Rainy Days

As I sit here my house is dark. It's 3:15, and I need to go turn on all the lights. That's the Pacific Northwest for you. Not more than 20 minutes ago, I was taking these pictures with no lights on at all. Just good old fashion sun light. That's a hot commodity around here! Now it is gone until who knows when.

Yesterday morning we woke up to snow...that lasted only until about 4 when there wasn't a trace of it to be seen anywhere.

Last week we had beautiful clear blue skies all week long-with 35 degree weather. But we had to take advantage, so out we went. Gabs took one step outside and said, "That's too hot mama." "No," I said, "That's just the sun. It's too bright, not too hot." The poor thing doesn't even know what hot or bright means!

What to do on such a sad, gloomy, January afternoon? Give your toys a bath of course! Get your little ones a sink full of warm water, some soap, a wash cloth, a kitchen chair and lots of Little People and princesses. Oh, and be sure to have something planned to do for yourself, because this little formula allows, at least for us, an hour and a half of freedom...while supervising of course!

Some have asked where I find time to craft and sew...well there you go! Wait for the littlest one to nap, then provide the not so little one with water! Perfect plan.

There is one thing I forgot though and that's some sort of waterproofing gear. Literally, while Gabs was so enthralled with her washing, I whipped up this apron/smock out of some oil cloth fabric I picked up from the remnants bin at my favorite fabric store. Seriously, never go to the fabric store without checking out the remnants bin! I think I might throw in paints next time to extend the free time a little longer!

Is there anything special indoors that you do on rainy days??

Please...

Oh Please, stop growing! Look at this girl. Look at those cheeks. Look at that gut. It's all too squeezable. I love it! The other night Joe said something about us having 2 toddlers. I about fell out of my chair. Two toddlers? Are you serious? Gwen's still a baby! No, he said...she toddles around. She's a toddler. I excused myself so I could go cry...not really, but the thought killed me.

My grandma always quotes a little poem to me when we talk on the phone:

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

How true I am finding this to be. My babies are not keeping. They're growing. They're learning. They're running. They're starting to say things correctly for goodness sakes. Soon all "hoctordoctors" will be just plain old helicopters. And "crumbs" will really mean crumbs and not the crust on bread. Soon, I'll be asked for boring old candy corn and not "candy carrots." Sadly, our refrigerator will no longer be the "fridgerfreightor." I'll stop hearing Gabs say "that's the funniest thing I never saw." And how sad I'll be when she starts asking for things the old fashioned way and no longer say, and I quote from this morning, "I would like, may, can I have please a blue spoon, please Mommy?" And it will be so boring when last night, last month, a second ago, or anything in the furture will no longer be "last year" anymore. I'll literally be depressed when Gwen stops turning around and backing into me to sit on my lap.

So, in honor of my grandma who reminded me again Friday of these words, I vow to rock my babies while I can. No more cleaning. No more scrubbing. No more dusting...

...at least for a few hours a day.

Sisters

The other day as I watched, for the third time, Gwen trample through the perfectly straight, very meticulous line of 30 Little People that Gabriella set up, I began to think how it must be to be three years old with a one year old sister. Then I thought of my sister Nicole, and how it must have been to be three and have two one-year old sisters. The poor girl!

I often think about a particular picture where Nicole is feeding Bryn and I our birthday cake on our first birthday. We are both sitting in high chairs, and Nicole is feeding us chocolate cake! The cake is everywhere. But Nicole looks like she is loving it. Most likely though, Nicole probably did not love having 2 little sisters when she was 3! It would be nice to know what she really thought of it all at the time.

As Gabriella sat there with tears in her eyes, frantically trying to set up each of her people where they had just stood perfectly before Gwen came barrelling through again I had to smile. As parents, these tender moments are amusing and funny, but to that little 3 year old, life is so not amusing. It's devastating. So, I decided, that Gwen needed to know about herself from her 3 year old sisters perspective. For the last couple of days I've been asking Gabriella questions about Gwen. I think I might do this every year or so, it's pretty enlightening to see what she came up with, not to mention funny.

Here's what Gabriella had to say about Gwen at 15 months old.

*What is Gwen's favorite food? Bread, cereal and chocolate cookies-I think bananas

*What does Gwen love wearing? A pink swim suit-hasn't ever had a pink swim suit on!

*What is Gwen's favorite thing to do? Read-that's the truth, Joe can attest to that as he read her new favorite book, Are You My Mother to her for the 30th time yesterday.

*What is Gwen doing when she is getting into trouble? I'm thinking something along the lines of sitting on the wet shower floor, unrolling the toilet paper, dropping things in the toilet. Gabriella said: Gwen's laughing. Oh yeah, that too. Gwen does laugh when she gets into trouble.

*What do you love to call Gwen? My answer, Gwen Gwen, Gwen Gweny, baby. Gabriella's answer, little stinker-ok, maybe she just heard me call her that after I found her in the shower...again.

*What do you love most about Gwen? Playing Hide & Go Seek-which translates into, pushing Gwen behind the curtains and not letting her out.

*What makes Gwen sad? When we don't share-meaning, when Gabriella takes something from her and makes her cry

*Where is Gwen's favorite place to go? The Home Depot-I have no explination, she stumped me on this one.

*What makes Gwen laugh? I'm thinking chasing her, tickling her, Gabriella says when she drops food on the floor-yes, that does too.

Who is Gwen's favorite person? Daddy-enough said.

*If you could do 1 thing with Gwen, what would you do?-Share a sucker-which traces back to the other night when we bought the girls ring pops and Gabriella finished hers and wanted to "share" the rest of Gwen's...Gwen wasn't allowing it!

*What is Gwen's favorite color? Brown-a.k.a the only color Gabs will allow her to use when they are coloring.

*What does Gwen most love about you? Playing with me everyday.

The questions go on and on. Favorite song. Favorite people to see. The color of Gwens hair. It's apparently white by the way, with Gabriella's being gray, mine being brown (depressing) and Joe's being black. What does Gwen love to do in the bathtub? So on and so on.

These two girls make me so proud. Shortly after the wrecking of the parade of Little People, I caught Gabriella putting her shoes on Gwyneth because they both thought it was so funny...how quickly they forget. That's why I'm so excited to start these lists. I think we will all forget what the everydays were like with these two little ones. One things for sure though, I love that these two are sisters.

Camping

I love camping. I like okay the normal outdoor, camp in the wilderness kind of camping, but I love the non-traditional kind of camping. I can still picture in my mind clear as day one year where me and all my sisters camped around our Christmas tree with my mom and watched A Very Brady Christmas. It is one of my favorite childhood memories. You know how there are certain memories from your childhood that are just etched in your mind, like you're looking at a picture, but really it isn't a picture, it's just that you've remembered every little detail? This camp out is one of those memories. We all laid around on the floor in our sleeping bags and ate cookies and drank hot chocolate, and watched what I thought was the best Christmas movie ever. I must admit, I still think this is the best Christmas movie ever, but it's because of the memory I have associated with it.

Well last week as I was putting Gabriella to bed she remembered going camping this summer at Mt. St. Helen's with friends. I couldn't believe she even remembered that, it was only for one night, and it was 6 months ago. But she remembered and wanted to know if we could go camping again. I thought how in the world am I going to explain to this poor 3 year old that we live in Washington and we only have 4 weeks out of a year where there is acceptable camping weather? I knew I could never explain, so instead I said we could absolutely going camping again.

So tonight for FHE we went camping. We pulled down Gabs sleeping bag, got out her new travel pillow from grandma, turned on the fire place, got our bag of marshmallows, and watched Liken the Scriptures on the portable DVD player...because you know I will never go camping without a portable DVD player for the girls. It was a really good time. We even considered for about one second sleeping out in the living room and making a night of it, but who are we kidding? We moved her sleeping bag into her room and about 5 seconds of being in it on her floor, she wanted in bed and was fast asleep.

I hope we have many more camp outs with the girls. Maybe they'll enjoy A Very Brady Christmas as much as I do. If not, that's okay, as long as they remember camping with their mom I'm happy.

The Best Loved Book

I can still remember my first favorite book. Well, let's be honest, it's probably still my favorite book since I'm not much of a reader and haven't really read much since this first love of mine. But it's a book called The Best Loved Doll. It's such a sweet story about a little girl who gets invited to a birthday party and she is to bring a doll. There are prizes for the best dressed doll, the most talented doll, and the oldest doll. She has a doll that fits into each of those categories, but she decides to take another doll. Her favorite doll, which isn't any of those things, it's just her best loved doll. She's dirty and falling apart and her clothes are torn, but she takes her anyway and gets a special award for having the best loved doll.

Gabriella's favorite were board books by Sandra Boynton. We have the whole collection and she had each of those books memorized by 18 months. She seriously loved them. Now, she loves Ella the Elegant Elephant, and a Curious George story where he goes to a costume party. We read those stories over and over. As of late, she has been loving the Goldilocks story from the library, which is good, I think it's helping her get over her fear of bears. We might have to get one for our own growing library.

I love reading to the girls. It's so nice to have them sit so still on my lap, and so quietly and lay back in my arms and listen to the quick little story they have chosen. I love the funny things Gabs says when she observes something new in the story, or when Gwen gets impatient with the long book Gabriella has chosen and tries to put "her" book over the top of it to read it.

"Her" book would be a word book by Richard Scarry. It's not even a story, it's a word book! Over and over and over again she wants us to read this story to her. She will come yelling at you as loud as she can with this book in hand, "eeaa, eeaa, eeaa." Meaning read, read, read. If it's on the floor when we get home, or out anywhere she can see it, she dives out of your arms to go get it immediately. It's rare if we sit down and don't read it 3 times in a row. And we do that hundreds of times a day.

The other day we were at the library and I was in an aisle looking for books. I heard the familiar, extremely loud, "eeaa, eeaa, eeaa" coming towards me. There from around the corner comes Gwen with the Richard Scarry word book! How did that little girl find this book at the library with the millions of other books? We sat down at the library and re-read again and again the same favorite book that we have at home.

Hopefully, my girls will one day sit down and read on their own. And learn to love reading for themselves and read well into their adult life. But for right now, I am perfectly happy being the one to read to them. We already have some very loved books. So, what books are the best loved books in your house. Which story do you find yourself reading over and over again?

Interpretation

Gabriella has just recently starting going to preschool with a small group of girls in the ward. Each week a mom teaches letters and shapes and such. Yesterday was the letter "P" and Gabs came home with her first ever self-portrait. I hadn't even ever seen her attempt to draw people before. Being completely unbias, I'd say it's a work of art. Study it for a second, you'll need to take a good look at it to continue the story. I asked her to tell me about the picture. This is what I got:

Gabs pointing to the little dark blue one on the left: "That's you mommy when you were a baby."

Ok, I can make sense of that, the night before for Family Home Evening we talked about premortal life, where we were before we were born and how we were all babies when we came to this Earth. We talked about our new nephew, Gwen, and Gabriella as a baby and how mommy and daddy were babies too. I think that's where that came from, pretty normal.

On to the next big light blue guy: "That's a big, scary monster. And when the monster is nice, he's daddy."

So Funny. I am guessing she drew Joe as a monster because he likes to chase the girls and they always go running through the house screaming. Gabs likes to pretend he's a bear and tries to be afraid of him. No, Joe isn't a mean, yelling dad, just a daddy that likes to play and chase his daughters. Definitely funny, but not too suspicious that she drew her daddy that way.

She then points to the next two figures: "Those two girls are me"

Me: "Both of them are you?"

Gabs: "Yes."

Me: I say something about how pretty they look, and what are they doing and how much I love them, but finally the curiosity gets to me and I say: "What about Gwen? Where's she?"

Gabs: "She's the grass."

Me: "The grass? "

Gabs: "Yeah, she's the grass."

Nice.

Ok, so all you psychology buffs out there, what does that mean? Gwen is the grass. Gabriella said that she was walking in the grass when I asked what "they" (both Gabriella's) were doing. Joe thinks that she is just a genius and already draws very abstractly. Either way, I love my 3 year olds honest first self-portrait. Pretty stinking funny my Gabriella.

You Asked For It

Quite possibly the best bedhead I have ever seen. This is Gabs when she was 20 months old. I had the pleasure of walking into her room every morning and every afternoon after she woke up to a spectacular display of the wildest hair out there. How could I not love this girl?

And, just an update, we cut her hair! Nothing drastic, just a few inches. She thought it was fun and she was beaming when she walked in the door to show her daddy! Mission accomplished!

Here's the Trouble...

I think I've created a monster.

I've brainwashed my daughter, and now there's no fixing it. I have always, always, been paranoid about Gabs getting a hold of a pair of scissors and cutting her hair. It really is one of my worst nightmares. She has had a head full of hair since the day she was born. My dad says she has rum-tum-tuger hair. She always adds, " I have rum-tum-tuger hair, but it is bee-u-tiful." She competes with the rest of the Chiara's for the title of the most amazing bed head. She really can pull of some amazing do's in the morning.

I'm careful to say I am going to the salon to get my hair "done", never cut. She believes that all girls hair is long like Ariel and Belle. The other day at Costco she said, loud enough for the gentleman to hear, "Boys shouldn't have long hair at all, right mom?" We all got a good laugh over it, but that was something she observed all on her own, nothing I ever told her.

She now hates having her hair pulled up...she always wants it down and "long." She believes it's prettier that way. Her hair truly is all in her face when it is down. We have worked it out so when we leave the house I can do it, but otherwise, it's rum-tum-tuger for sure.

It's driving me crazy. I want to cut it. I think a cute little bob would be perfect. Here's the trouble though-when I ask if we should go get our hair cut at the salon she says "No, that would be bad. I will be so sad." My exact words for telling her why she can't cut her own hair.

I am in big trouble. She will be traumatized if I just take her. I remember the awful bowl cut my mom choose for me. The memories still haunt me. I can't do that to Gabs (sorry mom). But if I don't take her she's soon to be Rapunzel. What should I do? I have definitely created a monster.

Baby Hungry!

Bryn's Wyatt is here! She surprised me Sunday night by calling and saying her water had broke and she was on her way to the hospital! Perfect Wyatt was born Monday afternoon and weighed 7lbs. 4 oz...even being several weeks early! We are so excited to have another healthy baby in the family and we seriously can't wait to meet this sweet boy. Wyatt, we already love you more than tongue can tell, you are one lucky boy to have a mom that is so giving and thoughtful. You will be loved, thought of, talked about, cried over, prayed for and kissed more by her than ever imaginable! We are so happy you made it here safe to be with your parents and brother! We will see you soon!

With the arrival of Wyatt and it seeming like all my friends have been having babies the last few months, I have gone completely baby hungry! No, I am not pregnant, but I am dying to have another. I am so anxious to have the rest of my family here with us.

When we were pregnant with Gabriella, we framed the ultrasound and stood it on our piano for my parents and Bryn to see when they arrived in St. Louis for my college graduation. When we were pregnant with Gwen, we put her ultrasound picture in the same frame and gave it to Gabriella to hold, so we could take a picture and send it to all our family to announce her arrival also. I can not wait until we have 4 or 5 little ones holding that frame, each anticipating the arrival of the newest little miracle!

I was so touched when one of my friends who just had a baby bore her testimony on Sunday. She said wouldn't it be such a shame to live this life, spend all this time and effort, building and raising our families and then not be with them for eternity? To my friend, thank you for those inspired words. I feel so blessed to have the knowledge I have and to be sealed to my wonderful family. I want more than anything to be with my entire family for eternity. I just can't wait until they are all here! I am so excited!

Mini Me- a.k.a. -Mini Gabriella

I love this age! Gwen is 15 months old and just a riot. She is independent, feisty, clever, silly, smart, and adventurous. The thing I love most about this age is all the new things she says and does day in and day out. She says common things like mama, uh-oh, no, milk, baby and thank-you. She does say daddy, but she says "daddy" to anyone who walks in from the garage after she hears the garage door. I think it's cute that she associates the word "daddy" to someone coming home.

Right now, Gwen is such a little copy cat. She is Gabriella's mini-me. Not only does she look almost exactly like Gabs did, but she follows whatever Gabriella does. When Gabs lays down to get her hair washed, Gwen slides herself down too (yeah, bath time has become quite interesting since this transpired, especially since Gabs doesn't like the water getting into her ears). When Gabs is twirling in circles, so is Gwen. When Gabs is laughing, Gwen is too. When Gabs screams because her daddy is chasing her, no matter where Gwen is, she screams and starts running away (even though she's not being chased). When Gabs is playing with a toy, Gwen has to have it. Gabriella dancing, Gwen dancing. And unfortunately, the other day when Gabriella was experiencing a rare, tough three year old moment, Gwen followed suite and sat down to kick her feet.

It cracks me up. The words keep popping into my head "Anything you can do, I can do better." Sometimes it seems that Gwen is trying to one up Gabriella because she likes the attention. But, I hope as time goes on Gwen does what Gabriella does because she wants to be just like her and looks up to her good example. It reminds me just how important teaching our children is. It reminds me that it starts with us as parents. We set the good example, we teach them by our actions how to act, how to behave, how to be good and how to be kind. Yes, I love having a 15 month old, because it's a visible reminder just how well, or not well, I am doing as a parent as this little 15 month old follows the example of a three year old, who follows the example of me.

A Happy New Year It Is

So far, 2008 is perfect! Here is why it's great to be...in 2008!

It's great to be GWYNETH in 2008 because-this little mama has us all right where she wants us. Well, maybe not Gabriella, but the rest of us. Gwen is bursting with personality at a young 15 months old and it's full of fire. She is showing true signs of trouble, but there's not a single thing Joe and I can do about it, because she's so stinking cute! Gwen likes to walk on the wild side and this is unfamiliar territory for us. When she's naughty (aka-walking on the couch, climbing up and sitting on the dining room table, touching the TV, standing in the bath tub, king konging her way into her sisters world and stealing Little People right from her hands then running away, and my favorite, climbing and sitting on the wet shower floor after it's been used) all the while with a mischievous, but irresistible smile, it's hard to be mad. She couldn't possibly be any more adorable or fun, no matter what kind of mayhem she's getting herself into. She's saying things that actually make sense, besides the normal constant slurring/chattering she has been expressing since long ago. Joe insists this weekend she said "popcorn". Whatever Gwen is doing, good, but kinda mostly bad, you can't help but love this chunky cheeked, lovable little girl. That's why it's great to be Gwen in 2008.

It's great to be GABRIELLA in 2008 because-she lives in a world called Candy Land! My Gabriella's life at the tender age of 3 revolves around getting treats in any way possible. She loves chocolate milk, and can usually convince her dad to get her a nice, big glass full any night he's home. She even came home with her own personal chocolate milk from the store a few weeks ago when she went with him, and already I'm reaping the benefits of that one with each trip back to the store! Thanks a lot hon! On Sunday, before we even made it to church (at 9:00) she already informed us that the kitchen smelled like suckers, her dress smelled like chocolate and that Joe's hair smelled like jelly beans. She's as cute as can be. I do love giving her candy and treats, because she just gets so silly and happy over it. But she's going to be devastated when she realizes she only lives in Washington and not Candy Land. For now though, it's great to be Gabs in 2008.

It's great to be JOSEPH in 2008 because-he finally started the best 6 months of residency...research! That means not having to get up at 4:30 for work, but 6:00, not having to commute 1.5 hours, but 10 minutes, not having to sleep in a crappy apartment in downtown, but sleeping in a crappy, I mean wonderful full sized bed in his own home, not having to eat cafeteria food for dinner, but sitting down and eating with his family, not having to take call in a different city, but taking call at home, and not having to work crazy 80 hour work weeks, but nice, normal 45-50 hour work weeks! Joe sacrificed so much while working away. He could have stayed up there every night, but chose to drive 1.5 hours at 7:30 at night, to come home, most of the time not be able to see the girls, to go to bed at 9:30 because he was so exhausted, only to get up the next morning at 4:30 to make the same trip back up there again. He so deserves the next glorious six months on research and that's why it's great to be Joe in 2008.

It's great to be JAMIE in 2008 because-already my new year resolutions are in full swing. I was able to go to the fabric store yesterday...alone! Happy New Year to me! I wandered and got totally lost in time and spent 2 hours picking and looking at fabric. When I came home I was greeted at the door by Gabriella full of hugs and kisses. Gwen ran over as soon as she heard my voice, and again was smothered with laughs, hugs and kisses. I told Joe it's no wonder he loves coming home at night, it's a great feeling when your children miss you and are happy to see you. It was a wonderful reminder just how much I love being at home with such sweet girls .

When I got home Joe had started to pack up some ornaments. I noticed Gabriella was playing with one of mine from long ago. I thought, I can make one for the girls, so I did. You can see them on my Nothing Fancy Blog link. I hate to admit, but somehow I missed the ornament train this year, so the girls didn't get one on Christmas Eve. I hope that by me making them these, I have slightly made up for that. I have little projects stored away in my head that I just can't wait to get started on this year, that's why it's great to be me in 2008.

I hope 2008 is as great for you so far.