She's One!

Hi blogging world! I'm back (for now.) I've seriously thought of writing a million times but then something always comes up. And lately not good surprises (like finding out that someone spent tons of our hard earned money on clothes at American Eagle and Pac Sun, or having your computer that was "fixed" break a million times more before it's actually fixed.) So here's to hoping that this rain cloud that has been over us for the last few weeks will part and we'll have some good days coming our way.

I never got a chance to write about Penelope's birthday or her one year update (which was already a month and a half ago) so let's just mesh these two into one post before it takes me another century.

Penelope's birthday was a success! She had lots of fun and we loved seeing her enjoy everyone's company. That's really the part we knew she'd like. You could take away all the delicious goodies and gifts and this girl would just be content in the company of those she loves (or really anyone who tells her how cute she is.) Even so, she enjoyed opening her gifts and eating her giant cupcake cake. At first she was not interested in getting messy but then her dad and uncle smashed her hand in it and she decided it was okay to make a huge mess. It was so much fun to watch her eat the cake. By the end she was hugging it (thankfully we managed to get a few pictures of her doing it too.)

Kisses...

And hugs! Not sure why the picture quality is bad (it's only like this on the blog...huh.)

Honestly, I'd put more pictures up of her birthday but I'm kind of feeling lazy today and don't feel like taking the time to take them off our camera. For another post I suppose.

As for what's new with this cute kid...:

• She can walk! Back on August 31st she took her first steps. Now she can walk across the room without a single fall. 
• At her one year check up she weighed 23lbs 1oz (87%)  and is 29 and a half inches tall (55%). 
• Her pediatrician also said that she is extremely advanced in the speaking department. She's passed all her verbal milestones (according to the sheet they make us fill out) up till 18 months and then some! We only had to stop because she hadn't learned to walk yet at that point. He couldn't get over how many words she could say and how she occasionally puts a couple words together. We didn't know this but apparently it's unique for her to be able to repeat words back to us that we ask her to say. ( And yes, I'm definitely bragging. Sorry, couldn't resist ;)
• She likes to blow kisses to everyone she meets.
• Some phrases she likes to say are: "Mom and Dad," "Love you," "Hi Mom/Dad," "What is that?" "Who is that?" "That Mom/Dad/Papa/Nana/Jesus," "No, No Mom/Dad,"  "Hiya," "Yeah okay," "Wow!" and my favorite, "Oh, hot!"
• She knows that if she wants something she needs to sign please (and usually does it on her own now.)
• And she can sign virtually anything right back to you. 
• She reminds us to pray when we forget (seriously, how did she get so smart!?)
• Gold Fish are her absolute favorite snack.
• She is starting to roleplay with her toys. She will rock her stuffed animals and then wrap them up in blankets to put them to sleep.
• She loves seeing big animals. We took her to the circus a few days ago (Jesse and I had never been either so we were all very excited) and Penelope kept pointing and saying "Wow!" and "Whoa!" It's the first time I have ever seen her give all of her attention to something.
• She has 7 teeth and 4 more are going to break the surface any day now.
• She hates wearing shoes.
• She loves looking at pictures of herself.
• Her hair is growing in the back and front so it's starting to look like she has a mullet haha!
• She loves babies.
• She is a terrible sharer (is that a word?) though. She is definitely starting to show only child syndrome.
• She laughs if you laugh.
• She is obsessed with her daddy.
• She likes to dress herself (and she's pretty good at it when it comes to shirts...not so much with pants.)
• She knows where her nose, eyes, mouth, and ears are.
• She still loves to dance.

 And now for picture overload time. I couldn't pick just one to share!:

Such a cute cake done by the The J Spot Custom Cakery. I promise the bottom is our fault. It accidentally got smooshed on our drive to our photographer.

I got to say, I was a little worried how these pictures would come out. Penelope was not interested in eating the cake and kept trying to crawl off the set but I forgot (well, not really) that Samantha Rizzo Photography is amazing! The pictures came out a million times better than I ever could have imagined! 

Well, it looks like it's time for me to go...The Kraken has awoken! Check back tomorrow for an update on Jesse & I! (Promise!)

With love,