post for daddy!

auntie sarah came this weekend to help out with the kids... thanks again!! (and thanks to erica too, since she was here and kept cole entertained and madison happy during meeting). as you can see, daddy, miss squish looks a lot like you! she's going to be a daddy's girl, i think.

cole takes after you with the ranch, daddy!

however, his love for the stuff doesn't go beyond the packaging. his face when he sampled the stuff was pretty funny!

and again, like father, like son. this is how i found cole's toys. he parked them there himself!

so, daddy, we've been hanging in there. mommy's only slightly frazzled, but we think she'll make it! no, really- she's fine, and so are we. we've made her laugh and made her want to rip out her hair... not usually at the same time, though. like today, during meeting: when the cup went around during emblems, i (cole) thought it would be fun to say "ahhhh" every time someone took a sip. it WAS funny, no matter what mommy says, and i know this because she was trying really hard not to laugh out loud! so were a few other people. anyway, we miss you and love you (mommy does too) and can't wait till you come home!

love,

boog and squish

big-boy cup!

mommy forgot to do dishes last night, so there were no clean sippy cups this morning. therefore, cole got a crash-course in using a big-boy cup. it started out well...
"ahhhh."

... and ended like this. mommy learned a lesson- keep your hand about a centimeter away from the cup at all times until he gets the hang of using a big-boy cup! poor kid- he didn't know that if you throw your big-boy cup overboard it doesn't do the same thing your sippy cup does. big-boy cups spill. he got a scolding only because he knows better than to throw his cup.

i think i may have a clue as to what cole was sick with the past week. roseola again! i looked it up and although recurrences aren't common, they do happen. that would explain the high fever last week, the diarrhea he had and the mild rash that showed up on his tummy and chest. the rash wasn't NEAR as bad as last time. it's starting to fade now, he's had no more nasty diapers and the fever's been gone for awhile. anyway, that's my guess... as for madison, she shows no signs of having caught it, thank goodness!

a little late, but...

...i did cole's 18-month photos today. elissa and i had tried to get some when they were here but it just wasn't going to happen! he didn't want to sit. we did, however, get some for madison's 1-month shots. anyhoo, i figure i'll just wait to print them out, since madison's 2-month session is coming up before too long. i got a lot of photos and he sat SO well- i'm flabbergasted! and to top it all off, he had fun. here's the proof...

giggling for mommy

excited to be the center of attention!

this is the only one i've edited so far... i need about a half a day with no interruptions. ha! slowly but surely... anyway, i was thinking of throwing a prop in, but he didn't want to pose with it. he preferred to give kisses, so i had to take a few shots of that too! maybe this time, i can use mpix for all three photos (madison's 1 and 2 month and cole's 18 month) since i LOVE the quality and it's easier than printing at home. and they're affordable. in the meantime, i thought i'd share...

here's what happens when...

...mommy tries a little experiment. it didn't work the way it was supposed to, fyi. cole loves climbing up on the chair by the window and then gets mad and screams because he can't get down. well, my theory is, if he can get up, he CAN get down. i've shown him several times how to get back down, but he just refuses. so... i decided to let him sit there and after he was bored enough, he'd get down on his own. great theory, but what REALLY happened was this:

1.he banged on the window and waved at invisible people

2. he happily shredded daddy's old auto trader issue

3. he fussed at me because i'm more stubborn

4. see below

he was just so sweet sacked out in the chair, i couldn't resist grabbing the camera. he slept like that for about 45 minutes before waking up and sobbing because, i imagine, he wasn't too pleased to find himself still in the chair. as for his lesson? still not learned... *sigh*

we had to make a quick run to the store for more milk, bottled water and the toddler necessity known as cheerios. since it was close to lunch time and i just didn't feel like fighting with a toddler (now that i think about it, that sounds a little unfair but as many mommies know, toddlers can hold their own like no other when it comes to a battle of wills), i took some cheerios and a sippy cup of juice. this time around, i refuse to trade my purse in for a diaper bag just yet. fishing my wallet out of there was such a hassle... so the cup and cheerios went into the carseat with madison. turns out we didn't even need them for cole, but when her trusty yet occassionally elusive paci went on the run once again, madison found comfort in the sippy cup. creative little stinker, eh? and for the record, she didn't get any juice, she just slurped away at the edge of the lid. you should have heard cole when he saw someone else was using his cup. he cried, took it away (along with the paci for revenge), which made madison cry since her mouth was now empty... and ever since then, it's been a frantic effort to keep both of them happy. never a dull moment!

happy wednesday!

hope everyone's having a good middle of the week... so far, so good here! cole's a bit cranky still, but that's become the norm. madison has a pretty goobery nose again, but she's amazingly content! good... one cranky, screaming child is enough. chalk it up to teething and the terrible two's, i guess. right now cole is listening to my simon and garfunkel playlist (no, i don't have a ipod... i'm still old-fashioned and use my trusty windows media player, thank you very much) and that seems to appease him a little. whatever works!

i've been thinking of maybe, if i can find a reasonable deal somewhere, getting cole a child-sized table and chairs. this would be why... he's taken to using the pack-n-play as his bench. no, i still haven't moved it back upstairs! in my defense, though, with kelvin gone we will more than likely be spending a few nights away from home here and there, so it's kind of pointless for me to put it away right now. about the time i do, i'll need to drag it back out. maybe i should just stash it in the van, since it'll eventually have to be hauled out there anyway...

this was madison last night after cole was in bed. this is how she slept most of the night (not exactly like this, but with the same peacefulness).

boo!

in other happenings, i discovered just how wonderful my brother-in-law and sister-in-law are... we're going to be spending the weekend with them soon. that would be why i'm not putting away the pack-n-play... duey called last night to see how we're all doing. thanks duey- it's awesome to be able to just TALK to someone! i also called the n.e.w. rehab co and left a message and wouldn't you know, i got a call back. the therapist that works with adults on sensory issues is out of the office on vacation this week, but i was told they'd have her call me next week when she gets back. i'm anxiously waiting for next week! it would be SO nice to finally be at ease in my own skin and environment... at least, that's the outcome i'm hoping for. anyway, i'm off to play "barn" with cole... thanks to ashley, matt and ally for that. he loves it! he can match up all the letters to the places they're supposed to go now and can match up the shapes too. he doesn't always turn them so they fit right, but he tries!

it feels like monday.

don't ask me why, it just does. maybe because yesterday was a fairly good day, and today cole is a total bear. usually, his "bear-ish" days are mondays... he was SO whiny and disagreeable this morning that instead of fighting with him, i just gave him a little quiet time in his crib. it started out far from quiet and ended up with a half-hour nap. nice... but that means that now he's upstairs fighting his normal nap. we'll just see- mommy usually wins the nap war so it shouldn't be too long before he conks out. normally i rock him all the way to sleep for his nap (because it's the perfect time to spend quality time with just him) but he was still awake after 30 minutes of rocking, as opposed to the usual 10 minutes, 15 tops. arg. ah, don't ask- it was funny, so i had to share.

my appointment went fine yesterday- normal oh-so-fun 6 week postpartum. dr h wanted to know what i was thinking of in terms of birth control. i said, "i have small kids and my husband's out of state for a whole month for work... i'm not that concerned about it!". yes, but what about after he gets home? well, i'll still have the two kids, so once again, that's all the b/c i need! (for now...) anyway, i go back on the 17th to have the moles on my back removed. he looked at them and said they were benign, but since they stick out that he'd understand wanting them taken off. but, there's a small flat one that he wants to keep an eye on- i guess if it's black, that means it should be watched?? so yeah- i'll be glad to have them gone. and i was also able to get a referral for the n.e.w. rehab co. in new london to work on these sensory issues... i was worried that i might not be able to get one, since it's not a big topic in the world of medicine. dr h said he'd heard of it, but only in association with autism and asked what i was experiencing. i'm sure it was pure curiosity on his part and complete self-consciousness on mine, but he was looking at me like i had two heads... ahhh, good times. so he wrote a referral and told me to let him know how it went. i called n.e.w. today and got voicemail, which was a relief since i usually end up sounding like a total moron when i'm trying to explain something to someone i don't know.

other than that, it's been going ok being home alone. a bit more challenging than usual, but hey- we're taking it a day at a time (breaking it down further as necessary) and so far, we're all alive! yay!

kickin' off the week

yesterday was my first day alone, and we all survived! HUGE thanks to mom and dad for lunch and for helping with the kids during both meetings. when we got home last night, i fed one very tired little boy his supper (acutally, he managed to feed most of it to himself) and put him to bed. miss madison did really well too, and we all got a decent night's sleep, so i'm hoping today will be a really good one! mom's coming after she's done with work to watch the kids while i go to my 6-week check. yay. actually, i'm kind of anxious to get there because i'd like to see about getting some moles removed and also, i'm hoping to get a referral so i can see about getting into some rehab. no, not that kind of rehab... i'd like to go to the n.e.w. rehab in new london for this sensory processing stuff. i'm hoping it won't take too long to get started so that maybe some of it will be lessened by the time kelvin gets home!this one's for you, daddy- i can smile!!

cole eating breakfast this morning... which consisted mostly of him jabbing the spoon into his oatmeal repeatedly and giggling quietly to himself. hey- it's a start!

eating his mashed potatoes and squash at grandma and grandpa's yesterday... yummy!

wearing the shirt mommy got when she was born oh, so long ago...

anyway, that's it for now. cole needs a bath so off we go for water, bubbles and rubber duckies!