Move over Mozart!

I have pulled out another 6 month toy for Gwen. She seems to enjoy this piano. She sticks out her tongue a lot now, when she is laughing. Since she is such a mimic it makes me wonder if I stick out my tongue when laughing. Like I said yesterday, a classic look! She has so much to tell me, it is too bad that she can't talk.
As you can see, she sits up real well, sometimes I forget that I need to keep an eye on her, and watch what is around her in case she falls! I am happy to report that she did not fall on the rocker!
I imagine that I will get this look a lot in the future. Don't bother me Mom, I am composing!

5 Months!

I am finally getting around to this post. I have had the pictures up and loaded since Mon, but haven't had time to actually post! The last month has been eventful for us, not just in Gwen's growth but in our life. Gwen had her first cold, but it hasn't seemed to slow her down. She has a new toy from Grandma...a jumper. She loves it, from what I can tell, but I will post more about that later. She does love the smiling sun that she is holding on to. Gwen seems to love bath time. Usually Eric is just getting home from work (during the week) and he joins us in the bath tub for the fun. I think Gwen is ready to sit in the tub without the insert, but she is so cute when I lay her in here, we haven't done it yet. As you can see now when we sit her in anything she puts her elbows back (which makes it especially challenging to put her in the car seat!) She loves kicking her feet which is fun during bath time because she actually kicks out most of the water...that is what she is doing in this shot.
Gwen during tummy time. These next shots are taken then. Before she could just push up, but now she can balance herself and use her hands to grab at things and bring them to her mouth. I had put the little triangular mirror in this shot in front of her so she could see herself, but it has little chew toys on the end so she surprised me by pulling it to herself so she could get at the toys on the bottom...who knew she could do that!

(Eric says this shot is a classic...she is telling me about something!)
I have given up on trying to read books to her while sitting in my lap, she enjoys looking at them, but likes to turn the pages on her own and I never get to finish the story. I just can't handle that. She likes to slap the book and feel everything, but I want to read the story. Today I think I have finally learned my lesson, I read the book above her head while I gave her another book to slap at! Her ability to grasp and hold is much improved this month, but sadly we are learning cause and effect, so we like to drop things on the ground and see what happens. As of yet, I don't think she knows that she shouldn't do this because I don't think we have fully grasped the idea that when things will return. Once objects leave her line of sight she forgets about them, I think.

I was going to write about how she has turned a new corner in sleeping. When I was supposed to write this post Gwen had started doing this cooing herself to sleep at nap time, which was a nice change from crying, but now we are crying again, but fortunately it doesn't last long, most nights. We do have a melt down problem in the evening. I just can't get a nap schedule together, I'd like her to get 3 naps a day since they are so short, but I don't know what to do when she is due for a nap at 4, plus during the day she still likes eating every 2 hours but that interferes with the napping. Oh well, hopefully these things will work themselves out soon! I have more to say with more pictures, from today and yesterday, hopefully I will get to that today or tomorrow. We leave for FL Tues...AH! I mean I am excited, but so much to do!

Today is Riley Anne's due date, but apart from little contractions no labor yet...we were hoping to see her before we left for FL, but everyday it is looking less likely, huh, Brian & Reyna!

Update

Many of you may wonder why I have not written on this in over a week. Friday we heard that my Grandpa that Gwen and I visited in Oct passed away. Sat one of my cousin's husbands passed away. Gwen, Mom & I headed up to WI on Monday, Grandpa's funeral was on Tues. While it was nice that everyone finally got to meet Gwen, not under the best circumstances. We returned yesterday. Frankly, I haven't really wanted to post anything, but I do have some pictures, so I thought I better. Just because I haven't felt like posting, doesn't mean you should have to suffer and not see any pictures of our charmer.

This picture was taken before we left on Sun. I thought it was so funny, she just sat like that and wouldn't move, she seemed content.

This picture was taken after Grandpa's funeral. Gwen was not kept to her schedule so she conked out, I kept telling everyone it was a Christmas miracle, because she does not like to sleep for that long (during the day). I had wanted to get pictures with her and the family members she met this trip, but she slept through the whole reception and even though cousin Jeffy wanted to wake her up, I wouldn't let him (or any of the mischevious uncles.)
This was at my cousin's visitation. Roy and Isabelle, my cousins 2 kids, are the older kids in this picture. Natalie is my cousin Sara's daughter who was born in Feb of this year. She and Gwen "played" together. Natalie kept grabbing stuff from Gwen, she is older so has that grabbing thing down, better than Gwen.

Gwen in cousin Pete's snake. She enjoyed that.

Gwen on the flight home.

This was a tough week for me. Reading Julie's posts last week were difficult, it brought me back to when I was at the hospital with Dad. With that and Grandpa's death and being away, I just wasn't in the mood. I guess the next week will be 'back to normal' and then the following week we will be in FL! Wow time flies...I guess I should start Christmas shopping, although now I am just not in the mood. I am amazed at how nice people are to a woman with a baby. I had people all over the airport asking if they could help me carry something. I even had a gentleman today help me carry a box to my car. (His wife is due in 3 months). Fortunately, it was a light box, but still, kind of him to offer and help, especially now that it is cold outside, not near as cold as WI though!

Friday pictures

Look at me I am posting pictures the same day they were taken! (don't get used to this). As I have said Gwen is becoming more adept at using her hands and likes to play with the different things like the smiling moon. Mr. Moon does not have the same effect on us as Mr. Starfish does...I dare say nothing does.

Daddy! I think we are getting close to the I adore my Daddy, who is this other woman that inhabits our house, I could care less about her (unless I am hungry) phase.

Gwen now pushes the button on the roof to make it play noise. I believe this is the last of the quiet peace I once enjoyed, she knows how and more importantly has the strength to make the toys make noise!

Since we are encouraging crawling, I pulled out the 'Move & Crawl Ball'. She seems to like it! Fortunately, she can't crawl after it, but she does like to touch it. I know that is for 6+ months, but I figure that my child is so ahead of her time, I should pull it out early. I am embarrassed to mention that it says find the 'cow' and I can't, because it is purple and looks like a kitten.

I love my exersaucer!

Gwen has really started to enjoy the exersaucer. She is starting to move around more. She pulls on the star and the moon. The puppy used to stand upright but she has pulled on his crinkly ears so much he know is facing downward. She makes the keyboard go and she presses the button on the house so she can hear her Daddy and the other music. She moves slowly, around the circle, but she can do it and she does get excited about it.

Christmas preview

Since we are in MD and everyone else is somewhere else we will most likely never spend the holidays with everyone. (Sadly both of our Mothers have jobs that require working on holidays.) Eric and I as many of you know have done a lot of work to our townhouse, well, it needed it. The next thing we need to do is replace the flooring, Eric has already done the downstairs area, but the time has come for the middle floor and stairs. So, we have been looking at hardwoood floors. Today we received the sample box of our top picks. I usually wait to do stuff like that, but I was too excited to wait until she napped. (I would have had to wait a total of 10 minutes later). As you can see, it was probably worth it not to wait!

She might not have any interest in material things, but she certainly likes a box! When I was a kid we had a cat, Pixie, we never got him anything for Christmas because he got so much enjoyment out of the boxes and wrapping paper, just letting him play in the box and crinkle the wrapping paper was all the present he ever needed (oh and knocking down Mom's low hanging ornaments and laying under the tree was of course fun!)
So, do you see visions of the Gwen as a toddler when you look at the last picture? Yesterday when I was getting my hair cut, the woman asked me who Gwen looked like, I replied her Dad...she said that's ok her resemblance will change when she grows up. The man at the liquor store told me the same thing, are they implying that Eric is not attractive? I am married to the guy should I take offense, should Eric? Well, it is kind of funny, I know they are not being mean, but it is humorous that they think telling me Gwen will look more like me when she grows up would make me feel better. I married Eric though, and I think he is cute, so I don't really care if she looks like him...she has my cute button nose and that is enough for me!

Silence

You might have noticed that this blog has been kind of quiet. Gwen & I are still recovering from our illness. I have not been taking any pictures of her because of the nose crude issues, when we resolve that, more pictures will be added, I promise! On a funny side note, Gwen does not like Mommy sneezing or coughing when I am not holding her. A couple of times when I had her in the exersaucer and I sneezed or coughed she immediately started to cry. Nothing I can do about that, but it is cute! Regular posting should continue soon, as I hope that sometime in the next couple of day this house will be back in good health!

Wellness update

Gwen is basically her same self during the day, sleeping is when we have a challenge. The poor girl is so stuffy we have put the humidifier in her room to help her out. Hopefully she will sleep more like 'usual' tonight. Last night was 2-3 hours and waking up. UGH! Today she took a 2 hour nap. I hope this is a new trend, but probably just a fluke, so I shouldn't get my hopes up! Unfortunately, I have also caught the bug! I basically felt like my head was going to explode so I relied on Eric a lot the last couple of days, esp Saturday. I am feeling much better today, probably because I also took a nap. So, hopefully this first illness is about over, I am not sure I am going to like catching every illness known to man!

2 things I never wanted to learn...

but had to as a Mother. How to use the:
1) the rectal temperature
2) the nose bulb
Yes, Gwen has her first cold and fever. Last night she did not sleep well and I noticed she was congested. Then at about 4-5am she started with a fever, only 100.8. This morning I called the Dr and we went in for our first sick baby visit. She is acting pretty normal, just is rather warm and you seriously don't want to be near her when she sneezes. The Dr said just monitor her, if I feel she needs to come back in they will be open this weekend. We are to try to keep her as fluid filled as possible and use humidifer and/or steamy bathrooms to help with the congestion. Unfortunately we don't have a humidifer, but we will soon! Our house is very dry in the winter. Hope you have a great weekend. Poor thing, I feel terrible for her to be chasing her around with a tissue (fortunately she isn't mobile!)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (pt 2)

Well, this Thanksgiving was a success we had turkey and stuffing and gravy and mashed potatoes and green bean caserole and rolls and cranberry sauce. We even had a sweet potato pie! Gwen unfortunately couldn't enjoy our meal by eating with us, but she did sit for a while, though she was pretty tired. After she takes her nap we will most likely go for a walk. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The turkey is in the oven! Ok, the turkey has been in the oven for over an hour. I wanted to get up at 7am and put it in, but when Miss Gwen woke up at 5am and kept me up until almost 6, that plan went out the window. So I got up at 8. The only problem with that is that the innards of the turkey appear to be frozen still, it took me quite some time to pull out the plastic piece holding the turkey together (technically, Eric did it) it then took a long time to get the neck out. So, our turkey dinner won't be at 1-2, probably more like 3. But, I guess that is what happens when you buy a $0.37/lb 12lb turkey instead of the 6-8lb turkey you were planning on (I saved $1/lb!) The only other problem I am likely to have this year is that I have never made gravy! I've made the turkey before, but we were in California and I had Hector make the gravy. So, should be interesting. That year I didn't have any drippings they all burned on the bottom of the pan. I'll let you know how it goes!

Here are some pictures of Miss Gwen sitting up. The first 3 are from Monday, the last one is from yesterday. Check back soon for pictures from today. Isn't she just the cutest!? Ok, I know I am biased. Yesterday at CVS the pharmacist said what a lean looking baby, so healthy. I looked around to see if he was talking to someone else, but yes it was to me. I had to write this down because it is certainly the first time ANYONE has called Gwen thin! I guess there is a run of obese kids in Frederick, that is only explanation.

Well, back to basting the bird and watching the Macy's day parade. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving; hope you get pleasantly stuffed.

Crawling and other news

Yesterday I wanted to post about Gwen's gearing up but she woke up before I could get anything written. She totally sleeps on her belly now, I don't know if that is her preference or if it has some thing to do with the fact she now rolls onto her belly everytime she is on her back. It is a fun thing for me, I put her on her back just to watch her roll over, a fun new game! Although it is causing some problems during diaper changes...she doesn't yet understand that she has to stay on her back for a bit longer so Mommy can change her.

Today has been a busy day for us, I weighed in, we went to the library and we went for a walk. We also played and giggled and are down for our second nap. Gwen takes 2-3 45 minute naps. I no longer time the amount she cries, so I don't really know. I am trying to decide if I should try and encourage her to sleep for longer by feeding her and/or comforting her for a couple minutes and encouraging her to sleep longer. I don't really know. Today we made the library, they have a 'reading' for babies section, 0-12mon. Not a lot of reading is done but there are 15 baby/parent pairs (all women, but 1 was a grandma) allowed/session. I didn't count how many were there today. We sang songs with the babies and read a book together. I enjoyed it, don't know if Gwen did, but she didn't cry or fuss, so that has to be a good sign. She seemed to watch either the woman incharge of the session or the woman signing, I don't know which. It seemed like a fast 45 minutes, but I guess that is what happens when you are having fun.

These are pictures of Gwen from this weekend. I don't know what the steps are to get start crawling, but I feel like she might be getting closer. She pushes up her butt and she pushes up on her hands. She just can't get any traction or I think she might actually move. As usual I couldn't get any pictures with Gwen pushing up with her arms. I do know she is getting better at sitting. I showed Eric yesterday and he was impressed. She sits now for several minutes without leaning. I will try to get a picture of that soon, but it is a 2 person job!

This weekend our friends Josh & Jacqueline were in town. We watched the AU-UA game. Jacqueline is a huge Bama fan, so it is fun to watch with them. The fun thing about it is Jacqueline & I are the intense fans and the guys could care less, well I guess they do care, but not with the same intensity that Jacqueline & I have. We tried are darnest to get Gwen not to watch the game, but she is mesmorized by the TV, which is why she isn't allowed to watch it. Mr. Starfish didn't hold her interest at all, she just wanted to see the action on the TV screen! Gwen has a short attention span, which is normal for babies, but I think the addiction to the TV screen (when it is on) is not something I want her to have, so I don't typically watch TV when she is awake. (this is why I haven't kept up with AU as I should and don't keep up with the pros at all).

COLD!

These next pictures show Gwen's new hat and gloves. It is cold here and we now have to gear up before going outside.