Gwyn's World: 11 Month Update

Oh my, here we go again. I get to lament for a few paragraphs on how big G is getting and how time is just speeding along. :-( All babies change quickly, it's their job, but G seems to have made some big moves this month. Along with perfecting her crawling technique, pulling up to anything standing still (and some not!), practically running with assistance and eating anything put in front of here, she's now a mimicking master, conversation babbler, and all around goofball/show-off.

They've moved her to sleeping on a cot at school (apparently this is a big deal?!) and she is now one of the oldest/biggest in her room. In fact we showed up one day last week to be told that she got caught on her way to biting a boy who tried to steal her snack. Honestly, I get a little territorial about my food too, so I can't blame her for that one!

If you want to catch up, here are G's other monthly updates:

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

There is not a day that goes by where she doesn't make me laugh. And not just a giggle but a full-on belly laugh. How good is laughing for you, by the way? Something like that can turn an entire day around and seeing this little person who is so happy 99% of the time makes me realize how good life really is. Stopping to smell the roses is always worth the time, ya know?

We have two more teeth on the bottom, only a guess on weight, and no idea on length (is it height now that she stands up a lot?) We don't see the doc for real stats until after her 1st b-day. Don't even get me started on that! Only a few people will be coming over, but I'm guessing about a thousand pictures will be taken, so of course the Type A in me wants everything to be perfect. I may have some interesting  pics to share after this weekend's cake decorating practice disaster is over.

Like most babies (I think!) she loves, loves, loves music. Of any kind. She dances to the elevator music the HD channel we watch baseball on plays when there's no game. That darn Fresh Beat Band could be on halfway across the house and she'll be bopping along! Even the goofy music her car seat toys make never fail to get a smile.

She can now express things that she wants by pointing, reaching or saying her 'words' for them. The best so far is Dak, which is obviously Jack, although to her I think it's puppy because she also uses it for Nallah! Of course she also expresses what she doesn't want by throwing, pushing or otherwise getting it out of her way. Whether it's a toy in her crawling path or mommy's hand or face somewhere she doesn't want it she will make sure it is out of her way quickly and with authority!

I've been trying to get her outside as much as possible now that it is reasonable in the evenings. She really enjoys our bumpy little wagon rides down the driveway. We get out and touch trees and leaves and walk in the grass and even watch bugs crawling. I want her to have an appreciation and respect for nature but also curiosity. So what if she came inside with dirty feet, those can be washed, the look on her face when she felt that cool soft grass under them was priceless!

Our world revolves around Gwyn's World, which is as it should be. I knew that going in. I just didn't know my heart would revolve around hers as well. It certainly know it belongs to her.

11 Month Update:

• Weight: ?? Still 20+ pounds for sure!
• 12 month clothes
• Cruising, walking/running with hands to hold
• Losing interest in binkies and bottles (except when sleepy)
• Points at objects and waits for you to say the word
• LOVES: chasing the dogs, pancakes, wagon rides and Wow Wow Wubzy

Weekend in MI

Wow, it's Tuesday evening already!! Where have the past 4 days gone?! I guess 2 of them were spent on the road so that explains a lot...G is a great traveler. Thank goodness!!

I have been on a family/friend visiting overload! I arrived at my parent's house Friday afternoon and in a few hours my best friend/cousin was making us a dinner full of goodies from her garden. She is way too smart for her own good and is a fountain of information on the effect food has on your body. My mom and I are now armed with some new information that is likely to make the men in our lives cry for their soda and candy! ;-) Sorry guys! Hopefully after I get the chance to visit some of the resources she provided and maybe make some changes I can pass the info on. Needless to say, there was no BBB workout completed on Friday. Oops.

Saturday morning I ran a 5k as my "cardio of choice" workout. It was part of a local event called the Pig Gig, betcha can't guess what kind of cook-off they have! We got a medal stamped with a happy pig running through finish line tape just for participating- awesome!

I hope you realize the goofy pose is a nod to the Olympics!

It was a humid morning, thank goodness the race was on the water so we had a breeze. It was a nice route but I have never been part of such a messy start. They didn't separate runners from walkers and had children runners all mixed in so I spent the first half mile trying to get around people and into a groove. I finished in 31:48, not even close to my goal time. No excuses though, I wanted to stop and walk several times but didn't. I'll take that as a victory.

Saturday afternoon my mom, G and I drove to visit with my old colleagues from Indiana. I literally felt like I spent the majority of the weekend in the car. Good thing I like mine. And apparently so does G. She became a big ham over the weekend. I guess there was a swine theme!

My Dad and I golfed on Sunday morning. I was feeling pretty rusty since I didn't play at all last year (a belly full of G probably would have gotten in the way!) and only once so far this year. It was a really nice course though and we just enjoyed being out there. Then we visited with my brother and family. I got real lazy with the pics on Sunday-sorry!

In between those adventures I had my mom do BBB Workout C and core with me. She's a trooper, even though she accused me of trying to kill her more than once! I love being up there, but it's good to be back and get to my usual schedule, I'm a real stickler for a schedule! I'm excited to be starting the next Phase of BBB and I plan to make some more detailed updates during this one.

Until next time Michigan :-)

Road Trip!!

It's time for another trip to MI to visit my lovely family. Only this time it's just me and G. Girl's trip!!

Just in the past few days she's become increasingly stubborn and all about G. As in, this is what I want and I want it now and I'm going to scream at you when you disagree. We were planning to drive overnight tonight so she'd be asleep for the trip but some last minute changes have me getting up SUPER early to leave tomorrow. Can you say caffeine??

That means this evening was filled with unpacking for 3 and repacking for 2 and I didn't get my workout in. Hopefully I won't be too exhausted when I arrive tomorrow to do Workout C, even if I don't get to the cardio part after.

Best Body Bootcamp Week 2:

Monday:  Workout A plus HIIT-awesome once again. I thought I'd get more reps to fatigue during the second week, but it was the opposite. I'd never done HIIT on the elliptical before but it kicked my butt. In a good way.

Tuesday:  Run intervals on treadmill-3.6 miles

Wednesday:  Workout B plus steady elliptical cardio-My goal was 2 minute wall sits. I got one (out of four!) Progress is progress right?! My gluteus are definitely feeling it today! Oh yeah, and core.

Thursday:  OFF

Friday:  Plan is for Workout C plus core. Maybe an evening walk with the folks and G.

Saturday:  Run 5k race. Shooting for under 30:30 finish.

Sunday:  Golf-I always walk when playing with my dad. And I'm horrible so there is a lot of walking from one side to the other...and a lot of searching for golf balls!

It's a big, busy weekend of fun with the fam in MI. I can't help but wish every time I have to make this trip that I could blink my eyes and bob my head like I Dream of Jeanie and just be there. 8 hours is a long time in a car, and it's likely to be longer on my own with a 9 month old! Please send me all of your patience, I may need some extra :-)

Then I'm excited to start with BBB Phase 2. Tina sent us the plans already and I know it's going to be a whole new kind of hurt. Gotta keep those muscles guessing!

Big weekend plans? Do they include some QT with your favorite peeps?

Michiganders Invade WV-Part II (MLB Game)

The big finale for Family Adventure 2012 was and MLB game. Detroit Tigers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates. As you can see by the group photo, my little group of 3 is completely outnumbered!

With 4 small kids it's hard to get a good photo, so I set my camera up to take multiple shots at once, hit the timer and ran for my spot. I may have skinned a knee, but look how good we all did :-)

There may have been a few out takes too!!

It was kids day outside PNC Park before the game, but the lines were sooo long to do anything that we headed in after a few obligatory pics. They close this bridge to auto traffic on game days for fans to get over the river. I only had my zoom lens or it would have been a much more interesting photo of my bro and his little men!



We had made sure to watch the Friday and Saturday games in the series on TV. The Pirates took those with relative ease and I was excited to witness a sweep. Of course we had to go on the day Verlander was pitching...

Justin Verlander vs. Andrew McCutcheon-2 All-Stars!

We had great seats in the upper deck above behind home plate. I actually prefer upper deck seats, you can see all the action! And the TV announcers were right ove our shoulders, they throw out great SWAG at the 7th inning stretch; the hubs managed to snag a shirt!

The Tigers got 2 runs in the 1st and then there was a long stretch of pitching duels-yawn. G was very into it though! All the kids got braided Pirates necklaces just like the players wear!

Of course the Pirates chose to score their only runs while I was in line for ice cream. Has anyone noticed that I grab every excuse for ice cream?! So it was a tie game- I got excited and fans started getting out their brooms in anticipation. And then with one hit we were let down. Oh well, 2 outta 3 ain't bad Bucs.

The boys had the opportunity to run the bases after the game, and after standing in an extremely long line in the heat they got their chance. I hope it was a highlight for them since they had hours in a car back home right after!

On a parenting side note, I learned that I am not yet prepared for all day outings with G in tow. I tend to be a minimalist when packing but with a baby you really do need to be prepared for anything. Or at least the regular things...see, I thought I had everything ready; sunscreen, hat, stroller, food, prepared bottles, travel diaper tote...wait where are the diapers? Not a good question to ask when strolling to the ball  park in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh. #new mom failure

Lucky for me my SIL packs everything but the kitchen sink and I was able to borrow (thanks Bethany!) but I still felt just plain dumb. I'll get there with a little more practice!

I have much to learn. But look how far we've come in a year-we went to a game late in the summer last year. What a difference!! I love my little family!

And I love my big family! I have to say that ALL of the kids were great. We are very lucky and I had a great time hosting everyone. It makes me even more grateful every time we're all together. I imagine by the next time it will be even harder to fit in my house since there are bound to me more little ones, and the ones that are little now will just be bigger :-) But I can't wait.

Michiganders invade WV!! Part I

My entire family made the 8 hour drive (well, a few more than that with 3 kids!) from MI to visit us in Wild and Wonderful WV this past weekend. My brother and SIL haven't been here since my wedding in 2008 and we have both added one to our families since then.

I wanted them to have a good time, but not be exhausted when they went home. It was a vacation after all. We chose some good old fashioned putt-putt golf and batting cages for Friday (can I just say that I would love to have every Friday off in the summer-who wouldn't?!)

This guy towered over the course-crazy coal miner!

One cool thing about the putt-putt course was that everything was made from old mining equioment. There were even explanations at each hole to show what the 'obstacle' was once used for. Fun and education all in one! PS-I'm a horrible putt-putter, even though that is one of the better parts of my real golf game :-(

To say my oldest nephew is obsessed with baseball is an understatement so the batting cages were a big hit with him. All 3 generations gave it a whirl, some with more success than others-I'm not naming names.





Generation 1-my dad



Generation 2-my brother



Generation 3-my nephew

 

G hung out on the side lines and played with Gramma Bonnie. I can't resist this litte hat, it somehow makes her even cuter!



Of course we had to follow this with a gluttonous ice cream trip, which I thankfully have no pictures of! Although when the youngest boy discovered how good french fries dipped in ice cream were I kind of wish I had the camera!

Saturday was a stay at home day. My nephew, dad and I made a hike to the little cemetery on our property. I knew it was there but never really explored it.

We counted about 50 headstones, some with names, but the older ones were just upended rocks. The oldest one we could make out was fromt the 1840's. I needed to pull an Indiana Jones and pencil rub the stones to get some more info off them! One of these days I would like to do some research into who these people were, especially now that I've walked all over their resting place!

G got a new pool so we had to give that a trial in the afternoon. It was a hit with the little ones, it was too small for the rest. Although my 13 month old nephew got a little splash happy and scared G, they quickly made up and enjoyed some time together. I can see this getting alot of use this summer.

We also grilled-and I didn't take any pictures of the food because:
#1-my family is not into the 'blog thing' and would think I'm crazy, and more importantly
#2-I ate WAY too much of it.

I've been trying to keep regular workouts since this whole ankle debaucle put my running plans on hold but I think hiking through the woods and chasing kids around counts for something...as for the food-hey I was on stay-cation! :-)

Part II-MLB Game-family style!



Full House

It has arrived...the weekend where I finally get to see what it's like to have this big ole house of mine full. And not just for a few hours but several days. Here are a few of the weekend players...

We have these guys...and their parents-my brother and SIL who I apparently need to take more pictures of!

And these guys...

 And of course my little family...

And yes, G is in every picture, because as a new mom no picture is complete without my baby girl in them :-) This adventure almost didn't happen as the boys are getting over Hand, Foot and Mouth disease...it's way worse sounding than it actually is!! But I do have copious amounts of Lysol on hand just to be safe!

The whole group of them are troopers for piling into one vehicle (with two carseats) and driving 8+ hours to the hills of WV to visit. I can't wait to share all the fun we have!! I think up frst may be putt-putt and batting cages, which can only be followed by ice cream. Sounds like a good day to me!

Weekends-Road trip with a 7 month old!

With the extended holiday weekend it was our turn to make a trip to MI to visit with my family.

*Let me add a THANK YOU in here for both active military and veterans for Memorial Day. These days have a different meaning around our house with the hubs being a combat vet and both of us working for the VA*

We decided at the last minute to leave on Thursday night in hopes that G would sleep through the trip uneventfully. She did. We arrived very early on Friday morning.

It took her a little while to warm up to Gramma & Grampa again, but once she did life was all good!

This is the view in my parent's backyard now. Kind of disturbing to me. Can you see all of these windmills? I'm all for alternative energy but I also love trees! In the second picture is actually the house I grew up in, years ago I saw all the trees taken down for irrigation machines to go in and now these things go up for electricity generation. Progress? Hmmm.

Anyway, I talked my mom into doing a 5k with me at a local festival. We woke up to stormy skies and I thought she might get out of it-but she didn't even try! We wore matching way-to-bright tops and decided to have fun with it.

G was a trooper in her stroller with Grampa and Daddy while Mommy and Grandma posted good personal times. It's been 10 years since we did one of these together and we both beat those times. Take that Father Time!!! :-) 

By the time we cleaned up and came back to the festival it was hot and humid. We rewarded ourselves with some ice cream. This place had a ton of flavors-all with a little twist. Mine was a delicious salted cashew ice cream with ginger caramel. OMG-I love ginger. So good!

That evening my younger brother and his 3 boys came over to play. It is really fun to see G with other kids. She is totally content to watch everything they can do and just take it all in. My youngest nephew (13 months old) is able to throw a ball and he kept throwing it at G, she'd just pick it up and try to put it in her mouth, but you could tell she was having fun!

Sunday was another family visiting day with my cousin and her three boys stopping by and my aunt and uncle as well. It's so good to get up there and see everyone, especially now that we have G to show off!!

We left bright and early Monday morning hoping G would travel well during the daylight hours. It was hot and I'm sure she got cabin fever like we did, but she was a trooper. She ate her veggies right from these awesome packets. I squirted it right into her mouth and we made a game of it. Note to self (and other moms traveling with little ones): always travel with these!!!



Weekends always go too quickly, but weekends spent with people I love and miss go even faster. Can't wait to have the whole crew here in June for another adventure!