cade: the early days

For obvious reasons, I haven't been doing a lot of blogging lately.  For some reason I just don't feel right sitting at my computer when there's a mound of laundry to be done.  So in the few moments I let Sean steal my Cade from me each day, I do chores instead of blogging.  But right now he's asleep (something I was beginning to fear he'd forgotten how to do altogether), and GCDS is on its lunch break.  So I'm at least posting a few quick pics of my little guy.  He's so darn cute.

Cade and Grammy (my mom) who came to stay with us for a few days after he was born.  It was so nice having my parents here - I miss them!

This picture isn't staged - this is what I found on my bed one lazy morning after I got out of the shower.  (Don't worry - if you look at the top of the pic you'll see daddy was there keeping a close eye on everything.)  Cade's big brothers and sister love him soooo much.  Although the picture doesn't indicate it, I think the feeling is mutual.

Sleeping beauty.

Bath time with big sister.  Clearly she's having WAY more fun than he is.  Maybe he doesn't like princess tub toys.

Hanging in Elliott's room while she and mommy play princesses - a recurring theme for the poor little guy.

Ok - I know these are supposed to be Cade pictures - but I had to throw this one in.  Elliott found these ancient (like 10+ years) pajamas that used to be Kellen's and has loved wearing them around (despite the fact that they're obviously too little for her).

Daddy and the little half of the little Giffords.  Poor daddy looks a little tired.  That'll happen when you have two children who don't sleep through the night and only one mommy.  He has been so helpful.

I mentioned in my last post that Cade came home in 4 inches of snow.  Fewer than 3 weeks later, he went to the park for the first time - crazy January in Tennessee.  Here's a pic of all my boys enjoying the outdoors.

Check out these cheeks (and that baby mohawk)!

Elliott was having too much fun sliding to pose for any pictures.

What a mess.

I had a real photographer take some real pictures of little man, and hopefully I'll be able to post some of those soon.  Stay tuned...

introducing cade

Caedmon Cross Gifford made his debut on January 10, 2011 at 2:30 a.m.  I haven't been the best blogger for not sharing the news here sooner, but doing so requires me to put him down for a few minutes, and just look at that picture.  Would YOU put him down??

His labor was more challenging than my last 2 (which were so brief that it would've been hard for Cade to be easier).  And after 10 weeks of contractions, it was a little difficult to tell when the "real deal" had started.  Sunday afternoon I started feeling a little rougher than usual, but we went to church that evening anyway.  Figuring we were nearing the end of my (likely) last pregnancy, Sean took this picture of me Sunday afternoon.

After we got home from church, the contractions seemed to be ramping up, so we started timing.  An hour and a call to the midwife later, we were on our way to the birth center.  With my history of rapid labor, they wanted me to get there before the snow started falling.  So we went in around 9:00 p.m.  And we waited.  Things didn't get really moving until around 1:45 Monday morning.  Here's my very last pregnant pic, just before getting in the tub Cade would be born in.

And at 2:30, he arrived!  My sister-in-law Allison had come to the birth center, in the snow and in the middle of the night with her newborn in tow, to be with our kids because Sean's parents were out of the country and my parents weren't coming in to town for another few days.  A HUGE thanks to Aunt Ali for that!  Her hardest job was keeping the impatient siblings from going crazy - they couldn't wait to get their hands on Baby Cade.

 Allison had also driven out to Strawberry Plains to get Sean's grandmother, so she could be there for the birth.  She has 4 grandchildren, and this was her 12th great-grandchild, and yet it was the first time she'd ever seen a baby born.  We were so glad she could share the experience with us.

 Getting all checked out.  A perfect 40 weeker!  (Wonder if there's some sort of award for having 2 babies in a row ON their due date??)

All the little giffords with mommy.  Could I be any more blessed?

And the first shot of our new family of 6. 

 About 8:30 a.m., we were ready to go home!

Through the night, I'd been watching snow pile up outside my window.  We had to take our new darling home in the midst of a snow storm!

But he was snug as a bug on the ride home.  Awe.  Soooo little.

 Home sweet home!

His sister is definitely a big fan.  She loves her baby brother.

 We all do.  Wyatt got a little snuggle time with him.

He's also a big fan of sucking his thumb.  I haven't had a thumb sucker before!

I have to brag on my awesome husband for a bit.  You know how I said Cade was born at 2:30 in the morning?  And I mentioned there was a snow storm?  Well, the Amazing Mr. Gifford took his big boys sledding at 11:00 a.m. that day - just a few hours after Cade was born! - because he'd promised them they'd go.  We had just purchased new sleds the day before in anticipation of the big storm, and they were determined to use them.

 If that doesn't make him dad of the year, I don't know what would! 

the waiting game

I've been away from the blog for a little while, but it's not because I've been busy having a baby.  We're still waiting for the arrival of little Cade!  It's crazy to think that I first went into labor at 30 weeks.  After all these weeks of pre-term labor and anxiety about him being a preemie, here we are now at 39 weeks and he's still not here.  I'm really not complaining. I think that down the road, we'll feel like the further his birthday is from the holidays, the better.   So I'm not really in any hurry for him to show up.   

Sean, on the other hand, is very concerned about how much of this snowboarding season he's missing.  He can't go until the baby's born because with my history, if he were even an hour away on the slopes when I went into labor, he'd probably miss the whole thing.  To make matters worse, Kellen and Wyatt got brand new snowboards, boots and bindings for Christmas which they're dying to try out.  So little Cade, unless you want your daddy and big brothers to be upset with you for making them miss ALL of this snowboard season, you probably ought to show up some time before February.  Ha!