happy independence day!

(photo by my cousin sherline)

...all is quiet on the midwestern front...folks are still sleeping and recuperating from the festivities of the night before...we walked down to our local cafe/ice cream shop sweet occasions, and it was like a ghost town on damen street...they were the only business open as far as i could see...

...yesterday was a busy day in our household...ted and his bro dave started brewing their next batch of beer at 10am, and were pretty much at it all day...cadence and i kept each other company and did laundry...my cousins debbie and sherline and my brother jim came over around 3pm to visit...sherline is in town from atlanta and hasn't seen cadence since new year's...you realize how fast babies grow when folks who haven't seen the baby in a while come visit...cadence is a totally different baby now than at the beginning of the year...she's pretty mobile and babbles and all bubbly...

...one other thing we've learned this weekend about cadence is that she is now old enough to be possessive of her mommy and daddy...we went out on saturday evening to meet our friends paul and denise and their baby zachary in lincoln square...zach is about 6 weeks younger than cadence...this was ted and cadence's first time meeting zach...he is such an adorable little baby, and cadence seemed intrigued at first...but then when i picked him up and held him, she started getting cranky, and you could tell she was jealous, this being the first time she's seen me holding another baby...things got REALLY intense when ted picked up zach...cadence was in my arms, and she still started crying when she saw her daddy holding zach...it was a very scolding cry, as if to say,'MY daddy! MY daddy!' needless to say, ted didn't get to hold zach for very long...

...we totally did not expect cadence to behave this way, but i guess it's natural...and it really made us realize that cadence sees us as her own, that at her tender young age, she already knows the safety and comforts of being in a family, and she knows that we belong together as a unit...it also was another indicator of cadence's emerging personality, and more and more, i am seeing a confident, persistent and strong-willed child...i see a difference between being spoiled and being strong-willed...it's scary, yeah, but it's better than having a push-over child who's too afraid to explore what she really wants in life...but at the same time, you can belive we're gonna need some divine help to raise this little one...

cadence's first live show

...before i forget, i want to record for posterity that cadence attended her first live show out of the womb...as i mentioned, our friend ian was in town, and we went to see him at the always lovely uncommon ground coffeehouse...cadence fell asleep before the show, but as soon as ian started playing, she woke up and was mesmerized...she was good for the whole show, and ian even played and sang 'elmo's world' for her!...duh da duh da, duh da duh da, elmo's world...she's such a lucky girl! this photo is when ian's lovely and talented chicago hostess alana waters sang backup for a cover of alejandro escovedo's song 'wedding day'...it was awesome to see ian again...the last time he'd seen us was when cadence was just a few weeks old...and we didn't get to stay for the show then...we're going to see him and his whole family when we go out to seattle in september...i'm sure cadence will develop a crush on one of his boys, if not both...she just loves little boys!

thank god for 4 day weekends!

...our company was apparently one of the few companies who took friday off in addition to the upcoming monday 4th of july holiday...and boy oh boy, did i need this 4 day weekend! it was a gorgeous start to the long holiday yesterday, with finally a break in the heat...chicago was a lovely sunny breezy 78 degrees...we thought about going to brookfield zoo, but cadence took a long nap and we lost steam for driving all the way out there...

...instead, we decided to go hang out in wicker park...we ate lunch at earwax and then we sat around the park like so many other people on this deliciously gorgeous day...ted dozed on a blanket while cadence babbled and crawled all over him while i did a photoshoot...see more photos right here...

ian in chicago!

...our friend ian is in town...he's playing a secret show at uncommon ground tonight and then a show at schubas tomorrow night...we're so glad he's doing the uncommon ground show cuz that's a smokefree place and we'll be able to take cadence...she loves watching folks play guitar and sing, so i'm sure she'll enjoy it...uncommon ground is one of my favorite music rooms in chicago for acoustic shows...the food, desserts, staff, ambience are all great for a lovely evening out...i haven't been there since they expanded, so i'm looking forward to it...i just hope we can find parking cuz there's an afternoon cubs game today and things can get kinda crowded over there...

so my friends chris (connolly) & chris (kettlecamp) and kris (olarn) came over last night to keep me and cadence company while ted was at a drum clinic with his best friend brian out in the burbs...kris hadn't seen cadence yet because he's been so busy spending as much time as possible in his motherland thailand...that and the fact that he lives in romeoville (50 miles SW of chicago) has made it hard for us to get together...and the fact he keeps getting sick so often! it was nice to hang out with these guys again...wish josh and lielle could've been here too...ya hear that, josh? we miss ya! you too, lielle...

...my cousin inho was in town last weekend for a wedding, and he came by the APT to see teddy and cadence while i was at work on monday...now did he wait for me to come home so he could see me too? oh, no, siree...so it's obvious who he REALLY wanted to see! who could blame him, though, eh? well, hopefully we'll be able to visit him soon once he's settled from his move from san diego up to arcata, CA...i've always wanted to visit humboldt county, so this will be our chance...

...anywho...i'm not sorry i'm missing cornerstone this year, as it's gonna be pretty frickin' hot for the foreseeable future down there...but i'm kinda put out that bill mallonee isn't making a trip to chicago after the festival like he normally does...what's that about?! i haven't seen bill play in like forever...and he's got like a gazillion new songs that i'm missing out on...sheesh...*sigh*...we love bill...we really really do, and i want him to see cadence before she gets too much bigger...i think the chances of him seeing her before she turns one year old are pretty slim...why do babies have to grow up so fast?

happy 9 month bday, cadence!

...yesterday was cadence's 9 month birthday...that's 3/4 of a whole year!!! my, how time flies...isn't she looking more and more like her daddy every day? i'm sure her goofy faces are inherited directly from his genes...no goofiness in MY dna, oh no siree...

...well, i've got a new photo series of cadence...it's called the sleeping cutie series...i took these on father's day at ted's parents' house while cadence was napping...i was so glad i got a chance to take some photos of her in this dress while she was lying still...ted and i LOVE this dress...cadence actually picked it out of the gymboree racks herself...she was supposed to wear this to my cousin ben's wedding rehearsal dinner, but stupid me forgot to pack it...but since ted loves this dress so much, we decided father's day would be a perfect day for her to wear it...see the rest of the photos here...