Jetta and Kiddie Kandids....

Last year we decided to sign Jetta up with a local modeling agency and this past August they contacted us with Jetta's first professional modeling job. A local company in St. Louis, CPI contacted them and wanted to hire Jetta for a winter ad campaign for Kiddie Kandids.

I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but was excited to get the call, but nervous at the same time. We only had a few days to get ready and beings it was mid-August and they were doing a winter ad, I was hoping I had something that would work for a winter shoot. They asked that we bring a minimum of 3 outfits and no more than 5. I was thinking, I'm glad Jetta hadn't grown alot since the past winter and that I had shopped so much in the 3 years that I waited for her.

I went home that night and went through the tubs of clothes I have in the basement, both from the prior winter season and the tubs for the upcoming winter season and was able to pull together what I believed would be 5 outfits. The only thing I really needed were tights and was hopeful that maybe Old Navy would come through for me on that. Jetta was a bit confused why she was trying on winter clothes when she was running around in shorts and sandals.

The next night we did go shopping and were lucky enough to find some tights and thank goodness that's all we needed cuz they didn't have anything winter related out yet, despite you can go to other stores and buy Christmas stuff, but not winter clothes in August I guess. I'm just happy she hadn't grown much and many of her 12 month clothes still fit and the 18 month stuff I did have wasn't to big. Once we got home I spent time ironing and preparing for the big day.

We got up early and got a bath and headed into St. Louis, not knowing exactly what to expect. We had the first appointment of the day. All I knew was they had two days of photo shoots and once they were done they would then decide which kids they would select for the actual campaign. So, despite being chosen for the shoot, there was no gaurantee that we would actually make the cut. Once we got there, they looked through our outfits and chose a red dress that I had brought along and we got started.

The ladies were all very nice and they really meshed well with Jetta. Of course since we were the first of the day, there were a few hiccups with the props and backdrops, but Jetta handled it all well and she was in a great mood for the entire shoot. Kiddie Kandids is the company that works with Babies R Us and they take photos within the Babies R Us stores. Not all stores actually have the photo studios within them, but many of them do. I believe they are trying to expand this part of the business, so watch for them to possibly come to your area if they are not already there.

As the morning progressed they took about 70 pictures of Jetta and spent about an hour and a half with her. Once the hour and half started to get close to that finishing point Jetta started to wear down and they said when does she normally take a nap and she had started to come over to me and was starting to put her thumb in her mouth and I said, well about now and I pretty much think she's done and they said, let's call it, I think we've got enough. They were very respectful of the time and of her. I was very happy with them. They were great and I would definitely work with them again given the opportunity.

Once we were done we had no idea when or if we would hear from them again. After about a month and half I called over to CPI, the company who took the pictures and asked if there would be any way I could get any of the photos they had taken of her since it was her first photo shoot and they called me back that day. In speaking with the marketing manager, he asked who my daughter was and I told him. He said, he wasn't sure if would be able to and that it was ironic that I was calling that day, because they were actually deciding over the next two days which children they were going to be using in the ad campaign and that he would probably need a couple of days to determine if he could provide me with a disc of any of the images and also if they would be using my daughter.

To my surprise he called me back within 40 minutes and left me a message. He said that he would be able to provide me with a disc and that they would definitely be using Jetta for the campaign and would be using her in all 3 medias....internet, in-store and direct mailings. At this time I have been able to see several of the internet ads both on their website (www.kiddiekandids.com) - when they first released the ad campaign on November 1st (where she has 2 images), then a recent ad for 20% of a collage print (where you'll notice her name is Bella - creative huh...not Jetta which I guess they probaby can't use her real name and I'd rather they not, but fully they say Bella), then we have been able to see poster and translucents in two of the local stores in St. Louis(which I'll include the pictures we took), but unable to actual see any direct mailers. I had asked for a direct mailer, but at this point have not seen one(and don't want to be that mom that bothers CPI and never get another job!).

So, as you can imagine I am a very proud mommy. I have showed Jetta herself on the Kiddie Kandids website and she says "who are those kids and then she'll see herself and say, there I am and then as it cycles through, she'll say, here comes Jetta"....it's very cute. Then I showed her the recent ad and she said, that's me. When we were at the store, she says "that's me" and just smiles. I don't think she understands, but realizes it's her. Again, we have no idea if this is her first, only or last ever, but it is very exciting and we are very proud of her. The only reason we ever even signed her up for this was for the opportunity to save for college.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and some of the ad material. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to share the whole story with you. As always thanks for following along. These are just some of the pics, as I don't want to bore you with all 70 images!

Halloween 2010....

Well last year Jetta was a Panda Bear and this year she was a Lady Bug...we haven't stretched our imaginations to far just yet. However, she made quite the cute panda last year and quite the cute lady bug this year.

This year was so much fun. She really understood what was going on and really enjoyed the whole going up to the door and "trick or treating"....well should I say, knocking and then opening the people's doors! Fortunately pretty much everyone in our small 27 house neighborhood knows who she is, so it wasn't a problem and they were all pretty much on their way to the door as she was opening it anyway. It was very cute. As they were filling her bag, she was smiling from ear to ear. Then she would turn around say "thank you" and take off, run back to her wagon and dig in, looking for the best piece she could find. The real challenge was keeping her from opening a piece at at each house. I did give in and let her eat a few pieces and fortunately there we no belly aches and it didn't keep her up to late.

After we finished the houses in our neighborhood we headed the our friends Jason and Dora's and Jetta helped Dora hand out candy. She seemed to have just as much fun doing that.

It is so great watching her enjoy these special days. I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year,as she will enjoy it even more than last year. It is great seeing the excitement through her eyes. I just don't want her to grow up to fast and it seems as if it is already happening. I want to enjoy as much as I can.

Attached are some pictures from her second Halloween, hope you enjoy them.

Grandma Peters visits....

First of all I have to apologize to Grandma Peters, just like I had to Grandma Alexander, as my schedule is so busy, time just doesn't permit me to post until weeks after their visits....so sorry Grandma that this is weeks late!

However, we had a great visit with you. Grandma came in mid-week and I worked on Thursday so Jetta and Grandma could spend the day together, just having fun. And if both of them being asleep in the chair when I came home was any indication of how hard they played together and how much fun they had, I would say it was a pretty good day. It was cute, my mom was sitting up and Jetta was sprawled out in her lap. I picked Jetta up and laid her on the couch and then my mom and I visited for a bit while Jetta slept. Shannon was out of town, so we had the evening to just the three of us.

Unfortunately, Friday we didn't wake up to such a good day. When Jetta had gone to bed Thursday night she had mentioned that her mouth hurt, but didn't really tell me where or say much more than just that. However, she did wake up just before we went to bed and ended up sleeping with me and had a very fitful night of sleep. She woke up burning up and I just thought possibly she had had a night terror, as she had been having them off and on. However, once we finally got up for the day, it was much worse than that. She was very clingy, so we knew we she wasn't feeling well and needed to call the pediatrician. My mom and I were on the hunt for the number, as I had gotten a new phone and for some reason that number didn't transfer over. We called and they could see us in 2 hours. Jetta was saying her ears hurt and by the time we got ready to go, she was crying alot and had thrown up once.

We got to the pediatrician's office and they took a rapid strep test, but felt pretty confident that that wasn't it. The good news was they did weigh and measured her. So, we did find out, she was now 35 1/2 inches tall and 23 lbs. Still little, but she is growing. Finally the pediatrician came in and took and look and felt pretty sure she had Roseolla and the bad news was, it was a virus, so all we could do was give her tylenol every 4 to 6 hours, keep her full of fluids and wait for it to run its course, which could be 7 to 10 days. Well, Friday was not a pleasant day, but fortuanately, by Saturday, the fever had broken and she was feeling better. Which we were happy about, because we had tickets to Disney Princesses on Ice.

While Jetta wasn't completely better, but she felt well enough to go to Disney on Ice. We had plans to take her best friend Ava, so we made sure it was okay that she went. Her mom decided it was okay since Jetta was no longer contagious. I think we were all glad that she was well enough to go, cuz we were all excited to see the Princesses, as we all love Disney and then seeing it on ice was going to be even more exciting. We picked Ava up at noon and all headed out for lunch. After lunch it was time to head to the show. I'm not sure who was more excited Ava or Grandma. Last year was Grandma's first experience of Disney on Ice and she loved it, so I know she was very excited to do this. But Ava loves the Princesses. Once we got there, all the girls were excited. The show was alot of fun. Grandma saved the day, as she remembered her camera and took many great pictures, which I will include several with this post. All in all I think the day was a great success. We saw Amy and Ava a week or so after the show and Amy said Ava had a "google", which is the largest number, which I guess means is the best time ever. So, I guess we can call the day a true success. Plus the girls had great fun together.

On Sunday we went apple picking and Jetta picked her very first apple all by herself. We got some really good pictures from the day. Again, another successful day. We weren't sure the day would be a success, as it had been raining and so we were afraid it would be muddy. So, we stopped and bought her a pair of rain boots and if I do say so myself, she looks pretty darn cute. We picked quite a few apples and fortunately that benefited a homemade apple pie from Grandma...yummy!

Monday was just a day of doing whatever. We pretty much just ran errands and did a little shopping. Shannon went to work, so it was just the girls. By now, Jetta was feeling much better, so we just all hung out. Unfortunately Grandma had to leave on Tuesday, but we surely had a great visit. When we got ready to head to the airport we told Jetta that Grandma was going home on an airplane and going back to South Dakota....and of course, like always, she remembers and says, later that night, "Grandma go home to Souf Dakota" and I said "yep". The good thing is we'll get to see Grandma again soon, as we'll be traveling to "Souf Dakota" in just a few weeks to visit her.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Just cuz....

I'm just posting these pics cuz Shannon took these last week and I just like the pics and wanted to share them. Plus I think it shows just how big she is getting. Or rather, just how much she is changing. Cuz, I really can't say she is getting big....she is still so itty bitty.

She is almost 2 1/2 and is still able to wear some 9 month shorts, mostly 12 months and figure once we start wearing pants, we'll have to wear 18 months only because we will need the length. As for shirts, she wears anything from 18 to 24 months, but nothing bigger. I finally bought her her first part of nsize 6 shoes, but she mostly wears size 5 - 5.5.

Yesterday we were at Kohls and they had their summer shoes on clearance and I was thinking I might buy her a pair for next summer and would possibly buy a size 7 and this lady was there with her son who just turned 2 in June, so he is 3 months younger than Jetta and he is already wearing a size 8 shoe and is almost out of that she said and he was inches taller and definitely heavier than her. I think she is just going to be small, which I am okay with.

I always laugh when I talk to people who have babies who are a year or close to that and we talk diaper sizes and they tell me their kids are wearing a size 3 or 4 already and I say Jetta wears a 3 and is nearly 2 1/2. They just look at me. I keep hoping that soon we don't have to have that conversation, that we can soon start on the potty training thing, as I truly thing she is ready, just is stubborn and doesn't want to. She will come in and say I gotta go potty and will sit on the potty but won't do anything. She has done it several times, go potty on the potty that is, she just isn't consistent. I figure she is still young and I'm not sure where I will find panties that small, so don't see the need to rush.

Other than that, she is doing great. Talking up a storm. Knows her abc's, can count to 20, has a very extensive vocabularly, knows most of her shapes, still working on colors....each and every day she amazes me. She is such a grown up girl, in such a little body.

Anyway, here are the pics. Hope you enjoy them. As always, thanks for following along.

Jetta and Ava....

As many of you know Jetta has a buddy who she absolutely adores and her name is Ava...and quite honestly I think the feeling is mutual. Ava adores Jetta and is quite the mother hen to Jetta. They are always very cute together and attached are a couple of pictures of them together and you can see just how much they enjoy being together. I just had to share, cuz the pictures are to cute not to share.