Eating Solids for the First Time

Caden had his 4 month appt recently and here is the update. Oh yeah, its his first attempt at solid food. Haha

4 Months Today

Caden baby turns four months today. We are on the eve of my third week of staying home with him. Its been tough. He isn't the easiest baby. Very needy and demanding. We are in the process (as of yesterday) of changing some things from Sarah's time at home. The baby is in the habit of crying and being rescued immediately. He hasn't learned to do much by himself or to deal with frustration very well. So implementing a new strategy there. He also hasn't been on a nighttime routine. Normally he eats right before he starts to get tired and then if he doesn't fall asleep during the bottle, we walk him around until he passes out in our arms. Tonight we are trying something new. Moved the glider upstairs into his room, so feeding him up there, rocking him, reading a book, and putting him into his crib before he falls asleep. This may all sound a little boring, but believe me, its anything but that at our house in the evening. Will keep you updated if it works.

Leslie flew out this weekend to visit. Her friend ran in the Vegas marathon today so she had double the reason to come to town. She is going to work with Sarah tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I'm taking Caden to his 4 month doctor appointment and he gets shots, weighed, stuffed, and baked. Or something like that.

We put our fake Xmas tree up yesterday. Well, I didn't, I worked while Leslie and Sarah decorated. The house looks festive although we are missing presents under the tree. We normally wrap our presents and put them under our tree until its time to mail or give them out. Not doing that this year. After 2 months of Sarah not getting a paycheck, we won't be able to give presents to anyone except the 6 youngsters in the family. We will be sending out cards with a family pic in the next week, so you can be looking for that in the mail.

I'm working from home and going to campus once a week until February. It was really nice to go to work last Friday and laugh and complain with the other teachers. It was fantastic to see some students. I definitely miss the interaction. This is the first job Ive ever had where I miss being at work when I have a day off, a long weekend, or even the summer. Strange.

For posterity:

• The New England Patriots are 11-0 and going for #12 tomorrow. They are the best regular season football team Ive seen in 27 years of watching football. They should go 16-0, hopefully.
• Evel Knievel passed away at 69. Died in the back of an ambulance on the way to the hospital. He's lucky he lived this long.
• Saw No Country for Old Men which should win best picture. Its about getting old, and hitmen.
• Also saw Into the Wild, that movie REALLY affected me. I hope Emile Hirsh gets nominated for best actor. Sean Penn blew the directing though, probably wont be in the best picture category but close. Makes me want to visit Slab City.
  

Week 16.5

I'm sitting at home right now while the baby is sleeping and Sarah is off getting her classroom ready. She goes back to work tomorrow and I take over with the Mr. Mom gig. Sarah is in the process of trying to sift through the crud that is a 3 month sub. What a nightmare.

It should be a very trying experience staying home with Caden. While Im super excited to do the paternity thing, Ive been so wrapped up in school that I can't help but miss not being there. Plus, I have TONS to do and will try to fit that in to the time that Caden is sleeping, nights, and weekends. So 2 full time jobs for the next 3 months. Nevertheless, very stoked about the whole thing.

Caden's newest thing is that he giggles when you tickle him. Its pretty cute but he hasn't done it for me yet, only for mama. Will have to practice with him this week. He also loves sitting up so we found a Bumbo seat for him at the consignment store, he likes it.

We took family portraits at this meat market used car dealership processing photo plant yesterday. It could of been worse, but I was very up front with the photographer/saleswoman and she had to go against "company protocol" to accommodate me. It was either that or I walked so she saved her sale and worked with us. We made it out of there in an hour with all our Xmas presents in hand (Oh yeah, we are really poor so you all get photos this year). We couldnt get him to smile, he was on sensory overload, but the pics still turned out good.

Big News!!! Caden slept through the night the last 4 evenings. 8 hour spurts, extraordinary.
We found out early this week that he wasnt getting enough food the all natural way so we started mixing with formula (similac child, driving me wild (old rap song, sorry)). As soon as he began getting full in the evenings, he started sleeping better. Imagine that. Just in time for daddy too, what a sport.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.

For posterity:

• Brett Favre and Vinny Testaverde matched up today in the oldest combined age of 2 starting QB's in NFL history. 82 years.
• Barry Bonds was indicted by a grand jury, druggie
• Caden's eyes are still blue, really hoping they stay