Hot MamaJama

So our little Gwendolyn Joy really didn't give us much joy the first few months of her life. But thankfully she has turned into such a happy, content baby! Now we are completely enthralled with her and immensely enjoying her. Gwen (as of yesterday) is 5 months old! 5 things Gwen can do: 1. sit up by herself (and if she does fall over, she kind of does a roll move so she always ends up on her tummy and hands) 2. She can roll from her front to back & vica versa, 3. Can scoot backwards on her tummy as well as get up on all 4's and get her toes in the carpet to lunch forward. 4. She sleeps about 11 hours a night. 5. She arches her back when put in her carseat  I've also included 5 pictures for this post. Enjoy! (We are) I do want to send kudos out to my great boy, Hunter, for being an incredible goofball to generate these beautiful smiles.

In the last month we have already had some wonderful days that are just perfect for being outside! And we've been doing alot of stuff as a family! We went to a hockey game for the first time! We went to the Chili Cook-off for the first time! Ella is loving the Old-fashioned sarsaparilla!  Gwen enjoyed riding Stumpy the tortoise after Wildman Phil's show. All the kids still love watching Uncle Phil do his animal shows.   Even Gwen enjoys when we all go outside for some play time. Tim has been playing quite a bit of Disc Golf at the park down the road from our house. He usually takes some kids and walks down there or we all go. This particular day, Savannah wanted a turn "wearing" Gwen in the Moby wrap.  On Savannah's birthday we had a big get together at my parents house and it was so nice out that we ate outside, did the cake outside & played 7 games of volleyball outside!  Last Saturday we went hiking...

3 Months old as of yesterday. But of course, AGAIN, I didn't get the picture of her in the rocking chair on the 5th! But close enough. So we have 1 month  2 months  and then here is 3 months.   Notice the considerable difference in activity? She can even roll from her back to tummy and then back onto her back! Yeah, she's crazy squirmy. She's gonna be a fireball for sure!

A Happy Ella getting to hold her little sister Gwen by herself for the first time! Gwen has alot of adorable outfits, outrageous accessories and fun doodads!  But here is the much more realistic picture of Gwen. Don't be fooled by all the other photos! hee hee. Dawson meeting Gwen. Gwen sleeping in her crib with her own pillow and loads of blankets! Hunter meeting Gwen...he's such an awesome big brother! Savannah holding Gwen...the first of many times! Savannah got a molar pulled that same morning, so she doesn't look quite as perky as she might have otherwise.   A few from Gwen's first photo shoot!  I could look at these pictures all day!

 We got all dressed up and went to the Christmas Eve Service. We were all Christmas colors, except Ella. She just went pink. She had new sparkly shoes and purse!  Gwen got to wear her My 1st Christmas outfit that I bought at Goodwill for $1.50 and was quite happy about it! Gwen just had the perfect outfit to go with the red polka-dot headband, so I had to get a picture of them together. We made Christmas goodies. Mostly just chocolate-dipped things, like pretzels and cereal. We also made some gingerbread houses and train, which helped decorate our big shelf area. We bought gifts for others and really enjoyed watching Briana open this one that we got her. A game she'd been wanting for quite some time! Looks like we surprised her, huh. We spent some time with Family. I love family. All those memories being made with Grandma's and Grandpa's, Aunt, Uncles & cousins. Oh & sisters and brothers! We didn't even plan how we were...

A brief history of Gwen's entry into the world (for record-keeping purposes). :-) Gwen was due Nov. 8th. I was done being pregnant about October 8th, thanks to the many Braxton-Hicks contractions! Anyway, Sunday November 4th in the afternoon around 5pm, I had a major contraction that I was worried was the beginning of the real labor. But alas, it was not, so I went to church with the 4 kids (since Tim wasn't feeling well all day) and I took my shift in nursery. After service, my parents came over and we talked for awhile while my Dad massaged my feet and legs. That night (Monday morning actually) I woke up at 1:31am suddenly and in a lot of pain with a contraction. So I said "Tim, I think this might be the real thing". Well he never moved, just continued to snore. So I laid there watching the clock. Sure enough, 9 minutes later I have another huge contraction. So during it I'm trying to tell Tim, who's not wanting to wake up. Finally I like yell at him ...