pool party!

last year we got the kids (well, mainly cole) a kiddie pool. it was the first weekend that kelvin was home from tulsa (yes, he was there last year too!!) and instead of getting the practical-and-conventional-yet-kind-of-boring plastic wading pool, daddy thought the kids needed something "cool". so he picked out an inflatable pool with an inflatable slide. the first week it was inflated and filled, it turned cold. by the time it warmed up enough to use it, the birds had pecked holes in it and the local stray cats had peed in it.

that was that.

THIS year, mommy again (very wisely) suggested a plastic pool. this time, daddy thought it wasn't a bad idea.

the kids, however, were a tad bit skeptical.

they just sat stock-still, like they were deer in the headlights (except for the panic-striken blank stare... that's kind of exclusive to the deer species).

but they soon grew interested...

(this is my favorite shot of the whole thing, by the way)

... and found themselves having a ball!

cole started splashing mommy
(who eventually turned the hose on him to teach him a bit of a lesson...)

*GASP*
"mama, what is THAT?"

"oh yay, a school bus!!"
(yup- she was THAT enthused over the school bus, hahaha!)

the three musketeers.
er, picassos?

"i'm number 1!"

diggin' in the cupboards for mommy.

these next two photos are specifically for auntie kandace and uncle duey:
madison kind of likes her ride-on pal!

her grin says it all!

other random tidbits of this-n-that:

• madison made her daddy proud this morning by saying "hemi!".


• she has a vocab of well over 20 words, and she tries new ones every day. it's true that subsequent kids seem to pick up language more quickly!


• cole went on a potty strike (which, i suppose, is inevitable at some point during the training process. i'd hoped he'd be a little potty genuis and forego it...), so for the past few days, he's been incredibly reluctant to go. at all. not even a bribe or two worked. it ended this afternoon- as we were sitting down for supper, cole loudly announced that he had to go potty, marched into the bathroom, sat on the toilet and went. he got his usual gummy bear, sticker on his "potty chart" and LOTS of praise from mommy and daddy!!


• daddy took cole to the car wash (BIG mistake- cole hates them, we found), and stopped at the grocery store afterward. they saw an amish horse and buggy in the parking lot, which got cole all excited. he called it a "horsey with a trailer". technically, i guess he's right...

rain, gardens and what's that smell??

another weekend, come and gone...

i took the littles to my parents' for part of the weekend. we went friday afternoon, after naps. madison had a fever, but it seemed mild, and since all of us here had some sniffles and whatnot, i didn't think it would be an issue. toddlers get fevers with colds all the time... it's just how their little bodies operate.

after her long week AND not feeling the best, poor madison was a bit out of sorts. she didn't fall asleep as she usually does, then started squawking around 10:30 or so. i moved her bed into the room closest to me and spent a good chunk of time trying to get her to sleep. she finally laid down and dozed after about an hour, and by midnight, i finally drifted off. two hours later, miss squish was crying again. she was too restless and hot to sleep well, but after moving to the recliner in mom and dad's living room, she hit the hay. lucky girl... i just waited for the sun to rise while holding my feverish little peanut. even stripped down to her diaper, her fever spiked pretty good and not long after she woke up, she tossed her cookies (or would have, had there been anything in her little tummy). she cooled down after awhile, though, and perked up a little.

poor baby!!

it rained in the night, so i took the opportunity to play around with macro.

i'm thinking of either framing this shot or selling it as a fine art print on etsy.

we'll see...

she might've been under the weather, but madi still can ham it up!

make a wish...

cole "helped" his grandma and great-grandma pick rhubarb.

he had more fun "replanting" his stalks.

i love this shot- it looks like he's giving his rhubarb a pep-talk...

"alright, you: grow!!"

a little more playing with macro; mom had a canning jar sitting on the counter.

it literally begged to be photographed.

the lid on an old glass jar (one that used to have candy in it, a LONG time ago when the farm was just a weekend getaway yet) turned out to be quite photogenic.

in the afternoon, we attempted to get started on the garden. mom's always done a pretty large garden, and this year we're doing it together. i used to hate the garden... not my idea of fun. now that i have small kids, though, the thought of home-grown veggies is quite appealing! we did get some things planted: yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, beets and carrots.

you can't see the end of it because it's behind cole's head, but this is a planting tool that his great-grandpa krisher made a long time ago. it's a stick (obviously) with a shotgun shell and a nail on one end. he used it for planting corn, and my dad uses it to this day. perfect rows every time.

he's pretty proud to be using his great-grandpa's corn planting stick!

i think grandpa would have gotten a kick out of watching cole use it...

a little boy in the dirt: is there anything more classic?

he was "planting" gardening stakes.

i asked him how many sticks he had in the dirt, and without a pause, cole said "ten". i counted, and sure enough, there were ten of them in his little row.

smart kid.

madison helped too. she raked a little... she also "helped" plant some seeds. really!

she put some squash seeds on one of the plant mounds, poked very gently at it, then picked it back up, incredibly proud of herself.

later, she had a bean seed in each hand... she had them tight in her little fists as if they were life itself. maybe she'll take after her grandma and love being in the garden.

see the dirt on his little face? that's only a small portion of it. i've never seen a kid leave so much dirt in the bottom of the tub after his bath!

feeling icky, but still insisting on being independent; madi refused to eat until i gave her the spoon and cup of yogurt. i wouldn't be surprised if her first complete sentence is "i do it myself!!" (or something to that effect).

~

the kids were both asleep within 15 minutes of leaving the farm. cole had gotten away with no nap and had played outside all afternoon, so he was exhausted. his little feet were STILL moving in his sleep all the way home... and both kids slept like logs all night.

~
madi's fever was gone yesterday evening, but she's cranky as can be. i'm watching for a rash (i noticed a slight one on her tummy this morning)- she's super cranky, so i'm wondering if she had roseola. cole had it JUST before we moved back to wisconsin, so it's not a new thing to me. it's just waiting out the crabbies that's the hardest part!

~

as for the "what's that smell?" part: while giving the kids baths at mom and dad's, i was hunting around for some lotion for the kids (note to self: start carrying travel-sized bottles of bath wash and lotion, in case impromptu baths are ever needed!), and found a partially used bottle of black raspberry and vanilla lotion from bath and body works. it smelled yummy, so i used a little on madison. for some reason, i got this strong feeling of deja vu, a nostalgic kind of deja vu that hit me like a ton of bricks. it took me a little while, but then i remembered why the smell of that lotion was so familiar: i used the exact same stuff the last month or two that i was pregnant with cole, and for about two weeks after he was born. isn't it funny how a certain scent can bring back a flood of emotions, even when you don't remember right away where you've smelled it before? sarah was sweet enough to let me take the rest of the lotion home with me. now all i have to do is take a whiff and drift back to those peaceful days right before and right after my spunky, spirited son was born...

madi's update

it's been a l-o-n-g week for us here... it seems that half the waking week was spent either at children's hospital or theda clark in neenah, driving to/from said establishments or talking to nurses. it's been exhausting (i can't imagine what it's like for parents who have kids that are in hospitals more than out of them... my heart goes out to them!).

madison hasn't exactly been thrilled about this either. she cried and wiggled during the short attempt at a physical exam with dr mayer. then she screamed at her blood draw (who can blame her). the whole thing took us almost 3 hours... so by then, madison was tired and crabby. cole sat really well. he was a "chatty cathy", but behaved himself anyway.

oh- they got a new book out of it: dr seuss' "the cat in the hat".

we didn't have that book until now.

cole loves it.

since madison wouldn't let dr mayer get a good feel around her tummy, we had to schedule an abdominal ultrasound for her.

we did that today.

they wanted her to fast for at least 4 hours before-hand, so we took the 8 am appointment.

we had to leave the house no later than 6:45... and today happened to be the one day that BOTH kids decided to sleep much past 6. poor little ones- plucked from their beds and strapped into carseats without breakfast or diaper changes.

(i changed diapers before going into the hospital, in case you were wondering...)

madison started crying as soon as she saw the building, but was quickly distracted by the feel of rain on her head and arms. she made her famous "squishy face" and all was forgotten... until we walked into the ultrasound room. she started screaming, and for the next 25 minutes, that's all we heard. she cried once before, at registration, when they put her i.d. bracelet on her ankle.

again, cole was SO good; he and madi got stickers from the u/s tech, and when madison didn't stop crying, cole gave her his sticker, too. then he looked at me and said "mama, madi 'cweamin' an cwynin'!"

i wondered how long it would take him to say that!

after we got home, just before naps, i spoke with dr mayer's nurse. she said that madi's blood tests and u/s scans were normal: no celiac's disease, allergies, the like.

good.

and then she burst my bubble.

dr mayer wants madison to have a stool sample tested.

not so bad- we can have it done at dr h's in new london.

dr mayer also recommended a sweat chloride test. it's a diagnostic test for cystic fibrosis.

i thought it was a little odd, since her newborn screens came back fine; then, in trying to find out if there's anything else sweat tests are used for (i couldn't find anything), i discovered that because there's over 700 genetic mutations that cause cystic fibrosis, newborn screenings only look for the most common ones... and the percentage of false-negatives is realistically 8% or higher. so while i'm not panicking, i'm understanding why dr mayer wants this sweat test. the drawback (besides yet another item on our bill) is that only two hospitals in the state perform the test- st vincent's in green bay and children's in milwaukee. depending on our insurance, we would most likely end up going to children's, especially if that's where dr mayer is based out of.

*sigh*

BUT... on the up-side: madison gained a whopping 13 ounces in the last month. that's a record for her! i thought it was awesome, dr mayer was less enthused. in his words: "it's closer to a normal amount to gain for her age, but she has a huge amount of catching up to do". true, but still- she's officially past 17.5 lbs!!

so what does the future hold for our tiny princess? we don't know... but then again, who does? we'll take it one day at a time and selfishly pray that she's healthy as a miniature horse. then we'll remember that we should pray for faith to accept whatever it is that's meant to happen, and we'll do just that. and should everything be perfect, we'll use this experience and the fears it brought to light as a reminder to enjoy life and make each day count; to love fiercely, laugh till it hurts and not sweat the small stuff. and to thank God for every day that we have, no matter what it brings.

(my sisters know that the "small stuff" part has always been my challenge. i'm working on it.)

on the go again!

i have (just now) come to the conclusion that we either a): need to stop going places on the weekends, b): go places but leave the camera at home or c): stop blogging.

none of those seem to be good solutions, so once again, you'll just have to wade through the photos.

so if you're still on board, this was how we kicked it all off: kelvin and i loaded the piano into the truck.

ourselves.

the two of us.

we will never attempt this again.

enough said.

the littles "helped".

then we got a good night's sleep and headed to green bay in the morning so that uncle duey could teach cole...
... to fish.
*groan*
(really, it was cute... funny, even. if it wasn't, i probably wouldn't have snapped a few, ya know?)

we didn't really have a game plan, so kandace suggested bay beach.
why not??
cole buddied up with uncle duey right off the bat.

he wasn't quite sure about the person in the ticket booth- he looks a wee bit skeptical.
but do you blame him?
he's never been to an amusement park before.

first stop: the carousel.
cole, duey, madison and kelvin handed over a few tickets and got on.
cole promptly exited, hauling duey behind.
madison and daddy rode it out though.
(madi stayed on almost the entire time!)

"huh..."

cole saw the kiddie boats and thought they were pretty neat.

uncle duey helped him pick one out...

... and it was "anchors away!" for this little sailor!

he was pretty proud that he could sit in a boat all by himself and 'steer'.

then we tried the bug cars.

they were cute.

and fast.

maybe a little too fast; they were whippin' around pretty good.

the bugs were not fun.

(disclaimer: i do not make a habit of photographing my screaming, scared, miserable child. the ride operator was not one of the ones that would kindly stop the ride for a terrified toddler; therefore, i was forced to watch him cry and since i couldn't rescue him, distracted myself by, well... you know, snapping away.)

after the ordeal with the speedy li'l bug cars, cole was quite interested in the train.

safe in daddy's arms!

us girls

(madi's cutting some molars, which would be why she's got her hand AND her paci in her mouth)

yup- WAY less scary!

he enjoyed the train quite a bit.

after the train, we went back to the kiddie boats, where cole sat in the same boat he'd had the first time. it must've lost it's charm, because a minute or two into it, he started crying. and the ride operator was sweet enough to stop the boats so we could rescue our freaked out little boy.

and then we tried the slide.

it was awesome!

not only did cole get a kick out of climbing ALL those stairs by himself, he was scared only on the first drop... and the second time around, he had a complete ball.

we didn't stay at bay beach long; duey grilled burgers and chops for lunch, then cole played outside most of the afternoon. auntie kandace spoiled him by picking up a bat and ball, some chalk and bubbles.

this looks more like golf to me...

but auntie kandace showed him how to do it right.

he actually hit the ball a few times!

there are no words for this kind of cute...!

on the way home from green bay, i saw what i thought was a sun dog in the sky. when i looked closer, i realized that there was actually a faint rainbow, but it was a perfect ring all the way around the sun. i've never seen anything like it... it was amazing. i'll never forget it (not like i've forgotten to google it to see if i can find out what it is).

so sunday afternoon, we were heading home from lunch at half nelson's when i noticed a rainbow on the van window. kelvin had taken the van through the carwash that morning, so i thought that maybe it was some soap that didn't get rinsed off and the light was hitting it at the right angle. i turned around to look up in the sky, and there was another patch of rainbow! it was faded by the time we got home, but it had been so vivid, just a splotch of color in the middle of the clouds.

odd.

beautiful.

sunday afternoon we said goodbye to kelvin again. he's in tennessee for work now, so it's just me and the littles again.

we've decided that it's much easier for him to leave in the early morning when nobody's awake... less tears (for all of us).

but cole got to talk to his daddy the very next day...

which he loved.

odds 'n' ends

peek!

cole likes the "pee-ter" at grandma and grandpa's house...
(he thinks he's big stuff, playing with the little bob the builder laptop there).

cole made homemade rolls with grandma

and helped pop them in the oven!

who needs t.v. when you have...

... grandma's front-loading washer?

cole's little rolls turned out pretty nice

and he ate BOTH of them for lunch!

~that was the weekends ago~

this is what happens when mommy is in the shower:

coley helps himself to daddy's gum!

i haven't a clue as to what she was so mad about, but madi threw a fit while hanging on to the microwave stand. it kind of reminds me of when cole first realized that the microwave was more than just a kitchen fixture with flashing numbers that sometimes beeped... he thought it was THE source of bottles and food!

there i go, digressing again. might be the fact that in 94 days, my sweet little boy will be three. what happened to my chubby, sweet little baby?!

*sigh*