Photo shoot

We did a photo shoot this morning for Gwen's "Winter One-derland" birthday invitation!  I wanted to go along with my wintery snowflake theme, so I dressed her up in a scarf, hat, and legwarmers.

so serious, but how could you not love this face?

mid-yawn

enough already mom!

tired of sitting still

costume change!

doesn't she look great in hats?!

This is the one we're using.  Of course the one where she's smiling doesn't have the best focus, but I figure that the photo will be small on the invite, so you won't be able to tell that the quality isn't the best.

Update:  Here is the final version of the invitation (without all of the personal info obvi).  We went through Etsy seller: Four Harp Designs for the design of the invitation - Jan was awesome to work with.  We had the cards printed through Staples.com on their linen paper, which turned out really nice.  However, the cards were supposed to be 5x7 and they cut off some of the edges, so there's no "!" after "birthday" on the cards.  Luckily all of the words were there so it didn't matter enough to complain about.

Thanksgiving

We had such an awesome Thanksgiving with almost all of both sides of the family there.  Gwen is so lucky to be surrounded by so many people who love her.  We hosted at our house for the first time since 2006, the year we got married!  It was nice to do it again with Gweny.

Our turkey was delish!!! (If I do say so myself hehe).  Here are some pics from the day:

Gwen with her Grandpas

We were so happy that Annie Annie was able to visit again

with Aunt Kristen

Gwen with her Grandmas

the countdown

Lately I've been feeling a little overwhelmed because I know that these next couple of months are going to fly by. It's Gwen's very first holiday season - which has me SO excited, especially since she has such a cute little personality now. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year, then Christmas is right around the corner, and before we know it - Gwen's first birthday! I have a bit of anxiety thinking about it because with everything going on in the next 2 months, I keep feeling like I'm going to forget to do something or look back and think of something I missed or should've done differently for her first Christmas and first birthday. I guess I'm putting more pressure on myself than is really necessary.

I was talking to Justin about it the other night and I realized that the real reason I'm having a hard time with the BIG O.N.E is because I'm really going to miss this first year. This is the time that I'm going to look back on and think to myself - man, I really had it good! I couldn't ask for a better tempered baby. I've been lucky enough to not have to work, so I've been able to enjoy every.single.milestone as it happened. I've met a ton of other moms and babies in the past year through various mom groups, mom and baby yoga classes, and library story times. The other day I was driving to the gym after a Playdate at the zoo and Donna was at home watching Gwen so I could work out.  As I was driving, I thought to myself - this is just too good, there's no way it can last...can it?  I am totally excited for the future, but man I have it good now, and I'll always be able to smile when I look back on my first year as a mom.

High Five!

ten months

Oh, how these months are flying by.

Looking back, I had a good 4 months where Gwen was sitting by herself but not mobile.  I know moms who would kill for that.  Not gonna lie, it was pretty nice.  Well she's crawling now (much to Jackson's dismay), and not even just the army crawl - if she's on a rug and has good traction, she'll actually crawl on her knees :)  Lucky for us, she's still very "cerebral" as my dad has put it, and seems to always think about her next move.  Therefore, she's not on a tornado path throughout the house...yet.  I'm really enjoying watching her develop a personality these days.  During her playdates, she's one of the more quiet babies...maybe quiet isn't the right word...I mean, she can be LOUD when you get her started.  But she watches the other babies and usually she'll find a toy that she likes and flip on her back to examine it over her head while grabbing onto it with her feet.  She'll find a baby she likes and reach out and poke the occasional eye.  Lately,  as all of the babies have been getting older, there are some fast movers and some "bulldozers" that we need to watch out for.  They'll find a toy that they like (read: any toy that any other baby is playing with) and create a path of bulldozed babies along their way to get it.  It's not just moms chatting and snacking while the babies sleep in their carriers anymore (hah, man that was good while it lasted).
I know, I know...no pic.  Our external hard drive crashed again and I'm waiting to get all of my pics back!

nursing side effect

Because Gwen is starting to actually grow some hair now, there's a little wispy guy that shows up every time I nurse her.  Kristen termed it "boob head" which I like better than my original version:

First Halloween

It was a Halloween of many firsts!

• The most obvious was that Gwen was here to share it with us, and she just makes everything more fun.
• It was the much anticipated first Halloween at mom and dad's condo in Salem, MA.  Anyone who knows that town, knows that it is the number one place to be on Halloween.
• It was the first Halloween weekend that the K family was all together in who knows how many years! maybe 13?
• There was uhhhhh SNOW(!).  But thankfully, we didn't lose power like many homes in the area did.
• Gwen finally cut her first tooth - it's her bottom middle.  I haven't even tried to get a pic because it's hard enough to see in person.  

baby got quack 

and on this farm we had a duck.  EIEIO

of course we needed more than one costume!

with Annie Annie

group shot! Thanks Amber for taking the pictures!

...and the first trick or treat!