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.

First Appointment

Yesterday I had my first OB appointment for this pregnancy and everything is fine. We even got to hear the baby's heartbeat. That was so neat. It sounds like a little washing machine - which is normal if you haven't had the chance to hear a heartbeat by ultrasound. One thing I find amusing is that they give you all this free stuff like magazines and samples of prenatal pills etc. It just seems a little weird to me that you'd get free things for being pregnant. I understand that they're just trying to get you to buy their stuff and think that they can hook you with a free sample.

We've already picked out a name if the baby's a boy: Nathan Thomas Rail. We haven't been able to think of any girl names yet. We still have about 10 weeks before we get to do the ultrasound to find out the gender. I'd be happy with either, but a little boy would be different and I think that would be fun. I have seen how much wilder little boys can be so that would make it harder.

The "What's This?"

So, Heidi's Sam has a bad case of the toddler "Why's?" and at the same time Gwen has come down with her own version: the "What's this?". She constantly points to random things and asks "What's this?" only in her toddler speak it sounds like "Whaszis?" Today it started with her farm animal puzzle at 6:45 in the morning I might add. She held up each animal and quizzed Jonathan and me until we'd gone through them all about ten times each. That's how long it took to get her breakfast ready. Food slows down the questions but they still continued as she scooped out her yogurt with her fingers and separated the pieces of strawberry to ask "whaszis?" as she popped each one in her mouth. Luckily, Jonathan was feeling good enough to stay up with Gwen and I got to sneak back to bed for a few more hours. He took her shopping at the grocery store where he assured me that the "whaszis?" was in full effect as she pointed to everything in the store including the checkers and the people stocking the shelves. Thank goodness for Grandma who has spent all day with Gwen and the "whaszis?". I hope she doesn't end up catching it.

Preston, ID and BIG NEWS!

Earlier this month we took our first family trip to visit Grandma Elsie and Farmer Floyd up in Preston, Idaho. There's really not a lot to do in this little town just past the Utah border. We did have lots of fun just being with some of Jonathan's family for a change of pace. I don't know what I'd do without all my family near me. Jonathan's family is scattered all over the US. He and his mom were trying to remember the last time all five of his siblings were in the same room together and they decided it was at his sister Laura's wedding - about 20 years ago. YIKES! I get grumpy if I have to miss out on a family birthday party and I see my sisters at least a few times a year and my parents live down the street from us. That's one thing that will keep me from moving to another state. I'd have to convince all four of my sisters and their families to come with as well as my parents. It'll never happen. Sure, Jonathan and I could both find higher paying jobs in other states, but I have to be near my family. I just like them. We had our tough times growing up. I was probably the meanest and grumpiest of the five but we're close and I consider all of my sisters to be very good friends. Someday before too long, we hope to move up closer to the three that live in Davis County.

Anyway this was supposed to be about our trip . . . and our BIG NEWS. First, because I'm dying to make sure everyone knows: I'm pregnant again! Yay! Gwen's going to be a big sister! My due date is February 19th which means I'm 9 weeks along right now. So far, so good with this pregnancy. I have more energy and less nausea then I did with Gwen. I'm still exercising and trying to eat well, or at least eat something because I don't have much of an appetite with this pregnancy again. Oh, and the heartburn has already started. Other than those few minor things, I have to remind myself that I'm pregnant because it doesn't seem real yet. I remember it being that way with Gwen, and it was more real after I heard her heartbeat for the first time. That's usually around 12 weeks or so, so I've been putting off my OB appointment until around then so I can hear it when we go in. It's okay, I got the doctors I work with to write me a prescription for prenatal vitamins and I know what to expect these first weeks anyway. I'll keep the news posted on here and I'm sure many of you will get sick of hearing about my pregnancy.

So,our trip to Idaho. We spent three days there hanging out with Jonathan's mom and step-dad. We took their dog, Lady for walks and Gwen climbed their big tree as much as she could. We stayed in the one motel in the city and all slept in a king size bed. Gwen did great with the sleeping arrangements except that she loves to sleep sideways and shove her feet under your ribs. Not very comfortable sometimes.

Grandma bought Gwen this cute outfit. Guess what, no pink on it anywhere. Wow, I think that's a first. Check out that wood panelling and shaggy green carpet. Stylish.Gwen and Lady. Lady is the world's worst guard dog, she's very friendly and enthusiastic. She knocked Gwen over a couple times but Gwen still loved going over to play with her.Here's Grandma playing with Gwen. They got along really well.Grandpa Floyd and Gwen on his tractor. Gwen liked it until they started to drive away from Mommy and Daddy. Then, not so much.Gwen sleeping in the bed. This is what it was like each morning as Jonathan and I tried to stay in the bed and not be shoved off.Climbing the big tree in front of their place. I had no idea she was any good at climbing trees. She'd never done it before but she got up higher than my head. I didn't take a picture because I was standing under her trying to talk her down.We had some of Jonathan's aunts and uncles over for lunch the last day and Gwen ate all the olives and about half of the tomatoes before the hamburgers were ready.

Grand Canyon Trip

My little traveler.

We just got back yesterday from our Grand Canyon trip with Grandma and Grandpa Buckholts and Great-Grandpa Madsen. Jonathan couldn't get the time off from work to come with so it was just Gwen and me. I was worried about not having her Daddy there to help, but it turns out that Grandma was the best substitution we could have hoped for. She even cried and cried when Grandma didn't stay with us after the trip. She really loves her.

The first day we drove and drove to Las Vegas and stayed in the Sam's Town Casino. It has this big indoor park with a stream and animatronic animals up on rocks in the center. A few times a day they do a water and laser show there. I wish I had my video camera running when Gwen walked into the casino for the first time. She was shocked by all the loud sounds and lights. She stood there frozen for a few moments until I prodded her out of her stupor. After finding our rooms Gwen and I changed into our swimming suits and went for a quick dip. Gwen is even more fearless in the water this year and every time we go swimming she gets more and more daring. She showed Grandma how she can blow bubbles in the water and "jump" into my arms from the side of the pool. Her jump in more of a collapse since she still doesn't have the coordination to do a real jump yet. After swimming, we went to dinner at a buffet which is a great choice if you're traveling with an almost 2-year-old. She could have olives, jello, pizza, and cherry tomatoes. I don't know where else you can get that combination. She finished her meal off with a messy chocolate ice cream cone. After I cleaning her up, we piled into the van again to go see the flowers and fountains at The Bellagio. Gwen loves flowers and has to say "hi" to all of them. She was almost overwhelmed by all the flowers in the Bellagio. I thought we'd be there forever greeting them all. Gwen was getting really sleepy though and we moved outside to watch the fountains. We had a nice moment together where she just put her head on my shoulder and watched the fountains that way. She was a little scared of them when they went off really high because they're a little bit loud. That night she slept in my bed with me. We didn't even ask for a crib knowing that she wouldn't stay in it anyway. She did fine in my bed though.

Gwen watching the water show. She knew all the animals and kept "roaring" at this bear.
She couldn't take her eyes off of it. She was wowed.
Gwen's chocolate ice cream messy face.

Saying "hi!" to all the flowers at the Belagio.

A scale model down all with plant material of the Belagio hotel and fountains.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way to the Grand Canyon. Gwen did really well on the long drives. I had bought a portable DVD player and rented a bunch of Elmo and Signing Time videos from the library. That and a new coloring book seemed to keep her happy for the most part. When Gwen first saw the Grand Canyon she raised both of her hands over her head and said "Wow." I'm sure it was just how we all felt the first time we saw it in real life. We spent two days walking and driving all around the park. Gwen spent the time pushing her stroller around and wearing her doggy backpack (really a kid leash) so she didn't fall over the side. We even saw some "wild-life." Although, I think that by the way the deer and elk we saw just stood by the van and watched us, they're probably as wild as the burros they use to hike the canyon. Gwen loved seeing the elk and even tried to scare them by shouting "boo" at them. Too bad they couldn't hear her from inside the van. One night we went to a lecture on the canyon and Gwen fell asleep in Grandma's arms one night. I think that was probably one of her favorite parts of the trip. The other night we went to a star party and met a large number of geeks with expensive telescopes. I had this vision of my bored little girl trying to climb one and costing us thousands of dollars so we didn't stay too long. At our near-by hotel they only had king size beds so that meant that Grandma, Gwen, and I got to share one for two nights. It was funny because the littlest one definitely took up the most space in the bed. It was a fun and memorable trip- at least for me. Who knows how much if anything Gwen will remember, but at least I think she had a good time.

Sitting on Grandma's lap looking out at the "Big Gully" as Grandpa Max calls it.Yup, it's Grand alright.

Gwen and Mommy at the Grand Canyon. Even in the middle of the desert Gwen can find flowers to talk to.

Trying to climb the wall at Hopi Point. One disappointing part was that over half of the trail was closed due to construction. So we didn't get to see some of the neater places that we'd been to before.

Gwen was NOT going to be pushed around in her stroller - or let anyone else push it either. Remind me why I brought it again?

At the General Store in the middle of the park there's a big stuffed elk that Gwen was a little afraid of at first. Before long we couldn't get her away from it though.
Gwen in her night-gown with her pacifier and sunglasses writing a love note for Grandma in the bathroom of our hotel room.