A typical night

So a typical night for us is Caden wide awake and mom or dad fighting off sleep. This was at 10pm last night. As you can see, Caden was awake, and Justin said he was awake, but doesn't look like it. We all went to sleep about 15 minutes later.. The good news is, I fed Caden at 11:15pm and he didn't wake up until about 4am for more food and a diaper change. This is definitely progress.

How big is Caden? So Big.....

Yesterday while at our mommy group, Caden & I met Joey, Angela's son. Angela & I work together at the Hyatt. Her son was born on March 9, a month after Caden. He is on the left. In these pictures, he looks about the same size, but is actually smaller. He definitely has more hair than Caden.
The picture below has another little boy from the mommy group. The boy on the right is only 2 weeks older than Caden... What a difference. The funny part is, this little boy was 9 pounds when he was born, so he already had a 2 pound head start on Caden. I am sure he will catch up soon. (you can also see where Joey peed out his diaper - don't forget to point him down)

I can't wait to take some pictures of Caden and Charlie to see how different they are.

New Socks

Caden got some new socks from Aunt Tami. They are so cute they actually look like shoes. They even have laces on them. When we went to the mommy group today, someone else had the same socks on, only in blue. This is a close up of the socks. They look like high tops.

Fireman photo shoot

Well today I was changing Caden for the 4th time and decided to try on some different outfits on him. The blue onesie below is almost too small now. That is hard to believe. He is actually growing out of something. I also decided that I would work on getting a good photo where he is smiling and looking at the camera. None of the pictures are "perfect", but I am just an amateur. Some are better than others.
The photo below is one of the better ones, you can see his red eyebrows.

This is the infamous Orcas Island Onsie. It is the 6 month size and I tucked it around him for the pictures. It's pretty big on him though.
This one is the winner for Orcas Island. I got him to look at the camera and you can read the onesie. It's a pretty hard task to get a smile too.
On a side note, Caden has been very fussy today and yesterday. It turns out he just has a lot of gas and wants to be held, so that's what we do. It just makes it a challenge for me to eat or do anything (including shower). I guess that's what you do when you have a baby, you do what the baby wants.

Bath Time

Bath time is pretty funny with Caden. He can't sit up or even really hold his head up, so he is in a sling in his little bath tub. He doesn't seem to mind it really. I like that he hangs his leg over the side of the sling, he looks like he is just relaxing.
These are the after bath pictures when we get him ready for bed time. He is pretty alert, but also calm.

I gave him the bath all by myself today. Pretty proud of that task. Justin mastered it a while ago, I am still learning.

A typical day

Just so you can have a glimpse at a typical day for us. There is some sleeping, eating and feeding. Below are two pictures of sleeping. It's pretty great how he sleeps - spread eagle. This does work well for me to take pictures of his outfits though. For obvious reasons, no pictures of eating or feeding.
Sleeping in the swing. Another favorite sleeping place. This was in his dog onsie and matching pants. Notice that they are hiked up to his armpits. That is how we dress in the Finnegan home, otherwise the pants don't stay on.

This last picture is when we got dressed up to go in to the Hyatt. You can't see, but Caden and I are matching. Both in Dark Jeans and Cardigan Sweaters. His jeans were a bit cheaper - I got them on clearance with a sweater and shirt for $3 for the outfit. Not a bad deal. Too bad the jeans don't fit and I rolled them up. He will grow into them, I am sure of it.

The little leprechaun

In case you were wondering what a happy little Irish Baby looks like on Saint Patrick's Day - See below. This is the happy little leprechaun.

Caden got all dressed up for the occasion. Don't worry, we didn't get to have any green beer. We had a nice quiet day at home.
Some day in the future, we will actually get him a leprechaun outfit, until then, just outfits with pictures of leprechauns.

Visit with Brenda & Brian

Brenda & Brian came to visit this weekend while in town visiting her parents. This is a picture of Caden and Brenda.
Note the big gap between the big toe and the other toes. It's a pretty great trick he has.




Caden & Brian are having a heart to heart - it was the red hair bond.


Caden is wearing his cool onsie - "Crying - it gets the job done" This was one of my finds at the second hand store. $1 for a Newborn size onsie. Can't complain about that.

We had a weight check at the doctor today. Caden is now 8 pounds 5 oz. That is a gain of 1 pound in 2 weeks! He is back on track for his weight! Thank goodness, 1 less thing to worry about.

Spring Training

We went to another Spring training game today. This week it was the Giants game in Scottsdale. Barry Bonds hit a home run. I missed it since I was feeding Caden, oh well.

We also met some fellow Cougars at the Game. They all live in Kennewick and 2 of them work for a nuclear company that makes parts for Hanford. They also got married the week after Justin and I, went to San Diego on their honeymoon, and stayed at the same Hyatt as us.

Small world. The mother of this person was very fascinated with Caden and his little Red Sox outfit.

It was a scorcher out there today. At a record breaking 95 degrees. We stayed in the shade all day since it was too hot to be in the sun. Pretty fun day for us, but now we are all very tired.

Big Day for Caden

Today was a big day for Caden. We went to the mom's group and learned how to stay in shape. Caden will be doing tummy time while I use my own body weight for resistance training. We will see how that goes.

While at the hospital, I weighed him. He is 8 pounds 5 ounces. That is almost a pound more than last week. I know he didn't gain a full pound since I weighed him with his clothes and diaper on, but it is definitely more than he has gained in a while. This also means that he is moving up in diaper size, and he is starting to fit into some regular baby clothes (other than just onsies). Case in point - the blue outfit he is wearing - looks very small on a hanger, but is still big on him. This picture below is of him with the hat that came with the outfit. Obviously he hasn't grown into that yet.
We ended the day with a visit to Great Grandma & Grandpa Finnegan. They are only in town another week so we squeezed in another visit. While visiting with the Finnegans, we watched some of the NCAA games on TV.

Congrats to the Cougars, they will be playing on Saturday. Sorry Matt & Jeannette, I know that you wanted Gonzaga to win, but maybe next year. - Spokane must be packed with some of the games being played there today and all the fans that come along with the tournament.

Tomorrow we go to Spring Training, we may see Barry Bonds.

5 weeks old

Caden is 5 weeks old today. He is doing well, but yesterday was a little traumatic. He had the tongue tie snipped. This was a bit confusing for him. They numbed his tongue, so for part of the day, he couldn't nurse because he couldn't find his tongue. Nursing was back on track by evening. Now we just have to figure out how to do this without the "shield."

Well, it's time for tummy time, maybe I will get some pics up soon.

Tongue Tied

We are going to the Specialist this morning. Today is the day for Caden to have the tongue tie snipped. I think this will be harder on me, then Caden. His doctor said that it doesn't even bleed, but I am not sure.

Our hope is this improves the feeding and Caden can "latch on" without the shield. (that's the breastfeeding lingo).

I should have an update later today with the progress.

Busy Day

The first thing we did today was let Caden nap in the swing. Then I fed him, and then we were on our way. We went to the Moms on the Move support group. It was nice to be around other moms with babies.

Once again, Caden was the smallest baby. There was another baby there that was 6 weeks, but she was a giant compared to Caden. It was nice to hear from some of the other mom's that they are having challenges too. There was another mom there that has to use the breast shield. She doesn't like it either. There was also another mom there that had many visits to the lactation consultants. She had a different experience than I did. They wouldn't let her feed the baby any formula. Her baby also was a giant compared to Caden.

We also learned that most of the moms at the group are not going back to work. Basically no one had thought about looking into daycare, so I shared my nightmares so far. One mom knew of a place with flexible hours and reasonably priced. She is going to give me the info next week.

I also received many compliments on my hip diaper bag. Thanks Jeannette for making me so stylish. I also got to show off the hooter hider, but didn't use it since Caden slept during this meeting.

I hope to keep learning more each week.

Free Stuff

So I figured out how to get some free stuff for baby Caden, just go to the company's website. For instance, pampers has a way to enter a code from the diapers that give us points for free stuff. Since pampers are the diaper of choice right now, I am just entering the codes to get points.

The same works for formula. so far we have received about $30 in "checks" for Nestle Good start - our formula of choice. This is great since a can can run about $22. I am sure in a few months we will switch to costco formula since it is much less expensive, but for now, Nestle can keep sending us coupons.

Weight Update

Well today was Caden's 1 month check-up. He is now 7 pounds 7 oz. He has gained about 10 ounces since his last check-up, but not enough weight. He is in the 35th percentile. The new plan is to feed him as often as we can.

We will have a weight check-up in 2 weeks to see how he is doing. Hopefully we will bulk him up. No more fat free anything for mom!

On a side note, after the doctor's visit, I fed him for about 1 1/2 hours, but he was still fussy so I gave him a bottle of formula too. This seemed to do the trick. The only draw back was he had a large explosion in his diaper that woke him up from his nap. It's tough being a baby.

Holiday Attire

Caden was ready for Valentines day, he just didn't fit in the outfit from Grandma. He now fits into the newborn size.

He also now has a Saint Patrick's day outfit that fits too.

The last picture is for everyday wear. That's right, it says babe magnet. He is definitely attracting the ladies, everyone loves him. We will work on not hiking his pants up to his armpits though. He kind of looks like a nerd too!

Getting Ready for Bed

Getting ready for bed takes some serious preparation in this household. First you have to get the baby dressed in his pj's. Thanks Anne for the matching gown and hat. I have a matching set, but there will not be a picture of us in our matching outfits.


The next step is getting the bottles ready for the nighttime feedings. As you can see, Justin has set-up the bottles, nipples, formula & bottled water. This makes things much easier at 3am when he is trying to find all the supplies, they are already set-up.

Don't worry, we haven't quit breastfeeding, we just feed him a bottle or two of formula in the middle of the night.


As you can see, he is gaining weight. Thank goodness. Tomorrow is his 1 month check-up so we will find out his official weight and height.

I think he will be getting some shots too.

New chair

Yesterday Caden got a new chair. Cousin Marly sent him this new bouncer chair. It does all sorts of things. It vibrates and has toys, and even converts to a toddler rocking chair.

We put Caden in it and he is fascinated by the toys hanging in front of him.

Thanks for the great chair Marly, he really seems to like it.


I know that some of you keep thinking "take the pacifier out" but it calms him down. We are trying to take it out for pictures, but it really does keep him calm, and at this point, we need all the help we can get.

On a side note, I have 5 1/2 weeks left for maternity leave, so it's time to get serious about daycare. I had a lead on someone, but she is scaling back. She is going to talk to some other people she knows that are doing daycare to see what she can find.

Hopefully we get this figured out soon. We don't have a back-up plan yet.

Opening Day - Spring Training!

That's right, it was opening day for the Mariners for Spring Training. WE took Caden to his first sporting event. Not that he knew what was going on. He slept through the whole game in the baby bjorn and then in Justin's arms.


We kept him covered throughout the afternoon so his skin didn't get exposed to the harmful sun. I guess that you can't put sunscreen on a baby until they are 6 months old, so we will just have to keep him covered at all times. Good thing I got a sun cover for the baby bjorn.


As you can see Caden is wearing his new sun hat - thanks grandma. He also is being protected from the sun by his skull & cross bones blanket. It was definitely a busy day for this little boy. We definitely tired him out. Not bad for being 3 weeks old.

On a side note, Brenda's dad is the announcer at the park, so we heard Mr Vreeke too.

Hooter Hider

That's right, I got your attention. I just bought the best invention ever. It's called the hooter hider and is a nursing cover. It is basically like an apron and it has some sort of plastic thing to keep it open at the top so you can check on how the baby is nursing. I saw 2 moms with this and felt I had to have one. I looked it up online and they sell it at the place we rented the breast pump from.

As you can see, I am nursing Caden, but no one can see what is going on. This is a new look for the big top (that is Anda speak for nursing cover). I was able to nurse in a crowd of people at a Spring Training game - Go Mariners - and I didn't expose myself!

Don't worry Jeannette, you will be getting one of these some day and then you can nurse at Red Robin like a pro! :)

The Swing

Well, not a lot will calm down Caden when he wants to be held. It's hard to hold him when you want to eat dinner. Welcome to the swing. Justin had heard from his daddy friends that the swing is the life saver. I wasn't a believer. Justin bought one for Caden and the first few times we put him in the swing he wasn't heavy enough so it swung on high speed at every speed.

He is gaining more weight so he is able to fit in the swing better. After 10 minutes he was actually sleeping.

On a side note, virtually everything for kids needs batteries and nothing needs the same size. In the last 5 years, I have only bought AAA batteries for remote controls for the tv or stereo. In the last 6 months we have bought AA's, AAA's, C's and recently for the swing D's. Glad to see we are keeping Duracell and Energizer in business.

I am wondering why they don't make a power cord for the swing to plug into the wall. I am sure it's probably a choking hazard or an electricution risk. Oh well, if it makes Caden happy, we will do it!