Good-bye Summer – September 2010

Yes, I know it’s been awhile since our last post, but we fully intend to make up for that by overloading you with information. Grab your favorite beverage and settle in, because we have been very busy the last few months, so it’s going to be a long one……

When we last left you, we were burning up the interstate between North Carolina and West Virginia and spending lots of time with family. That did not stop in the months of July and August. Towards the middle of July (just shortly after Rhea celebrated her 4th birthday) Kaden, Mommy and Kiesel loaded up the 4-Runner and headed to WV to welcome home a hero and allow Kaden to meet his Uncle Shaney for the first time in person. Kaden was happy to meet the guy he had heard so much about, and this was reflected in his smiles and admiring stares. We were able to spend a few days at Granny’s cabin, enjoying the breeze as it combated the unusually hot (though not as hot as NC) weather. During that trip, there was much discussion about Kaden and his size compared to his Uncle Shaney at his age. As it stands right now, Kaden is trending a bit bigger than his rather large Uncle Shaney, though time will tell.
We did not stay in WV long, because we were missing Daddy. However, we did not leave all of WV behind. Shane, Shaunna, Rhea and Kya made the long journey to NC to spend a few days with us in Charlotte. Daddy was happy to have all of us back. It was an added bonus as well to have a golf buddy for a few days and Lance and Shane braved the crazy hot weather to spend some time on the golf course. Kaden, Rhea, Shaunna and I took the slightly smarter approach and found some fun air conditioned activities to occupy our time. The most memorable of those being a trip to the local animal farm, the Lazy 5 Ranch. At Lazy 5 we were able to drive through the park (windows up and air on) and see a myriad of animals up close and personal. Unfortunately the Rhino and the Giraffe’s were restricted from being able to access our car, but we got some pretty up close views of them just the same. Having a very large ostrich pecking on the window right next to your head is an experience you don’t want to miss!

I should also mention that Uncle Shaney (aka Daddy to his baby girl, Rhea) got to go on his first “adventure” to Chuck E Cheese. Rhea was so excited to take her Daddy to Chuck E Cheese, as it is on her list of favorite places. At the risk of blowing his tough guy cover, I would say that both Daddy and Daughter had an excellent time playing air hockey and other games. If you are reading this little brother, work on your football throwing skills as we are going to need more tickets next time!!

In between travels and fun stuff, we also spent the latter part of summer focusing on physical therapy for Kaden’s neck and working with a company called Cranial Technologies to ensure Kaden maintained an appropriate head shape. I would not have believed that this process would make our perfect little boy any more perfect, but I was amazed! The physical therapy visits were conducted at our house in Charlotte and we worked with a great lady named Tiffany. Tiffany came twice a week and worked with Kaden on stretching his neck muscles and ensuring that he developed properly on both sides of his body. She also worked with Mommy and Daddy to teach them the proper methods for working with Kaden on his stretching and strengthening exercises. It was amazing; in a few short weeks Kaden went from a very visible neck tilt, to a perfectly straight and level neck. He also began rolling over during these sessions and grabbing at toys and other objects.

Step two of the process involved Kaden getting fitted with a DOC band, often referred to as a helmet. The plastic/styrofoam band was fitted to Kaden’s head and designed to help his head mold and his ears align as he grew. He wore the band 23 hours a day for 8 weeks and was very rarely even bothered by its presence. As they say with many things, the whole experience was tougher on the parents. With the exception of a few incidents where Mommy’s maternal instinct to maim was triggered by the ignorance of a few people, we all came out of the experience with many positive things. Those incidents were few and far between though, and the general response was the typical Kaden reaction, with people talking about how cute he is, how much they liked his paint job, how sweet his smile is and how he makes a helmet look good! In fact, Granny was such a fan of the helmet that she was sad when it was taken off; mostly she was a fan of the chubby cheeks factor produced by the helmet.

The need for physical therapy and the DOC band all stemmed from a condition call Torticollis. In basic terms, Kaden was “squished” in the womb and the lack of space to move around prohibited his ability to fully stretch out and allow the neck muscles and tendons on his right side to stretch and develop appropriately. As such, Kaden was unable to fully turn his head to the right for the first two months of his life. The downstream reaction of that being he developed an asymmetrical head shape. While it can be a very emotional process for the parents, it’s a virtually pain free condition with only some minor discomfort coming from the initial stretching and strengthening exercise for the baby. Kaden’s neck position and strength is something that we will continue to monitor through the first 18 months of his life, to ensure his development remains on target and bilateral. We know that many parents face much more challenging and even life threatening conditions with their babies and we count our blessings every day that we were given such a healthy and thriving baby.

A google search will produce lots of results on Torticollis and Cranial Technologies has a great website explaining the in’s and out’s of the DOC band if you would like to learn more. And of course Lance and I are happy to share our experiences and information for anyone who find they are facing a similar challenge.

The month of August brought more sweltering heat to the South, and you guessed it, more trips to the mountains of WV to cool off and be outside. For our August journey the whole family was able to make the trip (minus Louie and Kitty who prefer the comforts of the air conditioned house). We spent a week relaxing and visiting.

To start the week, we set up camp at Stuart’s Park in Grandpa Conley and Pappaw John’s campers. For three nights we hung out in the woods, made s’mores and relaxed. Our camping party continues to grow as we added Uncle Shaney, Aunt Shaunna, Rhea and Grandma Nee to the festivities on this trip. Rhea as you know is a seasoned veteran as of this summer, but it’s been awhile since her Mom and Dad joined us out in the woods. We also had a very special day when Aunt Casey, Riley and Madison dropped by to spend the day with us. Aunt Casey cooked up some tasty mountain pies and Riley, Madison and Rhea had loads of fun playing around the campsite. I think the group favorite was standing under the awning as we cleared the pooled rain water. Kaden in particular thought the girls were funny. Keeping watch over them pretty much wore down the little guy. I think he’s looking forward to next year when he can run around the campsite with his cousins.

Our outdoor adventures did not stop at Stuarts. After three slightly rainy days, we packed up camp and headed to the higher elevations of Granny’s cabin. While there we enjoyed some amazing summer weather and spent some time visiting family in the big town of Harman. Lance and Shane once again found some time to hit the links and we all enjoyed a very healthy round of skeet shooting off Granny’s front porch. I would say hundreds of shells and 3 shotguns constitute a “healthy” round. Kaden and Kiesel wore themselves out running around and playing and as always Kaden enjoyed spending time on the porch overlooking the fields and playing in his exersaucer, in between keeping an eye on the various activities of his little blond haired cousin of course. We suffered a minor setback when we realized the spring had dried up and we were without water, but we were able to work through that with a trip to Grandma Simmons and Granddaddy Pete’s and several bucket brigade trips to the pond.

We rounded out our vacation with a very successful trip to Pappaw John’s garden and one more rainy trip to the golf course. We found ourselves heavily laden with a variety of vegetables as we made our way back to North Carolina to finish out our summer. Upon returning to NC Kaden “helped” can 24 quarts of pickles and 18 pints of green beans. His favorite part was chewing on the raw green beans.

In the spirit of chewing, Kaden got his first teeth in the month of August. It was at times a very painful process for all involved, and still continues to be on occasion, but happy to report that Kaden has two very healthy bottom, front teeth that rise higher and higher every day. Who would have thought that such a sweet smile could be made even sweeter!

Our final weeks of August were spent completing last minute errands and preparing ourselves for the very big change that fall would bring. We also took the opportunity in the last week of August to meet Kaden’s growing demand for nourishment by introducing vegetables to his bland diet of formula, rice cereal and oatmeal. All of the orange vegetables have been a success, followed by the greens. Sweet potatoes seem to be his preferred favorite, but he’s generally pretty enthusiastic about whatever is given to him. We have since started adding fruits to the menu, but are finding that he still tends to lean more towards the veggies. Thankfully he seems to have gotten his Daddy’s preference for good food and not his Mommy’s pension for sweets. When possible we are preparing the food ourselves, using fresh veggies and a food processor, but he is equally happy with the contents from the Gerber jar.

With the end of summer came a big change for the Marcum household. Mommy was slated to start work on 9/30 and Kaden was signed up to attend daycare for the first time. It was sad to see our summer end along with frequent trips to WV, visits from family and leisure time outside, but the anticipation of the upcoming change also added an air of excitement.

The first days of “school” turned out to be quite successful. Mommy got up, put on her big girl clothes and went to work as planned, while Daddy and Kaden enjoyed breakfast before Daddy dropped Kaden off for his first big day. Everybody had their sad moments that first day, but all in all we held it together pretty well. Daddy did not make a scene when he dropped off his baby boy, Mommy only called the school once to check on her baby bug and Kaden adjusted to the environment and fell in to his normal sleep routine by that afternoon. By the second day the routine was running like clockwork and with each day we all got a little more comfortable and a little happier with the adjustment. This isn’t to say that we aren’t still having occasions where Mommy runs a little late for work because she wants extra snuggle time with her baby in the morning or Kaden gets dropped off a little later because he and Daddy are enjoying the morning. I would warn anyone traveling North on 1-85 between 4:30 and 5 during the week to make a hole when you see a black 4-Runner coming through, because there’s a very excited mommy behind the wheel headed for the best part of her day……but like I said, we are adjusting well over all.

Fortunately for all of us, our change of routine was made a little easier by the Labor Day Holiday’s. We used the weekend to make a quick trip to WV to celebrate Erich and Savanna’s wedding, and then used the short work week to catch up on household chores and lots of missed cuddles and belly kisses. We are pleased to report that Kaden made the trip wonderfully and seemed to rather enjoy the comforts of his new “big boy” car seat.

9/11 was full of varying emotions for us this year. As we remembered those who lost their lives and those who continue to defend our country against cowardly terrorist bastards, we also celebrated Kaden’s 6 month birthday. Just like every month, it’s hard to understand where the time goes and how it’s possible that the healthy and vibrant baby boy we wake up to every morning was just a tiny speck in his Mommy’s belly this time last year. Now we are his parents and some day he will come to us full of questions about what happened so many years ago on 9/11. I hope we answer those questions honestly and clearly and that he is able to benefit and not be part of a future that makes the same mistakes or faces the same tragedies. I hope he also learns about pride, honor and defending your loved ones as well as those who cannot defend themselves.

And that pretty much brings us to current day. Kaden went for his 6 month check up this week and continues to be off the charts in height. He is currently a lengthy 28 inches and weighs 19lbs and 1 ounce. His health and development are right on par and within seconds of getting his vaccinations he was smiling at the nurses and bringing his usual happiness to everyone at the doctor’s office. He’s a smiling happy boy when Mommy picks him up at school and we are pretty sure the afternoon ladies fight over who gets to play with him the most.

We are truly blessed and hope this very lengthy post finds you all the same!