Christmas 2008

So for the third time in less then 2 months we made the 5+ hour road trip up to Maryland for Christmas. But this time we got to meet our new niece/cousin- Kelsey! Oh yea and see the rest of the family- lol!

The drive is made a lot easier in the past couple years by listening to the Janet Evanovich's bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum series. Dave and I are hooked and we only listen to them in the car on road trips. It makes the drive go by so much quicker.

Arden was a huge fan of her new cousin Kelsey. She kept saying "bay-bee" and pointing to Kelsey and giving her kisses all weekend. It was cute.

We got up to Annapolis on Christmas Eve with just enough time to relax a bit and have some dinner. My parents were very generous and put us up in their Courtyard Marriott with a suite with an adjoining room to their room which was quite nice to have our room separate from our baby that goes to bed at 8 pm. Thanks Mom & Dad! Christmas morning we woke up and made the drive back over to Brian & Amy's. We quickly realized that the majority of the gifts under the tree were either for Kelsey or Arden- the two that couldn't really open their own gifts. And Arden wanted to play with everything after she opened it so we knew gifts with small children was going to take awhile! Arden got lots of new fun things but I think got a bit overloaded towards the end, so I stashed some gifts to be "new" again in a couple weeks. Stretch it out a bit. She did get a new tricycle from her Noani & Poppi which she thought was lots of fun! And she got a very Elmo filled Christmas with slippers, two Elmos, multiple Elmo books, and even a DVD. She got her first baby doll which she now likes to tote around. And the bag of rocks and the computer keyboard that Dave & I got her were a hit too! It's so much fun to watch Christmas through the eyes of a child and I have a feeling this is just the beginning. The day after Christmas we drove 2 hours down to Ocean City to see my Dad's side of the family, including my grandmother. It was really special for me for her to meet Arden, since I never got to meet my Great- Grandparents. And I haven't seen my cousin, Seth or Uncle Don in awhile so it was nice to visit with everyone in the larger extended family. Arden did great sleeping on the way down, but not sleeping on the way back. She was a real trooper to the crazy holiday schedule that she was on.

Then on Saturday Dave, Mom, Dad, Arden and I took the Metro down to DC and went to the National Museum of Natural History. Arden's first time on public transportation! She got a kick out of the Metro. The museum was a bit crowded but that was expected and constant. She walked around and saw big dinosaur bones, insects, and sea creatures. Then she crashed out in her stroller while we had lunch at the old post office.

Sunday was spent driving home which thank goodness was rather uneventful. It was a busy but fun filled family filled holiday!

2009 will be the year of the wedding...

So I knew that was inevitable being 5 years younger then Dave that we would hit two waves of weddings phases, but wow, 2009 is going to be a wedding filled year of my girlfriends! We've had much, much worse (or better depending on how you view attending lots of weddings) With Dave being in a fraternity and still really close with many brothers, back in 2003 I think we had 8 weddings in one year. And I know many of my girlfriends have A LOT more then 3 to attend next year.

I'm going to be honored to be a part of Aubrey's wedding in July & Krista's wedding in November of 2009. Both are marrying really awesome guys that make me laugh hysterically. And Jen's wedding in October has been a long time in works considering she's marrying one of our good guy friends that we all grew up with.

It's great to think that my long time friends are stepping into the next chapter of their lives with the men they love!

A New Addition to the Hetherington Family!!!

My brother, Brian and sister in law's baby girl - Kelsey Jeannette Hetherington was born December 5th, 2008! She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. We can't wait to meet her when we go up to Maryland (again!) for Christmas.

Thanksgiving & 10 Years Later...

For a second time in a month we made the road trip up to the DC area for Thanksgiving and my 10 Year reunion from good ol' Quince Orchard High School.

Thanksgiving has usually been done with Dave's family but this year we did it with Brian & Amy. It being only days away from Amy's due date we did a very low key ordered dinner at their house so that no one had to cook. Amy's brother, Eric & his wife, Michelle and their new baby, Lily came over. It was a low stress great way to spend the holiday.

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to Gaithersburg for my reunion. Very thankfully, we were able to stay at the Banig's house and they were willing to watch Arden the night of the reunion. That meant so much to us!!! It's still weird for me not to have a "home" when I go home to Gaithersburg since my parents moved, so it was nice to feel like we had one. I was also telling Mrs. Banig how it's funny to me how we spent so much time in high school trying to avoid our friend's parents and now that we're older they become people and friends that we want to spend time with. We had a really nice time staying there and I will forever be grateful to them for that!

The reunion was a trip. The combination of open bar and the awkwardness of conversations with people you haven't seen in 10 years made for a lot of funny stories. It's not very often that all 9 of us high school girlfriends are all in the same place at the same time to hang out, so that was great. The bar itself was also pretty comical towards the end of the evening once the "reunion" was over, but by that point it became a bit fuzzy. All in all, it was a super fun evening of catching up and seeing old friends and what people looked like now or were up to 10 years later. It's still weird that we graduated high school TEN years ago. Part of me feels like high school was forever ago and part of me feels like it was just yesterday if that makes any sense at all.

Halloween & A Baby Shower

Ok for anyone that actually reads this blog...I'm working on finally getting to post events because I have been super slack since Halloween!

Halloween morning Arden and I went to music class, where all the kids were in costume. Arden in her fish costume, which was a huge hit. Arden's favorite was Cade who dressed up like a Christmas tree complete with lights on his stroller. She thought the Christmas ornaments that his mom sewed to his onesie were fun to play with. Arden loves music class, especially sitting in Miss Suzanne's lap. She spends most of the class away from me the social butterfly that she is!

Then Arden and I hit the road up to Maryland because it was the weekend for my brother, Brian & sister in law, Amy's baby shower. The last part of the road trip was a bit hairy by myself in the car with a toddler that was DONE being in the car. It made me very much appreciate Dave's help on road trips! But we got there and Arden got to go trick-or-treating in Brian's neighborhood in Annapolis. I use the word trick-or-treating loosely, considering I don't think she grasped the whole collecting candy concept. She was more excited to be allowed to walk around in the street at night. Then Saturday we had Brian & Amy's shower. It was a lot of fun. I was in charge of "games" one of which I decided to do for the boys where they had to "chug" beer through a baby bottle.

Amy & Brian got lots of goodies for their upcoming baby girl and seemed to have a great time. Arden spent her time at the baby shower eating ice cubes from the drinks tub and ripping the tissue paper from the gift bags so she had a good time too!

Later that night, I was able to leave Arden with my parents and drive to Gaithersburg to meet up with my high school girl friends. It was Jen's birthday so everyone was hanging out a Greg's downtown in DC. It was a fun night!

Kid's Costume & Pumpkin Carving Party

So every year Dave and I host a pumpkin carving party. It's funny to see it evolve over the years. It used to be a late night event with a lot of alcohol and then we've all had kids. So it's become a lot more family friendly, and has morphed into a kids costume party and pumpkin carving get together. Last year Arden wasn't mobile so I was able to get a lot more pictures. This year, she's all over the place and even took a header off the back deck stairs (she's fine) but not as many pictures to post. It's hard to be a hostess, a mother and document the event at the same time! But despite the rain and my worries about having a bunch of toddlers in a small house, it was a fun party! Arden-the fish, Oscar-the pterodactyl, and Killian-the monkey- all seemed to interact fine in the animal kingdom.
I think next year we'll go back to hosting it in the afternoon after nap times, because it's kind of anti climatic to carve a pumpkin and then not be able to light it up. Of course, I messed up my Obama pumpkin anyway, so that was a bummer. But overall it was a good party!

Obama Mama

I'm stealing my friend Ellen's blog title.... So obviously there's a historic election on our hands. You'd have to be literally living under a rock to not know that or be affected by the media and commercials. North Carolina is a "battleground" state so there has been a ton of activity with candidates and the such campaigning here, especially since Raleigh is the capital. Anyone that knows Dave and my views on just about anything knows that we're definitely voting for Obama over the other guy. Hopefully enough people will agree with us and we can get some hope for change in Washington that is long overdue. Ok, I'll step of my soapbox now....but get out and VOTE!James Taylor, being a Carolina native, was doing a Obama benefit tour throughout North Carolina. Arden and I were headed downtown to the Obama headquarters anyway to get a new sticker and ended up attending the free concert. It's a bit challenging to actually "see" a concert with a wandering toddler, but she was a hit with the crowd because of her shirt! She even got her picture taken a few times.

Pumpkin Patch

We headed to Hill Ridge Farm's Pumpkin Patch over the weekend with the Cuales and Marks families. All the kids seemed to have a blast! Not sure how much "farming" actually occurs on this farm but they had tons of activities for the kids. Arden really loved the corn playroom which was a gazebo filled about a foot deep with corn kernels. She thought it was the funniest thing to toss them in the air. She also played in the hay maze and Dave and I commented on how different the maze probably seemed to someone that's only 2 feet tall! Then we took the much anticipated hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Arden was excited on the hayride and pointed to things as we went by.

But she was in pumpkin mecca when we got off. She's been obsessed with pumpkins this month, pointing to them and getting all excited anytime we go anywhere that has a display of pumpkins (which of course is quite a frequent occurrence in October) So she got off the hayride and maybe a beeline for the field of pumpkins. She wanted to touch and sit on all of them, selecting the perfect one (or maybe 30) pumpkins that she wanted to take home. It's so much fun to see her experience her world and watch her do new things!

2nd Trip to Asheville & a BABY FREE Weekend!

It's a good thing we love Asheville, because we headed back there for our second weekend in September! This time we were invited to a wedding at Claxton Farm, which is where we got married almost three years ago. We thought it would be a great weekend to enjoy the setting of our wedding without the stress of it! And best of all, my parents offered to watch Arden so we'd have our first baby-free weekend! I was worried about being upset, but I didn't cry at all. We of course missed her, but it was time for some couple time. We spent Saturday sleeping in & getting a big breakfast and walking around Asheville shopping. We found we got more stuff for Arden then we did for ourselves, including a adorable tie-dye skirt that she will eventually grow into.
The wedding itself was very nice. There were some similarities to our own wedding which was almost exactly three years earlier. I still love the uniqueness of this location and it suited not only Dave & mine, but the bride & groom- Neill & Cori's personalities very well. Dave had lost his wedding ring while we were at Shakori back in April so I got him a new one and gave it to him at the same place that he received the first one. Hopefully, he won't lose this one!

1st Trip to Asheville & Dave's Race

So I've become a blog slacker. Which is ironic considering I'm a bit of a blog stalker and the first to nag my friends when they don't update theirs. I've been meaning to do it, but I'm finally sitting down and adding posts from our adventures the past month or so.

The first weekend in September Dave completed the Blue Ridge Relay Race. It's a 208 mile race from Greyson Highlands State Park, VA to Asheville, NC. He was a member of a 12 person team (creatively named "12 Pack") and each member had to run 3 legs of the race. His friend, Mason & his wife Shannon organized the whole thing. They did a great job not only renting vans and getting supplies but also charting out each leg of the race for the runners. Dave's first leg was the middle of the day on Friday and only 4.6 miles. Then his second and hardest leg was at midnight and a little over 7 miles. But he said it was uphill and downhill the whole way which is what made it hard. Then his final leg was supposedly 9.4 miles but he doesn't think it was that long. He ran a total of 21.5 miles! It wasn't exactly the easiest race to be a spectator for, so Arden and I drove up to Asheville and stayed with our friend, Becky, Friday night. Dave's group was on schedule to get into Asheville right after lunch time so we headed to the finish line to wait for them. Dave wasn't actually running the final leg, so he was there a bit earlier. Need less to say, after they had all been running for 31 straight hours with limited sleep the whole team was pretty beat. But the goal was to finish and they did! Here they are crossing the finish line behind Luke, who ran the final leg.

After the rest of the team packed up the vans and headed back to Raleigh, Becky, Dave, Arden & I went to the Mellow Mushroom for some food. Dave got about 1/2 way through his beer before realizing he was exhausted and almost fell asleep at the table. We got him back to Becky's where he slept from 6 pm to 7 am without moving. And he was just a little sore the next day or two ;-) But it's been two weeks now since the race and he's back to running and has his sights set on running the Raleigh half marathon in November.

What's up with us

So I haven't posted a blog in awhile. Nothing really major has been going on, and I've mostly just been lazy.

Arden's all over the place these days. She's real into climbing on things. Mostly up and down the couch, on Maggie and up our deck stairs. We've been going to music class every friday for a little over a month now. She loves being around the kids and shaking and dancing, I'll try to get some pics next class. It's hard because she's in constant motion. She's had two visits from her Noani (my mom) and it's hard to tell who adores who more. Mom and I took Arden to the children's museum, Marbles downtown, which Arden loved! she liked walking around and exploring all the new things to try to put in her mouth the most. Most of the exhibits she'll need to grow into a bit, but she had fun.



A few weekends back, I got out and went to the Avett Brothers show with Ellen and Steve. Good times. I even made Ellen smoosh up front with me for a few songs. It was a sold out show, which is good for them, but makes it super crowded. All in all it was a fun night.

Dave's been working a TON. Late nights and weekends for over a month now, which sucks on a lot of levels, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I keep telling myself- this too shall pass.

My best friend Brittny just left to start a new chapter in her life by going to grad school out in Boulder, CO. While I'm totally happy for her to be taking this step and know that she needs to, it still stings that I won't get to see her all the time and don't know when I'll see her next. Thank goodness for cell phones, internet and email though. It's a good lesson in attachment for me, but that hasn't made it hurt any less yet.

Some other new Arden pics to share as well. Dave had put my socks on her the other day, and she was posing. And the second one is just a cute messy food face.

More Arden Tricks!

Here are the latest Arden videos! She's learning animal noises and body parts! I think only a parent can truly translate all the nuances of developing language at this stage, though!
Enjoy!

Arden's Walking!

Arden's been working on taking her first steps for about a week or two now. It started with standing up from a squatting position without pulling up and then some wobbly few steps and then last Saturday she just decided to give it a shot. Since last week she's improved tremendously and is walking all over the place. Video is a bit difficult, but here's a few clips of her progression! They're all real short since she still falls a bit.

Last Saturday


Drunken baby steps


This Saturday- She's getting good!

Father's Day at my Parent's

We went to my parent's place near the beach for father's day. That way, I could be with my Dad, in addition to Dave being with Arden. Arden's schedule got all messed up Friday so she ended up being awake in the car for most of the trip down, but Dave entertained her in the backseat by having a car seat dance party and playing peek-a-boo with Gigi (her lovey).

Saturday we went out on my Dad's boat which Dave was nervous about, but seemed to be ok if Arden was strapped to him or if he wasn't responsible for her when she wasn't. She seemed to get her sea legs and tolerate the baby life jacket quite well! We stopped for a picnic in Southport Marina and then she took a nap on the ride back. Later that afternoon we all took a dip at the pool and Arden enjoyed her baby float.

Then on Sunday, Father's Day, Arden gave Dave the painting she had made him. I had her try her "hand" (pun intended) at finger painting last week to make him a card. I prepped the whole kitchen table with newspaper and stripped her down and got a bath ready for the inevitable mess. She painted two pictures- one for Dave and one for my parents. Then she got paint on her face and was a little confused. But I matted the painting on construction paper and attached the below picture to it with a note that said "Happy Father's Day Love, Arden" on it. He seemed to get a kick out if it. He also picked out her shirt to wear on Father's Day- "My Daddy Can Fix Anything" which I thought was a cute shirt when I bought it, being that Dave is a carpenter and can really fix anything.

I decided to start a Father's Day tradition of taking a picture of Dave and Arden every year on Father's Day and putting them in an album for him to see how she's grown each year. This was last year's picture, when she was only a few weeks old. And here's this year's picture. Does anyone see the similarities?

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Daddies out there!