Chuck E. Cheese's House

Cade celebrated his 3rd birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. He calls it Chuck E. Cheese's house and was so excited to visit the "mouse house". We invited his grandparents, aunts and uncles and his friends. There was a total of 11 kids and about 20 adults. Huge party but huge fun. Chuck E Cheese is of course a little chaotic but the smile on that 3 year old's face made up for any discomfort. He was so happy he galloped around the place for 4 hours! He danced with Chuck E and he even got in the ticket blaster with grandpa Phil. Even with all of the tickets flying in his face and his safety glasses falling off of his face, there was still a permanent smile plastered on his face. His requests for his cake were that it was chocolate and that it had cars on it with wheels that move. So, he got a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and Mater on top. Mater is his favorite vehicle. Since the kids were having so much fun, we waited to open gifts until the next day. It took him 3 hours to open his gifts on his birthday morning. This was mostly because he wanted to play with every gift after opening it. He loved all of his gifts. Once he was done, Sean and I took him to birthday lunch at McD's and some shopping at Target with his birthday money from grandpa Phil. On Sunday, he got a bike and helmet from us and a wagon from grandma and grandpa. Then at Target, he bought a scooter from grandpa Phil. So, I think we are covered when it comes to wheeled devices for the summer!

Watching Chuck E dance with daddy

Cole and grandma

Sneaking frosting
Caught in the act

Getting a little tired
Chuck E Cheese arrives and Cade has to touch his "buck teeth"
I love Chuck E Cheese!
Partying on the dance floor
Cade blew out his candles so fast none of us got a picture
Ticketblaster! See the smile?
Waiting for the dancing ChuckE again

Happy Birthday

Cade turned 3 today and had a huge celebration at Chuck E Cheese yesterday. I will post more about it later with pictures. We love you Cade! Happy Birthday!

Cade's Adventure

On Tuesday, Cade had his yearly NICU follow-up clinic. Instead of telling him that we were going to the doctor, I told him that we were going on an adventure. The last time we had to go to the doctor he got really worried so I thought I would spare him the worry before we got there. It turned out that he mostly got a chance to play with the nurse, Lois. He was being tested of course but didn't know it. They checked his verbal, cognitive, fine motor and large motor skills. It was fun for me to see how his brain works without being the one asking him questions. If I had been the one testing him, I would have gotten alot of no's and I don't know's just because that's the way he is with me. But, he was very cooperative with Lois. So cooperative in fact that Lois told us that he was the best kid that she had that day. At one point, I think Cade may have lifted his shirt and she saw his scar, she said to me, "Oh wait. That's right. He had a grade 3 brain bleed and has a shunt. He shouldn't be doing this well." It was great to know that his brain damage doesn't seem to be affecting him. I pretty much knew this but it was nice to have it confirmed once again by someone who sees preemies everyday. At the end of the testing, we learned that Cade maxed out the verbal section. This means that his verbal skills are beyond what is expected for a 45 month old. His cognitive skills were at 36 months but there were quite a few answers that he couldn't get scored on because he would answer 2 out of 3 things right. To get scored, he had to answer 3 out of 3. His fine motor skills were at 37 months and his large motor skills were at 35 months. So, he is right on track. At the end of the evaluation, he met with Dr. Hoekstra who was one of his NICU doctors. We hadn't seen him since the NICU. If you've ever seen the Childen's commercials about the preemies, he's the doc in the commercial. He did the physical check on Cade and everything was OK. His exact words were, "He's miraculous." Pretty great coming from the guy that sees preemies all day long. We are so proud of our big boy.

Brothers

Here are a few pictures that I've taken over the last few weeks of the boys together.

Cole's first walk outside

I love this fake smile of Cade's. It reminds me of pictures of me at 3.

Sleepy boys
Getting ready for a nap

20 weeks

As I typed the title to this it reminded me of the standard 20 week ultrasound and how most parents "meet" their baby for the first time during that ultrasound. As you know, we met Cole long before then and got a chance to see him every 2 weeks for quite awhile. And now, we have really known him for 20 weeks. He continues to be the sweetest little baby I know. He is loved deeply by his mommy, daddy and big brother. He is very much a mama's boy. Last night, I handed him to Sean and walked out of the room. Within 3 minutes, he was screaming so hard that his face was bright red. I thought something was majorly wrong but I picked him up and within 30 seconds he had calmed down. While it is very sweet that he loves his mommy, I also need a break sometimes and Sean is great with him. Oh well, I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts. I'm guessing he will follow in Cade's footsteps and soon only want daddy.

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks (the pants that he's wearing are the ones Cade wore for his 1st birthday party)