Three Months

Someone turned three months old on Friday! And someone else turned 30 on Thursday! We celebrated today by having an all day photo session. At least it seemed that way because Cayden was on FIRE with cute poses. It's hard for me not to want to take his picture all the time, and then when he is cooperating on top of it all...It was a great day!

Here we are! The birthday pair! Of course he won't look up at the camera when you want him to.

This week, I feel like a lot has happened. Unpacking boxes...not so much. But watching Cayden get stronger and learn new moves has been very exciting! Heath put together his jumperoo yesterday and Cayden loves it! His teeny tiny toes barely touch the ground, but every now and then he gets a good jump in. I know it will be one of his favorites!

My mom came into town on Friday night to watch Cayden while we went to dinner. It was nice to get away for a few hours! Dinner was a blast, and reminded me a little of my former, pre-baby self. I even, gasp, had a glass of wine~ Cayden had his first "stranger" cry. My mom got here, and went to hold him...Cayden's bottom lip puckered out, and he started crying. It was the most pitiful thing I have ever seen. He warmed up to her later, but I think she was a little heartbroken at first.

On Saturday we fought the crowds at the Crap (Craft) Fairs at the JQ Hammonds Center. Let me just say that God knew what he was doing when he gave me a boy. I would be so poor if I had a girl. Craft fairs are generally geared towards girls...lucky me, and my wallet. We did find a few finds while there. The frog in the picture, we named him Frank, is a new friend. Cayden really likes him. Likes to hold him, chew him, slobber him...

The weather was really nice today, and I wanted to get Cayden out of the house while the sun was shining! He is starting to grow into his sunglasses!

Flash forward 80 years, and this is Cayden sitting in Boca Raton, FL, in a retirement community.

One of the things he is doing really well this week is holding his head up. Tummy time is paying off!! He can stay like this for several minutes. I know I am biased but we pretty much have the cutest baby EVER.

Here is last month's picture.

And here we are at 3 months. Notice Frank? I was snapping away, Cayden was laughing, and then all of a sudden he saw Frank. It's like he already knows who he is.

He is growing so fast. I said last week that he is really close to rolling over, and he is. Any time we are on the floor, I have the video camera ready. His head control is awesome, and everyday I ask him to say Momma. He has yet to comply. He does; however, say "mom" when he is crying. At this point, I'll take it! When he grabs at stuff, it immediately goes into his mouth. Everything is covered in baby drool. We are still having trouble napping during the day. Sleeping at night has become an interesting routine, for him. He usually is down around 8, and then sleeps til about 1 or 2. He wakes, eats, and is back down. Nice, right? It's at this point that he decides he wants to eat every 1.5 to 2 hours. We aren't sure if he just isn't eating enough during the day or what, so we caved and gave him rice cereal last night. It didn't change his routine. We will try it for a few more days, and see what happens.

Cayden Bug~

You are the greatest gift we have ever known. It's amazing to me how much our whole world changed, and how we wouldn't give it up for anything. I love watching your many faces, and wondering what you are thinking. We look at you and just hope that you love us just a smidgen of how much we love you. We love watching you grow and learn new things. Standing on our laps is your new favorite past time, and when you do you smile, laugh and look at us, and I fall in love over and over again. I can't wait to see what the next month holds for the three of us. Thank you for being our little man!

Love, Mom and Dad

30

I think he is saying, "Happy Birthday Momma!"


He's the best gift ever!
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It's in the box!

We are finally in the house, at least 30% of our stuff is "in" the house. Moving day came and by the time the movers got our stuff from our apartment to the house, we had decided that the garage was as far as they were getting with the rest of our stuff. Thank goodness Heath was back from Chile to help deal with the situation! So most of our stuff is still in the garage, in boxes. Let me tell you, finding time to unpack with an almost three month old is very difficult. And to make matters worse...the neighborhood garage sale that only happens in the fall and spring is next weekend. I MUST get rid of some stuff. I am going to be an unpacking machine for the next week....as long as Cayden lets me.

I'm pretty sure he gets cuter with every click of the camera! Most of the time when Heath asks where something is, "It's in the box is my response!" Of course, Cayden's stuff was the first to get in, and unpacked, and settled. I had to relearn how to take care of him...you remember "The Chair?" Well, in the apartment everything I needed was within a 10 foot area...now it's across the house, and not so easily, or lazily, accessible.

Speaking of Cayden, because I know that's why most of you are reading this. I went back to work last week which meant no more days of hanging out with my little man. It was hard. I didn't cry, because I knew he was in a good place. Lord help me, if he was in daycare with an unknown person..ugh. We are going through a transition time. He is getting used to hanging out with Jennifer each day. I think he may even have more fun with her. They traced their hands as an art project one day, and they watch the neighbors from the dining room! My transition hasn't been as smooth. The first day was a shock...Why did I leave Cayden to hang out with 8th graders? As funny as it sounds, each day when I go to pick him up, I think..."Did he get bigger?" I'm dealing with it fairly well, though I definitely have some days where I feel extra guilty.

Cayden is doing all sorts of fun things now. He is really starting to grab things, and hang on tight, including my hair! During tummy time, picking up his head is becoming easier, as well as tucking his knees and pushing. He is "this" close to rolling over! If only he could figure out that he needs to push with his arm! He is even ticklish! I havent' seen it yet, but Jennifer discovered it on Friday!

These are the good things. Unfortunately his napping is not any better. 45 minutes...tops! Since moving his sleep is a little rockier. He still goes to bed around 8, sometimes waking around 11-12. Waking again at 3, around 5. I'm not getting down in the dumps about it yet. We are going to go back to Sleep Training soon. We have not been consistent at all, and have found ourselves back to the Pacing Game.

Knitting class is going well. I am working on a cowl scarf thing, and it looks pretty good. I'll post pictures when its complete. It's a very relaxing hobby to have after a tough day dealing 13-14 year olds.

He turns 3 months this week. I found my measuring tape "in a box" and will be sure and measure Cayden this week. Now if I can find my bathroom scale, I might be able to add a weight stat in there too. I'm not holding my breath.

Moving day is almost here....

This week has been pretty quiet...It is the calm before the storm. There is so much going on in the next couple of days. Heath is going out of the country, we close on our house, we have to move, and then I go back to work. Seriously...This happens within 6 days of each other. If you came into our apartment right now...You would say that there was no way. The problem is that we only brought the essentials to the apartment, so its difficult to pack stuff that you use every day. I have already busted into some of the boxes that I have packed! But I don't want to complain...I am SO excited to move.

Cayden has been going through a rough patch the last few days. It seems that he really doesn't want to nap during the day. Not the he was a huge napper before, but he could pull off an hour or more. Right now we are at 45 minutes...tops! He is still sleeping pretty well at night. He averages 3-4 hours at a time. I know that there are babies out there that sleep through the night, but it could be worse.

Who said boys weren't fun to dress? Believe it or not this is a 0-3 month top that he is just now able to wear, and 3-6 month bottoms. They are soo cute!

One really great thing about this week is that my best friend Julie came into town. This was her and Cayden's first meeting. They hit it off, and she thought he was pretty cute. Then again, who wouldn't? They both decided to wear stripes today!

I'm sure next week's post will be delayed buy the unpacking process, and the getting ready to go back to work and not have a mental breakdown process. Again, I can't say it enough... I am SO SO SO grateful that my cousin is taking care of him. It really makes a difficult situation a little more bearable. Rationally I know that he is in good hands, and that he won't really remember me ditching him. Irrationally, I feel like a horrible parent who is abandoning their child. This state of mind reminds me of the ups and downs of being pregnant!

Being a parent is hard work

Being a parent is the hardest thing I have ever done. Although they are cute as buttons, there is no such thing as a perfect child. Today Cayden has decided not to really nap. I know he is super tired, but apparently he is not ready to sleep! He screams when I try to put him down, and once he's down the "nap" might last 30 minutes if I'm lucky.

However... He does stuff that makes me love him more than I could have imagined! Today we played together. I laid down beside him on the floor and had a grand ol' time!

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2 Months: Shots (Photos and Needles)

I have been begging my mom to find a baby picture of me. Ever since Cayden was born, all I have heard is WOW, he has your mouth and chin! Thanks, I think? Finally she found some pictures and sent them to me. Hmmm...do you think there is a similarity?

I think we definitely have the blank stare down. Obviously he is my offspring, but I also love that he has parts of Heath too. I think now he is starting to look more and more like Heath. We have reached the two month mark and Cayden is growing. I took a couple of different pictures. I thought it would be funny to see him in the same outfit as was featured in the one month shot. It was a snug fit, but I got him in it and snapped a few!

The two month mark has brought about a lot of changes. We are still working on sleeping, and really it isn't too bad. He averages about 4-5 hours at a time, and he naps really well during the day. He likes his baths, except for the drying off part...I'm not sure why he gets upset during this time? Maybe he's cold, maybe he knows he's about to be shipped off to bed? He is also starting to reach out and grab at stuff. It's not super fast, and you can tell he is really having to think about it, but it is so cute! He is in size 1 diapers, but Heath thinks it will be 2's in the near future...I don't think so. He is still wearing 0-3 month clothes, except for Gerber. Those things are SNUG, and short. I bought his first pair of jeans today. He probably won't wear them much just because they aren't great for changing diapers, BUT they will look great for family pictures!

With the two month mark also came shots. Ugh. I have been really dreading this. About a month ago he cried and a tear came out and it about broke my heart, so I knew this was going to be rough. He did really well during the whole doctor visit while we asked questions. He came in at 13lbs 2 ounces (80th percentile)...Anyone surprised? I mean, we call him Tank. He is 23 1/2 inches long (75th percentile). And that giant head I thought he had at birth (trust me, it was huge) is now measuring in at 15 3/4 inches and the 50th percentile. Speaking of heads, he also has a flat spot that we are working on correcting. Now for naps we try to put him on his side, and we have flipped his direction on the changing table.

Back to the shots: When I saw the needles come out, I backed up and let Heath take the lead. The first shot he screamed, his face went beet red, and he held his breath, so Heath had to blow in his face so he would breathe. UGH. Finally it was over! I did well...I didn't cry. Lord knows I wanted to. By the time we got out to the car, and down the road a bit...he calmed down. With the Eagles playing in the background, he uttered a few coo's. I knew he was going to be okay. He slept a little more yesterday, and we probably went a few steps back with our sleep training, because we cuddled him and snuggled with him a whole bunch! Oh well. It was worth it.

Poor thing. He wasn't crying here because of his shots...but it definitely adds to the drama..

On another note I ordered a new diaper bag. I wanted one that was floppy, and that didn't really scream diaper bag! It's washable, reversible, and has a lot of pockets! I love it! I will probably buy another one in the future!

Dear Cayden~

It is so hard for us to believe that you have been with us for two whole months! There are so many things that we want to remember about you at this age: We love how you smile and talk and squeal when you wake up from a nap. We love to give you kisses any time we hold you. Every thing you do, somehow it is cute and adorable...even the crying. We love watching you learn new things, and we can't wait to see how much you grow, change, and learn in the next month! Thank you for being a blessing to us! We love you!

Middle of the night multi-tasking!

Getting up in the middle of the night can be difficult, and sometimes it's really hard to stay awake. But I have found that with my iPhone, I have developed a routine:

1. Check email. Usually it's junk, but sometimes I get a note from another mom who is up in the wee hours too.

2. Facebook. Its funny...not too many posts at 2am. My friends need to get out more so that I can be Entertained!

3. Words with friends.

4. Barnes and Noble app. I love this one because I can catch up on the newest releases and read the overviews to see what my next book will be!

By the time I have completed all of these things, Cayden is done and it's time to go to bed! All to be repeated in four hours!


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