The BIG Celebration!

Happy days are here again!  Jason came home from his second two-month trip to Egypt on August 5th and we wasted no time planning and throwing a huge party.  Ever since Cayden was in the NICU, we talked about wanting to thank all of the people who came to our aid.  We wanted to do something special; saying 'thank you' over and over just didn't seem adequate.



We wanted to celebrate friendship, Cayden's miraculous good health, and also the fact that - after 20 years of chipping away at it - Jason finally completed his bachelor's degree.  We invited everyone we could think of who has been a part of our ordeal over the past two years, including family, friends, neighbors, therapists, and NICU nurses, then we stocked up on lots of great BBQ, beer, and sangria.  On Saturday, August 11th, we threw open our back gate and piled over 80 people into our backyard to eat, drink, laugh, socialize, and watch two awesome bands play (I'm With Her, from Denver and my old friends, Shurman, from Austin, Texas).  It's a day we'll never forget!

We hung these two pictures on the wall above the food table, just to remind everyone how far Cayden has come...
Then: 11/22/10 - 2 lbs. 0 oz.
Now: 6/29/12 - 26 pounds

While I was introducing Shurman, Cayden came up to help and got a round of applause.
The party was in his honor, after all!

Jason and me with some of our guests

Haley E. Rydell and Angie Stevens from I'm With Her

Shurman!  (Harley Husbands, Aaron Beavers, Clint Short, and Mike Therieau)

One of two yummy cakes we had

We even had two very special friends fly in from out of town for the big event.  Connie (who is a faithful follower of this blog - hi, Connie!) came in from Wisconsin and Steene (who spent over a week at our house last summer, helping out TREMENDOUSLY with Cayden and Jamison while Jason was out of town for work) surprised the heck out of us by telling us she couldn't make it, then she secretly caught a flight from Phoenix and showed up at our doorstep right before the party started!  It made the day even more special having them there to share in the fun!

Cayden with Connie

 I know there are lots of other things that have been happening since my last update, but my mind is still swimming with all of the party memories, making it hard to think back about what's happened developmentally in the past month or so!  Cayden is a lot more vocal - he's saying dozens of words clearly now.  One of the cutest things he does is say, "Some!" over and over when he wants something. 

He also likes to pull the head off of our life-size plastic lawn goose and then leave the head laying somewhere for me to find while he pushes the headless body around the wooden floor.  Often, he'll bring the head right to me, proudly shouting "GOO!" as he sticks it in my lap or face.  It's pretty funny, but a bit morbid when you stop and think about how it looks! 

He's walking and running like a champ.  Well, I guess he's still pretty tipsy when he runs, but he doesn't fall nearly as much and when he does fall, he just gets right back up and keeps on going!  One of his favorite things to do in the back yard is push his play lawn mower around.  If only I could get him to push the real one!

When Jason got home, we started both boys in parent and tot swimming lessons.  We went four days a week for two weeks in a row and Cayden LOVED it! 

Practicing kicking with Momma



Floating in a life vest with Daddy

JUMP!  Jumping in from the side of our pool with our instructor, Colleen.

Doing the Hokey Pokey with big brother Jamison at the end of class

I guess that's about all to update for now.  I'm sure I'll think of some more things as soon as I post this, so maybe I'll have another entry sooner rather than later!