It is time to bless you with a little multimedia fun again. I have been talking about Caden’s walking skills enough so it is time to share some more video footage. The pictures and video in this post were taken on Sunday and Monday of this week.
You can not tell it from the pictures, but Caden did have a pretty rough night Sunday night. He was very congested and even had a little fever. The congestion was enough to prompt a pediatrician visit on Monday. Caden was up several times needing to be suctioned on Sunday night. I can not remember the last time we suctioned so much within a 24 hour period.
Today was a fairly rough day for the little guy as well. He had to go in for blood work. The immunologist has still not cleared Caden for any live vaccines (MMR, chickenpox, etc.). Today Caden got a full immunology and endocrinology work up. That was about 8 tubes of blood taken during this visit. MUSC sends many of these tests out all over the country because some can only be done in places like the Mayo Clinic.
The cool shades were a big hit with Caden. He does not like the bright light in his eyes. He wore these shades for about an hour without pulling them off once. I went on a fairly long walk pulling Caden in the wagon while Riley rode his bike. Caden and Riley absolutely loved the high 70’s on MLK day.
Well enough with the updates. Here is the good stuff. I hope you enjoy!
Riley on his bike.
Riley’s own handwriting.
Cool Man Caden
Caden Hang’n Out
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
It is time to bless you with a little multimedia fun again. I have been talking about Caden’s walking skills enough so it is time to share some more video footage. The pictures and video in this post were taken on Sunday and Monday of this week.
You can not tell it from the pictures, but Caden did have a pretty rough night Sunday night. He was very congested and even had a little fever. The congestion was enough to prompt a pediatrician visit on Monday. Caden was up several times needing to be suctioned on Sunday night. I can not remember the last time we suctioned so much within a 24 hour period.
Today was a fairly rough day for the little guy as well. He had to go in for blood work. The immunologist has still not cleared Caden for any live vaccines (MMR, chickenpox, etc.). Today Caden got a full immunology and endocrinology work up. That was about 8 tubes of blood taken during this visit. MUSC sends many of these tests out all over the country because some can only be done in places like the Mayo Clinic.
The cool shades were a big hit with Caden. He does not like the bright light in his eyes. He wore these shades for about an hour without pulling them off once. I went on a fairly long walk pulling Caden in the wagon while Riley rode his bike. Caden and Riley absolutely loved the high 70’s on MLK day.
Well enough with the updates. Here is the good stuff. I hope you enjoy!
This holiday season brought many exciting things to our family. For one, I was offered a new job, and I have accepted it. The new job will bring me more than double the paid time off per year as well as better retirement benefits and a very large selection of health insurance providers. I will basically be moving across the hall from where I am currently working today. The difference is that I will be removing the contractor title from my name plate to become a civilian employee of the federal government on a different project in the same organization where I have worked for over three years. I am currently working a notice with my current employer and will begin a new chapter in my career in just a couple of weeks. The official offer for this position came just a few days before Christmas. Oh, but that was nowhere near the biggest news stirring in our house during the holidays this year.
Caden busted out walking on New Years Day like I had not seen before. He stood up and just started trucking across the back yard at one point. Oh yeah, for those of you who are not located in the Charleston area, we were outside in short sleeves playing in the back yard on New Years Day. Caden and Riley love the swing set that Nana got them as a Birthday/Christmas gift and were having a blast that day. Caden continued to stand up and walk without prompting throughout the day. He has got so good at standing and walking that he does not even need to push off with his hands most of the time. His physical therapist was surprised to hear that Caden was able to walk so well in the grass with so little training for walking on uneven surfaces.
Caden continues to develop in other ways. He is climbing onto the foot stool in the living room without any assistance. He still needs a little guidance on the correct direction to turn when getting down. He is regularly asking for candy. He loves his suckers as you can see in the picture. He just lightly touches the sucker to his tongue, but really enjoys that. We were sitting in Chick-fil-a a few days ago when Caden asked Sherry for some of her ice cream. He basically points, grunts, and signs please. Sherry asked him if he really wanted some and he nodded yes. An elderly gentleman at the next table helped encourage Caden. Caden made one of the most awful faces I have ever seen, but he asked for more by signing more please. He made the same face, but did take the bit of ice cream willingly. Once this ended, I told the elderly gentleman how big of a deal this was. I told him that Caden was 26 months old had never taken a single meal by mouth. He was amazed. I guess I am amazed at this fact too, but the day is surely coming. Keep praying for Caden’s GI track to be fully functional. He has continued to wretch on a daily basis and still requires suctioning from time to time. The comforting thing about Caden’s development is that he is getting to where he can ask for suctioning or better yet he can tell us when he does not need it so that we do not suction him needlessly. That is such a relief to have him tell me that he does not need suctioning.
The Christmas season did not come without some extra and unwelcomed excitement. Riley got a nasty stomach bug between Christmas and New Years. Riley was very sick for about 36 hours. Then Sherry and I got it. We spent the last 36 hours of 2006 playing leapfrog between the bathroom and the bed. We are all well now. Yeah!!!
Well, I have beat around the bush long enough. I have saved the best for last. As you might imagine, Caden absolutely adores his brother. Caden wants to do everything that Riley does and be just like his brother. Riley eats it up and his love for Caden is enough to melt your heart. Riley has been carrying a very special title in our family for over two years now. Just like many other things that Riley has learned to share, he will now have to share this special title. By the way, did you notice the big plus sign just to the right of Caden in the picture? Well if you have not seen it yet then I will give a little hint as to what it means. The big plus means that just like Riley, Caden is going to be a “big brother”. That’s right, I am going to be a Daddy again!!! The Christmas Plus found in the picture represents the result of a positive pregnancy test. We found out just before Christmas that God has blessed us with another child. Riley is very quick to tell you that he is praying for a baby sister. We continue to remind him that we will be happy with a baby brother or sister. Either way, he is convinced that he is having a baby sister. There is no official word on the gender as Sherry has not even been to the doctor yet. The estimated due date is August 24th.
We hope that all of you will join us in thanking God for this welcome addition to our family. Your prayers for Sherry’s comfort and the baby’s continued healthy development are greatly appreciated. Sherry has been tired and a little nauseas at times, but otherwise doing great. I have tried to let her have a few extra early bedtimes while I take on the night time duties with Caden. I do enjoy those times with Caden late at night even though Sherry and I both grumble about having to do it from time to time. Caden does make for a great prayer partner in the late night while he is getting a little extra water for hydration purposes.
As if that is not enough, I do have one other thing I want to share with you today that is also very exciting. Yes, I am full of exciting news today. Our good friends Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo will be offering a one night teaching event at Seacoast Summerville on Friday January 19th titled “How to Raise a Responsible Child”. This is an awesome opportunity to hear a fun and practical lesson presented live by the Ezzos. You can get more information about this event including directions and how to RSVP by visiting GFICharleston.org.
I have posted over on my personal blog a consolidated document of the entire year’s Bible reading plan that I have been working on reproducing for almost a year now. I know several of you have been waiting on me to complete this document. I hope it blesses you as much as it has us.
The big Gingerbread Train baking project has been completed and there is little left to show for the Gingerbread Train other than our pictures. Riley and Mommy did all of the decorating after I performed the majority of the construction. I have posted a list of pictures from the entire process over on the Grill’n Time blog.
The Christmas season is in full swing here at our house. We have been enjoying Christmas dramas at various local churches. Riley has been keeping us posted on how many days are left until Christmas with using the Advent Calendar that grandma sent to him and Caden a few weeks ago. We had grandma and grandpa in this weekend since they will be unable to visit next weekend. We will have Nana, Aunt Becke, and Kurt visiting this next weekend.
Everyone is in good health even though Caden and Mommy went to visit the doctor last Monday. Sherry and Caden both were given some antibiotics. I posted a note about them being under the weather last week, but did not send an email update. That post is still worth seeing since it did contain a good picture of Caden and some notes from last week’s message at our church.
Caden will go in for his next Synagis shot this week. He will also finally receive his two year old well visit. He has been gaining weight like crazy lately and is up to almost 28 pounds. That weight was taken with his clothes on last Monday.
Caden and I were at the church office Saturday morning when he decided to take a stroll walking across the room without any prompting or assistance. He is becoming increasingly more confident with his walking. Pastor Phil and his wife Sherry (yes spelled the same as my Sherry and everything) saw Caden walk across the room. They were both as overjoyed as I was in that moment. It is sometimes easy to overlook those precious moments as a true blessing from God. I continue to feel honored that God would choose me to be the Daddy of this little boy. To God be the glory.
We mainly have praise reports this week at our house, but there are many prayer requests from friends this week. I have seen and heard of so many needs in recent weeks concerning young children. All of these needs are bigger than any man can provide for without help from God. I can not share all the details of these, but I will just ask that you pray for a family that is near and dear to us. They have been told that their baby will need open-heart surgery at six months of age. Several other men have shared concerns that they have with complications seen in their wive’s pregnacies in recent weeks. These complications from different families range from premature labor pains to questionable routine screening results to serious birth defect concerns seen by the doctors.
Do you remember this from back in March 2006?
I can not tell you how much joy it gives me to write this message. God has shown us how powerful he is and has answered our prayers in an awesome way today. The results of today’s visit to the hospital for the catheterization are that Caden does NOT need open-heart surgery!!! Yes, you did read correctly. The doctors’ diagnosis of “Supra Valvar Aortic Stenosis†was withdrawn. Source
Glory be to God!!! He is able. God is bigger than any diagnosis or complication.
Please pray for healing and for these parents to feel the peace offered by God that passes all understanding.
The whole family has seen some cold type symptoms in the recent weeks and it seems these symptoms have been trying to creep back in this weekend. Sherry asked if I would call her doctor in the morning. Before she went to bed tonight, her voice was in no condition for a telephone conversation. Caden’s ears and nose started draining a few days ago. That came with a low-grade fever as well. Riley has been coughing a little and clearing his throat. That left me solo at church today.
Today’s message at Seacoast was great. It was geared towards challenging men to consider whether they would be a candidate in God’s choice for who would serve in Joseph’s shoes as the earthy father to Jesus. The message reminded me stay mindful of The Father’s Mandate that is taught in chapter four of Growing Kids God’s Way. The GFI Charleston web site has a father’s mandate category on their newsletter page providing some tips for dad’s to help them stay actively involved with their children.
I watched a teaching this week where I heard a story of a mother who once went into her daughter’s room after bedtime to find her daughter not yet sleeping. She asked the daughter why she was not sleeping. The daughter went on to explain that she was sitting up looking at Jesus in the corner of the room. The mother asked her what Jesus looked like. The daughter then painted a beautiful picture of Jesus with her words. In the end, part of the description the daughter used said that Jesus looked like her daddy. Now that is a dad who had made a positive impression on his child’s life up to that point.
Please join us in prayer this week for all who are battling these cold and flu symptoms. We know we are not the only ones, and are praying for all of our friends and family to be healthy and whole. We are praying for everyone in our house to regain full strength, health, and comfort. Please pray for full nights of rest for all of us. The excess drainage this week has caused Caden to be suctioned much more than normal especially during his feedings. The great advantage of Caden’s maturity with his communication skills is that he is getting better at telling us when he needs suction and when he does not. Other than having a drippy nose and being clingy at times, Caden has been doing great.
We are all doing great. Can you believe how much Caden is growing? He is catching up to his big brother. I have been asked several times this past week, “How is Caden?” Well, Caden is great. Everyone who has come in contact with him this week (therapists and caregivers) have said that he is just blossoming. His physical and communications skills (verbal and signing) seem to be in a fast track growth spurt this week. He said “Daddy” for the first time this week. I got a digital recording of some of his talking and jabbering. Listen to Caden say Daddy and then get excited about his accomplishment.
We have been so busy this past week that time is flying by. I had a little cold catch up with me last week. I have learned my threshold for pain so I went to the doctor to get some help treating the symptoms. All is better with me now.
I have some more great pictures to share, but you will have to wait for those. It is late and I need to get some sleep. May God bless you and your family today.
We began our weekend in Clinton, SC with the Osborne family. It was a great time of family bonding and fellowship. My sister did and awesome job of of getting so many of our family members in one spot at one time. The food was outstanding. My grandmother taught all of us how to cook and everyone made her proud on this first Thanksgiving with out her. It was one year ago this week that she passed away.
Our Thanksgiving day did not come without a little drama. Caden woke up with a fever of almost 102. The doctor on call did not fell like this fever was related to any of the sickness that came with the 105 plus fever about ten days prior. He said that we were capable enough caregivers to go ahead with our trip to my sister’s house about 150 miles away. We did and Caden did fine other than some fussiness on the way home. Then the trip got a little more interesting. We stopped in Columbia, SC which was a little less than half way home. We hooked Caden up to his feeding pump and grabbed the rest of us some snacks for dinner. The afternoon Thanksgiving dinner was sitting well and we were all just wanting something light to top of the tummies for the evening. We continued on and got about 70 miles from home when my phone rang. It was a work call. It was a pretty big problem with a site in Asia that I would have to address in a timely manner. It was within 30 seconds of the phone ringing that Riley cried out and suddenly threw up right there in his car seat as we traveled down Interstate 26. I guess the crackers and orange juice didn’t sit too well on his tummy. Sherry was driving and I asked her to pull off at the nest exit which was Orangeburg. She found a Mikey D’s that was open and took Riley in to the restroom for a clean up and change of clothes. I got on Sherry’s cell phone so that I could use my Treo to connect to Internet from my laptop. The link in the previous sentence will only be interesting if you are a super geek Treo user like myself.
We stayed there in the McDonald’s parking lot long enough for me to get to a point that no longer required a connection to the Internet. We then did a dash for home so that we could free ourselves from the Stinky car and allow for me to complete the maintenance I started in Korea. Within a few miles both boys were asleep. We got the boys home and in bed without any further incidents with them. I was able to get my work done and go to bed at a fairly decent hour.
Caden continued to have a fever for most of the weekend. On Friday evening one of his ears began to drain a little and we treated it with anti-biotic ear drops. he has been chewing on things like maybe he is teething. I am convinced that fevers can occur with teething no matter what the experts say. I have seen it too many times with Riley and Caden when there were no other symptoms.
We topped off the weekend playing some Christmas music doing a little bit of decorating. Yes we do the fake (artificial) tree thing. I have added a few pictures below from this evening.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
Update on Callie
I posted a request for help in getting little Callie Stapp to Standford a few weeks ago. She and her Mom are in CA save and sound. They were able to make the trip due to the generosity of someone with some extra flyer miles. Please keep Callie in your prayers this week.
Side Notes
The daily Bible reading schedules for December – February have been posted on The Land of Ozz. The next chapter of John has been posted on the podcast readings of The Living Bible podcast. A visit to The Land of Ozz will give you a chance to see the cool new banner image that has been added to jazz that blog up a little. The Living Bible podcast can also be downloaded for free from iTunes for all of you die hard iPod junkies. .
First of all, Caden is pretty much back in action. He got up early Saturday morning jabbering and playing for the first time all week. He has remained a little congested but the doctor said not to be surprised if that happened given the nature of Caden’s condition earlier this week. He does go back in to get a once over by the pediatrician tomorrow as a follow up.
As promised, below are a few pictures taken at the boy’s birthday party a couple of weeks ago.
Caden has been fever free for about 48 hours now. He is still feeling pretty rough with a cough and lots of congestion. He has been to the pediatrician three times and the the hospital twice in the past three days. The official diagnosis that was delivered was pneumonia. Nothing grew in the blood cultures and he tested negative for flu and RSV. There was a focused wet sound that became noticeable in Caden’s lower left lung that was heard by two different doctors. Caden ended up getting two of the rocephin shots (very strong antibiotic). He is now on an oral (g-tube) antibiotic and a decongestant. He is getting breathing treatments four times per day. The breathing treatments are for a little wheezing and to help break up the congestion so get can get it out with the suction machine.
Our big boy Riley has been hanging in there with these numerous doctor visits even after getting three different immunization shots during his 4 year-old well visit on Monday. He was a little cautious at the prdiatrician’s office on Tuesday making for certain that he was not there to get any more shots. Riley has been such a loving and comforting brother to Caden.
Sherry and I have been standing firm. I shared the following scripture referecne with a friend today in response to the question of how we are doing.
“Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. Be careful–watch out for attacks from Satan…Stand firm when he attacks. Trust the Lord…To Him be all power over all things, forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:7-11 (TLB)
There is no doubt that during our time on this earth we will never come to a full understanding of how our simple little human circumstances fit into God’s master plan for his kingdom. I realized today that it is very easy to get caught up in what seems to be very big problems. I have found myself caught up in the “oh what a big deal this is” feeling about our situation. As I went back to read and meditate on this passage from First Peter this evening, I realized that in my paraphrasing of this already paraphrased translation, I left out a part of this that really turned it into a much more self-centered reference than I realized. I left a very important part of verse nine out. The whole verse reads like this:
“Stand firm when he attacks. Trust the Lord; and remember that other Christians all around the world are going through these sufferings too.”
I realize the context of this passage is not talking about parents with sick kids, but I still believe it fits in our situation as well as some others.
I don’t have to look very far to see others suffering and you probably don’t either. I have friends and/or family members who are suffering in their own way: one who has been called to the bedside of a sister because the sister is not expected to live much longer, another who is going through a divorce with five young children at home, another with an unidentified lung disease, another with a Mom who is battling cancer, another whose father is up against a possible Parkinson’s diagnosis, two others who are suffering from flu and pneumonia, another who is battling hepatitis C, and another who has been laid off from a job.
These people I know very well and I have seen and/or spoke to most of them in the past week. All of these people have a common theme with me. The have all been worried about me and my family even though each has been going through as much if not worse than us. Their lives have shown to me this week that they have been standing firm, trusting the Lord, and letting him have all their worries and cares. What awesome testimonies I have been living in the middle of this week. What a wonderful lesson I have learned tonight.
“…Trust the Lord; and remember that other Christians all around the world are going through these sufferings too.”
Caden got very sick yesterday. I met Sherry at the doctor’s office at 11am. Caden’s fever topped out at 105.4 while in the pediatrician’s office. We gave him over the counter stuff that knocked the fever out, but it took about an hour and a half to get it down. While waiting on the fever to break, I accidentally pulled Caden’s G-Tube button out of his belly when I picked him up while sitting on the end of his tube. To put this into perspective, that means an inflated bubble a little larger than 1/2 inch in diameter came out a 1/8 hole in his belly. I was so upset. I think I was more upset than Caden. He was already so miserable with the fever and then this. The doctor was right there when it happened and his first question was, “do you know how to put that thing back in?” I assured him that I did. I put the g-tube button back in after I gathered myself up.
After all that the doctors checked Caden’s lungs. They sounded clear and his oxygen saturation were averaging 96 which is good. Caden had been on a very strong oral antibiotic (omnicef) for six days. The doctor sent Caden to MUSC for a chest x-ray and blood work. The initial results came back showing Caden’s lungs clear but his white blood cell counts were elevated with what they call a left shift on his blood work. These indicators told them that Caden has some kind of bacterial infection, but they wouldn’t know where the infection was until the blood cultures had a chance to grow. The cultures can take up to 48 hours. Once the pediatrician got the initial blood work results back yesterday (approx 5pm) he called me and requested that we take Caden in for a very strong antibiotic injection (I think rocephin?) as soon as we could get him to the hospital. While preparing Caden to go to MUSC he spiked a 104+ fever again. We medicated him and hit the road for the hospital. Caden spent over four hours at MUSC emergency room and got a very painful injection in the process. Once again the Tylenol and Motrin cleared the fever. Caden was home in bed by 11PM last night. He will be going back in to the pediatrician today for them to track his progress and to possibly get another antibiotic injection.
I got Caden up early this morning for a breathing treatment and a diaper change. He is doing okay this morning, but he is very clingy and whiny. I gave him some Motrin to head off any possible fever. The congestion associated with this has also required a bunch of suctioning.
Please pray for our little boy’s healing and comfort.
I also want to request that you pray for Caden’s grandma. Sherry’s mom was told by the doctors that there was some kind of spot on one of her lungs. They are talking about a possible biopsy of the spot. I do not have all the details, but I will update with more later. Please pray for Darla and Caden.
It is time to bless you with a little multimedia fun again. I have been talking about Caden’s walking skills enough so it is time to share some more video footage. The pictures and video in this post were taken on Sunday and Monday of this week. 
Caden continues to develop in other ways. He is climbing onto the foot stool in the living room without any assistance. He still needs a little guidance on the correct direction to turn when getting down. He is regularly asking for candy. He loves his suckers as you can see in the picture. He just lightly touches the sucker to his tongue, but really enjoys that. We were sitting in Chick-fil-a a few days ago when Caden asked Sherry for some of her ice cream. He basically points, grunts, and signs please. Sherry asked him if he really wanted some and he nodded yes. An elderly gentleman at the next table helped encourage Caden. Caden made one of the most awful faces I have ever seen, but he asked for more by signing more please. He made the same face, but did take the bit of ice cream willingly. Once this ended, I told the elderly gentleman how big of a deal this was. I told him that Caden was 26 months old had never taken a single meal by mouth. He was amazed. I guess I am amazed at this fact too, but the day is surely coming. Keep praying for Caden’s GI track to be fully functional. He has continued to wretch on a daily basis and still requires suctioning from time to time. The comforting thing about Caden’s development is that he is getting to where he can ask for suctioning or better yet he can tell us when he does not need it so that we do not suction him needlessly. That is such a relief to have him tell me that he does not need suctioning. 
