New plans

I have been sitting here feeling sorry for myself that I couldn't post because the darling husband is out of town and took the laptop...FYI, I told him he could take it. Then I realized I have a laptop right here that I haven't turned on in sometime, my work laptop! So, now I can tell you the excitement of our day! We arrived home from FL yesterday, speaking for us, we had a good time. The darling husband has been sent to Columbus, OH for basically the day. He will be back sometime tomorrow.
So, Gwen and I are home and she is asleep. We are starting a new plan with Gwen, ok, I decided I don't think I really asked the spouse, but he really won't be home for the next week anyway, so I started my new plan. I am done coddling Gwen, I want to be able to leave the house and get a babysitter and I want to her to learn how to sleep on her own. After talking to a friend about her child last week, I realized that I am ready to move Gwen on to the next step. (I also realize that people have worse situations than I do, but I need to move on, so I don't maintain a bad situation). I have been nursing Gwen to sleep and then moving her to the crib after she falls asleep. I know that I probably shouldn't have gotten into that habit, but you do what you have to, when you have to to get through the day. I have also realized that Gwen possibly needs 2 naps and could probably stay up later. This brings mixed feelings for me, I really enjoy putting Gwen to sleep at 6 and having time with Eric, but I think that Gwen needs a second nap, which is why she acts crazy (like she did today in the grocery store). So, I put it her down for a second nap and she took a 1.5hr nap. She was a happy baby after that and I think that would make my evening easier, but will make afternoons more difficult; I won't have a whole lot of time to run errands. I don't know if she will always take an 1.5hr nap, but yesterday she had a tough day without many, if any naps. But anyway, back to my point, I am going to try and get Gwen to sleep on her own without nursing her to sleep, so if you talk to me in the next week and I am slightly frazzled, it is probably a combination of the new bedtime routine/later sleep time/lack of husband. I realize that it has probably taken me a lot longer to get to this point than it should have, but as with everything I do with Gwen I need time to mental prepare, sometimes it takes me a long time to do that, I have ALWAYS been a procrastinator. Should be fun!
Hopefully this weekend I will have some time to post pictures and videos. Gwen is getting more confident in taking steps. I don't know how long it will take her to take her steps, but I thought it would be today...we were outside walking using her walker/scooter toy and she was having a great time when our neighbor came outside with her dog, Gwen let go of the walker and I mean to tell you she tried to run over to that dog. Fortunately, trying isn't actually succeeding in her case, so she ended up walking several steps (rather quickly) and then trying to crawl. I don't know what that girl's fascination is with crawling on the asphalt, but she would if I would let her!

2 videos

I have more to post, but don't have time to upload, probably won't for a while! Gwen is becoming more confidient of her walking ability, but we still have a little while before she is running...I hope!

The pool

Here are some slide shows from yesterday, we took Gwen into the pool she LOVED it! I took so many pictures I could not post them all, so enjoy these slide shows!

I will upload all the videos later.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Sunday was Grandpa's birthday, he and Eric and the rest of the men folk played golf, while the ladies got together (see previous post!). We decided for Grandpa's birthday I would teach him how to make a pie crust, while we were making the pie crust, why not make a pie! So we had blueberry pie for Grandpa's birthday. He watched while I did all the hard labor.
Grandpa also took Gwen for a short walk.

Moms, Grandmas, Great-Grandmas

Finally! A chance to finish this post! Sunday we had some of my high school friends with children over, and their Moms. The kids ranged in age from 18 months to 2 weeks. We had a great time! Gwen was a little clingy, but she did pause to look at Justin, Stephanie's son, he's 2 weeks and smaller than Gwen ever was. I won't tell you how jealous I am of her birth story! Must be nice to have a small baby and a quick birth!
Here's my friend Laura with the girls, Samantha in the middle is Laura's daughter and making her debut on the website, she is 15 months and so tall, and a chatterbox. Of course you all know Kaelyn and Gwen!

Here is little Justin after Gwen woke him up, but he wasn't up for long after he nestled in with Mom! Justin and Stephanie are also making their debut. Justin is just a couple weeks old and so cute, and tired!

Mom, Gwen, Samantha and Pam, Samantha's Grandma.
Here we all are. Laura, Kaelyn, Dawn, Eddie, Laura, Samantha, me, Gwen, Stephanie, and Justin!

Gwen just followed poor Eddie around, when she wasn't clinging to me. Dawn made Eddie give Gwen a kiss. (we are such mean Mommies!)
But Gwen got the last laugh, she grabbed Eddie's shirt and wanted to use him to walk around the house, he was NOT amused!
We had a wonderful time, hopefully one day we will all be able to get together again. Maybe by then the kids will play together and we will have a chance to catch up! Who am I kidding they will have to be about 30 for that to happen, right Grandma's. If Eddie and Gwen's actions are any indication Dawn and I will be trying to make sure they aren't off somewhere kissin'.

May 25th

The first 3 days of our trip have been very busy, we have been working out in the yard, Gwen has tolerated this rather well, but let me tell you we have gotten more work done while she is sleeping than during any other time. We are done with the outside project, so now we get to spend time with friends and family who we get to visit with.
These pictures are from Friday, a day we really didn't know what to expect. It was the first anniversary of Dad's death. I think it ended up being a nice day for us. Gwen was her usual charming self.

It is hard to believe in some aspects that it has been a year, but yet when I look at Gwen and think about being 9 months pregnant and in FL seems to be years ago! I imagine we will continue to survive another year. I hope everyone has a pleasant holiday tomorrow.

Leaving for FL

Here are some pictures of Gwen before we left for FL. I realized that we dressed her very similarly to her Bear, so obviously we had to take pictures of them together. This is before we left for the airport. Let me tell you so much easier for us to leave out of BWI, we don't have to get up quite as early! Gwen was as easy to travel with as ever, not really any fussing on the plane, the air pressure doesn't seem to bother her at all.
I have finally downloaded all the pictures so hopefully some time soon I will be able to post pictures soon. Since Gwen is in our room, if I don't remember to pull something out of the room (like the cord for the camera) then I don't have access...we don't wake a sleeping baby in this house!

We're here!

Well, we've made it to FL safe and sound. Gwen as usual was not a problem on the plane, she spent the landing staring at the baby behind us who was crying, Gwen didn't quite no why! Such a good baby. We have been busy and I can't get to the camera and cord to upload any pictures. Some day I will though.

T-1 day

We have had a very busy couple of days. Gwen has had a little trouble in the sleep department and we have had many visitors and haven't been on our 'schedule'. I have tried to keep Gwen from a set schedule, but we have some what of a routine. I usually try to get her for her nap around 11am. She will usually sleep for 1.5 hrs sometimes longer. I think that Gwen actually needs 2 naps and the first nap should be around 10, but that just doesn't work with our schedule. If she would sleep later in the morning our schedule would work, but I am not going to go into my new plans now. I am not a firm believer of the set schedule, I like to be a little flexible, but I would like to figure out how to get her to sleep past 6:30! Come on kid, your Dad and I are NOT morning early risers, your killing us. (ok, not really).
I thought I would post some pre-vaca pictures for ya! Gwen and I playing at the house.

Gwen with her new toy, I got it at a garage sale, cleaned it up and she likes it. The balls actually pop up into the air. Gwen is actually able to follow the balls and takes them out of the toy. She loves to stand and watch, but since she is almost stable, but she still gets caught up in what she is doing and she falls, so you have to sit with her. Plus she likes to pull up and hold onto it but it is not all that stable.
Here is Gwen today, she's just standing there not holding onto anything. (holding onto her sock, usually it is in her mouth, yum!) She is so close to walking, she might have even started taking steps, but that is unconfirmed.
More posts from Florida! Lots still to do. Gotta go.

Fun with numbers

As you may have noticed I haven't been publishing as much as I used to. A combination of factors has made me rather complacent towards writing here and taking pictures. Gwen is still a sweet/cute baby, but she doesn't seem to be doing anything picture worthy, or when she does I am unable to grab the camera safely. We do have baby gates and most baby-proofing done, but as she is becoming more mobile she is getting harder to take care of. It is mostly because she falls so easily I just like to be in the room to make sure she doesn't get to close to something when she falls. (yes I do Eric!) But, with Eric being home and all the craziness with getting the house worked on while he is here does not leave me with a whole lot of time to update. Plus, we do 'fight' over the new laptop, we don't actually fight over it.
Gwen has been quite sweet and a pretty good girl. I have found that she is a big meat eater (sorry Grandmom). She won't eat fruits and vegetables when I give them to her, but she will gobble up and meat I give her. (We've given her quail and lamb...ate up both, no questions asked?!)
Here is a recent picture of Gwen, from Thursday. Just a random shot I was fortunate enough to get.

So, hopefully one day soon I will become less complacent, it has been a long year and hopefully the coming year will bring us many happy memories.

Hanging out!

Here is Gwen's last purchase from the Nearly New Kids sale. Ok, my last purchase for Gwen, you can tell she loves it, can't you? I think it really speaks to the princess in her. I don't really know how that speaks to her know what she wants, but maybe she knows that she likes to be chauffeured!

I think she would let Eric or myself push her in it all day. The pole comes off and then she can pedal herself, I would imagine that could be a while from now.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful day. We had a nice day here. Nice weather, nice dinner, nice attentions and nice time with family. One of the best Mother's day presents came from Gwen a couple days ago when she slept through the night; a full 8 hours of sleep! I was so excited, I woke up Eric...he wasn't to happy with that, he wanted to keep sleeping! Today she napped for 2.5 hours and she cooed herself to sleep tonight without much crying, which is also a nice change. With Gwen she either falls asleep before she hits the bed or cries for 30 minutes minimium. But any way that is not why I am writing today. Hope you had a great day.

10 months

Can you believe it 10 months old? I certainly can't! I say this every month but we've had a lot of milestones this month. We have our 2 top front teeth. That makes 4 teeth! Where did my sweet baby with the toothless grin go!? I think she is in a phase that Eric really enjoys, not that he hasn't enjoyed her before, but she definitely has a soft spot for her Daddy. I think that is fun for both of us.

As you might have read in yesterday's post she is finally doing what people recognize as crawling. I don't have as much fear now of putting her on the ground and dragging her clothes through the dirt. She is still very slow at creeping, but with a little practice I think she will pick up some speed.
Eating is still a problem, she seems to like to eat meat though. I just break off little pieces of chicken and she puts them in her mouth and eats them. I have tried some of those pureed meats, but she is not as enthused about that (who could blame her, really?) We can get apples or pears mixed with oatmeal in her for breakfast. I think she actually enjoys that. And she is letting us feed her more, she still is just not interested in a lot of the foods we eat. I guess one day, but it can be pretty frustrating for me.
Gwen certainly is getting into more stuff, she likes to chew on everything (but food) and I think she might be a climber. I often find her on her tip-toes looking like she is trying to get up higher, just reaching for the stars. She is now getting up to stand no problem and can and will try to use anything to stand up. We most certainly are on our way to be a babbling big girl! Have a great day.

We're creepy and we're crawly

Today in the kitchen, I looked at Gwen and I was thinking, that doesn't look right, what's different. It took a while for my brain to catch up and notice that she wasn't doing the inchworm-crawling she is creeping! She is incredibly slow at the crawling but Eric was home so he ran and got the camera so he could take the previous video. Go Gwen! I am glad she has the strength to get that big belly off the floor. Now I can teach her how to go up and down the stairs.

Here are the videos from the zoo.

Squeals like a pig

would certainly be Gwen's name if she were Native American. After SS on Monday we went to the petting zoo. Gwen was so excited! I wished Eric was there so he could take the pictures and video to do the visit justice. The pictures with me in them were obviously taken by one of the other Moms. This little guy actually tried to nibble on one of our pregnant Mom's bellies. Oops! Everytime Gwen touched an animal she squealed with delight!
If you see here, the one Mom is pointing to us because Gwen is so excited; jumping up and down and squealing like a pig. She kept 'chasing' them and trying to get close.

As you can see this little goat really enjoyed Gwen's hat!
Gwen loves the animals as I have stated before, but Eric and I are not really ready to commit to a pet, we'll wait until she is older and can hopefully take some responsibility towards them. Hopefully be then I will have talked her into a cat and Eric's influence won't make me end up with one of these. Videos uploaded shortly...I hope.

Purple dress

For some reason this dress reminds me of a Shirley Temple dress, it is too bad she doesn't enough have hair that I could put into a barrette or something.

I guess one day we will have to work on the singing and dancing and hair in curlers!
I have received a summons for jury duty. I don't think it is possible at this point for me to go to jury duty. We will see if I can be considered 'disqualified'.