...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...

...my good friend john b. gave me a book for christmas on the slow food movement which gave me the idea of starting our own slow food gathering...for those unfamiliar with what the slow food movement is, here are their general principles...i was most interested in the community aspect of making and sharing food from scratch the old-fashioned way, as opposed to the microwaved plates of ready-made food that's become the norm for so many of us these days...i personally have been known to go for days on nothing but luna bars, oyster crackers and veggie chili, but i have married into a family of siblings who actually enjoy taking time in the kitchen to use the stove and oven rather than simply nuking a prepackaged meal...so 2 of our sibs (dave & lauren) and our friends john and jon joined teddy & me & cadence in our kitchen saturday...we started at 4:30 pm on a meal of potato gnocchi with homemade tomato sauce, a salad and banana muffins...my contribution to the evening was buying all the ingredients and scooping baked potato flesh...i mainly attended to cadence and watched these skilled chefs at work...our kitchen was a flurry of activity until we got to sit down and eat finally at 9pm...talk about SLOW...but it was fun and worth the wait...food always tastes great when you're famished...we'll probably do this again, hopefully with fresh locally grown produce sometime soon when the midwest finally thaws out...

...on sunday, we took cadence to her very first chic-a-go-go taping...it was also our first chic-a-go-go taping come to think of it...our friend miss mia is the lovely and talented host for this local cable access show/kid's rock 'n' roll dance party that has a cult following among chicago kids, hip parents, indie rockers and freaks alike...this happened to be their 400th episode, and international rock stars shonen knife who are an all girl band from osaka were flying in early for their north american tour just to be on this episode...also, jon langford (of mekons fame)and the waco brothers who are a local favorite were playing as well...i guess we picked a great show as our introduction to the quirky world of chic-a-go-go...for the occasion, i dressed cadenc up in her rock 'n' roll tshirt and decided she also needed a bandana to round out her badass look...so i cut up a piece of my pajamas that i was gonna throw out and tied it on her head...i gotta say, bald heads look great in a bandana...this one was made like half an hour before we left, so no real hems or anything, but i think i'm gonna make some bonafide bandanas for the little one for future outings...

...there were a ton of kids dressed up in all kinds of costumes...some of them had parents that were dressed more outrageously than they were...there were also a lot of your 20-something indie hipsters looking to shake some booty as well as excited shonen knife fans thrilled to share the dance floor with those cute japanese rockers...from the moment we stepped into the hospitality room of the studio where the show is taped, cadence was just bugeyed at all the goings on...she was so excited she wouldn't even eat when i tried to feed her before the show...probably worried she'd miss something...

...it was pretty crazy during the taping with so many kids there as well as all the parents and indie hipsters and bootyshakers...jon langford who is a dad himself was a lot of fun...i've seen him do 'i wanna be your dog' w/ alejandro escovedo at a kids show @ the hideout a few years ago, and he got the kids to sing along, who thought it was funny to wanna be someone's doggy...shonen knife were just adorable...they came out in identical outfits that i think one of the members designed...miss mia gave them a plaque for traveling the furthest to be on the show...

...i can't say whether cadence had FUN during the show or not, but she was definitely captivated...i'm hoping to take her to more chic-a-go-go tapings in the future, and i can't wait until she's old enough to dance on the platform...i just know she's gonna be a kick-ass bootyshaker!

i love my family...

best buddies!

i just love this photo of cadence & her daddy...don't they look like such good friends? we took this at the lucky platter, a neat little diner in evanston that i haven't been to in ages...i had monday off for president's day, so we went out for brunch w/ uncle dave after ted took his subaru to the evanston subaru dealer...the lucky platter is just around the corner from the dealer, so it worked out pretty well...after brunch, we went up to the downtown area for coffee & hot chocolate at the unicorn cafe...it was kind of weird because there wasn't any music playing, and i'm not used to a coffeeshop environment without some tunes spinning in the background...go figure...

in other news, i just joined this yahoo group called APandWOHMoms which is for moms who practice attachment parenting and work outside the home...that would be me! i was surprised at how active the group was, and it seems like a really great support network for moms like me who have to be away from their children because of work, when what they want most is to be there with their children and partake in daily moments...it'll be good to have a forum of like-minded moms where i can ask questions and just share as cadence grows up...

anywho, dinnertime!

...(update on 2/24/2005: well, my 11 minutes of fame are over...my photo on NPR has been replaced by the NPR intern's photo from wednesday nite's DC show...oh well...thank goodness i saved a copy of the webpage to my hard drive so i can show my grandkids someday!)...say congratulations to cadence's mommy cuz she's a bona fide photojournalist now, thanks to her friends in the detholz!! yes, it's true...see that photo of jim and andrew to the left that i took at the urbana show last week? well, click right here, and you'll see that same photo on the national public radio website (no longer true, but you read the editor's note above, right?)(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4502847 in case you can't open the link)...and in very tiny letters you'll see my name (at least my maiden name) beneath the photo...being a huge fan of NPR, this may be one of my proudest moments as a photographer...and the added bonus is that you get to hear the show live for free this thursday on the npr website! granted, you can't replace the experience of actually BEING THERE at a wilco show, but i guess it's not so bad considering a) it's free; b) you don't have to step foot outside your home; c) you don't have to get dressed (up or at all); and d) it's free!

...speaking of music, here's cadence with her newest toy...well, it's not actually new...we've had it since october, but we didn't set it up until last week...it's called the step 'n' play piano...part walker, part musical instrument...she LOVES it!!! it's got a keyboard for her feet to walk on, as well as various other 'instruments' and toys for her hands...her favorite is the 'microphone' rattle, and she likes the crash cymbal pretty good too...her feet barely reach the keyboard, but she's been putting out some tunes, banging away and dancing to her own music...it's never too early to get started on the rock 'n' roll, i say...

...it's been a busy weekend in our household...auntie lauren came over friday night to spend the weekend with us...then josh came and visited for a few hours on saturday...he had to leave earlier than we'd thought, so it was a short visit, but i did get to give him his birthday card in person...saturday night uncle dave met up w/ us at the grind, and we got jimmy john's subs and watched cheesy movies on cable...dave spent the night too, and we all went out for brunch at brett's cafe in roscoe village this morning...so cadence has had a LOT of attention these past few days...i think she takes it pretty well...doesn't let it get to her head...she can be quite shy in public...except for the occasional teething pain episodes, she's been an absolute doll lately...cooing and singing and giggling and smiling away...she really is such a good baby, we feel totally lucky and blessed...

...ok...this here photo shoot's for uncle josh cuz 1) he taught me how to find mars and orion in the night sky; 2) his middle name IS mars; 3) he's out of this world, as in from a different planet...and he happens to be coming through chicago tomorrow! yippee!!!! yes, josh is a pilot and he flies bank checks all over the east coast and midwest...he's flying into midway early tomorrow morning and then he doesn't have to leave until 8pm, so he's gonna come for a visit...

...cadence seems to have begun teething, which means she's drooling like crazy and wants to chew on anything and everything, including her entire fist...the poor thing...it must hurt because she's been doing her 'owwie' crying the past couple nights...it's not the cranky 'i'm annoyed, change the channel' cry, but a much more heartfelt 'mommy, daddy, make it stop hurting PLEEESE' kind of a cry...it's so sad, if you heard it you'd cry too...*sigh*...