The Bumbo Chair

Caden is definitely getting bigger. He can hold his head up for a bit and then gets tired. He doesn't really like tummy time, but we keep doing it. We put him in the bumbo chair this weekend. He can sit in it, so that's pretty nice.
Justin got him to smile while in the bumbo chair. He looks like he is having fun sitting.

On a side note, the pink eye is better and he is still taking the antibiotics. He is going back to daycare today. Hopefully he doesn't come down with something else.

One sick baby - check!

Well we have been to the doctor 3 times this week. Caden has pink eye. The doctor thought it might be an eye infection, but it's pink eye. So that means that he is now taking eye drops, anitbiotics (which he likes - it's pink and sweet), and he can't go to daycare. Daycare is getting quite the deal from us. We kept him home on Justin's days off since he had a cold. He went back to daycare on Wednesday, but I picked him up early so he could get an immunization. That's how we found out about the pink eye. So, this week he has been at daycare a total of 4 hours and our weekly bill will be $144.00. It's normally $180, but we are using 1 free day, so it's a little less. That's right accountants, that is about $36 per hour that we paid them to watch our sick baby with pink eye, which he probably caught from another sick baby. What a bargain. Oh yeah, I am at home today using one of my sick days to take care of our little baby bear.

As you can tell, I am a little annoyed since this is only the 2nd week of daycare and it's not going so well. The daycare ladies are nice, I just can't believe how much it costs. Oh well, we know he is being taken care of, and it's a hundred times better than that lady we interviewed for the home care.

Here are some pictures from today of Caden. Thanks Charlie for the cool outfits, he is almost too big for this shirt. He had to change right out of it since he filled his diaper with lots of pee and it soaked through to the clothes. In these pictures, I think he definitely looks like Justin's baby pictures in his face.

Oh yeah, the weight update from the doctor. He is now 10 pounds, 2 ounces. Not sure what percentile since it wasn't the normal check up, but at least we know he is gaining weight.

Tummy time

We have been working on some tummy time for Caden. He is getting better head control each day. I am sure that soon he will be pushing himself up to look around.
Caden has been sick for the last 6 days. I am sure that he got it from daycare, but that is to be expected. He is very stuffed up and very fussy. The doctor checked him out and told us about some nose drops. They seem to help. One thing that has happened is we are now experts with the bulb syringe (snot rocket) as my chef calls it. As you can see below, Caden is not happy these days. I think he is starting to get better. We will see.

Daycare update

Just a quick update for everyone on Daycare. Caden had his first week of daycare this week and we made it! He also got a cold so he is very congested and sounds terrible. Justin will be taking him to the doctor tomorrow - a fun way to spend his day off.

Caden seems to be OK with daycare, it's me and Justin that have the hard time with it. It takes a lot of preparation to get ready - making sure everything is labeled and he has the bottles made. When I pick him up, I always like to see what he is wearing. On Thursday he had name labels on his socks which Justin ironed on - so the socks don't get lost.

The best day was Friday. When I went to pick him up, he smiled real big. It made my heart melt.

I guess the moral of this is that I just get to appreciate all the time I do spend with him.

No pictures today, but hopefully will get some more up soon.

Grandpa leaves the tax Cave

Jeanette coined the phrase tax cave, but I liked it. Grandpa has arrived to meet Caden. He left the tax cave early which has never happened in 30 years. He came to Spokane on Thursday to meet Caden, of course he didn't arrive until after midnight, so he met Caden early Friday morning.
The picture above is what we like to call the "milk coma." Basically Caden eats so much, it puts him in a daze. He is full!

Charlie & Caden

These pictures show how fascinated Charlie was with Caden. It was some hard work keeping track of where Charlie was and if he could get to Caden. Eyes in the back of my head would have come in handy.

Charlie is very curious about things and if he doesn't like it, he lets you know with a grunt.

This is the closest Charlie has come to a dog since Phoenix. I think he liked Quincy if he was on my mom's lap. If he was on the ground and Charlie was crawling, he didn't like that very much.

Family Photo

Here is our first attempt at our family photo. There are a few key players missing - Justin, Matt & Dad, but not everyone could make it. Ginger was our photographer - Thanks for the good picture!

Caden meets the Anda family

Last week Caden and I flew to Spokane to meet the family. The plane ride went well for us, not too many issues. Immediately after take off, Caden did have a blow out, so we had to change clothes right away. Jeannette picked us up at the airport and we got Caden situated into Charlie's old Carseat. We also got to ride in the new mini van. I agree with Jeannette that it is pretty sweet. It definitely puts our old dodge caravan to shame.

Ginger drove over with my mom and the two of them did some babysitting. It was fun to be around the family for the week. There were definitely some funny moments throughout the week. Charlie is being weaned from the bottle and moving to sippy cups. This was going well until I gave Caden a bottle. Charlie saw the bottle and crawled right over to us. Jeannette gave him his own sippy cup, but it wasn't the same. He would have some sips, take it out of his mouth, look at Caden and then grunt, and then have some more sips. It was pretty comical.
The picture below is when Charlie wanted to eat Caden's feet. Charlie is getting teeth - right now he has 6. He had just bit Matt's heel and was told no. Then he crawled under the table to my mom "Grandma" and saw Caden's feet and literally licked his lips. We were all laughing so hard because he was so intent on getting the feet in his mouth. Don't worry, Caden was safe.
This could be a whole post in itself.... We went on a roadtrip in the mini van to the Tri-cities so that Caden could meet Uncle Pete and Aunt Vanessa. Jeannette & I were up front, the boys in the middle, and Grandma & Ginger in the back. This was my first visit to their house, and both my mom's and Jeannette's first visit since each of them had their fateful visit with Hamlet, so needless to say, this was a big deal. When we got going on the road, Caden fell right to sleep, unlike cousin Charlie. Charlie apparently does not like to be restrained in a car seat. In order to let us know this, he grunts. So for 2 1/2 hours, we listened to Charlie grunt. When we got to Pete & Vanessa's, Hamlet was locked up and we all hung out and had a great visit for a few hours. We ordered pizza, had a tour of their house and played with Caden & Charlie. When we went to leave, we prepared ourselves for the grunting. Luckily, both boys fell asleep once we hit the freeway. When we stopped for gas an hour away from Spokane, Charlie woke up and the grunting began again. This time, I did some puppet shows, played peek a boo and read "There's a Wocket in my pocket" to keep him entertained. Lots of driving, but fun to see Pete & Vanessa.
Pete with his new nephew. We didn't realize that Pete has a red beard too. He was on vacation and sporting the mountain man look.
Aunt Vanessa got to hold Caden for a bit too.
My dad wasn't here yet, so he didn't get to be in any of the pictures. He was still on the Rock working on Taxes in his tax cave.

Getting Ready for Daycare

These pictures are of Caden being a hip hop star - his "hat" - is made from one of his burp cloths. It doesn't take much to entertain us.

Daycare is fast approaching for Caden. We have 9 days to go and we will be in Spokane for most of them. I didn't realize how much preparation goes into this. We need to have a schedule for him to give them. The current schedule is - feed him about every 2 hours, unless he is crying then feed him right then. Nap time - whenever Caden feels like closing his eyes - which is never. I don't think that will fly.

We talked to the doctor about naps. He suggested putting Caden in the swing at a certain time 2 times a day and call that nap time. Yesterday was the first day - He took a 1 hour nap in the morning and a 3 hr nap in the afternoon. Justin will be in charge of the morning nap, so we have to make sure Caden is awake by 11am so he can go to daycare. Today we had a 1 hour nap at 9:30am and another nap starting at 1:15pm and he is still napping. - Yeah!

Justin is also in charge of making all of the bottles for daycare. This was another question for the doctor. How much should each bottle have since they need to be pre-made, and how many bottles do we make? We are making (3) 4 ounce bottles for him. This should be good for the 7 hours he is there.

This brings up another daycare requirement: Everything must be labeled with the first & last name of the child. Lucky for me, I got a label maker for Christmas, so labeling the bottles is easy. For all of his clothes.... I just ordered iron on labels online since I didn't want to write on everything. The good news is, I don't have to pay shipping. The pacifier is trickier, I don't think making a label will work, and a sharpie won't either. Good thing Lori tipped me off to the personlized pacifier website. We ordered those the other day.

Now, if we can just figure out bedtime, we would have it made.

It's a smile

Well we think it's a smile. This is each of our 2nd outfits today. Caden spit up after eating, all over me and his cute overalls - (see below). I am now packing spare shirts for both of us in the diaper bag, just in case.

Mommy & Me

Caden & I went to the mommy & me group today. We got him dressed up in his spring shorts overalls. Still big, but very cute. We got there and were a little early, and Caden was actually asleep. I got us all situated on the blanket and then he started to wake up, so I took him out of the car seat. He went back to sleep in my arms like a little angel. Then we woke up again and I fed him. I put him on the blanket so he could have some tummy time like a good baby and then he let loose. He actually silenced the group for a minute. He wasn't crying though, it was the gas & pooh. The gas was so bad that I had to fan it. (Uncle Pete would have been proud). One lady even laughed and said "at least we know his system works". Boy does it! That's why we call him stinky.

Pictures after the shots

WE made it through the shots. This is after we got home, you can see his band aids. 1 on each leg. He cried during the shots, but I think it was because we took away his bottle. As you can see, he doesn't look like he is that bothered.

2 month Check-up

Today was Caden's 2 month check-up.

His stats are:
Weight: 8 pounds 14 ounces
Height: 21 inches (this is what they measured him when he was born, but is the first time he actually is this long)

He has gained 1 pound 12 ounces in 2 months.

He is still in the 35th percentile for his weight. The doctor says this is normal since he has always been a small baby. He is continuing to breastfeed with some formula feeds thrown in for good measure.

We asked the doctor about the different brands of formula, and with daycare starting soon, could we switch to Costco formula. He said that pretty much all the formula is the same, so go ahead and switch. We are looking forward to that huge cost savings as soon as he starts eating more formula.

Baseball Opening Day

Today is opening day for the Major League Baseball Season. To celebrate, Caden and Justin are watching the Red Sox Game. Note that they match.

Like father like son - Go Sox!

The Peanut

In our quest to try all baby products on the market to get the baby to sleep, we are on to the baby sling. It's called the Peanut. I ordered it and it got here on Friday night. So I tested it out on Saturday morning to see how it would work. To my delight, It put Caden right to sleep. I was also able to clean our whole house while wearing the sling, which is way more than I have been able to do for the last 2 months.

The picture is of me modeling the sling, I am actually still in my PJ's, so excuse my appearance.