Gwen's First Christmas

We're feeling very lucky this year because Gwen has just brought so much happiness to our little family. It was fun to have her so interactive and animated for her first Christmas.  Justin and I reminisced about last year when I was 38 weeks pregnant and how excited we were for Christmas 2011 because our little one would be here (and almost a year old!).  It seemed so far away to us...

...yet, here we are!  My two babes, Christmas morning 2011:

We wrapped all of her presents in tissue paper, so they would be easy for her to unwrap.  Don't let the picture fool you, she tore off a tiny piece of paper and played with it.  The rest of the unwrapping still took some help from us.

Here she is, playing with her first present - an animated Leap Frog book.  It reads the book aloud to her as she turns the pages.  Great in theory, but ends up being a tad annoying for mommy and daddy when she keep opening and closing, opening and closing... heh! Oh well, she'll grow into it.

My Pal Violet was by far her favorite toy.  We programmed it on the computer to say her name (she completely lights up when it does this), and incorporate her favorite songs, color, animal, etc into play.  See that dress draped over the arm of the couch?  Justin picked it out as a surprise - oopsie for not getting a better pic, but it's so cute!

Gwen loves Violet <3

You can't tell here, but it started to snow outside while she was opening presents!

We made sugar cookies with a special "g" for the little lady.  I still can't bring myself to eat it! hah

We headed over to Nana & Papa's house to spend the rest of the day with family - and more presents!  I made Gwen's headband out of scraps from her Christmas stocking.

Santa

As a kid, I always remembered going to my dad's work to see Santa.  So when Justin told me that Santa was coming to his work, I was so excited for Gwen!

Here we all are, waiting for the Big Guy!

There he is, not too sure what to think...

Gwen was the second one called up to sit on Santa's lap, and she did awesome!  She wasn't scared at all (just wanted her present, as you can see in her face).  There were oh so many "oohs and ahhs" while she was up there - obvi! she's so darn cute!

Here she is eating her sock monkey from Santa.

A Silverio's work is never done.  We stopped by Daddy's desk so Gwen could do some filing.

Looking very serious (and teensy) at Daddy's desk

Snuggling with Daddy after a fun time at his work :)

A few days later, we decided to try out the whole "Mall Santa" experience.  This didn't work out quite as well....

It cost $25 for one digital image on a cd, but I had to.

First Words

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now, but last night I was really kicked into gear.

For the past 1.5-2 months or so she's been saying "Dada" with intent.  For a while she called everything that she saw "da da da da da..." and Justin of course loved to rub that in my face :)  Apparently (says the pediatrician and every book/internet source out there), the "D" sound is much easier for babies to make.

Right around 10 months she started saying "Dog".  Of course it doesn't sound exactly like dog, more like "A-duh".  You're probably saying to yourself: "Lauren, you're delusional."  I would've thought the same thing pre-baby.  However, at her 9 month appointment, the pediatrician told us that she'll say words that don't sound exactly like what they are, but if she says the same thing consistently when referring to an object/person/animal etc, then it is considered a "word" in her vocabulary.  Every morning, I go into Gwen's room to get her up and I'll usually sit her on the floor to play with her for a while.  Our lazy dog, Jackson will wake from his beauty rest and leisurely make his way into her bedroom.  When Gwen was 10 months, she started saying "A-duh! A-duh! A-duh!" in an excited, high-pitched voice and pointing to him as he walked into the room.  She'll also say it to him throughout the day.

Now comes my motivation for finally writing this post:
Last night, Justin and I had Gwen practice her walking.  We sat a few feet from each other on the living room floor and had her walking back and forth between us.  Of course she was all excited because the girl loves to walk.  Then it happened, she was walking towards me, and she (finally) yelled "MAMA!!" Yaaayyyyyy :)

Trees and stuff

We're really getting into the holiday spirit around here.  For a while, I debated if we should get a tree or not.  I was concerned about Gwen swinging from the branches and eating pine needles off the floor.  We ended up getting a really tiny one to put in the corner and block Gwen out with furniture if need be.  I'm really happy that we decided to get one, I can't imagine not having a tree for her first Christmas.  Plus, if we didn't, where would we hang her awesome new ornament??

from the website

Gwen's personalized Baby's 1st Ornament!

First Annual Silverio Gingerbread House!!

 Here's our cute little Silverio Christmas tree!

Trimming the tree

 

eleven months

This has been a huge milestone month for us!  In the past month, Gwen has gotten really good at pulling herself up, all she needs now is a wall or a person's leg.  She's crawling/cruising and following me all over the house.  We still haven't baby proofed nearly as much as we should, so I keep a close eye on her.  There's no more running down to grab the laundry while she's happily playing with her toys in one spot on the living room rug.
She took her first steps(!)
She can say 3 words - more details coming in a future post.
She plays peekaboo with us, covering her eyes with clothes or hiding behind furniture as I say, with concern in my voice: "where's Gwen, where'd Gwen go?!" and then peeks out with a huge grin ("there she is!!").  She could play this game for hours.
She gives kisses!  At first, she would only kiss her Winnie the Pooh bear.  I started bringing his nose to her mouth saying "kisses" and after a while she would just pucker her lips and keep still while I tapped his nose to her mouth and made a kissing sound.  Now, every once in a while, she'll give kisses to Justin and me.  It's the sweetest thing ever!  Here's a cute little story:
Justin had meetings that went past Gwen's bedtime 2 nights in a row, so he went 3 days without seeing her.  On the third day, I was getting dinner ready and Gwen was playing on the floor in the living room.  We weren't expecting him for another 20-30 minutes when he quietly walked in the door.  I looked over and saw Gwen look up to him, start shrieking, and flapping her arms before she crawled over to him.  As soon as he picked her up, she planted one right on his face.  It was seriously the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

First steps!!

We were hanging around the house yesterday, getting ready to run some errands before a holiday party.  I decided that we should have some lunch before we head out, so I fed Gwen and heated up some of the previous night's dinner for Justin and me.  Gwen was playing in the dining room, cruising around the table and chairs, so I sat down on the floor with my plate.  I wasn't paying too much attention to her while I was eating... All of a sudden, she turned to look at me, let go of the chair and took 4 solid steps before she grabbed onto me!!!  I started yelling for Justin to come downstairs and Gwen just got so excited and looked so pleased with herself :) 

My parents babysat last night so they were able to hang out today and help Gwen practice her walking skills :)  Here's a video of her walking to Grammy!

Christmas Card Photoshoot

Last month, we visited our good friends Meghan and Casey (and their awesome dog, Diesel) at their new home in Vermont.  We're thrilled that they live so close to us now, having recently moved from Alabama.  We had such a nice visit with them and felt so at home, that we just may invite ourselves back very soon :)

Lucky for us, Megs is such a talented portrait photographer, and she agreed to take our Christmas card photos for us!  We are so beyond thrilled with how they came out!!!  Megs also designed our stunning Christmas cards - see bottom of the post.  All of these photos are courtesy:  Meghan Davis of Davis Creative Services

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Bonus - Here are a few pics of Gwen with Diesel (also taken by Megs) - he's such a love!

playing peek-a-boo with Casey at dinner

Thanks, Megs and Casey for such a fun visit!! :)

Christmas Crafts

Mom and Dad came over today because I've been wanting to make a Christmas stocking for Gwen.  We went shopping for some fabric last month, but of course I needed some assistance from mom.  She made stockings for us when we were little, and when Justin and I got married, she made each of us (including Jackson) one for our new house.  I thought it would be nice to make a similar one for Gwen's first Christmas.  Here is the finished product!

notice Jackson's stocking on the right, we need another stocking holder now!

While we were at it, I wanted to try some DIY baby legs that I found on this lovely blog through pinterest the other day.  I bought a pair of knee high socks at Target (I thought the faux fur cuffs would be cute for the holidays):

Cut off the toe and heel (keeping the portion in between and folding it inside itself):

 And sewed them into cuffs onto the ends:

 Voila! Cute as a button

PS - we just got our Christmas cards in the mail today and I cannot wait to send them out!!! :)