Here are a few pictures of his two surgery days and his four day long hospital stint:
I don't know if I have ever admitted on here that I was rather shocked to find out at our 20 wk ultrasound that he was not the little girl I was desperately hoping for, but was in fact another rambunctious little boy. I went around for a week in a state of shock, not disappointment necessarily, but shock. Finally one day on my 45 minute commute to Vanderbilt (where I was working at the time) I suddenly got a very warm feeling that everything was going to be ok, that the Lord was sending this little man to our family with a purpose. From that moment on I got excited to meet him, and he has never disappointed.
Kade has brought so much joy to our family (and anyone else who happens to meet him) from the time he entered this world. As a newborn his sweet spirit was very apparent. My doctor (who was pregnant with her first child at the time) would steal into the nursery at the hospital or to my room every chance she got to just come and hold him. The nurses marveled at his patience and laid back attitude...and he has seen A LOT of nurses in his three years!
Chad and I went round and round about his name for months before his birth. From the beginning of my pregnancy we entertained using the middle name of Smith after Chad's paternal grandmother whom we were all really close to when we lived in CA. Her sweet spirit was a comfort to everyone around her and I wanted her legacy for him. We finally settled on naming him Kade Smith McGhie. Four months after he was born Grandma McGhie passed away from complications with Alzheimers, and Kade made his first trip to California for her funeral. Chad and I were both very upset at the funeral, but just holding Kade seemed to offer so much comfort to us. It is funny that he should be so much like her in his loving personality, I know she really would have loved him.
Newborn and babyhood:
He has grown so much since his little 6 lb. 12 oz. body joined us! He has gotten feistier the past year or so and can pretty much hold his own when his brothers bully him. But he never hesitates when I ask for a kiss or hug and is always ready with "I wuv you toooo!" when we vow our love to him numerous times a day. His most current obsessions are Batman and baseball, and he even has the other little ones in Nursery (at church) using a stuffed tiger tail as a baseball bat, and then they charm the Nursery ladies into throwing whatever they can find that passes as a baseball. I can't wait to see what life has in store for this little guy, I am so grateful that he was sent to us and can't imagine our family without him.
Toddlerhood Mayhem:
Mr. 3 year old Casanova, ready for his closeup (ok, ok, so I took this in May...but he still looks pretty much the same!):
Happy Birthday Mr. Kade!
Time for this mama to make some Batman cupcakes...
