Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma's

On Saturday, December 20, we celebrated Christmas at my dad's house along with Vicki, Grandma Hettig, April, and Zach. Gloria couldn't wait to show off her un-wrapping skills and quickly got to business opening up a xylophone and an Elmo remote.

Then, she spied one of my gifts - a small felt Santa bag with lotion and body wash inside. She kept trying to get the lotion out, but it was stuck in there. I took it out and she had fun carrying the purse around and putting her hand in and out of it. She has been playing with it a lot at home and even brought it with us today when we went to lunch and shopping.

"What's in there?"

"I think I need to sit down for this."

"Oooh! Lotion!"

After we had opened most of our presents, Gloria took a break.

"This is the life."

But she wasn't done! There was one last present and it was HUGE!

"What is it? A lawnmower?"

"Oooh! A big box!"

"My very own box!"

"It's the perfect size for me and Grandpa!"

(There were a few toys in there too -
a canister with a few shapes and some "drum sticks."
The box is staying at Grandpa's house.)

The biggest surprise of the day was for my dad and Vicki. Zach gave them a wooden bench that he built and engraved with their name. Not only did they like it, but Gloria thought it was quite comfy too!

"Just me and my Grandpa, hanging out."

Christmas at Grammy's

Gloria had her first taste of Christmas last weekend. On Friday night, we celebrated Christmas at my mom's house. Gloria was quite the expert at opening up her gifts. All we had to do was tear a little piece for her to grab on to and off she went!

"Look at me, opening my presents!"

"I'm a pro. I should get paid for this."

"This is a big box! I might need some help to get the rest of the paper off."

One of Gloria's presents was tunnel like the one she crawls through at Gymboree. Once it was out of the box and set up, she had no hesitation about going through it!

"Ooooh! I might have to take this present away from Auntie April!"

"Merry Christmas!"

"Jingle bells!"

(Shaking one of mommy and daddy's presents - a small wreath of bells)

Lots of pictures

Some pictures from the last few weeks:

"Snow bunnies!"

Gloria has started crawling through the tunnels at Gymboree, and found a tunnel at home to crawl through too! She likes to stop in the middle of it and rock back and forth, making the exersaucer rock and make noise.

"Gorgeous girl!"

"Daddy wrapped my head in a turban towel after my bath!"

"All of this hair was hiding under the towel!"

Gloria found my Magna-Doodle the other day and now wants to play with it every day! She's actually very good at drawing on it, and knows if she has the 'pencil' in her hand the wrong way.

"A model physique, if I've ever seen one!"

One of the only things that keeps Gloria content while changing her diaper is her bottle of baby tylenol. She likes to chew on the squishy top of the dropper. Sometimes she won't let go when the diaper change is done, so she'll carry it around for awhile.

S, S, S

Shoes, Snow, Santa!

Gloria has become very confident and proficient in her walking skills, so now we've been putting shoes on her so she can become comfortable with having them on. The first time we put some on her feet (last week) she was unsteady and kept falling down - a very different sensation, not being able to feel the ground directly beneath your feet. Grammy brought some cute, flexible soled sneakers this week when she was visiting and we put them on Gloria. I thought Gloria would do the same thing as she did the previous time, fall down a lot and prefer to crawl. But she surprised me by taking off! She walked very well with them on her feet!

On Wednesday, we bundled Gloria up in her snowpants, boots, coat, mittens, and hat and took her outside into our white winter wonderland.





She wasn't quite sure what to think about all of it - she didn't fuss, but she didn't really smile. With all of her winter gear on, she couldn't walk and could barely crawl. We put her on her sled and pulled her up and down the driveway.



She seemed to enjoy the ride so we pulled her around the yard a bit. Gloria tipped over a few times, but luckily the sled has a seatbelt so she stayed in. We even pulled her up the big driveway and ran down, and she didn't fuss.



After sledding, we sat in the driveway for a bit playing with the snow. Gloria tried to pick up snowballs, but with mittens it was too hard for her. She leaned over, stuck her face in the snow and tried to eat the snowballs!




Last night, we took Gloria to meet Santa! She has seen pictures of him before and when we ask where Santa is, she can point to the picture on the window or get the stuffed Santa off the couch. When we got to the mall, there was a sign saying that Santa was feeding his reindeer and he would be back in 10 minutes. We decided it was a good time to take Gloria on the carousel. Rob and I stood by her while she sat on a horse. After a few times around she was ready to get off of the horse - it goes pretty fast. Rob held her for the rest of the ride.



After we got off it was time to get in line for Santa. Rob walked her around the display and showed her the snowman and Rudolph. Santa waved at her quite a few times too, as we were waiting in line. She was intrigued by Rudolph and his glowing red nose. When Rob tried to put her down to walk or switch her position, she clung onto him for dear life. She did not want him to let go of her. We were worried that she wouldn't want to see Santa by herself, that Rob would have to sit on his lap too! Luckily she loosened up a bit and let me hold her and walk her around. She stood outside the fence and just stared up at Rudolph and was walking all around.





When it was our turn, we wanted to see if Gloria would walk up to Santa. She didn't. She just stood there. Rob shook his hand and said hi to him, to show Gloria that Santa's okay. Rob had to pick Gloria up and place her on his lap. I took a few pictures and then Rob "rescued" her. She didn't cry or anything. She just kept looking at Santa and then looking at Rob.






Oh, and yesterday morning Gloria had her second flu shot. She cried for a minute and then was fine. We had her weighed while we were at the doctor's office. She was 22 pounds 15.5 ounces - pretty much 23 pounds! What a healthy girl!

I'm a big girl!

"I'm a big girl! Mommy and Daddy bought be a new carseat!"

"I don't have to ride in my baby carseat anymore."

It had gotten pretty difficult to get Gloria in her carseat. She fought it more than half of the time, and since she was getting very close to the limits for the seat we decided to get her a big girl seat. We took Gloria to the store on Nov. 30, sat her in the seat we had researched and she seemed much more comfortable and content. She doesn't fuss nearly as much when we put her in the carseat now, thank goodness. And the final seal of approval - she has no problem falling asleep while she's in it!

"LOOK! It snowed!"

Oh My Gosh!

Whatever happened to my sweet little baby that would lay in my arms all day?
Whatever happened to my sweet little girl that would swing contently for hours?
Whatever happened to my sweet little baby that would happily look at her toys, on her back?
Whatever happened to my sweet little girl that would roll back and forth, but never farther than a few feet?
Whatever happened to my sweet little baby that would stay seated wherever I placed her?
Whatever happened to my sweet little girl that tentatively crawled around the living room?
Whatever happened to my sweet little baby that took careful steps with her walker?

Well, it was bound to happen one day....
she's WALKING!!!!

She had been talking small steps for a week or so, but a week ago on November 23, Gloria began walking more confidently and with a purpose. She walked about 5 feet between Rob and me, and she's getting better with each day. Now she tends to choose to walk instead of crawl, and she can get up in the middle of the room and start walking from there.