Handsome little monster!

You remind me of the babe...

The babe with the power...
What power? Power of voodoo!

Remember the Labyrinth, with David Bowie? Several weeks ago, I was pretty sick of Thomas and Shrek and decided to try out the Labyrinth for Cadiem. I figured he'd like all of the cool puppets. He actually did like it--but mostly because of the baby boy that's in it. Baby! Baby!
Anyway--Bri and I were talking about it the other day...

Me: Seriously, what is up with David Bowie's pants in that movie? What is he trying to say? And why do I find him oddly attractive??

Bri: I know! What are we supposed to think? Is he supposed to be scary? Sexy? Does he want to have sex with me? (yes!)

I think it's the pants... They're sending a message... I'm just not sure what the hell it is! Hahaha. But seriously--David Bowie with the scary hair--and weird outfit--he makes it work! Who, besides David Bowie, could pull of all of that make-up--and is that glitter on his lips?

Moving on... (Pay attention Grandma-this part is for you!) I turned really old last week--for some reason it makes me feel like I need to get out of Blacksburg. I need a damn degree! I am finally going back to school in January. I'm excited to finally be at Tech--I just hope I can get it done quick! Work is going well, I moved into a new position recently--and I've been very busy!

Cadiem is speaking sentences... They're not totally clear--but he's definitely getting a handle on it! He's also starting to remember people's names. Ian is "Ayyn". Bri is "Ahn Bwee", and Nate is "Nat". Haha.
Well, that's it for now... Hopefully I'll be blogging more... If anyone is still reading!!

They're 2, they're 4, they're 6, they're 8...

Shunting trucks and hauling freight... Red and green and brown and blue... They're the really useful crew!
Yes, I can now sing the Thomas theme song! Cadiem is still very obsessed with Thomas. I am so excited for him to open his birthday presents--all Thomas stuff of course :) He's turning two this Friday. Saturday we're having a huge party at Jeff's house, but Cadiem and I are also going to do a celebration on his actual birthday.
Cadiem has also discovered playdough--which luckily for me, he'll play with for hours! He's trying really hard to talk. He'll repeat a word (he thinks it's a word) over and over. It's actually pretty frustrating for both of us. Tonight after he finished dinner, he was repeating "bah bah" over and over--which he said very seriously--as if I was supposed to understand. Turns out he wanted a popsicle. AHHHHHH!
Cadiem was moved up to the "twos" room at daycare about a month ago. He's doing really well. They do a lot of fun activities everyday--he probably has more fun there than at home with me! In the last week he's also made friends with another little boy in his class--they apparently hang out all day and push each other around--but in a good way. Hahaha.
Work has been pretty busy and I'm taking one class. Public Speaking. AGAIN. So far, I have an A. This is a vast improvement from before! My friend Mary and I are in the same class... It's been really interesting to see how different we are in class. I am deathly afraid of speaking in front of people... Sweaty palms, accelerated heartbeat... But Mary is a natural and has no fear! On the other hand, I don't mind writing outlines--and Mary hates writing. We all have our strengths!
Jenni Allison came to visit a couple weekend ago and we had a fantastic time :) It mostly included a little downtown crawl (after Jeff took Cadiem of course!), and she's coming back this weekend--Yay!!
My mom is coming to visit in about two weeks--mainly for Cadiem's birthday--but for some reason, she didn't want to come to the kegger! Heh heh heh.
I'm joining the softball team at work, if we get enoug people for a team... Haven't played since junior high I think... Hopefully I can still hit the ball. Maybe I'll just pretend that the bat is a tennis racket. I already told them to not expect me to catch. Haha. I'm in it for the beer!
Well, I guess that's it! I've got some new pics up--and I'll post more after Cadiem's birthday :)

New Year's Resolution...

YELL LESS. Yes, it's late. But I figure it's okay, since I never make them anyway :) It usually seems so pointless. Yes, like everyone else, I'm always striving to lose that five pounds of cookies and wine. But is that really a resolution? More like an ongoing battle.
Anyway, Cadiem is totally obsessed with Thomas the train right now. He watches the show whenever possible--well, he doesn't actually watch it. More like, insists on having it on--and then goes about his business. He's in the business of lining up his cars and then moving them somewhere else, to line them up yet again... and again... and again... You get the idea! He's added a few more words to his repertoire... But it's still hard to know what he's saying most of the time. "More" is his word for "Put Thomas On NOW!" He has NO patience.

Cadiem got a lot of great toys and clothes for Christmas, thank you everyone! Among them were a play kitchen+food and a Thomas train set. And between all of the grandparents he basically has a new wardrobe! I'm pretty excited about my Kindle and Anthropologie stuff (yay!). Thanks parents! I'm always so sad to leave Arizona, it really sucks living so far from family. At least it's a quick trip to Florida... But I'll have to pay for Cadiem soon, damnit!!

Work has been great, I finally got a real email address (rather than "blacksburg support temp"), yay!! My friend Ted is back in town for the semester (I'm considering bringing him into the alliance), I'm excited to see him. Today I'm hunting TJ Maxx for more Thomas trains... Hitting up the wine tasting, and possibly finding a spot downtown to chill with my Kindle :)
Happy weekend! (They're so much better when you have a job!)

"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 ;)