Swingin Fever

This is going to sound odd, but the other day week took Gwen to the park for the very first time. She's almost two years old. I guess we never took her, because by the time she was old enough to run around the park, I was fat and sluggish and pregnant again. Anyway, Gwen loved the swings. She would have spent hours swinging if we would have let her. Logan and I had to pry her away so she could try the other equipment, like the slide. She spent most of the time trying to go up the slides, rather than sliding down them.

The very next day, Gwen got sick, and it freaked me out. Logan just left to play church ball when I took Gwen out of her booster chair after dinner. She stumbled into the living room and just stood there. I noticed she was shaking quite badly, like she was cold. I picked her up, and realized how hot she felt. She had a fever of 102, and I couldn't get a hold of Logan! I called everyone I could think of, including the hospital (but they weren't allowed to give advice over the phone), because I had no idea what to do. It finally dawned on me to call the after hours nurse for the pediatrician's office. She basically told me to give her Tylenol every four hours, and make sure that her fever doesn't spike to 104; if it did, I would then have to take her to the hospital. She's almost two, and she has never had a fever before. She's never been really sick! She threw up once because of something she ate, and she has had mild colds, but never something that knocked her out. Gwen still runs and plays with her fever (it's impossible to keep this girl still) but once in a while, she would just crash on the couch and rest for a few minutes. Just this told me she was sick. Today, her fever has gone down considerably, thank goodness, and she's back to her old self. I'm not sure if she caught some bug from the playground, but now it makes me feel a bit wary to take her there again any time soon. We probably will though, just because we don't want to live in fear of Gwen getting minor illnesses. She loved the playground. I can't wait to get more pictures.

Phoebe has been playing a lot in her tunnel, swatting her toys and cooing. She laughed for the first time the other day. She is now three months old, and we can't remember what our lives were like without her in our family!

Energized for Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! We went to our family's house this weekend to celebrate Mother's Day. The weather was so beautiful, that I was dying to get outside. We went Frisbee golfing twice in one day, and I was sore for the rest of the weekend. I loved it though. I miss trees and grass and dirt. I felt like a little kid again. The course was pretty extreme. We had to climb a small mountain for a couple of the "holes, but everything was growing, and green was all around me, and the exercise felt so good that I didn't mind that my legs and arms were screaming. I should have brought my camera, but I didn't think to, of course. I wish Rexburg had a good Frisbee golf course. It's so much fun, even though I'm so bad at it!
For Mother's Day, Logan spoiled me by letting me pick what I really wanted. So on his day off that week, I found a good local gym and got a membership. I went once so far, but I had so much fun, even though I went by myself. All day long I felt energized and kept wishing I was back on the treadmill. I didn't realize how much I missed moving! I'm really excited to start living healthily and losing all this baby weight! Logan also took me to the mall to buy a new dress for church. All my normal clothes don't fit me anymore, and I'm so sick and tired of wearing maternity clothes! I had a very good mother's day, and I can't wait to spoil Logan in return for his birthday coming up and for Father's Day! I love being Mommy!

Babies and Hobbies

Eliza gave me the idea to post a baby picture of me to show just how chunky I was. So here's a picture of me and another of Phoebe when we were about the same age (almost 3 months.) Even though I wasn't quite 9 pounds at birth, I was definitely the fatter baby! I think Phoebe is cuter though. (These pictures were taken around Easter time, I just realized.)

Logan has been really motivated to take pictures of grave stones for others through a website called findagrave.com, I believe. Anyway, we've been to a hand full of cemeteries in the past few weeks, and we've taken our girls with us. They usually fall asleep on the drive (as shown in the picture below) so while he walks around looking for specific grave stones, I drive around looking for grave stones near the road. It's kind of fun, actually, though it may sound somewhat creepy. It helps out people out of state who have distant family members buried in Idaho and who want pictures of their graves for sources. We all need hobbies.

Just Updating

We're finally settled in our new apartment. We've only been here for a little over a week (maybe two?), but I love it already. We still have boxes piled in the corners of the rooms, and the place is a bit cluttered because of the lack of closets, but I'm in love with my appliances. I've done about twenty loads of laundry already, just because I can. We came here with three hampers full of dirty laundry because the dryers were broken at our last place. I love just throwing a load in and relaxing, and still feeling like I accomplished something that day. And the dishwasher is a gift from heaven. You can see my counter tops! There are no dishes piled everywhere anymore! What a good housewife I am!

Gwen got used to the new apartment almost immediately. She loves playing in her new room. She has toys and books everywhere, and she can spend hours just playing with them all. She'd rather be outside, though. She begs to go out every day, but with all the rain and snow(!) it's hard to get her outside. I should be getting a double stroller soon, which will make outings a whole lot easier.

So here's a little update on my girls. Gwen seems to get taller every day. She is still as energetic as ever. At her first day of nursery in our new ward, we told the nursery leader that Gwen is very energetic. She laughed it off and said that all the kids are that way. When we went to pick her up, the nursery leader looked very frazzled, and told us that she is indeed very energetic, and she's also aggressive. I think she's tackling the other kids. That's just how she plays, as Eliza's kids well know by now. Let's see. She can count to 13, and she is starting to recognize the letters of the alphabet in her books and random things with words on them around the house. She loves her little sister, but quite a few times, I've caught her trying to lie on top of her or pinching her feet. Phoebe's never cried over her sister's aggressive playing. In fact, Phoebe just smiles and waves her hands at her.

Phoebe is 2 1/2 months now. She is 13 pounds and is already in size 6 months clothing. I still have her beat though. I was 8 lbs and 11 ounces when I was born, but I was a size 2T by the time I was six months old. I won a fattest baby contest at a fair once, too. I was a huge baby. Phoebe's chunky, but she doesn't look abnormal. She has a cute round head and bright steel blue eyes. Her hair is staying dark, too. Gwen's hair turned blond rather quickly, but Phoebe's hair is as dark as ever. I hope is stays dark. I want my blondie and my little brunette. Phoebe is beginning to "talk" a lot more now. She tells her stories, but she's very content and mostly quiet throughout the day. Gwen never stopped babbling and cooing. It's amazing how different my girls are. I love their different personalities. If Phoebe turned into another Gwen, I think I'd probably have a heart attack by the time I'm 30. I'm glad my Phoebe is mellow.

We bought Phoebe this bouncer so we can retire the swing for a while to make room in the living room. She hasn't figured out that she can make it bounce herself, but Gwen likes to bounce it for her and steal her toys. Oh well. Phoebe had better get used to it.

I just like this picture. I love my girls.

My little chunky monkey!

The above picture is a rare shot of Gwen sitting still to watch tv. She watches tv often from under the couch cushion, when she does sit still to watch her morning shows. She's so funny.

Easter Pictures

Thought I would just post some pictures of the day before going to bed. Gwen had a blast playing with her cousins and running around finding all sorts of easter eggs and candy. The extra sugar really made the day fun. Gwen's Easter dress. Phoebe had on a dress just like it. They didn't wear the bonnets all day. After I took this picture, Gwen ripped the hat off and refused to put it back on. Oh well. At least she allowed me one picture.

Gwen had her first Easter egg hunt. Logan held her hand and pointed out the little plastic eggs and she'd drop them in her basket. I don't think she knew it was a game. I think she thought she was just cleaning up. Before all the eggs were found, she broke free from Logan and did her own thing. She liked playing with the egg later though, even if she didn't care about the candy.

Isn't this a cute pic? Gwen is sticky and gross from a day full of chocolate, but she really pulls it off.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Moving On

Yesterday, Logan's parents helped us pack up our belongings, load them on the uhaul, unload our stuff into storage, and helped clean the entire apartment. It took all day, and we were extremely exhausted by the end of it. I'm glad we are finally out of there. Next week we have to load and unload the uhaul all over again, because we can't move into the new apartment until the 18th. We're staying with the Grovers for the week. Thank you, Kris and Eliza! We'd be sleeping on top of boxes in our storage shed if it weren't for you!
Phoebe was extremely good all day long. She barely made a peep. She liked lying on her pillow and watching us clean up the apartment around her. Gwen tried to be a helper, but honestly, it was hard keeping track of her while trying to get everything out. Once she walked out of the apartment and knocked on the neighbor's door. They answered the door and actually offered to babysit her for a while. That was nice! We got a lot done very fast after that.

Here's Phoebe, packed tight in our explosion of a living room.

Gwen rode on Grandpa's shoulders while we walked to Subway for lunch. It took her a while to understand what grandpa wanted her to do, and she tried sitting on top of his head. Pretty funny.

Gwen's going to love her new apartment, I just know it. She's growing up so fast. She'll celebrate her 2nd birthday in her new home. I can't wait to finally move into it already!

Captured Smile!

We finally were able to get a picture of Phoebe smiling. I have so many pictures of confused expressions because the flash tends to startle her. She's so cute.
Well, we're starting our move tomorrow. I still have a lot of cleaning and some packing left to do. I can't believe we're moving out of this place. I brought both my babies to this place, and even though I'm excited to move on, I'm still kind of attached to our dishwasher-less apartment. It's given me a lot grief, but all my memories of our little family take place here. I think Gwen will like the new apartment, and Phoebe won't know any different.
So here are some new pictures, probably the last taken in my daughters' first home.