Caden - 4 months

I don't know how it's possible, but our sweet Caden is 4 months old! Whaaaaat?!!

What a weird time we're living in right now. With the Coronavirus we've been lucky enough to spend our days at home together, but it's weird when we think about the fact that Caden has grown so much and many of our friends haven't even met him! Justin loves that he's been able to really bond with Caden since he's been home so much which is wonderful. 

Anyway, here's what's new with our sweet, wonderful Caden:

• He's sleeping pretty well and sometimes gives us a 6+ hour stretch at night, but it's a complete toss up from one night to the next. On the plus side I'm back to work and we're in quarantine so...I asked Justin for an every-other-night rotating feeding schedule rather than the me on weeknights, Justin on weekends arrangement we had before 🙂
• He's getting so big! (and heavy haha). We're supposed to get him to the doctor for a 4 month checkup and vaccines, but I'm not sure how that's supposed to work these days with the quarantine. Gotta figure that out.
• Luckily we stalked up on formula and diapers before everyone panicked and the shelves emptied. That would have been so scary to not be able to get that! It's one of the few things we really can't go without.
• He's really starting to find his voice and it's pretty funny the noises he'll make. There's an especially funny deep growling noise he makes.
• He's such a sweet, chill baby! Most of the time all he wants is to be held or part of the action, but he's also pretty content on his own.
• It's incredible how with each child your heart just grows and it feels like they've always been part of our family. We just can't imagine our household without little Caden!
• Each night the older boys play a game they call Daddy Defends Himself where they all basically just wrestle around. And Caden is the trump card. If N and B yell for Caden's help and I set him on daddy, the boys win!
• He loves baths now and is all smiles. 
• His hair looks very red in some lights, but most of the time is brown. His older brothers had the same thing! So funny.
• He's wearing 6 month clothes so I guess that means he's right on track size wise, but I still can't believe I had to get out the 6 month clothes already!
• We call him C-man, Cade-man, Cutie Caden, Cader Vader and always sing "I love Ca-den. I love Ca-a-den" (like the I want Candy song :))

Also, one funny story. It's no secret that Nolan loves Caden so much and...well...struggles with Branson. We he and Branson love each other, but they fight and get on each other's nerves a lot, like all brothers do. Branson is super sweet though and in moments of calm will always say he loves Nolan. Nolan though can be a stinker and doesn't always say the nicest things about B. Anyway, we showed the boys an absolutely adorable video from 3 years ago when B was Caden's age. Nolan was holding him in the boppy and "cleaning" Branson's (imaginary) spit up and he'd say, "oh yuck! He spi' up!" Then he'd say, "Hi Branman...hi" with the sweetest little voice. Heart melting! When we finished the video Nolan smiled and said, "Maybe it would have been better if Branson stayed a baby." Indicating that he might like him better if he was a baby like Caden. So I said, "well Caden isn't going to be a baby forever." And N said, "Well it will be ok if he doesn't try to fight me all the time." haha. Anyway, we assured him that they will fight, all brothers do. What matters is that they learn how to get a long and that they love each other at the end of the day. We hope these boys will be best friends for life (and beyond!).

One of my current favorite pictures of Caden ❤

He's starting to smile and it absolutely melts our hearts. I'm expecting him to laugh any time now and I just think we're all going to lose it with excitement!

His brothers love him SO much. Nolan is super sweet and loves to "be in charge" of Caden if I ask him to watch him for a minute. He likes to touch Caden's nose and under his chin to try to get him to smile (we often have to remind him to touch him only 1-3 times, not several and for pete's sake to get his hands out of Caden's face! haha, but it's adorable how much he loves him). Branson doesn't pay quite as much attention to Caden (N is hard to top), but when he wants to hug C he hugs him HARD. It's an eyes closed, head shaking, everything he's got kind of hug. Which is super sweet, but we have to remind him all the time not to squeeze him so hard. 

 He's started sitting in his little chair and he looks so BIG! 😭

Skyping with Granky ❤

 Starting him young! Go Cougars!

This picture reminds me that both older boys are always pulling on poor Caden's limbs haha.

Movie night! 

He's really starting to be able to play and grab onto things. This was a sweet moment with B and C playing together.

For Christmas Justin got a Minky Coutour blanket from a client and let me tell you that thing is MAGIC. If Caden is not hungry or needing a change but is a little fussy because he's tired we just put that thing over him and he instantly calms down. It's worth it's weight in gold! It's incredible. Each time I think ok, this will be the time it doesn't work, all the other times were just flukes, but nope. I think it must be the weight of it or something. 

He really wants to roll over, but he's not really there yet. I'm sure this month he'll figure it out! 

 

Branson

What can I say about my Branson right now? He is all at once so incredibly fun and so incredibly frustrating haha. He loves Nolan so much, but doesn't always particularly like Nolan's style of play - so there's a lot of whining and dramatic screams of "Get away from me!" and "I don't like that guy!" He's also starting to defend himself more and man, that kid can hit hard! He has a whine that makes my blood boil, and is really testing boundaries lately, but then he'll come up to me and give me the absolute biggest bear hug. He'll push his cheek against mine, give me a kiss, and tell me "Mommy, I just think you are sooo beautiful. I think I'll keep you" with the perfect, most sincere inflection in his voice. And just tonight he told me he wanted to marry me ❤ He loves his daddy. He'll often say, "Daddy, you're an awesome daddy." 

I love his lips and big brown eyes and the way he uses his hands when he talks. I love his wry smile and the way he clicks his cheek and bobs his head when he's proposing something. Oh and his run, that's long been one of the cutest things he does. He runs like a linebacker with his weight forward and all the momentum going forward. Lately he's been kind of exaggerating his run by making his heels almost touch his butt. It always amazes us how he can be so incredibly athletic and so clumsy at the same time. He's constantly tripping over things, running into things, and otherwise falling. I swear half his life has been me reminding him to not sit on the edge of the chair because he WILL fall (and he does). Oh and we make him use a sippy cup because whenever we try to give him a regular cup he'll spill 75% of the time.

I love the way he gets so animated when he talks. He'll say, "I didn't even know that!" or "I just think I'm going to die!" when hearing something he thinks is exciting. When he's doing something he shouldn't or not getting something he wants he'll often explain exasperatedly, "But mommy, you know that I... ("just wanted to eat 3 packs of gummy snacks before breakfast!" or "was just being funny!" or "had to pour the toothpaste on the toilet seat because I was cleaning it!"). Lately he ends much of what he says with, "You know dat" in a 'come on mom, isn't it obvious' voice. "I just need to go potty, you know dat." It's pretty adorable. He loves being a helper, but when he's in the middle of playing he's not shy about responding to a request for help with, "Umm, no thanks, not right now" or "I think I'm just too tired," etc.

He's so smart and understands so much more than we give him credit for. I think it's been easy for us to focus on Nolan academically because it's just so obvious he is ahead of the game at this point. But Branson is just as ahead in many ways! I can't tell you how many people have commented on how clearly he speaks. And when we're watching a show with a somewhat complicated plot line that we think will go right over his head, he'll say something that shows us he knows exactly what's going on. He's just about mastered all of his letters and only struggles with U, V, W, X, Y, and Z. Next we'll work on recognizing numbers and letter sounds.

He still loves playing with his Star Wars guys the most, but will play with anything and his favorite show is If You Give A Mouse a Cookie.

He has a really fun imagination and absolutely LOVES it when mommy or daddy plays with him. I love how his face lights up when you ask him if you can play with him. He craves that time and I try really hard to give it to him as much as I can. Sometimes he'll be so whiny and on edge that I know he needs a nap, but he resists and the only way I can get him to settle down is by holding his hands in mine. We've fallen asleep several times that way and it surprises me how quickly he falls asleep. It's moments like that when I look at him and I beg him not to grow up! Most of the time he's my shadow (literally tripping me because he's following so close behind me) and if I slip away for even a minute I'll quickly hear a "Moooommmmmy! Where arrrrrre youuuuuuuu" call from downstairs. He always finds me, even if I don't answer haha. He is a natural leader and kids of all ages seem to gravitate to him and love to be with him. He is wonderful at sharing and taking turns (sometimes not at first, but always when we remind him). He also often surprises us with his emotional maturity. When he does something wrong and knows it he will always come back and sincerely apologize, sometimes doing it without prompting hours after the fact or even the next day. I love love love you Branson Michael!

Some funny things I remember him saying recently:

• He'll put his wrist up near his mouth like he has a 'com' and says something like, "Ahsoka, meet me at the hanger" as he's being chased by Nolan
• He's very specific about what Star Wars battles he is re-enacting and you better get it right haha.
• Hey mom, "Luke + Luke = Luke. Does that rhyme?!"
• On the way home from church Branson blurted out of the blue, "Mommy, make sure there are NO girls in your tummy! I do NOT like girls!"
• We were talking about how cute baby Caden is and Branson said, "Oh he's so cute! It just melts my heart!" 
• formweya (formula), Hambooger (burger), Stormstrooper, 
• "I want to sleep with my Jesus box (a little box with a pic of Jesus that he got in Primary) so I can always keep him in my heart."

Recent Funnies

• "Mommy, when I get older, I think I'm just going to marry you." - B
• "See? Who says women are better listeners than men?" - N after I asked him to go put on his pajamas and he did it right away.
• Nolan told me he wants another baby Caden for Christmas this year 😙
It's almost comical how completely opposite N and B's personalities are. The latest example - We made green kool aid and convinced them that if you drink too much your pee will be green. Justin even put green food dye in the toilet to demonstrate 🤣 Nolan wouldn't drink even 1/3 of a small kids cup bc he was so worried his pee would turn green. Branson drank 3 cups and was visibly disappointed when he emerged from the bathroom and sadly announced his pee wasn't green 🤔😂
• On March 18th we had an earthquake! Nolan slept through it and Branson was lying next to me in bed and just asked, "what was that?!!"
• Once in the car we passed the soccer fields and I asked Nolan if he wants to play soccer again this year or try something different like baseball and he said, "Mom. Do I look like a guy that knows baseball?" haha, Justin about died when I told him. Gotta work on that boy.
• "So guys. I have something you're not going to like. My grandpa...is a Seahawks fan." "How are we going to get him to like the 49ers?!!" - N
• He hates to be corrected or instructed on how to do something. He even wrote a note to us that said, "can you play with me without telling me what to do?" 
• Branson very seriously, "I want to play guys, but I have to go to work." Then he grabs some kind of 'laptop case', gives me a kiss and goes somewhere.

Potty Training for B

Branson started showing interest in potty training a couple of weeks before Caden came so we let him sit on the potty and he actually went a time or two! But we definitely weren't ready to go all in with a baby coming so soon. Plus I wanted to wait until after our trip to Las Vegas for Granky's birthday. Ain't no way I was traveling with a newborn AND a potty training toddler haha.

So when Caden was about 3 weeks old (yes, I know I'm insane) I decided (kind of on a whim), let's do this. He wasn't nearly as easy to train as Nolan was (let's be honest though, 99% of kids won't be that easy), but he's done pretty well!

Just like with Nolan we started straight away with underwear, but he had several accidents and I was already tired of cleaning it up so I decided to have him go commando and just sit on a mat on the floor in the living room all day. I had to remind him several times to stay on the mat (and not touch anything with his bare, you know) oey, but overall he stayed on pretty well and then he started going! I tried to get him to go on the potty every 1/2 hour to hour.

#1 was really easy for him, it was #2 that was the problem. He kept having accidents and when your motivation is a potty chart and you have to go #2 so many times (and you only go #2 about 1ish times a day) it was getting a bit frustrating for me and him. But he figured it out after 2 or 3 days!

--------------------

I'd say the hardest thing with Branson has been that he says he has to go all the time. He'll go, then 15 minutes later say he has to go again. It's not a big deal at home, but when I am say at the store with him and I have to go all the way to the other side of the store multiple times per trip, it's exhausting! And I have to believe him because I definitely don't want an accident, right?!

Also, this kid...oey. Without fail he forgets at least one step in the process - putting underwear back on, putting pants back on, turning the light off, washing his hands, putting the lid down...and/or makes some sort of mess - water all over the counter and soaked hand towel, toothpaste on the toilet seat, pee on the rug, soap in the toilet bowl, toilet paper down the hallway 🤦‍♀️ It's always a surprise what you'll find in there. Apparently we need to escort him to the bathroom every time, but that just seems like so much work 🤦‍♀️

Oh ya, and he kept peeing all over the floor so he came up with this genius idea of sitting backwards on the toilet. It works haha!

One thing I know, I sure love my crazy Branson Michael.

 

Eye Surgery

Earlier this week Nolan went in for a surgery on his eyes. He's had an eye turn for 3 years now and a certain percentage of the turn didn't appear to be improving so they suggested surgery. I was so nervous about it, but that the same time felt pretty good about the fact that they'd been essentially collecting data on his eyes for 3 years and this is what they felt was best. I am also lucky that one of my best friends, Emily's son had the same surgery two years ago when he was even younger than Nolan and had just recently been seen for an eye turn. Also, our across the street neighbor has the same eye issue and has had several surgeries to correct it. Both of them reassured me so much and boosted my confidence that we were doing the right thing.

I scheduled the surgery because we had talked about getting it done before I went back to work (in case I didn't go back at all and lost our good insurance) and then Justin started going all papa bear on us and getting nervous. He wanted to get in to see the doctor again just in case. It ended up that if we wanted to see the doctor we'd have to push the surgery back and I talked him out of it :)

The morning of the surgery getting extra snuggles from his little brothers ❤

The days leading up to the surgery were so hard because Nolan is so smart that we knew we couldn't really "trick" him (nor would we really want to), but we also knew that he might freak out if we told him the whole truth (and he can be prettttty stubborn). We ended up basically telling him that we were going to see his eye doctor at a different place this time and that he would take a nap and when he woke up his eyes would be fixed. Then the day before we added that they were going to put a cool mask on his face and he'd be like Darth Vader.

Everyone at Primary Children's was absolutely amazing and made a potentially scary experience for a little boy much less scary. He didn't really want to put on the clothes they gave him, but Justin promised him Transformer battles if he did. Then they brought him some Star Wars toys to play with. Then another nurse came in and let him smell as many scents (for the gas mask) that he wanted so he could choose his favorite.

One little side story. My old manager at Ancestry.com, Steve, lost his little boy Max a few years ago. He had downs syndrome and a heart condition. Max loved red firetrucks so periodically their family will donate little firetrucks to PCH. Well just two days before Nolan's surgery they posted this picture (L) so you can imagine how my heart melted when I saw which car Nolan chose to go back to the OR in 💗 I commented on the Murray's post with this picture and how Nolan's smile riding in that car eased my worries. Steve's wife wrote back telling me how much joy it brought to her heart!

Nolan told the anesthesiologist that he was NOT going to fall asleep. The doc told us with a chuckle that he hadn't lost that battle yet.

It was hard for us to watch him go without us; We both worried so much that he'd be scared and we wouldn't be there to comfort him. But we felt a little better after he turned the corner (where we couldn't follow anymore) and happily yelled, "Bye!!"

Dr. Peterson did tell us though that when he got to the operating room he paused, looked around, then started baaaacking out of the room haha. 

---------- ❤❤❤ ----------

Justin was especially nervous as we waited, he sure loves his boys. But both of us were surprised by how quickly they came to let us know the surgery went well! As soon as they told us Nolan was waking up we jumped up to go see him. Several people warned us that kids are often bears when they wake up and scream and kick, etc so not to be alarmed. But Nolan was seriously so sweet! He was definitely a little bit confused and cried when he told us he couldn't see anything (which about ripped my heart out).

I tried to make it better by telling him we were going to go home soon and he could pick his favorite spot to watch his favorite shows. He sobbed and said, "How can I watch TV if I can't see?!!" Poor little guy.

He fell asleep again in recovery so we just waited until he woke up. Oh and we promised him that he wouldn't get a shot (because they would do it after he fell asleep anyway), but I forgot about having to take it out. Those nurses though are awesome and distracted him well enough that he didn't even know he every had an IV in!

He threw up once at home which was to be expected and he complained of pain a bit the first day. I've heard that it feels like there's sand in your eyes and you can't rub it. He did pretty well not rubbing his eyes and usually felt better with a cold cloth on them. Seriously though, he was so sweet and thoughtful that first day, even to Branson! His eyes were really bloodshot for a few days and he had a lot of gunk in his eyes and cried bloody tears which was a little disconcerting - but other than that the recovery didn't seem to be too bad.

By far the worst part (and that's according to him!) was having to put in eye drops 3 times a day. He hated it, but just asked if he could hold his brothers hands while I put them in. It was super sweet ❤ We did the put the drops in closed eyes and let him blink them in method. There was still a lot of crying and flailing at first but by the end of the week he did it without fuss. I'm super proud of him!

First time getting out of the house after the surgery - a walk to the mailbox with little brother.

About to get drops in.

Mom and Dad are SO proud of you Nolan!!