Looking Back

Three years ago today my second child was born. It took us months to find a boy name that we liked. We chose Logan. That is until I had an ultrasound. The very second we saw his little body wriggling around we both KNEW he was not a Logan. Logan brought visions of tweed jackets and comb overs and Harvard and polished shoes and brains. What we saw on the ultrasound screen was rock climbing and the color orange. I can't explain it. I know it sounds weird. But it's the truth! So we settled on Caden. We wanted all of our children's middle names to be after family members, so we chose John for his because it's the name of my FIL. My pregnancy was perfect. I had fully intended to do a VBAC, but at around 26 weeks my hubby came home one day with this: "I don't know why, but all of a sudden I'm not really comfortable with you doing a VBAC." And so I switched doctors and had my second C-section scheduled. My mom was having health problems at the time, so we flew my MIL up from South Carolina to stay at the house with Silas during our stay at the hospital, which was an hour away. I was prepped, poked, stuck and tied to the bed in the OR. I.was.nervous. My first baby had been a section, but by the time he was born I had already been laboring for 24 hours so I was willing to do anything just to get him out. This was different. I was only 38 weeks along. I knew what to expect. And I was scared. They allowed Seth to come into the OR a few minutes before they pulled him from my womb. When I got my first glance of him, I burst into tears and said "I LOVE having babies!!!" :) And then I said "oh my word he looks just like your grandfather!" Haha! He was my hardest baby. He wasn't necessarily bad, but it was the worst year for our marriage, which made bringing a new baby into the mix very hard. Seth had started his own graphic design business in the basement. He would work all day at his normal job, walk in the door for dinner, then walk straight to the basement to work until 2am. I had horrible depression. Silas was only 16 months old at the time, and not even walking yet, so in a lot of ways I was a single mother to two babies. We've grown a lot since then, and learned even more, but those days were hard. Recovering from a c-section with another baby climbing up your leg was insane. I used to call my mom to ask if she could just come over to help me lift Silas in his crib for naptime because I wasn't supposed to be lifting anything. When Caden was about 5 months old he developed a horrible yellow scab on his head. We took him to our pediatrician who then prescribed a steroid cream without even trying to figure out what had caused it in the first place. That's when we started visiting a holistic doctor. A few months later he would be up night after night, just throwing up for no apparent reason. We were finally advised to take him to an allergist who then diagnosed him with milk/egg allergies. He also happens to have the Celiac gene. Poor kid! :) The yellow scab turned out to be an allergy to wool, which WE figured out on our own after realizing he was wearing the same wool hat all winter long. Thank goodness we never had that steroid cream prescription filled! He's also allergic to kiwi's. He's been egg/milk/kiwi/wool free for almost two years and still doing great. So far Celiac has not manifested itself, for which we are very thankful. At his "sickest" point, his weight dropped so low he was only in the 8% percentile for his age. I learned a lot about diet and nutrition, and now he's thriving again! Caden has been an enormous blessing to our family. He is the brainiest kid we have. Maybe we should've named him Logan, after all! He answers Silas' school questions before Silas can even answer! He loves books, puzzles, the piano, and motorcycles, but his biggest obsession has always been animals. We were really hoping to get him a puppy for his birthday, but we've decided to wait to see if we move. He was my hardest baby, but he has been my easiest toddler. Never complains for naps or bedtime. Never has bad dreams. Never complains about food. Well, maybe never is too strong of a word. He's just such a good kid! When you have your first child you think that once you have him figured out, you'll have all of your children figured out. Caden opened our eyes to the fact that this is very false. :) I praise God for bringing him into our family, and allowing me to be his mommy. In the morning he tells me I'm "so skinny", and if I braid my hair he tells me I look like a "barbie princess". :) I can't believe he's 3! We love you, Cade! Happy birthday bud!