Baptism

Today was Gwen's Baptism. Kiki & Eric came up and were able to be a part of the ceremony. Thanks everyone who came. It was a nice ceremony and we enjoyed a nice meal with everyone.

This weeks pictures

This picture is from a couple nights ago while I was making dinner. I keep trying to sneak up on Eric and Gwen, but Eric always hears the camera turn on! Sometimes he lets me take pictures, since he was so kind to let me take this picture, I posted a picture he took of Gwen and I, notice the rattles on her arms, she doesn't seem to care!
These last 2 pictures are from when we first started working on reaching for things. First I helped her put her hand on the butterfly, if you pull down on the butterfly it makes the bird go around. After she let go of the butterfly, she put her hand up there all by herself. She has done this for Eric also. She hasn't gotten the pull motion down yet. I am just happy we are reaching for stuff.

These might be the last pictures for a while. I will be back at work on Monday for 2 weeks while Grandma watches Gwen. If work is like what it used to be, I will have plenty of time to post, but I am not sure I will have lots of pictures!

The long run has ended!

Today it is official...I have quit my job after 8 years. Now on to the next chapter of my life, raising Gwen! Of course, I could have done that and worked, but I don't know that I could continue to work there. Actually, I know I couldn't. It has been a long run, and even though I have a lot to say about the job, my boss, and other things, as strong as my feelings are, I felt no need to expound on them today. I still have to work out the details with HR. I am glad it is finally over. It has been an interesting run, without that place, I wouldn't have met my husband lived in CA, or MD. I have also made some good friends and had some experiences I wouldn't trade in for the world. My lovely husband today called me unemployed, then told me since I didn't want to work, technically, I am not unemployed, you have to want to work to be unemployed. I think maybe he has taken one to many business classes!
I hope to find some Mommy groups to join, so we can get out of the house. One thing I know, I need conversation with adults, unfortunately, Eric does not count! (He is an adult, but I can't expect to call him at work every time I need to converse!) I met with the New Moms again today. It was a nice experience, the first day we went, it was like weird and awkward feeling, but today was different. We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers and I might never talk to them again, but it was nice. I do hope that I see them again, they were all very nice. I did have a funny experience one of the women called me Gwen, then Gwen's Mommy since she couldn't remember my name. It caused me to remember something I remember my Mom saying when I was younger, as a child she was known as 'Dottie's daughter', then she became 'Melanie's Mom', now she is 'Gwen's Grandma', sorry Mom, Eric and I made you another alliteration, somehow I don't think you mind. :)

Finally!

Picture time...I know you have been anxiously awaiting pictures! Here is Grandma saying goodbye. :(

On Thursday, work sent Eric to Iowa, so Fri, he took the afternoon off. We decided to go to the C&O canal bike/walk path. It was a nice trail and Gwen slept the whole time. Eric and I enjoyed the walk, I especially enjoyed having someone else wear the sling! I think that is the Potomac in the background.


On Saturday before the AU-LSU game, birthday buddy #3, aka Uncle Ken, came to visit. She wasn't real sure about him at first, but as you can see she warmed up to him, until she got hungry/tired. It was nice to visit with him.

A bust!

Well, I have been trying to post some more pictures today, but the stars are not aligned for pictures today, or at least they haven't been for an hour! Hopefully sometime this evening they will be aligned for pictures, since I have been told that is the only reason people check the blog. This blog was intended to house pictures yes, but it is also importantly somewhere I can write about how the day-to-day is, since I don't always get a chance to talk to anyone besides the husband, and he can only hear of this stuff so much, you know.
Things have been going well here, busy, but well. Gwen's baptism is this weekend and I am preparing to work for 2 weeks. Plus, we haven't really recovered from being gone. Ok, maybe Gwen has, but I have not. The idea of going to the grocery store seemed so less improtant than everything else, but we have finally gone, so things are 'back to normal' until this weekend when everything will be topsy-turvy again. What can a girl do? This week it has been my goal to get Gwen to reach for stuff. I am convinced when she feels with her hands that things are different textures she will want to touch them and grab for things. So, now when she is studying something intently, I take her hand and make her feel it. Today I took her outside to my minature orange tree and she touched the pot (which is about half her height) so, she leaned on it and was staring at the 'tree', she leaned forward and I bent over to see what she was doing and she was licking the leaf! Oops. Mommy apparently needs to learn how to see through her. I guess I am not ready for the everything in the mouth phase, but I guess it is coming sooner than I expect. Hopefully we will have pictures posted soon. Blogger seems to be having an issue with that right now.

Peculiar

After the craziness of the last couple days I decided that today we were going to be more routine about our day. We will not be fixed into a schedule, but I will try to make sure that Gwen takes naps during the day and does not fall into this eat constantly thing that she tends to like to do. I have thought that sometimes she confuses huger for nap time. As I often confuse hunger for thirst! We walked to the grocery store and Gwen started to scream when we got to the check out. As I walked out of the store and grabbed my groceries I put her on her side in the crook of my eblow and went shshshsh in her ear and she immediately fell asleep! Now it was only a 20 minute power nap, but we'll take anything at this point!

New Moms

I have arrived safely from FL with Gwen, I wasn't sure I would be returning with Gwen, her FL 'Grandmas' wanted to keep her, including my Mom, but we have returned. Gwen was remarkably good on the flights, she pretty much slept, woke briefly when she was hungry, then went back to sleep. That is the beauty of mornings with Gwen, she is a good baby in the morning, daytime/evening is a different story.
Today was our 1st 'New Moms experience' last week's was canceled because our facilitator hurt her back. There were 5 other Moms with babies ranging from 7w-3m. 3 boys, 3 girls. One of the girls was in one of the classes we took previously. We did an icebreaker, had a guest speaker chatted and were given a homework assignment. It actually was pretty nice. Gwen was pretty good, all-in-all. The funny thing was that several of us have babies that refuse to nap during the day. The babies sleep well at night in cribs or basinettes, but they refuse to sleep during the day. One of the women that has a 3 month old has given us hope. Her son has started to sleep better during the last week or so. The last 2 days I have gotten Gwen to nap, for a little while. But, I am pretty much inactive while she sleeps because I have to be right there. Maybe soon I will get her to nap on her own. I am just happy she is sleeping! The 2 homework assignments are pretty minimal. We have to call another Mom and learn her birth story. We also have to carve out 15 minutes to ourselves. I am not sure if she meant everyday or just once in the next week. I feel I a pretty good about getting 15 minutes to myself...I usually take a shower and have been known to pop Gwen in the swing or bouncy seat just so I can eat or use the bathroom. I hope that counts, because that is as exciting as it gets around here.
We also had book club. I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I decided to go anyway. I felt like Gwen cried the whole time and I didn't get much of a chance to interact with anyone, but I guess that is what happens sometimes.

Meet Miss Gwen

The title of this party really should have been, meet sleeping Gwen, but at least she wasn't crying, like she is now. Ok, maybe she did wake up for a little bit, but that is because Grandma kept trying to show her off. Thanks everyone for coming. It was so nice to see everyone in a group setting. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, the bulk of the pictures we did get were taken by Mrs. Worster. Thanks! So looking back at these pictures I notice that Grandma is in every picture, but I am no where to be found. Huh? To be fair, I did take the pictures of the meeting of Gwen & Eddie. Kind of weird to introduce my child to my friend from high school's child. Don't think Dawn and I ever talked about that!

Opening Day

Here are some pictures from today. Opening day of Pro-football. Today is considered a holiday in my family, my parents would have a big open house and every year pray that Tampa would win the opening game, the bottle of champagne waiting in the fridge. This year like most other years, Tampa lost. We didn't have the party or the champagne waiting; some things never change, unfortunately, some things do.

Pictures for Eric

So, we had a successful flight to FL with very little noise from our Gwen, but I thought as Eric comes back from B'ball this afternoon he'd like to have some pictures to remember Gwen by, I would say to remember Gwen and MYSELF, but as many of you know I am visiting my Mom, so unless I have some business to do with Gwen, i.e. eating or changing, there is no room for me! Which isn't so terrible, gives me a nice break. We have already seen several of the family friends and Great-Grandpa has seen Gwen, but he hasn't invoked the crowbar to get some quality holding time. (I think he is secretly holding out for the Packers outfit!)

Gwen studying Suzie, I think she likes her!

More pictures

This weekend my cousin Pete visited. He also shares his birthday with Gwen. We had a nice time with him, so nice we forgot to take pictures, save this one.Uncle Bill, Aunt Nanette, Sammy & JJ also came up to visit. We had a nice dinner with them and they finally got to see how alert Gwen is.

We also took our first family photo, gosh do I love a tripod. We will have to work with Gwen on looking at the camera! We thought if we took a family photo we could see resemblance better, but I still can't tell. I guess when she gets older. Or, I may never know, I have never been real good at telling who babies look like, so please don't ask me!
These will probably be the last photos of Gwen published until we get to FL on Thursday. I have no idea how much time I will have tomorrow. I still have to pack and tomorrow Gwen and I go to the 'New Mother Get Together' at the wellness center.
On an exciting note, Gwen is really taking in her surroundings, although she has always looked around, now she studies stuff. This weekend she noticed her feet. It was quite funny she got this big look in her eyes and kept looking at them. I am not sure she realizes they are connected to her, but she wanted to bend to look at them! I also think her 'receding hairline' is filling in.

Naked baby

More bath time pictures. As you can see she is getting better about bathing. No serious cries this time. The question is who do you think she looks like? I guess you FL folks can vote next week when Gwen goes for her first plane ride! I hope she likes it.

Not much

I haven't posted in a while because now that I have my freedom to leave the house, we have done just that. Gwen and I now go places and do stuff. This morning we went to the Mommy & Me WW, which just means that screaming kids are welcome. Thank goodness. Our child of course, did a little screaming, ok fussing.
I took these pictures last week so Eric could have one at his desk. This is one of his favorite outfits, he thinks that pants on her look like MC Hammer pants from the 80's. I think though, now that she has gotten bigger they actually fit right! I got a couple good shot, a couple bad ones. One day I guess I will have to take her somewhere to get her pictures made professionally.

Pictures

Here are some more pictures of Gwen. She is becoming more responsive and smiling. She even follows objects better. It is certainly a lot better when she smiles at you, even if I know she is going to start screaming soon. The smiling is the calm before the storm! She really enjoys if you make faces at her and she often makes faces of her own in response.



The last picture is from the sling. This past week I went back to Weight Watchers, ugh! I have 25 lbs to lose in 12 weeks, before I have to start paying again. I don't think I can maintain a 2 lb a week weight loss, plus they don't recommend that, so we'll see how I do. They have a Mommy & Me meeting, we are going to try that one this week. I also signed up for our "New Mommy Get Togethers" that we get to go to for free since Eric & I went to those childbirth classes. They are 3 Wed in a row in Sept. Hope I meet some cool new Moms! I think Eric is happy I am getting a schedule together! I am starting to feel normal again, less sad and happily I don't freak out anymore if she is crying uncontrollably and she has been feed and changed. I pop her in the sling and we walk the mile loop. I certainly can't wait for the cool fall breezes, a black sling is HOT in summer!

The elusive smile

It is hard to get a good photo of the elusive smile when she is sitting in my lap, but these are the faces we go through when we are 'talking'. I think she is just trying to charm me before she becomes a pain. It is a good thing she is so cute or we would be giving her away to the gypsies and I think she knows it.

Last of the good pictures

I've had a comment that the pictures have been of a better caliber since Terry was visiting. So, I will post the last of these pictures and assure you that as our baby begins to smile and communicate more I will try to get more pictures, of a better caliber. Gwen really likes to stand and look at you. Sometimes, if you make faces at her, she will smile and coo.

I snapped this picture real quick, as Terry was on the move, by far Gwen's favorite thing. If she's not eating, she wants to be on the move! Today I proved that point, Gwen had fallen asleep in my arms, silly me decided to get up and she woke up. Being interupted from this nap, we were very fussy. So, I put her in the sling and did the 1 mile loop, being that it was 5p, hot and I haven't done that much hill work I decided to come home. As soon as I walked in the door, she woke up, and was irritated. So, I guess as long as it is not raining I will be getting some exercise! I wonder if this is a new trend or related to the fact that Gwen was immunized yesterday?

Dr's appointment

Here is our weight/height update:
10lbs 5oz. (50-75%)
23 in. (90-95%)
But, she was very good during her appointment Dr said everything looks good!
She is long and lean and crying to eat...so I must go!

Grandma pictures

Grandma arrived safely Thurs night, although Gwen and I were sound asleep when she arrived. But the next day, Gwen was introduced to her other Grandma. I have to say Gwen, hasn't been too terrible. A lot fussy here and there, but I expect that is to be expected. Grandma has found that you can't hold our Gwen and sit on the couch, you must keep moving. Everytime Terry goes to sit down, Gwen starts to fuss. Once you start walking with her, you must continue to walk with her.

Yesterday we went to visit Great Grandma. Surprisingly enough Gwen was pretty good, she slept pretty solidly through the car ride, except for the first 15 minutes. (I am convinced that there is something on that one stretch of road that bothers her, because that is exactly where she cried last time I drove her). We have some pictures with Great Grandma. She hardly fussed and even smiled at Edie. Now I am paying the price for the solid sleeper. She is wide awake and cooing at the swing.

I really don't know what is going on with my hair in this picture. I really need a haircut!
I don't really know where we were going here, but doesn't she look cute in this picture.

Dr's visit

Today I had my check-up. I have been cleared to return to work the week after next. Thank goodness for FMLA, otherwise I would have to return to work soon. AH! I can't imagine. Anyway, on an interesting note, my Dr, that delivered my baby is due with her own child in Nov. I can't believe we didn't notice, I mean she would have been 5 months or so and we didn't notice!? She said she was real proud of me she knew I didn't want any drugs and asked me to leave her the name of the doula at the desk. She was also amazed by the sling, all the nurses were, they had apparently never seen one and had no idea I was nursing. The Dr wanted to know how to use it and where I got it. She even gave me a hug. Very bizarre, so bizarre, I forgot to ask her about my placenta being tested. Most of been okay though or she would have mentioned it, yes? So bizarre, I missed my exit on the way home, or maybe it was because I haven't driven in so long. Who knows.
So, Eric is on his way to pick up his Mom, her flight has arrived. Hopefully, he made it in time. We used the new washer and the fast spin cycle made the whole house shake. Don't know if it was over stuffed or if it is just crazy washer. I am trying less clothes and slower spin.