Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas this year. It's hard to believe last year I was feeling a little under the weather because I was newly pregnant, and now this year we have our baby with us to celebrate the holidays.

We spent the night of the 23rd and all day on the 24th in Indiana with the Ralph family. We had a fun day of Santa visiting (Gwen had to miss that this year, she fell asleep RIGHT before he arrived), then watching some of the kids open gifts from their godparents, then doing the adult gift exchange, then eating a nice dinner.

Christmas morning we got up and hit the road, stopped in Mahomet to shower, do a load of laundry, and repack, then headed to Morton. Once the Boekers were done with Jason's Christmas, we started our night. We ate appetizers while the kids opened all of their gifts from my parents and from their cousins/aunts, then we had dinner, then us adults exchanged gifts and opened gifts from my mom and dad.

Joanna's in town from Florida, so last night we got together to eat dinner at Darah and Evan's. Gwen got to meet Jo and Eric and we got to catch up in person!

We had a great year celebrating Gwen's first Christmas!

Teeth!

A few weeks ago, Gwenna started been a little crankier than usual and we were trying to come up with reasons why. After trying a few things, I started noticing that she was slobbering a lot and putting my hands and hers to her mouth immediately when they were free...all signs of teething. I looked it up, and usually babies don't teeth until a few months later, but when I looked in her mouth, I could see her bottom middle gums were a bit swollen and I could see something under the surface. People warned me that it can take up to a month for a tooth to cut through, which makes for a fussy baby, but last week, her first tooth popped up! The fussiness continued and 3 days later, the second one cut through. I hear the top ones come in pretty soon after the bottom ones, so we will see if her little teething stage continues. I feel bad for her, she's so little still to go through pain :(
We spent last weekend at my mom and dad's and went to Iowa Saturday for my mom's family Christmas party at "The Barn"....Katie and her family got here from AZ early enough to come. I forgot my camera, but hopefully will get some from my sisters later. It was a fun party and of course, Aunt Carol entertained us all by dressing up as an elf for the little kids. She was made to be a preschool teacher!

Monday Reese and Nolan came over while Robin took Mara to an appointment. Reese was so cute with Gwen. She kept wanting to try different headbands, socks, and clothes on her. We had fun playing dress-up!

Tuesday Katie, Kristie, my mom, and the kids all came to visit. The kids played house with Gwen's dolls and her crib and baby gear, us older adults chatted, and Scarlett and Gwen observed it all! I didn't realize how wimpy Gwen is, but about 3 times, a kid would make a loud noise and she would startle and start screaming! I think she needs to get used to noise because in both of our families, there are a lot of kids around all the time!

Tomorrow we leave for our Christmas traveling. Evansville for Adam's Christmas, then Morton for my Christmas, then Chicago for a baby shower, then back to Morton to ring in the new year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Besides coming home for Christmas and having it be snow covered when we arrive, I haven't experienced the whole process of watching out the window and having it look normal then snow covered an hour later in more than 3 years (for Adam, 5 years). So this past weekend when we got a LOT of snow, it was exciting for us! It made me get into the holiday spirit!

Just in the past week, Gwen has gotten to be so much older acting! She plays with her toys by herself and just bounces and squeals and giggles at them. She loves her playmat still, but now also bounces in her excersaucer, grabs at things on tables, loves to have dolls "talk" to her, loves to look at books and cartoons/children shows, etc.

She's having some major physical changes too. We started noticing she's losing her dark hair (she's getting bald spots in the back, haha) and her legs and arms are starting to feel more solid! Our main news is that last week she started fussing and after putting the pieces to the puzzle together (drool, fussiness, sucking fingers), I looked and noticed a little something that looks like it's budding in her bottom gums. I thought I might be imagining it, but my sister's kids got teeth super early (about 4 months). Poor Gwennie, I hope her first tooth cuts through fast. Until then, we are bff's with her teether, oragel, and infant tylenol!

Thanksgiving/Gwen's Baptism

We've had a busy weekend that included two major family events: Thanksgiving and Gwen's baptism.

On Thanksgiving, we spent the morning over at Jay and Steph's house. Gwen and her cousins were dressed in color coordinating outfits, so we had to take a picture :) They sure love hanging out with eachother!

After that, we came to my mom and dad's for the rest of the day. We did what you usually do on Thanksgiving, ate a lot and sat around chatting/watching Thanksgiving specials and games on TV. Friday we skipped most of the shopping madness, but did make it to Target and Bed Bath Beyond. That night we stopped over to see Darah and Evan's new home and ordered food.

Saturday was Gwenna's big baptism! Aunt Carol had everyone over beforehand for apps and wine, then we went to mass, then an after party with food, drinks, and gifts! We had a fun day!

Thanks to everyone who came! We are excited to see most of you all again during the weeks surrounding Christmas!

Busy Weekend

We had a busy but fun weekend.

Friday night we met Darah and Evan in Bloomington for dinner...

Saturday we did some shopping, got Gwen's 3 month pictures taken, and went to happy hour. My friend Lawley was in Champaign with her dad for Dad's Weekend at U of I (her sister is a senior). I hadn't seen Lawley since her wedding in May so it was good to catch up!

Sunday, we were going to Morton to do laundry and for our Sunday night family dinner, but our car was having some problems. Adam spent the morning fixing our car, and by noon we were off to Morton. We had a nice day hanging out with my mom and dad and the Boekers, then the Bates family came over. It's so nice to be able to drive home in 1 day and be back home (or in a hotel in our case, haha) to go to sleep.

Before we left for Morton, I was getting Gwen ready to go and Adam caught her attention and she sure thought it was funny!

Malls, Malls, Malls

This weekend Gwen and I spent a LOT of time at malls, but that was alright with us!


Friday night we met Duvy, Andrea, and Panichi for dinner at Oakbrook, so Duvy and I arrived a little early to do some shopping. Adam had a rental car he had to return to Midway, so Duvy and I picked him up at the airport and he drove us all back. It worked out well that we got an errand out of the way but got to see friends while doing it!



Saturday we had some returns to make so hung out at the mall here in Champaign. After shopping, we took Gwen swimming and got some dinner. It was a cold day, so we took advantage of the fancy fireplace in our hotel and made a fire :)

Sunday morning, we were up very early with the time change! Babies don't get the memo to sleep in an extra hour apparently :) We got ready for Gwen's cousins to come for a day visit. We met the Boekers at the mall, Adam and Jason left to go golfing, we did a little shopping and let the kids play in the play area, got some frozen yogurt, and Sylvie and Cal swam. It was a very fun day and weekend!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween Weekend! Friday Adam's friend Swiss came to visit so we went out to dinner, then Saturday Gwennie and I went to Morton while Adam and Swiss stayed in Champaign for the Illini/Purdue game. My mom had a little autumn get together with some of her friends, so Gwenna and I went to that. She got to wear her tutu and "wickedly cute" shirt Aunt Carol gave her! It was very cute!

Sunday we spent Halloween with the Boekers. Adam came, we went to La Fiesta, then got the kids in their costumes. It was pretty cold out, so we stayed at Kristie's to hand out candy while she took her older kids around Trick or Treating. Gwen was a Bumble Bee, Scarlett was a Pumpkin, Sylvie was a Lady Bug, and Cal was a Star Wars guy. Afterwards, we ate soups with the Bates's. I was so happy to be back for a fun kid holiday!

I stayed in Morton Monday because my friend Duvy was in Peoria for work. She's preggo and due in February. My mom babysits Kristie's kids on Monday, so we all just hung out!

I can't believe it's November! Here are all of my October pictures.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbM3DRi0cuWYM

Splashing!!!!!

Our First Weekend in Champaign

So far, things here have been going well! We have had a lot to do, but had some time for fun this weekend!

Friday night my mom and dad came, they looked at the house we like, and we went out to dinner. When we got home, the movie Grease was on...it was so funny, Gwen's eyes were glued to the TV! Just like Katie, Kristie, and I, we LOVED that movie and watched it a zillion times!

Saturday we ran errands, went to the mall, and went over to Adam and Robin's for dinner. It is really nice that even though we are new to town, we already have someone we know! Adam grilled some food, we had some drinks, caught up, and got to see Reese, Mara, and Nolan. They are so grown up, it's sad to think how little they were when I started babysitting them!

Sunday, we got up and went for a long walk to a restaurant to meet up with Bayer, who was in town for homecoming. It's always fun to see her and get the gossip! When we got back to our hotel, we decided to take Gwen swimming for the first time. It was so cute, at first she was getting used to it and just stayed really close to Adam, but after she figured out that she liked it, she started kicking her legs and arms and splashing. I knew she liked baths, so figured she'd like swimming. I'm excited because one thing Adam and I both like to do is go to a pool or to the beach, so I hope she continues to like swimming!

Now, Gwenna, Diggy and I are home alone playing and hanging out (we only have 1 rental car, haha AND I forgot to get the stroller out of the trunk today, uggghhhh!)...Adam started his new job today. I really hope he likes it and that the following weeks are as good as our first!!!!

Three Year Anniversary!

The 20th was our third wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going out to the restaurant we went on our first date to. Neither of us had been back since, but it was really good and fun. Of course, this time we had an extra on our date!

Best third wheel in the world :)

Farewell San Diego, Hello Champaign!

It's official...we left our home in SD and moved to Illinois. While I am so sad to leave the great climate we lived in, our wonderful condo/neighborhood, our jobs, and our friends; I am really happy to be moving closer to where our family and friends and roots are! I found out I was moving back 10 days after the return from my trip home with Gwen, so it was so rushed and chaotic! We had a lot to do but made the most of our time in Cali!

We tried to fit in a trip to our favorite hang outs! We didn't make it to all of them, but did things like take walks every day, got coffee at the Lion daily, got self serve Frozen Yogurt, and went to some of our favorite restaurants. Tin Fish has been our go to spot for good seafood, good drinks, sun, entertainment, etc, so we definitely made a point to go there!

We got together with our friends for a Purdue game/BBQ afternoon at Joe and Leigh's. Gwen had just had her 2 month checkup and weighed 11.5 lbs...this dish of pasta salad Joe bought was 10 lbs. We compared the difference :)
Diggs and Gwen and me had some QT at our home. Gwenna is becoming stronger and stronger with her "tummy time"...She wants to hold her neck up and does so well but once she gets tired, she gets mad!

Last Friday the movers came and packed up everything from our condo. We took 5 suitcases on the plane with us, plus Gwennie and Diggy, so we were loaded! It was sad to leave, but it was SOOOO fast and so chaotic that we barely had time to realize we were sad...I will miss our life in SD a lot! We had such a great time being newly weds and new parents there, but home is where our hearts are :)

Once we got to IL, we stayed with my mom and dad for awhile in Morton. We got to have Sunday night family dinner at the Bates's, we had a playdate with Mara and Kristen, my dad and Adam worked on one of my dad's rental houses, we went shopping, and we went over to Uncle Jay's house to hang out with his family and eat our favorite food...Avantis

We got up Wednesday and came to our temporary living situation in Champaign! We are staying in a hotel for a month and then, if we need to, we can rent Robin's mother in law's house while she is in Florida for the winter. We have a few houses we really like, so my mom and dad are coming tomorrow to check them out. We are excited to have a new home but the good thing is that we are in no rush because we have nice places to stay until we buy a house!