Too long!

It has been way too long since I have blogged! Gwendolyn is now eating solid foods (as of February 24th). Her favorite food so far is zucchini. I cannot feed it to her fast enough! She is taking a bottle whenever I decide to offer it to her. I just give one to her randomly and she takes them like she has been doing it all along. Naps aren't a fight anymore. She lets me know very clearly by rubbing her eyes that she is ready for her nap, I lay her in her crib and off to sleep she goes! Praise the Lord! She is only taking 30 minute naps, which needs to change because by the end of the night she is exhausted and has dark circles under her eyes, poor little bug! Gwen is also working on sitting up on her own. She is doing so well, pretty soon she will be doing it all on her own! It is all happening so fast. Millions of people told me while I was pregnant and first had her to enjoy every moment of her life because it goes so fast. They were absolutely right!

Gwen's personality is truly shining. She is an amazingly happy baby. She loves to smile and laugh and play. She LOVES her daddy. She gets so excited every day when he comes home from work, she smiles with her whole body when she sees him. It is so incredibly cute! I think she will be an independent little one. She is already showing signs of wanting to do things on her own and gets frustrated when she can't do them. I couldn't have asked for a more amazing baby. I love to just look at her, play with her and cuddle with her.

Our next adventure to tackle is having Matt put her to bed. Our routine right now is bath, eat, read a book and go to bed. After the bath, since day one I have done the rest because, obviously, I am the one that feeds her. Now that she is taking a bottle I am going to try to have Matt put her to bed so they can have some bonding time. It will probably make me cry because I love that time we have together, but I know he needs that time too and she needs to not on;y rely on me to put her to bed.

Momma Kalil let me have some me time and watched Gwen for me for about 2 hours. I went to the beach and laid out for the first time in years! I haven't had any me time since Gwen was born so it was strange to be by myself and try to figure out what I would want to do. It was definitely nice and much needed! Matt got to have some Matt time the next day and went golfing with the boys. I'm glad he was able to get away for a little while and hang out with some friends for a while as well. Matt and I were able to have a date night the other weekend while Lacy came over and watched Gwen for us. She was already in bed, but it meant so much to us that Lacy would babysit without having the baby (haha) so that Matt and I can focus on each other for a little while.

Gwendolyn Mae will be 6 months old next week and I cannot believe it. I guess I need to start thinking about what we will do for her 1 year birthday party. It won't be anything big since Gwen doesn't really have any friends yet. Probably just a family thing. We will see! I can't believe that it will be here before we know it!

Slow it down Tiny!

I cannot believe how incredibly fast time is going with Gwen. She is growing so fast and advancing to the next stage of life at a rapid pace. I put her in her bouncer this morning after not having put her in for about 2 months just to see what her reaction would be and it brought a tear to my eyes because it seems like it was just the other day that my tiny little newborn was sitting in that seat. Gwendolyn's newest adventure and milestone is that she has learned to roll over!!! Friday, February 18th, when we got home from having lunch with Matt, I took her to her room to play and had a feeling that was going to be the day she was going to roll over. Sure enough, she did it like she had been doing it for months. So much for tummy time now, she just rolls right to her back. We will be in trouble when she can roll both ways! I will need to get another baby gate for the top of my stairs. I am so proud of her! She will be crawling before I know it! She needs to slow it down! I am trying to savour these tiny times! Here is video of her rolling over for the 3rd time on Friday!

Gwen and I, along with my mom will be flying to Ohio in April. I am so excited to go see family and for everyone to meet Gwen, but I am so nervous. I have never been on vacation without Matt. He is definitely the leader when it comes to vacations and making sure we get where we need to be without a hitch. Now, I have to make sure that I keep Gwen safe and hope she is okay on the plane! We were able to get non-stop flights which will make the trip so much easier! It will be so nice to go up there, I do wish Matt would have been able to come, but he must stay and work. Such is the life of a business owner I guess.

Last week was a rough one for Gwen. She has wonderful mornings and then when it comes to her afternoon nap, she fights it like I have never seen a baby fight naps before. There is about an hour and a half period in the afternoon where she is screaming, not just a little but blood curdling screaming. It sounds as if she is hurt or feels scared or something. Even me holding her doesn't calm her down most times when she gets like that. I am working on it every day, but during that period I feel so helpless because there isn't anything I can do to settle her. I love my little one and hate to see her like that. Matt put up her black out curtains in her room to see if making her room darker will help her with naps. We will see! Let's just pray that that was just a phase and we will pass that soon and naps will be a cinch.

Papa

As tomorrow approaches and I think about what February 11th will always mean to me, I can't help but get sad of course, and even a bit upset. Three years ago (tomorrow) I lost my dad. No idea how he passed other than the Lord knew it was His time so He took my dad. I miss him like crazy and can't help but to think about all of the wonderful and not so wonderful things he has missed out on and will miss out on. I am upset about the fact that Gwen will not get to meet her Papa. She would have been his little angel, I just know it. I think about how amazing he was with my niece and nephews and can't help but to be sad and upset at the fact that Gwendolyn will not get to experience that. There is nothing I can do to change it, I will just tell her about Papa and hope that she can develop a love for him even though she will never get to receive on of his gigantic bear hugs that always made you feel so comfortable. I love my daddy and I miss him. Even though things were rough quite a bit, no one will ever replace my daddy or Papa to my Gwenny.

Gwendolyn is doing great. We took her to her 4 month doctors appointment on Tuesday and the doctor just kept raving about how perfect she is and how great of a job we are doing! That made me so happy to hear! And apparently every one at the doctors office couldn't stop talking about her eyes. Dr. Amy is obsessed with her hair though! She is 26 inches (95th percentile), 14lbs 13.8 oz (70th percentile) and her head is in the 45th percentile! I was excited that her head grew a bit! I have been noticing signs that she was teething and Dr Amy confirmed that. Well last night was our first experience with her being painful with the teething. She couldn't get comfortable for quite a while and then woke up quite a few times during the night. She got through it and so did I, but I am sure there is much more of that fun to come! Gwen loves to sit up (supported of course) and loves to stand. She gets so excited when she's standing up, it is so darn cute! She doesn't like to lay down as much anymore, she loves to be up seeing the world. She loves to be outside and see all the trees and feel the nice fresh air. When she gets fussy, we usually go for a walk outside to calm her down. Still no luck with the bottle, I gave up for a while because I figured there was no point. But I will begin to try again soon, Dr's orders! However, because of Gwen's eating schedule and Matt's work schedule, there is no one else to offer her the bottle but me, so we will see how it work out.

Here is a picture of my daddy walking me down the aisle:

I haven't uploaded any recent pictures of Gwen, but I will get some up soon.

Surviving

Matt has been out of town since Tuesday, so it has just been me and the kiddo! It has been a challenge but I'm a survivor! He comes home tomorrow and I cannot wait. I miss him and Gwen does too. I am so thankful for my mom and sisters for helping out when they can. They have been so helpful! Sometimes when I use the computer and Gwen is sitting on my lap she gets fussy, so yesterday when she was fussing, I pulled up a picture of Gwen and Matt and she automatically quieted and just stared at the picture of her daddy. Melted my heart!

Gwendolyn is officially laughing. Unfortunately I haven't been able to catch it on video yet, but I am trying so I can share that sweetness with everyone. I was sitting in front of a full length mirror we have in her room with her in my lap and would lift her arms up in the air and say "yay" and it would crack her up for some reason. She is laughing more and more. So darn cute!! She also loves to be outside. Since Matt has been gone we have been walking Mily more and she gets so excited to go outside and smiles and talks the whole time we are outside.

Our current challenge is that Gwen is refusing a bottle. We have tried 2 different bottles and a sippy cup and she screams through each of them. So, we went to Babies R Us with Leah and her new baby, Leighton, today and bought one of each bottle. Hopefully she will take one of them. One reason being I really want to go on a date with Matt and not have to be in a rush to get back within 2 hours. I love nursing and do not plan on stopping any time soon. I will only give her pumped milk in her bottles, I just need to know that if a babysitter needs to feed her, she will eat! Pray we can find a solution to this!

I took Gwen to the doctors yesterday (thank you Lacy for coming with me) because I thought she had an ear infection. She kept pulling at it and it smelled a little funky. Good news, no ear infection!! I think she was just pulling at it because she has discovered that she can grab things with her hands. I did find out that she is 14 pounds 2 ounces (16 weeks old). She is amazingly healthy and Dr. Amy said she is absolutely perfect! I love my little girl!

Update

Our first Christmas with Gwendolyn was amazing. No event made it that way, it was just purely the fact that we were able to celebrate the day with her. She makes us smile from the time she wakes up until the time she goes to bed. She opened her very first present that morning from us and we decided to get her a mobile that has a projector since she has an obsession with ceiling fans. She loves it. She had no idea what was going on but she could tell she was supposed to be excited about it. That morning, when it was just me, Matt and Gwen made me realize how blessed I am that God has given me such a wonderful little family.

After we had our little Christmas, we went over to my mom's house and celebrated with the rest of my family for a while before heading to Matt's family's house to celebrate with them. Needless to say, it was a very busy day and Gwen slept like a champ that night.

Something that I have realized lately is that having a group of friends that are in a different stage of life than we are has proved to be difficult. It seems like our friends may think that we are not able to hang out anymore or want to be their friends just because we have a baby. It is truly quite sad. Maybe we need to look for friends that are in the same stage of life as us, because they understand that we are able to still have fun. Sure, maybe we can't drop everything were doing like we used to in order to go out or stay out late. But with some planning, we are still able to hang out and have fun. We are still the same people, we have just added one more to the party! One thing is for sure, we have an amazing family now and wouldn't change any part of it for anyone! We have always loved just being together, so we will embrace that time now! Sorry about that rant. It is just something that has been weighing on my heart and need some prayer about it!

Our little Gwendolyn will be 14 weeks old tomorrow. Time has flown by so quickly. I cannot believe I have had the pleasure of raising the most amazing baby for 14 weeks now! She is moving around more now. Scoots around when laying on her back by pushing her feet on the ground. She got sick for the first time starting Thursday night. She woke up at 2:00 a.m., which is very unlike Gwen, crying and hardly able to breathe out of her nose because she was so congested. Matt, being th amazing dad he is, jumped in his car and went to Wal-Mart to try to find any medication he could find for her. They have nothing for tiny babies when they are sick! He did by some saline solution in a pressurized can which did help for a little while after using it. Our hearts broke for her. She never once let it get her down though. She was the same, smiling, happy little girl as usual. She seems to be getting much better. She has no signs of a stuffy nose during the day, but at night she seems to get it again. We are using a humidifier in her room at night, which seems to be helping as well.

Today Matt begins at Westcoast Awnings full time! He is no longer at Nielsen. It does make me a bit sad because we used to get to see him at lunch time, now we don't get to see him until about 6:00. I am proud of him and hope that he can maintain his sanity throughout this all.

She's perfection!

It's amazing that I never imagined that I could have so much love in my heart for this little girl. I have an amazing (perfect) family and so thankful for the husband and child that God has blessed me with. I pretty much smile all day long. Even if she is having a tough, fussy day I can still smile through it because she is one of the most happy babies.

She turned 12 weeks old yesterday. Man oh man, how time flies! The past week I've been trying to remember everything that happened the first week of her life. Especially while I was in the hospital on the pain medication, it is hard to remember what happened there. But I have been looking at pictures of when she was born and while we were still in the hospital. She was so the cutest baby (right out of the womb) that I have truly ever seen. I may be biased since she's mine, but I seriously think, or know, that is absolutely the truth. She gets more adorable every single day. I think she looks like a doll because she is so perfect!

She has developed such a cute personality. For some reason she is in love with ceiling fans. They don't have to be moving, she prefers them to be still actually. But as soon as she see's one she smiles and laughs and carries on a conversation with them. We have a lot of fun play time through out the day now. She loves her play gym. She will lay under there for 30 minutes by herself and bat at all the toys and listen to the music. She is full of smiles all day long. No longer does she like to be held facing your chest unless she is tired. She wants to be facing out to see the world! She is so curious!

I love to see Matt with Gwendolyn. I'm pretty sure she gets excited when he gets home. I can tell the change in her behavior. She talks to him for a long time and just smiles and mimics him for quite a while until it is time to take a bath and go to bed. Matt is an amazing daddy to her. It still makes me tear up when I see her with him.

9 weeks old!

I cannot believe she is 9 weeks old already. Time has flown by and I have enjoyed every second of being mommy to Gwendolyn. She truly is a blessing to Matt and I from God and we thank Him every day for her. I am also so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to be a stay at home mom and see her grow each and every day and be able to have that special bond with her.

Gwen had her 2 month check up today and she did wonderful. She was all smiles and talking to Dr. Amy. Dr. Amy said that she looks perfect and said we are doing a wonderful job with her! Music to my ears, that is exactly what every first time mom wants to hear! She weighed in at 11 lb and 11 oz (70th percentile), 24 inches long (95th percentile) and her head is 38 cm (25th percentile). I have a very tall little girl with a small head. But I can tell you that no matter how small, it is full of smartness! She is amazingly smart! Once Dr. Amy did her exam and talked to us for a bit, the nurse came in to administer her vaccines. She got 2 shots and 1 oral medication. She did so good, swallowed down her oral meds and only cried for about a minute with the shots until Matt was able to pick her up, then she calmed down. I stayed strong this time too, no tears for me! I can tell you that I was definitely holding them back!

Gwen is doing absolutely amazing. Since receiving amazing advise from Dr. Amy a few weeks ago, Matt and I have been starting a routine with Gwen at night to try to get her into a schedule. Around 8:00 we give her a bath, take her into her bedroom and feed her, read her a story and then hold on to her as she is just starting to doze off, then put her into her bed. She then grunts for about 5 minutes or so, then off to sleep she goes. She is sleeping now from about 8:45pm until 4 or 5 am!! Then all she needs is a quick diaper change, a feeding, then off to sleep she goes again! Praise the Lord. I am so grateful for her sleeping so long! During her tummy time she is starting to lift herself up every once in a while with her arms. I assembled her Baby Einstein play gym (the thing that she lays under and looks at all the toys hanging down) and she absolutely loves it. She talks to the toys and today she even started batting at one of the toys. I love listening to her sweet little voice. She will carry on a conversation with Matt and I and it will just melt our hearts.

Matt and I finally went on our first date night since having Gwen a few weeks ago. It was hard to leave her and we were only gone for about an hour and a half (maybe). I feel bad leaving her because I know she gets fussy at nights and I don't want other people to have to deal with that. I do, however, need to spend time with Matt so I need to figure this out soon!

Matt is still working at both Neilsen and Westcoast Awnings. His last day at Nielsen will hopefully be December 17th. Westcoast closes down the week between Christmas and New Years and I cannot wait to spend some quality time with the hubby and as our little family! I love that it is the 3 of us now, it seems to be so natural!

I am doing my best to keep in contact with friends and spend some time with them when I can. I know I cannot push my friendships to the wayside. I need them and I need to be there for them as well.

I have not colored my hair yet, but it will be coming soon. I am finally going to get it cut on Saturday, so the brown should come soon after that (if I can get up the nerve!).

Other than that, nothing too exciting. Just remember to keep us in your prayers as Gwen continues to grow so we have the wisdom to raise her the way God intends and that Matt and I can continue to grow in our relationship as well.