Monday, January 21, 2008

Our new favorite thing

As I told you last week, Gillian went to visit with Dr. Fischer for another round of shots and a wellness check. She is changing every day, so it's not hard to believe that she weighs 18 lbs. 3 oz. (88th percentile) She is 26 3/4" long (70th percentile) and her head (while it did grow 1/2" in circumference) remains in the 25th percentile.

On more of a dour note, Saturday marked 8 years since Mom passed away. That day is always a stark reminder that we must hang on to everything with which we have been blessed. Not a day passes without subtle reminders of my mom. These last 6 months have given me a new perception of what really matters and how quickly things of this world can evaporate. As unbelievable as it is to those who lose a loved one rather unexpectedly, clarity and healing does come with time. We are simply given more hurdles to jump and greater mountains to scale.

Since Saturday marked an important date, Amy, Josh and Abby came over for dinner and games. The night was capped by a congenial Gillian showing off her new-found laughing chops...enjoy, I know we did.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Headed to the doctor....

Well, I've officially managed to miss posting anything about Gillian's half-birthday (which happened last Saturday.....this will only be meaningful to a few of you........Happy half-birthday what?!?!?!). We are going to the doctor today so we'll get to see just how big she has gotten over the past few weeks. We'll also be starting baby foods after today's visit, so that will be a blast!

I also managed to get sawdust in my eye last week and scratch my cornea. I was out of commission for a couple days, but things are back to normal. No questions on this one, let's just say it was an act of my own stupidity.

Here's a couple pictures from our Christmas break.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Gillian is crawling!

Okay, so maybe it's more of a scoot, than a crawl, but she is moving forward!

We spent Friday evening and Saturday in Gas with my maternal Grandparents as they were moving to Ft. Smith, AR. As I was helping to load the moving truck, Michelle came and got me and told me that Gillian was moving forward! Sure enough, Angie and Grandma had put a cell phone on the floor in front of her and off she went.....just like her dad, she already likes the phone :)

We are trying to get it recorded, so hopefully that video will be forthcoming.

In other news....for the first time in a YEAR (since we moved into the house), there is a car parked in the garage!! We got home from Gas on Saturday night and yesterday was spent making room and organizing our things in the garage.

Belated Happy Holidays

A very belated Happy Holidays to everyone. Our holiday break was jam-packed trying to visit with everyone in a timely fashion.

After Gillian awoke to her first toys received from Santa Claus, the Madison family came to our house so we could share the day with them. We cooked a 20 lb. bird and then everyone else brought the side dishes. After that we unwrapped gifts and played games. It was sad because the time was so short, but with Christmas falling on a Tuesday, some of us had to work the next day, so we made the best of our time together.

The day after Christmas, we drove to Tulsa. If not for a snowstorm that was passing through the midwest, that trip would have been uneventful. As it was, we ended up getting to Tulsa fairly late. The next morning, we were able to visit with all of Michelle's siblings (Mary, David, and Catherine) who live in Tulsa. Gillian was also able to visit with her cousins Drew and Will. After Don finished working on the night of the 27th, we had a family dinner and then shared Christmas gifts with one another. Again, it seemed as though our visit was all too short....

The next day, we woke up and piled into the car again for a trip to Houston to see Michelle's other sister, Angela and her family. We made it down to their house just in time for dinner. The weather was a welcome change from the snowstorms and cold that we had seen for the month prior. The temperature hovered near 70 degrees during our stay in Texas. We took advantage of the weather and Josh, Emma and Gillian were able to go to the park and play. We also visited the Children's Health Museum and a special exhibit that was temporarily on display. It had a Sesame Street theme, so as you can imagine, the kids loved it! As it always does on vacation, time flew and before we knew it, the time had come to go home. On New Year's Eve, we got up early and began the 12 hour trip home.

I have many, many pictures that I'm working on getting posted, so please as always, bear with me :)

I have other Gillian news.....read the post above....