On Your First Birthday

To Our Loveable Little Cael,

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since we first witnessed you take a breath, heard your little cries and held you in our arms. In no time at all, you stole our hearts. We have enjoyed watching you grow and learn. You've come a long way from the tiny little 5 lb, 14 oz baby that we met in the hospital that day! You can do so many things- crawl, walk, "talk", wave, clap- and you understand far more than we give you credit for; you're such a smart little guy! 

Here are some of the things you are doing now that we love so much:

• Waddling around like a half penguin, half Frankenstein.  
• Running into things with your lawnmower. (This is what Daddy likes to call your push toy because he thinks 'walkers' are for old people.)  
• Smiling the biggest smiles imaginable and squealing with delight when we come in to your room to get you from a nap.  
• Standing up in your crib, squawking like a bird, refusing to admit your sleepiness. Then cuddling up to your Mr. Lion when you finally give in to sleep. 
• Waving at cars, trucks, people, Maya, and pretty much anything else. We often look out the windows, wave, and say "Hello, World." 
• Showing us your belly every time we ask you "Where's Cael's belly?"  
• Laughing when we put things on our heads, and trying to add other toys to stack.  
• Sneakily trying to slip Maya your food when you encounter something you're not too fond of.  
• "Talking" on the phone and anything else you hold up to your ear including remote controls, food, and other small toys. 
• Giving us kisses with your mouth wide open. 
• Bouncing up and down when we say "Dance, dance, dance"

The list could go on and on. There is so much that you do that fills us with joy. Your big smile warms our hearts, and we love to hear you laugh. You've got a great sense of humor already- your timing and wit are impeccable- and we know there's a lot of fun in store for us! Throughout this past year, you have taught us patience (like the night of your first ear infection when we slept on your floor), humor (like when we could only laugh as you try to wiggle away from getting a new diaper), and unconditional love (like how you snuggle up to us when you're sleepy). We want you to know how proud we are to be your Mom and Dad. We look forward to watching you continue to grow into a boy and man. We love you very much and thank God every day for you.

Love, Mom and Dad

East Coast Adventures

Cael and Mom set off for an East coast adventure last Thursday! First stop, DC for Aunt Erin's graduation from Gallaudet University. We met up with Aunt Erin, Uncle Eamon, Grammy and Pops shortly before the ceremony, and Cael greeted everyone with his belly trick! Cael took a little nap while Mom strolled him around the campus and then echoed cheers during the graduation ceremony. Shortly later, we had a Dr. Aunt Erin!

Showing off his belly

You don't mind if I take this, do you?

The next day, Cael had fun walking the halls of the hotel with his push toy. He had taken his first unsupported steps in NC the week before, walking between Mom and Dad. Now he loves practicing this skill with his walker. As you can see, he's somewhat of a reckless driver and needs a little help steering!

That afternoon, Cael took his first subway ride when we all trekked out to the National Zoo. Cael enjoyed seeing the animals. He pointed to them in their habitats and waved goodbye when we'd move on to the next exhibit. His favorite sighting of the day seemed to be the elephants, one of which was eating a branch, wiggling its ears and waving its tail all around.

First subway experience

Pointing to the animals

That night we went to dinner to celebrate Erin's graduation. This was the nicest restaurant that Cael had ever been to, and Mom was nervous that Cael was going to try the tablecloth swipe trick. Fortunately, he ignored the tablecloth and was entertained by some spoons and oyster crackers.

Mmm! Oyster crackers!

On Saturday morning, Cael went swimming in the hotel pool with Mom and Aunt Erin. Grammy and Pops came to watch. He had fun showing them all he'd learned in his swim lessons. They enjoyed watching him splash around and eagerly jump in from the side of the pool.

Showing off his swimming skills

Later in the day we went to the National Museum of Natural History. Cael put his pointer finger to work once again, pointing to everything that caught his attention. The adults had fun transforming Cael into a Neanderthal with a computer program we found in an anthropology exhibit. 

Cael as a Neanderthal

Sunday morning brought Mother's Day. Cael couldn't wait to celebrate Mom's first Mother's Day, so he woke bright and early at 5:30! The whole gang went to brunch at the hotel where Cael munched on some french toast and bananas. We then said goodbye to Aunt Erin and Uncle Eamon, who were headed back to Florida. Cael, Mom, Grammy and Pops departed for CT. Cael spent Monday going for a walk with Grammy and Mom, shopping for some new shoes, and practicing walking with his toy all over Grammy and Pops' house.

Riding a fire truck at the mall

Tuesday, Cael was excited to spend the day with Gramma, Gramps and Aunt Rae. He and Mom got to their house early for breakfast so we could see Gramps before he left for work. Throughout the day, Cael showed off his eating, walking, and talking skills. Dad's cousin, Jess, and her husband, Mark, brought their nearly-one month old, Maksim, to Gramma and Gramps' house for the afternoon. Cael was intrigued by the baby and tried many times to play with him!

Meeting little Maks

Wearing one of Daddy's old hats

On Wednesday, Cael ventured to MA with Mom, Grammy, and Pops to visit his great-grandfather and grandmother, Pap-Pap and Grandma. Pap-pap is still in a rehabilitation center following surgery on his leg. Cael certainly brought some cheer to many of the residents and nursing staff! He took advantage of the big hallways to walk all over with his baby-walker, drawing compliments from everyone he encountered along the way. We joked the Cael and Pap-pap could have walker races! Cael had a fun investigating Pap-pap's wheelchair and the buttons that control his bed. Fortunately, Cael couldn't press the buttons hard enough to operate the bed, since Pap-pap was laying in it! While Pap-pap was in physical therapy, Cael did his own walking practice between Grammy and Pops.

Playing around before leaving for MA

With Pap-pap

With Great-Grandma

 

Thursday brought another day of animals, when Cael and Mommy went to the Beardsley Zoo with Gramma and Aunt Rae. An expert animal spotter, Cael noticed a peacock roaming through the parking lot and pointed to it before any of the adults saw it! He enjoyed an up close look at the prairie dogs and had a lot of fun watching the very active otter. Once again, he waved 'bye' to many of the animals.

Checking out the prairie dogs

Thursday afternoon, Cael very suddenly began not feeling well. His appetite disappeared, a fever began, and he was clingy and hard to keep happy. After a long, restless night sleeping on Mom's chest, Grammy and Mom took him to an urgent care center the next morning. The doc declared it to be a virus and instructed us to just keep getting him to drink fluids, which is easier said than done! Mom and Cael had been planning to attend a baby shower in NJ on the way home from CT and then stop at Uncle Steve and Aunt Lisa's house in MD for the night, but we didn't want to infect all the baby shower attendees or his cousins! Now that we couldn't attend the shower, Mom desperately just wanted to get Cael home; back to his room, his bed, and his Daddy! Pops was a trooper and obliged to drive with Mom back to NC on Friday night. We left around 7pm and took turns driving while the other tended to Cael and slept. We made it back around 5:30am and it felt good to be back home. After a nap, we brought Pops to the airport and sent him back to CT.

Despite the abrupt and sick ending to the trip, we had a great time visiting with family. It's always touching to see the love that is given to Cael. He's very lucky to have such amazing grandparents, aunts, and uncles!

(After six long days and nights of high fevers, we're happy to report that Cael is back to his laughing, eating, busy self.)

One Year Ago

One year ago, our lives got crazy! I realized that there was a lot that happened between this and this that I neglected to tell you about. We were a little busy having a baby after all! For prosperity's sake, here goes...

37 Weeks Pregnant: Friday, May 20, 2011

Two days after the above photo was taken, Dan was up in NY doing this:

Sunday, May 22, 2011

I woke up that morning and thought my water had broke. As a first time, 37 week pregnant woman who had been told just a few days earlier that her fluids were low and whose husband was 600 miles away, I proceeded to freak out. I called Dan and added some freak out to the pomp and circumstance he was sitting through! A good friend (a million thanks, Marisa!) brought me to the hospital and kept me calm while I was checked. It turned out to be a false alarm, and Dan and I were able to breath easy again until we were reunited.

Four days later on Thursday, May 26, Dan and I went for my scheduled weekly check up. Because of the low fluid discovery the previous week, the nurses first hooked me up for a non-stress test. Cael was sleeping at the time, so I had to drink some juice and poke him a little to wake him. Dan and I anxiously sat in the small room watching the chart paper fall to the floor. Dan tried to keep things light by making me laugh (which would then show up on the fetal monitor and make me laugh even more). Eventually, the nurses saw enough movement and led us to the ultrasound room. The tech, while pleasant, was very tight lipped about what she saw. So while Dan and I looked at little images of Cael up on the screen, we had no clue of the medical implications.

We were brought to an exam room to finally meet with the doctor. She looked at the non-stress test and ultrasound results. My fluids had continued to decline, so she suggested scheduling an induction within the next 4 days. (Side note: It was later determined that my fluids were low because I had a bilobal placenta. I won't go into the details of what this means in case you're squeamish, but you can Google it if you're interested.) The doc left the room to call the hospital. Dan and I stared at each other and began laughing out of disbelief. Sure, we knew this would be the end result, but we thought we had another two weeks before we'd be parents! Now, we're told we would be having a baby in four days! It was Memorial Day weekend, so we talked about enjoying one last weekend as just the two of us, perhaps grilling out with some friends, and of course finalizing baby preparations. The doctor came back in and said she scheduled us for a Saturday morning induction. Wait. What? Saturday morning? As in less than 48 hours from now? Now our heads were really spinning. We left the doctor's office feeling excited and anxious with stupid smiles that you couldn't wipe off our faces. A couple deep breaths and 'Can you believe it?'-s later, we parted ways to each go to work.

Dan went to get his work in order, as he would be taking the following week off, and I now had to think in teacher mode for the next day and a half. I was supposed to be there until the end of the school year. Now, I would need two weeks worth of sub plans for the busiest time of the school year on short notice. I frantically set to work while TA's taught my class. At the end of the day Thursday, I broke the news to my students. I was feeling so many mixed emotions. I was obviously thrilled to meet my baby, but I was sad to not be there to finish the school year with all my "babies" that I'd come to love over the last 10 months. The next day, my last day of school, turned out to be one of my most hectic days of teaching ever. There were severe thunder storms and the power went out at the school. Another class had to come into our room because they couldn't be outside in their "cottage". We now had 45 students in one dark room and had to keep them somewhat quiet and calm. The other teacher and I took turns reading using the little light coming from the window, escorting students to the bathroom using a flashlight, and trying to gather information regarding dismissal from the administrators. The power didn't come back on until after students were dismissed... two and a half hours later! The chaos was good in a way; it distracted from the sadness of my last day. Dan came in after school to help me pack up a few things, I threw together the last of my sub plans (thanks to my 2nd grade for deciphering these and filling in the gaps!), said goodbyes to my coworkers, and was officially on maternity leave.

Meanwhile, I put a call in to the hematologist I'd been seeing and canceled my upcoming appointment that was scheduled for after induction day and was now unnecessary. I'd been on steroids to help raise my platelet count. Low platelets not only increased my ability to bleed but would also prevent me from having an epidural. I had been planning on returning the following week so she could check my platelet count. She suggested doubling my dosage for the next 24 hours to help get my numbers up, which I did, to no avail. Even come delivery time I didn't achieve that magic number, so no choice... Cael had to be born au naturale. (Another side note: Looking back, I'm glad the decision of whether or not to have an epidural was taken away from me. I was hoping to deliver Cael naturally, but may have caved once things became difficult. The delivery of the baby was easy compared to that of the afterbirth. There were some complications which were incredibly painful. The doc gave me the option of being taken to the O.R. and being put under anesthesia, but you couldn't tear me away from Cael's side- the sight of my precious little boy elicited the strength to withstand the discomfort. Even the doctor was impressed and asked if I ran marathons! At my post-delivery check up, the doctor checked my blood and my platelets had returned to normal, confirming that it was gestational thrombocytopenia, not a chronic condition.)

Dan and I spent our last night as a duo on a dinner and movie date. It was a nice night out. All the last minute preparations at home and at our jobs were put behind us. The whirlwind of the last couple days had died down, but the mood felt heavy. We both knew that the next day our lives would change forever. And it did. Twenty-four hours later, our little Cael-man had arrived.

And now we can't imagine life without him.

Where's Cael's Belly?

It's fun to see Cael learn new tricks! This video showcases our current favorites. We are a little biased, but we think the cuteness factor is just off the charts!!

The Adventures of Cael and Maya: One in the Same

People often say that having a dog is good practice for a kid. I'm not sure they realize how spot on this statement is! Here are just some of the ways that Cael and Maya are alike:

• Both dish out slobbery kisses.
• The UPS truck/school bus/mail truck is the most exciting part of their day.
• Giving them a bath? You're the one who's going to get wet!

• Everything about their eating habits: Both make quite a mess, they don't mind eating off the floor, and they always want to have what you're having!

•  They sure do enjoy a good stroll around the block.
• Trying to keep your windows clean? Not with them around! Both leave finger/nose/mouth prints on all glass surfaces.

• Who doesn't love a good chew on a dirty sock? Clean ones are only acceptable if withdrawn straight from the clean laundry pile.
• Both have an innate sense of when you are wearing a nice outfit and find a way to dirty it.

And the list could go on and on...

Peekaboo!

11 Months and Counting

Cael's 11 months old!

Cael's been active as ever this month, constantly on the go! In fact, he sometimes gets blisters on his toes from crawling around so much. He still loves walking around holding onto Mom and Dad's fingers, and he's getting better at walking holding onto only one hand. He can now pull himself up to a standing position on the coffee table, couch, and next to the tub. He's also pushed himself into a seated position from laying down. Cael's gotten really good at bending down to pick up toys that he's dropped while standing next to furniture. He's also become a pro at falling... lowering himself to the ground, that is. If something is out of reach, he plops down and crawls right over to it. It's getting more and more difficult to keep things out of reach of Cael! His fine motor skills are improving too. He can turn off the light switch when we leave rooms and press the On/Off button on his noise machine.

Cael's spent a great deal of time exploring and making new discoveries this month. He's learned that he can close doors, which can be problematic if Mom or Dad is on the other side of a door opening toward Cael! He's also discovered that he can turn on the faucet in Mom and Dad's bathtub. He's surprised every time the water starts coming out and sometimes even a bit scared! One fun discovery Cael made was that he can drink out of grown-up straws. He'd shown interest in Mom's straws for a while, but whenever she offered the straw to him, he'd just chew on it, despite drinking out of his own straw sippy cup with meals. One day, Mom offered the straw to him, and to both Mom and Cael's surprise, Cael got a mouthful of water! He was so shocked that he spit the water right in Mom's face! Now, he loves drinking Mom and Dad's water and even shared a smoothie with them on occasion.

We've entered the beginning of the "sponge" months! Cael is picking up on language so fast! More and more we're seeing that he understands us when he responds to words and phrases we say. For example, we say "Splash, splash" in the bathtub or pool and he starts splashing away. We hand him a toy and say "Shake, shake, shake," and he'll shake it up and down. When Mom picks him up from his crib, he often is still holding onto Mr. Lion. We stand next to the crib and Mom says, "Drop Mr. Lion back into bed," and he holds Mr. Lion out above his crib and lets go. He's also learning to "tickle" Mom and Dad when prompted by the other parent, and he finds it hysterical when we laugh while his little finger pokes at us. He babbles "dadada" all day long, but it's definitely more clear and pronounced when Dad's around, leading us to declare it as his first word. He's also seemingly got 'duck' down. While it doesn't always have the -ck at the end, when we give him his duck now, he says "duh, duh, duh".

Here some of the fun we've had this month:

As you can see, Cael really likes playing 'Peekaboo!'

After a brief hiatus, Cael once again enjoys bath time!

Playing in the 'tent' Mommy made

Playing in the wagon while Mom and Dad do some yard work

Cael discovered the air vents!

Enjoying some nice weather with Maya

Chomping away with 8 teeth!

On a sad note, Cael made a whirlwind, one day trip with Mom and Dad up to New York for his Great-Nana's funeral this past week. He did a great job on the plane both ways, despite it being a long, busy day. He met many of Dad's aunts, uncles, and cousins for the first time. We're sad to see Great-Nana leave this world, but know that better things await her in heaven. We're comforted by the thought that she's reunited with her husband, pain free, and that she had the opportunity to meet Cael.

We can't believe that one year is right around the corner! Here's looking forward to another exciting month!

Little Fish

Cael's been taking swim lessons with Mommy twice a week. They got off to a rocky start. The first lesson, Cael was incredibly anxious and glued to Mom! The second lesson, there were tears. Then, as though someone flipped a switch, Cael began enjoying the pool! He splashes and squeals when he sits on the steps. He babbles and talks while floating across the pool. He even smiles after getting dunked under water.  Daddy was able to come watch the lesson the other day and he took some pictures.

We anticipate spending a lot of time at the pool this summer with our little fish!