Thanksgiving 2009

We had visitors this year! YAY!

My parents and my sister Deb and her husband Dave came up to visit us this Thanksgiving and it was wonderful! My parents stayed for 10 days and Deb and Dave for 3.5. We had so much fun and Gwen got a lot of needed Grandparent time. My parents watched Gwen for about 9 of the 10 days they were there so Jason could finish his work and so we could go take my sister and Dave around the town. It was nice having time alone with another couple (especially since it was my sis!) but what was even nicer was seeing Gwen grow from such a small time of interaction with others. She loved it and actually cried when my mom and dad didn't get back in the car at the airport. It really breaks our hearts. We will move back sometime, but not yet. My parents on the other hand keep saying they will move out here, LOL!!

We did all the touristy things like Macy's Parade, Macy's windows, Rockefeller Center / Tree, Bus Tour, Ground Zero, South Street Seaport, The Rockettes, Central Park Strawberry Fields, Perry Street (for my sister who is a HUGE Sex in the City fan...)and of course hit up some bars and good food :)

Gwen really loved the parade and all the balloons. I wish we would have gotten closer, but we arrived so late because of a train mishap that we were about 100 feet into a side street across from Central Park West. We didn't get to see any of the bands or floats, but the Balloons were amazing (although oddly enough seemed to have a lot to do with Balls...right everyone?!?! hehe) and my sister and I decided we are going to invent the Pocket Bleachers :) (copyrighted so back off, lol)
Here are some of my favorites of Gwen oogling over the balloons!



Snoopy looks like he is going to be crushed between Jason and Gwenie!



Of course Gwen needed her own balloon, we love Nemo!





Jason and myself cooked Thanksgiving dinner for everyone too! Dave helped with the gravy because I did't have any patience for gravy this year, lol. Deb helped me make her baked sweet potatoes since last year she never told me to drain them and I ended up making what I like to call, vomit soup. I will say, this year the baked yams ended up being my favorite thing! It was a wonderful meal and such a relief that we actually have a dining room table now, that 20lb turkey would have made the card table buckle, LOL! I did end up making Turkey Noodle Potato Soup with some of the left overs and we STILL had turkey left!



My mom took some pics of the decorations and of the food making and the final product so I will post them as soon as I get them. Can't wait till Xmas now, we miss everyone!

Spiderman

My parents bought Gwen a Spiderman mask for the fun of it a while back. She likes to put it on and walk around wearing it. We thought she just figured it was a hat or something, lol. UNTIL last night.

Jason was gone and Gwen and I were playing in the living room when I heard her talking to the DVDs. She was pointing at them (specifically 3 of them) and giggling and pointing at her face. I just sat there listening because it is one of my favorite things...listening to her conversations with random items.

I finally went over to her and asked her what she was saying and she pointed again at the DVDs then her face. I looked at the DVD she was pointing to and it was Spiderman (all 3 of them) and I about cracked up! I then asked her where her Spiderman mask was and she ran off to dig into the toy chest and pulled it out!

So for the first 10 minutes of So You Think You Can Dance, Gwen was dancing with a Spiderman mask on and THAT was entertainment. I took a pic with my phone. Now all she needs is a Spiderman doll for sure!



Don't worry, she can breathe!

Mommy turns 28!

Jason surprised me this year with a wonderful Birthday night. I knew he was going to make dinner, but I was not expecting him to bake a cake OR paint me a picture. I was so very excited and surprised, it was the best.

I came home from work to a great meal waiting for me. A candle in a yellow cake with chocolate frosting (my favorite!) and then Gwen walked out of Jason's office to bring me my present. It is a huge painting that she helped with. I don't mean like her little hand print is on it or she made one line. She actually used crayon and colored all over it then Jason used his paint and blended it in with the crayon! I started crying it was so beautiful and meaningful.

Here are some pics.



Here is wher eyou can really see the parts where Gwen used her red crayon. Jason helped her make the curls, but the lines are all her!



My yummy cake and dinner waiting :) I have the best soon to be husband and baby in the world! I love you!



We also decided to purchase a dining room table off of craigslist and will be picking that up tonight. 6 chairs, table with leaf to make it a square, all for $150! Our good friends Randi and Mike are coming over with their truck to help us get it from Hoboken to JC, very sweet of them. So, this is our bday/xmas gift to ourselves as well. It will be needed for Thanksgiving when my mom, dad, sister and her husband come out to visit :) We won't have to sit on the floor and use books to hold our food anymore, HA!

The spot :)

Here it is! This is the spot where Jason proposed to me :) The cliff at the park that overlooks NYC. Just imagine a full moon to the left of the Empire State Building and you've got it. It really is more beautiful in person...the camera does not do it justice, but it works for a reference. Ahhh, I'm getting all smiley again!

Growing like a weed...

Well, we know what Gwen needs for Christmas.
CLOTHES!
Seriously, she doesn't need toys or books or anything else but CLOTHES! 24 months and above. She is growing like a weed! I am going to have to cut off the footies of all her 12 and 18 month pjs...she has about 5 long sleeve shirts and maybe 3 pairs of pants that fit right now, talk about growth spurt!!

Santa will probably bring her a toy or two, but I called him and told him clothes as well...an elf took the message so I hope he gets it! :)

We are getting really excited for Thanksgiving. My mom, dad, sister Deb and brother in law, Dave are all coming out to visit us! My parents are staying for 10 days (it's their magic number) and Deb and Dave for 4. We are definitely going to the Macy's Day Parade then coming home where Jason and myself will be cooking them a home cooked meal! (Yes, we know how to cook...this will be our 4th Turkey!) The rest of the time will be filled with The Rockettes, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, eating good food and shopping! It will be jam packed, but totally worth the craziness. Gwen is very excited. She actually says "Grandpa" so maybe we can get a "Grandma, Deb and Dave" out of her, too!

We also realized that we now have a babysitter :) for at least 1 or 2 nights (parents) and we NEVER have this so we are taking advantage of it! We are going into the city for a friends bday party on the 21st of Nov. and then probably go to a movie one night during that next week.

We are decorating our house this weekend for Xmas. Early, I know, but we don't want to waste any days when the family gets here decorating, so this weekend is it! We are pretty excited about Gwen seeing the decor this year...she is so into pretty things lately and loves to point at Jesus in the manger (in her book) and say, "baby" and then give him kisses. I am sure Baby Jesus loves it.

I have a Toys for Tots fundraiser for my Mary Kay business this weekend that we are looking forward too. Should be a good turn out of a bunch of rich New Jersiers, lol...or just loud, HA!

We are also having a Hideous Holiday Sweater party on Dec. 12th. It is combined with our overdue housewarming party. Food and drinks and a prize for the worst Holiday Sweater. Monica and myself are going to Goodwill next week to look for sweaters. Monica is my preggo office buddy (she got me this job!) and is having a girl that cannot wait to play with Gwen...we know this, yes. hehe.

Other than getting the holidays started we have been researching and planning the wedding. Mainly researching...we have not nailed down anything at all besides our wedding party, but things are coming along very nicely now that I am not dieing of H1N1 anymore.

If you have not seen the wedding website, please check it out HERE.

I will be posting pics from Amy and Patrick's wedding we were at in October. Jason was a groomsman, I was a bridesmaid and Gwen was the flowergirl. All 3 of us wore dresses, LOL! Actually, it's partly true. The groomsmen wore Kilts. It was really cool. And yes, they had undies on!

Can't believe my birthday is coming up. Less than 10 days now and I will be 28, WOWZA! I think I am OK with it. Almost married, great job, beautiful wonderful baby girl...yes, I can do this...I can be 28. Still...wow.

New Words / New Quirks / New Tantrums

Gwen's vocabulary is getting wider. Lately she is putting 2 words together and stringing long sentences together of new sounds. Some of the most recent add ons to her vocab are:
"Hey dudes"
"Eddie No"
"No, no, no, no, no" (said in a singsongy voice)
"So you"
"Butt"
"Bath time" and that usually comes right as she starts to pull her clothes off and get really excited, I swear she will be a swimmer or at least a perpetual bath taker!
"Grandpa"
"Plee" is Please....and it's very rare, lol.

Some of her new quirks is clicking her tongue to call the cat over to her. Patting her legs with both hands to call the cat to her. Yelling at Eddie and hunching over to get real into it. Getting the Yoga mat out, rolling it out and bending over to do stretches with mom. Pointing to her dirty diapers when she soils them. Putting away groceries when we bring them home...more like rearranging the fridge! "Vaccuming" with mommy. She also has a CD player in her room now and everytime she wakes up she points to it and she says "on" and starts to dance. Her hair is long enough now that we can put it in pig tails/pony tail but that doesn't last long because she pulls them right out and then wants you to do it again!

We have been noticing some tantrums lately. They seem to happen when it is time to put away the crayons or get out of the tub the most, lol. But in all seriousness, we read about it being natural, but everytime she reaches any type of limit on what she can do or how high she can reach or if she can't get something through something else...she tries again, and then gets super frusterated. It's actually really funny, but we just try and "show her" what to do now. So far, no crazy fits in public. She really is a public baby.

Coloring. The girl loves coloring. We have a big roll of paper that we just roll up to the next open spot and date it. She absolutley loves it. We started showing her how to trace things and that resulted in her trying to color the items, but she still thinks it's cool.

Happy Halloween 2009!

It was Gwens first time Trick-o-treating and she did pretty well with it.






She ended up being a puppy dog and she loved it! The costume was a bit small so we cut the neck area to give her more room. She barked and growled and did very good at taking a piece or 4 of candy from people and then putting the candy in her Princess Pail.



Everyone loved her and thought she was a beautiful dog! One Tinkerbell little girl wanted to take a picture with Gwen, it was adorable!

Here is a montage of the Halloween fun taken and created from our new Flip camera. Oh yea, since I was so sick we didn't have time to actually carve a pumpkin so she colored some instead on paper!



We were also very excited that the family on the 1st floor of our 3 family house decided to decorate. Our place was one of the only houses on the block that even decorated! I have to say, it's not as awesome as my parents house and I think if we would have used some of our decorations it would have been even better, but it was a big hit either way. Here are some pics!