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Cade's Buddies

These are Cade's best buddies! They are twins. Cade has been in preschool with them since they were all 1 year old! He loves them. He was pretending to call them the other day. In his pretend phone call, he was telling the girl that she was beautiful and he was talking to the boy about his toys. It was so sweet. The mom told me that the girl always talks about how she is going to marry Cade. Wouldn't that be funny if it really happened! 

Cade's Program

The mood lifted!!! Cade walked out on stage and was looking for us and looking for us. He finally found us and waved and smiled and blew kisses! It was soooo cute. He did great! He sung his heart out and had a lot of fun. Doesn't he look cute! 

This is Cade at his Best!

Cade's preschool program was on Thursday night. He had to be in his classroom at 6:45 but he fell asleep at home a little bit before 5. Normally when he does that he is asleep for the night. Well, I had to wake him up. Those who know Cade well know that he does not wake up well when he is not ready to wake up. He cannot be loved out of the mood, disciplined out of the mood, or tickled out of the mood. It is not pretty! He cried while I got him dressed. It was even worse because I took off his much loved frog shirt to put on CHURCH CLOTHES (the horror). He cried in the car. He perked up when we went through the Burger King drive thru and he saw that there were Ice Age toys (the joy). But as luck would have it, they were out of the Ice Age toys (oh, the pain!). We finally made it there and headed to his classroom. When he is really tired he tends to get OCDish. For example, he would not step on a colored carpet square. We finally made it to his room and he was velcroed to my leg! He was finally pried off and I headed to the auditorium, saying a prayer all of the time that his mood would lift in time! What to do with that boy (besides love him). 

A Little Bit of Braggin' on my Boys

We found out on Friday that Dylan has tested into the EXCEL program at school (the gifted program). We are very proud of our boy!! We had to have the talk with the boys about how God has given each of them gifts that he expects them to use. Of course we talked about how God gave Dylan smarts. We talked about how Chase has a lot of social gifts. He makes friends easily. We also talked about Chase's super sweet heart and how he does not like for others to be mistreated. It was very entertaining to hear them naming Cade's gifts - like he knows how to get what he wants and he screams a lot (we reframed that to he knows what he wants and he knows how to make his needs known). We talked about how it is really too soon to know Nate's gifts but we do know that he is happy and easygoing. It was a fun conversation!

Guess what Nate did today, he went from crawling to sitting!! Something new every single day! Thanks for listening to me brag! 

Just a Couple More

He is looking at his Daddy in this picture. 

Some More 8 Month Pictures

 

Time to Childproof!

 

Just some pics

I tried hard to get a good smile from him today but he was too busy playing! 

It Can't Be True - 8 MONTHS OLD!!

Feeding Himself


I can't believe my baby is already 8 months old! One word sums him up right now - BUSY! He continues to be super sweet and snuggly. He likes to be held, but only if he can be looking around. He loves his brothers and they love him! He is crawling like a champ. It is time to do some childproofing!!! If you make animal sounds at him he thinks it is a hoot, particularly kitty cat sounds. He also thinks it is funny when I help him do the sign for more, don't know why that is funny. No teeth yet, but he is able to feed himself little snacks (and little pieces of things off of the floor - EWW). He eats his baby food really well and likes almost all of it. He doesn't like peas but who can blame him for that? He can sit up really well now and is trying to go from crawling to sitting up. Time to move the mattress on the crib (sigh). He takes great naps (between 4 to 6 hours a day). When it is nap time and he sees his bed, he wants in his bed. He grabs his bear, I put the paci in his mouth, I start his fish, he rolls over on his side to watch the fish, and he is out! He looks so sweet when he is sleeping. Sometimes in the middle of the night he will start his fish. Drives Mark crazy but it makes me smile. I know that my baby is okay for that minute anyway. The cutest thing is that he is learning that he can be funny! He also loves to look at himself in the mirror. Why wouldn't he, he is a cutie! He is the sweetest thing and he is growing up way too fast! I love him!

Full of Love

Dylan at age 5
Cade at age 2
Chase at age 6 - Wow he has grown a lot in 2 years!
Nate at Halloween wearing the sweet pea outfit that all of his brothers wore

Sometimes I look at one of my boys and I am almost overcome with love for them. When I watch Cade riding his bicycle my heart just fills with love for him. He is concentrating so hard. He looks so adorable with that serious look on his face and that big bicycle helmet on his head. I could just eat him up! And then he talks to his baby brother with that super sweet baby brother voice. It just melts me. And when Chase wants to go get his baby brother up from a nap or when he wants to sleep in the same room as Nathan. Or when he is worried that someone is being mistreated by someone else. I love him so much. And then there is Dylan. I catch him reading in bed a long time past his bedtime and he begs me to let him read one more page, just ONE more, PLEASE! Or the times - the many, many times - that I have to answer a million of his questions (who, what, when, where, and why and then who, what, when, where, and why again!). No just becauses for him! I love watching him learn. And sweet Nate melts my heart all of the time. He has started crinkling his eyes when he smiles. I laughed at him so now he does it just to be funny. I LOVE it when he grabs me tight and gives me wonderful, slobbery kisses. He is so sweet and snuggly! I am so blessed to have such wonderful boys. They fill my heart with love. 

One of the Many

One of the many reasons that I love Mark is that he is so kind to others. He never talks down to others or thinks that he is better than others. He always tries to address those who are serving him by their first names (like the fast food workers or the waitress at a restaurant). He is also very kind to those who are disabled. There is a boy in cub scouts with Chase whose older brother has a rare metabolic disorder that was not caught in time (similar to PKU). The brother cannot speak or interact with others and just stays in a wheelchair. Mark always makes it a point to talk to him and to give him a pat, even though the brother is not aware of it. We also have new neighbors. Their 13 year old son functions at a 4 year old level. Mark interacts with him and treats him like he is a person of worth. I love that he is that way and that he is teaching my boys how to be compassionate to others. Love you honey!

WARNING: MOMMY BRAG AHEAD

I got the nicest note home today from Dylan's teacher. She was also Chase's teacher last year. Here is what the note said.

Jenna,

I wanted to share with you! Dylan had the best question
yesterday: We are discussing the water cycle, and Dylan's question was
-
"Is it all the same water or is there new water somewhere?" Wow!
What a
question for a 7 year old!! It sparked a whole discussion
of
how wonderful
our Earth is, and more in-depth explanations of how the
water
cycle works!

Dylan is quite amazing! You do such a
wonderful job
with your
children to inspire such curiosity! Thank
you for sharing
your two darling
boys with me!

Of course, we think he is smart but we tend to be biased. It was wonderful to get this note! My sweet Dylan. 

Brotherly Love

You can see the red mark on his right eye courtesy of Cade
Cade bringing Nate a bottle
I was so worried when Nathan was born that Cade would have a hard time adjusting, but he has been the best big brother. He loves Nate and is wonderful with him. He loves to make him laugh and to play with him. He shares his special things with him and always wants to know where he is. The other day, Nate was crying so Cade grabbed a bottle, found a nipple, put milk in the bottle, put the nipple on top of the bottle and headed upstairs to go take care of his brother. So sweet! I love watching them together. It displays a nurturing side of Cade that I did not know existed. Cade also causes Nate some pain. The other day, Cade accidentally whacked Nate in the eye with a toy, then he squished his fingers under a toy. I hope Nate is able to survive brotherly love!

This is what happens...

when you sneeze with a mouth full of green beans :) I did not get a picture of me covered in green beans along with the carpet covered with green beans. LOVELY!