mail and other miscellaneous stuff

to continue from the previous post, we're still fighting this respiratory bug... it's moved on to cole and me. madison still has it (minus the fever, thank goodness!) and is a total bear. but i don't blame her- if i'm feeling this icky, i can't imagine how miserable she must be. she spent most of the night coughing last night- i think she slept through most of it, but i didn't. i've gotten a grand total of about 3 solid hours of sleep in the last four nights (a little of the blame goes to hormones and third-trimester discomforts). at one point, she must've awoken enough to get mad and let out a loud protest; she sounded a bit like a squirrel scolding the living daylights out of someone. thankfully it only lasted a few seconds and then she was back to a fitful sleep. poor baby...

so, thanks to these colds, it has NOT been a quiet household here.

but...

a little something special in the mail can make things so much better (even if it's only for a few minutes): the kids got valentine's mail from grandma and grandpa! boy, were they excited to pull some special handmade heart garlands out of their envelopes!

cole's has puppies and stars on it...

... and he had fun playing a gentle version of tug-o-war with daddy with his heart garland.

madi took hers for a walk around the house...

miss cookie-face.

poor peanut hasn't felt like eating much in the last few days, so i wasn't surprised when she wanted nothing to do with lunch today. we were at perkin's and as usual, the kids split a grilled cheese and fries. madi was so miserable and in a MOOD that i ended up waiting with her in the van for kelvin and cole to finish their lunch. we saved the cookie that came with the kids' meal and while the boys went to run an errand (after we got home and had naps, of course), i gave it to madi in a last-ditch attempt to appease her. i didn't think she'd eat it, since she's shown little interest in anything, but she devoured it in about 3 minutes flat- ran at me with arms outstretched like a starving orphan, sat right down on the floor and attacked it.

literally.

she was happy for five minutes afterward, so it was worth it- eight minutes of peace and quiet! :)

*

• we had a house showing today- first one since switching to our current real estate agency. while we're not holding our breath, we're at least a little hopeful that we'll get an offer out of it. when the timing's right, it'll happen... sigh.
• i've got all the newborn and 0-3 month clothes, burp rags and blankets ready for the wash. i even have some of cole's tiny things that have slight staining in a separate pile to treat with the miracle soap we have left from when we had our cloth diapers. that's my upcoming project, once everyone's feeling better and i don't have tiny, goobery little people clinging to me.
• kelvin got trim for the kids' room and stuff to wire up the spare room so we can move cole into it. a few weeks ago i found a quilt and shams for the bed he'll have once the room is ready... it was on clearance plus an extra 30% off at pamida, and that weekend they happened to be giving an extra 10% off any purchase totaling $30 or more, and it was just a tad over that. jackpot! it's nothing exciting (although he's pretty anxious to be able to sleep in it!), no licensed characters or anything, just a pottery-barn inspired multicolored striped set that will go with whatever he wants in his room. versatile, since i'm sure his tastes will change several times over the next 15 years.
• i'm making meals out of icecubes and pineapple. those are my cravings right now, and since they're both reasonably healthy (as in, not fried and definitely hydrating), i'm indulging. oh, and english muffins here and there to add a little variety. everything else tastes SO bitter, even pancakes made from scratch. guess that's what's keeping the weight gain to a reasonable number.
• we have 8 1/2 weeks left, and i have a feeling that this baby might take after his big brother and make his debut a little early. i have my 32-week check next thursday, then another month and we'll be doing the weekly visits. it's crazy how it seems that just a few weeks ago we were still waiting to have our first prenatal visit, and now we've got two months left. at the same time, another eight weeks seems like an eternity. guess it's all relative, eh?
• cole had his very first sleep-walking incident thursday night: he fell asleep almost instantly after being tucked in (that pesky respiratory bug was making itself at home in his system, so i knew he wasn't completely himself) and after sleeping soundly for an hour, he let out this panicky screech. usually that means he's about to, or already has tossed his cookies, but when i heard nothing but quiet whimpering afterwards, i figured that wasn't the case. i went in to check on him after a minute or two and his bed was empty. i could hear him still fussing softly and in the near-dark i saw his feet and legs (from the knees down) peeking out from behind the blinds and curtain. apparently he was disoriented, got out of bed and got stuck between the window and the blinds- no idea why he headed there, but after putting him back to bed, i waddled back to MY bed as fast as possible so i could let out the giggles that i'd been holding in. i felt so bad for him, but at the same time, it was hil-AR-ious!!
• we're ready for spring- anyone else feel the same way?? :)