One Year Later

What a difference a year makes!

I was 25 weeks pregnant in the picture on the left and then last Sunday with Gwendolyn after church. It's so amazing to think that that was her in my tummy and now she's up and crawling and making us giggle constantly. I can hardly believe she's 9 months old TODAY.

So excited for her first Christmas!

Wet rag & stairs

This girl loooooves her daddy. He is silly and gentle and loving and playful. She doesn't react the same way to me or anyone else when I try to replicate the game. I take no offense. He's irreplaceable.

I told ya the game was fun *smile.

You know how I love to capture big first-time events so of course I was tickled when Tom and I were both home to witness Gwendolyn going up her first stair all on her own. I had been her assistant one other time when her pj's made it too slippery, but this - my friends - was all Gwenny.  I need to tape her going up our carpeted stairs - her wobbly-ness and little toot bottom are just adorable.

 I pray the true reason for the season is upon your heart this day. I know how easy it is to get lost in the gifts and the wrapping and the decorations and the food and lose sight of the most important gift of all - Jesus Christ. Now that I am a mother and have experienced the birth of my own child, His birth has taken on a whole new meaning. He was born to save us and to set us free. What a Savior! We are so undeserving yet so in need of His grace and mercy.

 Silent Night

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon Virgin Mother and Child

Holy Infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight

Glories stream from heaven afar

Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ, the Saviour is born

Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night

Son of God, love's pure light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth"

And with that, the Barntsens wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

December (so far) in pictures....

I absolutely love her "excited" face. How can you not?!

My parents recently brought me one of my old dolls "Amy." And 10+ other boxes of old Barbies, dance costumes, etc that are waiting for me in our garage. (Dad's on a roll and cleaning out the attic!) Gwendolyn thought she was awesome despite everyone else thinking she's scary.

Could it be the hair?

Or the eyes that don't close?

Either way, I used to LOVE her and carry her around and pretend I was her mommy.

Now I have a REAL baby girl that I get to carry around on my hip.

I like the real baby much better *smile.

Meeting Santa. Took all of 5 minutes from start to finish - if that. I have heard "horror" stories of long lines and extravagant fees. No thanks!

Jamie and Diedra came to visit us from BOLIVIA! Well, kind of. They came to see their families after being gone for almost a year and they were mostly interested in meeting Gwendolyn for the first time. It's fine. I know she's cuter. (Please ignore the carrot stains on her face.)

Love these girls! Diedra taught us so much about child birth and she WILL be the doula at our next one! Due to their move "down south", she wasn't able to be there for Gwen's, but she taught us as much as she could before they left.

Cousin Grant's Christmas program - he sang his 30 second solo perfectly! Adorable. Cutest 6-year old Joseph I know.

So nice to have Tom's brother's family only 35 minutes away now so we can enjoy all of these fun family memories we otherwise would miss out on!

Catching up on Survivor episodes...

Miss Kathy offers her daycare parents a night out so Gwen went over to her house from 5-8 pm last week. Kathy is such a blessing to us - I mean, how sweet is that?!

Tom and I got to enjoy a nice dinner at The Lob (Red Lobster) and he surprised me with a pretty blue box..."to thank me for all I do for our family" and just because he loves me. And Merry Christmas, even though we don't technically exchange Christmas presents. 

New pearl earrings! I'll treasure them forever.

She's officially found the railings of her crib...

Gwendolyn's dedication at church was very special. We had an entire row and a half of family there showing love and support, which meant so much to us. Tom and I have been extremely blessed by our church family and have been amazed at how God is working. We meet in a local daycare/school and God has been so gracious to us to meet so many of our needs. He is good and we are blessed to be able to worship Him. Gwendolyn is a gift from above, and I am truly honored to be her mama.

I realize there are still days left in December, but I know we'll be busy busy bees the next week with getting ready, packing and hitting the road to spend time with our families so I wanted to get these posted. We are looking forward to celebrating Gwendolyn's first Christmas and the birth of Jesus, who is the most important and treasured gift of all!

38 Weeks

Hi everybody! I turned 38 weeks old last Wednesday. Mommy had a well...mommy moment and wrote 40 weeks on my sign only to discover the next day that I won't be 40 weeks old until the 28th. I forgive her.

Things have drastically changed around here.  Just when you think they're slowing down (ha!), they look you in the face and say, "NOT!"

• I am now pulling myself up on toys, the ottoman, mommy's legs when she's sitting in the recliner and whatever else sturdy enough to hold roughly 17 lb of cuteness. I have tried using the kitchen cupboards with no luck. Turns out they're too flat. Maybe next time.

• And I'm going up stairs! I tried and tried and finally went up my first stair last week. Now it's one of my favorite hobbies. Play with toys, eat, sing songs, go up the stair, play with toys, pull on mom's hair, go up the stair. It's so fun. They (the parents) put me up to the challenge of the big staircase tonight and with little hesitation, off I climbed! You'd think I'd been climbing stairs my entire life.

• I stand up in my crib now. And it never fails, I'm almost always standing in the corner with eyes glued to the door when I am sad and want someone to come pick me up. It's odd but mommy always smiles at me when she sees me like this. She says that no matter how sad I am, it's one of the cutest things she's ever seen in the whole wide world. I've also discovered that it's pretty cool to bite on the crib railings. Good thing they bought protective coverings!

• I have tried more and more new foods - craisins, turkey, string cheese, beans, and most recently oranges. Mmmmm. Daddy also found me gluten-free puffs, which I love!

• Meeting Santa was fun. He's not scary like I had heard, and I liked his white beard and jingle bell necklace. No lines and free - can't beat that!

• Miss Kathy offered her daycare parents a "night out" so I got to go over to her house for dinner last Tuesday and play with my friends until 8:00 pm. We made crafts, played with toys and watched a movie while mommy and daddy went out for dinner and ran some errands.

• I went to my big cousin Grant's Christmas program - he had a solo and played Joseph, father of Jesus. I stood or sat on my Mimi's lap almost the entire time and loved watching the big kids and listening to the pretty songs.

• I was dedicated at my church. I had a lot of family come and support me and I love them all so much for that. Mommy dressed me in a pretty white dress with matching headband and everyone came over for sandwiches and cake afterwards. I feel so blessed. Mommy and daddy take their pledge before the congregation and God very seriously and made some very important promises that day. They agreed to the following:

1.  Do you recognize these children as the gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for  God's blessing?

2. Do you now dedicate your children to the Lord who gave them to you, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to Jesus Christ?

3.  Do you pledge as parents that, with God's fatherly help, you will bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives?

4.  Do you promise to provide, through God's blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of your children, looking to your own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them?

5.  Do you promise, God helping you, to make it your regular prayer that by God's grace your children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all his promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey his teachings?

I am well loved.

I hope you have a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas. It may not be "white" this year, but I hope it's Merry.

Love,

Gwendolyn Rebecca

Slooooow motion...

Tom and I got a new camera with a slow motion video option on it so we decided to try it out. Tom's instructions to me were to "get in a fight" so I did. And obviously I won. So clearly.

I feel like making slow motion videos could easily become a fun pastime. You should try it.

Wordless Wednesday

November in pictures

Two teeth! (And two more on the top that we never get to see.)

Sportin' her baby legs that daddy got on major sale.

Pretty baby.

Trisha and John got engaged! Here we are with Trisha on speaker sharing the big news about the over-the-top perfect engagement. Gwendolyn literally sat there listening to every detail the entire time.

We decided that maybe she needed to give her big-girl tub a try. She wasn't sure what to think.

Gwendolyn still loves a good nap on her mama's chest. Thank God b/c her mama loves it even more!

Playing on one of our mommy/daughter days.

She would always get that one arm stuck when rolling over. The girl is flexible!

Snuggles with Uncle Greg. (And yes, the girls are wearing matching dresses.)

Dressed in our Sunday best.

Trying so hard to pull those knees up and under her. Didn't take her long before she was successful!

Fell asleep on the 3-minute car ride home from Kathy's.

She is so jazzed about her new winter hat and mittens (I can't get over those) from Kohl's. 

Fun new game she plays with daddy...it's called "wet rag on your head!"

The anticipation gets her every time.

So fun! She was squealing with delight. Oh, the joy of a child...

She came home sick from Kathy's and fell asleep on daddy's lap.

Hope your November was just as fun-filled as ours was! I can't believe Christmas is in TWO WEEKS!!

Who wants to do my shopping?!

I knew the day was coming...

You know...the day that her crib is lowered. That day. Tom had asked me if I wanted him to lower it some random night (so meaning it'd be lowered that night) and I said absolutely not because I needed time to mentally prepare for it. 

God provided me just the moments I needed. I was able so sneak into her room a morning shortly thereafter, turn the lights up and snap a few pictures of her sleeping in her still raised crib before she woke up. In addition to mentally preparing for the big transition, I think ultimately I wanted to capture her in her crib the way it's been since the day we brought her home. And then once documented forever in pixels, I can let go and move on. 

Is that not one sweet sleeping baby face?

I love her bum in the air. And the way she holds on to her blankie and tucks it in close to her. I also love how she moves so much in the night b/c she started on the right end with her flannel blanket on top of her.

Gotta remember the view from the door...that I have walked in and out of what seems like hundreds of times at all hours of the day and night. But who is counting.

And she's awake! Such big stretches!

Stretch again! 

Wondering what in the world her mom is doing at 6:50 am.

"Look mom, I can push myself up to sitting now!"

And this is why the crib needs to be lowered asap. Ha.

So much changes in such little time. But this mama is OK with that.

Kind of *smile.

So those pictures were taken on November 23rd and this picture was taken on December 9th.

Now that little peanut is standing!

I guess I should have known that day was coming too.

Quote from Kathleen Kendall-Tackett in the December issue of  Parents magazine (I have learned so much from reading those!)

"Any stage of growth can be bittersweet - you're happy because your child is thriving and developing, but also sad because she is heading toward independence."

My sentiments EXACTLY!

I love it when other people confirm that my thoughts and feelings are totally normal.

But seriously, Lord help me when that baby girl walks down the aisle!

Be blessed today...