Snow Baby (a week late, as usual)

Cadence really loved watching the snow Friday the 18th. We were home all day so we got to watch it start, and build, and she kept wanting me to take her on the back deck and watch it fall.
We didn't go out to play in it until Saturday and then she was not such a fan. It had kind of crusted over and it was hard for her to walk, but she liked watching the neighbor kids play in it a bit. Plus, how cute is she is her little snowsuit?

Cadie's pretend play

Here on the eve of Cadie's 15 month birthday, we've been noticing that she's doing pretend play. A little at least. I took this picture last week of her with a new baby doll her Dassa gave her. Almost right away, Cadie started calling it "baby" and wanted to put her blanket on it. She picks it up and hugs it, and I can see how before we know it, we'll be wanting to get her a doll bed and accessories so she can care for her dollies.

Today she found our little remote control. She was carrying it around when I noticed that she was holding to the side of her face and saying "Hi, Daddy! Hi, Daddy! Hi, Daddy!" We've already bought her a toy phone for Christmas, so she'll love that.

I am enjoying being home with her during the day. It'll be really great once we settle into a routine - last week was weird working both jobs and this week we've had other things going on some days too. I actually woke up this morning at some point and thought - I have to get up to get Cadie to school! Then I remembered happily that she doesn't go to day care anymore.

Still, I'm really looking forward to Christmas break when I'll have a good chunk of time with no work at all. Yea!

what a week...

Before I'm off to work this morning, I wanted to post to document how tired I am! I fell asleep on the couch two evenings this week. Good news is this should be my last Saturday working for a long, long time since I got a new job as an evening librarian at a university. In just a couple weeks, Cadie will be home with me during the day and not in daycare. I'll be dealing with significantly less crazy people (had an unpleasant altercation with a man looking at inappropriate images on a library computer yesterday) and doing more research oriented work.

Between resigning and starting to say my goodbyes and trying to get ready for my new position, I just need to relax! I'm excited for several days off next week for Thanksgiving and my birthday.

Halloween, a week late

Last year, Cadence pretty much hated the Fall Festival at church (of course, she was not even 2 months old). This year, it went a lot better. We started with a cute costume. She was "Cadie-bug the Lady-Bug." Her costume was adorable, but she wasn't sure about it at first. I think it just felt really different from her regular clothes. She was trying to take off her antennae headbead for awhile, then seemed to get used to it.

We had a bug theme with our outfits. I was a bee, and Matt was a Beatle. Get it? That's the Beatle suit he bought for our friends Rick and Chrissy's wedding this summer. He'll be wearing it every Halloween from now on...because that's the most expensive suit he owns.

She liked watching the big kids play games and listening to the music on the CD player by the cake walk.
When it came time for the trunk-or-treating in the church parking lot, Cadie didn't really get it. She just wanted to walk up and down the aisles. If you look at her hands in this last picture though, I think she shows her true colors. (She's got a sweet tooth, we just haven't let her discover it yet.)
That's a Hershey bar in one hand and a chocolate coin in the other. We didn't let her eat them. She had some mini M&M's and liked them.

Cooking

I used to really like to cook. I know that when we got married I wasn't great, but I've been honing my skills and can whip up some pretty good stuff. Seems like the last few months I've lost my cooking mojo. We've been eating a lot of frozen stuff and really quick things that don't involve actual cooking, but just boiling water (tortellini, I'm looking at you).

Sunday I tried to turn that trend around. I'd seen a recipe for macaroni and cheese with roasted butternut squash in the latest issue of Parents magazine and was feeling inspired. I thought it sounded yummy and I've started looking for more ways to get Matt, and Cadence, to eat veggies. So after I made lunch (marinated salmon and brown rice) and they went down for naps, I got cooking. I roasted the butternut squash. Which, by the way, is great on it's own, but also very good in mac and cheese.

Then I chopped veggies for lentil and tomato soup, which was really easy in the crockpot. I'm a fan of recipes that just involved dumping everything in a pot.

So, at the end of the cooking session, I had two meals that have been feeding us for days. (Well, I'm the only one eating the soup. I think Matt and Cadie are not into lentils.) It was a really great feeling to be in the quiet kitchen, just accomplishing something that filled up our bellies. I had time to think about discussions from church that morning. It turned out to be rather meditative. I've got to do this again sometime...

These are mainly for Dassa

Matt's mom gave Cadie this dress for her birthday and she wore it on Sunday. I feel like I should post more stuff here, and I'm home today because Cadie is kinda sick. Low fever, coughing some, so we kept her home. Anyway, being home I have time to post pictures during her nap. So here they are. The dress looks wet on the shoulder because she got yogurt on it during breakfast. (Next, I'm mending a hole in a sweater that's been needing to be fixed for about 9 months!)

Vintage Cadie

These photos were taken weeks ago, but they are so cute. Cadence was having a blast playing, wearing one of the staples of her fall wardrobe - my osh kosh overalls, which are now almost 30 years old.

Cadence is also totally walking now - she started walking more than crawling a couple of weeks ago. She's gotten really fast over the last few days.

Cadie has moved up to the Ones class

There is big doings for our girl this week. She "visited" the ones class at daycare yesterday, which just meant Matt dropped her off at the infants class and they walked her down the hall to her new class. She did really well, eating at a little table instead of her high chair, and sleeping on a cot instead of a crib. Making new friends and participating in music and art time too!

Today she was not quite as excited when I took her directly to the Ones room. There was a little bit of whimpering and holding on to Mama's neck. But then I walked her over to the table where her breakfast was waiting, took off her jacket, and got her seated, and she started chowing down. She's a girl after my own heart; getting to eat a biscuit really helps in a scary situation.

We had a problem with the internet at home, so no recent pictures until that gets fixed.

Cadence proudly presents some pictures of her 1st birthday

Pssst...hey you! Want to see some pictures of my birthday party? I'm not smiling in any of them, but it was great! My Nana and Dadder came from Georgia, and my Dassa from Florida just to celebrate. My friends Meredith and Cooper came and they even brought their parents.

Mama made me a birthday crown, but I didn't wear it much.


Meredith got her daddy to wear it.

I got some great presents.





Mama made me cupcakes, and I didn't even make a mess. I ate mine very lady-like...frosting first.





Mama and Daddy got me a piano of my own!

I hear we get to do this again next year!

Countdown to 1!

Before we can celebrate in style I need to:

wrap one more gift
finish a special sewing project
make cupcakes
make mac n cheese that's not from a box
hit the grocery store one more time
get Matt to take care of a music situation

And tomorrow our baby is ONE!

Cadie's first haircut was a couple weeks ago

and I'm just now getting the time to post a few pictures. This is old news, people, but it's CUTE news, right?
Can you see how long it was in the back? She was sporting a baby mullet. Not the best look for her.
This was after I tried to cut it myself on Friday night (actually, this was the day she took her first step). Not a good plan. You can see it was not very even. Matt kindly waited for me to come to the opinion we visit a professional before suggesting it himself.

It's pretty cute now. The lady at Great Clips didn't act like cutting a baby's hair was any different than a normal haircut and she didn't just even out the back, she trimmed it up all over. My parents called it a "pixie cut".

Cadie still hasn't taken more than one step without holding on to something. I feel like that first step was kind of a false alarm. She's got plenty of time to start walking though.

Cadie took her first step today!

And then she sat down. But I had the day off, so I was here to see it, and that means A LOT.

A funny that's a little sad too

Today when I arrived home from work, I discovered that Matt had folded a basket of dirty laundry left downstairs - for the second time in less than a month! What does this say about the chaos of our schedules?

Cadie loves her books

Hey Mom!

I'm looking at my books.

I love to flip the pages, especially in this one.

Did you know about this? Great pictures on every page!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is my favorite! Let's read it again.

New toy

Cadence got a new toy from her daddy a few weeks ago. She's still working on the walking thing - we've had VBS this week and visits from friends and a brief trip to mountains, so we haven't had a lot of play time lately. She loves this thing, not only when she's pushing it or fiddling with the movable parts on, but also when she sits on it (it turns into a riding toy) and we push her around. She laughs like crazy!

Now the beach pics...

My grandma is doing better and hopefully will be out of the hospital sometime next week. I went to bed at 8:30 last night and felt much better today. Cadence turned 10 months old yesterday and got a new tooth (her 6th) today. Most of today was spent running errands and doing chores, but that's okay.

We really had a wonderful trip to my grandparents' beach house last week. (This is the other grandmother, my Nana.) I have so many happy memories and good feelings about visiting this old house, that it's inevitable I have a great time whenever I return. We enjoy the sand and the waves, but we also enjoy talking with my Nana and Dado, and we got to visit with my Aunt Pami and Uncle Rick too. Cadence, of course, loved to socialize with well-loved relatives we just don't get to see enough. And, she really liked the ocean. She sat in my lap with her toes in sand, just digging them in and out, for quite a while.

Anyway, I think the pictures tell a lot of the story...