2011 Starting Off Good

We have had a busy two weeks! I started my job and really think I'm going to like it. It's nice to have an excuse to get ready and be around other adults, but I think it's the perfect amount of hours because I am SOOOO ready to get home to Gwen and appreciate our full days together so much more! Tuesdays (my full day) I will be leading group discussions/classes for pregnant ladies in their second trimester, and Wednesday afternoons I will be filling in at the walk in clinic, which I have witnessed is very very busy. It was so fun seeing all of the little kids (babies-5 year old). I picked up a babies carrier that was 3 days old and I couldn't believe how light it was...Gwen's grown up so fast!

My first week at work my mom came to watch Gwennie. They had fun playing. This week her college babysitter came and I think she'll be great!

Gwen had another doctor appointment and her second round of immunizations. Luckily that was when my mom was here so I didn't have to watch her get shots by myself. She did great and only cried for a little bit. She was completely healthy, hitting all of the milestones, and was 27 inches long/16 pounds. That puts her in the 99% for length, 83% for weight, and 90% for head circumference. I guess with her two little teeth, she looks more like a 7 month old than a 5 month old :)

We also started her on rice cereal. She does really well with it. The first few times it was more spitting out and getting her used to the spoon in her mouth, but she now knows to open her mouth when the spoon is coming and LOVES watching me take "bites" of the food and act like we are sharing, haha. Now that the holidays are over we had some free time to hang out with the Pletchers. Last weekend they came over one night for dinner and Adam P. hooked up their new video game that is controller free. It was really fun to watch. They did a river rafting game and a dance game. Reese was so cute doing the Poker Face routine :)

Sunday night we went over to their house for sushi. Instead of ordering it, we made it! Robin got Adam a sushi mat and book for Christmas so they prepared all of the ingredients to make our own rolls. We were surprised how good looking they turned out. These are the leftovers. Robin made homemade miso soup too. It was just as good as any restaurant I have been to.

I hope everyone else's new year has started off to a good start too!

Goodbye 2010

Well, 2010 is officially history. Kristie and Jason had a little get together at their house, so we spent NYE day getting ready for that. K&K and I went to Dixons and the grocery store to shop, then went home to do some cooking. Gwen is sooo happy when I have her in the baby bjorn and am cooking, so she "helped" me make some appetizers.

Kristie and I setting up
My 2 sisters and me

Adam and me

Some of my fave Morton friends

What a great year it was! I'd have to say that this probably was the best year of my life. August 18, 2010 being the best DAY of my life. Can't wait for many many many more years with my little Gwenna Blue!

Shower for Katie and Duvy

2 of my college roomates are pregnant and due within a month of eachother. Duvy's due in February and Katie's due in March. Since they both live out of state, we planned a little shower for them while they were both off of work for the holidays. Panichi hosted the shower at her apartment in Chicago. Lexie came with me to help with Gwen on the car ride. It was fun to get together with everyone! Can't wait for their babies to be born!

My 4 college roomies (and some of the best friends I know!)

2 moms to be

Lex and Gwennie

Panichi and Duvy with Gwen

Thanks for your hospitality Panichi!!! Love your new apartment, soooo cute! Gwenna and I love visiting and will hopefully be back soon when the snow is clear so we can explore your fun neighborhood!

Extended Families

We got to get together with both my mom's family and some of my dad's family for Christmas. Since both families have gotten so big and we all have our own families now, we try to plan a get together a week before of after Christmas every year.

My dad's parents came to Morton on their way to Florida for the winter. They had my cousin Tierney with them. Julie's family came over, so it was a pretty big group. My mom made a turkey dinner and we all just hung out.

We go to Iowa City every year to my aunt Lori's "barn" which is always fun. These are all of my grandma's great grandkids. My Grandma Filloon is in the background. She turned 80 on Christmas Eve.

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!