Love, 

Mommy & Daddy  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYDEN!

Happy Birthday to our precious Jayden! We had such an amazing day with our sweet babe! After breakfast we were off to Disneyland!! It was super crowded...but we just enjoyed the day and the awesome weather!

How cute does Jayden look in her adorable Minnie Mouse dress?! We LOVED it!

After hanging out at the park, we met up with some family to have dinner at Rainforest Cafe! 

What a fun way to end the day!

And yesterday we had Jayden's birthday party ~ and what a perfect day it was! We spent it with family & friends and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather!

Thanks to my genius sisters...we catered and I didn't have to make ANYTHING (minus the yummy oreo pops and rice krispy treats). I even ordered a cute cupcake cake... which is literally cupcakes put together to form a cake in the shape of a 1...the best part, it came with a complementary smash cake!

The rice krispy treats were gone by the end of the party...and I think there were only a few oreo pops left! They were definitely a hit!!

I loved the decorations by the front door...Jonathan added the cute pink balloons! Good job babe!

The food was delicious - note to self...always cater in food!! :)

The smash cake was so much fun! I love all her little expressions! :)

One of my favorite parts of the day was opening Jayden's first birthday letters. At my baby shower, friends and family were able to write letters to Jayden for her to open on her 1st, 13th and 18th birthday...and I literally have all of them sealed and put away for her. I've been looking forward to opening those letters all year! Jonathan and I enjoyed reading all of them <3

We are so incredibly blessed to have such amazing friends and family! 

Thank you all for making her first birthday a very special one!! <3

And Happy Birthday to our beautiful, fun, lovable, feisty & fun baby girl. 

Mommy & Daddy love you past the sun, the moon & every star in the sky! 

Happy Valentine's Day

It's crazy to think a year ago today I was admitted to the hospital patiently waiting for our precious Jayden! The past year has flown by and we have enjoyed every single day with our angel :)

Sadly, our babe was sick about a week a half ago and we battled her cough for nearly a week :( While Jayden was sick, she stopped taking bottles and only ate about half her meals...so she lost over a pound. The first day we took her to the walk-in she was 15 lbs. 9 1/2 ounces. Two days later, Jayden was still sick and not eating, so I took her to the pediatrician and she lost a full pound and she was moderately dehydrated...so that night we ended up in the ER since she still wasn't eating! It was a super long night and the next day we were leaving for Palm Desert for our company meeting!

We had such a fun time in Palm Desert! While we were there I also noticed Jayden's top teeth were starting to poke through...but it wasn't until I got home that I saw the top 4 teeth were coming in at the same time! I'm sure that's another reason she doesn't want her bottle, or sippy cup, or any cup for that matter! Our stubborn little Jayden only wants to nurse!

One word = TROUBLE! :)

Luckily she's feeling much better these days and back to eating a ton! Oh and she's figured out how to walk with her push toys! In only a few short hours she was walking from one side of the room to the other! And now she's able to let go of her toy and grab ahold of something else. What a big girl!

She just loves to cruise around the whole house! We are constantly on-the-go! No leaving this little one by herself ~ she will get in to all sorts of trouble :)

Andddd...only 2 more days before she is officially 1! <3

Birthday Month

I can't even believe it's already February! How did the past year go by so incredibly fast?! I'm sure it doesn't help that we have been busy every.single.weekend. since the beginning of the year...I have myself to thank for that :)

Anywhoo --- I'm so excited for Jayden's party! It's going to be so much fun! I've been shopping for all the decorations and when I found the cutest invitations online, I decided to try making them myself...and I think they came out pretty good if you ask me :)

Of course, I didn't realize until after I was done making about 40 of them that I wouldn't be able to mail them out because the candle would fall off :( So I had to HAND DELIVER almost all of them! And for those that I had to mail (sorry Lexi ~ I'm not driving across the country to hand deliver your invite)...I had to improvise. Instead of gluing a candle on, I used shimmery ribbon, which ended up looking more like a 1 than a candle...but it worked.

I'm also really excited about the CUTEST bloomers I found online ~ I don't know if I'm going to have Jayden wear them at the party or maybe just for her 1 year pics...but how cute are they? I'm so excited! :)

I also decided I want to try and make my own personalized sugar cookies for the party favors! I found a DIY blog that explains how to make them ~ I know I should probably just pay the $2.00/cookie for a professional to make them for me, but where's the fun in that?! 

Wish me luck because it probably won't be as easy as I'm hoping! <3

Super Bowl Sunday

Today was Jayden's first Super Bowl Sunday! Even though Jayden has been sick the past few days, we had such a fun day! She was up bright and early this morning ~ so daddy took her so I was able to sleep in an extra hour :) AND I woke up to my FAVORITE breakfast from Bagels & Brew! YUMMMY! Thanks babe!

After breakfast, Jayden went down for her morning nap so I started cleaning out my office...which, by the way, was one of my New Years Resolutions...so proud of myself that I'm actually halfway done already and it's only February! After about an hour or so, I heard Jayden talking to herself so I went to peek in on her...and this is how I found her...

Yep ~ she's figured out how to pull herself up in her crib! Good thing we lowered her mattress a few weeks ago! She never ceases to amaze us! It seems like every day she learns something new!

And in honor of Super Bowl Sunday, Jonathan of course wanted to dress her up for the party...even though the Broncos lost, Jayden rocked orange and blue :)

She even won twice on her Super Bowl Squares! Jonathan actually picked good ones this year!! 

She won a whole $10! :) whoop whoop!

I think both times she won she was sleeping, so we joked with Pam and Scott that next year we should pick squares and then sleep the whole game and maybe we would win! :) 

Watching the game with daddy! 

Even though Jayden was a little grumpy, she was definitely the highlight of the game! :)

Such a fun day <3