After dinner we did our normal holiday traditions. First we made cookies, and while they cooked and cooled off, the girls colored a coloring book of The Night Before Christmas that I had put together for them to keep them occupied, since they are a little small to do Christmas Bingo like my family has done for years. After coloring, we sat down and explained the story of Christ's birth to the girls with the help of a toy manger set that Marj bought for the girls (which they loved...we were worried that we wouldn't find all the pieces by Christmas because it's all they wanted to play with every day up till Christmas). They really loved the baby Jesus. We then went and decorated Christmas cookies...everyone except Grace...she kind of ate the decorations before they got onto her cookies. After picking out cookies for Santa and getting some carrots for the reindeer, the girls got ready for bed and we read The Night Before Christmas. Gwen didn't want to go to bed after that, and she even woke up at one point and half asleep asked where Santa was. It was really cute.
The girls had a breakfast picnic in our room the next morning while Robbie set up the video camera and I got my camera ready. They had a lot of fun doing that, especially since they got to watch Shrek while eating. Amazingly we didn't have any spills or crushed food in our bedroom afterwards. They certainly enjoyed their Santa gifts too...Grace got a bowling set (which she loved) and Gwen got Moon Sand (oh, she was thrilled).
They had so much fun opening gifts too. Gwen wanted to play with each gift after it was opened, and Grace just wanted to play in the box of ripped up wrapping paper each time she took her presents wrapping paper to the box. They both had so much fun though and got so many nice things from everyone. The biggest present though was the toy box/bookshelf that Robbie made for the girls for Christmas (and much thanks to Quinn for all his help and to Diana and Quinn for having Robbie there two weekends in a row and helping him with the box...we really appreciate it, and the girls absolutely love it). Grace immediately started putting toys in the box and they have both found that they can climb in and out of the box to reach any toy they want (or to just play with them in the box, which lessens the mess I have to pick up). It's awesome, and they have had a blast. Rob and I didn't make out too bad either, but I think we most enjoyed the look on the girls faces as they saw what they got and the look on each other's faces as we opened our own presents. It's been a great week for us, and we hope it has for you as well!! Thank you to everyone for the gifts and the Christmas cards we recieved from you this year. You have all been in our hearts and we're pleased that you too remembered us. Love you all!!
The girls also had fairy crowns and noise makers to play with. My mom also sent them Tinker Bell stickers and Color Wonder books, along with everything to make confetti cupcakes (the cupcakes and icing with little spots of color). The girls ate cupcakes while they watched the movie-and then played with their balloons for the rest of the afternoon. They had a blast-thanks mom!!
The girls are both doing pretty good. I never really understood the "terrible two's" until the last two weeks-Gwen has really hit a bad stage. She drives me crazy sometimes but she is still my sweet little helper, and really does try (most of the time) to be good. She likes going to my appointments and listening to the baby's heartbeat and seems really excited about having another baby sister. She's been really good about reminding us to say prayers every night too. Today, just when I thought I was going to rip my hair out over her and Grace, she went into the kitchen, threw some duplos up into the air like confetti and said "Hip Hip Hooray!" Along with telling us that we "Haf" to buy Wall-E, she makes up for the awful moments (like telling me she saw Jesus on the ceiling of our pediatricians yesterday).
Grace has had a bit of a hard couple of weeks. Within the last two weeks Grace has had three of her eye teeth come in. She got her top two within a day or two of each other, and in between the top two coming in, one of her bottom eye teeth started to move up (it just broke the surface this week). I felt really bad for her, mainly because she seemed to have a head cold at the same time (not too sure about that though). Then to top it all off I had to take her to the doctor Thursday-she woke up early that morning with a fever of almost 104 (after stripping her to take her temperature), and the next morning after letting her sit in our cold apartment for half an hour and letting her get goose bumps all over, her fever was still at 102.8 So, the doctor wasn't sure exactly what was going on with her (all he could say for sure is that her throat and tonsils were both swollen and red) so he put her on an antibiotic just to make sure it wasn't something viral, which he said it could have been. Her fever broke last night (whether due to it all being viral and running it's course or because of the medication, we're not sure) and she's doing better. She is saying a lot more things now too-door, here I are, inker bal (tinker bell) and a few more. She's getting so big (she is a pound more in weight than Gwen but still shorter).
As for me, I am doing all right. I am really tired all the time, which I have to keep an eye on since it could mean that my iron is low (it was borderline when they did my iron test last month). Other than that, things are going pretty good. My glucose test came back in the normal range, my weight and blood pressure are good, and so is the baby's heart beat. I have been feeling crampy every now and then, but I felt like this with Grace too, and as long as there's no blood or fluids, I am fine-my body is just preparing itself (so I've been told, with Grace and this baby). I also get this popping sensation in my abdomen when I flip to my other side at night, and I couldn't tell if it was my pelvic bone or my tailbone, but the doctor said it's just muscle popping back into place after having been in a certain position for too long. Once again, nothing to worry about. The baby is still moving like crazy, and quite a few times I've had elbows or knees poking out and been able to feel them-Rob says it looks like an alien trying to escape. My calling is going good as well. I'm not sure what they're planning on doing come January since we just got a new bishopric but we'll see. I am looking forward to the Christmas lesson with the kids-I'm hoping to help them understand a bit more what it's really about (and not just Santa and presents).
