August 24-31

News and such:

Gretchen
...feeds people.  I am constantly stuffed with imaginary food from the play kitchen.  Her favorite method is to have a spoon and a cup from which she scoops tasty air to deposit into waiting mouths.  Pretending to eat off the spoon is not allowed.  Gretchen will continue to bang the spoon against your lips until you open your mouth.
...pretends to eat.  Olivia never did this, but Gretchen will take a giant pretend bite of the plastic fruits and veggies we have and then smack her lips in delight at the deliciousness.
...says "mo."  This is supposed to be "more," but really means "I want that drink."
...likes to tickle people.  She'll wiggle her hand at you, flexing her fingers and saying, "tickletickletickle."
...copies what Olivia does.  The most obvious case of this was when I was trying to keep the girls occupied in the car by asking them to locate various body parts.  Gretchen would glance over at Olivia and then clap her hands over her ears/cheeks/neck/whatever.  She also thinks that any noisy and energetic activity is absolutely worth learning right now.
...can locate her hair and nose by herself (without her Olivia crib sheet).  Those are the only two things she gets right with any consistency.
...is finally getting her eyeteeth.  All four of them at the same time.
...jumps.  Kind of.  She crouches a little and then stomps her feet as fast as she can.

Olivia
...swallowed a barrette.  The Monday before last, Olivia was apparently absentmindedly chewing on her barrette while falling asleep.  Suddenly she started coughing and gagging and then spitting up blood.  Bryan took her to the emergency room and by the time they took an x-ray the barrette had made it all the way to Olivia's stomach.  There was nothing to do but wait for it to come out, so we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  We still hadn't seen it by this past Wednesday, so back she went for another x-ray.  The tech thought it was on its way, but the doctor insisted that the barrette had moved very little and was still stuck in Olivia's stomach.  Calls were made to Dayton Children's Hospital for a recommendation, and we were told to expect a phone call scheduling surgery to remove the barrette.  Then on Thursday, there it was!  So much excitement over normal bodily functions.  :)
...eats her m&ms by color group, in the same order every time: yellow, brown, orange, red, blue, green.  Does this surprise anyone?
...got a new carseat.  This was less because she needed a new carseat and more because Gretchen needed the seat Olivia was using.  Gretchen outgrew the infant seat, so we got Olivia a new harness booster (5-point harness that converts to a regular booster) and asked her where we should put it.  Now Olivia's domain is the back seat and Gretchen sits in Olivia's old carseat.  The car trips with the new arrangement have thus far been blissfully quiet and free of yelling matches.

Bryan
...decided to list our house for sale, then rent it, then sell it, then rent it WHILE it was listed for sale, then sell it again.  In fairness, he spent a lot of time and research on each phase and had a reason for every decision he made.
...is anxiously awaiting our move.  Every other day he asks, "Can we move yet?"

Johannah
...got information about playing for Lima Symphony's first concert!  Cirque de la Symphonie is on October 11 (with Young People's Concerts during the day on October 10).  If you decide to come down for the concert, you can stay at our new house!
...has talked to way too many house-related people recently.  Between realtors and banks and insurance companies and warranty people and different realtors (for selling our current house), I'm all talked out.  Also, closing, which was supposed to happen two days ago, has been pushed back to this coming Friday due to Bryan's employer being bad at answering phones and verifying that he does, in fact, work there.  :/

We've got my family arriving this afternoon (except for Justine and Joseph, who arrived last night) and then tomorrow morning is the fun run!

Pictures:
The girls on the slide:

Olivia's x-rays: