This month has brought a lot of milestones and changes for our little guy. Not only has he learned how to roll over, but he is rolling across the room. Not only is he learning to sit up on his own, but he can stand on his own for a few seconds. And he has learned that his favorite thing in the world is to JUMP! I'll hold him on my lap and he will just jump-jump-jump non stop. He also loves grabbing anything and everything with his hands. He especially loves playing with blankets, hair, fake flowers, wipes, and cups. Of course, he loves to play with toys and the sweetest thing is he loves to cuddle with his Teddy bear we got him from Build-a-Bear. He is the biggest flirt and gives his sly, dimpled smile to any stranger we pass by. His favorite person (besides Mom) is Dad and he will giggle uncontrollably when Dad tickles his tummy. Kaden also loves to flirt with his Pediatrician and she loves it (pretty strategic, eh?). He is also extremely ticklish on his thighs and will giggle so hard when Mommy plays peek-a-boo with him. Overall, he is a very happy baby. He doesn't cry often, only at bedtime it seems. Or in his carseat. Every time we go somewhere he fusses about it. It gives me a headache somedays just trying to go to the grocery store because he has a huge fit in the car…but as soon as I get him out he is all smiles and coos. Eating is going better…relatively. He is growing well in the sense that he is above the 60% now in height but is only like 5% in weight. He is just long and skinny. Our pediatrician was worried for awhile, but Kaden has grown steadily upwards, and he is just so dang active that she isn't worried anymore. Big relief to me because my whole life revolves around breastfeeding him and I dealt with a lot of feelings of failure because Kaden isn't as chubby as I hoped. All in all, he is a super healthy boy and is the joy of my life.
An update of goings-on with Ben:
Ben has been doing his Surgery rotation in Medical School. Surgery is notoriously the hardest/longest hours of any rotation so that has been rough on me but we're surviving! One of the coolest experiences he had was working at Texas Children's Cardiology. He worked right with Kaden's cardiologist and assisted with heart surgeries on babies and children with heart defects similar to Kaden's. Though it was really cool to physically touch a live human heart and help these kids so drastically, I think it wore on Ben a little bit…it was a little too close to home in the sense that he saw his son in every patient and if anything went wrong it hit him too personally. That being said, he loved his experience and excelled like he always does. Now he is on to Emergency Medicine…just a few more 12 hour night shifts and we're off to Oregon for Christmas Break!!!
As for me, I'm doing alright. I have good and bad days. I I'm still rocking the sweat pants and ponytail hair most of the time ha ha. Kaden is so wonderful, but he is all consuming and high maintenance and so I don't feel like I get much free time. Perhaps it is because I'm breastfeeding on demand but I feel like I am still confined to my house a lot. But, I know its not forever and I'm trying to cherish these quiet moments when I get to be so close to my baby.
I'm really looking forward to the Holidays and a chance to reconnect with Ben again and spend time with friends and family.
