DOHHHHH!

...i have just been informed by my beloved husband that i have left him stranded at home with baby, car and NO CAR KEYS...oops...he dropped the car off to have our brakes cleaned yesterday and took the train home, while i took the train to work and picked up the car on my way home from work, thereby ending up with both our car keys in my pocket, which i totally forgot about until he just reminded me a few minutes ago...and he had so much to do today...we're baking cookies tomorrow to take to church on sunday, and he was going to buy all the ingredients while i was at work today...and he was going to be nice enough to pick up my contacts at my eye doctor's...and he was maybe going to hang out with his buddy from work at a cafe and surf cross-country cyclists' blogs together...he was really looking forward to doing all these things, but due to my absentmindedness, he's stuck at home with nothing to do but the laundry...

...so we never set up either of ted's drum sets since we moved into the new place, but he has been giving cadence some lessons on the practice pad...here she is playing along to lungfish's 'love is love' album, which she really likes...now i know you all will probably think i'm just saying this cuz i'm her mother, but i really do think cadence is going to be a fab drummer someday if she so chooses...

...i think her uncle dave and his new girlfriend becki would agree with me on this one though...they watched her practice last saturday night when they came over for dinner and martinis, and they were duly impressesed...

...oh, i forgot to mention that we went to miss mia's birthday brunch last sunday at her beau's down in the fulton market district...i'd never been in that neighborhood, and i was quite impressed at the old warehouses and mill structures down there...

...i really dig water towers...and i've never seen one with a bird painted on it...(birds are so in these day...i really dig a t-shirt with birds on them...especially in pink and brown...now why is that? i'm sure it's due to advertisements of some sort...)

...i miss my days of street photography...oh, you never knew i took photos of subjects other than my daughter? well, lookie here and here...and *sigh* here *sigh*...

winter's back with a vengeance...

...i guess i got really spoiled in january when temperatures averaged in the 40s...now that february has hit us with below freezing temps and some lake effect snow (which really probably won't survive to the weekend), i have to admit i can't wait for spring...

i've become such a cold weather wuss...it's hard to believe that when i was a kid growing up in chicago, winter was my favorite season...maybe it's because my very first winter in the united states included the infamous chicago blizzard of '79...we didn't have snow days home from school...it was more like snow WEEKS...i guess when you're a kid you just love playing in the snow and are oblivious to the cold...i can't imagine what my parents must have thought...they must have wondered what strange land this was that they'd gotten themselves into...

(great)grandma day

...so last sunday we began the first installment of our monthly "grandma days"...that means visiting both of ted's grandmas out in the burbs on the same day...we first went to see cadence's great-grandma carol...she is quite a hoot to be around...we think cadence gets her laugh from her...and she always makes us bring a pizza when we go see her cuz they don't serve pizza at the retirement community she lives in...i guess it's not the best food for folks who are watching their cholesterol, sodium, fat, etc...

...after lunch with great-grandma carol, we drove to ted's other grandma's for dinner...grandma sophie is greek, so she's yia-yia (pronounced yah-yah) to all of us, which is great cuz that's easy for even cadence to say, although sometimes she says yia-yia-yia-yia-yia...we've opened up "grandma days" to all of ted's siblings and cousins, so his sister lauren and cousin vikki and vikki's daughter mackenzie also came out to yia-yia's, especially since she was recuperating from undergoing an angioplasty performed about a week and a half ago...we had told her not to bother cooking anything, but she still managed to whip up a couple cornish hens, veggie stew, herbed potatoes, and apple crumble...

...cadence had a blast with her cousin 'kenzie...it was so funny watching her try to copy everything mackenzie would do...it'll be fun to watch them grow up and play together over the years...

i think we were all pretty exhausted by the time we went home, but i'm glad we visited both of ted's grandmas and that this is something we're planning to do on a monthly basis...i know how healing it is for older people to be around little kids, so i think both grandmas will benefit from our visits...and us youngsters definitely have a lot to learn from them still...

16 months and going strong...

...so yesterday was our little cadence joy's 16 month birthday...i just can't believe how fast time it marching on...she just keeps growing and doing new things and amazing us all the time...

...she loves looking out the window every morning and watching the cars and people and dogs and trains going by...she often waves and says 'bye' or points to the little people and says 'baby!' cuz i guess they do look pretty little from our window...

...she looks adorable in pjs, and she enjoys sitting in her own little chair with one of her friends to keep her company...in addition to cheerios, she now also loves raisins and sunflower seeds...she will eat pasta with tomato sauce like there's no tomorrow, and she LOVES chocolate ice cream and strawberry wafers and clementines...

...she plays well with others, but still cries if we leave her in the church nursery...her favorite playmate is her daddy, of course, but she does get to play with a few other kids at church on sundays, and we also went over to visit her little friend ada grey who lives in our neighborhood...

...one thing's for sure...she LOVES yacking it up on the phone...she will pace around the house talking to her "friends" occasionally laughing big belly laughs, and other times being all serious and business-like...i think she talked to my mom for a full 5 minutes the other day, which is a long time for a little baby with such a short attention span...

...she also loves to dance and sing...she'll start boogying when we're out and about and she hears a song she likes...one of my favorite things about her these days is when i spy her playing alone and singing happily to herself...

*sigh*...

i'm alive...

...wow...where have i been? well, quite frankly, work's been pretty busy, and when i get home in the evenings i'm just too wiped out to do much...besides, there's not much going on except work and cadence around here...

...yeah, the little bugger is still quite entertainment enough in our household...we don't even have TV any more since we moved, and we seem to be doing just fine...although i need to get it hooked up for the academy awards on march 5th...i gotta see jon stewart hosting!

...i DID get to go see the detholz! play at schubas last tuesday as part of the DVD release party for 'why should the devil have all the good music?' unfortunately, due to time constraints, they didn't show the whole DVD. BUT the detholz! did a cover of george michael's song 'faith' which was a total hoot. steiny cut his locks and jim cooper (the frontman) grew a beard. the latter is quite peculiar considering that i didn't think it possible for jim to have facial hair, as his face has always looked so babybutt smooth all the times i've seen him on stage...

...anyhoo, i highly recommend the DVD to anyone who hasn't watched it yet...loads of fun and quite informational too...