Happy 1st Birthday, Cade!

One year ago tonight I was anticipating your arrival. I didn't know if you were a boy or a girl, but I knew I loved you and I couldn't wait to meet you.

One year ago tomorrow morning, at 9:08 to be precise, as you began to make your entrance your Daddy said, "I think it's a boy." Our doctor said, "I do too." and Mommy cried, "It's a boy?!" The answer I got was, "It's just a head now, but it looks like a boy." Moments later you were out and the doctor made it official, "It's a LAD! It's a boy!" Then in answer to my prayer you gave a good strong cry right away.

After you got cleaned up your Daddy carried you out to meet your big brother Kyle and many other family and friends who were anxiously awaiting your arrival. The nurse stole Daddy's thunder as someone asked, "What is it?" and the nurse replied, "It's a boy!" Oh well.

Your Daddy video taped almost every minute of you laying in your bassinet in the nursery while Mommy was in recovery, he knew I wanted to see all of it. And I did.

We took you home and couldn't believe there were four of us now. After all the waiting and praying you were here and it was so amazing. Daddy forgot to strap big brother in the car seat, the first of many times to come, it took some getting used to, needing to strap two kids in instead of one. But big brother was sure to remind us each time (not always in a cordial manner).

You were such a good baby, sleeping all the time, nursing like a pro. Between six and seven weeks you started sleeping through the night all on your own with no coaxing from mommy. Wow, a good night's sleep sure does wonders for mommy adjusting to two kids.

At first whenever we would go some place, while on the drive, Mommy would panic all of the sudden thinking we had forgotten you at home (we never had of course).

You figured out pretty early that you did not like your car seat and you made sure we knew about it. You cried pretty much the whole drive, anywhere we went, for the first few months.

You are a great baby brother. You generally go with the flow and things pretty much revolve around big brother, but you take it all in stride. You and your "Bubba" (what you call brother) adore each other and play together so well. Big brother's plans always include you (how you will live together when you are both grown, the jobs you will do, and the vehicles you will drive).

You definitely have your own personality and you smile and laugh all the time and you love being the center of attention when opportunity presents.

A lot of kids first learn to imitate a doggie with a "woof woof". Not you, you love to make the elephant sound complete with trunk (arm) motion. It's often the first thing you do in the morning.

You keep us on our toes, completely unlike your big brother. While mommy put groceries away within five minutes today you were into: the dog food, the trashcan, the things under mommy's sink, and the electrical cord on the lamp.

You do not like naptime, you cry every time I put you down because you were having so much fun whatever we were doing! But you settle down in less than a minute and then take a great nap.

Your favorite time of day is when Daddy gets home from work. You crawl to him as fast as you can and he lifts you high in the air, then you wave bye-bye to mommy as if to say, "Okay, Daddy and I can take it from here."

You are such a blessing and a joy to us and we thank God every day that he chose us to be your family. We love you Little Cade! Dada, Momma and Bubba

Cade, we pray that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. (Ephesians 3:17, 18)