Some Philly Fun

We got crazy and went to Philly one day so this post is dedicated to our touristy day in Philly. Yes, Jason wore his Red Sox hat :) Some things we saw were the Liberty Bell, Constitutional Hall, a Museum (I forget the name...) the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Ben Franklins Grave. We love Philly. Jason and I went before when he was in the Comic Convention 2 summers ago and loved it then too. I think Kyle had a great time, Gwen too!










Jason has some big news about Philly. He fed Gwen her first bite of steak from the famous Geno's Cheesesteaks in the middle of the Philly ghetto, lol. Ok not really the ghetto but it was definitely not upperclass, lol. Honestly, it didnt even matter, this place was AMAZING and I am not a big meat eater. That Philly cheesesteak got better with every bite. The place was packed and super friendly. A great way to end the day. Congrats Gwen, you got steak from Philly...not many can say that, lol (below is a generic pic of Geno's...we totally forgot to get a pic!)

Oh yea...

Gwen has started walking by herself now!!! I don't remember if I wrote that yet or not and I don't want to go back and read through, lol so I just decided to post it again to let everyone know! Her first steps were April 17th, Friday night...Uncle Kyle was here...ok, I think I remember writing this now...btu either way, SHE WALKED!! And sicne then she has walked quite a bit more...I will be posting videos soon :)

Computer works again!

Finally...we got a plug in for my computer so now I can finish the fun pics from our tourist week with Kyle! Enjoy!

In this post we have the Statue of Liberty and Central Park. Both of those ventures took almost the whole day each so we got many a pic :) Oh yea, check out the one of her in her stroller looking to the side...actually check out her hand...the gesture of her fingers (you will totally get it) was an accident, but too good! She is becomming a true New Yorker, HA!













Of course we had to do some Ghostbusters sightseeing while we were in the city! We've got the Museum AND the man hole from the 2nd movie. We have their firehouse (that is a working one right now) and then of course, Jason and Kyle worshiping the side of the firehouse in their own ways, lol.











Gwen let Kyle hold her...quite a bit actually! This is proof that she is not scared of people, she has to get used to you before she will just go to you :) She LOVED Kyle. It is going to be fun to see if she remembers him when we go back to Iowa!



Bought a jogging stroller off craigslist for $50 (originally $200!) and Gwen LOVES it! It's ok for mom too although mom's knees hurt after running on the cement for long periods of time...gee, could catching be the culprit? hehe.

Gwen's 11 month very merry unbirthday update!

Hello again...man, too long inbetween posts I know. It has gotten tougher since my computer is out of order at the moment and Jason takes his to school with him so I hate to say, but the rest of the pictures from the NYC visit from Kyle will have to be postponed due to the temporary death of my computer! When it is back up and running I will post the other fantastic-ly touristy pics from his visit for you to all enjoy. :)

This update is to let every know that before Gwen's 11 month Very Merry UnBirthday she took her first steps alone! She took 2 steps on 4/17 and then we grabbed the camera and got 1 more on video that same night. Since then she has taken a few more here and there but man o man did we FREAK out when she did it for the first time! I think it scared her when we cheered so loud! HA! Oh our little baby is growing up...stop!!!!

Some other cute things she is doing now is clapping...oh man do we love clapping...we find ourselves re discovering how amazing certain little things are again as well. Take clapping for example. It is something we do to celebrate someone or something and is done without really thinking about it...but to a baby it is excitement and wanting more...it's a whole new way to communicate and I have grown to LOVE clapping! lol!

She says "mom" now...and not mama, or mommie or any other option of the word. "Mom" and sometimes it comes out like she is a little Brittish baby and we hear, "Mum" and I just die laughing. She says "Up, Hi, Dada, Hey, Yeah" the most...then of course adorable baby babble that I am sure will turn into more words than you can imagine soon enough. The mom thing just makes me laugh so much though.

New York City w/ Uncle Kyle!

Our friend Kyle came to visit us this week and the first 2 days have been so jam packed, Gwen is loving it! She warmed up to Kyle after 1 full day and let him pick her up and carry her to the car...she loves him :). We got some great pics of our trip in to the city and Gwen even met her first celebrity, Vanessa Hudgens! Oh yea, she was so excited about being in the city and seeing all the people that she only napped 1 time around lunch and then stayed up the whole time until about midnight that day...it was nuts! Her and I did take the next 2 days to recover and today, being Easter, decided to have the whole house partake in the "Sweatpants Easter Day" so we all relaxed and ate great food...she tried Ham, too!

Here are some pics from the big day in NYC for Gwen. We went to the Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park, Times Square, Ground Zero, City Hall, Wall Street, Midtown Comics, the Red Bus tour & the Night Tour...oh man, the list goes on and on...and tomorrow we are going in to see Liberty Island and Central Park and maybe even the HQ of Ghostbusters, HA!

Enjoy the pics!
















And here is Gwen's 1st celebrity experience...I think she was more interested in her hat than the camera, she didn't look, but Vanessa did lol. This was at the NBC Store.

Almost 11 months old

Well, we have had a busy beginning of Spring and it is flying by...she will be one soon, CRAZY! So I have not been blogging as much and I think it is because I don't have a computer in front of me every single day lately, HA! We have plenty to catch up on! Gwen now has 8 teeth! Just recently she has tried chicken and ham but she does seem to not want to chew new foods, but we are working on that. :) She has completed her 1st session of Swim Lessons at the Y and we decided that I can just take her and do exactly what they did during the class for this session b/c it was kind of pathetic...lol. She can get back into the lessons when she is a bit older and they have things they actually do. She is almost walking now! Very crazy to watch her go from crawling backwards to almost walking on her own in such a short time. We did purchase a walker off of craigslist for $10 and it has become her new favorite toy...she walks around the house following us into different rooms and running, it is hilarious. She has stood alone for about 5 sec or so without falling and walks w/ holdin on to things all the time. I bet she walks by her 1st bday, CRAZY!!! So here are some of her latest photos (9 mths and above) in no particular order, enjoy!

First time in a swing at a park!


Happy St. Patrick's Day!


Grandma Judy and Grandpa Steve bought me this for winter...I finally got to wear it...IN MARCH!


Just checking my email...she does this all the time, too cute!


Grandma Judy got this for me in Cabo Mexico before I was born, I am big enough to wear it...and I MISS HER, cant you tell!?


I LOVE the shower!





It was Blue day at daycare and I had to represent!


Gabby, Gwen's friend here in NJ just LOVES playing w/ Gwenie!



In case you did not see Gwen's Easter dress in the Bunny picture, here is the "Before" shot...note the cute shoes!




We have updated some parts of Gwen's room, here are some pics of it...really it is our room, but about 3/4 of it is hers, ha!







Oh yea, she has also learned how to say "Mum" instead of "Mom" and it is down right hilarious! She gets all into it and makes the m's long, I love it! She is warming up to people more as well and faster, good thing! She LOVES other kids and now when I go into daycare to drop her off or pick her up she is totally fine...go off and plays without even looking back at me! OH and she waves now!!! She usually does it w/ Hi, but she is learning bye bye, too. She does say "hi" too and it's just so cute. She had a week where she basically slept the WHOLE week and we thought it was here 8th tooth, but in the end we found out why. She had a growth spurt! How did we know? Well, at the beginning of the week she was fitting into all of her 6 mth clothes (yes at 9 mths) and at the end of the week-o-sleep she NO LONGER fit into ANYTHING. No joke. She grew out of her pj's AND her pants! I had to put anything under 9 mths away and then go out to Target and purchase all 12 mth clothes on sale that I could find! I am not kidding, it is visible! She is getting taller! So, the 12 mth clothes are a bit big, but at least she is not wearing high water pants and the buttons are not popping open on her pj's anymore, HA!