It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, and Other Thoughts on the Season

A few weeks ago we purchased our Christmas tree.  I really like real trees and Steve usually gives in every year with my promise that one day we'll invest in a fake one.  We went to Home Depot and the first one we pulled up looked good so we bought it, strapped it to our car, and brought it home.  We were really worried that Cadance would be all over the tree, but mostly she's ignored it.  But, she loved the lights.

Until, of course, they were wrapped around her.

But, mostly she found them intriguing and loves looking at the tree when they're on.  We strategically placed ornaments on the tree based on Cadance's height.  The top definitely has more then the bottom, but we're aiming for zero broken ornaments!

In other new, Cadance was sick all last week.  She had a cold, ear infection, and she got a tooth.  So, teething without being able to breath through her nose meant lots of drool.  Constant.  So, she wore a bib all week.  In this picture she apparently got tired of it.  

   

In other thoughts:

1. Pine needles are horrible.  One more reason to have wood floors.
2. Whole wheat tortillas don't taste like tortillas.  Try as I might they really just taste like pressed wheat berries.
3.  Apple cider is 100% delicious.
4. I know it's good for them, but is reading a single book 5 times in one day really necessary?
5. I made pumpkin chocolate chip bread today and in my opinion it smells like Christmas.
6. Cadance started taking one nap a day this week which makes me feel like she's old.  Couldn't she have waited a few months?
7. Yesterday Pinterest didn't display the search for a couple hours and it totally stressed me out.  I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with that.
8. Cadance is twirling.  It's the cutest thing in the world and hilarious because she gets dizzy really quickly.  Here's video.

Happy Holidays!

Dress Up

I decided I needed to start taking advantage of the fact that I have a daughter.  So, we played dress up.  I put her in all pink and let her play with her hair bows.  She doesn't actually like having hair bows in her hair, but she loved looking through the box and looking in the mirror.  The pictures aren't that great, but it was fun. 

The Train

 Last Saturday or so we took Cadance on the mini train that runs along the Trinity River.  It was a beautiful fall morning and Cadance loved it.  She also loved being fed cherrios at regular intervals.

 

First Birthday Pics

We had pictures done for Cadance's 1st birthday.  Here are some of our favorites.

Happy Halloween!

So I know this makes us way big dorks, but I don't care because it's way awesome!  

That's our little golden snitch and I think she makes a pretty darn cute one!  Happy Halloween!

Cadance and Her Found Love of Carrying Things Around

She does this with anything that has a handle: pot lids, gift bags, "my carry" books, my purse, the utensil holder from the dishwasher, etc.  My favorite part is the look on her face.  It's like she has important stuff going on and doesn't have time to be interrupted by Mom.

Interview Season

Steve has just started his interview season.  He's had two interviews with 10 more to go.  I made a list of his schedule so you guys can know what he's up to.

Birthday Pictures

 So, as luck would have it my camera cord fit my mom's camera so now I have some pictures to share from the party, etc. 

Here she is going on walks before the party with her Grandma

and her grandpa

 Cadance really didn't want anything to do with the pinata, but she loved what came out if it

 

After the pinata we gave Cadance some cake.  I really thought she would go at it with all she had, but she didn't.  She ate it very lady like, one bite at a time.  I don't think she understood what the big deal was.  She acted like having all you can eat cake is normal.  But, it was fun to watch
 nonetheless.



After Cadance had her fill of cake and we cleaned her off and changed her into a new outfit we opened some gifts.  Cadance had a lot of fun with this.  Not quite as much as all the other kids at the party, but that's okay.

It was a way fun party!  Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate. 

On Cadance birthday Steve and I gave her one last gift.  A push bike.  It's really cute because her feet barely touch the ground so she can't really play with it yet, but she seems to like it anyways.

First Birthday

So I'm sure I was supposed to write some fabulous post about Cadance's first birthday.  Post a lot of pictures and give great detail for all of our wonderful family who weren't able to celebrate with us.  But, mostly I haven't felt motivated, or I don't want to relive it and then have to admit that it actually happened.  Also, my mom and I switched cameras so I don't have the video of Cadance eating her birthday cake. 

What I can tell you is that Cadance is now a year old.  She loves all the gifts she received.  According to her doctor she needs more milk because she's not gaining enough weight.  I weaned her in record time (2 days).  She is starting to have an opinion about all sorts of things in life and since she can't talk it mostly come out is disgruntled grunts and flaying herself out of our arms.  She has five teeth, and with the way she's been teething I'm pretty sure there are like 5 more ready to come in.  Getting 5 shots makes her shake.  She loves to be outside and sits next to the door just in case I decide to open it.  Also she completely understands all signs of when we're leaving, mostly her shoes, which I'm particularly proud of.  She likes to play hide and go seek.  She just learned how to turn off the light.  She hates getting her temperature taken.  Food makes her all sorts of jealous.  Mostly she is this completely fantastic person that I'm so happy to know!

One Week of Walking

One week ago Saturday Cadance took her first consecutive set of steps.  It was completely fantastic.  She was incredibly proud of herself, as were Steve and I.  Yesterday we took this video to document her progress, and oh has she made progress.  Today at church she was pretty much walking down the hallways.  Although I know she is now trouble I can't help  being totally thrilled about it :)

Yes, Thank You, I Did Make That

Look what I made!

I
t's a high waist skirt for Cadance to wear in her 1 year pictures.  Is is perfect?  Not even close, but I did it.  First and foremost I would like to thank Steve for letting me take over the kitchen table with my sewing machine and ironing board.  Also, Cadance for not whining too much during fittings.  And, a special thanks for the random online resources that taught me how to hem and do a gather stitch.   I'm pretty thrilled about it.

Beach Pictures

Here are some of the best ones

The Beach

For Labor Day weekend we were able to go to the South Padre Island with Steve's family.  It was fabulous!  Watching Cadance explore the beach for the first time was priceless.  It was seriously one of the best parts of being a mom so far.  Unfortunately I will not be able to share pictures.  I lost the cable to connect my camera to the computer.  The last time I saw it was in the diaper bag at the zoo :(  So...unless it fell out somewhere I haven't already checked I'm praying the zoo has a good lost and found.  My mother-in-law posted several pictures on FB, which are great, but seriously I have a ton!  It's hard to put the camera away when it's like constant smiles.  She loved the water, the sand, the birds, the wind, the sand, the people, the shells, the sand, the boogie board, and did I mention the sand?  Everyone was so impressed that it didn't bother her at all.  I was praying that a passing by dog didn't pee in the spot that she just put in her mouth.  Besides some irritated eyes from the sand that was rubbed therein she didn't have any problems.  It was fairly impressive.  So, hopefully we'll get some pictures soon!

In other good news Steve received his first invitation to do an interview for residency.  Oh, man.  That was a good email.  And, it became Autumn, like overnight.  When we came home it was suddenly cool at night and only like 90 during the day.  I was coming home from a meeting Tuesday night and thought to myself, "I feel cool, as in not hot, that so cool."  We went for a run today, at noon.  It was hot, but I tried to think about all the times I went out at 8:30 and I was sweating more than the run we went on today.  Good stuff. 

Oh what a month

For four weeks Steve and I lived with my parents in San Antonio.  Steve was doing a rotation with the UT San Antonio Pathology department.  I figured that if I didn't go down for the entirety of the rotation there was a good chance my parents would kill me.  If not, then be really upset and maybe live with me for four weeks, so down we went. 

If was so much fun to be with my family.  As chance had it two siblings who normally don't live in SA were there for a few weeks so most of my family were at my parents house.  Cadance absolutely loved it.  It took her about 12 hours to realize how amazing it is to have constant attention.

We didn't have many plans, but what plans we did have got curtailed by an emergency surgery for moi the 3rd day we were there.  So, luckily I had plenty of hands to take care of Cadance while I recovered, but my baking, scrapbooking, running dreams were put on hold 3 of the 4 weeks of our stay.

So, without being about to go do much we had fun at home swimming, playing with pudding, watching a lot of episodes of Chopped, and straightening my little brother's hair.  When I did venture out there was much shopping for my brother's wedding and one dinner at Dough Pizza (fabulous!).

2.5 weeks into the rotation we flew to Las Vegas for the wedding.  As tired and sick as we all were we had a lot of fun.  The reception was gorgeous as was the bride.  We had a lot of friends come up from California so it was fun to be able to see them again.  Cadance was a sport, especially during the walk on the strip that went right through her nap time.  Also, I am extremely grateful for the invention of the pack n play; Cadance took more than one nap in a classroom at the church building. 

The trip wouldn't be complete without Steve's wonderful family.  We were able to spend some time at the Ellsworths, and Cindy was gracious enough to watch Cadance while we went to the movies.  We also went to the Culinary Institute of America's bakery and enjoyed some fantastic pastries and a great lunch!

In other news, Steve is fairly certain that forensic pathology is the field he wants to get into.  He really liked the rotation- the work, schedule, etc.  He's also almost finished with his residency application (whoot!).  I graduated from the Culinary School of Fort Worth with a certificate in Pastry Arts.  Both our parents came up to celebrate.  It was a great day.

So here are some pictures from the trip, in no particular order: