Thursday- Coffee and Las Cruces

Today we started off having Leanne come over for coffee. She left around 11:00 am and then Mom, Gwen and I headed to Las Cruces. We went to the historical development of Mesilla that is at the edge of Las Cruces. On our way back home we stopped at the White Sands National Monument. We just drove in and drove back out, so that Mom could see it. Gwen was waking up and ready to get home, so we made it quick. We were gone for a total of six and a half hours, so the baby was ready to stretch out at home in the air conditioning.


Check this out Morgan. There are references to Billy the Kid all over the area.


Gotta love the desert flowers.
Leanne put Gwen to sleep. She's very good with babies. We stepped outside to our back yard. The weather was extremely pleasant.
Leanne, Mom and Gwen

This plaque explains the building above. ...just a bit of history.

This is where we ate lunch. It is also in the old Mesilla area. The building dates back to 1850. The waiter was telling us that there are numerous ghosts in the building. I guess the lady of the house killed the maid and her own son, and those are the ghosts he was telling us about. This fountain I was sitting on is original to the establishment.
This is where we ate. The ceiling consists of gold tiles. The chandeliers are original. I believe the stained glass is also. It was quite an interesting and elaborate atmosphere.

Wednesday- Tomorrow Gwen is Seven Weeks Old

Grandma and Grandpa Fisher gave Gwen this build-a-bear. Beady Bear is his name. Gwen is practically the same size as the bear.
Yesterday evening we had to give Gwen a bath, since she was in the pool. Look at that face of Gwen's. Cutie!
Here Gwen is giving her new bear a kiss.
I put Gwen on my legs and move her back and forth. She likes it. Look how well she's holding up her head. Way to go!
We had to get her with her arm up. It's one of her favorite positions to be in.

Tomorrow she will be seven weeks old. Time is flying. We seem to think that she can see us 3-4 feet away. She's certainly more aware of her surroundings. Also, she was awake for the majority of the afternoon and evening from 1:30 to 8:00. Usually she'll get some good naps in during that time. Let's hope she sleeps well during the night.

Tuesday's Fun in the Sun

Sleepy Gweneth is enjoying the "Oh so tasty" hand of hers while resting on Grandma's shoulder.
I'm going to put a collage together of bits of Gwen. This is an attempt of showing the size of her hand compared to her Mother's. I'm thinking of putting some of the photos in black and white and some in color.

The playgroup met at one of the gal's house today. She has a heated pool. We borrowed her daughter's bathing suit. It was too cute, so we're going to have to buy one for Gwen. We also tried sunscreen on her. The directions say not to put sunscreen on the babies until they are 6 months old, but don't you think using it is better than subjecting the skin to the UV rays if they are younger than 6 months? I do. We have a sun hat for Gwen too, so next time we'll be more prepared. This was just to test the waters...no pun intended. We were only out in the sun/ water for 5 minutes or so. It was a practice round.

Grandma Vicki Visits Alamogordo

Today is Monday April 23rd. Mom is visiting this week while Adam is in Boston at conferences. Yesterday Mom, Gwen and I had a chance to shop at three different stores (Pier 1, Target and Babies R Us)and have lunch at a restaurant in El Paso. Wow! What a treat that was!

Today we had a casual and calm morning talking, having coffee and breakfast and of course taking care of Gweneth. After lunch we went to the Pistachio ranch store, and picked up some gifts for people and some for ourselves too. Yummy! They even have dark and white chocolate clusters with the nuts. You can taste test all that they have to offer. Yes!

As we left the nut house (ha ha ha) we drove up to Cloudcroft. That is the nearby mountainous town that is 16 miles east of Alamogordo in the Sacramento Mountains. We just drove up there to see the pine trees, other scenery and the town and then we drove back down to Alamogordo.

That's it for the adventures of the day. It's too windy to walk outside unfortunately. Wednesday might be the first chance we will have for that. Tomorrow we are meeting up with the Playgroup Pals group of Mothers and babies. More to come....

CSU All the Way

We have a dear friend and Realtor that gave Gwen these adorable CSU pajamas. She also cheers for the green and gold. Go Rams! Doesn't Adam look proud?

Ron Jon Model

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Anne Marie came over to visit, and took these two pictures while Gwen was sleeping. She has developed a love for cuddling and sleeping on Adam and me. Once I try to put her down to sleep on her own, she wakes up. I don't want her to get too dependent on me, but it's nice to cuddle
Adam picked up this Ron Jon dress for her when he was in Orlando working. I haven't put any head bands on her yet. She didn't seem to mind it, but it didn't stay on long none the less.

Today she is six weeks old. I was reading about her development melatonin (a chemical that develops in your mind between the sixth and eighth week of life). This development aids in sleep patterns. Surprisingly, she slept more than ever last night. She fell asleep at 10pm and slept until 6am only waking for an hour from 2am to 3am to eat and be changed. Then we both slept again from 7am to 9:15am. It was fabulous! These growth spurts are amazing.

Gwen's First Party

My friend Kim has a son who turned 7 today. She invited Anne Marie, me and our babies, because some of the kids couldn't make it. She had the food already, so why not. Both of the other babies are almost 7 months old. Above Gwen & I are in the arcade part. I played pac-man. It was fun. Plus it was nice to go out somewhere with friends.

Thursday- Daddy's in L.A.

These two pictures above are the face she makes when we blow in her face. When she's crying, she has to stop and makes this really cute face. The pictures don't even capture how adorable it really is.
Gwen has found her hands and pacifies herself with them. It's very nice.
Since Adam's in L.A. until Sunday night/ Monday morning, this was taken today.
Anne and Lance sent this swing that really reminds Gwen of the womb I think. She sleeps in it and is content in it.

Thursday and Officially Four Weeks Old

Gwen is officially four weeks old as of 12:37am this morning. I sung happy birthday to her when I was feeding her early this morning. he he he!

Today, I don't know what it is, but I feel more love for her than ever before. We've definitely bonded this week. I have been singing songs from our wedding CD. The Skyliners have a song with the words "earth angel" in it, and I really liked singing that one to her and dancing her around. She was pretty content also I must say. :)

I hear over and over to enjoy every minute of her life, and I am. She has changed so much over a month. While she and I were sleeping last night she cut her nose with her nails. When I saw that she drew blood this morning, I felt so terrible for her even though I know she will endure many more scrapes. Parenthood is a crazy thing! Needless to say, I filed the nails down this morning....even the big toes. She likes to get me with those when I'm feeding her too.....little stinker.

Tonight will be the last night without Adam. I am sooooo excited for his return. Thank you everyone for your support and for caring. One more night- piece of cake! My heart goes out to any single parents. Mom/ Vicki, you are amazing!!!

One other thing to my nephew Merrick is that this ducky if for you! He just LOVES ducks!

Wednesday

This morning I put Gwen in her crib while I was picking out something for her to wear. I thought that would be a good way for her to get use to it. She was staring at something on the wall. Please excuse the camera cord.
"I'm go'n to knock you out."
This is the blanket that Leanne made Gwen. One side is satin like and the other is cuddly and soft.
She even put Gwen's name on it and stitched this neat design. Her sewing machine is very high tech.


Today it was a very pleasant surprise that my friend Leanne did not have to go to work. It was last minute that she called me this morning before I was going to leave for the pharmacy and to take Gwen on our first walk on the base. We three ended up walking two miles and we even had the chance to get some stamps. Which, by the way, the price is going to go up to 41 cents May 14th.

While Adam is away, Leanne has been a life saver. Monday we had dinner at her place and today we hung out. Tomorrow she is coming over for dinner over here and we'll watch another movie.

She works with the babies in the child care on base, so she is very good with Gwen. She held her a bit today, and that is even nice to have that help. ;)

Tuesday

We had the play group at our house this morning. The little baby is the 6 month old that lives across the street, Kaden. Gwen looks like she's talking to him and laughing. ;) Then there's one of her doing tummy time and lounging. It was nice to have people over. The second picture is of some gifts from Gwen's great grandmother, Irene Zimmerman (Bummie). The pewter cup is engraved with her name and birth date, and the pink blanket is super soft and cute!

Sunday and Monday

Yesterday Gwen played with a new form of entertainment. She really liked it, and had a surprisingly long attention span with it.

Gweneth's Three Weeks Old

Adam's in Orlando today through Friday night, so I am going to update the blog with photos this week. Here are some recent ones from last week.

I call this her Emeril outfit. Doesn't she look like a chef?
She is yawning, but she looks like she could be singing.

This is the back of the pooh shirt.


She likes to pull her own hair, and she was close to doing it here.

The famous sleeping shot. She does it so often that I catch quite a few pictures of it.
It's almost like she's saying "I give up. I surrender."

We needed to get some pictures up of the three of us.


This shot and the following couple are of what Adam likes to call "mandatory fun" for Gwen. She doesn't necessarily like it all of the time, and that's why we joke that it's mandatory. The toy is this picture lights up and plays music.

This is the baby version of sit ups. You hold a blanket supported behind their neck and pull them up in the sit up motion. She likes this one.


Leg exercises in motion
We do the bicycle, scissor kicks and knees into the chest.


This one is super cute with Adam kissing Gwen's hand. She looks so cute looking into his eyes.


Adam and Gwen are lying on the bed chilling out.

Gwen and Mom aren't in as many pictures, so here's one of them chilling on the bed too.

Gwen cries too. We have to share these photos too. She obviously wasn't in this position for too long. On a different note, doesn't this color of aqua look good on her?

The three of us again. In the evenings Gwen is all about Daddy. She loves her interaction time with him. He's full of energy and sings to her and dances with her when I'm getting things done around the house and/ or doing things for myself like showering. ;)