Penelope is a Year Old!!

*disclaimer* I began writing this on her birthday...but my computer died.  So thanks to my Daddy-o, I am up and running on my new chromebook and ready to blog away!

Was this already a year ago?  Where in the world did the time go?  Penny's birthday was on the 7th, and I can hardly believe it.  What I can believe is how much she has changed, how much more my love for her grows each day, and how perfect I think she is!

So, at one year, Ms. Penny is becoming smarter everyday.  Some of her new words are "fishy" when she wants a goldfish cracker, "that" when she sees something she likes, "cheese" when I pull out my phone (camera) or she really wants to eat some cheese, "nawnaw" which is Penny speak for Minnie Mouse, and now she is full fledged saying "Momma" when she sees me or a picture of me.

She loves puppies and babies and will shriek the word "baby" over and over again if she gets excited about her doll, or a baby that we see at the store or on TV.  She had a meltdown where she cried big, fat tears over a magazine page that had a picture of a baby on it.  She was chewing it so I took it away and she was just SO sad.  She "woofs" at every puppy that she sees!

She is much more affectionate towards Momma and Daddy now, and will (most of the time) give us hugs and kisses on command.  If she doesn't want to, she furrows her brow and shakes her head "no".  She gets super excited when she hears Daddy's keys opening the door and gives him a great big smile when he walks in the door.

Sleep has been AMAZING since we crib trained.  I have woken up overnight to nurse maybe once, and she sleeps in her crib all night from about 7-5.  We are both sleeping so much better, but Daddy says that he misses her in our bed (but it wasn't affecting his sleep!!).

And, now for the stats.  Penny was born at 7lbs 6oz and 22 inches long.  At her 1 year appointment she was 23lbs 4oz and 32 inches.  She is so very tall.  She is wearing 18m and 24m clothes, and some 2T even! And, she's wearing at least a size 4.5 shoe, but most of the ones I have on her are a size 5.  She has 6 teeth, 3 on the top and the bottom.

For her 1 year picture, I put her in the dress I wore in my one year photos. She looked adorable in it, but it was hard for her to crawl around in!  On her birthday, we took her to the zoo for the first time.  She really loved it, and brought home a giraffe souvenir, as you can see in the picture.  Since several of my friends had babies around the same time as me, we went to a lot of birthday parties in the last couple months.  The picture of her and I is from a friend's son's party, and the crown was because she was the almost birthday girl!

One Year Later and Everything Has Changed

As I was looking through pictures in order to make a slideshow for Penelope's birthday, I stumbled across this beauty...

41 weeks pregnant!

This picture was taken on April 29, 2012. I am on the phone, probably with my midwife or the hospital.  We were going for non-stress tests every few days.  Looking back at this picture reminds me so much of what I was going through during those last few weeks of pregnancy.  Penelope was due on April 23rd.  That day came, and then was long gone, before we knew it.  Nick and I had NO idea how much our life was really going to change.  And, it did in so many wonderful ways.

As soon as we saw our sweet little girl, we were new people.  We were no longer just Marjorie and Nick; we were now Momma and Daddy, too.  We began focusing all of our attention on the tiny human we were raising.  And now, we can hardly remember what it was like before she was in our life.  We both feel like we have known her forever.  It's amazing how we had 8 years with just Nick and I, and only one as a family of three, but it feels like a lifetime.

Over the last year, we have fallen in love with our baby every single day.  She is honestly the light in our days.  We feel complete with her and look forward to seeing her smile each morning when she wakes up.  We used to focus on ourselves, or each other, completely.  Now, we are always thinking of Penelope's needs above our own.  She is our everything, and I can't believe that we have only had a year together.


Our baby will be a year old in a week.  And, I seriously cannot believe it.

Penelope's 11 Month Update

Ms. Penny is 11 months old. I can hardly believe how fast this year has just FLOWN by! This time next month, I will have a one year old. Honestly, I try not to think ahead to that these days because it makes me pretty weepy!
So, Penny has changed so much this month! She now has 4 teeth, as her top two came in just before Easter. Her hair is getting a little bit longer, but still no where near being able to put it in a ponytail or even a bow. I also think she had a growth spurt because suddenly her shoes are no longer fitting and her pants are a little too short.
We have had a big milestone this month, as she started sleeping in her crib! I still seem to be waking up at the times she used to wake to eat, so I hope my sleep gets back on track soon. Last night, she did her longest stretch of sleep in her crib yet (obviously to celebrate being 11 months old). She went to bed at 7:15 and didn't really get up again until 5:15! Then, she came to bed to nurse.
For food, she is still nursing and eating mostly purees. But, we have giver her some different food this month, too. She LOVES broccolli, so whenever we have that for dinner she will have some, too. She has had shredded cheese this month, and also goldfish crackers. She would literally snack all day long if I let her!
She learned the sign for "milk" this month, and is pretty good about using it to tell me she wants to nurse. But, sometimes I also think she uses it to mean "hold me" even though she certainly knows the difference. Now, when I ask her if she wants milk she will sign for it. And then when she has latched on, she will stick her hand in my face while signing and I will say "Yes, Penny. Milk". It's pretty amazing what she can understand!
Since the weather is somewhat warming up, we have taken her to the park a couple of times. She loves the swing. She giggles when I push her, and holds on and pumps her legs like a big girl. I can't wait to take her more this summer.
All in all, she is still the sweetest little baby. She smiles at everyone she meets and waves like crazy. At the breastfeeding group we go to, she waves like she's in a parade to everyone when we get there. She even waved "bye bye" to one of the babies who had to leave while she was nursing. She didn't miss a beat, just stuck her arm out and waved while continuing to nurse. It was very funny! She loves the reaction she can get from smiling and waving at someone.

Penelope's 10 Month Updates

Hard to believe that we are fast approaching Penny's first birthday! I feel like time is just flying by. As of yesterday, she is now 10 months old!
I think she is getting more and more fun everyday. She will mimic what we say to her, and is saying several words on her own (teddy, puppy, daddy, hi, baby, and sometimes Momma). Along with verbal speech, she knows and uses two signs (for "more" and "all done"). But, lately, she has been siging more to mean "I want some food" when she sees the box of cheerios or bag of puffs. Even when she is not using it totally right, she gets her point across!
She loves people, but especially other babies and children. We are working on telling her to "be gentle" or "do nice" because she can be a little grabby. And, she makes every baby she meets cry with her excited shreiks! She loves to look at pictures of babies, or bsbies on the tv. This includes the baby in the mirror!
She is dancing when she hears music, either by shrugging her shoulders or wiggling her bottom. Now, she can not only crawl, but pull herself up in her pack n play! She has become so much more mobile and fearless in the last few weeks.
As for food, I am still breastfeeding her, day and night.  I have just started feeding her 3 solid meals a day. So, I will give her baby oatmeal mixed with a jar of baby food fruit for breakfast. Then, baby food veggies for lunch and baby food veggies mixed with baby food meat for dinner. Throughout the day, she'll have cheerios, yogurt melts, or freeze dried fruit for a snack. She loves to feed herself these things. If we are out to dinner, she does very well with table food, too. If I feed her some off my plate, it keeps her content so I can eat:)
She is such a big girl, with 12m clothes being too short, but most 18m clothes being too big in the waist! She is wearing a size 4 shoes which means most of the ones we had are too small already!
She is such a joy. I feel like I have known her my whole life and I can hardly remember life before her.
Edited to add: Penny has her 2 bottom middle teeth. She is not sleeping through the night, but she is down to one 2am wakeup (i think). We are still cobedding, so her wakeups to nurse are pretty uneventful; I hardly remeber them.