4 Months Old

So Baby Cade, you've been in the world for 4 months now.  It sounds like such a short amount of time, but the changes you've gone through are astounding  There is nothing more incredible than watching you grow into one amazing little guy.  Here are your four month stats:

• Your four month check-up is on Thursday so I'll come back with your weight and height.
• You wear size 2 diapers and size 6 months clothing (though you'll be in size three within the next week or so and some of your 6 months clothes are too short.
• You are very tall/long...or at least you seem so.  We'll find out on Thursday.
• You still eat every 3 hours.  You eat fairly well, though lately you seem a little more interested in everything going on around you than finishing a meal.  You stop eating quite frequently to smile at me or look around.  You're still on a breastmilk only diet. 
• Nighttime sleep is great!  You sleep anywhere from 5 - 7 hours when we first put you down (usually an average of 6 - 6.5), then wake up for a quick feed and back down for 3 - 4 hours.  You're still in a basinet by our bed.  I've stop beating myself up about that fact.  You aren't napping quite so well though.  Lately, you've only been napping for about 45 minutes at a time. 
• You are still soooooo happy!  The first thing everyone says when they meet you is, "He's so happy!  Is he always like this?"  Followed by, "He's so calm and laid back."  You will sit contently anywhere we are with anyone who wants to hold you. 
• You smile A LOT!  In fact, if you're not hungry or tired, you pretty much smile at me every time I smile at you which means both of us are smiling all day!  :)
• You love to jump!  You love jumping in your Jungle Jumperoo and the Johnny Jumper (doorway jumper) that we borrowed from Olivia.  You will also jump in our laps, on the floor or anywhere else your feet touch.
• You are a rockstar at tummy time and can hold your head up 90 degrees.  I think you'll be rolling over within the next couple of weeks (front to back).  You are almost there and will easily roll over with a tiny nudge. 
• You will grab anything that touches your hands and are reaching out for things.  Nothing, though, keeps you more entertained than sucking on your hands.  You love it so much you will even gag yourself trying to fit your whole hand in!  :)  Everything you grab goes straight into your mouth. 
• You're still quite vocal and you laugh and squeal now.  Melts my heart every time. 
• You are one incredible baby boy and you are loved so very much.

Can't wait to see what month four holds.  Love you sweet baby!

So Beautiful!

Last weekend was absolutely beautiful!  We wanted to get out and enjoy the amazing weather so we took Cade to the park.  He mostly rode around in his stroller for fear of sunburn (yikes!), but we did take him out to show him all the park had to offer...the lake, geese, playgrounds, bridges, and of course all the people. We look forward to going back this summer when Cade will be able to enjoy it even more. 

Let's Go Hawks!

We took Cade to his first professional sports game a few days ago.  With his sports crazed daddy, I'm sure this was the first of many.  I was worried about being "those parents" who have their baby in a place that really isn't meant for babies.  I protested the whole weekend and insisted that Cade and I would just stay home, but Todd really wanted us to go so we did.  We had great seats; Trent and TJ were sitting right behind the players' bench.  As usual, I was worried about nothing. Cade didn't fuss a bit!  He sat contently on our laps for 3 quarters (we left in the 4th) and even managed to fall asleep despite the incredible loud craziness around us.

Day Care

This was Cade's first week at day care.  Well, it's not really a day care, but that's what we call it.  Cade is staying with a lady named Ms. Debbie who takes care of children in her home.  She has turned her basement into a mini-day care and has 6 babies total.  Cade is the youngest and the rest of the kids range in age from 9 months to 3 years.  We were referred to her from a teacher I work with and feel very blessed to have scored a spot with her.  She only keeps teachers' kids (so she has our awesome schedule - holidays and summers off) and a few of my students actually stayed with her when they were younger - parents give great recommendations.  It's such a huge relief to feel confident that Cade is in a safe, nurturing, stimulating environment with someone who will love him and who is there to not only "watch" him all day, but to help him grow and develop too.  

As with many things pertaining to Cade, I was very nervous about how he would react to this transition.  But again, as with many things pertaining to Cade, he never fails to amaze me.  He was perfect!  Ms. Debbie reports that she doesn't think he even knows how to cry.  That he only wimpered once this week during tummy time (which he's still not that in to).  He ate every drop from every bottle every time.  He's fallen into a wonderful napping and eating schedule and spent his first week soaking up his new environment and hamming it up with Ms. Debbie and the other kids.  She said that he loves to watch them and that she's nicknamed him Smiley because that's pretty much what he does all day.  I can now safely say, without being afraid that I'm going to jinx this miracle, that we have an absolute angel baby.  Thank you God!  We're hoping that the coming weeks go as smoothly as this one has.  Whew!  Jumped one more hurdle in this whole new-mommy thing and landed safely without even a scratch.  Again, thank you God!

GJ Comes to Town

I've been back at work for two weeks now.  I'd like to say it's been easy, but I would be lying.  Leaving Cade to go to work for the first time in 3 months felt like someone had ripped my heart out with a bare hand.  I held it together surprisingly well, for the first 3 hours anyway.  Until I called my mom during my lunch time to see how it was going and she said that Cade wouldn't take the bottle.  I heard him crying in the background and completely fell apart.  In my mind he was near death from starvation and his entire world had crumbled in a mere 4 hours.  In reality, it was only an hour or so past his actual feeding time and he was probably just fine.  He eventually figured out the whole bottle thing and things were smooth sailing from there. 

My class gave me a warm welcome back with a huge sign outside of my classroom, breakfast and lunch for the week, cards and a "Cade plant" which will be planted at my mom's house and will "grow up with Cade".  Their sweet gestures certainly helped to ease the sting BUT being a full time teacher, a full time mommy and a full time student is without a doubt the hardest thing I've ever done.  I've never been so excited for summer!

My mom, aka GJ, came down to help with my transition back to work. There are no words to describe what an incredible help this was. She cleaned, did laundry, packed lunches, and most importantly took care of baby Cade like an expert nanny. She's definitely a natural...no wonder I turned out so great...j/k! :) She spoiled him with lots of clothes, toys, hugs, kisses and lots and lots of love. We tried everything we could to get her to stay, but couldn't make it happen...not yet anyhow! We're hoping she found lovely Lawrenceville very appealing and will move here very soon. Like this week. Please, Mom? Baby Cade, you are one lucky boy to have a grandma who loves you so much.