thank you!

we had a great a weekend visiting aunt lizzie, aunt lisa and uncle kevin in kansas city... and there are lots of thank yous after the first road trip.

1. penelope - thank you for being such a good girl in the car.  She slept 3 hour of the car ride on the way to KC and 3.5 hours on the way back.  had a few rough patches in the car but did sooo good overall! 

2. grandma d. - thanks for helping with penelope - especially in the car - would have been impossible to drive (safely) and keep us happy!

3.  aunt lisa and uncle kevin - thanks for hosting and for lettings us take over their house - we took over the office, spare bedroom, living room, family room, kitchen counter - even had stuff in the fridge and freezer (teethign rings and prune juice). penelope does not travel light - was soo good to see you guys!  she was soo happy to see you guys - and stare at uncle kevin :) (as long as he didnt have his hat on)

4.  aunt lizzie - thanks for spending so much time with us - even though you had to miss out on time with your college friends - penelope LOVED being show off and see your room.  you know this girl loves the attention - she has mentioned an interested in chi o - too bad she's a KD legacy :)  she also loved to see her aunt lizzie!

5. mango - thanks for sharing your house with penelope - sorry she took up so much of your rug and sorry her jumperoo terrified you - you were a great hostess :)

6.  the makers of jumperroo - i love you.

7. and the biggest thank you off - daddy, uncle kyle, grandpa h and great uncle tim!  when mom and penelope got back home today we had a brand new bathroom - and it's amazing!!!!  i can't believe how awesome it looks - was the best surprise ever :)  thank you all forall your hard work - i'm going to go out of town more often!!!

here are a couple pics from the weekend - i really didnt get too many...

gatsby's best friend mango... gatsby called her to keep an eye on penelope.

mango does way more tricks than gatsby!

jumperoo!

happy baby - all moved in ot lisa and kevins

umm... penelope... you look TERRIBLE as a redhead. not gonna lie - sort of liek a chucky doll.

that's a littel bit better - but lets stick with bald for now!

rocking mommy's new rasta hat with aunt lizzie.

hanging out with aunt lisa



big smiles!

kisses from mango - penn feels right at home!

reading

penelope loves to read lately!!

just hanging out reading a book.  no biggie. i can read and i'm 5 months. whatevs.

showing daddy my favorite part of the story.

teaching mommy about the penguins.

showing mommy how to turn the page.  she needs my help sometimes.  good thing i'm here to teach my parents to read.



yummy gatsby tail...

it was bound to happen... penelope has decided to pay gatsby back for all the face licks but licking/eating somehting that is important to him - his tail.

he was pretty good natured about!

typical day.. gatsby licking penelope's face.  however, she has been planning her payback these past five months...

hey friend.  i'm just petting your nose. no worries buddy.

hmm... what could i do to torment him and pay him back for all the unwanted licks...

oh look at that.. that looks interesting.

wow - there is just so much to hold on to - it's perfect penelope sized. it's meant to be.

let's try pulling on this sucker.

actually - why dont we put it in our mouth!

you escaped this one unfazed little friend... but you wont be sleeping peacefully much longer.. there's a monster in the house waiting to attack your tail... all 14 lbs of her.



sick baby

still no photos for the blog - new computer shoudl be up and running by later today.. but i can write posts.

this one is about my poor sick baby :(

penelope has had a cold for about 2 months now -and the doctor doesnt seem all that concerened - however we took her back in on tuesday because she was running a fever again, slight cough and not eating or drinking very well.

well - dr. said it looks liek she has some virus that is going around but she should be fine.

well - not so much.  tuesda night about 5 - she threw up 5 times in a row.  if anyone has ever seen a small baby puke - ti's pathetic. she looks so confused about what is coming out of her mouth. and she looks upat you with this "fix it" face.  kills me.

called the exchange and they said to do pedialte for her - about an ounce every 5-10 mins. well after puking all she ate the day - penelope was hungry.  and was FURIOUS when the ounce of pedialyte was gone (she loves the orange).  she screamed the whole internvals between ounces for about an hour.

fun times.

we put her down at like 8 then she was up at 10ish and we fed her.  i set my alarm that night to wakeu p and check on her to make sure no more puke or fever and she did great - slept most of the night.  was pretty crabby the next day, cough is a bit grosser, but no more puke! yeah!

still not feeling great but I think we are over our first stomach bug.

feel better penny!

5 month photos

these are the photos i wanted to load last week with her five month update - sorry so late!!!

more coming soon - i'm way behind on my penelope photo time :)

5 months old!

i can't even believe it but penelope is five months old already.  5 months.  how is that even possible!  this kid is growing and changing sooo much day to day - it's hard to even remember all that has happened this month!  but i'll give it a try - here is our monthly update!

Stats:

Penelope is still pretty small for her age still - only 13 lbs 10 oz as of Monday.  but she is getting tall and getting chunkier and chunkier.  it's amazing how someone so small can look like such a little ball of chunk.  and i love every single fat roll :)

This month has actually been a rough one for us becuase penelope has had a cold that just keeps going away and coming back... not sure if its kids at the babysitter, the crazy weather or the fact that she shoves every single thing into her mouth - but regardless we had our first big time cold, followed by her first ear infection, followed by another cold.  been a rough month of poor penelope's little nose and on everones sleeping.

As of this week though she is jsut starting to seem a little bit better.  nose is clearing and she is sleeping better again!

Sleep:  She still does pretty good in terms of sleeping through the night.  Had a few rough ones iwht the cold but over all does good. her biggest issue is in going to bed lately.  it takes sooo much longer than it used to to get her to sleep.  it's time to start letting her cry a little... which is not easy for any of us. but this lady has us figured out.

Cry:  peneloep has recently learn how too fake cry.   it's adorable but does not bode well for us.  when she is in bed and wants to get out she lets out a fake cry and then turns straight to the door to see if we are coming... then looks very confused if it doesnnt work ... however it usuallyy does.

Feeding: still eating about the same - takingg a bit more each feeding and by the end of this monht we will be starting rice cereal which I'm soooo exicted about!  I dont know why - but I can't wait to feed her real feed and have her sit by us at the table in her high chair.  she is also just starting to hold her own bottle.  This morning she just sort of took over the feeding... so sad.  she is starting to not need us for the basic function of feeding - the kid is such a grownup.

Accomplishments: penelope rolled over for the first time this month!  i even have it on video - posted a few weeks ago. she can do belly to back but has zero desire to go from back to belly - has something to do with her complete and utter hatred of being on her belly.  penelope has also learned how to blow bubbles/rasperberries which are hilarious.  she takes it very very serioulsy and is soo focused when blowing her bubbles.  it's adorable. and a bit messy. baths are also getting messy - she just learned to kick and splash the water and bubbles.  so everyone is drenched by the end of the bath.

laughing: penelope has also started laughing like crazy this month and its the most amazing sound - which i also have on video.  i love that laugh. it's not a high  pitched baby giggle but more of a deep throaty laugh.  so awesome.  that best thing to do to get her to laugh is to play earthquake.  i lay her in bed... tiptoe from the side of the room andn say "i'm gonna get you" then run over, yell earthquake and shake her mattress so she bounces.  the kid is in heaven.  her other favorite game to play is talk to her birdies.  she love love loves her bird mobile over her bed.  absolutley notihng makes her happier than that mobile... she just looks at those birds and talks and laughs forever... it's soo cute. i'm pretty sure they are her best friends.

outings/parties:  we had lots of fun outings this month - she went to eckharts with gma h, grants farm wtih mom/dad, uncle kevin/aunt lisa and uncle jeff/aunt christa and we had a halloween get together for penelopes first halloween - where she was adorable as usual.

Overall it's been another amazing month with our little girl - who just gets bigger, better and more perfect every day.  i love watching her explore the world and learn new things every day - but part of me wants to slow it all down... she is just growing up so fast..

we love you perfect baby girl.

(pictures to follow - computer broken :))

jumper-roo!

sorry - i'm delayed on posts - our computed died... so I wont be caught up for a long time...

However, i'm using someone else's computer to sneak a video of penelope rocking her new jumper-roo we borrowed from the qualls.

she loves it.

and i love watching her little crazy legs :)

and here is one more...

penelo-PEA

penelope's first halloween was a hit!  she seemed to have a good time and mom and dad had a great time having the familiy over. we hung out on the front driveway around the fire pit eating gumbo, cornbread, sandwiches, lots of dessert, and drinking spiced captain morgan apple cidar.

not a bad night...

here are some photos from penelope's first halloween...

in the am - happy baby excited for candy!

soo strong.  i propped her up and she stood here by herself for almost five minutes.  we have some strong legs on this baby!

bending over backwards to make sure mom is still there.

intrigued by her hands

trying to put her sock back on her foot. she loves to take them off now - then ty and get them back on.  the "on" part is very hard.

a penelope sized pumpkin!

playing with her tiny pumpkin

so happy with pink puppy. her favorite toy

uncle mark hiding behind happy penny

grandpa H and rasta penelope

wearing the new big that grandma laurie mad - "penelope anne" love it :)

rocking her Pea costume with uncle tony.

looking cute.

happy sweat pea!

flying sweat pea

going for the candy. she liked to grab the candy - with a little help (and suggestions) from mom.

grandma and penelope trick or treating.

holding her treasures!

kris's pumpkin handiwork - unicorn and vampire :)

penelopes pumpkin :)

gatsby keeping watch over the house and the trick or treaters

was a long night for gatsby keeping all those people in line and the visitors entertained - he passed out the second everyone left.

penelope is "making it rain" with her treats.

going to town a twix.

alternate costume number 1...

 

alternate costume number 2...

ummm.. i'm not so sure about this mom.

happy halloween everyone!  hope yours was as much fun as ours!

earthquake!!!

penelope has a favorite game... it involves mommy walking from the changing table to the crib (while penelope is in the crib) and saying "i'm going to get you"  then when I get to the crib we yell "earthquake!!!" and bouncy penny.

first video is just the sound of penelope loving our new game!

second video is one daddy took later that day of us playing again - sound and picture...