Snow Day

This snow was bigger then our white Christmas but our snowman was smaller. This snow was too light and fluffy to pack, so we have a table top snowman. The snow was good for pulling the sled, doing laps in the backyard and great for making snow angels.

Jayden is wearing Lake Sarah's ski pants and a new coat my mom bought. She doesn't have true snow gloves so we use her fleece ones and then I hair tie plastic baggies on.

You can't see it but he hat says T. F. Farmer Company

Photo below is from Dec. 26th snow.

Monkey Joe's

Last Friday we had a playdate with Haley, Jack and Victoria at Monkey Joe's, a really large one opened at Park Rd. Shopping Center. It's a great place to play in these winter months, they have a good system with wrist band for separated kids and parents and lots of staff with whistles to help monitor big kids bouncing on littler ones. They also have a section for 3 and under which we all loved, even Carden.

Thanks to Jack's mom, Layla for providing these photos.

Carden got his DOC band off

Tuesday, Jan. 4th Carden got his DOC band off. He wore his band for about 2.5 months, 23 hours a day. Time flew and he hardly was bothered by it. With the digital imaging system they have now, it was easy to provided us with before and after, the ears line up now and he has the most width at the back of his head and not at the ear area. We are happy with his improvements.

July 4th Holiday

We went to the beach with mom and had a great time and great weather. N. Myrtle Beach is where my mom’s waterway condo is located, so we frequent the OD area of the beach and it was absolutely packed. Thank goodness Tommy and Amy would go over early and set up our canopy to mark our spot. There was traffic too but we just stay in our little area and get around just fine. Jayden really wore herself out on Saturday, she loves to dig in the sand and run back and forth to the water to get buckets and then pour them into digging sand, which is great with me because the sand is less likely to become airborne. This was Carden’s first trip to the beach, to be truthful he didn’t play much in the sand because it wasn’t too long before he had it all over his face and too close to his eyes, so he would sit in our laps until he fell asleep in “the bucket”. Also at OD area they have a mobile amusement park that features kiddy rides. We went there one night and Jayden rode the flying dragons, tea cups, race cars that slide out in corners, Berry Go Round, the carousel 2 times and to my hesitant approval the kiddy roller coaster, that ended up being too rough and had the operator stop it. We watched fireworks at Calabash, Carden loved them but Jayden is still not sure about the loud bang, but did get a few oooh and aaah’s our of her though.

Something crazy is going on…

Last week they started to dig up our street which has been a slight inconvenience but not to bad, this week they are paving. We’ve had this really large neon sign parked in front of our house since Father’s day weekend it normally reads: “no street parking from Park to Queens”. Last night we came home and someone had hacked the sign, now reading “zombie attack evacuate”, we had people stopping in front of our house all night long taking pictures, I’m sure it has covered facebook. It was fixed by 9am this morning.

Yippee

Yippee - Carden is sleeping through the night, well 85% of the time for the last two weeks. He went for his 6 mos. check up and weighed 15 lbs and 9 oz, which makes him in the 19% of an average full term baby in weight and he's 27% for height. He out weigh's Jayden at this age. All else checked out well and we go back at 9 mos. and will not have to do any shots. Carden is starting to learn to hold his own bottle, which is good because he can start on juice in a Sippy cup when he is ready.
Jayden is still a big help with Carden and loves getting him his toys when he's crying, helping feed him the baby food and takes a bite or two herself. We've been going to the pool at the "Y", while putting Carden in child watch, she absolutely loves it, and they have the fun type of kid pool with waterfalls. We signed her up for swimming lessons that will start mid July. Jayden is still potty training, I'm trying all the tips my friends are giving me but feel it's really going to kick in when she starts pre-school late Aug.
Jay and I have been well. Jay went to the 600 with his dad and friends and they had good weather this year, yeah! I did a 24 hr. bike race on a 5 person women’s team, which is always lots of fun. I also was able to go to my Dirt Diva women’s trip mid June. Father's day was just hanging out at home then cookout with Jay's dad, just the way Jay likes it. We've also done a race or two. At Wednesday night's USNWC race Jay placed 2nd out of 6 sport men 45+ and I got 6th out of 20 sport men 36-44, this heat makes it tough for all.
This weekend we are heading to the beach with mom, it will be the first time Carden will hit the sand, hope he doesn't take too much home in his mouth.

It’s been a long time

So sorry it’s been a long time since I’ve posted an update on our family. We have been very busy, the details are below but in short the kids are great. Carden went through a colic spell in March and April, acid reflux, spit-ups and now teething, who knows what’s next, looking back he makes Jayden look like a dream baby. Carden goes for his 6 month check-up this week, he is sitting in the Bumbo seat well, sitting in the high chair to play and eat rice cereal w/ apple sauce and sweet potatoes, and he’s great at tummy time. I assume Carden will weigh over 15 lbs by 6 mos. which has surpassed Jayden at the same age. Jayden is still potty training and I will leave it at that.
In March I did a 4hr. mountain bike clinic for Davidson College that I got paid for, yeah! It went well and I have a hope that they could use me again next semester. Also in March Carden was circumcised, it was the new type with the plastic ring, all went really well, we were expecting a rough first night but amazingly you could hardly tell anything had changed based on his temperament. Eight days of healing were uneventful. I’m glad we waited to have this done when he was a little bigger and stronger instead of the day before leaving the NICU.
Easter was crazy since Jay was on call, but we had a great time. I had posted some pics on the Kodak photo gallery website of this weekend. Jayden went to an Easter Egg Hunt in JC & Judy’s neighborhood on that Saturday that she really enjoyed, when we pass by the house that hosted, she still talks about looking for eggs in that yard and wants to do it again soon. On Easter Sunday, Jayden loved looking for her basket (which was in the bathroom) and hunting for eggs inside and out. We hosted lunch at our house and thank goodness Jay didn’t have to work much during that time period.
We went to the beach with mom in April, it was sunny but still chilly, Jayden was able to play in the sand and loves digging holes, adding water, running to the ocean and looking for seashells. It was Carden’s first road trip, we woke everyone in the condo up at 5 am each morning but all was fine.
Next up was Cousin Katie and Lawson’s wedding. Jayden was a flower girl with Lawson’s niece; Dayton, she’s 4. The girls did great at their part, Jayden just had a couple slip ups, one the way down the isle, which is long at Covenant Presby., she saw me and wanted to come sit with me instead of standing up front. I just pushed her along and put her on her “x” and it worked fine. Some of the ceremony the girls came to sit with Jay and I, then went back out to their spot just before exiting, Jayden didn’t get all the way to her “x” but rather stopped in the middle of the isle star struck at Katie and they had to walk around her. Lucky for Jay and me, these little blunders were taken as cute. Great reception at The Big Chill, Jayden danced all night long and finally just before Katie was leaving Jayden said “can we take all these people home with us”, she was asleep before Jay turned into the driveway. Thanks again to Charlie and Lynn for the great rehearsal dinner at Ruth Chris’s.
One of my best friends Tracey got married to Scott at Pretty Place, which is a marvelous open air chapel with a killer overlook, super near DuPont, my favorite place to ride. This is the first time since the NICU spending the night away from Carden, not just one but two nights. The whole wedding weekend was packed including Tracey’s surprise day at the spa with lunch provided by Cathie and me. However I felt so bad for Tracey and Scott due to the weather for their wedding, the beautiful overlook backdrop turned to pouring rain, cool temps and thick fog, not great for pictures. This never got Tracey or Scott down, you could tell they were enjoying every minute of it. The reception was at Conastee Falls Country Club, with full dinner, dj and we stayed hours. Of course we did some riding at DuPont. It was a well needed adult weekend with a cabin in the woods.
We had a play date at the “Bounce House”, Jayden was scared for a while, once I got her to do the big slide on my lap a couple of times, and she was hooked. Hopefully next time she will have less introduction time. Also Jayden has gone swimming for the first time. It was at the Harris Y in their zero depth pool; she wore a life vest and still got scared a couple times. I was within arms length all the time; I hope to go again soon.
Jay and I have done a couple races that we are proud of:
I did the Dilworth Crit. and got 14 out of 22, doesn’t sound to good but I have a lot to learn at the road racing side. Jay and I raced a 6hr. event as solos, we stated from the beginning that we’d ride together even though he is faster at the start and I might have been faster at the end, 55 miles later we crossed the finish line together. I got 2nd in women and Jay 14th in men. Most recently we both raced at the USNWC, part of a state series held at our local course. The 19 miles took me 1 hr. 46 minutes and Jay just 3 min. less, we had great races, me 3rd out of 6, Jay 7th out of 31.
Jayden and I had a girl’s day one Saturday, we rode a 14 mile urban ride as part of Bike Week, and then we left and went to Granny’s 50th surprise birthday party. Linda’s sister Mary Helen planned the whole thing and really left no stone unturned. Each of us ladies got an hour massage, wow. We didn’t get home until late but, it was fun.