Megan's Pictures

Megan was far more cooperative than her sister for her pictures. I was able to leave her with the photographer and chase down a grumpy Cadence and Megan didn't mind one bit. She took so many adorable pictures I agonized over which one to get. In the end, I got the one that her her smiling and her eyes most open (the very last in this arrangement), though it was a really hard final decision. I loved them all!

Look, Mom, pretty!!!

I got distracted with Megan and Cadence fussed at me. Without taking a good look, I reached out and took what she offered and was upset when I saw it was my new lipstick. I turned to give her a stern "No, mommy's, Cadence doesn't play with this" lecture, but had to grab my camera instead:

Cady's photo shoot

Cadence had a photo shoot this morning. Naturally, she was completely uncooperative. When she wasn't crying she was too busy trying to bring the props to me rather than posing with them. Which meant we were severely limited in choosing which picture to print. In the end, it came down to the bottom two pictured here. And though I like her smile in the second to last one, for some reason I liked the last one just a bit more (even though it's not a smile at all). I just thought the bottom one would like nicest on my wall, so that's the one we're getting full sized. She's still a cutie in all of them, though, smiles or not.

Cady got an "Oof, oof"

Last night, James and I decided we wanted to take Cadence to the pound to see the dogs. She's recently begun "oof, oofing" every time she sees a puppy on television. She adores animals in general. So we figured a trip to the pound to see real dogs was in order in an attempt to blow her mind. After a little more thought, I thought it'd be a better idea to go across town to the Petco because I knew they had dogs out and about and able to be pet from 10 to 3 on Saturdays. Not only could Cadence see puppies, she could even touch one!

We got there and Cadence enjoyed petting the overexcited terrier that almost bowled her over. We stared in awe at a couple's Irish Wolfhounds that were as big as some of the ponies I took care of at Rawhide Ranch during my camp counselor days (the dogs had to lower their heads to sniff at Cadence). In the midst of all this, we met Khloe. She was so sweet tempered, snuggled close for extra loves and even greeted Cadence with a kiss. We walked away, but found ourselves turning back and filling out the paperwork and bringing her home with us.

She's 2 years old with no discernible breed, so a purebred mutt. She's been very quiet. Not even a bark when someone knocks on the door. Cadence is fascinated with her, but she's a little nervous around Cadence. Khloe's even a little nervous around the cats. She just got fixed yesterday, so she's a little more docile than she would be otherwise. But she's a beautiful mutt. She's also about the biggest we could probably have in our apartment, which isn't too big, but she's bigger than she seems in the first picture. Just check out the second to see.

By the way, she reminds me so much of the dog I had growing up. She even has a similar coat pattern, except brown instead of black. So, yay, our daughters will have a dog growing up! We're all pretty happy with our newest addition.

Ticklish

So, we discovered that Megan is extremely ticklish. In the midst of one of our conversations, I tickled her side. She scrunched herself up like the little turtle she is and squealed. It was so cute I kept doing it. She rolled back and forth scrunching her legs up to her chest and laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. I'd pause for a few minutes and talk to her some more, wait for her to let her guard down, and tickle her again just to get the same reaction. It was a very fun 20 minutes for both of us. I laughed as much as she did!

She's such a talker, though! I always called Cadence a social baby, but Megan is making her seem like the quiet girl in the back of the room with how much she chatters.

Cady's 15 month checkup

We had Cadence's 15 month checkup this morning. I always enjoy checkups because I get to get official stats on how big my girls are! In fact, we find out how big Megan is in only 2 weeks. Exciting stuff.

The appointment started out well enough. She wasn't thrilled with being pinned down to measure her height, but she thought sitting on the scale was pretty cool. And she was happy to wander around the exam room in a diaper and socks... until the doctor opened the door just as she crawled towards it and bonked her upside the head. From that point on, every time he went to touch her she threw a fit. It was an enjoyable experience.

Then, when the nurse came to give her the shot, she was freaking out before we'd even laid her on the exam table. The nurse had a hard time pinning her down. Just as she was about to give her the shot, she arched herself and the nurse had to quickly move the needle away or Cadence would puncture herself and in the wrong spot. So, I had to all but lay across her so the nurse could safely administer the vaccination.

Anyway, Cadence's stats:

Height: 31.5" (75th percentile)
Weight: 22 lbs - Actually 21lbs 15.9oz (25th percentile)

So, yup, she's still long and skinny. But I don't need stats to tell you that. We need 18 month jeans with the adjustable waist as small as possible to even fit the girl, and even then if she didn't have a diaper to hold the pants up they'd probably be falling off her waist. Anyway, I think she has one more shot at her 18 month check-up a few more at her 2 year check-up and then the worst is over until closer to preschool. I think that's how it goes.

In the meantime, mid-March we're taking Megan in for her big round of vaccines. She's getting so big! I'm eager to see just how much she's grown over the past 2 months. She's finally fitting 0-3 month clothes properly and I can even sneak in a few 3-6 month onesies and stretchy pants (the pants are a hit or miss since she's just as long and skinny as her big sister, if not more so).

Fabulous Friday - February 26, 2010

Someone I've never met gave me the idea of "Fabulous Fridays". You don't have to do anything super amazing. You just have to do something different than every other day. And with a toddler and newborn I couldn't do anything super amazing, so I opted for a few small fabulous things for my first Fabulous Friday. And, I opted to not worry about cleaning my apartment, and just focus on enjoying today. Cleaning can be for non-fabulous days (in fact, I cleaned last night, just so I could relax and enjoy my fabulous day).

First and foremost, when I got up, I actually put on a clean shirt (that wasn't a t-shirt). I dug out a pair of earrings while I was at it, did my make-up and fixed my hair. A pretty fabulous start for a mom of two little ones, right?

Then, James treated me out to a special present. He got me a sewing machine! The crafting bug bit me awhile ago, and when he found out he insisted. So, now I've got a whole to-do list of sewing projects that are now only awaiting the proper material. So exciting.

Next, to make the day fabulous for a toddler, we got pizza, a special treat for Cadence. She ate an entire slice by herself, loving the pepperoni, sausage, peppers and onion.

Next on our agenda was an activity for myself and Cadence (once I'd finished games of peekaboo, got your belly button, and other games with Megan).
We colored on a big sheet of paper together. She lost interest rather quickly, though and decided to sort through the crayons instead.
While she did that, I enjoyed some one-on-one time with Megan. She is extremely ticklish and loves being held up over my head and brought down for kisses. She laughs like crazy when I do it.

Not sure what else to do to make our today fabulous. I'm thinking of painting all of our toenails the same color, if I can get Cadence to sit still long enough. I'd love to put a picture of our matching toenails up, but again, not sure I can get Cadence to sit still long enough to do so. Or maybe I'll save a salon day for our next Fabulous Friday. Meanwhile tonight, once the girls are happily in bed, I'm curling up with a big bowl of Heath ice cream and "Time Travelers Wife" to finish off my Fabulous Friday.

Introduce the rest of our family

This can't really be a true family blog if we don't discuss the two smallest members of our family. It used to be three, but in our tiny apartment, we were finally forced to downsize to the two that needed us the most, and found our third family member a home where he could sprawl out without taking up the entire walkway.

First, we have Hanna. She was originally Aunt Erin's cat, but couldn't make the move to Utah with her, so she had to stay behind. She wasn't the most social cat. But once we moved her out of the busy family house and into an apartment with just James and myself, she came out of her shell. Now, even with the two little ones making so much noise, she isn't hiding as much. She comes up to anyone that reaches out a hand because she loves to be pet. In fact, she's very demanding when the mood strikes. She was a bit wary of Cadence at first, but now so long as no fur-pulling is going on, she'll put up with a little abuse from our oldest daughter. If it gets too rough, she'll just sneak away.
Taz is my first baby. She'll be 7 this April, so she's not a young cat anymore, and she's calmed down quite a bit to prove it. She adores Cadence, though. Every morning she greets her with a gentle head butting. Every night I have to remember to chase her out of the bedroom or she'd spend the entire night cuddling my girls. She puts up with so much from Cadence. I've seen Cadence grab fistfuls of fur, drag Taz to her, and then lay right on her. All Taz does is meow in protest and wait for her to get up again before walking away, only to return moments later to be affectionate again and get dragged around once more. If the girls are crying and I don't respond right away, Taz comes to tell me that something's wrong. She's a little mini-momma. Too sweet.
James is anxious to add a dog to our little family as well, but we're still waiting on final word for some big life changes before we add to our family any more. Despite having two cats, James is very much a dog person and I'm pretty much just an animal person. Ideally, we'd settle somewhere that I could keep goats as pets. And maybe a pony or two... But, in reality, we'd settle for just a dog or two and as many cats.

Random Pictures

Just showing off some pictures. Yes, in the middle of winter, my daughters are usually down to just their diaper by the time evening rolls around.

Megan sleeping, and looking too big for my taste:

Cadence "posing" for the camera:Cadence decided it was time for Megan to wake up:
How we "swaddle", haha:

Happy Birthday to our #1 Guy!

I don't have a picture of James with all his girls at once, but I'll tell you, we all love him pretty fiercely over here. He's 25 years old today, and like every other day, he's toiling away, working hard to provide for his girls. We're a lucky bunch of females to have him. He takes good care of us.

So Happy Birthday to the #1 man in all of our lives!