18 Months

Waiting at the doctor for my 18 month check-up!

Caden is now 18 months old! I can't believe how fast time has passed. When I realize how much he is growing and learning it makes me stop every chance I get and cherish these little moments I have with him. Even if it's something that nobody else would think is special, I love it! Caden's 18 month check-up went as expected. Doctor Gold said he was too skinny. This is something that has been a concern since he was a little baby. We feed him pretty healthy, so what can you expect? He just has a high metabolism and is extremely active. We do give him good stuff like cookies, Cheez-its, etc, but he just loves fruit! The doctor said we need to fatten him up in any way we can. She said give him pudding, ranch with his veggies, and to try some Pediasure. Other than that Caden is a sweet, fun, little loving boy. He enjoys his favorite cartoons and loves Mickey Mouse and Disney Cars. He is very sentimental and doesn't like if someone is upset. I love my little man!

Here are his check-up results:

Weight: 21.2 lbs. - Did not register on the percentage scale
Height: 33.3 in. - 75th percentile
Head Circumference: 19 in.

Here are some things about Caden at 18 months:

Clothes size: 18 month shirts, 6-9 month shorts, 12 month Levi jeans with adjustable waist band.

Shoe size: Current shoes are size 5, but new sandals will be size 6.

Diaper Size: 3 Huggies

Teeth: 8 front teeth and 4 molars. Another front tooth seems to be breaking through. Total of 12 teeth as of right now.

Hair: Blonde and now needs some gel to tame it.

Favorite snack: Cheese, fruit gummies, and M&M Minis

Favorite food: Hamburgers and chips

Least favorite food: Green beans

Naps: You take one 2 hour nap a day.

Biggest Accomplisment:
You say poo poo when you need to be changed. We have introduced the potty to you, but you enjoy playing with it rather than using it.

New words you can say:
-car
-door
-block
-duck
-cat
-blue
-girl
-bath
-hair
-tries to say Mickey Mouse
-tries to say M&M's

New things you can sign:
-milk
-more
-dog
-eat

New things you like to do:
-Playing outside is your favorite thing. You could live outside. You love to go to the park and slide down the big boy slide all by yourself.

-You love to play with cars. You call them car cars. It doesn't matter if it's a small toy car, your cozy coupe, or a big car. When you ride in the red truck you expect us to let you drive first or it will be a fight to put you in your car seat.

-Dogs are currently your other favorite thing. You call them dog dogs. When you see a dog you get so excited and immediately want to chase after it. You like to pet them and give them hugs.

-You love to build with blocks. You call them bocks.

-You love to have bubbles with you take a bath. You say baf when you are ready to take one.

-You love to play with balls. You call them ball balls.

-You love to spin in circles and dance to music.

One Rough Day...

Driving the "car car"

A good end of the night 

Little silly and I

     Yesterday was hopefully my only bad day of the year! Yesterday after church my truck had a flat tire which resulted in me having to leave it there. Thank goodness Casey was on his way home from work and was able to come get Caden and I. Casey has been working 12 hour shifts this week so he hasn't been able to help out with much. The next morning I dropped my mom off at work and borrowed her car to go get my truck's tire fixed. I bought a air pump that plugs into the cigarette lighter. I had it running about 15 minutes and the tire wasn't airing up so I just figured it had too big of a leak. After I realized I needed to jack up the truck because the air was leaking out of the rim, it aired up just fine. Did I mention it was sprinkling a little? Caden was a good sport and enjoyed driving the "car car" white we waited. After it was all aired up I took it to Cedar Hill to a small place that has used tires just to see if they had one to fit. We needed to replace all of the tires, but didn't want to spend that much money because we don't use the truck too often. The shop didn't have the tire so I went to discount tire and was quoted a price over $500 for all 4 tires. Some discussing went on about the tires then Casey told me just to go eat until he found out if he could get some tires cheaper. Well, I pull into the parking lot to eat and Casey calls me and all Caden wants to do is drive the "car car". After we were done eating I search for the keys in my bag and immediately I knew I left them in the ignition. That just topped everything off...my babies car seat was in there so I couldn't have someone pick me up to get my spare key, and I didn't want to drop $50 on a lock smith. I did cry a little, but Caden can make everything better with his laugh and smile. He had been up since 7:30am and normally gets up at 9:30. He did not give me one ounce of trouble that day. We walked around Hobby Lobby and then I took him to Toys R Us and got him a bouncy ball that lights up. "Ball balls" are his other favorite thing besides car toys. It finally dawned on me that my mom had AAA which made it able for me to call and add myself as a family member to her plan for $25 for the year. That was such a blessing because the lock smith was there within 15 minutes and was also able to air up my tire for me that had again gone flat. After I got in my car, I put Caden in his car seat for the millionth time it seemed (if your a mom you know how much work getting a baby and all his stuff in and out of the car can be). I just thanked the Lord I was able to get in my car finally. I went straight to Discount Tire and ended up getting a better deal on tires but still cost $415 which wasn't what we wanted to spend but we had no choice. By now it was 4:30 and Caden finally was able to go to sleep in his stroller while we waited. When it was all said and done I went home and just sat down and pondered life. I know sometimes we can go through struggles that seem like we can't get through them or it's too hard, but God always has your back and will take care of you no matter what. Just keep trusting him and putting your life in his hands. I'm thankful to serve such an awesome God and have such a loving and caring husband and son.

Corneal Erosion

So yesterday right when I woke up I was playing with Caden in my bed. I turned around and ran into his finger which resulted in a quick flinch away and pain in my eye. If you have even been poked in the eye you know what I'm talking about. Apparently my brain didn't see the finger coming fast enough so my eye stayed open and his fingernail sliced my eye. At first we just thought I got poked extremely hard and that my eye was getting better, but as the day progressed my eye would feel like someone pouring alcohol into an open cut and just burn so bad every 5-10 minutes. This pain made me feel nauseated and gave me a terrible headache. I didn't want to but had to go to the eye doctor and sure enough I had a big divit on my cornea. I wear contacts so this became a problem for me seeing the world. I do have glasses thank goodness. They put a special medicated contact on my eye to help heal the cut and so that my eye doesn't irritate it anymore. My eye was so swollen and tired after all was said and done. My eye feels so much better today. This contact makes my eye so blurry so it's hard to focus on anything, but much better than pain. I will never take for grated my eyes again! Eyes are a true gift from God and I will cherish them forever!

The Scariest Boo Boo Yet

Heart wrenching moment

His poor little face looks so swollen. 

The new binky 

Watching TV 

Worn out

Saturday night we were all gathered around Caden talking with everyone while he played. All of a sudden he picks up his blanket, trips on it, and then falls right into the corner of tile. It was the longest 2 seconds of my life until we reached down to pick him up with a delayed cry. Casey held him in the light and it took a second or so but all of a sudden blood just started gushing everywhere. You could tell before the blood came out it was going to be bad because of the deepness of the cut. I quickly grabbed him with one hand and a paper towel with another hand. I just yelled to my mom to get me a rag. I had blood dripping down my hands and my biggest concern was keeping it from getting in his eyes. I kept pushing it up towards his hair which made him look like his hair was died straight red. Casey kept yelling don't go to sleep because he was afraid of a concussion since he hit so hard. We quickly jumped in the car and I didn't even put Caden in his car seat because of the amount of blood coming out and how much he was screaming. I just kept holding the rag on there tight in hopes I could get it to clot. As soon as I ran into the ER with him they immediately took him. While I was signing him in, Casey was holding him in the back of the ER trying to get his weight. He refused to sit on the scale so they just had Casey stand on it and deduct his weight. They quickly put us in a room and put some numbing medicine on it so it would relieve some pain. He laid there in my arms watching cartoons until it was time to get stitches. They even brought him a binky from Labor and Delivery because he left his at home and we knew it would comfort him. It was a different kind than he used so he kept pulling it out and looking at it while asking us where his was. To put the stitches in they wrapped him up in a blanket like a burrito, even though he held perfectly still other than crying. I was able to stand right over him and hold him so he knew I was still there. They put 3 stitches in and that was it. After they were done he was much more calm. I think the local anesthetic helped a lot with the pain and I had given him some tylenol also. Even though he was hurt and looked so worn out, he still was signing thank you thank you to both doctors that stitched him and assisted. He is such the little gentleman. After we left we promised him some ice cream, and we hadn't eaten so we stopped at Steak and Shake and got us all some food and him some ice cream. He ate very well considering the trauma he had just been through. I guess he cried up an appetite. Needless to say I was a mess inside and felt like crying because I felt so bad for him, but couldn't because he gets so upset if he sees me upset. Plus I had to think straight when trying to see what I needed to do for him. I never ever want to go through this again! Even though everyone says expect more with boys, but I pray to God that we never have this traumatic experience again!