Words

New words:

Come (come with you)
Smell
Knee
Nose
Yeah
Bye bye
Hi

And he is starting to put two words together sometimes, this morning he said "Dada bye bye?" and "come Mama?" when I was going to take the trash out...so amazing.

Happy Halloween!!

Cade had a great halloween! We all had so much fun! He dressed as a monkey and looked soooo cute. I was hoping we could go as the Incredibles this year because Cade looks like Jack Jack and Chris like Mr. Incredible, but I didn't get it together.
We trick-or-treated with Cade's cousins Tanner and Cole. Cade was so into the whole thing and loved it! He held his bucket in one hand and his glowstick wand in the other. He was not scared of anything and walked right up to the door and said his version of  "trick or treat" and held his bag out. So fun!

I can't wait for next year!

New news

So this week Cade added the following words to his list:

Apple
Trash
All done
Meow
Meme (auntie meme)

Annnnd...

He finally has another tooth coming in! That makes 5 :)

Word Update

I think it will be fun (at least for me) to keep track of words he says as he says them to see the progression. Here is the list so far:

Mama
More
Car (ca ca)
Kitty (ky)
Potty
No
School (skoo)
Hayden (ay day)
Out (owww)
Ow!
Outside

More to come soon!

Boys, Boys, Boys

So Chris taught Cade a really fun trick this week...to pick his nose. Yep, that's right, to stick his finger into his nose. The best part? He also showed him how to pick other people's noses too.

I knew when we found out we were having a boy, I would be dealing with so many lovely bodily things but never did I think it would be at 18 months!!

Okay, truth is, its pretty funny and kinda cute....for now. Oh boys.

He speaks!

We have a talker! Cade started speaking a few words in the last couple weeks. He started saying his version of "more" and now he also says "mama, car, ky (kitty) and ow".

In other news: he still only has 4 front teeth, is adjusting really well to our big move, almost sleeps through the night, takes one two hour nap everyday, LOVES to play in the sink and in the car with the keys, gets excited when he hears an airplane or garbage truck or sees any kind of animal.

He eats almost anything we offer him EXEPT veggies, strawberries and mango (that will need to be worked on). He went to the beach for the first time last month and loved the water. He ran right into it with no fear.

He loves to help water plants with Grandma Rawson, make coffee in the mornings with Grandpa Rawson, feed the cats with auntie Meme and put auntie Lizabeth's chapstick on. He plays in the fountain with Grandma Precious and sits in the big chair with Pompa. He really seems to enjoy having his family around.

Last month he transitioned to his new big boy car seat. It is so much bigger and safer for him and he really likes to play in it. He will still be rear facing for a while though which stinks but, oh well.

He is so much fun and I can't wait to start getting into the holidays with him! I think he will love it!

More to come soon....

Communication is AMAZING

First let me say that because I am the mom and I am lucky to be able to spend so much time with Cade, I know what he wants most of the time. That being said, he signs. All the time and it is AMAZING! I know I have already listed all the signs he uses, but it just really amazes me everyday how much it helps him communicate and how happy he gets when we know exactly what he wants or needs.

Plus, he is so freakin' smart! How does he know what helps means and when to use it? How does he decipher between "again" and "more" and when to use which one? It is amazing. He is so cute when he needs help, he comes running up to us and signs "help" with his little thumb up and a look of determination on his face. As soon as we respond "you need help?" he gets a giant smile on his face and runs back to where he came from to show us what he needs help with.

He signs "airplane" when he hears any loud noise, tells us when he wants to eat or needs water or wants milkies (nursing). He tells us when he wants to read a book again (for the 120th time) or for us to sing his favorite songs again. I LOVE these signs. They take away any frustration that comes along with lack of speech and it is just so darn cute! I have tried many times to catch him signing on camera, but have failed every time so far. It is as if he knows....little stinker :)

My absolute favorite sign of all though, is the sign he made up. Up until a few weeks ago, Cade took his naps in his car seat in the stroller. Recently, he started going over to the stroller when he was ready to sleep and raising his arm up as if to reach for the stroller. This became the sign for wanting to go to sleep! Now, anytime he is tired and wants to go to sleep, he simply raises his hand as if in class. It is so cute.

I know he will start talking soon and although this too will be exciting and fun, I really am going to miss his adorable little signs.

Little Stinker!

Look what I walked in on...someone took the side off of his wagon and climbed in. Big trouble.

Water Baby

Cade loves water. The favorite thing right now is to carry around the house with the sprinkler on. Hours of fun :) It's the little things in life right?

Summertime and the Livin' is...HOT!

It is Summer in Chico and man, is it hot! It has been in the 100s for a couple weeks now and it is tough to get outside. We have played in the pool and ventured out for a few walks to the park and Starbucks though...in fact, Cade had his first "coffees" the other day :) Looking forward to Fall and playing outside more often!

Happy 4th of July!!

Today was Cade's second 4th of July. Last year he was a tiny baby and my family was here so we did the whole barbecue and fireworks thing. This year, Chris had to work until the afternoon so it was just cade and I in the morning. We walked to starbucks and then walked over to bidwell park at one mile where they have a little celebration each year. There was a little band playing patriotic music, lots of food and other booths and mostly, it was HOT. We didn't stay long, but cade walked around and tried to jump in the water so we went home. It was 103 the whole day so we ended up just staying inside.

Chris and I had dinner, while Cade slept and then we all went to bed early (after having root beer floats).

No fireworks this year...next year I think we will be in san diego and it won't be so darn hot!

One Year Update

So, I know its a little late and that I have been posting little things along the way, but I feel it is time for an update on Cade and all of his amazingness!

To begin with, he walks!!! About the end of may, he started walking and taking a few steps here and there, but after his surgery he refused to walk without holding a hand. I think maybe it hurt to walk a little and holding hands gave him comfort, I dunno. About a week or two ago, he must have remembered he could walk and just let go and never looked back! It is wonderful to have him up off the floor and provides us the opportunity to have more fun outside and less worry for mama about the floors not being clean enough. I know, I know, but I couldn't help it. Anyway, he is all over the place now and loves it. It is so cute to see him come walking around the corner smiling :)

Annnnd he eats! He now has two teeth on the bottom and one on the top with another on its way out so he can bite things pretty well now . He is doing very well not choking on food for the most part and has hardly had any reactions to anything. He loves to eat whatever we are eating and just has such a sense of pride in being so special when we hand him something. I am very aware of what we eat now and have ben trying to buy as much organic, non-sugar-filled food as we can. Though I swore I wouldn't give him french fries as a baby, I hate to admit he had already had In-n-out fries....at least they are real potato right??

He loves to dance, wear mine and chris' shoes (though they always fall off and he gets mad), and loves the bath...any water actually. He throws and tries to kick his little soccer ball, turns everything into a phone and puts it up to his ear to have a conversation and loves to be outside.

This week I made more of an effort to offer signs when I knew what he wanted. He already gets frustrated if we don't know what he wants, so I thought they would really come in handy now. He caught on so quickly! He now regular signs "more", "milk", "again"and "all done". We are working on the signs for book, eat, water, outside, mama, papa, ball and please. It is so cute because he sometimes gets them all mixed up and even though I usually know which one he means to do, I always laugh and show him the real sign. I'm so exited to have this communication with him.

We are creeping closer to one nap a day I think. He is staying up longer and longer each day. I tried having him nap outside the stroller, but if I wasn't holding him, he woke right up.Something about the car seat shape must make him more comfortable.

He and Chris have such an amazing relationship and it just truly warms my heart. They spend more time together as I have been picking up a few extra shifts at work. They go for walks, play outside, water the grass, read stories (which papa often changes the words to), and dance. Chris always calls me at work to let me know what they are up to. The other night he called and informed me that he taught Cade to high-five :) It is such a father-son thing to do and so cute. Last night when I got home he told me about their dance party and how he had put on some music and both he and Cade danced and cracked up at each other for 20 minutes. Part of me wishes I was there to watch, but the other part of me is so happy for them that they have those moments which are just theirs. Cade and I are so lucky to have such an amazing man in our lives.

That's about it for now, though I will of course think of many more right after I post this...

Oh! One more thing that had me in tears the other night....

Cade discovered his penis in the bath. I have been waiting for it to happen and the funniest part is that he cracks up in hysterics everytime he grabs it.

I love that kid.

Number 3!

We have another tooth! Well, Cade does anyway :) One of his top front teeth came in today and the other one is poking through...

My Little Trash Boy

The other day Cade noticed the trashcan. The one in the kitchen has a lid that lifts up and he LOVES lids. So in the last few days he has been picking up little things off the floor and throwing them away. Today, I searched high and low for our DVD remote. After searching for 20 minutes, I found it. In the trashcan. Oh little bug, you are so cute.

Surgery

So surgery went well and at this point the little bug is all healed and back to normal!

We got to the hospital early and checked in for the long haul. The nurse came in and took his vitals and gave us his gown to put on. Cade was still playing and exploring at this point. He started to get fussy about an hour before his surgery because he hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 3:00am, including nursing. I felt so bad because he was crying and didn't understand why I wouldn't let him eat. Not fun for either one of us.

About half an hour before surgery, the nurse came back in and gave Cade a dose of versed (versaid?). It made him loopy and happy and forget all his worries. It was pretty cute and funny to watch. After it kicked in, Blake came in and carried him to surgery.

Blake Selby is a good friend of ours who happens to be the nurse practitioner who works with a great pediatric urologist in orange county. We were lucky to have her there with cade the whole time.

Surgery lasted about two hours and Blake updated us by text the whole time. That was lovely and made us feel so much more relaxed. After surgery we went to see him in recovery and waited and waited. They told us he had ended up needing an extra dose of anesthesia because he wouldn't relax. For this reason he was out cold. It took about two hours before he came to, enough to nurse and he never actually woke up until we got back to Chris' parent's house about four hours later.

He came home with a bandage over the incision, a catheter (without the bag, it just went into the diaper), and an onQ pump which was a tube inserted into the incision and released lidocaine into the incision every four hours. Instructions of: no baths for a week and keep the poop away from the bandage. Right.

It was a looooonngg week for the parents. Other than a little pain, Cade seemed no worse for the wear and was bouncing off the walls! We kept him in the house for the week and we all got very stir crazy...

A week later the bandages came off and the catheter came out and he was a new baby!

We go back for his check up in a few weeks...

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Surg-cation!

We are headed down to San Diego for Cade to have his surgery on Tuesday/ vacation! I am not thrilled about the surgery, but it is supposedly very common and standard procedure to repair so I'm trying not to worry too much. Surgery is scheduled for tuesday morning at 9:00 am, we have to be there at 7:00. In the mean time, we are planning to enjoy the next two days with the family, do a little shopping, and have a birthday party for Cade tomorrow!

This is our third trip down with little man and we decided to break it up this time to make it easier on us! We left chico at 1:00pm yesterday and stayed in bakersfield last night. It was so much better than driving straight through. No meltdowns so far!

Stack 'em Up!

I know every parent thinks their child is way smarter than everyone else's, and I am no exception :) Yesterday I was sitting on the floor with Cade and started stacking his little wooden blocks, one on top of another. He would knock my tower over and I would build it up again, everytime he watched intently. I kept stacking and when I looked over at Cade, he was stacking blocks!! He was adding the third block to his own tower and I was shocked. The little guy can't pick up a cheerio, but he can stack very small blocks? Amazing. We have 2 year olds at work who can barely do that...so it has to be said. My child is a genius.

Tooth Number Two

The second tooth on the bottom is starting to poke it's way through :) Such a sweet little smile! Can't believe his first birthday its less than a week away....

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

Cade's first Easter! The Easter bunny came to visit and brought lots of goodies. Happy Easter!!

Kitty, Kitty!

There is a black cat who comes to visit us ever afternoon. He/she comes up on the porch and right up to the screen door at around the same time each day. Cade loves this cat. The first time the cat came, chris and I were sitting on the couch and Cade was looking out the screen door like he always does. The cat walked up the stairs like he owned the place and Cade just stopped what he was doing, looked at the cat and turned to look at us with the cutest look of shock, "ummmmm mama, there is something on the porch is that ok?"  It cracked me up. Now the cat comes almost everyday to visit and cade gets excited, crawls over to the door and says hi. I can't wait until he is older and we can get a cat.

Ring Stacker!

Cade has one of those colored ring stackers which he got for christmas and loves. He plays with it all the time, but up until now could only get the rings off of the post. He has been working really hard to be able to put them back on the post this week and today, he did! I know it may seem like a silly thing to get excited about but it takes great fine motor skills to be able to do that! It is a huge accomplishment for him and I am a proud mama :)

Snot-Be-Gone

Im so sick of snot. Therefore, I have dedicated an entire post to it.

I'm not sure if it is due to teething, or if he has a cold or if it is allergies, but he is a fountain of snot. And I'm over it.

There is snot all over the couch (I'm cleaning it, don't freak out), in his hair and eye lashes, all over my shirt and who knows where else.

Gross.

Tooth Update

I can feel the tooth!! Can barely see it, but I can feel it!

Missing Update

I was just reading through old blogs and couldn't remember cade at those stages of life so I just felt like I should jot down my favorite things about life right now so I can remember later.

My most recent nickname for cade is
"little bug", comes from love bug and will probably change soon. He is a speed crawler and pulls himself up on everything now. Just this week he figured out how to move his legs to cruise down the couch. Yesterday he was holding on to his music table with a toy in one hand. I watched him let go of the table to switch the toy to the other hand and stood up without holding on to anything for a couple seconds! So amazing.

Still doesn't have any teeth, but there is one working its way in on the bottom. I hope they take their time and don't come in all at once. I love his little toothless grin :)

Food is much more interesting now, but more my food than his. I have been sharing little tiny bites of certain foods with him such as my oatmeal, yogurt and banana and even a tiny taste of shuberts ice cream :) I would love to share more with him, but he doesn't chew. Everything that goes in, gets swallowed right away. The other day I gave him half a cheerio to see if he learned how to chew, but nope! He swallowed it and choked. Also, still no pincer grasp. Oh well, some day!

Cade is my little explorer and gets into everything. The other night we were on the couch and I looked down and he was behind the couch.
It was so stinking cute! He likes to bang on things with whatever toy he has in his hand, including the tv!

He loves to read books and gets excited if I say the word "book". He takes a bath every night and loves it. I love how much he knows and that he understands what we are saying. I have not been as committed to signing with him as I would like to, but I really want to do it because I know it will help tremendously in the next year as he tries to communicate.

I love that he adores his papa and waits at the door when chris gets home. He has a hard time if he sees me leave so when I go, we say goodbye in another room and he plays with papa while I walk out the door. I'm happy because I don't like sneaking out and he is happy because he is busy playing.

Bedtime comes and goes by the day. Some nights it is, sleeping and on the bed by 9:00, other nights he is up until I can't stay awake any longer and we go to bed together. It seems to depend somewhat on the naps he took that day. Naps are less consistent now and he can stay awake much longer between them. He went 6 hours without sleeping the other day, which is a long time for him. I think we may be headed toward one nap a day already, but we shall see!

We are moving back to San Diego next month and though I am happy and excited, I know I will be a little sad because this was his first home. Details of the move to come soon!

First Park Day of Spring!

The weather is finally warm and sunny so we took advantage of it and went to the park! It is so fun to take him now because he loves to swing and crawl around on the rubber ground they have at Caper Acres park. He watches all the kids playing and smiles at everyone. I can't wait to take him to the beach! Oh, by the way, did I mention we're moving back to San Diego??

Back to Our New Normal

Well it has been almost 3 weeks since the time changed and I think we are back to normal. For the last 3 days Cade has woken up around 7:30 and been asleep and in bed by 9:00! However, his second nap seems to be disappearing. Today he slept from 12 to around 2 and didn't sleep again until passing out at 8:00. Though I Could use the break each day, I love, love, love my little man and am savoring every momentI can spend with him.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

We are embracing our potentially Irish roots today and attempting to make corned beef and cabbage tonight! It has been a rough couple days and nights since the time changed, it really seems to have screwed up cade's sleep patterns. We have been up really late and up too early. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. Happy green day!

Smarty Pants!

Cade has a book that we read a couple times a day called "My Many Colored Days." One of the pages talks about a gray day and has a picture of a gray owl's face and eyes. Everytime we get to that page he leans down and tries to eat the page. Now, he puts everything in his mouth so I didn't think anything of it until I realized he only does it with that book and that page. Today it hit me why he does it. See if you notice a slight resemblance to something very important to him....so cute!

New Play Table

A friend of mine (thanks Rachele!) gave us a really fun play table that is the perfect height for Cade to stand up and hold onto. It also makes all kinds of "fun" noises :) He is so overjoyed and proud of himself when he pushes a button and it makes noise. It keeps his attention for a long time and it is nice to finally have something new for him to play with because he is pretty much over all of his toys. Sooooo grown up.

Teeth!

We have a tooth! It has not quite broken the surface, but it is almost there! I'm actually not too excited about him having teeth for fear of bodily injury and because teeth mean growing up and I'm certainly not okay with that! Have had a very cranky baby for the last few days so I know it must be hurting... Pictures to come when it comes through! For now here is his latest feat...

On the Move!

Here it is! Crawling baby!

Homemade Goodness

Broccoli



Sweet Potatoes

Apples

So I decided to make all of Cade's food. I just really feel like it has to be so much better for his little body and it is easy and cheap to do. I have also decided to hold off on anything but fruits and veggies until he is at least a year old. This shouldn't be a problem, since he is almost 10 months old and still doesn't eat anything, but breast milk. I recently stocked the freezer with delicious organic peas, sweet potatoes, apples, butternut squash and broccoli. The whole process took me about 4 hours to steam/bake, cool, puree and get it all into ice cube trays. I found a really great website called wholesomebabyfood.com which has instructions for making the food and when it is appropriate to give certain foods to babies, etc. Just for fun (and because I feel so proud and accomplished), I photographed ever step of the process. Enjoy :)

Update: Nine Months and Crawling!

So He crawls! Has been for about a week now. I am dying to post the video, but seem to be having some internet issues and can't get it up. Maybe it will work tomorrow. Anyway, he crawls now. In less than two weeks he went from sitting in one place, to getting on his hands and knees, to scooting on his belly, to fully crawling across the room! I know it happens this fast and have seen it before, but I still cannot believe how amazing it is. Oh! Annnnndddd to add to the fun, he has already started pulling himself up on select pieces of furniture. I predict a walker by his birthday, yikes! We are so proud and a little scared at the same time :) I have started Cade-proofing the house as fast as I can because he is (of course) into everything.

In other news, he started saying "mamamama." I am well aware that he really is just practicing his sounds, BUT I love it just the same. He always seems to say it when he is whining for me too, which just makes it so much cuter :)

Food still means nothing to him. I offer it twice a day when I feel like it and sometimes he eats, other times not so much. Still not ready for finger foods, as he has not developed his pincer grasp and proceeds to swallow (without "chewing") anything that enters his mouth. Oh well, saves us on grocery shopping!

We are headed to San Diego next week for a short visit and to meet with his surgeon to consult about his upcoming surgery. I still feel okay about it, but I am sure I will become more nervous as it gets closer to the date. We will head back to SD the first week in April, as the surgery is scheduled for April 11th. Must start packing......

Happy Valentine's Day!!

The Ellen Show

Everyday I watch Ellen at 3:00pm. I love her and her show. It is so positive and funny and she always has good people on. She doesn't do anything depressing and it is a nice break from reality. I have always thought it was kinda weird when people wrote in to Ellen to say how much their kids love her show and how they watch everyday, I figured it was just a way for them to get read on the air. As a side-note, Cade now claps his hands. It is the sweetest, cutest thing ever and when he claps he also lets out his version of "yaaaaayyyyy". I am trying to get him to do it on video, but no success yet. Anyway, yesterday I had Ellen on and was sitting on the floor playing with him and I didn't think he was even paying attention to the TV, but as soon as the audience started clapping he dropped his toy and clapped right along with them! It was adorable! I'm not a huge fan of him watching TV at this age, but he was getting such a kick out of clapping with the audience, I couldn't help it! It still amazes me how smart babies are at such a young age.... I'll try to get it on video to share next time.

P.S. Still not crawling, but soooo close.

Green Beans? Yes Please!

So far Cade has only tried sweet potato, squash and carrots. He has "bites" of my banana and pear, but because of his lack of interest in food so far, I haven't introduced many foods. Today I made some green beans thinking I would try and see what happened. It is the first vegetable he has tried and let me tell you, I did not enjoy them when I tried them so I didn't expect him to either. Did he like them you ask? See for yourself :)