At the appointment, they did an EKG, took blood pressure, and did an echocardiogram.  What they found was a tiny (the doctor’s word) Patent Ductus Arteriosus, which sounds a little more scary than it is right now.    Cade’s is very tiny, and the doctor stressed that we shouldn’t be overly concerned: he doesn’t really have any of the symptoms to be concerned about and is growing well.  But, the doctor also noted that blood was moving through his aorta a little faster than was normal, so he wants to see him back again for another echo in six months to make sure that his aorta is growing with him the way it should be.

Image borrowed from revolutionhealth.com

Cade was a rock star through the whole appointment, and the staff was great with him.  So, we are really grateful that we are so close to such good medical care for him!  Just wanted you all to have the update, and I will be back with more pictures soon!

A couple of weeks ago when the little man had a cold he was wheezing a little, and I wanted to make sure that it was just a cold, so I made an appointment to take him in.  I also had some concerns about how much he was spitting up after he was eating, so I knew that I wanted to talk to the doctor about possible reflux issues.

However, he was gaining weight, so the doctor thought that it was just that he was overeating.  I knew that we had another appointment just a few weeks later, so I cut the length of his feedings back a little and planned to talk to the other doctor at his two month check-up if things weren’t significantly better.

Cutting back on how long he ate really did help with the spitting up, but it was still pretty obvious that the little guy was in pain after feedings, and he wasn’t sleeping very well (naps or at night).  So, I talked to the pediatrician at his two month appointment, and again, I was told that he was gaining weight, so it wasn’t something they would treat.

You might imagine, I was pretty frustrated. However, being the girl that I am, I dug in and did some more research.  When I was pregnant, I met a wonderful doula through one of my brother’s friends, and I contacted her when I remembered that her office was in a chiropractor’s office.  I asked her if reflux was something that the chiropractor could help with, and she said absolutely and gave us a referral that came with two free visits.  Three appointments later and we are believers.

The tiny, gentle adjustments they are doing him almost feel like nothing (they did them on me first), but after that first appointment, things were so much better.  It was obvious that he felt better, was sleeping better, and was eating better.  That in addition to figuring out what I needed to avoid eating (soda was a big one!), and I am happy to report that things are much better for us.

We still have some rough spots, and for those times, we have figured out that gripe water works much better than mylicon.  We are still elevating after we eat, which I figured out early.  And, we now have a wedge in the crib that makes it a little easier for him to sleep.

But, one of the best tricks is one the chiropractor taught us.  She calls it the Russian Nanny Trick.  This involves holding Cade so his back and neck are completely supported and then flipping him upside down and back up again.  Seemed completely counter-intuitive, but it works!

She explained that people have a reflex that allows us to flip upside down and retain all our food (think jungle gym after dinner).  In babies, this reflex is weak, which can cause trouble.  Flipping them helps strengthen this muscle, and in turn keeps their food down.  So, if you see us flipping our baby upside down, no worries…we know what we are doing!

We also wanted to share what a happy Cade looked (and sounded) like now that we found him!  Please know that you don’t have to watch two minutes of baby noises unless you really want to!

Little Man 2-28-10 from Sandy Anderson on Vimeo.

Well, Cade turned two months old this week and with that came another trip to the doctor’s office. In the last two weeks, he has grown two and half inches and gained almost two pounds.  So, he is now 10lbs 5oz and 24 inches long, and he moved from the 10th to the 25th percentile. I am so excited to see the pudge increasing along with the personality appearing.

And, even more exciting for Joe and I is that we found a doctor that we like, so now at least there will be some consistency in our care.  Other than that, we don’t have much else to report in our world.  We are still having what we think is a little reflux trouble, but we are trying out a few things on that front and will post about it as we find out more information!  Exciting stuff though!

However, when we weighed the little guy, we found out that he wasn’t quite a little as he had been.  He has grown an inch and a half, and he is now 8lbs 8 ozs!  I love that we are getting a little chunk!  And, it turns out that you can overfeed a breast-fed baby because that was likely the cause of some of the reflux type symptoms I was noticing.  Now that we changed our feedings a little, everyone is much happier, and we have much less coming up after each meal.

In other news, it has been a busy few weeks since we last checked in.  We have had some great company, including Miss Lily, my best friend’s newest addition.  Lily is just three and a half months older than Cade, so while it is a big difference now, it will definitely not be in just a little while.  Just look at all the personality this little one exudes already!

And, we have had a huge amount of snow, including this image of our latest blizzard.  We think we have heard that we got almost 30 inches.  Cade and I decided not to go play in the snow.  We like watching from the nice warm inside!

But, we have been enjoying some family time too!  This is a common scene around our house, as the animals still aren’t sure where this little human has come from or why he seems to be getting so much attention.

And, we have also been enjoying some wonderful time with family!

Things are going well in our neck of the woods, and we will check back in soon!  Hope that everyone is safe and warm out there.

For those of you who don’t know, Joe has a black belt in Karate.  And, he has a video tape of the test he took to earn his belt.  On the tape, which I won’t watch (don’t need to see my husband get hurt!), he is in a ring with five guys.  What I realized about this experience is that his teachers didn’t expect him to win this fight in order to pass the test.  Instead, they expected him not to give up.

College is much the same way!  Teachers don’t expect you to win with every test or assignment; you just can’t give up.  And, this week, I realized that motherhood is the same way!  There will be good days and bad days.  I just need to keep moving forward and understand that it most likely it will change tomorrow in good and bad ways.

So, that was my lesson for this week. But, because I know that you all are really just after the pictures, I thought that I would show you the many faces of Cade I see throughout the day!  I took all these pictures with my iPhone, which is sadly the camera I most often have with me.  And, using the awesome app that Lisa Leonard talked about on her blog yesterday, they are all like old school polariods!  Love it!  Easily my favorite app!

So, the little guy is one month old today!  I can’t believe how big he is getting, particularly in the last few days.  Seems like there have been a few pounds added in the last twenty four hours!  And, I can’t tell you how happy I am about this little growth spurt.

As for the weekly update, our routine is still working, and Cade seems to be getting enough sleep and chance to play throughout the day, so that is wonderful.  And, things are still going pretty well at night too.

This is one of Cade’s favorite places to hang out after he eats.  Gives his food a chance to digest before we try to change him, and this is when I get the most smiles throughout the day.

I also thought that I would share one of our very favorite feet-ure (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).  We can’t get enough of Cade’s feet.  He has some big feet for such a little guy!

Until next week, hope that everyone is doing well!

This week had a lot of firsts for us.  We had our first bath on the first of the year.

I think I love this picture so much because this is a face we often get when Cade isn’t sure about what we are doing to him.  The bath started off just fine, but he wasn’t sure as we moved on and started getting him really wet!  You can see the whole event here.

We also had our first check-up this week.    Cade is back up to his birth weight plus a few ounces, so the little thing is slowly gaining weight.  I keep telling people that I really never thought that Joe and I would have to worry about having a little baby, but that is the way that it worked out.  Other than that we didn’t really find out much.  So, I guess no news is good news.  Cade is still a little yellowish from the jaundice that he had right after he was born, but we are still working on working all that nasty bilirubin out of his system.  I will definitely be happy when that is all done!

We are also working on getting on a schedule, and although I am scared that I am going to jinx myself, it seems to be going pretty well.  I think we figured out that the fussy baby that we were experiencing was actually overstimulated baby, so the last few days we have been a little more low-key with him, and he is sleeping better and is much happier.

So happy in fact, that we got our first hint of a smile yesterday, and I was lucky enough to have my camera out to capture it!  He isn’t looking at me in the one that I got, but this morning I got a full on both-sides-of-the-mouth smile that was pretty amazing!

This has been an awesome week, and I will keep posting pictures to the flickr site and recap them here each week!

I know lots of people post big long stories about all the details of their labor, but you guys really didn’t think that I would do that, did you?  All the really needs to be shared is that it was fast, relatively “easy” (as far as labor can be), and everything went the way I hoped it would – no drugs, etc!  And, the best part is that we have this beautiful little one now.

We have taken some pictures already, and I know that we will be taking more now that we will have a chance to play.  Until then, we will be posting pictures to my flickr account.  Feel free to check them out, and I will post again with updates soon!

1| I am the most grateful for the upcoming addition to our family.  What many of you don’t know is that Joe and I tried for almost two years, and we were getting closer to the point where we didn’t think it might happen. Now, with just five weeks left until the little guy arrives, I am so grateful that we didn’t give up.

2| I am grateful that Joe and I have such a solid relationship, despite deployments and other events that could have worked to pull us apart instead of push us together.  And, even though it did take us some time to be able to start a family, I am grateful for every second that we had together just focusing on the two of us.

3| I am grateful that we are back in an area that we can enjoy our family being so close, despite the fact that it means that we had to move away from some of them to get here.  This is the first chance in our married life that we have had the ability to drive ten minutes down the road and spend time with any of our family, and I am grateful for the new types of relationships that has cultivated, even though the last six months since we have been here have been some of the hardest for my family.

4| I am grateful that my mom and I have this time to spend together, particularly now when I need her advice the most.  Over the last few years, we have both worked to put aside past differences and celebrate them instead even when we don’t completely agree, and I am grateful that we did that work before Joe and I moved back here, so we can more fully enjoy this time now.

5| I am grateful for all the friends I have made over the last 10 years that have been my family while living in other states,  going through deployments, and enduring all the other perils of Army life.

6| And, however strange it may sound, I am grateful that I am a person that takes on too much.  I said many times before this semester started that this fall was going to be easy.  I actually thought I was giving myself a break.  And, needless to say, it has been anything but.  Teaching two classes and taking two classes while pregnant has not been an easy thing to do, but it reminds me that I can do it.

I am grateful that my natural inclinations allow me to take on the hard stuff.  Without it, I would not have told that West Point cadet that I wouldn’t stop harassing him until he agreed to marry me after five emails over ten years ago.  And, I wouldn’t have been able to teach consistently over the last nine years, something I truly love,  despite the moves, killer grading schedules,  and economic downturns. And, I wouldn’t have the family of friends I do because it does seem like I always pick out the hard ones!

I am grateful for picking the hard way, for the days when I know I can do it, but even more so for the days when I am not sure that I can.  So while I know the people who love me the most have the inclination to tell me to slow down, you will have to understand why I don’t always take the advice.  Pushing on has worked out for me so far!  And, as my best friend once told me, sometimes I need you to tell me “you can do it” instead of “it will be over soon”!

After three weeks of non-stop vomiting, we had to make a decision about Cleo.  I thought I was okay with it until I called the vet to make the appointment to have her put to sleep.  And, then I lost it.  I won’t say it was an easy thing to do, but we do know that it was the right answer.

Two weeks ago when we took her to the doggie emergency room she weighed a mere 87 pounds, which was very thin for her.  Today, when we took her in, she weighed 74.  She wasn’t doing well, and we know we made the right decision.  But, it was an awful decision to have to make.

And, I fear how some of us are going to take it when he figures everything out!

She was a great dog, and we will miss her tremendously.  Great Danes, like most big dogs, have a horrible life expectancy, but they are wonderful and worth it every time.  I am sure this won’t be our last, but she will always be our first!  We just wanted everyone who loved her as much as we did to know what was going on.