Gwen @ 4 months

This post is WAAAAAY over due, but I decided to post it anyway. I figure these are more for me to look back on than anything else...

Oh my baby! You are just getting to big to fast! I can't believe how much you have changed from the little floppy thing I brought home.

Your 4th full month of life brought very few "milestones", but there was still lots of fun stuff!

For starters this months photo shoot was the most challenging so far! You wouldn't stay still! You kept falling over, wouldn't keep your hands out of your mouth, and tried to tear your month sticker off your onesie:/ I am surprised I got any decent shots!

 You discovered your hands this month, and every time we look at you they are in your mouth!!!;/

Gone are the days of your sweet little baby whimper, you now let us know loud and clear when you aren't happy:( You have perfected the pouty lip too, and it is our warning sign that louder things are coming!

You found a new favorite this month...Your wubanub! We call it your "lovey", and you are very happy to hold it, chew it, and just generally love it:) The spoon in the second pic was Mommy's desperate attempt to entertain you for a minute so she could eat:/

You received you first package from Citrus Lane, and I don't know who was more excited, You or Mommy! Lots of fun stuff for you, and a little "happy" for me:) You liked the board book best.

Your siblings are still your favorite thing. You burst into the biggest smile when ever you see either of them, and it makes mommy's heart sing:) They think you are just as great!

Warning! Photo Dump of Random Cuteness:

Love this "Big Girl" Outfit:

This is your "TV" face! You still love Baby Einstein:)

This is Daddy's favorite outfit currently.

Big Ole Button Hat!

Seem SO big to me in this pic for some reason...

I don't know how I could love you more!

Here are the "Stats":

• You weighed in at 12lbs 12oz at your 4 month check up, 24 inches long, exactly in the 50 percentile
• Still managing to fit in a size 1 Pampers!
• Wearing some size 3-6 month clothes, but also still fit in alot of your 0-3 month stuff.
• You are getting used to Tummy Time, but still prefer the Bumbo or to be held.
• If we need to entertain you we stick you in the "Jumparoo" which you seem to really like! No pics of you in it though:(
• Still like to nurse ALOT, but seem to be making somewhat of a schedule and you always go to bed for us really well!

You're getting to be so much more fun to interact with! Can't wait to see what you accomplish by next month:)

Biography Book Boards

I have not posted anything related to homeschooling in FORever! So I am hoping to easing myself back into it with this fun idea I came up with for a "Book Report".

Now my guys are both in 4th grade, and I am not going to sugar coat it...They kinda stink at anything English/Literature related. I also realized they had NO idea what a book report even is (hanging head in shame). So I encouraged them to pick a historical figure of their choice and do a "mini report" on it. My thinking was that I wanted to find out what they read about the book, but at the same time not overwhelm them with a paper book report that they aren't ready for.

I scoured Pinterest for alternatives to book reports and found TONS of fun ideas, and I will be implementing several over the next couple months. However since I had specifically asked the kids to pick a person to read about, I wanted something a little more geared towards a biography. So I kinda meshed a couple ideas together and here is what we ended up with:

Biography Boards!

These turned out SO cute, and I am happy to report that the kids liked doing them as much as I hoped they would!

Yup, School on the floor. 'Cause that's how we roll around here;)

Here is the skinny:

Each child was to put the name of their figure at the top of their board.

Gillyan picked "Leonardo Da Vinci" and Gideyon's choice was "Benjamin Franklin". Cracked me up how much their choices reflected their own personlity traits.


Then we used large index cards (for ease in the case of "redos", and for neater handwriting) to add some facts about that person.

The first card on the left contains "Basic Bio", the figure's Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death, and where the lived/were born. The first card on the right is that child's "Favorite Fact" that they learned while reading their biography.

The next 3 cards on the left contain "Fun Facts". These were to be facts that most people wouldn't know if they had not read a biography on the character. An example from Gideyon's : "Ben Franklin created some of the earliest versions of batteries". The 3 cards in a row on the right are "Famous Facts". These facts were to be facts that most people know with out reading a biography on the person. Example from Gillyan's:
"Leonardo painted the famous "Mona Lisa"".

Finally we completed the boards with big "Paper Dolls" of their figures, that the kids created on my Cricut! They chose all the colors, clothes, and accessories. I simply helped operate the machine.

Their Dad was super pleased with their effort and they proudly hung them on our dining room wall. Hopefully this will get them excited to "report" on their book reading for the future:)

Gwen's faves 3 months

So these are a few things we have realized we can't live without in the last month...
From top right going clockwise and ending in middle.

1. I mentioned in my last post how you can now endure riding in the car thanks to Baby Einstein DVDs! Baby Noah is by far your favorite and produces the most noise from you:)
2. You are NOT a big fan of tummy time, however you do love to lay on your Sassy playmat and eat the red bird in the middle...as long as you are on your back!
3. SWADDLEME!!! I wish I had know about these sooner:( You are a big time arm flinger, and you had trouble settling down unless you were swaddled. However you were quite the swaddle ninja no matter how tight I bundled you! We invested in one of these babies, and OH MY word! You and I both love it. You still poke your hands out from time to time, but you start settling down every night as soon as I wrap you in this. It's kinda like it has magical sleepy powers;) We only own the one but I will be investing in more as soon as we head to Babies R Us again.
4. You truly are our Baby Bee:) You broke out soon after you were born, and then developed eczema. I tried all kinds of lotions and bath gel but they all seem to make it worse. I eventually tried Burt's Bees (kind spendy so I had put it off) and you started clearing up within days! We now use the whole line, cause turns out that even other butt creams make your tiny buns break out! 
5. And last but not least, the newest member to your faves line up...the BUMBO. We love to see you sit and smile in this thing. In fact it has proved so useful we bought another one so we can have one upstairs and down! You seem like such a tiny "big" girl sitting up in it! See pic below for proof:)

Gwen @ 3 Months

So do you like the consistancy with which I blog!?!
I figure it is like weight loss, you just jump back on like  you never stopped.

So here is an update on our newest family member.

Litte Miss Gwendalyn is 3 whole months old! I know all the moms say it, but honestly it just goes TO fast:(
This is photo dump of her 3rd month and a few stats.

 The standard 3 month onesie shots. A serious one that shows how big and lean you are to me at times, and a silly one, that shows how chunky and fun you are!

3 months brought lots of first for you...

Your very first Christmas. Which overall you weren't to enthused over:/

Your first Snow! 

We went to visit Memaw & Papaw in Illinois for New Years and you got to experience Snow:)

And then just to share some of your baby goodness... Some of my favorite shots from this month.

Don't you just want to eat those little toes!

Here are a few stats. These are mostly for me. I am old and one day this may be the only way to remember this stuff, since finding time to fill in a baby book is laughable...

• You fit perfectly in 0-3 month clothes this last month:)
• You really started to smile and engage people, and even occasionally laugh.
• Right before Christmas you started "talking" to us, and now you do it LOTS!!!
• You are wearing size 1 pampers still, but I am thinking that won't last much longer.
• The playmat on the floor is one of the very few activites you enjoy (you really only like being held!). However tummy time is still a no-go.
• You weighed in at 11 pounds and 2 ozs according to our scale at home.
• You still nurse fairly often (like every 2 and half hours or so.) Yet you sleep fairly long stretches at night, sometimes going 6 or more hours. Nothing is predictable though...
• Your buddy (pacifer) is one of your faves, but you have discovered your hand and like it alot too!
• We let you watch Baby Einstein in the van, and now riding in the car is one of your favorite activites;)

Hopefully I will back track and do months 1 & 2 here soon, but no promises...

Please Excuse the Long Absence...I have been working on something really CUTE!!!

I know I have been gone from blogland WAY to long! But hopefully you will forgive me when you see what I have been up to.

Please meet the newest member of our family!

Gwendalyn Clare 

October 5th 2012

10:03 am

7lb 4oz

21 inches

We are loving every moment of this! Trying to soak it all in. However I don't expect to spend much time on the blog in the next month or so, cause we are also trying to move in the first of November! So bear with me, I promise I will be back and hopefully with lots of fun stuff:)

Cheapo, Easy Peasy Luggage Tags!

Our Family is preparing to take several trips this summer. Unfortunately one of them is by air ( I HATE flying!!!). So in a better effort to be prepared, and not have to fill out those annoying little tags at the airport, I whipped up some Luggage Tags.

Here are the gathered supplies:

Some scraps of Scrapbook paper, Scotch Laminating Pouches, Card for smoothing, Printable Shipping Labels, Crop-A-Dile, and optional corner rounder punch.

Now I figure that most people are at Wal-mart enough that have seen these awesome little pouches. But encase you are like me and don't spend enough time perusing the office supply aisle there, here is a close up:

These are less than 2 bucks for a pack of 5, and are self laminating (NO machine required).

The tags were all made by simply printing off my info on the shipping labels (which had to be cut to size & corner rounded them), and then adhering them to the scraps of  paper. I sized my paper 3 1/2 by 2. but you could totally eyeball this part. Then I stuck the paper on the pouch and followed the 2 step directions for sealing it. And VOILA! and cute little tag. I then used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole through all the layers to thread a ribbon for tying. You could try a regular hole punch, but the pouches are pretty thick...

Aren't you jealous of my awesome tech skills that caused me to use a bright orange post-it to safe guard my personal info?!? Alas that is SO not my thing:/

Here is the trio of them, ready for me and the kiddos to attach to our duffels and go:) Not my best work, but definitely some of my easiest and quickest! These literally took me 10 minutes start to finish:)