4 months & Father’s Day

On Saturday, June 16th, little Gwennie Bear turned 4 months old.  I seriously do not know where the time has gone.  It feels like she was just born, and also like she’s always been with us.  She is so cute and so fun to have in our family.At 4 months, little G loves to:
Smile
Talk
Kick her legs
Get kisses
Play with her gym and grab the toys…especially the monkey
Put EVERYTHING she gets in her hands into her mouth
Suck on her fists
Snuggle…especially with her dad
And, she still loves her swing and bouncy chair.
She is starting to warm up to the bumbo.  She likes to sit in it for a few minutes while I’m doing the dishes, or making dinner, but she won’t sit in there for very long.
She is so close to rolling over.  She gets half way and then gets stuck.  She can’t quite figure out how to get her arm out of the way so she can finish the task, but I think in a couple days, she will have it down.
Just today she started transitioning from her fists to just her thumb, and it’s practically the cutest thing ever.
It is amazing how fast she is growing and developing.  Just a few months ago, she couldn’t even hold her head up on her own, and now she’s almost rolling, and interacting with us.  It is really amazing.
We had a really nice Father’s Day.  We were able to spend it together, and with both of our dads.  I am so grateful for my dad.  He was always a voice of reason.  Growing up, he was always calm, and rarely lost his temper.  I remember quite a few conversations we had where he helped me through a struggle just by his spirit and a few words.  I am so grateful that I have a righteous dad who respected me, and taught me to respect myself.  I am so glad that Dan is the father of my child, and that he loves her and respects her.  I am so excited to see what he teaches her.  She is one lucky girl.
“Gwen” wrote Dan a poem for Father’s day, and I’m really proud of it…so I’m going to share it.

I miss you when we’re not together,

my hands want yours to clasp;

these tiny little hands of mine

are getting bigger, fast.

So I want you to remember

in the years so sure ahead

how my hands grasped yours

and held on tight each night you put me to bed.

Look at the handprint

when you're sad that I’ll get tall,

and memories will come back of me

when I was very small.

This is the hand

you’ll always hold,

but this is what it looked like

when I was only 4 months old.

Then there was a little blue paint handprint at the bottom.

Well, that’s about it.  Is anyone out there reading this?  I haven’t been seeing too many comments, which is fine since this is my journal, but I’m just curious.  Hope ya’ll had a good Father’s Day.  Until next time…adios

Just to see you smile…

I’d do just about anything to see this little one smile.  I finally figured out a way to capture her smiles.  I just can’t be behind the camera, so some of the pictures aren’t perfect, but they capture her sweet little smile.  I love how when she smiles big her eyes get all squinty.  It is so cute.  Plus, because her cheeks are so chubby, she can’t quite get the corners up, so it still looks a little like a frown, but it is so cute, and I absolutely LOVE it.This has got to be one of my very favorite pictures of this little sweetie. 
I just cannot get enough of her.

Summer…so far~

Well, I have to admit, it hasn’t really felt like summer to me.  Usually by now the heat is intense, but not this year.  We’ve had some pretty cool days, which is really nice for my AC bill, but not so nice for my tan.  I have been looking forward to summer this year because I have been wanting to take Gwennie swimming.  She loves the water, but it has just been too cold for her, so we’ve only been able to go a couple times.  But, summer has been fun so far.  Let me fill you in on the haps. 

Dan has been wanting to take me rock climbing for quite a while now, but I wasn’t comfortable going when I was prego (go figure…I wasn’t comfortable period) and now that I am not, he has been asking nearly every weekend if we can go, and finally, on Memorial Day we were able to.  My mom watched G-bear for us and we headed down to rock canyon in Provo.  I have to admit, I was pretty nervous.  Becoming a mom has really dampened my adventurous side.  But I conqured my fears, thanks for much coaxing from Dan and we had a great time!  We brought our camera, but then realized we forgot the memory card, so these 2 photos from my Dan’s phone are the only ones we have.  I tried to get one of Dan, but he was so speedy, he zipped down the mountain before I could even whip out my phone.  Silly guy.
Later on that day, we headed over to Dan’s bro’s Tom’s house for a picnic.  It was so much fun to be with family enjoying the warm weather.  We had steak.  Y.U.M.
We have recently discovered the trail head for the Jordan River trail right near our house, so we have been enjoying many evening walks along the trail.  It has been so much fun to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors.  Gwen loves the sun, but hates it when it shines in her eyes, so we gave her Dan’s sunglasses, and she loved them so much we decided she needed a pair of her own.  They look so cute on her, sometimes I want to take her for a walk just so I can put them on her. :)
Wearing Dan’s glasses:
And wearing her own glasses:
She has been getting such a fun little personality lately.  She will just smile and talk and try to get your attention anyway she can.  She loves to pretend to cry, and then as soon as you look at her, she will give you a big grin.  It’s so fun to watch her develop and grow.  I love watching her learn how to get what she wants.  Someday I probably will not feel the same way, but right now, it’s just so amazing to watch her learn to communicate.
Did I mention that she absolutely LOVES her hands?  She is always munching on them, and if she gets something in her hands, it immediately goes to her mouth.  Her favorite?  The washcloth in the bathtub.  She loves to suck out all the water.  Gross I know.  I try to catch her before she gets too much, but it’s pretty hilarious so sometimes I let her get away with it.

We’ve been able to go to the pool once, and 7 peaks once.  She loves the sun, but the water is still a little chilly, so it takes her a minute to get used to it.  I am excited for when it gets a little warmer outside, then maybe it won’t be quite as bad.  I love when she wears a swim suit.  It totally accentuates all her chub.
Well, so far, this has been our summer.  We are just happy to have some extra daylight.  It makes me feel like we have extra time together.  In just a couple weeks, we are headed to NYC for a little summer vaca.  We are taking G-bear with us, so that should be an adventure.  My sister is living there for the summer, and we are so excited to spend some time with her and her kiddos.  Plus, it will be nice to get out of town for a while.  Having a baby really threw off our vacation schedule, but we are back on track and are so excited to have an adventure.  Neither of us have been to New York, except me, on a layover…but we only had a few hours, so it doesn’t really count.  We are excited to see what the Big Apple has to offer.  Well, that’s about it.  Leave me some comments if you have suggestions for things we MUST do in NYC.  I don’t want to miss anything.  Peace out.

Blessing Photo Shoot

I know, I know, I’m a little ridiculous with the photo shoots, but I really wanted to get one done with the little bear in her blessing dress.  So I did. :)  We got these done about a month ago.  I was really hoping we could get some of her smiling, but alas, we couldn’t.  She is such a stinker in front of the camera.  She will be just grinning away, and when I pull out the camera to capture it, she won’t do it.  The photos still turned out great, and I am really happy with them.  She is such a sweetheart and looked so beautiful in her first white dress.