When the Dream Never Dies: 4 months old

Caden is 4 months old now, and we are having the time of our lives :) He is so fun! Everyday he learns to do something new and it's so entertaining to just watch him as he studies things and figures out new skills. He laughs and smiles so much and we love that he is a happy baby. It's bittersweet when you think about how fast he's changing and how there's so many things he doesn't do anymore, but they're replaced by so many new and fun things! He continues to grow and develop like he was a full term baby. We continue to have people come up to us and let us know they had been praying for us to have a baby, without ever knowing our struggle. A friend from church that we went on a mission trip with shared a few weeks ago how she'd been praying for us and when she sees Caden at church she's reminded of God's faithfulness and how He answers our prayers. I love that!

We follow "Pray for Caleb" on facebook, like many of you, I'm sure. I tend to check facebook when I'm up feeding Caden in the middle of the night. One night last week, Caleb's mom was sharing about their struggle and how it's given them a new perspective on everything and wrote a beautiful testimony of God's grace in trials. I have often considered commenting on her posts, but there are literally thousands liking and commenting on her posts and I figured it would probably never get read. Well, in the middle of the night the only people up reading her facebook posts are moms up with babies :) I decided this was the time to comment. I briefly shared our journey and agreed with her that the struggles we go through can be so painful, but without them you wouldn't get to experience the miracles and the new perspective. I added that she could read our story on our blog if she got bored in the night. By the time I got up our blog had over 100 hits! I was overwhelmed. By the end of the day it had been viewed about 500 times and by people all over the world. We are praying that many were encouraged and are in awe of the way God continues to use our story.

Caden had his 4 month appoointment with Dr Holly on September 16th, the Monday before he turned 4 months. They couldn't believe how much he'd grown since his 6 week appointment. We loved hearing, "he's just so perfect" and "he has 4-6 month skills!" He had to have his first round of shots and I'm pretty sure it was harder on mommy and daddy than Caden! He did great! I'll post a picture below.

Here are some 4 month stats...

weight-14lbs 7oz (33% on the regular charts)
height- 24 3/4 inches (38% on the regular charts)
diapers- moved to size 2 diaper on September 8th
clothes- 3 months
new skills- where to begin...he does new things daily. He loves to play on his activity mat and he can now grab on to the toys. He started rolling over from his belly to his back on September 5th and has done it lots of time since then. He has started teething and I can see the 2 little teeth trying to push through the gums.
hobbies- sitting in his highchair watching mommy clean the kitchen, hanging out in the bouncer, reading books, tummy time, chewing on his hands, drooling, playing with his toys and learning his "word of the day" with daddy :)
feeding- we have stopped using the fortified formula, so he is only on breast milk now. My best guess is he takes about 5oz at a feeding based on the amount I pump now. He is much better about staying on a 3 hours schedule of eat, play then sleep.
sleeping- he has starting going to bed about 8pm and gets up once or twice during the night. On his 4 month birthday he slept just over 7 hours. That was a record!

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the last month.

I love this sweet face!