omg, i haven't seen you seen you in, like, forever!

I've been hearing this a lot lately:  Where have you been?  I haven't seen you in months!  

I guess we've been hibernating.  In the summer.  Actually, while we've had a busy summer, the truth is that we haven't been out and about all that much because of one simple, sometimes-hard-to-swallow fact:  I have a high maintenance baby.  My darling, sweet Cade is the classic Dr. Sears "high needs" child.  He doesn't sleep (like, at all), and prefers to spend his days - all of them, all day long - nestled in his mommy's arms.  If you did see me at some point this summer, there's about a 99% chance that you saw Cade the velcro baby, too.  Add to that the fact that we're still having to avoid dairy and soy (meaning I have to prepare pretty close to everything I eat at home), and the fact that he resolutely refuses to drink from a bottle, and it's no wonder I don't get out much. 

You're thinking, "Surely she's exaggerating."  I assure you I'm not.  Until just very recently, a solid 1-hour stretch of sleep seemed like a gift from Heaven.  And it usually only came when Cade was draped across me.  Yes - for those who offered their well-meaning "maybe-you-should-try-cosleeping" advice, I can say I'm waaaay ahead of you.  Not only has Cade been sleeping with me, but he actually insists on sleeping ON me.  We've tried everything, including crying it out, which is so not in this mama's nature.  After several bouts of 2+ hours of his crying, I figured crying it out wasn't going to work for this guy.

I don't mean to sound as if I'm complaining, though.  I actually LOVE the fact that he is so partial to his mommy.  And, amazingly, the last few weeks have seen a big improvement in his sleeping.  Last night, after a fitful start, he slept from 2:30 to 5:30 without waking.  We're slowly but surely getting back to some kind of normal. We've started school at GCDS, and our days are shaping up into a nice little routine.  And look, I'm even blogging!  I have a lot to catch up on - we'll see if I can manage to be more diligent about posting now that I'm functioning at slightly less than zombie-level.  

baby cade's half birthday

My little guy hit the half-year mark on July 10th.  This is the part where I say how fast it's flying by, how I can't believe how big he's getting, how I wish he would slow down.  All of that is true.  I'm sure it has something to do with keeping up with siblings, but sadly it seems to get faster and faster with each kid.  

Here are a couple pics Wyatt took on Cade's half birthday while I was feeding him his lunch.

At six months, Cade is rolling around, trying to inch-worm crawl, and can sit up - sometimes for 5 minutes and sometimes for 5 seconds.  He loves everything we've ever given him to eat, and he will eat as much as we shovel in his mouth (and usually cry for more).  

A lot of MSPI babies will start to outgrow their allergies beginning at 6 months, so we "tested" Cade last week.  Sadly, instead of getting better, he seems to be getting worse.  I ate some chicken fingers and french fries from Zaxby's, which we know contain milk and soy, to see what kind of reaction Cade had.  It wasn't good.  In the past, his reactions have mostly involved the stomach/intestines.  This time around, his nose filled with mucous, he couldn't breathe (literally - he was choking and gasping), and within about 10 minutes he started vomiting.  Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.  So, no more milk for mommy or him until after his first birthday and after an allergy panel.  His pediatrician wants us to do an allergen test before we let him try anything with milk in it again.  In a week or so, we're going to do a test with just soy to see if the reaction is the same.  Maybe we'll be able to go just milk-free, instead of milk- and soy-free... Still limiting but easier to deal with.  Either way, I'm about halfway through my restricted eating sentence...  I can do it, I can do it.... 

firsts!

Baby Cade has had a couple of exciting weeks, and has experienced several "firsts" recently.

First solids.  We started him on cereal at 4 months because his pediatrician thought it might help his reflux issues (and I'm happy to report it has).  He took to it right off the bat, and loves to eat!  Here are a couple pics from his first solid meal.  (Wyatt was my photographer, in case you were wondering why they're all taken from such a low angle...)

 First Haircut.  Those of you who see Cade on a regular basis are probably happy to hear about this one.  He has a natural mohawk.  All the hair from his temples (and back) fell out after he was born, but the little strip along the top of his head is intact.  I had been encouraging it to stand straight up, but the longer it got the harder that became.  Just before I cut it, his mohawk stood up about 3 inches!  I decided to trim it before it started flopping over because, really, what could be more sad than a mohawk that won't stand up?

First Swim.  Ok, technically these pics are from his second swim.  His first swim was while I was at the grocery store.  I mean, seriously.  I go to the store without him for the first time EVER, and while I'm gone his daddy takes him for a swim and I'm not even there to document it!  So we had a do-over.  He wasn't so sure about the water then, but he has since decided that he loves it!

First Boat Ride.  This kid's a huge fan of anything outdoors, and the boat is no exception.  I was so worried that he would be hot and fussy and that we would all be miserable, but he loved his first little trip on the boat.  

jesus meets... rapunzel?

I snapped this grainy picture with my cell phone because I wanted to catch this particular moment.  Elliott was "reading" a story to Cade from a small New Testament Bible.  According to her, in this story, "Jesus said to her, 'you have loooooong byooful hair.'  And she said 'Thank you, Jesus.'"  Hmmmm.....  Well, she may be a little confused, but Cade seems to be enjoying the story!

(BIG) little gifford news!

As most of you know, the little giffords have been wannabe missionaries for a long time now.  We're happy to say that we're well on our way to going from wannabes to a family in action.  I'd love for you to check out our missions blog to find out more about our upcoming move to Santiago, Chile!  Find us at http://www.missionchile.com/!

easter

I had one simple goal in mind for this Easter: get a picture of my whole brood, including mommy and daddy.  Every Easter this task gets a little more daunting, and I always get a little Easter-picture anxiety.  Am I the only one?  Turns out this year my anxiety was well warranted.  Do you know how hard it is to get ONE picture of six people all smiling (or at least not unsmiling) and looking in the right direction with their eyes open??  I can show you how hard it is...   Go ahead.  Click on the pictures and make 'em bigger.  Some of these you gotta see close-up to appreciate.

This one's our bad.  The kids are essentially fine (Kellen would disagree), but my hair and whatever that face is Sean's making... Wow.  

How can ALL four boys have their eyes closed?  And again, my hair.  Thanks, Mother Nature.  And Sean, if you were wondering, was mid-sneeze.  It was super pollen-y out that day.

In case you were starting to think Elliott was perfect...

It didn't take long before Cade was totally over it.

We thought a change of location might help, so we went behind Sean's mom and dad's house.  It was less windy, but more sunny.

Did I say it was less windy?  Never mind.

I assumed, incorrectly, that one of the gazillion pictures Aunt Allison took would be good, so I let Sean go inside and change.  I was wrong.  I made him get his Easter duds back on, and we went out side and tried again.  This time I pulled my hair back to see if we could at least eliminate that issue.  And though Cade is asleep and Elliott is barefoot, we managed to get one sorta decent shot of the crew.

As if it weren't hard enough to take pictures, this was the kind of stuff going on between shots:

I did take a few individual shots of each of the kids.  These are much, much easier.

After I was done torturing them with family pictures, the kids had their annual Easter egg hunt.

Little kids hunted in the back yard, just like last year.

And big kids were in the front, engaged in an all out egg-battle.  Wyatt even wore gloves for better hand traction.

Cade, of course, was just hanging around.

And I have to include a pic of our little nephews, Gavin, Nolen and Cohen.

I guess I should've started the post with these pics, since this was from first thing Easter morning.  I wanted you to see what Elliott's hair looked like, if only briefly.  I hot-rolled her hair for the first time.

When we were done she looked like she was pageant-ready.

Don't worry - we have no intention of entering her in any pageants.  Absolutely NOT.  But I bet she'd win if we did.  ;-) 

first road trip/cousin Addison turns one

We took a road trip last week to visit some family in Mississippi who hadn't yet met Cade and to celebrate the first birthday of my miracle niece Addison. 

We had a great time seeing everyone, even though we were there in the midst of some awful weather (including a tornado which touched down in Clinton, where my parents and one of my brothers live).  And of COURSE they had a great time seeing Cade and the rest of the little giffords. 

Addison, the birthday girl, with her mommy Chami.

  

Cade was partying like a rock star.  He just likes to party with his eyes closed.  (I mean really, how much fun can you have when you can't even eat cake?  Wait... I can answer that one myself.)

Addison with her mommy and daddy.  And cake.  

Uncle Jon with baby Cade (see... he woke up.  Eventually.)

Grammy and Cade.

Uncle Robert and Cade (seeing a pattern?).

Uncle Jon and his girl Elliott.

 Pepaw with Emma Grace (Elliott's cousin) and Elliott.

Me and my bros!!!