Bittersweet Birthday......

Happy Birthday to my little man!!! And I do mean little man.......I can't believe that Cade is already 1! I remember this day last year like it was yesterday.....the back pains all day at work, the doctor's appt advising me that I was not going home, calling Justin to get his butt downtown to the hospital as fast as he could....in 5 o'clock traffic and welcoming our little guy at 5:21 pm. A healthy 8lbs 2ozs and he was three weeks early (thank goodness). He would have been a whopper if he would have made it to the 21st. Of course the 21st would have been a fun day this year if he would have made it.......Cade's bday, Justin's bday and Father's day all in one.....wow......that overwhelms me just typing it! Cade had grown up so much just in the past few months. He is nonstop all day long and loves, loves, loves to play with his daddy. Of course mommy is for cuddle time. Justin and I made it through our first year of parenthood and we did it quite well if I do say so. Stressful at first. I guess getting used to a baby and no sleep always is but I think we have gotten the hang of it and wouldn't trade it for the world. I will post pictures soon from Cade's first bday party this past weekend. We had a great time and great turnout and too much food as always.

Are boys just born this way??? And a new word

Cade is definitely all boy.....the other night he burped really loud and didn't really know what he had done. He looked at me like what the heck? and then just died laughing at himself. I do have to say that this is the only age that I will probably think this reaction is cute....but it was really cute. He laughs at himself all of the time now and loves to try and make me laugh. On another note, Cade has learned a new word. I bought him his own little leather chair that he sits in every night. When we first brought it home, Cade thought that he could stand up in it so I kept telling him to sit. Now, Cade loves to say sit....over and over and over again. The only problem is that it sounds like he is saying s**t! Too funny.

Firefighter Cade IS turning 1!!!

I cannot believe that it is already time to plan Cade's 1st birthday party!!! It hasn't been a year since we were at St. Vincent's anxiously waiting to meet our little guy......has it?? I can say without hesitation that it has been the best year of my life. Justin and I both have changed so drastically in only a year. We now would rather spend the weekend nights with Cade on the couch in our pj's than doing anything else. We have also learned how to take joy in the small things in life....like playing ball with Cade or reading him a book! We are amazed at the blessings that we have been given and try to never take a day for granted with our little guy. I never imagined how much we could actually love someone unconditionally until Cade. We would give him the world and lay down our lives for him in a second just to know that he would be happy. Okay, done with the sappy stuff and back to the party!! We are planning a firefighter's party (of course) at the park. Justin is extremely involved in the details and wants everything to be awesome. We have all of the details down, now just waiting to start execution.......which I apologize in advance to my sweet, understanding husband for the crazy lady he is going to have on his hands the day prior as well as his big party day. I hope that everything turns out great for Cade's first party.....it is honestly the first real party that Justin and I have ever planned so keep your fingers crossed!

Really??? Out of school & work for this?

So this is the infamous hand, foot & mouth disease that I have heard horror stories about......except the extent of Cade's case is a blister to his foot. I was called at work to pick Cade up because he may have gotten this virus from some of the other kids in his class since it is extremely contagious and Cade had this new visitor on his toe. Well, I get there and take Cade home patiently waiting on the doctor's office to call so that they can officially diagnose the blister on his foot and clear him to go back to school...finally they give us an appointment. We get in and Cade's doctor looks at his foot and says..."is that it? Are you sure it's not an ant bite?" She did find another sore in the roof of his mouth but she said that it was the most minor case of this virus that she has seen. No fever, not contagious. I called Cade's daycare to let them know and the director said that he needed to stay out one more day to make sure....???? I know that they are looking out for everyone but I trust his doctor's opinion and note that she wrote specifically stating "not contagious".....and another day of work missed for a "sickness"? Of course, if I made stink of it and insisted that Cade come to school, he would be the one to get the worst case ever in a week or so. I love my buddy and would want nothing more than to hang out with him for the day but if he isn't sick, he needs to be at daycare and I need to be at work. I know that I am jinxing myself and tomorrow morning I will wake up and Cade will be covered in these minor "blisters".....but for now....really?

New Kicks

We took Cade to get his first real pair of shoes this weekend. I had bought a few different pairs from Gymboree & Children's Place but they never fit his chubby little feet so I decided to quit wasting money and have him measured for the correct size. We went to the New Balance store per Justin's request and found him 2 pairs.....of course there isn't as much to choose from in size 5 EXTRA WIDE!!! Now the trick will be getting Cade to wear them. The longest time they have lasted so far is 15 mins. and that is only because I was holding Cade and he couldn't rub his feet together until they came off.

Chores

Cade's new favorite place to hangout.....the dishwasher. If he even hears the door open, he is sprint crawling to the kitchen. Now I have to wait until he is asleep to do this chore because he is up on the door pulling out everything he can get his hands on! I hope he is this eager when he can actually help unload!

It's that time again.......

Well as you know, every 3 months or so, I make a list of my 10 favorite Cade things as a fun way to kind of keep track of his changes/development so here I go....

1) I love the morning ride to daycare (majority of the time) because that is when Cade and I make little noises and claps back and forth to each other. He has gotten great at imitating.

2) I love how Cade has a favorite tv show(s). He absolutely loves Go Diego Go and The Backyardigans. He is completely consumed by the television for the hour and claps along with the shows. He also shakes his booty back and forth dancing......too cute.

3) I love how you HAVE to watch his shows with him......he just isn't interested if me or Justin aren't right by his side.

4) I love that when I put Cade on the grass, he does his "crawl-walk". If you look at his picture in my prior post, it shows him doing this.

5) I love how Cade has started to share his food with me.....I could do without actually having to eat it but I guess a few slobber drenched cheerio hasn't killed anyone.

6) I love how Cade make "mmmmmmm" noises when he eats. He really enjoys his food and wants you to know.

7) I love how Cade will sit up in the middle of the night just to find his little bear, Curry and then grab him and go right back to sleep.

8) I love how excited he gets when he sees a dog.....any dog. He starts screaming "da....da....da" and pointing. You can see how proud he is that he knows what a dog is and that I recognize what he is saying.

9) I love how Cade will start making noises to himself in the middle of the night. He is still sleeping but will all of a sudden start going " ahhhh....ahhhh.......ahhhh" for about 10 minutes.

10) I love how he is such a happy baby and smiles at everything & everyone. He is our world.