Christmas (4 weeks)

My 2 handsome boys on Christmas Eve

Eating minty chocolate bars in front of the tree

Cole slept through the entire church service

Santa came and he brought a drill!!!!

Goofy action shot with his safety goggles on
Staring at all of his loot and the Christmas tree
Even Cole was wide awake on Christmas morning
Big brother kiss

3 weeks

Cole is still growing like crazy. We have really noticed his cheeks getting chubbier and he's now got a little belly. He's now eating every 2.5-3 hours and the majority of his awake time is during the day and evening. We just switched his formula to see if we can help him out with his spit ups and huge amount of gas. This little boy can fart as loud as his dad! My parents have been here all week and will be here through next week. They have both been a huge help and have given me a chance to get a little more sleep and continue recovering. I'm actually feeling pretty well even though I've been sleeping in the recliner most nights. I started driving again this week so Cade and I and either grandpa or grandma have been running errands in the afternoons. It's nice to at least get out of the house.

2 weeks

Cole is now 2 weeks old and is growing like crazy. We had him into the doctor today for his 2 week check and he gained 12 oz in a week! He's up to 6 lbs 12 oz now. I guess those feedings every 2 hours are paying off. He continues to have his awake times and sleepy times a little messed up. He likes to be up from 10pm-2am but I think we are slowly changing that. He and I slept in the recliner most of last night. Then he was up from 6:30 - 8 and was up a few other times today but seems sleepy now. I have my fingers crossed that he will sleep better tonight. After Cole's appt, we went out to dinner and to Southdale for a little while. It was good for Cade to get out and also good for me. Sean and Cade have made a few trips to Target this week but I haven't gone anywhere since last Friday. It's been another rough week of recovery with cramping in my stomach and for some odd reason my left shoulder has been cramping up too. It seems to be better finally today. Sean has really been doing alot to help me get some extra sleep and keep both boys fed and happy. I'll be a little sad when he goes back to work on Monday but luckily my parents are coming on Monday afternoon to help out through Christmas. Then, Sean will be home again the week between Christmas and New Year's. I'm going to have 5 weeks of help and am thankful beyond words.

Sean and Cade on the train at Southdale

Cole waiting for his big brother and daddy

One week

It's hard to believe that Cole is one week old already. We took him to the doctor today for a quick weight check and bilirubin check. He was up to 6 lbs from 5lbs 11oz at discharge and only an ounce away from his birth weight. No jaundice to worry about either. He has another appt in a week for the standard 2 week check. When we were making the appt, Dr Stealey happened to be in the office and was nice enough to schedule something with us during his non-office time. Since he's Cade's primary doctor and a really great guy, we want him to be Cole's primary as well. I love the fact that we go to such a wonderful pediatrician's office. After our doctor's appt, we went to our first lunch out as a family of four. Luckily we went to a Baker's Square that was not busy and we were seated in the least busy portion of the restaurant. Cade decided to spend most of lunch running around and chatting with people. Good thing he's a big flirt and can get by with it. Cole got his first public restroom changing where we ran into a woman that insisted on touching him while I was trying to change him. I almost started screaming at her to stop touching my child. How can people be so rude? Why do they automatically think it's ok to touch babies? I wished I had our big red stop sign from Children's, that is hanging on our car seat, plastered to his forehead. I'm not sure if even that would have been a deterrent though. Of course, there were many nice people there too that commented on how cute he was and asked how old he was.

Things we know about Cole so far:1. He has a head full of blond hair. It's funny to see such a blondie in our otherwise dark family. But, both his aunt Marcy and his uncle Andy were blond as babies.
2. He is a ladies man like his big brother. The night nurses fell in love with him. He really was only in the nursery at night and I heard form our nurse and our nursing assistant that he was the favorite in the nursery. The assistant finally decided that she had to put him down because she didn't want to spoil him.
3. He can shoot poop with the best of them. While the night nurse was changing him, he shot poop all the way across his plastic bassinet. He also got daddy's hand full of poop yesterday.
4. He has pooped more in 4 days of being home than Cade did in his first month home.
5. He pees like a fountain over everything. Cade never really did.
6. He's a good eater. He takes 2 oz at every bottle and eats every 2-3 hours.
7. He can hold his head up and turn it and has been able to since the day after he was born.
8. He can focus his eyes on your face already.

Surprise!

Baby Bober decided to come a little earlier than expected. On the night of Thanksgiving, I went to bed with a feeling that the baby was going to come even though I didn't have any signs of labor. By 12:15, I woke up with some bleeding and told Sean that we needed to call the doctor. I explained my situation to the on-call doctor and at first he said, "ok, I think you should call the office in the morning." I think he said that at first because the bleeding could be coming from my cerclage. But, I asked again and he said, "yep, head to the hospital and I'll tell them you are coming." So, we packed up Cade and headed to Abbott. Once we were there, I started to have contractions but they were not very consistent. By the time the doctor got there, I was contracting every 3 minutes even though I didn't know it. So, he said that since I was in labor, had bleeding and was at 36 weeks that he thought we should deliver the baby. He told us that at 36 weeks, we were likely to be able to take the baby home with us when I was discharged. But, they called the special care nursery and got them prepped for our pre-term baby. Sean quickly took Cade up to Andy and Jill's and was back in time to head to the OR with me. Then, by 5:45am Cole Andrew Bober was born. He came out screaming which was such a relief. He was 6 lbs 1 oz and 19 1/4" long. Even his Apgar scores were great at 8 and 9. He ended up with some bruising on his face so for awhile the doctors and nurses weren't sure if he was turning blue or if he was bruised. But, his O2 levels were high so they decided that he had bruising around his nose. He ended up in the regular nursery. I couldn't believe it. No NICU needed!

Still pregnant.......

Well, I've made it to 35 weeks and things are still going extremely well. I can't believe that I'm 10 weeks past when Cade was born. This baby boy is probably already close to 3 times the birth weight of his big brother. At the last ultrasound, about 3 weeks ago, he was an estimated 4lbs 13 oz (54th percentile). With an average weight gain of a half pound a week, he's probably close to 6 lbs. The ultrasound tech kept telling me that this baby is going to seem huge! I guess now I can believe her. Of course, any newborn would seem huge compared to Cade.

Ultrasound from 9/24

I'm still feeling pretty good most days. My hips and lower back are sore alot but that's a small price to pay for a baby born healthy. We have a scheduled c-section on December 16th. Right now, there isn't a reason to think that we won't get there but only time will tell. My stitches are holding and my cervix was still at 4cm 3 weeks ago. There won't be any more ultrasounds since the cervical length naturally thins out. At the last appt, the doc said that we may keep the stitches in until the c-section as long as I'm not uncomfortable. Before, the plan was to take them out at 37 weeks (~Dec 2nd). I guess that I just need to wait and see how I tolerate the extra pressure of baby.

I think that Cade is really understanding that he is going to be a big brother. We have a book about being a big brother that he requests to read at least once a day. He talks about the baby, how he will hold him on his lap and how babies cry. Sean mentioned the other day that the baby will "pop" out of mommy. So, now he really wants to know when this baby is coming. He is also very interested in every baby that we see while we are out and about. He gets concerned when he hears one cry and always wants to go see the babies. I think it will ultimately be a tough transition for him but he will be an awesome big brother.

News about Cade this fall: In September, he "graduated" from having ECSE come to the house. Both the teacher and PT felt that he was doing so well that they couldn't really help him any more. I was happy but also a little sad because both Becca and Lynn were great resources and are great people. We started a year round ECFE class and luckily have some of the same friends from last year in our class. Cade and Eli continue to be good buds and Cara and I get along great. It's nice to have someone that lives so close to hang out with. We also have become good friends with Nichole and Sam. Nichole is also pregnant with a little boy and is due Dec 8th. Nichole and I can share pregnancy stories and Cade and Sam are becoming friends. Class is fun for Cade and for me. At first, he went through some rough separation anxiety but now he likes his teachers and his friends. And, he knows that "Mommy always comes back." That's our mantra around here. In October, Cade had a follow-up neuro appt to check his new shunt setting that we changed this summer. Sean took him to his appt since I can't go in the CT with him. Everything looked the same. I was concerned that Cade was toe-walking again so Sean asked about it. The NP said that it could be caused by the shunt change or the brain damage that he sustained when he was born and to keep an eye on it. He had been toe-walking during the summer but then it went away. Lynn (the PT) said that it's something alot of toddlers do. I think it's actually starting to go away again but I'm still watching for signs that I need to make an appt with his doctor. He can still squat with his heels on the floor so that's a good sign. He also has started jumping everywhere. Alot of times, instead of walking, he hops or dances. He continues to be a happy little boy. We've been lucky this fall to have grandma come and visit a couple of times while Grandpa Reg has been hunting. Cade loves to have grandma come and I know grandma loves to come and see Cade. Grandpa Phil was also able to come for the weekend before Sean's birthday. Cade loves his grandma and grandpas.

Our little dino before we went to the zoo for trick or treating

We went to the zoo on Halloween for a special members only event that was held after hours. It was nice to be able to trick-or-treat indoors and see all of the animals. Cade's favorite "treat" was a plastic flutophone that he called his whistle. He said he had a whistle like Grandpa Reg! (My dad often has a dog whistle with him that he lets Cade play with).

An early visit to see Santa (11/19)

We decided to visit Santa very early this year since baby could come any day. Amy, Ben and Evan were supposed to meet us there but they were sick and couldn't make it. We missed them but Sean was able to meet us there since we had an appt after work. Cade was not a huge fan of the big guy. But, eventually he warmed up a little bit and we did get a great photo.

Cade and his little brother

Cade: "Baby in momma's belly"
Me: "Yep"
Cade: "Baby in mama's bra?"
Me: "Nope, the baby is lower in momma's belly."
Cade: "Baby in momma's undies?"
Me: "Well, the baby is underneath momma's undies"

Cade: "Baby in momma's belly"
Me: "Yep"
Cade: leans over and smells my belly and says "you sniff the baby" (you = me or I)
Cade: "Baby needs milk"
Me: "Well, not really"
Cade: "Baby needs milk"
Me: "OK", then Cade lifts my shirt and tries to pour milk on me. I then took the milk and pretended that the baby was drinking.
Cade: "More"
So, I had to repeat giving the baby milk until I said that the baby was full
Then, Cade leaned over and kissed the baby.

Cade: "Baby in momma's belly"
Me: "yep"
Cade: "Momma get scissors?"
Me: "Why?"
Cade: "Take the baby out"
Then he thought about it and said, "No, cut baby finger, owie"

Cade: "Baby in momma's belly"
Me: "yep"
Cade lifts up my shirt and says "take baby out" as he grabs at my belly and pulls his cupped hands away
Me: "Is the baby out?"
Cade: "uh-huh"
Cade: "Baby all gone"
Me: "where did the baby go?"
Cade shrugs his shoulders
Sean comes in the room and I told him that Cade took the baby out. Then, Cade says, "Baby in ear" and points at his ear.

Catching up

I know that it's been way too long since my last post. There are exciting things happening in the Bober household. This most important one is that Cade is going to be a big brother before the end of the year. My official due date is Dec 24th but I doubt that we will get that far. I'm positive that this baby will not come as early as Cade but I also think there is a high likelihood that baby will come somewhat early. My doc says if I make it to 34 weeks we should all have a drink :) So far everything has been going great. Baby is healthy and my cervix is holding steady (maybe that's too much info but it's very important info). I had a cerclage placed at 14 weeks and am now at 19 weeks. I'm am having ultrasounds every 2 weeks to check on my cervix and baby so they should be able to catch if anything starts changing. The other big news about baby B is that it's a boy! Yes, I will be surrounded by males but I'm really excited that Cade will have a brother.

Cade has had his own exciting news too. Last week, we had a neuro appointment and the CT showed that his ventricles are still compressed (no change from last time). This is great news and means that his shunt setting was changed again up to 200 from 170. A setting of 200 means that the shunt is essentially shut off. His body is doing all of the draining of fluid from his brain that he needs. We will follow-up in 3 months to make sure everything still looks good. Then, we will wait a year and see if everything holds steady. If so, there is a chance that the shunt can be taken out. This news really surprised me because everything that we had been told previously was that the shunt would stay in no matter what. I guess when the time comes we will have to weight the risks of another surgery with the advantages of not having the shunt.

More news from Cade is that we have started potty training. It's been about 3 weeks now and I think he is starting to revolt a little. But, he can go pee pee on the potty and has even been successful at telling us he needs to go. I guess it's just a work in progress.

Cade is continuing to learn new words. Some of the ones that surprised me are helicopter and motorcycle since they each have 4 syllables. He is so into vehicles and often sees "auntie Marcy's car" or "grandpas truck" or "Daddy's car". He still loves when Sean gets home to see his daddy and to also go play in mommy or daddy's car. He often speaks in 5-6 word sentences. It's so fun to have him tell me the story of his day. It's interesting to hear what he finds important. He's started to really love jumping (on the bed, off of the bottom stair in the basement, in the pool). We did have a visit from ECSE this month and they said that Cade was going to put them out of business. He's doing so well. The next big step is for him to move to a "big boy bed" but I'm holding off a little because his bedtimes have not been going so well this summer. He's back to wanting us in the room with him until he falls asleep. Sometimes, that isn't until 10:00 which is starting to drive me a little nuts. We are hoping, as the sun starts to go down earlier, he will start going down earlier.

We are having a great summer so far. We had the chance to spend more time at the cabin with family over the 4th, actually made it up to Chisholm for Father's day and have been busy with our ECFE friends and Amy, Evan and Ben. We've been to the zoo, have hung out with Andy, Jill and Phillip and have hung out with Marcy and JR. Marcy and JR are getting married! So, I guess he's uncle JR now. We got a chance to see my mom to celebrate her birthday and are headed to the cabin again in August to celebrate with my dad. Last week, Fran and Kathy were down for the day and we had a great time. Cade woke up the next morning saying "Fran turn the car on?" "Kathy bye bye?" We were all sad to see them leave but hopefully we will see them (and Heather) again this summer.

Little undie butt

Filling the pool
Splash pad at the zoo
Watching the otters swim
Up close and personal with the bear

The start of summer

I haven't been doing a very good job of posting lately. Things are busy as usual. All of the weekends in May were booked with fun family and friend time. Mother's day weekend my parents came down on Friday and stayed through Saturday afternoon. Then, on Sunday we took Cade to the zoo. The next weekend was opening fishing so Cade and I tagged along with Sean and he dropped us off at the cabin before he headed up to Lake Vermilion to have his annual guys weekend with a bunch of his Chisholm friends. Cade and I had a great time with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Marcy, JR, Great-aunt Susan and Great-uncle Jerry. Cade got to go in his pool for the first time of the year and got to have a boat ride. The next weekend, Grandpa Phil came into town on Friday so we got to have dinner and Cade spent some quality time with him on Saturday morning before he had to leave to babysit Phillip. Then in the afternoon, we got to meet Kristie, Tom and Brooke at the Como Zoo. We missed seeing Ashley because she was with her grandma but it was nice just to have the 2 year olds to watch. Kristie and I got a chance to catch up and have some family fun. The on Sunday afternoon, my parents were back in town for a grad party and we had dinner with them and Marcy and JR. Memorial day weekend we headed up to the cabin. Sean took Friday off so we could stop in Proctor and meet our newest little friend Hannah Grace who was born on May 2nd to Heather and Chris. Sean wasn't feeling well so he took a nap and Cade and I got to meet Hannah. She is a little sweetheart. She has red hair just like her momma but looks alot like her daddy. So cute :) Cade even had to give her a kiss and touch her hair. We were out at the cabin by dinner on Friday night. All of us (12 adults, 3 kids and 7 dogs) were there by Saturday at lunch time. So, it was a busy, crazy and fun weekend. The weekend project was painting the new bedrooms in the basement addition. It will be so great once everything is done. Four more bedrooms to fill up with all of us. Unfortunately, Sean was sick all weekend and ended up sleeping most of the time but by Monday afternoon he felt a little better and even got in some painting. Cade got alot of quality time with Grandma while I helped out with the painting and getting meals together for all of us.

Feeding the goats at the MN Zoo

"What's this big wheel for?"
Walking up the hill.
Luckily, he didn't mind his life jacket.
First pool time of 2010
Playing with his own minnows.
I gave him 2 in his own bucket so he wouldn't kill all of the rest.
Boat ride!
We took the fishing boat out for a spin and Cade wanted to sit on grandpa Reg's lap.
Notice he has pjs on :)

Sophie was enjoying the ride too.
Just a cute picture with "monk."

2 year stats....a little late

Here's the stats from our visit to the NICU follow-up clinic on April 27.

Head circumference: 19 in
Length: 34 in (about 40th percentile)
Weight: 23 lb 2 oz (about 5th percentile)

This makes me wanna cry...

Almost too many to count

In no particular order, here are the words that Cade added to his vocabulary in the last month. I'm sure I'm missing a few. We have heard quite a few 3 word sentences and some 4 word sentences now.

119. Love
120. Laugh
121. Hug
122. Kiss
123. Fun
124. Sophie - "Soph"
125. Lucy - "Luce"
124. Eli - his friend form class that we hang out with quite a bit
125. Cara - Eli's Mom
126. Bunny
127. Horse
128. Gallop
129. Monkey - "Monk"
130. Book
131. Cookie
132. Monster
133. Froggie
134. Fix
135. Sam - he has a book with Sam
136. Puppy
137. Feed - "Feed the puppies"
138. Necklace - "Neck"
139. Marcy - "Marce or Marsha"
140. Auntie
141. Purse
142. Good
143. Night
144. Ernie
145. Art
146. Squirrel
147. Bird
148. Kira
149. Cereal
150. Fish
151. Flush
152. Beep
153. Honk
154. Railing
155. Step
156. Candle
157. Broke
158. Sniff
159. Lick
160. Shook
161. Sit
162. Stand
163. Lay
164. Banana
165. Cantaloupe
166. Plum
167. Smash
168. Smoosh
169. Come
170. Brynja - a little girl from class, I think he really likes saying her name or really likes her
171. Heather - Brynja's Mom
172. Van
173. Judy
174. Walk
175. Run
176. Elbow
177. Ear
178. Hair
180. Cup
181. Milk
182. Pop
183. Pen
184. Pig
185. Earring
186. Swing
187. Mouth
188. Lips
189. Tower
190. Blocks
192. Shake
193. Cracker
194. Toast
195. Coffee
196. Toothpaste
197. Lotion
198. Stuff
199. Lunch
200. Hand
201. Foot
202. Thumb
203. Nipple - "Nip"
204. Knuckle - "Knuck"
205. Broken - "Broke"
206. Bulb
210. Eyelash
211. Climb
212. Backpack
213. Lucky
214. Superman
215. Vacuum
216. Turn
217. Salt
218. Pepper
219. Red
220. Purple
221. Airplane
222. Fly

What a day..........

While I was cooking dinner, Cade was standing on the stool playing in the kitchen sink. Then, I think he was trying to get down and slipped and hit his head on the floor. While I was trying to console him, he was crying so hard that he puked all over both of us. I got him calmed down and both of us cleaned up and resumed making dinner while he snacked on a banana. I finished dinner and sat down to eat and gave Cade some food. Well, he choked a little and then puked all over himself again. So, new clothes again and then Sean got home. When he came in the door, I said, slightly frustrated and slighty amused, "You picked one heck of a day to be late." Turns out he was cleaning the parts of my car that didn't get clean when he took it in to be professionally cleaned for Mother's Day. I love my husband! Sometimes you just have to laugh because on top of everything, Cade is refusing to go to bed. So, I was with him from 7 to almost 9 and then Sean took over. It's 9:30 and Sean is still up there. After puking twice in one day, we don't want to risk a 3rd time and Cade has been known to puke if he's too upset to go to bed. The joys of parenting.......

2nd Birthday

The froggy cake

Birthday dinner

Phillip

Elli, Noah and Cade
Ice cream!
Froggy
Water table!!!