Cade's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe Cade-o is 3. He has grown sooo much over the past six months. We've been working really hard with his teachers, and he has made tons of progress. His vocabulary has exploded, and his articulation is getting better and better. He is such a sweet brother to Coleman and is getting the hang of how to be gentle with him. He is a very special little boy and we love him to pieces.

We celebrated Cade's birthday by having a party with friends. Since firetrucks are the love of Cade's life right now, we centered the celebration around them. I think Cade's favorite part of his entire birthday was the balloon bouquet...

I think Coleman might have just as much fun on Cade's birthday as Cade did. He got to eat a cupcake for the first time, and loved loved loved the games and toys...

The boys also got to have Nana in town for the weekend, which is the best kind of birthday present!

It was also fun to be able to share the day with friends. We're lucky to live so close to so many amazing people.

We had lots and lots of firetruck paraphernalia!!

I thought that Cade would be really excited about a firetruck shirt, so I made a felt applique and embroidered his name on it... he really couldn't have cared less though. Oh well... it was fun to make!

YES; I still consider myself to be a novice in the cake-decorating department. It must have looked pretty scary... Cade gagged when I put it in front of him to blow out his candles!!

The presents were a hit. He loved unwrapping them piece-by-piece.

It was a fun and crazy day!!

Cade, we love watching you learn and grow! You make us be better people, and we're so blessed to have you as a part of our family. We love you, little buddy!!

Easter

Cade really liked coloring the eggs this year...

The world's most beautiful Easter eggs...

Easter morning...

Our best attempt at Easter pictures...

Yummy Easter dinner...

Egg hunt!

Coleman 8 Months

Coleman has grown so much this month. He has started to say "dada" in his babbling, which is a huge for us since he has hearing loss. He is sooo close to crawling. He's eating anything and everything. He also got his two bottom teeth this month.

"Me Bob"

Cade is all about Bob the Builder these days. He runs around the house with his hard hat and tools and says "me Bob, mommy." A week or so ago, he closed the dishwasher and it didn't click when it closed. He said "Uh oh! Me fix. Need tools." He ran to his room and got his trusty hard hat and saw. He came back and sawed the dishwasher for awhile and then said, "All done!" He put his hat and saw on the counter and went about his business.

Cade thinks that his dad is pretty cool. Whenever Russ is doing something, Cade has to be a part of it. Russ changed my brake pads yesterday, and Cade was in second heaven sitting next to him and watching...
Before church yesterday, I told Cade to stand by the car while I got Coleman in his carseat. 10 seconds later, I heard, "help mom! help!" Cade had gotten into Russell's tool bench, got a wrench, crawled under the car and started to "fix" it.

Game On

Cade had his first t-ball practice yesterday. He did GREAT at everything... except recognizing or following any of the rules of the game :) Russell's first love was baseball, so he is obviously thrilled that Cade is finally old enough to play (well, he's really not... but Russ talked to the commissioner and got an exception). Russ is coaching, and everyone on the team is from our neighborhood, so I'm sure we'll have lots of fun.

Coleman provided great support from the duggout...

Cade insisted on pulling the hemet down over his eyes, and peeking out through the little hole on the brim of the helmet. Anytime someone tried to help him fix it, he would scream, "No! Me do it!"... and then he would pull it back down over his eyes. He hit the ball, ran the bases, and played the outfield like this. Good thing they don't keep score at this age.

Welcome Spring

How do you welcome Springtime? One of Cade's favorite things to do is to hit his brother with flowers. Coleman seems to like it too, so uh, okay, go for it boys.

The Simple Things

We had to send one of Coleman's hearing aids to the manufacturer last week for repair, so he had to go without all week long. I took him to the audiologist yesterday to pick it up once it was fixed. The audiologist put it in his ear and turned it on. Coleman froze, and after a few seconds, he looked up at the audiologist and gave her an ear to ear grin, and started kicking his legs, shaking his arms, and squealing. He was so excited to be able to hear again! The audiologist and I were almost in tears we were both laughing so hard. It was a really great reminder about how lucky we are to have all of this technology and assistance available to our sweet Coleman. It was also a really sweet example of the love, submissiveness, and joy that children possess. Babies sure do teach us a lot of life lessons!

C-Man is 6 Months

Oh, how I love this little guy. Coleman is like a little piece of heaven in our house. He is always, yes always, sweet, cuddly, and smiley. He has my eyes and his dad's... everything else. He loves his brother, is very curious, and eats anything and everything, including his hearing aids. Coleman weighs 16 lbs and 6 oz (30th percentile) and is 26.3 inches (50th percentile). This month he started eating his toes, squealing, sitting (tripod style, just for a few seconds at a time), and is just starting to scoot around (mostly backwards and in circles).

Coleman is a very special little boy who has had some big obstacles in his 6 months of life, the biggest of which is his hearing loss. Where there are trials, there are blessings, and lots of lessons to learn. I think that the biggest thing that I've learned is that people are inherently kind. Wherever we are, there is always someone I don't know who comes up to talk with me about Coleman. Lots of those people have experience with hearing loss themselves, and ask about his situation and offer tips and tricks that they've come across. There are also many others who go out of their way to talk to me about how cute Coleman is. I can tell that these people don't comment on his hearing loss because maybe they think I would be offended if they did (I wouldn't... I love to talk about my baby :), but I do appreciate their concern). There are many many kind people out there.

We are so glad that Coleman is a part of our family. He adds another whole dimension of happiness to our lives.

Calling All Angels 2

My friend Angie is doing a service project collecting blankets for a hospital in memory of her newborn son who passed away almost two years ago. Please take a minute to watch the video, their faith and love is inspiring. This is such a great cause, please help if you can. If you live near me, let me know if you want to participate and I will pick up and mail your blankets for you.

Jumpin

If you know Cade, you know that he likes to run, jump, and crash things. We went to Kangaroo Zoo in PG, and Cade loved it. Like LOVED it. He burned off so much energy and had so much fun, that we thought we would all be happier if we had some of that in our basement.... probably one of the smartest things I've ever done (but I do have to give Russ the credit for the idea and finding the stellar deal on Ebay). Cade gets 10 minutes of jumping time every time that he does 5 nice things for Coleman. It's hilarious (and oh so refreshing) to watch him give Coleman every toy in his room, his favorite blanket, all of his treats, and plenty of kisses.

The first couple of pictures are from Kangaroo Zoo, the others are in our basement (it's more fun with friends! Come over!)





And one more picture just because this moment was too cute to forget...

1 Month With Hearing Aids!

Coleman is 5 months old now... and I can't believe how much he has changed over the past month. Since he got his hearing aids, he is soooo much more social. He likes to play games, he laughs and squeals, and he "talks" to us all day long. The difference the hearing aids have made is astounding. Coleman is all set up with Early Intervention and PIP/USDB, and we have met some truely amazing people through the whole process. They have even inspired me to go back to school to be a SLP, and my application is in! It's going to be a looooong road, but I am 100% sure that it's where I need to be. I am so excited to be able to give other families like mine the hope and help that all our JCDC friends have given to us.

Little Gym Graduation!

I am so proud of my Cade-o!! He finished his first semester at The Little Gym. They had their "show" last night. We had so much fun watching him. That's the best money I spend all month... Cade absolutely loves it. He can run as much as he wants to, and whenever he crashes into a mat it doesn't hurt! When he gets home from class, he is absolutely exhausted, and sleeps like a log. It's a win-win!

Mommy's Juice

I dropped Cade off at his preschool class this morning, when his teacher walked in with a Diet Dr. Pepper in hand. Cade pointed to it and said, "mommy's juice!" He pretty much nailed it.