Correction

Georgia had an appointment today where she was weighed and measured. She is indeed 25 inches long but was only 14 pounds 13 ounces. So I was off by 3 ounces. Oh well...that was the best I could do with a bathroom scale!! She is now being weened to formula so I can stop pumping (which I have done since giving birth to her) before we move cross country (which will make it easier on all of us). She's getting so big!!

Georgia's Weight and Height

So I forgot to do Georgia's height and weight yesterday so here it is. Keep in mind though that this is using my tape measure for her height and our bathroom scale for weight. I will have more accurate measurements next week when she has an appointment but this is as close as I can get with what I have. Georgia is about 15 pounds and about 26 inches long. Like I said, that could change when I take her in for her appointment next week but this is off of what I can use around here.

Everything else is going all right. Robbie was given a free TV at work this week (the hospital was throwing it away). Granted it has an image burned into the screen (it's a plasma TV) but it's not all that noticable and we just kind of ignore it since it's so nice to watch movies and play videos games on a big screen than our tiny little TV. He still hasn't been offered a job but he is applying like crazy to anything he can find. Hopefully he will find something, but as of right now we are planning and preparing to move to Vermont to live with our families until he finds something. Rob will graduate on the 23rd of July and we will be leaving the 25th for the long cross country trek. We keep hoping and praying that he will find something so we will not have to be a burden on our families (we would love to live with you though, specially since it's been 2 1/2 years since we've been home...just worried about being a burden). This could all change though depending on what happens (job, no job, family...etc.).

I'm doing all right. The stress of moving and not having definate plans as to where we are going (since he could get a job before he graduates and we would be moving elsewhere) has increased the stress of raising 3 kids, 2 of which have redefined the phrase "the terrible twos" into something much worse this week. I have something called PVC (Premature Ventricular Complex) which is a heart disorder. I was diagnosed with it right after having Gwen (they did an EKG while I was still in the hospital with her). Pretty much an electrical impulse (which causes all hearts to beat) causes the left ventricle of my heart to beat earlier than it should. It usually goes right back to it's normal rhythm but under stress (and if I am overweight, which I am) it occurs more frequently. It's not life threating-just an inherited disorder that's a bit bothersome at times. It makes me feel like my heart skips a beat, feel lightheaded, or tired. Normally I just put up with it and it doesn't bother me but this week has been pretty bad. I sat down for about 20 minutes to time it...the longest I had inbetween "skipped beats" was almost 4 minutes, and the shortest was 4 seconds. It's just a pain in my butt cause sometimes it "skips" so bad I can feel a bit of a thump in my chest so I cannot wait until we move and things get a bit settled in so this can calm down back to normal.

Gwen and Grace are both doing pretty well, besides driving me crazy. I really miss the nice sunny days when I could take them outside and let them run around. It has been raining on and off every day for the past two weeks and I think they are getting bored staying in the house all the time. Like I said, they gave new meaning to the phrase "the terrible twos" this week. They're doing pretty good right now though. They are playing in their room and pretending to have a sleep over with each other and all their stuffed animlas. They've been having picnics this week as well and building "houses" with blankets draped over things. I watched The Testaments with them this week and it was nice to explain to them what was going on in the movie was what happened in the scriptures that we read and tell them all the little stories behind the scenes they show of Christ and why momma cried so much (a good way to explain the spirit and unshakeable faith and love in Christ). They are sweet hearts...they are just really curious and stubborn (hence all the trouble they get into).

We will let everyone know as soon as Robbie finds a job...hopefully the Lord will answer our prayers soon. If not, I am sure there is something we need to learn from this or this is something we need to experience now in order to understand something in the future. I have faith that whatever he has in mind for us will work out.

5 Months Old

Georgia turned 5 months old today!! It's so weird to think that 5 months ago we were in the hospital with her. She is such a happy easy going little girl! Her personality shows through more and more as she grows. And boy does she love her sisters!! She watches them where ever they go and loves it when they play with her. Gwen and Grace can bring a smile to her face no matter what, and she loves to hear them sing to her. She smiles so much-an ear to ear grin- and though it's still a bit hard to get her to laugh she does have the cutest little giggle. She growls at people and at her toys, picks her toys up and will look at them or put them in her mouth. She can roll from her back to her tummy and her tummy to her back and is starting to get the hang of rolling both directions (to her left and to her right). She rolls around everywhere and hates it when she gets stuck-especially when it's her head under the couch!! She can sit up assisted by herself and we practice sitting up by herself as often as possible-she tries doing it on her own when she's in a reclined position. She grabs her toes and blows raspberries, especially when she eats her rice cereal. She does so many wonderful things, but the one I love most is when she grabs my shirt, nestles her head into my chest and falls asleep. What a sweet little girl. I have been so blessed to have 3 wonderful girls who, though they can drive me crazy, are the sweetest little things. I love them so much and I am so glad they chose to come to our family and be sealed to us for eternity. It makes my heart soar when I think of spending our lives together here on Earth and after this life. You're such a big girl Georgia...we will continue to love you our best, spend as much time with you as we can, and anxiously watch your developing personality and growth. We love you so much!!

The Return Of Underwear Girl

So in the past I have often caught Gwen with some of her underwear or training pants (this is back before her being potty trained) on her head. Everytime I caught her like that I would call her Underwear Girl. We haven't seen her in a while though (the last time being almost a year ago).

Gwen has some issues falling asleep at night. She'll play with the blinds, toys, stuffed animals, anything she can. She'll also climb, get into the closet, ask to use the bathroom 3 or 4 times, ask for a drink of water, and get into any clothes that happen to be out. She will also change her pjs before falling asleep or take them off and fall asleep in just her underwear. Oh, and she has to have her door open and the hall light on because she's scared of the dark.

Last night was going the same as every night-put Gwen in her bed, take her to the potty 3 times, get her a drink, and take all the toys and stuffed animals (save a few for her to sleep with...she freaks if she doesn't at least have 3 stuffed animals in bed with her) and continuously tell her to get back in bed and go to sleep. She even started something new last night-standing by her night light and trying to pull the hairs out of her arms and legs (what a goof). I saw her playing with their dirty clothes basket and told her to go to sleep about 45 minutes after we put her to bed. Robbie checked on her about 15 minutes later and said she had finally gone to sleep. I went in about 10 minutes after Robbie to get Georgia some pj's and I noticed something weird with Gwen. I went over to her bed and started laughing over this...

...the return of Underwear Girl!! Yup, Gwen had gone through her dirty laundry, found her underwear from the day before, put it on her head and fell asleep. I could not stop laughing all night. Thank goodness Rob and I wipe Gwen to make sure she's all clean before putting her underwear back on after using the potty. Still, it's good that she's getting a bath today. Even funnier than the fact that she had it fully on her head and fell asleep was the fact that she actually fell asleep with something over her eyes when she is terrified of the dark. What a goof...it was the best laugh I've had all week. Hooray for the return of Underwear Girl!!

Moving!!

Wasn't planning on posting again this soon...but Robbie heard back from Okland (the company he works for)...they will not be keeping him on after he graduates. I was kind of expecting this. It took them forever to let Robbie know, and since they already told him they didn't have any open positions to hire him for (he's still labeled as an intern) I didn't think they would keep him on. I had hoped they would, but alas...

A few months back the guys that Robbie works with told him that they were going to try and keep him on after he graduated if he didn't have any job offers, but they would have to check with the main office first. And it was a no...there are two projects up here in Rexburg that Robbie has been involved with. The first is, obviously, the hospital, where he works every day. The second is a Medical Imaging Center for the hospital that he has done some work for. Anyways, the Imaging Center is due to be finished around the same time Robbie graduates (and hopefully it will run over...you'll see why...) and when it is finished they are moving the Project Engineer from that job over to the hospital to take over Robbie's job (...the connection to my previous comment). Granted this guy has been a full time employee with them for 3 or 4 years, so he does have first dibs on any job over Robbie, but it still sucks because if they finish the Imaging Center before Rob graduates, Rob will be out of a job and there will be no income coming into our home. So, lets hope the Imaging Center takes a bit longer than they are thinking.

So, because of this, we are definately going to move at the end of July. Okland was the only reason we were going to stay (if he couldn't find a job of course) but now that that option is bust, we won't be staying around. I'm not sure yet where we are going. We still have two months for Robbie to find a job, and hopefully something will happen. We have tons of family looking for different things for us, and maybe one of them will work out. If a job cannot be found before he graduates we will be moving to Vermont where my parents have graciously invited us to stay while we continue the job search. So we will see what happens. Again, I will keep you all posted on anything that comes up!!

Weigh In

It's time for my monthly post about my weight loss. As of the end of May (yesterday) I lost another 5 pounds. Hooray!! That puts my total weight loss to 15 pounds, and I am right on track to loose 25 pounds by the time Robbie graduates in 2 months. I am a little disappointed in myself though. About a week, week and a half ago I weighed myself and I had actually lost 7 pounds (total of 17 pounds), but then I made applesauce cookies (the best cookies EVER) for my brother, and he only took about half of the cookies home. That left us with a little less than 2 dozen cookies, and applesauce cookies are one of my favorites. Needless to say, I ate a lot of them, and obviously gained back some weight. But I am still on track for my goal to loose 5 pounds every month, so I guess it's all right. Just disappointing to know that I had lost even more weight but blew it eating a bunch of cookies. Oh well.

The other news that I have is that Georgia starting rolling over from her back to her tummy yesterday!! Woo Hoo!! It won't be too much longer now until she is rolling all over the place. She has been rolling over from her tummy to her back for a while now, and it's exciting to see her start rolling from her back to her tummy. She's also been growling at people, blowing raspberries, grabbing her toes, moving around while lying on her back (she uses her feet to push herself) and scooting forward while on her belly (again, using her feet to push herself forward). She's getting so big so fast!!

That's about it for the news for now. We'll let you know if anything else comes up (especially if something happens job wise).

Hooray For The Potty!!

So we had a pretty fun extended weekend. Saturday night we had a barbeque with some friends; Sunday we just relaxed and had fun with one another; Monday Robbie went fishing with some friends and I hung out with the girls and we had a barbeque that night as well, but just with ourselves. The best part about it all is...

Gwen is officially potty trained!! (and during this post I've had to stop twice to put her on the potty...she seems to not be able to tinkle and poo in the same visit...she waits for a few minutes in between). She has been using the potty for two weeks now and even tells us when she has to use the potty. She even makes it through the night without having any accidents. She is out of diapers/training pants for good!! Gwen goes to the bathroom without any help too. She pushes her "potty stool" around to turn on the light and get on the potty, takes everything off, goes pee, wipes (with supervision...she's still having issues with wiping her bum really well) then puts everything back on and washes her hands...all by herself!! It's taken over a year (with many breaks due to frustration) but she finally decided she wanted to do it and when she did it took 2 weeks!! I'm so proud of my little peanut, and she's proud of herself too. This past weekend Rob was relaxing on the couch and she came up to him and said "Look Daddy!" She pulled down her pants and said "I'm wearing polka dot underwear!!" and showed off her underwear. She did the same thing to her Uncle Matt when he stopped by. Such a big girl.

Now it's Gracie's turn to potty train. I know that she's not quite 2 yet, and they tell you to at least wait till they're 2, but she wants to use the potty and she's so interested in it that I'm not going to wait (plus, how awesome would it be to have both of them potty trained and not have to buy so many diapers?). Every time that Gwen goes potty Grace has to use the potty too or she gets mad. She also has to use the big potty with the special "princess" seat like Gwen-she refuses to use our little training potty. She gets mad too when I don't let her wear training pants instead of a diaper but since she doesn't really have the hang of things yet and is peeing herself more than peeing in the potty, she still uses diapers mostly. On Monday I'm really going to start working on potty training her and hopefully she'll follow her sisters lead on this like she did with everything else (crawling, walking, talking...) and potty train quick.

Georgia is now eating cereal!! I've heard from a lot of people now that doctors and the American Academy of Pediatrics (I think that's what they're called) have recommended not feeding them any solids until 6 months, but my doctor said it was all right, and since I started feeding the two older girls rice cereal at 4 months, I decided to go ahead with Georgia. She's 4 1/2 months now, but she's not picking it up as well as Gwen and Grace did. Within a week of starting cereal with them, they both had it down and were eating it without any problem. I have been doing this with Georgia since Sunday, and she is having a hard time with it. She spits it out, drools it out, plays with it with her tounge and then spits it out...she gets very little of it into her stomach. I don't know why it's been so hard for her but she's not taking to it very well (she even blew raspberries over and over again while I was trying to feed it to her and spit it out that way). Hopefully as I keep trying she will get the hang of it soon.

They are all getting so big!! Gwen and Grace are both so very close to moving up to the next size clothes (Gwen to a 4T and Grace to a 3T) and Georgia is just getting so big so fast!! We got our little kiddie pool out of storage 2 weeks ago and the girls have had so much fun with that. I just sit there and remember them swimming in it last year, and how they wouldn't really get in the water last year and this year they do (Gwen wants to learn how to swim). And last year I only had two kids in the pool...this year I have three (well, I just hold Georgia on the edge of the pool and let her stick her feet in). It's amazing how fast they grow and I am so greatful for all the fun we've been having as the question of what we're going to do in 2 months looms over Rob and I (he's still applying for jobs, but so far...nothing). Who knows where we will be this time next year, but by that time I will have a 4 year old in preschool, one who will be almost 3, and one who will almost be 18 months. Crazy!!