My splasher

Water Aerobics 101

Sleep and pictures

Yay! It's the weekend for me. Tomorrow is Halloween and I'm still undecided on what costume Caden will wear. I guess we'll try them all on and see what fits - then I'll post some pictures.

Caden slept really well last night. He went to bed around 8:45pm and woke up around 2:30am. He only stayed awake for about 10 minutes, and then I woke him up around 5:30am to leave. Tammy said he had a good day today as well. He took two good naps, but of course he won't take his evening nap for Mommy. That means he'll be in bed early tonight, which typically results in frequent wakings and up early. Oy vey!

These pictures are all from when he was not feeling well. Poor little guy.

Not me! Monday

I've decided to join in on the Not me! Monday fun. If you decided to join in too, please make sureyou click on the Not me! Monday button that links back to MckMamma's blog for the rules :)

Last week I was out sick on Wednesday. Ryan had to help his cousin move, so I stayed home with Caden for a few hours in the afternoon. I was feeling miserable with my cold, so I did not sneak out to Kohls and buy some new clothes to help me feel better and not tell anyone.

Caden came down sick and this weekend because he caught Mommy's cold. I felt so bad for my little man and just wanted him to be healthy and happy. I did not give him juice when I said he would not have juice until he was closer to one. (BTW, he loved it!)

I did not cry my eyes out at 4am on Sunday because Caden would not sleep and I wanted Ryan to wake up and let me go to sleep.

I did not Caden watch Baby Einsteins on repeat several times, so I could clean the house on Friday.

I had to have a cyst removed this past Friday and I did not act like the biggest baby when the doctor gave me a shot to numb it. She told me she needed to give me one more shot, but I did not tell her she was crazy if she thought she was going to do that again. She went ahead with the procedure while I was 1/2 numb. Ouch!

The calm before the storm

I've been fighting a cold this week. Ick! Caden not sleeping, me not being able to sleep when Caden finally sleeps - it's been one rough week. I missed a day of work too. I'm still not feeling all that great. I think Caden knew I needed a good night sleep. He slept through the night Thursday night. He slept from 8:30pm - 4:30am - ate and fast asleep again until 7am. He woke up coughing and I just knew he was getting my cold. I had this feeling that God was telling me something - he slept through the night because you are in for a long and tiring weekend. Caden acted fine all day yesterday. A few coughs and sneezes here and there, but when bedtime came around the storm hit - my poor baby is sick. God was sending me a message.

We didn't sleep a wink last night. He is so congested and when he sneezes - snots galore. I took him tot he doctor this morning. Thankfully he is clear of ear infections and his lungs sound good. The pediatrician told me just to watch for a fever, wheezing or tugging at the ears. She said this is probably one of many colds that he will get between now and February. Great! Let's pray she is wrong and this will be his only cold. Poor baby! He hammed it up for the doctor as usual :)

Well, I have lots more updates, pictures and videos to share. I'll be back to post once Caden is feeling better and I'm rested.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers that Caden gets better soon!

Night out on the town

On Saturday I made a last minute decision to go out. Ryan’s younger brother is in town from the Navy and I imagine won’t see much of him when he leaves as he’ll be stationed in Hawaii. I tired from the rough night with Caden and it is SO hard to leave him overnight. I know my MIL takes great care of him, but I just have a hard time being away from him. I always feel like something is missing. Naturally.

I’m glad I went though. We all had a really nice time. It was nice to get out and talk amongst adults, have a few drinks and laugh. We didn’t get home until after 2am and I was up at 6am and then 7:30am – just couldn’t sleep. So, I’m paying for it now. It’s Monday and I’m still paying for it. Caden didn’t sleep well last night either, so as usual I’m sleepy. I’m pretty much used to be tired now except I hate that feeling where you feel like you need toothpicks to keep your eyes open.

It turns out I forgot to pack something extremely important for my baby.Bottles. How the eff do you forgot to bring bottles? MIL had to run to Meijer at 1:30am. Not only did I feel just awful about that – I felt like a bad mom for forgetting something so important. Sometimes I feel like I have no brains left these days.
Here are a few pictures from our night out. Ignore the dufis who got in the way of a really nice picture of Ryan and me.

Look at this face!

This face makes days easy... even when running on fumes.

Sleep deprived

Well last night was the complete opposite then Caden's sleeping through the night before. He woke up at 1:30am when Ryan was getting ready to leave for work. I thought if I nursed him he would fall right back to sleep like he normally does. No such luck. He was squealing, chirping, crying, back to squealing, chirping.. I'm sure you get my drift - until 4am! At that point I just gave in and pulled him into bed with me. He woke me up at 5:30am because he was tossing and turning. Then he woke up at 6:30am to eat and again at 7:30am for the morning.

Mommy is T I R E D.

the end.

Happy 6 Months Baby Boy!

You are 6 months old today! I can't believe it. A 1/2 year has come and gone. I can't imagine how fast the next 6 months will pass. I don't want you to grow up. Mommy wants to keep you 6 months old forever ;) For your 1/2 year birthday you decided you would sleep in. You slept from 8:30-4:30am. After you ate you fell back asleep until 7:30am! I hope you enjoyed your sleep - Mommy knows she did. Don't be afraid to do that every night :) It's good for you and everyone around you. You are such a sweet and happy baby. Mommy and Daddy love you SO much! You bring so much happiness to our lives and you make everything worth it, so thank you for that. We love you baby boy! XOXOXOXO

**

By 5 months

Most babies should be able to . . .
Roll over - Yes
Do small mini push ups - Yes
Pay attention to small objects held in front of his or her face - All the time
Reach out for objects - Yes
Grasp a rattle or toy - Yes - you love your toys!

Some babies will probably be able to . . .
Hold head level with body when pulled to sit - Yes
Make razzing sound - Yes, but you don't do this much anymore
Turn to new sounds - Yes - we all just love your singing, chirping and squealing
Recognize own name - Most days

Some babies could possibly be able to . . .
Get upset if you take a toy away - Yes, you were doing this at 4 months old
Pass object from one hand to the other - Yes
Pull up to standing position from sitting - No
Try to get toy or object that is out of reach - Yes
Sit momentarily without support - for a nanosecond until the day before you turned 6 months
Repeat sounds like ma-ma-ma-ma or da-da-da-da - No
Separation and stranger anxiety may begin - No

**

By 6 Months

Most babies should be able to . . .
Keep head level when pulled to sitting position - Yes
Sit momentarily with minimal support - Yes
Roll back in forth in both directions - Yes
Imitate sound and facial expressions - Yes
Reach for and grabs objects and toys - Yes

Some babies will probably be able to . . .
Sit without support - as of the day before you turned 6 months (yesterday) only for 1 minute
Feed self a cracker - haven't tried this yet (Mommy is afraid you will choke)
Get upset if you take a toy away - Yes
Pull up to standing position from sitting - on your own? No
Work at getting a toy that is out of reach - Yes
Repeat sounds like ma-ma-ma-ma or da-da-da-da - when your hand is in your mouth and your talking it sounds like you are saying Mum

Some babies could possibly be able to . . .
Start crawling - No
Get into a sitting position from stomach - No
Say mama or dada - No
Pick up small objects with fingers - using your raking grasp you can
Babble and combine two syllable sounds - No
Separation and stranger anxiety may begin - No

Six month appointment and more..

Caden had his 6 month appointment today. He is two days shy of 6 months today - almost a 1/2 of a year ~ can you believe it? He weighed in at 17lbs 1oz and is 25 inches long. His head circumference was 17 inches. (2lb 1oz gain, 1.5 inch increase since 4 months). The doctor said he is growing beautifully. She showed me the chart and where he stands and he is right on the marker. I talked to her about my concerns on how fussy Caden can be for the sitters when it's time to take his bottle. It seems like he has more bad days then good days where he won't take much. On bad days he may only drink 4-8 oz while I am away during a 10 hour stretch. On a good day he'll take about 13oz. The doctor believes it can be due to teething or because he prefers the breast. She said most BF babies act this way towards bottles. She also said not to be concerned because if he was really hungry he would definitely eat. In addition, he is growing perfectly and because he is mostly BF I should not count ounces. If he wasn't gaining weight, then she would be concerned.

I've been reading Babies First Year and read that you can start offering juice at this age, but I'm just not ready to give him juice. In all honesty I want to wait until he is at least a year old. The doctor was fine with that. She told me to do whatever I feel is best. I don't want to feed him meat out of the jars either. Eck! It looks disgusting. She gave us some pointers on making our own baby meat, so we can control what is in there. We agreed to go that route and to start introducing meats when he is 7-8 months old. She didn't seem to concerned that he wasn't eating a lot of cereal either. I've read that BF babies need cereal/oatmeal, green veggies and meat to provide iron after 4 months.

Caden just LOVES to show off for the doctor. She laid him down on his back and he immediately rolled over to his tummy with such strength. Then he started scooting towards the stethoscope she had laying on the table. THEN he started moving around in a circle on his belly. It was SO cute and she was thoroughly impressed with him. WTG Caden!! He did get one shot and only cried for less than 30 seconds. He is getting better each time we go.

Finally we discussed Caden's waking up during the night. He still wakes up 2-3 times a night. I read in Babies First Year he really should be sleeping through the night and should not need to eat during the night either. I know that he has trouble soothing himself back to sleep and likes to nurse. IMO, I am enabling a bad habit. It's just so much easier to nurse him back to sleep than to let him cry. The pediatrician said she agrees he is waking up to nurse and that is what comes with BFing and motherhood. She said if he is one years old and still doing this THEN we can talk. What? A year?? I really don't think I'll be BFing that long, but who knows. I change my mind all the time. It's a lot harder to stop then I thought. I dont' know if I am ready to lose that part of our relationship. Maybe he will self-wean by 9-10 months? Knowing Caden he won't. He is a boob man. No more doctors until he is 9 months old!

Over the last couple of days Caden has discovered a few things. The funny part is EVERY time I read something on my mommy site about what their little ones are doing - Caden does them within a week.

~He has discovered he can scream at the top of his lungs. He only did it one day this week, but it was so funny. He would scream like something was wrong and then smile.

~He is starting to pull on the diaper tabs every time I put a new diaper on him.

~Yesterday in the tub he discovered his "doodle and friends".

~Today he started panting like he was out of breath. Since Mommy and Daddy thinks it is so funny he won't stop.

I forgot to mention that I took today off of work. We had a rough night of sleep the night before and Ryan had to fix his breaks on his car today. It just made sense to stay home, sleep in, and spend time with Caden :) Although Caden did wake up twice last night he didn't wake up for the morning until 7:30am. Here are a few pictures from today.

Trip to Myrtle Beach and more!

I know... I've been slacking. I haven't had much time on the computer for "free time". I have been messing with my blog trying to get a new layout, but I keep receiving some stupid message, so I'm waiting for blogger support to fix it. So for now I'm using a different template (which is boring I know). In midst of trying to upload a new template I lost some things on my blog including pictures, my blog list and Caden's milestones. I'm working on adding them back (hopefully I will get that done before bed).

Enough with the boring stuff - let's talk about Caden! We have lots of new things going on with my little boy. We'll start with teeth! That's right, not a tooth - teeth. His front two bottom teeth cut over the last week. He was so miserable the two days these came through. I felt so bad for him. It's too bad moms can't take away this pain from them. I would endure all of the pain he would/will suffer in life as I'm sure most moms would.

Let's see... I'll just make a little list of all the other new things going on with Caden.

~He is growing more hair

~Sitting up better, but still assisted

~Stares at Mommy and smiles when I realize he is staring at me (this just melts my heart)

~Recognizes his name

~Scooches around on belly and can do a complete circle

~Puts his butt up in the air while on tummy (getting ready for crawling!)

Caden also went on his first airplane ride the 1st. Caden and I took a trip to Myrtle Beach to visit my parents for about a week. He did really well on the plane. Our flight there was very early and our flight home was way past his bedtime, so he basically slept the entire ride. He did cry hysterically when we first boarded both times because he was exhausted beyond means, but he did fall alseep as we were taking off. Every time the flight attendants or the pilot would talk his eyes would pop open, but he would drift back off into lala land. Our flight home was delayed and we didn't get home until after 1 in the morning. We were exhausted needless to say.

Our trip was great. Caden met his Grandpa for the first time and Grandma got to feed him breakfast and dinner every night. They both miss him and his singing in the morning. My mom can't believe how happy he is in the morning. Unlike his Mommy and Daddy. Ha! Caden woke up every morning around 5:30am - after waking up a few times during the night. He would wake up the whole house with his singing. I guess Kaysea (my parents dog) slept in the day after we were gone. Here are a few pictures from our visit (There are more pictures in my Photobucket account - just click on Photobucket Pics and view them under Caden 5 months). We took Caden to Ripley's Aquarium and the beach. It was beautiful weather. I forgot sunscreen for Caden, so our trip to the beach was short lived.