Thankful

I feel like Captain Obvious when I say that this year I am very thankful for family. And not just family, but especially my little boy Cade and his wonderful mommy. I knew Susie was a selfless person, but it's truly amazing to watch her with Cade. I couldn't ask for a better pair of people to call my wife and son. Yesterday I was up in my office in the attic and Susie called me from the kitchen and said I should come down. We'd tried giving Cade rice in his milk and he just didn't like it. I think it was because he had to drink it out of a sippy cup and just came out too fast. Well, Susie had mixed the rice in with less milk and formed more of a paste. This was partially out of necessity since he's been eating milk faster than she can make it. Cade loved the rice paste and it was already everywhere by the time I got downstairs! We had a great time feeding him and we took some pictures and a video. So I guess this begins the process of being eaten out of house and home? Up until now feeding Cade has cost $0. I'm suddenly feeling the need to apologize to my mom and dad.

First, here's a picture of Cade the other night. We were dancing to Ben Folds and all of a sudden he'd had enough activity and fell right asleep in my arms mid-dance-move. We were cracking up.

Now, on to pictures of rice! In looking at this picture I suddenly realized how unsafe we as parents are. You'll notice we keep Cade's bumbo seat right between the knives and an outlet.

This stuff is INCREDIBLE! (Unintentional or intentional thumbs up?)

Where's that spoon? Let me at it!

Finger lickin' good. Colonel Sanders has nothing on this rice! (Is Cade allowed to say that in Kentucky?)

Bib-suckin' good. He was so delirious with the new food he didn't realize he had some on his nose.

Rice!

It's been a big week for us! We took Cade to the doctor last Tuesday for his next round of shots and checkup. He weighed 15 pounds, 2 ounces (40th percentile) and was 24 3/4 inches tall (25th). He's slowly gaining on the other kids his age despite being six weeks early. He had to endure four shots and was a big trooper. It was definitely more traumatic for him this time. It's tough to watch your kid cry hard like that. :(



That night we fed him solid food for the first time. Susie found the organic brown rice cereal, so we mixed that up with some of mom's milk and got to feeding! First we tried one of his normal bottles but the rice was stopping up the nipple so we switched to a sippy cup with a soft top and bigger holes. He made some funny faces for us, either because the food was coming out so fast or because it was a new taste and consistency.


This kid has no clue what's about to hit him in the mouth.

"Do you seriously expect me to eat this crap on a regular basis? Where's the plain old milk?"

On Thursday, while at the sitter's in Bloomington, he threw up. We wondered if it was in reaction to one of the vaccines he received or if he just wasn't used to the rice. He wasn't eating much at all and Susie got some Pedialyte and he was able to drink that and keep it down (and stay hydrated). Things went well until Saturday. I was flying home from a business trip to Florida (more on that later) and Susie was driving home from B-town. She may have caught the virus from Cade because she was sick and weak driving home. When she got back to Owensboro she went to the Estes' house and was taken to urgent care by them and another friend, Lisa Walker. The doctor told her it was probably a virus and to sleep it off and drink lots of fluids. He gave her some medicine that would knock her out and she's been pretty much sleeping ever since (it's 5:30 pm and she left the doctor around 1:30 yesterday)! She's kept some food down today, and I've been able to spend a lot of quality time with my boy.

After a rough night last night and getting him ready to go to church in time for soundcheck I have to say that I have a new respect for what Susie does when she takes Cade to Bloomington and really for any single parent out there. So Cade and I have had a couple prayer times for Mommy and are hoping she feels better soon!

In other news, I was able to see the space shuttle launch on Friday night! It was supposedly one of the last night launches, and I was able to watch it from our plant in Merritt Island. Air Liquide supplies all of NASA's nitrogen requirements for the launch via pipeline. The plant is about nine miles from the pad, and I climbed up on top of one of our tanks to watch it. The pictures I've posted don't do it justice. The sky was as bright as day, the rumble was loud, and the earth shook pretty violently where we were (nine miles away!). It was a pretty incredible thing to watch. Made me wonder what it would be like strapped into the thing that makes the earth shake like that.

Happy Halloween

Cade continues to grow and is still a super happy baby boy. He is so much fun. I'm still not a morning person, but he encourages me to be awake in the morning since that's when he likes to play and is the most active. He's started doing a squealing laugh that is hilarious. There is absolutely no way to not smile when you hear him laughing. And sometimes when he laughs he'll kind of pull his head into his shoulders like a turtle, shrug his shoulders in and up, turn his head to the side a little, and smile really big like he just can't stand it. How many of you just emulated him while reading that description? I did. :) It's about the cutest thing I've ever seen. He's developed into a very ticklish kid; his feet, legs, tummy, and arms are all fair game. He'll play and laugh for long periods of time. He also likes to have his legs and arms pumped and still loves to bounce around. (After re-reading this last paragraph I realize that it is full on information that parents love to recount but the average bystander quickly bores of. Sorry, haha.)

His first Halloween costume was pretty standard baby fare. He was a pumpkin. Many thanks to Nana for providing it. The costume was a little big this year, but that means he'll be able to wear it next year too! The hat kept falling down over his eyes, but the bigness of the costume added to the cuteness of it too. We took him trick-or-treating at our friend Carla's house. She is a great friend of ours and has been faithful to pray for us and Cade before Susie was pregnant, when Susie was pregnant, and since Cade has been born.

Yesterday, we estimated he's around 16 pounds! We'll know for sure how big he's grown in a couple weeks when he goes in for his four month shots, but he's really filling out well and looking great (IMHO). Here are some pictures. The first few pictures were taken on a recent trip to daddy's new home office. I've recently started working from home (still working for Air Liquide). I LOVE being able to see Cade and Susie periodically throughout the day. Susie will usually bring him up into my office in the attic for a few minutes in the morning when he wakes up. Talk about a morale booster!

Someone's tickling my legs!

Now someone's tickling my tummy!

Cute smiley/laughing pictures.

He has the biggest blue eyes, just like his mommy.

Trick or treat!

Cade and Carla.