first trip to the park!

Today was unseasonably warm (about 70 degrees!) so I laced up my old running shoes and hit the pavement with Cadence in the stroller after she woke up from her afternoon nap.  Although it had been awhile since I had last really attempted to run, I ran 1.5 miles without stopping, at about an 11 minute pace.  Not exactly my old sub-10:00 miles, but I'll take what I can get these days.  Once I hit 1.5 miles after looping around the Bell Buckle park, I stopped to take Cadence out and let her enjoy the park for the first time.  I put her in a swing for about 10 minutes, and she absolutely loved it.  I wish I had had my camera with me!  Before we left I took her down the big slide one time, which I think really confused her...I'm sure she'll love it soon though!

When we got home we said good-bye to James as he headed off to his game, and then I hopped in the shower for my first try at the no 'poo method.  Basically it involves washing your hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar, instead of all the chemicals found in traditional shampoo.  Apparently it takes awhile for your hair to adjust to the new routine, but after my first shower doing it my hair feels great--nice and smooth and soft, which is pretty remarkable considering it's been 13 months since I last cut it.  I don't think my hair will take very long to adjust to this new regimen because I don't wash it that frequently anyway....but I will document how it goes!

sicky sick.

The past couple days Cadence has been battling her first "real" sickness--fever, vomiting, runny nose :(.  Luckily it only took about 48 hours to run its course and get out of her system, but man oh man, were those some long hours to get through.  Now I feel exhausted and she is ready to go!  I think she's working on some more teeth, or at least I hope so! 

Other than that, things have been mostly the same.  Her new favorite game is, "Où est Cadence?" where I look around and act like I can't find her, then excitedly locate her face.  I bought some new foods for her to try--butternut squash, yellow squash, and green beans.  I'm looking forward to some warmer temps arriving so I can get some more in season fruits and veggies (read: cheaper fruits and veggies!). 

All in all she's still my sweet, loveable little girl that is growing up way too fast.  She also has her own play room now since I moved the dogs out...I can't wait to decorate it for her!

separation anxiety

Her whole life Cadence has been a pretty happy-go-lucky baby, as long as she has food available and has slept enough, she's content.  This morning we experienced our first dose of separation anxiety--I tried to leave her in the nursery at Bible study and she did NOT want me to go.  I managed to get her to play on the floor for a little while and snuck out without her really noticing, but then I came back an hour later and she was screaming again, so I stayed in there for the last half hour or so.  I know she'll get over it and be fine, as she has lots of opportunities to be away from me and then have me come back quickly, but it's still hard to have her just stare at me and scream her little head off!

We've been busy with basketball (what else!) again this week, so her sleeping has been thrown off again, but luckily today she got a good 1.5 hour nap in this afternoon, and she went to bed pretty easily at 6:50 after her bath.  I've been trying to work on a bedtime routine, but she is just not patient enough to sit through a whole book--two pages in and she's ready to nurse and go to sleep!  I felt like we were making progress on the not nursing to fall asleep front, but there's been some regression there lately.  It's hard because it's literally the only way to calm her down when she's upset--no amount of rocking, swaying, walking, pacifier putting in, etc. will do the trick--she just gets madder and madder! 

I'm looking forward to the end of basketball season, as it also means the end of concessions managing!  Although it's nice to have that extra money, it also adds a lot of work to my weeks.  For now I'm just praying that I can find enough host families for all these French students that are coming in June--it hasn't been as easy as I imagined!

teeth!

First things first, we have a tooth!  I noticed a little white spot on Cadence's gum this morning after church, and then upon feeling with my finger I definitely felt a little pearly white poking out--so exciting!  It also explains why she's been having some rough sleeping nights lately and just wanting to comfort nurse a lot.  Or at least I'll use teething as an excuse for all her fussiness.

Emma, Josh, and Copper were here visiting us for four days, and we had a nice relaxing visit with them.  We went to The Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar on Wednesday night with them, ate at the China buffet in Shelbyville and went to Goodwill, and watched a lot of Netflix and played pool.

School starts back tomorrow and we will miss having James home, but such is life I suppose.

Happy New (Car) Year!

First off, some resolutions for me...

1.  Exercise.  I have been really bad about not doing anything active since Cadence was born, but I know I need to, not to lose weight, but just to stay strong and healthy. 

2.  Read.  This has been my resolution before, and I'm trying it again. 

3.  Clean.  Lame-o resolution: check.

4.  Get pregnant again.  Whaaaaat?  I know.

Okay, now that those are out of the way, yesterday we bought a new car!  A 2012 Mazda5.  It should hopefully fit our growing family and give us roughly the same gas mileage we had on the vibe.  It's so nice to have a quiet, well-running car again.  Although the pricetag was hefty, I'll get over it soon...what's the point of saving money if you don't spend it, right?