Who needs a cat?

Cadence likes to climb into and onto all sorts of things. She also seems to enjoy plenty of lap time and will get right into the middle of whatever it is we are trying to do. Now if only she could learn to use a litter box...

Bounce House

We attended our annual church picnic in October at a local park. Cadence had a blast in the playground, however the thrill of the slides was quickly overshadowed by the excitement of the bounce house. She could hardly contain herself!

Window into the Womb

Here are some of our earliest pix of little Mason #2 at 10 and 11 weeks of age...enjoy!

Front View

Hello world!

Profile

Didja hear?

Yup, it's true. Cadence will be a big sister! Eric is ecstatic...which I think is cute. I waffle back and forth from excitement to, oh God...what have we done? I'm feeling alright, just more tired that usual. My appetite has already changed...just gotta be careful to not eat junk! I did a great job with Cadence and after having her I ended up weighing less that my pre-pregnancy weight. Of course over a year later I didn't do such a good job at keeping the weight off. Time to get back into some healthier habits!

Seasons

Please enjoy the pictures of days just past when splashing in water, any kind of water, brought joyful relief from the weather. These days the summer heat has begun its retreat as the advances of fall march in with chills in the night air and hot tea in the mornings. Silent victims begin to fall lazily from their branches and speckle the still-green grass in our yard. We wrap ourselves in blankets as we watch TV in the evening and I am scrambling to find all my sweaters. That's not to say we won't still have a few more warm days here and there as summer lashes out in final efforts to hold its ground. But like every fall, the warmth of the midday will gradually grow less and less until our days are shrouded in gray and the cold moist air of winter fog. Until then, I will make every effort to bask in the beauty of this season when it is neither too hot or too cold, but just right.

Bathtime

As a mom I have learned the great importance of multi-tasking. Of course, I've always been a bit of a multi-tasking fiend, but there's something about motherhood that has kicked it up a notch...or four.

Another thing I have found to be very helpful as a mom is establishing bits of routine and ritual to help the day go more smoothly. And I know, this isn't any earth shattering news to anyone reading this. The first few months of motherhood can be quite chaotic...some days being better than others...but eventually I have found the chaos to subside and make room for a little routine.

So like many families I know, Cadence takes a bath most nights as part of the wind-down ritual for the day. And now that she's older and more agile, bath time is quite a lot of fun with splashing and mock swimming and blowing bubbles. One evening not too long ago, while Cadence was happily splashing away, I decided to make the most of this time. So while keeping one eye towards the tub and my ears ready to note the slightest sound of distress, I did what the experts...and some child welfare regulations...protest, and walked away from the tub.

See, our house is small, and pretty old, and we have one of those Brady Bunch style bathrooms that serves as a passageway between my bedroom and the nursery. In fact, my armoire is literally two steps away from the bathtub, behind the bathroom door. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to take those two steps away to change into my PJ's for night.

In my head I have a mental clock watch ticking the seconds away that my back is to the tub...1,2,3...(splish, splashing heard in the background)...got my PJ pants...4,5...(splish, splashing still heard)...looking for a matching top...6,7...(softer splashing)...ok, screw the matching top, any one will do ...8...(tiny grunts heard in the background)...wait,what did I just hear?...9,10...(more grunts as I'm frantically putting on the PJ's)....11...I've now turned back around, the tub is in sight...12...a wide eyed Cadence staring up at mommy as a look of disgust and horror sweeps across mommy's face...13...I sweep Cadence out of the tub and sort of hold her at arms length as I cry out for the assist from the hubby watching TV in the other room...14...I bravely peek back into the tub as I hold a wet, squirming and slightly confused child, still at arms length...15..."Eric, look at the size of that thing!" I exclaim incredulously as he enters the bathroom and also peers into the tub. "Looks like we've got a six incher!" states Eric, with a hint of pride, as he grabs the large cup used to rinse the child and starts to fish the "six incher" out.

So after a quick soapy rinse in the bathroom sink for Cadence, and a generous application of Clorox to the tub, our evening ritual resumed its normal course. What can I say? Maybe the experts do know a thing or too when it comes to supervising kids in the tub, and maybe multi-tasking, like everything else, has a time and a place. And lastly, maybe sometimes its makes life a little more interesting to have those memorable interruptions to otherwise beneficial ritual and routine.

Oh the gall of it all...

I realize I failed to mention that I had a problem with pesky gall stones. I was diagnosed last November to have several small stones in my gall bladder. My physician at the time informed me that my gall bladder likely sprung into action making these little suckers in response to the floods of hormones my pregnancy and post-partum time produced. Strange I cannot recall ever reading about that "side effect" of pregnancy in any of the literature...I think an addendum might be in order for the "What to Expect When You're Expecting Book".

Anyway, for those of you who have not experienced a gall stone or gall bladder "attack", I congratulate you. Imagine cramping, burning pain under your right rib cage and radiating across your upper abdomen, coupled with nausea . In my case, the discomfort would last from 30 minutes to several hours. Some the pain was comparable to the intensity of labor pain. For those of you who have not experienced that, I also congratulate you.

The single most effective treatment for gall stones is to remove the entire gall bladder. Apparently it's one of the body parts one can live without like the tonsils, the appendix, or even a kidney. Thanks God for all the spare parts!

I put off having surgery as I was in the middle of changing to a better insurance plan...and I also wasn't exactly eager to go under the knife. At that time, I had only had about three gall bladder episodes, two of them not being very intense.

However this past May my little gall bladder started throwing regular gall stone parties without the decency of any forewarning. So on a weekly basis, or more often, I found myself huddled in pain or sprawled out on the couch for a while until the brunt of the whole thing...er...passed. At that point surgery began to really gain some luster.

This past Thursday I got the gall bladder removed. There was a friendly nurse who shared some interesting stories about the different body piercings she has encountered in her line of work, and the anesthesiologist who seemed to lose his focus once in a while when explaining about the drugs they planned to give me. He however didn't forget to mention the fact that he was a student. Great. Oh, oh, the best part had to be the crazy set of stockings I had to put on to help with circulation. Over the stockings came a set of leggings that velcroed around my legs...sort of like a knee brace. These leggings however got hooked up to a machine that pumped air through them and massaged my legs, again for circulation. I'm kind of bummed I wasn't awake for the massaging part.

Despite his status as a student, and apparent distraction, the anesthesiologist seemed to have done a good job. I knocked out quickly in one room, and woke up in another one. I was told to expect to be nauseous for a full 24 hrs. later, but did not have any trouble with that at all. Thanks God! Now I'm pretty much all back to normal except for the four small incisions still healing on my belly...one of them being in my belly button. I'm thankful to be rid of the thing and glad that surgery wasn't all too much of a big deal. It's funny how having a baby can really put things in perspective...it sort of sets the bar of comparison for all other bodily trauma...at least it does for me. So now my life can continue as normal again, and I've got one less spare part to show for it.

Party!!!

The party was a success! The weather was perfect, not too hot like had been predicted all week long. Cadence seemed to enjoy herself, she played, ate and opened presents. I think her favorite parts were probably swimming and tearing down decorations! Oh, the big bucket of ice that held the drinks was also a big hit with her...unlimited amounts that she could reach on her own!

Swimming with pal Jasmine and her mom

Uncle Mark, Oompa, and Ooma

Great Granny Mouse

My cutie pie

It must be bright dad!

Cupcake Cake

Yum!

Aunt B...being Aunt B

Ah...refreshing

Rampage

I've never been a huge video gamer, but as a kid there was one arcade game I particularly favored. In the game Rampage, you get to be one of three or four people that has mutated into a giant animal...either a rat, a lizard, or monkey, I believe...and then run around terrorizing the city and trying to rack up as much destruction points possible in a limited amount of time. The premise of the game was simple and entertaining in an antisocial kind of way. The destruction included smashing buildings to the ground, throwing cars and eating hapless victims of circumstance who appeared in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course throughout the play of each level, various forms of law enforcement would try to take you out in dutiful protection of their beloved city. So police choppers, squad cars and heavily munitioned foot soldiers all became mutant fodder in the wake of chaos and destruction. Recently as a heartfelt gift from my hubby, I received the PS2 version of this game, complete with original arcade mode. Ah the memories of innocent terror and destruction...

As it turns out lately, I need not plug in the good ol' PS2 to enjoy a few moments of mindless destruction and entertainment, but merely peek into the next room where a playing child has gone eerily silent. Funny the things that can happen in mere minutes at the hands of a toddler. From hands in the toilet and refuse recovered from the kitchen trash to misplaced keys, cell phones, and remotes. Needless to say Eric and I have been on a Rampage of our own installing safety latches, outlet covers, and closing doors securely behind us.

Ok, I have to admit, it's not as bad as it could be, I've heard of far worse, but here are a few highlights for your amusement:

1) One morning while preparing to head off to the work, I have the fridge open as I am packing food for the day for my daughter and I. I turn around and see Cadence peering into the refrigerator and kind of leaning over the bottom produce bins, pointing with great emphasis. Being that these bins are clear, curiously I peer down as well and can see some object that has made its way underneath, between the bottom of the bin and fridge. Naturally I thought something had fallen off the back of one of the shelves and slid under there, perhaps a stray ketchup packet. As I crouch down to get a better look, a familiar form meets my eye and I quickly use the tips of my fingers to retrieve none other than my set of house and car keys! I must humbly admit I'm not sure how this happened, well not exactly that is, as Cadence cannot open the fridge on her own. I'm just glad that despite my moments of distraction my child can seem to remember what she's done with some of her little treasures and have the decency to remind me of how clever she can be.

2) Another fine day I enter the dining room and look over into the living room to see my daughter examining the purse I had foolishly set down on the couch not moments ago. I don't know how she emptied the entire contents of my wallet so quickly...as I watched her fling credit cards onto the floor. This continued for a few minutes while I gathered the evidence of my daughter's deeds and let her know she had been caught. I'm just glad she hasn't figured out how to open makeup yet!

3) Just the other day I was in the kitchen while Eric sat in the living room relaxing. I turned around just in time to see my smiling daughter approach, appearing quite pleased as she leaves a trail of tampons behind her, not too unlike little Hansel and Gretel must have with their breadcrumbs. One by one they gently roll out of the box she is carrying in one hand, while chewing on another tampon with the other. To a one-year-old tampons are great fun. You take them out of the box, you put them back in the box, you take them out, put them back in, out again, in....so a few might not make it back in and instead end up in random and potentially embarrassing locations throughout the house, what's the big deal?

Reflections on the Year

Here I am 9 months preggo at a my baby shower!

( My cousin in the background was probably newly pregnant at the time, she had her son in late February this year..how fun!)

Just born....

...about a year later!

It's not January, but the past week has held a lot of reflection. I know it is mainly because our little girl is turning one. It's funny how different events order our lives. Through the many years of schooling I was oriented more toward the year beginning in September. For now I guess my world is more and more about the celebration of new life marked by the birth of my daughter.

I year ago at this moment I was in the local hospital in my final hour of labor. The pushing began around midnight. The next 45 minutes seemed to fly by until at last my little girl emerged from her cozy cocoon, took her first gurgly breaths and blinked at the ferocious light. Those first tiny cries....now babbles with a myriad of expression and the beginnings of words.

A few nights ago I looked through all the photos from the last year and felt myself falling more and more in love with my daughter. As she's learned to walk over the past few months, I can relate to those first tenuous steps. As new mom, though well educated in the field of child development and infancy, I was still sometimes so unsure of what to do. I can vividly remember the agonizing despair of those moments when I could not seem to soothe my own crying infant. There were the ongoing disappointments of breast feeding not going how I had imagined. The polarity of feelings of relief to return to a job in which I felt a measure a competency, and the grief of becoming a working mom...something I had never imagined I would do while any of my children were still so young.

Becoming a mom has turned my world inside out and upside down in ways I cannot describe. It has been a humbling and revealing experience. It has tilled up personal values I had not been so aware of, revealed weaknesses for what they are, and even still unearthed a whole new set of strengths. And now in these last past few months motherhood has begun to yield some of the sweetest of fruits of joy and laughter and love.

And though my daughter has been walking for a couple months now, she still falls a least a dozen times a day. Sometimes she gets a little ahead of where her feet can go, sometimes she trips over something, and sometimes it just for the sheer thrill of falling down. And I am so often amazed at the tears that are not shed, and how easily she is comforted from some of these spills. In fact, this past weekend, she got her first scraped knee. She wimpered a little when it happened but was quickly off to play again...I didn't even really notice the scrape until a little later on, when I got a good look at the knee. I can't help but think there is a lesson for me to learn here. As a mom I can now begin to feel the ground more firmly beneath my own feet, am learning to catch my balance, and am getting ready to run through this great adventure. It doesn't mean I won't take my own set of spills along the way, but perhaps I can mirror the resiliency of my own daughter, and even once in a while, delight in the butterflies in my tummy when I do come crashing down.

In memory of...

After a few years of being in and out of different care facilities, and a couple weeks of severely declining health, my Grandmother passed away. It's still kinda surreal. The emotions of it come and go. Last night we had dinner over at the house, along with my parents. As I walked back into her room with Eric, echoes of memories danced through my mind. I showed Eric the tub where the lot of us would end up after a long day of play when we were little. I remember how Grandma would take her powder puff and dust me lightly with talc after a bath. I can still feel the cool on my skin.

I looked at her jewelry still hanging where it always has, and stepped into the large walk-in closet. It has the same smell it did when I was young. I remember loving to go in there, so captivated by the space, lined with clothes from decades past. I remember she used to keep a couple wigs up on one of the shelves, near the still remaining bottles of champagne from Aunt Deb's wedding. Every so often the family pops one open. It's still pretty good to this day. I also remember this particular pair of silver glittery shoes I used to try on for fun. And a floppy light blue hat.

I remember Grandma used to keep her perfumes and lipsticks on the vanity counter. She never went out without painting her lips a shade of red or pink. She also used to keep a small drawer full of assorted vitamins. I would always beg her for a Vitamin C tab, and pucker all the while at its tang.

There were the lazy summer days spent at the pool. We always got an ice cream bar or Popsicle after a swim. There used to be the large tree swing, that I once broke. The summer also meant fresh nectarines, loquats and grapes. It meant hissing June bugs, catching frogs and the feral kittens that lived in the shed. It meant sticky fingers, dirty feet, the scent of chlorine in the hair and pretending to play croquet in the oval. It meant the whir of the ice cream maker, and salt covered ice I could only lick twice. It meant hide and seek after dark, with the sound of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in the background. Years later, it still means some of these things. Now it's time for a new generation to discover summer.

One of my last visits with Grandma I was talking about my daughter a little. "It's too bad I won't be able to see her grow up, " she remarked. At that moment I knew we both knew this was goodbye. And even though I'm a Bible believing kinda gal, I still won't dare to say I think I know what heaven is like. For now I'll think of it as an endless summer, where one can experience all the joys of being young while keeping all the wisdom of being old. And maybe, just maybe we'll get a glimpse of Grandma this summer in a cloudless starry night, or hear her in the humming of the Bottlebrush filled with bees.

What's new...

Well, our little one is quite the entertainer these days. She took her first steps earlier this month, but has really started to get it down. She still crawls quite a bit, but is walking more and more, and quite proud of it. She waves bye-bye, points to things when named, and knows where to find her books in her room if you ask her. She's eating all sorts of foods. Her favorites are whatever mom and dad happen to be eating. She starting to talk just a tad, using mama and dada and baba, but not all the time. With some things she just makes the sound that that word begins with. We've been trying to teach a few basic signs as well. She just started using a modified version for the sign, "more", by clapping when she wants more food. She also just claps to play, and when she does something she thinks is particularly grand, like push buttons on her play table that make music and sounds. And it's so fun to watch her with other children. She just loves other little people! Of course she's been known to knock a few of them down when trying to use them for balance. She likes to make all sorts of sounds with her tongue, like raspberries, and clicks. She's learned she can blow raspberries on people too, which is pretty funny. She's really at a fun age right now and I'm loving it. I will be taking a two week vacation at the beginning of July, I can hardly wait! I'm always talking about wanting to be a full-time mom, so this will be a good practice run to see if I've got the stuff it takes, or if I'll be running back to my job when my vacation is up. I'll keep ya' posted on that one.

Sick Baby, Super Dad

Not too soon after the big ol' beach trip, Cadence surprised us one evening during dinner by vomiting all over her high chair. Perhaps she had choked on something we were feeding her, or was simply repulsed by the food. The next day and a fever later not too much had changed. Super Dad sprung into action, taking the day off to take sick baby to the doctor and nurse her back to health with lots of cuddling at home. A few days and several changes of clothes, bedding, and many towels later, our little sprite was feeling much better. Not too fun, but another "milestone" is now behind us.

Surf, Sun and Sand

In early May we spent a weekend with my folks in Cayucos. This was Cadence's first real experience with the beach. I have to say she seemed to like it. She definitely handled it a little better than dear old dad...Eric is actually not a big fan of sand and the places it seems to travel too. He also is not a fan of cold water. So while he danced in place as the icy waters caused his toes to tingle, our daughter babbled with delight at the new sensations that each wave brought with it. Cadence also got to see and taste a hermit crab for the first time. Fortunately she spit out the bewildered crab, still nestled in its shell, before I decided to put my first aide skills into action. Unfortunately for Eric...good sport that he is...to add insult upon injury, there was something at that particular beach on that particular day, that he was highly allergic too. I never knew eyes could get that red and puffy! Let's just say its a weekend we won't soon forgot. Maybe Eric will be ready to give it another go next year.

Easter

Better late than never they say. Here are some pics from Cadence's first Easter:

Basket time:



With grandpa at Granny Mouse's house:

A fountain!

"Live long and prosper"

Splish-splash!

Glug, glug, glug...

Cadence also has a nice bunny family now to keep her company in her room. Thanks to everyone who contributed!