Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Cade shrimping...

This one is kinda long, but cute. He is "attempting" to roll over, but you can clearly see his problem... as long as he has his hands stuck in his mouth, his arms are getting in the way! Not much longer and he'll be rolling all over the place. Right now he just kind of scoots... or "shrimps" as Derek calls it (martial arts lingo).

Cade's favorite...

Cartoon -- Little Einsteins!

Here he is watching the intro to Little Einsteins... his most favorite cartoon in the world, haha. Seriously though, if I sing this song to him, he will get upset if I stop. I have to sing it over and over until he's done listening... he loves it.

(this clip is best with sound -- you can hear the song in the background)

Cade's paci...

Cade doesn't suck on a paci like babies normally do... but he has figured out which end to put in his mouth... and he knows how it works... Here he is demonstrating how HE takes his paci! :)

New Milestone, Signing & Sunning...

First of all, Cade finally rolled over!!! He rolled from back to tummy on Sunday afternoon. It took a lot of effort, but he did it, all on his own. He was halfway there & we set his stuffed pony just out of reach... well, he got it!

I know I mentioned signing in a previous post. I should probably explain. We do plan on signing with Cade and have already started signing TO him. Of course he won't be able to make signs himself until he has better control over his hands -- most babies can make signs by 12 months, and some as early as 9 months. He already recognizes the sign for "milk" and we are working on signs for "eat" and "more". In the beginning, we will sign for NEEDS and if he catches on easy enough, we will add others.

Hearing parents signing to hearing babies is proven to be beneficial in so many ways, I have to at least attempt to sign with Cade. Studies have shown that babies & toddlers that sign have less tantrums, talk earlier & have a larger vocabulary than non-signing babies. It also improves their reading skills. One of the most frustrating things between parents & baby is the communication gap. Sure we claim that we know what baby wants just by their cry... but always? How great would it be for Cade to be able to tell me that he's hungry or that his belly is aching? It's worth a try.

And signing to hearing babies is different than signing to non-hearing babies. You don't have to sign the whole sentence... just the key words... for instance, I ask Cade, "Are you ready for your milk?" as I am making the sign for milk.

And before you ask, NO, signing DOES NOT delay speech. If you were to sign only, and never speak to a child, then yes, it may. Signing will only aide in the communication between parent & child until the child can speak.

Now, for some fun stuff. I have this in my photobucket, but this is my new favorite picture! I'm not sure why... I just LOVE it though. Cade catching some rays after he took a swim.


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That's it for now. Check out the photobucket for some pics of Cade, outside & swimming in his yellow duckie. I've taken a bunch of video this week too so I'll try to get some of that up on the blog before the end of the week.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Wednesday! :)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Celebrating Good News with some Photos!

Cade saw the pediatric cardiologist on Friday morning. And THANK GOD, the doctor released him!!! They did another EKG & Echo on him and could find no reason to continue seeing him. The doctor was happy with the progress & development that Cade's heart had made. Even better news... he didn't cry once! Didn't even pucker! He was in an unusually good mood, even through having electrodes stuck all over his body, a tiny blood pressure cuff, and that gooey stuff on his chest... but nothing, not even a whimper! I was so proud!

Just look at my little man... he is growing up so fast!
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His new favorite thing to eat... his TOES!!!
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And sometimes he actually gets them to his mouth...
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We took Cade to the park today... It was hot but he seemed to enjoy the stroll.
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Here he is in front of the fountain...
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The sound of the water must have made him sleepy... he lasted about 2 minutes and then he was OUT!!!
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I just thought this was neat.. Derek & Cade in front of a REALLY BIG tree :)
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Finally an update...

Sorry I haven’t updated the blog in a few days. We have been busy… with what, I’m not sure, but seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I’ve been having a harder time balancing mommy life with working at home. It is so much harder than I anticipated. I still thank God every day for being able to stay at home with Cade. These are precious times in his life that I couldn’t imagine missing out on. Nothing is more important. We’re making it work, even though he’s not napping as much through the day, and I’m not able to work as much through the day -- coffee is my fuel and I can get a LOT of work done from 8-11 p.m. (while he’s in bed) – as long as I’ve had my evening pot of coffee!

Cade had his chest x-ray done today at the hospital. This is in preparation for his big appointment with the pediatric cardiologist on Friday morning. We are hoping that they will give us the ALL CLEAR on Friday and we won't have to go through any more tests. The x-ray was worse than we thought it would be. No, no one touched him. No machines touched him. He simply had to lay beneath the x-ray machine & be still. But I'm sure that anyone who was walking up or down the hallway outside thought we were skinning him alive. It was terrible. He cried and screamed like he was dying. When I finally was able to pick him up, he would look at the x-ray machine as if it were some kind of monster! He was terrified of it.

So as you can imagine, mommy is NOT looking forward to his EKG on Friday. I don't even want to think about it!

Other than our eventful day at the hospital today, Cade is wonderful. I won't brag on how well he has been sleeping at night... I learned my lesson the last time *wink wink*... He loves cartoons... ESPECIALLY Little Einsteins. He even has their book and he goes crazy every time he sees it. We actually figured out that if there are cartoons on, he WILL NOT go to sleep... we figured that out after trying to get him to go to sleep for over 2 hours, only to realize that we'd been watching a Family Guy marathon & he was fighting to stay up and watch it... after the show went off, The Office came on, and he fell right to sleep!

Coming soon to the blog: Baby Signing... That's right, you heard it here first! We will be signing with Cade... and if you interact with him on a regular basis, you'll be learning some signs too.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

5 Months...

I can hardly believe that Cade is 5 months old. Almost half a year! He changes every day, learns new things, new sounds, makes new faces... he's communicating better every day, letting us know when he's unhappy, when he thinks something is funny, showing his personality, becoming a little boy! We are so in love with this little dude... he is our world & we can't imagine him not being in it.

Cade just waking up this morning... a 5 month old!!!

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Milestones to look for this month:
~ Rolling over... he's been practicing... I have a feeling it won't be much longer.
~ Imitates sounds... I swear he can say "mom"... he may not know what he's saying but it gets me to running!!!
~ Recognizes his own name... Hopefully he won't think his name is "good boy" or "mommy's good boy" :)
~ Sits momentarily without support... We're not even close to this... yet... he's just getting to where he can sit WITH support!
~ Separation anxiety may begin... we are DEFINITELY seeing this in Cade! Keep mommy close!

I can't wait to see what this month will bring!!! Happy 5 months baby boy! :)

and p.s... there are lots of new pics from this weekend in his Photobucket! And I may add some more later...

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Time for some updates...

Sorry it's been a few days since I have posted anything... I do have a few things to share this morning...

First of all, Cade had the U/S on his sacral dimple on Monday. As far as the U/S tech is concerned, he is fine. The spinal cord is floating freely and there doesn't seem to be any problems. For one thing, he was kicking like crazy... we thought he was going to either crawl off of the table or get up and walk out of the room. And two, his bowels are functioning - he let a few stinkers on the tech out of sheer anger & frustration! It was a horrible experience though... Cade was sooooo scared & I think that the combination of him having to lay on his tummy for so long, the U/S wand being pressed into his back so hard, and just the whole procedure was scary to him... it was horrible. HORRIBLE! He cried so hard I thought he would be sick. And then after it was over and I finally got him settled down, the tech tried to make friends with him - reached out to shake Cade's little hand and Cade puckered his lip out and started crying again! He wanted NOTHING to do with "Mike". The test results will be inconclusive because the tech couldn't get the measurement of his spinal cord (Cade wouldn't be still long enough to get it). I guess the measurement is the main part of the test... he said it would be up to the pediatrician as to whether she will want further testing, but he didn't think she would since he is not having any problems that would warrant further testing.

Cade is sleeping better again - I know, when things are going good, I shouldn't talk about it. I'm not bragging this time... just letting everyone know that he IS sleeping better :)

For those of you who haven't noticed, there is a link in the right margin - Cade's Photobucket. It is password protected, but I have left a password hint, which by the way, IS case sensitive & you will need to use upper & lower case. Cade's Photobucket contains my favorite pics of Cade (and I take a LOT)... I will add to it every time I upload pics from my camera. There are sub albums, categorized by month. Hope you all enjoy!

I need to get some work done, but before I go, I want to share these pics... I finally found a Johnny Jump Up for Cade. I have heard about these & how much fun they are. I was having a hard time finding one - thought I was going to have to order it online, and found this one at Walmart (it was their last one)... I think it will be even more fun to him when he learns to jump... right now he just kind of spins around in circles, haha. So here is Cade in his Johnny Jump Up!


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Saturday, August 2, 2008

5 years...

Today Derek & I celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary.

It is hard to believe that it's been 5 years since we took our vows...
For better or worse... we've seen both.
For richer or poorer... we've seen both.
In sickness and in health... to a degree.

Our marriage has been wonderful. It's definitely not a walk in the park or a bed of roses, but it is an experience that I have enjoyed. I love being married to my best friend... my soul mate... and now the father of my son.

Happy Anniversary Derek... I love you more every day... and I'm looking forward to another year... or 80 years with you :)

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Friday, August 1, 2008

Nevermind...

I must have jinxed myself yesterday.

In yesterday's post (you can read it for yourself) I was so proud that Cade was sleeping through the night... well he must have wanted to prove me WRONG!!! Last night he slept until 1a.m. and then he was up ALL NIGHT LONG!!! I think he finally went to sleep at around 6a.m.

I'm pretty sure that he had a tummy ache... I just hate it when I don't know what's wrong with him... he was pitiful though and we spent most of the night rocking & crying (both of us!) He is feeling better now...

Just know that I WILL NOT be bragging on his sleep habits anymore... I don't want to jinx myself again!!!