Gwennan Laughs

"You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the very first time, the laugh broke up into a thousand pieces of light, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies."

- Peter Pan

Absolute Cuteness

LOOK at the cuteness! She's the most beautiful thing EVER! (Okay, I'm a proud mama.)






















Thanks to Dawn for the photo. We had a fun photo session with Gwennan last week and this is one of the many wonderful photos that came from it.

Gwennan had her check-up this week: 27 1/2 inches long, 16 lbs, 1 oz. That puts her at 90th percentile for height, 25th percentile for weight. So we have a tall and skinny child, kind of what I was expecting, since Mark and I both were tall and skinny. Until we got to about 30 and it all fell apart.

Gratuitous Cute Baby Photos - October Edition

Sigh ...
It's hard to keep up with the blog nowadays. I wish I actually had time to write on here, but it's hard with a 6-month old in the house who can actually roll around to where she wants to go now.
And it's too bad, too, because sometimes I have very meaningful and profound things to say. Anyway, for now, you'll just have to join me as I look at these photos and say, "Awwww!"


Charles and Dawn persuaded us to purchase a Nikon D70s digital SLR, and I'm glad we did. We're still learning how to work it, but here are some first photos:



















Gwennan in her jumper at Granny's house:



















Mommy and Baby in the morning:














Gwennan and Catri swinging in the backyard:



















Catri and Gwennan again:



















Do you see the resemblance?



















We bought a backpack so we could take Gwennan out for walks in the woods. She really likes it:



















Altho the rocking motion tends to give this result:



















And she's become a really good eater in the past few weeks:



















And, TA-DA!! She can sit up now!!!

Gratuitous Cute Baby Videos

So Granny and Paw Paw got Gwennan one of those doorway jumper thingies, and boy does she love it! Turn up your volume so you can hear her running commentary as she jumps ...



This one is funny. You can see the process Gwennan is going through to learn how to roll. She rolls a lot now, but every now and then she gets stuck as she tries to figure out what to do with her other arm.

Gwennan and Ian

My friend Shauna has a 10 month old boy named Ian who is ALL BOY. The kid has boundless energy and can't stop moving and shrieking. He's so much fun and such a happy baby. Recently Gwennan and I got together with Shauna and Ian for a while, and it was hilarious to watch them interact. Gwennan can't roll on her own just yet (altho she's very close), but Ian can crawl and all he wanted to do was grab at Gwennan. Shauna had to hold his hands the whole time they were near each other to keep him from clawing Gwennan to death. Gwennan was totally oblivious to her danger, however, and simply squealed in delight at having another baby to interact with.

Apple Shauce

So here's Gwennan trying her first taste of apple sauce. Note how her face screws up at each bite. I think she finds it a bit tart.

Catching Up

There's been a lot going on in the Rothnie household the past few weeks. To start with, Mark celebrated his 45th birthday on August 23rd.

Forty-five.
And not forty-six.
Which is what I said the day before his birthday when he said, "I can't believe I'm turning forty-five."
Me: "No, it's forty-six."
Mark: Stare of disbelief and anger.
Me: "Isn't it?"
Mark: "It's forty-five."
I had to stop a second and do the math.
Oops!

Anyway, I built him this cake:














Which he seemed pretty pleased with:



















And here's our Catri. She got braces this year and started 9th grade. Our little Catri is growing up! Sniff, sniff ...
She's in band at school and has got a hectic schedule right now (with football season and all). She's staying with us for about 3 weeks and since we don't live in her school district, we're having to drive her to school every morning and pick her up every afternoon/evening. With band practice and gymnastics, it's a CRAZY schedule, but we're making it work.









Gwennan Grace started eating cereal (aka "solids") about a week ago. It's been a learning experience for us both. Here she is after one of her first meals. A little messy, but apparently still pretty happy.



















On Labor Day weekend we went mountain biking with the Spoelstras, the Sims, and the Hunters up at Ft. Yargo State Park. We had a lot of fun, despite the fact that we hit UGA football traffic coming and going, and that my bike had a lot of problems.
Still, we biked, we picnicked and we swam in the lake and had a blast. We girls were all very proud of ourselves in our bike gear, out on the trails. We felt pretty tough.

The Biker Chicks:














Here are the guys, reviewing the map while the girls were busy talking about how pretty Bevin's bike was with the flowers and how cool Shauna's pink helmet was. We were TOUGH, I tell ya.



















And here's my cute husband, trying to fix my bike:



















Also on Labor Day weekend our good friend Roger was in town from Cali. It was good to see ol' Rogelio. He mixed up some mean margaritas for us that day. I think they were the meanest to him, though. Eh, Roger? How many fingers am I holding up?
Don't worry, he hadn't started drinking when he was holding Gwennan for this picture.


















Last Friday night we went to one of Catri's high school football games, mainly to see her play in the marching band. We took Gwennan, although I was nervous how she would react to all the noise and such. She was pretty wide-eyed at all the excitement and people yelling, but she mainly just sat there and said, "Gaa gaa gaa" the whole time. (See previous post of Gwennan's old man imitation.)





























On Saturday night Mark and I went on a date. Mark loves to listen to solopianoradio.com and so for his birthday I gave him tickets to a concert put on by some of the pianists he hears on that station. It was a really wonderful evening. We got dressed up, went to a nice dinner, and then listened to some beautiful music for a few hours. It's been quite a while since he and I did anything romantic like that and it was really good for us. It helped me remember why I fell in love with him in the first place.

Gwennan's Imitation of an Old Man Complaining About "These Kids Today" and/or his Bursitis.

Your Help is Desperately Needed

If you are visiting my home and happen to see Catri pick up either my camera phone or my digital camera, GET IT AWAY FROM HER IMMEDIATELY. Try distracting her with something shiny - like the latest full-color glossy brochure from PacSun. Or maybe try chocolate.

The following photos speak for themselves.
Please. Help me.













I don't even know what to say about her father's duplicity in her surreptitious photo sessions ...





















































Although he does seem to be an innocent (or maybe catatonic?) bystander in a way ...


















I find it hard to believe he didn't fully participate in this one though ...





































Let me close by warning you all: no camera is safe. Don't make the mistake of thinking this is just a family issue. All cameras are potential targets. Keep them close to you in Catri's presence.

Gratuitous Cute Baby Photos - August Edition

Gwennan's a happy baby!



















She plays hard and she sleeps hard ...















In her new highchair (thanks Granny and Paw Paw), contemplating her plan to take over the world ...



















She's an absolute angel ...

Gwennan, by Dawn

Gwennan!

No time to write much about everything, but thought I'd share some photos. She's beautiful ...

Baby Shower

Gosh, I've fallen behind on posting. Following are pics from the baby shower (March 25th).




















The Big Mama














L to R: Shauna (from Life Group), Mom, Catri, Angela (from Home Depot days), Me, Amie (from church)














L to R: Jen (church), Meredith (church), Barb (wife of one of Mark's friends who has become one of my friends), Terri (wife of one of Mark's friends who has become one of my friends) , Kathy (aka Katie Bug, aka Maid of Honor in my wedding, aka my oldest and dearest friend)














L to R: Krissy (Kathy's sister, who works as a L&D nurse at the hospital I'll be delivering at), Marcia (Kathy's mom), Andrea (church), Shauna, Mom














Catri opening a gift for her from Charles and Dawn. It says, "Blame my sister"














Dani and Mitzi, pals from my days at Cumberland Community Church.




















Carrie (from church) worked on my scrapbook the whole time.

Not pictured: Dawn (who took most of these pics), Julie (the hostess), and Dana (who snuck out early, the little booger.)

I loved my baby shower. I feel like a broken record, but especially in the past few years my friends have become more and more precious to me. I'm always amazed at the amount of love they pour out on me and how generous they are. I totally don't feel like I deserve it, nor do I feel like I thank them or reciprocate nearly enough. I guess it's just a grace thing ...

Give me a bigger heart

About a month ago I was going to the county pool a few times a week to swim, per the advice of my midwife. I'd been experiencing a lot of pain and discomfort in my hips and pelvis and she recommended this as a way to kind of work things out.

After a few weeks, I had gotten used to some of the faces of the people at the pool who came there at about the same time as me, and about as often. One day, as I was waddling out to the pool with my big tummy hidden in my maternity bathing suit, I walked by a lady I'd seen often, swimming in lane one. As I passed her, she said to me, "Fake pregnancy, huh?"

I said, "Excuse me?"

"I knew a lady just like you once. She told everyone she was pregnant, but she wasn't."

I said, "Are you telling me I'm NOT pregnant?" and she said, "Oh no, I'm just saying you're just like her."

I didn't know what to think of this, so I said, "Okay" and walked down to lane nine and got in the pool. After swimming a few laps, I looked over to lane one, and the lady was staring at me. I began to feel really uncomfortable, but went on swimming. I was taking a break at the end of my lane when I saw her get out of the pool, still staring at me very defiantly. She clasped her hands together and made a round gesture over her stomach, indicating a pregnant belly, then shrugged her shoulders and put her hands in the air as if to say, "Well?" then put her hands on her hips.

Again, I didn't know what to think of it. Eventually she actually walked down the length of the pool and stood at the end of my lane with her hands on her hips, waiting for me to swim back down. I didn't dare swim down. I was beginning to feel kind of threatened by this woman. I didn't know what her problem was with me, but evidently it had something to do with me being pregnant. I spoke to the lifeguard about her (he was sitting right next to me.) He told me that it was well known to the regulars and the employees there that she was schizophrenic. He had seen some, but not all of her behavior, and recommended I go talk to the pool manager.

By the time I got to the manager's office, I was really shaken up and began to cry. I told him about my exchange with the lady as I first entered the pool area, and then about her actions afterwards. He agreed that she was out of line and harrassing me. He then told me about two incidents with the woman previously, one in which she had stuffed a towel into her swimsuit to look pregnant and "strutted" around the aquatic center, and another where she had wrapped her towel up like a swaddled baby and carried it around cradling and talking to it.

To shorten the story, the manager of the pool and head of Cobb County Aquatics got in touch with me and promised to talk to the lady and ban her from the facility if necessary. I went to the pool one more time after that -with my mom - and the lady wasn't there.

I haven't been back since, more because it's become too much for me physically than because of fear, but the whole incident was very strange for more than the obvious reasons. See, when I first became pregnant, before I really began "showing", the enemy would come at me, whispering to me, "Why don't you quit telling people you're pregnant. You're just a big fake trying to get attention. You're not pregnant. There's nothing special about your situation." Sometimes it would be so bad I would cry and have these irrational thoughts that maybe I WASN'T really pregnant. I mean, I knew I had been, but maybe I wasn't now. Maybe the baby was just gone. The thoughts went away eventually, but I did become greatly relieved when I started showing and heard the baby's heartbeat. There was no trying to deny it anymore. I was definitely pregnant.

My encounter with this strange lady months after I had those thoughts brought the accusations back to me again, but this time I was able to dismiss them more easily. All the same, it shook me up and reminded me of the hatred of Satan for life.

. . . . . . .

Mark had the day off on Friday and we took Catri (who is on Spring Break) to the local mini golf and go-kart place to play for a few hours. Mark and Catri rode the go-karts and I went down to one of the viewing platforms to watch them.

As I was sitting there, a mom and her boy (probably about 10 years old) came down to watch the "racing". Shortly after them, a girl about 15 years old who was mentally and physically retarded came down to the platform with another boy that I think was her brother. The boy went back up to the upper platform with the rest of his family, but left the girl behind.

As the girl stood there, talking out loud to anyone and everyone in general, you could see the look on the mom and son's faces turn to annoyance. And honestly, I felt the same way. I could feel myself tensing up, bracing to be annoyed, or just simply made to feel uncomfortable. I didn't want to be bothered.

The girl began to ask a lot of questions, mainly directed to the mom and son, who were pretty much ignoring her. Suddenly she looked up and noticed me. Her eyes got huge, she smiled, and headed straight towards me with her hand out to touch my belly, saying, "You're pregnant!" I immediately grabbed her hand and said, "Yes, I am, but I don't want to be touched." Her face fell and she looked down at the ground and said, "Oh, I'm sorry." I could tell she was confused and felt ashamed. She continued to look at the ground and said, "Is it a girl or a boy?" I told her it was a girl.

She began to look at the go-karts, and began to ask questions again of the mom and son. Who was in that kart? Why were they going that way? Weren't they going fast? The mom and son were ignoring her. I began to feel so bad for the girl. Her inquiries were innocent enough, they were just constant is all. I began to answer her questions for her. She pointed to one of the karts and said, "Who is that man with the hat?" and I said, "That's my husband." Right then Mark's car stalled out and one of the track attendants had to come get him going again, and the girl and I speculated on what might have gone wrong. The race finally ended, so it was time for me to go, but I was feeling horrible about my earlier treatment of the girl.

So many of my friends have asked me since being pregnant if I was annoyed with people constantly touching my belly, and I've always answered that I don't mind if it's friends and family who do it, because it feels to me more like they're blessing me and the baby, but that I did have problems with strangers doing it. Thing is, though, no stranger has actually tried to touch my belly. Not until Friday. It was the first time I actually had the situation come up. And all I could think was, "Why don't I want to be touched? What's the big deal?"

As I stood there answering all the girl's questions about the go-karts, I felt horribly convicted. She was so innocent, asking questions about the world, delighting in it, and even taking delight in my big pregnant belly. I felt convicted of my selfishness, of my pride, of making her ashamed of wanting to touch my tummy. Finally I went up to her and said, "I'm sorry about earlier when you wanted to touch my belly. You can touch it if you want."

She said, "Really?" and put her hand on my tummy.

She said, "What is she doing?" and I said, "Nothing right now. I think she's asleep." She said, "Oh," smiled at me, then turned around to look at the go-karts again.

I turned around and headed out, passing the viewing platform where her family was. As I passed them, a girl looked at me apologetically and said, "I'm sorry, was my sister bothering you down there?"

I said, "No, not at all. She's sweet. She's really sweet."

I've been thinking about that girl ever since.

. . . . .

It's interesting how people react to a pregnancy. Sometimes I haven't known how to take it. As I've gotten bigger and bigger, I notice people staring at me more, and it makes me a little uncomfortable. I feel like a freak show.

When Bevin and I had our fun day out last week, I mentioned this to her, and she said something to the effect that people are just fascinated by the new life in a pregnant woman. I realize now there's something to that, although the looks on some people's faces seem to indicate disgust sometimes. But even then, there's something to that.

I remember two Christmases ago, when Mark and I had been married for just a few months, we went camping in Florida (since we didn't have Catri for the holiday) and one morning as we were lying in our tent, we talked about having kids. Mark asked me why it was important to me, and I told him that I felt like love had no choice but to create life. There is something about love, whether it be the love of God or the love of a man, that produces a desire for creation and creativity. God is love, and he created man to pour his love into. A man will love a woman and will suddenly begin creating poetry or music to woo her. A man and a woman will love each other, and their love will create a new life in the form of a baby. In my mind, love is simply creative in nature. If you love, you have the desire to create. I can't explain it further, I just feel like there's an inter-connectedness there.

And I guess, depending on a person's heart, whether it's under the sway of life-hating evil or under the sway of life-creating God, each person will react to that creation accordingly.

. . . . .

I've been very self-centered the past several months. I've never had a baby before, and everything that is going on in my body is very strange, very new to me. I talk all the time about myself, about what I'm going through.

But it's only been recently that I've become aware of the true significance of what's going on. The woman at the pool reminded me how much Satan hates love, creation, and life. The girl at the go-kart track reminded me how amazing and delightful what is going on with me really is. She reminded me that it's not really even about me. That there is a much bigger story being told through pregnancy. It's a reminder of life. Of the miracle of it, the truth of it and where it comes from.

When I was in Russia on a missions trip back in 1994, we visited an elementary school for a while one day while the kids were out at recess. In the middle of the play ground was a woman of about 40-something, standing there with a doll and a big smile on her face. She had some obvious mental issues, but none of the kids nor the teachers seemed disturbed by her being there. She came up to some of us and talked a bit, but I couldn't understand her very well, as my Russian was somewhat limited. Finally a little boy came up to me and said, "Be patient with her, she's been touched by God." I remembered then that I had learned in Russian class that St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square was not named after any great priest or saint, but after a mentally retarded man, Basil, who begged outside of it as it was being built. Russians believed then and many still believe today that mentally retarded people are messengers of God, that they've been touched by God, that they have visions from God.

I felt very humbled by my messenger of God at the track. Very aware that the baby in my belly doesn't really belong to me, that I don't get to hoard her and the miracle she represents and only share it with a few friends and family. I can't hide the size of my belly, and I wonder if God doesn't make it that way so that people can't escape the truth of creation and life. People stare at me, they make comments, some reach out to touch me. There is something there that they can't deny, some truth that is very much in their face. I guess some people want to deny it, like the lady at the pool, but I think and hope that most people simply delight in it like the girl at the track.

I hope I can delight in it more as well, to not have such a small heart that only sees the little bubble world I've created around me, but to have a bigger heart that embraces people instead of pushing them away. God, give me a bigger heart.

Spring!

There's nothing like Atlanta in the spring time. There are bright bursts of color in bloom everywhere, and a wonderful backdrop of fresh green. It's loverly. Below are some photos from our backyard this afternoon: