Blast from the past

Thought it'd be fun to compare the befores and after a year can create.

Cadence, around the end of September 2009:
"Taz meowed at her and Cadence instantly grinned big and repeated her "mom" sound, almost a perfect mimic of the pitch and feel of Taz's regular meow. Only then did I realize, Cadence was not saying "mom", she was meowing!"

"Cadence went with me today, so James could run an errand with the car, and did surprisingly well. She charmed everyone in the waiting room and even did well when I wasn't holding her during my exam and when I was being weighed. The doctor said she even sat quietly and looked at us when Megan's heartbeat was audible."

"Cadence has started doing a headstand thing. She'll put her head on the floor and then lift her butt up in the air. The other day I glanced over at her and she was grinning at me from between her legs, upside-down."

And today(ish):

-Cadence is talking up a STORM. She loves the sound of her own voice and will often proudly show off her words. She's mastered the word "Mommy" and it's one of her favorites, right along with "Megan" and "shoes". I don't even want to try to count how many words she knows now.

-Cadence LOVES going places. She'll wait at the door as soon as her shoes are on and bounce excitedly whenever I finally go to open it for us. She waits at the edge of the parking lot until I come to hold her hand and walk her to her side of the van. Can't say she behaves so well in the doctor's office. The last few times we've taken her, she's cried just because it's the doctor's office (even if the visit was for Megan) and repeatedly pleaded to leave. She still adores her sister, though.

-No more headstands, but she loves to dance and her new favorite thing is to run in circles as fast as she can, preferably around a stationary object (such as Mommy). She's also kicking and throwing balls. And she's trying to jump. So far she's been successful, but she hasn't quite figured out how to launch herself from the floor at will.


Megan, around the end of September 2009 (okay, so the picture's from July):
- "She's squirming like crazy. The doctor had a hard time getting her heartbeat because of her positioning. I tried to tell him he was putting the doppler right where her knees were and he'd have better luck from the other side, but doctor's don't listen too good. He did find it eventually and she was so pleased with his success she rolled over to give him a better listen."

- "Megan is definitely more active than her older sister. Cadence would be quiet for long periods of time and then get so active it almost hurt on occasion. Megan, however, is constantly squirming. In fact, those quiet moments are as rare as Cadence's active moments were."

And today(ish):
-Well, she still squirms like crazy. At this exact moment, she's curled up in my lap, but at least one part of her is wiggling at any given moment. Oh, and now she's reaching for the keyboard, lol.

-She's far more laidback than her sister ever was. She can walk and stand, but it's not worth it to her to practice, so she doesn't bother. Why should she when fussing gets her what she wants anyway (and what she wants 90% of the time is to be held)? She's surprisingly spoiled for a second child, lol. But she loves, loves, loves people. Especially her big sister.

-While far more laidback, I did have more quiet moments with Cadence than I did with Megan at this age, as predicted. Megan is constantly wanting and asking for attention. She's already cut herself down to one short nap during the day, no matter how I try to coax her to go down for two. She'll go down for a morning nap only if we run errands and she falls asleep in the car. But in the afternoon her longest nap is an hour and then she's up until bedtime. I don't know if she's more exhausting than Cadence was, or just having the two of them together is more exhausting. The answer should be obvious, but Megan can be so demanding, that some days it's hard to be 100% sure, lol.

Heels, Wrestling, and other stuff

Caught Cadence walking around in my heeled boots this afternoon. You could hear her clacking around in the kitchen and Megan was just following her around like a lovesick puppy. It was quite entertaining, actually.

They're playing together so well nowadays! They've even started wrestling, which is absolutely adorable. If I leave Megan on the couch, she'll crawl to the other end and lay her head on the arm of the couch. Cadence will quickly join her and they'll roll around, half sitting on each other, and giggle like crazy. Or on the floor. Or just about anywhere. They're almost constantly together nowadays. If Cadence is getting into the pantry, Megan is right there with her. If Megan's pulling laundry out of the basket, it's because Cadence tipped it over for her. I once walked into their room to find the four bottom drawers emptied and the two girls sorting through the clothes together.
We also had a fun story with Cadence at Nana's house the other day. Nana has one of those shape-sorter tubs, where you have to put the toy through the right shape hole to get the toys into the tub. Cadence was getting quite frustrated, despite our best attempts to guide her in the right direction. With a sudden determination over a particularly difficult shape, she simply lifted off the lid and put the difficult piece into the tub that "easy way". I busted up laughing, finding her problem-solving skills simply hilarious. She quickly went back to attempting to put the toys back into the tub the "right way", but I still caught myself giggling over her previous solution.

We also bought Cady's Halloween costume and are on the lookout for something matching for Megan that's not super expensive. I don't care to spend to much money on a costume they'll only wear once or twice, especially when they're both too young to really care.

But that's really all for now, I suppose. Having a blast with the girls. Enjoying James's new work schedule that allows him to wake up several hours earlier and almost doubling our daily time with him. We're so spoiled now!

First steps

I've announced it just about everywhere else, but I'll post here nonetheless, for record-keeping sake.

Megan took her first step (at least that I've seen) today! I squealed with delight when I saw it, and my delight had her grinning one of the biggest grins I've ever seen. I was completely stunned. She doesn't practice standing that often, so when she lifted her hands from my leg, I was all set to cheer for her. But then she took that step towards the cupboard and I was about ready to jump up and down with excitement.

I missed Cadence's first step, so I was thrilled to witness Megan's first.

Naturally, she's made no attempts to repeat this particular feat and I have no expectations of it. She still barely stands, deeming it unnecessary and I suspect she'll deem walking unnecessary as well for awhile. But she has the capability and she'll pick it up when she feels like it. :-) I'm in no hurry for her to become an official toddler any time soon.

PS- How pretty is the new layout I stole? LoL. I was just randomly browsing, saw this one and fell in love.

The Great Pepper Attack of 2010

Oh, what an evening.

It was over in minutes. One minute, the girls were sitting quietly in their room reading books and talking to each other. I know, because I checked.

Then moments later, Cadence was at my knee coughing and rubbing at her tongue smelling strongly of pepper. I glance at the table and notice the missing container. I glance at the hallway and find said missing container.

And then I see Megan crawling towards me with dark hair.

*sigh*

They were not happy girls for awhile. Megan was bent backwards over the sink as I did my best to get the pepper out of her hair (once I was sure none of it had gotten into her mouth, eyes, or nose). James forced milk down Cadence's throat to sooth the resulting burning sensation of too much pepper. Then we plopped the girls in the tub while James vacuumed half a container worth of pepper from Cadence's mattress and the floor.

In other news, Cadence learned a brand new word today: "Pepper!"

Mohawk Madness

During bathtime, I coaxed Megan's hair into a mini mohawk. It stayed pretty well and even dried that way. I figured it would disappear by the morning from sleeping on it. I was wrong... Though, now it resembles Alfalfa's cowlick more than a mohawk:

Spur of the Moment Trip!

With the minor hiccups with James's new job, we've been hesitant to go anywhere, because we never knew when Seaboard might call and need James to sign something. We didn't want to be out of town and have that put the whole situation on hold for as long as it took him to get back into town to sign something. But Thursday morning, we got the phone call that everything was set and they'd see him Tuesday morning to start and he'd sign everything else then.

We'd talked about going to the Long Beach Aquarium and the like, but 3 hours in the car with the girls didn't appeal to either of us once we started thinking about it. So, instead, we took advantage of our CALM family membership which gets us 50% off tickets to the LA Zoo. It was fun. A little warm and a lot of up-hill walking (why are all zoos built on a hill? at least, the three I've been to are...). But we got to see gorillas, sea lions, kangaroos, lions, monkey's... Cadence's favorite was probably the tiger because it was roaring and playing with a big ball, which she found hilarious. Her favorite place, though, was the little playground at the top of the hill. Yes, we drove 2 hours to the zoo and her favorite thing was the slide... Well, that and the little sprinkler/mister apparatus they had there for people to cool off. She did a little dance while in the water and got nice and damp.After our visit to the zoo (which ended sooner than expected since the petting zoo had closed before we got there due to the "heat"- It was only 90, silly people), we drove about an hour towards the coast to a little hotel in Camarillo. Dinner at Denny's and then playing around in the hotel room for awhile. Cadence was thrilled that she got a whole queen-sized bed to herself. I was really pleased with how well both girls slept. Cadence went to bed in the new place with barely an issue. Megan took a little more coaxing and woke up more often than usual, but she still slept fairly soundly. Even with a few freeway noises.

Friday morning, we rubbed the girls down with some SPF 50 and loaded up the car, checked out, and drove 20 minutes westward until we hit the Ventura Pier. Unfortunately, we got there fairly early and it was cloudy and breezy. So the girls played at the playground and in the sane for awhile, before we loaded them back in the car and drove further up the coast. We ended up at Carpenteria, which is just south of Santa Barbara.

At this point had had warmed up a fair bit, at least enough for James to let Cadence go get her feet wet in the waves. Unfortunately, once she got her feet wet, she loved the ocean. She would run right into the waves if James let her. After a few moments, it became clear it was still too cold to get wet. Not that Cadence cared. So we had to carry her screaming to the showers to clean off the sand and then quickly change her into dry clothes and turn on the heater in the car, since fingers and lips were turning blue. Even then she was pissed we'd taken her away.
On our way home, we back tracked a bit to Valencia where we had a tasty lunch at Soup Plantation. Megan filled up on cold peas, corn, mac and cheese, and cheese bread. Cadence gobbled up mac and cheese, greek pasta, pizza bread, clam chowder, olives, and bites of everything else James and I ate. And James and I just pigged out, as one tends to do when you have unlimited soup, salad, and pasta. We topped off the meal with ice cream (well, frozen yogurt). Cadence made a mess with an ice cream cone and Megan demanded frequent bites of mine.

We were glad to get home, though. The girls would have probably thrown a fit if we tried to put them in the car again yesterday. So we all just lounged about all afternoon/evening. It was a great trip. Next summer, James and I intend to drag the girls all the way to Long Beach for an aquarium, beach, and other fun exhibits for an extended weekend. Heck, for all we know, we only have 2-3 more summers to do these California vacations. Three summers from now we may be planning vacations from Texas. So best to take advantage of our close proximity to the California attractions while it's convenient! (Though, Disneyland will have to wait...)

Days with Daddy

We've been super lucky in getting to spend lots of time with James lately. Being in between jobs means he's been home for this entire week. We're making the most of it and doing lots of little errands together. We bought him a new toolbox for his new job, which is currently taking up half of our dining room and doing a glorious job at being an eyesore. We've spent some time at Nana's house. We went out to Taft for a last minute visit with Dama. Today, we even went to Hart Park for a chance to throw some old bread at the ducks (pictures below!)

It's been a nice week. We had some bigger plans in the works when we learned how much time we'd have together, but a few issues crept up, including the girls getting sick over the weekend. So aquarium and beach visits have been postponed for later, sadly. On Sunday, the girls got 2 1/2 hours alone with James while he stayed home with our poor sick girls so I could go substitute a primary class. It went smoothly. When I got home, we discovered Megan had managed to cut two teeth in those 2 hours. So, kudos to James for handling that one! Even I get a little frazzled with her when she's teething.

Megan's been extra snuggly today, since she woke up with a 102 degree fever. Regular doses of tylenol and lots of cuddle time has kept her pretty happy. We're unsure what's wrong. It would happen our first day after James's insurance expired. Luckily, she's still covered under MediCal, so if anything's really wrong, I can take her in without worrying at all. We're working on her standing. She's capable of standing on her own and even took a small half-step the other day, but she's fallen and hurt herself badly enough (drawn blood by bonking her mouth) and often enough that she's too timid to stand on her own anymore. As soon as she try, she fusses and falls right back into us.

Cadence is loving having both parents home. She keeps busy. She amazes us daily with a new word or phrase that she's picked up and it's become such a delight to just get her to talk to us. She's such a smart little girl! I'm sure ever mother thinks that, and I'm sure it's just as true for others as it is for my little girl. I am constantly amazed at how quickly these little girls can pick things up!

Anyway, below are a few pictures snapped from our duck feeding. There were just too many cute shots of Cadence hanging out with her Daddy, I couldn't resist taking a dozen of them:

Seaboard, Inc.

I suppose now is a safe enough time to finally post this announcement. I've been putting it off while final things are negotiated and the ink is drying. Well, the ink isn't quite dry, but it's pretty much a guarantee at this point. Just waiting on odds and ends. So I can post!

We haven't been very public with his info, but: James has been extremely stressed and unhappy at work due to recent changes they've made and things management has done. On the heels of dealing with almost no work for him to do (and thus losing large amounts of hours) for the majority of last year, a few changes in how things are run have just become constant daily sources of stress and frustration. We have been looking for other options, but those options take time.

Tuesday morning, though, James got a phone call from his previous employer: Seaboard Wellhead, Inc. He'd left them for Elco two years ago due to some issues (that I will not go into detail about), but over the past two years Seaboard has undergone a lot of changes and the people in charge now are people James feels very comfortable working for and his previous issues are no longer relevant. So, when they called offering him a 15% raise over what he's making now, he talked it over with me and we accepted that same day.

We're very excited. It's a work environment James is happy to be in again (especially with the changes that have been made). Plus, every 3 months, the day and night shift can swap, so it's possible that James'll have a day shift more often. He'll still do night shifts at least half the time, but the other half, he'll be home by 4 at the latest to spend the rest of the day with us.

Other bonuses include: Less work hours overall (his 15% pay raise means he doesn't have to work overtime anymore). So even when he works nights, he'll be able to wake up sooner and spend more time with us. Another bonus is lower insurance premiums, but comparable co-pays and deductibles.

And another thing that has us talking: The company is moving all their CNC machines over to Houston, Texas in the semi-near future. James and I are not 100% certain whether we'll move with them, but it seems to be a great opportunity that opens James up to some great positions within the company (plus, they'll pay our moving costs). The decision can wait awhile. From the sound of things, it'll be about 3 years before it's even an issue. James is continuing to pursue his degree so that we have all out options available to us when the time comes.

9 Month Stats

Megan had her 9-month check-up this morning. I thought we'd be waiting around forever, since it was fairly late in the morning, but surprisingly, we'd barely sat down before we were being called back. It was very weird being out and about with just Megan. It's not often I get to sit down and play with her without Cadence rushing to be a part of it.

So, I enjoyed those 5 minutes that we were in the exam room just waiting for the doctor. We played with the mirror, she gave me sloppy kisses, and attempted to climb into the sink to reach the mirror image of herself. The doctor, of course, walked in, as I was teasingly protesting some of her sloppy kisses and getting giggles and more kisses in response.

I really like her doctor. He does the majority of the physical exam while she's in my lap. The only time he had to take her from me was when he was checking her hip joints and took off her diaper to check other things out. He also started playing with her, head butting her to get a response and laughing when he'd stop just short of head butting her and she'd head butt him. Yes, her doctor's pretty awesome. Cadence's is too, but in a totally different way.

Oh, and Megan's doctor asked where Cadence was when he came in and saw it was just the two of us. I love that he remembers us!

Anyway, stats:

Height: 28" (just under 75th percentile line)
Weight: 16lb 4oz (just under the 5th percentile line)

For comparisons sake:

Megan's 6 month stats- 26.5" long, 14lb 12.5oz
Cadence's 9 month stats (9 1/2 months)- 27.5" long, 17lb 7oz

And now to go chase down Cadence. I told her it was time to change her diaper and she ran away... little turd.

Cady-isms

With a bunch of new words in her arsenal, I'm finally getting a few Cady-isms to share. Though most of her cute things only involve the occasional word (but I'll tell the stories anyway).

-This afternoon as I woke her up from her nap, she immediately noticed the television had been turned off. She's recently begun saying "Oh, man" when things aren't as she thinks they are supposed to be. Upon seeing the darkened TV she began: "Oh, man! Where's remote? Oh, man! Oh, man." (For the record, she knows the word "remote" because I constantly ask her to give it to me when she snatches it from wherever it is, lol. And the TV is not on all that often now that she's begun showing an interest in it.)

-She is crazy about coloring nowadays. We constantly have crayons and colored pencils being pulled down. Luckily, it means she's really easy to entertain during Sacrament meeting. In fact, I've taken her to a story time and Barnes & Noble three times. On the third time, as soon as they said "time to color", though she'd been distracted the entire time playing with other books and ignoring the storyteller, she instantly dropped everything and raced to kneel at the edge of the stage. She even waited (though she bounced impatiently) for the paper and the crayons to be handed out. Of course, if Megan goes near her coloring utensils, she shouts "Megan, no!" and moves them away. If this doesn't work, a meltdown shortly ensues, especially in the middle of Sacrament.

-Cadence tends to break into song randomly. Most days, it's a gibberish version of the ABC's, but she does put actual letters in there. At the very least, she gets A, B, & C usually in the right order...

-She hates the vacuum cleaner. As soon as she notices me picking up the living room floor while she's still awake, she knows whats coming and goes running. Today, as soon as I pulled the monster vacuum of mine out, she grabbed her blanket and ran into the hallway to watch. When I got too close for comfort, she hid in the bathroom. I paused to finish moving furniture out of the final corner and she came out asking "All done?" When I told her "not yet", she immediately retreated back to the bathroom and waited until I'd finished and told her "Okay, all done". At which point she ran out to play as if she'd never been upset in the first place.

-She's added "knees" and "hand" to her body part knowledge. The other night during bathtime I noticed a red spot on her backside and asked: "What's that on your butt?" She immediayely pointed to her bellybutton. I corrected her, saying "butt" and tapping her butt. She cracked up and began repeatedly patting her butt and saying "butt" over and over again.

-The other day we went over to Nana's to play with the hose, since our pool was closed and it was hot. At first she ran through the sprinklers, but then we handed her the hose and turned it on and off. Every time she put it down, Chad would turn it on. Then turn it off as soon as she picked it up. Being the brilliant child she is, she quickly decided that putting it down was what caused the water to turn on. So after awhile, every time we turned the water off, she'd immediately lay it down. If it didn't work the first time, she'd pick it up and put it down again. As soon as we turned it off, she'd immediately lay it back down and watch it expectantly and even appear confused if it didn't turn on as soon as she'd laid it down. She also mastered drinking from the hose and thought that was the coolest thing ever!


Megan's learning new things. She barely holds on to things when standing most of the time, but doesn't have the confidence to let go entirely and immediately panics and falls back on her butt if I try to trick her into doing it. She is a master at crawling now, and can crawl almost as fast as Cadence can walk (okay, not really, but it's pretty stinking fast!) She's still babbling like crazy and I swear she's sprouted up 2 inches over the past few weeks. Guess we'll find out at her appointment this week. Anyway, she's everywhere and into everything. She loves loves loves her Daddy, too. Every time she sees him, if it's been too long, she just lights up and wants to be near him. If she's with me when we wake him up in the mornings, she'll lunge towards him and lay against him and grin up at him. If she's playing by herself and sees him, she'll get the biggest grin and crawl to him as fast as she can and beg at his knee to be picked up. She's still got a mommy preference, since I'm the one home with her all day, but she loves her Daddy alright!