So Exciting!!

I wasn't planning on posting again so soon, but we had 2 very exciting things happen yesterday. First, I finally got Georgia to giggle. It is so cute! She opens her mouth in this huge smile that crinkles up her nose and eyes and lets out a little giggle. I'm having a hard time finding a new way to get her to laugh again, because the method I had tried isn't working any more, but I'm sure within the next month she'll be laughing a lot more.

The second exciting thing that happened yesterday is that Georgia rolled over!! At first I thought that it was just a fluke-that when I had set her on her stomach she might have been leaning a little bit and just continued on over to her back. However, later in the day she rolled over 5 or 6 times. I would put her on her stomach and make sure she wasn't leaning, walk away to do some cleaning, and as I watched her she would roll over. Gwen was sitting on the couch watching her too and she just laughed and laughed every time Georgia did it. She's been trying to get her to do it again by showing Georgia how to roll over. It's really cute. So it starts...next thing I know she'll be rolling all over the place!!

Oh, and I started a new blog that's just for all the crafts, scrapbooking and projects that I do. Figured that since I've been doing so many so far this year (and plan on doing at least one a month) that I would start up a blog just for them. Hopefully I'll be able to do one a month and post about it. We'll see!

The Job

So Robbie heard back from that job he went to interview with, and surprisingly they have not made a decision yet. So we get to sit on pins and needles for who knows how long, waiting to hear if Robbie got one of the positions or not, or if they decided to hire him for a different job (which I guess is a possibility). Hopefully it will not be too long until we hear about it. Robbie started his last semester of classes this week. It's hard to believe that in 3 months we will finally be done with school. Robbie said that the thought that it's his last semester is what gets him out of bed in the morning for classes. He's still trying to figure out how his schedule is going to work with having a job at the same time but seems to be doing alright so far. As for me I am doing all right. I am so glad it's been nice out because I can actually get out of the house for even a little while with the kids, and not feel like I'm going totally crazy being cooped up all day inside with no adults to talk to all day long. I've been working on my insanely long list of craft projects and other things as well to the point that Robbie made the comment that I needed a craft room when we move because I have stuff everywhere!! I've been working on updating the girls baby books, scrapbooking, sewing that animal blanket for Georgia's Easter basket, and making new hair bows for the girls with some instructions I got off the internet. And my list goes on and on after I cross this stuff off...so much I want to do, no time to do it in. Oh well. At least I'm getting a little bit done here and there.

The girls are all doing well too. Both Gwen and Grace showed us over the past two days how easy it is for kids to fall asleep in weird positions...both of them fell asleep in some way over the arm of our couch. They have been loving the warmer weather...we got together with some friends on Monday night for a barbeque in Porter Park and they had a blast! Gwen (who loves having pet "rockies") went around collecting rocks all night, and Grace collected (and tried to eat) pine cones...Gwen kept calling them pickles because of their shape. They are both learning so fast and wanting to learn so much that it's hard to keep up. Georgia is doing really well...she is all over the croupe and is a very happy baby. She is holding her head up so well lately and has come so close a few times to actually laughing...I can't wait to hear what her little giggle will sound like. I tried giving her a bath without the baby tub's sling the other day and it was so funny...she isn't really ready for that yet. She slipped and slid everywhere. I had such a hard time bathing her! They are so much fun to be around...I swear I laugh more and more at the crazy things they do every week. Oh, and the pics are from Sunday when they got to wear new dresses (that will also double as during the week summer play dresses...couldn't resist the sale).

Well that is about it for now. I will let everyone know when we hear about that job, and any other interesting things that happen (like how much-or little-weight I loose by the end of the month...that's interesting to me!!). And a special note to our families-we miss you so much and wish we could be there to participate in everything that's going on. We can't wait to see you guys in July!!

He's Home!!

Robbie's home...hooray!! I am so glad to have him back. The girls and I picked him up at the airport after 10 pm Friday night, and it was so nice to not have to spend the night by myself again. Robbie said that the interview went well but due to certain things he doesn't think that he got any of the three jobs. He's pretty sure that one of them went to a guy who had already done an internship for them, so that left 4 other people (not including Robbie-with him there were 5 others) for 2 more jobs. Out of those other 4 people, Robbie is the only one who has not already graduated or is graduating in a few weeks. They were supposed to make a decision before they left the interviews, and Rob was told that they should hear from the HR guy sometime this week. So, we're not overly optimistic about it, but we know that the Lord has looked out for us before and that he will again...even if that means that Robbie continues to work as an intern here in Rexburg for Okland until the end of the year, or if we move back East while looking for a job. Whatever the Lord has planned for us we will do...I have faith that he will not leave us without an option for at least some income. And we do still have about 3 months left until Rob graduates, so maybe things will pick up in that time...we're sure praying!! Thank you to all who have kept us in your prayers over this...it sure means a lot that you take that time and think of us so often. We will continue to keep you all updated on what happens with jobs!!

All Alone

Man do I miss my husband. Robbie is gone-he went to New Mexico for a job interview. We dropped him off at the airport yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and he's gone until tonight when his plane lands a little after 10 pm. All yesterday afternoon, every time I heard a car go by, I would look out to see if it was Robbie and then realize that he was gone. I would also look out the window, see our car sitting in our parking space, and get all excited because I would automatically think that Robbie just got home. Once again, I would realize that he was gone, and I was alone with three little girls until Friday night. And I'm not the only one that misses him. We talked to Robbie last night using our webcams (he has one built into his laptop, and I have one that my parents gave me for Christmas) and Grace was so excited to see him. Gwen was too, but she was awful upset that her daddy wasn't right there with her. She understood that he was gone and that he wasn't going to be there during the night. She whined and cried a good deal during the phone call, and sobbed when we dropped him off at the airport. I cried a bit too-who wouldn't?

The girls were pretty good for me last night. I let them stay up later than normal so that I wouldn't have too much of a fight getting them to sleep. It all worked out too with Georgia's eating schedule, which was pretty screwed up yesterday due to having to take Robbie to the airport. My brother Matt came over for dinner last night, and while he didn't stay for a long visit (which is all right-he needed to move into his apartment) he stayed long enough to keep an eye on sleeping Georgia while I gave the bigger girls a bath-just in case she woke up crying or something. Anyways, I didn't sleep well because of Rob being gone, but I got enough sleep. And I am so very excited to see him tonight. I would have loved to do something fun today to pass the time, but I think I'd rather surprise Rob and get everything cleaned.

This has been a good test to see if I can handle all three girls by myself for more than 24 hours. I was concerned that if I needed help I wouldn't really have anyone to call (between the semester being over and Easter most people are out of town or have moved) but Matt got into town earlier than expected, but turns out I didn't need to call him last night. I surprised myself by handling it so well and not losing my patience or feeling stressed out with all 3 kids. Guess it just goes to show that the Lord was looking out for me and answered my prayers with a lot of patience and love and helped remind me to relax and take it easy, and by looking out for us and Robbie as we are apart. Hopefully this job interview will work out and another prayer of ours will be answered and Robbie will get the job. We'll let you know when we hear something!!

Happy Easter!!

It's Easter, and it's been a wonderful day!! We had a lot of fun this week doing Easter stuff. We watched Easter movies and on Wednesday the girls and I made Easter cookies. They had a lot of fun with that, as always, but they weren't too happy when I tried to prevent them from eating the cookie dough and the flour as we rolled the dough out. We made hearts, hands, tulips, bunnies and butterflies. I even let them eat a cookie after they had cooled off.

Thursday morning Robbie didn't have to leave until close to 10 (it was finals week, so the only final he had was at 10 am instead of having a class at 8 am). So, Robbie and the girls decorated the Easter cookies with icing that Robbie had made, and Easter sprinkles we got at Walmart. What a fun time they had with their Daddy-they love him so much, and it is so great that he loves doing stuff like this with them as well. Robbie decorated most of them (I decorate a few too!!). Grace decorated three of them-as soon as she finished one, she ate it! Gwen only decorated one cookie, and that's because she decided that she needed to do both sides of the cookie. She did eventually eat it.

Friday afternoon after I had done my usual Friday routine (my Fridays are always my office days-pay my bills, balance the checkbook, file and shred) we made Easter Bunny paintings. I paint the girls feet and fingers and use them to make a bunny. They have a lot of fun with this, especially when they get to paint afterwards.

Saturday when we went out to run our errands we got to see the Easter Bunny at Walmart and our local grocery store. Both girls were pretty freaked out by him, and who can blame them? A 6 foot bunny with huge eyes isn't all that friendly looking. We got packages from both Grandparents, to which we say "Thank You!!" Papa, Nana and Aunt Missy sent them these funny glasses:

Saturday night we did dye eggs, and the girls loved that. They had fun putting the eggs in the dye and watching it turn colors. We even let them put stickers on them afterwards-stickers are always exciting!!

Of course, Georgia slept through most of this:

This morning Robbie tried explaining (the best you can to two kids under 4) about the real reason behind celebrating Easter. Don't know how much actually sunk in, but bless him for trying!! The girls were excited to find where the Easter Bunny had hidden their baskets (well, all Georgia really wanted was to eat, so I don't think she cared too much) and loved the things in them.

Grandma and Grandpa Congdon sent the girls matching dresses (yes, for all three of them) for Easter and we were thrilled at how cute they looked! I tried curling the girls hair again, like we did at Georgia's blessing, but I didn't do it early enough because their hair was still pretty damp when I took some of the curlers out. Still, it came out pretty cute, and we got a lot of good comments about all three of them matching (and I actually had one person in Relief Society ask me if Gwen and Grace were twins-they're fairly new to the ward, and didn't know-I swear we're asked that at least once a week).

I am always so filled with peace and a strong spirit at Easter and Christmas, and each one hits me hard in different ways. Christmas I connect with because after having three kids, I know the miracle of birth, and the birth of our Savior and the way Mary must have felt is something far beyond what I felt with my children, and to just celebrate the birth of the Savior coming into this world is just a marvelous thing. Easter I think might be a bit more special to me. I think about Christ dying on the cross and suffering for me-my sins, my aches, pains, heartache-all that, and for everyone else in the world, and I am awed and so grateful that it brings me to tears. What a special being he is, to be willing to do so much for so many people. The Atonement means so much to me because where would we be if we could not repent? I have such a strong testimony of the Atonement, and of Christs resurrection (spelling?-something I'm not always very good at) and our chance to one day live with our Heavenly Father again and be resurrected as well. Oh, I think about that so much, and wonder what it will be like. The spirit always hits me so strongly when I think of these things and I am so grateful for my Savior and the constant love he and my Heavenly Father have for me. I am so blessed to have seen and heard the things that I have, to have had the experiences that I have, and to have the strong testimony that I do. I know that Christ lives, and that my Heavenly Father lives too. I know that I was created in His image, and that I will one day see Him again, and live with Him again, and that brings so much peace to me. I love them so much and am so grateful for what they have done for me. This is truly a special time of the year, and I hope that one day my children will better understand why it means so much to us all. Have a Happy Easter everyone, and keep that special feeling with you for months to come-how wonderful it is, and how blessed are we!!

3 months old!!

Georgia turned 3 months old yesterday, and she is just getting so big!! It's amazing to see her hold her head up so well, and she has such a happy, beautiful smile that can bring joy to any bad day. I tried weighing her on our bathroom scale the other day, but it didn't really work. I actually think that she's somewhere between 11 1/2 and 12 pounds right now. They weighed her when I took her to the doctor and the hospital and she had only gained about an ounce or two in the two weeks since her appointment, but she had been pretty sick and didn't have much of an appetite. She is doing so much better now, and I am so glad. She is such a joy to have in our family and I feel so blessed. Hopefully in the next two weeks or so I'll hear her laugh!!

Another Animal Blanket

So for part of Georgia's Easter basket I decided that I would make her an animal blanket just like I did for the girls since she can't have chocolate and candy. I decided on an elephant (well, I've wanted to do the elephant for a long time now). Anyways, I did once again screw up a bit, but as Robbie put it, it was only my third project using the sewing machine-I am still getting used to it. All in all it turned out pretty well and it is definately something I will continue to do for each child as we have them, cause they are so cute!

Secret Nudists

No, this blog will not be as scandalous as it sounds. It's just that I swear my children are closet nudists. On Monday I was sitting in my bedroom taking care of some things. Now, when I am in my bedroom working on stuff, I put the girls in their bedroom to play. For those of you who have never seen pictures or been in our apartment (or live in Hyde Park) the girls bedroom is right across the hallway from ours, so I can hear and see (almost) just about everything they are doing in there. Anyways, I had the blinds open because it was a beautiful day outside, and I was multi-tasking with putting Georgia to sleep and working on my stuff. I looked out the window and one of our neighbors/friends from our ward were out back playing with their daughter, who is also in nursery. I heard Gwen saying "Hi friend...it's me, Gwen" and banging on the window with Grace repeating over and over "Hi fwend." I went to tell them to stop banging on the window, and found Gwen standing in front of the window will nothing but her pull-up on. So I told her to get dressed (which is a new thing she has learned to do-hooray!!), watched her start to get dressed and I went back to my room to finish putting the baby to sleep. About 2 minutes later I heard her yelling the same thing and banging on the window again. Again, I went back to their room. Now, our bedroom windows are very large, and the window sills are large enough that the girls can stand on them, and the sill is not far off the ground (Gwen can get on it from her bed). So, as I walk over to their room, I find Gwen standing on the window sill, in front of the window, butt naked for all the world to see, with Grace standing next to her in nothing but a shirt! Our neighbors thought it was pretty funny, and I do have to say that though I was a bit irritated and embarassed, I still thought it was pretty funny too. It seems to be the big thing with them right now. Last week and this week all they've wanted to do is strip down to nothing. What weird stages they go through.

Gwen has also had some other funnies this week. Yesterday morning I was in my room putting laundry away. Gwen and Grace followed me into my room, walked around for a bit, and then Gwen told me that she had zombies under her bed. Where this came from, I'm not sure, but it was pretty funny. Later that night she was trying to get out of eating her dinner and she told me, with quite the pained look on her face, "Momma, I tink my belly full." I looked at her plate, noticed she'd eaten next to nothing, and said "No Gwen, you need to eat your dinner." She was quiet for a minute and then said,"Momma, I no have a fat belly." "No, you do not have a fat belly Gwen." "Santa Claus has a fat belly," she said. Now chuckling I said "Yes Gwen, Santa does have a fat belly." She paused again and then said, "Momma, I no want to play with Santa's belly button...I think he no like it." I couldn't help but laugh at that. What a funny girl. Grace is starting to have some small funnies of her own, and I'm sure they'll eventually get to Gwen's level, but right now it consists of making funny faces and noises at us, and telling us that her baby is "stinky" every now and then. What a bunch of funny girls.

Oh, and Georgia is doing a lot better. She still has a slight fever every now and then at night, and she is still coughing, but it's much clearer now, to the point where I have been able to stop the breathing treatments (hooray!!). Hopefully she will be completely over it by Easter (and how much does she look like Gwen in those breathing photos I posted? It's amazing how similar, although Georgia has the same nose as Grace...that's the only difference I can tell). I'll try to get some photos up soon (definately by Sunday night-it'll be Easter!!).

We're Still Here

For those of you who have been wondering where we've been the past few weeks (I know we've missed a lot of church/playgroups), we have been sick, and it has been drawn out. Gwen came down with it first on the 20/21 of March, and just as she was feeling better a week later, Grace came down with it on the following weekend (March 27/28). Robbie also came down with it at the same time. So, Gwen is over it, Grace is over it, and Robbie is still suffering a tiny bit with sinus pressure. I did come down with it a few days after Grace but it didn't hit hard and I am over it now. Poor Georgia though.

Georgia came down with a cough on Tuesday, and the fever started later that night/early Wednesday morning. As of Friday she was still having a hard time-she was lethargic, wasn't eating good, had a fever still and a deep barking cough. So, I took her to the doctor. Well, the doctor thought that it was croupe (croupe-and I don't know if I spelled that right-swells up the airways and makes it hard to clear out phlegm and to breathe...the girls had it last year too). The doctor was a little concerned that it might actually be RSV because her chest was constricted a bit so between it being croupe and possibly RSV he put her on a nebulizer (again-spelling?) for breathing treatments. He said that if it got worse over the weekend to take her to the hospital and if it stayed the same to bring her back in on Monday. Well, Saturday she seemed to be doing better-she was smiling and cooing like her normal self, just hoarsly (the coughing and crying have made her really hoarse). Then this morning she seemed to be going back downhill and getting worse, so I took her to the ER. They diagnosed her with acute croupe, gave her a breathing treatment with a different, stronger medication, and put her on antibiotics. So hopefully this will help. I feel so bad for her, and my heart breaks every time she cries, because you can tell she just feels so awful. I've been losing sleep over it, and over all the feedings, breathing treatments (every 4 hours-just when she started sleeping through the night too!!) and tylenol and coughing. I've been doing everything else possible that I can to make her more comfortable/feel better, and hopefully she will soon. My poor sweet baby (oh, and she's wearing a bib in the pictures cause she cried so hard during one of the treatments that she gagged and puked all over the place)!

Oh, and Robbie got another company that contacted him after receiving his resume. It's a company named Layton that's located down near Salt Lake City. She emailed Robbie asking what he was looking for, and if he was interested in an internship this summer, and Robbie emailed her back, letting her know that he was done with all his internships and that he is in school until the end of July, and that he's looking for a full time job. He hasn't heard anything back yet, but hopefully he will-and that it will be something positive!!