One Month Old!

Hard to believe Caden is already one month old! At his check-up today, he weighed in at 10 lbs. 12.5 ozs (77%) and is a lengthly 23.5 inches long (97%). Although he is certainly a growing boy, we continue to battle a lot of fussiness with Caden. Because his symptoms include (aside from fussiness) - skin rash, gas and excess spit-up, both the lactation doctor and Caden's regular pediatrician suspect a food allergy (from the milk he's getting from me). The challenge is figuring out WHICH food allergy, as it could be anything from cow's milk/dairy to soy to beef to corn to citrus. I have been cutting the obvious dairy from my diet since Monday and he still seems to be quite irritable, so the pedatrician suggested we try a "dairy-free" formula for a few days just to be sure we can rule out that allergy (it is the most common). In the meantime, I'm still pumping breast milk until we are sure that we are going to switch to formula. He's been on the new formula for 12 hours and I'm not sold on it yet (was a rough night). The verdict is still out and the saga continues. We sure hope to pinpoint what's bothering his tummy in the next few days!!!

I thought it was fitting to take a picture of all of the medications (prescription and over-the-counter) and feeding supplies that we've tried. Along with a few fun pictures of Caden hanging out on his frog pillow (notice the frog sleeper to match)!

Sprinkler Incident

All is well, although a bit sleepless, in the Lefler household. Caden continues to grow, even with what appears to be some acid reflux. At his last weight check (Tuesday), he was 9 pounds, 9 ounces. I decided that the newborn clothes/diapers need to be retired, primarily due to his long length. He is well into the 0-3 months size. We love to see him thriving, but it is bittersweet to tuck those cute little outfits in the closet already!

Last Friday, we took Caden to the pediatrician for a check-up on his eye (blocked tear duct). As is protocol, the nurse asked us to take off all of his clothes (including diaper) so she could weigh him and take his temperature. Now, really, is anyone a fan of taking their clothes off at the doctor's office? Neither is Caden. He was crying (alligator tears) as the nurse was taking his temperature. To console him, I leaned over his head to give him a kiss. While doing so, the "sprinkler" went off and Caden managed to pee on BOTH of our faces...mine and his. Mike was standing RIGHT beside me and one would THINK that his impulse would have been to cover the "sprinkler", but instead he watched and laughed. Not sure Caden would want this story shared in his baby book, so I'll put it on the blog instead!

Enjoy some recent pics:

Back to birth weight!

My apologies for the lack of blogging lately! Caden has been keeping us VERY busy. He is such a joy! We can't believe how quickly our days (and even our nights) pass by with him here. We are content just holding him and doing whatever is necessary to keep him happy. Who needs TV for entertainment with a newborn around?!?

The first two weeks of Caden's life have been a bit rocky. After a few days of what the pediatrician originally suspected to be acid reflux or a dairy loterance issue, we ultimately discovered that Caden was not breastfeeding as one would expect, so we had to resort to feeding Caden with a bottle. This was done for multiple reasons. Most importantly we could track what he is/was eating. He's still getting breast milk (I have rented a hospital grade pump to keep up my supply), but he's solely fed by a bottle. Thank goodness Daddy is still on paternity leave as it takes some extra hands to feed.

Sadly (break my heart), Caden's weight dropped as low as 7 pounds, 14 ounces at 9 days old. However, after a mere 5 days of bottle feeding, he weighed in at 9 pounds 1 ounce yesterday - yippee!!! That makes everybody happy around here!

Even with all the drama of feeding, Caden has been enjoying his visitors this past week. While Daddy went to work, Grandma Donna came to spend the day, which included a lot of rocking chair time. Although it was a rough night for Caden, he really appreciated his cousin Evan coming over to meet him. It was especially nice of Evan to share some of his blankets with Caden. Last weekend, Caden had fun hosting a slumber party with Papa Ron, Grandma Nancy, Aunt Ann and cousin Addeson. Addeson introduced Caden to some fun shows on the Disney channel (so much for ESPN Daddy!).

Here are a few recent pictures of Caden: