I love that other people have enough spare time to make my blog decorating super easy. While I love manipulating html and playing in photoshop, I simply do not have the time recently. So thank you Cutestblogontheblock! Someone else decorated both the header and the background, I just had to copy, paste and manipulate my own photos into the frame.
Or if you'd rather believe I'm super artsy fartsy and did it all while wrangling a toddler and a newborn, you are welcome to believe I am just that awesome (I really am that awesome, just... not today).
A bit of a crazy week here a the Smith house. Wednesday morning we got the wonderful news that our alternator had gone out. Luckily, family came to the rescue. Aunt Jen drove out to stay with us for a few days so James could drive her car too and from work, and my dad showed up Saturday morning to walk James through replacing the alternator ourselves (saving us $200 in labor costs). Surviving those three days without our van, though, was not fun!
It was a good thing Jen was here, it turns out. She had a flashlight and a working cell phone, two things that came in very handy when we lost power Friday night. The girls and I went to my mom's house, but returned around midnight since Cadence made it clear she would not sleep well at Nana's house. Luckily, power was back on a few hours after we got home, so we woke up with power. And first chance we go, we drove to Walmart and got a flashlight and a few candles just in case we have another blackout with the upcoming storms (so far we have not had a wind storm that hasn't resulted in a power outage in this area that I can think of...).
Saturday afternoon we also had a barbecue get together for some of James's friends (of course, I had a friend show up with them, so it was fun for me too!). Yummy food, good conversation, and three little kids to laugh at (only two, actually, Megan is still too young to do anything laugh worthy).
Oh, and after yet another nonstop fussy day or two in a row that had me about ready to lock myself in my room, I finally found the culprit. Cadence has seven teeth in front. I've been daily checking where the eighth is supposed to pop through with no results. Turns out, her molars decided to pop up before that 8th front tooth did. We already have one cutting through and the other side is just threatening too. Still no sight of that elusive 8th incisor though... A few doses of Motrin and a couple popsicles, and Cadence is back to her charming self.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
2 Month Checkup
We have Megan's stats! Our little weed has sprouted even more than her big sister did by this point. Our sweet, smiling, chunky little girl (not really chunky, just like Cadence was, she's in the upper percentile for height and lower for weight, long and skinny)
For your comparing pleasure:
Birth-
Height: 19.25"
Weight: 6 lb 1 oz
1 month-
Height: 21"
Weight: 7 lb 13 oz
Current-
Height: 24" (90th percentile)
Weight: 10 lb 8 oz (40th percentile)
For what it's worth, Cadence's 2 month measurements were 22.5" and 10 lb 11 oz. So, Megan is even longer and skinnier than her sister. Weird. Everyone keeps saying she's chunkier than Cadence. It's the face, I'm sure of it. Cadence never had those chubby cheeks and Megan was born with them. Either that, or everyone's remembering Megan's chicken legs from birth (but what else can you expect 4 weeks early?).
The doctor was impressed with her head control, though she stubbornly refused to show it off when he made her do the sit-up/pull-up. She was too fascinated by the wall behind her and looking around. So he flipped her onto her belly and sure enough, her head instantly went up and stayed up for the entire time he had her on her belly. Comments about "you're ready to crawl" got a groan from me that made him laugh. Our apartment feels cramped enough with Cadence always underfoot. Not sure how I'll handle Megan being underfoot too.
And she got her shots, poor girl. She was already fussing from being fed the first stuff, so when they put the needle into her poor leg she just took it up a notch. Well... several notches. Luckily, mom has the magic touch and a little bit of bouncing, a few kisses, and some comforting sounds had her relaxed enough to even smile at me while I got her redressed.
Still, can I say "holy cow" about Megan putting on almost 5 whole inches in 2 months? Even Cadence only stretched out 3 by this point. Eeks! Megan may catch up and pass Cadence in height if she keeps this rate up...
For your comparing pleasure:
Birth-
Height: 19.25"
Weight: 6 lb 1 oz
1 month-
Height: 21"
Weight: 7 lb 13 oz
Current-
Height: 24" (90th percentile)
Weight: 10 lb 8 oz (40th percentile)
For what it's worth, Cadence's 2 month measurements were 22.5" and 10 lb 11 oz. So, Megan is even longer and skinnier than her sister. Weird. Everyone keeps saying she's chunkier than Cadence. It's the face, I'm sure of it. Cadence never had those chubby cheeks and Megan was born with them. Either that, or everyone's remembering Megan's chicken legs from birth (but what else can you expect 4 weeks early?).
The doctor was impressed with her head control, though she stubbornly refused to show it off when he made her do the sit-up/pull-up. She was too fascinated by the wall behind her and looking around. So he flipped her onto her belly and sure enough, her head instantly went up and stayed up for the entire time he had her on her belly. Comments about "you're ready to crawl" got a groan from me that made him laugh. Our apartment feels cramped enough with Cadence always underfoot. Not sure how I'll handle Megan being underfoot too.
And she got her shots, poor girl. She was already fussing from being fed the first stuff, so when they put the needle into her poor leg she just took it up a notch. Well... several notches. Luckily, mom has the magic touch and a little bit of bouncing, a few kisses, and some comforting sounds had her relaxed enough to even smile at me while I got her redressed.
Still, can I say "holy cow" about Megan putting on almost 5 whole inches in 2 months? Even Cadence only stretched out 3 by this point. Eeks! Megan may catch up and pass Cadence in height if she keeps this rate up...
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Photacular Updates
Cadence was twilighting after her nap and Megan was in a good mood, so I set Megan next to Cadence. Every time we said Cadence's name, even when she was half asleep, she'd smile. Eventually she woke up and grinned big when she saw I had the camera out. She was blissfully unaware her sister was at her side, as we discovered when she almost rolled over on her in her attempt to wiggle herself off of the couch. We quickly rescued Megan before her sister made a pancake out of her.
Megan is exactly 2 months old today! And she has gotten so big so quickly. Cadence's growth has finally slowed, so I'd forgotten just how quickly they sprout up when they're so young. She's smiling like crazy, as well. And last night she treated me out to six hours of uninterrupted sleep. Of course, she didn't go down until after midnight and I didn't get to bed until 1 (spoiled myself with a long, hot shower), but when I woke up and the sun was peeking through our window at 7am, I was thrilled. Fingers crossed for a repeat! It's the first step to several good night's rest for me.
Cadence is still being the most exciting of the two. This morning, we had to go drop Uncle Jon off at the church parking lot for the youth temple trip. We were literally the first ones there, so Cadence had plenty of time to run around. I sat in the front seat of the car as she did so (parked along the curb so she could play in the grass, rather than the parking lot). Every few minutes she'd run back to where I was and start babbling. She wasn't just making noises though. Her intonation followed almost perfect sentence rhythm and the like. She even asked questions and would pause for my response, then laugh and run away to think up another story to tell me. It was cracking me up.
Last night, James had the craving for cake as we went shopping to pick up infant's tylenol (Megan gets shots Tuesday morning, so we wanted to be prepared). I saw the rainbow chips frosting and got that one. James stubbornly insisted on carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. So we got both. However, as he left me in charge of actually making the cake, I made the Funfetti cake and left the carrot cake for later. Naturally, Cadence got a piece for snack this afternoon. We gave her a fork,which she's gotten pretty good at using, but she promptly threw it on the floor and picked the cake up with both hands.
And I have no story for this last pictures. I just adore Cadence's curls and I am crossing my finger she keeps them (and with her dad's genetics, it's likely, or so I'm told; James has yet to grow his hair out long enough to prove to me that it curls. His beard curls, though...):
Megan is exactly 2 months old today! And she has gotten so big so quickly. Cadence's growth has finally slowed, so I'd forgotten just how quickly they sprout up when they're so young. She's smiling like crazy, as well. And last night she treated me out to six hours of uninterrupted sleep. Of course, she didn't go down until after midnight and I didn't get to bed until 1 (spoiled myself with a long, hot shower), but when I woke up and the sun was peeking through our window at 7am, I was thrilled. Fingers crossed for a repeat! It's the first step to several good night's rest for me.
Cadence is still being the most exciting of the two. This morning, we had to go drop Uncle Jon off at the church parking lot for the youth temple trip. We were literally the first ones there, so Cadence had plenty of time to run around. I sat in the front seat of the car as she did so (parked along the curb so she could play in the grass, rather than the parking lot). Every few minutes she'd run back to where I was and start babbling. She wasn't just making noises though. Her intonation followed almost perfect sentence rhythm and the like. She even asked questions and would pause for my response, then laugh and run away to think up another story to tell me. It was cracking me up.Last night, James had the craving for cake as we went shopping to pick up infant's tylenol (Megan gets shots Tuesday morning, so we wanted to be prepared). I saw the rainbow chips frosting and got that one. James stubbornly insisted on carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. So we got both. However, as he left me in charge of actually making the cake, I made the Funfetti cake and left the carrot cake for later. Naturally, Cadence got a piece for snack this afternoon. We gave her a fork,which she's gotten pretty good at using, but she promptly threw it on the floor and picked the cake up with both hands.
And I have no story for this last pictures. I just adore Cadence's curls and I am crossing my finger she keeps them (and with her dad's genetics, it's likely, or so I'm told; James has yet to grow his hair out long enough to prove to me that it curls. His beard curls, though...):
Monday, January 11, 2010
Oh the places you will go!
Cadence has reached all sorts of milestones... rather quickly. And they're not the fun ones like first smile, or first laugh, or first shaky steps.
She's mastered climbing. Mastered it so well she kept getting mad when the pews at church were a smidge higher than our couch and chair at home and she couldn't get her leg high enough. All she needs is another 1/4" and I'm sure she'll have even that down. Unfortunately, the bookshelf with our paperbacks and the cat food is tucked in the corner with our chair blocking it. Or rather, the chair was blocking it. Now that Cadence can climb, neither the books nor the cat food are safe. We have to look into rearranging (though with how little wall space we have in our living room, I don't know how!).
Ah yes, Cadence can also climb into the computer chair. I downloaded a program called "Toddler Keys" that locks the cd-drives of the computer, the power button, and you can quickly lock the keyboard and mouse. It's a simple program. Once I lock the keyboard and mouse it switches to a black screen that displays random pictures and sounds I downloaded and put in a special folder with the program. Cadence loves it. She'll sit in the chair and press any key she wants. It's like the kneebouncers.com I raved about a little while back, except she can't accidentally press a key that messes things up. Nor can she touch the power button on the keyboard or tower and shut off the computer. The only way to do that is to use the start menu, which she hasn't mastered... yet.
She can, however, turn the TV on and off. And she loves practicing this skill. I almost have to have the remote nearby if I'm watching TV while feeding Megan, or my TV enjoyment is decided entirely on the Russian Roulette of when Cadence grows bored with the button. Fifty-fifty shot she'll leave it off as she runs away cackling.
And the one that has me the most nervous... she's figuring out doorknobs. I'm not sure she's ever successfully opened one. James suspects she has, as she has somehow gotten into our room when we're sure the door was closed. But none of the doors in this apartment close properly without a little effort (except Cadence's. Her closes very easily and she loves closing it), so I suspect she just had to push to open it. However, I have seen her getting onto her tippy toes and reaching for a good grasp on the front door. She's a little too smart, my girl is. We need to get in the habit of locking the deadbolt. Even during the day, it seems.
And final milestone: She's transitioned into her toddler bed. I thought we might have some issues, but she didn't. Only day 3 and she's sleeping in it like a pro, perfectly content. This morning, she did discover she can get herself out of bed and go play instead of waiting for me (previously she had to sit in her crib and wait for me). Hopefully, this doesn't become a 6am issue... I guess tomorrow morning will tell for sure! If she continues to sleep until 7:30-8am and then gets herself up, that's fine.
Oh wait, there's one more milestone: We're down to only one bottle a day, and that's only 4oz at night, right after bath time (keeps her calm while I get her dressed) and before bedtime. She gave up her naptime bottle without a fight and I recently dropped her morning bottle and went straight to breakfast. She's not too fond of the change yet. She's used to getting a bottle while I change her in the morning, but she'll figure it out soon and be happy with it. So yes, we're almost off the bottle entirely. Which leaves me with eight cans of formula in my pantry, hmm... Any readers formula feeding their kids?
On to Megan...
Megan's less of a terror, but becoming more of a handful. She's very much a people person. Toys and such do not hold her interest. She wants faces and voices and warm skin. She is smiling like crazy. And we have semi-successfully hammered out a schedule of sorts. Normally I'm all about baby-led schedules. Cadence always set her own schedule, but, then, Cadence slept well at night from day 1. Megan didn't. But a day or two of not letting her rest too peacefully during the day, and she slipped right into a routine that works for both of us. She's even sleeping well at night! The past three nights, she's slept for 3-4 hours straight from the time I put her down to when I carry her out into the front room in the morning, so only two feedings (and one of them is right before wake-up time, so if she could just sleep a little longer, we could possibly be down to only one!). Hopefully, the past 3 or 4 days haven't been a fluke.
ETA: For what it's worth, I started this entry about 7 hours before I actually published it. Unfortunately, I've been having computer problems that came to a head in the midst of writing it. Normally a restart, and 10-15 minutes of patience, is all I needed to get it up and running, but this time, the whole system just crashed. I used up my whole arsenal of tricks, with no luck. So I called in my dad, who came over. Ended up reformatting the entire thing. Luckily, I'd been expecting it and had everything backed up already. Now I have to redownload programs and the like, but hopefully the computer will function again!
She's mastered climbing. Mastered it so well she kept getting mad when the pews at church were a smidge higher than our couch and chair at home and she couldn't get her leg high enough. All she needs is another 1/4" and I'm sure she'll have even that down. Unfortunately, the bookshelf with our paperbacks and the cat food is tucked in the corner with our chair blocking it. Or rather, the chair was blocking it. Now that Cadence can climb, neither the books nor the cat food are safe. We have to look into rearranging (though with how little wall space we have in our living room, I don't know how!).
Ah yes, Cadence can also climb into the computer chair. I downloaded a program called "Toddler Keys" that locks the cd-drives of the computer, the power button, and you can quickly lock the keyboard and mouse. It's a simple program. Once I lock the keyboard and mouse it switches to a black screen that displays random pictures and sounds I downloaded and put in a special folder with the program. Cadence loves it. She'll sit in the chair and press any key she wants. It's like the kneebouncers.com I raved about a little while back, except she can't accidentally press a key that messes things up. Nor can she touch the power button on the keyboard or tower and shut off the computer. The only way to do that is to use the start menu, which she hasn't mastered... yet.
She can, however, turn the TV on and off. And she loves practicing this skill. I almost have to have the remote nearby if I'm watching TV while feeding Megan, or my TV enjoyment is decided entirely on the Russian Roulette of when Cadence grows bored with the button. Fifty-fifty shot she'll leave it off as she runs away cackling.
And the one that has me the most nervous... she's figuring out doorknobs. I'm not sure she's ever successfully opened one. James suspects she has, as she has somehow gotten into our room when we're sure the door was closed. But none of the doors in this apartment close properly without a little effort (except Cadence's. Her closes very easily and she loves closing it), so I suspect she just had to push to open it. However, I have seen her getting onto her tippy toes and reaching for a good grasp on the front door. She's a little too smart, my girl is. We need to get in the habit of locking the deadbolt. Even during the day, it seems.
And final milestone: She's transitioned into her toddler bed. I thought we might have some issues, but she didn't. Only day 3 and she's sleeping in it like a pro, perfectly content. This morning, she did discover she can get herself out of bed and go play instead of waiting for me (previously she had to sit in her crib and wait for me). Hopefully, this doesn't become a 6am issue... I guess tomorrow morning will tell for sure! If she continues to sleep until 7:30-8am and then gets herself up, that's fine.
Oh wait, there's one more milestone: We're down to only one bottle a day, and that's only 4oz at night, right after bath time (keeps her calm while I get her dressed) and before bedtime. She gave up her naptime bottle without a fight and I recently dropped her morning bottle and went straight to breakfast. She's not too fond of the change yet. She's used to getting a bottle while I change her in the morning, but she'll figure it out soon and be happy with it. So yes, we're almost off the bottle entirely. Which leaves me with eight cans of formula in my pantry, hmm... Any readers formula feeding their kids?
On to Megan...
Megan's less of a terror, but becoming more of a handful. She's very much a people person. Toys and such do not hold her interest. She wants faces and voices and warm skin. She is smiling like crazy. And we have semi-successfully hammered out a schedule of sorts. Normally I'm all about baby-led schedules. Cadence always set her own schedule, but, then, Cadence slept well at night from day 1. Megan didn't. But a day or two of not letting her rest too peacefully during the day, and she slipped right into a routine that works for both of us. She's even sleeping well at night! The past three nights, she's slept for 3-4 hours straight from the time I put her down to when I carry her out into the front room in the morning, so only two feedings (and one of them is right before wake-up time, so if she could just sleep a little longer, we could possibly be down to only one!). Hopefully, the past 3 or 4 days haven't been a fluke.
ETA: For what it's worth, I started this entry about 7 hours before I actually published it. Unfortunately, I've been having computer problems that came to a head in the midst of writing it. Normally a restart, and 10-15 minutes of patience, is all I needed to get it up and running, but this time, the whole system just crashed. I used up my whole arsenal of tricks, with no luck. So I called in my dad, who came over. Ended up reformatting the entire thing. Luckily, I'd been expecting it and had everything backed up already. Now I have to redownload programs and the like, but hopefully the computer will function again!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Sparkly and new: 2010 (and some 2009 pictures)
We'll start with the only reason people even stop by this blog. Recent pictures (well, New Years Eve day recent): 
A week of silence... It was not on purpose. Naturally, the night before New Years Eve, my modem up and dies. I called first thing the next morning. But between the holiday and the weekend the "3-4 days" delivery took about a week. Can't complain too much, I suppose. Could've happened on Christmas when there'd be 2 holidays to contend with! Anyway, I'm back and ready to blog.
It's funny, I've been such a slacker with taking pictures over the past year, but now that I have a decent camera, I've gone and taken 75 pictures this past month alone. Granted, we had Christmas and Christmas parties to bring a camera to, but still!
Cadence is learning words like crazy and doing even better at making up her own. Her favorite thing to do is meow everytime she sees a cat (picture or real). "Yish" is yes; "Da" is done; "Addy" I think is Daddy. She's taken to dancing whenever she hears music now, which is cracking us up. I thought she'd never hit that stage, but she has hit it with a vengeance and dances all the time. She'll laugh when you laugh. She immediately claps her hands and says "yay" when she hears other applause. And since I'm too busy to read to her every time she gets the whim, she's starting to read to herself as well! She'll plop in the middle of the floor and flip through a book and talk to herself. It's absolutely adorable.
Her next big step is to move into her toddler bed. We're buying it this weekend. We're giving ourselves about a month to get her transitioned to it. Hopefully it doesn't take much longer than that. From what I've heard, the transition should be pretty smooth, but we're still working on some last minute sleep training and she is a little young for the move, but she's starting to climb everything, including attempts to climb out of the bathtub. The crib is still a touch high for her for it to be a real problem yet, but she's sprouting up so fast (I swear she's shot up 3 inches since her first birthday) we're following the "better safe than sorry" parenting mantra.
Megan is dedicated to taking up all my spare time. She refuses to set her own schedule. Probably my fault. It was easy to recognize Cadence's natural schedule and go with it, since she was all I had to focus on all day when she was littler. Poor Megan. I'm so distracted by Cadence half the time I don't remember to watch for her natural schedule so I can go with that flow. Still, she's spending a lot more time awake and she's been giving out sleepy, crooked little smiles for a couple weeks now. She has no interest in the toys and books I shake at her. She's more intrigued by the pictures on the wall, her sister, and my face. She's a noisy little girl too. She talks, grunts, and whimpers in her sleep almost nonstop. She already has a strange throaty squeal that she uses to talk to us when she's awake and wiggles as much as she did before she was born. She wiggles so much keeping her covered is a pain. Hopefully over the next week or two I'll be able to understand her schedule and we'll all be much happier for it. I can't believe she'll be 2 months old in a week!
As far as updates on James and myself, there is little to tell... so far. We're waiting on big news about James's future that will have a drastic effect on our family. We were expecting the final news yesterday, but turns out we have to wait a big longer. The biggest change in my life, other than my children's milestones, is that I've started an exercise routine that's kicking my butt. Only been 2 days, so I'm probably whining prematurely. But if it's a success, I may be bragging about it in a month or so. If it's a complete failure you won't hear another word about it.
I guess I should get a little sappy sentimental about the new year before I end, this being the first post of the year and all. It's funny how much can happen in only a year. Every January you look forward, but you can never really see where you'll be a year from now. This time last year, I was debating having another child so soon, but wouldn't have dreamed it would happen so quickly for us. This time last year, I was anticipating financial comfort, instead we limped through a year harder than the year before. Oh yes, 2009 was not what I expected Written last year:
"I don't see 2009 bringing quite as many life-changing events, but I do have high hopes of it being a rather pleasant year. Pleasant in a quiet way. Nothing too monumental happening, but I hope I'll be able to look back a year from now and feel a sense of peace and contentment."
Funny... 2009 brought just as many changes as 2008 did. And looking back, there is a bit of peace and contentment, but it was not quietly pleasant. It was stressful, strenuous, and daunting. The peace and contentment is my being pleased that we survived it as strongly as we did. Of course, I'm hoping for big changes here in 2010, so who knows? Maybe this'll be my "pleasant in a quiet way" year that last year was supposed to be when I wasn't expecting any big changes...
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas Haul 2009
Chris
tmas is a great reason to post lots of pictures. And I've done my best to stock up! I'm not the greatest at taking pictures. Though, thanks to a generous gift of my brand new digital camera from Reilly and Elyse, I have a camera that has enough battery life to make carrying it around worth my while. So I'm getting better and taking random pictures, such as absolutely adorable pictures of Megan sleeping (in the gasp-eliciting non-AAP-allowed belly sleeping position at the tender age of only 5 weeks old).
And showing off the extra creative picture frame I put together for my mom's Christmas present. For those that don't care to enlarge it to see what the main frame says, it says "Why I had kids... Grandkids". Though, I believe my mom always said she had kids to do the chores for her. Not that we were very good at doing the chores...
Anyway, unfortunately, James had to work Christmas Eve this year. There is a bit of "hooray" with that, because he had to work Christmas Eve due to a large amount of work to be done. While it ruined our Christmas Eve, it does mean there's enough work that he's getting his overtime back for the first time since March. I'm excited. It's just in time for a few extra added expenses (like the toddler bed Cadence will be moving into in the next few weeks, so that she is used to the bed and the crib is ready and waiting for Megan when the time comes).
So, Cadence, Mega
n, and I spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house. A delicious typical Christmas dinner spread of turkey, mashed potatoes, ham, and all sorts of other go
odies. Cadence got to open her presents from Nana, Poppa, and her Grandpa. All of them got noisy toys. Grandpa does it on purpose to by a butthead, and admits so. Nana and Poppa just got Cadence the toy because they thought she'd love it. And she does! The talking puppy is her favorite toy right now. She's adored it each time we stopped to play with it at the store, so when I heard they'd gotten it for her I was thrilled. It was definitely on my list of things to buy before too long.
Christmas morning and most of Christmas day was spent at home, just our family. Cadence didn't do too we
ll with the present opening. She kept getting distracted by that darn puppy that Nana had given her the night before! Her stocking from Sa
nta ended up having to be dumped by me. On a high note, the hand mirror did get her to temporarily ditch the singing dog, and she was fascinated by the toy doctor kit. And when she opened the brightly colored back of Mega Blocks and we showed her how they fit together she did put everything down and try her own hand at it for awhile. The Magna Doodle, however was no competition, especially since she stubbornly insisted on trying to draw with the wrong side of the magnet pen! When no lines appeared for all her hard work, she lost interest very quickly. For Christmas evening, we tried a new ham recipe consisting of oranges and cinnamon sticks. Then we returned to my mom's house in hopes of hearing from Seth, who's in the Phillipines on his mission. No luck there, so we went home without talking to him. I'm sure we'll get an explanation as to why in his email on Monday!
Today, Sunday, we drove out to Taft for our final bit of holiday cheer with James's family. Cadence
loved seeing her uncles. Uncle Jon was even allowed to share her blanket with her for awhile. And Uncle Jared was allowed to hold her MagnaDoodle for a short period of time before it had to be returned to Uncle Jon. Megan spent the afternoon being passed around and spoiled, as only a newborn can be spoiled. Cadence unwrapped (okay, okay, I unwrapped and showed her) a ton of new toys, including two new baby dolls which she immediately began playing with. Overall, Cadence and Megan made out pretty well as far as toys go this year! I do believe they doubled the amount of space necessary for toys. It's a good thing James and I got more storage spaces a few weeks ago!
And, last but not least, a few updated pictures of Megan. No longwinded summary here, just pictures of her lazy smile (which is starting to show more often) and her in general (cleaning out Cadence's room unearthed some of my favorite newborn-sized pajamas, so yay!):
tmas is a great reason to post lots of pictures. And I've done my best to stock up! I'm not the greatest at taking pictures. Though, thanks to a generous gift of my brand new digital camera from Reilly and Elyse, I have a camera that has enough battery life to make carrying it around worth my while. So I'm getting better and taking random pictures, such as absolutely adorable pictures of Megan sleeping (in the gasp-eliciting non-AAP-allowed belly sleeping position at the tender age of only 5 weeks old).
And showing off the extra creative picture frame I put together for my mom's Christmas present. For those that don't care to enlarge it to see what the main frame says, it says "Why I had kids... Grandkids". Though, I believe my mom always said she had kids to do the chores for her. Not that we were very good at doing the chores...Anyway, unfortunately, James had to work Christmas Eve this year. There is a bit of "hooray" with that, because he had to work Christmas Eve due to a large amount of work to be done. While it ruined our Christmas Eve, it does mean there's enough work that he's getting his overtime back for the first time since March. I'm excited. It's just in time for a few extra added expenses (like the toddler bed Cadence will be moving into in the next few weeks, so that she is used to the bed and the crib is ready and waiting for Megan when the time comes).
So, Cadence, Mega
n, and I spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house. A delicious typical Christmas dinner spread of turkey, mashed potatoes, ham, and all sorts of other go
odies. Cadence got to open her presents from Nana, Poppa, and her Grandpa. All of them got noisy toys. Grandpa does it on purpose to by a butthead, and admits so. Nana and Poppa just got Cadence the toy because they thought she'd love it. And she does! The talking puppy is her favorite toy right now. She's adored it each time we stopped to play with it at the store, so when I heard they'd gotten it for her I was thrilled. It was definitely on my list of things to buy before too long.Christmas morning and most of Christmas day was spent at home, just our family. Cadence didn't do too we
ll with the present opening. She kept getting distracted by that darn puppy that Nana had given her the night before! Her stocking from Sa
nta ended up having to be dumped by me. On a high note, the hand mirror did get her to temporarily ditch the singing dog, and she was fascinated by the toy doctor kit. And when she opened the brightly colored back of Mega Blocks and we showed her how they fit together she did put everything down and try her own hand at it for awhile. The Magna Doodle, however was no competition, especially since she stubbornly insisted on trying to draw with the wrong side of the magnet pen! When no lines appeared for all her hard work, she lost interest very quickly. For Christmas evening, we tried a new ham recipe consisting of oranges and cinnamon sticks. Then we returned to my mom's house in hopes of hearing from Seth, who's in the Phillipines on his mission. No luck there, so we went home without talking to him. I'm sure we'll get an explanation as to why in his email on Monday!Today, Sunday, we drove out to Taft for our final bit of holiday cheer with James's family. Cadence
loved seeing her uncles. Uncle Jon was even allowed to share her blanket with her for awhile. And Uncle Jared was allowed to hold her MagnaDoodle for a short period of time before it had to be returned to Uncle Jon. Megan spent the afternoon being passed around and spoiled, as only a newborn can be spoiled. Cadence unwrapped (okay, okay, I unwrapped and showed her) a ton of new toys, including two new baby dolls which she immediately began playing with. Overall, Cadence and Megan made out pretty well as far as toys go this year! I do believe they doubled the amount of space necessary for toys. It's a good thing James and I got more storage spaces a few weeks ago!And, last but not least, a few updated pictures of Megan. No longwinded summary here, just pictures of her lazy smile (which is starting to show more often) and her in general (cleaning out Cadence's room unearthed some of my favorite newborn-sized pajamas, so yay!):
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Clayborn Family Reunion Lunch
Last Saturday we enjoyed a family potluck lunch for James's grandmother's family. Lots of good food, a ton of people none of us really knew. Honestly, we only went so James's grandmother and mom could show off the kids. James's brother from Porterville also showed up with his little girl, Sydney, who's a little over a month younger than Cadence. They didn't play too well together, but no real fights broke out. At one point Cadence began herding Sydney away from us and out of sight. James's brother quickly rescued his daughter. Who knew what Cadence would do to the poor girl once she had her out of adult sight! Hehe.
And, as always, Cadence charmed every one who saw her. Megan slept quietly and got cooed over by all the great great aunts. I got frequently reminded how great I looked for having just given birth. And every one swore up and down both girls would end up with their dad's red hair (even though Cadence is currently going blond like me...). Anyway, a few pictures from the luncheon (and one that's just cute):
Cadence stealing her cousin's toy:
James and Cadence walking before the lunch (doncha LOVE Cady's red coat?):
And Cadence just playing in Nana's back yard:
And, as always, Cadence charmed every one who saw her. Megan slept quietly and got cooed over by all the great great aunts. I got frequently reminded how great I looked for having just given birth. And every one swore up and down both girls would end up with their dad's red hair (even though Cadence is currently going blond like me...). Anyway, a few pictures from the luncheon (and one that's just cute):
Megan and her great grandmother:
Cadence stealing her cousin's toy:
James and Cadence walking before the lunch (doncha LOVE Cady's red coat?):
And Cadence just playing in Nana's back yard:
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Great-Grandpa Visit
We got a surprise visit from my dad's dad this week! He and his wife made it into town for a friend's funeral and he took advantage of the opportunity to come visit us. It's been about 2 1/2 years since we saw him last. He came by our apartment early in the morning to be sure he met two of his great granddaughters for the first time, just in case I couldn't make it to mom's house when he went by to visit. As it was, I did make it.For what it's worth, Cadence did like Grandpa, she was just extremely tired and wanted the dancing Santa Claus:
Glad I made it to mom's, too. I've been agonizing over what to get/make my mom for Christmas. I finally got a great idea by flipping through a Deseret Books catalog. I didn't pick anything out of it to recreate/buy. Instead, I saw something that got my brain going until I came up with the idea. Now I just need to track down the stuff. I'll be sure to take pictures to show it off if it turns out. But the pictures won't be up until after Christmas.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Doctor appointment
I was so proud of myself. I got up at 8, got both girls up, fed, and dressed and made it to Megan's 8:40 appointment on time. :-) Seriously, there should have been a gold star waiting for me at the receptionist's desk. Alas, no congratulatory pat on the back, only a $10 co-pay and instructions on where to wait. *sigh*
Cadence charmed everyone from the get-go, and even stole the doctor's attention from Megan more than once. Hopefully Megan doesn't suffer too much from being in her big sister's attention-stealing shadow. Once Megan starts playing more, I'm sure the attention will be shared equally...
Anyway, chunky Megan has put on a full 1 pound and 12 ounces over the past 4 weeks, as well as almost 2 full inches. For those of you who do not wish to do the math:
Birth
Height: 19.25"
Weight: 6 lbs 1 oz
4 weeks:
Height: 21"
Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz
The doctor tried to get permission for me to get the H1N1 vaccination since I'm breastfeeding Megan and that's the only way to get her vaccinated from it, but as I am not on the same insurance as the girls, it was apparently a no go. However, since Cadence did get his attention, he did ask if she'd been vaccinated. I'm not super worried about H1N1, though I understand it can really hit little kids hard. At first I was wary of the new vaccine, but when Cady's pediatrician said he had done his own personal research and chose to get his kids vaccinated, I figured I could trust him (if he was just recommending it, I'd still be wary, but as he did the research and chose to get his kids vaccinated, it carries a little more weight with me). So, even though the appointment was for Megan, Cadence was the one getting pinned down and stuck with a needle. Poor girl.
She did get a sticker. Not for getting the shot. The nurses outside of Megan's appointment were just so charmed by her they insisted on giving her one. The nurse that gave her the shot helped me out to our car, since Cadence was having a melt down. We both laughed when she kept crying until the nurse began walking away. Once the "wicked woman" was gone, Cadence only had a few more sniffles to get out before my cell phone was enough of a distraction to get her talking and laughing again.
Anyway, to make up for the whole ordeal, James watched Megan for me and Cadence and I went on a shopping trip, just the two of us, to pick up one or two more things for Christmas. Christmas shopping isn't quite done. James and I still get to go stocking stuffer shopping at the dollar store (lots of fun, take $5-10 and go crazy getting random, pointless stocking stuffers for each other, and, well, no for Cadence and Megan too). And over the next week or so I'm going to be making candy, though I need to pester my mom about coming over and supervising me while I make divinity for the first time (well, second, the first time i totally didn't beat the egg whites long enough). But, part of some Christmas presents this year is chocolate covered pretzels, divinity, and butter toffee. Yum, yum!
Cadence charmed everyone from the get-go, and even stole the doctor's attention from Megan more than once. Hopefully Megan doesn't suffer too much from being in her big sister's attention-stealing shadow. Once Megan starts playing more, I'm sure the attention will be shared equally...
Anyway, chunky Megan has put on a full 1 pound and 12 ounces over the past 4 weeks, as well as almost 2 full inches. For those of you who do not wish to do the math:
Birth
Height: 19.25"
Weight: 6 lbs 1 oz
4 weeks:
Height: 21"
Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz
The doctor tried to get permission for me to get the H1N1 vaccination since I'm breastfeeding Megan and that's the only way to get her vaccinated from it, but as I am not on the same insurance as the girls, it was apparently a no go. However, since Cadence did get his attention, he did ask if she'd been vaccinated. I'm not super worried about H1N1, though I understand it can really hit little kids hard. At first I was wary of the new vaccine, but when Cady's pediatrician said he had done his own personal research and chose to get his kids vaccinated, I figured I could trust him (if he was just recommending it, I'd still be wary, but as he did the research and chose to get his kids vaccinated, it carries a little more weight with me). So, even though the appointment was for Megan, Cadence was the one getting pinned down and stuck with a needle. Poor girl.
She did get a sticker. Not for getting the shot. The nurses outside of Megan's appointment were just so charmed by her they insisted on giving her one. The nurse that gave her the shot helped me out to our car, since Cadence was having a melt down. We both laughed when she kept crying until the nurse began walking away. Once the "wicked woman" was gone, Cadence only had a few more sniffles to get out before my cell phone was enough of a distraction to get her talking and laughing again.
Anyway, to make up for the whole ordeal, James watched Megan for me and Cadence and I went on a shopping trip, just the two of us, to pick up one or two more things for Christmas. Christmas shopping isn't quite done. James and I still get to go stocking stuffer shopping at the dollar store (lots of fun, take $5-10 and go crazy getting random, pointless stocking stuffers for each other, and, well, no for Cadence and Megan too). And over the next week or so I'm going to be making candy, though I need to pester my mom about coming over and supervising me while I make divinity for the first time (well, second, the first time i totally didn't beat the egg whites long enough). But, part of some Christmas presents this year is chocolate covered pretzels, divinity, and butter toffee. Yum, yum!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Everyday updates
9pm at night and Cadence refuses to sit still long enough to fall asleep and I'm too tired to fight her on it. She went down for a nap late and woke up late as a result. So I expected a fight with bedtime. I should really just got off the computer and go hold her down and let her scream until she gives up and falls asleep. She's tired. She just won't admit it right now. Luckily Megan is far more cooperative.Anyway, Megan is 4 weeks old today. Tomorrow we go in for a quick check-up. Kaiser likes to see newborns at 3 days and 2 weeks old, then again at 2 months for vaccinations. However, since insurance wasn't sorted out until she was past 2 weeks old, they decided to do a 1-month check up instead. So, we should be able to get some nice stats to see how much she's grown over the past 4 weeks. I think she's gotten bigger. At the very least, she doesn't look so silly in newborn sized clothes and the preemie sizes are getting too small (they were always just a touch too short, but now they're tight all around). I just wish the newborn sizes would fit properly. This in between stage kind of sucks.
Cadence has mastered a few new things. Most importantly, she's mastered the word "Uh-oh". It was cute... until she got smart alecky with it. It is no longer uncommon for her to drop something on purpose and cheerfully chirp "uh-oh". It's making bathtime messy. And dinner time.
Her love of books is proving helpful as well with other words, not that she has any of them mastered. She says "puppy" and "fish", but not when looking at the picture. Unfortunately, I think she thinks the words go with books in general, since "puppy" and "fish" are what show up most often in her favorite books. We took her to the pound to introduce her to some real puppies. She was fascinated. Oddly enough, she could have cared less about the small dogs. She was thrilled with the bigger ones and I had to fight to keep her fingers out of the cages. Of course, when she saw the cats, she was quick to meow at them, something she doesn't do half as often as she used to.
Speaking of cats, our household is one cat smaller now. Sadly, after a lot of talk, James and I agreed to find Conan a new home. He went to a new family who were thrilled to get him. We miss him, but our other two cats have really come out of their shells with the bully gone. Plus, without that 20lb monster under foot at all times, the apartment feels less cramped. Funny how that is. Now the only 20lb monster under foot is the one on two feet.
Oh yes, Cadence has also mostly mastered cups. She's still very talented at spilling them when she's bored with them, so she still gets sippy cups, but if you're drinking from a cup and she sees it, she demands her fair share. And as we learned at my mom's ward's Christmas party, if she sees two cups, well... she wants both of them (she attempted a third, but when every attempt failed, she settled for two). This was, of course, after she stole bites off of everyone's plate (she's also gotten really good at wielding a fork):
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