Penelope Updates (I Am a Serious Slacker)

I have been neglecting my blog for a little while now. The truth is, while I really enjoy writing and updating everyone on our lives, I've had bigger priorities to take care of. I have about 10 blog posts that I've managed to get partially done over the last few months but then I get side tracked and forget about them. Or by the time I can write them entirely, it seems a bit random since the moment has passed. But since I'm trying to make money off this blog, and because I have many family members that live far away, I am continually reminding myself that I need to get on top of this. I promise to try harder.

Anyway, I have compiled Penelope's 3 month update, that I had started back when she was 3 months obviously, and Penelope's 4 month update. She will be 5 months on the 16th so you can clearly see how far behind I am.

3 Months (15 weeks)

• I put her on my shoulder on 11/26/13 and we walked around the house. Well eventually she got too heavy for me and I ran over to my husband and asked him to take her off. He put Penelope on his knee and randomly started singing this made up song, “Momma’s got you stuck, Momma’s got you stuck, Momma’s got you stuck on her heaaaad.” I started dancing all goofy and Penelope just started laughing hysterically. It’s not rare to hear little Penelope laugh but she was just dying laughing! Which naturally made us laugh hysterically too. It was seriously the cutest thing she’s ever done! I so need to get her to laugh on camera so I can remember it forever.

• When Penelope gets angry she does this new thing where she launches herself backwards. It is so scary. It looks like she’s throwing a huge tantrum. I looked it up and apparently it’s normal. Babies don’t mean to, they just aren’t able to control their body fully yet.

• Penelope is teething. It started with her drooling a lot and then she was become persistently more fussy. For some reason I thought she was too young to be but all my family in New Hampshire kept saying she was showing the signs. When I felt her gums I could feel that teeth were definitely coming in.

• Speaking of New Hampshire, Penelope and I spent our first week (hopefully ever) away from Dad (Jesse)! My step-father died unexpectedly and so when our trip ended Penelope and I stayed to help my mom and little siblings, while Jesse flew back home so he could go to work the following day. Penelope was ridiculously cranky. It was more stressful than I could have even imagined. BUT, Penelope was really happy and good in all the times it mattered (during the funeral and flying on the airplane home.) And it made my Mom so happy to have extra time with her. So while it was stressful we were grateful to be there to help.

• She’s starting to play with her toys more. She really likes anything that makes a crinkly noise. Whenever she’s sitting in her car seat I find her playing with her toy that dangles down.

• She also is holding things better and lifting. We gave her a heavy set of keys and she spent a good five minutes lifting them up and down.

And that was all I seemed to write…I must have gotten side tracked.

Here is Penelope at 4 months (I have no clue what week she is anymore.)

4 Months

• Penelope can roll! Wahoo! She has mastered rolling from back to stomach. Now if I put her down on her back it only takes about 10 seconds for her to be on her belly. This has made changing diapers…interesting.

  

  Playing on her tummy.

• If she is sitting on your lap she will try to look at you. She will give you this huge smile and then turn back around and continue doing what she was doing. She will repeat this every couple minutes or so.

Being a big girl and sitting on her own!

• She can move around pretty well. We wake up usually at least once early in the morning because Penelope has managed to get her head pressed up against the bars of her crib. It’s kind of funny! I half want to get one of those crib sheet things that go around the bars so at least if she does it it’ll be soft on her head. But I’m a paranoid mom and worry about SIDs. So as of yet we are looking for a different alternative.

Such a mean mom.

But I couldn't resist.

• Oh yeah, I forgot to mention--she sleeps in her crib now. We thought coming home from New Hampshire was the perfect time to adjust her to it. The first week was difficult. Jesse and I were getting up at least 3 times a night to soothe her back to sleep. Now she sleeps in it like a champ.

So excited for Christmas!

• Which also reminds me that we did the hardest thing (yet) as parents. We tried the “Cry It Out” method. Not recommending it for everyone but it worked for us. She had gotten used to falling asleep being rocked or held but we figured it was time to let her try falling asleep on her own. The first few nights were miserable. Surprisingly, Jesse had a harder time handling it than me. But after a couple days she figured out that we weren't giving in.

Our happy little Nella!

• Somehow (I’m not even sure how it happened) we changed her sleeping schedule. She sleeps from 8:00pm-8:30pm to 7:30am-8:00am. I am incredibly blessed for having a baby who sleeps well--especially because I don’t handle sleep deprivation well.

Trying out her Christmas present for the first time.

• My daughter takes naps!!! Hallelujah! It is parental bliss! For those who read my blog regularly, you know that Penelope used to take about one 15 minute nap and if I was lucky, a half hour nap a day. This made it difficult to get anything done. Penelope started taking an hour nap after being up for an hour, then a 45 minute nap during the day, and around 4pm took another 1 ½ nap. The first time this happened I thought my daughter was sick! I could hardly figure out what to do with myself (oh yeah, all the chores that I had been behind on.) As of this week though, Penelope has changed it up. She no longer wants her first nap but is keeping on with the other two.

Such a cutie.

Our Sleeping Beauty.

• I think Penelope has a couple more teeth coming in on the bottom because she has been high-maintenance this week. I can’t walk out of the room she’s in for even a second without her crying. And don’t even get me started on nap time. I hope this isn't a foreshadowing of how she will be when she’s a toddler.

After eating some sweet potatoes. Yum!

• She also does this new thing where if someone comes over to our house (only our house) she cries. Even people she knows. Jesse’s parents came over a few weeks ago and if they even looked at her she would start crying hysterically. I had to face her away from them and even then she would try to look  behind herself to see if they were still there and then start up again. HaHa! It was pretty funny!

Cuddling while watching Pearl Harbor.

• And if someone holds her and she doesn’t know them very well, she looks at me with absolute terror on her face. I then have to tell her it’s okay and then she’ll calm down a little bit. I don’t know if it’s an attachment to her parents sorta thing or if she’s shy or what, but we’ve been making more of an effort to have her be around more people and have them hold her so she will hopefully get over it.

This is how I found her one morning. I started to wonder if she knew how to roll. Later that day she went right over!

• But don’t get me wrong. She is the cutest kid. Like ever. She will laugh at the most random words you say. She loves when I say, “We’re gunna change yer butt.” She also loves the word hump (like a camel’s) and ophthalmology. It’s so adorable to hear her giggle!
  

  

  Giggling at mommy!

  

  Such a pretty smile.

• Her new favorite songs are Old McDonald (but for some reason she only likes it if you sign the animals along with it) and Skinamarinky Dinky Dink. It’s guaranteed to calm her down or just make her smile a bunch and laugh.

  

  My gorgeous baby!

• I don’t like the cold. At all. And basically I've decided to hibernate inside until there is no snow on the ground. This has made working out a challenge since I don’t particularly enjoy workout videos. I do however love to dance, and so every day I put on some jams and dance, basically like a lunatic. This might possibly be Penelope’s favorite part of the day. She will kick and flail like she’s trying to dance too. She just laughs and coo’s. I still can’t get over how much this girl loves music.

Her cheeky smile.

• At her last doctor’s appointment she weighed 16lbs 6oz. She is in the 85% for weight and 27% for height. We joke that she’s short and chunky.

Sporting her outfit from Great-Grandma Hadley.

Looking so chunky here.

• She eats solids now! She has so far had applesauce, sweet potatoes, and rice cereal. Every once in a while I sneak a bit of something to her. She looooves cheese and pudding.

Trying Jello.

Not sure what to think about it.

• She does likes to grab her foot. Just the other day she put it in her mouth for the first time which was hilarious because she made a disgusted face. A couple days later she basically nose dived into the bath water as she tried to grab her feet.

I love her eyes. They are the most perfect blue.

• She talks a ton and she likes to growl (especially if she doesn’t like something.)

Rawr!

Growling at Mom.

• She’ll also reach out for something she wants or someone she wants to hold her.

Munching on Tucan Sam Jr. Jr. There is another parrot named Tucan Sam Jr.

• We do this thing now where we bump heads (lightly) and I say “Duuuude” like in Finding Nemo. Now she likes to do it all the time.

  

  Just reading a book.

• She finally has a decent amount of hair on her head. Which makes me very happy since most people like to tell me how adorable my son is (not sure how they miss the ridiculous amount of pink I deck her in…)

  

  Playing after church.

• She loves to touch our faces and grab our noses.

Looking like a cute little bear in her new winter jacket.

• And for some reason she really enjoys when I sing to her.

She gives the best smiles!

• She is picking up ASL (American Sign Language) really well (and so am I!) I am absolutely certain she knows the following: Milk, Mommy, Daddy, and I love you. I sign to her the ABC’s, the numbers up to 10, farm animals, fruits and veggies, colors, jump, dance, and sing, and all the basic’s a child would need to know like bath and sleep and diaper change. We incorporate a lot of these words by singing songs since she loves music so much. I know I’m totally bragging but I am pretty excited about this. We’re both picking up this language super-fast (though I basically owe it all to Signing Time* and my sister-in-law Chante’ who is always willing to show me how to sign words or do them more correctly.)

  

  Munching on her book.

• She is totally a daddy's girl.

  

  Opening Christmas presents with Daddy.

*If you are interested in teaching your child ASL I really recommend the DVD’s Baby Signing Time. They are a bit expensive but you are more than likely able to find them at your local library.