owwwww

amber, i think you'll be able to sympathize on this one....

my poor little man had a crash-course on how to walk with socks on the wood floors. he didn't do well. it happened so fast... and in the blink of an eye, he was on the floor, blood in his mouth, blood on the floor, crying. the crying lasted all of about 30 seconds, and once we were certain that no teeth were loose and nothing was broken, mommy had to get out the camera.

in real life, his lip is quite a bit puffier... and the scrape on his chin is from the party on saturday (he tangled with the picnic table).

"oww, oww, oww, meh-meh... oww."

but since this is cole we're talking about, a puffy, bleeding lip didn't stop him from cheesing it up for the camera. that's my boy!!

for such a smart little guy, you'd think the wood floors wouldn't pose so much of a problem. seriously- maybe he's not the smartest kid in the world, but i think he's brilliant! for example: every single time he puts his shoes on, they're on the right feet (maybe not all the way on, but they're always on the right feet); he knows the difference between "on" and "off", is saying an average of two to three new words a day... so maybe he's not a genius, but he's no dummy either. i look at him and just about burst because i'm so proud of him and love him more than i could ever begin to tell. (of course, i love madison just as much, in case anyone was wondering!) my little boy- he's growing SO fast; i wish he could stay tiny and innocent forever.

grad party weekend!

sarah and suzanne's graduation party was on saturday... lots of people, fun, food, etc.!!

miss madison chillin' in the boppy.

chase, sarah and erica blowing up balloons before the party- erica started feeling a bit light-headed and proceeded to tell us that no one ever died from lack of oxygen (when sarah and chase told her to take a break). it was funny...

the awesome cake, courtesy of cindy
i'm sure it was great, everyone said it was... all i got was a little frosting because it was completely free of wheat and dairy. and yes, the frosting was delish!

the cutest grads ever...

there was football, of course. and swimming, but this lady sat them out.

there were some nifty clouds that blew in; i thought they photographed rather nicely!

cole "helped" with the clean-up...

it was a great party, in my opinion. lots of fun, good friends, good food... aunt dawn and cousins bobby and rebecca made it up to share the weekend so it was wonderful to see them! and cole, well, he just ran and ran and ranandranandran all day (with the exception of a nap), which was great. he doesn't have that luxury at home!

congrats again to sarah and suz- best of luck with your future!! :)

oh finally!!

i decided to experiment with some wheat-free, dairy-free cooking tonight. i usually don't experiment on a wednesday but thankfully everything went well and we got out the door for meeting in time...it only looks gross- it tastes really good! i coated the chicken in a rice flour and seasoning mixture (paprika, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, the usual) and made some spinach and rice. for this, i sauteed a tsp of minced garlic (about 2 cloves) in 2 tbsp of olive oil, then added a 10-oz package of frozen, chopped spinach, a cup of brown rice (long grain), 2 chicken bouillon cubes, a little salt and pepper and 3 cups of water. i let it simmer for about 50 minutes... i didn't have any onion on hand, but green onions might be especially good in it. i was sure nobody would eat it except me, but kelvin had a small helping and small seconds (woah...) and cole ate some too. the fact that cole liked it and was willing to eat it just about blew me over... he's never liked rice before, except in chicken and rice, which is off-limits for me because of the soups in it. wow- guess the spinach and rice is a keeper!
"belly button, belly button, oh my belly button, belly button, belly button..."

"... i lo-o-o-ove you..."

you guessed it- tom pease at the dinner table!

anyway, i'm SO happy to have been able to eat something other than blue corn chips and salsa (i've got to have flavor...) or whatever; on one hand, i'm happy to have found a few things that are "normal" that i can eat. on the other hand, this may hamper my weight-loss... which, by the way, got off to a marvelous start and screeched to a stubborn halt. 5 pounds and stuck... oh well. at least i have spinach! (and yes, i love spinach, as long as it's cooked)

cole's first swimming lesson!

last evening was cole's first parent-tot swimming lesson at the chs rec center. as it turned out, it was a 'private' lesson because we were the only ones there! i'm under the impression that there will be others next week; i'm not sure how many, though.

anyway, cole was excited to get into his new swimming trunks and had no problems with anything... until he got about ankle-deep into the water. after 10 minutes (or so...) he warmed up enough to venture getting off of mommy and walking around the water by himself. after that, he had NO fear!

it was the intrigue of the water rings that got him, i think!

daddy and miss carrie encouraging him to jump into the water... he wasn't buying it. he's pretty determined to sit down and scoot in. really, though, he warmed up to the whole thing rather well. by the time the lesson was half over, he'd headed for deeper water several times; in fact, he was in up to the bottom of his nose (almost- a matter of millimeters) and would have kept going if daddy hadn't brought him back! cole tried running in the water and found out that doesn't work real well. he fell and went under... kelvin got him after a few seconds, but for me, on the other side of the pool with madison, it seemed like an eternity. he was fine- he didn't swallow or inhale any water at all! he went under a second time and was fine then too, so maybe our little man will be a little fish!

and miss madison? what did SHE think of the water? well, let's just say she babbled and squealed the entire hour or so that we were in there...

yup, she loves it!

so, i think cole's going to enjoy his swimming lessons. kelvin's even wanting to take some for himself (carrie, cole's instructor, gives private lessons too), which is wonderful. i am SO glad that cole had fun, even if it started out a little iffy. he did so well and had so much fun... of course, the first lesson is mostly about getting used to the water, so he didn't do anything big. he was encouraged to jump into the water (not thrilled about that), lay on his tummy and back in the water and kick (he only kicked because he was uber-mad that daddy was making him lay in the water) and blow bubbles (he tried it once, laughed and headed for deeper water). we can't wait to see what happens next week! :)

on a side note: i'm having severe withdrawals; what i wouldn't do for a loaded taco or cheeseburger...

father's day and funny kids!

a belated happy father's day to all the dads! actually, it's the blog greeting that's late, the dads all got their cards before now.

cole and daddy

madi and daddy (it rhymes... haha)

cole thought his george would make a good playmate- he doesn't cry or drool like a little sister does!

see? w-a-a-a-a-y more cooperative than a little sister! and yes, george is wearing a diaper. don't ask.

miss madison REALLY loves her toes. as in, really really loves them. every chance she gets they go into her mouth. she does it when we're trying to change her diaper, when she's supposed to be napping, when she's playing on the floor, in the carseat... she's pretty flexible. like a tiny little gumby.

she looks so content... :)

this evening is cole's first parent-tot swimming lesson; we're pretty excited! i hope it goes well, not because of the water but because these little monkies have been getting up at the crack of dawn and taking very short naps. grr. if there's enough excitement, though, he may be too distracted to remember to be a crab. that's what i'm hoping, anyhow!

funky friday

mondays are blah, fridays can be just the opposite, as was the case yesterday! it started out freakishly well and ended up with both kids screaming before bedtime; that's another story, though. but we had a really good morning, which counts for something!

cole figured out how to make his own table and chair all by himself. he thought he was the man... if you can't tell.

madison and mommy!!

cole started entertaining madison for the first time! lately, madison's been breaking into grins and giggles when she sees cole (most of the time) but this was the first time they've ever really "played" together... it was SO neat to watch and they had me giggling too. i'm willing to bet that it was a good half hour that they were playing together. nice!

too bad it's blurry, but yes, miss squish was getting a big kick out of her big brother! he wasn't really doing all that much- just clapping and then squealing and laughing, but it sure made her crack up.

i polished the bathroom floor yesterday morning, so cole decided he'd 'polish' the rest of the floors for me. what a biug helper! if i'd been thinking straight, i could've put a swiffer cloth on it and he could have helped for real. next time... :)

we'd planned to take the kids swimming at the rec center yesterday afternoon, but they've changed their summer hours and now close at 6. we got there just after 5.30, so no swimming for us. we did get cole signed up for parent/tot swimming classes though! they start next tuesday (the 23rd) at 6 pm and run through august 4th. i'm excited- this'll be the first time we actually do a structured group activity with him! i just hope he loves the water as much as he did last year. i'm kind of missing the apartment and pool in casa grande- good times! (i don't, however, miss our upstairs neighbor...) that reminds me of heat, which brings to memory the weather we had yesterday and i've just gotta say, our 'new' central air is awesome!! of course, the upstairs is still quite a bit warmer than the first floor, especially the kids' room because there's no vent, but it's better that nothing. in fact, it works so well i've been running it only occassionally! i'm so glad we were able to get it in this year... *grin*

ugh.

so here's my little thing to ponder for today (and maybe tomorrow too, we'll see)... why do my children insist on fighting sleep until about 10 pm and then insist harder on getting up by 6.30 am? forget the meaning of life, the fountain of youth, the lost city of atlantis- this refusal to sleep enough is one mystery i'd love to solve. THEN we'll move on to the afore-mentioned head-scratchers...

*sigh*

got it!!

remember that ear-to-ear grin i said i'd catch someday?? i caught it. see below...it was wider a second before the shutter snapped, believe it or not!

jabbering away in her walk-about. between that and her fake 'coughing', this girl's a motor-mouth!

cole telling me his new word... it's "bum". he even knows where it is. the way he says it makes me laugh every time i hear it.

oh-so-proud of himself for gettin on the chair AND sitting backwards. what a monkey.

today was much better than yesterday, thank goodness. sarah came and spent the night last night, so she was here for awhile and we all went to shawano to get a few things. cole and kelvin are still drinking regular milk, so i had to get some of that... and totally forgot that it's fresh cheesecurd day in our area. oh man, i've been almost tasting them all afternoon. sigh.

(*ps- there's something new at green vanilla baby...*)

dining capacity

good thing neither of the kids had a twin; we're about maxxed out on our dining space with two high chairs! one's a spacesaver, but it still counts because it sticks out a bit. since last fall, i've been anticipating the day we'd have to get a second chair so i'd been keeping my eye out for a deal on craigslist. i found a few but kept putting it off but all of a sudden, my tiny baby girl is ready for a high chair. luckily, my procrastinating didn't backfire and we found a super steal on a great chair...madison was getting a tad bit impatient. and mad (she hates being strapped in to anything lately).

LOVE the toy bar, and i'm sure she will, too, once she can reach it. miss squish's arms just aren't long enough yet.

cole had to join in the noise-making...! anyhoo, after getting the highchair, we grabbed a quick bite at hooters, since it was close, they weren't busy and they had unbreaded chicken on the menu. there was this guy there that apparently had been cut off at the bar and was biding his time wandering around and "socializing" until this blood alcohol level went down enough to justify another round or two. oh, he was a character- not at all rowdy, just, umm, yeah. he complimented us on our darling, darling children, tried to chat coherently and was on his way to pester someone else when he turned back around, gestured at madison and said "so, uh, about how old would one of those little things be, about?" like he was pricing cars on a used lot... i giggled inside. our poor waitress apologized profusely, but no harm, no foul. didn't bother me- now if he'd tried to touch one of the kids, well, the story might have a different ending.

i just have to mention this one little thing that cole's been doing recently- whenever he does something he shouldn't (like throw a lego or try to spill his sippy cup), he shakes his head, gets a cute little scowl and in a mournful little voice says, "oh, coh-ee". sometimes he does the huffy sigh afterward for emphasis. hmmm, wonder where he picked that up!
("coh-ee" is how he says his name, fyi)

it's a wonderful life!

i know, i know- i'm slipping! i used to blog almost every day but haven't really kept up with it. now that madison's awake more and needs a lot more entertaining, well, it's gotten less and less convenient to post. that, and school's out, which seems to make life busier for everyone regardless of whether or not you have kids, school-aged or otherwise. anyway, to pick up where the last post left off... sarah came and spent the night on thursday. it was nice to get a little sister-time in! mom's been in montana with elissa, logan and coy and dad flew out to dallas on saturday, so poor miss sarah is by her lonesome. ironically, dad was still home the night she came here. but i digress.this is how friday morning found madison. my guess is that she awoke just enough during the night to stick her toes in her mouth (one of her favorites) but forgot to take them out before rolling over and passing back out. so yeah- who knows how long she slept like that! ouch.

on saturday madison tried the walk-about for the first time. i remember when i first put cole in it- he was about 4 months (madi's 5 months now) and i took at least 5 minutes of video. poor madison- she had to wait a month longer and got no video. our tapes are full, and i haven't had the time (or the guts- technical things scare me) to hook the camera up to the computer and put it all on dvd. oh well- we have photos! i had a giggle-fit because her tiny little chicken legs looked so funny sticking out the bottom of the seat...

she was fascinated by the toys... they didn't run away from her when she tried to eat them!! (she has that problem... but she can chase them; you should see her creep across the floor. man, that girl can m-o-v-e!)

on sunday we went up to mom and dad's in the morning to be with sarah until she left for work. it was fun (as always!) to hang out with her! she even made chicken and mashed potatoes for lunch, which i'm sure were delicious. no, i didn't eat them. more about that in a minute.
cole was getting impatient for lunch, so he thought if he held onto his bowl and spoon, maybe lunch would come a little faster!

nope. still empty!

it was my turn to entertain the kids. my turn... snort. yeah.
madison bursts into grins and giggles the moment she sees cole smile... he doesn't even have to laugh, but it makes her more excited when he does. the moments that make you go "awwww! sigh..."

yesterday at lunch both kids were in a silly mood so i had to snap a few photos. of course, madison played shy for the camera... one of these days i WILL sneak a photo of that endearing, ear-to-ear, face-consuming grin she does. it's funny!

peanutbutter sandwiches tend to have the above effect. at least, they did yesterday. he actually ate his lunch AND supper!! we've been battling the picky-eater phase. like, really really picky. as in, nothing but graham crackers or bananas all day. yeah. oh well; i figure that if he's not keeling over, he's probably ok and will eat us out of house and home once the phase ends.

so anyway, back to the chicken and mashed potatoes that i didn't eat- i've been cutting out wheat and dairy. i started last week monday and have already lost 5 pounds. while that's not the true reason i'm doing it, it IS a nice bonus. madison's had these red, dry-looking patches on her cheeks and a few on her arms since she was born. at first i thought it was dry skin due to the winter air... then i thought maybe it was the laundry detergent. but they never seemed to bother her, and so i thought that i'd try diet issues. so far, they're not as red- in fact, one day last week her cheeks were completely clear (the dry look was still there but they weren't red). i know it can take up to several weeks to get the remaining dairy and wheat out of our systems, so i'm giving it at least a month to see if there's any improvement. yesterday she took both her naps and went down for bed as easy as you please, so maybe it's already starting to work. and me, well, i'm really missing some certain things, but i'm getting the hang of this. i thought my one take-out treat could be french fries from mcdonald's, because they're just deep-fried potatoes, right? nope. apparently awhile back there was a law suit against them because they stated their fries were wheat- and dairy-free, but people with allergies were reacting after eating the fries. looking that the allergen and ingredient info on their site, well, they've changed the info. it depends on which store you go to... some of them use a separate frier for fries. this is clintonville, so that's not the case here. i've seen. no more fries for this lady! just as well, i suppose. i'm dreaming of the day when i can have a grilled cheese again... drool. in the meantime, my indulgence is a chai-soy latte. not bad!

cool kids

we finally have central air!! after seven years of sweltering through the summer, we'll be comfortable this year... the summer that i'm NOT pregnant. how ironic. anyway, the thing works like a charm- the guy that installed it said that they look for a cooling difference of 15 to 20 degrees (when they test it) and ours was cooling 21 degrees. fine with me!! (insert big grin here)

one of cole's new things is "talking" on the phone, but he has to sit on the step to do it.

my goofy, sweet, darling boy...

cole was absolutely fascinated by george (the guy that came to install the a/c- he was here to help with the furnace too, so i think cole might have remembered him a little. maybe.)- he was glued to the window sill for quite awhile. he'd have climbed right out to "help" if the screen hadn't been in his way!

while cole was watching george and telling him stories (seriously- he was just babbling away like nobody's business), miss madison was playing with her oceanwonders aquarium. as soon as i put her down, she attempted to gather all three dangling toys together and pull them off. she couldn't, of course, but it was funny!

smiles for mommy! (shy smiles- she's not that thrilled with the camera sometimes...)

and one final thing- i've opened an etsy shop and it has one lonely item in it. that is, until today:

presenting the green vanilla baby diaper cover! it's an accessory item and designed off the top of my head. i would like to make a baby boy one, i'm just not sure exactly how i want to do it. anyway, if anyone's interested, hop on over to the green vanilla baby blog to learn more!

graduation weekend

first we start with saturday's purchase of a diffuser for my camera. yay!! i LOVE it... :) i had to try it out as soon as we got home, and when i was reviewing the photos, i noticed madison's hair in a few of them. i've noticed her little fuzzy mop sometimes has a reddish cast to it, as do her eyebrows, but i wasn't sure if it was really noticeable. that is, until i saw her photos...... does that bit of hair next to her ear look strawberry-blonde to anyone else?

and then we move on to sunday- we caught a bite to eat at mom and dad's before the ceremony. madison had her first taste of watermelon and liked it so much that she licked it right off mommy's fork. no kidding- she literally vacuumed it and wound up with an entire chunk in her little mouth! anyway, ted was there for lunch, as were erica and chase, so it was plenty fun! we got some pre-ceremony shots in, but i had to limit how many i'm posting...

sarah's final choir performance; they sang josh groban's "thankful" and the traditional "you'll never walk alone". absolutely beautiful!!

miss sarah and her diploma!!

she got a congratulatory kiss from cole... he wasn't too sure about his auntie sarah in a funny hat and tassel at first, but after a few reproachful looks, he warmed right up.

and miss squish was ALL about the tassel... she couldn't stop watching it. and reaching for it, which was a bit scary, considering her hand/eye coordination is impeccable.

congratulations, sarah!!

all of us with sarah- we got three or four shots on our camera and none of them were close to perfect. i had to decide between this one or madison staring at sarah's tassel and this one won. cole's goofy face sealed the deal.

after the ceremony, we went to king's table with grandpa and grandma pheifer and mary and dale. it's a tradition!! good food, great times, lots of fun!

daddy let cole have his first taste of shrimp. he spit it out. hmmm, takes after his mommy with that one...

i'll explain: mom and dad got sarah a little "gag" gift... it's my understanding that the tweezers always ends up missing, so they got her one of her very own to take with her when she moves out. we got a chuckle out of it...

so- congratulations to a wonderful baby sister who's not really a baby anymore! you've accomplished so much in your almost-19 years and your potential is limitless. we're so proud of you, the person you are, the things you've achieved and we're behind you in whatever decisions you make. we love you, sarah!!