Santa's coming!!

Ok--been a while, and now our camera's broken so I don't know when we'll have more pics...but an update is definitely in order.

From before our camera broke, one pic only from the NL Santa parade. Cadence got to meet the big Giant Tiger mascot. Very exciting...


And Cadence posing before his little mini-snowman before demolishing it with a sweep of the arm.


This past Friday night was my work Christmas party, so Gramma & Grampa came from Kirkland Lake to babysit & give Drew & I a night out. It all went very smoothly, and then Saturday morning Cadence wouldn't let them leave! So, we explored the idea of him going with Gramma & Grampa, and all were in favour! By 10:30 we had spontaneously packed him off & sent him on his way to KL for a sleepover visit, and then found ourselves at home for a full 24 hours on our own! Cadence did great, no problems at all (I was a bit worried about bedtime or waking in the night without me there, but guess there was no need to worry!) I drove there to pick him up at lunch time, and he was back here in time for us all to decorate the tree. Christmas is officially coming!

All's well here as we get ready and I'm honestly more than ready for the holidays to start. Cadence seems to fully & completely get the whole Santa thing, and we've enhanced the education so far with tv viewings of Frosty &Rudolph. I think the grinch is on tonight. :)

Underpants

Thanks to everyone for your support this week...we're taking it easy, supporting one another & working through emotions as they surface. Today Drew and I both went to work, with the intention of just playing it by ear...he's still there but I came home--feeling ok but got a bit of flack from colleagues for showing up when I've got a doctor's note for a whole week off.

Not sure when exactly, but we'll be holding a little memorial in the backyard sometime soon, to allow us to more properly say goodbye.

In the meantime, Cadence continues to bring us such joy. About a week ago we bought him a couple pairs of cotton training pants, and said that they needed to be washed before he could wear them. Tuesday Cadence got up and said, "underpants clean." It took me a bit to figure out what he was talking about, but I realized when he followed with "me no wear diapers anymore" what he meant. So that evening after daycare we got a pair out, which he immediately put on over his clothes.

Yesterday was day 1 with training pants, and it was pretty uneventful. Two pairs of wet pants, then a diaper at nap time that stayed on til bedtime...but boy do we love daycare--today's a daycare day so we delivered him with a pile of underpants & regular pants, and wished them luck. They have a much more solid routine of kids using the potty, diaper changes, etc, plus some of the kids there are in underpants, so we'll see how it goes! My sense is that he kind of sees them as more comfy than diapers, and cooler looking (well, they're blue and some of them have teddies on them), but he doesn't quite get that he's not supposed to go to the bathroom in them. Like everything else, we'll just take it as it comes & see whether this lasts or we're back in diapers. My expectation is for the latter.

Underpants over track pants.

Thumb sucker--yep this is real!

I hope you can see things ok--this is from a number of weeks ago (maybe week 12?) and we're now entering week 16, I think. Next ultrasound is at 19 weeks and hopefully that'll be the last.

Happy Halloween, Winnie the Pooh!

Well, close--it's Eeyore (and a cow). Really realizing how many pictures & video's Drew's been taking with other cameras, because it's like there's always a camera on the go but I have so few pictures of Cadence--will see what we can do about that. In the meantime, here's all I've got from Cadence at Hallowe'en.

He had a great day--dressed up in the morning (as was I, at work all day) and stopped into the Health Unit to say hello to folks together; a quick hello turned into a full-fledged trick-or-treat around the entire office. Then he went to daycare, where they took all the kiddies through the hospital, bags in hand, for more trick-or-treating. Sooo cute. THEN, after dinner Drew & Cadence hit the town (about 5 houses) and a party at the book store too...

When they got home, it was all about taking inventory (of the portion we allotted; the rest was quickly hidden away), and talking about what to eat. We quickly established a one-a-day rule, which worked pretty well. It seemed more to be about waking up in the morning, asking for his food, then taking each item out of the bag, looking at them, talking about them, putting them back, & so on a couple of times a day, for a few days. I think we've close to moved on now. Not so for me, where everyone at work has brought their extra candy in to share so I've been eating more than my share every day!

Dancing Dinosaur with Harpsichord

Here's a little piece of artwork Cadence did last week. I think it's a harpsichord that dino is holding...although it could be an abacus.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday with a combination of visits in both London and Morpeth, Ontario, where my sister and family now live. Drew has a lot more pictures in his other camera, but here's what I've got from the last couple of weeks in our little camera, for now.

Two weekends ago Cadence and I got out our rakes to have some fun in the backyard, then we went for a hike up the trails in the back. Lots to rake...the pile's getting bigger...time to rest :)




He walked the entire way on his own; I was very impressed. I especially liked that he used a walking stick for most of the hike.

This picture was taken the next day, on a hike in North Cobalt that was an attempt at reaching Devil's Rock but wound up at an abandoned mine site. Here is Cadence posing with an abandoned record player...and I can't remember what else in the background. We saw it all there, including strange aqua-coloured ground which meant "I'm too arsenic-laden for anything to grow; stay away". We were sure to wipe everyone's feet well upon leaving. Joys of northern life.


We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving feast at the Rose family house in Morpeth; they live right on the beach and Cadence really loved playing with his cousins all day long. He really was sad to leave; I think we'll need to be sure to head back again soon.











Then, we went back to Nana's house in London. Here we all are with Auntie Mer & Uncle Neil, on Nana's couch.

2008 Plowing Match, Sleepy Bear

As promised, I took some pictures at the plowing match, which was a real hoot. Unlike the Fall Fair, this really was RURAL, and I just loved it.

One of my favourite parts was seeing part of the Queen of the Furrow competition, where young teen girls actually had to plough a furrow better than her competitors--so nice to see a competition that's based on (a bit) more than "talent" and looks...(of course they were all wearing their skinny jeans & trendy shoes...)

They had a toy tent, and Cadence quickly tried to make a getaway on a tractor. One of the volunteers had to run our & corral him back to the tent.

We watched almost all of the lawn tractor races--some were totally souped up, others just put-putted along the course.

The Plowing Match also featured some live entertainment. Sorry--this starts out sideways & then flips--the feature here really is the lyrics of the song...I hope they come across ok. Also they had good muffins.


Our sleepy bear. After nap the other day (the day Cadence was a bit over-tired and shooed me out of the room in a fit of rage at nap time), I went to wake him up & he was just so precious, with White Teddy...

Cadence the Big Boy

It's been a while since I've talked about Cadence's habits--thought I'd provide an update. He's now completely weaned off breastmilk; it was about a three-week process that involved talking, encouraging, and no tears whatsoever. He's such a great guy who responds so well to reason! Of course, as most people told me would happen, he began sleeping completely through the night in direct correlation with the weaning. Which is perfect when mom is in the first trimester of pregnancy!

What else--well, if you dare to call him a baby, he'll quickly correct you: "I'm a big boy now." We often sit & talk about all the great things he can do now that he's a big boy, from my end it's to reinforce the weaning and to prepare him for being a big brother down the line. Things like: eat food with a knife and fork, which he loves (especially the knife). Walking adventures in the ditch. Picking out his own clothes. And so on.

Drew and I also had our first night away to celebrate our anniversary; we went to a canoe lodge about 20 minutes away and even though I was exhausted & feeling sick, we had a very nice time. Gramma & Grampa came over to babysit, and all went well. Apparently Cadence woke once in the night, saying "go get mommy." Which of course couldn't be done. So my mom offered to lie down with him, etc, and finally just said, "well, I'm going back to bed then; call me if you need me." And he just laid down and went back to sleep. In the morning she woke up to find him reading books at his table.

Oh--and the other night, out of the blue, he said, "Mommy, go to your bed." He didn't want me to even lie down with him at bedtime (we hadn't been prompting for this but I was happy to oblige). I said, "ok, well call me if you need me." And he didn't. Saw him next at 7am! Hasn't repeated since then, but I'm pretty proud of his comfort in trying things like this.

Today's Saturday, so we'll head to the farmer's market and then to the annual plowing match (can't pass up a chance to see tractors in action!) Will be sure to take some pictures as I've been negligent on that front in general lately. On the pregnancy front, I'm feeling ok--sleepy during the day , generally nauseous all the time unless I'm eating constantly, and having vivid dreams--all the same as with Cadence, but all a bit less than last week so maybe it's starting to ease up. In week 8 now...

Some pictures from our weekend-long visit with gramma & grampa while Drew was away on a trip:

Having a picnic together after a hike at Pete's Dam, and reading some new books they picked up that day on an outing to the library.

Harvest Time

Somehow we managed not to take any pictures at the fall fair this year, but believe me we did attend--every day (that's 3 times!) Cadence LOVED the ferris wheel. Drew's been shooting so much video, that the regular camera's been a bit neglected...

Anyway--I'm home for a few minutes before doing a daycare pick-up so finally am getting to a few odds and ends, including a blog post!

A couple of weekends ago we went to Round Lake to visit my friend Jasmine's family's place, had a fabulous dinner, etc. Got a great visit with Jasmine & Kaarina too. Here we are just before leaving...Cadence has his jammies on & is ready to go. Not before spending half an hour sitting inside their VW van, though...he just couldn't get enough of it.


Little man helping me with our carrot harvest. This is pretty much the entire carrot harvest from the garden, which I consider quite a success as my first attempt. Cadence planted most of the seeds; I keep telling him that but I'm not sure he gets it or cares. Sure does like eating the pickins though!


Last Saturday we went to our friend Clayton's 2nd birthday party. Cadence was the only other little kid there, and very much liked the Cars themed party. While Clayton opened his MANY gifts in the other room, Cadence was all too happy to drive (literally) circles around the kitchen on Clayton's real motor powered ATV. I think Tofu is a bit jealous.

Shrubbery-Cheminis

Last week Cadence & I drove to Sudbury (affectionately called "Shrubbery" by Drew) for a visit, timed to meet up with Cadence's cousins Hallie & Emillie, & his Aunt Tracey. We had a great time, and he really loved playing with his cousins, who were both FANTASTIC with him. Looking forward to seeing them again before too long!




Last Sunday, my band practice was cancelled, so Drew & I drove Cadence to Kirkland where he stayed with Gramma & Grampa, and then Drew & I took off to climb mount cheminis, which is in my opinion the greatest landmark in the region.

Cadence calls Nana from the playground

I think the video link isfixed....fingers crossed!

This is from about a week ago...Cadence decided to make a little phone call while at the playground...click on the title to link to the video.

--note: just click on the title of the post & it should take you to the video...

Broken computer backlog...

Our cherished laptop has been on the fritz lately, and I've been awful at actually calling the help line to get things straightened out. As a result we've got a bit of a backlog of pictures that Drew finally downloaded onto another computer, and so I'm now finally getting to a new post.

I can't think of what's new so will look through the pictures & see what they tell. I found a fabulous stretch of video that Drew shot, but am having trouble uploading it. Will keep trying, and if not tonight then perhaps in a later post.

Cadence & I are on our way to Sudbury tomorrow morning for four days and we're both quite excited.

So--we've had rain pretty much every day, and not all that much hot weather really--but somehow Drew nor I have really minded it that much. There's always a bit of time to make it outside, so we're not feeling trapped indoors at all. And of course time to make it to the playground a couple of time a week. Here we are at the "big" playground.


Whipping cream, and peaches.


We puppy sat this weekend--here's Tofu with his little friend Deacon.


In mid-July we finally got out strawberry picking, with the goal of gathering enough to last the winter (my gamble is that we'll have eaten them all by mid-November, but hey they're soo good!) Cadence did great & even filled almost a whole basket on his own before the novelty wore off. Gramma & Grampa were there with us to play with Cadence while I was busy squirreling away the berries, and Drew was videotaping the work & getting some great footage of strawberry fields & clouds whirring by (before the rain started...)




In the driveway, with the construction trucks. Which have actually taken a backseat in popularity after the acquisition of a toy stroller that Cadence got for free at a yard sale yesterday. In the absence of any good outdoor doll candidates, I helped him nestle his baby basketball in the stroller.


Mangoes are finally good! Another thing I miss about Toronto but hey they seem to have made it up here for at least a little while...I taught Cadence how to eat a mango & he did quite a good job.


Drew, Cadence & I finally checked out the new-ish asian food restaurant in town, and it was great ! I got vegetarian pad thai, and it even had tofu!! We'll hopefully go there again before too long. Cadence did a great job with his chopsticks (he & I practice at home whenever we're eating thai soup or stirfry). The server even gave him two fortune cookies.


Here's Cadence, after much (much) practice, riding the trike Grampa gave him. The trip lately consists of riding to the end of our road (mostly downhill), where we visit "the bump". The bump is a rut in the road carved out by the rain, and is great for running through, jumping over, riding through, etc. The trip generally consists of Cadence riding or walking down there, then about 30 minutes of us trying to entice him back home (it's about a 30 second walk.)

Two! Can you believe it!?

Well we made it to two! Poor Cadence, woke up morning of his party throwing up. Our guests were oh-so gracious when he threw up again in the middle of breakfast; they hardly flinched. That's family for ya! (I found it interesting that he was sick on that day, as I reminisced to the day before giving birth & how I had the same symptoms after taking a double dose of castor oil).

Anyways--although he didn't get to eat his cupcake until a couple of days after his real b-day, Cadence had a great party & continues to talk about Peter & Emma being here, about his cupcake, about candles, and about singing Happy Birthday. By next year I think he'll really have the whole thing down to a perfection.

Otherwise all is well. Drew's out tonight watching some music at the theatre, and we've been keeping busy. I got to go in the dragon boat races last weekend, played my first baseball game last week (since elementary school I believe!) and Tofu got to have a sleepover with a puppy friend this weekend. Cadence seems to be over his ailment & is now eating like gangbusters leading me to believe that he's about to grow about two inches overnight. Summer's sort of here & we're doing all we can to enjoy it...gardening, swim in the lake last Friday, picnics at the playground whenever the sun's shining (which isn't all that often!) Cadence & I still wear our winter jammies every night as it just won't seem to get hot! Oh well... :)

We seem to have really slowed down our picture-taking...but I've rounded up a few from the last while.

On birthday party morning, with cousin Emma, enjoying the fridge farm animals he got from Grampa & Gammie.


After breakfast, when Cadence came outside to play, he was greeted by a yard full of little chairs, each one with a balloon tied to it. Grampa & Gramma had put together a scavenger hunt for him for his birthday..took a little coaxing but he completed it, with an armful of new books, crayons, & paints to play with! (Nice work Grampa!)


With cousins Peter & Emma, after the treasure hunt concluded. Those three were great together the whole time. I think Cadence really misses them!


Cadence got a great package from Nana & Auntie Mer...he was quick to put on his new beach/swim shoes ('pidding shoes') & quite enjoyed the card. Books/card with flip-up things are a bit hit at two.

All the balloons leftover from the b-day have been great & Cadence has learned the joy of catching a ball(oon). We practice daily now, although the balloons are barely the size of tennis balls by now. Maybe soon we'll notch things up a bit to a beach ball!


Checking out the latest Vegetarian Times over breakfast.


This Saturday I got up & ran out to the farmer's market & a couple of yard sales while Drew & Cadence hung out at home; I picked up a great little table & chairs for C's bedroom (to ease the transition of the rocking chair out into the basement). Before bringing it upstairs we broke it in with some whole wheat mac & cheese (I've had better...).


Tofu & Deacon, his little sleepover friend from this past weekend. Deac's 14 weeks old.


Flash back--more or less 2 years ago...I remember it like it was yesterday!