11 months/FL trip part 2

I think I think this every month: "I can't believe it's been (fill in the blank) months since Cade was born! It seems like yesterday! He's getting old too quick!" So today was no different. 11 months! In 31 days he'll be a year old! Wow. He is still just so much fun, and he keeps learning new things and trying new things.

At this point he's getting very good at pulling himself up on anything. What he's not so good at is doing it in a graceful manner every time. He has become the master at finding an object his head has not yet met and flinging said head into it. And he can do it in the blink of an eye. He requires more vigilant watching now than he ever has. I'm sure when we're out in public people look at him and think we're either very neglectful parents or we enjoy smacking him around. And he doesn't ever fall on his arm or shoulder or chest or anything except for his head. Any other parents out there experience this or is Cade just that good at it?

The fact that he is incredibly active doesn't help his head out at all either. I don't know how many times he's almost wriggled free when I'm holding him. One thing he does well is climb the person that's holding him. He'll push himself away from your body, wedge his little feet up on your chest or stomach and start walking up your torso. It makes it very difficult to hold him, and he just laughs and laughs.

He's been pulling up for a while, but he's now advancing to being able to pull himself along the couch or something else and kind of shuffle along. I don't think it will be long now before he's starting to walk on his own.

We got back from Florida a week ago. My sister Amy is sending me the pictures from her camera (she has a much nicer camera and is a much better photographer than Susie or me), so I'll post some of them soon. We had a blast seeing Amy and Paul for dinner one night. The whole trip was great, but it was good to be back home too. We were ready to have a little more room, and Cade and I had come down with some kind of cold/flu. We weren't hanging out with any piggies, so I don't think it was the mass panic-inducing version we've been hearing too much about, but it slowed us down for a couple of days.

This last week we got new carpet in our upstairs. It has been thoroughly Cade-tested and Cade-approved. It feels like a completely new house upstairs.

Well, I know everyone comes for the pictures, so here are a few. Like I said, I'll post more from Amy's camera when I can. Thanks for stopping by!

We met Paul and Amy at a pretty cool tiki bar-style restaurant right on the Indian River in Ft. Pierce, FL, which was almost exactly halfway between Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale. Cade pleaded with us to let him work his hair up into a fauxhawk. So we relented.

This picture of Cade and Uncle Paul turned out pretty good.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Susie's brother, Dustin, has a friend who works in ticket sales for the Magic. So he got us a pair of media passes for Game 6 of the Magic/Celtics playoff series. We entered through the tunnel at one corner of the arena and had to walk around the court to get to our seats, which were at the top of the lower bowl. Kevin Garnett has been my favorite NBA player since his days in Minnesota; unfortunately the policeman shuffled us by the Celtics bench before I could take a picture, but our eyes briefly locked and I think he could feel the love. I did have my camera ready when we walked by the Magic bench though. It's good I didn't get a video because Van Gundy was letting loose a string of f-bombs due to the fact that the Magic weren't playing very well to start the game. Not very family friendly. But the Magic heeded his filthy words and ended up winning and Dustin and I had a great time.

Here's Cade showing off his ability to stand up the day we got back.

Florida

We're halfway through our trip to Florida and I thought I'd post a few pictures:

Saturday we got to see Susie's brother Dustin graduate from the University of Central Florida. Congrats Dustin! He's now off to work for Direct TV selling sports packages so if you're in that market let me know and I can get you in touch with him for a sweet deal.


After graduation we went back to the hotel (in Orlando) to do a little swimming. Cade has this hilarious looking, but highly effective swimsuit. It's like a little wrestling singlet with a foam pad sewn into the chest and back. He seems to really like water, and this thing helps him stay afloat.

I don't have any pictures of it, but I got to see another shuttle launch from my company's plant in Merritt Island. This one was during the day, but it was no less impressive. I wonder if seeing it ever gets old for the people around here. Doubtful. I have a long video of the launch, but it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped it would.

Last night Susie and I had a great dinner with one of my coworkers and his wife at this outstanding seafood place on Cape Canaveral. We got out to the coast a little early so we drove down toward Cocoa Beach and found a spot to take Cade out to the water for the first time. He was smiling the entire time. We think he really enjoyed the beach time. Here's a picture of his first time putting his toes in the sand.

And his first dip into the waves.

My good looking family.


Cade's turned into a pretty good ham when it comes to picture time. He's always cheesin' it up.

Our son is still a baby, but he's almost half as tall as his mom!

Here's a short video of him getting his pants a little wet (Dad's fault). He cracks a pretty good smile at the end of the video. That kid is so much fun.

This Friday we're actually going to be able to get together with my sister Amy and her husband Paul, who will be down in Ft. Lauderdale for a short vacation. We're looking forward to that and I'll be sure to post some pictures of the rest of the vacation.

A new trick

The very first piece of baby clothing we ever bought for Cade was documented here. Well, he's over 10 months old and it finally fits! It looks great with the doggie hat the Keatons bought him. Pictures below.

I read the post I linked above and it reminded me of my need to be a good example for Cade. He's only 10 months old, but you can tell he's already starting to try and repeat some of the words we say. He has "dada," "mama," and "ug" (dog) down pretty well. But you can tell he's working on other sounds that he hears. So wouldn't it be a bummer if I said something improper and the next thing I hear is my infant son repeating it? Tame the tongue daddy.

In that post I also noticed how naive I was. I feel like Susie and I have learned a LOT in the last year. Our breadth of life experiences continues to expand at breakneck speed. Despite the multitude of lessons constantly presenting themselves in new ways I still feel very unknowledgeable (is that a word?). Don't get me wrong, I know how to change a diaper now. Cade has even made sure we've graduated to phase two and three of diaper prowess with all his wiggling and crawling and his occasional curious hand that gets a good grip on some poo every once in a while. But having a kid makes you feel completely helpless sometimes. It goes back to the worry issue Jesus addresses in Matthew 6. Where is my focus?

Last Sunday I had a pretty intense aha moment. I play in the band at church, so I get to see the response time at the end of each service from a different angle than most of the people in the room. Last Sunday our pastor gave an invitation at the end of the service and as we played I noticed a kid who looked about 9 or 10 years old come walking down and talk with our youth pastor for a while. After talking for a while he pointed out his dad and his dad walked down and joined them. As the song ended the dad sat down with the kid in the front row and put his arm around him with a humongous smile on his face. That is exactly what I pray for regarding Cade every day. I long to experience that within our own family. I've prayed for that for quite a while now, but actually seeing it take place within another family right in front of me was a stark reminder to stay vigilant. Cade's life is pretty basic at this point, but I pray that at some point he comes to terms with his humanness and that reality leads him to a relationship with Jesus. There is no greater decision than that.

In other news, school is now over for the semester. I'm looking forward to no classes until June while Susie's summer classes start next week. Her classes are primarily online this summer though, so we look forward to a lot of time together at home.

This Saturday we are flying down to Orlando to see Susie's brother Dustin graduate from college. We're taking advantage of Allegiant Air's direct flight from Owensboro to Orlando. Kind of random, but very handy. It will be Cade's first time to the beach. We'll take lots of pictures and you can see them right here.

One last thing: Cade has learned a new skill. Every night we have a pretty standard routine: bath, bottle, and bed. Either Susie or I will take a bath with Cade and then the other will give him his bottle and put him down. It usually works pretty well. The other night I heard Susie say, "Matt, come in here and check THIS out." We have a basketball hoop that sticks to the side of the tub with suction cups. For a while now we've showed Cade how to put the ball in the hoop and then we'll give the ball to him. He usually chews on it or splashes it around. Not anymore. He slam dunked that ball like a pro over and over. We cheered and made a big deal about it each time he put it in the basket. He even tried to get sneaky. A couple times he'd put the ball over the rim so we'd cheer for him and then he'd pull it out at the last minute to try and trick us while giving us a big smile. The next night when I got in the bath with him I wanted to see if he remembered. Sure enough, I handed the ball to Cade and he dropped it right in. It's pretty cool seeing him put stuff together in his head.

Enough talking. Here are the pictures. Thanks for keeping up with us!