hunting camp and thanksgiving

yup- we got lucky... two thanksgivings this year! but first, hunting camp!cole had his very own "deer camp", courtesy of uncle tedly... and one of grandpa's left-over snap-on delivery boxes. he didn't see it friday night because he went to bed as soon as we got to my mom and dad's, but the next morning... wow!!

he calls it "coley's house"

big enough for madison, too!

and grandma... she fits in there too. everyone's welcome in cole's house!

everyone may be welcome, but it's a good idea to call first... just in case he forgot to get dressed.

oh, and cole has is own horse to go with his house... sorry, mom- that's not meant the way it sounded! (or maybe it's just payback for the "cole, let's watch mommy cut the cheese" comment... hahahah!)

i had to work saturday night, so the kids stayed with my mom until kelvin was done hunting- they were exhausted and slept incredibly well!

sunday thanksgiving with kelvin's parents... madison got some peek-a-boo time in.

and cole played a duet with his great-grandpa gene!

and we couldn't forget the old runway light... he plugged it in by himself, then promptly unplugged it when i caught him doing so.

new skill. uh-oh.

sarah flew home sunday afternoon, so the kids and i went to mom and dad's (again) yesterday to spend the day with her. it was fun- cole clung pretty tightly all day to his "sawah"!

cole gave madi a ride on the car... too cute! they were playing nice while NOT confined in separate chairs!

he painted a picture... first time with watercolors! i even dated it, but forgot to bring it home. oops.

both kiddos played piano with auntie sarah!

(just playin' with the camera...)

and when uncle tedly came, well, they all played in cole's house! uncle ted learned a very important lesson: playtime starts when the mouthful of carrot is gone. cole choked, puked a little and auntie sarah caught it. poor kid! he was fine... eyes red and watery, voice a little choked up, he assured me that he was ok- "i 'k!!"

~

whew.

what a weekend!

what a day!!

i already blogged about our trip to the clinic yesterday morning...

a few short minutes after publishing that post, i went to get cole and madi up from their naps, and this is what i found:

i nearly screamed. most mommies just do NOT expect to see their toddlers look like this!

i probably don't need to mention that there was no way cole could open his eyes... it's pretty obvious. i had given him his first dose of eye meds right after he fell asleep for his nap (that was the only humane way to do it- sneak 'em in) and i never imagined he'd have a reaction. i called the clinic right away and after being on hold for what seemed like an eternity, they told me to bring him to the e.r. right away. i was crying, cole was crying and very confused... i do remember the nurse asking me over the phone if cole's breathing was ok, and at that moment, for the life of me, i had NO idea why she'd even ask that... i was thinking, "who cares about breathing? it's his EYES we're talking about here! the poor baby can't see!!"

of course, i know now that they wanted to know how severe his reaction was...
blame it on the panic.

anyway, all the way to the e.r. i was on the phone; i was trying to get through to mom (she eventually got ahold of me and met us at the e.r.), called dad to see if he knew where mom was, called elissa because i needed to talk to SOMEone otherwise i was going to lose it...

we were taken back immediately and after the dr examined cole (which resulted in another total meltdown- very understandable) he said that he was indeed allergic to the erythromyacin (i think that's how it's spelled). he also said he'd never seen a reaction like that first-hand, and was surprised because it's the same thing they put on newborns' eyes right after birth. he took some swab samples and mentioned something about an eye specialist. that concerned me even more because a) this had to be taken care of immediately and b) can we afford that? yes, i admit that while my son's well-being was the first thing on my mind, i did have some slight worry in the back of my mind about affording the clinical visit, the e.r. visit AND a possible eye specialist. i'm not proud that money concerned me, but when money is tight, it does cross your mind. that said, i certainly wouldn't have withheld treatment, had he needed it. fortunately, after speaking to dr dudley (an eye/lasik specialist in appleton), our attending dr said that there was no permanent damage to cole's eyes, gave us a new prescription and we were on our way.

poor baby- he DID manage to pry his poor peeper open when i told him that grandma was going to come to our house in her car and bring grilled cheese and fries from culvers... when he heard that, his eyes opened a tiny bit and he said "gamma? fhyyyyyy???"

by the time supper was over, the swelling had gone down quite a bit... still very puffy, but at least he could play and eat!

after spending a good half of the day in waiting rooms and exam rooms, both kids were exhausted. madison's eyes were red and goopy, and since she didn't react to the eye cream like cole, she's able to use it since she obviously contracted pinkeye as well. after torturing both kids with eye meds, it was off to bed... they slept all night! first time in several days...

mom spent the night (thanks so much again, mom!!) and this morning, we took care of some squash that needed attending to. cole wanted to help so i gave him a butter knife (he inSISted on 'cutting' and wouldn't hear of not using a real knife. yikes!) and he happily "helped". mom went back home not too long ago, and both kids are still feeling a little off, but at least they're on the mend. i know it seems so silly now, panicking over an allergic reaction when there are so many worse things that other parents are going through (reading mckmama's blog lately, the fear and now the joy she's been through with little stellan). compared to what COULD happen, what's happening to others, this was nothing. now that all's better and cole's ok, i can clearly see things in perspective... but in the moment, i was SO scared for him. yes, i cried. i cried when i saw him, i cried while talking to the nurse at the clinic, i cried all the way to new london. maybe i cried too much, but all i could think of was getting cole better. not to mention how scared he must have been.
yes, all's well that ends well!!
i'm so glad my little boy is back to his spunky self :)

fall fun, fall bugs

last weekend kelvin helped ted, ben and dad set up deer hunting camp- we went to mom and dad's friday after kelvin got home from work. while i was busy running around, trying to get everything packed, cole took the opportunity to sneak some of daddy's gum from off the table. he ever-so-quietly unwrapped two pieces and chewed them. i had no idea he was doing this until he ran up to me with what looked like powdered sugar around his mouth, babbled something unintelligible and i caught a whiff of something minty.

yup... daddy's gum!

he was so proud of himself, chewing gum like mommy and daddy...

... and there's the proof!!
he was SO good (he's never been given gum before) and chewed it for a good two hours. in fact, the only reason he swallowed it was because he threw his head back in the middle of a mini-tantrum!

grampa and his princess!

saturday was gorgeous so we couldn't keep cole inside.

he started the day by helping daddy and grampa rake leaves!

he and gramma watched daddy and grampa on their fourwheelers (uncle tedly and his dirt bike might've been in there too, i don't remember...)

he got to ride on the "wheeee-wher" with grampa!

and when daddy and grampa disappeared to go set up camp, he wanted to find them.

so, cole and i had a little one-on-one time. we walked to the cattlepond where i played with the camera... we also checked out the cornfield and saw the windsock (he called it a "sock-ok")

my inquisitive, challenging, smart, sweet, funny, endearing little man

since cole's impromptu shoot went pretty well, i thought maybe i could do madison's photos as well (i have NOT been able to keep up on them). this is about the only good one... i managed to take 6 shots and in at least three of them she was crying.

oh well- we tried!

cole got to wear his bapa's hat!

or as he says:

"bapa! haht!"

whups!

oh yes... madison can clap! we've been showing her how for months and she's just watched us with a slightly amused look on her face, so when i got her up one recent morning and she burst into excited clapping, i about freaked! finally, my baby girl can clap! she even knows the word... if we tell her to clap, more often than not she'll do it. she waved, too- tuesday when i was in hobby lobby, i looked down at her in the stroller and she just waved her little fingers, all pleased with herself!

sadly, the end of our week is not as fun as the first...

cole DOES have pinkeye and a double ear infection.

i went to the natural health store yesterday, thinking that i might be able to get away with some natural remedies so we could avoid antibiotics (and a trip to the clinic). we got some dr christopher's kid-e-mune (an immunity booster) and colloidal silver. silver has antiseptic properties, and it was one of the recommendations, so we tried it. he seemed to look better last evening, but this morning, he was a fright! i called the clinic right away, and got him in this morning.

armed with amoxicillin and eye ointment, we will be fighting this round of yuckies with a vengance.

i will never forget this trip to the clinic. we didn't have dr h- i took the first available appointment with no regards as to who it was with. usually, cole is pretty friendly, but the minute the dr made a move toward him, he got pretty feisty. he wouldn't even tolerate the stethoscope! when it came time to check his ears, things got bad. his one ear had so much drainage built up that they had to irrigate it to get a look... it took three nurses, the doctor and myself to hold him down enough for the doc to irrigate and examine his ear. by the time it was done and she'd determined that his ear infection was indeed in both ears, cole was crying, i was crying, madison was crying (more because she was stuck in her carseat) and we were exhausted. i've never, ever seen my son like that- i know he was scared and hurting, but his "fight" response kicked in, in over-drive. he was to the point where he wasn't hearing or seeing anyone or anything, he was just consumed with trying to escape. i had to carry him out of the clinic because his face was so swollen from screaming and crying that his eyes were reduced to tiny little slits. his face looked like a ball with a nose sticking out. i was scared... not because i thought he was dying (although the thought had crossed my mind that he might work himself into a coronary) but because i've never seen him react like that. even now, i start tearing up thinking about it. anyway, we have eye meds and an antibiotic... what a weekend for kelvin to be gone; giving eye meds to a toddler is NOT a one-person job. hopefully when his daddy gets home on sunday, cole will be feeling MUCH better!

deja vu

i distinctly remember doing this about a year and a half ago...

one miserable child.




you can tell by his eyes...

(i have no idea why this photo is sideways; it's not like that in my folder but whatever. blogger has been a little finicky lately...)

i called the clinic to see if they had any last-minute openings today but the soonest we can get cole in is tomorrow at 1.30. the nurse i spoke to said that it sounds like a sinus infection. she said that sometimes when it gets bad enough, it can cause a pink-eye-type discharge. my guess is they still consider it pinkeye, since she mentioned antibiotics. if i had a little more $$, i'd go straight down to the natural health store and inquire about drug-free remedies, but i'll have to save that for next time. i hope there's not a next time. poor kid has had pinkeye once already, when we were in arizona, i wish he didn't have to have it again. i hope the rest of us don't get it. i hope the medicine works fast. i hope he sleeps tonight. sigh. at least this time, he doesn't have an ear infection. although, i could be wrong- we knew he had pinkeye last time but he gave no indication that his ears hurt... THAT part was a total surprise!

poor baby...!

~

(ps- i WILL post photos from this weekend. i haven't forgotten)

fashion week- photos!!!!

maybe some of you remember back in august when i had a crocheted flower project... it was for a toronto-based fashion designer (cindy mathieu, her line is called sodaliscious). i never posted photos because by the time i remembered that i hadn't done it (or maybe i did. i can't remember!), the our computer died.

this is what i sent out to canada:

approximately 90 flowers... most of them were the tiny pink, yellow and peach ones.

there were quite a few bigger pink/peach variegated ones...

... and the black ones. oh, the black ones were a thorn in my side, because i had to start over several times and at one point, told cindy that if we still had someone else that was able and willing to take over the black ones, that would be optimum. lucky for me, she ended up having a pre-show photo shoot pushed back so that gave me more time to work on the buggers. they ended up being my favorites.
funny how that works...
*~*
so, i've been biding my time, waiting for the photos cindy promised she'd send me. i'd even forgotten all about it... until a few days ago. i shot her an email and today got a reply.
the photos are HERE!!!

the teeny tiny pink, yellow and peach flowers are on the back of this gown.

this one sports the pink/peach variegated flowers....

... and this one? well, the black flowers are on this one.

there was a reason they turned out to be my favorites- i love this dress!

(not that i'd look THIS good in it, ever, but it's my favorite)

incidentally, this raspberry number is going to be featured in a holiday spread in "sharp" magazine (a fashion mag).

the black thorns in my side are really going places...

~

i know- seems unbelievable, right? i can hardly believe it myself. i'd never have dreamed that my work (my little, self-taught, unprofessional, totally-a-hobby dabblings) would ever wind up on the runway. ever.

crazy!

oh, and i DO have photos from our weekend at mom and dad's... i will post them soon. it was a gorgeous weekend for photos, so once again, i took too many. like, 200.

the games they play...

i've discovered (and i'm sure i'm not the only one) that my babies play at some normal, ordinary games. not always games, per se... just unstructured play.

like playing "house", for example.

or in this particular case, "kitchen"; cole ran the stove and microwave and madison took inventory of the lower cabinets.

she was very efficient, so much so that she did it every five seconds.

she's fascinated with opening and closing the doors...

coloring on the windowsill?

fairly normal!


sharing the cheerios cole quietly pilfered from what i thought was an inconspicuous hiding spot?
also normal.

this?

quite unique.

cole went through a phase while we were in arizona where he'd squish up his face and snuffle in and out really fast through his nose.

we have plenty of documentation, perhaps more than we really need. you never know- all those silly photos may come in handy one day (blackmail...?)!

i DO have a point...

...my point is, that madison just started doing the same thing!

came outta nowhere.

cole's not done it for a LONG time, since before madi was born.

maybe it's genetic? (not MY genes, of course...)

lo and behold, he still can do it!

and now, they've made an odd game of it.
it's hilarious!
they'll crinkle up their little faces and snuffle back and forth at each other for literally five minutes at a time, sometimes longer, breaking only to giggle and screech at each other.
how they don't hyperventilate, i may never know.
hey, at least they play nice!
(sometimes...)
*~*

this, that and the other thing

blogging has sort of taken a back seat to the rest of life, lately... between spending time with the kids, making hats, going to biolife twice a week, other random happenings and now a new job, it's kind of been pushed to the side. my dear, sweet husband pointed that out... :)

so, once again, this is a catch-up post!

cole found a new use for the exersaucer. you should see him when he stands up to walk away- talk about loopy!!

now that madison's doing more (like, walking while holding onto our fingers) he's starting to show a bit of jealousy. lately he's been mimicking her when she cries or babbles- perfectly normal, but i've started reacting to him the same way i react to madi just so he doesn't feel left out. it won't be long and he'll tire of being "babied", i'm sure!

daddy and madi playing tug-o-war with madi's paci!
within the past two weeks, madi's new thing has been 'sharing' her paci with us. she does it quite forcefully, but she's SO proud of herself when she succeeds at popping in into our mouths.

kelvin got some photos of me and the kids- just spontaneous snapshots. cole was NOT in the mood for it, unfortunately....

... but madi was! she's almost always game for being in front of the camera. she really knows how to work it!

monday evening there was a small dinner at mom and dad's for sarah- she, mom and dad are on the way out to montana right this minute. for those who don't know, sarah's moving out there and is staying with elissa and logan for a little while, getting her residency and then going to school. that's the plan, anyway... so monday evening was in her honor!

the kids and i got there before lunch so we could spend a little extra time with her.

what better way to spend a few last hours with auntie sarah than going for 'rides' in the laundry basket?

madi wasn't left out- she was in something a bit more size-appropriate: a plastic storage container. she didn't quite get the concept of playing in laundry baskets (or storage containers) so she mostly fussed. we tried.

she did enjoy a little quality time with uncle "tid", though!

(*that's how cole says it... and on a cute side note, every time we go past the billboard with a one-legged runner on it by bear creek corners, he yells "TID"!!!)

love it!

cole had fun playing with his cousins... he's still getting the hang of playing with others. he's not quite old enough for organized activity but he's outgrown the whole "do-you-own-thing" thing. sorry, kristian! you put up with cole really well- gold star for you!!

the "girls' night" girls

poor cole was trying so very hard to blow out the candle that wasn't on sarah's cake.

maybe he thought if he blew hard enough, it would magically appear.

who knows.

goofy-cute!

while it's SO hard to say goodbye to sarah, i know that this is her adventure. this is a good thing... and she'll do well. miss her like crazy already!

cole had some fun with his bath crayons from auntie elissa, uncle logan and cousin coy. i know- he got them for his birthday and didn't use them till today. that's my fault... i was dreading the clean-up. it wasn't as bad as i thought, but it definitely won't be a sunday morning ritual. he had a blast: "bath! colors!!"

yesterday was my first training day at the brick oven. i LOVE it!! i never though making pizza could be so much fun; since it's carry out/delivery only, there's no dining room or customer dishes to worry about. i've already done the waitressing thing and didn't care for it at all, so this is really nice. i had a flashback to a recent home-made pizza episode in our own small kitchen: i was making pizza dough (from a jiffy mix- good stuff, by the way) and cole was watching me try to get the dough off my hands so i could knead it. he stood and watched, his little face one big question mark, then finally said dramatically; "siiiiiick!". i think i fell over laughing! anyway, daddy and the kids did just fine without mommy home to hold down the fort- everyone ate well at supper, went to bed well, etc.! it makes me feel a little less guilty about missing out on the routine that i've been a part of for the last 26 months. i discovered today, though, that my patience was in slightly greater supply, so maybe the "break" is good. i'll miss them on nights that i work, but i can rest easy knowing that they're at home with daddy.

oh- there is one bad thing: the photos on our old harddrives? well, they're most likely gone forever. a HUGE thank you to stephen for trying hard... if you don't get them, it's ok! maybe i'm being a big baby about it, but i've cried over the thought of never getting them back. if they weren't of the kids, it wouldn't matter much... an entire summer (including sarah's graduation, first parades for both kids, several 'firsts' for madi, fishing with kelvin's family, cole's second birthday party and many other things) is probably gone. that's a hard one to deal with... but i guess it could be worse. at least i've still got the kids :)