totally untitled

right now, i'm totally uninspired.

or uncreative.

(or maybe just plain exhausted... )

it's been a long week and a half-ish.

a few days after the last post, our sweet grandma erna passed away. it wasn't unexpected- we knew it was coming eventually. still, we'll miss her! i have so many memories from so many years: all the visits up to medford to see her and grandpa, them coming to see us, taking trips to north dakota with them, and after they moved up by mom and dad's the time we spent in the trailer home with them. it was grandma who taught me the basics of decorating cakes, and probably would have taught me to make frosting roses... one of us ran out of patience and it wasn't her. :)

her service was wonderful, and i hope that i can have even a tiny bit of her humility and patience in my own life- she left a fine legacy and example for us all.

*

this is where we found madi the other night before bed.

she'd disappeared and was quietly sitting in the chair taking the tops off of the bottles for her baby dolls, putting them on, taking them back off, switching them around...

... i think she's starting to show that "little girl" side we knew was hiding in there somewhere, behind her love of cars, trains and whatever 'boy' things her big brother happens to be playing with.

my parents gave this rose to the kids (from grandma's funeral)

and we got this lovely arrangement.

i also got a peace lily from the funeral- i have one from grandpa's funeral 5 years ago, and it's been just barely clinging to life for the last year or so. i don't have much of a green thumb, so how it's survived this long, i haven't the foggiest. when we brought grandma's lily home, i gave grandpa's some water (by this time the leaves were so limp that they were just hanging over the edge of the planter) and set it next to grandma's. in the morning, it was far perkier than it had been in a long time; i'm fairly certain it has something to do with having a companion, because for months, not even a good drink of water had that sort of effect on it. once it's a little healthier, i'll plant both of the lilies in a larger planter so they can be together... oviously, it's meant to be!

"daddy-n-madi" snuggle time!

photo credit to kelvin- he's the one that discovered madi's rather shocking hair-do!

what, you don't eat your crackers in a "sandwich"?

seems it's a time-saving measure, although i have no idea what reason she would have to be in a rush.

this is one of the few times the tables are turned and cole's copying his sister instead of the other way around. come to think of it, wearing those hats was instigated by her too.

again, thanks to uncle tedly for the camo hats- madi rarely takes hers off these days!

see? her lid's still on!

this is from this morning, after the second clothing change. poor madison seems to have come down with a nasty cold... lots of congestion resulting in regurgitation of said congestion.

poor baby... she perked up mid-morning, ate some cheerios, played for awhile, had a light lunch (she probably would have eaten more, but since i'm the one that gets to clean up the mess, i gave her toast and a little banana), then went down for a nap. she slept well, woke up miserable- fever, more congestion, no appetite (not even for juice!), just laying lethargically on the living room floor... poor peanut! i hope it passes quickly for her; being sick is no fun! i think at this point, it's the fever that's affecting her the most- i can see it in her eyes.

this shot's for cousins coy and 'blentey'... cole added a "water tower" to the train tracks you gave him! :)

(in case you don't QUITE get it, the water tower is his cup...)

*

i was supposed to see dr h today for a prenatal appointment, but for obvious reason, rescheduled it. i figured the best place for madison was at home today. so if everyone's feeling well next week, i'll go then. which is fine with me- i'll be 32 weeks then, a more normal week for a visit. then after that, no more monthly visits; wow, it's hard to believe we've hit that point already! i keep thinking i'm jumping the gun, making lists of what i need to put in my bag, in the diaper bag, things like that... but in reality, our due date's 9 weeks (and one day, if you want to be technical) away, and it's going to pass quite quickly, i'm sure. it's already gone by at lightening speed... and ironically, even though i've gained a fraction of the weight with this baby as i did with the other two, i'm bigger around already. crazy. most of the awesome clothes that my sister lent me have gone back to her because my belly doesn't fit in them anymore. again, crazy...

oh, and i quit facebook. maybe in the future i'll be on it again, but for now i've done away with it. i thought it would be a good way to free up some time (because let's face it- it's not impossible to waste a considerable amount of time there!!)- i thought i'd have a little more time for other things, including blogging. hahahaaaaa... it took me three days to get around to posting!! oh well- i miss being able to socialize with everyone all on one convenient site, but i feel a certain sense of freedom and peace by NOT having it. so- if you miss me there, i DO have email, and you can "visit" us here anytime! :)