Suddenly

Gwen stood up and just like that, everything got harder. I'm not exaggerating when I say she tears this room apart. I know she is little, but she finds a way. She already prefers things she's not supposed to have. I am hoping this isn't a lasting quality or she'll be in for a lot of heartache. I feel bad when I try to divert her attention away from me when she comes begging for some interaction. Am I supposed to interact with her all day long? She's cute and I want to but it's tough! It's also hard to spend my day on the floor pulling her off of things that are going to hurt her over and over again while she wags her tongue and kicks her feet so obliviously. Except of course she's oblivious, and I want her to stay that way. I don't like being frustrated that she is so curious and adventurous and strong because these are all very good things. But spending my life within a protective arm's length of the sweet little darling, I'm feeling a little claustrophobic. If I walk by, she literally tries to grab on to my pants and climb up my leg, while I'm walking. There's no one I'd rather hang out with but come on, Gwen. Another example, I just put her down for a nap but when her whimpers turned to a scream, I went in to find her standing straight up in her crib, clenching the rails with a terrified look because she didn't know how to get back down. It was sad. It's like we can't win. But also like we can't lose? Because in 20-60 minutes she'll wake up, make some coos, then there's a cuddle and some happy bouncing and it's a fresh slate. And that's what we do all day long. Exhausting but also pretty incredible.

p.s. is it unrealistic to expect Spring to cure all of this?

p.p.s. It's okay to roll your eyes at my idea of a hard life

Six Months (and a bag of tricks)

Gwen's sixth month brought a whole bunch of new stuff with it  

Stretching gracefully: 

Crawling/spitting:   

Holding herself up on the coffee table with her gums:

Sitting:

 

Followed closely by standing: 

(like, I found her standing straight up in her crib this afternoon. what!?)

 

Digging in her toy basket for whatever she wants to play with:

Loving any and all food we put in front of her:

And mostly following me around with a sweet slobbery face asking

for praise and/or reassurance to go do it all again:

Boise

For the last leg of Gwen's Tour around the West, we surprised Becca with a stop in Boise. We flew there with my mom and I can't believe we actually kept our mouths shut and pulled off a real surprise. It was COLD in Idaho but we had a warm cozy new house to hang out in. Not to mention a stack of People magazines, chocolate-covered cinnamon bears, and the Golden Globes and Miss America on back-to-back nights. Maddy and Anders were super sweet to Gwen. Adam and Becca cooked us delicious food and us ladies hypothetically decorated the whole house from the comfort of the couch. Maybe I got sick here and flew home with a monster sinus head/body ache happening but it was worth every tissue to hang out here for a few days.

Waiting in the airport:

 

Photo by Anders:

 

Photo with Anders:

 

Maddy reading us a story:

Henderson

Before Regan flew back to NY, he drove me and Gwen down to Henderson. I hadn't been here since our wedding and was due for a visit. It was everything I always want from a trip to Henderson. Which includes a whole lot of relaxing, warmer temperatures, trips to Target, home-cooked food everyday, shopping in mom's fabric store, and lots of people to play with any baby they can find. Liz and Vinny came down for the weekend but I didn't take any pictures. Also missed a photo op with Just Jill. Next time, guys. 

Nightly call to talk to her dad:

 

Utah

 Yep, still talking about our Holiday trip. Here are the rest of the Utah highlights.Thanksgiving Point:

 

Sledding (Siouxzy I stole your pictures):

 

In his old Marching band hoodie:

Babies holding babies:

Girl Cousins:

 

Lunch with Snow roommates and Gwen's new best friend, Etta: 

 

Dinner with my girls back at M street. Man I miss this house and these friends:  

Dinner with Regan's 2 childhood best friends. This was just really cute:
(Amy I stole your picture)

What a trip. 10 days wasn't long enough but we did get to see tons of friends and family and snow. I think we got out of there just before had I completely convinced myself that New York doesn't exist (no offense, New York).

Life Lessons

I'm sorry Gwen, if you want to have a baby in the city, you have to carry her everywhere.