Poor sick baby

Cade had his first major sickness this last week- croup.

He started feeling bad on Tuesday and was kinda fussy and snotty. By Wednesday he had a fever and even though we were giving him Tylenol the fever was still over 102. Gregg took him to the doctor that afternoon and they said he was negative for strep and probably just had some kind of virus from daycare. (He had gone 3 days at this point.) Our pediatrician told Gregg to keep alternating Tylenol and Motrin and to bring him back the next day at 11am if his fever wasn't down. His fever broke sometime after midnight and so I got up and went to work on Thursday and Gregg cancelled the follow up appointment. His fever stayed down till after noon on Thursday but then it was back up to 103. He also had developed quite a cough so we figured we would be headed back to the doctor Friday morning. Even though his fever remained between 102 and 103 into the evening Thursday he was still eating and drinking really good and so I wasn't all that worried.

Gregg had to go pick his Mom and her friend up from the airport late Thursday night so he left the house around 10:30pm and I put Cade in his bed. I could hear him coughing on the monitor and it just broke my heart. He woke up about midnight because he was so stopped up so I brought him to bed with me and propped him up on pillows and we both went back to sleep. Gregg got home around 1am and woke me up by saying "Has his breathing been sounding like this and been so labored all night?" I immediately snapped out of my sleep fog and panicked when I listened to Cade and realized he had terrible stridor which he hadn't had at midnight when I brought him to our room.

I frantically started packing a diaper bag and we headed to Children's ER. We got there and he was retracting, coughing and really struggling whenever taking a breath. We went to the Children's in Plano (amazing) and luckily they weren't busy so we were triaged and sent to a room very quickly. The nurse and RT immediately came in and gave Cade some steroids and then started a breathing treatment.

Sweet baby

After the treatment the doctor came in to examine him and told us he had croup ad would probably be sick for a couple more weeks. We were kept for a couple of hours so they could monitor him and make sure the stridor didn't come back and then discharged home on a steroid prescription and instructions to follow up with our pedi and bring him back to the ED if the stridor or retractions returned.

We go back to the pedi tomorrow for a follow-up. He has been fever free since Friday night and other than the cough and snotty nose seems to be all better! He should finish his steroids tomorrow also and hopefully his cough will be gone in a week or so.

Trying to understand

I am a Christian. I believe in God. I know that God has a plan each one of us and that he doesn't give us more than we can handle. I love God and trust in him. But I struggle sometimes. I question things and don't always understand why things happen.


The world is full of tragedy. Everyday the new shows stories of car crashes and other terrible events. But they are always just stories to me. They don't involve me or those that I love. Recently however, more and more of the stories have become personal. I have had some sort of a connection to the tragedy. My friends have been the one battling cancer or struggling in some way. I have cried as I read their stories and prayed for them every day.


About 3 months ago, I was introduced to the blog of James Camden Sikes through a friend of a friend. James was a week older than Cade, the first son of a wonderful couple. He was a normal and healthy little boy, or so his parents thought. James got sick on June 14, he was throwing up and not his usual self. His parents took him to the doctor and treated his "virus" as they were instructed. And then on June 22 their whole world was turned upside down when they took James into Children's because he was still getting sick and dehydrated. A CT found an abnormal mass of cells in his brain, a very rapidly growing brain tumor. James had surgery to remove the tumor and a plan was devised to start chemo after he recovered from the surgery. I read daily updates about James that his parents wrote from their hospital rooms and honestly felt like I knew these people. I rejoiced with them on good days and cried with them on the not so good days. I prayed. I shared his story with other friends and family members so that they could pray too. I honestly believed right up till the end that this little boy was going to defy the odds and beat the tumor. He had to- he was Cade's age and no parent should have to bury their child. James fought hard to the very end but on Saturday, July 16 he lost his battle with the tumor and passed away.

Just like no parent should have to bury their child, so too should no young child have to bury their parent. And yet tomorrow 2 young boys, ages 2 1/2 and 11 months, will bury their Mother. A Mother that was taken away from them too early. A Mother that they will never really know or remember. My Sorority Sister, Lindsay Breault Lewis, passed away Friday evening from complications associated with ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). Lindsay got pneumonia which led to a collapsed lung and then ARDS. She was in the ICU and while I knew that she was critical from the daily updates that her husband posted I never expected to read the below update from Gabe Friday evening.

"Update: I am unbelievably heartbroken to say that my best friend, wife, the mother of my 2 beautiful children as joined the sweet Lord in Heaven as of this afternoon. She fought as hard as she possibly could but there were too many things going on inside her body to fight. She literally fought to the very end. I first saw Lindsay when she was in the 8th grade and God told me right then that she was going to be in my life. I knew the second I saw her that I would love her. It took a few years, but God came through and put her in my life and from then on I never stopped loving her. She is an amazing woman, mother, wife, friend, the list goes on. She had a huge heart and a beautiful way about her. She was so beautiful on the outside but it was like she never knew it. She sometimes got upset because she would think people thought she was rude, but she was really just a humble, shy, and very modest human being. She never knew how beautiful she was even though I tried telling her everyday as well as friends. She gave me 2 of the most precious gifts that I could ever ask for in Cash Lewis and Brody Lewis. They will carry her inside of them for the rest of their lives and I will do my best to make her proud as a parent. She is a very special gift and I will miss her EVERY DAY. She loved all of you and I am so thankful for your prayers throughout this fight. The support has been amazing. I wish she could have seen it, but God has a bigger plan for her in Heaven. He has a plan for all of us and no matter what. our faith cannot waver. She is in Heaven, she is out of pain, and she is smiling down on us and probably feeling bad that she can't hug on us. Lindsay I will always love you, you have made my life amazing and I will take everything you taught me with me to my grave. I love you, I love you, I love you."

Instead, I honestly thought that that soon I would read that she was being moved out of the ICU and eventually be back to loving on her precious boys and updating her blog. She is my age, she has a husband and babies that need her, she can't die. But she did.

Life really sucks sometimes. The world doesn't make sense and bad things happen to good people. I know that God has a plan for each of us even when we can't see it. I know that he is in charge. But I don't understand. I don't know that I ever will understand. I will however continue to trust in the Lord. I have learned through these two tragedies that life truly is too short. I have started to treasure every moment and stopped rushing so much. I hold Cade a little tighter every night and love Gregg a little more every day. And I pray for both of these families that God will wrap his arms around them during these difficult times and lead them out of their darkness and back into the light.

Starting Daycare

Cade started daycare today! Gregg and I are very fortunate in that I have been able to flex my schedule for the last 10+ months so that one of us could be at home with Cade. Our plan has always been for Cade to start a part-time daycare program after he turned 1 for social development. However, I am changing roles at work right now and so we moved the date up about 6 weeks. He is only going twice a week on days that both Gregg and I are at work and then he will still be with Gregg the other 3 days.

The drop off this morning hurt my heart just a little bit and I did shed a tear or two as I drove away but my excitement for Cade overshadowed my own feelings. Our daycare has video monitoring so I was able to peek in on him a time or two (or twenty) throughout the day which made it all a little easier.

Picking Cade up this afternoon was the absolute best part! I loved seeing his big smile as soon as I walked in the classroom. Because he is almost a year old we decided to start him in the 12-18 month room so he could get used to those kids and teachers. His teachers said that he did really good and was a happy boy all day long which made this Mama so proud!

This is his "Serious Mom?" face!

I have loved being able to stay home with Cade part time and will treasure the time that we had together forever. But I am super excited about this new phase and getting to watch our sweet boy grow up!

Cade's first tooth!

Gregg noticed last night that Cade is getting his first tooth! Of course we then had to pin him down, pry his mouth open, move his tongue out of the way and take pictures of the little white protruder! Cade was none too impressed with us doing this and let us know all about it but we just couldn't help it. We were both shocked by the discovery of this tooth since Cade hasn't been exhibiting any of the terrible teething symptoms that we have heard about. He has been sleeping great (better than he has in the last 4 months honestly), eating fine, isn't fussy, does not have any GI problems and hasn't been drooling any more than normal. The only thing that he has been doing in the last few days is spitting- as in coming up to us to give a kiss and then spitting on our face or arm instead. He does it to Gregg more than he does me and we both have just laughed at it because it is so strange and funny! I guess we'll see if this is Cade's way of dealing with teething!

10 Months Old

Well, once again I am a couple of days late in getting this post written. (I did take the pictures on time but just hadn't written the post.) It doesn't seem possible that it has already been another month or that we have a 10 month old baby! I also can't believe that I am already planning Cade's first birthday party when I really feel like it was just yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. Each day with Cade brings us more joy than we ever thought possible. We are so in love with this precious boy!!!


Here are a few things about Cade from this month:
- He is still crawling like crazy and pulling up on everything. He walks around all the furniture holding on with just one hand and will stand on his own for about 10 seconds (until he realizes he is standing and then he panics and sits down!)
- He still nurses every 5-6 hours during the day and goes about 9 hours most nights. He is a great eater! He eats stage 2 and stage 3 foods along with lots of table foods. We try to give him a little of whatever we are eating for supper to get him used to the different textures and tastes.
- His sleep is improving still and I am hopeful that we are just about over the hump of him waking multiple times during the night! (Fingers crossed!) He did sleep all night on his pallet one night while we were in the mountains!
- He has just about outgrown the size 2 diapers but we put him in them during the day when he gets changed frequently. He wears 9-12 month clothes primarily but can still fit into some 6-9 month things.
- His favorite toys are still his tractors and cars but he also has a new cell phone that he loves because it lights up and makes noise. He loves anything that plays music and is drawn to the TV when there is singing and dancing!
- He is recognizing a lot of the signs that we are using but really only actually signs milk and yes occasionally.
- He waves hi and bye and will give slobbery kisses on the cheek most times when asked! He says "da da" all the time and will occasionally say "ma ma".
- He has had a little bit of stranger anxiety this last month and is becoming more of a "Mama's boy". Some days he is great and will go see and play with whoever is around and others he is pretty clingy and only wants me. He loves his Daddy and the time they are home together but the second I walk in the door he only wants to be held by me! (No complaints here because I know this phase will pass too quickly and he won't want to be held and cuddled!)



We love you so much so much sweet boy and look forward to watching you grow more over the next month!

Scheming something up!

Scheming you say? Not me!

practicing his Vanna White skills!

Growing boy!

Labor Day Weekend Get Away!

We went to Cloudcroft last weekend with my family on a mini Labor Day vacay! Cade and I drove down with my parents, brother Seth, and his girlfriend Julie on Friday and then Gregg flew to Lubbock Saturday and drove down. The weekend away was much needed with all the stress I have been under at work recently. I loved spending time with my family relaxing in the beautiful mountains.

All ready for the road trip

Some of my parents friends have a cabin on the edge of the National Forrest where we stayed. We did a lot of lounging, some extra napping, played some Yahtzee and Wii, did a little shopping and cooked/ ate some really good food! My parents both love to cook and try new things so we cooked several new recipes out of The Pioneer Woman cookbook that we don't normally eat. We had cinnamon rolls and a yummy breakfast scramble dish in the mornings and a steak with whiskey sauce one evening out of the cookbook.

Dad icing the cinnamon rolls

Cade enjoying the cinnamon rolls

Sepee loving on Cade as he naps

playing Yahtzee

Seth and Julie (LOVE HER!)

Cade watching the game

Gameday Ready

hanging out with Grumps

morning snuggle/ nap time with my boy

We left everyone late Sunday morning and headed back to Lubbock to see Gregg's family. (They all went to Ruidoso to the Horse Races for the day and then drove around Monday looking for a cabin we could buy in the area before heading home Tuesday.)

We stopped by my grandparents house when we first got to town to see Grampy and Grammy. My Grampy fell in the pasture about 3 weeks ago and broke the bone above his knee. He had surgery and has been in a rehab facility for a couple of weeks. It was so great to see him at home and getting around. He is in a wheel chair right now and has a long road to recovery ahead of him but we are so thankful that he wasn't hurt any worse than he was.

After that we went to Gregg's sister, Misti, house where we changed clothes and met up with the whole family before heading out to eat supper. We went back to Cody and Misti's house after dinner to hang out and let the boys play. It was so much fun to watch Cade and Landry play this time. They are getting old enough finally to interact and play some. Cade is still a little timid but is getting better.

Cade pushing Landry around

the boys taking a ride

Cade practicing his walking

Landry teaching Cade how to crawl into the cove

playing with Aunt Wendi

Nothing runs like a Deer!

just taking a stroll

We went back to Gregg's parents house Sunday night and then came back to Dallas Monday afternoon. We had such a great time over the weekend and enjoyed every minute of the time that we had with our families. Our time in the mountains was amazing and a nice change of pace (and weather) from home! I can't wait to get to go back again!!!

Experiementing with new foods

We have begun feeding Cade some different table foods! He is a really good eater for the most part and seems to be enjoying some different flavors and consistencies. Gregg and I have both laughed that Cade doesn't really like the Stage 3 foods that are lumpy but he will eat lumpy table foods. So far we have tried mac 'n cheese, spaghetti, pizza, eggs, hash browns, grilled cheese, antelope, watermelon,peaches, bananas, and ice-cream.

enjoying some fruit
this eating thing is hard work!

Full belly makes a happy boy!