A Visit From Grampa

Grampa came to visit. He arrived Monday afternoon, just in time to pick Casey up from her half day of school.

Tuesday, Grampa, Casey and I went to Keystone to ski. After a few runs on the beginner hill, Ranger, we took a nice long Schoolmarm/Silver Spoon run. Only one big crash. I was down the hill taking movies and instead of turning, Casey decided the easiest and fastest way to get to me was to point her skis straight at me. She took out a big yellow "SLOW" sign before finally falling to a stop.

Wednesday, while Casey went to school, Gramps and I went to Breckenridge for the morning. We skied all of Peak 7 and a run on Peak 8.

Thursday, Gramps went to Keystone all day and got to explore the other 2 mountains, North Peak and the Outback. Casey had her last ballet class. The parents were allowed in to watch and take movies.

Friday, Gramps, Stan and Casey went skiing at Keystone. She is great at snowplow, can turn, especially when she is following someone. She still loses focus, so it is much better when she is following and every so often we have to remind her to turn towards the trees. Her favorite part of skiing is going through the tunnel off of the beginner hill and skiing through Grampa's legs. Oh, and all the treats she gets throughout the day.

Casey and Garrett had fun playing with Gramps for the week. Casey got in loads of Ipad time, putting puzzles together, playing memory and listening to "The Monster at the End of the Book" with Grover and Elmo. Garrett entertained Gramps with his talking, standing and smiling.

Garrett is still working on his naps. He sleeps for the first 40 minutes, then cries on and off for the next 45 minutes. He slept in our room while Grampa was here and woke up at 4:30 the first couple nights talking for about 5-15 minutes, then slept until 5:30/6:00, then woke again talking, grunting and then finally crying. We are trying to get his wake time to be 7:00 a.m. The last couple nights he didn't wake at 4:30 and slept until about 6/6:30, so he is getting there.

Casey is still warming up to her little brother. Every once in a while she will pay attention to him and notice that he is smiling at her. He LOVES to watch his sister. And smiles at her constantly! For the most part, however, she is into her own thing and doesn't want him to get in her way. You can tell that she notices when the attention is on him. She feels the need to make as much noise as possible to make sure we know she is there. She is asking us to play with her more often and has been a bit more whiny and feisty with us. She has been into "cleaning" lately. She will wet a washcloth and go around the house and wipe things down: her toys, the baseboards, doors, pretty much anything. Sometimes she will say that one of her stuffed animals drooled somewhere so she has to wipe it up. Another activity she likes to do is pack up ALL of her toys in bags and boxes and say she and her stuffed animals and baby dolls are going to a hotel.  Great imagination!

Safe travels to Grampa who should be back home tomorrow. We all had fun playing!!

Best wishes to Blair & Chad who are expecting a baby boy any day now.

Enjoy the pix and videos...

Casey & Mom skiing Keystone

treat time

skiing with Grampa

pilot Garrett

Grampa hanging with his Grandkids

I'm so cute...

the fam

 

 

 

 

Busy Bees

The past couple of weeks we were getting back into the swing of things. Casey had 1/2 day school on Monday and Fridays, TGLS (Toddler Gym, Library and Swim) on Tuesday, Ski School at Abasin on Wednesday and Ballet on Thursday.

She loves school. She really loves her teacher, Ms. Cheri and seems to be quite a helper. I walked in one day and she was sweeping up a mess on the floor into a dust pan. She didn't stop when I came in, just kept sweeping, until finally Ms. Cheri told her she did a great job, but it was now time to go. She started full day of school on Wednesdays today and she was very excited about it!

Tuesdays is TGLS. I drop her off at the library, where they have storytime and a craft or activity. They then walk across the street to the Rec Center for a snack, songs and gym time. Then they swim until we pick them up at Noon.

For the past 3 weeks, Casey spent Wednesday mornings 9 - 1 at ski school at Abasin. She basically had a private lesson with her teacher, Colleen, who was outstanding! Casey knows how to snowplow, turn and stop. A couple Saturdays ago we went to a birthday party at Abasin Beach all day and Casey was tearing down the bunny hill all by herself. This past Sunday, we took her to Breckenridge. We each got to take her on 1 run down a green run. It was a long run, and she did great following us down, turning when we turned, slowing down when we did. Oh, and she talked the entire way down.
"Mommy, where are the bears."
"They're sleeping."
"Are they sleeping in caves? Where are the caves?"
and on and on...
We will try and get video next time.

Thursday is ballet. Casey LOVES ballet. She especially loves getting to wear pink tights, a pink leotard, a pink skirt and pink shoes. The teacher says she is a bit shy during class. Casey does not like to be center of attention in social situations (completely opposite when she is at home!!). She has learned a few moves and shows us her moves randomly throughout the week.

While Casey is keeping very busy playing and learning, Garrett has been busy growing. He is on a good schedule now eating at 7:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. 11:00 p.m. and then still waking at 4:00 a.m. most nights to suck down a bottle. He did sleep from 11:30 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. 2 nights in a row last week. He is eating 2-4 ounces at each feeding. He's been staying awake for about an hour/hour and a half to eat and play, then naps. He has been smiling a lot, especially when you smile at him. He is also cooing and "talking." He likes to stand and can hold his head up really well now. For the most part, he's a pretty chill and happy baby. Casey is warming up to him, but definitely notices he gets a lot of attention from us, so she does her best to get the attention back on her by talking non-stop or just simply moving herself into our line of vision.

smile

more smiles

he loves the bath, he looks around, loves the water, doesn't mind when it runs over his face. once i take him out and put him on the towel, he cries...so sad to be out of the tub.

posing in front of a merry go round carved from a block of snow at the breckenridge ice sculptures

another ice sculpture

never too young to ipad

the activity mat is fun!

A Visit from Aunt Marcy and Cousin Jack

After Casey's Abasin ski lesson last Wednesday, we drove to Denver to pick Marcy and Jack up from the airport. Thursday we went to the pool in the morning where the kids took turns riding down the water slide with Aunt Marcy.  We then headed to Ullr Fest in Breckenridge for a silly parade. Though the temperature was REAL COLD, the kids had fun watching interesting floats especially once the candy started being thrown.  Jack really enjoyed the guys running down the street with only their underwear on.  Casey agreed, saying they were chilly.  After pizza at Fatty's, the kids crashed when we got home after a long day.

Friday, we took Casey and Jack to Abasin for a full day ski lesson.  We got a few runs in too, my first time snowboarding this season!  Casey had the same teacher she has on Wednesdays, Colleen, and after a not so productive morning, she finally learned how to turn in the afternoon.   Jack seemed to really enjoy his lesson and asked to go again!

Saturday, we took Jack and Casey skiing at Keystone.  We rode the Gondola to the top and did a few runs at the covered magic carpet learning area to get them warmed up.  We then moved onto Ranger, the beginner lift.  Casey is able to go down the whole run by herself in snowplow (pizza) position.  She knows to open her snowplow wider to slow down and that if she is going too slow she needs to make her snowplow smaller or even to straighten her skis (french fries) in order to go faster.  She doesn't have the strength to get herself up yet, but she knows to get her skis together to make it easier to be pulled up.  The last run of the day was SchoolMarm, a 3 mile green run.  Casey made it down half way by herself, but started to get tired (falling a lot more, but laughing every time she fell).  I put her in between my legs the rest of the way down.  WOW, I am NOT in shape for that!  But we made it and the kids were mostly happy.  We all enjoyed the hot tub that night.

Sunday we took it easy.  We walked up to the lake and playground.  Marcy, Frisco and the kids walked out onto the frozen and snow covered lake to make sure it was solid and to watch the kite boarders. 

Monday, we went over to Breckenridge to ride the Gold Run Alpine Coaster.  Pretty fun! 

Marcy and Jack left yesterday.  Jack and Casey for the most part, had fun playing together.  Though they both definitely know how to push each others buttons.  Garrett enjoyed being spoiled by his Aunt Marcy and cousin Jack.  To show his appreciation, Marcy got to witness first hand (literally) free poop...while changing his diaper, he let 'er rip all over Marcy's hand. Isn't he cute?!

So all in all we had a really fun weekend!  Looking forward to more visitors!

Casey had TGLS yesterday (Toddler Gym, Library and Swim).  She seems to really enjoy this class.  She gets to check out a new library book each week.  Today she had another Abasin ski lesson with Colleen.  She was in a good mood the entire day and got to ride the lift.  They worked on turns more today by going around cones.  She is working on knowing when to point her skis across the mountain (for turns) and down the mountain (for speed).

Enjoy pix.

uh boobidy boo

Swimming with Aunt Marcy and Cousin Jack

Looking out for Ullr

defrosting and waiting for pizza

what a hysterical bedtime story

ready to shrow the not so much pow

at the top of keystone's ranger run

cousin jack, such a big help

yes, frisco is still around

happy boy

just chillin'

family photo

gold run coaster time

Back in the Mountains

It's snowing today!  Which is much needed out here in the mountains.  The resorts are hurting for snow.  I think the weather gods are waiting until I can get back on my snowboard, which is in a couple weeks.  Let's hope.

We spent our last week in VA with Gramma Lois.  We got to Roanoke on Tuesday, opened presents from Gramma Lois, then headed to Great Aunt Linda and Great Uncle Marvin's house to celebrate more Christmas with Auntie Cousin Blair, Uncle Cousin Chad and Grayson.  Casey and Grayson had tons of fun running around and playing together.  The rest of week we had visits from Great Aunt Donnie, Karen and Great Aunt Joyce.  Saturday we drove to Blacksburg to see Sweets and Maryann and to get some new VT gear!


We left Sunday to head back to CO.  Though we had a lot of fun on the East coast, Casey was very excited to be home.  As we drove the last leg of our road trip home, Casey announced that she missed her toys very much and asked us if we would unpack ALL of her toys right when we got home.  She told us that her toys missed her very much too.  Within minutes of getting home, the loft looked like a tornado had come through.  However, Casey is also very good at cleaning up (for the most part).  She knows where everything goes and if something is in the wrong place, she thinks its funny and has to put it in the right place.


Casey went back to school Friday.  On our way to school she was very excited and said that her teachers were going to be so excited to see her and that she was going to go in and say, "I'm back!"  It didn't go quite as planned.  She got really shy and teared up a bit when I left, but when when I picked her up she talked all about her day.


Casey has quite a personality that keeps growing each day.  She talks non-stop all day and cannot sit still.  Her favorite word these days is "Mommy" followed by a random statement or question or just some random thought.  She also feels the need to start talking right when mommy and daddy begin to talk to each other.  So we're working on how to not interrupt.  We are also working on dinnertime routine.  She has gotten good at coming to the table for dinner (which was a struggle for a while).  Now it's getting her to focus on eating at dinner.  She wants to talk and look around and move around, which means it takes forever for her to get through dinner.


Garrett is doing great and has not had any more breath holding incidents so far.  He is a growing boy and at 7 weeks now weighs 15 lbs (from our calculations).  We are working on getting him into more of a routine.  He eats about every 3 hours throughout the day.  After his 10 p.m. meal, he sleeps until about 4:00 a.m.  And then wakes again between 7-8:00 a.m.  We are putting him in his crib for naps, now that we are home.  He is doing okay, though he cries on and off for a couple minutes here and there. He is now smiling at us and can focus really well on our faces.  He seems to get a bit gassy, and is especially grumpy during the evening hours.  Hopefully once he gets into more of a routine he will lose this grumpiness.


This week we had warm weather, so we were able to take a few walks around the neighborhood and Casey got to ride her strider bike and play on the playground.  Other than that, we have just been unpacking from our trip.


Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and we wish everyone a fun and happy 2012!

Casey and Grayson playing with her new stamps

bedtime

Garrett spending quality time with Gramma Lois

Animal with her new tag book

being a big sister, yes he is wearing a pink bib

big boy!

Christmas with 2 kids

We drove to VA for Christmas. Both Casey and Garrett were great on the road trip. Casey watched a bunch of movies, read books, napped, snacked and Garrett slept. We got to Grandma Gail and Grampa Tom's house on the 18th.

The week was a busy one with friends and family. We got to see Jessica and Maddie on Tuesday, then ended the day with dinner at Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack's house with Grandma Gail, Grampa Tom and Aunt Kelly. Wednesday, Dyani came over to visit. Then Aunt Marcy, Lily and Jack came over to ice Christmas cookies. The kids got a visit from Santa afterwards. Thursday we went to Rosslyn to have lunch with Aunt Kelly and to see her office, then headed to Sears for the annual cousin picture. Friday, we met Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack downtown to see trains at the Botanical Gardens and then headed over to the Natural History Museum. The weekend was a whirlwind of Christmas activity. Casey was very excited about all of her gifts. She also enjoyed helping Garrett open his gifts. Garrett basically slept through Christmas, like he did throughout the rest of the weeks activities.

Garrett is now 6 weeks. He is a little more aware of things, but is still sleeping a lot. He can hold his head up really well and has started to smile, we think for real now, not just gassy smiles. He found his voice and enjoys saying "AH" or "UH." He is spoiled rotten at the moment, being held all the time, so when we try and put him down on his own, most of the time he becomes fussy, so you pick him up and he immediately snuggles in and is content. We started him on formula before we left for VA. He now eats 3 bottles of formula during the day, drinking 3-4 ounces. He seems to like it, especially now that the nasty rash when he first started has disappeared.

Casey is 3 1/2 now and pretty funny. She plays really well by herself, even while at her grandparents house. She remembers what toys are at each persons house and gets really excited about going over to each house to play with the toys. She likes to play pretend. She'll tell you exactly what is going on. She'll play with her dolls/stuffed animals and have them go to bed or school or ballet. She also likes to play school, where one person is teacher and one person is student. Usually during school, she'll take coasters and start doing "Zoophonics" which is an ABC activity from her school. She can definitely be a little sassy, especially when she hasn't had her daily nap, which was often during this trip. For the most part, she is a sweet little girl.

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and we wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Enjoy the pix.

hanging with santa clause

howling at the brookside garden lights

the cousins enjoying the lights

garrett and gramps chatting

casey helping grandma gail make cookies

lily read LOTS of books to casey and jack this week...LOTS!  luckily she is a REALLY good reader

a surprise visit from a jolly old red suited white bearded dude

supposed to be icing the cookies not eating them

striking a pose at the top of aunt kel's office building.  you could see all of dc from up there.

doing the pencil in front of the monument made out of tree and plants

grandparents and grandkids in front of the capitol

the first of the gifts!

frisco got an elephant for Christmas.

2 Weeks

Garrett had his 2 week appointment on Friday. He weighed 9 lbs and is 21.5 inches long, so he is definitely a growing boy, gaining an entire pound in a week and a half. He is more alert and more on a regular schedule throughout the day. He has noticed his hands more and can focus on things now. Like on our faces and when he sits in his bouncy chair, he stares at the zebra.

Casey likes her baby brother and got really excited when I brought him to school to drop her off, running in and saying, "look, my baby brother!" with a big grin on her face. She likes to hug him and bring him things while he's in the swing or bouncy chair. Sometimes we'll find Garrett with a couple blankets on top of him (sometimes even covering his face) and some of Casey's stuffed animals too.

Speaking of Casey, she went the entire week sleeping in undies during nap and stayed dried all week. At the beginning of last week, she told me she wanted to wear her undies to bed and she would keep them dry. She did, so everyday I would ask if she wanted a pull up or undies and she chose undies. She still wears pull ups at night and they are still pretty wet in the morning, but we are excited about the progress.

Casey had her first ski lesson last Wed at ABasin. Stan took her and said there were about 7 kids total. They practiced walking on the snow with just one ski on, rode the magic carpet and worked on the pizzas (snowplow). The instructor said she is ready to start learning turns next week. She has 2 more Wed classes. She seemed to have enjoyed it, especially since her friends, Dillon and Connor, are taking it with her and it was a beautiful day! Hoping this Wed is warm and sunny too!

Thursday we went to the Lighting of Dillon, where Casey got to see Santa for the first time this season. She and Rowan sat on Santa's lap together and chatted away. Friday, the Lake Dillon Theater hosted a puppet show, which was pretty entertaining for the kids. And then the town had a bonfire, complete with marshmallows and hot chocolate. Casey keeps saying she went camping on Friday.

We had a bit of a scare Saturday with Garrett. Around 1:30 p.m., he woke up from sitting in his bouncy chair and started crying. He then went into a crying fit and tensed up his body. He wouldn't calm down and milk came out of his nose and started foaming around his mouth. He seemed to have held his breath a couple times and passed out a little during this, while we were holding him. We blew in his face and that startled him back into consciousness. We called 911, who arrived immediately (nice to live right around the corner from the fire station). He had stopped crying and was more in a sleep like mode by the time they got here. By the time we got to the hospital, he was awake and back to his normal self. 3 hours later (because the ER was packed yesterday...it"s ski season), we were discharged. They believe it was a standard "holding of the breath" act that is somewhat common in kids. Some of you may remember that Casey has done this since around 18 months. We"ll check in with our doctor on Monday and keep a close eye on Garrett, and hope it doesn't happen again.  He had an appointment with our Doctor on Monday and she didn't find anything unusual, so we are just to watch him and let her know if it happens again.  So far, so good.  Crazy thing is that he weighed 9 lbs 9 oz on Monday, after weighing 9 lbs at his Friday appointment.  Def a growing boy!

Casey and Garrett would like to send Happy Birthday wishes out to Uncle Dave (Dec 2), Jack (Dec 7) and Ashlynne (Dec 9). Have a very Happy Birthday and we'll hopefully see you all in a few weeks!!

Riding the magic carpet at Keystone, pre-ski class

ta-da

Garrett swaddled up

Casey and Connor at Abasin Ski Lesson

Sister and brother sharing some quality time

Chester and Garrett hanging out

Casey and Rowan sharing a tube in the pool

Casey and Rowan hanging with Santa

What?