Caden is 8 weeks old!

Wow, where does the time go? Oh yeah, it goes toward rocking, eating, sleeping and diaper changing! And, now that he is older, our time with Caden also includes laughing, cooing and playing with toys (well, we 'play' - he watches).

Thank goodness Caden seems to be doing better. Thanks to everyone for their encouragement, well wishes and prayers as we attempted to figure out the right combination of food and medication for Caden!!!

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:

Caden's First Full Day at Home

Caden had a busy first day at home. After a fairly successful night of feeding about every two hours or so, he took a couple good naps throughout the day and even got his first bath at home. Tomorrow marks a trip to the doctor for his first checkup outside of the hospital. We are enjoying him and love to be able to watch his first days and know that it will continue for years to come. Enjoy some photos of Caden!


Aunt Marcia and Caden

Caden Michael Lefler

We'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to our little miracle, Caden Michael Lefler. Caden was born on Tuesday, July 20 at 7:42 pm. He weighed in at a hefty 8 lbs, 8 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. A big boy for coming a day before his due date!

We are both just beside ourselves with joy! We are so very in love with our little man that I have no idea what we did with our lives before Tuesday!!! He's got big hands and feet but the overall consensus is that he's just a cutie.

Caden received his first bath at 2am on the 21st and has been a pretty content baby to this point. Just a little fussing here and there. He's been a really good eater feeding every three hours last night and, today, eating five times between 11am and 9pm. Caden got to meet all four of his grandparents Wednesday in the hospital and is already being spoiled. He also got to see Aunt Marcia and Uncle Casey for the first time, as well.

We got to bring our bundle of joy home this afternoon at around 3:30 pm. He fussed when he first got strapped in the car seat but seemed to like the ride home. He even withstood a stop at Walgreens for some medicine for Mommy.

We'll keep everyone updated on what's going on with Caden and all of us. Thanks to all of those who sent best wishes. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family and, now, a wonderful son to share with all of you.


x

15 Days....

Here we are in the homestretch...late in the fourth quarter...in the bottom of the ninth...okay, enough with the sports analogies. We're close to adding one more to our clan. More specifically, tomorrow we'll be just 15 days away from that due date. In honor of the final 15 days, I'd like to present the top 15 things I'm looking forward to most about being a dad.

15. Watching cartoons again

14. Spending Christmas Day putting together toys while he/she plays with the box

13. Seeing all his/her "firsts". First crawl, first words, first steps, first time he/she beats Dad at golf

12. Long walks with the stroller and watching him/her take in all his/her surroundings

11. Putting him/her on my shoulders the first time I bring them to Memorial Stadium for a Husker game

10. Family vacations to Fairmont, Lucan and all over the world

9. 3am feedings (that's right, I'm can't wait)

8. Ganging up and playing jokes on Mom

7. Watching him/her play with all his/her cousins and friends

6. Each morning, getting to make him/her the most stylish kid at daycare with his/her massive wardrobe

5. Getting to answer the 1000s of questions he/she has for us. The tough one's and the easy one's too

4. Playing catch in the back yard

3. Teaching him/her the difference between right and wrong and how to be respectful of others

2. Getting to know our child's personality no matter how happy, sad, angry or cranky he/she might be

1. The first time I get to hold him/her and every other minute I get to spend raising our special gift and watching him/her grow














As for us, we're not letting 8 1/2 months pregnant slow us down too much. Last weekend, we even made a day trip down to Kansas City to watch the Cardinals and Royals. This weekend, we were able to have a very relaxing time celebrating the Fourth of July with steaks on the grill and watching fireworks in the neighborhood. It was actually quite a good show.

We are both feeling such excitement for this baby to arrive that it pretty much consumes our free time. The hard work getting ready for a baby seems to be paying off. Just recently, we both looked at each other and said, "we're ready". As a matter of fact, both our bags are packed and we've got the video camera, camera and laptop by the door and ready to head to BryanLGH East at the drop of a hat.

If this is the last post before the baby, we'll be posting pictures after he/she arrives. Wish us luck!!!!