Rock Star

When Cadence woke up from her nap today, she said it was too sunny and wanted to wear her sunglasses. As she was sitting on her potty with her bedhead and all groggy-like, I couldn't help thinking she looked like a hung-over rock star taking his/her first piss of the day.

Well. At least she's sitting on the potty. And yes, she did manage to actually pee in it this time.

Because TWO Photo Posts in One Week Ain't Enough

My bro-in-law Dave left a comment on this photo on Flickr wanting to know who authorized a haircut for Cadence, "especially in such a style." Ha ha! Truth is, it's a fake haircut. Her hair got stuck inside her turtleneck when I was getting her dressed, and I noticed it looked like she got a haircut, so I snapped a few shots. As IF. It's taken me FOREVER (okay, 3 years, not really forever) to get her hair long enough for pigtails and barrettes, so there's no way I'm letting a pair of scissors come near her head.

Yesterday was a truly blustery day. I had a migraine almost the whole day. Luckily, it was my day to telecommute, but still. Working with a migraine, even from the comfort of my sofa, kinda sucks bigtime. I was feeling well enough by around 5pm, so I took Cadence outside to play. Holy schmoles! I was NOT expecting it to be THAT cold. The sad thing is, it probably wasn't all that cold. Maybe in the high 40's with the wind chill, but compared to what we normally get in winter round these parts, not that cold in the grand scheme of things. I'm just not ready to let go of summer just yet...

So, I realize I take a lot of photos of Cadence (that would be the understatement of the year). And yet, I have to admit that sometimes I get these shots that just take my breath away. Like this one above here.

Or this one. She can be so cheesy sometimes, but it's really her serious, deep looks that pierce me in that maternal place in my heart.

So while we're on the topic of photos, it looks like a few of you have discovered that I'm working on a new photo gallery. I didn't mean it to get out there in public, as I'm still futzing around with it, but I've discovered a great little tool called Pictobrowser that lets you create a snazzy looking slideshow gallery of your Flickr photos based on a specific tag, group or set. I'm still playing around with it, but if you like, you can go take a looksy at my new photo gallery page over here.

Or just look at the example below:

What I like about Pictobrowser is its sleek design and no nonsense font and the fact that you can see the title of the photo if you hover over a thumbnail with your mouse, as well as give you a link to the actual Flickr page where the photo resides. The downside is that I can't figure out how to get more than 21 pages of photos to show up. Of course, it's kinda crazy to have 21 pages of photos of any category, but I take a lot of photos, ya know. Oh well. I guess I have to be more critical of the photos I put in these here galleries. Currently, I just have the one of some of my favorite photos taken after I switched to dSLR. I'm working on one for all of Cadence. And the one posted in this blog is of my nature shots. I'll probably do one of Chicago, or street photography, or something. I dunno...The possibilities are endless with Pictobrowser.

Tags: Pictobrowser, Photography

Today I Drink My Coffee From a Big Cup*

And boy, do I need it. Since we have to wait until Cadence goes to sleep to get our Heroes fix, we've been going to bed a bit later than normal on work nights. Then last night, we were out with Cadence until past midnight, and today I had to drag my butt out of bed bright and early to pick up our CSA delivery. Ugh. Plus, our upstairs neighbor is having her hardwood floors buffed and sealed, so it's been pretty noisy around here, which means Cadence won't nap. Which means I can't nap.

So Ted & Tim Lowly and gang played a show @ the Beat Kitchen last night. It was an all ages show, which is why Cadence went with us. This is a photo of Tim right before he got abducted by aliens.

The lineup at last night's show was pretty different from the usual. Matt Ganong, the pianist, is in California playing for an opera. He'll be there for a few more weeks. Ethan, the violinist, was somewhere else. He WAS in South Korea visiting his brother, but I don't know if he's back yet. Anyhoo, the lovely and talented Rebekah Miller filled in the gaps.

I hear the show went well, but I wouldn't know as I was chasing Cadence around the block pretty much the whole time.

*The title of this post is a reference to an Ian Moore song, "New Day." Apparently, Ian likes his coffee from a big cup too.

Maybe I Need a Book on Potty-Learning

I've been taking a break from blogging this week, as I've been thoroughly preoccupied with 5 different books simultaneously, not to mention the fact that Ted and I have discovered the vast library of DVDs available for immediate online viewing on Netflix. We're currently going through The Life of Birds narrated by David Attenborough as well as the first season of Heroes (after Cadence goes to sleep). I have to admit that I'm a little obsessed with the latter show. We don't have TV reception, so we can only watch it on DVD or online, and we're hurriedly trying to catch up.

So, have you guys noticed that the one thing about Cadence I never talk about on this here blog is her using the potty? There's a reason for that. It's pretty simple, really. She doesn't use it. So there's nothing to talk about. Unless I talk about her NOT using the potty, and how that's getting old. Ted and I are trying not to put too much pressure on her. She has peed on the potty on occasion, and she'll sit on it for a while for the heck of it, but she continues to resist on most occasions. For reasons I don't want to get into right now, I don't want to resort to candy or stickers or charts, so I guess we're just gonna have to be patient.

Sometimes I think to myself, "Goodness gracious, what have I done?! I've got a kid who still sucks on my boob, sleeps w/ me and wears diapers at the age of THREE!!" It's so easy to second-guess the way you've parented and wonder if everything you've ever done is just WRONG WRONG WRONG. I'll bet there are folks reading this who'd say, "Hell, like DUH! What were you thinking?! You were wrong alright." Well, I'm doing what I feel is right for Cadence and our family. And you know what? She's still totally kick-ass. There is absolutely no denying that.

Best Shot(s) Monday--Cadence: A Symphony in Multiple Movements

I am sad to say that I lost ¾ of Saturday to a god-awful migraine. I finally got desperate and called my mother to send me real migraine drugs via my brother. I haven't taken any of the more potent migraine pills since prior to getting pregnant w/ Cadence, but I just couldn't take it any more. Thankfully, my brother Jim brought drugs and food, so I was sufficiently revived by 6pm to take Cadence out for the last hour of daylight to play at our favorite park on the lakefront.

Here she is conducting an imaginary orchestra of trees, grass, leaves and pebbles while munching on an apple at the park.

And here she is commanding the lake and the rocks to give her more crescendo. Or maybe she's playing a fiddle? Who knows. She's quite dramatic with the hand gestures as of late.

She did actually get some swinging in, although she seems bored with most of the playground equipment nowadays.

Although she got into some good old-fashioned pole-swinging. I used to do that for hours on my grammar school playground.

And, of course, there was running involved. She sure took a long time eating that apple, too, I might add.

Finally, we're back home taking a breather. Oh, ignore the crumbs on the carpet, please. I didn't feel like taking out the vacuum cleaner just to take a few shots.

And that's it for my best shots for this week. Go see more at Tracey's Picture This!