Approaching 1 Year Old

Over the past couple of months Cadence has been keeping us pretty busy.  My "Little Miss Squirms-A-Lot" is all over the place.  She's been crawling for months now, ans has been pulling herself up to standing practically ever since she was crawling.  She cruises around the furniture at top speeds, and she's pretty good at walking while holding only one hand.  This seems to be her preferred mode of transportation.

On Memorial Day (May 27th) she took a few steps for the first time!  She took 2 steps from my chair over to Mark's chair while we were eating breakfast.  Then, later that day we were having a picnic with Mark's parents and his brother Cory's family.  When we were cleaning up and getting ready to leave, she let go of the camp chair and took about 3 steps away before plopping to the ground.  There have been a couple other moments where she has braved to take a few steps, but usually she just drops to her knees to crawl, staying within her comfort zone.  She has been so close to walking for about a month, I'm super surprised that it hasn't truly happened yet.

with cousin Evelyn and Uncle Cory

with cousin Evelyn on Grandpa's lap

I pegged her to be walking way earlier than Canon did.  He started officially walking 1 week after his birthday.  At this point, it could very well be a tie... Cadence's birthday is next week on Thursday.  We will be celebrating it on vacation in Newport Beach, CA.  I sincerely hope she will be walking by the time we get back home.

She's also been completely weaned to the bottle.  Easter weekend I noticed that she seemed to not be getting satisfied with how much she was getting from nursing.  I was supplementing with formula and she seemed almost excited to get the bottle.  She took to the bottle so easily that I figured it wasn't worth trying to keep it up with the nursing.  I felt that I was drying up, AND SHE BIT ME!  Ouch, so hard that she left a streak mark!  So, why fight with it anymore?  Canon stopped nursing altogether around 7 months.  Cadence was 9 months already, so it was an improvement for me.  However, I felt it was time to switch, and I've noticed that she's put on more weight.  I think it was for the best.  It's so much easier to make sure she gets enough when I can see how much she gets and she can drink until she's done instead of wanting more but there's none to be had.

I also wanted to mention that Cadence has grown 2 more teeth.  The weekend after I was in the hospital for my surgery, she popped out the top right incisor, and about a week later the left one cut through.  I used to let her bite on my finger, but now I have to be really careful.  Ouch!  Right now she can pretty much eat anything, as long as it's not too hard or big.  I'm transitioning her to whole milk now.  My plan is to have this can be the last can of formula and to not need to use formula at all while we're in CA next week. :)

A couple other things that I want to remember about this stage of her life are what makes her so cute. She's learned how to wave good-bye and blow kisses.  she attempts to give kisses on your cheek, if you're lucky! She also really loves her big brother.  She likes to get up close to him, slapping him on the head (which, of course, he doesn't really like much) or grabbing his blanket trying to engage him in play.  Her face just lights up when he gives her some attention.  But she also has learned that Canon's toys are so much cooler than her own, and she gets really upset when he takes them away from her. *sighs* Go figure, the sibling rivalry has begun.

Her hair has really grown in, and I can put ponytails in it now.  Canon asks me why I do it, and when I explain that I think it's adorable, he just says that he thinks it looks weird.  :)  Cadence doesn't really like to sit still long enough for me to put the ponytail in, and it makes it more painful for her because I end up pulling her hair as she thrashes her head around.  But I like to do it anyway because I just LOVE them in her hair.

A couple memories of cute-ness I want to keep:  One day I was resting on the couch with Canon as  he was watching TV when Mark came home from work.  When Cadence woke up from her nap, Mark went to get her.  He brought her to the living room where I was and she got a huge smile on her face, crawled up over to me and stood at the couch.  She reached for me to pick her up.  When I brought her up by me she cuddled up to my shoulder, then gave me a "kiss" on my cheek, and cuddled my shoulder again, and then decided to get down to play.  Aw!  Thanks sweetie!

Mark also told me yesterday while I was taking a much needed nap, he was watching TV while Canon played on the computer and Cadence was playing on the floor.  She crawled away and got a book, then brought it over to Mark holding it out to him.  So he paused his show ans read her the book, then she was happy and went off to play again.  :)  I'm so glad that she likes books because I feel like I didn't get to spend nearly as much time reading to her as I did with Canon.  I still want her to like reading as much as Canon does.  *crossing fingers*

She's Got a Tooth!!!

I took the kids to the Treehouse Children's Museum this past Friday (Feb. 15) because Canon really needed to get out of the apartment (and so did I).  While there, I took them to the partici-play activity that they have- where they tell a story and invite some kids to come up onto the stage to act it out.  Canon loves to volunteer to where a costume, usually he gets upset because the one he wanted is chosen by someone else first...and then he refuses to follow the instructions and get up on stage.  I wonder if it's stage-fright or just that he doesn't want to do what a stranger tells him to do.

Anyway, I was sitting with the kids in their theater, and Cadence finished nursing and then dropped the toy she was chewing on. I stuck my finger in her mouth to keep her quiet and... ouch!  She had a sharp little chomper in there.  Her first tooth is on the bottom, the front right incisor.  YAY for Cadence!!

She's been doing really well with finger foods and baby foods.  She doesn't seem to have any adverse effects, and she seems to have a healthy appetite.  She eats about 1 cup of baby food 3 times each day, in addition to nursing about 5-6 times each day.  I think she's turned over a new leaf because she pretty much sleeps through the whole night now without feeding!  YAY for Cadence!!  and YAY for Mommy getting a full-night's sleep.  There have been a few times over the past couple weeks where I needed to go in at night, but I attribute that to her stuffy nose and teething pain.  I've even stopped tanking her up when I go to bed, so she generally goes about 11 hours without nursing.  Oh, I am loving this!!

Cadence is growing to be such a happy little girl...or should I say big girl?  She's super petite, but she's standing up along the furniture, crawling all over the place, and loves to follow her older brother around and play in his room with all his toys.  She even likes to be hung upside down and tickled, just like Canon did.

6 Months...and Then Some

At her 6-month well-baby visit in December, Cadence's head was at 42 cm (39% - up from 12%), length was about 27 inches (77% - up from 63%), and her weight was 12 lbs 9 oz (3% - down from 14%).  So shes definitely growing, but she wasn't gaining weight as fast as they'd like to see.  At that point I was still experimenting with baby foods, feeding her about once a day but mostly sticking with nursing her.  That's basically was her pediatrician told me to do at our last appointment.  Then she told me to increase her feedings- shooting for about 3 times a day in addition to breast milk.  This will ensure that she's not being malnourished.  I knew that Cadence was gaining weight, but I didn't realize that it was supposed to be at a faster rate.  I guess I produce closer to skim milk than to the fatty whole stuff. :)  The doctor suggested that I come back the following month for a weight check and to give her the flu booster shot (which she's supposed to get 4-6 weeks after the first flu shot).

So, at 7 months-ish Cadence weighed 14 lbs 1 oz.  That's 1.5 lbs heavier, and she went up to the 5% range.  :)  She's making progress!  I just have to remember to feed her as much food as I can, but getting time to sit and feed her is sometimes difficult before I need to get her down for her naps...and dealing with my own mealtimes and things that a mom is expected to do around the house.  She's a happy little girl though, and she's more flexible than some babies when it comes to being put down for naps.  She's pretty easy in that regard, actually.

I think one of the culprits to her slow weight gain is the fact that she is so active during the day.  By Thanksgiving she was scooting.  New Year's she was rocking and almost crawling.  By mid January she was a pro at crawling and now she's pulling herself up to standing along the furniture!  She is a good month or so earlier compared to when Canon started doing these things.  If she's awake- and isn't begging to be held- she is all over the apartment.  Her favorite place to go is by the front door where we have all our dirty/snowy/salty boots.  I can't seem to keep her away, stop her from chewing on those shoes.  It's almost like she's a dog or something.  Yuck! (Don't tell her I said that!)  ;-D  Cadence also likes to get into stacks of papers, unplug the Internet power cord, go into the pantry and play with the dustpan and mop bucket...you know, all the places I don't really want her going.  One place I don't mind her going is to Canon's room.  Apparently she thinks he has some pretty fun toys, and she'll find her way to his closet to play with what's on the floor there.  Inevitably, it's probably his shoes that she likes.  *sighs*

Cadence is getting to be so sweet and adorable as her personality develops.  When she's excited she bounces her head back and forth...sometimes arching her back really far getting into it.  She's given a couple of head-butts that way too...ouch!  One thing I notice is that when Canon nursed, he would always have to push his feet up against something.  Usually it was the arm of the chair I was in, but he had to push on something.  Cadence reaches her hand up and grabs onto something. She likes to go for my chin or cheeks, but I really don't like getting scratched all the time.  She'll go for my mouth, necklace, hair....whatever she can grab.  I often will grab her hand with mine, hoping that she'll just hold onto my finger...but that doesn't last for very long.  I think it's fun to see the little idiosyncrasies in my children, and if I don't jot them down I might not remember them. :)

She's growing up so fast.  Can you believe Cadence is 7 1/2 months old?  Oh, she's growing up faster than I can keep up.  I never gave time permission to go by so quickly.

Here are a few gems that I found this week. Enjoy!

 

Playing and rolling around in the living room,
and she got caught in Canon's blanket. :)

Canon climbed up to talk to Cadence after her nap,
and she loved it!!

learning to sit up on her own :)

playing together on the floor...Canon loves to hide in his laundry hamper
and he was engaging Cadence in play too.

proof that they can  be cute together

She's pulling herself up to standing all the time now.
So cute, but way too early for Mommy! :-(

Canon wanted her on his lap,
so I had to get some pictures of it!!

5-Months Old ALREADY!!

I don't get to take as many pictures of Cadence as I did with Canon, but I wanted to record a few things about my growing baby.  When I first gave her the rice cereal, Cadence got a pretty bad diaper rash.  I waited a few days to let the rash subside, and then it came back when I tried again.  :(  So I decided to wait a few more weeks before trying it again.

I gave her more rice cereal a couple days ago...and again today.  She really seems to love the stuff, like I can't feed it to her fast enough.  However, she has had a couple times when she was really upset about something and I couldn't figure out what it was.  I'd think to myself that maybe her tummy was hurting, but there's no real way for me to know.  I've decided  to feed her cereal once a day for a few days and then I'll increase it when I can figure out how to fit it into a routine.  Then I'll introduce more foods.  I want to make sure her tummy is ready for solids before I bombard her with it.  I'm looking forward to that step in her development!  :)

Speaking of developmental stages, she's SCOOTING!  Can you believe it?!?!  I say she's starting to scoot, so not terribly great at it, but she can get around.  She's been rolling around for a long while now, it seems, but I was never sure if she did it for transportation.  Now, I can see that she pushes with her hands and her toes to get closer to something out of her reach.  I have eye-witnesses...it's the truth!! :)  Still don't believe me?

Watch this video!

Note where she is at the beginning of the video compared to the end of the video.

Cadence has been such a pleasure in our family.  She is a pretty easy baby now.  She was a challenge in her first couple weeks, but I think it was just an adjustment period for us as parents, Canon as a big brother who needed to share his mommy, and for Cadence to live outside the womb.  She is going through a bit of sleep training, basically learning how to put herself to sleep at night.  She goes right to sleep most of the time if she can nurse long enough, but I'm trying really hard to not allow nursing to become a sleep-crutch.  So far she's been doing alright with it, but she still wakes up to feed a couple times in the night.  I'm hoping that once I get her on more solids she'll sleep better and not need nighttime feedings.  Other than that, Cadence is a pretty happy baby.  She's curious and likes to explore the items on the floor.  She likes to "talk" to herself and discovery how to squeal when she's in a good mood.  So far she hasn't shown any stranger anxiety.  She'll go to anyone who gives her attention.  Overall, she's a real delight.  The only downside is that now her nap times are becoming more regular, so it's harder to have her sleeping just anywhere.  I have to plan my days a little more carefully so that she can get good naps in.  When we're out and about, she can get short little catnaps, but not a good 1 1/2 hour nap like she often does at home.  That, and I miss all the hair she had when she was born.  :(  Most of it has fallen out, and all the hair that has grown back in is a much lighter color.  I fully expected that to happen, but I still miss her adorable full head of dark hair!  :(  Compare that video you just watched to this picture:

4 Months Old

Cadence is growing so well, and I can hardly believe she's already 4 months old. (Taking her to her check-up was the first place I drove our new van...after bringing it home from the dealership, that is! Ah, I love my new Sienna!!)  Cadence weighed 11 lbs. 15 oz (14%), not quite a whole 12 lbs.  She's  now 25 inches long (63%) and has a 39.5 cm head circumference (12%).  She's just a petite little girl, and I think that's part of her charm...it's what makes her so adorable!  :)   I like how the doctor called her petite and not treating her like there's something wrong with her.  If you compare her to her cousin Evelyn who is 6 weeks younger, Cadence looks like a little peanut of a girl, not that Evelyn is too big...Cadence is just that small.  I think she's wonderful...wonderfully petite!

The doctor asked about certain milestones, and she was surprised to find out that Cadence is rolling over both ways.  She said that was a milestone they usually check for at 6 months.  Woo hoo!  When I lay her down on her back in the play gym, quite often she'll roll right over onto her belly.  She usually gets a bit frustrated because then she's on her tummy, but is a regular rolly-poley. I find her in all sorts of positions a while after I've laid her down.  Maybe that little head of hers has made it easier for her to learn to roll over sooner.

Then she got a couple vaccine shots.  She had a super delayed reaction to the first shot...about 3 seconds after she started crying, but she took it like a champ.  As soon as I picked her up she stopped crying.  I think she got out about 4 sobs and was done.  Way to go, Cadence!!  When I asked Canon to tell Daddy about the visit, Canon said that Cadence didn't even cry...so I guess it was so quick that Canon didn't even notice.

The other thing to mention is that the doctor said we could start experimenting with solid foods.  She said that if Cadence turns away from the food, spits it all out without really keeping any in the mouth, then I should give her a few more weeks and try again. So, I decided to give it a try.

She looked excited to see a box of food meant for her.

Wait, Mom!  What's on that spoon you're trying to shove into my face?

Whoa!  *kick kick kick* Give me more of that!!

She wasn't sure at first, but then she was grabbing at my hand and the spoon.  The hardest part about feeding her baby cereal was how she kept getting in the way.  I had forgotten how messy little babies are with eating, but it didn't surprise me, really.  It took about 3 times for each spoonful to get fully eaten, but she just couldn't get enough.  I hope she takes to all new foods this easily.  We'll see, but I'm excited for her to be getting solid foods.  The doctor said that it's when they're eating solids that they begin to sleep through the night and not need a middle of the night feeding.  *crossing my fingers*

Oh...by the way, while I was feeding Cadence, Canon was playing quietly in his room.  He seemed to be totally fine, so I didn't bother to check on him until she was done.  BIG MISTAKE, MOM!

Note to self: when you can't tell what they're doing, they're probably doing something they shouldn't!  Ugh!  At least it wiped easily off of the train table, toy food, wiffle balls, and other toys that he also colored on.  It came mostly off the skin, but it stained a bit and didn't come off until he took a bath.  Little boys...*sigh*

Cuteness- Alert! Baby Milestones

Cadence has been smiling for a while...looking totally cute and everything, but I couldn't get her to laugh.  Back on Sept. 15th I was telling my sister-in-law that I never heard her laugh, and then later that afternoon she DID IT.  I was pinning her arms up and tickling her armpits with my nose, and I heard a chuckle, then another, and another.  "Quick, Mark!  Get this on video!  These are her first laughs!"

Here's the video

I've been able to get her to laugh a bit harder more recently, but nothing works 100% of the time I try it.  Hopefully she will be laughing more and more in the months to come. :)

On Sept. 29th Cadence rolled over from tummy to back for the first time.  Ok, so she's been doing it for a while in her sleep, but I figure it was because she's all swaddled and can't get her hands free...and she kicks herself over using her legs.  Last Saturday she was playing in the baby gym and Mark watched as she flipped over.  Then, the next day she rolled from back to front.  This whole week she's been a little wiggle worm.  I lay her in one position in the gym, and when I come back to her a few minutes later she's in a completely different position, facing a different direction.  This morning I saw her roll a couple times and found Canon's toy hammer, grabbed it, and started gnawing on it.  I'm not certain that she was rolling to get to the hammer or if it just happened to be there when she was done rolling... but one thing is for certain.  She's learning to be mobile, and I have to be careful where I lay her down now.  She's not safe in her car seat on the floor unless we strap her in.  She squirmed her way out of it at the dentist office the other day!  I can hardly believe she's growing so fast!  :)

Oh yeah, and she's starting to grab things and put them in her mouth too.
Hopefully the binky will be one of those things soon...
so I don't have to fetch it for her in the middle of the night anymore.

Baby Blessing

On August 4th, we attended a baptism for my nephew Nicholas down in Lehi.  We figured it would be a great day to hold Cadence's blessing since we already had family gathering together.  So we moved the party from there up to Draper.  We held it in the RS Room of Mark's parents' church.

It was such a treat to have so much family gathered for a simple thing as a blessing for our little girl.  We had standing in the circle only Cadence's father, grandfathers, living great-grandfathers, and uncles...and we still had 11 men standing together.  I wonder how difficult it was for all of them to reach her. :)

The prayer itself was pretty short and sweet, and I think I was actually able to write it down word for word...which will be in her scrapbook, but not posted online to this blog.

After the blessing Mark's dad, who was conducting the meeting asked me then Mark to bare our testimonies.  I can't really give the details of what I said, but I can paraphrase it like this: "I have been so blessed to have the Priesthood in my life. My father was a great example, and I am truly grateful for his influence in my life.  Now I am wonderfully blessed to have a husband who is worthy to hold the priesthood and bless our baby girl.  I'm grateful for the Gospel of Christ and how I've been blessed to have a knowledge of my Savior."  Then Mark said that as he was trying to think of what blessings he'd like to bestow on Cadence, the only thing he could think of was that she would have faith in God.  Honestly, what can be more important than that?  I just have to say I am so in love with my little girl and her awesome daddy! :)

I'm sure there are better pictures out there somewhere from the event, but these are what I got.

Mama with the beautiful baby...check out Cadence's dress.
Nana Brown (my mom) bought it for her when she was born. I LOVE IT!

Being held by Great Grandma Dahl before the ceremony begins. I adore that bonnet!!

The men who were in the circle, minus Uncle Cory and Great Grandpa Smith who left before the picture was taken...and adding cousin Adam who wanted to stand by his daddy.
Left to Right: Daddy (Mark Dahl) holding Cadence, Uncle Alex Dahl, Uncle Jeff Brown, Uncle Dan Brown, Great Grandpa Dahl, Uncle Brian Dahl, Grandpa Dahl, Uncle Rob Brown, and Grandpa Brown

3 Generation Picture: Nana Brown, Mommy, and Cadence

4 Generation Picture: With my parents and my Grandma Brown

The first family shot we got with all four of us.

with Mark's parents: Grandma and Grandpa Dahl

This is Great Grandma Smith holding Cadence on the quilt she made for her.

My two cuties!!

All the Dahl cousins, minus Evelyn