Wild Weekend

Its been a wild weekend for the Andersons! With all the action we've encountered in the last few days, I found it best to blog in parts.

Part I: THE birthday party.

Friday evening brought Cade's first birthday party. Each Friday we take Cade to Gymboree to play, but this Friday, I had an ulterior motive: tire her out so a post-gym nap was guaranteed! Mission accomplished. I don't typically arrive early to places anymore, but I have found that I never time the travel correctly from our house to Gymboree and ironically arrive early to class almost every time we go. Her class begins at 1:15 so getting her in at 12:55 gave her some extra play time. She was happy to be in her gym this week and eagerly climbed on everything and attempted some tough (for babies) obstacles. I hustled home so get her down for her nap so I could continue my own party preparations, aka, do my hair. She thankfully complied with my plan and took a nice long nap and woke shortly before we needed to go to Grammy and Grampy's house for the big party.

Details:
location: Grammy and Grampy's house (someday, we'll have our own house so we can use our own venue!)
Time: 5:00pm
Attendees: Cami, Michael, and Georgia, Randi, Landon, and Chase, Sophie and Christine, Joe, Jen, and Ethan, Betsy, Peter and Kelsey (who flew in from California for the weekend), Nannny, Grammy, Grampy, and of course, Matt, myself, and the guest of honor, the lovely, Miss Cadence Brynn.
Menu: veggies and dip, fruit, crackers, CHEESE, Mac 'n cheese, Swedish meatballs, and need I mention CUPCAKES!? Cupcake Royale's, of course!

Cadence was happy to see her many guests and behaved remarkably well given the amount of activity around her. The party had no structure and for a one year old, that was perfect. We all mingled and ate while oooo'ing and ahhhh'ing over how adorable Cadence looked in her tu-tu. Singing my baby "Happy Birthday" surrounded by our many close family and friends was a bittersweet moment. I still can't believe that a year has come and gone in the blink of an eye! While Matt and I have been working with her on the concept of blowing (we blow the butterfly mobile above her changing table so they move), and she does get it sometimes, she did require some assistance from Matt and I in blowing out her candle on her very own cupcake. Now, I should mention, or perhaps confess that this cupcake was definitely not her first treat. She's had cookies, ice cream, cake, soda, cupcakes, Ande's mints, you name it! This was however, the first one that she was free to devour, throw, face plant in, whatever she wanted. I was impressed that she daintily removed the sprinkles from the frosting and ate them first, before picking tiny pieces of frosting off to eat. She didn't have too much interest in the cake, (silly girl!) and only when she knocked over the cupcake and put her elbow in it did it get messy. I was anticipating a frosting in her hair experience. Shortly after we all had our cupcakes, we hit the presents.

Like many kids her age, she had more interest in packaging, paper, and plastic than the actual gift itself. She did help unopen things, though.

The loot:
a princess scooter that she can either ride on or push and walk behind with tons of buttons, lights, and sounds, a piano shaped like a cat that has many tempos, styles and yes, a microphone (yes, Uncle Bob, she will be musical), tons of clothes, bubbles (huge hit!), a rocking horse, a vibrating teether,another month of classes at gymboree, a baby cell phone, a sea animal spinner, books, and a backpack with her name on it. She's spoiled!

We loved spending the evening with close family and friends!



Fun with bubbles!



Attempted escape. Unsuccessful.



The "big" kids had fun playing outside



Happy Birthday Dear Cadence!!!



Uncle Pete and Aunt Kelsey



The hair-pull.



She didn't enjoy the hair-pull one bit!




Cadence adores Michael and gives him smooches all the time!



Partied out!

Videos! (if subscribing by email, visit andermr.blogspot.com to see videos!)

Part II: Pumpkin Patch!

I took Landon to the pumpkin patch a few years ago and I've wanted to go back ever since but didn't have the excuse to until now. Dr. Maze's farm at South 47 is just a few minutes away from our house and we decided that we'd go this year with Cade. When I took Landon, Betsy went with us and we made a day of it, doing fall themed things and that's what I envisioned for taking Cade. We (when I was with Landon) played at the pumpkin patch, went on a hay ride, went to Theno's dairy for pumpkin ice cream, and went to Minea Farms for fresh cider. Having a three year old was easy and fun to do this with and since Landon is now 5 and wasn't with me, Betsy supplied the three year old since she was watching her friend's little girl, Reagan, for the weekend. We weren't able to hit Theno's although we did have pumpkin ice cream FROM there that evening, and we didn't get to go to get cider, but there's still time. We did make a family activity of the day and Peter, Kelsey, and Grammy patched with us. Cade seemed to really enjoy looking around and seeing many pumpkins, various activities, and families. Matt wasn't thrilled by the crowds but they don't bother me. Since Cade isn't walking or standing unassisted, we all took turns holding her but she sat happily on bales of hay and played with pumpkins.

The evening brough dinner at Tropea for celebrating Grammy's birthday and Cadence was extremely well behaved and didn't fidget at all in the restaurant. She was very content looking around and observing the servers while she snacked on rustic Italian bread and of course, cheerios. After dinner, we went back to Grammy and Grampy's to play Catch Phrase and Scattergories and have dessert. Cade did well for the most part but she eventually melted down and we took her home and put her to bed.

It was a great, very family and fun filled weekend.

My little pumpkin with other little pumpkins!







Pumpkin patches can be tiring.



Happy 1st Birthday, Sweet Cadence!!!

How has the last 365 days gone by so quickly?!

Cadence is a thriving and happy ONE YEAR OLD!!!

While some parents celebrate their baby's first birthday with toys and playdates and cake, we were the "mean" parents that took their kiddo to the doctor's. Since Cadence couldn't get one of her vaccines before she was one year old, we planned for her well baby check up on her actual birthday so we could get all of her immunizations taken care of at once.

Contrary to her other doctor appointments, she was very hesitant to be in an unfamiliar room in nothing but a diaper. She typically socializes and plays with everyone she encounters but she squirmed away from Dr. Ginsberg and was playing shy, all while fussing. We're told that this is a typical and age appropriate response even though she's such a happy and social kiddo most of the time.

Cadence has been growing like a champ!
Weight: 21.7oz, 50-75%
Height: 31 inches, 95%
Head Circumfrence: 17/5inches, 25%
Vaccinations: Hep A, Varicella, MMR, Flu

Dr. Ginsberg was very pleased to see her progress with her signing. Cadence was hungry during her appointment and she had a bottle and some cheerios "O's", both of which she asked for. One of the highlights of the appointment was Cadence saying "more O's please" in sign. She continues to use "more", "milk", "all done", "O's", "please", "poop". Cade is great at communicating her desires and is very responsive to directions most of the time. When prompted, she'll blow kisses, wave bye-bye, occasionally says "hi" and mimics words and sounds. I think I've heard something similar to "all done", and of course she "da-da's" all the time. Cadence has also recently began pointing at things so we name what she's pointing at. We've worked diligently on asking her "how old are you?", and 2 in 10 times she'll show us one finger.

Cade's still is at her best if she's had 2, 2 hour naps. This kiddo plays hard and sleeps hard! We typically end up having busy days between her days with Grammy and time at BSF and time with Auntie Cami and her down time with Matt and I. We try to go to Gymboree once or twice a week. She still has no interest in walking but loves to bounce and "jump". She cruises on furniture, pulls herself up on everything, crawls up, on, and through things! Just this week I was unloading the dishwasher, she pulled herself up on it, held the top rack and just stood there, on the dishwasher.........yep, that's my girl!

Walking is on the horizon for the next few months, as is expanding Cade's nutrition and food preferences. She's make a great transition from formula to whole milk and takes either with no major fuss. Cade is already sensitive and cries and has a mini-tantrum when we say "no". Precious.

We're really excited for Cade's first birthday party this coming Friday and we'll have lots of pictures and stories to share afterwards!

Its hard to believe that little Wee is now Wee the one year old, but we're so proud of our little girl and so excited to watch her grow into a happy, social little one.

Capturing Cadence

In this entry, Cade's cuteness compensates for lack of literary quality and whit....

With a big birthday around the corner, and a doctor's appointment, I figured I'd upate all at once. Stay tuned.

Dear Auntie Jenna and Uncle Alex, thank you for my giraffe outfit. I love it.

Cadence has recently found joy in pulling diapers into bed with her....

.....this was nothing! Yesterday's diaper count in bed was 21. Today's was only 17....

A little ham and cheese!!!!

Such a sweet girl

Daddy's girl

September family photo

Gymbor-Wee

About a month ago, we grabbed a Living Social deal for Gymboree Play and Music. For those readers who aren't Gymboree savvy, Gymboree (Play and Music, yep, same chain as the clothing stores) is essentially a baby gym. They have classes for babies of all ages, new born to 3 years old, and then other classes for pre-school and school aged kiddos. Their classes encourage active play and teach concepts like up and down, through, over and under, hard and soft, and of course colors, while using music and songs.

Back in the day when I nannied for Sophie, we went to Gymboree weekly, often multiple times, so taking Cadence there was quite surreal.

Since she is an active and very social baby, she loves it there. We enrolled with a friend from Waterbabies so having a familiar face there is quite nice.

While Cadence hasn't expressed interest in standing unassisted or walking yet, she's daring and fast and easily keeps up with the kiddos who are out-toddling her.

One of the perks to enrolling in a weekly class is that we have unlimited access to free play times, a few hours each day where babies and kids of all ages can come  in and play on the equipment during unstructured playtime. Matt and I have made it a habit to take Cade each Sunday for some playtime with both of us. Its especially helpful as the weather turns and she needs to exert some energy.

Yesterday we took our Flipcam and captured Cadence at "her" gym. We're planning on enrolling again for another month and it'll be interesting to see her capabilities expand!

Without further adieu, here's Cadence at Gymboree (for email subscribers, please visit the blog directly to view these videos (andermr.blogspot.com)).

Bubbles are Cade's favorites and Gymboree has the best bubbles ever!

Signing with Cadence

Matt and I have signed to Cadence since she was 4 months old, and although we've waited a long time for accurate repetition, we've recently seen her start using her signs appropriately and frequently.

We sign to her daily, teaching her simple signs that she can use to communicate what she would like instead of squealing and yelling, that being said, she shrieks while she signs, but at least we have a concept of what she wants.

Most of her signing vocabulary is based on things she knows, uses daily, manners, and/or items. While she has been exposed to signs for people in her life (auntie, mama, daddy, Grand(ma)(pa), she doesn't use them yet.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you Cadence's current signs. Pretty impressive for an 11 month old!

"More"

"Milk"

"Please"

"All Done"

Cade's personal sign for "phone"

"Poop"

(If you've seen Meet the Fockers, you'll know how similar her sign is to the actual sign)

SR part 4: Mt Bachelor

On our final full day of vacation, we took a short (25minutes) drive to Mt. Bachelor to have lunch at Scapolo's on the mountain after a chair lift ride.

The drive to the mountain was very scenic. The road leading up to the mountain was virtually flat, a biker's paradise! We saw very little traffic and a handful of bikers taking advantage of the wide bike lanes. Both Matt and I would love to take our roadbikes on that route at some point when we're sans baby. Upon getting to Mt. Bachelor, gearing and sunscreening up, we headed for the chairlift with Wee in her hiking backpack. The elevation at the base was 6,300 and we ended up mid-mountain at 7,775 feet.

Although Matt and I have done scenic summertime chair lift rides to Crystal Mountain for their sunset dinner in years past, this was far different. At Crystal, we end up with a blanket, and heavy jackets as we freeze going up and down the mountain. Anticipating a similar event, we brought some jackets and a blanket for Cade. We needed none of what we brought. It was warm and comfortable both at the base and the mid mountain level.

Cadence did really well on the chair lift and happily looked around and took everything in per normal. We kept her in her backpack so she was secure. Part of the ride she was on my lap facing me and once we got the hang of her in her backpack on the lift, we just set it next to us.

The scenery was breath taking at the mid mountain range. Unlike trips to Crystal, everything was sunny and clear and had great  visibility. We enjoyed walking around for a while and taking tons of pictures before sitting down to lunch at Scapolo's.

One of the many first's Cadence experienced on this trip was her first real encounter with snow, albeit old and mostly melted. If given the chance, I'm sure she would have put it in her mouth but we didn't let her play that much. She did let me put her feet in it and she "jumped" a bit as well as felt it with her hands. We also got to see a sled dog team that gave summer rides. We passed on the ride but happily looked at the many dogs, which Cade loved.

We're happy to have had the opportunity for such a fun trip but tomorrow we head back to reality. Matt heads back to the grind at the PD on Monday and I'm happy to start my new job on Tuesday.

Until our next adventure...