Caden's Fourth Month

October was a busy month!  It's hard for me to believe my baby is already 4 1/2 months old.  We are having the best time and are blessed with such a happy baby. Big news for Caden this month. No more harness! We went back to the orthopedic doctor and had new x-rays taken. His hips have shown improvement so we ditched the harness and wear a new hard plastic piece at night to keep his hips in that abducted position. He is so happy to be able to kick around during the daytime. 
Below is a picture from the beginning of the month when he still had his harness. He started drooling like crazy so we think he might be starting the teething process. We went and got his Sophie giraffe and he loves it! 

Caden loves to go grocery shopping with us! He helps keep our coupons super organized (yeah right...)

"And I've had enough now."

Caden is such a happy boy. He loves to giggle and laugh as much as possible! His new favorite noise is to blow raspberries all the time. We have not rolled all the way over yet, but we know that's close! Caden loves to stand up and use his strong legs. He especially loves to lay under a mobile and move his arms and legs as fast as possible! (We're making up for lost time now that we don't have the harness to keep us tied up anymore.) Caden is already a sports fan. He LOVES to watch football and baseball. We've watched lots of games this season outside on Poppy and CiCi's new deck. 

Sometimes he gets VERY focused on the game and does not want to be bothered. 

I've also had some good quality time with my cousin Lainey this month. Now that I don't sleep all the time and I can actually give her some attention too! We watch football together, go to Bible class together, and dress up for Halloween together! We took our 4 month and 7 month pictures at the pumpkin patch at the same time and Miss Lesley took some of our pictures together too. Can't wait to see how they turn out! 

 Notice the drooling I mentioned earlier... :)

Caden kind  of runs on his own schedule right now. He's pretty predictable, but sometimes he throws us off a little. He had an early evening nap that went longer than usual, so he ended up staying up late that night. I think he knew the Cardinals were about to win the World Series! Go Cards!!!

3 months

The past month has been so busy! We look forward to the fall every year, but forget how busy it always is. I've been back at work for almost a month now. It's been crazy, but good. Every day is a whirl wind and before I know it, it's time to go pick up Caden again! I still have not managed to get everything done during the day, so I have to take work home with me a lot more now. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove soon. Pumping at work just adds a whole new element of managing my time! 


This month has been full of medical issues... 


Caden got a harness last month to correct his hip dysplasia. After one month of wearing it, we are all sick of it (especially Caden). But he is a trooper and doesn't complain too much once it is on. The doctor says hopefully just one more month and then we can scale back to only wearing it at night and during naps. The harness holds his legs at a 90 degree angle, forcing the top of the femur bone to shape and mold the hip socket correctly. He is one strong little man and already broke the harness once! He straightens his legs as much as he can in them and ripped the seam off one side. He was so happy to get to go to church harness free last week! Grandma fixed it for us until we went back to the doctor to get a new one. 

He has also battled eczema really bad this month. CiCi called and got us in to see the dermatologist. We've been twice and have 4 medicines going on right now to control it - but I think we're making progress! It was terrible for awhile. 

This month he has really found his voice. He talks all the time. Still likes the words "ah-gee" and "ah-goo" the most and he loves it when I say it back to him. Wonder what those words mean? Hope he hasn't tricked me into saying some bad words in baby language... He has started to grab onto and bat around at his toys. When he gets upset, white noise will usually still calm him down. I wonder how much longer that will work? We never leave home without our phones and the white noise app! 


Still spitting up from time to time, but it does seem to be improving a little bit. I'm starting to predict from his burps and facial expressions when it's about to happen, so I was able to grab this deposit before it hit Mandy's lap last week at life group. 

If that doesn't earn me a ticket in the mom's club, I don't know what else will. That's gotta beat holding a toddler's sticky sucker or something. Do you see how proud he looks? He already knows he's got me doing all the dirty work for him. Sigh... I love it anyways :) 

Two Months?!?

The other day I was just commenting on how our little guy must be big for his age because he's already wearing 3 month clothes... well... not really, he's already 2 months old! It seemed I just blinked and the past month flew by in an instant. He's still my chunky monkey though... 
Caden can already do so many new things! He's getting really good at holding his head up by himself for a long period of time, standing on his strong legs, moving his arms all around and kicking his feet when he's excited. He's talking a lot more now too. "Ah goo" and "Ah gee" seem to be his favorite words right now. He's laughing and squealing with delight all the time. I just love this little guy :) We have truly been blessed with such a good baby. He cries when he's hungry, tired, or has a gas bubble. Honestly, I would too if I couldn't communicate that any other way. 
We did find out that Caden has "mild to moderate" hip dysplasia in both hips. That just means his hip sockets did not form properly. I had it as a baby and Cameron has it as well. The dysplasia was caught in my hip as an infant and I wore a brace to correct it. Cameron had surgery to correct one of his hips in 2008. From what we have read, the brace is the most common form of treatment in infants and has been 90% effective in the studied cases. We will consult with a specialist on Thursday to see what course of treatment Caden will undergo. 
I go back to work on Thursday afternoon, so that may prove to be an emotional day. Just hoping I can keep it together during a presentation I'm supposed to give that day as well. Maybe everyone will listen more intently as I try to talk through the sobbing... We are very blessed that my parents are keeping him during the day. I know that I would be even more of a mess if I had to leave him with people I didn't know. We will all adjust quickly I'm sure - now if I can just get up early enough in the morning... 
Here's a few happenings from the past month...
Visit from the cousins! Somehow I didn't end up with a Kendall pic :(

Sean with Caden

Mitchell with Caden

Mellissa with Caden

Bein' my cute self

Hangin with Lainey!

Loving my swing!

More updates to come after our doctors appointments this week!

One Month Old!

 It's hard to believe our baby is already a month old! This has been the longest and shortest month of my life - the shortest because time flies when you are having fun, yet the longest because it seems like our little man has been a part of our lives forever! 

 We waited a long time for God to bless us with our son. I cannot say that we waited very patiently, but God is good and does provide in His own timing.


This has been a month full of firsts for all of us! 

First Cry

First Kiss

Your middle name was a game day decision! But when Cameron first saw Caden, he thought he looked a lot like Grandpa Roy. So Caden Roy it is!

First Family Photo

First Bath. You hated it, but it was our fault. The water was too cold. You LOVE bath time now as long as the water is warm enough and the bathroom heater is on :)

First Father's Day!

First Hot Dog Friday with Poppy!

First Sunday at church

First play date with Lainey

 

 

 

 

 

 

First time in the pool

First meal from a bottle

First outing at the softball fields. (Technically this was the second, but I forgot to take pictures of you the week before!)

 We are excited for a lifetime full of "firsts"!

Announcing Caden Roy Hollingsworth...

He's finally here! 

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Waiting...

Waiting for you...

Dougie and Molly are excited to meet you!

Caden, We love you already!

These are a few of my favorite things!

Getting a text before my alarm goes off telling me to turn my alarm off and go back to bed. 
Watching the morning news in bed because I can.
Listening to the weather man say how horrible it is going to be outside and urging everyone to stay inside all day.
Catching the last few minutes of a Saved by the Bell episode.
Falling back asleep after flipping back to the morning news.
Waking up an hour later to breakfast being served in bed. 
Going to the grocery store with Cameron in sweats, no make up, and not caring. 
Staying on the couch with Cameron all day long with the fireplace going. 
Watching an entire season of a new TV series addiction. 
Starting season 2 of our new TV series addiction. 
The smell of a homemade pot of chili simmering on the stove. 
Being able to stay up late on a weekday because school has already been called off tomorrow. 
...having time to blog about the perfect day. 

I loved being "iced" in! As long as the power stays on... 
Stay warm my friends!