The Calamond Connection

2010-11-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

She moved and stirred beans in water for over 30 minutes the other day. Who knew beans could be that interesting?

Our first Halloween that Penelope dressed up and went trick or treating. She couldn't decide on what outfit she wanted to wear, so she ended up wearing all three. We trick or treated first, then went to the Enchanted Pumpkin Path (they have out treats like apples and honey sticks and wildflower seeds, very cool), then back to Willits and trick or treated some more.

When we got home, she got to choose which 5 treats (the non-candy ones were a given and not included in the 5) she wanted to keep and then the rest went to the Halloween Goblin. The HG left her some fun zoo animal stamps in exchange for the treats (no, the HG hasn't eaten all the treats yet).

this is just a picture of how she chose to dress yesterday. She's "styling".

September Vacation

2010-09-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

We recently spent a couple of weeks visiting friends and family. We started Labor Day Weekend and stayed the weekend at the Delange's in Weaverville. On our way, we made a stop in Red Bluff to visit with the Martin's. Here's a few cute shots of Penelope and Selah.

The Delange's have an amazing little homestead. Lots of room to run and play, and lots of animals to pet - dogs, cats, chickens, goats, horse, alpacas. Penelope had a lot of fun with the girls and animals. I've tried three different uploads of more pictures from the Delange's, but can't get them to download. I'll try to facebook them.

We came home for 2 days, then left again for San Luis Obispo, then Monterrey Bay. P and I made cookies one day. She's a lot like her momma and LOVES cleaning the bowl.

She became quite the 4-wheeler rider at the Delange's. So much that if Matt gets the quad out, she has to get on too.
We spent about 5 days at Aunt Holly's with all the cousins and Mimi. Here are some shots of the kids. Penelope really enjoyed playing with Lily, Oz, and Tali, and misses them. She asks about them and Emma Lou (who gives really good kisses).

We tried to take some belly shots, but they came out blurry. And I couldn't get this one flipped around. We'll try again...
And she's back at it. This time we made a vegan cake. I don't like the vegan stuff b/c of the apple cider vinegar taste that lingers, but P did not mind one bit.

Short video of Baby Cal

2010-09-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

Our littlest one

2010-09-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here's the first pics of Baby #2 - the first one shows his stuff.

Crate Training

2010-07-09T13:58:00.001-07:00

Here's the big 2-yr old before we left for Tejas. We have been in TX since mid-June and are having a really good time with Grandma & PawPaw and Great Granny and her cousins.
When we first arrived, the weather was hot, but really nice compared to the weather we'd been having in Willits before I left. No rain in sight! Yea - what a nice relief since Willits had had more than its share of rain.

The next few shots are of P playing in the front yard with the sprinkler. My mom's latest edition, Coo-Coo, I mean CoCo, played with her as well.

I'm always trying to get a decent shot - it's getting harder and harder as she gets older and more independent. I have about 1200 pics on my memory thingy b/c someone gets a hold of my camera and walks around saying "Okay, smile" while pointing the camera at herself instead of her subject.

And here's the best shot so far. The best babysitter money can buy. You can play on the computer, do dishes, even take a nap and you know your little one is safe.

The best toy $5 can buy. My mom needed a new toy bin for CoCo, but P decided it was better suited for her. It was pretty cute coming upon her and PawPaw in Wal-Mart - him pushing the cart with her sitting inside this tub. She loved it and rode inside it for at least half the trip through the aisles.

What a cutie! And how talented - she took this shot, not that she meant too, but still...

2010-04-01T18:31:00.001-07:00

Well, here it is. Our new kitchen table. We really like it. It feels great to finally have a new table.
I watched Sehla while her parents packed for their move. The girls had a good time together. We're very sad they moved this week to their new home, but are grateful for the time we were able to spend with one another.

Next week is Spring Break and I will try very, very hard to update the blog with more videos. We've got some good ones of P reading and singing and dancing.

2010-03-15T09:58:00.001-07:00

Here's some picture updates of our little one, well our big "little" one. I can't believe she's 2 months shy of 2 years old! The time has flown. She's such a gift.

We got new couches! Yea! P loves to climb all over the new set-up like its a jungle gym.

Sometimes it's just easier to let her "help" with dinner with her own set of "tools". She had fun and flour's not that hard to clean up. She did get a bath before dinner instead of after when she was done playing.

We've recently begun fingerpainting. I get the bath ready while she paints. She seems to really enjoy letting artist out.

2010-01-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

I found some time to download ALOT of videos today. And P let me! Mainly b/c she LOVES to watch videos of herself and her family. So, below is a sampling of some of our favorites. They were taped in her 17-20 month age range. Enjoy!

I took this footage today. She loves "workout" music and right now one of my faves is Pitbull. She actually starts to sing along a bit. Daddy's been working with her on her "moves". We might have a professional singer/dancer on our hands. =)

Here's P "reading".

A sampling of why it's difficult to get good video of her. She sees the camera and has to see herself on it.

Nothing sounds so precious to me as when a baby belly laughs. Here's a couple of clips of some of P's.

Here's some cute talk and dance from P.

And, my time is up. Gotta get back to my sweet baby girl.

Photo Update

2010-01-06T14:11:00.001-08:00

Here's our pretty girl. It's been hard to stay on top of updating the blog - sorry 'bout that. Anytime we are near the computer and P sees, she HAS to see the "ABCs" (keyboard) and punch on them. So, we don't use the computer much these days. Anyway, enjoy the pics. She'll be 20 months old on the 11th. Such a big girl!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since our last post. We have been busy both working full time and updating the blog has not been a priority. However below you will find a few snap shots of what Penelope has been gettin into. We hope to have another entry soon with some video updates, untill then....enjoy.

Video Update

2009-08-20T17:39:00.000-07:00

So, summer is officially over and a new school year has begun. It's been a challenging week for us all. My heart is at home with Penelope and she's missing her mommy (more likely the milk Mommy can give her=). I know things will get better, but as the first video will show you below, I'm not sure how.

A little bit of background for this first video. We have a student rally at the very start of our first school day. There's always a teacher skit and usually the newbies are required to partake. Somehow I usually get bullied or guilted to join in. I held out well this year and missed the first 20 minutes of practice b/c I hadn't really committed. This year's skit was a dance to "Thriller". I'm not going to tell you where I am, but I did mess up twice (probably b/c I didn't go to the first bit of practice).

What I said above about not seeing how things can get better was a segway to the awesome dancing technique of the Willits High teachers. I know it will get better with P at home and me at work. We'll both adjust and re-learn to appreciate every second we have together. I have to say, this is much harder this year than it was last year. That first year is quite a challenge and I have to be honest and admit that when school started last year, part of me looked forward to getting a little break from full-time parenting. This year, I just want to be home with her. She's at such a fun stage and every day brings something new with her - a word, a sign, a look, a move, or a sound. She's just so amazing to us.

The videos below are a few clips of hard-t0-capture Penelope moments. As soon as she sees a camera, she's gotta have it, so needless to say, it's beginning to get difficult to take a decent pic of her or capture her cute moments on the video camera. I was going to post some pictures too on this update, but as I already mentioned, she's too savvy to the camera and I don't have any cute ones right now.

This one involves her Magic Carpet ride that Daddy invented with her the other night. Thank goodness, only Daddy can do this. She won't ride with Mommy. There's also some demonstration of her signs at the end.

This is a short clip of what she does when she sees the camera.

Here's her playing peek-a-boo with us.

Hope you enjoyed this quick update of Penelope. We miss everyone and are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas when we'll get to catch up in person. Take care!

How Time Flies

2009-07-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

Well, Penelope and I are finally back home and finished with our summer travels. Of course, as soon as we arrived home, Matt packed up and left for a backpacking trip with Todd and his dad. It figures we'd get home in time to see him leave. But that's okay, b/c I'm going to use that time to sleep train P to nurse less at night and to wake up better on her own, so it's good Matt's gone cuz I'm sure it'll be noisy at first. I've been denying her for two nights now, and she's catching on. The second night was much easier than the first, and hopefully tonight's even better.

I don't have many pics to share, except one that I took just before P and I left TX. It's a fave of mine.And it only took about 50 clicks of my camera to get this shot. Gran, you're amazing and I'm so glad we got to visit lots with you on this trip.

Penelope and I had a wonderful time in TX visiting with family and friends. I got to have lots of amazing "girl" time with TJ, Kellie, Andrea, and Brook. I still miss my best friends so much. It was really neat to see all of us as Momma hens with our own broods. And of course, I got lots of "mommy" time, both with my mom and as the mom with Penelope. Thanks Mom and Dad for making my trip home such a relaxing experience- I got to re-ground myself before another crazy school year begins.

Penelope and I spent a week at home, then took off again for Sacramento so I could attend an AP workshop and gain some much needed skills and tools for the environmental science class I teach. Mom flew out and watched Penelope during the day. I booked us a suite at a Hawthorne Suites near Discovery Park - it was ginormous and sadly about the size of my house. Mom and Penelope had a great time at the hotel (walking around, going up and down the stairs, playing in the crazy, big room). Penelope didn't even cry for her naps. No pics were taken, except at the State Capitol building, where we toured on our last day in Sac. We missed seeing the Governator by about 5 minutes! All b/c we let Penelope stretch her legs before we checked out the building! He'd just finished doing a press conference when we walked up the steps to enter.

Matt and I plan to take Penelope for her first camping trip in a couple weeks. We're going to go to Prairie Creek, home of the big trees, with Carlos and Miranda and sleep under the giant redwoods. Stay tuned...

Grandma & PawPaw's - Part II

2009-07-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

I know...it's been awhile since I've updated everyone on our visit, and I'm on vacation (technically), so I should be more on top of this. Lot's to share, so get comfy.

Most evenings, when it FINALLY cools down, Penelope plays in the little swimming pool Grandma & PawPaw have. She's very interested in how the water flows out of the hose.

Here's Penelope tickling PawPaw's toes. It's a new favorite thing to do.

And, here's another favorite thing to do. She has discovered that she can look upside down.

McKenna and Penelope had a good time playing with each other in the sandbox and on the swings Grandma and PawPaw got for them. McKenna was very cute and sweet with P.

Penelope really likes to talk on the phone - even if it's not really a phone. She'll put it up to her ear and babble on and on and walk all around the house talking to her "friends". It's adorable.

Gauge was so good with her! Here he is reading to her - watching this was beyond sweet!

Penelope LOVES the ducks and chickens! The first thing she does in the morning with Grandma is to go and see them. She's not even scared when she feeds them and they start swarming around her.

Penelope and I got some pictures done today at JCPenney's. This was P's first professional photog session, and she did really well. They don't give you very long, and unfortunately, as soon as she really started warming up to the camera, our time was up. But we got some good ones. Here's a few of my favorites.

Below is Penelope "coughing" it up with Grandma and PawPaw at dinner.

Here's a short clip of Penelope letting me know she's "all done" with her dinner.

She's "helping" PawPaw water the yard in this video.

Penelope lets Pawpaw get her nose in this clip.

Hope you enjoyed the update on our visit to Texas. It's been such a blast being back and spending so much quality time with my folks, family, and friends here. Penelope is thriving and taking in every minute of all the new places and people. We're going to miss everyone when we go back to CA next week!

Visiting Grandma & PawPaw - Part I

2009-06-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

Penelope and I arrived last Monday in TX at Grandma and PawPaw's! Yea! We're having a great time. There's so much fun stuff for PP to do - swim in her little pool, slide, swing, lots of flat grassy area to walk and explore in. She loves Kiki and Scooter and giggles when she sees them. There's a rocking horse for her to play on and steps to climb. We're having a blast.

It took a little bit for her to reconnect to Grandma and PawPaw, but she's becoming BFFs with them real quick now. Below are some pictures of some of the fun activities we've done. Enjoy - there will be more to come!

This is my nephew, Gauge. He's a super cool little dude! Penelope just adores him and is already saying his name! Gauge spent the night last night and is great with PP. They're such good friends that she even tried to give him a kiss without being asked.

Here's some pics from McKenna's 4th b-day party this past Saturday. She's one tough, funny gal. We had a great time watching her run in circles all day and entertain us. She's really sweet to Penelope and PP lets her hold her already.

Here's snapshot of Scooter and Kiki - Scooter loves giving kisses and Penelope loves getting them.

Here's Penelope swimming in her little pool at Grandma & PawPaw's. She had a great time in it.

Grandma didn't believe that Penelope actually sat in a high chair to eat (I kinda let her snack on the run except for lunch and dinner).

Here's another shot of McKenna's party. Granny had a great time watching her grandkids and great-grandkids play. And we really enjoyed getting picked on by Grandma and Granny for our parenting styles =). Love you, Gran!

Here's PP playing outside. She loves all the space available to roam around.

Swimming, Chocolate, & Flossing

2009-06-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

We spent a wonderful weekend in Calistoga for Carlos and Miranda's wedding (congrats again!). Penelope was really great the whole time and got to meet lots of sweet new friends. While there, she swam for the first time and was super adorable in her new swimsuit! She's going to be a pro at the pool by the end of the summer.

It was hard to get a good picture of her in her suit, hence the goofy one below.

Tonight, she somehow found a rogue chocolate chip without Mommy seeing with the results below. It was pretty cute.
When I flossed tonight, she seemed really interested in it, so I gave her a piece of floss (Grandma, you might want to stop reading right now and skip the video). She immediately started "flossing" her teeth. I tried to get it on video, but didn't get the better attempts. In the short clip below, she kinda flossed her teeth, then attempted to get mine. She's such a blast right now - this age is so fun! We're really looking forward to our summer travels that are coming up. I've got 3 more days of school, then we take off for TX a few days later - yea! We'll see everyone really soon!

2009-05-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video of Penelope talking during dinnertime. It's amazing how quickly she's starting to say words. She's also saying "eye" while she pokes yours, and "dada" for Matt, and "maa" for Moby (I know you were thinking "Mommy", but that still isn't happening).

The video below shows PP eating dirt. It's completely by chance that I got this shot. I thought I was setting up to take pictures, but didn't realize I had my camera set to video and was actually recording. So, excuse the hiccup - it's louder than I thought.

We have some cute footage of her walking and talking on our video camera, but still need to download and edit. Stay tuned...

A Year in Review

2009-05-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

Penelope turns 1 next week. Here's a short slide show of our joyous journey this past year.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Walking & Dancing

2009-05-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a short clip of Penelope walking. Friday night, after about 2 hours of sleep, she decided she was ready for more action. We played and got some cute footage of her walking and playing a set with her dad. Enjoy!

One more thing...

2009-05-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Matt is now officially 37 - Happy Birthday! To celebrate his 37 turns around the sun...and to celebrate the not-too-often event that PP and him are still asleep this morning...I found out some fun facts about the year Matt was born.

In 1972,

Five men are arrested in the Watergate office complex in DC for breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Committee
Dallas Cowboys win Superbowl VI (go figure =), sorry it wasn't the 49er's, Matt)
The Godfather is the top grossing film
Pink Floyd debuts "The Dark Side of the Moon" during a performance at London's Rainbow Theater
The Price is Right premieres on CBS
A Car Cost $3879
Average Cost of new house $27,550.00
Average Income per year $11,800.00
Average Monthly Rent $165.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 55 cents/gallon

Happy Birthday, Matt! PP and I are so blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for all your gifts and the love and support you give.

2009-05-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Some more from Mimi's visit.

More to come...we finally have some decent video of her walking. I just need to get the video downloaded to the computer. Stay tuned...

Mimi's Visit

2009-05-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

Mimi came to visit during my Spring Break. Above is a little video clip of PP dancing for her Mimi - super cute! She loves to dance and does so with the smallest encouragement.

We had a wonderful time with Mimi. PP and Mimi re-bonded and enjoy each other's company. They went on lots of walks around the neighborhood and visited with the kids that play in the greenbelt across the street. Mimi got to experience Penelope walking more comfortably on her own and Mimi was the first person PP signed "spider" to (she still loves "The itsy-bitsy spider"). Peeps did lots of her mockingbird sounds with Mimi, and overall had a great time bonding with her Mimi.

Mommy got to sleep a lot, decorate the walls with PP pics, and have some "Cortney" time (I spent an afternoon with a galpal and we got our nails, toes, and eyebrows "done" - it was pure bliss - thank you again, Connie). And Daddy got to work to his heart's content without any worries for his girls.

Thanks, Mimi for all your wonderfulness!

Who Me?

2009-03-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

Penelope's said her first official word, and it's a good one for the baby book. Her first word, now, keep in mind it's her first consistent word, but she's not saying for any specific object, okay, ready? Her first word sounds alot like....s-h-i-, I think you can figure out the last letter. It's not something we say in front of her, and we think she's really saying "kiss" or "this" or maybe "sock". Not exactly the word we thought she'd say first - I've been working on "mommy" everyday with her, but it is funny.

I've been telling Penelope she's a mockingbird b/c she's really into repeating noises that we make. We've been trying to capture it on video, but haven't been lucky so far. There's a variety of noises we can make and she'll repeat them pretty well. Yesterday I called out "Cacaw! Cacaw!" and she quickly followed with "ca ca ca ca". Quick learner=).

Munchkin has also officially taken her first steps without holding onto anything. She's not consistent and doesn't do it too often, but she's definitely stepped forward on her own and not fallen. Such a big girl already!

I took this little video of Penelope today while we were walking Moby. She's into looking at herself in the mirror and we had just finished a 15 minute round of sitting in the bathroom sink looking at her. She was ready to get out of the sink, but not to give up the toothbrush, so we brought it along.

The pictures below are also from today - the ones in the yellow and orange onesie. Grandma sent the onesie and it's super cute on her. It's got Curious George on it and the words "Who Me?".

2009-03-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

I took this one of Penelope today - 10 months old already! She's such a joy. The video below shows her helping me with laundry and also me trying to get her to copycat some noises she usually does on cue. There was one other video I tried to upload, but it was still "processing" 4 hours later, so I'll have to try again soon. While I was watching the clips to pick which ones to upload, she started copying the noises she heard on the computer - it made me wish I'd had the camera going then. =) Enjoy

Beach Videos

2009-03-01T16:30:00.001-08:00

I didn't edit these, so not sure if anything exciting is on them, but anyone with "grand" in their name will appreciate these.

Family Trip

2009-02-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

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.

She might have a future as a professional eater...what do you think?

2009-02-15T22:25:00.000-08:00

A typical late night evening

2009-02-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-11T17:09:00.000-08:00

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

A whole bunch of firsts

2009-01-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Calamond's have experienced a whole lot of firsts this holiday season. We flew together to TX as a family. We had our first Christmas together as a family. Penelope bonded with Great Granny, Grandma, & PawPaw. Matt had his first vacation at home. Penelope and Cort flew solo back to Cali. Penelope climbed a set of stairs all by herself! Peeps had her first Harley ride (ok, she just sat on one). And....Penelope had her first taste of formula (not a fun first, but she triumphed in an unfortunate situation).

The flight to TX was really enjoyable. We were delayed way longer than expected, but Penelope was awesome. She loved looking at everyone and actually slept in the airport and on the last flight. We conquered messy dipes on the last flight - not as bad or messy as I thought it would be. She was just as awesome with Mommie on the way home. We had another messy dipe experience, a bit more traumatic than the first one, but we made a nice friend on the long flight to San Jose, Rusty, who Peeps just loved to flirt with.
At Great Granny's Christmas Eve and at Cort's folk's the next day, Penelope spent a lot of her time bonding with Great Granny - at the expense of Mommie not bonding with Granny. It was really cute to watch. Granny would get Penelope in her lap and then tell me to get out of the room. I spent a good half hour hanging out in the hallway watching from afar as Peeps and Gran played. Penelope really enjoyed hanging out at Gran's too. Granny has a couple of footstools perfect for her to use for standing.
Grandma and PawPaw were amazing! I pinched a nerve on December 30 and spent the morning of New Year's Eve in the emergency room. I ended up on muscle relaxants for 2 days and Penelope had to take formula. She had a hard time at first, but adjusted really well. It's an understatement to say she was happy to get back to Mommie's Milk when I stopped taking my meds. Grandma and PawPaw were awesome with her. They had so much patience and understanding for the situation and surrounded Penelope with lots of love. We are very thankful for their help. Below is an example of how they spent their time while I was in bed.

Penelope can climb stairs! Grandma and PawPaw have pet steps for KiKi to get up and down the couches on her own. They proved perfect for Penelope. She got really quick at climbing up to the couches. It still amazes how quickly she learns something when she sets her mind to it.
A first for the Calahan's occurred the weekend after Christmas - we had a grandkid sleepover at Grandma & PawPaw's. 5 of the 6 grandkids roasted weinies and marshmallows (ok, Penelope didn't, but she was there), and slept over. A sleepover at G & P's is never complete without a wrestling match with PawPaw. I think PawPaw almost met his match with the boys, and might have actually been whipped if McKenna had been there.
Matt flew back to Cali soon after Christmas and spent some time with his fam in SLO. He had a wonderful time with his Dad, Hols, B, Lils, and Oz. Matt then spent some time at home with Moby working and relaxing, then picked Peeps and me up in San Jose.

Penelope also had the pleasure of meeting her Aunt BeBe and Camdyn for the first time. Brook and Cam drove down for a day and we were able to hang out and catch up with each other and Andrea at our playdate (another first for Penelope). It was really nice to see Brook and Andrea and catch up, and to see our little families together. Very special, and something I treasure - the time we get together is much to little and spaced very far apart.

Overall, we had a great experience over the holidays.

2008-12-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

Penelope's first Christmas is almost here! It's going to be such fun watching her play with all the boxes and wrapping paper. =)

We continue to be amazed at how fast she's growing. She's a pro at crawling now. And she's really quick at pulling herself up from a sitting position. One of her new favorite games is to just stand in front of something, like her jumperoo or a wall, and amuse herself with the toys or just scratching her nails against the surface. It's easy entertainment for all of us and lasts for pretty good stretches.

We've introduced solids. It's crazy how just a tiny bit of strained bananas or water-downed oatmeal can clog up her system. We have introduced prunes - yummy. She's not a fan of solids yet; milk from mommy is still a favorite. We're working on it. We all eat dinner together in the evening. Penelope gets her own spoon and has a ball "eating" along with us. Bathtime of course follows dinner.

Enjoy the holidays - we hope to see a lot of family and friends this season! Granny, we're looking forward to spending Christmas Day with you!

All Grown Up!

2008-12-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

It's almost mind boggling at how quickly babies grow and learn. We had no idea when we began this journey how much energy our baby would put into just surviving.

At Thanksgiving last week, Penelope officially crawled for the first time. She's been rocking and rolling for some time, but hadn't truly put one hand, then foot after the other consecutively. Matt tempted her with a beer bottle (it was empty =) while she was sitting a few feet away from him, and she just rocketed herself towards him. She's done a few more times since, but it's hard to determine if she's fully aware of the process. So amazing to watch her work at it. We've definitely gotta baby-proof the house now.

This past Saturday, I had Penelope in her infant tub playing with a toy while I milled about in the back closet/bathroom, and watched her actually pull herself up into a standing position! She toppled forward very soon afterward, but she pulled herself up! We had no idea she was already strong enough to do that.

And one more significant step - she's got a third tooth coming in. She's got her first two bottom teeth, and a top one is starting to pop out.

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Our cute little pumpkin! We took this picture on Halloween. Thanks Grandma for the cute onesie!

Babyproofing Time

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Wow - 12 days since the last update and Penelope has grown so much! I was talking with my dad on October 27 while Ella chewed on my finger during her bath. All of a sudden, I felt something hard when she chomped down - a tooth is coming in! She's barely 5 1/2 months old and her first tooth is coming in! I know it's the normal age for teeth to begin arriving, but...didn't we just bring her home from the hospital? By the time I my mom got on the phone with me, I was near tears that my baby girl was so grown up already.

Another crazy, cool accomplishment - she's almost crawling! When I came home from school yesterday, Matt informs me she's crawling, sort of, and he got it on video. The parents reading this can relate to the significance of both sort of crawling and catching it on video. Learning to crawl is such a big milestone. Crawling will give Penelope some independence from being toted around everywhere, and keep me and Matt on our toes. I guess it time to baby-proof the house. =) It's so neat watching her attempt this. She'll raise up on her hands and feet and topple forward, planting her face on whatever she's on at the time. I'm betting she's crawling by the time she's 6 months old. Once she starts doing something, she picks it up really fast. She turned over for the first time the day she turned 5 months old and was a pro at it just a few days later.

I am constantly in awe of Penelope and how amazing and beautiful and perfect she is to me. Her outlook on life is so simple and sweet. There is fun and laughter in all she does. It's so refreshing to glimpse into her world and see it for all of its wonders and innocence. I feel that I sometimes get caught up in the stresses and the not always important and necessary tasks of life and work. She helps ground me and allows me to live in the moment when all that's really important is how fun it is to laugh at the dogs for just walking by or the surprise when Mommy or Daddy suddenly appear or the joy in picking up a toy and then throwing it down over and over.

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Here's a video of Ella on her changing table talking away to Daddy.

Penelope is having some fun in her jumperoo in this video.

The start of something great...

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Our Sweet Pea is super adorable right now. She's discovered her toes and likes to grab and play with them. Her new thing during her bath is to kick against the far edge and slide under - Mommy loves that one, definitely keeps me on my toes during her bathtime! She's starting to make raspberry sounds, and is starting to eat frozen bananas. She's a wild and crazy gal in her jumperoo now. She'll bounce around in it for 20-30 minutes. And, as the picture shows, she's starting to enjoy tummy time. We're pretty sure she'll be crawling around soon - she's kinda starting to scoot.

Lots of love to everyone and enjoy our page!