Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Family Trip

We recently had a vacation - President's Week. Penelope was able to enjoy 24 hr/day milk buffet for 9 whole days, and Matt and I took the opportunity to take a family vacation and visit friends in Humboldt. We stayed in Manila with Carlos and Miranda (thanks again for the awesome hospitality!), and had a great time.

Penelope played in the sand for the first time. I'm not sure if she loved it, but she was definitely amused by it. I kept waiting for her to eat it, but she never did. I found a sweet spot on the beach for her to play - right next to a huge old-growth stump. She played with the sand and climbed on the stump and had a great time watching Stella and Trinity play.

Matt and I left Penelope for the first time and went to the Swedish hot tubs at Cafe Mokka - it was sooooooooooooooo hard, at first. The whole way to the tubs we felt wrong leaving her - even though we felt safe that Miranda was watching her. Pretty much as soon as our feet hit the water, our fear and anxiety evaporated, the water was super hot and relaxing. We didn't dawdle though after our time was up, we definitely missed Penelope and were ready to get back to her. We were greeted with an adorable sight when we walked into the house - Penelope was fast asleep on Miranda's chest. Such an adorable sight! Miranda, thanks again for watching her and also being so patient with all the advice and info we threw at you about watching her.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. We were able to visit with friends we haven't seen in a long time and also enjoy time together as a family without the stresses of life (i.e. jobs).

Here's a little video of her being adorable the other night.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A typical late night evening


One of the "fun" things Penelope's been doing lately is going to sleep at her normal time, but waking up about an hour later, ready to play. The video above is some footage of one of our nights.

Our little monkey turned 9 months old today! 9 months! Crazy! Some of the things that characterized the last month with her include these late nights. She's started dancing to music, well, bouncing up and down. Whatever it is, it's definitely adorable.

Her top two teeth are definitely in. She's enjoying eating a little bit more. Her favorite flavors include banana and mango. She still loves baths - Mommy and her take them together now since she loves standing and it kills Mommy's back to constantly lean over the tub, keeping her down.

She loves walking with Daddy. They go for walks almost everyday, depending on the weather. Matt and Penelope walk through the redwoods and look at plants and listen to the birds in the forest. They go to the park nearby and Penelope loves to get out of her pack and play on the benches. We recently invested in a Kelty hiking pack for her. It's great. She's up high and can see out and her limbs are all safely tucked inside. And it's comfy.

She had her first busted lip the other night. She face planted and came up bleeding, but was a trooper and stopped crying just a few minutes later.

She's close to walking. She can easily stand from a sitting position and balance for a few seconds. She's gotten a lot faster at crawling - we can't take our eyes off her for a second when she's on the loose.


Stay tuned for some cute 9 month pics...

8 months old

Enjoy the pics - all are of Penelope, 8 months old. Some videos will follow, hopefully sooner than later.