Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday was my birthday! It was a pretty good day, too. Logan had to go to work, but I had fun baking my own birthday cake. It turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. (Logan wouldn't know, because he wouldn't have any. He's not a big fan of too much chocolate. Crazy man.) The girls were over the moon about it. Gwen kept giggling and telling me happy birthday all during the process. She was so excited to gobble up my birthday cake.

Logan and I had a real date night for the first time in a long, long time. Lindsay was able to baby-sit for us, and we took advantage! We went to our favorite restaurant (Garcia's) and afterwards browsed Target. We heard that season 4 of Psyche was on sale really cheap, so we had to get it. We also got a few other things too, like a season of 24, a Blake Shelton cd, and a new Trivial Pursuit game. But these were just fun splurges, not my birthday presents. Logan completely floored me with his gift! I had been complaining about how slow the delay is on my camera, so my man went to the store and browsed cameras like the hot stud he is! It makes me smile to think he took time off from work to secretly compare cameras for me. He got me a bloggie touch, which I had never heard of before, but is awesome. It's as small as a cell phone, but takes very clear videos and sharp 12.8mp pictures. And it's a touch screen. Love it! He's certainly spoiled me the past couple months. A nook and a camera, he's so sweet! And the day before my birthday, he took me to Walmart so I could pick out a webcam. My dad has a skype account now, so on my birthday we were able to see each other! I haven't seen my dad since I was 16. He moved to Virginia when I was in middle school, and I visited him only a few times after that. With the webcam, he was able to meet his granddaughters and my husband. It was a great gift!

Oh - a random funny story. While I was getting ready for my hot date, Gwen was looking at my belly, thoughtfully. She finally said, "Mommy... are you 200 pounds?!" I tried not to laugh while I answered. "No way! I'm 100 pounds! Get it straight!" I think she thought she hurt my feelings, and after I finished getting ready, she gave me a big hug and said, "You're beautiful, mommy!" She's the sweetest little girl, even if she thinks I look 200 pounds.

Here are some pics I took with my bloggie. I think I'll be able to take a lot more pics now since there is hardly a delay.

I wish it could be my birthday everyday! But there are a lot of birthdays coming up. Phoebe's turning 2 in less than 3 weeks, and most of our family members turn another year older next month, too. It's a time for cake! Woohoo! Now if Logan would just eat chocolate! And he swears he's not a picky eater... (He's going to get so mad at me... hehe.)

Found My Camera Cord!

So here are a few pictures to illustrate my last couple of posts. It's about time I get to post my Christmas pictures!

The Primary Issue

Yesterday, Gwen graduated from nursery and started Primary! This feels like a major milestone, parent wise. I mean, my child is starting a class where she is required to sit and answer questions and learn. She's with other children who will be with her throughout her primary years and will become her best friends. I know it's silly, but I actually bought her a bunch of new outfits for church that aren't babyish anymore and have a bit of style, so the other three-year-olds will like her. Haha, I know, it's silly! They're three-year-olds! But Gwen needs a bit of something going for her. That came out all wrong. What I mean is, Gwen is VERY social, but she doesn't follow the normal rules of social engagements. Like... yesterday while all the kids were trying to find their new seats, Gwen got up into a six year old boy's face (she was as tall as he was almost) and said said, "Hi! What's your name? I'll help you find your seat!" It was extremely cute to me, but whenever she goes up to kids, no matter what their ages, they never fail to give her an apprehensive look and back away. I guess people don't expect a three-year-old to not be shy? Or maybe it's because she looks like she's almost six but still sounds like she just turned three? Whatever, but I just want her to be accepted and not judged for something as stupid as appearance. (She's three!) Anywho -

We were a  little nervous for her to start primary full time. She had a difficult time with the rules when she was just visiting for twenty minutes for a few weeks last month. (She ran laps around the primary room.) We were especially nervous this week because I was called as the CTR 5 teacher, so I couldn't really help out. Logan wound up sitting with her for the entire two hours of primary, and Gwen did super well! She still wanted to run around and get into the popsicle sticks with the children's names on them, but Logan had a good hold on her. What we loved about her sunbeam class was that her senior nursery teacher - whom she just loves - moved up with the three-year-olds and is now her sunbeam teacher. Gwen calls her Prince, for some reason. (I'm sure she can't pronounce her name. I barely can.) Logan said Gwen did great in her class, and "Prince" was a great teacher for her. She had the kids do multiple games and was very patient. So for her first full two hour primary, Gwen did fabulously! All the primary children were given a cd with all the songs they are to learn this year, and when we got home she stayed in her room for a half an hour singing all the songs. When I called her down for lunch, she said, "Okay, I'll come in a minute! The song needs to finish!" We are very excited for Gwen, even if it is just primary. She's already learning so much about the gospel, and it touches me. Inspires me even to be better at home. I love my little girl.

Phoebe is still in junior nursery. She'll be a month away from turning four when she starts primary. She has a long way to go. She'll just be exceptionally reverent and bright for a sunbeam. This little girl amazes me everyday. She still looks like a baby, but she acts like she's Gwen's age. Her vocabulary blows me away. She already speaks in sentences, even if Logan and me are the only ones she talks to. She's stopped calling me mommy. She calls me Mom now. "Milk, please, mom!" "Hi, Mom!" "What am I going to do now, Mom?!" She's hysterical, and she knows it. She already tells her own jokes. "The horsie flies! Hahaha!!!" And she must know she has gorgeous eyes, because sometimes she'll just look at you, sigh, and bat those long, black eyelashes at you... for no reason. Most people don't know the Phoebe Logan and I know, because she is also very shy. She doesn't speak at all to strangers, and she speaks only sometimes to other family members. She takes after her mama, I guess. She turns two next month! I can't believe it!

I love how the girls interact. They can fight like cats and dogs already, but most of the time they are so protective of each other. Because Phoebe is very sensitive (read: diva), when I scold her for, say, throwing hard toys at my face, she'll pout, hang her head, and start to cry. Gwen is by her side in an instant, saying "It's okay! Don't cry!" and she'll kiss her. Phoebe's the same way to her big sister. If Gwen hurts herself, Phoebe is there to kiss it all better. Sometimes though, Gwen's just grumpy because she isn't getting her way, so when Phoebe asks, "Are you okay?" and Gwen says, "no" Phoebe will keep asking the question and Gwen will keep answering "No" and growing progressively angrier and angrier. I find this hilarious, because Gwen used to annoy Logan and me the same way. The girls are best friends. I wonder how they are going to take to a boy.

No new pictures again, because I still can't find my camera cord. But here are some of Gwen's baby pictures, just because I can't believe she's turning four later this year. Preschool is just around the corner, and oh my gosh... can she really be starting KINDERGARTEN NEXT YEAR! I need to find a paper bag to breathe into now.

Oh BOY!

I'm bummed. I can't find the cord to transfer my pictures onto the computer, so I can't post any Christmas pictures. And they were cute ones too! I guess I'll just have to push forward and do without.

We spent the holiday in Soda Springs and we all had a great time. The food was excellent, LOVED the prime rib for Christmas dinner, the company was great, and the girls just loved all their presents. They were even pretty good on Christmas morning, taking turns opening their presents. Once Gwen lost her will to resist temptation and tore off most of the paper to one of her aunt Maci's gifts, but other than that she was pretty good. Phoebe didn't care much about opening presents. She just wanted to play with all the toys inside them, so Gwen got to open a few more. A few things they got were a dollhouse and accessories, toy horsies, moon dough, an easel, doctor kit, a Mr. Potato Head, Toy Story 3, and other stuff. Logan got me a Nook and I got him a very heavy collection of all the Far Side cartoons ever penned, published and not. We're also enjoying the first two seasons of Psych, a deep fryer/steamer, and a cutlery set. We made ourselves leave on Tuesday, mainly because we had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I'm not sure when the appropriate time to take down a tree is. I'm ready for it to go now, but I'm afraid the girls will mutiny.

Anyway, yesterday at my appointment I had my ultrasound. The girls were allowed in the room with us, and they were so good the entire time. They didn't once try to smash their computer and take the ultrasound stick thing, such good little girls. The technician had to run through some checks, like brain fluid, eyes, kidneys, fingers, etc. Finally she got to the good ol' between the legs check. And for the first time, we heard the words, "and there's the third leg." Not like she needed to say anything. There was no mistaking it! We were thrilled! I personally didn't think it would happen. We would have been excited for a girl too, of course, but we were hoping to have at least one son. Now we're getting him! We stopped at a few places after the appointment (Pizza Hut to celebrate, the mall to look at baby clothes :) and I couldn't stop looking at the ultrasound pictures. I still can't believe it! As of right now, we're calling him Isaac Douglas. (Douglas is Logan's middle name and his father's first. Isaac isn't after anybody really... it's just the only boy name that we both liked.) So we're getting our first son three days before Logan's birthday, May 16th. Well, that's when he's due. Both my girls came a day early or a day late of their due dates, so I'm guessing the 17th is when we'll get to meet Isaac. We'll see! Now I get to spend the second half of my pregnancy shopping for boy stuff. I want to get him tiny little suits and vests.

Isn't he handsome? He looks like his daddy already. I love our BOY!

Pregnancy Update

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant! I am through being nauseous, and have a great appetite. I'm feeling the baby move everyday, which greatly excites me, because it's finally feeling "real."

On December 29th, I get my ultrasound and find out what it is, and it'll be even more real. This time around, we are equally excited to have a boy or a girl. Having three girls would be precious and having a boy would be something new! We're finally settling on a couple names, but don't quite yet have a middle name picked out if it's a girl. We're completely stumped. But we have plenty of time.

I probably won't get around to posting before Christmas, so let me say now that I hope everyone has a joyous and safe holiday!

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Finally!

This has been a huge week for us, Phoebe wise. Phoebe has always been mama's girl since day one, and since her eyes are so big and blue, I have always found it very hard to say no to her. Because of this, she turned 20 months old and I was still nursing her to sleep and she slept in our bed for more than half the night! For 20 months! We finally decided (or I did anyway... Logan was decided on week 1 of Phoebe's life) that Phoebe needed to learn to fall alseep on her own, and in her own bed.

The first thing I had to do was wean her. The first couple of days was rough. But I stayed tough and didn't give into her screaming and begging and adorable pleads of "num nums, please? Please?" I told her, "I'm so sorry, but we're all out of num nums! Lets cuddle instead!" It took a couple of days and sleepless nights, but it worked! When she wanted to sleep, she would crawl onto my lap and fall asleep! Step one complete!

The next thing we did was convert her toddler bed back into a crib. This way she would stay in bed and not scream at us from the door. (We keep a child gate set up at nap and bedtime. Discourages Gwen from running away in the middle of the night.) The first night was killer. Phoebe screamed for two hours before I caved and snatched her up. She was out immediately , but I still kept her in bed with us. The second night I thought was harder than the first. She screamed for an hour, but this time it was more than just screams. She sobbed, "Mommy's gone! Mommy's gone! My mommy's gone!" I could have cried right along with her! Finally, FINALLY, her cries subsided. Logan peaked in on her and discovered that Gwen had climbed into the crib and lain down next to her. Phoebe was about to fall asleep when Gwen wanted out. But she only cried for a couple of minutes before falling asleep. She woke up in the middle of the night, and being the weak, tired thing I am, I brought her into our bed.

Day three we found success! At first when I tried putting Phoebe into her crib, she started screaming and Gwen started crying and begging that I let Phoebe sleep on the couch. When I said no, Gwen jumped into the crib before I even put Phoebe in. Phoebe cried her heart out for two minutes then all was silent. I thought that Gwen might be smothering her with a pillow, so I made Logan check on them. They were both asleep! It took only five minutes! And the best thing is, even though we moved Gwen back into her own bed, Phoebe slept the entire night in her room! Yay! What a blessing to not be kicked in the face and gut twelve times during the night! It's a great feeling. We got a great night's sleep, and Phoebe was extra happy and cuddly this morning. Next baby will never ever sleep in the bed with us! That's what I said when Phoebe was born, but I mean it this time!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year! The wards that meet in our building had a large trunk-or-treat for the whole community, and there was a great turn out. The girls were on their best behavior and weren't greedy, only taking one candy a piece. I was so proud of Gwennie for saying thank you when she remembered, and making sure that Phoebe got a piece of candy in her pumpkin. I'm glad there was a trunk-or-treat because I didn't see any trick or treaters in the area Saturday or Sunday. The girls got a good load, and I took my "mommy tax" so I was happy too. Logan was all too happy to eat all the candy we bought in case we got trick-or-treaters. We have a lot of candy in the house at the moment.

Gwennie was a "princess witch", as she called herself.

Phoebe was the cutest little pumpkin. She got a lot of compliments.

And of course I let them pig out on candy in their costumes, so they have chocolate stains all over them now.

Oh well. 

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!