A Streak of Independence

Recently, whenever I'm folding laundry, Gwen will pull shirts and pants over her head, trying to put them on like big people do. She gets very proud whenever she successfully pulls a shirt over her head and she claps her hands and giggles. Today, Gwen went back in her room to play. After a little while, I realized that it was way too quiet back there, usually a sign that Gwen is pulling all the clothes out of the drawers. So I sent Logan back to check on her. Sure enough, Logan called back that Gwen had emptied a couple of the drawers. He told me to come look, and this is what I found:

I swear, I can't wrestle that girl into clothes any more, but she sure loves pulling all her shirts over her head as long as I'm not doing it!

Playing House

What a week it has been. We all have colds here, including Phoebe. Gwen's been playing her heart out as usual, never slowing down even with her hacking cough. I'm not worried about her. She gets colds all the time ever since she started nursery. (I think there should be two nursery's in church: one for the healthy, non-sniffling children, and one for the sickies.) But I am actually quite concerned for Phoebe. She had been coughing some for the past couple days, but this morning, she woke up with a bad cough and stuffy nose. I've had to suction her nose quite a few times, just so she can eat. Her cough is deep in her chest, which worries me so much. She has a doctor's appointment today at 2:30, so I've been watching the clock all morning, waiting to rush my baby to the doctor. It's probably just a cold, but every time Gwen or Phoebe gets sick, I freak out. I think I watch too many hospital dramas and TLC specials. I always expect one of my daughters to have some rare infant disease. I'm always trying to play House. "Okay, so my daughter had a fever, doesn't any more, but now has a hacking cough. I wonder what her BP is..." I call the office nurse all the time. I am a little paranoid, I admit, but Phoebe is so little, despite all her baby fat. It's scary watching her struggle through a coughing fit. Please keep her in your prayers!

Pooped!

The grossest thing while being a mother happened last night. And this is saying a lot, since Gwen has done some pretty gross things (like pee all over the bathroom floor, tried to stick already chewed food into my mouth, sticks her hand down her diaper, sucked on a nose bulb) but this one has topped them all. We were watching TV when Logan sniffed the air and crinkled his nose. He said, "I think Gwennie poo... OH, NO!" Gwendolyn had poop caked on both her hands, on her feet, up and down her arms and legs, and there were spots of poo all over the carpet. I just about fainted. Logan refuses to change poopie diapers, so it was up to me to clean it all up. I tried to get her to the bathroom without letting her touch anything, but a wall did get smeared, and so did a door. I've heard of stories of kids who took their dirty diapers off and played with it, but Gwen had her diaper on still! I'm not completely sure how it happened. I'm sorry if this is TMI, but it was so gross that I had to share.

So today, I bought Gwen a training potty in hopes we can avoid too many of these happenings. I'm not exactly sure how to go about potty training, so any advice will be appreciated!

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.