Cade - 3 Months

I'm a couple of days late on this. Friday, our newest member of the family officially turned 3 months old! Yay for Cade!

The little guy that used to scream at us constantly has morphed into a pretty happy baby. I like this baby a lot more than the one we brought home from the hospital! (Of course, having said that, today's been a particularly rough day when he hasn't been happy much of it. At least today is now the oddity instead of the norm.) His smiles and coos are now smiles, laughs and full on conversations. Sometimes he's got a whole lot to say. And, if you give him the eye contact, he'll give you the sounds.

(Can anyone actually see the video here? I've tried uploading a couple of ways? My draft shows it but I don't see it online.)

Nights are getting somewhat better....most nights. I've all but given up on the bassinet until he starts sleeping a bit more. A gal's got to survive so we're doing what works best for us right now. Cade's given us some fleeting glimpses of what it will be like to have a sleeping baby but isn't at all consistent yet. We've gotten a handful of 5 hour stretches from him, 2 of which that have actually been when I was sleeping too (as opposed to starting at 7 or 8 o'clock at night when I'm still up for several of those hours). The unfortunate part about that is that the 2 times that's happened, I wasn't able to enjoy it. Something about the fact that I haven't slept that long at one time for almost a year now prevents my body from being able to do it now. Ain't that a kick in the pants?!? Perhaps once it starts happening more regularly (any day now, Cade, ok?) I'll get used to it quickly.

My Funny Bunny

He's growing like a weed but I have no idea how much. We don't have an wellness visit to the pediatrician until he's 4 months old so I'm trying to figure out a way to get him weighed on one of those baby scales soon. I'll say this, he sure is feeling a lot heavier. My back sure thinks so. The little guy still wants to be held most of the time so he's either in my arms or in my ergo baby carrier a good portion of the day. Let's just say that those massages I'm treating myself to every other week and occasional nights in the hot tub are still not enough. My back is taking a beating and is pretty sore/strained every day.

Cade has officially discovered his hands and does a pretty good job of finding them. He loves sticking those cute fingers in his mouth and sucking away. The way he likes to nibble on our fingers and the way he's been fussing makes me think we might have an early teether on our hands. Only time will tell if I'm right about that.

Even though I swore I was going to be a more together parent 2nd time around and get the baby announcement straight away, I had the same timing as I did with Dylan. So, at 3 months, the birth announcement finally went out. Hey, at least I'm consistent. And, since all the folks that were mailed it should have seen it by now (except for those living abroad), here it is.

Front

Back

Probably one of Cade's biggest developments for this month is his neck control. He's been a strong little guy from day 1, lifting his head off my shoulder hours after his birth but that control is something that only comes with maturity. One of his newest tricks is playing Superman and flying through the house. That trick has payed off and his neck is just about ready for some our seats and play things that sit up. Something to look forward to very soon!

Cousin Tubby Time

Easter night was Jody's family's last night spent at the house. We couldn't let their trip pass without having checked one more thing off the list. I mean, what's a family get together without some bribery material? Without further ado, here are some pictures of cute boys and bubbles. What could be better?!?

And during bath time, Presley and Reece had the rare moment of
playing nicely....kicking a ball in the back yard.

Marcy sneaking in some more Cade cuddle time.

On Monday, Jody's gang would pack up and leave. But, not before one more fun family event.

Our 2nd Major Hosting Holiday

Less than 2 months after moving into our house, we gave the supposedly "perfect for parties" floor plan a good test by hosting our first big family event - Thanksgiving. While we've had a couple of other parties since then, Easter would be our 2nd opportunity to host a major holiday. Normally Mike's uncle Bob takes the reign on hosting that one, but him being fresh off open heart surgery put him in no position for house guests. So, we took the pressure off him and had the gang over here.

As with Thanksgiving, we had FAR too much food. With about 20 people, half being kids, we also had plenty of chaos. However, the party went great and it was even nice enough to spend some of the afternoon outside.

Dylan and Cade Looking Spiffy for Easter

The Boys - Ryker, Dylan, Cade, Justin, Ryan, Jacob and Corwin (with the thumbs up)

Serving the Food Buffet Style

Lovely Cookies Sent to Us by Niece Emily

Dylan Eating a Chocolate Bunny Pop
(He had that in his hand for at least an hour)

Cousin Jamie Pushing Ryan, Dylan and Justin

Playin' Ball

Jessie and Kat Watchin' All the Boys Play

Swingin'

Kristina and Betsy

Mike Gave Tractor Rides

Ryker

Ryan

Jamie Taking a Turn on the Lawn Mower

Cade Sleeping

Me and Cade

After Jamie's go round on the tractor it wouldn't start up again. So instead of rides, it entertained the boys by becoming a project then was left to become an expensive lawn ornament until Mike pushed it to the garage that night. After many more attempts and tinkering, Mike finally got it started again a couple of days later.

Dylan on the Lawn Ornament

Boys Tinkering with an Audience

The little boys were so cute watching on that I tried to get a picture of them all. With that many squirmy boys, it was impossible to get one shot with them all facing the camera. So, instead of one picture of them, here is a series. I think the combo of them all equals about one good picture.

After the family packed up and left, it was odd that the house felt quiet with it "only" being 9 of us left. 

Hop

Since Jody's gang was here for Easter, the Easter bunny had a lot of baskets and treats to bring here. To get prepped for the holiday, we got the movie Hop to watch. Dylan likes to watch movies on a continuous loop. Once he watches a new one that he likes, we get to watch it non stop for weeks. Luckily, I think he's finally moved on from Hop. It's a cute movie but I would be happy not having to watch it again until next Easter. Oh, but one of the things he took from the movie and has incorporated into play is that the Easter bunny poops out not poop but jelly beans. Now all of Dylan's toys like to poop jellybeans. Joy.

On Easter morning, the adults had a little scrambling to do since the 2 Easter bunnies in charge of the candy at our house had a little miscommunication and there was no chocolate to stuff in little plastic eggs. What's Easter without chocolate?!?! (Though, thanks to an apparent active Easter bunny diet, we had plenty of jelly beans.) So the tall, red headed Easter bunny made a last minute run to the store while the 3 Easter bunnies left behind starting assembling Easter baskets and stuffing eggs to hide in the yard. Of course, the kids were non the wiser to the chaos so it worked out fine.

With the little boys still in their pj's, we showed the kids to the baskets and there was much excitement. Well, Reece is 15 so his excitement was kept all internal but I'm sure it was there.

Baskets all in a row.

Dylan Checking Out His Toys From EB

Ryker Digging Into His Basket

Presley and Reece

With Easter baskets emptied, it was time to go fill them with hunted eggs. Funny thing. I thought we had about a million eggs. The downside of having a big yard is that those eggs seemed like nothing once dispersed around. Dylan and Ryker did a great job of finding eggs and Reece and Presley did a great job helping the little boys and then cleaning up what the little ones didn't find.

Marcy, Ryker, Dylan and Jody

Dylan Found One!

Presley Doing Clean Up

Cade and I Watched On

Ryker Checking Out His Candy

Dylan Happy With His Loot

It was really fun to have such a big group involved. It made a fun activity larger in scope which just made it better. With all the kids stuffing themselves with candy and leaving no room for real food, it was time to get the gang ready and start prepping food. We were to host the whole family for the holiday!