'Solids'

Sunday evening we introduced our quickly growing little boy to 'solid' food.  

Kaden's very first bite of rice cereal.

Is this supposed to be good?

We were so excited to try out this new stage with Kaden last night.  Our Doctor gave us the okay to try 'solid' food if Kaden was acting interested in it.  Since he watches us eat and studies us very intently as we bring the fork or spoon to our mouths, we decided he was interested.  Especially when he started opening his mouth like a little bird waiting for his share.  :) 

He was very eager to try it.  When I held his little spoon in front of him he opened wide and tried to lean into it.  :)  He knew that I was going to put that green thing in his mouth!  

So, did he like it?  I don't think he even knows the answer to that question.   He definitely liked eating it off of the spoon, although I don't know if much of it actually made it into his belly.  Lots on his face and dribbled down his front though.  We will keep trying it until he figures out how to do it.   I don't think he smiled at us at all, instead giving us a slightly confused and bewildered look.  I imagine that rice cereal isn't an overwhelmingly exciting taste sensation... I really didn't have any desire to try it for myself though.  

The great thing about starting it now, is that he is still getting everything he needs from nursing, this is just a learning experience for him.  When he gets to the point of needing other foods, it will be old hat to him.  Plus, I am getting a kick out of it!  We will be trying some more at his 10 o'clock feeding this morning too.  I'm kind of excited to see what he does when we start introducing veggies.  He already makes some pretty great faces!  Of course I am none too eager for him to grow up too quickly either.  :)

Mom I think the spoon is broken, this stuff keeps falling out!

No airplane noises needed here!

       Leaning in.                    Kaden wonders what his Daddy is giving him.

I made sure that Daddy got a chance to feed Kaden too.  I figured I shouldn't hog all of the fun!  (That is why the arm in the pictures gets really hairy in the end!  Just figured I would let you know that wasn't mine.  Just in case...)

Catching you up...

Kaden practices sitting up alone.

My little boy is growing up so fast!  I know, I say that all the time, but it's true!  I suppose they all grow up this fast, I remember Jeni's kids growing up fast too, but it seems to be different with my own son.  I guess I expected Jeni's kids to be different and more grown up every time I saw them.  I wasn't there every day watching it happen right before my eyes though.  What an amazing time of life!  

Kaden is so close to sitting up all by himself.   I'm amazed at how well he uses his hands, and his feet!  When I tickle his belly he wraps his arms and his legs around my arm.  He can grab anything that is within arms length and shove it in his mouth, and is strong enough to hold on to my fingers and pull himself up to a standing position.  Of course he has been doing that for awhile.

Look at all the chubs!

When we had those glorious hot days earlier this week my son had a tough time adjusting.  It didn't help that he was still dealing with his cold.  One day he was screaming and screaming.  He wouldn't be consoled, I even tried to feed him and he sucked for a few moments then started howling again... Okay... if Kaden won't eat... something is REALLY wrong!  Turns out he was just very hot.  Poor little guy.  I took a cold damp washcloth and patted him down with it.  He smiled and giggled at me and was his normal cheerful self once again.  

I have a drooling problem!

So if you have spent any time with Kaden you know that he already has a drooling issue... it seems to be significantly worse with this cold.  Poor little guy, I just can't keep him dry!

4 Months

Today is Kaden's 4 month Birthday.  

Hooray!  

We managed to get a few pictures done

despite being sick.  

He is such a trouper!

A Tongue and a Cold

Kaden has known that he has a tongue for quite some time.  And he has always enjoyed rolling it around in his mouth or playing with it while sucking his fingers.  Now he has figured out how to get it out of his mouth.  I never thought it would be so adorable to see him stick his tongue out!  :)  The greatest part is that he will do it when you stick your tongue out at him... hmmm, maybe that is a bad habit to start... too late!  

Sticking his tongue out only increases the drool problems though...

Look at him so proud of himself!

In other news...

Some of the following may gross  you out!

Since it was Easter weekend Kaden had a lot of people to visit, most of my mom's side of the family hadn't ever met him.  He did a great job, but was a little bit subdued, I thought he was just overwhelmed.  Maybe that was part of it, but after I put him to bed last night he woke up crying really hard around 11:00.  Several weeks ago I would have thought nothing of this, but lately he doesn't wake up at night (Hurray!).  I got up and went to see what was wrong.  Poor little guy was screaming, then all of a sudden he coughed really hard... and now I have a very unpleasant glob of mucus running down my front.  My poor baby has his first cold.  This explains why he seemed to have a lot of boogers the last day or so, and I thought he might have a bit of a runny nose last night, but with as much as he drools and rubs his hands all over his face... it can be hard to tell!  So I did not get a lot of sleep last night.  He needed to be held upright to keep the gunk from choking him, and I have never been able to sleep while holding him.  So I tried that for awhile, then put him back to bed, he woke up an hour later screaming and gunky again.  So I sat with him again for an hour or so and put him back in bed, but this time I strategically laid down some blankets that would prop him up a little bit.  Still he woke up after a bit.  So we tried it again.  Then around 5 or 6 this morning (I lost track of time) I had a brainstorm.

After I rocked him back to sleep I put him in his car seat.  He was able to get 3 hours of sleep that way.  This is how he is taking his nap right now while I post this.  (As soon as I'm done... I'll join him in that nap!)  

Oh, I tried those yucky suction things, but either I am too timid or his nostrils are too small, because I can't get it up his nose to suck out the nastiness.  So far he seems to be okay if I keep him propped up.  Although he did have a fairly 'good' explosion after his breakfast this morning.  Hopefully he kept some of it down when he coughed his little throat clear.  Being the beautiful blessing that he is, he had lots of smiles and wanted to play with me this morning, so at least he isn't a cranky grouch... maybe you shouldn't ask Jeremy if I am though...  :)  Kaden got a lot more sleep than I did!

Kaden's First Suit

Do you know how hard it is to find a suit for a baby boy?  There are adorable spring dresses everywhere, but nothing for baby boys.  I checked every store in Albany and Corvallis.  I just wanted a suit for church on Easter Sunday!  Finally Mom, Morgan and I took Kaden up to Salem.  I had a gift card to Toys R Us, surely they would have something... nope.  Just across the street was the Baby Depot (an awesome store!) and they had two, that's right a total of TWO suits that would fit Kaden.  One was pretty terrible, luckily I liked the other one:

So I of course had to go out and buy Daddy a matching shirt and tie!  Aren't they handsome!

My two 'serious' men.

Okay... maybe we can have one smile.

Happy Easter from the Wells' family!

The Rattle

If you happen to go to Southside Church of Christ then you will probably recognize this rattle.  A gentleman (Lee Silvers) at our church carves these rattles for all the Southside babies.  He makes them out of a single block of wood.  We were pretty excited to have it!  

Kaden is getting so good with his hands now, so I got it out one evening that he was being a wee bit fussy.  He needs help getting a good grip on it, (He tries to tuck his thumb under it instead of around it.) but once he has it, he loves it.  He shakes it to make it rattle, bonks himself in the face, and of course...

...shoves it in his mouth to suck and chew on.

Visitors

Kaden is growing up so fast.  And it is torture to his Grandma and Papa Wells not to see him everyday.  So they made the long journey (7 1/2 hours since they were pulling a trailer) to come visit Kaden.  (Jeremy and I know they are not here to see us!)  :)  Emma got to come with them on this trip also.  We had a wonderful time.  Next time it is our turn to go see them.  I guess we will see how Kaden does in the car when it is a LONG trip.

Papa discovered a new 'toy'.  He took a flashlight that has one of those red laser lights, then he shone it on his hand.  Kaden was mesmerized!

Grandma getting her Kaden fix.  While Emma hovers... hoping she will get him next, and soon!

Something special about Papa fingers...  Kaden likes to gnaw on both of his Papas.  As you can see in this picture, Papa is hating it too!  :)

Yay!  Emma gets her turn!  This was before the 'fish oil' incident.

So I have quite the fun little tale to tell you.  Jeremy and Emma decided to do a little science experiment Sunday night.  Jeremy gathered up all of his vitamins that had spilled out of bottles that he wouldn't use, then they put them in a glass of vinegar to see how long it takes them to be absorbed.  Well 10 minutes go by and none of the capsules have popped open... a few more minutes go by... maybe one has dissolved.  So Jeremy decides to pop one of them.  Emma then took over.  She was quite enthralled with this little experiment until she was done and realized that the fish oil pills had exploded on her clothes and in her hair.  Who wants to go to bed smelling like fish?  Yuck!  So she borrowed a shirt from me and washed her hair...  it didn't help.  So she washed it again... still stinks.  My turn to step in, we sent Grandma and Papa back to their trailer to go to bed (They were just waiting for Emma) and I had Emma put shampoo in and wrap her hair in a towel for awhile to let it soak.  It still smelled like fish.  Then we brought in the big guns... the Internet!  I did a little bit of searching and found a couple of methods, baking soda and lemon juice.  Well since it was late and everyone wanted to go to bed we did both!  I dumped baking soda on her head in the kitchen and rubbed it in, then went to the bathroom and dumped lemon juice in her hair.  Have you ever made a volcano with baking soda and vinegar?  Lemon juice works too!  Her head started foaming and fizzing!  But after she shampooed and conditioned it one last time, she was free from the fish smell.  Hooray!  Next time I will know what to do the first time!

This little 'Chicks Dig Me' shirt came from Kaden's 3 'chick' cousins.  So 'he' decided to show it off for Emma.

Sucking and Rolling (almost)

Kaden is in the habit of sucking... only I'm not quite sure what he is sucking on... his upper lip?  his tongue?  his gums?  I don't know but it is pretty cute.  Unfortunately his bedroom just doesn't have good video lighting, so the video is terribly dark and you probably won't be able to see anything.  But I know it is cute!  :)

I just know any day now I am going to come out of the kitchen, while Kaden is playing in his gym, and find my son on his belly.  Of course I will have come out of the kitchen because he is screaming his head off!  (He hates being on his belly!)  He is so close to rolling over.  He starts by either trying to see something above his head or else trying to suck on his shoulder, or his mat. 

 Such as this picture.

Then he arches his back and is up on his side... so close!  He also will kind of reach or look for something, lift up his legs and toss them to the side.  If he figures out how to get his arm out of the way, over he'll go.

That is what he is doing here, although I can never catch him as far over as he can get... as soon as he sees the camera he mellows!  :)

I love watching these new abilities he has.  Of course this one could prove to upset him quite a bit.  Either that or he will learn how to enjoy his belly time!  :)  

Oh yeah, he has also figured out that his hand works great as a club.  He loves to beat on things, anything (his belly, the high chair, mommy's neck) with his right hand.  It is a pretty solid whack too!