8 months!! Has it been that long since this kid changed our lives forever??!!

Caedmon turns 8 months old today(Saturday May 9th) I cannot believe how fast time is flying by! I hear people tell me all the time cherish it 'cause it flies by and before you know it they are graduating or getting married! Well I am cherishing EVERY moment, the good and the bad, the food spit on me and the smiles right afterward, the constant grunting of "mom I am tired of this just hold me all the time!!", the late night awakenings to an oxygen cannula in his eye instead of his nostrils, the rolling and flipping into places I didn't know he could get to yet, the moments when I walk into his bedroom now due to a lot of LOUD "talking" and look as he is holding the monitor and talking into it knowing that it brings mommy(smart kid), the teething cries, the constant go go go busyness of a little one, but most of all the lil giggles and snuggles and BIG smiles that he shares with me daily to remind me that this job as a full time stay at home mom is worth every headache and sleepless night because I get to witness first hand all of these special moments, something that not many moms get to do. I am blessed to have a husband who works hard, VERY hard to provide for us and to serve a God who always provides even on the days when I worry and am not trusting of that provision. He definitely reminds me of who is in charge and how much He loves our little family. God has truly blessed us the past 8 months with this bundle of busy joy and ray of sunshine. So, I am cherishing and capturing EVERY moment that I can in my heart and on camera of Caedmon's life. I still can't believe that I am a mom to such a sweet, lovable, extremely handsome, cute, funny, goofy, smart little boy that I get to call son for the rest of my life. Hoping we have many more adventures ahead little guy! I love you oh so much!!!

Now, just for a few updates! We got a call from Caed's pediatrician on Wednesday morning. She was checking up on Caed and was informing us that she has made an appt with a cardiologist here in Lynchburg for an ultrasound of Caed's heart and an EKG. They want to make sure with all this time not being on Oxygen that it hasn't affected anything and that his heart is still healthy and strong. She said that this will be normal as he grows for them to keep a constant check on his heart. So we go Monday afternoon to get all these tests done, so please keep Caed and us in your prayers and pray that his heart is healthy and strong!

What's new with caed these days other than Drs. appts and therapists? Well, he started sitting in small increments yesterday and that is a HUGE thing! He is building those muscles! So, we are practicing and practicing until he gets to the point where he can sit for long periods of time by himself! I am just so happy that we are at this point! He is also rolling all over the place!!! I can't leave him anywhere now without me, so that has been fun. haha He has rolled almost under the couch and moves himself around his crib(hence the talking into the monitor now) and is just a devious little fellow. Thankfully we have a play pen now (thanks to AMAZON PRIME and their swift delivery) to contain this little adventurer. He is also working on 4 top teeth(yes 4) you can see the white making it's appearance and like I said before he is weathering it extraordinarily well.
Caed, over the past few weeks has started this new very adorable thing. He has this dresser next to his crib and on top of that dresser are all his stuffed animals and such. Every morning and after naps, he has to have us hold him up so that he can touch each one and talk to them. It is so cute!!! I wonder what is going through that head of his.

One of the more exciting things that has happened which this momma LOVES is WE FOUND A TAPE FOR CAED'S CANNULA AT NIGHT THAT DOESNT LEAVE A RESIDUE OR TAKE AN ARMY OF PEOPLE TO PULL OFF! Such a huge huge blessing as Caed's face was looking rather ragged with all the tape residue and red marks from the tape strength. I felt so bad every morning taking it off of him. Thankfully there is the tape by Nexcare that is just strong enough to hold it in place and yet gentle enough on his poor skin and leaves no residue! I was singing praises the first time we used it! So yes there is a picture of the tape in the photos shared because it earned it's place!

So, anyways that about covers all of the exciting news in Tripp house! Now for the BEST and my FAVORITE part, PICTURES! Enjoy and hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day to all you moms and the new mommies out there! A special Happy Mother's day to my mom and the one who has taught me all I know, literally. I couldn't be the mom I am today without you! THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU! And to my Mother-in-law, Thank you for the man that you raised to be a hard working, respectable, and godly man who I get to call my husband. I know it was a rough road (as heard by stories of a stubborn son) You did good though and I know he loves you VERY MUCH ;-) Thank you for also being an awesome mom to me too! I am truly blessed by you! Love you!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! 

 The ever Amazing tape!

 SITTING!!!!

 My little twin!

 Saying Good morning to his Guat elephant from Aunt C and Uncle Josh

 Chilling with mommy

 Enjoying our walks every morning!

 Saying food morning to all his peeps!

 Puff Monster!

 Both are enjoying the new play pen ;-)

 Sitting for Daddy!

 Our little rolly poly

 Caed's Favorite show is Paw Patrol. He gets so excited when he hears the theme song come on.

A weekend full of friends, firsts for Caed, and sleepless nights with O2 and a Pulse Ox.

It has been a wonderful weekend full of friends for dinners and lunches, Caed getting to explore Lowes and eat pancakes for the first time, and there are some sleepless nights going on due to the lovely oxygen machine and pulse ox that Caed has to be on. So needless to say the Tripps are tired. ;-)

Our weekend started with a visit from Kirk at Tender Hearts to deliver the lovely machines and show us how to properly use them. Kirk has been so awesome! He has been with us from the NICU on. Such a sweet guy. We just don't like to see him as often as we have and with the gifts he keeps bringing us. If I could handle blood and such I probably could go into nursing now and have a good grip on what all is going on with all the equipment we have had to use whether its at the hospital or at home. haha. Anyways, that evening we had my best friend(Beth) and her family(Brandon, James, and Isaiah) join us for Friday night homemade pizza night! We had a blast catching up! Since we had company, over we decided to start Caed's oxygen the following night. It was so nice though because the night that Beth and her family came was the night that Caed slept 6:30 pm-6:20 am!!! I had to wake him at 9pm to give him a bottle! So, I was very sad when he had to start with the oxygen and Pulse Ox.

The first night he cried as we put it all on him then as soon as we laid him down he went to sleep with little frustration. His Sats(Saturations) and HR(heart rate)(without the oxygen) stayed around 84-90 and 122-150. Now they are at 99 and 100-120 which is awesome and you can tell he is breathing slower just by watching him. It's a world of difference. The only problem is him waking up every 2-3 hours hungry and irritated with the nasal cannula and him knocking it off several times at night and the pulse ox going off due to that.  I think I am getting the hang of taping it down though, so it doesn't bother him too much, just have to master removing the tape residue off of his poor little face. Hoping he gets used to it and starts sleeping better and longer again. It's been a booger but it is doing it's job which is allowing his heart to finally rest and his breathing to be so much slower and better. So, it is a love hate relationship right now and mom is finding great refuge in her coffee intake to get her through the days!

On a happier and a more fun note, Caed has been experiencing a lot of firsts the past couple of days. Josh had to take him on his first trip to the "Manly" store Lowes. Caed loved looking at all the cool tools and touching a few of them and making crazy noises as he talked and talked and talked throughout the store. On, Sunday morning he tried pancakes for the first time which was a hilarious sight. First touch was awful then he kept touching it and licking it till finally he smooshed it and started at it. End result: an obliterated pancake. Next we have had a top tooth come through with the other one not far behind! We have weathered this better than we did the bottom two. YAY! He is looking so much more different with these teeth! He is growing too fast!

Well, that is about all that has been happening here at the Tripp Casa. Keep us in your prayers as Caed continues to get used to the O2 and hopefully starts sleeping longer so that mommy and daddy can get a little bit of sleep ;-)

Here are some highlight pics from the weekend!

Newest additions to the Tripp Family: Pulse OX Monitor and O2, annd a Ping Pong Table!

Yep, we got the results back to Caed's sleep study and we are excited to say that we get to trade in his sleep apnea monitor for a Pulse Ox monitor and Oxygen at night! This is going to be quite the adventure! During the sleep study Caed would constantly pull off the cannula for the oxygen so I was up every 5 mins or so throughout the night placing it back in his nose. I am hoping and praying that they will grow to be best friends for however long he has to use it or else this is going to be a lonnnnnng however many months for the Tripp family ;-) But anyways, the results were that he was breathing too hard and too fast and his Dr. was worried that if this keeps up he could wear out his heart quickly overtime. So, Friday night begins the fun adventure! Appreciate prayers as we tackle this next addition to Caedmon's life.

So, glad that we get to say goodbye to this monitor though! Been with us since we brought the lil guy home. Many nights with it going off all because Caed squirmed around and messed up the leads. And then there was the warning of the neighbors of it's mega loud alarm(which of course NEVER woke Caed up) But, Oh well on to the next fun thing! ;-) 

Well, enough about crazy monitors and no sleep! We got a Ping Pong Table! A huge thank you to some friends of ours that donated to the Tripp family. We are so excited as we have been wanting one for a while but never really had the room. Now we have the room and the ping pong table! I see many fun get togethers in the future with friends, food, and some competitive ping pong! Thanks to our friends Luke and Sarah for helping get it to our Casa :-) Caed really enjoyed watching Luke and Josh play and would cry when they stopped. Was really funny! So it is great entertainment for the lil guy and I am sure it won't be long before he will be the one holding the paddle showing us how it is done. Looking forward to all the fun times that will be held around this table.

And here are a few pics from the rest of our lovely Wednesday. Caed was introduced to grass and surprisingly didn't eat it! He just ran his fingers through it in amazement. So, we soaked up some rays, as much as we could in the 10mins we spent outside(Caed has awful allergies) Then we came in and got a quick nap(me included!! That NEVER HAPPENS!) After that we made a chocolate chip banana loaf and have just been enjoying this beautiful day(from the inside ;-) 

*Photo Cred my iPhone* 

All in the day in the life of a Stay at Home Mom. I am blessed that I get to spend the whole day with this goober and soak in all these fun moments with my son 

(even if some days I want to just scream, pull my hair out, and run away for just a few moments to myself) 

Hope you are having a wonderful day yourself!

It's been a while but here we are....

Welcome back to the blog! I figured since of course I have ALLLLL this new time on my hands, with having a little one, that I would start back up my blog ;-) Haha. Yeah. Actually, the truth is I am reopening this blog to keep you up to date on Caed's life and our's, of course, as we tackle this new chapter called parenting and Achondroplasia and a second reason that I will mention later ;-)

As most of you know, Caedmon was diagnosed shortly after he was born with Achondroplasia(a form of dwarfism) for that story you can go to the link here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152687986536989.1073741847.651736988&type=1&l=f6f0564ca8

He definitely keeps us busy with Doctor's appointments, therapists, and his crazy busy self. He has quite the personality and is quite the momma's boy. He won't let me do much without him and I have to be within sight or else! It has been rather hard as most children around his age are sitting up and can play in all those fun jumperoos or activity seats and bumbos, Caed cannot due to his back. In Achondroplasia children and adults tend to have Kyphosis:
ky·pho·sis

kīˈfōsis/

noun

1. excessive outward curvature of the spine, causing hunching of the back.

   
   

   
   

Which if not handled properly at his age could end up with some problems down the line. Hence why we have gone through 3 carseats and one stroller before we found one that properly supports his back, found here:

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Snugride-Click-Connect-Seat/dp/B00LIRJ2NU/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1430239325&sr=1-1&keywords=graco+click+connect+40
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Jogger-Single-Stroller-Black/dp/B00G3XR7GS/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1430239440&sr=1-1&keywords=baby+jogger+city+mini

So most toys that sit a child upright cannot be used by Caed until he can work on those back muscles and be able to sit and stand himself. Makes life for mommy a little more difficult as this limits how much he can do and gets easily bored. We were encouraged to get two play mats to switch back and forth with and he also has a bouncy seat that works super great! Most things need to recline in order for him to have the right support. Luckily we were introduced to a group online to gain wisdom, encouragement, and all the info we need from parents with achondroplasia and ones with children with "Achon" which you will see me use that term a lot over time. I have been so blessed by this group to feel like I am not out here alone or crazy when tackling all these Doctors appts and such. It is a lot to take in and can get very draining. I just want to make sure Caed is well taken care of and that I am being proactive in learning about his diagnosis as some Drs. don't have a clue about how to treat him. We are also truly blessed to have an amazing pediatrician who is always studying up on Achondroplasia and is in constant contact with his geneticist to gain wisdom as this is all new to her as well. She truly cares for our son. Caed is right on target for where he needs to be right now at his age. We are still working on beefing him up, which he is eating so much better now and trying a lot of new things. Definitely an answer to prayer! We have truly seen God's hand in every area of Caed's and our life!

So, now on to why we have moved twice in a month's time! Due to Caed's respiratory issues we were desperately looking for a new apartment because the lady that moved into the bottom apartment smoked heavily resulting in OUR apartment smelling as though she was living there too. It wasn't too long after that, God provided us with a house SMOKE FREE! Then shortly after we moved in, we got news that the location and place we really wanted to be at had an opening and that it was ours if we wanted it. There were many many people who were involved in this process that we are truly grateful to! God provided in a miraculous way! We love our new place and can finally settle in for a little while until God moves us again.

Josh and I stay pretty busy these days, me as a stay at home mom and him as our hard working provider and a student at Liberty again pursuing God's will for his life in the ministry. We have our little routine down as far as the days go which makes life a lil more bearable and a lil boring sometimes but so is the life of adults and parents. Comes with then territory. It's hard work raising the next generation but it will be so worth it and God has great plans ahead!

Now for the second reason I have this blog on it's way back to life, PHOTOGRAPHY! I have really neglected my camera for some time now and I am getting a lil rusty. So, I decided I would start documenting our life a little bit more. So to kick it off, I have documented a little taste of a day in the life of Caed and I. We really have a blast together. ;-)

So here you go! Welcome to the Tripps! and I hope you enjoy this blog and follow along in our journey!