Gwenyth Josephine.

If things have been quiet here on the blog lately, it's because they have been anything but quiet elsewhere.

9 days old.

Our little Gwen surprised us all by deciding to come a couple of weeks early, and life hasn't been the same since. We've been home from the hospital for a week now, and are starting to dip our toes into everyday life. Espen, our freshly-minted big brother, is returning home from a week with his grandparents this afternoon (having him gone was the right thing for lots of reasons, but I can't even begin to tell you how much I missed having that little body around), and we are about to start our life together as a family of four.

Let me tell you a little bit about Gwen. She loves to eat and sleep, and in her earlier days of life, will often slip quite seamlessly from one state to the other. Now that she's getting a little older, she will stay awake for longer stretches at a time, and peers quizzically (and a little skeptically) out at the world with her big dark eyes. Her temperament is generally very mild, unless she is a) hungry, b) having her diaper or clothes changed, c) being bathed or d) in the hands of a nurse. Then she will let you know how she feels. Gwen is a very snuggly baby, and is happiest when she can burrow her self to sleep in our arms. Sometimes she'll adjust herself so her little face is right against my neck, and it takes my breath away every single time.

As her parents, we are naturally convinced that we have produced yet another exceptionally beautiful child. Underneath the adorable newborn squish we see glimpses of a little girl with big brown eyes, a pointy little chin, high cheekbones and a mass of wild, dark hair. Watch out, world.

And if you're wondering about how a little girl like Gwen got a big name like Gwenyth Josephine, then let me tell you. She is named after my maternal grandmother Gwenyth (Gwen) and Nick's maternal grandmother Josephine (Jo). They both passed away within the last year or so, and both meant a great deal to our family. We think they are both beautiful names, and are happy to have a small part of those two wonderful women live on in our little girl.

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And now it's time for me to figure out how to feed this baby and take a shower and get dressed all by myself. Oh, new motherhood. It's been a while!

Happy Halloween from our little dragon

My mum reminded me (as gently as only a grandmother waiting for photos of her grandson in costume can) that I promised to post some photos of Espen in his Halloween costume, and here they are! 

This is the first year that he's been old enough to really catch on to what we do on Halloween, and he voiced his tiny two year-old opinion in September when he told us he wanted a dragon costume for Halloween, which he has stuck to ever since (although he did spend a few days telling people he was going to be a baseball...?). Knowing that this was not the year to start spending quality time with my sewing machine, we went with a pre-made option from Old Navy ($8 on sale!!!) and were all pretty delighted with the result. I like that it's warm and pretty functional, Espen likes that it has wings and a tail. Behold!

This is a roaring face. As it turns out, it was pretty tricky to get a non-roaring photo of Espen while he was "in character."

Checking out his loot. 

And another roar for good measure. 

Trick or treating was really fun. Espen really caught the vision and would knock on doors and say "trick or treat" to anyone who would listen to him. It was a little trickier to get him to remember to say "thank you", but we have a few years to get that one nailed down. Most people are willing to forgive sketchy manners in two year-olds, especially if they're yelling "Happy Halloween!" at the top of their tiny lungs.

Our only real Halloween misadventure was that we got sidetracked by some good friends that we hadn't seen for almost a year, so we didn't make it home until most of the trick-or-treaters had come and gone, and are now stuck with a huge pile of candy. Oh, the sacrifice!

And now that Halloween is over, it's officially November, and we are having a baby in 20 days. Crazytown.