[j]erms, jogging, and other Jadon things...

Germs: Thanks to our son being so well loved at church...and us being there all the time...not to mention Jadon's newfound love of putting EVERYTHING in his mouth...this poor kid gets exposed to A LOT of germs! Which means WE get exposed to a lot of germs. Bummer. We are just finally getting over yet another cold--Jadon's 8th and my 6th since we got him 8 months ago...Poor little guy. And poor me. People keep telling me that this is strengthening his immune system, though, and he won't get sick at all by the time he gets into Kindergarten. I hope they're right.

Jogging: In the past few months, it seems like a bunch more of my friends have gotten more serious about running. Which is so cool because we can hang out and be healthy at the same time (which is much cheaper than hanging out at Starbucks, too!)...On Saturday mornings, Lindsey, Sheri, Amy, Megan, and a few sporadic others and I meet up at Tamarack in Carlsbad at 7:30 and run amidst the throngs of other athletes. It's SO inspiring! I never would have guessed that I actually look forward to getting up early on a Saturday morning. And Jim gets a morning to himself since I usually push Jadon in the BOB. I LOVE our conversations about life, babies, God, working out, relationships, etc...Always one of the highlights of my week! And I've developed new friendships with women I always thought SEEMED cool from a distance but I never had the opportunity to get to know them before. Very fun.

These past two weeks, I've also enjoyed a new Tuesday/Thursday jogging regimen with Lauren. We meet at the "new" (OK, it's a year or 2 old, but I just discovered it) bike path by Guajome Park. I've been walk/jogging over to meet her since it's only a mile or so from my house (can't hurt to burn a few extra calories!), and Jadon and Danica love hanging out. OK, so maybe not so much...yet. Danica loves saying hi to "baby Jay", but Jadon still gets a little shy around cute older women! :o) But they babble away in their matching BOBs while Lauren and I catch up on our own babble. Our favorite topic of conversation: how great it is that we get to do this when last year we would both be struggling through the 4th period lull! Jogging with our babies is SO much more fun than teaching reluctant learners!!!

This past Thursday was a GORGEOUS (tho a little hot) feels-like-summer day, and check out Jadon's cool sock tan he ended up with:

Other Jadon Things: This morning, thanks to Lauren's encouragement, we entered Jadon in his first race, the Carlsbad Junior Diaper Dash. It cost $30, which is completely ridiculous...BUT we spent that same amount for his first Santa photo at Christmas, and this is a "first" event at least as worthy as that...PLUS he got a t-shirt and a medal with this one! I am soooo glad we did it. Jadon was adorable in his "future runner" t-shirt, and he crawled with the best of 'em. After he kept trying to jump the gun at the start, he ended up dazed when the race actually began. But he made a rapid comeback, and was actually leading the pack for most of the 25-yard race...until all the commotion of parents with their cameras trying to coax their slow-poke kids got to him, and he started veering sideways. Another kid on the other side of the field broke into a final sprint out of Jadon's view, and by the time Jadon got re-focused, the other kid was already sitting on the other side of the finish line. Once Jadon got there, he decided he'd rather crawl ALONG the line instead of CROSSING it, but he still ended up with a solid 2nd place finish...What a little stud!

I have to say, I almost enjoyed watching Jim as much as watching Jadon. He was such the proud papa! I love my family!!!

Update: After reviewing the race film, I must make a correction: Jadon actually got 3rd place. The 1st little guy took off and made a bee-line, and I never saw him again. But who's actually counting places anyway? :o)