oh the joy of cadence joy

i just love her great big chubby cheeks...i could kiss 'em over and over and over and over and... well, you catch my drift...

she LOVES bristle blocks! grandma and grandpa keep a box of them for her at their house...

just look at that big silly grin! she is definitely a happy baby, and i am so thankful for that...

happy father's day!

to all the dads out there...

a whole new me...

...well, it was inevitable...i knew i was gonna get sick of my crazy long hair now that i've got cadence constantly in my arms...and last week's heatwave in chicago was the last straw...i made an appointment w/ my friend connie's hair stylist on wednesday, and now my hair is all gone...this is the shortest hair i've had since my 1978 bowl cut when i came to this country...

just to give you an idea of how long it was prior to being chopped, this picture is of the donation i'm making to locks of love with the 16" that got cut...locks of love is a non-profit that donates hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged kids who've suffered long-term medical hair loss...i was at miss mia's BBQ on sunday and mentioned to another mom that i planned on chopping my hair, and she suggested that i donate it...i'd heard of locks of love before, so i was glad that she reminded me...hopefully they'll be able to use it...

it's really weird not having all that hair...i know this may sound silly, but in some ways, i hid behind my long hair and drew a sense of identity from it...people have always known me by my really long hair, and now i don't have that any more so i feel a bit naked and vulnerable...

the good news is that in a couple weeks, once it grows out a tiny bit, i can make really cute indie rock ponytails! i can't wait for that! and then when they're a little longer, it'll be cute indie rock pigtails! so i guess cadence and i can grow out our hair together now...oh joy!

roadtrip part three

we left josh and lielle’s around 1pm monday afternoon and headed towards the yale university campus on our way out of town to have a look-see…i called up caleb to see what he was up to, and it just so happened that he was on his way to meet our friend todd kennedy for lunch on campus…that was just perfect because now they could become our tour guides on campus AND we got to see todd, who had been busy the evening before when the new haven crew came over to josh and lielle’s…i thought we’d be leaving for chicago without seeing todd, but fortunately that was not the case, and he got to meet cadence after all…

this photo isn’t of caleb and todd, but just a couple of suits walking through the campus…but in retrospect, this COULD be caleb and todd 50 years from now…anywho, i digress...i just liked their suits and what seemed to me their engaging conversation…

this is todd leading us to the main library...see that really tall building in the background? that houses all the books and stuff for the library...we're talkin' major forest here...

cadence thought the campus was cool as long as she was being carried in her ellaroo...maybe she'll wanna go to yale someday...well, there's goes our retirement...

the yale library had some major card catalogage going on...i haven't seen or used these since probably high school! i can barely alphabetize my cd's anymore, let alone look up a book in one of these things...

and this is the interior of the library...sheesh...i thought i was on the set of lord of the rings...those were some massively impressive walls...i don't think i've ever been in such a beautiful library...you could give some mighty fine sounding concerts there, but you'd probably get shushed by the librarian...

we ended our tour at the new haven cemetery, which proclaims to all its visitors and residents that 'the dead shall be raised'...there are some really old graves in there...this photo's for todd, by the way...

our tour was only about an hour long, but it was nice to get a look at the campus and to hang some more w/ caleb and to see todd...

more later...

roadtrip part two

the morning after my cousin's wedding, we headed for hamden, CT to visit my best friend josh and his wife lielle...unfortunately, i got a stinkin' migraine on the way which made me extremely nauseous...so the first thing i did as soon as we arrived was to run to the bathroom and throw up...which i did for the rest of the afternoon...i became very familiar with josh and lielle's toilet...i was bummed out cuz i was supposed to go out and hang with caleb and kathy and audrey (who live in nearby new haven) that evening, and i was in no condition to go anywhere...so they came over to see us in hamden...it actually worked out great...i looked sick and gross but i didn't really care...i was just glad they got to meet cadence, and it was fun hanging out...and when lielle came home from work, she came bearing many yummy things to eat for everyone...lielle is like the hostess extraordinnaire and she made everyone feel welcome and even cooked up a storm for dinner...

i was feeling much better by dinner time...i think the sight and smell of lielle's cooking healed me right up cuz i didn't wanna miss that meal...it was fun hanging out that night with josh and lielle, and cadence had a blast with them too...she loves her uncle josh and auntie lielle!

the next morning, lielle cooked us another gourmet meal and we had a lovely breakfast of slowcooked omelette, her dad's famous salad, and toasted artisan bread...i was glad teddy was handy in the kitchen and could help out cuz god knows i'm good for nothing in there...after a leisurely meal, we hung out for a couple more hours...it was really good to see them, especially with cadence getting bigger so fast...

more later...