Miscellaneous picture fest

Random pictures from the party...

My camera is on the fritz so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked!

The ham

The party was a success, at least the people I invited were nice enough to tell me that they had a good time, whether that is true or not, I might never know, but I hope they aren't just nice and they had a good time! So, this series of pictures is the daughter of the woman that made the cake. I just think it is funny! Maybe not the most flattering pictures, but you can tell she is ham for the camera!

This last picture shows KT on the floor, she has been having nap issues and as you can tell is beat, and if you look closely you will see the birthday girl stealing her cracker!

Little KT is 15 months. That kid of ours is something else, she tried to steal someone else's sippy cup (although it does look the same as hers).

The cake!

Since I know this is the most important part of the party, I thought I would post the pictures of the cake. Sometime, probably Monday I will get to posting about the party. I think it was a success; no one went home crying, so that is good, yes? Have a great weekend!

Famous Amos

Gwen received a present the other day, and I couldn't open it fast enough. So thanks Famous Amos! We hope to see you next month!

I think she is checking to see if she can make a break for a different room with the box.
Trying to lift the box, seriously she is trying to lift the box.

What's in here? Mom move this card or let me in the box!
Finally the box is open!
At this point I put down the camera, so many twist ties, so few hands, and a very impatient girl meant that I had more important things to do. Daddy enjoyed playing with it to. Oh and Grandmom confirms that Gwen does sound like she is saying Dog.

On a side note, Gwen seems to be big pals with Grandmom, they played this morning and I didn't even have to be in the room, Gwen did come to check on me after about 15 minutes or so, but she was content to go back and play with Grandmom after a little prodding from me. I hope this means she is slightly less nervous with strangers, but I imagine when you wake up in the morning and a "stranger" is in your house and Mom & Dad think it is ok, it might be easier to adjust.

Downloaded pics

So, I scanned in the pictures from the other day...isn't our toddler sweet. Which is your favorite?

Dr. appt

Here are the vital stats:
Weight: 21 lbs 1 oz 70%
Height: 29.5 in 40-50%
In case you are curious that is 1.1 lbs and 2 inches since our last visit in April. Gwen appears to be right on schedule developmentally, so that is good news. Nothing else to report at this point.

Birthday photos

I think a good time was had by all yesterday evening, Gwen and godfather Eric seemed to enjoy the cake and dinner. I say cake first, 'cause who are we kidding Gwen loved the cake...Eric had a nice sized chunk also. Here are the birthday buddies.

I didn't have a 30 candle, so I made it out of candles.
Here are some slide shows of Gwen and Eric and the cake...cause really that is all you want to see, isn't it?

After cake, Gwen opened her presents...with my help. We didn't bother cleaning her first. She seemed to not care.

Then we went put the sugar high, over tired birthday girl to bed! Grandma arrives tonight after Gwen is asleep, I hope, and then the fun begins!

PS-apology

Ever feel like you are forgetting something important? Well, I did and I just assumed it was party related...but it is not. HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE KEN! I don't know where my head has been, oh wait, I know, but my Mom reads this so I can't say. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today is Gwen's first birthday, as many of you know! Today the godfather turns 30...HI! He is coming over to dinner tonight to celebrate the shared birthdays. Today is also cousin Pete's birthday and cousin Jan's birthday. Happy birthday to you also!
Now that we got that out of the way. My little one is officially 1, now we can turn the carseat around and she can see us. I wonder how she'll like that. Yesterday she got her 1 year pictures taken, can I tell you how hard it is with a child that moves. Gwen lost interest at about 2 shots in, we still got some good pictures, I don't know how. If I can figure out how to get the pics on here illegally I will, cause I know you all will love them! I don't have much time to type right now, Tues is bathroom cleaning day during the first nap, plus I have to bake a cake! So, I better get started in case someone tries to spoil my plan, you wouldn't know anyone who would do that, would you?

Videos

Here are 2 videos of Gwen last night, she gets so crazy around bedtime, she just walks around in circles and such. So funny!

Happy belated 4th of July!

Things are very busy in the Gwen household. We are preparing for the all important 1st birthday and birthday party. I have already started cooking and preparing for the party. We are having a slightly large party to celebrate that Eric and I survived a whole year with the kid without giving her to gypsies, you laugh, but at times I think it might have been a serious discussion. It was so dire that Eric wouldn't even talk about more kids, don't get to excited Grandmas, no more kids are planned (or unplanned) at this point, I just think it is funny. So, until after the party I will not likely have much time to post. I have things to do during every nap and after Gwen is in bed I won't have time to post because Eric hogs the computer to study or some such nonsense! Only 1 semester left, about a month! Woohoo, we might have to have another party. I guess we will see how this party goes! Today we are heading to Elkton to see Great-Grandma and then to some small Maryland town for the Godfather's birthday party. Should be interesting to say the least. Gwen doesn't sleep all that well in a car. But I digress!
So here are some pictures of Gwen at the park with Eric on the 4th of July. This is the park that Gwen and I go to after our exercise group. She knows her way around!



It took a lot of effort to get her out of the tunnel, she didn't quite no what to do!
If the following picture looks funny, it is because Eric is holding Gwen back, she wants to walk down the slide!

Here we are at home. Gwen is examining the camera case, oh look a zipper, I love zippers.
We had a nice relaxing 4th, it was a crazy weather day though, we got rained on at the park, but it was kind of refreshing and Gwen doesn't really care about that stuff yet. Eric and I could see 3 sets of fireworks from our bedroom windows, while Gwen was soundly sleeping. It was raining on and off, so it was nice from the comfort of our room to watch the fireworks. Maybe next year we will let Gwen stay up past her bedtime and watch the fireworks, what do you think she will think about them.

Time to start pulling you weight around here, kid

I have been told by several people that the reason you have kids is so you don't have to do chores, so we are starting Gwen early on this path.

Ok, not really, Gwen still has a love for the washer and dryer. We didn't really think she would take out all the laundry, but she did, we had to remind her what she was doing because she is easily distracted, now maybe if we could get her not to stand on the dishwasher she could help with the dishes!

Toddler

For a while now I have been avoiding the truth...I have a toddler! Until I had Gwen, I never really realized what that means, I kind of expected that was a child much older than Gwen is now. She certainly has become more expressive now that she is walking, she is quite funny. She has learned how to turn on her Mobile in her room, this weekend I found her crying in her crib with her Mobile playing. She is becoming less fond of things that talk to her, unexpectedly. We are gearing up for the big 1st birthday/1st birthday party next week. I have so much I should probably be doing, but for some reason I decided it would be a better idea to pull apart Gwen's curtains add a backer and then re-hang them. I have one curtain sitting in the sewing machine almost sewn. This in my naive mind will solve the problem of Gwen waking up at 6am, after all it is rather bright in her room so that must be why she is waking up. I actually have proof that this theory could be true, when it is cloudy she sleeps longer.
In the last couple of days I have realized that Gwen does understand me. I have always known that she understood me, but she always gives me a blank stare, many of you are probably thinking, I have seen that look before. Today at the place where we were getting our oil changed Gwen was wandering around the store, when I would say no ma'am the first 3 times, she came back in my direction and ignored what she was going to do, but then she would anticipate what I was going to say speed up her walk and giggle! Stinker. No more can I sit and read quietly in waiting rooms, well at least for a little while, since she is so new to this walking thing, she wants to do it EVERYWHERE. Today I brought a ball from her ball pit and she chased that around and walked around with it for 30 minutes!
So, here are some pictures. This one Eric took, I don't know why he actually took 2 pictures, this is the one he actually said, that is what I wanted. Since it seemed important to him, I thought I would post it...yes another baby eating picture.

Gwen and her ball toy, she loves this thing, and I don't think we have any pictures posted of her actually playing with this. She really loves it.