Life With Girls

Gwen was so proud she finally made her way to Jackie's dollhouse, while Jackie was at KDO.  Jackie has since decided it would be a good idea to move her dollhouse downstairs for awhile.

Jumping for joy, as we sorted through Jackie's stash of spring/summer clothes.  She made several wardrobe changes during this process.  She also managed to find the one pair of mittens in the bag and insisted on wearing them!

"See Gwen, it's cool to wear mittens and flip flops together."  Gwen doesn't look too convinced!  Jackie also ended up laying down for a nap with her mittens still on!

A Good Laugh

Every now and then you just need a good laugh......

Gwen thought Jackie was just hilarious when she was jumping in the other room.  Jackie thought it was pretty funny too...

A Piece of My History!

This morning I recieved a text from a friend with the above picture and a message that said, "Looking for a good home."  The chair is actually from where I used to work, before becoming a stay at home mom.  I worked at this company for almost 8 years and these chairs(there are two of them), followed us to at least three different buildings.  I'm not even sure how old they are and what they were used for before my 8 years of service, to tell you the truth.  I do know these two chairs sat behind my cubicle and were only used as a coat hanger or for social gatherings at my cubicle (aka  "water cooler talk").  For some reason I always had a liking for these chairs.  They are actually quite comfy and I've always liked the shape of them.  I remember during my corporate work days, I would hint around that I liked these chairs.  Never did I think I would actually be sitting on one them while typing this blog on my home computer!  That's right.  I am now the proud owner.  The company I used to work for is in the process of "out with the old, in with the new."  They are completely re-doing their whole office.  Bigger, better and everything new.  Good for them.  I'm happy they have been a successful company and are able to do that.  I'm also happy to have a little piece of my history, right here at home with me.  Who knew, three years after I "retired" from my corporate job...I would still keep in touch with some of my friends there.  I'm happy I have and really, not just for the chairs! 

P.S.  I may or may not have big plans for these chairs.  They might just sit as is in my house for years to come.  I've also been wanting to dabble in refurbishing furniture (which can be blamed on watching way too many episodes of the Nate Berkus show!).  These chairs might just be my first project!  I'll keep you posted.

Snail's Pace

A little video of our new crawler. This is almost painful to watch, because she is working so hard and not getting very far.  My days of sitting her on the floor and going to get laundry, to the bathroom, etc without worrying about her getting into anything are close to being over......

Happy 8 Months!

Getting this picture was not not easy.  Gwen has now discovered the chair moves and on top of that she was constantly trying to crawl off the chair.  So we settled with an action photo..sorry about the blur!  Gwen had a big day yesterday.  Her first tooth is finally starting to peak through and she took her first official forward crawl.  She still gets places faster scooting and rolling, and gets very frustrated that she can't move forward faster.  I'm sure she'll be a crawling machine before we are fully ready for it! 

Sometimes I can't even fathom that Gwen is closer to being a year old than she is to being a newborn.  We see more and more of her personality every day.  She tends to be a bit shy with people at first, but warms up after a bit.  She has become quite a "ham" during church.  She likes to smile at the people around us and make raspberry and kissing noises.  She still is not the biggest bottle eater, but loves her solids.  She has become pretty good at feeding herself puffs and yogurts melts.  Jackie likes to help her out too, if she's not sneaking some for herself. 

I have a feeling we are going to have to keep a close eye on Gwen.  She has already discovered the wall outlets...luckily most of them are already baby proofed, but for some reason she has a fascination with them.  Gwen loves the outdoors!  She also loves to shove anything nature related into her mouth...leaves, dirt, grass.  It will be a learning experience each time we are out and about, I'm sure! 

Sleeping hasn't been the greatest lately.  I'm thinking it's the teeth.  Gwen is a little more sensitive to colds, pain, etc.  She wants to be held.  Which means our guest bedroom is getting a lot more use lately.  Seems like this is the one place I can hold her and maybe doze off a bit myself in the middle of the night.  John prefers the chair in the living room.  "Whatever works," continues to be our motto! 

Happy 8 months Gweny!

Weekend Warriors

Sunday was a nice day.  One of those days you spend outside as much as possible soaking in the fresh air and working on endless projects.  It's funny, the change-over from winter to spring.  Yesterday almost seemed like one of those days that you were metamorphosed into a different place over night.  The world around us almost seemed unrecognizable from where we were a month ago.  People out walking, working in yards.  A month ago, we were wondering "what are we going to do with ourselves all day?"  Yesterday we were wondering, "what are we going to do first?" 

I started with a nice run on the middle school track.  In the 30 minutes of my run, I talked myself into 5K's, 10K's and I might have even talked myself into a half-marathon.  It felt good to run outside.  I went straight from my run to working on a backyard renovation project.  John and I raked and raked and raked and raked...you get the idea.  He did some seeding and at this point, I'd be happy if weeds grew..just so we have some green in our backyard this summer. 

Yup, that's another picture of Gwen on the porch swing...and you'll probably see more of them this summer.  She loves it.  She swings, we work on the yard.  Everyone is happy.  After yard work, naps for the girls, and showers for us, we headed to a local park and got in some more outdoor time.

John and Jackie looking for fish in the pond.  The number of people at the park yesterday was almost unbelievable.  It was nice to see life again on the "outside."

I've never seen Gwen so content, as she was yesterday at the park.  She sat in the stroller and just soaked everything in. 

Oh yes, and more swing time.  Jackie looks so huge on this swing now, especially with Gwen next to her. 



PHHBBLLLTTTTTT!!

Fun with Keys

I think the title of the post and pictures are pretty self-explanatory.  Happy Friday!

She Moves

No crawling yet at our house...although, Gwen is starting to become a proficient bottom scooter.  She gets in the position above and then typically sits back down.  She puts her hand in front and bends her one leg and manages to scoot on her bottom.  It's pretty funny actually.  If she continues her bottom scooting, I'm interested to see how fast she can get.

She managed to get in this little predicament by scooting.....

Oh yes, and this morning...she managed to scoot over to the toy box for the first time and pull herself up.  She thought she was SO cool for finally getting her hands on all those toys. (Please excuse the naked, possessed looking baby doll...that was actually mine while growing up.  She could use an appointment at the hair salon and well, typically none of our babies have clothes on!)

My Prediction

Some one's world is about to get a lot bigger and big sister's world is about to get a lot smaller....very soon.  In the last two days, Gwen has been making all those necessary steps to figure out how to crawl.  Going from sitting to tummy, tummy to sitting, on hands and knees, rocking, rocking, rocking.  It's amazing to watch her develop. 

So my prediction (I know, it's a little bold)..is that she will be crawling in a week.  Now off to find those baby gates..... 

What We Do

We take babies for rides outside on the trike.  She's getting there.  She can go down hills pretty good.  We have some work to do on level and uphill surfaces.  My prediction is by the end of the summer, she will be doing it all on her own.

We sneak in some swing time while big sister is napping.  Gwen is going to be a swing lover just like her sister.  She would sit in here all day.  This means mama is going to get an arm workout this summer!


We pretend. Table for two?  Jackie wanted to play "restaurant" the other day.  Menu of choice: three goldfish crackers, raisins, and a granola bar.  Served with a refreshing glass of water. Mmmmmmm.

We stand.  Gwen's new thing is standing up to the fireplace.  She can't get there by herself, but is very excited to have us stand her up there and play with toys.  She also likes to look at herself in the glass of the fireplace and make raspberries at herself.

Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba

Oldie but Goodie

I came across this picture today.  It was taken by my MIL about six months ago. (props to Mom K for another nice picture!)  Hard to believe it was that long ago.  We are looking forward to many more days on the swings in our near future.  We've been able to steal some time outside this week.  Soaking up some of the sun, enjoying a little extra daylight.  I have visions of bubbles, chalk, picnics and some gardening dancing in my head. 

Splish, Splash

You can't be a baby and not get the infamous bath tub pictures taken.  Gwen loves her baths.  As soon as I put her in this seat she immediately starts kicking her legs and splashing in the water and doesn't stop, until I wrestle her out of the tub.  You can also tell by the picture that she is starting to get a little hair on top! 

Our beautiful, blue-eyed baby.  Gotta love that gummy smile.