Yep, you read that right! Our little guy has teeth, two to be exact. The first tooth popped up right around his birthday and then a few days later the second tooth popped up. Okay, well, it’s not like they are completely in, but they, the two bottom front teeth, are both out there peeking at us.

*click the pictures to see a bigger version

Cayden's First Teeth

Clearly, he was just waiting for those teeth to come through before he showed us his newest little trick. If you haven’t figured it out yet, he is CRAWLING forward!!! Yep, yesterday morning, he crawled a few paces forward, which we have seen on the rare occasion. He did it multiple times last night. Tonight, I was practicing with him again and he started crawling towards me and didn’t fall, so I scooted back and he kept going each time I would scoot back!!! He crawled across the living room about four times before we got it on video the right way.

I have to admit that it took a lot for me not to burst out in tears. I am so dang proud of him! Cayden is crawling….my baby is crawling! We have been waiting for this for SO long and it’s finally here. One more thing crossed off the maybe/maybe not list!

Our animals have no clue what is about to happen now that he can move about. And, yes, we know that we will need to baby proof more and that we’ll be chasing after him tons….we can’t wait! What an accomplishment little guy! You continually amaze us daily. It’s a blessing to be your parents. We love you!

-Tami

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Cayden had his one year check-up today with Dr. P. He was a bit cranky because he was tired, so he didn’t flirt and show off like he normally does. As usual, there were a list of questions we prepared for his pediatrician. Here is a basic run down of what was talked about:

-sleeping patterns do change as a baby grows and develops, so Cayden’s recent sleeping problems could be a change in the pattern or a combination of that and teething, etc
-we decided to take him off his incline and tucker sling for reflux and let him sleep on a normal mattress
-we are allowed to let him try to sleep on his stomach as requested by Dr. L and his PT to help his torticollis
-staying on Stage 2 food, but can try the little baby melts/puffs, and food with chunks
-still needs to take 18oz of formula a day, but got the ok to give more solids as he wants
-continue to stay on the formula regimen we are already on
-kidney stone results were normal -yay!
-keeping him on reflux meds and may need to split dose of prevacid as we add more solids (which we are doing)
-got the normal one year vaccinations, minus the MMR and the Hep A – we are delaying those two and plan to further delay the MMR
-he may need speech therapy and we will get a referral for that as he is not talking/babbling as much as he should be
-said no to juice, but ok with the sippy cup
-crawling backwards and scooting are all normal developmental things
-continue tylenol and can now add motrin for teething pain
-toe standing (talked to Dr. R about that – will continue to watch and make sure not a sign of CP)
-pedi will monitor teeth for now unless the need is there for him to see a dentist sooner than later
-weight 14.1lbs and 26″ long
-weight check again in a few months

We are super proud of him and love seeing him grow and develop into such a happy little boy.

-Tami

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We wanted to celebrate Cayden’s huge milestone of turning a year old, so we decided to have a few friends over for an adult only, plus Miss Rosalyn, celebration. It wasn’t so much a party, as a way for us to say “look at how far he has come” and enjoy some friendship and laughter. We boiled shrimp and sausage and had a cake that mama attempted to make for our little guy.

Even though we told people he didn’t need anything, he was given some incredibly great gifts, further spoiling him! Cayden has only ever been around one other young child, Rosalyn. He was really excited to see another child and reached for her as soon as she came near him. He was all about Rosalyn until she wanted to give him some love, and as all toddlers, she didn’t know her own strength and, well, Cayden isn’t into rough love just yet. We did capture some great memories on camera of the two of them.

Cayden liked this cake much better than the cake used for his one year pictures and had a great time putting his hands in the icing. He was all tuckered out by the time everyone left.

Due to Flu/Cold/RSV season, and room at our house, we couldn’t do a huge celebration complete with kids, etc. So, to make up for that and allow Cayden a chance to socialize with other kids, we will celebrate his one year anniversary of being home sometime in May or early summer.

-Tami

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Cayden,

One year ago our world was turned upside down. We weren’t expecting to meet you until March and were in the middle of making sure we had everything ready here at home for your arrival. That all changed on New Year’s Eve when you came into this world too soon weighing 1lb 5.9oz and measuring 12.5 inches long!

Over the next 124 days, we experienced many ups and downs as you fought your way through all the things that you were faced with while you grew bigger and stronger in NICU. You had the most amazing nurses, respiratory therapists, and doctors. They took such great care of you and would celebrate with us every time you overcame an obstacle you were faced with. They also shared the pain and sadness we felt when you were struggling. We can never express how eternally grateful we are to them, as without them and their skills, we wouldn’t have you today.

Due to many of the medical things you experienced, we were told that you might not ever be able to do things that other kids can do. Every day you showed us that your fighting spirit prevails and that you can and will do amazing things. Since you have been home, you have shown us how strong you really are. Your little personality really shines more and more every day. You “talk” all the time, like me, and you love our pets. Thankfully, they love you too!     

You are an incredibly happy baby and even wake up smiling! You love to play and are very inquisitive. You study your toys, surroundings, and what other people are doing. More often than not, you attempt to imitate the things we do. You say “Da-Da”, and just today, I would swear I heard you say “Mama”! You LOVE to giggle and smile. You have a stubborn streak too. I say you got it from your daddy and he says that you got it from me. So, I guess you come by it honestly. You shake your head “no” often and will push the spoon or bottle away if you don’t want anymore to eat. You fuss if you want something, so we are working on telling you what it is and using words for the items you want in hopes that you will learn to use those too.

You aren’t mobile yet, but, I know that it won’t be long. Your physical therapist works with you on mobility and range of motion for your torticollis. Your sitter, daddy, and I also work hard to help you with those things here at home. You are also pulling up on things, especially people. Standing is one of your favorite things to do and if you don’t want to sit and we try to sit you on the floor, you stiffen your body and refuse to sit. See, I told you that you have a stubborn streak!

You are such a cuddler and enjoy being held and snuggled, all the while, you are continuing to show us your independence. We have discovered that you have quite the attachment to us and are bashful at time with strangers. Yet, when you warm up to them, you are a little ham! You love to bounce and jump and listen to music. If the TV is on and it’s something that interests you, you are all eyes to the TV. You have even been known to lean over and look around someone if they are in your way!

You know if we leave the room and that upsets you quite a bit. Everything you get is going into your mouth, so we are constantly watching to make sure you don’t get something that could be dangerous. You especially love when one of the animals licks your hand. The other day I caught you trying to shove your whole hand into Mr. Kitty’s mouth because he was licking you and you thought it was funny. You don’t quite realize that a cat’s mouth is far smaller than the dogs and they don’t want your hand in their mouth like the dogs will let you! I sure had a good laugh over that!

I can see your first tooth FINALLY coming in! Woohoo! You’ve had a rough go with that and it’s our hope that you don’t have a rough haul for the next ones, or the same amount of time either because at the rate it took this one to break the skin, you’ll be 40 and still getting teeth in!

Size wise, you are still small – not quite 14 pounds. You are wearing 0-3 month clothes, but you are growing in length and they are starting to get too small there. You aren’t a big eater, only taking about 16-21 ounces of formula a day and eating solids about twice a day. You love all the baby foods we have tried except prunes. If we let you, you will play in your food and create quite a mess. You have attempted to hold your bottle in the past, but couldn’t tilt it to get the formula out. Over the past week you have insisted on holding your bottle and are doing a great job feeding yourself if you are in a reclined position. Not only that, but I found a sippy cup with a nipple like a bottle and you do great with that too!

You still sleep through the night for the most part. You prefer to be rocked to sleep now and enjoy a book if you aren’t too tired. We have been concerned that you are having night terrors because you wake up in the middle of night screaming and you aren’t hungry. We are seeing a more consistent pattern to naps and eating, which is helpful for planning your appointments.

You still LOVE bath time and get really excited when you hear the water running and you get undressed for your bath. You have started playing more with your bath toys and scare the pants off mama when you attempt to crawl and pull up in the bathtub!

Medically speaking, you are sill on four medications and require three additives to your formula, which is still the low birth weight formula. Your roster of doctors has not changed, but the time in between appointments is starting to be more spaced out – yay! Your helmet to fix your plagiocephaly is doing wonders. It looks like it will be March before that is a thing of the past, but it’s okay. You didn’t cooperate completely for your last hearing test, so we don’t have the all clear on that just yet, but we know you can hear just fine! You’ll have your 12 month check up next month and I’m sure that Dr. P is going to be thrilled with all you are doing – we know we are.

The past year has been a challenge for all of us – full of joy, fear, excitement, and the unknown. We have shed tears, shared laughs, and met incredible people along this journey. Our lives have been blessed with you and we experience more happiness as we delight in your development, wonder, discovery, and innocence. We couldn’t imagine a life without you in it. Every bit of that roller coaster ride was worth it all.

Happy first birthday Cayden!!!!

I love you all the way to the moon and back my sweet baby boy….

-Mama & Daddy

P.S. Here are some of his pictures from his one year photo shoot – thanks Amanda!!

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What a Christmas it was! Our house now looks like a toy store exploded and the debris (toys) fell into our living room! On Christmas Eve, I put Cayden in his new pjs and read him ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas in front of the fire. I took pictures so daddy could see, since he had to work, and sent them to him. He sure did wish he could have been home with us. Cayden was anxious to see what Santa would bring him and he stayed up late playing. Daddy called and told him that if he didn’t go to bed that Santa couldn’t come. I think that finally did the trick and he settled down and went to sleep.

When Daddy got home from work that morning, we got Cayden up. He wasn’t sure what to think about all of the presents under the tree. We showed him how to unwrap his gifts and he was okay giving it a shot for a bit, then he didn’t want anything to do with opening gifts anymore. Cayden was really tired and fairly overstimulated with everything going on and he was a little grumpy towards the end. When we were done opening gifts, we all went back to bed for a much needed nap for Cayden and mama and good sleep for daddy.

After Cayden woke up he was ready to play, and play we did! Mama spent a lot time opening the boxes and putting things together while he played with each new toy. At times, he was a little impatient and would fuss if it took mama too long to unwrap all those silly little twist ties and pull them off the toys.

Once daddy got up, we headed over to grandma’s house to eat Christmas dinner. Rumor had it that Santa visited their house for Cayden too! Santa did indeed visit Grandma’s house. He wasn’t so sure about everything at first, but then gradually warmed up and had a good time. He even help mama and daddy open up our gifts. Cayden ate a whole jar of Apple Turkey Cranberry for dinner and then played with his empty bowl.

After dinner, we had to hurry home so daddy could get ready for work and Cayden could take a much needed nap. Later that night, we went over to Mary’s house to say hello and visit for a bit. Cayden got to see a few people he met a while back and then he played with Spaz. He got an awesome bath robe set from Mary and Mike for Christmas that he can’t wait to wear.

Cayden was pretty tired, so we headed home after a bit. All the playing and activities wore him out, so I quickly bathed him and he passed out for the night.

It was such a joy to have Cayden at home and far healthier than he’s been for Christmas. He is such a blessing in our lives. Watching his excitement over the wrapping paper and his new toys/noise makers was so much fun. We know that as he grows, he’ll get to experience and know the wonder, excitement and magic of Christmas. We can’t wait!

-Tami

You can also see the pictures in the Photo Gallery.

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This Thanksgiving we had quite a bit to be thankful for. We are especially thankful for Cayden. He has grown and developed so much since he made his entrance into this big world. His little personality continues to shine and he brings us so much joy!

The original plan was for us to host Thanksgiving at our house this year. However, the day drew near and we realized that we just didn’t have the time to get everything together, as Nate had to work and we were busy dealing with Blue Santa stuff. My mom graciously agreed to host Thanksgiving dinner at her house instead.

Cayden enjoyed his very own turkey and gravy, and sweet potatoes and apples. All courtesy of Stage 2 Gerber baby foods. He LOVED them and ate all that we offered him. Then he wanted to play with the little bit remaining in his bowl, so we let him explore his food. Grandi let Cayden taste the sweet potato topping/juice, which was a big hit with Cayden.

He got his little hands on a huge serving spoon and chewed on that. During dinner, he attempted to grab anything he could possibly get off my plate, making dinner a bit of a challenge!

After dinner, his grandma let him sit in a toddler size rocking chair. He loved it and even tried to rock himself when it would stop. Of course, he couldn’t even reach the floor, so his rocking wasn’t quite successful and then he would fuss to let us know he wanted to rock!

Needless to say, he was worn out after dinner and slept for quite some time when we got home. We’ll add a few pictures later, as we need to get copies of the pictures his grandparents took!

In other big news, Cayden started saying “da-da”!! He had been babbling it a bit before, but Nate said he wasn’t. Then clear as day on November 21st he said da-da and has been saying it since! He has even started to associate it some with Nate too. I don’t think ma-ma is in the near future, as he laughs at me every time I get him to try to say it…

At 11 months, 9 adjusted, Cayden is right at 13 pounds and is still wearing his 0-3 month clothing. He is not gaining a whole bunch despite the three additives to the 24 calorie formula, and solids. He is getting taller and is very active (not yet mobile), so we think that is where his calories are going.

He talks, smiles, and giggles all the time. Cayden is an extremely happy baby and smiles when he wakes up. He has quite the little temper at times and can be a little turkey when he doesn’t get his way. He loves the animals and enjoys playing with his toys. He is fascinated with how things work. His mind is constantly going and even if he can’t make it happen, such as how to get a new toy to work, he is trying to figure out just HOW to make things happen.

Cayden is still teething and is quite the little drool factory, yet that first tooth is elusive. I think we’ll all be thrilled when it makes itself visible. Of course, that means everything is going in his mouth, so we have to be super careful about what he gets his little hands on. Cayden reaches for us when he sees us. He’s not yet mobile, but working hard to be that way. He can’t decide just how he is going to get places. I don’t think it will be too much longer though.

Cayden is much better at tummy time and is rolling on a more frequent basis. He likes to look at his books when we read to him and if he get a an opportunity, he tries to rip the pages too. He knows when we are getting him ready for a bath and gets super excited. Bath time is still one of his favorite activities, especially now that he can really play with some of his bath toys. We discovered that he also loves to bounce/dance to music.

Cayden is such a hoot! We love this little boy so much – it’s crazy! We can barely believe that he is going to be one soon. Here is a new video update – enjoy!

Tami

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Nate writes:

We got the results from the Heart Echo, and they told us nothing has changed since the previous echo. So, they want to keep him on his medication, but not increase the dose. They just want him to “Outgrow his dose”.

This past week we took Cayden to have a renal (kidneys) ultrasound at Texas Children’s Hospital. When Cayden was in the hospital, a lot of the medicines and whatnot he was on caused him to have very small kidney stones, which is pretty common. We are still waiting on those results.

Baytown Blue Santa

As some of you may already know, Tami and I have always enjoyed doing community service projects and for the past 5 years, we have helped with the Baytown Blue Santa program. This premise of the program is to bring underprivileged children, new, wrapped toys. Who otherwise may not get anything for Christmas. We travel with a police caravan, and have a large Santa Sleigh(Float) that we deliver the toys in. The program operates SOLELY on monetary donations and donated new toys.

This year me and Tami took the program over. We felt like we didn’t have enough on our plate and needed to add stress to our lives.

With help from friends that helped create this website, a website was created to provide information and accept donations through.

You can check it out here.

Baytown Blue Santa

Our babysitter, Amanda took some really cute pictures today, and I thought I’d share them. Click the picture to go to the gallery.

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Nate writes:

Ok, it’s been a busy stressful week. So here is a combined update on whats been going on.

11-2-09
Cayden had two doctors appointments, His first was with Dr. Luerrsen at Texas Children’s Hospital. He is the doctor that has been following Cayden’s head shape and is the doctor that prescribed the helmet. He said it looked to him as if Cayden was coming along nicely. They did a cross section scan of Cayden’s head and a print out showed an image of the previous scan with the new scan overlaid over the top of it. You can definitely see the difference in the images that Cayden’s head is on track with proper growth.

We then went for a heart echo, we came in the room and stripped Cayden down to his diaper, the tech put on a Barney(Bleh) video tape. Cayden just laid there and watched the TV and didn’t fuss when they squirted the cold gel on his chest and began the testing. The test took about 40 minutes, about 15 minutes longer than the stupid video. Fortunately Cayden did great and really didn’t mind. We are still waiting for the results from the test.

11-5-09
Cayden went to see Dr. Propst for his H1N1 flu shot. Dr. P has highly recommended it for Cayden since the H1N1 was out. Tami and I both had a hard time deciding what to do, seeing that it is so new and the risk of negative side effects. It didn’t help that the dose the pedi’s office received had mercury in it – which is a fairly big deal. Tami shed lots of tears, did LOTS of research in the quest to decide to get it or NOT to get it?

It was a hard decision to make but we finally chose to get the shot after speaking to multiple trusted sources, including his doctors, friends, and through our own research. Tami heard some pretty serious, but real, horror stories about perfectly healthy children contracting H1N1 and their horrific journey in getting well. Cayden doesn’t have the reserve that a healthy child does if he were to contract the H1N1 strain. The risks associated with him contracting the H1N1 strain were greater than the risks associated with him just getting the shot. Needless to say, the decision did not come lightly! We know our decision might not be met with a lot of support, but at the end of the day, we have done what we feel is best for our child.

When I took Cayden in for his shot, I laid him on the bed, and the nurse came in, she wiped him with the alcohol swab, and then gave him the shot. She was really good. The whole process took 3 seconds(actual time) from start to finish. Cayden started to tear up, opened his mouth to cry, then just had this look on his face like “Whatever” then went back to being his usual fun loving, playful self. NOT EVEN A TEAR. I’m so proud of him!

This date also marks the date that Tami went in to get some testing done for her previous Thyroid Cancer. This testing will make her Radioactive(to a point) and she is unable to be around Cayden for a few days. We booked her a local hotel to stay at and she will be back home on 11-8-09

Amanda(the babysitter), Cayden and I went to the duck pond at the entrance to our subdivision and took some pictures, so Tami could get to see some new pictures of Cayden while she was away.

You can see the rest of the Duck Pond pictures by going HERE

11-9-09

Today I took Cayden to the Dr. Cleary at TCH for Cayden’s hearing screening, first she started off by putting these little tubes in his ears and tested the nerve response to various frequencies and make sure there was no fluid in the ear canals. Everything looked good.

We then moved to this little sound isolated room and they had speakers on each side of the room. Me and Cayden sat in the middle and the technician played sounds on each side of the room to get Cayden to look. The test started out really well, but then Cayden got fussy and didn’t want to play anymore.

We go back in 3 months to repeat the test. Premature babies are at a higher risk for hearing loss just due to their prematurity, babies who had blood transfusions and were on a ventilator for any length of time are at an even higher risk. So far Cayden’s hearing seems good.

Also, Tami was contacted by the Nurse today who advised the scan was NEGATIVE for Cancer WooHoo!!!

Till next time,

Nate

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Tami writes:
Cayden turned 10 months old on Halloween! Where does the time go?? He wasn’t sure what to be this year, so I helped him decide to be a little green and purple monster. Figuring it would be fun, and we could get what we wanted, I made his costume for him. It was a first for me, and I think it turned out okay.

Nate decorated the outside of the house and hooked up a fog machine to top it off.

Cayden’s Aunt Kim and Uncle Mike came out to spend Halloween with him and he put on a little show of smiles and laughter for them, despite his lack of sleep that day. He didn’t seem to mind wearing his costume at all – thankfully! Cayden did discover the eyes on his hat and tugged at them several times to the point we had to reshape them…lol!

Not long after our little monster got dressed, the trick-or-treaters started coming by. We get quite a few of them every year. This year we went through four super size bags of candy, then had to get my mom to bring over more. When we went through that, we had to get my dad to go buy more. But, by the time he got back with several bags of mini candy bars, things slowed down. Now we are stuck with several bags of candy(that we like) but don’t need.

Next year we hope to take Cayden out to a few neighbor houses and let him enjoy the magic of trick or treating!

You can see the rest of Cayden’s Halloween Pictures HERE

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Cayden writes:

Today Momy got up early and made cinmon struzel waffles on the foreman grill that momy and dady like so much. They smelled really good. Dady said he liked them a lot and they were low on wait watcher points, whatever that means.

Momy seemed really hapy and kept saying we were going to the punkin batch. Im not sure what it is, but if momy is exsighted about it then it must be good!

We got in the car and dady drove forever, we went over a big bridge and through a lot of trees, dady said the punkin batch was in Kingwood, Texas. I guess Kingwood is like the biggest of all the woods in the land, like in the stories momy and dady read to me.

We finally got to the punkin batch and it was really neat, there were these bright orange, little bitty punkins and medium sized punkins and even big punkins that dady said were as big as his belly.

they were kinda dirty but i liked to smack them with my hand, momy and dady kept putting me down with them and pointing that flash box thing at me. we went to the area where there were a bunch of little punkins and momy said I could pick one out. Im not sure why, but it was fun.

dady then told momy to pick out a punkin that was short like her. momy hit dady in the arm then found a punkin she said was just right. dady wasn’t able to carry all the punkins so he went and got a red wagon. Dady put the punkins in and then momy put me in with the punkins. Im NOT a punkin, but it was fun to ride with them. dady pulled us around the punkin batch while momy pointed the flashy thing at me again and again.

dady said the big punkins were too spensive so he found the scratch an dent punkin bin and found one that he said fit him just fine.

on the way out momy and dady wanted to take a family picture on the hay. a nice lady named nancy took our picture, she told me she thought I was very cute. after she kneeled down to take our picture, she fell over and nearly hit her head on our wagon. I think those flashy box things are dangerous!

momy and dady kept saying they had a lot of fun today. Im happy because I did too.

-you can see more pictures of today’s adventure by going HERE.

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