Magdalyn's 2-month stats

Maggie had her 2 month doctor's appointment this morning. It went okay. She is a growing girl! She weighed in at 11 lbs. 9 oz. and is now in the 75th percentile for term babies and is way off the charts for preemie babies. I think this little preemie wasn't really very preemie except for her being born a little early. To give you some perspective, Ellie was 10 something at two months (I don't remember exactly since I don't have her baby book handy) and Owen was 11 lbs 3 oz at two weeks. When he was two months old, he weighed 15 lbs 7 oz. He was so enormous. BUT Maggie has gained more since birth than either of them did!

The doctor visit was a little rough for Maggie... she had 5 shots and 1 oral immunization. The shot quantity was so many because they recently changed one combined shot and they hadn't gotten the new one so she had to do them separately. Still, it is a lot which is why she is sleeping so soundly right now. Poor little babe! Elise came with and wanted so badly to comfort her little sister.

In other Magdalyn news, she is holding her head up very well on her own. She has bright eyes and enjoys looking around. She doesn't give them away to just anyone, but she does smile and it is pretty cute. She coos now and kicks her arms and legs around so much that Daniel asked me if it was normal for her to do that. She eats endlessly and often finds herself wanting more than mom can give her. Maggie still sleeps pretty well at night, only waking up once or twice. She puts up with her sister and brother's kisses and hugs and even the occasional poke from Owen and attempts at carrying her from Ellie. Mags is such a little sweetheart and we love her so much!

Cute Hair Do

Ok, when it comes to my girls, I really want them to look as cute as possible. (boys are different, I don't know why, I want him to look cute too but he needs less accessories). I am kind of a snob about it and it is just my girls... I don't really care about other people's kids. Any who, I have had a bow obsession for quite awhile now, but now I am onto new things.

Daniel's aunt, who I guess is like my aunt in-law though she is more like my good friend now, turned me onto this blog that has girls hair styles. I really loved the hair dos but thought Ellie's hair was too fine to do any of the styles. But, today was the first day I tried it out and I think it looks cute. I am excited to try out more hair dos so be watching for those blog entries in the future.

Before I found this site and before today, Ellie's hair has basically been seen three ways, down, pony tail & half up... not real exciting. Oh, the website is www.shedoeshair.blogspot.com. If you have little girls, you are going to love this site too! Thanks for letting me know about it Rachel!

Pioneer children sang as they sweat

On Saturday, Daniel's mom invited us to her ward's Pioneer Day celebration. It was wicked hot, but the kids enjoyed themselves quite a bit.
Owen standing on the mound of dirt that he played in 90% of the time we were there. I don't know how he could stand being in the sun all that time, but he had fun playing in that dirt.
Elise smiling for the camera. She has pink cheeks as well from the heat.
Maggie decided to wake up about half way through. Actually, I woke her up because she slept all day long and I was afraid that she would stay up all night. Luckily, she was a good baby and slept both that day and night.
Ells running in to get some water.
Ellie made sure that Owen stayed hydrated. She is such a helpful big sister. Owen just LOVES her.
This is what Owen did most of the time. He dug in the dirt. He's a boy... what else would we expect? He also had great fun tossing around a football while we were there.
Cheesy Ellie smiles. She looks weird in this one.
Cheesy Owen smile, too! Can you tell he was hot?
Here is Owen sitting and waiting for the hot potato! He had fun playing this game until he bit a huge chunk out of the poor hot potato.
Ellie playing hot potato.

There are Bubbles in the Air

The kids like bubbles. Owen is at that age where he just LOVES bubbles. So, I bought some and saved them for an afternoon when we needed them. Last week there was a day where we really did need them or the kids were going to bounce off the walls! They had lots of fun with them... until they dumped the soap out, but we got at least 20 minutes of fun in. Owen has learned to blow bubbles all by himself, though he isn't too great at holding the bottle upright so the soap doesn't spill out.

Craft Time

Yesterday afternoon Grammy got out some craft projects she had gotten for Ellie and they were having so much fun that I snapped a few pictures. Grandmas are so fun like that.

Ellie giving her Grammy a kiss.
Smiling for the camera.

Owen helping out. Grammy had to go to mutual so mom took over.

Owen got some new cars this week so he enjoyed playing with them on the stairs.

The finished products!

Owen giving us a little cheese.
Owen holding Mags. This doesn't happen all that often as he doesn't really "hold" her. But he sure was sweet with her and gave her kisses. When I am holding Owen and Maggie at the same time Owen doesn't like it when Maggie is touching him. He will move her feet so they aren't near him. Yes, sibling rivalry already.

Daddy and Magdalyn.

But it was so fun getting fat

Well, I was debating about posting this, but decided, "why not?" I mean, if this is our family journal, I ought to document things that are happening. Mostly I am worried about posting this and then completely failing. Here is what is going on... Daniel and I have each lost about 20 pounds! This is a pretty big deal for us since we haven't dieted at all since we were married. Mostly because I feel like I am much happier when I am eating. But, it's time to lose some weight.

Daniel decided that he needs to get it in gear because he is starting to get a little older and his metabolism is really fighting against him now so if he doesn't lose it now, it is going to be much harder later on.


As for me, this is the first real break I am having from bearing children (well, at least we hope), so I need to lose some serious weight before we even think about having more kids. Now, I am not a person who thinks people who are skinnier are better, happier, necessarily healthier or whatever, but I do think that my losing weight will help with future pregnancies. This last pregnancy was really really tough and I do believe that losing some extra weight will help out next time.

Here's what we are doing.... basically starving. :) Well, not starving, but sometimes it feels that way. We use http://www.sparkpeople.com/ to track our calories and we take in about 1200-1300 calories a day. I usually do more like 1400-1500 because I am nursing and I feel really bad if I don't eat enough. I am trying to workout most mornings and have been active with the kids since I had Maggie. It is mostly diet though. When it comes down to it, you really just have to eat a lot less to lose weight. We are trying to lose it a little quicker so our intake is on the lower side of the calorie intake range.When we get back to Austin I am looking into joining a gym. Not sure if I will actually do it or not since I am not sure if it is in the budget, but I do have a treadmill at home and can do walks with the kids (well, 2 out of the 3). I would like to join a gym and make it part of our day where I can take the kids and they can have fun at the gym's kids' club. 24 hour fitness doesn't allow kids under 6 mos, so I am looking into Gold's gym since they allow babies 4 weeks and up. We will see...


I will keep you posted, but for the record, I hate calorie counting. I find it annoying to do and when others do it. I would much rather just eat a balanced meal and not have to worry about each little calorie, but that's not how I am going to lose the weight. So, if you are wondering why I am walking around so grumpy, it's because I'm hungry.

Rainy Day Outing

It has been awhile since we went to Chick Fil A. Usually, at home, we venture out to eat there about once a week. Since we have been here, we have only gone twice. It was a good day to go since it was supposed to rain all day.

One of the benefits of having children so close together, specifically with Ellie and Owen, is that they play together all the time. They started at a young age and are now really good friends. Sure, they beat up on each other from time to time, but they play together really well. Especially when we go out somewhere, Ellie always is close by Owen, looking after him.

Here are some pictures of Elise and Owen playing at the play place-

And here is Maggie in all her cuteness. She was good the entire time, what a sweetheart!

Uncle Evan came to help me out since I wasn't sure if I could do it by myself. We love Uncle Evan for always helping us. It wasn't all bad for him, a girl did ask for his number while we were there. See! Sometimes being seen with a newborn niece is a pretty good thing!

Wearing out the Kids... The FUN way!

Some nights seem like they will never end and we just know the kids are never going to fall asleep on their own. On these nights, we try and find something to do to wear the kiddos down. This particular night we let the kids play on the playground and then go play in the water.

Owen looking out over the rock.
Owen on top of the rock... SCARY!


Ellie posing on the rock.
Sweet boy, sweet smile, girlie tan (his life vest has straps that go over the shoulder so his tan line looks like he wears a girl's suit. Good thing he is just a little boy.)
Ellie swinging. Owen looking to see what he can see!
For some reason, I like this picture. It is just a classic Ellie face like, "Mom, what are you doing!?"
Ells going down the slide.

We are very fortunate to live close by (here and in Austin) to so many water park/water areas where I can take the kids to cool off in the summer. Here are some pictures of them playing in the water fun area in the neighborhood next to my parents' house.

This is about the 5th time we have been over to this water area and Ellie is finally braving the water dumping on top of her. She loved it!

Getting splashed... BIG TIME!

Owen testing the water. He was a little intimidated by how high the water was shooting up.

Owen running through the water.

Ells running through the rainbow of water.

Trying to plug up the water with her feet.

Elise testing the water herself.

Maggie was there too, but this is all she did so it wasn't too exciting taking pictures of her.