boog, squish and the baby...

it is well...

2012-01-22T20:03:00.002-06:00

i had to share this... it's been the plea of my heart the last few days, just to accept whatever comes our way and rest content in the knowledge that the Lord has led us there and will lead us through it too.

i've always loved this melody, and the words to the "old" hymn are ones that i find comforting...

"when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, "it is well, it is well with my soul".

as i get ready to hit the "publish" button, it's just sweet little remington and i here in the living room while everyone else is in bed after a long nap-less day. he's standing between my knees, holding onto the edge of the tote that's doubling as a laptop desk, completely on his own. his motor skills seem to be improving daily, for which we're so grateful... it's a relief to know that he's starting to catch up. while he's still got a ways to go, he's made a great start at it and i think i'm more giddy over his accomplishments than a new mommy, even, just because we've been holding our breath, just waiting to see if he'll reach even the little milestones on his own. ha... and now, as i finished typing those last few lines, he'd plunked down on my leg and is at this very moment attempting to pull himself to standing. he's *thisclose* to getting up.

one more thing before rem has his bottle and we settle down for a hopefully quiet night (last night was a long one- i tried giving him rice again, hoping he'd be ok with it, but he was up most of the night, fussy and agitated, so rice obviously isn't going to be added to his diet anytime in the very near future. sigh.)... i may have said it, though i most likely forgot: all our friends and family have really meant the world to us since all of this came to a head with remington. and while it's not over yet, thank you all so much for lending your ears, letting me vent, your phone calls/emails/texts, and for remembering us in the place of prayer. we love you all, i don't know how to say it any other way. thank you.

--> insert witty title here <--

2012-01-21T07:33:00.002-06:00

my creative sparke has fizzled... all i can say is that there's been an escalation/new development in remington's situation. while i can't really go into detail here, we could really use some encouragement in prayer right now. i don't think i've ever felt this discouraged (and even repeating "it could be worse" to myself like a madwoman just doesn't seem to help right now)... not trying to have a pity party or anything, we're just really overwhelmed. so thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers- please don't stop now!!!

this again... sigh.

2012-01-17T11:48:00.012-06:00

alrighty... so this will be redundant for those of you who either have facebook, are family, talk a lot to my family or all of the above. but you haven't seen photos... !

when remington was discharged from children's hospital in neenah back between christmas and new years, we knew ahead of time that he'd be seeing a growth and development specialist when we got to little rock. the dr who oversaw rem's care was awesome enough to look up, contact and schedule an appointment for us, so we didn't even have to do anything but show up. his appointment was last week wednesday (the 11th). if you've ever been to children's in little rock, then you know how huge it is. if you haven't, then i can't even begin to tell you. it's insanely huge, especially for us small-town folks.

rem saw dr casey over in the 'circle of friends' building, one of many that are outlying from the main hospital itself. after waiting two hours beyond when his appointment was scheduled, we finally saw the dr and he advised that rem be admitted right away. of course, i've got all three kids, the older two are cuh-LIM-bing the walls by this time, rem's too tired to stay awake but overdue for a feeding and my last nerve is dangerously frayed. i sort of freaked out (sorry, mom!) but calmed down once they said that there weren't any open beds, so they had no choice to but wait until the morning to admit him. so that's what we did... and i barely slept that night.

remington and i got to the hospital around 8.30 on thursday morning and he was completely admitted about an hour later. we were taken to itu (infant/toddler unit) where he was given a bed in a room with three other beds, two of which were occupied. there was a single bathroom (my inner germophobe freaked out...) and we were right outside the nurses' station. rem was weighed, measured, stripped down, given a bracelet, given an iv port, blood taken, catheterized for a urine sample and the whole time i was asked a million and a half questions. rem was incredibly angry about all of this, and i was so sad for him... especially when they took him to radiology to have him x-rayed. the upright tube that they put little ones in for that is just not cool. he was screaming and i pretty much lost it. every instinct in my body was telling me to grab him and run home. after all that, he was finally left alone long enough to be able to eat- mashed potatoes and applesauce. we've been using an organic formula for supplemental feedings- i don't like the idea of formula at all, but for various reasons, we've had to resort to it. i had to call kelvin to pick up two extra cans from whole foods because they wanted unopened cans to mix up his portions... thankfully, he'd taken the day off (and took friday off as well to stay with cole and madison).

once all the poking and prodding was over, rem was happy enough to make his silly face for the camera!

the first night was interesting! i struggled with whether i should stay with him at the hospital or go home for a few hours to try to get a little rest. the nurses encouraged me to go home, even just for a little while, and i left (bawling) after he was asleep. i was sure he'd sleep well because he'd gotten no naps during the day. before he left, though, two ladies from little rock were alerted to our situation and stopped up for a visit... it was beyond wonderful to meet someone from the area- i didn't feel quite so alone and overwhelmed. special thank you to b. and j. for making the effort!! anyway, i went home, got to the apartment around 10-ish and finally dozed off around 11.45. around 12.15, i woke up feeling sick and panicky and a few minutes later, my phone rang; the nurses were calling to say that remington had woken up and wouldn't stop crying. the exact phrase was "he's fit to be tied". imagine that with a scottish accent... nurse betty was amazing and i loveloveloved her accent!! i took a quick shower and drove back (12-15 minutes, depending on traffic). poor baby had been sobbing, and i still feel guilty even now for leaving him alone. we walked the halls from 1.30 till 5.30, when he finally passed out and dozed off and on for a few hours.

kelvin was able to leave the kiddos with a friend (the wife of one of his co-workers; they're staying in the same building we are- we can see their door from ours) and come visit for a little while. remington was pretty tired, though wide awake, and very clingy, so daddy didn't get as much snuggle time as he'd have liked. while he was still there, j. came back for a visit. she brought lunch, telling me that i HAD to eat, then stayed after kelvin went home. we chatted about all sorts of things- we'd met less than 24 hours ago but it felt like i was visiting with an old friend. around noon, rem's medical team came in to report that they'd only gotten a few test results back- some were normal, though he was consistently slightly hypoglycemic. they decided that for the next 24 hours, he was to take in 34 ounces of formula, no solid food, no nursing.

he also got an ekg and had a sweat test done (to check for cystic fibrosis). his sweat test needs to be redone in two weeks because they didn't get enough sweat the first time. bummer. at least it can be done on an outpatient basis!

saturday remington got his iv port out- he was pretty happy, because that's the arm he uses to curl under his head when he sleeps or snuggles! friday night was pretty much sleepless for me, although rem slept a little better. i was able to put him in his crib twice, but the rest of the time, i was holding him (sometimes he was sleeping, sometimes not) and mostly walked the halls again. he wasn't too happy about being in a strange place with strange people, so he didn't want me to sit down with him. poor baby!

mmm, yummy thumb!!

j. came back again on saturday for a few hours... she was a total life-saver and i owe her BIG-TIME! i've never felt quite so grateful for someone's company as i did then... and i truly enjoy talking with her. we've got quite a bit in common, as far as preferrences, phobias, tendencies, likes and dislikes. and she's not hard to talk to- incredibly upbeat and happy.

saturday night was a nightmare. there's a strict policy regarding visitors during cold/flu season, and that night, rem had one little roommate. his grandma was visiting, and she came down with a stomach bug. i flipped. by this time, i was beyond tired, the other little guy (and his dad) in the last room he'd been in had been sick friday night, we were right next to the shared bathroom and i knew that if rem were to get sick and start losing any sort of weight, he'd have to stay longer. not to mention, i didn't want to get sick either. the nurses explained the policy to the grandmother and asked her to please honor it- she got nasty, refused to leave and kept getting sick. rem's nurse that night was amazing- she was so understanding and did all she could to get the director of nursing on staff that night to take care of the situation. it was ignored- the sick grandmother wasn't leaving and they weren't put into isolation as they should have been. the nurse rounded up a freshly sanitized mini-crib and moved remington into the playroom, so we spent the night in there. before that, though, i asked about discharging him right then... the doctor on rounds for that shift said that they could try, but it would be considered ama (against medical advice) and insurance most likely wouldn't cover any of remington's stay then. it was just not a good situation. in the morning, though, because remington had just barely met his goal gain, we were allowed to be discharged... we were out the doors before noon!

it was madison's birthday on sunday and we'd originally planned to have cake on saturday night for her. obviously, that didn't happen, and we hadn't even gotten a chance to get her present. she's only three and still has a year or so before she really understands the whole birthday thing, but we felt so bad that she didn't get a birthday on her birthday, so she opened a package from auntie mary in montana...

... a montana state bear! she loves it, and it's been added to her little bedtime troupe. thank you, auntie mary c!!! actually, madison had also gotten a few things on saturday night from uncle ted and kevin... a princess/fairy barbie and a really neat activity book with stickers. thank you to the guys for making her day!

oh, this little man has never been so happy to be in his own element! it kind of looks like he's clapping, but he's not. i think he's inspecting for food... he's limited to no more than 2 tbsp of solids a day, so he's not too happy about that.

making his famous silly face- i've never captured it from the side, and i'm glad i finally did. it's a hoot!! auntie elissa says he looks like an angry bird... now i really have to jump on the bandwagon and start playing angry birds, hahaha!

thank you to everyone who called, texted, emailed and facebooked when rem was in the hospital... it means so much! and we're still waiting on most of his test/lab results- hopefully we'll get reports tomorrow. i've decided that if he needs to be readmitted for any reason, we're coming home and taking him to children's in neenah. hopefully we won't have to, but if we do, that's the plan. the nurses were great at little rock, but that's about it... definitely not planning on going back. i'm so thankful that he's ok and that it wasn't worse. on saturday night, the doors to the picu were opened for something (either incoming patients, janetorial or whatever) and i heard the most awful screams coming from a mommy there. it broke my heart and i can't get it out of my head. i'm so very lucky to have my baby here and safe... one of my favorite reminders is that "it could always be worse", and i'm so very very thankful that it HASN'T been worse.

happy birthday, miss madison!!

2012-01-16T11:53:00.004-06:00

three years ago yesterday, our little princess made her wide-eyed entrance into the world. (she was literally born with her eyes open!) normally for birthday posts, i like to share photos of birth, 1st birthday, 2nd birthday, etc. but hers are at home in the safe. whups.

so this one will have to do...

miss madison has been our little princess since she came into our lives. we've watched her grow from a tiny red squalling newborn to an active little girl... she's smart, keeping up with her big brother when it comes to learning letters and numbers. she looks up to cole, is sensitive to the needs and wants of remington, loves with a heart that is bigger than big and keeps us laughing with her humor. she's surrounded by boys: two brothers and three boy cousins... she keeps up with them just fine yet has started to show her girly side too. she's a tiny tiger at the ata with a whopper of a front kick! she's our baby girl, the princess of the house, and we couldn't have dreamed of having a sweeter little daughter. madi, you've brought incredible joy to our hearts! we're so proud of how smart, sweet and kind you are... thank you for being our little girl!

(*and we promise that we'll have cake and presents this weekend... we feel so badly that we had to put it all on hold!*)

white belt babies: it's official!

2012-01-10T16:55:00.003-06:00

today cole and madison earned their white belts (officially)!! they also did quite well in class... someday, i HAVE to get video because these little kiddos (and the other one(s) in class) try SO hard to follow master jorgenson. they do a good job but let's face it: 3- and 4-year-olds are just not quite as coordinated as most adults. i can't help but giggle sometimes!

cole's demonstrating his high block and madi's just mad because she still has her shoes on.

cole and his white belt

grouchy squish and HER white belt... :)

i was able to chat with one of the employees (she's not an instructor, she sets up schedules, takes payments, that sort of thing) and she told me a little more about the class and whatnot. since it's world-wide (ataonline.com), we can find schools pretty much where ever life takes us... that includes one back home in appleton! she also said that because students are expected to conduct themselves the same way at home as in class, they are rewarded with patches and stars for their uniforms for jobs well-done outside of class, and when a problem arises, the instructors will sit down and discuss it with the kid(s). good to know...! i'm very pleased that we've decided to enroll the kids because the values and lessons they learn there truly do apply to the rest of their lives. and they're good values, ones that support our personal beliefs and the way we want to raise our kids. it's good to learn self-defense arts, but while they're still very young, they learn the core values and responsibility before focusing on the actual moves. and once remington's old enough (err, big enough?), i'm sure we'll put him in a tiny tigers class too!

that's all for now... not too much else is happening in our new neck of the woods. it's been cold and rainy since sunday night so the kids are developing a slight case of cabin fever. we'll go out tomorrow, even if it's only to little rock children's for remington's appointment. a change of pace usually is a good distraction!

white belt babies

2012-01-06T16:56:00.006-06:00

cole and madison tried something new today: martial arts class!!

they didn't really understand what it was (although cole had some sort of idea...) but were excited to go learn "commercial arts" (according to cole) and "martial arks" (madi's version).

i found a place that's literally three miles from our apartment that offers "tiny tigers" classes- it's for kids who are between 3 and 6, and since madison is less than two weeks away from her 3rd birthday, she was able to join too. they have a special going on that includes three classes and the uniform for super cheap, so we decided that both kids might enjoy it.

remington looks like he's a tiny tiger too... :)

they learned to kick- madi's pretty flexible, i noticed!

they also learned to punch. there were some other things they were taught as well, but the most important things they'll be learning are discipline (self- and in general), self control, respect (manners!), following instructions and taking turns. i wasn't sure what to expect, since they're both usually pretty outgoing and when they're excited, don't focus at ALL... but by the end of their class, they were saying "yes, sir!" and returning to their designated spots on the mats. i was really impressed with how well they did, and they're so cute in their little uniforms! cole didn't want to leave, but after reassuring him that he will be coming back in a few days, he settled down very quickly. again, i was impressed- normally, his disappointment leads to a semi-meltdown (or at the very least, some very tearful shouting) but having just come out of his class, he was still in his self-control mode. THAT was awesome... and even just now, when i reminded them to use their manners please, cole said, "yes, ma'am" and madi echoed with "yes, sir". i think that this class will be very good for both the kids- they can burn off energy, learn basic self-defense and best of all, learn some very important life skills while enjoying themselves. i'm excited... we're eager to see how this plays out over the next few months!!

remington's big news!!

2012-01-05T16:19:00.007-06:00

alrighty... this is the last part of my catching up! we'll start with january 2nd: that would be the day we left home. again. we headed south and a little west again, this time to little rock. we didn't get there in one day... with the kids, we decided it would be best to take two days. we made it to miner, missouri, where we stopped for the night. our three wonderful miniature travelers were happy to get out, stretch their legs and sleep in nice beds.

not sure what's going on here... must be a guy thing?

princess madison :)

somebody had the giggles

we got to our new place in north little rock/maumelle on tuesday around noon-ish. we signed the papers to get into our new place and then got the kids some lunch. the rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking, settling in, grocery shopping and making supper. there was stuff all over, and i had no place to put remington while feeding him, so i put him on the counter to feed him. yes, i have a kitchen with a counter!! (and a dishwasher. i really want to take this place back to wisconsin with me...). mind you, i'm not the type of parent that just sets my child on the counter and walks away... just to clarify. i was holding rem with one hand and leaning down to put his dirty bowl in the dishwasher when he did this weird sort of twist-and-lunge thing. totally out of the blue, since one of the things he's really behind on is reaching for things. anyway, he fell off the countertop and into the dishwasher. literally, into the dishwasher! the poor baby... he had a cut on his head that seemed awful (and i kept reminding myself that head-wounds bleed more than other wounds), a large egg on his forehead and various owies on his little noggin from the spokes on the bottom rack. normally i'm pretty calm when one of the kids gets hurt, but i flipped this time. i knew it was my fault and i was SO scared that he was hurt worse than what it looked like. fortunately, he showed no signs of concussion and after crying for awhile, settled down and started grinning again.

you can see the cut on his head... the swelling on his forehead about his eye is gone today and all that remains is the bruise. he's still got some abrasions on the top and side of his head (from the spokes) but he's healing up fast. please, no lectures... i give myself one with a heaping side of guilt every time i see his owies. :(

this is our new living room... i'm not a big fan of carpet (for sanitary reasons), but i LOVE the area rug! whoever decorated the corporate units did an awesome job. i'm head-over-heels with the red furniture.

our little dining room... carpeted too, which means vacuuming every day after supper, but that's not a big deal. granite table, leather chairs- classy!

one side of the kitchen

the other side of the kitchen. there's the dishwasher! it's more spacious than it looks, and i actually have more cupboard space than i need. such a nice change from home!

the rest of the apartment is just as nice- good solid furniture, two bathrooms, a balcony and storage space off of it, a washer and dryer inside a utility closet... it's nice. i love it. :)

this is what i caught rem doing this morning: resting on his elbows, sticking his rump up in the air. it was particularily exciting because of his motor delays AND he showed absolutely no signs of doing this yesterday. i was so happy... and then he did this:

my friends, we have lift-off!!!! i cried. i literally cried, i was SO excited and happy! one of the things we'd discussed during his assessment the other week was a 6-month goal. what did we want to see rem doing by the time he was 15 months? crawling was the big one- crawling well, crawling far, crawling where-ever he wanted to go (within reason of course. safety first! says the mom who let said child fall into the dishwasher... sigh.). until today, i was a little concerned about whether or not he'd reach that goal. what if it was unrealistic for him? was i setting us up for disappointment if he didn't reach that goal? considering most babies are crawling pretty well by 9 months, i figured that it would give him any extra time he needed to reach it... and i've been pleasantly surprised! mind you, he's not actually going anywhere yet, but he's never been up on all fours before, so this is BIG for him. and i know that he won't be crawling all over tomorrow- he may wait a few days or even a few weeks before attempting it again, but he's done it once and that gives us SO much hope that he'll catch up to where he should be in time. oh, my heart just is SO full of love right now... and, i sheepishly admit, pride. i'm so proud of our littlest man!

so there you have it... we're caught up. three posts already, and it's only january 5th. i'm off to a good start, hahaha! tomorrow will bring something new for madi and cole too- they're starting martial arts classes down the road! it'll be a trial run (they have a special on try-it classes... three classes plus the uniform for incredibly cheap! if the kids like it and the classes are affordable, we'll enroll them), and i'm excited about it. i think it'll be good for cole in particular: learning martial arts is not only beneficial for physical fitness, it also encourages self-discipline, following instructions, respecting others and self, all things that are good life-skills. i'll for sure post about it, hopefully tomorrow night. i'm going to be one of *those* moms, toting the camera to martial arts class. our poor kids... ;)

holidays, cousins and hospitals

2012-01-05T13:54:00.015-06:00

one of the first things we did after getting back to wisconsin was to go to the farm. the kids were seriously missing grandma (and grandpa, too!) so the first saturday after we got back, we spent the day there.

mom had gotten a cute little snowglobe as a gift and the kids were all enthralled by it. remington kept a close eye on it- we could see the gears turning in his head... he was just itching to get his tiny fingers on it.
so as soon as he had the chance, he did!
one of the things that had been on my list for some time was to bake bread. i didn't get to make any while we were in tulsa so it was one of the first things on my "to-do" list after getting home.

one guess as to who's little fingers couldn't resist sneaking a little taste here and there! (it's becoming an undesireable little habit. sigh.)

a few days before christmas, elissa, logan and the boys came from montana!! it was the first time we were able to meet kase, so it was extra exciting.

kase (3 months) and remington (9 months). rem LOVES his little cousin! in fact, we thought that kase should just stay with us, because remington really reached for him. that's one of the things that he's fallen behind on for motor skills- reaching. but he didn't have any hesitations with kase.

baby chat. :)

baby hissy.

baby cheeks.

baby bum!!

babysitter??

hey, grandpa...

all the grandkids, minus bentley (he was napping). of course, i didn't get one shot where all 5 were looking (or even facing!) the same direction. but who cares- grandpa's in his glory, and we can see THAT!

mischief x 2...

naomi came for dinner saturday night too and got to indulge in some serious snuggling. :)

the day after christmas was remington's 9-month checkup. it was scheduled for just before noon, so i thought it would give us enough time to get up to green bay for a holiday dinner with kelvin's family. he took cole and madi in the truck and went a little early, and rem and i came later. he didn't get any vaccinations this time, but because he was still very underweight, dr h ordered a blood draw and a u-bag to collect a urine sample. he mentioned that in his conversations with the pediatrician remington had seen back in september, the subject of hospitalizing him came up but he didn't find it necessary to do so immediately. after everything was done, rem and i were on our way to green bay. i was lamenting that i'd forgotten my camera as we turned onto kandace and duey's street, and then my phone rang. it was dr h's nurse, calling to say that rem needed to be admitted to children's hospital at theda clark in neenah. after some discussion, tears, phone calls and quick greetings, rem and i headed back out the door to go home and pack a few things before going to children's. mom came after supper and stayed with rem and i at the hospital for a little bit. not long after being admitted, one of the nurses on the floor walked in and i thought she looked familiar... as it turned out, it was the nurse who'd been with us at new london when cole was born!! she was amazing... and it was great to see her again. :)

sleepy baby in his hospital crib.

bitty toes...

kelvin took cole and madi to mom and dad's the next day. they played with cousins while kelvin spent some time with rem and i (and i went back home for an eye exam). the poor kids were a little unsure about what was happening... i felt so torn between staying with remington and being with cole and madi.

smiles for daddy!

checking out daddy's phone. remington's sitting skills have improved greatly! before his checkup, he had an in-home assessment with a therapist through the birth-to-three program. his sitting skills were estimated to be at a 7-month level while the rest of his motor skills were collectively at a 3-month level. the therapist suggested a few things to encourage motor skill development and we've been trying to keep up on it as much as possible. but in a matter of just a few days, he was sitting with his hands down on his little legs or at his sides instead of his arms being straight out to the sides at shoulder-height. we see little improvements here and there, so that's promising. his intellectual capabilities didn't show any delay, which was great news.

poor remington- surrounded by toys but bored to the max. he literally didn't know what to do- he's so used to being on the floor for tummy-time, watching the older kids, squealing, smiling and finally kicking for a good part of the morning. kicking... that's another thing that has recently developed too- it was during our last week in tulsa that he first started bending his knees and kicking. at first it was when he was peeved, but that was fine with us, because it meant his legs weren't straight, stiff and crossed at the ankles. we'll take what we can get here!

fortunately, he got a little entertainment when auntie elissa and auntie sarah came to visit! kase came along too, but because of the visitors policy during cold and flu season, poor kase had to wait in the lobby area. elissa and sarah took turns sitting with kase while the other spent a little time with remington.

as he'll soon find out, auntie sa-sa's always good for a laugh! :)

(photo credit to elissa... credit on the "baby bum" photo goes to her, too. any photo i'm in, chances are the credit is elissa's. thank you!!)

eskimo kisses with auntie sarah :)

remington was released late-afternoon on wednesday... all that really happened was that he was monitored (his intake and output), the dietician met with us, they attempted to get him to take every kind of formula they had on hand there (he refused all of it... the only kind he'll accept is an organic, corn syrup/palm olein/hexane dha-free one that i found in tulsa) and then was discharged after gaining about 6 ounces. once he got home, i attempted to continue to feed him more than he usually has, but by thursday morning, he showed no interest in food. he happily ate a few bites, but he was so full from laying around, sleeping and eating that he just didn't care much about food!

happy to be out of the hospital... rem had a follow-up appointment with dr h on thursday afternoon. we didn't get to spend as much time with elissa and sarah as i'd have liked because of remington being in the hospital, so he and i went over to the farm to spend a few hours with them before they left. kelvin stayed home with the kids, who really needed a day in their own environment...

kissin' cousins... :)

we wish we could have had more time with everyone... but we have some great photos and wonderful memories from our time together to tide us over till next time. love you all!

tulsa!

2012-01-05T12:38:00.007-06:00

we went to tulsa. we didn't blog (well, i did... just one post. no photos. shame on me.). we came back. and now i'm scurrying to catch up. i don't do resolutions, but if i did, one just might be to blog more often. ;)

anyway, our stay in tulsa was nice- we didn't get out much but we were all together and that's what matters! the first weekend in december, i did a photo shoot for a local family. it wasn't anyone i knew personally, it was an ad on craigslist i'd found and replied to. you can see a few images from this sweet little family's session here. we met at woodward park in tulsa and while i was busy doing my thing with the camera, kelvin and the kids hung out. we got there a little early so i caught a few photos of the kids too.

madison meets shakespeare!

the gardens there weren't in bloom (obviously), but we could tell that during late spring and early summer, they'd be magnificent!

remington got a short swing ride with daddy.

hello, bright eyes!

playing on blocks, chewing on blocks... potato, po-tah-to. either way, he's enhancing his motor skills!

this isn't what i had in mind when i asked cole and madi to put the trains away...

bathtime... never dull!

on the way back to wisconsin, we stopped at bass pro shop in springfield. kelvin has been there before and said we HAD to see it. so we did.

the kids LOVED the streams!

big baby kitty, little baby boy.

two kiddos in a tree!

so... we got to tulsa safely and got home safely. i'd intended to get a photo of cole in the elevator at the hotel we stayed at while we were there, but never got around to it. we stayed on the top (3rd) floor of this place and there was one elevator... it was glass so we could see out, and cole was convinced that we were living in a tower. i love his imagination! he'll have these magical memories of an ordinary place :)

#6

2011-11-30T21:40:00.002-06:00

5... until now, that was the number of babies we've had. we're so very blessed to have three of them here with us. sure, there are days when one or two of them drive me batty, but not a day goes by that i'm fully aware of how very lucky we are to be able to hold them tight. today we were given another reminder of just how precious life is- today we said goodbye to another precious little one. three here with us on earth, three in eternity. i'm still processing it. even though we didn't plan on another, even though in our minds there couldn't have been a less convenient time to add to our family even if we had intended it, it was still our baby. and even though i'm feeling a bit disconnected and removed from the whole situation right now, i still love our little peanut with all my heart.

travels... and then some!

2011-11-28T19:47:00.023-06:00

here's my long over-due post... finally. you'd think i was busy or something, eh?

so as y'all already know, a few weeks ago we packed up and headed to tulsa. the kids were wonderful travelers, especially remington. the van was loaded to the max so there wasn't much room to stretch out. good thing all our kids still have short lil legs!!

see? jam-packed. we had to take something out every time we stopped, or else cole and madi couldn't get out. that's why cole's face is so funny... he was worried be was going to be stuck.

madi wasn't too happy about the whole thing right away, but she eventually got over it. :)

and remington?? well, he was just his usually sun-shiney self, of course!

(excuse the logo... which i will be working on changing in the coming week, by the way) we ran into some pretty lovely skies shortly after crossing into oklahoma.

huge thanks to my mom for getting the kids this floor puzzle- it's been a real help in occupying them! it even gives remington a safe, clean place to stretch out.
we weren't able to get out TOO much to explore the first week or two, so by thanksgiving, the kids were feeling the effects of being a strange place with different limitations. we spent thanksgiving day together as a family, something we didn't get to do last year. we dreamed of dinners like we've had in the past while eating pizza and finding joy in the fact that when we're back home between christmas and new year's, we'll have a late thanksgiving dinner with everyone to make up for it. we sure missed being home- nothing makes you appreciate family more than when you're far away from them; you tend to remember just what makes them so special!

kelvin's job got rained out on saturday (which meant they had to work sunday to make up for it), and he decieded we should do something fun with the kids. obviously, nothing that required being outside because of the weather, so we took a 15-minute drive over to jenks to see...

...the aquarium!!

"there are SHARKS in here?"

none of us have ever been to an aquarium, so it was a new experience for all of us. i think it's safe to say that we were just as excited as the kids!

anemones! advance warning: lots of photos. if you think that's a lot, you should see the ones i left out. yikes!!

your daily recommended dose of irony: leaks in an aquarium.

we saw some horseshoe crabs...

... and rem made a "fishy face". kind of.

then there were theses little guys... they're pretty photogenic, i think. no wonder you see these
creatures in "national geographic" more than once.

remington meets the big turtle. (if you look really closely you can see his britches about to fall off. they fell a second or two after i took this. poor baby- can't keep them on to save his life!)

there was an open area with a large habitat for these little turtles. the tiny one reminds me of rem- he used to stick his legs straight out like that. he's better about it now, especially since he's starting to experiment with creeping.

these kiddos spent the next 45 minutes obsessed with turtles... even when we were over by the sharks, i still heard a small voice mention turtles.

the walk-through tunnels weren't as big or expansive as i thought they'd be, but it was still really cool.

remi thought it was pretty neat too.

i may make this the new background on my laptop...

somebody's wide awake. or has had a little too much caffeine. or something.

i'm thinking we should get a big tank for the house- seems to have a calming effect on this kid.

total awe.

meet dory (from "finding nemo")!

totally not a fish or other variety of underwater creature, but they had a room with this guy, a raccoon and some otter in it. we didn't see the otter, but we saw the beaver (who apparently loves grapes)...

... and the raccoon.

after an hour, our tired little peanut was starting to zone out. yes, he's licking his daddy's jacket. and no, i don't know why. it was cute though- slowly, half-heartedly, just barely licking it over and over. self-soothing, maybe?

we saw a family of seahorses... i wish it had turned out better, but the way the tank was curved, it just distorted it no matter what. oh well. that baby seahorse on the right was pretty little though- cute!

octopus, anyone? it wasn't alive, fyi. (ew.)

cole's interpretation of an octopus, hahaha!

then we saw the jellyfish! it's obvious we've been staying in a hotel with access to cartoons, because cole and madi got all excited, wondering if they could have jelly now. (that would be a result of watching "spongebob squarepants", where jelly comes from the jellyfish that live in jellyfish fields. sigh.)

black light, anyone?

and then there was THIS one. pretty and icky all at the same time, huh?

hahahaha!

each of the kids got a small plush from the gift shop... we thought remington might like a turtle...

...madison picked out a pretty seahorse...

... and cole left with a stingray. we did get to see some real ones- if you've never seen one swim, it's pretty cool. i could watch those all day!

keeping our water-themed day going till bedtime, we stuck remington in the bath. rather, in the sink. he wasn't too happy about it.

yeah, definitely peeved. but he's so cute when he's in the water, all nekked and screaming.

that'll have to be all for now- we get free high-speed internet here at the hotel... but it's more "internet" than "high-speed". this post has literally taken me a collective three and a half hours to do. that's how slow it is. but it's better than nothing, right? ;)

especially for great-grandma...

2011-11-22T20:26:00.002-06:00

while talking to my grandma a few days ago, i promised her i'd share photos of remington in his sock monkey clothing from old navy, and the hat i made him to match. these are from my phone, so the quality isn't the greatest...

little sweetie with his thumb in his mouth- a fixture :)
little playsuit and monkey shoes. i couldn't pass up the shoes, they made me giggle. :)

and i had to share a shot of his onesie too... the socks even coordinate. i could've gone bananas and gotten more, but i settled for this. and elissa bought a few things for little kase from the same collection- it would be awesome if we could get the little ones together for a monkey-themed mini-session.

meanwhile, in other happenings... we made it to tulsa safely, and are finally settling in to a new temporary routine. i'll post on that later. i promise. :)

another post... gasp!

2011-10-30T20:04:00.006-05:00

oi, i've really done it. two posts in the same week!! well, i DID say i'd share what's kept me so busy, so i'll do just that. but first, a "remington fix":

his "squooshy face"!! the onesie he's wearing says "ado (red)": i found it at a second-hand shop in waupaca. the poor wee boy is too skinny for his pj's; as soon as he wiggles in his sleep, he's twisted up and stuck. he just doesn't fill out his sleepers enough to be able to use them, so i went on a hunt for onesies and separate pants. i found some... they're 0-3 month size, but too big in the waist. so last night he wound up wearing a long-sleeved onesie to bed and nothing else. sigh.
big brother's toy was NOT what he wanted, supposedly. the little waif just curled into a tiny ball and sobbed. he's been a tad bit clingy lately- might be teething, might be adjusting to having daddy back home, who knows. he's perfectly happy as long as he's being held, but the instant we put him down, we hear about it. of course, his sweet siblings rush to give him whatever it is they think he might need or want. :)
alrighty... project #1. this was a custom order from a friend of mine. she's got two adorable little kidlets, and she was looking for something for them for this winter. she wanted a fleece lining too, so i added one.

little miss k's hat- adorable for a girl without any pink whatsoever! her mommy wanted a tiffany-type blue with winter-white flowers. the blue, when it's not in a photo, is a bit deeper than what's seen here, but you get the idea.

and because little k is only 4 1/2 months, i asked if she'd rather have a chin strap instead of ties. the idea was approved and i indulged my poetic license (so to speak) with a strap and button.

i like the strap idea... this is the first one i've done and i'm quite happy with it.

now little l, on the other hand, is all boy and nothing but. his mommy said that his jacket this year is black, so as long as it went with that, whatever else i decided on was fine with her. she requested the "winter wonderland" style for him, and i thought it would be kind of fun to coordinate his hat with his baby sister's. so i did. she also asked for a scarf, but since i'm knitting that instead of crocheting, it's taking a little longer. that hats were the main thing, though, so those were done first.

next up was an order from our lovely neighbors. their two little ones are close in age to cole and madi, so sizing was a no-brainer. :)

h's hat was to be a fall-ish orange and gray...

and it was light green and blue for miss m. after poring through the yarn aisles at hobby lobby and not finding colors that were close enough to her jacket for satisfaction, i saw, slightly unnoticed amongst the scads of yarn, some skeins that were almost the exact colors i was looking for. they had sparkles in them though, so i shot off a quick text to her mama for approval. the reply was "sparkles rock- lol she will love it", and so ended my quest for materials. it turned out great- the sparklies are elusive on camera, but they're in there. as i left their house last night after delivering the completed hats, h (who is a five-year old boy, mind you) hollered through the screen door, "you rock!". i'm glad he's happy with his hat... :)

(* and for those who don't know me or my work that well: i don't read patterns, much less write them. i don't know the names of stitches and jot down notes that probably don't make sense to anyone but me. but if you see something you just have to have or have a photo or link of something you want, let me know! i do custom orders all the time, and now is the time to get your requests in, before the winter/holiday rush starts. email me, leave a comment, if you have me on facebook you can message me there... hats, cowls, wraps, whatever. i'm open to just about anything!)

october- the long condensed version

2011-10-29T07:33:00.020-05:00

apologies to anyone who's checked in here once or more in the last month... i've been a little busy!! (ok, some of that is actually procrasination, but only a little bit.)

we started out the month with some beautiful weather! well, it was a bit on the warm side for october in wisconsin, but that was ok with us, since our furnace died the first chilly nights in september. so even though the 80*+ thing wasn't on my list of favorites, at least we didn't freeze.

first october sunday- perfect for snuggles with grandma!!

after lunch (or was it before? i don't remember...) cole and madi found a slightly more efficient way of sharing the "motorcycle".

it wasn't a quiet method, but at least we were hearing giggles instead of screaming and fighting.

the littles talked grandma into pretending to roast marshmallows over a campfire. she happily obliged and i do believe that in cole's little noggin, the imaginary goings-on were just like the inspiration for the whole deal: "curious george goes camping".

after the imaginary campfire burned out, we all took a walk in the woods. it was such a beautiful day and the trees were turning and the kids were up for an organized trek together, so off we went!

cole and his daddy... just because he walks like he's on a mission doesn't mean there's no time for a quick cuddle :)

the wild grass always looks so pretty this time of year. not sure why- it's just grass. in any case, it's true beauty can never be captured quite right...

miss squish and her "gwammah"

cole was anxious to show us the bridge that he "helped" uncle ted and daddy build. he's been talking about it off and on for a month, so we HAD to see it! they did a great job too- no falling through this bridge!

of course, we all tested it out.

ripples!

madison started collecting things: grass, leaves, a stick... and a feather!

colors! the woods is about the greatest place in the fall: there's no doubting the miracle of the creation.

the little collector... to her, those flowers are a trophy!

just like the wild grasses, the milkweed catching the sun was awesome. and just like with the grass, it's splendor just can't be caught on film (or cf card!) quite like it appears in real life.

random shots from around the yard... the rungs on the old silo. as a small child, they fascinated and scared me at the same time. we were told not to climb them because it was too dangerous, but i remember ted and i going up a few anyway. i'm not sure about ted, but i was never able to work up the courage to climb more than four or five, even though the desire to climb all the way to the top just burned in my young little mind.

madi picked out a squash for us to take home and cook up... she lugged that thing all the way from the garden to the silo. she's got determination, that's for sure.

barbed wire behind the garage... another memory from a long ago childhood.

kelvin and i got to take a short walk all by ourselves! well, ourselves plus a wee little guy.

oh, deer!!

uncle tedly graced us with a fly-by!

tiny toes tried grass for the first time...

... and so did a tiny little tongue!

we don't like grass just yet, i guess.
kelvin left for two weeks to work on a job in oklahoma. the first night he was gone, the kids were mad and i was tired, so we did the easiest supper i could think of (besides take-out): pancakes.

these kidlets eat pancakes faster than i can make them, so to save time, i made them pancake sticks instead. a clean applesauce cup with a little syrup in it for dipping, and they were excited for pancakes like never before.

yumm!

a new staple in our house: homeopathic fever pellets. they were a LIVESAVER when cole came down with a respiratory bug! the poor kiddo- we discovered that if his fever gets high enough, he throws up. when he first came down with it, we didn't have anything on hand except for some children's advil. since we were in a pinch, i gave him some. the first dose brought his fever down, but subsequent doses througout the night did nothing. our awesome neighbors let us try some of their fever pellets, and once the natural health store opened the next morning, i ran out and got two bottles right away. the mommy in me knew it was best to be prepared, seeing as how these things can drag on sometimes, but we only used a few doses for cole and one for madi. it worked FAR better than the advil, and madison never needed more than one dose because her fever was low-grade and didn't last long. poor cole got the worst of it, but he was on the mend in three or four days.
the weekend of dad's birthday, the kids and i spent the weekend at the farm. between sick kids, a few fussy nights from remington and the resulting "whups, too many nights wide awake so no sleep for you!", i was running on empty. mom invited us for a few days, which was great because it was starting to get fairly chilly at night and our furnace still hadn't been replaced.

madison busied herself with crayons and a coloring book while cole helped grandma in the kitchen.

then she moved to the couch where she got silly... who knows what goes through their little heads. i mean, they get the giggles and laugh like miniature lunatics for no reason; whatever the reason is, it's adorable!

musicians in the house! madi even does this cute bit where she unknowingly channels stevie wonder... if she doesn't think anyone's watching her, she closes her eyes, leans into the keyboard and sways to the music. it's pretty cute...

just as madi has her "stevie wonder" thing, cole does chef emeril. or whoever it is that happens to be hot on the gourmet scene. he loves helping in the kitchen, and since ours is too small even for one person, he takes advantage of being able to help grandma in hers!

grandpa's birthday cake... a delicious pumpkin, caramel and pecan creation that's just SOOO good.

it passes the "smell" test...

he almost got away with the taste test too!

add some whipped cream (the REAL stuff) and it's like eating a sweet piece of fall. seriously, this cake is awesome. :)

the kiddos on sunday morning... six shots and this is the best we could come up with! good thing it was just for my own entertainment, hahaha! they looked so cute i couldn't resist.
so... sunday evening found us back home in our own beds. well, more accurately, freezing in our own beds. so in the morning, i did some laundry and we packed up again to go back to mom and dad's. we only stayed till wednesday morning- that's when the furnace guys came to take out the old and bring in the new.

being back at grandma's meant fun in the boxes again! cole and madi were having such a ball that i just *had* to bring out the camera. ;)

cole and the "ah-noc-luhrs". not sure what it is about this photo, but it gives me the giggles every time i look at it.

the other thing that has us in fits of laughter lately is remington's new trick... this goofy face he does while sniffin his nose really fast. it never gets old, and he knows it. usually he's too quick for me to catch a good shot of it, so this is the best i've gotten so far. it's adorable- he usually wakes up smiling, but the lst week or so, he's woken up with a quick grin and then the "squooshy face". if that doesn't start the morning on a good note, i don't know what will.

and then there's the other side of him- the tiny, snuggly little peanut side.

of course, being back at grandma and grandpa's means being back in the kitchen...

... this time with squash! both kids had a half of a squash and were scooping seeds, but since i've already posted a few too many photos, you'll have to use your imagination.

no caption necessary :)

and lastly (for now, hahaha!), a poem that's meant a lot to me over the years. i first read it on a dedication/memorial site for miscarriage and infant loss remembrance. one of the wild grass photos i took on our walk at the beginning of the month reminded me of it, so i combined the two. october is national pregnancy and infant loss awareness month, so it's only fitting that i post it while it's still october. it goes without saying, of course, that we remember our babies every single day. anyway, i'm sharing it in honor of all the babies that we carry in our hearts.

now that i'm caught up, i'll try to post more often. again. i've been busy with more than just sick kids (that was only for a week or so)... i had a project, a custom order for a friend, and i'll share that in my next post. and i promise it'll be shorter too- that is, assuming i don't wait till the end of november to catch up. ;)

movin' and groovin'

2011-10-01T19:55:00.003-05:00

you know how you feel when you hear a new song that just grabs you? i found one today... here. enjoy it if you want- the bass and percussion mid-way through are just splendid, and her voice is great too. not that it's really relevant, but i thought i'd share what i've been groovin' to today!
as for movin', well, madison was movin' a bit too fast at convention and wound up with a pretty good owie. she, cole and the two little guys that belong to some sweet friends were running off some energy before the last meeting on friday and madi took a digger on the gravel- her head hit one of larger stones (right on the point, of course) and she ended up with a hole in her head. fortunately, nurse nancy was in the dining room and fixed her up nicely; it stopped oozing blood by morning, so no stitches were needed.

by monday morning it was looking better- now it's scabbed over so there's no longer an open hole. poor baby- she usually screams for 3o seconds or less before shutting off the tears in an instant and going about her own business. this time, though, she cried for quite awhile and was pretty low-key the rest of the night. it's amazing how quickly kids heal up... she's fine now, but my heart still skips a beat when i think of it.

miss squish wasn't the only one on the move recently! remington hasn't used his swing in quite a while, but for a little variety, i put him in it the other day. the batteries were dead so i was hoping he'd just entertain himself with the toys on the tray... he did one better.
he dug his little toes into the tray, started moving his upper body from side to side and got the swing moving. all.by.himself. i wouldn't have believed it if i saw it myself- not bad for 6 months, huh?
after much practice, remington's confident enough to give a short visual tutorial: eating your toys, 101.
step 1: mentally prepare yourself as you give the toys a pointed stare. (the stare is key; your face must show that you mean business. raise an eyebrow for added effectiveness if needed.)

step 2: make your move. opening your mouth *just* before reaching your prey is essential- too soon and your fist might wind up in there instead; too late and you'll have an owie.

step 3: chomp. (this step is pretty self-explanatory)

and i realize that rem's sweatshirt is too big. it's a 9-month size but he's not reached that quite yet. i dug it out for convention because it was so chilly and if it's layered on top of something else, it stays in place better; by itself, his shoulders fit through the neck, no stretching required. the matching pants are even worse- i have to roll the waistband over (they're lined athletic pants, so they're super comfy) and they still fall off.

at least now we have the beginning of an answer to remington's lack of growth: his 6-month well-baby visit was on tuesday. he weighed in at 10 lbs, 10 oz and is 24 1/2 "... less than 0% on both counts. our doctor was out (he had back surgery and will be out for two months yet) so we saw a physician's assistant, who said that remington is the smallest 6-month-old he's ever seen and immediately referred him to a peds specialist in appleton. we have an appointment there on monday. in the meantime, he's been diagnosed with "failure to thrive", or ftt. as far as development goes, he's right on track. if he's just a tiny person who grows slower than other babies his age, his development shouldn't be affected; however, if there's an underlying cause that's impeding his growth, his development could be affected eventually. that's where the pediatrician comes in. we'll know more (hopefully!!) after monday's appointment. i have mixed feelings about it... everyone's got their own opinion and preferences when it comes to health, and my first choice is to keep it as natural as possible. that said, i also won't deny medical care when it's necessary. it's something i'm really having a struggle with right now, but that's also because there's a lot of questions that haven't been answered yet. as this unfolds (whether he's a completely healthy mini-baby or there really is something else going on that needs to be addressed), we'll be more and more informed and able to make decisions. in the meantime, though, we've been given the use of an infant scale for as long as we need in order to weigh remington before and after nursing to get a better idea of how much he's taking in (seems to be within the normal range!) and i've been making his oatmeal with coconut milk and a good-sized glob of coconut oil and add a little homemade pear-applesauce or a few slices of banana (mashed, of course) to it for good measure. he doesn't mind squash, but seems to despise mashed potatoes. we're working more into his diet, but even with the coconut oil at least twice a day, it'll take a little time to see results.

so, that's where we are with rem. he's tiny but smart... i mean, he got his swing going all on his own. no delays there, eh?

two bitty braids...

2011-09-21T08:47:00.002-05:00

when a little girl is born, her mommy dreams of one day fixing her daughter's hair in cute pigtails, braids, using cute clips... it just kind of goes with the territory. (for the most part. i'm sure there are mommies out there somewhere that really aren't big on doing their little girls' hair, but i don't know any personally.)

madi's always been a little sparse on top- it was always longer in the back than in the front, pretty fine and fairly thin. it was less than a year ago that we were finally able to get two teeny tiny pigtails on her and within the last few months, i've been able to do a little more. for example, her one ponytail in the back and just a few weeks ago, a very small french braid.

on monday she got to pick out a new outfit, courtesy of grandma. for some reason, it just seemed fitting, given the cute style of her new duds, that two small french braids would be the perfect hairstyle to complete the outfit. i was pretty doubtful as to whether or not it was even possible, but after some serious bribing to get her to sit still enough, it happened: TWO french braids!! and with enough hairspray, maybe, just maybe, they'll stay in almost a full day for convention.

2+ week recap

2011-09-19T20:53:00.008-05:00

once again... iknowit'sbeenforeversinceiupdatedtheblogbecauseithasbeenatadbusyaroundhereandi'msorryandi'lltryto updatemorefrquentlyinthefuture.

there.

whew.

our tiny little mister a few sundays back, wearing his "big boy" clothes. before he wears them again, i may have to find and invest in some infant-sized suspenders because folks, he just isn't filling out his britches!!

(somewhere on one of our many, many photo cd's, we have a few shots of cole wearing the exact same outfit nearly four years ago. he was about 5 1/2 weeks old and filled it out just fine. someday i'll dig it up and put the two side by side, just for kicks.)

baby brother, not-so-baby brother

oh, he adores his older brother! (please excuse madison's head- she was on a pint-sized mission for who-knows-what and just couldn't waste time waiting for mommy to snap the shutter.)

what do you do when you have grandma's basement all to yourself?

*giggle*

make the most of it, of course! or, as our offspring interpret it, play "bury your sister". sounds more barbaric than it really is... there were tons of squeals and giggles coming from the basement.

the following weekend there were some downed trees that needed cutting and a new bridge to put across the stream in the woods at mom and dad's, so kelvin took cole friday night with him and they stayed in the hunting cabin with uncle ted. cole did wonderfully, i heard, and he was pretty excited about sleeping in the "hunting cabinet". kelvin got a few photos on the little camera, so someday i'll get them uploaded and if i remember, i'll share them. of course, at the rate i'm going here, he'll most likely be driving by then, but better late then never, right?

madison helped grandma in the garden. she even used our little tractor!

how do YOU bring in your tomatoes?

who'd have thought a toddler's toy could be so very useful?

*9/11*

hello there, blue eyes!

somebody's funny bone got tickled...

i can't really say that remington's 6-month photo session was a flop, because technically i got one photo that we're getting printed, and the rest, the ones with his toes or thumb in his mouth, well.... those are downright sweet. even if they're not wall-worthy.

cole had the right idea for his session (4 years! already!!), but was a bit wound-up and goofy. the last one from the entire shoot turned out just right, but the rest of the time, we had fun. and that's really the important thing, right?

you can see a few more from the boys' sessions here.

a few other random mentionings... remington's been going to a great chiropractor in appleton! in fact, they're treating kelvin as well, and i just had my first appointment on monday. rem hasn't gained any more weight really, but he's even more relaxed and happy than he already is, and in time, i'm sure he'll catch up. he was a little misaligned, so it's a good thing we're taking him... certainly can't hurt! and cole and madi love playing with the toys and the wonderful receptionist there too, so all-round it's a good thing.

we went to story-time at the library again today. last week was the first one, and the kids did well. they were a little shy but still enjoyed it. this week, cole was over it and mommy had to teach him about taking turns. he already knows about turns, but he was too excited to remember. we got some books and left in a hurry because both kids must've forgotten to wear their listening ears... but i found a few stories that were my favorites when i was their age: the "flicka, ricka and dicka" and "snipp, snapp and snurr" series by maj lindman. the books are the same as i remember... old, worn, they even smell like the ones we got years and years ago. i'm not sure who will enjoy them more, the kids or me! to be honest, i was a little surprised to have found them...

the beginning of this week is filled with anticipation of special days with special people- we're ready for marion convention! the other week when we took the kids to a prep day, cole talked about "cah-bention" all the way there (i'm sure he remembered a little from last year), and as we rounded the corner and saw the barn and cows, he said, "what? are we at a ZOO??", and then in the next breath, asked if the workers were there. too funny! but i love his enthusiasm... and armed with books, crayons and some treats, i think he and madison will do pretty well this year. as for remington, well, he's so laid-back i'm not concerned in the least. we're going to have a wonderful weekend- there's nowhere i'd rather be going :)

~happy birthday~

2011-09-02T19:12:00.005-05:00

first of all, happy birthday to my sweet baby sister! hope your 21st is amazing, sarah lynn! we'll have to celebrate sometime when you can get back to our neck of the woods, but we hope you have a great time tonight :)

second, it was kelvin's birthday yesterday. he's NOT turning 21... that happened a few years back. but he DID get one of his favorites for supper: chicken divan. and of course, he got cake.

lemon pound cake with raspberries and whipped cream. mmmmmm.

since we had candles left over from cole's birthday, we couldn't give kelvin cake without a candle. there was just no excuse not to, what with there being some right up in the cupboard and all. i thought for sure i'd have a little help singing "happy birthday" (again, since cole's birthday was only two weeks ago and he gets the whole 'birthday thing' now). but i didn't. i sang a solo. oh well... at least the cake was good! and remington helped daddy blow out the candle. actually, i think he was more or less plotting just how to get his tiny little hands on the pretty glowing stick, but we'll go with "helped". ;)
anyhoo.... after a day of rain, storms and humidity, a small birthday celebration (albeit a day late) was just what we all needed. the poor kids have been cooped up, madison was pretty freaked by the thunder this morning and cole was wound up from seeing the firetrucks out on stormwatch and hearing the warning whistle. this year has been a crazy year for extreme weather even here in the midwest, but today was the first time that the sirens actually went off. we didn't lose power though- almost everyone else seemed to. fine with me; i'm not particularily fond of being without juice!
here's to a fun and happy labor day weekend- have a good one, y'all!

in which i wear my heart on my sleeve.

2011-08-31T15:17:00.002-05:00

i hesitate to even post this... i've learned, over the years, that sometimes it's easier to deal with things that are on your mind by yourself. just keep it between you and whoever lives in the recesses of your brain (joke). even though you just need to vent, that it's better not to. lucky for me, i've got some pretty special friends and family that i can count on.

two years ago, we discovered that madison wasn't growing like she should. in the end, she was fine, caught up and is now average size for her age. in the beginning, i was scared. part of me felt silly for being consumed with the "what if's" and not being able to fully ignore the dreadful possibilities, however unlikely. i knew, deep down, that everything would be ok in the end and that one day, i'd be able to stop worrying so much. i guess that's the one bad thing about being a mom: you can't escape the worry. ever. even when it's far-fetched. but as i said, in the end, things with madison turned out fine and there were no underlying problems to explain her lack of growth.

then, enter this little man: total deja vu. well, at first it was. now, not so much. he's a sweet, laid-back, smiley little boy who is discovering that he can make more sounds with his little mouth than just "ooo". his bright eyes take my breath away and the fact that he's so quick to smile melts my heart into a total puddle.
he also scares me. i won't lie. the past few months there have been concern about his growth, just as there was with madison two years ago. at first, i was content just to think, "well, he's his own person, so he's probably just meant to be petite. he's strong and alert, so there's no reason for any major concern. just feed him on demand and he'll be fine. besides, as long as his growth pattern is steady, there's nothing to worry about". so i was all set to handle round two of this whole thing with a relaxed smile. because we'd been through it before. and all was well.
but wait... he's his own person, so if that means he shouldn't be expected to grow just like the others, then that also means that just because madison was fine, there's no guarantee that theres' nothing wrong with him too, right? as i scrape my mountain back into a molehill, i can't help but wonder once again if my fears are unfounded or if this time, there really is something to worry about. i know full well that compared to what some parents have to endure in terms of worrying about their little ones that this is small potatoes. microscopic, really. as i ponder the last few months, going over remington's itty-bitty weight gain, the information we've gathered over the past few weeks and what it all could (or might not) mean, i continue my dizzying swing between nonchalance and terror. after all, despite being smiley and happy, the fact that my five-month old weighs less than many one-month-olds is a tad bit concerning. he's at an age when not only should he be gaining measureable weight each week, but his nutrition has a big impact on more than just his physical development. he's already about 4 pounds less than he should be (give or take a little)... so when his weight check today showed no progress from last week, i can't help but feel a slight panic. his pre-feeding weight last week was 10 lbs, 8 oz and some odd tenths of an ounce for good measure. today his post-feeding weight was just barely 10 lbs 8 oz... the scale waivered between 7 and 8 before finally settling on 8. the past week and a half has found me trying different things (herbs, more frequent feedings, pumping in addition to feedings, using little tricks and gizmos to get more into rem's tiny tummy) and frankly, the lack of progress has me not only frustrated but definitely scared.
now, tomorrow's another day and i may very well feel differently tomorrow about everything than i do today. who knows? it's almost like being pregnant all over again with these crazy mood swings (for lack of a better expression). i might just wake up in the morning, slap my forehead and say, "oh geez, silly girl. always worrying over nothing.", or maybe i'll bolt out of bed to make sure my tiny boy is ok. and yes, i still say that, knowing full well that there are parents out there that do that because they have to, because there really are major, life-threatening concerns that drive their fear-ometer through the roof. sometimes putting it into perspective like that helps bring me back down to an even keel... and then sometimes, my inner self defends my panic by telling me it's all relative; i haven't had to experience constant the hardships that some other parents have to face so in that respect, i have a right to feel a bit crazy.
so that's my heart. on my sleeve. the condensed version. indeedy-do, my head's just a swarming mass of thought all buzzing to be heard so there's a lot more in there. and yes, i'm fully aware that it could be much, much worse and i'm in total agreement that when everything pans out and remington catches up, no worse for the wear, that i'll feel like a doorknob for letting my irrational fears take hold (and worse, admitting them). but i'll cross that bridge when i come to it.
and to those special people that let me vent and voice my fears, if i didn't already say it or haven't said it enough... thank you. and i love you. :)

birthdays, bikes, braids, baby boys...

2011-08-28T19:21:00.010-05:00

so... as promised, i am posting photos of cole's birthday. late, yes, but still posting. (this is becoming the story of my bloglife: "better late than never".)

cole kind of saw the stash of balloons i'd gotten for his celebration, so we blew a few up in the afternoon, after madi and remington were down for their naps.

cole had grandma all to himself and he thought it was the perfect opportunity to toss around a balloon! after all, what's a birthday without balloons? especially since we saved the cake and (all but one of) the presents for saturday.

he had fun. i've never seen a kid stay in one spot and still have so much fun! to be honest, i think grandma had fun too :)

when i asked cole what he wanted on his birthday cake this year, he initially said "thomas!". well, i didn't have the time, space or supplies to do a thomas the train cake (although in my head, i had a fun detailed setup. maybe next year, if he's still into thomas then), so his next choice was a tractor pull. that was more doable...

...frosting, crushed graham crackers and some toy tractors from fleet farm. had it not been for the somewhat recent trips to the symco tractor pull and the antique military and tractor show, i'm not sure he'd have had a second choice beyond thomas. in any case, he was pretty pleased that he had a tractor pull on his cake (minus the actual sled. but he didn't notice that.).

four candles! i can hardly believe i have a four-year-old now. *sigh*

he was quicker than me with blowing out those candles... i thought he'd kind of hesitate, since it's been a year since the last time he got to blow out candles. boy, was i wrong. he practically jumped on 'em.

after cake there were presents, of course! he got some birthday money in one of his cards. as i was reading the card to him, i tried to slip it out of sight so i could put it somewhere safe, but he saw it...

... gasped, "oh! some money", folded it up and stuck it in his pocket. smart kid, he is! i nabbed it later so it didn't get lost or go through the wash, and one of these days, maybe he and i can take a little shopping trip together, just the two of us. you know, before he's too old to be seen shopping with his mom. because that time will come before i know it, too...

the last box he opened was from his grandma and grandpa- knowing what he was getting from us, they got him a helmet. it didn't really occur to him that he needed something to ride on too, so he was just happy that he had something to wear on his head. easy to please :)

when daddy brought out his bike, his face lit up like no other. i wish i'd been on the other side to catch his expression, but alas, i was in the wrong place at the wrong time. poo. but i assure you, he was on cloud nine. he took it for a quick spin round the living room, then with some help from uncle ted, took it outside where there was more room.

he got some pointers from his new friends, but he'd already gotten it down pat. for a kid that's refused to use the pedals on any other ride-ons for the past two years, he sure picked up the bike thing fast. it was like he'd been riding all his life, and after the first two hesitant corners, he was circling the house like a tiny tornado on a shiny red bike. he insisted that grandma go with him, so my poor mom happily obliged supervising his rounds around the yard. he was at it for a long time!

see? he's doin' great! :)

cole's not the only one who got a package or two... remington got something in the mail too! after some research on its effectiveness and positive recommendations from a lot of friends, we decided to order an amber teething necklace for him. there's acids in the amber that, when heated to body temperature are absorbed into the skin and have calming properties. people use it for relief from anxiety, chronic pain and yes, teething. i wasn't sure just how well it was working until two days later when i'd taken it off of remington and forgotten to put it back on; i couldn't figure out just why he was so fussy, and then it dawned on me: he wasn't wearing his amber. sure enough- about a half-hour or so after having it on again, he was calm. so now he wears it almost all the time, and he's one happy little boy.

we attempted madison's first french braid... not bad, considering she wasn't that keen on sitting still just then and i didn't have the spray bottle handy to mist her hair down.

our princess <3

this past wednesday, remington was had a weight check and feeding observation. he's up to 10.5 lbs on the dot... a 6-oz gain in the last month! it's not enough, but it's something, so we're happy with it. we were told that he's only taking in 2 oz or so during feedings, which isn't enough for a baby his age, and that it appears that his facial muscles may be weaker than they should be, so he's to see a speech therapist on tuesday. the way it was explained to me is that because he's having to work two or three times as hard to get fed, his body isn't able to properly use what he's taking in (which is not enough to begin with, most likely because he just gets too tired to try for more). so basically, they think he's using all of what he gets to fuel his attempts at nursing, rather than for growing and developing because he has to work so much harder for it. we'll see what happens on tuesday, and we'll know more then. in the meantime, he's a happy little five-month-old pipsqueak who still doesn't fit in his bumbo...

... but won't give up trying!

stare-down with the froggy.

see? he's happy! he's got the most infectious grin, in my opinion. then again, i'm a little biased...

remington's sunday outfit for today; the poor kid doesn't have much for dress clothes because he's using cole's old baby clothes, which are mostly onesies and little jeans. i keep putting off getting more because for one, he's a baby so he doesn't really need to be too dressy and two, about the time i shell out for some fancy duds, he'll have a growth spurt. or not, and then he'll be stuck in the wrong clothes for the season. anyway, the jeans, shoes and socks are all part of the outfit he wore home from the hospital. so out of curiosity, i dug out the onesie that he wore home to see if it still fit.

it did. this little guy is still tiny. he's about 5 inches longer, but not much heavier... yup, he's our lil pipsqueak!!

then, i got to thinking... it would be neat to see how much his little face has changed since the first time he wore that outfit, and to my horror, i discovered that we never took any shots of him wearing his little homecoming outfit!! the one above is the closest we have- you can see his jeans. in all the crazy, complication-induced madness, special instructions and desperation to finally check out of the hospital and just get home already, we'd forgotten to take photos before packing the camera bag back into the van. now i'm kicking myself for not double-checking that we had that base covered. grr. but in my defense, we had so many other things to think and worry about. ooops. oh well; at least we remembered to take any sort of photos!!

anyway, that's been our life the past week and a half- hope yours was great too! :)

memo: do NOT blink. ever.

2011-08-18T14:57:00.003-05:00

where on earth did the last four years go?? you always hear someone say "don't blink or you'll miss it"; generally speaking, it's mostly applied to tiny po-dunk towns, really fast cycles or little roadside attractions. or the random well-hidden turn-off on the way to someone's house. so when i think of where the last four years have gone, well... i guess i blinked a few too many times, because they've just flown by.

our dear coley has gone from a tiny, chubby-cheeked newborn...

... to a corn-husking, tractor/thomas/curious george/four-wheeler/book-loving, smart-as-a-whip little boy. and it seems it's happened overnight. i know he's only four and that in another four years, i'll again lament that the time's gone by too fast, but for some reason, it's hit me a little harder this year than last years. this birthday has snuck up on me. i'm totally not ready to have a four-year-old. (that's me, in denial... *sob!*)
we're waiting to celebrate until saturday, but he still gets some special treatment today: he was treated to lunch by grandma! well, we all were... mom came over, took us to culver's, then we played at the playground for a little while and now as the younger two are napping, cole's playing with his beloved grandma. no nap today for him... after all, being four means you're allowed to skip one now and again. especially on your birthday. and tonight after supper, we do have a small gift for him to open on his actual birthday... but the real present will have to wait till saturday. :)
happy birthday, "baby" boy! we love you oh, so very very much. <3

and what did YOU do last week?

2011-08-08T19:38:00.004-05:00

i don't know about you, but our entire last week was pretty cram-packed. there were pedicures (some manicures too), new people to meet, lots to do... there were

showers

and lace

and flowers

and well-wishers...

and lots more! for those of you who are on facebook, you've more than likely seen a host of photos (from others as well as myself), so for those that don't have facebook, here's a link to the album i posted there: just click here!

(don't worry, you won't be asked to sign up- you'll be able to view it without joining facebook, in case you're worried about that.)

the day of the wedding, madison woke up with some congestion and was obviously feeling lousy. now, all three kids are crabby, have congestion and just don't feel great. i've got a sore throat and feel achy too, but i'm sure it'll pass quickly.

we had a little scare with cole's ear; he went to bed fine on saturday night and woke up with a swollen, protruding ear the next morning. he said it didn't hurt, we know he didn't bump it and we couldn't fin any sign of a bug bite, sting or other irritation. it didn't go away, so that evening i looked online to see if there was any suggestions as to what it could be. the only thing i found was something called a mastoid ear infection, which involves infection of the mastiod process (the bone that you can feel on the side of your head behind your ear). none of what it involved sounded good, but after consulting a friend (thank you, brooke!!!), i decided to wait till morning. today, it's much better. normally, an ear infection means a fever, but cole's been diagnosed with a double ear infection twice without showing any other symptoms (fever, indication of pain or discomfort, etc)... both times, i took him in for pink eye. so who knows if he's had more than that, how many or for how long. tough lil man, eh? anyway, it must've been a sting or bite of some sort and we just couldn't find the site of the irritation. (oh, and please excuse the face he's making- he crossed his eyes just as i took the photo, then laughed about making silly eyes. goof.)

rear view of cole's poor ear.

obviously, after the last week, we're pretty tired, so i'm going to keep this short. it was a wonderful week, though, full of excitement, planning, meeting new people we can now call "family", celebration, food, cousins... i'll leave you with sweet remington "waving" goodbye!

pictureless, priceless, it's all the same!

2011-08-03T18:26:00.002-05:00

i DO have photos from the last few days... i just haven't had the time to load OR blog them. it'll be a few days more, i'm afraid- we've got a baby sister to marry off!! three days till the wedding, three days till she becomes a beautiful bride, three days till we get a 'new' brother and three days till they start their new lives together. we couldn't be more excited!

so... since i don't have any photos to share right this moment, i'll share some good one-liners that we've heard from miss squish in the last week. she's come up with some doozies! not only is she smart (she identified correctly, on the first try, all the letters in "thank you" on the goodwill shopping cart handle. up-side down.), she's become a pint-sized comedienne.

last week as she was sitting on the big potty attempting her "big business", she happened to pass some gas. she looked up at her daddy and said, "daddy! that sounds like my poop is skweeeeming!". i missed it, i was out doing real estate photos, but i heard all about it when i got home and it was just the ginormous giggle i needed. what a goof.

this morning, as i was whipping up cake for sarah's bridal shower, kelvin came into the kitchen and asked, "whatcha doin', baby?"; madi hollered from her highchair, "mama is NOT a baby, dad!". right you are, princess... and since when did you start calling your daddy "dad"? (i think she learned that from her older brother. yes, it bugs me... *sigh*.)

yup, our wee lass has us giggling a lot these days, and frustrated the rest of the time. she's hit the "terrible two's" full-swing. even though she's half-way to three (gah!!), she's just now developing the attitude. well, i shouldn't say that- she's just now letting it out full-tilt is what i really meant, i suppose. in any case, it's never boring around here, that's for sure!

(oh, and her big and little brother? they're just fine too... but they've kept the one-liners on the dl, so nothing hilarious to report from them. yet.)

2011-07-25T19:49:00.004-05:00

guess

who

tried

his

first cereal?

guess who didn't like it?

that was friday... three days later, he doesn't like it any more than he did the first time. flat-out refuses it, but this morning we managed to get about two little spoonfuls down him (on accident- he sure wasn't intending to swallow!!). we'll keep trying, gently of course. his 4-month check-up was today, and he weighed in at 10 lbs, 2 oz (there's no percentile for that- he's off the bottom of the chart) and measured 23 3/4 inches (10th-ish percentile). despite his lack of weight gain, he's incredibly strong, which please dr h- he pulled remington up to gauge his neck stability, and rem just clung to his thumbs for dear life. dr h kept pulling, and then we both got a good laugh out of seeing rem just hanging from his thumbs, legs stiff as boards, tiny arms flexed so he was literally doing a chin-up... what he lacks in weight he makes up for in muscle! actually, he was in for a quick weight check two and a half weeks ago and was 10 lbs 7 oz then... but it never got entered into his chart. so even though he's lost 5 oz, he's still up a grand total of 5 oz since his 2-month visit, and a 1/2 inch taller. that's a very small amount, so we're to bring him in for quick weight checks whenever we're near the clinic. everything else checks out fine, though- he's alert, rolling, holding himself very well, cooing, following objects with his eyes... he's keeping up fine with all that. hopefully he'll chunk up in the next two months and his size will be closer to normal. he's healthy and that's all that's important for now. we always say our babies grow up too fast- remington must've heard it and decided to stretch out his "little time" :)

rice on the side, please

2011-07-18T20:05:00.011-05:00

last post i griped about the new blogger dashboard... nothing i did seemed to make it change back. but sometime, somehow, it DID revert and now i'm oh-so-pleased. it's the little things, ya know?

anyway, we've been keeping busy in our cyber-absence:

kelvin found a curious george treasure hunt game for the kids. yes, they've got daddy wrapped around their sweet little fingers! they had a blast with it, and it's going to be great for teaching them to take turns and follow instructions. (and there goes mommy, taking the fun out of the game, hahahaha!)

remington didn't get to play, but he did get snuggles with daddy after cole and madison were in bed. i had to laugh because he looked so itty-bitty sitting there.

oh, and then the grin-a-thon started!

i think he was mid-coo during this one... and it still makes me laugh when i see it! his eyes are always so bright, sometimes i feel my breath catch. if you're a parent, you know the feeling... :)

we love bubbles here. goodness knows this little guy's been making his share lately... it's like a tiny, human bubble-machine. (sort of)

all by his big-boy self on the loveseat! his latest thing is sticking his feet up in the air and just staring at them. makes me really wonder what's going through his sweet, tiny noggin.

auntie sarah introduced him to hair "pretties" last week- they sure caught his eye! poor little baby was the ONLY guy at the bridal shop, which happened to be positively swarming that particular evening. crazy-busy for a small-town store, that's for sure. he was a trooper, though, and got plenty of attention.

we're getting serious about potty-training.

we've had a small bit of resistance, but nothing so bad that the promise of a gummy bear for a job well-done can't fix. let's see- today's stats, as of noon: two potties, two gummy bears, and if you'll excuse me for JUST a moment, the first accident (of the day). she's learning and i've found that unlike cole, who used the regular toilet straightaway and needed one of us to be with him from start to finish, madi prefers the potty chair and her privacy. whatever works- just so long as she gets trained! i think she's doing splendidly for her first few "serious" days :)

my first attempt at homemade pudding. i wanted to make chocolate, but that means NO egg whites and i though separating a bunch of eggs would be too much work. now that i've done vanilla pudding with whole eggs, i'm thinking that getting the right cooking temp for any pudding with egg whites is slightly more difficult that separating eggs. it tastes yummy, but there are little bits of cooked egg white because apparently, the heat was a tad on the high side. but still- for a first attempt, i'm happy with it! and the kids love it, so i'm calling it a success.

remington's first time in the highchair! poor baby gets banished to the floor or his carseat when i'm working in the kitchen (for safety reasons, i almost never put him in the moby when i'm in the kitchen. i'm a klutz and the moby isn't flame- or sharp-object-proof.), and he usually protests. this time he was at my level and was a bit more satisfied.

i was snapping a photo of his little legs and feet up in the air but the look on his face in the background is too funny- totally makes the shot! anyway, he's got a little more growing to do before he's able to really utilize the highchair. he'd better hurry, because i'm already getting his "big boy" menu planned out...

sunday-morning snuggles!

remi and curious george are roughly the same size...

crabby much? ;)

brothers!

cole wanted to hold his brother "like mommy and daddy do's".

madi in her sunday get-up- i found the skirt at goodwill; it was an old navy piece, size 5, but with a few strategic tucks around the waistband, she can wear it now AND when she's actually in a size 5.

sharing secrets with auntie sarah; wonder what she told him?

here's our rice! it's not on the side, but it IS finely ground and stored in a container, ready to be cooked up for remington's first cereal. i used brown rice (because it's a whole grain, therefore not refined and full of starch) and stuck it on our coffee grinder on the "espresso" setting. when our little guy is ready for his first bites, i'll mix one part ground rice with eight parts filtered water, cook it on the stovetop for 10-ish minutes, let it cool a little, thin as needed and let him devour it! or cry and spit it out, whatever. either way, it's wholesome, SUPER cheap and easy to make. and i can even make a little extra to put in the fridge so all we have to do is reheat and thin it out. remington will be four months next monday, so it won't be long before he gets his first taste :)

:) / :(

2011-07-11T19:25:00.003-05:00

with the good comes the not-so-good. actually, it's more of a gripe this time. any other bloggers (meaning, people who use blogger) having a hard time lovin' the new blogger? i, for one, am ready to kick it to the curb. maybe take my ramblings over to wordpress. definitely not a fan of the "improvements"... who's with me? anyone? and on that note, i don't suppose there's anyone out there who knows if or how you can revert your dashboard back to the "old" version... this old lady's set in her ways. ;)

and now for the good.

it was one of the highlights of my weekend:

it's old, beautiful, vintage, worn, full of possibilities...

... can you say, "new photo prop"?
who says the iola car show is just for cars? as my dear husband pointed out, you can find pretty much anything there... including old cars and people who maybe need to double-check their mirrors before leaving the house. yikes. that was a whole experience in itself. maybe burkas aren't that bad of an idea for some people, is all i'm sayin'. anyway, swap meet, old cars and scantily-clad old ladies aside, the car show was actually pretty interesting, and the kids even had fun hanging out at the booth (until the heat and no naps caught up with them). i even had the chance to snap a few photos of grandpa gene's restored 1932 plymouth... i'll share later. maybe. if i can ever get used to this new blogger. and since it looks like we're back to the gripe, that means we've come full-circle and it's my cue to sign off.
hope everyone else had a great weekend! :)

7/4

2011-07-04T10:47:00.001-05:00

happy independence day!!

pools + picnic + sparklers = long post...

2011-07-04T08:11:00.018-05:00

here i am, making up for slacking off yet again. having to "catch up" time and again isn't teaching me my lesson, it seems... so here we are with another long post. then again, there's so much we like to share it can't really be helped!!

once the weather FINALLY warmed up and the rain went away, it was time to take out the kiddie pool. daddy hosed it out and cleaned it up, then filled it for the littles. neither cole nor madi were really sure what to do, exactly, so they started with some tentative splashes, then some dramatic marching through the water...

... which escalated to jumping (madi fell backward over the side at least three times, silly girl!!)...

... and finally all-out full-body splashing. the water level went down pretty quickly, but they sure had a ball!

(i love my camera's shutter speed... catching those huge splashes is tons of fun when the shutter can keep up with them!)

last sunday after meeting we stayed at mom and dad's for a picnic. the kids haven't had one before, at least not that they really remember, so it was exciting for them. they sat so patiently at the table- or maybe it was the novelty of it that kept them entertained.

grandpa and his "princess" had some bonding time after lunch. madi doesn't get the whole nick-name thing, so when my dad calls her his princess, she replies with "no, i'm just MADI". :)

grandma and cole blew bubbles...

... and remington chilled with his daddy.

then he chatted with mommy for a little bit (thanks to kelvin for the photo!)

wednesday was our ninth anniversary, and kelvin surprised me with roses! it had been "one of those days" so they were a nice surprise. it doesn't seem like it's been nine years... in some ways it seems like just yesterday that we said our vows, but in other ways it feels like this is all we can remember (in a good way, of course). we've been through a lot and have each other to thank for getting through it. and we've learned that it's ok to fight, as long as we're fighting for each other. nine years finds us stronger, wiser and with three small, beautiful babes under-foot. what could be better??

i dug out the walk-about for remington to use, seeing as he's more alert and wanting to actually DO something these days. there's one small problem, though: he's so petite that it takes mounds of blankets to hold him in place! by the time he's all tucked in, he's already bored. or mad. either way, he's going to have to get a bit bigger before the fun factor can be figured in. poor baby!!

this past saturday (the 2nd) kelvin and i left the kids with mom and dad and took remington to minnesota. it was just a quick day-trip to take sarah's bed to chase's apartment so he has something comfortable to sleep on his last month of being a bachelor. the day was perfect for travel, but i forgot the camera so we got no photos of remington's first roadtrip. we were kind of discombobulated before leaving though- it was wicked hot friday, so the barn apartment was stifling... it hadn't had much of a chance to cool down before the big windstorm hit and the power went out. it was still out when we left (around 5.30-ish) so not only were we a bit on the warm side, i didn't get to take a shower. yuck. but we made the best of it, enjoyed a good drive, had some time together and were glad to see cole and madi when we got home.

of course, they'd made the most of their day too- fresh air, room to run, playing with grandma, grandpa, auntie sarah and uncle chase... they were on top of the world, i think! they even "helped" with cleaning; cole did a wonderful job on the door.

two kids + two squirt bottles makes for some pretty good fun!

daddy's truck even got a "washing"... they were too cute, squirting the truck with water, pleased as punch to be cleaning daddy's hemi.

poor remington had a case of the crankies, though- he did wonderfully in his carseat the entire trip, but when we got him out of it after getting back, he realized he had a lot of fussing to make up for.

last night i had a little fun in the kitchen. it involved lemons, raspberries, honey, a saucepan and a strainer.

homemade raspberry-lemonade syrup!! it's really good with seltzer water, but plain water will do just fine too. it turned out a little more tart than i'd planned, but it won't be a problem to stir a little sugar in our glasses along with the syrup.

after supper and once i was done with the syrup, we went next door to let the kids play while we waited for dark and fireworks. henry and cole had some fun with henry's swords (i love the look on henry's face!!)... definitely little boys, those two!

miss maggie wanted to hold the baby, so she got her turn with baby remington.

another couple and their two little girls came over as well, and all the kids played duck-duck-goose. cole and madi are at the age now where they can learn and enjoy games like that but there's hardly enough people with just the two of them and me. they caught on rather quickly and had a ball! it was funny to watch: 6 kids all under the age of 5, running around. they all played so well together :)

before long, it was dark enough to break out the sparklers. our kids have never seen them- in fact, this was the first year they stayed up to watch the big fireworks, so everything was really new and exciting.

cole was a little unsure but still got a kick out of his very first sparkler.

madi held hers at arm's length...

maggie looks hypnotized!!

... and madi STILL had her's out as far away as possible. she was a trooper, though, and held onto it till it fizzled out.

cole got the hang of things and was willing (begging) to do more...

... but all of a sudden his sparkler was on the ground and was was screaming. he was crying and trying to keep his left foot up, but it was so dirty from running around that i had to take him back to the house to check things out.

it seems that the top part of his sparkler had fallen onto the ground after it burned and not seeing it, he stepped on it. he has a nice blister on the bottom of his poor little foot. i washed it off, disinfected it, stuck a bandaid over it, put his shoes on and back to the neighbors' we went. he wasn't interested in sparklers anymore, though. this morning when i asked him how the owie on his foot was, he squinted up one eye, held his thumb and finger a few millimeters apart and said, "it's just a little bit owie".

once it finally got dark enough, we all migrated out to the sidewalk to watch the big fireworks. it's always guess-work when it comes to how cole will react to new things, but he did great! he sat in the lawn chair the entire time watching them; he even mentioned something about the thunder, hahahahaha!

they were pretty...

... even madi thought they were neat, once she got her face out of daddy's shoulder. it was pretty cute- she was clinging to him for dear life even before the big boomers started (we had a few bottlerockets and someone down the street had a few they were setting off, which scared her a little), and even as her face stayed buried in his shoulder, she kept saying "i want to see, daddy!".

the other remington from next door came home for the last bit of fireworks, so after everything was over with, we HAD to get a shot of the two remingtons... or as the older one said, "remington squared". our little remington slept through the entire display, safely wrapped in the moby. i love that thing!

so despite our first fire-works injury (thankfully quite minimal), our little family enjoyed our very first fireworks show together... and it was fun to have been able to hang out with our lovely neighbors!! :)

father's day, rain and a bumbo

2011-06-23T20:14:00.007-05:00

father's day found us having lunch at mom and dad's... it was so nice to spend the day with the two wonderful daddies in my life (one being mine, the other my wonderful husband)! it was also the first day of rain, which has led to almost an entire week of wet, dreary weather. it goes without saying that the kids are a miserable, high-strung mess; the last time they got to go outside and play was saturday, and by yesterday things were getting pretty hairy. today was NOT fun- they fought like cats and dogs, with each other and with me. we've run out of things to do and i've strained my brain for additional activities, with no luck. they say tomorrow is supposed to be nicer- i sure hope so!! we can get out and take a walk or go to the playground finally.

cole got creative and included all three of the little lego men in his play at grandma's house- there's one riding on the disc, one driving the tractor and one sitting on the hood of the tractor. he said that the man "up top of the tractor was watching and the man sitting on the seat was steering". alrighty, then!

we used to play with these plastic books... kind of like nesting dolls, except they're books with all the letters of the alphabet on them. madi played with them for the longest time, opening them, putting them back together and starting all over again. she's so easy to entertain, unlike her older brother.

remington giving daddy some father's day snuggles.

madison's new shoes... just love them on her!!

and speaking of shoes, cole made off with grandpa's boots...

... and was nice enough to let grandpa borrow his shoes in return! :)

our sweet princess (who's attitude has been making itself known lately)

and what were remington and grandma up to?

having fun with the mirror, of course!

grandpa got some father's day snuggles too...

not sure what this little face is for, but it's cute :)

yes, madi was topless. but in her defense, it's hard work playing "pillow door" with your brother!what's "pillow door"? it's a game invented and named by cole himself; it involves blocking off one side of the space between grandma's couch and trunk with throw pillows, then racing around to the other side, crawling between the couch and trunk and through the pillows, then laughing hysterically. and then starting all over. and over. and over.

he taught the game to his cousins when they were here at the beginning of the year; he and coy had quite the time playing!

somewhere, in between lunch, shoes, snuggles and "pillow door", george got into trouble. he got a time-out and even had his mouth snapped for "sassing". the punishment was handed out by cole, of course. he was very serious (i suppose it must have been a serious offense, although none of us witnessed it), but we had a hard time keeping a straight face. alright, i confess... i cracked up.

we put remington in the bumbo tonight! i tried it with him last week but he wasn't happy about it, so i put it away. tonight he felt better about the whole thing and was happy to sit like a big boy while we all entertained him!

hahahahahahahaaaaa!!

the tiny guy sat up so well in there... way to go, remington!

madi could have cared less- she was far more interested in the glock magazine that came in the mail for daddy today. this girl sits SO well with books and quiet toys- now that we have one that's nearly impossible to entertain for more than five minutes and one that can sit for hours looking at a handgun magazine, i'm a bit curious as to what the third one will do.

then again, it doesn't seem to matter- i think that when cole tries to entertain rem, he winds up entertaining himself more than he does his little brother. :)

"cheese!"

(photo credit to kelvin on that one)

oh... the one thing i didn't get a picture of on sunday: dad got out his postal scale so we could get an acurate weight for remington... it involved weighing the carseat then sticking him in it. the final number we would up with was 10. our three-month old weighs 10 pounds. he might be small, but he's strong! i'm anxious to see what he weighs at his four-month visit... hopefully there will more of a gain than a single ounce (he was 9 lbs 15 oz at his two-month visit). but i suppose that as long as he's developing on track, we don't have to worry TOO much :)

big boots to fill

2011-06-18T20:38:00.002-05:00

i got the afternoon "off" today... kelvin kept cole and madison at home while i got to go to appleton with remington. there are quite a few things i really need but i don't want to get just yet, since i do plan to lose a number of pounds. they're being stubborn and clingy, so for now i just got a few tank tops for underneath my shirts. we met up with mom, sarah and suz while they were shopping for shoes for the wedding. i've never been one to wear high heels... a wedge is about as much as i'll do, but i'm open to new things. if 3/4 of my diet can be veggies, i sure can wear heels, right? i love the shoes sarah chose to go with the bridesmaids dresses- they're classy!! anyway, it was exciting to get out for a few hours, so i thought i'd mention it. :)

this is what happens when you walk into someone's bent-up license plate...

among the things that coy and bentley are lending to remington is a pair of itty-bitty cowboy boots. they are *the* cutest things ever, and i can't wait for remington to be able to wear them!

he'll have to grow a bit first. think he's a little self-conscious about those li'l chicken legs? the tiny man-child eats like it's going out of style and is developing right on track but is still pretty petite. according to our scale, he's a smidgen over 10 lbs; i'm debating taking him to the clinic next week just to get an accurate weight. we'll see. his most recent discovery is the mirror and the cute itsy-bitsy boy that copies everything he does. he loves to "talk" to him; in fact, sometimes it's the only thing that will make him happy. and when we talk to him and say "i love you", he gets a grin so big his face about busts in two. just like our hearts :)

making do with what ya got...

2011-06-13T20:47:00.001-05:00

remington is officially 12 weeks old today. that means he's alert and loves to look around... it also means he's not happy unless he's being held while he's observing the workings of the universe. we have a little activity center/tunnel that we used with cole and madison, but it's packed away in the garage and i haven't had time to get out there and dig around for it, so i've been forced to think up alternatives.

not as fun as the aquarium play mat, but it'll do! who said there's only one use for a tripod?

"chatting" with his dice... he does that a lot. i'm guessing he'll have security dice instead of a security blanket? stranger things have happened, i suppose... as long as he's happy, right?

in other happenings and goings-on... madison went on veggie strike tonight and decided she didn't want to eat her beans. she didn't get away with it. she got to sit in her highchair until they were gone; it took her an hour and a half. she went from her seat to getting ready for bed... i kinda feel sorry for her, because playtime between supper and bedtime is not all that fun to miss out on. on the other hand, i hope she learned her lesson- she's starting to get quite a little 'tude lately! but that's ok, i like her spunk. she needs it if she's going to keep up with two brothers and three boy cousins.

we have a house showing on wednesday and i have my fingers crossed that this one will result in an offer. the longer we stay in town the more a little bit of my soul dies, i think. ok, so that was a tad dramatic, but not that far off, really. i am NOT a city girl, that's for certain!

i'm back in my walking routine and still sticking with the new eating plan. it's going wonderfully and i'd literally give my right arm and probably more for something other than veggies. you can't see it but behind my grin are tightly gritted teeth. but this too shall pass, and one day i shall again eat like everyone else. once i hit that goal weight (which seems to be getting closer and closer to my current weight, hahaha) i'm-a celebratin'. oh, i could put down a long list of things that sound unbelievably delectable right this very minute! but from what i hear, it doesn't take long for your body to adjust to a new way of eating and things that once were a craving don't have the same hold over you anymore. that's what i'm told... we shall see. i'm determined to do my best to lose a few sizes in time for my baby sister's wedding. i have my motivation, now to just make it happen!

in, out, up, down and all around

2011-06-10T08:43:00.011-05:00

i feel like life's been a bit of a whirlwind lately... now that remington's awake and alert a little more, he's pretty insistent on being front and center. meaning any free time i may have isn't really free because he demands to be held.

that said, i've still been able to get stuff done, just not blogging. because that requires two hands, essentially. a certain tiny person is right this minute protesting the whole blogging thing...

i think it was two weeks ago we were at mom and dad's for a saturday. i lose track... anyway, cole was pretty impressed with grandma's oven mitts. he's played with them in the past, but it's been awhile so they were new all over again.

remington got some snuggle time with great-grandma..

see? as long as he's being held, all's fine and dandy!

in the afternoon the kids got to run around outside; they had a (relatively quick) round on the swings. these swings have seen many summers- they seemed weathered and worn even when i was small. but there's still plenty of 'swing' left in them.

cole helped grandma with her flower beds.

madison helped too!

but she found it was more entertaining to drag the little red rake all over creation.

she did quite well with the shovel too. maybe we have a little landscaper on our hands? uncle duey would be proud!

"i see london, i see france..."

cole was pretty diligent in doing whatever his grandma was doing. of course, she was so gracious in letting him assist her :)

miss squish enjoys her pizza. can you tell?

and out little peanut loves his daddy's shoulder!

since first finding his thumb a few weeks ago, remington's been attempting to get re-acquainted with it. those silly little fingers keep getting in the way though... luckily, he's content to slurp on those too, for the most part.

his petite little tootsies just melt my heart <3

the best thing about hot weather is babies in only their diapers!

madi actually requested to hold "ren-tin"; if she shows positive interest, we are more than happy to indulge her in her request!

last weekend sarah and chase came for part of the day- the kids were thrilled, and after a lunch of pizza hut (thank you again!!), a tickle-fight broke out. as with most tickle fights, sarah eventually was at the epicenter. poor girl... she always gets ganged up on!

madison got over her hesitation and tickled her uncle chase... come august, he'll officially be uncle chase- we couldn't be more excited for him and sarah!!

kelvin missed out on the pizza because he was at the annual atv challenge out near bear creek. he missed last year because he was in tennessee, bu the year before he entered as well. he didn't place, but he had fun and that's kind of the general idea. if fun were measured in mud, well, it looks like he had an absolute blast.

and yes, those pants were hosed off before being washed!

with sarah and chase's wedding less than two months away, i'm on a mad mission to lose a few sizes. there's no way i can safely lose enough to reach my ultimate goal weight by then, but if i can get halfway there, i'd be happy. so three weeks ago i started walking. two miles a day, pushing the older littles in the stroller and wearing remington in the moby, walking a route that involved going uphill and downhill. and i started trying to eat better; not just smaller portions, but healthier choices.

things like chicken and black bean chimichangas in whole wheat tortillas with a side of organic brown rice. it was yummy.... i didn't think i'd like whole wheat tortillas, but they weren't bad! kelvin even liked them. the kids, not so much; they're also not as receptive to new things as some kids are, so changing the way we eat is going to be a tad more challenging than i thought.

after three weeks of eating better and walking around 10 miles a week, i lost a pound. a single, measly pound. talk about disheartening... so yesterday i went to talk to the lady who owns the nutrition center in waupaca. because i'm nursing remington, the only thing she felt comfortable recommending was a really good multivitamin and what she calls the 6-1 diet. for every bite of whole grains or protein, take 6 bites of fruits or veggies. for a girl who really doesn't enjoy veggies that much, this is going to be a challenge. also, there are no starches or flour. erk. oh, AND she recommended a glass of tepid water with the juice of one lemon (a fresh one, not the pre-squeezed stuff) right away in the morning before eating or drinking anything else. this is definitely going to take some creative thinking... and the kiddos, though somewhat involved in our new eating plan, will not have to suffer day after day without the occasional meal of mac-n-cheese (organic!), pb&j or grilled cheese. they're still growing so they need normal stuff. my trip to the store last night yielded lots of produce, which i fully intend to put to good use. these extra pounds WILL get kicked to the curb, even if it means eating chimichanga filling on a bed of brown rice instead of in a tortilla. actually, that doesn't sound bad at all!

remington's doing more smiling and "talking" every day... this particular day he was telling jokes to his dice. :)

my snack-sized baggies of veggies to add to scrambled eggs... spinach, green onion, red peppers, green peppers and mushrooms. i put them in the freezer so they're ready to use, no mess or fuss. i'm a total hot-pepper person; sweet peppers have never been my thing, so this is a real stretch for me. a leap outside my comfort zone, if you will. and you know what?

i liked it! i really liked it... a lot, actually. at least having a healthy breakfast will be easy.

monday (or was it tuesday? i don't remember!!) kelvin took the kids outside before supper to run off some energy. they didn't run too hard, considering it was in the mid-90's and humid. they found a turtle in the yard, so i had to come out and see it too. even the neighbors came over to check it out... :)

kelvin ran out to get a paper last sunday morning and happened to pass a garage sale that had some kids' toys. he scored this little pink and purple ride-on for madison... now she can keep up with cole and they don't have to fight over who's turn it is to ride the tractor!

our little miss squish, looking pretty cool on a very hot day.

cole sat down and wrote his name all by himself the other night! just out of the blue, no sample to look at, no help from kelvin or i. what a big boy!!

as long as we were taking photos of cole, madison wanted to show me something to take a picture of too, so she loaded a bear and a moose onto her play food tray and proudly showed it off too. :)

wednesday night, i was able to get madi's hair into a ponytail for the first time! we've done two little ones or a half-pony in the back, but never a full one because her hair hasn't been long enough. must be the vitamins the kids are taking (have been for quite some time...)? i like that i can pull it all the way back, because even though she's adorable wearing her hair in two ponytails, there's a bare patch at the back of her head that shows when we put it up that way. i forgot to ask linda (at the nutrition center) about it when we were there yesterday. oh well- now i have an excuse to go back :)

this is what i overheard this morning: cole was talking to remington, telling him stories. he told him how when he (remington) was in mommy's tummy, he didn't have a carseat or a swing or a bouncy seat. but when mommy went to the doctor and he climbed outta there, then he came home in his carseat so he could swing in his swing and sit in his bouncy seat while coley and madi had chocolate milk at grandma's house. i lovelovelove these things that cole comes up with... and the whole part about going to the doctor so remington could "climb outta there" made me laugh out loud! oh, the things that come out of little ones' mouths... :)

little bitta' this an' that...

2011-05-25T12:39:00.007-05:00

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!!

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!
**
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

2011-05-16T20:09:00.012-05:00

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.

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.

2011-05-10T19:18:00.006-05:00

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?

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.!

2011-05-04T11:26:00.010-05:00

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!

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

life with three

2011-04-22T19:51:00.004-05:00

i was a little proud of myself for keeping up with the blog for awhile (as in, a month and a half ago), but then remington was born. as easy of a baby as he might be, time seems to be in very, very short supply. what i wouldn't give to be able to take a nap or sleep in. sleeping in isn't an option, thanks to two small early risers and the host of birds who insist on making a ruckus outside my window every morning BEFORE the sun comes up. it's a no-win situation, but that's ok... when i'm ancient and senile and my kids put me in a home, i'll have plenty of time to catch up on sleep then. :)

daddy graciously indulged cole in his hard-hat obsession. he had an extra one out in the garage that he can't wear to work anymore because it has the old company name on it. what better way to put it to use than to fit it to the small noggin of a very imaginative little boy?

yup. coley loves his "work hat". it goes almost everywhere with him. last week when kelvin made a run to the grocery store for a few things and took cole with, he wore it to the store. the report was that he was a proud as could be, everyone chuckled when they saw him and someone even snapped a photo on their phone. meanwhile, cole was oblivious and as proud as could be to be wearing a hat like daddy. last night i caught him going potty with it on his head. i almost snapped a photo.
almost.

squish is lovin' the shades that auntie kandace dug up for her awhile back. someone must've left them at kelvin's parents' after the family reunion last summer and never claimed them. now she's using them... they're about 5 sizes too big but she doesn't care!! it's like cole's "work hat"... she'll wear them anywhere.

"i see you, grandpa!!"

remington spent some time with his grandma and great-grandma last sunday after special meeting. it's the first that my grandma really got to see much of him- between the bad weather when he was born to her coming down with a nasty cold, it just hasn't worked out for her and my grandpa to really see much of him.

cole adores his little brother... i was worried about how safe remington would be on the floor or in his baby papasan, and knowing there aren't many safe places to put him anymore where the kids can't get at him, i wasn't sure what i'd do. as it turns out, he's perfectly safe wherever!! whether he's laying on the floor or strapped in his seat, both cole and madi pretty much let him be. when they DO play with him, it's very gently. it's almost as if they know by instinct what is and is not ok to do with and to the baby...

madi likes to rub his back and tell him "hiiii, swee-teeee".

it's just adorable!!

oh yes, he loves his brother!!

madison knows all of her colors almost all of the time. i still credit my dad for teaching her while we were at the hospital for that false labor alarm. she picked up on it really fast and when we ask her what color something is, she's usually spot-on. way to go, madi!

remington chilled and watched madi color...

... this was his view. not bad! :)

cole and daddy!!

(yes, cole's got a weird look going on- not sure what that was all about, hahaha!)

earlier this week remington had his weight check... he checked in at 9 lbs, 1 oz, so he's gained a full pound and three ounces in two weeks! we knew he'd catch up... i wasn't worried, but dr h wanted a little reassurance.

my mom has off of work on monday, so assuming everyone's healthy and not SUPER crabby, we plan on spending the day with her. not sure what we'll be doing yet, but even if it's just hanging out at home or at the farm, we'll have fun.

thursday night was "girl's night out"... first one in appleton! i was told by my dear husband that i had no choice, i HAD to go. so i went, with rem in tow. we had good food and lots of good chats and laughs at olive garden! thanks for the fun, ladies! :)

weekend helpers

2011-04-12T15:49:00.004-05:00

mom asked if we wanted to bring the kids up for the day on saturday, so we all piled into the van and went off to spend the day at the farm.

the weather was nice- not too warm, not freezing cold, and this time there was no pure white snow glinting in the sun to give cole a migraine.

(yes, our preschooler gets migraines. it happened last summer too, when it was hot and muggy and he ran hard all day. the weekend we brought remington home and the kids stayed with my parents, cole played outside all day in the sun and snow- it gave him a migraine so bad he puked. poor baby!!!)

my dad's been working on cutting up and splitting one of the trees by the house, so kelvin and cole were able to help him with that.

cole was MORE than happy to help!! he even helped pick up the piles of sticks and leaves that were raked up- i was watching him through the window, and it's evident to me that even at a young age, he has a strong work ethic (as much as a small child can have, anyway) and he's so eager to jump in and do what he can. i can see it in the way he carries himself and the enthusiasm with which he goes about doing his little part to help out. makes me teary thinking of his willingness- i hope he can keep that in all parts of his life, he'll grow up to be an upstanding young man. and then the mere thought of him being a young man makes me tear up all over again. (say it with me: silly hormones!!) madison wasn't left out of the activity- she helped grandma rake up the yard debris left over from another winter up on the windy hill. she wasn't really sure what to do with the little rake, but she sure had a good grip on it, carrying it all over the yard, happy to follow grandma wherever she went.

umm, yup- sometimes using your hands is by far the easiest way. having a rake in the other hand for good measure helps too. :)

the kids had their baths in grandma and grandpa's tub so they could get clean and ride home in their pj's.

madi was less than impressed that bathtime was over, and sat in the empty tub with an empty cup, sobbing her little broken heart out.

she survived and forgot all about it eventually...

i've been meaning to get to madison's 2-year photos for several months now... she turned two the middle of january, so today's shoot was long over-due. fortunately we can get away with it since kids don't change so drastically from month to month at her age. between being exhausted and the size of a small county (hello, can i get my own zipcode, please??) and the fact that madison isn't the most graceful little person around so we had to wait for some bruises and scrapes to mend and then wait again for some more, we didn't get to it until now. that's ok- she was happy to cooperate today, which REALLY surprised me!!

remington had a little time being an itty-bitty model too... you can see more by popping over to blink studio. i made a very airy crocheted square for a photo prop... by gathering up the ends and sticking a wee one in it, there's great potential for the ever-popular-can't-go-wrong suspended cocoon photos. however, remington wasn't into it, so i didn't get any (good) shots using the cocoon. maybe another time... but we did get several good ones, a few of which are over at blink. now i have to get hopping and decide which of madison's shots to use and get prints ordered. i also have to hustle on reminton's announcements, now that i have some useable photos :)

6-step program

2011-04-08T19:21:00.003-05:00

this is the 6-step program:

1. observe your surroundings

2. lift your head up nice and high (i caught him halfway down)

3. tuck in your shoulder

4. get a little mad and push yourself onto your side

5. stop screaming and hurl yourself the rest of the way over

6. land gracefully on your back.

yes, our 2 1/2 week old little man is already rolling over!! he did it twice last night and then several times today. the kids giggled uncontrollably every time he did it, so i guess they're as thrilled as mommy and daddy are over this not-so-little accomplishment. it's so weird to see such a tiny little person rolling over (from tummy to back, but still!!), but it's also pretty cool. he's got to master it all early so he can keep up with his older brother and sister, right?

way to go, remington!
*
~disclaimer: yes, the baby is always well-supervised while on the table, especially now that he rolls. :) ~

i should be napping, but...

2011-04-07T14:06:00.003-05:00

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!!

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.

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.

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.)

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!!

visitors and dreams

2011-04-02T07:44:00.000-05:00

hard to believe we've been home for more than a week already!

remington is SUCH an easy baby... hopefully that doesn't change. and madison is warming up to him on her own terms- she's been happy to rub his head and give him kisses here and there, which melts my heart.

as for cole, he's still in love with his baby brother; he doesn't like it when he cries and tries to "fix" whatever's wrong. yesterday he actually laid down on the couch next to remington to snuggle him... cole NEVER sits on our couch, much less lies, he always bounces! it melted my heart all over again.

kelvin got me a moby wrap... i LOVE it!!

remington does too- he slept so soundly in it that he forgot to wake up to eat.

it's like getting an extra set of hands, and will be a total lifesaver when we go grocery shopping.

i know this because i already tried it... baby in the moby, two kids in the cart. it was the quietest, smoothest trip to the grocery store EVER. i have no clue why cole and madi were so well behaved, but i won't question it. i know, i know... i shouldn't have been out that soon, lifting kids and groceries, but it had to be done, and i'm going to have to figure out a system anyway. :)

lil dude, taking a snooze.

here's the "owl" on the back of remington's head... the two swirls are the eyes and the ridge between them is the beak. funky, no?

auntie sarah came over yesterday (and will be back today) to meet her newest nephew! as you can see, he was delighted... i just wish i could have gotten this shot at a different angle, because his grins are *the* cutest.

now for another little bit of honesty. i just have to get this out of my mind, because the longer it sits in there, the worse it will get.

everyone has dreams. big dreams, little dreams, dreams of all kinds. some dreams stay just that: dreams. others have an opportunity to be fulfilled. it seems that as long as one's still alive and kicking, the attainable dreams are still possible.

one of my most prized dreams was to have a natural labor and delivery. since kelvin is happy with three kids, i was so excited to have this one last chance to have the birth experience of my dreams. i was prepared: i had my exercise ball, lotion and a massage tool, even music. oddly, the one thing that i really wanted to hear was hank williams' "lay down beside me". odd choice for the delivery room, yes, but it makes me feel so safe and relaxed. anyway, my plan was to labor at home as long as possible, go in to the hospital when i felt ready and avoid pitocin and the epidural altogether. i knew i could do just fine without one, as long as there was no pitocin, and more than anything else, i wanted this birth experience to be what i was dreaming of.

obviously, that didn't happen. and knowing that remington may very well be our last baby, my simple dream of having a good labor and delivery experience is gone. i'm quite certain that hormones play a part in it, but every time i think of what i wish could have happened, i cry. my chance to attain that one dream is gone. not just the whole "no drugs all natural" thing, but that feeling that the world disappears. mommies, you know what i mean; when you're in labor, it's like time stands still and the world goes away. there's nothing like it! this time, i didn't even get that... the one thing that makes each birth so memorable and special, i missed out on it.

i know, it sounds silly. i don't intend to sound like i'm upset because i didn't "get my way"... and when it comes down to it, i'm so very thankful that remington's healthy and that everything turned out ok in the end. there wasn't any way we could have prevented my developing polyhydramnios (the term for too much amniotic fluid, which occurs in a mere 2% of pregnancies, and in 2/3 of those cases, there's no explanation for the condition), and we did what was advised to be the safest. but part of me wonders, if i had just gritted my teeth and opted to wait, would my dream have come true? maybe. or i could STILL be in active, unproductive labor. i guess there's no way of knowing... all i know is that it's going to take some time for me to accept the fact that my chance at having my "dream birth experience" is gone. there will undoubtedly be more tears shed over it, but eventually those will go away too.

and, like i said before, i'm so thankful that our littlest man is healthy and safe- and really, that's all that matters, right?

one week, bathtime, etc...

2011-03-28T19:41:00.003-05:00

when remington had his very first bath in the hospital, the nurses were thrilled to report that he loved being in the water... no crying whatsoever. we were rather proud of him, and now that we're home and he's had his first bath at home, we're still proud.

because he still loves his bath!

cole likes to help... a lot. his baby brother's bath was no exception.

see? calm as can be!! of course, he cries until he's settled in the water, but it only takes a few seconds for him to realize that he's in one of his favorite spots.

totally.relaxed.

cole was pretty excited about bathtime (more excited than he is about his own, and he tends to get a little keyed up over his, sometimes). madison, not so much. she could take or leave her little brother...

and the desperate wails signal the end of a good thing!

poor little guy- he definitely wasn't ready to be done.

what, you don't put YOUR hair up for breakfast?

we've put a full week in with our little man... remington has made our family and our lives so much richer! it's hard to believe he's already a week old; i know, small potatoes compared to how fast the rest of the next 18 years will go. but still.

while cole LOVES his baby brother, madison could care less. every so often, i ask her (just once, not to press the issue!) if she would like to kiss or hold remington; her reaction is always a simple, flat "nope". she still needs time to adjust, and that's fine. she'll do so when she's ready... her indifference doesn't really bother me because for one, she's not hostile, and two, i DO catch her sneaking a peek at him every now and again, so she doesn't fool me. when she's ready to feel like a big sister, she'll let us know :)

mr remington has THE strangest hair pattern. the top/back of his head literally looks like an owl. one of these days, i'll get a photo... but he's got two cowlicks, which makes the hair in between stand up in a little ridge, and it looks like an owl's eyes and beak. sounds creepy but it's actually pretty cute. oh, and he's got a tiny swirl, almost like another itty bitty cowlick on his hairline, right near the center of his forehead. haircuts are going to be a joy with this one... hahahaha!

our nights have been going quite well, i'm happy to say. we usually get up about three times for feeding, and then as long as he's swaddled and placed on his tummy, rem sleeps perfectly inbetween. tummy-sleeping: oh, gasp! both cole and madison were tummy sleepers, and rem's following in their footsteps. all three had (have) very strong necks right at birth, able to lift and turn their heads without a problem when on their tummies. i know- we're total rule-breakers, but hey- when everyone sleeps good, that's a mini-blessing.

we made another trip to the e.r. last night. i developed a fever and increased abdominal and back pain saturday night and sunday. the on-call nurse recommended being seen right away, as did my mom. my gut instinct said that it was probably just a urinary tract infection and it most likely could wait till my appointment (which was this afternoon). then again, considering everything that had happened in the last 5 days, we decided it would be best to go in anyway. mom and dad came over to sit with cole and madi while we headed back to new london with rem in tow. we were discharged after two hours- turns out it WAS just a uti, but the attending dr said (before the tests came back) that it could also be ruptured sutures on the repaired arteries, an infected abcess or a uterine infection, so getting things checked out was a good idea. thankfully, it was none of those- whew!!

my staples came out today- yay!! now i have a nice line of what looks like heavy-duty scotch tape pieces lined up across my lower belly. kinda like gift-wrapping gone wrong. anyway, those things will come off in about a week and then we just wait for the scar to fade. not that the scar really matters, since i'm not about to go anywhere in anything that would expose it. (shudder...) at least the incision is healing nicely- that's about the only thing we haven't had a problem with :)

seriously, though... in light of all that's happened, i have to say that i couldn't ask for a sweeter baby! so while things happened 180* opposite of what i'd planned, it's still worth it. nothing's not worth a beautiful, innocent life!!

remington's story

2011-03-25T17:15:00.000-05:00

i had no clue that the contractions i was feeling as i finished up the previous blog post would lead to this... a long few days that ended in all of us at home as a family of five last night!

so... obviously, monday i was having contractions. that was nothing new, though, since prelabor had been going on for almost a month. i noticed around 10.30 am that they were definitely closer together (every 2-3 minutes) and more pronounced. just before noon i decided to lay down on the couch to see if they'd go away, crossing my fingers that they wouldn't.

the contractions didn't slow or regress, so i attempted to get up to get lunch for the kids- and that's when things got started!! i thought i'd pulled a muscle because i got a sudden excruciating pain in my entire abdomen, from my diaphram all the way down to the tops of my thighs. i assumed it would go away, but after using the bathroom and moving very slowly to the kitchen, i knew it wasn't going to leave. it was horrible- it took my breath away, and the contractions on top of it made it next to unbearable. i threw some leftovers in the microwave for the kids for lunch, then laid back down on the couch in tears. as luck would have it, kelvin got out of work early that day, so before the kids were done, he was through the door. right away he told me to call the on-call nurse, so i did. her advice was to call 911 and take an ambulance in to the hospital, but with two small kids with very good memories, i didn't want them to get scared.

instead, we all got into the van and hoofed it down hwy 45, madi sitting oblivious in her carseat, cole saying "daddy, you are driving faster??", kelvin mentally shoving every other vehicle on the road out of the way and me just trying not to scream.

once we got to the e.r. (in record time, i do believe), we went up to labor and delivery, where they strapped me up to the monitors. baby's heartbeat was fine, and i was still having strong contractions every two minutes. an internal check proved difficult, so we had to wait for dr h to come up. he said i was only 2 cm dilated, then ordered an ultrasound. the tech looked in silence for a minute, then said, "oh my, that is one BIG head!". then right away she said, "wait, this baby's breech...".

ummm, what now??

the tech did a few more quick measurements, and in an hour or so (contractions still 1.5-2 minutes apart), dr h came up to tell us that yes, our little guy was breech. he also said that there was far too much amniotic fluid, which was what enabled the little stinker to float around all willy-nilly... and that was also the reason that even though i was in active labor, things weren't able to progress like they should. attempting to manually turn the baby and then break my water to bring him down wasn't the best option, because there was a significant risk of baby landing on the cord, so after consulting with an o.b. specialist at amc, we decided that the best thing to do was a c-section.

not really in my plans, let me tell you!!

obviously, though, it was the safest option at the time, so that's what we did. at 8.23 pm, the dr h and the team delivered remington aaron! he weighed in at 7 lbs, 15 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

his daddy wasn't proud at all, of course... ;)

right away, it was evident that he shares his big brother's pout!

any surgery has risks, and mine proved that true. we had a few setbacks...

as soon as the incision was made and my water was broken, mr remington flipped sideways instead of remaining breech. all that extra pushing and wiggling caused some extra bleeding, which wound up being bad enough to require a transfusion.

(for those in the med field, you may have the specifics: my blood count prior to surgery was just over 9, it dropped to about 6.3 after surgery, and was at 8 at discharge.)

hello, little man!

because of the c-section and the blood loss, it was about 16 hours before i finally got to hold our newest little guy. fortunately, i was pretty out of it for most of that time, otherwise it would have been unbearable torture. i was worried that it would cause bonding and feeding issues, but so far, we haven't had any difficulties! in fact, he nursed the first attempt, so i knew it wouldn't be a problem. :)

after the transfusion, a fever developed, which meant several rounds of antibiotics.

then came the spinal headaches.

oh.my.word.

there is NOTHING like a spinal headache, and mine were on the more mild end. after several rounds of tordol and then morphine, we settled on doing a spinal patch because even though they eventually resolve on their own, a spinal headache with two small kids AND a baby just wasn't an option. the patch was effective right away, but somewhere between discharge and the drive home, the headaches returned. the good thing is that the patch has had SOME effect, because they do resolve with motrin and tylenol, an icepack and laying as still as possible. in a day or two, they should be pretty much gone.

despited the setbacks and the weather, we had a few people swing by to meet remington...

like my dad,

proud uncle tedly,

kayla and levi...

... and my mom.

kelvin's parents stopped by the next afternoon, but kelvin was home with the kids and i was in the middle of a lovely headache, so i didn't get any photos on my camera.

bummer.

cole met his baby brother for the first time thursday evening...

he couldn't have been more proud!!

madison could've cared less, really, but she's showing more interest now.

i expect a few bumps in the road the next few weeks, but for now i think the kids are adjusting reasonably well.

while labor and birth couldn't have gone more opposite than what i'd have hoped with remington, in the end, we're all happy and healthy (or at least, on the mend). rem had to be on oxygen for 15 hours, but has been holding his own incredibly well, so they didn't keep him any longer. he's a sweet little man, doesn't cry unless he's hungry and gave us an easy night last night.

we are SO blessed... <3

remington aaron
4 days

silver linings

2011-03-21T08:39:00.002-05:00

silver linings are nice... i've got a few, i've noticed!

we're still doing the pre-labor thing; but my house has never stayed this clean and organized for so long! (definitely not perfect, but who really has a perfect house??)
poor kelvin is an anxious wreck. the upside is that he's incredibly helpful and checks in at least once a day... so attentive!
my nerves are shot from wondering if *this* round of contractions is the real thing... the good thing is that once the baby is here and all is said and done, my nerves have a good chance of returning- in the form of steel. or maybe titanium, depending on how long this continues.

the kids are picking up on our anxiety/tension (not at each other, just in general, waiting for this little guy to make up his mind). but the good thing is that they're learning to work things out on their own a little more, since mommy can't always waddle in to break it up in time (or she's just too tired to do it... ).

and if THIS isn't a silver lining, i don't know what it... the first bloom on the peace lily from grandma krisher's funeral! i noticed it yesterday afternoon on my way through the kitchen, on my way to flop onto the couch. it was kind of hiding in the background, peeking out between the many leaves. that in itself reminds me of grandma... quiet, not at all concerned about being noticed, just sitting quietly in the background.

this has got to be one of the grayest mondays ever, but here in our house, things are far from that. the kids are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, cooperative (so far) and right now, as i sit on my ball writing this post, they're both giggling and chanting "come out, baby brother! come out, remington!".

madi's even able to say her brother's name... sort of. it comes out more like "rennnn-ton".

it melts my heart that they're excited for their little brother to show up, even if they don't understand completely. sure, they pick up on our tension and anxiety, but they also know that we're happy and excited, and i love that they share in that too. they'll be wonderful big siblings!!

honesty is the best policy

2011-03-18T07:47:00.002-05:00

nope.

no lecture, don't worry... :)

yesterday was our prenatal check with dr h.

after weeks of prelabor with the past week being especially "active", i have to be honest in saying that i was SOOO disappointed to find that i was dilated to only a cm. all that contracting (steady and timeable for hours every day, starting and stopping with no real progress), the numbing exhaustion and soreness that comes with it, the mental and emotional ups and downs... all for a centimeter.

now i know that things can change really fast. i know that, and i keep reminding myself of it, but when you're at the end of your rope and down to two shirts that fit, it's hard to have faith in that little bit of info. it really is.

now don't get me wrong- i absolutely love being pregnant, i really do!! it's such an awesome thing and i'm so blessed to have experienced it for the third time (full-term, anyway)... it's one of the most special times in a woman's life, i think.

that being said, what i don't enjoy quite so much is the weeks of start-stop early labor i've been having. while some resources i've read deem it to actually be a good thing, i have to admit that i'm doubtful that i'll have the energy to go through true labor once it starts. that is, if it takes as long as it has in the past... maybe i'll get really lucky this time and speed through the "hard" part.

alrighty... now that i'm done voicing my frustration, i should add that at this week's appointment, i gained about half a pound and baby's not growing quite so fast either. that must be the silver lining- we're both slowing down a bit, which is a good sign, i suppose. oh, and kelvin and the kids got to come with this time- it was SO sweet to see and hear cole's and madi's reactions to hearing their tiny brother's heartbeat! nothing sweeter... :)

progressive lesson in patience

2011-03-16T08:20:00.002-05:00

yup- ANOTHER lesson in patience.

but more on that in a sec... :)

first, the big thing this week is that auntie sarah is home!!

it's her college spring break, so we get to have her close by for an entire seven days- how awesome is that?!

we made a spur-of-the-moment trip over to mom and dad's monday night for a lasagna supper with them, sarah and chase.

coley helped grandma make the salad :)

i found a madagascar penguins version of the fishing game for under $10, so i couldn't pass it up. the littles had so much fun with the regular version at auntie kandace and uncle duey's on christmas eve that i figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to get our own.

chase chilled.

(sorry- that's the only photos we got of you, man... i can't very well post that you were here and NOT include photographic evidence!)

yesterday afternoon i had my pedicure... almost 2 hours of pure bliss!

not only did our wonderful neighbor do an awesome job, she massaged points on my ankles that are supposed to be good for encouraging labor.

i got four solid hours of prelabor out of it!

mmm, pretty feet!

(all that really mattered to me was getting rid of the dry skin, callouses and pumping some moisture into the poor things)

now for my lesson in patience...

it involves this prelabor thing. it's also known as prodromal labor, or more commonly, "false labor". the last term is not a good one, since there's nothing false about it. technically it's early labor that just doesn't progress, for whatever reason. i've been having it every day for weeks, and let me tell you, it's exhausting. not just physically but emotionally too... but that goes without saying.

last night's round included contractions every two minutes (they lasted between 45 seconds and a minute) for four solid hours. i did some housework, sat on the ball, puttered around in the kitchen, sat down on a regular chair for supper, made a triple batch of pancakes for the freezer, threw in a small load of laundry (since it seemed like we might be heading in to L & D that night...) and scrubbed the kitchen floor. sitting, kneeling, standing, moving, none of it seemed to have any changing effect on the activity. finally, heeding my mom's suggestion, i stretched out on the couch and put my feet up. that's when they slowed. i'm not sure who was more disappointed: kelvin, or me. he had his heart set on this time being "the time", and seeing his enthusiasm, well, i was getting a little stoked too.

so today, with every contraction, i'm going to be doing pelvic tilts and tummy lifts- spinningbabies.com recommends it for lengthy, unprogressive prelabor, so it's worth a try. maybe the little guy needs a little shift to settle down just right? in any case, it can't hurt, and i'll feel more proactive about this extended early labor nonsense. at this point, my ab/side/back muscles ache from the workout, my patience is being tested (hence the post title) and emotionally, i'm ready to be done with the stop-start thing. that was SO last week, hahahaha!

anyway, now that the house is clean (still), the laundry's still caught up, there's food in the freezer and my poor husband's wound tight as can be, there's not much else to do except get the ball rolling a bit faster- which is why i'm doing everything i possibly can to move things along.

mindless meanderings

2011-03-14T12:42:00.002-05:00

the nesting continues... the windows in the kitchen and dining room are clean (just the insides, and it's bugging me that it's too chilly yet to tilt them in to do the outsides!!), i freak out if the stovetop is dirty or there are dishes in the sink, i feel like i should clean the bathroom every single day and i've been caught up with the laundry for about a week now.
it's a very good thing we don't have a chest freezer, or i'd be on a cooking/baking bender too. the urge is there, believe me!!
last week kelvin cleaned out the van (thank you, sweetie!!) and put the baby's carseat in. cole's now in the back seat and has taken to it rather well. i was a bit worried that he might feel left out, but he thinks it's neat! i, on the other hand, feel awful, like he's been banished. i want to cry every time i see him at the very rear of the van, but i'm sure that i'll get used to it too. :)
i have a pedicure booked for tomorrow... second one ever. i had my first pedi three years ago in arizona and haven't had one since. normally i wouldn't splurge, but i can't reach my feet to put lotion on them, so they're in desperate need of some tlc.
the littles are becoming more individual in their food preferences: cole doesn't like scalloped potatoes and ham (at least, not last night) and madi seems to really dislike homemade mac-n-cheese. of course, they're not always consistent, but that's what i've observed over the last 24 hours.

(photo courtesy of daddy!!)

just a random shot of the littles enjoying the static cling on the couch, hahahaha!

my exercise ball is my new best friend... it's getting lots of use and is on the list of things to take with us to labor & delivery. i have no idea why i didn't drag it out long ago...
this lil guy seems to be unable to make up his mind- we've been having a LOT of false labor action, which is exhausting. i sure hope he decides he wants out, and soon.
my belly now measures 53.5" around. very disturbing.
my 'baby' sister is coming home today- yay for college spring break!! we can't wait to spend time with her again, and we're crossing our fingers that she gets her wish of the baby coming while she's still home.
in addition to the ball, i've been doing acupressure. it seems to maybe be doing a LITTLE something- even if not, it's relaxing and still beneficial.
have i mentioned that we're all getting anxious for our little guy to arrive? :)

2011-03-11T11:27:00.003-06:00

lately i've felt like a huge (no kidding. huge.) bear;

an uncomfortable, nearly immobile, achy, itchy, restless, irritable, neurotic bear.

not this morning!

for whatever reason, i woke up feeling like mighty-mom.

or super-woman, except without the svelte physique. that part's long gone, never to be seen again.

(bummer)

not one to pass up an opportunity (usually, although sometimes i do procrastinate and said opportunity gets tired of waiting for me and leaves), i put my new-found energy and pep to good use.

i whipped up a batch of cookie dough.

it's THE best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, and makes a huge batch. we're talking 6 cups of flour, 5 eggs... yeah. big.

but we eat them slowly, so i've gotten into the habit of forming them into balls and freezing them. that way they don't get stale and get tossed, there's not a bunch staring at us begging to be eaten NOW, and if we only need a few cookies, we can take out a few dough balls and bake them. and it tastes way better than most of the frozen dough i've tried (well, except for the expensive school fundraiser kinds. those are usually pretty scrumptious!).

so... i now have 129 individual balls of dough ready and waiting to be baked and devoured...

and for more readily-available treats that don't go stale in a few days, i also made a batch of no-bake cocoa mounds. hey- the main ingredient is oatmeal, so it's not all bad, right?

i even managed to overlook the chaos that has been our household lately... toys scattered everywhere, two small being fighting and having tantrums more than once a day, that sort of thing. while calmly ignoring a rather loud dispute over a certain toy, i had a moment of clarity:
toddler etiquette is nothing like adult etiquette.
they have a whole different set of rules...
which proved true when the screaming match dissolved in a matter of minutes, everyone emerging relatively content and mommy not having uttered a word.
huh.
maybe i should let them fight it out more often...

oh, this looks so comfy!!

funny that madi should take to sitting on a ball, seeing as how i haven't gotten around to dragging mine out. i need to... time to get more proactive in encouraging things to move along a little more quickly so we can meet this little man!

so, i'm not sure if it's a sign of impending labor, since every labor is different, but the energy, the ambition, the calmness... it has to mean something, right? i've had a few intense contractions this morning, but nothing regular, and i've been really focused on relaxing, using a positive mantra and some visualization techniques through each one.

there was a brief, oh-so-brief moment this morning where i thought my water had broken. it was in the middle of a contraction and i was in the kitchen; i stepped on something wet, which turned out to be a very small puddle of water. must've happened when i refilled the brita pitcher. made me giggle a little, knowing that we're at the stage now where stuff like that makes us think "this is it!!".

a lesson in humility came my way this morning- i'm not the kind of person that likes to ask for help, much less accept it when offered. i like to think that i can do it all myself. but i got a phone call from a very special lady, asking if she and her co-worker could bring supper to our house tonight. my first thought was "absolutely not- it's OUR place to feed YOU", but then realized that this is something she wants to do. in not accepting help from someone else because i think i can do it all on my own, i'm denying them the opportunity to feel good about what they're trying to do. just as lending a helping hand makes us feel good, allowing someone else to help us makes them feel good too. now, that doesn't mean i'm totally comfortable with accepting help when it's offered (i'm so used to doing things myself and being in control that it's now way outside of my comfort zone to accept assistance), but i know now that it's not always what i'm comfortable with- it's about the thoughts and intentions of the other person.

funny how things just kind of dawn on you, all of a sudden, after years of thinking that you had it all figured out.

between that and the toddler-etiquette thing, that's two epiphanies for me today.

i'd say that's enough for one day... any more revelations about to come my way can take a number and wait till tomorrow! :)

36-week visit

2011-03-10T17:04:00.002-06:00

well, there's not as much to report as i'd have liked (personally).

baby's down low (but i've known that for a week and a half, hahahaha!) and i'm not dilated at all.

however, i AM about 20% effaced, so that's good.

dr h gave me the green light, so baby can come any time from here on out.

i won't lie, i'm a little disappointed- i was hoping that with all the contractions and such, there'd be more change. i guess it doesn't really matter much, though, because one can remain dilated/effaced for weeks or go from no dilation or effacement to active labor within a few hours. i'm hoping that baby will come next week, though, because that's when my baby sis is home for spring break! :)

this is how it's been...

2011-03-09T20:39:00.005-06:00

i've been lazy in my posting.

whups.

extreme exhaustion may or may not have something to do with that...

madi's been learning to dress herself.

she doesn't always remember to take off her clothes before putting her pj's on.

(and vice versa)

"i got it, mama!"

big brother already knows how to dress and undress himself with very minimal help, so he's in a good position to give little sister some pointers.
(so eager to help that he forgot to put his own pj's on first, hahahahaa!)

this past weekend, kelvin's uncle randy and aunt karen were in the area, so we went to his parents' place to see them for a few hours.

madi conned a tractor ride out of auntie karen...

she didn't even have to twist her arm! :)

the tractors are always the highlight of their visits to grandpa dan and grandma ruby's!

madison helped auntie kandace take down the laundry... who'd have thought that clothespins could be SO much fun?!

sunday my parents came and brought lunch.

it was yummy, and a real treat to not have to move around so much.

(walking is very painful these days!!)

after lunch the kids entertained us all...

(nice hair, madi!)

(you move that way, i'll go this way, and i'm sure we can both squeeze in here!)

(see? told you!!)

... and then were entertained by grandpa!

they thought a ride in the toy bin was pretty nifty.

unfortunately, when they asked to do it again the next day, i had to say no. there's no way i'm managing that one at this point!

we've had some more false labor episodes, all of them short-lived. that's ok- it's good practice!
i may or may not be nesting... today found me clearing out the fridge, wiping it down, washing all the gladware (that held the old leftovers i tossed), giving the kitchen floor a very good scrubbing and doing laundry at bedtime. (which reminds me, i need to stick that load in the dryer...)
yesterday i got all the itty-bitty baby boy clothes put away, and cole's clothes moved to his new dresser. the dresser is in the dining room right now because we want to get the floor in his room re-finished before moving his bed, dresser and nightstand in. we COULD move it all in right now and just stick it in our room when it comes time to redo the floors, but that doesn't seem all that logical. so for now, the poor kiddo has his entire wardrobe stashed in the dining room, except for the few things that hang in the closet.
tomorrow is our 36-week appointment. whether or not i get checked depends on if the charts in the clinic were updated since the ultrasound last week. if they weren't, they'll still have me at 35 weeks, but seeing as how i'm measuring so far ahead, dr h may have planned on doing a check anyway. i'm anxious to see if anything's happening! after my 32-week check, when dr h felt baby's head down where it should be, i helped kelvin feel our little guy's noggin when i got home. now, though, i can no longer feel it. knowing from our ultrasound that he IS head-down and low, i'm hoping that he's already engaged and moving down further. my word- tomorrow afternoon canNOT come soon enough!
this pregnancy has been pretty much back-pain-free, compared to the last two, which included excruciating back pain the entire time. both times. i've been SO lucky with that this time, and until last night, didn't really feel anything. so- lower back pain: another good indication that the end is near(er)!
all in all, i'm going to miss being pregnant. i always do. the excitement and relief that come with delivering a sweet little one is always mixed with a little sadness that there's no longer a tiny life inside me anymore. some people absolutely dread being preggo, some people love it. i'd have to say i definitely love it. even when desperation for d-day hits, it's still something i love.
i WILL update tomorrow, after i get back from my appointment... :)

and we all breathed a sigh of relief...

2011-03-04T13:39:00.002-06:00

...because our 'emergency' ultrasound showed that our little guy is head-down.

w-a-y down.

so far down that our technician had some considerable difficulties in getting measurements for baby's head.

and our due date is now april 6th...

estimated weight is about 5 1/2 pounds.

so...

all's well, pressure's still on (but now we know for sure what's causing it- that little noggin is really deep!) and we have one less week to worry about.

most of all, we're relieved that he's ok, he's locked and loaded and now all we have to do is wait.

---> insert huge grin here <---

pressure: explained (and other things)

2011-03-03T18:54:00.003-06:00

*EDIT: "emergency" ultrasound scheduled for 12:30 today... the kids are excited to see daddy early, and cole's anxious to "see the baby on the 'puter".
~
in the last few days, i've been super lazy about taking photos.

i did get some video of cole tonight, though... i don't have the patience to try to figure out how to post it here, but i'll share the story: we were sitting at the table for supper, and i winked at cole, then asked him if he could wink too (he learned to do it quite awhile ago). he did... he winked with one eye, then the other, giggled, then continued to wink one eye and then the other, told us he was a cop car and made siren noises.

i'm sure i don't have to mention that we laughed. hard.

what a creative lil man!!

gummy bears.

organic, dye-free ones.

perfect potty-training reward.

(which madi got the other day for going potty on the toilet. just once. and her reward was enjoyed very thoroughly, i must add!)

being 34 weeks yesterday, my appointment was today. i was hoping i'd not measure more than two weeks ahead, that baby would have indeed dropped enough to make it worth mentioning, etc.

instead, this is what happened: after waiting forever (45 minutes, to be exact) to be called back, i was greeted by dr h's nurse with "holy cow!!". hahaha! i have to laugh, because i was in the same cna class as he was, so i know he's a funny dude. we love nurse john!!

we did the usual pre-exam stuff, then dr h came in and started by asking if we'd had to make any more trips up to labor & delivery. he asked if i was taking it easy (yes. i feel lazy. REALLY lazy.), then went to feel for baby's head. instead of hearing something to the effect of "oh, that little noggin is nice and low", i heard "ummm... there's baby's head, beneath the left side of your ribcage, and his rump is beneath the right.".

oh.

well, what now?

dr h rushed out of the room to see if there were any ultrasound techs left, but they'd all left already. maybe if my appointment had started on time... ? instead of getting a last-minute scan to confirm baby's position, central scheduling will call tomorrow to try to set something up, and my weekly visits will start a week early because of the whole transverse position thing. it can usually be corrected by external manipulation, but i've bookmarked some yoga moves to help correct it, so maybe we can avoid an uncomfortable "turn the baby!" session. seems that this isn't that common: 1 in 2,500 births. fortunately, we're not birthing yet, so we have time to get him to turn back. the good news is that the position he's in is what's causing me to now measure 3 weeks ahead. it's also what's responsible for this incredible pressure i've been feeling.

mystery solved!

the other good news is that dr h feels he's not a big baby, so he's small enough yet that he can flip back... especially since he was head-down at my 32-week visit.

now i'm just crossing my fingers that scheduling will be able to fit me in for that ultrasound tomorrow sometime so i don't have to spend the weekend wondering (and yes, worrying a little too!!). i'm banking on those yoga moves to do the trick. we really really don't want him to stay sideways because even if it's comfy for him, it's not at all fun for mommy. AND there's the c-section factor; we'd like to avoid that for sure!!

the pressure's on!

2011-02-28T19:03:00.003-06:00

literally, it's on.

all of a sudden this morning, i felt as if an entire rodeo just stampeded across my lower pelvic region.

(no, i didn't hear all those little hoofbeats. a warning would have been nice, though, hahaha!)

so, that prompted me to take a comparison photo this evening...

the difference in physical feeling between now and 6 days ago is huge, so i'm curious as to whether or not anyone can see a visible difference...

for now, my trips out of the house will be on a necessity-only basis.

not only can i fit into pretty much nothing but my pj's, but walking is now nearly impossible. assuming this wonderful pressure doesn't subside, i'm sitting here at home. in my pajamas.

not that it's a bad thing... uncomfortable, very. but i still love being pregnant. there's nothing like it, even with the minor (and major!) discomforts at the end. my next prenatal exam is thursday- it goes without saying that i'm beyond anxious to see what dr h says, both about the labor scare AND if baby has indeed dropped.

in the meantime, what do YOU think... any difference?

picasso's back!

2011-02-26T18:48:00.002-06:00

this time, though, 'picasso' used an acceptable surface for his artwork.

he proudly presented "curious george"!

(you have to look at it sideways, because i forgot to rotate the photo)

not bad, huh?

actually, his mommy and daddy made quite a fuss over it. you know, because it's a big deal to them :)

he also drew a page full of trains, but they're in colored pencil so it's a bit hard to see in a photo.

(his very proud mommy dated it, though, and it's being tucked away for safe keeping. or maybe it'll be framed and put in his room.)

they're going nowhere fast.

and safely, of course!
i'm lucky enough to have a wonderful husband that let me take a solo trip down to appleton (which is why the carseats are in the house... just in case there was an emergency and they needed to be put into the truck), as long as i promised not to over-do it. i TRIED to keep my end of the bargain, but alas, being on my feet for any amount of time seems to stimulate some pretty good contractions. at least i wasn't running all over- i took a stroll through hobby lobby and found a few things, checked out goodwill and world market very quickly and then came home. and either it's the contractions or the baby's dropped, but the day's activities (if you could really even call it that) has resulted in some fairly strong cramping and pressure. i guess i'll have to resign myself to restricted activity from here on out.

sigh.

at least it's not total bedrest- i'd go nuts.

anyway, it was great to have a few hours to myself... thank you to my wonderful hubster!!

.aftermath.

2011-02-25T13:16:00.003-06:00

well...

good thing that babies are a result of real labor, because false labor is exhausting.

i can't imagine real labor without any "baby high" to mask that!

i had no idea i would be THIS tired after that, and it wasn't even a major false labor scare.

i'm pooped.

my abs and sides hurt.

and this lil monkey seems to think that the appropriate way out is through my side.

oh, and obeying strict orders to "take it easy" isn't really that easy when you have two other small kids to deal with!

we also decided that there'd better be no more pre-term labor scares, because it's also not that fun to pack up everything, arrange for help with the kids, only to have to un-pack everything again in a few hours. not to mention, the kids might've been a tad bit disoriented and confused, hahaha!

anyway, here's hoping that everything stays as it should for another 3 weeks, minimum!
*
on the up-side... the nurse we had in labor and delivery last night said "wow! that belly's ALL baby!".
that's one thing i don't mind hearing... :)

all bark, no bite.

2011-02-24T20:44:00.002-06:00

or something to that effect, anyway.

it wasn't so much "bark" as contractions, and more action than "bite".

but it was enough to warrant a visit to labor and delivery for monitoring.

after having some pretty decent contractions every 2 or 3 minutes for about 2 hours, kelvin insisted that i call theda on-call, so i did... and they recommended getting things checked out.

mom and dad met us in new london and sat with the kids while we were monitored (pretty regular activity and baby looked great, thankfully!), sampled (urine test, which came back clean), and checked (no dilation. whew.). at one point, cole came into the room we were in (the same room madi was born in!), saw me up and off the monitors, and with a very disappointed look on his face said, "hey! you don't have your baby out of your tummy!".

hmmm- that's a good sign; i'd love for him to be excited over having his new brother!

anyway, since nothing was happening and there was no infection, we were sent home with strict instructions to lay low and push fluids. that makes me giggle just a little, since it seems a tad bit counter-intuitive: drink more but be up and about less? huh. give me a catheter and we can make it happen, hahahaha!

this was from yesterday: the littles built a tower of blocks for their daddy (with a boost or two from him once it got past their heads)! they had fun doing it and daddy had fun taking pictures of it. daddy goes back to work tomorrow (after being laid off for almost two weeks), and i think they're going to be mighty disappointed about being short a playmate. they've grown rather attached to him!
*
anyway...
all's well that ends well.
i'm not on my feet and i've got a big glass of ice and liquids, AND i'm on the couch so i don't have to go up and down the stairs every time my bladder begs for mercy. the contractions have lessened a little in the last half hour, so that's a good sign. and of course, baby boy is still movin' non-stop, also a good sign.
oh, and i have permission to share his name:
remington aaron.
(his middle name is in honor of my uncle aaron)