Musical Couches

So our friends Bethany and Nick from Sawdust and Embryos so graciously sold us their awesome microsuade couch and chair. WE LOVE THEM! But with purchasing a new couch comes the question, what to do with our old ones? We have a LazyBoy Recliner and couch that have served us well for the last 3 years, but it was time for an upgrade! So, my sister in law wanted our old couch (and possibly the recliner) with the same problem. What was she going to do with her old couches?

So here's the dilemma, she got rid of her couches yesterday at noon. She was couchless. We weren't picking up our furniture from Beth and Nick until 6, so we got my dad's truck a few strong men, and moved our old couch to Angie's, which in return left us couchless! It was a shitshow to say the least. But you will all be glad to know that we all have our new furniture now and we all survived the day! LOL!

I would also like to thank Beth and Nick for the wonderful dinner last night and the great convo, not to mention the amazing new (to us) furniture we purchased from them! Thanks again!!!

Here's a few pics of the new couch and chair that we are in love with!

Don't mind my daughter who so fast and furiously crawled to the computer cord while I was snapping this picture. And here's a few more of Gwen up to no good...

there she goes...

got it!

Mom please don't take this dangerous cord away from me! I really want to put it in my mouth!

And for any of you wondering, I took these pictures to prove that Gwen will beeline it straight for anything that she's "not supposed to have." After taking these photos, I promptly removed the computer cord from her chubby hand death grip!

Disclaimer: No babies were harmed in the making of this blog post. LOL!

4 generations

So my mom thought it would be a great idea to have a picture taken of the 4 generations of our family. After a little wrangling of the children and arriving fashionably late as usual with both my sister and I's cell phones dead, here's the finished product! 4 generations of family!

From left Aubree, Megan, mom, grandma, me and Gwen. Thanks Brittany for taking our picture!

A little Christmas tree action

My mom always said that it's bad luck to put up your Christmas tree before Thanksgiving. Well I broke the rules this year. Our tree is up and decorated as of yesterday. Since it's Gwen's first Christmas, we're all about making a HUGE deal out of the holiday season. We're doing lights, stockings, the tree, ridiculous amounts of gifts for our child who will have more fun with the boxes, and after all is said and done, my husband, daughter, and I will have no choice but to find a bigger home! (Due to the large in size and mass quantity of gifts for Gwen.) True story...I know you all thing I'm kidding, but with Christmas, and then her 1st birthday 3 months later? YA we're in BIG trouble!! (and will most likely be broke) but what the hell right!? She only has one 1st Christmas and only one 1st birthday. That's my excuse, and I think it's a pretty good one! Here's some pictures of the tree and Gwen checking it out of course...

There you have it folks, Gwen's first Christmas tree! She's pretty excited about the lights, and tries to rip open her presents at any given opportunity. Christmas should be lots of fun this year!

Road Trip

So Cody and I decided to purchase a new video camera, to capture all of Gwen's "firsts." We were planning on going to Ames, but at the last minute decided to go to Jordan Creek in Des Moines instead. Which gave me an excuse to visit stores other than just Best Buy. With Gwen all packed up, we decided to hit the road! Here's a few pictures of her chillin in the backseat on her cell...

I know, I know, she's front facing. We switched her due to the fact that she violently ripped her mirror down and her feet are crammed up against the back of the seat when she's rear facing. She's over 20 pounds, I know she's not 1 yet, but she's in 12 month clothes, that counts right?

Santa Baby

Remember when you believed in Santa? My sister and I forced my brother to "believe" until he was like 16 years old, because we knew if Santa brought Kyle presents, he would have to bring us presents too! We were so tricky!

Well times have changed, and now I'm Santa. I will shop the best deals, get my daughter the coolest and most high tech gadgets, spend an obscene amount of money, and then let this fictional character take credit for all my hard work. Damn you Santa, damn you. Being the procrastinator that I am, I had not done a lot of Christmas shopping up until yesterday. I purchased a few items for Gwen (like 10) and then got all the fancy wrapping paper, bows etc. I spent yesterday afternoon tackling some of my gift wrapping, and I must say, I'm pretty impressed with the results.

Here's a look at the supplies

and the finished product

a few cute ornaments that I just had to purchase for the hubs

and the result of a long day of shopping with the little one

We didn't even make it through the door. She was out as soon as I sat her on the floor. Shopping is hard work! My next challenge, BLACK FRIDAY! Needless to say, Gwen will not be attending. She will be home with nana while her crazy mom goes shopping at 3 am!

PS- please notice the nasty stain on the carpet behind Gwen. Yes this is what old cruddy carpet looks like. The reason we will soon be getting new carpet for our living room! YAY!! Merry Christmas to ME!

Lucky

Although I was sad to leave my job, I no longer have to drag myself out of bed in the morning and hastily throw myself together for work. Not to mention dreading the fact that I'm going to be away from my daughter for the next 8 hours. Instead of the annoying alarm clock and cell phone going off at the same time, I now wake up to Gwen's mobile (which she turns on by herself) like "hey mom get your ass outta bed!" and her sweet little innocent voice (although not so innocent) "mum mum mum, dadadadadadada!" So much more enjoyable to wake up to, let me tell ya. And even better? This is what I see, every morning... EVERY morning.

I am blessed to get to see this fat happy face and crazy hair every morning, instead of going to work and dealing with smelly patients and numbers all day. I'm so lucky!

A visit from cousin Aubree

So my sister has an appointment in Des Moines today, so she brought Aubs over this morning to hang out with her favorite cousin Gwen! And of course the girls are having a blast! Here's the proof...

If you look closely in the background, you can see crumbs on the floor from Aubree. The worst part is, if you read my previous post, you know just how much Gwen hates the vacuum. And unfortunately, I just got done vacuuming right before Megan and Aubree got here, sending my daughter into panic mode. And due to Gwen crawling around, Aubree left me no choice but to have to vacuum again due to her trail of crumbs. It was tragic to say the least. But I would love to have a daily trail of crumbs in my house from Aubree, because that means she's been here. And we miss her. Very much.

Things I learned today...

I learned that Gwen LOVES her rice cereal. And that no matter how hard you try to keep her clean while feeding her, you will be unsuccessful at doing so. And another thing... rice cereal is like cement, even if you wipe her face immediately following breakfast, she will have evidence this morning's cereal extravaganza on her face until bath time tonight.

I have also learned that Gwen HATES the vacuum. Here's a picture of Satan himself...

And finally, I've come to the sad realization that there are 5 bins of baby clothes that I need to sort through, some don't fit anymore, some are hand me downs from Aubree Sue, and some I haven't even looked at yet. This will be my next project to tackle...

In conclusion, I have a lot of work to do! Wish me luck!

Day 1

So today is my first day staying at home with Gwen. So far, so good. Our day has consisted of the following...

1. waking up at 8:30 am
2. eating breakfast (coffee for mom, bottle for Gwen)
3. Dora
4. Playing with every toy in the house
5. Reading books
6. Hanging out in our pjs!
7. And of course...blogging about it.

And since last night was trick or treat, I thought I would post a few pics of my lil giraffe.

and here's some pics of our exciting first day home together!

breakfast...

books...

and our super cool pjs!
I am looking forward to many new adventures with my baby girl. In the meantime I'm learning Spanish watching Dora, who knew staying home could be so educational?