Making Strides

As Gwen inches closer and closer to her first birthday, she's also making strides toward walking full-time. (Puns intended.)

As you'll see in the video below, she takes 7-8 steps at a time now. It won't be too long before she is officially off and running.

4th of July at the Lake

Our 5-day mini-vacation to the Lake reached its grand finale on Monday, July 4th.

Our Independence Day started off just like the founding fathers' did 135 years ago... by putting their kids in front of an iPad to watch Sesame Street. (Right? Am I messing up historical facts again?)

Andy's parents hosted a 4th of July Picnic at the Lake. The get-together also gave the extended family a chance to finally meet Gwen for the first time. Gwen was a very gracious guest-of-honor, smiled for everyone, showed off her crawling and cruising skills, and even modeled Dad's Sox hat.

The weather on the 4th was absolutely perfect, which made for a great afternoon of swimming, food and laughs. We're not sure what Andy's Mom and (long-time blog follower and first time blog guest star) Ruth were laughing at. But apparently it was really funny.

Morgan and Gwen both enjoyed a heavy dose of "Truax Time" during the party -- whether it was swimming with Aunt Linda and cousins Mandy, Sarah and Steven, or coloring at the picnic table with Andy's crafty clan.

This year, we promised Morgan that if she took a good nap on the 4th of July, she could stay up late and watch the fireworks over the lake.

Morgan was impressed with the bright lights and booming explosions. But she was even more impressed with the glow sticks that Ariella bought for the occasion. She quickly decided she would create a light show of her own.

Mini-Vacation at the Lake

The last time we were able to make a trip to Connecticut, Morgan had just turned two and Gwen was still a big lump inside Ariella's belly. So we were very excited to pile into the car on Thursday night and get away for an extended 4th of July holiday at the Lake.

Friday morning started off with the girls playing in the sand. But, to no one's surprise, neither of the girls were content to sit on the beach where there was a big, crystal clear lake just steps away. So after a quick change into their swimsuits, we hit the water.

Morgan had a good time splashing in the water. But her biggest splash came later when she accidentally tripped on her towel and -- SPLOOSH! -- went head-first into the Lake. She came up scared, and cried that she wanted to go home. But after a nice long nap Friday afternoon, she got over her fear and was back in the water as if it never happened. (That-a-girl, Morgan.)

After a good night's rest on Friday, the girls were up and ready to go early Saturday morning. The fun started with Morgan giving Gwen a lesson in how to draw with sidewalk chalk. (Lately, Gwen has been very interested in coloring with Morgan.)

Later Saturday morning, we headed over to the playground at Owen Bell Park. Gwen had a good time crawling through the tunnels, while Morgan took advantage of the swings, slides and scaling the climbing walls.

While Gwen took a morning nap, Ariella and Andy took Morgan for her first ride in the canoe. Morgan seemed to enjoy being out on the lake, but confessed to Ariella later that she was "a little afraid."

After lunch (yes, we did all that stuff above BEFORE lunch) the girls went swimming. Gwen was a little unsure of herself, but eventually got the hang of floating.

After dinner on Saturday, we told the girls that we were going out to get ice cream at We-Li-Kit. It's still not clear who was more excited: Morgan or Ariella.

Ariella and Gwen split a big scoop of Ape's Delight (banana ice cream with chocolate chips and walnuts), while Morgan opted for straight-up chocolate.

Can "Yum!" count as a baby's first word? If so, Gwen's first word was "Yum!" She said it clear as a bell when she tasted her first bite of ice cream.

After slurping every last drop of ice cream, Morgan headed over to the chicken coop to see the chickens -- and a rabbit???

Morgan: "Mayie, P-Pa... there's a rabbit living with the chickens!"

After such a jam-packed Saturday, it was a relief that the weather was crummy on Sunday, so the girls could rest-up for Independence Day on Monday.

Once again, the girls spent the morning drawing with their sidewalk chalk. (Have we mentioned that Gwen really likes to color?) Meanwhile, Morgan discovered that it's fun to climb on the security fence.

One Small Step for Gwen

On Saturday, June 25th, Gwen officially took her first steps.

They were just 3-4 little ones. But, hey, you gotta start somewhere. She repeated her historic feat again in the back yard on Sunday (this time it was 5-6 steps). And then, we finally caught her on tape taking a few steps.

She still prefers crawling. But she's walked a bit a school this week, and every day she takes another step toward taking more steps.

Roller Coaster Girl

A few weeks ago, we made our first trip to Sesame Place for the season. As usual, Morgan was excited to ride the carousel, go down the slide, and fly in Elmo's flying fish.

But unlike last Fall, now Morgan is 3 years old. And she's 36 inches tall (give or take). And that means she's finally big enough to ride on Super Grover's Vapor Trail -- Sesame Place's big kid roller coaster.

We're not sure she completely understood what a roller coaster was when she got on it the first time. But we knew she liked it when she begged to go on a second time. And then a third time.

Gwen at 11 months

We can't decide if 11 months have flown by or if they've take forever. Either way, we're very glad that we only have to do one more "chair portrait" because it took over 60 shots and 2 wardrobe changes to get one good picture of our wiggly little soon-to-be-1-year old.

This month, Gwen added yet another tooth to her growing collection (she has 7 now, for those of you keeping track).

Every day, she gets closer and closer to taking her first steps. She'll stand up by herself, flap her arms with excitement like she is ready to go... and then drop down to her knees to crawl. Close, but not quite.

We're still waiting for Gwen to say her first "official" word. She says "ba-ba" for "bottle" or "bye-bye," depending on the situation. And she says "ba" for "ball" of "balloon". Again: close, but not quite.

But, hey, she's only 11 months. Or she's already 11 months old. We can't decide.

Here are some photos from month 11...

There are plenty of benefits of becoming a big girl. Now Gwen gets to do fun stuff like ride in the 2-seater cart, play in the sandbox with Morgan, and take her first ride on the carousel at Sesame Place.

A few weeks ago, Gwen thought she was big enough to play Uno.

During Memorial Day weekend, we visited the Chiaverinis. Morgan and Gwen enjoyed playing with Lucas, and then waited at the window for Ariella and Lina to return from their shopping trip.

This month, Gwen really discovered the joy of the ball pit. Every night before bed time, she dives in and rolls around. This has become one of Morgan's favorite parts of the day, too.

As we mentioned earlier, Gwen is getting VERY close to walking. She's got her balance figured out. She knows how to move her feet. She just needs to take that first step and she'll be off to the races.