father's day, rain and a bumbo

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). while he seems to be on-track with development so far, other than a few small things i've noticed, i'm still worried about his weight. it's not normal. as his mommy. it's my job to worry. on the flip side of the token, though, he's alert, responsive and good-natured. that can't be bad, right??

big boots to fill

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...

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

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... :)