say cheese!

really, say cheese- chances are just slightly more than none that cole will say it too! i was getting him a little snack this morning, which happened to be a few cubes of cheddar, and i kept telling him it was cheese... pretty soon i hear "tseeeee". that's a new one! he said it several times and that was it- i haven't heard it since. but- it was most definitely a word! yay!!

i love it when we get a good shot of his face and his eyes really stand out- i melt.

bonita and cole played a few duets for us last night! our visit was so enjoyable (minus that fact that a certain little someone was VERY testy), it ended too soon. i'd completely forgotten that kelvin's grandma barb is jennifer's aunt... so we're kind of related, in a round-about way! i'm thankful we got a visit in now, because we might not be home during winter meetings... there's a good chance we may be a little occupied somewhere else. speaking of- i have a dr appointment tomorrow and we're anxious to see what's happening (if anything). kelvin thinks that i'll already be dilated a little, but i won't bet on it. of course, if it turns out that i am, i'll never hear the end of it from him. i don't know why HE'S so anxious- he's not the one that's the size of a small island!

anyway, someone smells a little funky (ain't me... for the record), so i have a little business to take care of. smells urgent. we'll post tomorrow, of course... :)

miscellaneous

oh, the bittersweet last 6 weeks of pregnancy...

i've definitely forgotten what it's like. on one hand, it's amazing to see and feel that sweet tiny person moving, living and just "being" in there. on the other hand, let's just get this done with already! i know- i delivered early with cole and this little girl will probably be the same way, so i've never had to be over-due, but i can just about imagine what it would be like.

my skin can't possibly stretch anymore, not without some small miracle. no kidding- last night, i tried to pinch the skin on my belly but it's SO TIGHT that i couldn't get a grip on it. not even when i tried using the very tips of my fingernails. mind you, we're not even 35 weeks yet.

i'll now be wearing my oversized fleece shirt and random pairs of pj pants as my main wardrobe. even those wonderful secret-fit belly panels don't do the trick anymore. i noticed this yesterday- i usually wear them half-folded over (otherwise they make me itchy), and as soon as i took my hand off the panel, it just rolled on down my belly. guess my shape has changed...

i've noticed this with the rest of my clothes- no more full coverage for me! toga party, anyone?? i think a bedsheet would be my best bet for remaining "decent"...

please don't get me started on bras.

one word- hormones. all i can say is, the love of family is definitely unconditional, otherwise i'd be out of luck; thanks to everyone who has to put up with me on a daily basis! i'm sorry, and it will get better before too long! :)

i could really go for an ice right about now... (yes, i know- i'm anemic!)

totally unrelated to pregnancy, hormones and the like- bonita and jennifer are coming for supper tonight! between living in this particular neck of the woods and moving to arizona and back, it's been at least a year since we've had a worker's visit, so this is pretty exciting for us... thankfully, since moving back i've been far more organized and "clean" then ever... weird, since now there's kids involved. usually i get really nervous when we have visitors of any sort because i know i will NEVER be in the running for world's best housekeeper (not even remotely), but since the worst offense is the scattering of toys in the living room, i'm not off my rocker about having company! yay!

dirty laundry...

...is now going to be taken care of on the main floor!!! yes, today i got my first-floor laundry; this was started about three years ago and until today, got no further than the water hook-ups. HUGE thanks to mom and dad for coming and helping with the project and bringing lasagna!

kelvin wedged in behind the dryer...

cole "helping". once, when he was jabbering away, my dad was in the basement and copied the noise he was making; the look on cole's face was to die for! he knew it was grandpa but wasn't 100% sure exactly where grandpa was.the finished (almost) laundry room! i wish i had thought to start taking pictures earlier on, but didn't. the floor used to be a gross white linoleum, and is now laminate flooring (partly). there was a toilet to the right that was just in the way so it came out. an extra toilet would have been nice, but the seal busted about a year or so ago, so out it came.

and cole's enjoying the new room- he's been pushing this wire cart around a good part of the day. kept him occupied off and on for quite awhile! he's starting to understand that there's more than one way of doing things- i watched him try to push the cart over the metal strip, and when it got stuck, he walked around to the other side and pulled it over! i love it when little kids figure stuff out... their little minds are so amazing!
anyway, now i can do laundry a little more easily- i don't have to leave cole (and soon, the baby) alone while i try to toss in a load or two. and the basement stairs? whew. especially right now- those stairs are brutal. i can't thank kelvin and dad enough for getting this done... it means so much! and mom is relieved that i don't have to tackle the steps now. there are a few more things left to do, like get some cabinets and a shelf above the washer and dryer and do some touch-up painting, but nothing that can't wait. the big job is done, and that's all i could ask for right now!

pudding-face

cole had his first chocolate pudding yesterday and (big surprise) he loved it! i'm not big on giving him sugar or anything like that... he usually has applesauce or yogurt with lunch for his "sweet" treat, but i think it's time he gets a little something special every now and again. it's all good, in moderation! i discovered that no matter how carefully you feed a small child chocolate pudding, they still manage to grow the tell-tale pudding mustache! must be a sign that it's super delicious.

i got ONE serious face out of this little ham.
love the grin! lately, when cole sees the camera, he starts making these really cheesy, goofy faces. typical kid, i guess. his personality is really exploding, sometimes quite literally. he's so expressive and also has a bit of a temper, we've noticed. that would be an understatement. i have no doubt that he gets that from me... although i'm not big into banging my head on the floor (or whatever hard surface is handy) when i get frustrated. he's starting to be able to act on simple commands, too- i'll tell him to wait for me by his highchair when i get lunch ready, and the past two days he's done so! he's not big on listening to "no", but what kid enjoys that? his big thing is dancing... he'll jive to the sound of the neighbor's truck revving in the driveway next door! my guess is that he may just have a musical bone or two in his body; last night we stopped at mcdonald's in town after the candlelight memorial because kelvin was "starved", and cole had slept most of the way home. he woke up when kelvin got out of the truck, and even though he wasn't really awake, he IMMEDIATELY started bouncing to the beat of the radio! i was so amazed... his eyes weren't even open and he was already dancing. i've noticed that he really listens until he has the beat and most of the time he can adjust himself to match it. awww, my little musician!

2008 candlelight memorial

we go every year.these are taylor and london's candles... i wish i could have gotten a photo of all the candles at once, but i wasn't fast enough. there's just something special about seeing all those little flames shining and dancing so brightly, reminding us that our little ones will always shine bright in our hearts.

i have to mention that the highlight of the memorial service (for me, anyway) was seeing jen... she used to be the remembering through sharing coordinator, until a new position took her elsewhere. the last candlelight memorial she coordinated was in 2006, so it was wonderful to see her again!

oh pantless wonder

i forgot the load of jeans in the dryer last night- or rather, i knew they were down there, i just didn't feel like bringing a big load up from the basement and sending myself into another bout of braxton-hicks. so when cole got up this morning, he had no pants!

i love those chubby little legs poking out from under his over-sized sweatshirt!

by the way, to elissa, logan and coy- thanks again for the sweatshirt and stuff!!

i'm not about to let my poor kid run around with no pants all day- what kind of mommy would i be?? those little legs sure were cute, though...

this is a photo i forgot to post earlier (like, last week)... kelvin got some free gift or something from his north american hunting club thingy, and the box was perfect for a tot-sized truck! he spent quite a bit of time on it, cutting it out, taping it up and drawing on it. of course, it's a dodge ram... what else? cole LOVED it, and i mean L-O-V-E-D it! still does, actually- he pushes it around with toys inside. anyway, kelvin pushed cole around in the "truck" until his back and knees got sore, and when he stopped, the tears began! oh boy- you'd have thought it was the end of the world... the poor child was heartbroken! needless to say, once the "truck" is done in beyond salvaging, we'll have to sneak it out to the trash or there will be a massive meltdown.

i don't know what anyone else thinks, but the snow here is beautiful! cole's been occupied at the window, watching the neighbor plow their driveway with his fourwheeler... he's been standing there as still as can be, except for his little noggin that keeps turning to follow the fourwheeler! i'm just excited that we have a winter wonderland started! not so big on the actual cold, but the snow is pretty- it's kind of hard to readjust to the chilly weather after spending half of last winter in arizona. anyway- i've been on the lookout for potential jobs that i can do and still stay at home with the kids; there are SO many scams out there, but last night i responded to a posting on craigslist for an afterhours scheduler, and today, an actual person called me! they have a few people who've expressed interest, and so she's going to give me a call back on friday. it's not too hard of a job- pretty much what it sounds like. i know that there would be some middle-of-the-night calls, but hey- if i can make a legitimate income and stay at home with the kids, then that's a small price to pay. i'm pretty sure i just jinxed myself by saying something, but i hope that i get the job... then again, if it's meant to be, it will be. it's so hard to stay patient when things get tough! i've been reading a little in the book of job and that's given me a little better perspective on what's really important, and that if i keep my priorities in order then God will take care of the rest.

this is what we did...

...the condensed version. wish i could post photos of all the things we did and all the cousins, but time and space are a bit limited!

the highlight of the week was spending time with elissa and logan and meeting coy...

he is SUCH a little darling!!!
cole met coy and was impressed- he was even gentle, as much as a 15-month old can be. he gave baby coy kisses on the head, poked at his little nose and mouth, and was utterly fascinated!

cole also had fun with grandma's utensil drawers. this is a pretty common occurrence, now that he's found that a) he can open the drawers and b) there are tons of fun things inside to play with. by saturday evening, he kind of understood that if he got into the drawer, he was allowed to pick one thing to play with... he actually took out one spatula and then shut the drawer!

we all ate plenty at thanksgiving dinner, as demonstrated by sarah and chase!

auntie sarah and cole decided to make faces in the mirror on saturday morning...

we got to meet mary and dale's new little guy, gus... he's only a week older than coy! what a sweet little puppy!

and how do you wrap up thanksgiving weekend? baking and decorating cookies, of course! the cousins had plenty of fun with that- so did the "big kids"!

the two cousins got matching shirts from grandma on friday, so saturday they wore them with jeans. it was SO cute, but hard to get a picture of. one of them just didn't want to sit still. hmmm, i wonder who THAT one was...

uncle logan's birthday was sunday, so we celebrated on saturday night while they were still here. we went out to eat as a family, which mom and dad really enjoyed, because all of us kids were together, in one place, at the same time! of course, there was birthday cake, because what's a birthday without cake? by the time that was done, we were exhausted, so we headed home. it was so hard to leave, knowing that it might be awhile before we see logan, elissa and coy again, but we had so much fun with them while they were here!

and finally, a bellyshot. 33 weeks and ready to bust, i think. that would be cole playing with the curtain behind me. kind of an embarrassing photo, really- i was still tired from the week's events and didn't get any sleep saturday night, so please excuse the old hag look! i think friday really did me in- we went to kohl's in neenah first, had lunch at culver's and then headed to the outlet malls in oshkosh. it was a lot of fun and we found great deals, but by the late afternoon, i was pretty uncomfortable. this baby is sitting differently than cole was and i can really feel it when i move around a lot. ahhh, the final stretch of pregnancy (literally...!)- the joys, aches and pains! one thing i need to do today is get a list made out of things to pack for the hospital and for cole...i'll feel a little more prepared once i do that!! hopefully i won't forget where i put the list when i'm done!