Sitter girl, food, and growing up too fast

My little tiny girl is growing up too fast.  She can sit up all by herself, is getting 2 little teeth, and LOVES to eat.  She loves rice cereal, pears, carrots, oranges, pineapple, watermelon, pretty much anything she tastes, she loves.Aren’t those skinny jeans the cutest?
She had her 6 month check up recently, and weighed 13 lbs, which puts her in the 3rd percentile.  The Dr said said she is too tiny, despite her chub, and told me I need to start making solids a daily activity.  I am a little sad about it, because it means she really is growing up too fast.  I’ve been trying to make that a part of her day, and although I am having a hard time with it, G loves it.

She is learning and getting more active every day.  She is still the sweetest girl and loves to be loved.  We are having a blast watching her learn, grow, and get so smart!  We are totally crazy parents. :)

6 years, baby!

I’m a little late in posting, but on August 19th, Dan and I celebrated our 6th anniversary!  It was a Sunday, so it was pretty low key, but it was fun.  We had a nice day relaxing together with G, and then after she went to bed we had a feast.  We had steak, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob (Dan even cut mine off the cob…just the way I like it) and for desert, chocolate covered strawberries. 

We had a great day, and have had an amazing 6 years.  We’ve done so many fun things, and I am so glad that he’s the one I’ve shared all of my happiest, saddest, most frustrating, most joyful times with.  It’s amazing all we’ve been through and done together. I’d never trade any of it for anything in the world. 

Bear Lake 2012

Every year we go to Bear Lake for the annual Schofield family reunion.  We always have a blast.  We enjoy great food, fun on the beach, music, the boat, the jet skis, the kids running around like crazy, laughing, and of course the family we are there with.  It’s so great to have a few days away from the world to just spend with family.  The cousins LOVE hanging out with each other, and Gwen loves to watch them play.  She wants to be big so she can play with them.  Whenever they are around, she lights up, and starts chatting away.  It’s adorable.  I’m so excited for her to be a part of the craziness!
I just love that fourth picture of all the little girls cuddling around to talk to Gwen.  She definitely got a lot of attention!!
Until next year!!

1/2 a year

I can’t believe it has been 6 months since Gwen was born. It has really flown by, and it seems like she was just born yesterday.  We celebrated her 1/2 birthday at the Schofield Family Reunion in Bear Lake.  A separate post to come on that.  But here she is at 6 months.At 6 months, Gwen loves:
*Reaching for everything she can see.  She wants to touch/hold everything.  She is so curious about the world around her
*Smiling at anyone who smiles at her, especially me.
*Eating real food.  She LOVES rice cereal, bananas, bread, pineapple & otter pops (thanks to her dad).  Any time we are eating anything, she reaches for it.  She loves food, and is a really good eater.  So far, we haven’t found anything she doesn’t like, even though we haven’t really introduced her to much.  But Dan did let her suck on a lime, and she LOVED it.  Crazy girl. At first she was a little shocked, but then she was reaching like crazy for it, and when we gave it to her, she just sucked and sucked, until we took it away. 
*Playing with faces and hair.
*Holding and inspecting her toys
*Chloe. She loves to pet/grab Chloe’s fur.
*To stand up (with help, of course)
*bath time – we turn on music for her, and she loves to kick and splash all around.  She has a couple tub toys, and if they get too far down by her feet where her hands can’t reach them, she grabs them with her feet, then pulls her feet up to her body, and reaches down for them.  She is so smart.
*Sucking her thumb. I know I’ll hate it someday, but right now, it’s just too cute.
*Laying in bed with Dan on Saturday and Sunday mornings. When I’m done feeding her, I bring her into our room, and she loves to snuggle and chat with her dad. It’s adorable.
*When we put her down for bed or naps, she does the same thing every time.  She turns her head to the right, puts her thumb in her mouth, and pulls her blanket with up with her left hand so its touching her cheek.  Then she closes her eyes and goes to sleep. It is so cute how she loves to have the blanket by her face.
*To hold her own bottle when she has one
*To suck on her toes. It is hilarious. She will grab her feet and bring her toes to her mouth and start sucking away.  I love it.
*To be held. She is becoming quite the manipulator.  If she can see us, and we aren’t holding her, she wants us to hold her.  She is starting to reach out for us when someone else is holding her.
*When someone smiles at her, she gets shy, and buries her head into me or Dan. Its really cute.
(that 1st photo is a pic of her reaching, not zombie Gwen. :) )
We are just loving our baby and are amazing at how much she is learning every day.  She is so fun.  We are having a blast getting to know her.  She is so sweet, and has such a sweet spirit.  She can always put a smile on my face and gratitude in my heart.  She is my little angel.  I just cannot get enough of her and her totally kissable cheeks.

Lovin’ Life

Sometimes, being a mom is really hard, and I get lonely and stuck in a mindset of “I’m not doing anything to contribute financially to the family/to society” But really, even though it is hard and I do get lonely, being a mom is the greatest blessing, and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be able to stay home with my sweet baby.  She really is such a good girl, and I really couldn’t ask for a better baby.  She brings such joy to my life, and I am so glad that I get to spend all day, every day with her.  I wouldn’t trade it if I had a choice. Plus, what a better way to contribute to society than to raise good, healthy, upstanding citizens? :) I really do love that Gwen is in my life, and that we get to spend so much time together.

So, here’s what we’ve been doing lately.
Hanging out at the pool.  G loves her little floaty, and she just lounges about as we swim her around.  She is a little hesitant when we get in, but once she gets used to it, we have a pretty good time.

Eating her first bites of FOOD!  We made some good ol’ rice cereal, and after I told Dan that she’s just a baby and can’t handle a heaping spoonful, but just little bites, she did really great! She would just mush it around in her mouth, and then swallow. I think she really liked it.  I’ve given her bananas and apple sauce since, but I’m still a little hesitant to introduce food. I just feel like it will make her grow up to fast, and I love the snuggle time we get when I feed her.

She has been such a happy girl.  Smiling every time anyone even looks her way.  She loves talking and getting smiled at.  And she just started sitting on our hips when we hold her, and she always puts her arm down and turns her head to the side like she’s posing. It’s absolutely adorable.

And lastly, we’ve just been hanging out, playing with grandmas, grandpa, and snuggling with dad.

We are loving summer, and it’s crazy that it’s already August.  I can’t believe how fast this year is flying by, doesn’t it always seem like when you want the time to pass by slow, it goes by fast, and when you want it to go by fast it goes SO slow?  I hate it…but I’m loving every minute with my sweetie.

We have a roller

So on Wednesday, I put Gwen on her tummy to practice her rolling skills, and she just popped up her head and rolled right over.  As soon as she was on her back, she looked up at me with this huge, “I did it” grin and laughed.  She was so proud of herself for accomplishing the thing that has had her stumped for a while.  She’s done it a few more times since then, but sometimes still gets stuck and frustrated.  She is getting it down though.  It’s so fun to watch her accomplish this milestone, and to see how excited she is about it.  Yay Gwen!!

And, just because I can’t help it, here are a few cute pics of her in the last couple days…

5 months

Oh my stars.  Where does the time go?  It feels like just yesterday I was holding my little G for the first time, and now she is 5 months old.  I can’t believe it.  She is getting to be so much fun, and is definitely showing us her little personality.  We love it.  Dan thinks she’s going to be sassy, and says we deserve each other…he says it’s about time I get a taste of my own medicine.  :)  I think she is mostly sweet, with a little bit of spice.  She is so funny, and makes me laugh every day.  I just love being her mom.  Here is the little angel.  5 whole months old.  I just can’t believe it.

And, as per my usual, here is a little list of things she loves to do at 5 months:
Be held
Smile
Reach for everything
Put everything in her mouth
Suck her thumb – we recently stopped swaddling her because she’d wake up and want to suck her thumb, but couldn’t, so she’d cry. Now that she can find it, she is back to sleeping like a champ – 12 hours at night, and 3 naps.
Take baths
Pet Chole.  Every time she sees her she gets a huge grin on her face
Play with her toes
Play with her toys under her gym
Swing & bounce
Suck through the straw on the waterbottle
Sit in her bumbo and play with toys
Stand up
She still isn’t rolling over.  She gets half way there but can’t figure out how to get that stilly arm out of her way, then she just gets bored of trying, so she lays her head down and sucks her thumb.  It’s pretty cute.  We are just loving her, loving having her in our family and feel like the luckiest people in the world that we get to have her forever.  She’s staying small, but chubby – at her 4 month check up, she weighed 11 lbs, (14th percentile) and was 27 inches long (29th percentile).  She still fits into quite a few of her newborn clothes, and the white onsie she is wearing in her 5 month pictures is the same one she wore in her 1 month picture. :)  I love that she’s staying small.  I hate watching her grow up.  Pretty soon she won’t be my tiny baby anymore, so I am enjoying it while it lasts.  And in other good news, I am back down to my pre pregnancy weight.  YAY!!! It’s been a long road with tough workouts, but I am proud of myself, and I’m sticking with it.