My Late Halloween Post

Jonathan's pumpkin carved to look like his favorite anime character from one of his favorite series.

I've been meaning to post this one for a while. We had a fun week of Halloween fun this year. The Friday before Halloween we drove down to Thanksgiving Point and went to Cornbelly's Maze and had fun for a few hours. They had lots of activities for our little one to do. The whole idea of having to drag, carry, beg, and scold her through a maze of corn that might take us hours to get through was not appealing, so we never even went in it. Instead we had fun racing rubber duckies, riding in the cow train, eating lunch, and bouncing. It was super nice weather and it was great to spend some time together just the three of us.This was Gwen's very favorite part. You had to hand pump the water and race little rubber duckies back and forth. Jonathan and I just got to sit and talk in the sunshine while she ran back and forth for over half an hour.They had slides and different things to climb on too. These slides looked fun, but they were all ribbed on the inside too so it kind of rattled you as you went down. I didn't think it was that fun so we only did it once.There were free wagons and that was nice. We didn't get one at first and Gwen kept climbing in other kids' wagons so we knew we had to get one. It made it so we could get to the different areas a little faster though I really think they're for the people going in the maze.The other favorite part for Gwen was these giant inflatable rubber pillows for the kids to bounce on. A few weeks ago she learned how to jump with both feet off the ground so it was especially fun for her. I still won't let her near a trampoline, I've seen too may terrible injuries at my work, but felt that these were safer.

The Tuesday before Halloween we went to the Trunk or Treat party at Grandma Buckholts' ward. It was fun to get to see some of the same old ward members that were around when I was a kid. We got to eat yummy "hot hoop" (soup) and the kids had a fashion show with their costumes. Gwen loved to get up in front of everyone and dance. She even grabbed the microphone and made up a little song and dance pausing to bow every once in a while. She's my little star. Watch for her on American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance some day. I really didn't know that she loved performing so much.

For the real Halloween we went up to Layton to see my sisters and their kids. We had a pizza party with Noah and all the kids boogied to the Halloween music. Then we went trick or treating with Sam and Jami. Gwen really got the whole idea of it too. After hitting her first door she wanted to park herself on the porch and eat the candy she'd been given. I explained to her that we needed to go get more candy and after that she'd yell "need more!" after each house. Still, we only did a dozen houses or so before we decided it was enough.

Jonathan and I dressed up as Mario and Luigi from the Super Mario Brothers video games. Gwen was a flying unicorn.

Addictions

Yes, it's sad to admit it, but Gwen is addicted. It is the very nature of a 2-year-old to be addicted to things and she's no exception. Here are Gwen's latest addictions:

Muppets - anything related to the Muppet Show or any of their movies. She loves them all and has seen all the ones we own except the Christmas ones because I'm waiting to bring those out for a few more weeks. How many of your kids can recognize and name Fozzie, Animal, Piggy, Rowlf, or Gonzo?

Baby Pumpkins - either those squash that look like mini pumpkins or just little pumpkins. She carries them around the house and gives them baths, brushes their "teeth", and puts them to bed. She also bites them and throws them across the room. Yeah, she won't be left alone with her new sibling when she comes in a few months.

Horsies - That's anything she can pretend is a horsie. Recent examples: hangers, step stools, arms of the couch, the broom, the vaccum, Mommy or Daddy, and the edge of the bathtub. She tries to ride Boot, but the dog doesn't like that too much.

The best part is that I actually can't wait to see what comes next. What is in store for our family in the next couple months? I can only handle watching Muppets From Space a few more times before it's going to be "lost" for a while. I know all of you with toddlers are feeling some of this pain. Should there be support groups for parents of toddlers with addictions?

Updates

We went to the park earlier this week and Gwen looked so cute in her Elmo hat I just had to snap some photos. Gwen had gotten hold of the camera - that's why the pictures are hazy.

This is how Gwen says "cheese." She puts her fingers in her eyes and says "cheese" while running toward the camera.
Right after this picture we made Boot go down the slide. Gwen thought that was an awesome idea, Boot not so much.

So, we've had a busy week going to the doctor's. Just for regular check-ups, nothing serious. I saw my OB on Tuesday and found out that everything looked perfectly normal on the ultrasound I had last month. That's always a good thing to hear. The tech doing the ultrasound doesn't really give you any information when she's doing it and gives the results to a radiologist who does the official reading and the results are given to your doctor who later reviews them with you. That's why it takes a while. Anyway, the baby is growing normally and I managed to gain a couple pounds this last month. I really don't want to put on a lot of weight because it's so hard to lose it. I'm still hitting the gym 5 days a week. I do an hour of weight training 3 times a week and an hour of cycling class 4 to 5 times a week. It feels so good to be able to do all that.

Gwen had her 2-year-old check on Wednesday. She's in the 92% for height and weight but seems to be leveling off a little. He was impressed by how interactive and curious she was. He said he's not at all worried about her having autism or anything serious like that. She got her flu shot and didn't even cry. Just flinched a little bit and that was it. She's even braver than her dad. Another fun and new thing we did with Gwen was take her for her first haircut. I was hesitant to have it done because it's the last part of her left that's all baby. We just got it trimmed and evened out in the back and cut some bangs for her so she won't always have hair in her eyes. She was so good while she had it done - just sat and munched on a sucker and was more interested in watching Daddy get his hair cut.

Now time for the usual photo dump. We didn't get any pictures of the actual haircut itself but took them when we got home.

Yes, her hair is still all curly and cute in the back. It's just all one length now.

Weekend Project

This is what our bathroom looked like until this last weekend, it was like this when we moved in. There was this yellow-green-blue wallpaper all over, even over the shower. It wasn't a great idea to put it there because it was really getting moldy and the frequent moisture from bathing was starting to make the paper peel from the walls.

This is now what our bathroom looks like. I made Jonathan spend an entire day removing all that yucky wallpaper and I spent the next day painting and cleaning up. Then I found the cute shower curtain and rug to pull it all together. It's really a huge difference and will hopefully help us sell this place one day. Not bad for a long weekend's worth of work and $100, eh?
Also, before the weather turned a little colder this weekend, Gwen would spend about an hour each afternoon hanging out on our little back porch area. I'd give her a snack and put on the Muppets on her portable DVD player and she'd sit on the steps, dig in our dirt, or pull all my flower heads off the plants. I wish I had gotten a picture of that because she lined them all up on the steps and came and got me pointing to them saying "Petty, Momma". Yes, Gwen it was pretty to see all the flower heads lined up like that. I guess it's a good thing that it's the end of the growing season and it doesn't really matter if my flowers have heads or not.
We went to the Parker's house last night for a birthday dinner for my mom and my grandpa. Gwen had such a great time with her cousins. I was amazed at how well she played with everyone. I don't think she caused any problems all evening.
Gwen was "tickling" all her cousins with one of Noah's Pooh Bears. She has the loudest, best, most contagious giggle in the world. Her biggest cousin, Mason, was the best as getting Gwen to let out her big belly laugh. He'd pretend to fall and she'd just lose it. She loves him so much.
Kim and Gwen had fun practicing catching and throwing the soccer ball.

A Little Sister for Gwen

That's right. We're having another girl. The ultrasound was 100 % sure that we're going to be getting a baby girl in February. She was very cooperative for her ultrasound and held still when they were finding the gender. She was pretty wriggly for the rest of the measurements. I can feel her moving around all the time so I wasn't surprised that she couldn't hold still for them. She also kept waving her hand in front of her face, I think she was waving "Hello" or complaining that we kept pushing in on her with the probe. I think that everything else was normal. I'll find out for sure at my next OB appointment next month. The name we have picked out for her is Emily Marie Rail. That's if I can keep Jonathan from springing a surprise Japanese middle name on her at her baby blessing. Well, it's late and everyone is has been asleep for an hour. I'm going to go join them. I hope no one's up late tonight waiting for this blog entry.

The Dentist

I've been meaning to make this post all week, but then Jonathan got really sick and you know how that goes. He's doing a bit better now. Now that it's been almost 10 days of fevers over 103 and not being able to eat anything harder than pudding, his body is beginning to fight this "whatever-crazy-virus-thingy".

Well, anyway, last week I had an appointment for our little family to go to the dentist. I don't mind the dentist. I think that after a dozen years of dealing with orthodontics dentists are a piece of cake. At least they're not shoving tight fitting braces onto your teeth until you bleed so much you want to throw up. I actually think it's relaxing. Jonathan has different ideas. He rarely saw a dentist when growing up because he'd throw a fit. He has awful dental habits and his teeth really show that. He's MUCH better since he married me. I'm somewhat of a Nazi about our teeth, but he still has lots of room for improvements.

Since Jonathan was running fevers and couldn't even really open his mouth, we canceled his appointment and I took Gwen to our dentist alone. This was her second visit. Her first was at 14 months old and she just sat on our tummies and watched them clean our teeth, then they gave her a toothbrush and watched her brush and called it good. That's what I was expecting this time around but it was not so. At first she sat on my legs - my tummy doesn't like to be sat on these days - and watched them clean my teeth. Then a dental assistant came and got her and took her away to her own room to clean her teeth. I was dying. I wanted so badly to get up and go watch, but they were still doing the polishing on my teeth. I could hear them in the other room though. They put Finding Nemo on the TV and let Gwen pick out her new toothbrush I thought it was a tiger or lion because she kept roaring (she picked a Tigger toothbrush out). When they finished with my teeth I couldn't bare it anymore and had to go see how she was doing. She was just laying back in the chair letting them brush he teeth as she watched Nemo with the headphones on. She kept pointing and asking "whatzat?" and the poor assistant had to keep looking up at the TV to figure out what she meant. Then they tried to use the suction thingy on her and she wouldn't let them. She swallowed the toothpaste instead and declared that she was "Done!". The dentist came in and looked in her mouth for a second and said that her teeth looked really good except that her spacing is pretty close. Most likely, she's going to need braces later. It was so fun to watch her be so grown up and good for the dentist. Sometimes I just can't believe how big she is.

Also, I will be posting again in the next few days because I get my ultrasound on Wednesday evening. We can't wait.

Family Pictures

We went and got our pictures taken together as a family and to celebrate Gwen's 2nd birthday last week. I'm not as diligent as some of my sisters. The last time we had our picture done together was last year. Toddlers change a lot in a year. We couldn't get Gwen to smile in most of the pictures, until we brought out the toys for her to play with. I downloaded these from the Target studio. They did such a great job. It's hard to photograph my little family. Jonathan CANNOT keep his eyes open if he knows it's going to flash. He's learned to keep his eyes open by not looking at the camera, but then he comes across as looking creepy, but at least his eyes are open. Gwen's 2, so it's hard to get her to sit still or look in the right direction. I'm actually very photogenic so I'm not a problem, thank goodness.

It's also Jonathan and mine 3rd wedding anniversary today. I can't believe it's only been three years because it feels like he's always been a part of my life. I can't imagine life without him. He's my best friend and such a good daddy. I love him so much.