I didn’t forget…

One would think I forgot this blog existed based on the extended silence! But it’s really just that I have made a breakthrough parenting discovery… These little people take up a LOT of your time!! You may thank me for unravelling this mystery in the form of Starbucks giftcards.

On to the real star of the show, how about a few Cadence updates??

– sleeping through the night! 7:30 to 6:30 (give or a take a little) that miracle was brought to our household thanks to Laura at ‘Moms On Call’

– eating cereal plus a puréed veggie twice a day

– sits and plays with toys in her highchair

– LOVES her jumper and excersauser

– can officially get toes into her mouth (eww!)

– says “ma-ma-ma-ma” often

Here’s a couple pics…

Growing Up So Fast!!

Cadence had her four month well check this week and weighed in at 14 lbs 3 oz and is 25.23 inches long!

Based on the doctor’s recommendation and the fact that Cadence won’t take a bottle, we are starting rice cereal!! So daddy made a trip to the store and came back with several boxes of baby cereal (apparently he didn’t want to get sent back!) Aunt Carolyn was the family photographer so we actually have photos 🙂

Here we go….!

“mom, I’m busy… Don’t you see my toys??”

“mmmm!!” Her current approach to eating is to try to slurp in the cereal. So cute!

“ok, I got this. I can do it myself…”

So I think we can call the first cereal meal a success! However it did NOT result in that magical ‘feed her cereal and she will sleep through the night’ that everyone talks about. I’m guessing it’s because that requires the cereal to be IN her and not just ON her. We will keep trying! I have a feeling bathtime is going to become a more frequent occurrence around here 😉

Happy Friday!

This Is How We Roll!

Cadence is four months old today!! She’s had a very full day and only one highlight was rolling from her back to her tummy for the first time. Once again, Meatball gets the credit for being an inspiration in the crossing of this milestone! Here’s series of photos …

“hey mom look at me!!”

I’m a party girl!

Cadence got to go to her first age appropriate social function while we were in NJ. It was her friend Taylor’s first birthday (ok… Momma’s friend Sarah had a party for her younger daughter Taylor’s first birthday).

Cadence had a blast and momma took notes on how to throw an impressive baby birthday party… Only 8 months left to plan 😉 feel free to submit themes now!

Happy First Birthday to a wonderful little girl!! Thanks for including us Taylor 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok so a little behind but here it is nonetheless … A turkey day update!

Brent had to work on Thanksgiving so my awesome sister braved the trip from DC to the Eastern Shore and then up to NJ with Cadence and I. I’d like to say it was the first of many fun girl trips, but I think we are all hoping that drive is never repeated again! Ahhh I don’t know which of us I feel the most sorry for… Care with all the driving, Cadence with all the screaming of me. Haha…

Cadence before all the yelling…

We spent the long weekend at Brent’s parents along with Grandma Jane. There were no shortage of ppl to love and hold the baby, especially on Thanksgiving Day.

It’s hard work being the center of attention too! Passed out in Mimi’s arms

And of course the highlight of the day was a gorgeous table full of delicious food and happy family. Cadence had to watch but she didn’t seem to mind 🙂

Although it looks like she will be ready for her own plate next year!!

Hope you had a wonderful start to the holiday season…

Rainy Day

Cadence and I enjoyed a rainy day just hanging out… She is getting to be such a big girl! And that’s not just a reference to her weight… She officially slept through the night last night, going down without crying at 9 PM and waking up happy at 6 AM! Speaking of happy, her mama was thrilled 🙂 I’m not necessarily anticipating a repeat performance every night, but I’ll take it when I can get it.

She’s also coming out of an awful spell and starting to nap well again!! This feels like a major improvement to both me and her daddy as the phrase “we just can’t get enough of her” does not apply to a whiny and fussy exhausted baby. 😉

In other minor milestones I’m pretty sure she’s teething, has her hands are currently her favorite toy along with anything else she can put her mouth, accompanied by copious drooling. But I think her first tooth is probably still a long way off. As her primary food source, I certainly hope so 🙂 she thinks perhaps she’s ready for food, see?

We’re spending this evening just hanging out at home, picking up house a little. Well I’m picking up Cadence is supervising…

Okay Cadence says I need to get back to work so that’s all for now!!

UPDATE… Just thought I’d share the view from here… Playing airplane with Cadence before bedtime!

WOAH… Time Flies!

Wow.  So I feel like this blog has become my Everest.  I’ve been daunted by how “far behind” I am in updating it… but each day that goes by makes that problem worse!  So we will just have to accept that I’ve missed posting about a milestone or two and move on together… sound OK?

Without further ado or apologies… here are some highlights from the month of October! (yes, I realize we are half way through Nov)

– Cadence took her first trip (since being born) to New Jersey!  I had a work event the second week in October so the three of us trucked up to NJ so that Brent had reinforcements for his all-day daddy-daughter time with Cadence.  She (and he!) did great!  After just a little bit of trial and error she took a bottle from her dad, took naps on schedule and was generally wonderful!  At least that’s what I heard from her Mimi.  She may be biased 😉  This trip also gave Cadence a great opportunity to meet more of her Franklin family for the first time.  It was really a great week!

Hanging Out with Daddy while Mom is at work:

A little play time with cousins Drew and Will:

Ahhhh…back with mommy after being apart all day!

– After a great week in NJ we had a harrowing drive to suburban DC to see the other side of the family.  Between rain, traffic, and a screaming baby it was a drive we hope NEVER to repeat.  Cadence is definitely still 50/50 about her carseat.  Yikes. However, it was worth it!  She got to have some quality time with her Grandma and her Aunt Carolyn.  They even babysat while Brent and I went to a Redskins game with some work contacts.  It was a great weekend!!

iPhone lessons with Aunt Carolyn

Mom and Care, looking perhaps a little tired but triumphant after successful babysitting =)

Ok… speaking of time flying, that’s all I have time for right now! I will have to post more later… but this is a start right??

Mimi and PopPop Come to Visit!

Well, this post is a week late, I’m sorry!  You’d think that with nothing more to do than hang out with an adorable baby and get back into the swing of things at my work-from-home job I’d be much better about blogging, but somehow the days get away from me 😉

Last weekend we had a much anticipated visit from Cadence’s ‘Mimi’ and ‘PopPop’ and Great-Grandma Jane.  Affectionately dubbed thus by Cadence’s oldest cousin Drew, her grandparents finally got to come back to see their only grand-daugther after meeting her when she was first born.  Needless to say, she’s done a bit of growing since then!!  Poor Mimi was planning to come love on the tiny newborn girl only to walk into the house to find Cadence practicing standing on the kitchen counter with her daddy. HA! I don’t have a picture of that, but if you missed it on facebook, this why Brent is going to be the cool parent:

As you can see, she LOVES him already… because he’s fun, because he takes such good care of her, because he loves her… because he’s DADDY:

So it’s no surprise that she loves HIS daddy too… PopPop definitely has another little buddy to hang out with, even if it’s to watch golf on a Sunday afternoon…

After all, they have so much in common… including their hairline 😉

As I’ve been telling Cadence since the beginning… family is among the greatest gifts we have in life, a wonderful design by a loving God. Just like my mom often told me, I’ve been explaining to Cadence the special gift of grandmothers.  I have two of the greatest, and I’m so thankful that she is equally blessed.  It was so neat to get to see her bond with her Mimi this weekend.  I know these two will have a wonderful relationship for years and years to come…

Assuming either lets the other get a word in edgewise of course… HAHA!

And because grandmas are super-smart in the baby department, Mimi recognized a hole in Cadence’s developmental toy collection (LOL) and took her shopping to fix it.  Brent and I are THRILLED (no, seriously!!) with the addition…

Cadence LOVES her new mobile… especially the yellow and red lion.  She lays in her crib and kicks and talks to that lion while following it with her eyes and grinning.  It’s so stinkin’ cute!! We think it’s a sign of above-average intelligence.

So all in all we are so thankful that they were able to come for a visit.  We hope they can come back very soon!

Thank Goodness For SmartPhones!

If it weren’t for the WordPress app and spelling auto-correct on my phone I would never be able to blog.

Cadence is a month old!! Ok, that was yesterday, but I’m close enough 😉

We are definitely still trying to figure life out here on the Shore. Cadence is, overall, a very alert and happy baby. Except when she’s tired… then, well. Let’s just say she needs A LOT of help falling asleep. None of that cute ‘lay down in my crib, sigh contentedly and drift off’ business. In fact with all the practice she gets holding her head stubbornly off our shoulders with eyes glued open she’s rendering any need for tummy time obsolete. But… she is only a month old! So there is lots of time to learn good sleep habits… RIGHT??

Early morning nap with Daddy

Cadence is growing so fast!! I want to take her to the grocery store and weigh her like fruit cause this girl seems heavy! She smiled at both Brent and I yesterday morning for the first time which was so cool. She has also started to show more control over her movements, working on sucking her fist and grabbing at toys put near her! It’s so fun to see her interacting with the world around her a little more 🙂

After seeming to love the mirror on the dresser at Grandma’s, we got our own!

Playing with my block!

A Week of Firsts!

Well, its been an exciting third week of Cadence’s life! Highlights include:

– an awesome pediatrician well-check. Cadence weigh 8 lbs 1oz!!! The goal at this appt is to be back up at her birth weight. Since her birth weight was 6 lbs 15oz, we did GREAT! As we had no way of knowing how much she was eating, this was welcome news. She tends to eat really fast, so her momma wasn’t sure she was getting enough. Not worried now!! She is well on her way to being a little chunk 🙂 See!?

– Natural Disaster One – the great earthquake of 2011. Haha… ok so the east coast earthquake was mistaken at our house for a) a truck hitting the house b) gas main explosion. It was not the most impressive event, but still, it was my first in 30 yrs of life and Cadence has experienced one at 3 weeks!

– Ocean!! Cadence’s Great Aunt Nancy was in OC, MD for a few days so we took the Shorebaby to the beach!! Actually so we mostly hung out in the condo since Shorebaby hasn’t made friends with the sun yet. But her daddy did get to show her his first love 🙂 (she’s not sleeping in this picture, her eyes are closed in protest)

– Natural Disaster Two – Hurricane Irene! Ok so we are waiting to see how that one plays out and we are hoping that the Shorebaby’s homestead is in one undamaged piece when we get back. In the meantime, prayers are appreciated for dad, who has to work on Sunday in the midst of the hurricane, in an area that’s basically at water level.

– Road Trip… thanks to Hurricane Irene, Cadence has unhappily taken her first road trip. Her parents decided for her safety and her momma’s sanity that we would evacuate the shore. So we are spending a few days at Grandma and Grandpas. And, it’s official, Cadence HATES her carseat. I should have taken a picture of her screaming in it, but I was too busy trying to sooth her without unbuckling her. Yeah.

In general baby news, Cadence does NOT like naps. She is a great sleeper at night… sleeping from 10 or 11 till 2 and then again till 5ish. But during the day, naps seems to cramp her style.  Most attempts to put her to sleep look like this:

“Really, what are you trying to do. Put me to sleep? HA”  Further attempts will result in angry yelling.  But I haven’t taken a picture of that … yet.

Hours into the process when she final gives in to the sheer exhaustion, sleeping ONLY takes place on mom. Or occasionally dad, but usually, mom. And you’d think that if you waited a whole hour until she was REALLY asleep and then moved her, she wouldn’t notice. You would be wrong.  So, Cadence and I have been spending a lot of time like this:

Good thing she’s so cute right!!