Long Island Summer

On Wednesday, Anne, Gwen, Jackson, and I drove down to Long Island for a nice, extended visit.  I've been looking forward to spending more than just a few days there, and we had some really nice weather.  It was the longest time that Gwen has been away from Justin, so we missed him and he missed us, but we got in some regular FaceTime sessions.  The week was full of visits with friends, afternoons at the pool and beach.  Anne, Andrea, Jess and I even took little G on her first wine tasting!

FaceTime with daddy

napping with Grammy on the deck

With Andrea and Jess before we took Gwen on her first wine tasting!

at Paumanok Vineyards

Anne with her friends from CMHS class of '98

We can't wait for the next trip - this time with daddy :)

Annie Annie's Visit

Thats the new name that Gweny gave to her Aunt Annie, how cute :)
With my sis living in the exciting Las Vegas, we don't get to see her very often, but we always have fun with her when she visits.  Anne, Kristen, Gwen, and I and went to Salem for the day and stayed overnight at mom and dad's new condo there.  The next day, we sent out for a day trip to Maine.  Unfortunately, that was around the same time that Gwen had her first bout of constipation, so she wasn't her normal happy self.  It didn't help that it was close to 100 degrees in Maine, either.  Side note: for anyone with a constipated babe, light Karo syrup works wonders (oh, and lay off the rice cereal).   Even with a cranky babe, we had fun walking around the little shops in Ogunquit and we made it to 2 top 10 rated lobster stands and had our fill of delicious lobster rolls.

Salem, MA

Annie Annie at a crazy bookstore in Salem

"roughing it" at the condo

Ogunquit, ME

 

Ordering the first lobster rolls of the day

Anne with her lobster earrings for the occasion

I thought this t-shirt was fitting for her mood.  Of course as soon as we held it up to her,
she started smiling and laughing like crazy.

2nd lobster roll stop of the day :)  Kennebunkport, ME

...and some freshly squeezed lemonade to go with it.

On Tuesday, Anne, Gwen and I met up with Justin and Kristen in Boston for lunch before spending the afternoon in Faneuil Hall.

that tall building is where Kristen works

Time Flies

Happy 5th Anniversary to my hubs.  This year has taken the cake for sure!  I'm so lucky to have you in my life - and so is Gweny.  You're such a good dad, and watching you with her makes me love you even more.

Reason # 1,041...

...this is Justin's child:

Put a dozen toys in front of her and she'll go for the book every time.

six months

Happy half birthday to my babe!

Gwen had an awesome 6 month checkup!  I was dreading the vaccines because I had heard from a mommy friend that the this checkup is the 2nd worst one because there are 3 shots.  To my surprise, she took the first 2 shots without even making a peep (I was shocked).  She cried on the 3rd one but it wasn't even a bad cry, she was back to her normal chatty self within less than a minute.

Some highlights from the appointment:
She weighs 16lbs 5oz (70th percentile), and is 26.5 inches tall (87th percentile).
Her strength and control while she's sitting is equal to an 8 or 9 month old!  Even though we only started solids a week ago, we got the go ahead to feed her a second meal.  She was chatting up a storm to the pediatrician, and it turns out that as part of their literacy program she'll get a new book at every visit from now until she's 2 years old (and books are her favorite)!  I spoke with the Dr about the fact that she has been rolling over very infrequently, but she assured me that some babies never roll at all and it's nothing to even think twice about.  (Braggy mom alert:) She said the fact that G holds herself up while sitting so well this early on, and has been for over a month already, is more exceptional.  Yay Gwen!

Just in the past 2 weeks, she has developed so much.  I am loving this 6 month period, she's so much more interactive, chatty, happy and just a joy to be around. <3

Roly Poly

I thought this day would never come! lol  Gwen holds herself up while sitting like a champ, she has rolled from back to tummy a couple of times, but she *just* rolled from tummy to back!  The girl did not want to do it, but she finally did :) I was so lucky to have my friend Christina video taping during one of our playgroups!

Sweet potatoes for my sweet potato

We started solids...yaaaay!  At Gwen's 4 month visit, her pediatrician told me that we could start at any point between 4 and 6 months.  I was caught off guard because anything I had read or heard said to wait until 6 months, especially for breastfed babies.  In the last week or so, Gwen seemed to be showing me signs that she was ready to start solids.  She didnt seem as satisfied with nursing alone, she started waking up earlier for her middle of the night feeding, and it just felt like it was time.  I found a great website: Wholesome Baby Food  that helped us decide not to use rice cereal as her first food (which seems to be the norm).  We decided to start her on sweet potatoes.  I have been wanting to make my own baby food, but I wasn't sure how it would go over, so while I was at Whole Foods last week, I picked up a package of organic sweet potatoes from Sprout Baby Food (I was pleased to see that the only ingredient listed was "organic sweet potatoes").  I'm not sure if she actually swallowed anything on her first attempt, but we wanted to keep it a positive experience, so we didn't push it.  Then yesterday morning she ate the entire amount I gave her!  Given that positive reinforcement, last night I broke out the immersion blender that Kristen gave us, and whipped up some organic sweet potato baby food of my own - it was actually really easy!!  I fed it to her this morning and of course she barely ate any hah!  I have determined that it had to do with the fact that I didn't mix in any liquid (of course it couldn't be my cooking that she didn't like).  So tonight I mixed in some breast milk to thin it out a bit and we'll see how it goes over tomorrow.

she wanted to feed herself :)

Here's a video of her eating and talking - don't judge me, it's hard to feed her and record it at the same time :)

4th of July

Gwen's first Fourth!  We had a nice weekend, that involved a bday party for brothers (1 & 3 yrs old), a nice breakfast with Eric & Kerri, and a BBQ with the Leahy's!

Daddy & Gwen at the party

Happy Birthday Miles (& Julian, not pictured)!

Gwen loves her Uncle Eric

Here we are in our red white and blue before breakfast with E & K

Below are some pics of Gwen, Morgan and Rena Lynn at the BBQ

maybe she'll hate me for this one day, but I think it's the cutest pic ever. lol

Happy Fourth!