Ella's favorite song

Watch our little soldier singing her favorite song, "The Lord's Army". So cute! :)

Update on sweet baby Cade

First of all, thank you so much to all of you who are praying so hard over our sweet, little boy. It's been a roller coaster ride of emotions these last two weeks, and it helps so much knowing that we have so many people supporting us. I sometimes feel funny about posting very personal things on here, as though people may read it and wonder why I would put such a private thing up for the world to see. In this case though, I feel like only good things can come from so many people praying for Cade, so the more people who know, the better.

We had an appt with a craniofacial/ plastic surgeon at Cincinnati Children's on Tuesday. He does not seem to think Cade's "problem" is related to the craniosynostosis. Only the front (metopic) sutures are closed, all others remain open, and yet his head is still not growing. Therefore, he thinks his "problem" could be neurological. I refer to the "problem" as such because the doctor kept indicating that Cade has a "problem"; however, nothing about him indicates any kind of developmental delay to us. He stated there was "obvious concern" mostly for three reasons: 1) Cade's height and weight continue to increase while his head circumference does not. If it was just a matter of him being small, he would expect to see his height and weight also below the chart. 2) Chris, Ella, and I have considerably large heads according to the growth scale, so he does not think it is just something inherited. 3) Cade was so much smaller than Ella at birth (only 5 lbs 7 oz compared to her 8 lbs 3 oz), which, once again, brings up questions such as IUGR. I guess IUGR and small head size are risk factors for other things. So because of all this, we are now being referred to a neurologist for evaluation.

There were two things we found positive about this visit. The first being that Cade doesn't appear to need major surgery, which is usually done if the child has major facial deformity or has multiple sutures closed. Cade has a small ridge in his forehead that the doctor thinks will smooth out over time. The second hopeful thing he said is that sometimes it takes a baby about six months before they "decide" what kind of brain growth pattern they are going to follow. He said that because Cade has not yet reached that six month mark, he may start to take off here in the next month or so, and everything could correct itself. Obviously, that is the hope we are clinging to. He seems absolutely perfect to us, and will remain that way no matter what. Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers. Please keep them coming!!

Green beans, Anyone?

Cade had his first foray into the world of vegetables last night. He was pretty excited about it at first...
Hmmm, not so sure... "You've got to be kidding me! I can't believe I've been looking forward to this!"

I LOVE these faces!!!

By the end, I think he had decided it wasn't so bad afterall, and he did pretty good with the spoon. Doesn't he look so proud of himself? I just love this little guy!!

Great holiday weekend

Mark and Cheryl came to spend the holiday weekend with us and we had a wonderful time together. Saturday night, Chris and I got to go out all by ourselves (!!), something that hasn't happened since before Cade was born. It was great and we are so thankful for that time together. Sunday we went to King's Island and closed the place down. We had a lot of fun. Ella was so excited to show Mamaw and Papaw around. :) Plus, the weather couldn't have been better.
Papaw and Ella "pouting" on the way to the park. ha! I have to admit I was a little worried at this point, because Ella was acting so tired, but she perked up and was really so good!
The "little merry-go-round"...

The "BIG merry-go-round"...

Taking a break for lunch...

Daddy and his silly girl...

Me and my baby...

Riding the "BIG choo-choo train". (Yes, most things are categorized as big or little by Ella, because there are miniature versions of a lot of things in the kiddie area. :)
"Daddy, this is SO cool!"

Lot of great memories!

Thanks for such a fun weekend, Papaw and Mamaw! We love you!

Boiler up!

Cade's first Purdue t-shirt!
Like father, like son!

Things I love...

Things I love about being a Mommy...
- Cade's big, toothless smile when he sees me walk into the room.
- Ella's prayers in which she never forgets to thank God for Mommy, Daddy, and Baby Brother.
- All the little bouquets of flowers Ella picks for me and says, "These are for you, because I love you so much."
- Watching Cade sleep peacefully in my arms, because it's just too hard to put him down.
- Ella dropping whatever she's doing to run and give me hugs and kisses when I leave the house, and running to greet me with open arms when I return.

Here's the scoop...

So it's been a rough few days around the Davidson house. I'll give you the highlights of a long story- at Cade's four month check-up, his head circumference had not changed since his two month check-up. The feeling was that someone had measured wrong at two months, so we went back at five months for a head check. At this check, his head measured just 1/2 cm larger than it had previously, indicating that his head had only grown 1/2 cm in three months, and had progressively fallen off the growth chart (FYI: a baby's head is supposed to grow about 1/2 inch per month with the most rapid growth occurring in the first four months of life). This obviously raised some concerns, so they sent us for an xray to see if his sutures had closed prematurely. The xray came back normal, so they decided to send us for an ultrasound of the brain to make sure all parts of his brain were there. Needless to say, we were nervous wrecks over the weekend, worrying about all the possible things that could be wrong. When we went for the ultrasound on Tuesday, they were not able to find his "soft spot" and could not do the test, so a CT scan was ordered instead. The CT scan ended up showing what the xray did not, that his fontanel (which is supposed to stay open until 18 months) has already closed and the sutures along the front of his skull have already hardened. The medical jargon for this condition is "metopic craniosynostosis". If left untreated, this could possibly restrict brain growth or, if the brain continues to grow normally while the head does not, the pressure inside the head will continue to increase and potentially cause an array of serious problems. SO.... we have been referred to a neurosurgeon and a plastic surgeon to decide where to go from here. Best case scenario is that his head will start to grow, just abnormally-shaped, and he may have to have it remolded via a helmet or something of the sort. Worst case scenario is major surgery to remove and reshape part of the skull to allow for proper growth. Neither is something that we look forward to, but we are obviously hoping for the best case scenario.

PLEASE, please pray for Cade, that his little head will begin to grow and there will be no long-term effects on his brain development. Please pray for guidance and wisdom for the doctors, that they may make the right decisions regarding his case. And please pray for Chris and me, for strength and faith and that our hearts can be at peace with the situation. We'll keep you posted...

"I will bless the Lord who strengthens me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me." Psalms 16: 7-8

So much alike!

I took this picture of our sweet baby boy sleeping and then happened upon a picture of Ella in pretty much the same position. Their faces look so much alike (except in Ella's picture, she is a little younger and quite a bit chunkier!)...

Grammy's birthday

My mom's birthday was last week, so we celebrated with her when she was here this weekend. She takes such good care of the kids (and us!) when she comes every other weekend, so we thought it was only right to spoil her a little bit.
I love this picture of Grammy and the kids- look at Cade! He looks like he's cheering! So cute!
Lots of fun with trick candles. Ella got to blow to her heart's content! Sweet picture...
Happy birthday, Grammy! Hope it's a wonderful year!!

Cute story

Ella and I have been talking a lot lately about when she was a baby and where she lived before she was born. We have told her that she and Cade used to live with Jesus in Heaven, and when Mommy and Daddy prayed for a baby, God put her in my tummy and she grew bigger there. She believes it all whole-heartedly. The other day, she was telling the story in her own words and this is what she said to me:
"Ella and Cade used to live in Heavensville. One day, Mommy and Daddy wanted a little baby, so God sent Ella here to live with you at your house. He said, 'Ella, you go live with your Mommy at her house', so Ella and Cade jumped in the car, and came all the way here from Heavensville." I said, "You drove here from Heaven?" and she said, "Yeah, Mommy, we drove here, in my pink Jeep!" :)