Three Down, Infinity to Go

Today is our third anniversary! Time has flown by so fast, and yet I still feel as if I've been with Logan forever. As I went through our picture collection, I realized how few pictures there are of Logan and me. We have hundreds of pictures of our kids, but only a handful of us together. So this next year, we're going to make it a goal to take more pictures of us! We certainly have done quite a bit in three years. We did a lot of work, school, and raising babies. Now we are at that point in our lives when things are just about to kick off - as soon as Logan finds his dream career and we move off to the big city (hopefully Idaho Falls... Salt Lake City at the furthest.)


The above picture and the below picture are a couple of our engagement pics taken spring of 2006. I think we look so different. Logan was so skinny!

Even though my wedding dress had long sleeves, it was extremely hot on our wedding day. Then on our drive to our reception in NJ, it started to pour. For the next week the east coast flooded, but Logan and I were always just two steps behind it for our entire honeymoon, and we got to enjoy the sunshine at the beach and Palmyra! Good times.

This was our first Christmas as a married couple, and I was already pregnant with Gwen. We spent the holiday at my mom's house in New Jersey. I was very morning sick the entire time, but I had so much fun. We haven't been back to NJ since. (But we leave for NJ in just three days!)

This is pic of me just a few hours before my water broke. The next day we got our Gwennie!

Gwen has an exciting birth story. I was in labor for 14 hours, suffering contraction after contraction because no one would give me an epidural. Gwen's heartbeat was dropping and labor wasn't progressing fast enough. I was rushed into surgery and Gwen came out green and not breathing. The cord had been wrapped around her neck three times and she released meconium to signal fetal distress. She spent her first three days in NICU, where she progressed beautifully, and tried eating all the cords stuck in her. She was a real trooper, and just the most gorgeous newborn the doctors and nurses had ever seen, they said so themselves. Logan and I were so very, very proud!

And here's our beautiful, sweet Phoebe at just two days old! Her birth story was less stressful, but I did deliver her VBAC! She was extremely big, and it was a good thing the doctors didn't know, or else they would have forced a c-section. Labor was so quick and painless (Epidurals, yay!) and the stay at the hospital was so short, that I think every labor should be like this one! The cord was wrapped around Phoebe's neck, and her whole face was severely bruised from being stuck, but she bounced back fast and we came home the very next day, Valentine's Day! She was born Friday the 13th, but I think she is a very lucky baby. So cute and quiet and good. I love my girls!

I am so proud of all of our accomplishments in three years, and I can't wait for all the years to come. Gwen will be turning two, Phoebe has her first Christmas to look forward to, and the girls can't wait to meet their Uncle Brendan in January! Lots of excitement to keep our eyes on. Three more years are going to fly right on by. Bring it on!

More Pictures, Couldn't Resist

Phoebe loves to wrap herself up in the blanket my friend Lisa made for us. (Lisa, if you're reading this, this blanket is seriously her favorite! Thanks for the crutch!) She will grab fistfuls of blanket and roll around so she's completely wrapped up and mommy has to come save her. Then she does it again. Gwen can't eat anything without getting it all over her. We gave her one chocolate before bed. I should really start using bibs with this one. I just hate washing and rewashing and rewashing, etc. them.

A cute picture of a daddy with his baby.

This is the miracle that takes place when Gwen won't take a nap at nap time. By six o'clock she is out like a light. I think she's the coolest kid ever, but when she takes unexpected naps, the world can relax a little. I can, at least, which is enough.

Not Much New, Just a Few Pictures

We've just been hanging out here in our little, hot apartment. Since it's been raining for the past few days, we've been playing lots of games and going bananas. Phoebe is turning four months old in a few days. She's gotten to be very social. She laughs at her sister, and she smiles really big for her daddy. Her favorite toy is that little baby doll rattle. It's constantly wet, since she loves to suck on it. She's very cute.

We're going off to New Jersey at the end of the month. I'm very excited for my family to meet my girls, and I'm super excited to take Gwen to Story Book Land and the beach! We haven't been to New Jersey since Christmas of 2006, so I'm thrilled. Could you tell?

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!