Patiently Waiting…

We are patiently waiting the arrival of baby brother.  We decided on a name a few months ago…LUKE THOMAS.  We both just really like the name Luke (maybe he’ll grow up to be a physician like Luke in the Bible)…and Thomas is Pop and Uncle Jack’s middle name. We have finished the nursery and are ready for Luke to join our family!

Mommy and Aunt Jennifer painted these letters while vacationing in Gwynn’s Island…we love how they turned out!

Grandma and Pop bought this cross for Luke…it looks great with the color scheme of the nursery!

Rorie Scroggins, Mommy’s friend from work, painted a whale on the wall in the nursery (she also painted Gwynn’s tree in her nursery).

In this picture you can get a glimpse of Luke’s dinosaur quilt that Grammy made.  I know we will get lots of use out of this great quilt!

Aunt Jennifer got Luke this great crib…it matches the furniture we already had PERFECTLY!

The closet is already packed…and that’s just 0-3 month clothes.

Whale nightlight that Mommy used to have in her classroom at school…it fit in nicely with the whale theme.

Playing with Emerson

Brandon, Abbie and Emerson came by for a visit.

We got out Gwynn’s old tummy time toy for Emerson but Gwynn seemed to enjoy it the most.

She was moving all around and through it and almost sat on Emerson a few times.

We decided to go visit the baby brother’s room and let Gwynn and Emerson hang out in the crib.

You can fit a softball into Emerson’s dimples.

Emerson liked standing up in the crib.

Gwynn looks ginormous next to Emerson.

Couple of cuties.

Emerson got a bit cranky after a while as 4 month olds tend to do.

Goofing around

 

Gwynn is very good about playing on her own. We don’t have to constantly entertain her – but we do have to constantly watch her.

Here she is playing with her dolly.

She’s pretty good about putting her in the stroller the right way.

Here she is patting its head.

Getting the car seat ready for dolly.

Gwynn is strong as an ox and loves to move around containers full of toys.

She likes to take all the toys out and then put them back in. She does a good job putting the top back on although she hasn’t figured out how to snap (or unsnap) it.

Silly girl.

Maybe it’s time to potty train her.

Running around in the backyard

 

Bedtime Routine

Gwynn loves her bedtime routine. Here she is being still in the tub, which is a rarity. She’s usually trying to stand up or play with her toys.

She absolutely adores getting her teeth brushed. She’ll open her mouth wide as soon as she knows it’s teeth brushing time.

Here is she is fighting with daddy over the toothbrush so she can keep brushing her teeth.

1 Year Pictures

We had the same photographer that did Gwynn’s newborn pictures take some 1 year pictures too…they turned out great!

Back to School…

Daddy’s been working for a few weeks, but Mommy had to go back to school today.  Gwynn went to daycare at Mrs. Ouida’s and drop-off was a lot different than last year!  I guess she got used to being with Mommy and Daddy all summer, because she started crying when I left her today (her little lip was poked out and everything).  It was so hard to leave her, but I texted my friend that drops off her little girl and she said Gwynn was “happy as can be” when she got there.  That made me feel so much better.  I know it will take some adjusting for all three of us to get back into the school routine!

13 Months old

• Gwynn has very good receptive language skills. If we ask her to touch her head, she will. If we ask her to touch her mouth, she will. If we ask her to signal touchdown she’ll do that too.
• She is also great at imitating. If we shake or nod our heads she will too. When we wave she waves back.  She still isn’t saying many words, but we’ve heard a few new words every now and then, but it’s usually only one or two times and she refuses to repeat them on command!  
• Gwynn only takes one bottle now – at night. We’re working on weaning her off of that by dropping the amount in the bottle every few nights. Hopefully by 14 months she’ll be off the bottle completely.
• She only uses a pacifier for naps and bedtime.  When we take her out of her crib she’ll throw her lovey (“Ellie” the pink elephant) in the crib and she’ll take her pacifier out of her mouth and throw that in the crib. 
• Gwynn has warmed up to milk. She’ll drink it just about as well as she does juice, but definitely prefers it out of a bottle (we’re working on that).
• Gwynn has more toys than you can shake a stick at. She seems to enjoy her doll the most. Sometimes, though, she gets in a mood when she wants to switch between her toys every two minutes.
• It’s getting harder and harder to take Gwynn to church…she prefers being able to run around freely as opposed to sitting in our laps.  We’ve been able to placate her for the hour long mass by bringing cheerios, juice, and a variety of toys.  When little brother comes in September, Gwynn might get to know the church nursery pretty well!

Zoo trip #2,405

We decided to take advantage of our zoo membership before school starts back.  It’s more fun each time we go because Gwynn is a little more aware of what’s going on.

Gwynn spent about 5 minutes yelling “Roll Tide!” to this elephant.

Here Gwynn and Daddy are admiring the Lemurs.

Monkey see, monkey do.

We let her walk around for a while until she waltzed into the spider monkey cages.

A year from now she’ll actually listen to Daddy explaining what the animals are.

Mommy and Gwynn trying to get an animal’s attention.

Posing.

Just like her Daddy.