Spring has Sprung

Here are the pictures we took in early May. As you can tell Cadence was thrilled to be in pictures with us - haha. At least she did well with her individual shots. OH YEAH - Cadence has her first tooth!!! And it looks like she will have 5 others really soon. She also prefers to cruise rather than crawling, she is getting very good at going between the couch and the chair without wobbling. She is also very fast at crawling and really likes to copy what ever actions you do. Cadence looks like she is trying to do some signs back to me - or that could be wishful thinking, either way, very exciting things happening around here.

New Trick

Cadence has found out how much fun laundry is. Her version is pulling all the clothes out of the laundry (drawers, dirty clothes basket, bags etc.) she throws them over her shoulders with much gusto. I will try to load the video. The bottom picture is of Cadence trying to get into the dog corner. She really wants to be in there.

Front Door Fun

I was pulling weeds from the flower bed in front of our home and Cadence was looking out the door. She didn't know I was there and was very pleasantly surprised when I came over to talk to her. Now (it has been almost a week since these pictures) she loves to look out the door all the time :). Cadence also would put her hand were I put mine - CUTE!

Mother's Day 2009

This is Ryan, Cadence and I at lunch on Mother's Day. Then Doug and Bonnie jumped in for a snapshot!

This is Cadence and I at the Mother's Day picnic. I have other pictures but I do not know how to download them off our video camera!

Baby's Best Friend

Cadence has discovered the dogs - more important to her is the one corner of the whole house that is off limits to her! She loves the "dog corner"! In fact, many minutes of her day are spent looking in and trying to figure out what is so great that is going on in there - usually the dogs are not even in there when she is staring.

Right before I took this picture I had stepped on the dog food and spilled it everywhere. At least I cleaned the bathrooms and showers today! Does that make up for the dog mess?

Please, Tell Me the Couch is Shrinking!

I know this one is sideways but I cannot figure out how to flip it and since it is already posted...

The one on the top is a few weeks old, the one below is at about three months and the bottom was was taken in May so about 11 months old. I cannot believe how little she is but when I look back she was tiny then!

A Cute Shoe

Cadence was crawling away during this picture - so at least the shoe was in the middle of the frame, mostly.

Ode to Joyful Mothering

This post is made of up situations of myself and mothers I know - the names have been omitted just for fun and sometimes I forget what happened to who.

Moms are the only people who can:

• keep a straight face when their small child asks a totally innocent question about anatomy such as "when is sister going to grow her..." or "why don't you have a ... like daddy?"
• not be embarrassed when they are in public and figure out that they have (baby) snot on their shirt
• can drink caffeine and still go to sleep by 10:00 maybe 9:00
• can get 2 kids and themselves ready for church and still somehow beat their husbands to the car
• take a 15 minute shower alone and feel like they have been to a spa!
• see a flash of something in an infant's hand and grab it before it gets in the mouth (most of the time)
• talk on the phone, drive and hand something to a child in the backseat all at the same time (not recommended if you are a distracted driver already hahaha)
• think that going to the bathroom alone is a luxury
• laugh uncontrollably at something a small child says that to most people wouldn't think was that funny (it must be the stress of the job that has gotten to us or maybe the long hours :)
• convince a wiggly toddler to sit in the carseat - enough said (kids are strangely strong!)
• listen to a "kiddie" CD for a long car ride - just to keep the wailing down (have you heard those CDs???)
• have their hearts piratically stop when a medial situation comes up and your child is ill - but all the while stay strong for the family and take care of business
• make breast milk (that is a super power right??)
• get up at 6:30 AM to garage sale just to get a good deal on a few toys to save the family money even though we want to sleep until at least 7:30 :) but at least we get to have coffee, time with good friends and get out in the fresh air
• can name every baby food their baby has tried and if they liked it or not - but somehow cannot remember how to create a P.ower Point presentation (even though I have done it since college - I got it figured out but it took a while.)
• work all year long 24 hours a day and have only one day off (hopefully, Mother's Day) but would never never change "jobs" not for all the time off in the world :)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms I know - you in some way have all influenced me. I hope you all have a relaxing and wonderful day, you all deserve it! :) HECK - take a 20 minute shower!!!

Weekend Update

Cadence's new thing is to pull up on stuff and she started cruising on Sunday. It is really cute and a little bizarre to see her standing - it makes her look so much bigger!

She also likes to shake her head a lot which makes it hard to get a clear picture!

Cadence also drums on everything and is starting to copy us on actions not just sounds. In fact, she says "t" when I say that is hot (referring to food not a Paris Hilton type statement). And "d" when I talk about the dogs. Not that I think she is brilliant or anything...

Also, we think that her eyes are the "Laux part" of her looks. I was flipping through the camera and wondered out a picture of Lauren got on the card (whom we have not seen since October)- really, I get enough sleep it was just that the picture looks so much like our niece.

Not Me Mondays

I usually don't take time to share my stupid moments but these are too classic to not share!

I did not go to a fancy benefit dinner and meet someone new who had 8 children who were 28 years old down to 18 months and ask her if the last two were surprise babies. No, not me because that would be ridiculously rude and I never say things I don't mean to say. (In my defense, there was 10 years between the last of the oldest and the first of the youngest. And I happen to be married to a "surprise baby" and thus very fond of them. I also went on to explain my excitement over surprise babies but I digress...).

I did NOT feed my baby yogurt for 5 straight meals because I didn't make it to the store for a few days after her food ran out. No, I defiantly used the frozen veggies that I have stock piled in my little freezer for just such an occasion. Yes, that is what I did.

I defiantly did not contemplate celebrating my end of an intense workout program by going for ice cream or out to eat at my favorite restaurant. I would not do that after working super hard to lose weight for 4 months. In fact, I didn't even take a day off, I just went right into the maintenance program. Yes, I defiantly did. (I think I will just take a really long shower during her nap and shave my legs!! WAHOO, what a celebration!)

Ok, I think that is more than enough to say the least. I should go shower now to start my celebration day!!