multi-faceted

...a couple weeks or so ago, i took a whole bunch of grainy, high-ISO casual shots of cadence with the LCD flipped around so she could see herself as i was shooting. there wasn't much i could do w/ those shots, but some of her faces in them were so priceless, i decided to turn them into a strip like you'd get at a photobooth.

oh yeah. go bears.

well, it sure has been quiet around here, hasn't it? i wish i could say that no news is good news, but i've actually been too tired and burned out to post here. work was really busy for a while (as it usually is this time of year) and for a couple weeks, i actually had to go in all 5 days instead of working from home on wednesdays. thank goodness that craziness is over. and now we have three big weekends in a row coming up, one of which is hosting a massive super bowl tea party. yes, you read that right. super bowl TEA party.

it was supposed to be just a TEA party for some old friends of mine from my evanston vineyard days. we're all parents or soon-to-be parents now, and i organized a reunion at my place scheduled for sunday feb. 4th. it never occurred to me that the super bowl would be that very afternoon. this was quite vexing as we don't have an antenna for our TV and it had taken months to schedule a date that most of us could get together. i didn't want to cancel the party, but when the bears ended up winning the NFC title, i felt obligated to give my guests a chance to withdraw their acceptance of the invitation to the tea party, since based on the bears' record, chicago couldn't expect to participate in another super bowl until our kids are of legal drinking age. fortunately, my friends candy and eric offered to bring their bunny ears so that we could watch the game. i think it's because they're colts fans (they grew up in evansville, IN) that they really don't want to miss the game, esp. when they have the chance to tease a bunch of bears fans.

so now my tea party is going to be a SUPER BOWL tea party. who knows. maybe the bunny ears won't work and all the football fans will scurry home early.

...in addition to work and planning parties, cadence has been a major pain in the behind lately. i hear that kids often get this way at her age. maybe their brains are developing so fast that it drives them bonkers. she's just been a bit of a beeyatch, and i can tell it's taking a toll on us. the other night, ted was going out w/ his bro, and he looked at me and asked if i was okay with him going out. i told him it was fine, but i couldn't guarantee i wouldn't kill the little bugger before he got back.

of course, this little 'spririted' phase just HAD to coincide with my finishing haim ginott's classic parenting book Between Parent and Child, which i highly recommend to anybody in a relationship of any type with another human being. some of the ideas in the book may seem oversimplistic, but overall, i really got a lot out of it, not just for my parenting skills, but in relating to ted and even people at work.

anyhoo, in case i've ever made it seem like i absolutely ADORE being a parent and having cadence for a daughter ALL the time like 24/7 and how could i POSSIBLY have been happy before her birth…well, think again. sometimes, i just want to grab my camera, buy a pack of american spirits and head on over to the empty bottle like the good old days…

cute, funny AND a brainiac

...in case you were worried that cadence was merely about foofy pink tutus and cutesy poses, she is much more than that.

...cadence appreciates the simple pleasure of a lazy afternoon spent reading on the sofa...

...and she seems to have inherited her mother's affinity for the chicago reader, which she enjoys especially at local cafes like metropolis or the grind, which is where she is in this photo taken by teddy. so rest assured that she has a serious brainy side too. granted, it is the brain of a 2 year old, but still...just so you know, she's not all fluff.

the unbearable cuteness of being...

...of being CADENCE, that is...ah yes, there she is in all her pinkness. this is the tutu from aunt ali and uncle charles. i hear it is essential to every little girl's wardrobe.

...and this is the photo that went out with our christmas cards. i think it's probably one of my favorite photos of her ever. she's looking less and less like a baby. *sigh*...

tagged again!

...not quite what i had in mind for getting TAGGED, but it seems we have a budding tag artist on our hands.

so it all went down this morning. ted was home sick in bed. i was in the bathroom getting ready to go out to meet my cousins kris and rachel for breakfast, and cadence...well...she was busy too...it's totally my fault for leaving the sharpie where cadence could reach it. (i have to keep in mind that she's in the 89th percentile for height.) when she ran into the bathroom with a blue face and blue hands, i thought that was the worst of it. i nearly fainted when i went out into the dining room. she had drawn a MURAL on one of our dining room benches as well as on the floor of her playroom, and there were few toys within her reach that escaped becoming her doodle pad.

of course, this all happened 20 minutes before i was supposed to meet my cousins at the restaurant...oh, JOY...CADENCE JOY...