Cade Michael - 1 Year!!!!

A year ago today, Cade and I were probably ome from the hospital. Though thrilled to have a healthy baby in my arms, I have to admit again that it wasn't the easiest\most joyful time in our lives. The healing from the birthing process was extremely painful for the first week or so and Cade wasn't happy for the first couple of months...which made us not very happy. Screaming baby + serious sleep deprivation = unhappy household. My what a difference a year makes! Cade is now a thriving, smiling, joyous little guy who sleeps quite well and I've come a long way in returning to my pre baby body (still a ways to go but I'm continually heading in the right direction). Now, let's talk about Cade and his developments.

Last month I reported that Cade was standing solo and cruising like a champ but wouldn't let us grab his hands to practice walking. Once he figured out what us holding his hands entailed, he got over his "don't touch my hands" preference and wants to walk with us all the time! And boy can he go for long distances and long periods of times. Our backs get quite sore from leaning over all the time. We do get the occasional break when he uses his walking toys to get around some. He will also stand solo for long periods of time playing with toys in his hands without holding onto anything. There have been a few times he's taken a half step to fall into our laps from the standing position too. It will really be any day now that Cade will decide to try to take some true first steps!

Cade loves hanging out and playing with his older brother and they're pretty cute together. Dylan played a "game" a lot for a week or so where he was looking for some sort of monster in the house. He'd make a loop around the house, going through rooms and doorways, looking for it. After Cade learned to love hand walking with us, Cade would walk behind him and look for the monster with Dylan. However, there have also been times when we were busy that Cade would play the game with Dylan crawling after him. It was pretty cute. Also on the play front, Cade loves knocking things down. Dylan will build a tower and Cade will knock it down. The true test of the game is trying to build the tower in full before Cade attacks. Putting things in and out of containers is also tons of fun for Cade. It always amazes me how long he can be happy just putting an object in, taking it out and repeating. Today he kept himself happy for about 10 minutes taking the jar of baby Advil in and out of it's box. Another activity that has been occupying his attention for a while is a ball tower he got for Christmas. He'll spend chunks of time putting a ball at the top, watching it roll down the levels, coming out on the floor and repeating.

Mealtimes are always chaotic at our house. It's important to us to have family dinners every night. However, between getting food on the table first for the kids and getting it cut up, grabbing napkins or a forgotten drink, picking up utensils off the floor, cleaning up messes and keeping everyone happy, it's rare that all 4 of us are sitting at the table at once. I see it slowly getting slightly less chaotic as Cade learns to sit with us more (or as we find things to entertain him while we're still sitting). Dinner has also gotten more "advanced" for Cade as he's become fascinated with using forks and spoons. He's gotten pretty decent with spearing food and eating it. The spoon is a good bit more messy but he really loves using both. And, towards the end of dinner, they magically transform from dinner tool to toy. Amazing!

This boy has developed leaps and bounds over the last few months in the sleep department. Not only is it extremely rare to have a middle of the night awakening, but he now very often puts himself to sleep. Whether nap time or at night, he always goes in the crib awake. Sometimes he'll play happily in the crib for a few minutes while other times he'll fuss for a while before catching some shut eye. In both cases though, it's obvious by us watching him on the monitor that he's doing what needs to be done and doesn't need our help doing it. What a big boy! In the mornings, he often will wake at an early hour (say 5am) stand up and yell for me only to lay down a few minutes later and sleep until 6:30 or 7.

Like most kids, Cade loves music. He likes to be the conductor. When he "plays" music by pushing buttons on his toys, he'll start waving his hand like he's leading the symphony\band. He also likes to "dance" by shaking his head back and forth. He thinks he's pretty funny....I agree but also think he's quite adorable. At night when he's getting cranky, we'll sometimes sing and dance with him in our arms. No matter his mood, that always seems to make him pretty happy. Here are a couple of videos of Cade and his music

Cade has also become quite the explorer. By far, his favorite thing to explore is drawers and cabinets. Due to how and where we hang out in our house, we have a lot more child proofing going on than we ever did with Dylan. We lock up the necessary cabinets but let him explore the others that are safe for him. Since we use the area under our sink for recycling and need easy access, we've removed the chemicals for now. That cabinet is by far Cade's favorite. He likes to open it up, climb in and out and just hang out inside for periods of time.

Cade Michael - 1 Year

See My Teeth?

My Big Boy

At his 1 year wellness check up yesterday, the poor guy had to get 4 shots and a finger prick. Poor guy! He didn't seem to mind the finger prick but he was definitely not too keen on the shots. It was fairly chaotic for one nurse to be administering all of those and trying to get him band aided up...especially when he was gushing from a couple of spots (must take after me). But he recovered very quickly once Mom was able to scoop him up and hug him. Dylan, Mike and I all agreed that he was a very brave boy. Here are his stats:
19 pounds 6 oz - 19% (Beefed up from 8% at his 9 month appointment)
29.5 inches long - 35%
18.31 inch head circumference - 62%
Interestingly, I compared against Dylan at a year and they're pretty darned similar in all measurements.

This year has held an unbelievable amount of changes for Cade and I know he won't be slowing down in any way for many years to come. Mike and I very much look forward to watching all that happen and loving him even more (though I don't know how that might be possible)!

What A Hoot!

It's ridiculously hard to believe, but yesterday my baby Cade turned 1 year old! On Saturday, we had the family over to celebrate. And not just local family (Mike's) but my parents flew up for the occasion after just having seen us in Florida earlier in the week. I'll dedicate my next post to Cade and the awesomeness that is him, but this one is just about the party. 

Every party has to have a theme and I decided on a winter owl theme for Cade. Why? Well, he has a snowy owl on the winter tree in his room and he has a winter birthday. But, also so that we pay homage to to our recent (last week) family trip to Universal Studios in Florida where they have a huge Harry Potter set up, hence Hedwig the owl.

My Mom, as part of her present to all the grandkids, outdoes herself at every birthday and makes a grand cake for the occasion. As usual, she outdid herself and made a fantastic cake for Cade.

Isn't he cute? And you can't tell at all that he took a major spill overnight. That's right, after she finished her masterpiece late Friday night after many hours of work, the birthday owl tried to take flight during the night and landed on our counter. Mimaw to the rescue....she did even more work and put him back together.

Of course I couldn't let her have all the fun. Though we went with an easy make your own sandwiches spread for food, it was all owl'd up as well:

Deli Meat Owl

Cheese Owl

Cookie Owl

Deviled Owls

The Owl Spread

Mimaw also helped Dylan make his gift to Cade...decorations for the party. Cade loved them!

Hoot Hoot!

Poor Cade had quite a rough weekend and just wasn't himself. Luckily, with all the cousins over for the party, he had lots of distractions and managed to stay pretty happy.

Cade and Emily

After play and sandwich eating, it was time to dig into the bird. But first, a picture of our family:

Before the Destruction

My Mom (Mimaw) made Cade his own little cake to dig into. He had a slow start. After getting frosting on his fingers, he offered it to Dylan (Dylan said no thank you). I gave him an owl eye (oreo cookie) and he liked it and started to get a bit more adventurous. He loves eating with his fork so I thought that would help but soft cake and baby fork clumsiness don't work well together. Somehow he managed to eat a good bit of that cake and, of course, totally destroy it. Proof in pictures:

I can't even stand how cute these two are!

Nana and Bumpa with the Birthday Boy

Cousins\Brother with the Birthday Boy

Pipaw and Mimaw with the Birthday Boy

Cake Destruction

Then it was on to gifts. He stayed interested in ripping off paper all the way through. Cards were very interesting to him as well but not quite as much as the envelopes they came in.

$1 For One Year

His New Kitchen Set (To Share with His Brother)

I was so relieved he was able to enjoy his party after having such a hard\cranky weekend. After the gang left, it was bedtime for the birthday boy. I had hoped that a good night's sleep would put him in better spirits but he's had some rough patches today too. Most notable is that he hasn't been interested in food....very unlike him! Mike and I suspect the 3 incoming teeth he's working on are the culprits. If that's not it, well, we've got his 1 year wellness check up happening on Wednesday and the doctor will be able to search for other possibilities.

The Cute Things Cute Kids Say

In honor of my writers block (or rather block of motivation to write) and Dylan's half birthday which was just a few days ago, I thought I'd publish a list of cute things that Dylan has said. I've been adding to the list for several months now intermittently. Enjoy!

When Dylan was heavily into "There's a Monster at the End of This Book" interactive iPad book, we visited the USS Constitution (big historic boat) with some friends that were visiting. If you haven't read the book recently (or ever) go find a copy, it's really cute. Basically, Grover (of Sesame Street fame) doesn't want to get to the end of the book because he's scared of monsters and keeps doing things to keep you from turning the page. One of his antics includes tieing ropes all over the page. While on the Constituion, Dylan went in between 2 big ol' ropes, held 1 in each hand and proclaimed, "You will never be able to turn the page!" Yeah, pretty cute.

Dylan's kind of obsessed with spooky stuff. His current movie obsession is ParaNorman which we first viewed on our Disney cruise. It's pretty scary - witches, zombies, ghosts. I was a little freaked out with it at first but Dylan was hooked. This stems back to Halloween (and before that even). One of our favorite things to do at the time was go to our local discount home decoration store and look at the Halloween stuff. Upon seeing a particular lifelike skeleton mummy, Dylan said "He's so cute!" I think I need to talk to him a little more about what that really means.

In early fall, our neighborhood had a Touch a Truck event where the kids get to explore everything from a landscaper's pick up to a fire engine. While exploring the cab of one of these trucks, Dylan was playing with the buttons and talking to a female school buddy and said "let's make a video, let's make a baby" at which point my jaw dropped but then he followed it with "let's make snoopy." So, I don't think he's ready for the birds and bees talk just yet.

A few things from our October trip in Dallas:

Dylan; is that a big candy corn?
Mike: no honey, that's a pyramid.

At Church on Sunday morning:
Dylan :Did they fall asleep?
Me: No, they're praying.

After a long day in Waco, we told Dylan he would need to nap in the car on the way home.
Dylan to Cade: Cade, you can't wake me up. I have to take a nap now.
(What kind of kid naps so willing? A very tired one I guess.)

Not long after we got back from Dallas, we were running some errands. Cade fell asleep so we were having to do one parent in at a time. During one quick stop, Dylan stayed with me. While waiting, he apparently got impatient because he told me, "Mommy can you go in to ask daddy when he's coming out?"

Dylan's singing repetoire is growing quickly. When I put him to bed at night, he usually gives me the pleasure of listening to a montage of them. This includes, but is not limited to:
Itsy bitsy spider (he kind of rocks this one)
Stirring the Brew (a song\chant they sang at preschool around Halloween)
Open Shut Them
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters 2 (suspiciously just like Ghostbusters but with a "two" inserted either before or after the song says Ghostbusters)

Instead of saying Thanksgiving, Dylan called it "Next giving"

Dylan: Something's coming out of my bum bum!
Me: What's coming out of your bum bum?
Dylan: Thunder!

On way home from dinner a few days after Christmas:
Dylan: Mom you're the best girl ever!
Me: Heart melting....

And at dinner the next night:
Me: Dylan tell me something that made you sad today.
Dylan: I don't know
Me: Tell me something that made you happy
Dylan: Mom you made me happy today
Me: Heart melting....

Pretty cute and sweet kid I've got. He's a keeper.

Cade Michael - 11 Months

As we prepare to reflect on the last year and celebrate the beginning of the next one, we also start to think of goals for the upcoming year. I usually have some resolution pertaining to being more organized or prompt in some aspect of my life. Not this year. This year I accept the fact that there are too many things to do and not enough time. My very limited time is dedicated and prioritized for my family. These kiddos are growing up too fast and Mike and I are trying to soak up every minute.

On the 27th, Cade officially turned 11 months old. That means that the next time I have a Cade update it will be for his first birthday. Yowzers! He had a very big month of firsts.

Although we have not yet gotten him a passport (I suppose that should be goal for 2013), he had his very first trip out of the country. It was also his (and Dylan's) first cruise. The trip was a lot of fun and next year I will get some posts up about it. They did really well sleeping in the closest quarters we've had and we have some great memories to cherish from our family trip. During the cruise, Cade learned a new trick - giving high 5's! Now when he does it, he usually follows up with a little applause for himself. It's good to be proud of your accomplishments!

Cade also experienced his first Christmas. Since his older brother hasn't quite perfected his sharing skills, it's nice that Cade now has some of his very own toys. Everything in the house up to this point had belonged to Dylan at some point and I've learned that "baby" toys are still very interesting to preschoolers. Ownership is also very important to preschoolers so it's been a delicate balance of toy sharing in the house. Now we can definitively tell Dylan that some toys are Cade's.

Last month, I reported that Cade was standing solo when letting go of objects he had used to stand up with (couch, chair, etc). Now though he stands up straight from the floor. Mike and I have witnessed him stand for periods of time - 5 to 10 seconds - before squatting back down. Being the very independent boy that he is and not really interested in letting people hold his hands, he doesn't really enjoy assisted walking with a grown up. I saw one of Dylan's old walking toys in the basement over the weekend that I'm going to get cleaned up for Cade. If he won't let us help him practice walking, maybe he'll enjoy the toy (if Dylan "lets" him use it that is).

The boys absolutely adore each other and often entertain each other. They make each other laugh and just enjoy playing in the same vicinity. However, life isn't all happy roses for these two, there's definitely sibling fighting happening more often. I have a feeling we have a lot of mediating to look forward to in the future. Cade's already getting pretty good at "telling" on his big brother. If Dylan takes something from his hands, Cade will yell and look our way. Often Dylan is in the wrong. However, he is a good big brother and just as often will alert us to Cade having something he shouldn't.

One thing I'm really looking forward to in 2013 is feeling more rested. I remember finally feeling like I was getting sufficient sleep around the time Dylan was 15 months old. While Cade is still a fairly consistent sleeper (I don't think we've had any middle of the night wakings in the last month), there have been more than a handful of days where he's waking too early. There was a fluke 4:30 day but 5 to 5:30 hasn't been uncommon. So, Mike and I find ourselves napping on the weekends when we can. That usually means not being able to attend to some planned chores or work outs. Sleep is still something we crave and I will be happy when day time hours aren't spent daydreaming about dreaming in our sleep.

Cade - 11 Months

He's a happy guy!

And a BIG Momma's Boy
If I'm around, he usually heads right towards me.

Have a happy and safe New Years Eve celebration everyone! We will be spending this eve with just the 4 of us and the odds are none of us will stay awake to midnight. As cute as he is, Cade is not really into the whole concept of sleeping in after a holiday. It would just be punishing myself to stay up late and without a lot of reason...2012 will end and 2013 will begin whether I see it happen or not.

Your Leaves Are So Unchanging

Christmas time has come and gone. It's definitely my favorite time of the year. Always has been but having these young kiddos definitely brings the magic and excitement of it back big time. However, with all the happiness of the holidays, there was also a lot on the to do list. We also added in a December family vacation so we had to pack all of the holiday to do madness into an even smaller span of time. And that vacation really put me into a vacation mode I have had a hard time snapping out of. Anything above and beyond what absolutely had to get done just hasn't. So bear with me while I try to find some motivation before the end of the year and start catching up on a little blogging.

Just over a week after hosting Thanksgiving, it was time to officially begin our Christmas. First up, a trip to the tree farm to pick out our tree. It was a family event as we met Mike's parents and his sister and her family there. While Dylan was excited the whole way there, he turned into an introvert once we got there and wouldn't talk to anyone and frankly didn't really seem to want to be there.

Unhappy But Still Cute Dylan

Emily and Cade

Cousins!
Cade, Emily, Patrick and Dylan

While everyone else found their trees rather quickly, it took us freakin' FOREVER to find the right tree. This was just the first event of a full day for everyone and we just didn't really have the luxury of time so it was getting pretty irritating that we couldn't find a decent tree for our space. We finally found one!

Me, Cade and our almost tree.

This was "our" tree until we found an even better one close by. Around this time, Dylan perked up and decided that stomping tree stumps was about the most fun thing ever to do.

Stomp!

Mike Vs. Tree

Dylan Watching

Mike Won (Of Course)

Maureen with Cade who is trying to sock Emily.

Giant Baby or Little Tree?

Once we got our tree loaded and made the long trip home, it was a frenzy of activity as we were just a couple of hours away from hosting our annual Hines\Lee cousins Christmas party. The plan was to have the tree decorated. But between kids napping, lots of cleaning, getting ready and getting food out, there just wasn't time. So our lovely, but naked, tree was up in the entry way.

After the party, it was time for bed so tree decorating didn't start until the next day. Dylan did a great job of hanging ornaments on the tree all by himself. Cade was pretty content to play with some of the ornaments on the floor.

While we made a good start that day, I we were trimming the tree almost everyday up to Christmas day. After we did group decorating time, I added some of the more fragile ornaments. Then Mike had to add some at the top of the tree. Then we added the ones we got on vacation and then the ones Dylan made at preschool. And on Christmas Eve, weeks after our tree went up and just barely making the Christmas deadline, I finally got the bow on the top of the tree and the skirt at the bottom. Then Dylan helped me move all the presents under it. That was definitely the longest tree trimming process I've ever been through! But, the result is worth it:

And speaking of Christmas trees, "Oh Christmas Tree" is one of the carols that Dylan likes to sing. He's never been much of a singer, but in the last month or so, thanks to the preschool influence, he's decided he loves to sing. He loves singing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and some other song that Mike and I don't know (and Dylan doesn't do in completion so we have no idea what it is). Now that Christmas carols are everywhere, he now also sings "Jingle Bells." About a week ago, he started singing "Oh Christmas Tree oh Christmas Tree, you're leaves are so unchanging!" Apparently, thanks to the Charlie Brown Christmas book, he and Mike had been working on that song as well. Hearing that boy sing always brings a smile to my face.

Merry belated Christmas to all my loyal readers! I hope your time with your families and friends made many happy memories. I know my time did. I hope to be sharing more of those with you soon.

The November Stuffing

In addition to hosting Thanksgiving and a post Thanksgiving leftovers party, here are a few other things we did in November.

Dylan's preschool parade. It was supposed to be before Halloween but thanks to hurricane Sandy passing through, it was delayed until after. It consisted of the kiddos marching in costume down the block, through the bank and back. I'm not sure how much Dylan enjoyed it (since he doesn't love being the center of attention) but it was pretty cute for the parents to come watch.

Cade came and watched in costume too.

Snoopy Dylan
His buddy, the shark, is one of our neighbor's Chris.
Just behind him is cute pirate Libby and (not sure of the costume) Molly.
These are the only other kids we know in his class.

November was a tough month for us in a lot of ways. Saying goodbye to our dear Oliver shook us more than expected. Even when you know it's coming and think you're ready to let go, losing a beloved pet is really, really hard. It made me numb to a lot and going through the motions of life for a few weeks without doing much else. The weekend after he passed, I just couldn't be in the house. It didn't feel right without him there. We found ourselves making a lot of excuses to get out.

The day after, we did a little day trip to Drumlin Farms. On a recent membership drive, we bought a yearly family pass and finally used it for the first time. What a great place! I look forward to going back with the kids year round.

Wild Turkeys Hitting the Bird Feeder at the Farm Entrance

Baa Baa

By far the most exciting place for both of the kids was the chicken coop. Not for the many different kinds of cool chickens there or the great fun facts posted around, but for the wooden egg activity area there.

According to the scale in the pig barn,
Dylan weighs in as a piglet! Hehe!

Testing our "Horse Power"

Giddy Up

After exploring for a while, we bought some fresh eggs and headed back to our home. The next morning, I busted out my rare culinary skills to whip up great crustless quiche with the farm fresh eggs. Delicious!