weekend without pics...

for some reason i can't upload any photos... it just sits there, no error message or anything. so- i'll have to try again tomorrow. i have TONS of pictures from this weekend- i've chosen a few to share, IF blogger ever lets me upload them! i promised a certain someone i'd post about my dr appointment last week, so i'll cover that, at least. we had our 32-week visit on wednesday and the baby's doing fine. still measuring a week and a half ahead, but no protein or bp issues, and the heartrate was great. i was warned that i need to "TAKE IT EASY" because i need to at least make it to 36 weeks... normally our dr is pretty easy-going so when he says something like that, he's concerned. next visit is in a week and a half, so we'll see where we are then. if dr h hadn't been double-booked all day wednesday he would have checked for dilation right then, but seeing as how he was really busy and running about 45 minutes behind schedule, it didn't happen. i think the nesting is starting to kick in, possibly inspired by the sudden onslaught of cute little pink outfits that needed to be put away after our shopping trip on friday. the closet in cole's room STILL isn't cleaned out (i need a saturday to myself to get that done) but there are sweet tiny baby girl things hanging in it, teeny tiny diapers all stacked in the changer across from cole's size 4's which now seem massive, the chifferobe is all reorganized and there are tiny gender-neutral onesies and sleepers that need to be freshly washed... that was all this morning before my shower. i just couldn't stop. and according to grandma p (who we saw thursday, friday and saturday), "that baby has dropped". i guess we'll be having a baby before TOO long, if the general consensus is correct! hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and weekend- pictures will follow asap (i hope...)!

good question...

what do you do when your internet is down for 24 hours? it's amazing how much extra time you have on your hands when you can't email, blog or facebook for a whole day. i did LOTS of laundry, made a big batch of cookie dough, did some more photo editing (posted today on my photo blog)... cole had mommy COMPLETELY to himself!! i think he was more than ready for a nap by the time lunch-time rolled around... i believe that i can safely say that he was sick of me and ready for some "alone time". the tables had turned... now he knows what i feel like sometimes! anyway, the internet went out yesterday morning and after speaking to someone who reassured me that there was an outage in the area, i patiently waited till well after 12 noon, which is when they said the issue should be fixed. i got an automated call around 3 saying that the problem had been solved, but still no internet. this time, when i called charter, i was dispatched to some "technician" in india (had to have been... where else?) who made me do everything i had already done several times already that day and then decided that oh, apparently we needed to arrange for a service call to have the problem fixed. the soonest was between 8 and 10 this morning. i'm figuring they don't schedule service calls before 8 am, so i found myself waiting and wondering how one can be an hour late for the first call of the day? hmmm. anyhoo, problem solved- the guy said he had an order to disconnect yesterday. seems that they got "lower rate" confused with "disconnect".

so now that i've caught up on the last day, i have to go and load the van with stuff to take to mom and dad's for our extended stay. cole and i are going there this afternoon (after lunch) and we'll probably be staying through friday... kelvin plans on coming after work tomorrow and staying through saturday to do more hunting with ted, dad and logan. i'm SO excited to finally meet my nephew today!!!!

it works!!

i caught this one at mom and dad's this morning- i am SO impressed with the quality of photos that this camera takes! seems to make the cheesy grins even cheesier...the only problem i've encountered is that for some reason, the software that was included with the camera won't install completely on the computer, so until i get that figured out, there are some photos that were taken in RAW format and i can't view them on the computer. fortunately, they were practice shots, but they're of cole and they're cute...

anyway, i love this thing!

finally!

it's here! i love it! i am completely clueless as to what i'm doing with it!!
which means that i have an excuse to play around with it endlessly. thankfully it came with the manual (which was obviously well-used by the previous owner), so i have a little direction. oooh, i love it! the only thing that might bother someone is that you have to look through the viewfinder because there's no display while you're in shooting mode, but it doesn't bother me at all. oh, there's so much to learn!! i'm hoping elissa will be able to show me a few pointers next week... ? in the meantime, if anyone needs me, i'll be gleefully shooting my way into oblivion. look for the flash.

waiting game...

...i'm playing it on multiple levels. level one is pretty obvious- i'll be waiting for at 5 to 8 more weeks (if this baby's anything like cole, we'll only have to wait till christmas time). level two? the camera. i've been doing all kinds of stuff just to pass the time and to try not to think about whether or not it will arrive today. no luck... it's all i can think about! i ran to the credit union, to pamida (they have photo mailing envelopes on sale for $1 each, so a got a few), ran to the post office to mail out the photos from my senior shoot, did a HUGE load of dishes, chased my son in between... the whole time trying to telepathically send that package to our front door. we got a package yesterday, and i about had a heart attack from the excitement until i discovered it was some free gift for kelvin from the north american hunting club. glad HE got something... boy was a disappointed. a gun case is not the same thing as a camera, so he'll have to excuse me for not jumping with joy over his new toy. so while i'm trying to stay away from the windows, looking for a delivery truck, cole is on the lookout at the living room window (not that he knows i'm expecting a fedex or ups truck to pull up- he just likes to watch the traffic). he has learned something new today, though: to dance. it's so funny! i started singing and he stopped in his tracks and started doing these little bouncy squats and giggling. i wish i'd had the camcorder out and that i knew how to post video, because it was just so funny! good- now he can keep me entertained while i sit and wait...

(*sighhhhhhhh*)

just stuff!

my son, the clown...(...just in case we haven't posted enough of this cheesy grin!)

cole had a great day yesterday, for the most part- very little whining/crying/screaming (which seems to happen in that particular order; it just sort of escalates) and lots of goofy moments. i wish i could say the same for this morning... oh, the miseries of teething! this child is acting more hormonal than his mommy!
(*sigh* i've just stopped wondering...)

i'm hoping my camera will make it's way to our doorstep today... that would make my day! the more time i have to get acquainted with it before next week, the better. i mean, i've got to get it all figured out before my cute little nephew shows up! elissa, logan and coy are leaving in two days- we can't wait to see them! except for my mom, none of us have met coy yet, so we're pretty anxious for them to get here. i'm SO looking forward to next week: spending time with them, our ob appointment (the last 4-week one... wow!), thanksgiving, seeing more relatives, shopping on black friday... the whole nine yards. i should clarify that i'm looking forward to tagging along on black friday- the term "shopping" doesn't fit into the budget right now. it's so much fun just to all be out together, looking at stuff, chatting... i think for me, black friday is more about hanging out together than actually buying stuff. and one last thing- i got the prints back from the senior shoot i did, and i am SO impressed with the quality! they turned out wonderful, i can't wait to hear what they think of them. i think that for what it costs to buy ink and photo paper, i may just use the print lab for monthly baby pictures. we'll see.

first real playdate

yesterday was cole's first playdate... i think he did great! i was a bit worried about how he'd behave, since he never gets any interaction with other kids (outside of after meeting). he's too young to understand how to play WITH kids yet, but he did fine doing his own thing along side of the others. he was mostly interested in the bathroom door- he likes to swing doors open and shut. this is after my shower- he managed to get ahold of a napkin that was on the table, just BARELY within reach of curious little fingers. when i got out, his handy-work was displayed all over the dining room floor for me to admire... i should have gotten a picture. it was very modern and impressionistic. after vacuuming up the mess (aka artwork), cole was still rather pleased with himself, hence the cheesy grin. i'm proud of myself... i kept my temper in check and didn't scold him. after all, there are worse things he could have ripped apart! i heard this thing on the radio yesterday about teaching yourself to be an optomist, so i'm going to work on that. i desperately need to improve my sense of humor... gotta relax a little!
and this is cole asking for another raisin. i just love how he signs "more"- he looks like a little squirrel. this morning when i went to get him out of his crib, he surprised me a bit... for starters, all i saw was a lumpy blanket and two little legs dangling between the bars on his crib. he was "hiding"... and when he stood up, he got this big grin and signed "more". he hasn't gotten the hang of signing "eat/food" yet, so for the time being, "more" also means eat. wow! i was SO proud of him! and he did very well asking for more throughout breakfast. we're trying to teach him to save the screeching for when we aren't paying attention to him asking nicely... last night he did well at supper, too. after awhile, he'd start to reach out and open his mouth to holler for more, then caught himself and signed for us instead. i just LOVE when little kids learn to apply what they've been taught... you can almost hear the "a-HA!!" that you just know they're thinking!

this n that...

on saturday i had to run down the block to take some real estate photos (outside only)... it literally took 2 minutes, including round-trip travel. nice! when we got home, cole decided to help himself to the diaper bag...you can almost hear his squeal of delight
he knows what the strap is for... i didn't get it on camera but he was trying to hook it over his shoulder, like mommy does. he was so serious about it too...

and yesterday he got really spiffy for meeting. gotta love the new sunday shoes... target, thank you very much! he's got two outfits that they got PERFECTLY with, and this is one of them. it was a rummage sale find, given to us by a friend just before he was born... it's pretty cute! he even let me put the clip-on tie on, and never tried to pull it off once! he sat very well through meeting again (that's 3 in a row now) despite the fact that he's still (sigh...) teething and he just can't quite shake this cold. his third bottom tooth came through thursday during the night, so there are more on the way. friday, daddy let him play with his bottle of teething tablets (who needs the tablets when you can just chomp on the bottle, eh?) and they've disappeared. who knows where they wound up. i've looked everywhere, including under all the furniture. i almost won myself a permanent residence on the floor with that one- looking under furniture with a big belly is easy. getting up is not. cole thought it was a funny game though- he squatted by my head and laughed the whole time. i've been searching high and low, anywhere a toddler might stick an object and those things are nowhere to be found. my only guess right now is that they got put in the trash, since cole's newest obsession is putting things in the garbage can. better yet? taking things out. yeah... if only i had a cupboard to put it under... sigh. anyway, enough for now- i've got to get myself ready to take cole to cousin sarah's for a playdate. i've been looking forward all morning to the idea of adult conversation!

belly shot!

i took these today, by myself, no help from anyone, thank you very much. taking a good photo of your own large belly sounds easy. in theory, it IS easy... execution of said idea proves much more difficult. anyway, this is my favorite. i figured i'd better do one, even though it's not a profile, since we ARE 31 weeks (tomorrow) after all, and it's been a little while since the last one. i also heard from the real estate lady, all the photos i took today were what she was looking for, and she's got an exterior-only job for me tomorrow. lucky for me, it's literally a minute away. AND... drumroll... i scored a camera on ebay! it's not a nikon, but olympus is just as nice... it's an evolt e-300, comes with the lens and it was a great deal. the buy-it-now price was just right, so we had to act quick... it should be here within a week! oh, the next 7 days are going to d-r-a-g. now that i have more appropriate equipment, i can cross my fingers that i'll get a little more interest...

oh, and one last thing- cole learned to use a sign!! he now understands "more" and how to use it. not to say that he uses it every time, but he has signed "more" several times today during lunch and supper. of course, sometimes he just wants more too much to even consider using the sign, so to avoid a meltdown at the table, i don't push it. it's so exciting to watch him do it (he does it almost perfectly) and then just light up when i give him another spoonful or bite! and to think- i pretty much gave up on it. oh well- guess it's not too late for him to learn, and now that he knows and remembers that it gets him results, maybe he'll be more open to learning other signs too. if not, well, at least he'll never go hungry, since he knows what "more" gets him, hahaha!

my goofy little boy...

... since there are more teeth coming in (there better be, from the amount of whining, drooling and chewing), cole's taken to gnawing on his fingers. fine, except that they're going to get all chapped and red, not to mention the mess it makes when he leaves slobbery handprints all over everything! so i've started handing him one of his (several) pacis, in hopes that he'll chew on those instead. yesterday he dug his camoflage one out of the diaper bag all by himself and brought it to me... i didn't even know it was in there! leave it to a small curious person to find things... i took a few photos of him chewing on it, but this one is my favorite. he almost always hams it up when he realizes that the camera is on him. i thought this one would look cute enhanced and was going to post it on my photo blog, but then remembered that most of the posts there are of him. don't want to over-do it... besides, brittany's photos turned out well enough that i don't want them to get lost in a sea of cole-photos.

this morning i went to take photos of the interior of the house that got vandalized... oh my. the spraypaint and damage really didn't do much to reduce the value of that dump! i'd only seen the outside before and yeah, it could have used a little cleaning up, but the inside is just nasty. it smells really weird, for one. it's just disgusting- i had to take pictures of every room; i didn't think i could do it for the first-floor bathroom. for those of you who know me and my bathroom issues, you'll probably get a good giggle out of this one. it was carpeted, for one... there was about a 1/2 to 1 inch gap between the tub and the surround, it smelled moldy, the sink was all nasty... oh my, i thought i was going to puke and pass out. even now, i feel like jumping into a vat of boiling lysol. the first thing i thought was "i hope these people didn't have any kids living here", but i think they did. how terrible. i know our house is nothing to sneeze at and has it's issues and stuff, but it's wonderful compared to that house. yucky. it was creepy, too- i knew it was empty and the door and lockbox were both secure, but between all the lights being smashed out, the wanna-be satanic graffiti, the small nasty rooms and the fact that half the windows were boarded up, it was like a haunted house. seriously- someone could buy it, leave it as it is, charge admission for the month of october and make it worth it. kelvin stayed home with cole, so i didn't have to take him in there, thank goodness!

anyway, that was my wonderful experience this morning... still worth the money, though, since it's about the easiest work ever, close to home and didn't take much time (i was there less than 30 minutes).

more work, yay!

i just got a call from the real estate lady i'm photographing for... i know the work is sporadic, but hadn't heard from her in awhile, so i shot her an email letting her know i was still interested in anything she might have for me. so- i'm supposed to go back to the one property i'd photographed before and take more pictures, this time of the inside. don't worry, mom, it's empty and there's a lockbox!! anyhoo, it had gotten vandalized the week after i was out there, so now i need to go back and take photos of all the rooms inside and of any damaged areas. AND, she said she'd mention my name to any of her fellow real estate associates who may be looking for a little help with photographing properties! hey, i know it's not much (it doesn't pay by the bucketload or anything), but every little bit helps, and it's just a little more that i can put toward my new camera. we sold the daybed today, so most of that will go into my camera fund... and while i was (again) drooling over the camera/accessory package i'm planning on getting, i noticed that it was at least $60 cheaper than when i first saw it... yippee! maybe by the time i actually have the total, it'll have gone down a little more... one can only hope. anyway, i'm excited to make a few extra bucks tomorrow and she said her workload has increased, which means more opportunity for me. as i'm reminded of last night's bible study, i see now that we really do have everything provided for us, as long as we seek to have our spiritual needs taken care of first. like mom said, it's kind of hard to see that when adversity is staring us in the face, but it's those moments when you realize that not only does every tiny bit help, but we really do have all we need if we have faith. oh, the lessons we learn... :)

*updated post at creativelycandid.blogspot.com*

(any feedback would be welcome... thanks!)

just in time...

...kelvin picked up a snowsuit from scheel's for cole. he saw in their sunday flyer that kids' snowsuits were in sale big-time, so he went there after work to see if they had anything left in cole's size. i doubt that anyone going to get them today will find anything- he said they were just about picked clean! anyway, he got one in a 2T size, so it's really big on cole, but it should still fit him next winter!!

i don't think he knows what the snowpants are for, but he was sure proud of them! it was kinda funny, because after i took them off (he was so happy just to cruise around in his new puffy duds), i noticed it was snowing outside... :)



one of cole's new games is "stinky feet"... he likes to stick his foot in my face when i have him on the changing table and giggles when i say "oh, p.u.!". well, we started doing it on this stuffed duck that he has. now he does it too, and thinks he's the big cheese when we say "oh, p.u." after he sticks his entire face in the poor duck's foot.

and, still refusing to say "mama" (everything is "DA"), here's one of him saying his favorite word... "da". he really gets into it too, sometimes. you can tell when it's going to be a big one by the way he looks before he says is... and it comes out very deliberate and emphatic. i think i'm quietly resigned to the fact that i may be known as "da" for the rest of my life... nah. i know better! there are times when cole almost says "mama" and then catches himself... which, of course, results in a big, deliberate "da".

as i look toward week 31 of this pregnancy, i am distinctly and acutely aware of those last trimester discomforts... namely, the "ice face". with cole, i noticed that the last 2 months i felt like i was trying to talk with a half-numbed mouth. kind of like i had been given enough novacaine to numb my entire mouth and it only wore off halfway. i think i'm more self-conscious of it because i really have to THINK about moving my mouth and tongue when i talk otherwise things come out sounding a bit odd. i remember last summer, i dreaded giving my testimony because of it... and here we go again. oh well- if baby girl comes as early as cole (we keep hoping), i'll only have to deal with the "ice face" for about 6 more weeks. seems like an eternity on my end. one thing i've noticed about this baby is she never hiccups. i've felt a few hiccups once for sure, MAYBE twice... good! maybe she won't have the same reflux problems that cole had! she's sure a wiggly little gal, though... can't wait to meet her!

good news...

well, good for me anyway. i got an email today from the step-mom of the girl i did a senior shoot for... they were so happy, they ordered a lot of photos!!not bad for my first shoot. thanks to elissa, i found an excellent place for ordering prints. the lady said she mailed her photo release form today, so as soon as i have that in hand, i can add a few photos to my teeny-weeny portfolio. hopefully it starts growing before too long... while it may not seem like much to get excited over, i'm over the moon on this. hmmm- sounds like i need to get out more? haha.

fall fun

i took a few photos of cole in the leaves at mom and dad's this past friday... not a nice day to be out! damp, COLD, windy... but cole liked the leaves! i didn't get many good shots (i am hoping to have a new camera soon, if all goes as planned... yay!), but oh well. i was mostly just playing around...so- poor little guy still isn't feeling 100%. yesterday he ate about 4 or 5 bites of his oatmeal, refused lunch, had a small (very small) snack after his nap, ate very little for supper, and had his usual graham crackers and milk before bed. he had plenty to drink, so at least he stayed hydrated. i'm just not sure what the deal is, besides teething. we ran to pamida just before lunch yesterday to get some non-skid carpet backing (i cut it into pieces to use under the couch and the coffee table, since he insists on moving furniture)... really short trip, and he was asleep by the time we hit the checkout line. i took him out of the cart, walked to the van (brrrr), strapped him in, got him back out to run into mcdonald's for a large ice, put him in the carseat again, drove home, unloaded him and our purchase, and he didn't once open his eyes till i started changing his diaper. this was on an empty tummy, too. we attempted lunch- no such luck, since he thought it was WAY more fun to throw his fish, pb sandwich, tater tots (and everything else we tried) at mommy. so- nap it was. he jabbered to himself for awhile and then passed out around 2, slept till 4.30, played with daddy, refused most of supper... we did get him to eat a few green beans, but ONLY if it was from daddy, and it had to be on daddy's fork. what a goof. i've decided that from now on, i don't need to get really worried about his refusal to eat until he rejects his graham crackers and milk... he can turn down every possible tidbit all day long, but chow his bedtime snack. if all else fails... anyway, he ate his bedtime snack with no problem, so i guess he's not feeling TOO badly. definitely not the greatest, but well enough for his snack. we finally got more teething tablets, which seem to help. it's more noticeable now since we were out for quite awhile. as for the eating issue, he'll eat when he's hungry enough.

in other fun news: elissa, logan and sweet baby coy are coming in less than 2 weeks!!! we're so anxious to see them... it'll be great to be together again for thanksgiving. funny- about 8 months ago, we were trying to imagine not being home for the holidays, but here we are. good- i can't imagine not being here for thanksgiving and such, it would just be really weird. makes me even more thankful that we're back, even if things didn't go the way they were supposed to. being home is better by a long shot!

mr snugglebug

with the exception of this morning, cole's been a very snuggly little boy recently! cuddling on the floor with auntie sarah on friday

snuggling with mommy last night- yes, i am wrapped in a big puffy quilt. it is COLD in this old house!! that makes cole's snuggle-streak even better... body heat! seriously, though- i would never make it as an eskimo. unless those igloos aren't drafty... can't be worse than our house. for those of you who don't know much about our house, it's an old house, built before the days of insulation and double-paned windows. we have a few new windows, but most of them are still single-panes, which are almost useless... even though there's no draft coming through some of them, the single panes make for very chilly air around the windows... combine that with no insulation and there's just no heating this joint! i thought that maybe i'd stay nice and toasty, thanks to the extra body heat while i'm pregnant, but no such luck, i guess. bummer. the one consolation is that the price of fuel is almost half of what it was last winter, so maybe we'll be able to turn the thermostat up to 65. maybe. haha!

what the...?: no. 2

apparently black friday came early this year, as in yesterday. wow. it was crazy, crazy c-r-a-z-y yesterday at the mall! old navy too, but they were having 50% off their outerwear, so that was to be expected, but i kid you not, it was like the day after thanksgiving! everywhere! some guy running the register i went through at target (found cole some dress shoes, finally) said he had no clue what the deal was, but it was SO busy. very observant young man, eh? anyway, mom and sarah came with cole and i (we stayed overnight friday night since kelvin was staying in the cabin and hunting the next day)... we all got some great bargains at old navy! i found 3 skirts, two tanktops and three t-shirts, all for about $28 total. awesome! i also found a long jean skirt at motherhood at the mall, got a long-sleeved shirt (thanks mom) and made a stop at bath and body works for some lavender-vanilla lotion. i also got the massage oil, since they didn't have any bodyspray... i wanted to get some anyway for the delivery room. oh, it's SO nice to smell good again! it's been awhile since i had that lotion and it's my absolute FAVORITE scent. cole was an absolute angel pretty much the entire time... he played in the dressing room at old navy and got a bit antsy, but once we ate and headed to the mall, he was more than happy to sack out in the stroller. he almost fell asleep, but was just a little too distracted by all the people to actually doze off. he was close though! i have no idea what it was that made him so good, but it carried over to this morning. cole sat SO well during meeting, even though i was there (haha)! maybe it was because bonita and jennifer were there? who knows- he was so good! he did giggle a bit during the emblems... ooops. he thought it was pretty funny that he could stick his crayon in the hole on his notebook and it would stay there by itself... i'm so proud of him! now, if we can just get him to KEEP sitting that well, that would be awesome. oh, and for anyone who's not in this area of wisconsin, we're having some nice little flurries today. brrrr. it's 32 degrees and i have to say, i kind of miss the arizona weather right now...

what the...?

they say that if your child is doing something they shouldn't, if you laugh (because it's cute or funny), they won't take you seriously and that they'll think it's ok to do it again. i totally agree. but how on earth are you supposed to keep a straight face when you look up to pop another bite of food into your kid's mouth and you see this little foot just propped up on the table?it wasn't just the foot, it was the expression too. we TRIED really hard to keep a straight face. more like we turned our backs to cole and tried really hard not to make a sound while laughing hysterically and then, when we thought we had ourselves under control, turned back to set him straight. i don't think i even have to tell you that it did NOT work- one look at that little foot up there and the look of relaxation/confusion on his face just did us in. we laughed. hard. loud. long. it was very satisfying.

but the satisfaction of a really good laugh doesn't help the fact that now our son thinks it's perfectly fine to prop his toes up on the table. we'll have to work on that. preferrably on in individual basis, because if we go in on the effort together, we're going to crack up all over again., therefore totally defeating the purpose. so yes, we had a jolly good giggle at the dinner table and will now have to deal with the consequences. wish y'all had been there, it was great. and in case you're wondering, yes, we did have pizza. cole's first pizza- he did really well and thoroughly enjoyed himself. obviously...

just because

just because it makes me giggle out loud every time i see this. just because the expression is funny. just because i haven't posted a photo "recently" and i may or may not hear about it from certain people. that last one was a joke...as an obsessed mommy (what other kind is there?), i just can NOT get over how "grown up" cole looks in his new sunday outfit. so professional... until you see the two bottom teeth, his little diapered behind, the fact that he's only 2 1/2 feet tall...!

as for my other child, she is happily squirming her way into nooks and crannies that really don't exist, making my belly look freakishly abnormal. i think it's the neatest thing, when you can kinda poke around a little and try to guess exactly which appendage or joint you're feeling... and then be amazed and a little creeped out at the same time when that same appendage/joint moves right under your finger! i LOVE it, but at the same time it feels sooooo weird... amazing. i love this little girl already (have from the start, but even more with every day that goes by)!

forced to take it easy

good thing we had our little reminder of "what to do if..." just last week. guess i needed it. yesterday afternoon and evening i was having some cramping, enough to really notice it, so like the nurse had said just 7 days prior, i laid down on my left side for awhile. it helped some... but by supper time i was still feeling it enough to be uncomfortable. i decided last-minute to stay home from bible study and just lay there. i wasn't sure if i should, because i know how cole can be during meeting, especially when he's tired but i also didn't want things to get worse for me or the baby... turns out, cole sits fine when i'm not there. huh. kelvin said he didn't have to take him out once. wonderful! now if only he'd do that when I'M there... and this morning, the cramping is gone. thank goodness... guess that's my cue to start taking it easy here and there.

for what it's worth...

... i figure i'll put my two-cents in. i'm illiterate when it comes to politics; totally in the dark, it's all too confusing to me. that, and it seems that none of the candidates ever get around to doing the majority of what they promise. anyway, i know there are a lot of people out there who are super-riled about obama being the new president, but i have to say it doesn't bother me. first, i think it's historically important that we have a president who isn't caucasian for once. second, if obama won by as much as he did, then there must be something to it. all in all, my opinion is that ultimately, we have no control over the way things turn out (which is why i don't vote- not even registered, don't ever plan on registering either, for the record)... so i'm just going to be satisfied that things are the way they are because that's what's meant to be. nobody shares the same opinion so there's always going to be disagreements about this and that- no matter the outcome of the election this year, someone somewhere was going to be upset. the way i see it, God's the one who decides who will lead our country because first, it's His plan and second, if we all knew what was best for us we wouldn't even have to debate endlessly and then vote for more than one candidate. if we were left to decide our own future, we'd wind up in a hopeless pickle. there's more, but that's the gist of it. so- here's to the next four years, no matter what they will bring!

and then it gets better

so, despite the fact that the day is rather monday-ish, there have been a few laughs, courtesy of cole... it's like he's my personal pick-me-up. sometimes.

fascinated by the stereo- we were listening to the holiday music on 104.3. cheery stuff!

cole was absolutely taken with the radio, and it kept him occupied (and in one spot, wow!) while i got his lunch. as you can see from the third photo, lunch didn't last long. i have NO idea why he fell asleep mid-meal, since he slept very well last night and we didn't do anything today. hmmm. must be the monday thing affecting him too. at least nap-time, though early, was a breeze!

it feels like a monday

i think my monday is happening today... nothing is going smoothly, but since yesterday definitely didn't feel like a monday, i guess that's what i get. i've been such a klutz (read: tripping over my poor little son, elbowing him in the head, etc.- nothing that warrants any tears, but still...) and i hate that it's so warm. hello, it's NOVEMBER!! maybe it's partly because it's election day. let me tell you, i will be so glad when all the mud-slinging and political junk dies down!

anyhoo...

i thought i'd play with my new favorite photo- i just can't get over how darn cute this kid is. obviously, i have to admit that i'm very biased...

and just thought i'd post a sample from my first photo shoot last friday. i want to post a few on my other blog, but i'm really freaked about lawsuits and such, so i typed up a form for them to sign regarding using the photos in my portfolio. once i get that, i can put some up, but until then i figure this is ok since it's a family and friends blog. i got an email from the step-mom this morning saying that they really enjoyed the session and couldn't wait to see proofs. huh- what a coincidence, since i mailed out the cd this morning *grin*. i just hope that they are somewhat satisfied with them! on the other hand, i dropped off my resume at photography by jd and they're apparently looking for someone to intern who has experience. ummm, isn't the point of an internship to learn? anyway, i doubt anything will come of it, which i guess is fine (i'll get over it... stupid hormones) since plenty of people become excellent at things just by doing it without any fancy training. still, that just kinda increased the volume on the"you can't do this, what were you thinking you idiot" voice in my head.... haha.

my son: comedian extraordinaire

yesterday cole wore his new sunday outfit from grandma (my mom). it's still pretty roomy, but it was SO cute on him, i couldn't resist! he looked like such a little man in it! by the evening, his shirt was untucked, or course, and combined with the baggy rolled up pants, he looked like he was playing dress-up, pretending to work at an office. all he needed was a newspaper, tiny briefcase and a cup of coffee...

("you're fired"...?)

since kelvin had to work yesterday, i went to the union meeting that mom and dad were at so that i wouldn't have to try to manage cole by myself. he's been SO independent lately, and refuses to sit still... i'm really glad i went with mom and dad, since cole spent most of the meeting out. mom took him for a little so i could get at least some of the meeting in, and afterwards, cole stayed with mom and dad while i rushed sarah (and chase) back home so sarah could get ready for opening night of "south pacific". for anyone who wants to see a really great high school musical, you've got to see this one! i went with chase to see the first performance, while mom and dad took cole to gospel meeting. when we got back to mom and dad's, my heart about melted... i think i need to go away more often because i got THE sweetest cuddle from my son! mom and dad claim he was really good- i suppose that may be true; i think we always behaved better for grandma and grandpa than for mom and dad. typical. after a light supper, it was time to go home, which i always hate doing when cole's having so much fun. i put my coat on and told cole that it was time to go home- he was busy playing with chase's phone (which made him look so "professional", especially when he held it to the back of his head to "talk") and just looked at me and kind of waved. that got a laugh from everyone... i put his little jacket on and we laughed harder when he tried to take it off. he was NOT wanting to go! anyway, once we got home (he fell asleep once we got to iola), he had his snack and just crashed. big day for a littel boy! now he's wide awake and ready to wreak havoc on a new day... i can hear him quietly getting into trouble at this exact moment. yay- i have some stuff i REALLY need to get done (like, make and send a cd of proofs to my first "client", clean up the old bunkbeds and dressers for the lady who's coming to look at them... i hope she buys them... and just general housework), so i hope he won't destroy anything too badly. ahhhh, life with a toddler- it's always an adventure!!