A whole bunch of firsts

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.

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!

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.

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

Babyproofing Time

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.

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...

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!