My Angel is 2 Months!

Gwen is 2 months old. Absolutely blows my mind. Here she is with Henry, an heirloom toy from her Daddy's baby days, looking so cute! Time flew so quickly and it seems just yesterday she was placed in my arms at the hospital. Yet when I think about it, I can't really remember what life was like without her because it is like she's always been a part of our family.

Significant Progress:

• she's pretty much all done with being collicky. hooray! the toughest week was while we were in Idaho, so it wasn't even so bad. was it going off dairy that helped or did she just outgrow it? I don't know. I guess we'll find out...
  
• every now and then she'll sleep 7 hours straight... that's practically sleeping through the night! Won't it be great when she does that every night? :)
  
• she learned to really grin while we were on vacation (for a really cute blog entry about this, see Mama Allan's page. the link is on the side.) and loves to interact with people
• she's pretty much holding her head up on her own (it still gets wobbly after a while, though)
  
• she doesn't protest as much about tummy time, just tries to eat the blanket and gives us her 'whiney' cry
• she likes to stand up (with help), locks her knees, and looks around
• she's starting to discover her hands: we catch her examining them every now and then

Cuteness that I love:

• she gets really excited and sucks in air so it sounds like she was just holding her breath underwater or something and had to come up for air
  
• her smiles and grins are what I live for!
• the way she desperately roots at the bottle and sucks hard like she hasn't eaten in DAYS even when it was just 2 1/2 hours ago
  
• the way she rubs her eyes/face when she is getting tired
• she'll put her arms around my neck and nuzzle against me (as long as she's not upset, that is) :)
• the self-satisfied look on her face after she has a big poo
  
• her 'I'm so full' face with raised eyebrows and closed eyes after she's eaten a ton! Sometimes she is so full she just groans and rubs her face into me.
  
• the way she grins and kicks and ALMOST giggles when you tickle her tummy and sides
• the way she'll fall asleep when I rock her and her mouth falls open
• the way her arms are 'spring-loaded' after a nap... as soon as you open up the blanket and undo her 'double burrito straight jacket', they spring up over her head into a big stretch!
• her stretches outdo any other baby stretches I've ever witnessed... that gal LOVES to stretch!
  

Baby's Room Projects

Way back in the day I promised Jennie I'd post pics of the nursery... well, I'm finally getting around to it. And it finally is shaping into a nursery, minus the clutter of gifts, crafts, not-yet-assembled projects, and air mattress (this is where all of our helpers slept). Still waiting on a rocking chair and don't look too closely at the desk area because I haven't tackled "my" side of the room yet! You'll notice the furniture is mostly brown/cream and I tried to have items such as crib sheets and changing pad cover in a nice neutral green so we don't give any future sons a complex! :) All pictures taken during nap time, fyi... :)
Changing station and dresser... we refinished this dresser that we got on Craigslist for $20. I think it is so cute now! Especially with the contrasting green of the changing table pad! I still have to hang up the organizer, but for now it just sits on top of the diaper pail. (we're going to be using cloth diapers, that's why we got the pail. But we haven't started cuz Gwen is still a bit too small for them, so don't need to use it yet and it works great as a 'shelf' right now.)
Bookshelf/Toyshelf... you'll recall the fun project of refinishing the bookshelf? $3 garage sale purchase transformed into a lil gal's toyshelf. Green baskets bought on sale at Michael's. Hopefully I'll be able to keep things curtailed a bit so that lil plastic keys and chew rings don't end up EVERYWHERE in the house! But we'll see... :)
Crib... This $200 Craigslist purchase was definitely worth the money! I love the colors, the fact that it is solid wood, and the drop down sides. The "skirt" was actually originally going to be a bumper. I bought the material to sew the 'slip cover', was given an old bumper pad from a friend (Thanks Robyn!), had borrowed a friend's sewing machine (Thanks Jenni!) and was all set to sew... when Eric and I decided that the risk of SIDS, however small, wasn't worth the bumper. But I was crushed because I really wanted to sew this matching valance and bumper... now what would make her room cute? I improvised and turned the bumper into a 'skirt' that just goes around the outside of the crib. I think the valance and skirt project turned out pretty great considering I didn't have a pattern. Just measured and went for it! It definitely helped to have friends that are good seamstresses so I could ask how to do certain things like a ruffle. Thanks quilting/sewing group!
"GWEN" Frames... I got these unfinished wood frames at a garage sale for 25 cents each and used some leftover material from the valance/crib skirt project to cover them. Then I had this pattern book for soft baby blocks that I was borrowing from a friend (thanks Michelle!) from which I got the sewing pattern for the elephant and the bee. the other patterns in the book I didn't enjoy as much, so I made up my own for the dragonfly and the frog (which is why they aren't nearly as cute, I'll be the first to admit!). I sewed them on before modgepodging things down. A lil bit of cute string attached with thumb tacks to the back, some 99 cent block letters from Michaels, and "wuahlah"! You've got cute wall decorations!
Well, there you have it. Nursery. Baby. Both cute. :)

Vacation Adventures and Pics of Gwen

we're back!

First we went to Idaho where Gwen got to meet Grandpa Allan, Uncle E, Aunt J, Uncle C, Uncle B, Aunt E, and cousin E.

Then we had a marvelous Christmas Eve where Gwen got to be the newborn 'child' wrapped in a swaddling 'lady bug blanket' lying in a 'bouncy chair'. Christmas morning she looked adorable too!

During this time her collic also peaked and we were grateful to have so many helping hands eager to hold the crying baby.
We then went down and spent several days in Utah visiting family. Gwen got to meet her Grandpa Hart and Uncle S, Aunt A, and Uncle J at her beautiful baby blessing in Mapleton in her Great Grandpa's ward. Then Monday Eric and the guys had a record pheasant hunt (70 birds. I'm not exaggerating.) while Gwen and I spent the day chilling at my lil sis's apartment with grandma and grandpa... some great pics forthcoming if I can get my mom to email them to me! We were sad to return to Idaho on Tuesday, but excited to embark on the cabin adventure for New Years. And it WAS an adventure... getting the snowmobiles caught in a blizzard during the drive in was definitely a once in a life time adventurous way to spend New Year's Eve! There aren't any pictures because all cameras were safely tucked away from the elements, but
for full details on the adventure, visit Mama Allan's website here:

http://callan86.typepad.com/this_that/2009/01/so-the-adventure-beginsaka-plowing-powder.html

I'll add that Gwen and I were safe and warm inside the Rhino, but her bottles were chilly and she wouldn't take them... so we spent the last 3 hours with a very hungry, tired, and unhappy baby bawling in my ears. I was also worried about Eric since he had been gone for hours and there was no way I'd ever know if he and Papa Allan had encountered any difficulties. I had visions of snowmobile accidents, injuries, and all of us stranded on a mountain hillside in blizzard conditions without food... I'm honestly surprised that I was able to look at the entire experience without any anxiety. I was trying to think positively and it worked!

the cabin was WONDERFUL, just my kind of vacation! I could live there, seriously. During our stay there Gwen really started to open up with her grins and gives them out freely now!

well, we're home now. I'll try to find time to post some pics this week so ya'll can see how much Gwen has grown! (ALL of these were swiped off Mama Allan's blog... isn't she a great photographer?)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Sorry, no eloquent post from here. We're in Idaho at Eric's parent's home and I feel bad occupying too much computer time. But wanted to tell you all that we love you and hope you have as joyful a Christmas as we are having! Remember the Reason.

saranghe, Elisa

One Week and a Bath

Sunday marks Gwen's one week birthday... funny, seems like she's been with us a lot longer than 1 week! I guess the decreased amount of sleep makes the days longer. And they all run together too. I have the hardest time now keeping track of what day it is... Tuesday? Friday? Aren't they all the same?

At her pediatrician appointment Gwen's stats were:

• height: 20 3/4 inches.... 90th percentile
• weight: 7 lbs 8 oz.... 50th percentile (but 1 full oz more than when she was born!)
• head circumference: 35 cm.... 50th percentile

Looks like she might have Eric's tall skinny genes afterall! :)

she hates it!
nah, this isn't so bad.

"I Saw God Today"

Gwen Elizabeth Allan

born: Sunday, November 9, 2008 6:26 am

7 lbs 7 oz
19 inches long

more on the story when I can sit down and type with a lil more gusto... :)

still here

Well folks, if you thought I would go 2 weeks early... I didn't. Of course, if I went into labor today I would still be closer to 2 weeks than 1 week, but I'm not feelin it. Looks like baby girl Allan is going to obediently wait at least til after Eric's test on Friday. Just wanted to update you all!

I'm almost finished with the baby's room, so stay tuned for photo updates in the next couple of days! :)