We are soon upon my favourite time of the year: my birthday. Hehe ok thats only half true, I also love Christmas! Snow, hot coco, all the twinkling lights. Its such a magical time of the year full of love and family. I certainly can't wait until the years first real snow. Cadence will have such a good time! And to see the wonder in her eyes when she touches it, tries to eat it and just discovers it will be so fun to see.

We have been so busy at the house, redecorating and getting ready for the holidays. We re-arranged our living room so there is more space to move around. We finally got our new dresser so our room doesn't look like a frat boy lives in it. I picked up some wall art that was super discounted that just ties it all together. Not that it was ugly before, but I feel so much happier in our cozy little home.

Our decorating is nearly done. I've hung our stockings, put together all the 'under the tree' decorations, and we're just waiting for the tree before we can hang lights etc but otherwise we are all done. Even the presents are wrapped! The dogs are always in and out of the presents, I think they like the texture of the padded snow.

This past weekend we celebrated my birthday. I'm going to be working next Saturday night to cover for the office Christmas party so we won't have the chance to celebrate then. Cadence went over to Nana and Papa's for the night while Chris and I went shopping and then out for dinner. It was quite an expensive day but I'm pleased with the results of our shopping. We bought a Nikon SLR so we can get some great pics of Cadence as she grows up. Chris is learning the ins and outs of the camera while I'm just taking random pics of whatever I see laying around the house. So far so good!

Cadence has started solids for real as of yesterday. Since she turned 4 months I've been giving her cereal on and off whenever I thought maybe she'd like to try it. She was supposed to start solids when she turned 6 months (Nov. 10th) but we haven't seen our family doctor and I wasn't sure what kind of schedule to put her on. I read somewhere to feed her some solids an hour after she has a bottle. That seems crazy to me! I'd be stuck home all day just feeding a baby! So what I've done is I give her fruit in the morning before her morning bottle, then a vegetable before her evening bottle and lastly some cereal with her bedtime bottle. Not in the bottle, in a bowl and spooned into her mouth. Results? She is a fantastic eater! And obviously has a preference for the sweeter fruits. She doesn't make much mess either until she's had enough and then she will just spit the food out. But for 2 days she is doing great!

We've been struggling with what I like to think of as the 6 month sleep recession. She was waking up anywhere from 1am-3:30am, not screaming or anything just suddenly awake and playing in her crib. Now if you've met our kiddo, you would know that part of her playing includes shrieking. Shrill shrieking. So while she wasn't freaking out, Chris and I have been taking turns resettling her because her giggling and shrieks are loud enough to distort the monitor and we can hear her in our room. I hear it gets much worse as teething kicks in but I am hopeful that she will have maybe one fussy night a week and then be golden the other days. A girl can dream, right? Tomorrow is a big fun day! 6 month doctor visit which means ouchie boo boo shots. Poor kid. But we act like its not a big deal and she takes them like a champ. I should probably hit the hay now, even though its early, I may not see much sleep again in the next few days. Good night everyone!

21 days and counting

We are entering our "busy season" here at the house. Just after Halloween I start Christmas shopping and I *hope* Chris is going to look for a nice birthday present. He did save Emma's life though so if there's no money in the budget I am 100% ok with that. And then right after my birthday it's Christmas! I've already finished shopping for a whole bunch of people, Cadence included. I went with Jane to a giant warehouse toy show last week and bought some really neat toys and books for her. I bought what she might like but really what does a baby get for Christmas?

Chris has been busy busy with work, doing all kinds of stuff and pricing new jobs. He also finished building our headboard, and it looks fantastic! It's hard for me because it means less down time but Jane was kind enough to take Cadence for a day last week and Chris let me have some relax time yesterday.

The time change had no real impact on our house other than Chris going to bed really late! Cadence was a champ and stuck with her schedule. She is still on track this morning so let's hope it stays this way!

I had something really fantastic happen this weekend. For those of you who don't know, my grandmother was the one (primarily) who raised me. My mom took off when I was 4 and my dad worked all the time so she stepped in and took care of my brother and me. She taught me how to see, make coleslaw, and all kinds of weird random stuff. She always used to sing to us too, and I just recently caught on that I've been doing this with Cadence also. Anyways! My Memere sews all the time, if you have a problem you get Memere to fix it. We used to spend hours and hours together in her sewing room just looking at all her lace and zippers and buttons. Her sewing room was more interesting to me then any toy you could give me.

Now skip to the present: my very close friend/2nd mom Nancy was given a sewing table that used to belong to a close family friend. Nancy doesn't know how to sew but she held on to the table for sentimental purposes. While I was talking to her this weekend I mentioned how I've been looking for a table to use for crafts/sewing etc and she offered me the one she had been given. I am so thrilled to have this table, it is jam-packed with anything I could ever want to sew with. I was emotional looking through the table because I could appreciate the previous owners organization of the drawers (or lack thereof). It really reminded me of my Memere's sewing space.

Now, on top of baking being a hobby, I've opened an online shop and will be making fabric items (baby toys, dog toys, aprons, rugs, gift items, etc) and selling them online! Chris is 100% supportive and I'm really excited to get started. And! In regards to my baking, a girl I know from high school has asked me to cater her sweets table! Things are looking up!

Post Halloween wrap up

Its been a busy, busy last couple of weeks. Both Chris and I cycled through being sick and I'm pretty sure the baby was both sick and teething for awhile as well. Needless to say, there was not a lot of sleep to be had in this house for anybody.

Other than the initial illness, things are looking on the up and up at our place. Chris has been working hard to improve the look of the house by replacing the face plates and switch plates all over the house. Now we have brand new white plugs and switches over most of the house. We've also decided to try to spruce up our bedroom. Up until recently it looked really boring and bland. We have matching furniture and a new light up. A head board and some art and we're done! Easy!

Chris has been working at his parents place for the last couple of weeks which has been nice for him but also had small benefits for me. With Cadence being so sick and cranky I was able to send her to work with Chris and Jane was kind enough to watch her for the day while I caught up on sleep and rested my poor sick body.

We had another scare with Emma a few days ago. She started just vomiting all over the house and right away my imagination went to what we would do this time. Luckily she is all better now so crisis averted and we are snuggling the crap out of her.

Last night we took Cadence out for her first Halloween. We dressed her up as a puppy (of course) and I threw together a last minute costume. We got to trick or treat at 4 different houses before I was too tired so then we went and handed out candy. She didn't like having her costume put on at first but she seemed to mellow out after a bit. I would say the night was a success!