Update on the Cauley's

Things have been crazy as usual for us. Just busy, busy, busy and this week is no exception. Neither is next week for that matter.

Bryce had his six month well baby visit today...4 shots and 1 oral vaccination. He cried for about 20 seconds and then smiled. That is so unlike Jacob, who would cry for 10 minutes after his shots or should I say screamed bloody murder. Bryce weighed in at 18 lbs (50%ile) and was 26 1/2" long (75%ile). I am proud to say that he is doing GREAT!

Jacob is in full training mode for the Grands over Thanksgiving in Tulsa. He loves it as he is getting to ride more than usual. That is a big trip for us and we are all looking forward to it. Not just the racing but getting to see family too. He made straight A's the first 9 weeks of school and we are very proud of him. He is such a smart kid!

I feel like a chicken running around with its head cut off. Always busy, never a break until the evening gets here. Today Shane and I went to have lunch with Jacob at school. He loves it when we surprise him. When he gets home from school, he has to do 2 days of homework. Then we leave for the book fair at his school. The prices aren't necessarily great, but Jacob and I both love books so we manage to spend too much money anyway. After the book fair, Jacob is in a Thanksgiving musical at school. I am sure it will be cute.

Tomorrow, Jacob has a BMX bike lesson. The lessons last 2-3 hours so it is a long afternoon for him.

Thursday, we will be going to have lunch with Jacob again for the Thanksgiving Feast....gross! Nothing worse than cafeteria turkey and dressing. We are pulling him out of school early that day to drive to Dallas.

Friday is our adoption finalization in Dallas!!!!! We go before the judge about 8am that morning. It takes about 15 minutes in front of the judge and then we go somewhere else and sign papers with the lawyer. Mom and Dad are driving up to Dallas to be there with us. I am sure the morning will be anticlimatic but emotional and exciting at the same time. After that, we are planning on meeting my friend Karen and her mom, Sherry, for lunch. We will most likely go hang out at their house until we drive to Desoto so Shane and Jacob can race. Saturday we plan on coming home.

Does that sound like a crazy week or what? I even left out all the cleaning, packing and errands I have to do over the next 3 days!

I am trying to not even think of what has to be done for next week's long trip. One thing at a time, right?

God bless!

In memory of Jeff Lee

I wanted to share with you an awesome experience that happened to me recently.


My friend Jeff Lee, age 81, died last Wednesday. I am embarrassed to admit that I as unaware that he had been diagnosed with cancer about 6 months ago. Jeff and I didn't see each other extremely often, but I was touched by his genuine nature every time we spoke at the YMCA or at church.


Jeff loved to worship the Lord. The first time we met, he approached me at that YMCA while I was on the elyptical machine with my headphones on. He approached, with a smile, and said something that I didn't hear. I removed my headphones and said, "excuse me?" with a smile of course. And he said "Are you practicing?" I said, "excuse me? Oh you must go to Cypress Bible Church." to which he replied, "Yes, I do." He had recognized me as the drummer from church and proceeded to tell me about how much he thoroughly enjoyed worship every Sunday morning and in particular how much he enjoyed the drums ;-) He had hit the nail on the head, because I made a practice of putting our upcoming Sunday Order of Worship on a playlist on my iPod, which I listen "practice" to while I work out. Over the next year or so, I would run into Jeff at the Y or at church. He always had a smile and a kind comment to share. We shared stories about infertility and adoption (I believe both of his kids are adopted), church, worship, drums and various other topics. It was never a bother to stop and visit with Jeff.


I had the distinct honor of being asked to particpate in the music for his funeral service this past Monday. We played four songs: In the Garden, How Great Thou Art, I Am Free and I'll Fly Away. It is so awesome to attend a memorial service for someone who really loved to worship. My friend and worship leader, Paul Taggart, introduced the song I Am Free as an unlikely song to hear at a memorial service due to its really upbeat tempo, but it was one of Jeff's favorite songs. Paul told the story of how Jeff (I introduced Jeff to Paul shortly after Jeff and I met) would approach Paul after services and ask "When are you going to play I Am Free again?" It is not often you get such a request from the older community. How awesome is that? We played it at Jeff's service very tastefully with acoustic guitar, piano and a cajon for the percussion part (the fancy wooden box you see me sit on and play at church; very cool instrument.) I was a bit curious to see how the song would go over. I am pleased to tell you that the attendees, and especially the family, LOVED it! Wow, how incredible it was to see everyone praising God in a time of earthly loss. You see, they all knew Jeff had gone home to be with his Father. It was a very special time and I wouldn't have traded it for anything.


If people have a fraction of nice things to say about me at my funeral as they did at Jeff's I would feel very honored. How are you living your life? Are you living for Christ or for self? Jeff lived a very Christ honoring life and it was an encouragement to hear all of the nice things said of him at his memorial service. What will people say at your funeral? Of course, what is really important is what will God say when you stand before His throne? I am confident of what he said when Jeff entered... Well done, good and faithful servant.


I wish I had had an opportunity to visit with him during his final months. I regret that I had lost contact and didn't check on him when I didn't see him for a while. I look forward to seeing him again someday. His smile and forever positive attitude will not be forgotten.


In memory of Jeff Lee, my brother in Christ.


Peace,
Shane

Happy Six Month Birthday Bryce!

My sweet, precious baby boy,

What a blessing you are to our family. You have completed not just me but your Daddy and brother as well. It is so amazing to see how you light up when your Daddy and Jacob walk into the room. You have the biggest smile I have ever seen on a baby and I can't help but smile back each and every time I see your face light up. Your milestones have been slow coming but so special. You keep us laughing with your silly noises and silly faces. I can't believe you are about to start crawling and sitting up all at the same time. Life is about to really change at the Cauley house.

Bryce, you were hand picked by God to be our son and to be carried in the womb of a wonderful and beautiful woman who I hope to someday get to meet with you. It is so special to me to know that you have another mommy out there who loves you just as much as I do. She gave me the most special gift that a mother can give....YOU! From the moment I first held you, you were mine. It didn't matter that you didn't come from my womb, you were my son. You were a gift from God and you completed our family.

I look forward to the adventure we have ahead of us.

I love you,
Mommy

Not flesh of my flesh

Nor bone of my bone,

But still miraculously My own.

Never forget

For a single minute:

You didn't grow under my heart

But in it.

Where have the Cauley's been?

Since my beautiful wife is too busy to post these days, I figure its about time someone did :-) Bryce is doing very well. He is sleeping through the night consistently; however, he can't seem to make up his mind what time to wake up. The current wakey time is 6:30, but some days it's 7:30 to even 8:00! That doesn't happen very often though. He does however seem to be happier the longer he sleeps. We have found that putting him down earlier seems to help. We like to have him down by 7:30 and sometimes as early as 7:00. He still has some difficutly napping during the day, but its not that bad.

Tomorrow, Bryce will be 6 months old. Wow, how time flies. He loves to smile and demands constant attention, which he is usually provided. We don't want to spoil him, but he is making it tough :-) He is getting up on his hands and knees and taking that first lunge forward. I expect he will be crawling in the next few weeks. Here is a cute video I took of him this morning. He has become much more vocal lately and this is one of the first giggles caught on video.

Now if that doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will :-)

Bryce is a true blessing to this family and proof that God hears our prayers.

Jacob is training very hard for the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa. He is taking lessons from one of the true masters of the sport, three time world champion, John Purse (see pic below.) John is an amazing coach and has helped Jacob improve in just three lessons. The lessons are about 2 to 2.5 hours each. We plan to have two more lessons before the Grands, which are the weekend after Thanksgiving in Tulsa, OK. Jacob has shown significant improvement from one lesson to the next. It is amazing what a good coach can do both physically and mentally. He is not only training Jacob on the bike, but strength training (no weights) off of the bike. Jacob is usually pretty shot after 2.5 hours. John knows how to push him just hard enough; something us parents usually get all wrong.

The Grands schedule will be very demanding of Jacob as he is racing in multiple classes and the Race of Champions. The top ten riders in each age group are invited to the Race of Champions, which is the day after Thanksgiving and the day before the Grand Nationals (It's actually considered a different event, although it is raced on the Grands track.) It gives the riders the chance to win the acclaimed "ROC1" number plate for the following year if you win. It also gives the riders extra time on the track before the Grands, which is highly prized. Each eage group gets a whopping 30 minutes of practice on the track so extra races are a key advantage on a new track in preparing for the Grands the next two days. Jacob is registered to race two different classes in the ROC, 7/8 Open and 8 Intermediate. 7/8 open is a mixture of any qualifying 7 or 8 year old on a 20" bike or cruiser. It's just an "open" race. Jacob is a tough 8 year old so he should do very well in this class. Then he will race his usual 8 intermediate against other 8 intermediate riders. The Grands actually begin on Saturday, with 2 qualifying rounds on Saturday and the final qualifying round and main events on Sunday. Again, Jacob is racing 7/8 Open as well as 8 intermediate so he will be racing at various points throughout the weekend. There is a lot of time between his motos, but I'm sure it will still be somewhat hectic. We are so excited!

Here are a few more pics. Enjoy!

Cute boy.

Jacob and I dressed in our BMX uniforms for Halloween. We even rode our bikes door to door. Laura says I'm a dork.

Laura and Bryce.

Peace,
Shane

Update on Jacob's broken arm

Laura mentioned in her last post that Jacob got his cast off on Friday 10/2. The healing process has gone well and the break was ~80% healed as of that time. He was sent home with instructions to take it easy for two more weeks and to wear a sports splint when engaging in strenuous activitites. Well that two weeks is over on Friday of this week!

We have big plans to get back on the track with a vengeance as there is a double points race on Saturday in Pearland and another at Armadillo on Sunday. Jacob will be racing both events as he returns for the first time to the track since the arm break.

Next comes training for the Grand Nationals in Tulsa, OK on Thanksgiving week. Yep, we'll be in Tulsa on T-day; that is the first day of practice, with races ensuing on Fri/Sat/Sun. Jacob starts lessons with the living legend, "The Jackyl" John Purse, next week. John holds the number 2 spot for all time ABA professional BMX wins at an impressive 71 wins. To put this in perspective, it's like taking lessons from say...Tiger Woods for you golfers. John lives about 20 minutes away and has a small ~800' BMX track in his back yard with an official 4 position starting gate, with the ABA starting cadence! He will be working with Jacob on strength training, sprinting, turning and general race conditioning and strategy. This should be awesome for the Grands. We have high hopes for the Grands this year as Jacob is definitely at the top of his game in the 8 intermediate class. I estimate there will be 50-60 riders in his class at the Grands striving for 8 positions at the main event. To qualify will be huge! To win would be, well HUGE!

"The Jackyl" John Purse

Anyway, back to the arm. Here is a pic of the post cast removal xray. You can clearly see the break and the new bone growth. Interesting how the bone is still a bit crooked, but the new bone growth on the backside of the break will continue to pull the bend back towards a straight position as it heels according to the doc.

In other news, Bryce is doing very well. Mommy and I have been illin' for the last week. Laura is almost well and I am on the downhill side of this allergy/sinus infection, whatever the heck it was. We both need to get better for the busy weekend ahead.

Peace,

Shane

It's hard to even imagine Bryce as a 7 lb baby these days. He is getting so big. He is now almost 5 months old (if you go by months and not weeks) but he is 20 weeks old. Last week he had his 4 month well baby visit. He weighed 15 lbs 12 oz and was 25" long. That puts him at 50% for weight and 90% for height and head circumference.

Bryce is mostly sleeping through the night. He does wake up at night a lot and his morning wake up time varies a lot but we are getting more sleep these days. The good thing is that Jacob never even hears Bryce cry in his room. Bryce is the smiliest baby I have ever seen. He isn't laughing too much yet but he smiles all the time. I have tried to feed him solids (rice cereal) but he isn't at all interested in it yet.

In other news, Jacob got his cast off yesterday. He was very excited about having it taken off. His arm is a little crooked but the doctor said it would straighten out over time. We can't tell you how great it is to say "Jacob, go take a shower." Giving both him and Bryce a bath was not fun. He also brought home straight A's on his progress report. We are very proud of him.

Here are some recent pics:

Play time with Boo

Bryce likes his Bumbo seat

Love that smile!

Silly boy

Shane and Bryce building the exersaucer. He is still in the just checking it out phase now.

Sweet cheeks!

The three stooges

Some cool BMX shots of Jacob

I've been meaning to scan these for a while, but haven't had the time. I wish we had a better scanner. These were professionally taken by MJT Designs at the Cajun Nationals and Texas State Championship Finals. Our scanner doesn't do these great shots justice. Enjoy!

Peace! Shane

Recent Happenings

These are some of the pictures that we had taken recently of Bryce and Jacob. It took a whole hour to get these. Jacob was a great help!

Our favorite picture is the one that I am using on the blog.

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Thursday, I took Jacob to get his permanent cast on. It is neon green. He loves the color green and just about has me talked into painting his room green. The problem with green is that his bedding has various shades of blue and tan in it so green doesn't match. I see some shopping in my future.

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Bryce had a doctor's appt. on Friday. He weighed in at 15 lbs 3 oz and was 24 1/2 inches long. He is such a big boy now. The appt. was to go over the tests that we had done on him. All tests were negative or normal. He is doing so well right now. The doctor and I agreed that it must be due to the Prevacid that he is on. Once we changed him to that med and upped the dose, he became a new baby. He is smiling lots, cooing, babbling, razzing. Our plan is to keep him on all meds until 6 months of age and then we can see if he is ready to come off of them.

Please keep his progress in your prayers. Also, pray for his sleep schedule. He is finally sleeping through the night but he thinks his day begins at 5am. We don't get him up until 6am so he goes in and out of sleep until 6am or later. This is hard on us. I am forced to go to bed early so that I can get up with him. Shane and I alternate the early mornings which is really helpful for me. Our hope is that as we get him going to bed earlier and earlier (we are at 9:15pm right now) he will sleep in later and later. But I just think he is wired for early morning wake up...Ugh!

BMX Track Claims One Broken Arm

You read it right, but the accident didn't even happen on the track, it happened on the stinkin' play set. Jacob was playing tag with some other boys on Saturday night at Pearland Speedway before the main event when he fell off of the play set and broke his arm. Apparently, he had climbed over the railing and was preparing to drop to the ground from the platform and his foot got stuck and he fell, breaking the fall with his arm and landing ultimately on his head. Some nice bystander carried Jacob about 50 yards to the stands where we were all sitting (Jacob weighs about 75 pounds) and handed over the sobbing youngster. Laura did what any good mother would do and panicked ;-) OK, she didn't panic, but let's just say that I don't get too worked up very easily over a hurt arm. I mean there weren't any protruding bones or anything. We put some ice on it and he proceeded to cry harder. We decided it was time to get out of there so Laura asked me to carry Jacob to the car, but they were calling my name for the main event; I was getting ready to miss my main, and I was in first place for the night (my first first place!) So I had Jacob start walking and instructed him to head straight to the car where I had planned to send my friend Larry to meet him, which is exactly the way it went down. I found Larry on the gate with Ethan and sent him straight to Jacob who had walked less than a minute on his own. Larry said he found him, not crying, but headed for the truck as instructed. As soon as he saw Larry, he started sobbing again. Larry is a motocross rider so he has seen his share of broken bones. Jacob wouldn't let go of his arm long enough for Larry to take a look. By the time, I got back to Jacob, he was still sobbing with Larry trying to check him out. I was probably separated from him for a whopping 3 minutes, but honestly, I did feel a bit guilty and did apologize for splitting on him while he was hurting. I know some of you are thinking, what a bad dad I am, well, its easy to look back and think of how we would do things different in any given situation. In hind site, I would have still raced given that the time was upon us but I should have just had Jacob wait in the stands for that three minutes and I could have came and picked everyone up with the truck. I knew he was going to be ok, and well... I did end up with first place :-) We ended up driving all the way back to our side of town to Cy-Fair hospital, where we were in and out in under 2 hours. Regardless of what you may have heard or experienced at Cy-Fair in the past, let me tell you, these folks have a well-oiled machine over there. They are extremely courteous and extremely efficient. Not sure if/when we will have another emergency visit, but if I have a choice, I will go back to Cy-Fair. The x-ray tech is not allowed to comment on the x-rays, but I knew it was broken when she said "hold on a minute, let me burn you a CD." I said "you just answered my question, thanks :-) Jacob has what they call a buckle fracture of the right radius bone, which is the most common type of fracture in kids. The doctor at the hospital said he would be in a cast for 4-6 weeks, but my research shows more like 3-4 for this type of fracture. He has a temporary cast and will see a pediatric orthopedic doctor this week for his permanent cast. We hope it comes of soon, so we can get back to training for the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, OK on Thanksgiving week. That is the big finale for the whole year and riders will be there from across the nation. This is "the year" for Jacob as he is at the top of his class as an 8 intermediate. He will be expert next year and the level of competition at that level is unbelievable. It becomes very difficult to even qualify for the main event at "The Grands." We expect it to be difficult this year as well and will be extremely happy just to see him qualify. Hopefully we will have the cast off and be riding soon. Here is the pic that says it all. You can see the break at the top of the left bone (radius) near the wrist.

Children's Museum Trip

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin Elan and I took the kids to the Children's Museum. Daniel is 2 and both babies (Bryce and Joy) turn 4 months old this week. Jacob was great at playing with and entertaining Daniel. Daniel especially loved playing in the ambulance. We didn't get to do everything as it is so big so we will have to go back soon.

Jacob is the checker and Daniel and Elan are checking out in the grocery store

Bryce along for the ride

Jacob building something that I think we didn't get to work right

Working hard


Jacob and Daniel....Daniel isn't quite sure what to think of his hyper older cousin :)