My Happy Birthday Girl

My little baby turned 2 yesterday. She's really not a baby anymore and I usually think of her more as a toddler than a baby now. It helps that we're going to have a real baby in 6 more months. For her birthday, we went to Wheeler Farm. We had dinner and ice cream and melted cupcakes. Gwen got to open her presents and we went and saw all the farm animals. Gwen mostly loved having Sam and Noah (her cousins) around to play with. He spent all evening trying to hold hands with Noah and sit next to Sam. She sure loves them.

All Gwen had for dinner was three glasses of Sprite. Oh well, we had a good lunch at Sweet Tomatoes earlier that afternoon so I wasn't too worried about her little tummy.The three musketeers found this wriggly bench and had fun sitting on it together. We didn't show it to them or anything. They found it themselves and I caught this great picture of them laughing about it.The Bells got Gwen a great Elmo Karaoke machine. It plays some of her favorite songs like "Elmo's World", "The Wheels on the Bus", and "If You're Happy and You Know It." She played with it all evening and wouldn't put it down to open her other presents. We had to hide it from her so we could get her to get ready for bed that night too. It's a big hit.Heidi reminded me that I'm going to have to buy a new stroller when the new baby gets here. The two seater that Heidi has was also a big hit for Gwen. She kicked Sam out of her seat and made Heidi push her all over the farm. I liked it too because then I didn't have to carry her. Hey, she's the Birthday Girl, right?

So, thanks to everyone who came to our party. I'm so grateful that I have a happy and healthy little Gwen to love everyday. My life has so much more meaning and joy since she came into it. I can't imagine a moment without her.

Pictures of Lagoon

Here's the promised pictures from our evening out at Lagoon. Gwen and Daddy in line watching the Merry-Go-Round. She loved watching it but was scared when in was her turn to ride.

Waiting to get on the train. Gwen pointing to everyone passing the window and asking us "whatzis?". She keeps asking you until you can come up with an answer that satisfies her.

Her Nemo backpack. I think she was also inspired that I was wearing a backpack to carry around drinks and diapers and things.

It was impossible to get a picture of her smiling on the Merry-Go-Round, but I swear she really did like it this second time around. I think she's just concentrating on how big she is now.

Where to Begin?

So, over the last few weeks since I last posted not a whole lot has happened. Gwen added to her Terrible Two stage by now automatically answering "no" to any question or request.

Me: Do you want some Nemo fruit snacks?
Gwen: no.
Me: Umm, they're your favorite.
Gwen: *shaking head vigorously* NO!
Me: Say please?
Gwen: Pease.
Me: *gives her the snacks* You say "yes" when you want something.
Gwen: no.

It's just a little bit hard these days to figure out what she wants and what she doesn't. I can't wait for those verbal skills to kick in.

Also on the Gwen front, she has begun to pretend to go potty on the toilet. We bought her an Elmo (of course) potty seat and a step stool for our toilet because she wants to sit on it, oh, about a dozen times a day. She never does anything besides make grunting noises and wave bye-bye to her imaginary pee as we waste water flushing it each time. Trust me, she's no where close to actually accomplishing anything real on the toilet, but I like to humor her because her grunting is really pretty funny to see.

Oh, here's a head's up to my family blog readers: Gwen's 2nd Birthday party will be held Thursday, August 28th at 5:00 at Wheeler Farm. You'll get real invitations in the mail in a week or so, but I just wanted you to plan ahead. She likes pretend kitchen stuff, My Little Ponies, Elmo anything, stuffed animals, books, kid music, etc. typical 2-year-old things like that.

Jonathan starts school again in two weeks. He'll graduate in December with his Associates in History as long as he passes his classes - which he will if he wants to not die. He's currently applying for admission to the U of U and Weber State and depending on who offers the best scholarships or tuition assistance we'll decide where to go next spring. That may mean putting up with our tiny house for two more years or having to move and find a new house and jobs in Ogden. Although, I'd love a bigger place, I'm terrified to have to find another job and move again. Luckily, I know that things will work out the way they're supposed to and we'll end up where we need to be. That makes things a bit easier.

We went to Lagoon for my mom's stake Lagoon Day on Tuesday. We only stayed for a few hours which I thought was perfect but Jonathan wished we had more time. We did the free admission thingy and rode the merry-go-round twice and the train once. Gwen was terrified of the merry-go-round the first time, but was a pro by the second time. Even now, she'll stop and get my attention and slowly bend down then stand up and I'll ask her if she's pretending she's on the merry-go-round and she'll say "yeah." We let her pick out a toy there and she chose a "Nemo" backpack. Big surprise since she's also really into Nemo these days and was watching it on the drive there. She loves her backpack and wears it to the gym's daycare. We have pictures, I'll post them when I'm not busy at work like tonight. They'll be the last pictures I post for a while since Gwen also broke our camera the other night by throwing it on the kitchen floor.