Let's meet in Okoboji. Again!

You may remember my last trip to Okoboji to hang out with my bf from college, Liz. Things were just a tad different "back then" and that was only a little over a year ago. Ha. Now she has THREE kids and I have one. Seeing them all together last weekend was so wonderful. And there's just something I absolutely love about sharing parenting stories with your closest friends. 

Things I love:

Liz's parents and aunt and uncle.

Anna's bedhead.

Mornings on the deck with coffee in hand.

Happy babies. And two year olds. And three year olds.

Bath time for three kids. Woah.

Dinners on a sandy beach with fabulous food.

Mirrors that make you look skinny.

Laying out on the dock and catching up on the latest.

Reading silly books about tickle monsters.

Swapping middle of the night stories.

Casey's pizza.

Max's knowledge about a broad range of topics. Like the solar system and town whistles.

Big lake house breakfasts.

Successful road trips. 

Coming home to daddy!

We love the Ogren/Koenig family! Thanks for another great Okoboji adventure.

22 Weeks

I'm a day and a half late, but guess what?! I turned 22 weeks on Wednesday, and FIVE months old on Tuesday. I'm a growin' girl!

• I went on a road trip to Okoboji, IA with JUST my mommy, and we had so much fun with her best friend from college and her three kids. I did so well on the 4 hour car ride that we only had to stop once each way! We sang songs, made funny faces at each other, stopped for some fresh air, diaper change and a snack, and took great naps. Me, not mommy. She was driving. I can't wait to go back to Okoboji someday. Maybe I'll even be able to go on a boat ride.

• My favorite new thing to suck on is my right foot.

• Rolling only to one side is sooooo 20 weeks. I can go both ways now AND from my tummy to my back. Whether I choose to is another story. Sometimes it's easier to cry and have someone come to my rescue and do it for me. I'm sure you can understand.

• I have shown a lot of interest in what people eat and drink recently, so mom and dad decided to try and feed me my first solid food Wednesday night. I can't say I'm a huge fan of what I like to call "megg" - breast milk mixed with an egg yolk. I know it's super good for me though, so I'm willing to give it another try another day. 

• I'm consistently waking up three times - 10:00, 2:00/3:00 and 4:00/5:00 and then sometimes I'll go back to sleep until 7:00, give or take 30 minutes. Unless I go to Miss Kathy's and then sometimes mommy has to wake me up b/c I'm still so sleepy. I'm usually down for the night around 7:00, but there's discussion about possibly pushing that back an hour or so. I'm not sure how I feel about that - this girl needs her beauty sleep. So much that my naps at daycare have gotten to be around 2 hours long or longer! And I often go down without a peep, or at least not too many peeps. Mom wishes Miss Kathy would come help during the nights b/c it seems she has the touch. 

• Speaking of Miss Kathy - I am not the youngest anymore! I have a new girlfriend who is three months old. She is very sweet and laid back. And bald, just like me. 

• I'll give you instant smiles if you sing or whistle at me.

• My 3-6 month clothes are very quickly getting to be too small. Well, let me rephrase that...too short would be more accurate. Thankfully high waters are still cute when you're 5 months old.

I think it's safe to say that I'm really fun right now. I've heard mom tell people that "she'd have 10 of me if she could." That's a lot of kids. All for now. Thanks for checking in to see what I'm up to!

Love,

Gwendolyn

2011 Sinclair Family Vacation

We had a wonderful week up north with my family the first week in August. Obviously with a 4 month old, we didn't know how things would go, but Gwendolyn was awesome and we had so much fun with her. I'm convinced that sometimes it takes seeing things through a child's eyes to make you appreciate them all over again. I loved how content she was outside. One morning she and I went down to the beach around 6:30 am and just enjoyed the calm lake and beautiful outdoors. She would take three naps a day, and thankfully our monitor reached down to the beach so we'd take it with us and off we'd go.

This was our second year at Hidden Haven Resort and I think it's definitely our new "home". The grand kids have a blast building sandcastles, romping around in the water, stomping stomp rockets, wrestling, doing puzzles, making s'mores and playing games. The adults enjoyed reading, fishing, skiing, laying out, kicking back with a beer or glass of wine, and trying to dominate Apples to Apples. Everyone loves the peacefulness, fresh air and, of course, quality family time.

And finally - after years and years of trying and failing - I got up water skiing! All three of my siblings and their spouses ski and love it, so I finally got up the courage to try it and low and behold....success. Robert pulled me at a very safe 15 mph - barely fast enough to stay above the water, but that is fiiiiiiine. I think those in the boat cheering me on were just as shocked as I was when I came up out of that water on my first try. I didn't even get my hair wet. Pro, I tell ya.

Here...see the fun for yourself *smile.

Fun with Ceci

I started watching Ceci on random Tuesdays and Fridays recently, and the girls have had a lot of fun together. She's 9 months old and has started crawling, so I'm guessing the next time she's at our house I'll be even busier than I was before *smile. It's an interesting challenge keeping up with two babies (I have a whole new appreciation for Miss Kathy and her clan of 8-ish kids depending on the day - one word: woah.) 

The hardest part is probably when they both need to eat and then the process of getting both down for naps. There have been moments I've been nursing (one plus to having a lightweight is being able to hold her with one arm) while giving Ceci a bottle with the other arm. It's quite humorous, but they're both pretty patient with me. And thankfully sweet Ceci girl is a great sleeper - I put her in the pack-n-play with her paci and she'll talk for a bit and then fall asleep. I hope that's something she teaches my daughter.

What do you do all day with two babies under 9 months, you ask?

Well, you....
Sing songs and dance as though no one is watching (the girls love my dance skillz).
Rotate them between jumperoo, play mat and Bumbo chair.
Provide them with a variety of different krinkle toys and things to chew on.
Warm bottles and prepare "meals."
(For the 9 month old, not yourself. You're lucky to get coffee on these days.)
Read books.
Play "I'm gonna getchyou!"
Take pictures.
Put them down for naps.
Change dirty diapers (record is 7 poopy ones in one day!)
Wash faces.
Gives lots of kisses and hugs.
Maybe start a load of laundry and maybe get something to eat yourself.

Maybe.

--------------

Gwendolyn is entertained just watching Ceci sometimes.

Changing rooms in the house helps a lot. They seem to like the change of scenery.

"Funny joke, Gwen!"

"I'll get that itch for you."

"Hold my hand for this next one."

Ceci is a bit of a diva with her bottle temperature, but I think I've figured out the perfect warming time and temp. She's adorable though and super sweet and the three of us have a lot of fun. I'm exhausted by the end of the day, but I love a good challenge and of course the extra cash is a huge blessing as we're trying to save money and get my car paid off. It's amazing how you pray for certain things, and God opens doors.

He's good like that.

20 Weeks

Happy Wednesday! Can you believe that I'm 20 weeks old already?! Speaking of 20 weeks, mom says she remembers just like it was yesterday going to my 20 week ultrasound where they were very tempted to find out if I was a boy or girl. They waited though and say it was the best surprise ever. Although I think the time I rocket pooped on mom - twice -  during a diaper change in the back seat of her car would come in a cloooooose second.

• I was at a really cool resort with all six of my boy cousins and grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles for a whole week! We built sand castles, went skiing and tubing, played games, caught some BIG fish, watched movies, read books, made smores over the fire, took naps and watched the sun rise. It was my favorite vacation so far!

• Mom and dad bought a water flotation for me to use in the lake, but I am still a little bit small for it and was.not.a.fan. Maybe it was because they put me in it too fast and the water was chilly. We'll never know. I did look pretty darn cute in my new swimmin' suit though.

• My four month check-up went well. Mom didn't cry during my shots this time, so I'd say that was a success. I, on the other hand, was very sad. Those shots make my legs hurt! 

My stats were:

Height: 26 1/4 - 97% 

Weight: 13.09 oz - 50%

Head - 16.5 - 75%

• I'm laughing now! My daddy is very silly and funny. My mommy tries really hard too.

• Daddy took me to the doctor today because I had been running a low temp and red dots had appeared on my head. Verdict: Roseola. The doctor said we just have to let it runs its course. Thankfully it's not serious, and I'm mostly back to my happy-go-lucky self. I did a lot of snuggling with mom when we were home together on Tuesday.

Being 20 weeks old is fun!

Love,
Gwendolyn Rebecca