to pitchfork or not to pitchfork...

...that is the question indeed...what i'm referring to, of course, is this weekend's big shabang of indie rock 'n' roll love fest, the pitchfork music festival. as i mentioned, i already bought my tickets and was planning on going...but a few days ago, i started having 2nd thoughts...mainly, i was worried about my lactation output levels, and the thought of being away from cadence for two days (excluding night times, when she hardly nurses anyways) without having access to pumping facilities...well, this is something that only a mother who greatly values her lacation abilities would understand...a mother whose toddler refuses to drink any form of milk--not expensive organic forumla, not goats milk, not whole milk, not even CHOCOLATE milk--other than the one specially formulated for her by God...a toddler who is in the 77th percentile for height, 24th percentile for weight, and 11th percentile for head size (we need to get some meat on them long bones, and good god i hope all that head is brain matter!)...

...and you know, it not just about the milk...nursing is a very special bonding experience between cadence and me...i work most days away from home, and that is the first thing she asks for when i walk in the door...i mean, what better way to get reacquainted than to be attached to one another in such a quiet, nurturing pose for a few minutes? i admit there are days when i wish we'd just be done with the whole weaning thing, but i know deep inside i don't mean it. someday, she will wean on her own.

...*sigh*...don't get me wrong...i will miss my friends caleb and kathy. i will miss the music. (john darnielle, i will hopefully see you at the empty bottle in september.) oh well. at least i got to sell my tickets to our dear friend phil's girlfriend from portland, OR, who is probably more worthy than i to gain entrance to this festival. i'm so out of the whole music scene anyway.

oh well. at least i get to partake of the monthly grandma day.

"this song's for cadence..."

...yes, it's true. cadence was seranaded by the beautiful and talented rachel ries this monday at navy pier's beer garden. we went to see rachel and another of my local favorites, dan of zapruder point, play a singer-songwriter round robin.

...rachel is one of the best singer/songwriters i've heard in a while. i strongly encourage you to check out her music here or on myspace.

...i similarly urge you to check out dan's music here. he has this gem of a song called 'johnny without june' that i just love. dan is also known for playing many of his songs on a four string guitar because he was too poor to replace broken strings back in his college days, or so the story goes.

...cadence enjoyed running around and making us chase her all over the pier. our friends jenn and john and their daughter ada grey showed up half-way into the set. they are close friends w/ dan and are the ones who introduced me to his music. at the tender age of just shy of 2, ada is already an experienced mosh pit dancer. i hope to be chaperoning these two girls at an all-ages show someday (not counting this one).

speaking of shows, i've got my tickets for the pitchfork music festival this weekend. caleb and kathy are coming out for the fest from the grand state of CT, so it will be good to see them. i am a bit apprehensive about being gone from cadence for such long periods of time. what, you thought i'd be bringing a toddler to an indie rock festival? you nuts? i'd be chasing her around the dusty field all weekend long! i took her last year, and that worked out fine because she couldn't walk, let alone RUN and GALLOP and HOP like she can do now oh so well. i think my one boob that's still lactating might suffer a bit. oh well. i'm getting a whole year's worth of my music fix all in one weekend...the mountain goats...ted leo...the walkmen...the silver jews...the futureheads...and that's just on saturday...

i might even take some photos...

i know this is a totally obvious statement but...

...sometimes a lot of the time, being the parent of an active toddler like cadence can be sooooooooo exhausting...we took her on her first zoo outing yesterday, and even though we were only there for like 6 hours and the weather was perfect--sunny, not hot--i feel like a zombie the day after.

...of course, cadence thoroughly enjoyed herself. then again, she wasn't on her feet the whole time. she was either in the stroller, slung on my back, or on daddy's shoulders. little kids just don't know how good they have it...

...i have mixed feelings about zoos. i guess they can be a tool for educating the public on appreciating wildlife and therefore taking care of animals, but at the same time, it's sad to see these creatures confined to such small spaces.

...i have to say that most of the animals looked bored out of their minds, especially the gorillas. the only ones who seemed to enjoy themselves were the sea lions and the dolphins.

anyhoo, slideshow of photos are here. i've got a plugged bathtub to contend with.

you know you're the parent of a toddler when...

...you catch yourself standing next to the department printer shamelessly and absentmindedly humming the theme song from elmo's world...or blue's clues...or dora the explorer...

...but how can i complain, when the aforementioned toddler is this adorable? it's almost enough to make me sing 'LA-LA-LA-LA, LA-LA-LA-LA, Elmo's World!' at the top of my lungs for all the world to hear. the operative word in the previous sentence being almost.

...well, it seems that we have survived the heat wave. the temps are back down to heavenly regions of the mid-to-upper 70s, at least for today. we did brave the heat on sunday evening to visit our friend and realtor yvonne carns, who was having an open house for the condo development she lives in on the lake in east rogers park. they have a huge patio that overlooks their private beach, and a lot of the residents and their friends were out grilling and swimming and chilling. it actually felt really good, since the whole patio was shaded by that time of the evening.

...cadence was too chicken to dip her feet in the water (which was still quite cold, btw), but she loved combing the beach and throwing stones into the big old lake. the movement of the waves fascinated her, and she seemed to drink in the scenery.

...coincidentally, we ran into someone i went to high school with who happens to live in the same building as yvonne. kiljoong graduated a year before me and is friends w/ my olarn, who was in his graduating class. kiljoong and i were in orchestra together (he played violin, i played cello), but we didn't really hang out too much outside orchestra or korean club related stuff. but i got an email out of the blue from him about 3 years ago because he found my blog after talking to our mutual friend olarn. turns out he used to frequent the same venues i was going to at that time--empty bottle, the fireside, the metro, etc...i think we thought about catching a show together, but i was so busy back in those days, we just slipped out of touch...

the crazy thing is, in looking at my old email, i saw that he had invited me to a beach party at the very property where i would run into him this past sunday. he and his wife heather (his fiance at the time) had bought a condo in that building. i had no idea! what a small world! i'm going to have to call olarn and get us all together one of these days.

well, we're going back to that beach on saturday to hang out with yvonne again. she and ted are going to have a chess rematch (she clobbered him the last time). i think i might bring along a kiddie pool for cadence, since she's too scared to go in the lake. should be good times regardless...

heat wave

...i suppose it was inevitable, but the blissful mild summer we've been having is about to pack its silky bags and move on to places like seattle, WA and vancouver, B.C., and then chicago will turn into a literal melting pot--hot cement, sticky discarded ice cream wrappers, clumsily spilt syrupy soda, and millions and millions of feverished bodies. add to this stew the onset of Gay Games VII, and we're talking dangerous levels of mercury rising. i haven't heard how many people are expected for the games, but it is a big to-do in the city. i know our church is participating in some of the non-sports related events, and maybe if it cools down at ALL, i'll get to take in some of the competition. maybe the figure skating. i bet that's gonna be a popular event, in light of the expected heat wave...but i AM worried for the athletes and spectators because of the heat wave...i hope the city, somebody, ANYbody, will have the foresight to be giving away lots and lots of water...

...*sigh*...this lovely scene by the lake will only be a distant memory come tomorrow...i shot this on early wednesday morning when cadence and i got my coffee and enjoyed the abandoned playlot at berger park. this guy also got his coffee at metropolis and then walked over to the lake, apparently to do his meditations. the water was so lovely and moody gray like the overcast sky (even though it looks blue in the photo).

ted is not working tomorrow, so i think we may try to sneak out and get our coffee early before the heat wave gods notice. although, i don't think metropolis will open early enough for us to avoid the stuffiness that may come extra early starting tomorrow. i'm so glad we bought our coffee beans last night. we may not have to leave our temperature-controlled environment at all for our caffeine fix...

"Oh, G-D...F#@%!!"

...no, no, i'm not whining here...believe it or not, this is something CADENCE has taken to saying these days. and the crazy thing is, she says it IN CONTEXT. it would be one thing if she were innocently spewing cuss words like little gems of randomly strung-together syllables. instead, if she drops something, or gets her winnie-the-pooh car stuck somewhere, she's dropping the F-bomb like a regular salty sailor...

...it was kinda cute when she'd slap her forehead and exclaim, 'oh, gott!' but when she started attaching perfectly enunciated 'F#@%!'s to the first epithet, we knew we were doomed...well, at least we're not the only parents with this problem...

...in addition to her cussing skills, cadence has finally started associating people with names, including herself. just in the past week, she no longer says 'baby!' when she sees her photo flash across the monitor...now it's 'ay-dince.' uncle dave is 'uh-DAY? uh-DAY?' our friend matt the pianist is an emphatic 'MATT!!' and josh is a hushed 'arsh.' our little ay-dince...she's growing up so fast...*sigh*...

well, it's wednesday morning, and i work from home today...ted graciously biked to work which means i've got the car...hmmm...i think i hear a latte calling my name...this would be one of the few instances in which i can't wait for cadence to wake up.

so behind around here...

...alrighty. it's been mighty busy this past week. the 4th of july holiday ended way too quickly for me, and i'm still adjusting to a reality that requires dragging my butt into the office.

...ok, this photo's for auntie lore. this is a t-shirt lauren got for cadence a while back. it says 'hug me' in swedish on it (at least i think that's what it says).

...so what have we been up to? well, let's just say that we've been to metropolis and berger park no less than 4 times in less than a week. in fact, when i was stranded at home carless on the 4th of July while ted was working, i actually carried cadence almost 4 blocks to devon and clark to catch the 151 sheridan bus to get my iced latte. not only that,when josh came to town this weekend for our buddy connolly's wedding, we picked him up from the loyola redline and would have proceeded directly to metropolis had he not been hot and sweaty in the suit he had WORN on the plane (in lieu of packing it for the wedding). he still managed to go to metropolis TWICE during his short visit.

...yes, our friends chris (connolly) and chris (kettelkamp)tied the knot this weekend. connolly has been like a brother to me these past few years, and i hope the new mr. and mrs. connolly are very happy together!

...so josh, who'd spent some time living it up in germany during his air force days, wanted to catch the world cup final on sunday. i, on the other hand, wanted to catch the folk and roots festival in welles park. luckily, welles park is in lincoln square, heart of germantown, and i figured what better place to watch a world cup game hosted by germany than a german bar?

so we all headed to lincoln square midafternoon on sunday. cadence, who'd resisted napping all day, finally fell asleep, so i let the boys go watch the game in some fancy german bar, while i sat in giddings plaza with my slumbering baby. when the game went into OT, ted left josh at the bar, and we walked over to the music festival.

...we mainly wanted to see our friends denise and paul and their son zach, who's a couple months younger than cadence. denise had a booth at the festival for the nonprofit she co-founded called global explorers, which strives to help kids to explore diverse cultures through the arts. unfortunately, by the time we found denise, paul and zach had gone home for zach's daily 4 hour (i'm so jealous!!) nap.

...by this time, ted and i were starving, cadence was whining to nurse, and it was so friggin' sunny and hot that i just wanted to get out of there. luckily, the library across the street from the park was open and nicely air conditioned, so i took cadence in there to nurse and to cool off a bit. we grabbed a bite to eat from a couple vendors at the festival and then we went back to the bar where we'd left josh.

josh had the good luck of being in a bar that was serving a free buffet AND giving away free beers. he always has such good luck like that. so he'd had a good time while we were away. free food, free beer, who could ask for anything more?

anyhoo, i'm still pretty exhausted from the past week...i feel a migraine coming on...grrr...or could it be latte withdrawl? hmmm...metropolis opens at 6:30...i COULD run over there and get a coffee in the morning if i catch the 7:42 train...i'll have to keep that under consideration...

seattle summer weather

this week has been just absolutely gorgeous in the windy city. it's like the weather gods forgot this is chicago in july and therefore should be in the 90s with 99% humidity and instead have graciously-allbeit-absentmindedly granted us weather more often associated with seattle in summer--mid 70s and 50% humidity. i'm sure this won't last, but it sure was nice to not have the AC on the past couple days.

...so ted found this really great playground by the lake. it's part of the berger park cultural center at 6205 n. sheridan (couple blocks east of the grandville stop on the red line) and is only a year old. it's 8,000 sq. feet and is covered in soft surface tiles, which means cadence can run as fast as she wants in this playground because there's no cement to tear up her little knees.

...there are at least four slides, a little climbing wall, and even a pirate ship with a real kid-sized hammock. directly adjacent to the playground is a tree-covered grassy area that would be perfect for a picnic. all this against the majestic backdrop of the big wide vastness known as lake michigan.

...and what do ted and i like best about the park? why, it's just down the block from the best coffee in the city...metropolis! cadence is already on a first-name basis with some of the baristas there. i have never craved coffee before, but now i sometimes daydream about the consistently foamy goodness that is their lattes...mmm...

happy independence day!

...yay! it's a four day weekend! and what a busy one it's been, at least by our household standards. friday night, ted had a show w/ our friend tim lowly. it was at the elastic arts foundation, which is a pretty cool space above a chinese restaurant in logan square. cadence and i went, since it was an all ages smoke-free show. we were pleasantly surprised that by the time tim and the gang got on stage, most of the chairs were filled. they played a really great show, and i wish i could say that i know that firsthand from having witnessed it, but cadence is not one to just sit quietly through a performance. after about 3 songs, i spent the rest of the evening walking her up and down milwaukee avenue. still, my cousin kris and 3 of her friends as well as my brother were there, and i was glad that the band had a good audience that made the show so enjoyable for them.

...on saturday, when ted got home from work, he kindly booted cadence and me out of the house so that he could brew a microbatch of beer. we went to the mall to get a sunhat for cadence. she was in a really good mood for some reason, and didn't complain at all about being in the stroller. she made up little songs and flirted tirelessly with whomever was within flirting distance. after the mall, we drove over to evanston's award-winning rose garden.

...cadence thoroughly loved running around barefoot on the sunken lawn in the middle of the garden. by this time of the day, the sun had sunk far enough behind the buildings and trees that the whole garden was shaded, except for some small patches of golden gloaming light. the grass, which was mostly green, felt so cool and delicious beneath our bare feet. this is one of the few places in the chicago area where i would feel safe letting cadence run around without shoes. the sunken nature of the lawn, which is surrounded by a shallow brick wall, makes it difficult for her to escape out into the street, so i could basically let her run free, which is another thing she doesn't get to do too much of outdoors living in the city.

...i'll have to remember to bring cadence to this garden more often, just so she can run around barefoot so freely. living in the city, especially a big one like chicago, you sometimes forget that children really were meant to run like the wind, unfettered by shoes or the admonishment of adults, without worrying about cars or glass or suspicious strangers...

alright. more later. it's almost time for me to turn into a pumpkin...