i should be napping, but...

every time you have a baby, you hear it at least a half-dozen times: "nap when the baby naps".

veteran parents know that's not really the case- there's ALWAYS something to do when your hands are free!!

right now, all three kids are blissfully napping.

and i'm blogging.

hey, my hands are free, so... ;)

cole still loves his baby brother. he's always asking to hold him, and i wish i could say "sure, sweetie" to every request, but sometimes mommy wants to hold the little guy too, ya know?

i'm SO glad he's this thrilled about having a baby brother, though- it's too sweet!!

saturday found auntie sarah back at our house for most of the day, which meant lots of snuggles and rounds of "look-it, auntie sarah...".

this kid should have NO problems burping, hahahaha!!

oh, three and a half years into it, these eyes still melt my heart <3

auntie kandace stopped by on monday on her way back to her house. she hadn't met remington yet, so we were especially glad to see her! she got plenty of snuggle time while the older kids napped.

(or not... sigh.)

gotta shove that paci in there!

we tried a new 'do for madi today. it turned out pretty cute!! putting her hair up is hard because for one, she's shorter on top and longer in the back, and for two, her hair is so fine that it breaks off super-easily. she's still got a "fringe" from several days of pigtails, and that was several months ago. headbands are kind of a no-go- she doesn't like the feel of the band around her head. cute hair styles are just going to be slow in coming for her, i'm afraid!

but still, the half-pony is cute on her!

cole calls it her "tony-nail" and she calls it a "maggie". why "maggie"? because the little girl next door has beautiful hair that she's seen done up in ponytails, so it makes perfect sense to her to call her ponytail a "maggie".

gotta love the way little minds work!!

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last night i handed remington over to kelvin for the first time since he was born. i hated to do it because i know it cuts into kelvin's night and he's the one that needs to get up for work, but i was so exhausted i could barely hold him, much less have the patience to wait for him to *finally* go to sleep. now that he's awake a little more, remington seems to like to stay awake quite a bit later than the rest of the house. we'll have to work on refiguring that and help him get his days and nights straight. i got a solid hour and a half before kelvin brought him back, and then i felt really bad because i knew that in two short hours, he'd have to get up for work. on one hand i felt horrible asking him to sacrifice some of his night, but on the other hand, i don't ask him to unless necessary, and that's next to never. and it did help a little- i'm slightly less fatigued today. i never realized that i'd be this tired, but it makes sense because my body's focused on healing (more so than with a normal delivery) and feeding the baby. another reason i think mother nature's not really a lady... hrmph.

one thing i've noticed about remington that i just love is how much he smiles in his sleep!! it's beyond adorable, and it's always such a wide grin.

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remington had his two-week well-baby visit on tuesday:

7 lbs, 13 oz (2 oz less than his birth weight)

20 1/2 inches (a whole inch longer than birth!!)

everything checked out great, but because he's not all the way back to or past his birth weight, we have to bring him back in two weeks for a weight-check. not a visit, just a quick weigh-in. he eats like a champ, though, so i'm not too worried.

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we're trying to get madison to go without her paci. i noticed yesterday as i was getting her ready for her nap that the tip of her pink gumdrop paci was almost completely bitten off. knowing that it was close to coming off and could choke her, i showed her that her paci was broken. she looked at me with a blank stare (denial??) and then i told her that when something's broken and we can't fix it, we have to throw it in the garbage. i then told her we couldn't fix her paci, and asked her if she'd like to help me put it in the garbage. we walked together to the garbage can and she tossed it in. it didn't seem to phase her- she went down for her nap without a fuss, not once asking for her paci. she also didn't sleep, but at least she didn't scream. and at bedtime, she didn't ask for it like she usually does. i was surprised, and expected her to wake up upset at some point in the night at least once. she didn't. and she didn't mention it this morning when she got up. we DO have another one hidden away just in case but regular nap- and night-time use of her paci has come to an end. granted, now that she has nothing to chew on, she's on day two of not actually sleeping during naptime, but we'll work on that.

i've heard horror stories about pacifier-weaning, and i have to say that i'm blown away by how easy it was. i'm glad... at the same time, i tear up because it means she's growing up. i didn't mind her having a paci (at least for a little while longer), probably because it seemed to keep her a little younger for a little longer. it was her security thing, and now she doesn't need it.

my baby girl's growing up... *sniff*.

(silly hormones.)

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one more thing: i just want to say that i've gotten some awesome support in regards to having a cesarean and the difficulties i've been having in letting go of not having a natural birth experience. whether it be a comment left on a post, an email or a message on facebook, i appreciate every single one. it means a lot, especially when i still feel a little overwhelmed by it all (because it all happened so fast, i think). thank you- you know who you are!!