~Adventures with Caden~

After being home with Caden for the past two weeks I have learned an incredible amount in a short period of time.  I have had an amazing amount of help from family and friends that has allowed me to enjoy this time without being overwhelmed or completely stressed out.  Throughout this time I have learned a few important lessons from Caden they are as follows:

1.) Sleep in a privlege that he has the ability to take from you at any point.  We have been lucky enough to average 5-8 hours of sleep every night. 

2.) Although they say you need to feed every 2 hours, no one informs you that your two hours are from when you begin feeding.  If your little chunker eats for an hour you only have 60 precious minutes to regain your composure before feeding again.  Yes, at times this does make you feel like a milk factory.

3.) Set your standards LOW.. my goal was to get a shower at least everyday or every other day.  After two weeks at home with our little buddy Caden I have reassessed that goal and changed it to simply brushing my teeth everyday.

4.) Parents are not joking around when they tell you that both pee and poop have a projectile tendency if you are not careful.  Ed and I have both been christened by Caden.  My first instinct was to cry seeing as it was 2am both times, but Ed keeps me sane and we just laughed through the whole thing.

5.) As much as you loved your dogs before the baby came, and swore that no matter what you would never lose your patience with them or love them less... it happens!! Our dogs Anna and Della have been incredible with Caden, but I have to admit that our love for them is still there, but our patience may not be.  Sorry Girls.. we still love you I  promise!

6.) SURPRISE... not all kids love baths.  Turns out Caden is one that HATES to be undressed which is kind of important when taking a bath.  The poor thing screams from beginning to end and shivers as if we are inflicting intentional hypothermia.  May I add we heat the bathroom ahead of time, uncover him limb by limb to wash him and have Daddy cuddle him as soon as we're done.  Can you tell we'd do anything to keep this little guy happy?

 

 

7.) Newborns grow quickly!! We went to the doctors last week and Caden has lost a half pound and was down to 6lbs 14oz.  The doctor was a bit concerned and wanted us to work to get his weight back to his brith weight in 20 days.  Well, low and behold 4 days later we returned for a follow up and our little man has now been renamed our big man.  He gained ALL of his weight back in 4 days.  Silly parents..we went out and bought a bunch of newborn clothes for him less than a week ago and he's already grown out of them, and is sporting a double chin.  Love it!!

8.) Pregnancy brain continues after birth and also is contagious to your husband.  I found Ed drinking out of a gravy boat the other day.  He has poured his coffee, put cream and sugar in it, sat down on the couch and still had no idea (despite the spout) that it was a gravy boat.  Gotta love sleepless nights!

9.)  Holidays are better with babies.  We celebrated Thanksgiving here in Jersey with my mom who graciously cooked for us.  We definitely missed all of our family back in Pennsylvania, but there is nothing like celebrating a holiday with your newly expanded family.  We cannot wait for Christmas!!

10.) The best lesson that I've learned from Caden over the past two weeks is that there is nothing, I mean nothing in the world that compares to being a parent.  Ed and I absolutely adore our little man and cannot even remember life before he was here.  He has added so much joy, laughter and most importantly love to our family.  We are truly blessed!!

On a side note... all the visits from family and friends have been amazing.  We cannot thank you all enough!