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.