conversations with cole

"good morning, peanut! how's mommy's happy boy?"
"phtbtbtbtbtb."
"mommy's got your bottle, baby..."
"phtbtbtbtbtb."
"where's the baby? peekaboo!"
"phtbtbtbtbtb."
"cole, mommy loves you!"
"phtbtbtbtbtb."
etc.....

fun times and new talents

alrighty... cole had been napping for the past half hour, so i'm going to take my chances and start a new post. i'm proably jinxing myself by trying to get something done while he's actually asleep... it's lucky enough that he's NAPPING!! i'm trying to get him on a schedule again, and i just decided that if he can go down the same times each day, even if it's only for 15 minutes, that maybe eventually he'll get into a routine again.
ANYhoo... on saturday we were desperate to get out and DO something! kelvin got out the tourist guide book and started flipping through it. he found a few things that weren't too far away that we could easily do, and we decided to check out this place near phoenix called rawhide. it's an old west attraction, just a small place. it's mostly little shops, but there are people dressed in costume and stuff, and there's a steakhouse (they serve rattlesnake... GROSS! better eaten than out and about biting people, i guess...) and several things to see and do, including camel rides and performances. we caught one of the shows, about a gunfighter that came to town... it was pretty good! they had really loud pistols, of course, and i was sure that it would make cole cry when they started firing, but it didn't phase him. he didn't even look around to see what was going on! it was cool just to walk around and look at different things. pretty relaxing. we forgot sunscreen, so cole had a miniature (and very faint) 'farmer tan' to match his daddy's! he did really well... i was anticipating a bit of fussing and stuff, but he was more than happy to watch all the people and just take in the goings-on. and kelvin and i? we were happy just to be out and DOING something. after lying around sick for several weeks, we needed to get out.
last night we went out to dinner with phil and jeanette and their five kids... christian, ? (i can NOT remember his name!!), remington, sahara and 'bella. we had a lot of fun just visiting... it's great to find someone that you really can connect with. they were the ones that kinda took us in, so to speak, after we got down here. lots of light-hearted conversation, laughs, etc.! we really enjoy being with them... i wonder if we can take them along when we come back home...? [joke]
so after an exciting couple of days (at least, more excitement than we've had for a few weeks), today is pretty laid back. not too much to do- the laundry got done yesterday- it was a mad dash because pretty much everything was ready to go in- and i also made squash for cole. he hasn't had it in awhile, so i wondered if he'd like it yet... he loves it! and i doubted why? of course he loved it- it's FOOD!
oh, and one more thing- cole has learned two new tricks... first, he makes this funny, kinda hideous face- he flares out his nostrils and wrinkles up his nose. what a ham. second, he finally learned to blow razzberries... constantly. seriously, he did it all the way home from rawhide on saturday. needless to say, his shirt was soaked. sweet, silly baby!

something new

and, cole learned something new today! we've been attempting to get him to try to feed himself finger food for what seems like ages now (actually, only about two weeks or so). he'd gotten the right idea... we'd give him a gerber puff and he'd pat it, grab at it and eventually his little fingers would wrap around it. then, with mommy holding her breath in high hopes that his little fist would wander it's way to his mouth (because that's what happens with everything else that he picks up), he'd pause, look at mommy and throw it on the floor. or sometimes he'd skip the drama and just swipe it off the side of his tray. today, he decided to try something new... he played around with the puff, then looked at it (mind you, it was tightly squeezed between his thumb and middle finger) and then slowly he inched his hand toward his mouth... and... in it went! ooooh, mommy was so excited! yeah, i made a pretty big deal out of it... i think it kinda scared him at first. after he realized that it was a GOOD thing, he tried again. call it beginner's luck with the first attempt... he kept missing after that. at least he knows what to do with his snack now, besides throw it all over creation! now, if we could just get the hang of that sippy cup... it gets thrown all over creation too... after it gets beat half to death.
today was also cole's first bubble bath... we got him some curious george bubble bath from target... it was pretty neat to see him try to figure out those bubbles. i got some pretty good pictures, but as i still don't have my camera cable... the lady at the post office said today that it could take another week, and after that, well, it just may be lost. i did stress the point that it's rather difficult for a package to just no longer exist, which made her laugh. i'm not sure if it was in agreement or because she found it funny, that she laughed. glad i could bring a little humor to her day... whenever i get that cable, i will post pictures, i promise. and this will have to be continued at a later time... cole is VERY insistent that i deal with him now. speaking of drama... :)

maybe it's gone postal...

sorry about the cheesy title, i couldn't think of anything else. and yes, the box from mom is still missing... not quite sure what's going on with it. i still think it's impossible to actually lose a piece of mail. a postcard, quite possibly. a package, not so much. i mean, think about it... it's gotta end up SOMEWHERE, and there's got to people (or at least a person) at that somewhere, and you'd think that they'd say, "hey, this package/letter/miscellaneous piece of mail isn't where it's supposed to be" and that they'd return it to the post office where it would be redirected to it's original destination. or, if there were any doubts as to where it was supposed to be headed, it would be returned to sender. i do think it's quite impossible for any item circulating in the usps system to actually cease to exist. if that were the case, then yes, it could be classified as lost. anyway, that's how i see it.
cole decided to have a 2 am crib party this morning and was rather adamant in expressing that he did NOT want to go back to sleep. he did... eventually. it came down to me laying on the couch with him in a total bodylock before he finally settled down and drifted off. then he slept till 6... an hour later than usual! which brings another random pondering to mind... if babies and mommies get the same amount of sleep (or lack of it), how come the baby usually looks very well rested and mommy looks like death warmed over? don't babies need more sleep than us adults? so shouldn't baby look worse off than mommy? hmmmm... so many questions, so little time. i really don't expect an explanation on any of these! it's more for fun, and for lack of excitement. seriously, sometimes i think there really is a hamster on a wheel in my head and he has insomnia along with an insatiable need to just book it on that wheel all day. he's going nowhere fast, that's why my thoughts are kinda pointless, i guess.
since there's not a whole lot else to report from this end, i'll wrap it up... and on a final note, i really can't wait to find out what happened to that package; i'm really missing my camera cable! so many pictures to post...

random thoughts

i've been wondering, what is it with the shopping carts in this town? is it just the town or the whole state? i dunno... but yesterday we had a small episode with a shopping cart. we went to target to get a few things we needed (rather, kelvin needed; cole and i just tagged along- cole rode and i dragged). after we put our stuff in the truck and kelvin was strapping cole into his carseat, i put our cart into the cart corral. odd, since the general practice here is to just leave your cart wherever... but that empty cart corral looked a tad bit lonely, so that's where i parked the thing. i turned and started walking back to the truck, only to see kelvin pointing at me and laughing. at least, i thought he was pointing at me. i looked behind me and saw the cart rolling away from the corral. seems it had other plans and decided to turn itself around and roll in the opposite direction. there it was, toodling it's merry way off across the blacktop. it sure looked like it was going somewhere, rather determined and full of purpose. i know, that's an awful lot of personality for a metal and plastic contraption... blame it on my imagination, which also seems to do a lot of running off on it's own these days. i think i'd like to take up writing, as in getting something published. i just don't know WHAT to write... if anyone has any ideas, please feel free to pass them on!
anyhoo, back to real life... cole's eyes are pretty much back to normal, and he's learned how to share. unfortunately, he shared his pink eye with mommy! and, as i am allergic to the eye drops used for treating pink eye, i think i'll just have to wait it out, which is possible. i can also get some saline eye wash to help rinse out the infection. and yes, mom, i promise that if it doesn't start going away or getting worse in a few days, i will see a doctor. :) just thought i'd add that...
in other news, less than two weeks and elissa will be here, then mom, dad and sarah! all in the same weekend... elissa will be coming in on tuesday, april 15, and the rest of the family will fly in a few days after her. i can't wait to see her and her little baby belly! and since her next ultrasound is the day before she gets here, maybe we'll know if we're going to have a niece or a nephew.... personally, i think it's a boy. can't wait to see everyone....

he can see clearly now, the crust is gone...

yay, no crusty goobers this morning! how wonderful, to pick cole up out of his bed and not have to run for cottonballs and warm water and prepare myself for the battle that would typically ensue. i'm sure he feels so much better now that he can open his eyes on his own again... and i figured out a better way to get his eye drops in (we can stop them on monday). thanks to the mechanics of the oh-so-handy-dandy- spacesaver highchair (thank you, fisher-price), i've started strapping cole into his highchair, tilting it back to the beginner position and then sticking his eye drops in. i don't have to sit on him and he no longer has to be afraid of being squished by mommy. works good for his antibiotics, too... doesn't dribble out so much. i'm picturing all the experience mommies out there laughing and saying, "well, duh!" [joke], but i'm learning as i go... what a process!
kelvin and i took ourselves into urgent care yesterday afternoon... he has bronchitis (no prescription....?) and i was told i just have a virus and got a prescription for some heavy-duty cough medicine. lo and behold, it works. REALLY well! i didn't cough once all night. and i slept, too. this stuff has codeine in it. initially i was a bit concerned about that, since it makes me puke (along with vicodin, percocet, all that 'good' stuff), but amazingly, i felt fine. and this stuff tastes really good too... like coconut, no hint of the usual cough-syrup-y flavor whatsoever. yumm. so while it worked wonders for the cough, no help with the sore throat. i could swear there's a red-hot poker iron stuck in there (sideways) and on top of that, someone gave my throat muscles a charley-horse. even my tongue hurts... but "it's just a virus". must be some virus, if it's still got a good hold after 10 days! at least cole's feeling better...that's all that REALLY concerns me.
as for posting photos, i am SO sorry, folks. there seems to be a discrepancy on how long it really takes for a package to arrive via post. mom mailed it last week monday. the postmaster there told her it would take three to four days to arrive. the post office here says that if it was mailed first class, it would take 2-3 days; if it was mailed parcel post, it could take as long as three weeks. THREE WEEKS!! wow. and poor mom- i told her what the post office told me- i asked her if she mailed it parcel post or first class... "i just mailed it", she said! mom, sometimes you are SO cute! of course you just mailed it- i would too. the way i see it, there really can't be TOO mcuh difference between first class and everything else, but whatever. so... it might be another week and a half before we get our camera cable! by then, i'll have to re-educate myself on the finer points of downloading photos... oooh, and if any employees of the united states post office are reading this and know where this particular package may have gotten to, please let me know asap! adios for now... :)

life with pink eye continues...

ok, eye drops for infants... i'd like to find the pharmacist who invented the treatment for pink eye and stopped with the drops. ermmm, infants and eye drops? really? ya gotta be kidding. at first, i thought, "eye drops. ok." and then, while waiting at cvs for cole's prescriptions to be filled, i got to thinking... eye drops usually aren't all that comfortable. and babies have the quickest reflexes... is this really gonna work? so, we had a little chat with the pharmacist (they actually have a 'consultation counter' at cvs...); he said to try to get most of it into cole's eyes. obviously, if one of the drops landed somewhere close to his eye but not in it, that one wouldn't count. but don't worry if some of it leaks out. ok... guess i can live with that. then, after we got home, i noticed that his perscription was for 2 drops in each eye every two hours while awake. BAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAhaha... ha. now that's just asking a lot! one drop in each eye is enough of a process to result in some major battle scars... TWO drops in each eye? every two waking hours??? oh, and the best part- there should be a five-minute interval between the first round and second round of drops. oh boy. this will be an all-day process. seems our little chat with the pharmacist should've been a bit longer... i've decided that it's too inhumane to lay cole on the floor and hold his head still between my knees (because i am only one person and therefore have one set of arms and the process requires a small army...), insert drops, wait five minutes and repeat. that, and if someone were to look through our window, i might have to answer a few questions downtown, if you get my drift. we're just shooting both rounds in really fast... less effective, maybe, but definitely more humane! which got me thinking some more- after years and years of treating pink eye in infants and small children, you'd think that by now, there would be an easier yet equally effective alternative to those eye drops. hmmmm. maybe i'll start a campaign to find a better method and thus end the torture of innocent pink-eyed babies world-wide. [joke] oh, and did i mention that these particular eye drops are sulfacetamide sodium? i am allergic to sulfa! hope there's another medication out there, because i'm pretty sure cole has passed this thing on to me (hello urgent care, we're back!) and i'm equally sure i don't want THOSE in my eyes. it's so sweet that my son has learned to share... too bad it wasn't something a bit nicer! at least his antibiotic for his ear infection is easier to give. and it tastes yummy too. and, as life with pink eye continues, my son is screaming at me to pay attention to him! duty calls...

one last thought- if your eyes are pink, is it the same thing as wearing rose-colored glasses? i mean, do you get the same view? just wonderin'...

oh, and happy april fool's day!