OMGoodness! Catchin' up with Gwen

Gwen is just out of control! She is soooo big and growing and developing soooo fast. She is flat out crawling now and into everything. She is obsessed with Milton who is being surprising tolerant of her. It was only last week that I was doing dishes while she played at my feet when my Mommy radar turned on. I turned around and she was gone. The garage door was open, and I couldn't see her or hear her. I went to find her and there she was in front of the TV in the living room holding on to Milton's tail while he patiently sat there. WOW!
Yesterday I bought a gate for the garage door- we have to keep it open since Milton's litter box and now food is in the garage. I also bought a bunch of other baby proofing devices that will hopefully help keep her out of trouble.
Last week Gwen was playing in her playpen in the living room while Spencer and I were watching TV when we both sawher reach up. She grabbed the rail with both hands and 1, 2, 3 pulled herself up to a standing position. She now tries to pull up on everything including some disasterous attempts with paper bags. It took us until last night to realize we needed to lower her crib matress. It is on the lowest setting now.
We started finger food last week and Gwen has truly mastered the pincer grasp. She is mainly eating dehydrated banana and apple pieces, pices of over cooked carrots, and some millet cereal soaked in breast milk. She hada puff at our music playdate today which made me nervous, but the other Mom assured me they melt in your mouth. I know they do, but there is usually corn and/or wheat in them and I am hesitant to introduce those two items too early.

Mommy and Me photos- link

Gwen and I got Mommy and Me photos done last week- free sitting at Baby Buzz in Willow Glen with Jim Nelson Photography. I get 1 free 4x6 and 20% off my order of any additional prints. The photos are posted on his online gallery event code BBUZZSTUDLEY. They will only be available for view for the next 29 days and I have until June 4th to take advantage of the discount. I will probably make an order in the next week- so place your vote on your favorite!

First Mother's Day

I had a fabulous first Mother's Day. We went out to a very nice brunch with Spencer's Mom and sister and boyfriend. I got all kinds of goodies, cards and flowers from Spencer's Mom, Spencer's Step Mom, my Mom, and my Step Mom. I get now that I am now part of an unofficial Mom's club and am so honored to have these veteran Mama's welcome and celebrate with me. On the way home from our visit in Santa Rosa Spencer, Gwen and I stopped for a quick snack in the Corte Madera area. There was a park nearby and since Gwen was awake up from her nap in the car we had an impromptu picnic and it was sooooo lovely. I want to do this on Mother's Day every year :-) There were little mini daisies growing in the grass and I couldn't help myself- we got about a million pictures of her and a few videos including this short one. I stop the video fairly abruptly because as you can see she put a flower in her mouth....well I wasn't able to get it out. She swallowed it. We figure she was be ready for finger foods now.

Mommy and Me

Gwen and I had a great week! We did a lot with our playgroup. We went to two different parks, I went to a Mom's night "In" at one of the Mama's house's which was very nice, we got Mommy and Me photos done in Willow Glen, and had our usual fun around the house and in the backyard. I had never spent much time in Willow Glen and was pleased with how baby friendly it was. We got our photos done at Baby Buzz which is a really cute baby boutique- I get to see the photos online next week- it was a free sitting and apparently I get a free 5x7. Gwen was amazing, I just hope I look ok! I was going to grab a coffee at Starbucks, but then saw Monsieur Beans a nice little coffee shop where they roast their own beans- AND there was a changing table in the bathroom! There was a tiny little sitting area in back which I think is usually a smoking area, but no one was out there so I breastfed her back there in peace and quiet (which I think the patrons of the coffee shop appreciated because Iwas fully prepared to feed her in the cafe wearing my discrete Hooter Hider of course). There was also a children's bookstore Hicklebee's that was really neat and I bought Gwen a pig book and a train book. Gwen fell asleep in her stroller so I walked up and down the strip. It was really nice and she was soooo good, I think we will go out once a month. Maybe Los Gatos next.

7 months!

Gwen is becoming such an amazing little person. At 7 months she can sleep 9 hours straight most nights, she is almost crawling (she can certainly move herself around!), she can stand with help, she can entertain herself playing for almost an hour, she has two bottom teeth, and she is eating 2 meals a day now. We just introduced carrots and she loves them. She has rice cereal with a fruit mixed in for breakfast and a vegetable for lunch (and nurses throughout the day- but no more night feedings :-). She has a great sense of humor- a few times she has been playing by herself and started laughing because of something she thought was funny. We started going to Las Madres playgroups and she is super social and way into the other babies (most of them can walk and she is fascinated by that). We are signed up for Music Together which starts the end of next month, and we wanted to do Parent and Tot swim classes this summer, but registration is all full. We plan on heading to the pool for the open swim so we can play with her in the water. We are also starting baby Sign Language. Gwen is so cute and so much fun...I am loving every day with her!