little bitta' this an' that...

i've been slacking on the blogging. again. (i'm sensing a pattern here... i should just open every post with apologies for how long it's been since the last post.)

so what have we been doing?

well, lots of things, really...

... like playing with two toys at once (in an attempt to be creative AND to avoid sharing either one with his sister!)...

... picking flowers for mommy...

... and learning to suck our thumbs. ok, so it's just remington that's learning to suck his thumb because the rest of us already know how. not that we do it, fyi!

we also hit the annual car show in our town... got lots of photos there, but they're all for kelvin and any other car afficionados out there. they're all in their own separate file- maybe some of the more artsy shots i'll post to the photo blog. we'll see.

cole found the skateboard in his great-grandma's basement! it's amazing to think that the old school desks, chalkboard, ping-pong table and other miscellaneous toys are being enjoyed by a third generation!! they haven't lost their "fun", that's for sure.

saturday found us at my grandparents' house for a quick but sweet reunion with aunt dawn, bobby, becca, "gramma" mary, sarah, stephen, kristian, erin, mary, dale, my parents, sarah and of course, grandma and grandpa.

sweet little family shot (missing uncle brice- maybe next time!!)

grandma's piano has seen it's share of duets :)

how many people does it take to entertain an infant??

these beautiful tulips were given to my by my lovely littles... courtesy of my mom's garden. sunday morning, my mom let them each pick one, which they promptly ran to me with, sweetly yelling, "here, mama!". then they ran back and it was a free-for-all; now grandma's tulips are all gone. whups. fortunately, my mom is pretty understanding :) it's the thought that counts, and i suppose we can forgive the exhuberance that leaves her tulip bed bare...

miss squish and her monkey

remington turned 2 months old on saturday, so today we did a mini (and i mean very mini) shoot for the occasion.

first we got a little tongue sticking out...

... then a sneeze...

... a yawn...

... and finally a grin!!

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today is remington's two month appointment, so later this afternoon (or possibly tomorrow, depending on time, energy and the general attitude of three certain small beings!) i'll have his latest stats. i know he's grown... i'm anxious to see just how much!
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remington's appointment went well! he's 9 lbs, 14 oz (10th percentile) and 23 inches (50th percentile). dr h was pleased overall and got to snuggle rem for a little bit. he also got shots plus an oral vaccination... he didn't do more than fuss over the first shot, and screamed for about 15 seconds after the second round, then was fine. he kind of looked a little dazed, though, like he wasn't quite sure what had just happened. so... two months finds our smallest little man healthy and developing just fine!

bubble-hunting and other stuff

i had this brilliant idea to get a photo of all three of the kids, just their faces. a simple "from up above" shot. in my mind, it was glorious. in reality, not so much. but i tried, so i guess that's something anyway.

unfortunately, this is the best one i got, i think... you can't see their faces, but that also means you can't see the finger in cole's nose or whatever on earth madison was doing with her little face... and remington wasn't crying, amazingly.

then again, this one isn't bad either. but i didn't get what i had in mind, so when rem's a little older, we'll try again. ultimately, i'd like to get a black and white shot and get a gallery wrap made. not as cheap as regular prints but for the right shot, well worth it!!

grandma reading to two of her (soon to be) 5 boys!

playing on the couch with uncle chase. rather, chase watching the kamikaze kiddos. chase wasn't jumping off the couch. at least, not that i know of... ;)

auntie sarah and remington <3

sarah came over for a few hours today to spend some time with the kids and i, and we played with bubbles for a little bit. i didn't get the camera out, shame on me. but after supper, when daddy was home to enjoy it, we did more bubbles!!

round perfection

how do you catch a bubble? well, you kind of sneak up on it like... oh, never mind. we cheated. we were using "touchable bubbles". i found them awhile ago at world market (before remington was born) and got them because they sounded like fun for a rainy day. well, several rainy days came and went before i brought them out. then i put them in my purse and forgot about them. so today, i dug them out and the kids have never enjoyed bubbles quite so much!

daddy even caught a few...

cole and madi discovered they could make the bubbles move by blowing at them, so that developed into a whole new game.

remington caught a bubble too!!

these little bubbles landed on cole's forehead. what's super cute is when the bubbles land on their heads- they can't see them and destroy them and end up walking around oblivious to the bubbles on their heads.

bubbles for supper, anyone?

poor madi- cole is taller and a little quicker than she is, so he was catching bubbles more than she was; she was pretty disappointed, so with a little help from daddy (and a little luck that cole got a timeout mid-bubble-hunting), she got to catch a few. she was pretty proud!

when these bubbles pop, they leave behind a kind of shell, almost like a little piece of dried glue you peel off your hands. smush it between your fingers a little and it just disintegrates into nothing. no mess at all- that's the best part, right?

the littlest mighty bubble hunter.

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cole has been coming up with some pretty cute little comments... the other day, he was sitting on daddy's lap and had his legs tucked in. kelvin told him he looked like a ball and started teasing cole about rolling him across the floor. when cole got down, kelvin said, "oh, now you're not a ball anymore.", to which cole promptly replied, "no, i just popped!". then on saturday, we dropped kelvin off at marion at the convention grounds so he could help with the new sleeping quarters project... cole was pretty mad that we were going to grandma's house without daddy. i told him several times that daddy was helping at convention and he'd come to grandma's house when they were done; finally, after much arguing and protesting, cole was quiet for a few moments before saying, "daddy is at ca-vention helping those mans build God's garage." perfectly matter-of-fact, assured with the fact that that was indeed what his daddy was doing. melted my heart!! i love the way his little mind works and am a little afraid that he's on the verge of being able to outsmart me. what happened to my little baby boy? it seems like yesterday that he was only a few months old... my, how time flies.

as i work on this post, i'm listening to the williamette singers singing "hope for resolution" and remembering when sarah's choir performed it for their christmas concert several years ago. cole was only a few months old and so i missed a good deal of the concert but got to see them sing this... it was amazing. if you want to hear it, just search it on youtube. and if you know what the song's about, it'll make you tear up every time you hear it. i'm not sure why i felt like hearing it tonight- maybe it's because it's just a beautiful arrangement, or maybe because of the things that have happened in the world in the last few weeks, i just felt like hearing something hopeful. world peace seems unattainable, but even just hoping for something that's out of reach can do a lot for one's outlook. that's my sentiment for the day. :)

chugging. coloring. crocheting.

chugging:

the outfit says it all. sometimes he overdoses. other times he goes through withdrawals, as depicted above...

we spent some time coloring today! rather, the littles colored (except for remington, of course... he expressed his boredom by promptly and conveniently falling asleep); madison's still in the "scribble-like-a-madwoman" phase, which also happens to involve eventually crumpling and then shredding her masterpiece. oh well. tormented genius, perhaps? cole, on the other hand, has developed some pretty good illustrating skills- the photo above is of his rocketship flying past the moon! if i understood him correctly, the random short little lines everywhere are stars "going really fast". yes, i dated and saved it!!

the tortured genius

the illustrator-in-training

i also had a little project of my own i got to complete today...

...something beyond headwear and blankets. my mom had gotten this sweet little sundress for madi last spring, anticipating that she'd be able to wear it this year. i've been half-way keeping my eye out for a little short-sleeved something-or-other to pair it with, but never really saw anything. the other day i got her a long-sleeved cropped sweater from old navy but that's not going to work in the warmer weather (assuming it ever gets here...) and decided to just give in and try to make something myself. reading patterns is something i still can't do, and i guess in all honesty, i don't really care to learn. in a way it would be nice to know, but i like to make my own original creations and i'm afraid that if i DID learn, i'd be tempted to just rely on patterns for everything instead of coming up with my own things. that said, learning to read patterns would mean that i'd be able to write my own for the stuff i come up with. in the mean time, i've got my own lingo scribbled on notepads here and there...

... and it works for me. madison doesn't mind either, seeing as how she seems to really like her "new shirt". easy to please, she is!

not bad for someone who really doesn't have much of a clue, eh? i'd like to make another to list on etsy to see if it might be worth adding to my line. what do YOU think? yea or nay?

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tomorrow is my 6-week postnatal visit (more like 7 weeks, but that's ok!); i'm hoping to get the ok to start working my abs. they're bugging me. ick. and i'm hoping to get some possible answers about the persistent (and rather intense) backache at the spot where i had my spinal, epidural and blood patch.

m.i.a.!

not sure where we've been the last week and a half... obviously not in the blog!! i've been intending to update this thing, but just haven't had the chance. shame on me for not prioritizing, right? (<---- hangs head in shame...)

remington's starting to gradually leave the "sleep 95% of the time" phase, so he's got his eyes open more often. it's fun watching him focus on our faces, make eye contact, look around for noises he hears... and every time he so much as opens his mouth, cole hollers, "he is smiling, mama!!". yes, even when there's an obvious wail coming from the wee one. :)

rem is now in size one diapers. he's too long for the newborn size, but when it comes to width (especially around the legs), the new size is a bit roomy. he's got some bulking up to do, i guess. those little chicken legs of his just don't fill 'em out! anyway, i happened to have my phone handy one evening during a diaper change and noticed how close in size it is to those newborn diapers. teeny!!!

mom had off of work the monday after easter, so i took the kids up to the farm to let 'em loose (and to spend quality time with mom/grandma, of course!). remington showed off his smile for grandma!! they've been hiding, those smiles, but just this morning, he looked at me and got the biggest grin- it was heart-melting!!

cole thought he should have a "baby remington" too...

gotta love this goofy kid! :)

cole had to give his "baby remington" a ride on the "motorcycle"... i love this kid's imagination!

he also tried his hand at blowing bubbles. not much success, but the effort was there! between the wind and a batch of not-so-bubbly bubble solution, there wasn't much hope for bubbles anyway.

the other week for a few days, this was the kids' favorite book. either cole or madi- i'm not sure which one- put it in remington's view before naptime. if the intent was to keep the baby happy and therefore quiet, it worked!

daddy made an impulse buy... princess underwear! madison loved them, put them on and promptly wet two pair. but that's ok- it was her first time in underwear, and she's not even 2 1/2 yet, so she's got time. :)

i finally got the swing out for remington. he wasn't happy in the baby papasan; he seems happier in the swing, although ultimately, he's happiest when he's being cuddled, of course!

he's DEFINITELY not happy in the laundry basket! this isn't normal practice, fyi- it just so happened that i needed both hands and this was the closest place to stick him for a minute. hey- at least it's safe, right?

last week friday was nice enough to play outside! while i took remington to his chiro appointment, daddy took the kids outside (after their naps, of course). what's a day outside without sidewalk chalk?

despite her laborious efforts, i believe that madi got more chalk on her clothes than on the driveway. at least she had fun, and cranked out a few masterpiece scribbles too.

even daddy couldn't resist the chalk :)

and of course, the tractor came out too. madi did a great job pushing cole...

... and then got a turn to ride too!

but the best part of friday night was a visit from uncle tedly, who was sweet enough to treat us all to pizza hut! we did take-out, because let's face it: two wound-up toddlers and an infant in a place we never go to would have been a sure disaster. hahahaha! besides, you can't lay on the floor and play with your uncle's shoes when you dine in. or, at least, you shouldn't...

this was our view on tuesday: buds and flakes. yuck-o to the flakes... sure, it's wisconsin, but snow in may? totally uncalled for. when cole looked out the window and excitedly told me it was snowing, i had to pretend to be pleasantly surprised about it. i dare say i did a decent job of hiding my disgust, because he proceded to dance around the entire first floor, chanting "snow is coming down, snow is coming down!". at least SOMEone was excited about it...

this is remington today... 6 weeks, 2 days. he looks a little peeved, but really, he's not. just one of his many faces!

cole shared his george with his baby brother- someday, rem will know that it's a HUGE honor to be given a snuggle with his george!!

neither cole nor madison pass up an attempt to stop rem from fussing. it's rather cute. :)

in a year or two, we can call it a monkey-pile!

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so, that's what we've been doing in our cyber-absence!