Visits

Last weekend was a great one. My mom and dad came out to visit us for a few great days. But before I saw them I was out in South Carolina and Georgia for work. While in Savannah I was able to see my Granny (my mom's stepmother), who I hadn't seen in over ten years. It was great to get to see her and talk with her and spend time with her. She's getting along very well, and we had a good time eating at a little English pub and walking down on the river. The waitress didn't do a real good job of centering the picture - oh well....

That week Susie was able to visit family as well down in Baton Rouge. Some of her extended family hadn't met Cade yet so it was good for her to head down there and introduce him. The way our flights lined up, my parents actually flew into Nashville before we got back so they picked us up at the airport. We went by the Opry Mills Mall to eat lunch and Cade got to watch the fish in the Bass Pro Shop there. He had a ball seeing them swim around. It made us want to get an aquarium at home for him to watch. It's a little hard to see due to the reflection, but there is a pretty big fish at the glass looking right at Cade and I.

My mom and dad got a lot of holding and playing and feeding and cuddling time with Cade, but I don't think any amount of time is ever enough for grandparents. :)

Cade was all about trying to eat the zipper on my dad's jacket.

You think your baby is pretty cool? Well, can your baby shake a toy with his left hand while making a foam block levitate with his right hand? (Ok, I'm actually holding it.) And as you can see, Chili takes his guard dog duty very seriously. He likes the upstairs sun room because he can keep an eye on the entire backyard as well as most of the block. Squirrels and birds don't dare enter our yard for fear of the verbal scoldings Chili hands out. The only animal that doesn't seem to care much is the neighborhood possum. He mosey's around wherever he wants. One time Chili had him up a tree and it was hissing at him and baring his teeth pretty menacingly, but that's about it for him. It drives Chili bonkers if he's in our yard (and yes, I realize I sound like a hick talking about a neighborhood possum, but we really do live downtown, it's just a downtown in Kentucky).

It's a little tough to tell, but Cade's front four teeth are in pretty well and they're anything but straight. Honestly, they look more like tire treads. I guess as his mouth grows they'll have more room to spread out and straighten out (we hope). Susie needed braces, I didn't. Hopefully his teeth take after Daddy's.

Rolling around on the floor with Grandpa. Lots of fun!

If you want to hold Cade you'd better be aware of the risks involved. He loves to grab things, and I mean anything. If you aren't wearing a hat, glasses, necklace, earrings, or a hoodie with drawstrings, he'll go right for your ear, nose, lip, eyebrows, cheeks, throat, or chin. And you'd better hope he'd recently had his fingernails trimmed or he can definitely leave a scratch with his strong little grip. Sometimes if I'm talking to him he'll put his hand in my mouth and stare at my face like he's feeling what my tongue and lips are doing to make the different sounds.

He's always been super ticklish, and I test him a lot to make sure he retains that quality.

Cade and Grandpa share a deep love for Cheerios. Susie found this Cheerios container at a garage sale, and it's perfect for stashing them in the diaper bag for a quick snack on the go. And my dad is the most consistent Cheerios eater I've ever known. It's what he eats pretty much every morning. I think he's got a jealous eye on that Cheerios holder. Oh, and if you look at the end table in the background, you can see the trophy my dad won for winning his age group in the local 5k we ran in last weekend. Cade and I have large shoes to fill.

Cade up in the branches of a cherry tree down on Griffith. My parents have similar pictures of both my sister and I when we were this size. He was pretty tired during this photo shoot. That bear hoodie cracks me up. He looks great in it.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Cade LOVES to swing. This time he's holding on and smiling in the breeze. Check out the post to see a picture from last July in the same swing. He sure has grown a lot.

As one of Susie's friends pointed out on her facebook page, he really looks like Mommy in this picture.

All that activity and fun with Nana and Grandpa sure tired Cade out.

I don't know how long it will be before he's crawling, but he's scooting himself along the floor on his stomach and pushing himself up onto all fours. It's just a matter of time before we have to learn to sprint while bent at the waist. He's also developed this super cute laugh. It sounds like a half cough, half laugh/chuckle. HIGH-larious. I think he's just learned to make that sound and likes to do it to make us laugh. Something else he's started doing is showing preference for certain things. If we give him a something and he's got his eye on something else he'll just shove the first thing off to the side.

He's eating great, he's been sleeping very well, and he's growing like a weed. We sure are blessed to have a super fun kid in our house. The other day "Wires" by Athlete (hear it here)came up on my iTunes shuffle and I hadn't heard that song in months. The last time I heard it I couldn't stop a couple tears from leaking out. But the lines that stood out to me this time were "I've seen Christmas lights reflect in your eyes," and "Looking at you now, you would never know." The first week with Cade was scary and stressful at times, but God is good and he provides health and growth.

Speaking of growth, Cade has his nine-month checkup on Monday so I'll update with measurements soon after. I think the oddsmakers in Vegas currently have the over/under for when he passes Susie's height set at 2 years 7 months, but I haven't checked lately. Lately he hasn't been growing as fast as he did the first few months, but in the last couple days it seems like he's eating more, so maybe he's starting another growth spurt. Thanks so much for all your prayers and thoughts. We appreciate them all. And thanks for checking in on us.

Happy Spring!

I hope it's as warm and nice where you are as it has been here. We've been enjoying the opportunities we've had to get Cade outside. Just tonight we walked down to the park and spent some time swinging while the wind blew the little bit of hair Cade has around until it stood straight up. The daylight savings time has helped too.

This last weekend he ran a bit of a low grade fever so we took him into the doctor's office on Monday. Turns out he had a small ear infection. He was determined to prove to us that winter wasn't over yet. He's been teething for a few weeks now (getting his fifth, sixth, and seventh teeth, no word yet on the eighth, so he's remains a little lopsided), and that's kept him a slightly clogged up in the nose. The doctor guessed that all the congestion helped plug up the tubes going from the ear to the throat, causing the infection. Either way, he was impressed that Cade made it this long without any other kind of sick baby visit. We've really been blessed with good health and a very smiley, happy baby. He continues to become more and more fun.

He's getting the hang of feeding himself. He takes after his Grandpa Gronseth and will eat Cheerios at every chance he gets. Tonight we went to a Turkish restaurant owned by a friend of Susie's here in Bloomington and he got a chance to try the Turkish chicken, bread, lentil soup, and white bean soup. Yum! There really isn't anything that he's repeatedly turned down yet.

I'm wondering if Cade will become a world famous singer someday (or at least famous to himself like his daddy). :) Most of the time we put any kind of music on he's hollering at the top of his lungs and changing pitch every once in a while. It probaby sounds like crap, but it's beautiful in Mommy's and Daddy's ears. He'll make that Wookie-like noise you get when you talk with a little spit or phlegm in the back of your throat. I kind of think guys can make that sound better than girls for the most part. Mommy can't make it but Daddy can, and Cade and I go back and forth with that one. It's hilarious. And we've just started making Indian Chief noises with his mouth like Mallory in our friend's blog. He'll get this big smile on his face and keep yelling as a way to encourage me to keep popping his mouth. Lots of fun. That one got quite a few smile tonight at the grocery store. I'll try to get a video of it soon.

He's also getting a lot more independent physically. He's not crawling yet, but he loves to wiggle and bounce, and it's for longer periods of time now. Remember the balancing baby pose from one of the last pictures in this post? Well, now when I hold him up like that he'll get this huge grin and just lean back so I have to catch him while he falls backwards. We've decided he might be a stunt double someday with that lack of fear. He'll just laugh and laugh and wiggle until I hold him up again for another round. I think that move makes the ladies at church cringe in fear. I need to get a video of that too.

Another thing I've noticed just in the last week is that Cade is becoming more spatially aware of his surroundings and more able to focus on things and recognize them at a distance. He'll watch someone walk away until they leave the room. Or he'll be sitting in the kitchen and hear someone coming down the stairs and look to the door that comes into the kitchen from the stairs.

He also loves bouncing in his exersaucer (if that's even a word). Our kitchen has a couple different doors and I'll go back and forth between doors and pop my head out and say "Hey!" He'll crack up and start bouncing and then I'll go to a different door. I'll pop out again and say "Hey!" again and he'll crack up and bounce again. Here are a couple picture of that exchange.

Here's the cracking up when I jump out from one side.

Here's the initial look of surprise when Daddy shows up in a different doorway.....

.....and then the action shot of a bouncing kiddo.

He's started getting smart about it too to where he'll anticipate me switching doorways so I have to mix it up on him and pop out of the same side every once in a while just to keep him honest. Brilliant kid, I tell you. He's already in the gifted program: he makes gifts for us in his pants every day. :)

Speaking of talented, I have to brag on Cade just a bit and let you know that we've already trained...uh, taught Cade to fold laundry. Tiny, nimble, baby fingers can fold clothes much faster and more efficiently than adult hands. So if you need laundry help we'll rent him to you for a low rate.....uh, let you watch him while we go to the movies or something. Just kidding, but I did catch him when he was just hanging out at laundry time the other day. He kind of looks like a prisoner in his stripey onesie. He may not know how to fold laundry but he sure is cute (spoken like a totally biased parent, I know, but I'm allowed to say that every once in a while, right?). Thanks for checking in!

Chow Down!

I've not blogged for a while, and I'll write more soon, but I wanted to get a video up. I bought some fresh salmon in Seattle last weekend; Cade got to taste a little last night. I think he liked it! He's getting a lot better at feeding himself, but the food definitely doesn't all make it to the mouth yet.