Gemma: 7 months

The time is passing so quickly and it doesn't even seem like that much has happened in the last month.  I'm a little late in posting this (what's new?), but better late than never!

Gemma is really the joy in our lives.  We love having her with us pretty much 24-7.  (Not to say that we don't have our moments when we'd love to give her to someone else! ;) ) Last week, she was babysat by my mom two days in a row as I had some business to take care of, and as silly as it sounds, we missed her!  Jeff, who works full-time from his home office, even said he missed her that week.  Okay. So enough gushing about how much we love her....I know everyone loves their babies, so I'm sure I'm not saying anything new here.  Here's what our baby G is up to these days:

-She is still scooting backwards and doesn't really seem to care too much about crawling forward.  She has now learned to scoot on her butt, too.  Girl can get where she wants to go without crawling!  I'm guessing she might skip it and move to walking sooner, but we'll see. Although her balance isn't great, she loves to be walked around the house.

-After an allergic reaction to pears (we think), she is back on the solids bandwagon.  She's started eating organic puffs and little pieces of our food, too.  I'm thinking to just try mostly feeding her pieces of food rather than get too involved in baby food.  In fact, she has already eaten whole peas, broccoli, pieces of bread and muffin, wait for it...cookie! (Gah. My mother. :) ) I don't intend to wean her from breastfeeding, but think this might be a good alternative especially since....

-Girl has 6 teeth and is working on 2 more!  Four bottom front teeth are the most prominent, and her two front teeth have shot through a bit, too.  She's currently working on the two to the sides of her front teeth, which may be why...

-She still doesn't sleep more than 3-4 hours at a time during the night.  I've had people ask me if I'm not sick and tired of getting up all the time, and the truth is, yes. It would be great to get a full 6 hours or so of uninterrupted sleep; however, its become my new norm. So, we'll go with it for now! I'll never get those precious moments when its just her and I bonding in the middle of the night back, so I'm not going to complain TOO much about it.

-She is learning to love new songs that I sing her.  If You're Happy and You Know It and Pat a Cake are still favorites, but she also now enjoys "If All of the Raindrops" and "Shake Your Sillies Out." (I'm not sure if those are the proper names for those songs, but you get the gist.)

-Gemma is getting very good at playing independently for decent chunks of time.  Every once in a while, she will whine when I walk away, but she quickly recovers when I tell her I'm still there. :)A

-Her brain is a little sponge right now. In the last couple of days she learned to wave "hi" and "bye." She is also clucking her tongue now.  I am loving this age!

Here are a couple of photos of our little chunk at the beginning of her 7th month.

Christmas 2011-Better Late than Never!

As I mentioned earlier, our little family of four celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve day.  We ate our apple dumplings, opened gifts, listened to Christmas music and just enjoyed the day with each other.  That evening, we headed out to church.  My brother's three youngest kids were in the Christmas program.  Each of them had to say a piece into the microphone and sing two songs with their Sunday School class.  All three did a great job--not needing any help with their parts at all!  It's so fun to watch them every year, and I look forward to when Gemma turns 3 and can participate, too.

Gemma opening a gift. Harper is waiting in the wings in hopes that she will need some help!

Our little family before Christmas Eve service.

After the program was over, we headed to Jeff's parents house.  Jeff's sister is lucky enough to celebrate her birthday on Christmas Eve, so even though we arrived a little late, we wanted to be there for her day, too. (Coincidentally, my sister celebrates her birthday on Christmas Day! We don't usually get to see her, though, so we make a quick call to her.)

Celebrating a birthday!

On Christmas Day, we opened gifts with the Lin family and my mother-in-law made "hot pot." (I'm not sure of the proper Chinese spelling, so I won't even try!)  It's basically a pot of boiling water that sits in the middle of the table. You pick the meats (scallops, thinly sliced beef, these Chinese balls of fish, ground pork balls, chicken, etc.) and veggies (mostly spinach and bok choy) that you want to boil and make your own little soup.  Delicious!

Gemma with G+G 

Gemma's pretty Christmas dress from Grandma

Harper felt she should have gotten more presents

Cousins in matching dresses. E is showing Gemma who is boss! :)

All three Lin babies!

It was a hectic weekend and Gemma didn't sleep well at Grandma and Grandpa's house. So, we were all a little exhausted, and ready to get back into our normal routine.  That didn't really happen, though, as we decided to pick up my niece Kaitlin on our way home. She spent a few days with us while she had days off of school.

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family on New Year's eve day so that my brother's kids could all be with us.  (It ends up working out really well this way, so we're really not driving all over in a couple of days span.)  I sadly forgot our camera from this day, but managed to steal a few pictures from Kaitlin's mom.  It was a fun day.  My mom made a big turkey dinner, my brother's kids said their pieces for everyone, and Kaitlin's family acted out the Christmas story with Gemma posing as baby Jesus. :)

My side of the family--Minnesota cousins!

Gemma and her oldest girl cousin, Kaitlin.

Our first Christmas traditions

Being a new family of three, I've been thinking about our own family Christmas traditions I want to create. It's difficult to think of them now since Gemma can't get very involved in them.  I figure the traditions will build slowly over the  years, and I'm excited to dream up new ideas every year.  

Jeff and I started our own little tradition of opening our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve day, as we usually have plans with our extended families that evening and on Christmas Day.  I also began making apple dumplings for breakfast that morning and that tradition continued this year.  They looked picture perfect this year, and I was prepared to take a picture and post it here along with the recipe....until Jeff had to do some work quickly (even though he had the day off), and I put them back in the still warm (apparently too warm) oven. They soon were too dark to be called picture perfect anymore, but they, thankfully, were still good enough to eat!

At any rate, you'll have to trust me that these are fantastic and easy, albeit pretty unhealthy.  Hey, its Christmas, right?  The recipe is from my mom, and I'm not sure where she got it from. 

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup orange juice

1 tube of crescent rolls

2 apples, peeled and quartered

Melt the butter, orange juice and brown sugar together on stove top. Let simmer for a few minutes on low.  Wrap each apple piece with a crescent roll and place in a baking dish.  Pour sauce over apples and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  (I sometimes half the sauce portion of this recipe to make it a little healthier, and its just as good.)

One new tradition we added this year was taking Gemma to see Santa Claus at the mall.  We chose a mid-week lunchtime to try to beat the crowds, and we were pleasantly surprised that no one was there at all!  I expected Gemma to cry immediately upon being placed on Santa's lap because she has become afraid of men the past couple of months.  (Mostly just white men...hehe. Really. She is not afraid of Jeff's dad or brother, but cries at the sight of my dad, brother, her godfather, and my brother-in-law.) Anyway, Gemma lasted a good 5 minutes with Santa before the water works started.  We were really proud of her!

Hey, hey! All is good!

Wait a minute! Who the heck are you?

And, we're done.

Again, I'm so excited to add more traditions as the years go on and our family grows. (And, no, I'm not making an announcement...just that we do plan to have more children in the future.) I can't wait to create these memories with my loved ones.

Playmates

I am super late in posting about this, but it was too fun to skip over.  Gemma and I were invited over to my friend, Ann's, house for a little Saturday morning play date with Ann's two boys, Thomas and Henry.  Thomas is 3 and Henry is 4 months older than Gemma--so about 11 months now.

I wondered how our first playdate with the Johnsons would go. Would the boys want to play with my little girl? Would Thomas be bored with my not very mobile Gemma?  My worries were immediately eased when I had a text exchange with Ann to let her know that we were running a little late. "No problem! Thomas is all ready for Gemma, lining up his cars for her."  Indeed, Thomas was adorable with my little G.  He separated out the "hard" cars that were too big for her and the softer, rubber cars that she could play with.

Henry played quite nicely, too, and tried to teach Gemma how to army crawl (something she has not picked up on yet).  Ann and I, or course, had great conversation along with our delicious coffee. It was fun catching up and we can't wait to get together again.

Henry and Gemma playing cars

Photo time! Gemma was so cute--she kept putting her hand on Thomas.

And, Thomas can read the a flirty signal apparently! I think you're both a little too young! ;)

Cindy Lou Who

Okay. I didn't mean to sound so Grinchy yesterday! I really do love the Christmas season. I love thinking of the perfect gift to get someone, making cookies, looking at the Christmas lights, and I really can't wait until Gemma is older and I can see her face light up at all of those things, too.  I guess I was feeling a little like Cindy Lou Who yesterday.  I just want to find and remember the true meaning of Christmas, and I suppose I've just had to try a little harder to find the Christmas cheer this year.

I'm just finishing up sending out the last of our Christmas cards and I am in love with how they turned out. (I was feeling a little guilty that you can't see the babe's face very well, but I've since come to terms with it.) We took the photos ourselves. Took the legs off of the couch in our basement (it was my grandma's), carried into our backyard, set up the tripod, and proceeded to take about 300 photos.  We learned pretty quickly that its difficult to get a dog and a baby to look at the camera, especially when there's no one behind it!  We ordered this card from Pear Tree Greetings, and I think the whole thing came together beautifully.

Here are a few fun outtakes from our little backyard session:

Can you spot Harper? 

Squirrel! Squirrel! Squirrel! (I also forgot to take Gemma's nuk out of her mouth.)

Wow! Jeff is REALLY happy.  Harper looks like a pouting teenager.

And now for one of my favorites of Gemma.  I was really tempted to make this our Christmas card, but we put it on an ornament for the grandparents instead.  The hat was given to G by her auntie, Sophie.

This is the raw image. Jeff did a bit of editing before we ordered it. :)

Do, do, do, do, do, do, do! It's Christmas!

Is anyone else having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year?  Maybe it's all the RAIN we're getting here in Minnesota. Maybe it's the disdain I feel for the even earlier start of Black Friday. (Clearly, I am not a Black Friday shopper. I am a mostly online shopper.) Maybe it's the fact that I've been to the mall more than I should during December. (Something I rarely do.) I don't know what my deal is, but I'm not feeling especially festive this year...even as I'm wrapping up sending the last of our Christmas cards today.

Being that this is Gemma's first Christmas, I have a lot of fears of her not knowing the real reason for the season.  I see people getting caught up in the gifts and the commercialization of it all--people who really know better--and it worries me.  Even though this is Gemma's first Christmas and we want it to be special, she really is too young to remember anything or to understand.  Therefore, we've decided to just wrap up a few things we planned on buying her anyway and letting her open them as her Christmas gifts. Mostly for the reason that she loves paper.

I came across this awesome post by Britt from the blog Gus and Lula, and I think it's a tradition I'd like to start for our family next year.  Four gifts. One want, one need, something to wear, something to read.  I don't know that we'll ban Santa Claus from our home. We haven't really talked about it. My hunch is that we'll still incorporate him, but not really put much emphasis on him.  Anyway, Britt's post is bringing me joy today and hope for our future.  And, so is this song. It's a new favorite this year.  Here's to getting in the spirit!

Gemma's 6 months old!

Holy moly! Where did the time go?  I haven't written about all of the fun things Gemma is doing.  She was 6 months old last week, but we had her 6 month appointment today.  I was surprised to learn that she has two more teeth just barely peeking out on the bottom!  I didn't really pay much attention to the bottom since I already knew she had two and knew that the next ones to come are usually the top. (She is also getting 4 up there, but they are not through yet.) Gemma had a big growth spurt at her 4 month appointment and was in the 90th percentile for height.  She has since tapered off, which the doctor says is normal.

Here are her stats:
weight: 16 pounds 8 oz. (62%)
height: 26 inches (61%)
head: 16.25 inches (19%)


And here are the fun things she's up to:

-blowing raspberries
-starting to get her top teeth
-sitting up all on her own
-not crawling yet, but scoots backward and pushes up on all fours
-eating solids here and there. We need to be more consistent, but I'm not big into pushing solids. She's eaten everything like a champ so far! We've done squash, carrots, pears, rice cereal, and bananas.  I think she may have had a reaction to the pears, though. Poor girl got a rash!
-loves her jumperoo and exersaucer
-loves paper or anything that crinkles
-loves touch and feel books
-we moved her into her convertible carseat because she outgrew the infant seat lengthwise.
-loves Harper and tries to "pet" her much to Harper's dismay.
-talks (ie screams) constantly. (Unless there are new people around.)
-loves to watch me cook and bake
-loves the songs "Pat a Cake" and "If You're Happy and You Know It"
-is now wearing 6-12 or 6-9 month clothing, mostly because she is too long for 3-6.
-swats at everything. Don't let her fool you! You will think she's being all sweet and touching your face gently, but you'll end up with a scratch or a smack in the face! :) Stinker!
-still waking up twice a night. Usually at 2 and 5. (Yes, I count 5 as night!) Although, on her 6 month birthday she slept through the night, which was a godsend for me because I was up the entire night with food poisoning. (I've never had it before and I would gladly go through natural childbirth again rather than have it again.) Some friends have suggested not feeding her and letting her cry, but I don't have the heart to do it. I'm not at my breaking point yet! :)

Gemma in her Christmas dress reject.  I really liked this one, but found one that looked better on her complexion!

Gemma today after her shots at the doctor.  She recovered pretty quickly!

I can't believe it has been about three months since my maternity leave technically ended, and I have not regretted my decision to stay at home for a moment. I don't think I've ever been happier. (Not to say that there are not challenging days!)  I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with Gemma.

I'm looking forward to watching her grow, change, and witness all of the new things she'll be doing in the next months.  Walking, talking, etc.  We're taking a baby sign class through ECFE starting in January, so it'll be fun to see if she picks up on that!