the giffords go to the beach

 Swimming.  Sunbathing.  Digging holes (BIG holes).  Burying a sister.  Napping.  Taking walks.  Tossing football.  Having fun.  Being together.  That's how the Giffords spent a week at the beach!

cade's first gator game!

What sort of mama-blogger would I be if I didn't at least cover all the important milestones in my baby's life?  For us, a first Gator game is a major milestone, so I snapped a picture of Cade watching his first-ever game.  So happy, isn't he?  (And, can you believe, that outfit he is wearing was Wyatt's?  *Sigh*  Where does the time go?)

If we were all rockstars...

As many of you know, my little Wyatt has the heart of a poet.  He has been writing songs (some of them downright good, if I do say so myself) since he was in kindergarten.  I've collected most of them. I think what I love most is that I find him writing lyrics off in some corner somewhere when I could've sworn he was outside shooting baskets.  I guess when the mood strikes him, he drops what he's doing to write.  

Apparently the mood struck today.  He showed me this little ditty, and I asked him if it would be ok for me to share it here.  It's not that I think it's particularly great in its structure - frankly, many of his others are better.  But I love the message so so much.

If we all were rockstars, who would be the crowd?

If we all were doctors, who would be the patients?

Do what you want, go be free.  Life is beautiful.  You'll see.

Don't do what someone else does, just because they're you're friend.

Or don't make a job decision just because of the money.

The world can change from a smile, so be happy every once in a while.

The sound of sadness rolls through my head.  

And if we all lived, who would be dead?

Do what you want, go be free.  Life is beautiful.  You'll see.

-Wyatt, age 10

Thanks, Wyatt.  The lesson is one many grownups take years to learn, and one I'm awfully glad you're grasping at such a young age.

best friends, rain or shine

These days, Kellen pretty much always has a shadow -- a little, 3-year-old, blonde-headed shadow, come rain (on their way to feed the horse and dog)....

...or shine (on their way to the beautiful Emerald waters of the gulf coast).

laundry - finally, i like this chore

If this adorable face were at the bottom of every laundry basket, I'd never complain about doing laundry ever again.

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....