easter buddies

the littlest cousins--perry, mackenzie & cadence

...cadence had a very special first easter...we went to church out in oak park w/ nanette and john & jon & beth & elizabeth & uncle dave, and then us danyluks headed out to barrington hills for easter dinner with the family...easter is a big deal for teddy's family, with lots of great food and gifts for the kiddies and easter eggs and chocolate and cookies and the whole shabang...this easter was extra special because there were two new babies added to the family, our little cadence and teddy's cousin connie's new baby boy perry, who is a couple months younger than cadence...most of teddy's extended family hadn't seen cadence since new years or christmas, and she's changed so much since then, so they were pleasantly surprised at how playful she had become...

...she was great the whole time, although she did make her mama wear the lovely mushroom soup grandma had made for the first course...that was totally my fault...i gots short arms, and it's hard to eat when you've got on your lap a baby like cadence who likes grabbing anything and everything within reach of her...she's already becoming so much more independent, and spent a good deal of time playing on the floor with her new toys...

my mom & my brother joined us too, so it was great having everybody together...i just know my dad was looking down on us and beaming with joy...man, he must totally love my little cadence...i'm sure she reminds him of me! i have to say, as she gets older and her personality continues to blossom, i see a brightness and sparkle in her disposition that's irresistible...maybe it's because i'm her mama, but i choose to believe that all those who come in contact with her can see it too...teddy & i are so, so, SO blessed...

happy 6 month birthday, cadence joy!

yes, today is our little cadence's 6 month birthday...can you believe that just a year ago, she looked like a kidney bean, and now look at her! my, my, my...she's most definitely cuter now than a mere kidney bean, and when it comes to personality, there's just no comparison...

those photos up there were taken with mama's new fancy dandy DSLR-wannabe camera...of course, we can't really tell how good of a camera it is by these simple flash shots...i haven't quite gotten all the bells and whistles figured out yet...

so whaddaya do with a bald baby?

why, you ACCESSORIZE, of course!!!

goodbye, old friend...

...it's sad, but it's true...my nikon coolpix 4500 has been forced into retirement by a lazy zoom button that refuses to, well, ZOOM...i've had this camera for just over 2 years now, and it's served me well, documenting teddy's and my relationship almost from the very beginning...courtship...marriage...baby...then there were all those detholz! and bill mallonee concerts...caleb & audrey's hyde park vineyard project...wicker park photos galore...seattle...new york...maine...*sigh*...

...the good news is that my teddy loves me and is buying me this camera...he wanted me to buy a really good one that i would take care of, and as much as i wanted to go the digital SLR route, i just couldn't swallow the price tag associated with buying a body and then lenses separately...at least this camera comes with the equivalent of a 350mm zoom lens so i won't have to fumble awkwardly with switching out lenses while taking shots...it's bigger than my old camera, but it still fits in the palm of an average adult hand (probably a bit bigger than my below average adult hand)...

...so we'll see what photos i get with the newbie...i'll still miss my old camera...

shh...nobody tell teddy i'm on the computer...

...yeah, the hubby and the baby are snoozing away in the bedroom, so nobody say nuthin' 'bout me being on the computer at 11:12pm on a sunday night...teddy probably thinks i'm studying...i have a class downtown (work-related) for the next couple days and an exam on wednesday, so i'll be pretty busy the next few days and wanted to get a post in before the mayhem begins...i have this 2 inch thick binder of materials that i was supposed to go over before tomorrow's class, but ya know what? i ain't studying boring work stuff on MY time on the weekends...

...so i just thought i'd update y'all on how my boobs are doing, lactation-wise...a few of the moms on that attachment parenting list i joined a while back suggested oatmeal for boosting milk output, and it struck me that i had stopped eating oatmeal for breakfast last week, and maybe that's why my milk supply nosedived so dramatically...on friday i resumed the oatmeal regimen, and sure enough, i pumped my usual amount of milk at work that day...plus i found a bottle i'd pumped a few days prior hiding in the back of my fridge, so now my stash of expressed milk is back up to around 32 ounces...cadence eats anywhere from 12-18 ounces while i'm at work, depending how long i'm gone, so i like having a couple days worth in the fridge just in case...

...i've been thinking a lot lately just what a great kid cadence is turning out to be...she's really living up to her middle name 'joy' cuz she gives a whole lot of it to her mommy & daddy, and i really feel like she takes total delight in being our daughter, which is a great feeling for a parent...it's been hard work, and we've got many more years of that to come, but i am more and more sure every day that she is gonna be SOOOOOOO worth it!

ta-da!

"happy birthday, daddy!"

yup, it's true! today is my teddy's birthday! make sure you give him a nice happy-birthday-slap on the booty next time you see him!

not only is today my teddy's b-day, it is also the 3 year anniversary of when i started this blog...oh, yes...it's true...and to think it all started cuz i took a bunch of photos at a denison witmer show...

so to commemorate this special occasion, i've given the blog a makeover...yeah, that explains all the stars around here...i'm still working on getting the kinks out, so be patient with me...

...i've been extremely busy this past week...doing what, i dunno...i'll say this, though, i've been spending a lot of time obsessing over my milk production, or the seeming lack thereof...for those of you who don't have a little human being whose daily sustenance depends entirely on the bounty flowing from your own boobs, you probably can't understand why i would obsess over something like this...let's just say, the thought of my little girl going hungry because MY boobs can't make enough milk is just a bit disconerting to say the least...it doesn't help that i forgot to refrigerate the milk i'd pumped at work last friday, so that's a whole day's milk supply down the drain...literally...

...the good news is that cadence seems to be taking an interest in what WE'RE eating, which is a sign that she will soon be ready maybe for some solids...nothing fancy...a little mashed banana...then maybe some sweet potato the next week...we'll see...i wanted to wait a minimum of six months before introducing anything besides my milk, and even then, i still plan on providing the majority of her nourishment through breastmilk...it's really the perfect food for her at this point, so i hope i can get my milk production back up to par...i've decided to add an extra pumping session at work, and that might help...

...sunday was an absolutely fab weather day, and we went over to navy pier to check out familyfarmed.org's local organic food festival...to avoid paying the outrageous fee of $22 to park at navy pier, we decided to take cadence on her very first cta train and bus rides! we took the brown line from damen to chicago ave and then took the #66 bus all the way to navy pier...if there's one thing about chicago, it's got a really great public transportation system...

...the festival had a lot of interesting vendors...one of the more interesting organizations was called the land connection...they basically buy up rich farmland to save it from being turned into subdivisions and then they train new organic farmers to use that land...something like that...they also connect consumers with local organic farmers, which is something we've been wanting to do, so that we can cook with fresh organic produce grown locally...anywho, lots of good stuff...