Evalynn & Elizabeth's Journal-Year Two Has Begun!

Welcome to Evalynn and Elizabeth's journal! We were born on August 31, 2003 at 34 weeks, 5 days gestation. Our due date was October 7th, so we were a bit over 5 weeks early. Select the links below to get quickly to the section of your choice. Thanks for visiting.

Year two has begun. We are going have fun watching them develop into independent individuals over the coming year.

Many pictures are posted out here. Prior to posting the pictures, I shrink them down to approximately 300 pixels to save space on the web server (we're only given so much space). If you're wanting original sized pictures, please email us, letting us know which picture you'd like and we will email the original to you.

		Evalynn	Elizabeth
Birth	Weight	2 lbs, 12 oz	5 lbs
Birth	Length	16"	18"
2 Month	Weight	6 lbs, 8 oz	8 lbs, 3 oz
2 Month	Length	19"	20.75"
4 Month	Weight	8 lbs, 4 oz	9 lbs, 13 oz
4 Month	Length	21"	23"
6 Month	Weight	10 lbs, 5oz	11 lbs, 14.5 oz
6 Month	Length	23.5"	24.75"
9 Month	Weight	12 lbs, 12oz	13 lbs, 14 oz
9 Month	Length	25.5"	27"
12 Month	Weight	14 lbs, 11oz	17 lbs
12 Month	Length	26.5"	28.5"
15 Month	Weight	17 lbs, 3oz	19 lbs, 8oz
15 Month	Length	29"	30"
18 Month 3/4/05	Weight	18 lbs	21 lbs
18 Month 3/4/05	Length	30.5"	31"

Not too much going on. We're trying to find solutions to Lynn's table climbing. Today, I've resorted to laying the chairs down. It does not look very attractive though. It's been too cold and windy to do anything outside. Liz started coughing again over the weekend.

There's lots of new words. I cannot even count all of Lizzie's new words. She will attempt repeating words we throw at her. She can spot a ball from a mile away. She's now attempting two word sentences. Lynn is doing a lot of observing. She does say several words. She's a lot into mobile type activities and does not sit still for very long.

The girls did great in the nursery at church yesterday! There's a TV in there where the workers can watch the service. Amy said that Liz kept pointing at my head, saying 'Mom'. Amy said Liz knows me so well that she knows me from the back of my head! I was wondering why the back of my head itched so bad!

Liz had a fever the last couple days and woke up with a rash this morning. Along with that and her coughing and runny nose, I decided to take her into the doctor.

She weighs 20 lbs 13 oz. The fever and rash are caused by a virus. The cough/sniffles are caused by allergies. He's thinking it's a seasonal allergy thing. She's on Zyrtec and Singulair.

We're getting ready to paint the kitchen, living room and dining room. We hope to get to painting in the kitchen tonight.

Tomorrow, we're going to the St. Louis Zoo. It's been a while since we've taken the girls to a zoo (last summer/fall, I think). This should be a blast!

We've been busy here! The zoo was fun. We got a taste of what the ride to Arizona will be like (YIKES!). Liz was really fussy on the way there and back.

Here's a picture of them playing with magic fountains at the Children's Zoo. We dressed them down and let them go for it. They had a blast!

They were both on a mission to touch all the goats. They touched most and were done.

All three girls and Mitzi went with Dad to Bloomington yesterday, while Mom, Dan and Ashley (Dan's Girlfriend) started painting the kitchen. So far, so good. We were able to get most of the kitchen painted. Next, we're doing the dining room.

Mommy got a monitor stand that has a stow away for the keyboard. Lynn and Liz love trying to take off with Mommy's keyboard and mouse. Those were getting put up on top of the printer.

We went to Godfathers Pizza after Church for Bryanna's 4th birthday party. It was lots of fun. The girls can sure eat cake!

Almost forgot...we brought home Nermal's half-brother on Thursday! Obviously, we named him Garfield! Here's the best picture I could get of him so far.

Nermal and Garfield instantly hit it off. This is Liz playing with Nermal, Garfield and Odie.

The girls were in the window watching Big Brother mow. I got some really cute pictures!

We're back!!!!

The trip was great. We were real shocked how well the girls handled the very long car ride. We drove straight through on the way back without spending the night anywhere (took 40 hours to get back). We took the scenic route back.

On the way out, we spent the night in Tucumcari, NM. We stopped off at the Grand Canyon, Four Corners and Rockies on the way back. We picnicked at rest areas. We were so glad to pull into the driveway at midnight! We went through 10 different states in the last week! We went through: Illinois (we're counting it), Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Utah (at the Four Corners...counting that too), Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa. If you look at the map, the state we didn't touch was Kansas.

We went to the Phoenix Zoo on Tuesday. We learned that this is the slow season (obviously) because nobody wants to go there with the heat. Mommy didn't mind the heat and said that she could get used to it (don't walk barefoot on the cement though...OUCH!). Anyway, we almost had the zoo to ourselves. Mommy forgot the camera, so there's no pictures.

The girls did not like the pool at the hotel the first few times we tried. They finally got used to the water enough to splash around and sit in. Liz would let us take her out with her floating suit on. Lynn had a fit if she couldn't touch.

The girls must really like having their cribs back. They slept until noon today! They slept together in one crib at the hotel. The night we spent in Tucumcari, NM, they slept on the floor. They refused to sleep with Mitzi and laid on the floor and fell asleep.

I'm still in the process of getting pictures off cameras. The battery in the digital camera died just as we were taking pictures at the Grand Canyon. For those, we had to use the still picture option on the video camera. I'll post pictures once those are all organized.

I call this picture "Fun with Kleenex". They'd pull out one Kleenex, swipe their nose, throw it away and run back for another. After a few minutes, it turned into pulling and throwing without wiping.

Lizzie has proven that she can fall asleep in any position... This was after the trip to the Phoenix Zoo on Tuesday.

Here's Grand Canyon pictures. They were taken with the video camera. So, the still images are not in as good of quality as the digital camera. The picture of the three girls is small, but you didn't wan to see Lynn screaming anyway, right?

A new thing the girls can do is eat cereal with milk in it. Woo hoo! No more dry cereal! We tried it at the hotel's restaurant and it went great, with very little mess. They eat more cereal now and Odie doesn't!

Garfield kitty passed away shortly after midnight. We think he fell down the stairs while playing with Nermal around 10:00 last night and suffered severe head trauma. He was rushed off to the animal hospital, where we were given no hope he'd make it through it. It's a sad day here.

The girls will probably go looking for him in the morning like they always do. I know they won't understand life and death and will probably say he went bye-bye. They already learned how to say his name (words are spewing out of these two like crazy).

Since we're not wanting Nermal to be without a playmate, we will probably get another kitty. Nermal and Garfield were really close...almost inseparable.

Mommy's been talking with Aunt Marjorie. She's on vacation for the next week and is requesting to take the three girls for a few days. She's coming down with Grandpa Wilson tomorrow morning to get them. Mommy has not spent a night without her girls.

So, Mommy is thinking this would be a great time to get their room painted and maybe rearranged a bit. This will get us ready for the big girl bed this fall. Mommy hopes to finish up with all the painting by the time we go get them on Wednesday.

We just brought home Garfield 2.0. We adopted him from the Fulton County Humane Society. He's about 8 weeks old.

All three girls are up at Aunt Marjorie's house. Lynn and Liz are doing great! This is their first time away from Mommy or Daddy for an extended amount of time. Mommy's doing painting. We bought paint yesterday for the girls' room (light blue with green trim). We hope to have it done by the time they get home.

Mommy has spent the last two days painting Lynn & Lizzie's bedroom. It was finished tonight. The painting was done just in time for them to come home tomorrow!!! Click here to see pictures. Mommy and Daddy are going up to get them.

Aunt Marjorie took them to JCPenney to get their pictures taken. I guess it was quite an adventure. They were not able to get any pictures of them together and there were a few good one's of Liz and two of Lynn.

We got the pool put up yesterday and finished filling it this afternoon. Hopefully, it will be ready to swim in by the end of the week.

We had a great time at Great Grandma and Grandpa Gass' anniversary party. We spent the night at Aunt Patti and Uncle D's. We didn't know if we'd stay or not. So, we packed an overnight bag just in case. Liz attempted to sleep standing up again. This time not holding on to everything. Mommy and Daddy got a big laugh watching her sway back and forth.

We noticed Saturday morning that Liz lost part of a lower incisor. That tooth has always looked weak (could almost see through it). At some point, part of the tooth chipped away. It's looking like the root is dead (rest of the tooth turning gray). A call went to a pediatric dentist in Bloomington this morning. The first opening is in August (pediatric dentists are in short supply). We set her up for that and have her on the cancellation list. They said that there's not much we can do for it and they don't usually cap the teeth this young. So, if it goes, she'll have the gap there until her permanent teeth come in. I also asked when they normally start seeing pediatric patients. They recommend around two. So, I set Lynn up for her appointment in August (23rd) also, since that's close enough to their second birthday.

Wow! Liz just found the wallet I lost a year and a half ago! It was in the bag we used to pack swim clothes in! Sure, it's in the only place I didn't look!

We went swimming tonight. The girls took a bit to get used to the water (Lynn more than Liz). It was fun once they got used to it. What really helped were the little foam balls we bought. They had a blast chasing those around. Evalynn is waving to Dan for that last picture.

Here's pictures that were taken this morning of the girls eating breakfast. It didn't take them long to figure out the bowls with the built in straw!

Notice the lack of earrings....Liz learned how to take out her earrings. When she's done taking her earrings out, she takes Lynn's out! We're going to have to get earrings with the screw on backs. I remember having to do this with Mitzi.

Big Brother has been diagnosed with Mono. He'll be down for a while. We're unsure as to how long. The doctor said anywhere from two weeks to two months. It all depends on if he listens to the doctor and takes it easy. He's on zero activity for at least the next week. He's in rough shape.

We take him back next Wednesday. He'll probably have a CBC run to make sure his liver and spleen are doing ok.

Mitzi is in Wisconsin, so Mommy and Daddy will need to pick up chores for a bit. We'll have to 'rock, paper, scissors' to see who's mowing the weeds, um grass.

We went up to Beloit Friday afternoon and came back late Saturday night. Aunt Patty's high school graduation was at 10 am Saturday with the party following at Aunt Marjorie and Uncle Ernie's house. It was lots of fun! We got to go swimming in their pool. Liz loves swimming. Lynn is beginning to get used to it as long as we have balls to distract her.

Another busy week here. Mommy found new things to paint...now, it's the hall between the bedrooms.

Mommy picked up this Fisher Price bike for 75 cents at a garage sale yesterday. She's looking for another, since we're fighting over it. Everyone's amazed that we can touch the ground. We're even able to move forward. :)

She also found us a Little Tikes gas pump (now we can put gas in our cars) and a Fisher Price bubble mower.

Since we have bikes now, Mommy and Daddy got us these helmets (knee pads and horns came with too).

Mommy and Daddy went out to dinner last night with Cousin Mike Lund and Jenn. They tell us they had a blast. They're in Bloomington-Normal for the weekend as Cousin Michael (Cousin Mike's Son) is playing in the Summer Special Olympics.

This is Michael's first year. We all went down this morning to watch Michael in the Softball Toss. He was also in the 50 meter run bright and early this morning. Unfortunately, we didn't make it in time for that (it was at 8 am). He earned a bronze metal in the Softball Toss and a ribbon in the 50m run. It was so fun to watch Michael's enthusiasm, especially when receiving his bronze metal. The girls enjoyed watching the softball toss (everything is 'ball' now days, except for Liz saying 'no' and 'there you go').

Since summer is here, we're making another potty training attempt. The best way to do it is when we can go without clothes. It's just an attempt, so if it doesn't happen, we'll try again later. Our little strippers enjoy running around with nothing on. For now, the potty chairs are out of the bathroom. There's been a couple floor tinkles. One more reason we like not having carpet! Every few minutes, I'll tell them to get onto their potty and they do.

I set up their wading pool Sunday night. It was all ready for swimming yesterday. The girls had a blast! I also hooked up the sprinkler attachment. At first, they didn't like getting pelted by the water. Liz got used to it. Lynn ended up going to the other side of the pool.

We went up to Aunt Marjorie & Uncle Ernie's this afternoon. We brought back pictures that Marjorie and Ernie took the girls to have taken. They couldn't get any of the two together. We also brought Mitzi back home!

We're starting to plan the girls' second birthday party. We're leaning toward an 'Under the Sea' or 'Luau' theme...maybe the two combined if a firm decision cannot be made.

We're planning to have the party on Saturday, September 3rd. The time has not been determined yet. It will probably be late afternoon, early evening. We realize that is Labor Day weekend. There were issues with the previous weekend. We're thinking of maybe trying out some games...hmmm, I wonder if the Limbo will put Aunt Elena in labor? We're thinking of doing brats, hotdogs and burgers.

We were considering combining it with Dan's 15th birthday since the party date is right between the two. He wants to wait and have a huge bash for his 16th.

I noticed that there's been hits to the wish list page. It has now been updated. Oops on not updating it since last Christmas!

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