Our babes...

Turns out I wrote this blog post a year ago and never posted it.... So before I write another updated post on our journey, I'll go ahead and hit publish on this one :)



It's crazy it's been a year since our last family update! We have been a little busy adding another one to the bunch :)

Here's a little update on Tenley, who is now THREE!

Tenley has took on her roll as a big sister for sure, she was a little hesitant for first couple months but Im pretty certain she loves having him around, most of the time. Tenley is pretty obsessed with Christmas, you will hear her sing Christmas songs a couple times a week if not once a day, so it's a good thing it's almost here again. I finally was able to put the nativity set away back in April. She will randomly ask where "Mar Mar" and "Jophes" are along with baby Jesus.

Tenley is a big fan of going on pretend picnics and bear hunts. Thanks to her grandma Trotter, who taught her about bear hunts, we hunt for bears ALL. DAY. LONG. Tenley also loves seek and find books. She has a Frozen one and a Princess one.  Tenley recieves highlight magazines every month and they also have a page with seek and find. She looks forward to getting her new magazine in the mail!

PUZZLES! She still LOVES puzzles. One time while we were at grandma Trotters house she was able to do a 16 piece puzzle all by herself. Tenley is a bookworm for sure, she will sit quietly in her room when I am busy with Jett and get ALL her books off her bookshelf and "read" them.  Adam and I had Tenely do swimming lessons this summer and lets just say... she cried... a lot but it got better. We just enrolled her in dance class and it's the cutest thing ever.

I started to do some preschool things with Tenley and she just loves to learn! We have been learning the states and she can identify and name 12 states. We are working on spelling her name and tracing her letters. She also is learning bible verses and it's just so awesome.

Tenley, like a lot of little girls, is a BIG fan of Frozen. She knows all the songs and we have to act out parts of the movie most days. She is always Elsa :) For her 3rd birthday we had a day filled with the 4 of us plus grandma and grandpa Trotter and everything FROZEN!

one of our favorite lines Tenley says "I just love you all the time"


Here's a little bit about Jett Edward :)

Tenley and Jett our like night and day! I felt like a new mom all over again and at times thought, I have NO idea what I am doing or what else to do. Although he is very laid back and go with the flow, he has challenged us for sure :)

For awhile if it were up to Jett, he would have mommy hold him all day...all day! He has gotten better and explores and plays more. Tenley and Jett are really starting to play together! He gets bored very easily and needs to change things up every 5-10 minutes. His favorite thing to do is take a bath! As soon as we go into the bathroom he gets so excited and starts to squeal!

His little personality is really starting to show. He is so funny just like his sissy. For awhile, I thought Jett was going to take after me and be more shy, reserved or should we say...an introvert haha but he may just be like his daddy and sissy! Jett for sure is a momma's boy and I sure hope he stays that way, he melts my heart!

Jett is ONE! 

The boy can pull some serious hair! Poor Tenley seems to always be the victim. She will walk by him and some how he can grab her hair so fast, he has some ninja like skills for sure. Poor Prince has been the victim too many times as well. Tenley is so sweet and will give Jett toys and try and play with him. I pray they are close as they get older and have a special bond. I also pray Tenley starts playing with Jett more than prince...that poor dog. Prince at some point in the day will have some kind of dress up clothes on. Prince is truly Tenley's best friend.

Tenley is TWO!

We just can't believe our peanut is TWO! Tenley has grown and learned so much in just one year. We are so proud. Here is a little catch up of what she has learned and done in one year...

Tenley learned....

how to walk

how to run, jump, skip and climb

how to identify all her letters

how to identify her colors, shapes and some numbers from 1-10

how to count from 1-10 but often feels 4 and 5 aren't necessary :)

how to identify animals and she knows their sounds

she's going to be a BIG SISTER in November. She knows his name and where his room is and that he is coming soon. For months she argued with us that it wasn't a brother she was getting but a sister... she has accepted him for now :)

what time out means...This worked for about a day. She apparently loved time out so much she would put herself there and say "mommy, count". This method was not effective so we learned that putting her in her room made a bigger impact. So she now knows "do you want to go to your room" means. So far she has only been there about a handful of times in 3 months.

She is talking more and more everyday and also repeating what she hears.

how to fold her hands and pray with mommy and daddy. Tenley likes to nominate who prays "daddy pray, no mommy pray"


Tenley loves...

Books and for mommy or daddy to read to her, she now sits through a whole book. Her favorite books are "Brown Bear Brown Bear" she has memorized it and can read the whole book to you! Another favorite is "Hop on Pop" and one more is a book from Adam's childhood called "Walter, the farting dog". Walter may have been misplaced for the moment....  :)

THE MOON! Really, she's obsessed. On her birthday eve we hung a moon that we made out of cardboard and lots of silver glitter in her room.

Goofy- daddy found her a stuffed animal goofy about a month ago and she is in love with him.

Princesses- we went to my cousin's wedding and when she saw her in her dress she called her a Princess, she may be forever Princess Jennifer.

to be outside

she still loves her Prince dog BUT she no longer loves sharing her food with him. We have to put him upstairs anytime she is eating because as soon as he gets a bite of her food, we have a full on melt down!

Puzzles

to clean! Give her a wet paper towel or wet wipe and she will be preoccupied for about 30 min cleaning her toys.

green juice. The only juice we give her is Bolt House green machine juice. She tried it one day and fell in love.

to be praised. Tenley will let you know when the time is necessary to praise her. "Mommy, yea Tenley...!"

nursery rhymes. There is some shows on our TV that do nursery rhymes and she loves them, we have a CD in the car too with them all on it. Her favorite one at this moment is ring around the rosies.

the library. We go once a week and return our books, do puzzles and pick out new ones. We recently just started going to story time on Tuesdays!

her back, legs and feet rubbed before bed. Diva!

Ranch...I recently introduced ranch to her and she will dip anything in ranch...anything.

when daddy comes home from work!


looking at pictures on our phones, she knows how to open the phone and go right to the pictures. This is how I get my shopping done and how I keep her in the cart, the girl wants to see pictures!

to feed prince his food in the morning and in evening. Sometimes, she feels it's necessary to feed prince by hand.

trash truck, every monday morning we wait at the front door for the trash truck to come.

loves getting the mail too.

playing with her kitchen set and pushing her baby around in the stroller.

friends! She has lots of friends around the same age as her and she knows all their names and looks forward to seeing them at church or on play dates!

to get her toe nails painted.

lotion. Tenley loves to get mommy's lotion and put it on her legs and arms. Tenley also loves to put lotion on mommy's legs. :)

Something New...

In July, she moved to her new big girl room and big girl bed! She was a trooper and had a smooth transition, I think mommy and daddy had a harder time with it :) Her aunt Olivia was here to help :)

Since October 8th we are paci FREE! She only got her paci at bed times and long car rides. I started that at about 6 months old because we thought it would be easier to transition her off of it. Once again her transition from no paci was great! A couple moments here and there but overall, wonderful! We even had a celebration with baking cookies!

She went to the beach this summer in Alabama, and she loved playing in the sand. We had a wonderful time with our family there over the 4th of July!

We signed her up for a play and learn gymboree 4 week class. She loved going every week and her favorite part was jumping on the jumping mat. She loves to jump!

She has become a runner. She thinks it's a game to run from us and at times it's frustrating and scary. I have chased her in a parking lot, the grocery store, the library and in our own backyard to get her inside ... this has been a challenge and also a sight I am sure for a pregnant women chasing her toddler. I now have learned to carry her more, let her scream in the cart or stroller or hold her hand for dear life.

In other news....

Tenley has all of her teeth except her two year molars. Only 4 more teeth to go... She has been teething since she was 4 months old!

We thought she may be left handed but lately she uses her right hand to color and draw.

Tenley had her first big virus in August. Her fever spiked as high as 104, mommy and daddy were a nervous wreck!  Her symptom was only a fever for 72 hours. It was the longest 3 days but we were thankful that grandma and grandpa Trotter were here to help us out and nurse mama was on call for us 24/7 :)

We found out that Tenley is really allergic to mosquito's bites. She got bit for the first time at daddy's soccer game and for almost 2 weeks the bites on her leg got pretty swollen and infected.

Tenley has not yet officially been tested for peanut butter allergy yet, we stay clear of it for now because of the reactions she has had in past.

We are SUPER excited for Thanksgiving this year not only because we will have a new baby in our lives but also because our families are coming to our house this year! Mama, Papa, uncle Bubby, auntie O, Grandma and Grandpa Trotter, Uncle David, Aunt Erin, cousins Isaac, Clare, Anthony and new baby cousin, Dominic! It's going to be a full house but a happy house!

"Honey, they're family! They aren't strangers off the street." -Christmas Vacation

We sure do miss our family and friends back home and wish you all could see Tenley grow up every day!Adam and I are so thankful for our family here who have embraced us, been there for us and loved us. We have such great friends here who love Tenley! We hope this gave you a good catch up of our sweet TWO YEAR old!

xo

The Trotters

Tenley lately

Crazy to think Tenley is just 4 months away from being TWO!

she is growing and learning everyday. She is such a joy to be around and she brings a smile to anyone :)

Some things Tenley has been into these days:

She LOVES her baby doll. It's amazing how nurturing kids can be without even being taught. Tenley rocks her baby and pushes her in the stroller.

We also, just got her a kitchen, she is learning to play with it and figure it out.

Tenley really loves books, she will sit and pretend to read the book. She isn't a fan of anyone reading to her. We will read the first 2 words and she says "all done" and then continues to bring you a new book. One of her favorite books is a animal and things book. She is doing really well with labeling what things are, we ask her where a certain animal or thing is and she can almost identify everything.

Tenley enjoys puzzles as well. She has a shape puzzle and animal puzzle that she does everyday. (we need more variety)

Tenley also enjoys being outside! We love taking her to the park near our house, they have a little playground that's just her size! She now can go down the slide all by herself, she also enjoys the teeter toter. When we go outside in our backyard she loves to swing and play in her playhouse. Most of the time she literally follows Prince around. :) Getting her back inside is tricky...my neighbors must think I'm hurting her because she literally screams for dear life. If you have ever heard Tenley, you know she has some lungs!

Speaking of our dog, Prince... Tenley ADORES Prince! She gives him hugs and kisses all day long. Prince is so good with her. Tenley chases him, sits on him, feeds him, and she likes to put his leash on him and walk him around the house. Anytime Tenley is playing and she doesn't see him, she stands up and yells PRINCE really loud until he comes to her. They are a hoot to watch.

At church, Tenley is now in the toddler room. She loves it! They do some coloring or craft every week and learn about Jesus!

Adam and I are working on Tenley's big girl room, we are pretty much done just some things to be hung here and there. We have been playing and getting Tenley use to her new room since she will be making the switch to a new room AND big girl bed in the beginning of September! We pray this is an easy Transition for her and mommy and daddy :) Having another baby on the way soon we have to do this sooner than we wanted.

Some cute things about Tenley these days:

She now says bless you when someone sneezes. She told some lady bless you tonight at the store and it was so cute! She also says please, thank you and your welcome, her little voice is the cutest!

Tenley gets SUPER excited when anyone comes over, even when daddy gets home from work! She screams really loud and gets her hands moving while telling you some story. She for sure talks with her hands!

Whenever she wants you to pick her up, instead of saying "up" she says "hold you, hold you" it melts my heart every time.

Let's face it... there are too many cute things she does!

Random facts:

As of right now, she is considered allergic to peanut butter because of reactions she is getting from it. She will officially be tested for it at her 2 year apt. Her first blood work :( praying she isn't severely allergic!

Tenley gets hot fast! We can be outside for 3 min and her cheeks are super rosy. She also has hot feet...allll the time!

When Adam leaves in the mornings he gives all of us kisses and Tenley makes sure he doesn't forget but she also makes sure prince gets one too!

Tenley is a picky eater just like her momma. She's also not a big eater. At her 18 month apt she finally broke the 20 pound mark! 20 pounds 5 oz to be exact haha she is a little thing.

Tenley is a lefty just like her grandpa Beckley and her grandpa Spilker

We have learned not to put shoes on her feet or do her hair before we go anywhere because the first thing she does in the car is take shoes and socks off and take her hair tie/bow out. So on sunday mornings I get to church early just so I can make her presentable!

The rest of us :)

Adam and I have been here now for 2 years! It's gone by so fast and we have made some really awesome friends! Adam also got the position of being the assistant varsity boys soccer coach at the HS near our house. He will be doing that until beginning of November. The 3 of us are going on our first family vacation this summer to Gulf Shores and we can't wait! We are meeting my parents and siblings down there and will be staying in a house right on the beach! My family hasn't taken a vacation together in 15 years so we are looking forward to it. Adams parents plan on coming to visit us sometime this summer as well and we cant wait to have them here with us! My sister Olivia is also going to be spending some weeks here!

Come November we will be a family of 4! Please pray for healthy baby and delivery!


xo

The Trotters

Christmas at the ZOO

We had our first experience with Christmas at the ZOO with some of our friends! It was a chilly night but we had both of the girls (Tenley and her friend Nora) all bundled up in our nice wagon Adam's mom got us. We rode the train, saw some Dolphins and came close to a big Tiger! 

There are 2 One year olds all snuggled in there!

 Miss Nora

 Miss Tenley

 We went inside to get warm and watch the Dolphin show!

 Ooh Christmas TREE!

 The girls loved the big bright Tree!

 The Tiger was Tenley's favorite, she laughed and giggled at the tiger, she must had thought it was a big Prince dog. 

First Birthday!

So crazy to think our sweet litte girl is ONE! It was hard leading up to this day, I was an emotional wreck! On October 20th we celebrated the best year and blessing God has given Adam and I, our sweet baby girl. Here are some pictures of our "heart" themed party. We wish all our family and friends could had joined us!

my first video...

My new beginning  It's all a learning process and I have already learned so much since this video and I can't wait to see where this will lead me. Had an opportunity to capture my friend and her beautiful family.

waiting for Eli from JTrot on Vimeo.

Color Me Rad...Catching up post

The Mr and I decided to do our first 5K in the beginning of September. Now, we might had not ran the whole time but we sure did have fun! It was the color me rad run. We did the 5K with our life group from church and we decided to bring Miss T along as well. 

Miss T really enjoyed it and was such a good girl the whole day!