"Clearly, Pandora thinks you are a sap."

Bri said this to me the other day, after I told her that Pandora was playing Phil Collins on my Pete Yorn station. I was excited that Pandora knows me so well! And it was not a sappy eighties love song, it was "In the Air Tonight"... CLEARLY, not a sappy song, BRI!!

Yeah, I'm grinning at a post, a post in Pittsburgh. No idea why! Perhaps there's something shiny on the ground or something... Hmmm...
I had a wonderful time at the Ivey's for Thanksgiving (and Christmas!). We at a lot of yummy food, I even put on a few pounds. I think it may have been all the crazy cheese we were eating.
Which of course went very well with wine ;) We also had a bunch of other yummy treats like Nina's cocoa. It was also fun to be around Fletcher. It was really interesting to see him signing. He can say please and thank you! He also talks quite a bit. We played a lot of Scrabble and Banana Grams... I didn't win a single game! Bri and I also watched the BBC version of "Pride & Prejudice". Which was pretty terrible, but we still loved it since we're both obsessed with it :)
Nate's nephew Ross was in a trombone concert in Pittsburgh, which luckily turned out to be indoors. It was a stage full of all trombones playing Christmas music. It was really cool!
I did really miss Cadiem, but it was also kind of nice to have a bit of a vacation, without diapers ;)

Cadiem spent his first "overnight visit" with Jeff yesterday. Not that they haven't been spending time together previously, but Jeff now has everything set up and was able to have him overnight. He is also going to have him this Saturday. Weird! Me, alone on Saturday night? I might get into trouble! It's weird to not have Cadiem here, but I guess I have to get used to it! I am really glad that Jeff got his place set up. We are getting along well, but he's been at my house with Cadiem while I wasn't home... I was getting annoyed coming home to a million lights on! Ugh!

I had a bunch of people over Saturday night for dinner and to get help decorating my tree. Luckily, Eric was happy to put the lights on the tree. Which saved me from being a crazy-freaky-perfectionist. I have this thing about the cords not showing--which of course isn't even possible to do... So, it DRIVES ME CRAZY!! Thanks to Nickie and Mary for bringing desserts... Addictive cranberry bliss bars and yummy apple pie (respectively :). And Sean for his beer creations! Which I have not been able to sample yet, but maybe tomorrow :)

Ch-ch-ch-changes! Turn and face the strain?

So, I always thought that David Bowie was saying "Turn and face the strange"... Turns out it's "strain". I think he may want to re-do that. It makes much more sense my way!

Well, if you haven't heard, Jeff and I decided to part ways. It's for the best. Luckily, it was an amicable "break-up", which makes it a lot easier when dealing with Cadiem issues. I moved into a townhouse a few doors down from our house and Jeff is living in a house a few blocks away. Conveniently close, but not too close! :)

started my new job at Draper Aden Associates a few weeks ago. I'm really liking it there--the people I work with are all really nice. Cadiem started daycare at the same time, and he's doing really well. He cries when I drop him off sometimes, but I've gotten better at making a stealthy exit! He's usually pretty happy when I pick him up--and usually mid-play. I'm sure it's a lot more fun than sitting at home with me all day! Last week we found out that our daycare is going to close due to low enrollment. But luckily they've decided to keep it open for another six months, so hopefully we'll have time to find an alternative.

Cadiem is talking a lot, we just can't understand him! He has gotten pretty good at saying "ball", "car", "dog", "more"(food!)... He constantly says "uh oh!" and makes a pretty hysterical face at the same time. "Bye Bye" and waving are also new.

Jeff has Cadiem over Thangsiving and they're going to visit Jeffery. I haven't been away from Cadiem for more than a day--so I'm going to miss him! But I'm headed to PA to have Thanksgiving with Nate's family--so at least I'll have Bri and Nate to console me :) And probably a lot of Thanksgiving+Christmas cocktails (they're doing Christmas too!). I'm also excited to take my new (new to me!) car (another honda civic) on it's first roadtrip. It was delivered to my work last week, but I don't have the title yet, or plates/registration... So, it's still sitting there :( But, hopefully that will be remedied tomorrow!

Well, I guess that's about it! Pretty sad little blurb considering the amount of news and time since my last post! I'll try to be better ;)

Stupid Election!

And that's all I have to say... Back to packing!

McDonald's is the Devil!

Cadiem ate his first happy meal on Wednesday. I dragged him around on several errands and felt like he deserved a treat--so McDonald's it was! As soon as they handed me the little golden arched box--the whining began. How did he know that a weird dehydrated onion and pickle encrusted cheeseburger was inside? And why are those worthless little cheeseburgers so damn tasty? And how do they always get such a perfect balance of mustard and ketchup? Cadiem must agree, because he gobbled it down. He also enjoyed the fries--which he doesn't usually care about. I have to say, the happy meal toys have definitely improved. We got the "boy" toy, which was a Batman-inspired-spider-legged-robot thingy, that shoots a little plastic piece. Pretty awesome!
Cadiem and I went to the gymnastics gym again yesterday with Wally & Marin. They had a giant blow-up slide, which Cadiem was pretty excited about. He loves that place!
I am still on the job hunt... I'm really hoping for a job at Tech. I went to the temp agency yesterday, so maybe something will come out of that. Jeff is still working his three jobs--that sucks! I got a letter from my little brother Austin--who is in Marine bootcamp. Apparently it sucks and the food is terrible. Go figure! Haha.
Mary is coming over tonight for some wine, nintendo and I'm thinking some taco salad would be tasty. Does it get any better than that!

Two Things:

One: Aren't onesies awesome? I wish I could wander around in a onesie. What if we all did? We'd look like a bunch of big babies... hahaha

Two: Cadiem's new favorite pastime is ripping the keys off of my computer. I have been searching for my control and caps lock keys for the last hour... I was just finishing my coffee--and found them, in the bottom of my coffee mug! Grrrr!

Cadiem is a climbing machine!

17.5 Months! Cadiem started climbing a few days ago. His new favorite thing is to climb onto the ottoman in the playroom with a book and his sippy cup. As you can see from the above picture, with his favorite book: "If you give a pig a pancake". Which is probably one of my least favorite! Haha. He also has been going up the stairs himself, but hasn't quite figured out the going down part. He has also figured out how to open the pantry (from underneath since he can't reach the handle!) which is full of two of his favorite things, food and cleaning supplies. He's still obsessed with the swiffer! Now if only he'd learn to talk! He does imitate things we say, but you'd never know what he's saying out of context.

Jeff and I have both been on the job hunt. He now has three! Hahaha. Always so ambitious! I've applied to several at tech, so hopefully I'll snag one of them.

We had a visit last week from my grandma plus three of my great aunts and a great uncle. I haven't seen the extended family in several years--so it was great to see them and I'm glad they got to finally meet Cadiem :) My mom also visited prior to that, and Cadiem now recognizes her voice over the phone. After she left, he would hear her on the phone and point to the guest room.

I turned the big 31 a few weeks ago. We had Wally and Mary over (ian you suck!) and grilled up some yummy Spanish brined pork tenderloin followed by lots o wine. Surprised? Haha. Tomorrow it's Mary's turn, so we're having a few people over.

I guess that's about it! I hear a child crying upstairs... :)