The Days Before Christmas

I can't write much because I have Phoebe asleep in my arm. But check out these pre-Christmas photos and I'll post actual Christmas pics later with some explanations.

Is it Chistmas yet?

We decided to give the girls an early Christmas present. It's too big to bring with us to Soda Springs tomorrow, so when Gwen woke up this morning, I hid in the living room with the video camera while Logan let her out of the crib. At first, Gwen didn't really notice the play kitchen in the living room; she saw me sitting on the couch with the camera and headed straight for me. I hurried and said, "Merry Christmas!" and suddenly she saw it. She yelled, "Merry Chri-cus!" and immediately went for her new toy. It took Logan three hours to put this little kitchen together, but it was worth it. The girls haven't stopped playing with it yet. Gwen loves the microwave. She puts her food - usually some sort of fruit or a can of soup - into a bowl, puts it inside the plastic microwave, pushes some buttons, then goes "mmmmmm.... beep beep beep!" So funny! She does this over and over again. She started figuring out the stove next. The stoves lights up and makes noises. Gwen's been frying a waffle. Sometimes she moves it with a spoon onto a plate with some ice cream. I'm going to let her make breakfast from now on.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Soda Springs and staying for a few days. I'm very excited for Christmas this year (as I am every year.) This is Phoebe's first, and she's just old enough to pull apart some wrapping paper. She'll probably like playing with the paper more than with what she unwraps, but that's okay. Gwen is old enough this year to understand that toys are underneath all the decorative paper. I'm so excited to see her reactions! When I was a little kid, my mom had exciting Christmas mornings with me opening presents. Everything I got, I gave a huge reaction. My eyes and mouth would get extremely round, and I'd yell, "Crayons!!!!!!" I'm hoping Gwen gets that excited. She may be too young yet, but who knows. I'm also looking forward to Logan's brother calling from Brazil. Last time he got to call, Gwen wasn't talking very much, but now I'm hoping that she'll get to say hello and have a little conversation with him in Gwen language. The convo will probably go like this: "Hello? Hi, Uckle Brenna. Wadda? (Then she'll repeat anything that he says. If he says "I love you" she'll go... ) Love you, too! Bye!"

Christmas is in three days! We can't wait to see our family and make lots of happy memories with the girls!

Can't Get Enough of 'Em

Here are some pictures I've taken this week. Phoebe is all dressed up and ready for church. Her hair is hopeless. There's been so much static cling in the air, it's impossible to get her fine hair to lie down. People at church were playing with it.

I have to be fast taking a picture of Gwen. When she sees the camera she comes running. 

Phoebe has started running for the camera too.

Gwen looks so grown up at the computer. 

So she got into a bunch of Phoebe's clothes and put them all on. She's wearing a hoodie, a onsie, and a jumper. She insisted on wearing these for half the day. 

Happy Update!

I'm not sure what happened, but these last couple days Phoebe has been AMAZING! I've done nothing differently yet, but she's been so good and playing so well, I feel like crying now. She's playing with Gwen, getting into things, being so good! I think Friday night may have helped. Logan and I went to Lindsay's work program. Collin Raye was performing (it was awesome!) so we asked Logan's brother and his wife to babysit our kids. This is no easy task for anyone. Gwen is so hyper and Phoebe is so clinging, that you feel like your watching 10 children. Phoebe screamed and cried for the last hour we were gone, but I think allowing someone else to watch her, helped her relieve her anxiety. I came back! She trusts that I won't just disappear. Hopefully, I'm not jinxing this. It's only been two days. Still, today and yesterday were great days, and I thought I should post that.

AnXiEtY

Phoebe has always been a momma's girl. She was never very comfortable in anybody's arms but mine even when she was only a few days old. For some reason, she is only ever content when she is snuggled up against my chest, watching the world from the safety of my arms. Ten months later, this is getting very stressful! This morning, she cried and screamed whenever I put her down to make breakfast, get ready for the day, change diapers... everything. It's like this every day! I have to convince Phoebe to play on the floor, and it takes several attempts and a couple hours of deep cleansing breaths to achieve this. Gwen was the exact opposite. When Gwen started moving, she rarely came back! Phoebe's been crawling for a while now, and instead of going off to find trouble with Gwen, she chases after me. It's hard to get anything done when I only have one hand to do things with. I'm not sure what to do. Is this normal? Does she have trust issues? Okay, so she does sleep in our bed still. And they say babies that sleep in their parents' bed tend to suffer the most from separation anxiety (not Gwen, though.) But that just brings up another list of issues! How do you get a baby who suffers from separation anxiety - even in her sleep - to sleep in her own bed? I'm not sure.

Oh, but she's just fine if I'm not home! She doesn't scream for Logan when I'm out shopping. It's when she knows I'm home and available for cuddling that she needs to follow me around until I can pick her up and carry her around.

But I must admit that Phoebe is very good at cuddling and she sure is adorable, even when she's crying.

Sorry for the rant. It's part of my self therapy program to prevent premature baldness. If I didn't rant, I'd pull my hair out.

Fun Pictures

Phoebe's bed head. She looks a lot like Logan in this pic.

Too cute. She needs a haircut so badly though.

The girls love to get into the cabinets. I can't wait to give them their own kitchen for Christmas.

It's almost nap time. The girls are making their escape.

Phoebe loves Gwennie's car. She gets so proud of herself when she's on this thing. She hasn't figured out how to make it go forward yet. It doesn't matter to her though. I think she likes being taller.

Gwennie put her coat on upside down and insisted that we zip it up (down?) for her and she refused to let us fix it. I think she looks kind of like a duck.

Gwennie made the mess and let Phoebe take the blame. I had to clean it up, though.

Not fair.

Some Thanksgiving Memories

We spent Thanksgiving in Soda Springs. We all had a great time talking with each other, playing disc golf, and  cracking up (or pulling our hair out) over something the girls were doing. I realize I didn't get very many pictures this time. I took one picture on Thanksgiving (which has a bad pic of me in it, so I won't be sharing :p) and the rest of the pics are of the girls playing. 

Here's Phoebe playing with toy peas. I think it's appropriate because Gwen calls her PP. I hope that nickname doesn't stick though.

Phoebe couldn't get enough of the bird. She'd pull herself to standing and try to poke it. I caught her trying to look innocent.

I can't get a good picture of Gwen anymore. She doesn't like having her picture taken, and when I pull the camera out, she wants to look at the pictures on it. This is Gwen running to help me with the camera.

Gotta love 'em!