*ouch*

as planned, i went in to see dr h yesterday to have two moles removed. that was the plan anyway. i ended up with 5 sets of stitches! a last-minute decisions resulted in having the one by my left ear taken off too, much to the dismay of my sisters. they said it was "me", but to be honest, i was sick and tired of "me"getting in the way of combing my hair or being mistaken for a tick (this was awhile ago, but still...) or being picked at by cole. therefore, "me" is gone. never fear, dear sisters, i'm still the same person, just with one less bump!surprisingly, once ALL the numbing stuff wore off, the one by my ear hurt the least. still does.
a shot of my back... speaking of shots, dr h's nurse, john, is a real hoot. i took cna class with him and he was a blast! anyway, during the procedure, he made the comment that it was like a western movie because it looked like i'd been shot four times in the back. hahaha- thanks for the laugh, john! no really, he's a great guy. anyway, the two moles we'd originally planned to have removed were removed, and then dr h also took a smaller one that had the potential of getting big. the three on my back and the one by my ear were definitely benign, but he took off one more from my back for a biopsy because he was a bit concerned about the way it looked. i'm fairly certain that it will come back ok... and i go back in next week tuesday to have my stitches taken out. in the mean time, i'm at mom and dad's for a day or two, partly just because but also so that i have someone to help me change the bandaids for the first little bit. normally kelvin could do it but it's kind of hard to work that out, since he's, oh, in another state and all...
needless to say, my thought for today is simply "ouch".

just your average a.m.

what happens when mommy doesn't fold the clean laundry? well, the kids end up in just their nappies for awhile. seems it's a pretty exciting thing to do since he really protested getting dressed. oh, and for the record, i don't usually leave the kids undressed in the winter, but the house was nice and warm and no drafts (for once)... in case anyone was wondering!! "talking" on his john deere phone

since madison's clothes were in the same place as cole's, she got to lounge in next to nothing too. she's usually more content when she's stripped down, for some reason. anyway, cole's never "held" his little sister, so while they were adorable and happy, i figured i'd give it a try.

just for comparison...

all dressed and playing with his frog from ikea. he's been enjoying it immensely lately!

this is from yesterday afternoon; cole was down for a nap so i was able to (safely) put madison on the floor with the oceanwonders mat. cole still plays with it sometimes, so there's a little competition for it every now and again. she was pretty occupied for awhile, excitedly chirping at the fish. she's starting to 'wake up' more and more... this morning when i was burping her, she was all grins and a few happy squeaks. by the time her daddy gets back, she'll be flashing that cute little grin even more!

speaking of kelvin, they're still planning on an end date of april 2nd. until then, he said they'll be working 12-hour days, seven days a week. yikes. poor guy- he'll be glad to get home, i think!

i know it's not exciting to anyone else, but i'm having a few moles taken off today! this is something i've been wanting to do since right after cole was born, which is why i'm excited about it. mom is meeting me at the clinic so she can watch the kids while i'm getting them removed, which is great. my other options were to take the kids in with me in the stroller (imagine trying to squeeze a double stroller into the tiny exam room- haha!) or rescheduling (nothing was available till mid-april). on friday i have my first session with the o/t at n.e.w. rehab... i'm really anxious for that too! mom's going to watch the kids then too- i don't know what i'd do if she weren't so flexible! let's see- i'd have to sedate the kids and take the stroller everywhere...! what would we do without our moms?

tons of fun, part 1

on friday afternoon, the kids and i headed over to green bay for a weekend with aunt kandace and uncle duey!

when we got there, cole got to share auntie kandace's chocolate frosty- yummy!

cole and charlie were a little unsure of each other, but by saturday morning, they were buddies! cole had plenty of affection for miss kitty too- he gave her kisses (he gave kisses to charlie too, i just didn't have my camera handy). he found auntie kandace's sandals (of course) and thought they were a great accessory for his pj's. silly kid!

sorry, my pics are a little out of order here, but this one of monica holding madison is from saturday evening. i had to do the weekend in two posts since i couldn't get all the photos on one. yeah, i took too many again. i need to start doing the smilebox slideshow thingy, i think.
anyhoo, i was a bit leary as to how the weekend would go, since cole decided to wake up at about 1 am, then dozed with madison and i in our bed. i put him back in his pack-n-play at about 4:30 because i wasn't getting any sleep (but my arms were, ouch) and he kept getting a little too close to madison. of course, he woke up, and since the first half of the night i was unsuccessful in tuning out madison's noisy sleep, i got a total of about 1 1/2 hours of sleep; and with cole not getting a full night's sleep i was afraid he'd be an absolute bear. he got about a 20-minute nap in on saturday morning... but the rest of the story continues in part 2!!

tons of fun, part 2

most of the excitement happened on saturday, but friday night was pretty fun too!

madison got cuddles from uncle duey and cole got jello! duey picked out a variety of things he though cole might like for snacks and stuff, and jello was in the mix. cole's never had finger jello and with having a later supper, he was only interested in playing with it...

saturday a.m. cole took it as his personal duty to hand-feed charlie. he was fascinated with charlie's dog food and started moving it piece by piece to the water dish (which was empty this time- sunday it wasn't so poor charlie and miss kitty had some soggy kibbles in their water!).

sheldon and monica came over to kandace and duey's too; we headed to the n.e.w. zoo but stopped at mcdonald's for lunch first. it was another "first" for cole- he had a chicken nugget happymeal, but was WAY more interested in tossing a balled-up cheeseburger wrapper back and forth with uncle duey! he did well with the little bit he ate, but he was too excited and preoccupied to really care about lunch.

so off to the zoo we went...

...where uncle duey became madison's 'driver' and sheldon got to be cole's new best buddy!

he's still too young to really be totally interested in animals so cole's main source of entertainment was running on the black top, splashing in the puddles and playing with the snow. sheldon even showed him how to throw snowballs...

i just had to take a picture of cole's little footprints, since they ended up EVERYWHERE! and of course, one of cole and mommy!

feeding the giraffe was THE highlight! i was sure that cole would at least be a little nervous about being so close to such a huge and unfamiliar animal, but he acted like he's been running with the herd since the day he was born! uncle duey helped cole feed the giraffe- cole even pointed at the giraffe and made the sign for "food" when the crackers were gone (so duey got him some more crackers so he could feed the giraffe again). he also got to feed the sheep with auntie kandace... cole got so into feeding animals that he was running around picking bits of food off the blacktop so he could feed the animals more!

cole had fun just running and miss madison had a blast in dreamland. seriously, she slept the entire time we were outside!

after the zoo we went home and played some wii bowling! cole tried to 'help' mommy bowl once, but didn't really get the concept, so he had plenty of fun going back and forth between playing with charlie and trying to figure out what was on the bigscreen (and why the picture was moving... he was in awe!).

we started off passing madison around so we could all get our turn bowling, but she fell asleep so we got several games in- she slept the whole time, even when i took my turn!

sunday morning, cole slept until almost 8:30- a full 12 hours!! we went to meeting with auntie kandace and then came home for lunch and more fun just hanging out. madison was in a good mood for the most part... she was a bit gassy and unhappy off and on because (i'm assuming) of the spaghetti i had saturday night. ooops.

cole saw uncle duey get water out of the door of the fridge on friday, so he had to try it too! i didn't get a pic until he tried it again on sunday. he had fun trying on uncle duey's boots too. my son and his shoe fetish... yikes.

anyway, i took way too many pictures... i wish i could have posted them all! we did a lot and had tons of fun! cole also tried on auntie kandace's shoes, gave kisses to miss kitty and charlie, learned how to use a remote, dialed auntie kandace's voicemail (you should have seen his face, he was SO shocked that there was a voice on the other end of the line) while playing with her cell and played so hard, he was asleep two minutes after we left on sunday. huge thank-you to kandace and duey (again) for the wonderful weekend! we love you!!

our day out!

mommy needed a day out, as did cole (madison could really care less...) for a little stimulation. spending all of our time cooped up in the house was starting to wear on us a bit. besides, cole usually enjoys going out to the store and sitting in the stroller!but first, a little bedtime kiss... how sweet!!

miss squish in her 3-6 month pjs... i know babies don't care one iota, but it was starting to annoy me, putting her in the same 3 or 4 sleepers every night. she'll outgrow them before too long, i know, but i needed a change. besides, i've been impatiently waiting for the chance to dress her in this because the owl on the front just gives me the giggles.

i. love. old. navy. period! i found a pair of pants and a lightweight thermal hoodie (great for spring or chilly summer evenings) on clearance for $9 altogether. then, i saw these cute converse-style tennies. i thought to myself, "nah, he's got a pair of shoes at home" but curiosity got the better of me and i meandered on over. they were on clearance for $2!! you know how sometimes, even if the clearance price just can't be beat, you sit there and argue with yourself (hopefully not out loud...) as to whether or not you should get whatever it is that you're looking at? this was not one of those moments. i've seen used shoes cost more than that at goodwill!

and speaking of goodwill, we went there too. that's usually my first stop, since the kids' clothes are usually in great condition and you can't tell that they've really been worn. they grow SO fast, i'd rather not shell out a fortune to clothe them... i'm not too proud to shop second-hand!! and i'm proud of that... *grin*. anyway, i found nothing for cole but managed to spy two 3-6 month onesies, a pair of pants (upon further inspection just now, i've got this feeling that they're actually capris) in 3-6 month and this sweet little jumper. it'll fit her now, and it's just too cute. plus, i found another john deere cardboard book for cole... a new one for meeting!

cole checking out the new kicks... love the diaper/sneaker look. it's really hip.

our little man (those are his new old navy jeans, btw) finally realized that the railing next to the stairs is there for a reason. he used it the whole way down and was incredibly proud of himself for doing so.

i should add that we went to walmart too, where i got more pjs for cole... they have their gerber pj's on sale for $3 each, so i got a 3t and two 4t, and i got two pairs of pink socks for madison, since all she has are cole's old white ones. poor thing... she needs at least ONE pair of girly socks! i did splurge and got lip balm for myself... all in all, i hit some fantastic deals! right now is the ideal time for us to stock up on clothes for the kids, but i just can't bring myself to go out and spend a bunch of money, even if the deals can't be beat. guess i'm just thinking ahead; summer's coming so really, if the had to go around in diapers for a few months at least it would be warm. and who's to say there will be more work for kelvin right away when he gets back? there's plenty of work, but from what we're told it's all backlog, and not scheduled to start till next year. therefore, it's my opinion that we sock away as much as we can just in case. anyway, i was desperate to get myself and the kids out of the house even for an hour or two- i should have waited, because i was feeling icky this morning and now it's worse... the whole sore throat/headahe/stuffy nose thing that's been going around. we're going to try to get out to bible study tonight ("try" being the key word here) and if we're all feeling ok tomorrow, we'll shoot for the playdate and maybe mom and dad's for the afternoon as well. we'll see.

the adventures of sippy

i think we could write a semi-interesting children's book about this, but i'm out of creativity juice so it ain't happening today. today, it's just funny. it also explains why cole never gets his cup when i ask him to find it and bring it to the kitchen... he can't find it because he's left it so many od places that he's forgotten exactly where he left it. see for yourself...

"places i've been"

by sippy (and cole)

1. the pack-n-play; the view isn't as great as you'd think

2. the bathroom scale; again, not as cool as one would imagine

3. the stairs; kinda dangerous because of the foot traffic (hahaha!)

4. the window sill; nice and chilly, great view

ok, so it was a lame attempt, but you get the idea. honestly, i find cole's cups in the strangest places. this is only a handful of the places i've rescued sippy from today... there's also the window sills in the kitchen and bathroom, madison's carseat, the one kitchen drawer cole can open. oh, my crazy little boog- never a dull moment!

as for things in general, we're hanging in there. it's definitely different with daddy gone but we've gotten into a comfortable and very flexible routine. actually, sometimes the only thing that's routine is that we're flexible... we've all got goobery noses and sore throats (read: crabby kids and tired mommy) but as i always say, any cold is better than the pukes!! so it's obviously nothing serious, just uncomfortable and it'll pass soon, i'm sure.

just a few more things: last night, cole talked to daddy! or rather, daddy talked and he listened and giggled. it was SO sweet! the look on his face- i wish i'd gotten a picture, but i had madison in one hand and the other hand was on my phone, so it didn't happen. also, cole's learned to get off the chair by himself now. which means that he's not as interested in climbing up anymore. and it also means that time-outs are at risk; he can get off the couch too (it's higher than the chair). i realized this this morning after a bout of unnecessary crankies resulted in a time-out. i set him on the couch and told him he needed to sit there for a minute. i turned to get madison, who was in the dining room, and i made it halfway there (which isn't far) before i heard what sounded suspiciously like tiny footsteps. sure enough, there he was, nose running, tear tracks on his cheeks, looking proud of himself for getting down alone. i had to laugh and then groan as i realized just what i'm in for now. right now, he's happily running around the living room with one shoe almost on (he did it himself, big boy!!) listening to don williams and puttering around like a busy little bee. and, judging from the whiff i just got, we need to get a new diaper, so off we go to take care of that!

"baah"

today was "baah" day at our house... don't worry, i bathe my kids more than once a month! we shoot for every other day but keep it flexible; more often if there's been a lot of messes, an extra day between if they've been exceptionally neat. anyway, cole gets pretty excited about taking a "baah" so it's a big deal when mommy starts filling the tub!!and of course, "baah" day includes miss squish. i got to remembering cole's baths in the baby tub when he was just her age, and had to take a stroll down memory lane. so for comparison...
here's boog when he was about 7 or 8 weeks! when madison was born, we thought she looked SO much like cole, but now that she's grown a little, it's not hard to tell that she isn't a carbon copy! now i understand why our parents would get sentimental... my little man is growing WAY too fast! to think that his bath picture was taken less than a year and a half ago- it makes me wish that time didn't go by so fast. of course, he's still a baby, but he's just so much bigger. seeing how much he's grown i can't help but wonder if i made the most of every day with him; i know i haven't because life happens and sometimes we get caught up with other things. which makes me resolve to make the absolute most of every single day with the kids; sure, there will be days when other things will have a bigger priority (but not top, mind you) but as long as i can help it, from here on out i don't want to end a single day regretting that i didn't do more with them. they grow too fast and i don't want to miss a single moment...