Easter Weekend

This past weekend, we had a weekend full of celebrations: Mom's birthday (what anniversary of your 29th birthday did we celebrate this year, mom???) and Easter.

To top if off, we even had an entire day of sunshine!

Saturday, Cadence and I did some last minute shopping to prepare for mom's birthday dinner at Tropea, a fantastic restaurant in Redmond. Betsy, Forrest, and Mia joined Matt, mom, Cadence and I for a great meal of lasagna, lemon chicken, chicken marsala, and fettucini. We enjoyed good company, great food, and awesome desserts of lemoncello sorbet and decadent cannoli.

Sunday Cadence and I had an essentially lazy morning while Matt worked an off duty job at a local church prior to heading to his parent's house for our Easter meal. Per normal holiday events, I kissed my low carb diet goodbye and we dined on ham, green bean casserole, potatoes, rolls, chocolate brownie eggs, and lemon bars.

Cadence was a huge hit of the day, no surprise there. She and Matt went on a daddy/daughter Easter egg hunt and she enjoyed holding the colored eggs and shaking them. She also liked "opening" her Easter baskets and looking at her goodies from Nanny and Grammy including bibs, a new sippy cup (which is currently her favorite chew toy), a stuffed bunny, books, and new headbands with crocheted flowers from Nanny. (No limit to this girl's accessories!)

We also spent some time Skyping with Peter and Kelsey. Overall, Wee's first Easter was a big success!!

April Family Photo(s)

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Today, Betsy, Matt, Cadence and I headed up north to check out tulips in Skagit Valley.

We were a bit concerned about the weather as we headed towards the tulips, when we hit Everett, we encountered a downpour of hail. However, weather.com insisted that the rain would hold off until the evening. Our other concern was massive crowds (Matt hates crowds as well as traffic). We were pleased to find the area with no issues and find parking that wasn't a huge trek away from the fields.

There was a small line of people waiting to get tickets for the Roozengaarde "farm" but we were thankful that it moved quickly. We were very pleased that we didn't get rained on, the weather was mostly cloudy with some sun breaks and the temperature was quite nice.

Not long ago, we purchased a hiking backpack from REI for Cadence to ride in and she really liked it. We've snapped her in it and worn it around the house to acclimate her to it but she really liked being outside looking at people and the many brilliantly colored flowers. After a while, since we were taking so many pictures, one of the three of us simply held her. She was very well behaved overall, despite missing part of her nap and towards the end, being over stimulated with the action around her. Not surprisingly, she fell asleep on the way home.

We had a great time checking out the gorgeous flowers and look forward to visiting the Tulip Festival next year.

InfantSee

When I was expecting Miss Cadence, my awesome eye doctor told me about a program called InfantSee. The program allows babies between 6 and 12 months to get a free comprehensive eye exam. With our extensive family history of poor eye sight and vision abnormalities (strabismus, astigmatism), and the fact that it was a hell of a deal, I saw no reason not to get Cadence evaluated.

Per normal, Cadence behaved amazingly well in spite of the appointment being during her normal nap time. She very eagerly reached for any of the optical aides that Cheryl (the assistant) and Dr. Preston used. Cadence is pretty happy to just play with people so to have new objects and things to look at in front of her made her very happy and she did her best to gum anything she could.

Even when they put drops in her eyes, my former least favorite activity, she didn't fuss. Only when I held her down a bit did she make noise but for the actual drop placement, she didn't make a peep. Poor kid, yesterday was shots and today was eye drops.

They kindly dimmed the lights in our exam room so Cade's dilated eyes wouldn't bother her but I went the extra mile and put the disposable sunglasses on her, thinking that she'd rip them off. I'm not sure if she was too tired to care or if she appreciated the change, but she kept the sunglasses on until we left the office and eventually fell asleep with them on in the car.

Overall, the appointment went extremely well. Dr. Preston, who has done my eyes for years, fell in love with sweet Cadence and called her her "Grand Patient" which I thought was cute. Cade appears to be nearsighted right now and we'll re-evaluate her eyes in 6 months to see if theres any noticable change.

In the mean time, feast your eyes on these!



Dr. Preston (holding Cadence) and Cheryl





BIG brown eyes!




Very dilated, yet so very happy!



6 months old!

Its hard to believe that Cadence is 6 months old today! The last 6 months have simply flown by!

We "celebrated" her 1/2 birthday by going to see Dr. Ginsberg for her 6 month well baby check up. Cadence has contiued to grow like a champ. No one could ever tell that she arrived 4 weeks prematurely.

Today's Stats:
weight: 17lbs, 9oz (75-90%)
height: 26.5 inches (90%)
head circumference: (25-50%)
Immunizations: Dtap, Polio, HiB, Prevnar, RotaTeq. (handled them like a champ, screamed a few times, Matt comforted her and she moved on)

Cadence is a very active, social, and happy little girl. She plays happily independently as well as with mom, dad, aunties.... She enjoys rolling around, primarily from back to front but in the past few days has mastered rolling from front to back. She scoots with purpose and typically gets herself very close to the area or toy that she wants to get to. She isn't getting up on all fours yet but she's close. She still loves her exersaucer and happily plays there several times a day. Her favorite loveys (comfort items) are still her giraffes, both the small ones, crib sized blankie giraffe, pillow, and pillow pal. She's also into binks again but I normally only use them in the car, nap time, or when she's fussy. Toys keep her very occupied, Cadence loves her crinkley books, toy cell phone, and anything that rattles. She's very into grabbing things right now! She loves faces, toys, remotes, xbox controllers, cell phones, coffee cups, lap tops, pretty much anything Matt or I use, she goes for to try to gum.

Recently we introduced her to solid foods which was a HUGE success. She loves rice cereal and eats it once or twice a day. She also loves homemade peas, pears, and has tried carrots. She continues to love her "baas", although she has yet to hold them by herself yet.

Between now and her next well baby check (9months), we'll expect Cadence to start enjoying more solid foods and demonstrate the pincher grab indicating that we can give her baby puffs. She'll begin to get teeth (none yet), and hopefully she'll be crawling and beginning to pull herself into a standing position. She already babbles and coos but we're looking forward to her making more clear syllables (ma, da, ba, ga). I continue to sign with her regularly but she has yet to mimick them. Because she was 4 weeks early, is likely that her language skills will come later than other babies her age. This being said, she's ahead of the game in sitting (when placed there) and she is very strong when it comes to scooting and reaching for objects.

We can't believe how fast the last 6 months have gone but we look forward to the next with our very sweet little girl!



4 Days Old




1 Month Old



2 Months Old

3 Months Old

4 Months Old

5 Months Old

6 Months Old!!!

Following in Dad's Footsteps

I think Cadence is close on Matt's heels to becoming an EVOC (emergency vehicle opperation's course) insturctor.

Remembering Julia

Today marks the 4 year anniversary since Julia passed away. I can't believe that she's been gone for that long. I have incredible memories of Julia and I can still hear her infectious laugh. She remains the strongest, most courageous person I've ever met.

Like any April 5th since her passing, I'm wearing pink, her signature color. Cadence is in pink from head to toe as well.

I take pride in knowing and loving such an amazing person. Today and each day, I celebrate her life. Julia's memory and legacy will live on forever and I think I'll make her proud when I put Cadence in dance classes when she's bigger.