Little Fish

The girls are growing by leaps and bounds in their water confidence. James can now swim underwater. She can hold her breath for a while. And she can jump into the pool with a noodle and swim all around. We went to the YMCA this week and Campbell figured out how to swim by herself with the noodle. She swam the whole length of the pool a couple times! And she is fast. It is so much fun to go swimming with them because they can be so independent now.

A Classic.

When Bill and I were dating he told me that he liked to watch documentary movies. This brings to my mind movies along the lines of National Geographic. Which I love. Later I discovered that documentary was used very loosely. It translated to movies like Braveheart and Last of the Mohicans. As we later delved into the discussion of movies I found out that he had never seen My Fair Lady. A classic for sure. And he is even a proud lover of Audrey Hepburn. I have brought it up randomly but we have never gotten around to watching the movie together. Boy, did I have no clue what I was in for. Last night as we were flipping through channels he stopped on TCM because he saw her. (she is quite gorgeous!) From the start he was enthralled with the movie. He likes the angle of the story line and I had NO idea how hilarious it would be to him. It was entertaining just to watch him watch the movie. It really makes my week to see my loved ones so happy and enjoying life.

It's fun looking back.

Here is what I look like right now. 8 weeks to go and I know I am going to get much bigger! At least I still feel great;)Let's take a look at some of my other "looks" in time:

Baby Erin (with my sisters Rebekah, Heather and Maegan)

Senior Year of High School

Engagement picture

Wedding picture

Sweet Baby James

Baby Campbell

Sometime between having the girls and now.

And this is how I feel that I look like right now:

On a side note, if anyone is interested in looking up info on names here are some great websites:

• http://www.parents.com/baby-names/
• http://www.nymbler.com/
• http://www.babynamewizard.com/

And if you happen to stumble upon a wonderful girls name let me know!

Lately . . .

We haven't been up to much. Campbell cuddles Sweety all day long. Last weekend James didn't have school on Friday or Monday. My mom came down and took the girls home with her so Saturday Bill and I could go down to Nauvoo to go to the temple. It was wonderful having time together! And the girls had a blast at Grandma and Grandpa's, to be expected. Bill had a meeting up in WI on Monday so we were able to drive up Sunday. Monday my mom and I took the girls to her YMCA to go swimming and James made some advancements in her swimming skills. She now can swim underwater, for like 30 seconds! She is a little fish. It is just wonderful as a parent to see your kids discover something new:)

For Valentine's we got Heart Attacked by the Young Women in our Branch. The girls really got a kick out of it. Campbell and I also got to help with the Valentine's Party for James' class. All of the kids love Campbell, and so does James' teacher. I can't wait until Campbell gets Mrs. Hepker for kindergarten. We made heart necklaces out of the foamy stickers and played "Do you love your neighbor", the class (including Mrs. Hepker) really had fun with that.
One morning last week I was getting some berries ready for breakfast and Campbell asked if we could make "grapes". That was what I was hearing. After a couple attempts at translation I figured out that she meant crepes. So we whipped up some french pancakes and enjoyed them with the berries:)
Now, I am just trying to stay on top of things until the baby comes. Oh, we were able to set the date for the C-section (weird that we know exactly what day our baby will be born). Our little girl's birthday will be shared with her oldest cousin on my side Gwyneth! Can't wait for April 17th!

Last Weekend

Last weekend we had a wonderful excuse to spend time in Chicago. Bill's brother, Ben, came to visit from Arizona and he brought the warm weather with him! We drove out early in the morning to make it to the Field Museum before we had to pick Ben up from the airport. The girls were so excited to see the dinosaurs. Campbell has a dinosaur book and it has a picture of an egg. She loves that page, so it was cool to find they had a similar thing on display.

Standing in an Apatosaurus footprint.
They also had an Egypt exhibit that James was so excited about. We walked through a pyramid and saw lots of mummies. James was not liking it by the end. We each tried out the beds that they used to use.
James and I were ahead of Bill and Campbell in the Pyramid and scared them when they came around the corner. Bill loves that kids don't understand glass on the floor. He was trying to get Campbell to stand on it and she just wouldn't.


Ben reading the girls their bedtime story. Ben teaching James to waltz and swing.

They loved spending time with Uncle Ben and the day he left they each asked about 6 times where he was. Campbell was sure he just went to work with Dad. It was so great to have some family visit! And thanks for doing all the electrical work Ben!

Nicey Bugs

At dinner the other night James reached over and flicked Campbell on the head. This was a new behavior. It resulted in a time out and discussion. Since then she has been caught bunching her fingers up to flick. Quickly stopped she renamed that finger position to "Nicey Bugs". They sing and dance. I think Bill started the singing in the car one time. Here they are performing a song by Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli -- Time to say goodbye.

And here they are dancing.

There is a really cool discount grocery store called Aldi's, which we love! The thing is they don't bag your groceries, you either bring your own, buy them or pick up empty boxes as you shop to bring your groceries home. When we went the other day the girls spotted these boxes and instantly they went on their heads. Here are our robots!

I love boxes as toys!

YMCA

So, one great thing in this town is they just built a new YMCA. The pool is wonderful with the zero entry for the kids. We signed the girls up for swimming lessons and they love it! And they are both gaining a lot of confidence in the water.
On a side note, the other day I was walking through our pretty much empty living room, because we have no furniture to fill it, so it usually just ends up housing toys. I walked by the doll stroller and thought it looked a little funny. On my double take I noticed the kitten, Sweetie, in the basket. They funny part is that the girls weren't home. So, she climbed in there herself. She stayed for a little while too!