A whole mess of stuff

It's been too long since I last blogged, which means I have a lot to talk about, which means I won't get to it all. So here's what I consider the important stuff.

Penelope turns 8 months on Wednesday, and she's 30.75 inches long according to my admittedly imprecise measurements. We don't go to see her Ped until she's 9 months so we have another month before we get official measurements.

She weighs more than her 2 year old cousin Ariana - which isn't really surprising considering 1- Ari is mobile and 2- Ari's dad is like Frank Sinatra in the early days, if Steve stands sideways you can't see him. Seriously. I'm not all at concerned about P's weight, she's healthy and is IN NO WAY overweight. It does, however, kill my arms. I can't wait until she's walking so my back & arms get a break. I may have to chase her around, but then it's my legs that will get the workout.

Speaking of Ariana, Penelope met her only first cousins for the first time last weekend. Steve, Teresa, Gadge, Ariana, and Jesse were in California (they live in Wyoming) for the week and Bryan, Penny, and I went up to see them at Aunt Frannie's lake house for 2 days. We had a good time, the kids are all freaking adorable and it was nice to see my BIL & SIL... I know we all wish we lived closer, but Bryan and I will never move to Wyoming.

Here are a few pictures of the kids:

Jesse (2), Gadge (5), Ari (2), and Penelope (7.5 months)


Jesse


Gadge and Bryan


Ariana and I (this is the face she makes when you ask her to smile)


Penelope (and her thumb)

Hmmm, what else?

I officially dislike my professor in this current class (EXC 625: Exceptional Children in the Classroom) and a significant number of my classmates have said incredibly offensive and borderline racist things on the discussion board. Don't worry, I totally called them on it. Luckily this is the last week and I already submitted my last assignment. I forget the name of the next class. I'll be SO GLAD to be done next year.

Oh, more Penny stuff...

She's repeating sounds like Oh, Ah, and Uh-oh. It's hilarious!
She is no longer interesting in trying to crawl and would prefer to stand all day.
She recognizes a whole bunch of words and responds to them, she just can't vocalize them yet.
Baba, Rara, and Uh-oh are her favorite "words"
She's teething like CRAZY... she's actually putting things in her mouth to chew on. I don't know which teeth she's getting in, but we already have 5 and she's never done this for any of her other teeth. Maybe she'll get the rest of them in at once and we can be done with this whole teething thing.
Spices we've tried (and she loves): cinnamon, black pepper, curry, oregano
Still hates banana, but will eat it if it's mixed with peaches or blueberries.
LOVES greenbeans
Is in 18-24 month sized clothing, although some of her 18 month sizes oneseies are getting to be a little tight...
Is oddly fascinated by the vacuum

Upcoming August events: Tazz's wedding next week, Christina's son Zack turns 2!, Sophia turns 1, my 10 year high school reunion...

Oh, and Wednesday was my parents 29th anniversary!!!

Picture post

Pictures as promised...


This is Penelope kissing herself in the baby play mirror... she does this about half of the time I put the mirror next to her. I think it's absolutely hilarious.


Sleepy baby on mommy & daddy's bed


A little perspective so you can see just how long she is... our bed is a Queen sized bed and she's getting close to being as long as it is wide.

A promise for more pictures

I realized I haven't posted any new pictures since the 17th - shame on me! I'll endeavor to take new pictures today and have a picture-filled post for you all this evening.

Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down...

This is Penelope's new game. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up... you get the picture. All. Day. Long. She doesn't need much assistance, just a little something for support - this is usually my chest. And the child has quite the grip (and sharp Sabertooth claws; well she used to, I cut them today). So my poor chest has been pulled, grabbed, and otherwise abused all day today - and not in the fun way.

Anyway, we have my cousin Macy staying with us for the next few days. She's on summer break, and I enjoy the free child labor (kidding!). Today we went to music class and to the pool, tomorrow we're having lunch with my mom at her office and probably going to the pool again... it's been nice to have someone to help get Penny out of the car, give her a bottle, or play with her for awhile so I can do important things like blog :) Plus Macy is pretty awesome - so it's nice to have someone other than Fussy McPants to talk to all day.

Speaking of little Miss, she has also decided to join in on conversations. Currently she enjoys chatting about "rarara", "vavava", and "bababa". I swore I heard her say Mama today, but she didn't say it while looking at me so I'm not going to count it as a first word. I'm pretty sure her first word will be either "hi" or "doggy" since she liked the "h" sound and is obsessed with Harley-Quinn.

AND... WE HAVE TOOTH #5!!!!!!

Dear Bravo TV (things that need to be said part II)

The only reason I'm singling Bravo TV out right now is because I'm currently watching reruns of the West Wing on Bravo - although there are other stations who need a similar letter...

Dear Bravo TV,

Stop. Just put the camera down and take a deep breath please. You have an addiction and I'm here to help. I've sat idly by these past few years and watched you and other networks dissolve into a mushy, super dramatic, messy, and frankly ugly clusterf**k of really bad reality TV. Housewives of Orange County, Housewives of Atlanta, Housewives of Who-The-F**k-Cares, NYC Prep, Crappy Fashion Show I, II, & III, Silly Chef Show, Miami Social, Narcissistic Douchwaffles Have Mental Breakdowns, etc. Just stop. Please. You're embarrassing yourself.

Sincerely,
Jessica

PS - I'm guilty of watching one or two of these shows on occasion, and I know that Bravo's fall into mediocrity is partly my fault. Shame on me.

Side note: Penelope is laughing hysterically at the dog, who is just sitting there watching the baby. Hilarious!

Sunday recap

1. Baby is ridiculously cute in the mornings.
2. Band practice went well, by the time September rolls around we should be decent - we certainly won't embarrass ourselves on the stage at Hard Rock Cafe.
3. I hate hot - and that's what Sac has been lately. Boo.
4. Boys lost their softball game, this makes them 1-1
5. I beat Omar in Fantasy Baseball, and that makes me happy :)

This week will be busy - and next weekend even busier! More later, and new pics of Penelope as well.

Snot-nose Banana-face Poopy-pants

Take note, the above blog title is Penelope's new name. At least for this morning.

I can only imagine that one day, when she's 13 or so, reading this blog (which doubles as her baby book) and saying "Like OMG Mom! You're like so totally weird! I, like, can't believe you like wrote that in like my baby book!"

Only I doubt "valley girl" will be in style in the year 2021 (if we're still around as apparently the world will end in 2012). So it'll probably be something more like this:

"Oh my FSM Mom! You're so Sandberg! I can't believe you transcribed this in my GTD!"

(In the year 2021, GTD (gestational tracking device) will have replaced baby books and Andy Sandberg's name will have replaced the word weird - spread the word, you heard it here first! And if you're confused about FSM, just google "Flying Spaghetti Monster").

Miley Cyrus can't sing and other things that need to be said

Let's be honest here, Miley Cyrus is not a talented singer. She may even be close to tone deaf, since she seems to be yelling everything she "sings". I'm sure she's a nice kid, but her career as a megastar is either proof that the Devil exists and is willing to cut deals OR that people have really bad taste. You decide.

Speaking of singers who aren't any good at their jobs. Why do people like Brittany Spears? She's awful! As bad as Madonna, who also can't sing. At least the two of them can dance... but I've seriously heard better renditions of their songs at a karaoke bar.

Donte Stallworth killed someone while drunk driving and spent less than 30 days in prison. This is not ok. It is more than not ok. If he EVER plays professional football again I will stop watching the game. I'll switch to arena football or just go all out with baseball.

Speaking of baseball, what the heck is it with baseball stadiums & their "family sections" - which are generally unshaded? Um, hello! Families include kids and babies - who arguably need shade more than the trio of idiots who painted themselves blue for the game. Seriously.

I'm on the verge of boycotting Starbucks (*gasp* I know) because they don't have changing tables in their bathrooms. Moms need coffee! And I don't want to have to lay my baby on the freaking bathroom floor to change her! Next time I'm changing her on the damn table - Starbucks can suck it.

I really should be finishing my last assignment for the week in this class...

LA Trip Part III (Monday)

Monday was our last day in LA, and we made it count. That morning we woke up, packed up the car and headed to Forest Lawn to visit Pablo. I've blogged about him before, so most of you know who he is... we brought flowers and I wrote him a little note. It took me 4 tries to get it right, and I still don't think I said what I really wanted to say. How do you tell a little boy you've never met how much you miss him? How do you tell him that you'll never ever forget him, and that he's made a huge impact on your life? How do you tell a little boy who died of cancer that his story, his life, has fundamentally changed the way you see life and the way you see your own child? There just aren't words to adequately express how I feel about Pablo's story and how much of an impact it has made... and I am certainly not eloquent enough.

I've known other people who have died before their time, and I have felt the loss of them keenly. But it has been nothing compared to how the death of this precious child has effected me after having becoming a parent. I cannot even begin to imagine the heartbreak his parents felt - and still feel. Contemplating their pain is overwhelming, it makes my mouth dry, my throat freeze, and my heart ache... and it has to be nothing compared to what they feel. I think about them every day.

I'm glad we went to see Pablo... the cemetery is beautiful.

After our visit we grabbed a late breakfast and went to Venice Beach. It was Penelope's first ocean experience and I think she's a fan... here are some pictures:







After the beach we headed to the airport, checked in, and hung out until our plane left. Penelope slept the whole ride.

We had a really great time in LA. It was exhausting, but fun.

LA Trip Part II (Saturday & Sunday) - picture heavy

Saturday morning we got ready and then headed North to go to a BBQ at the house of one one my online mommy friend's mother in law (say that three times fast!). Meg (my mommy friend) and I had met online when we were both pregnant, she was in town visiting. Kristen (another mommy friend from the same online board) lives in the LA area, so she came up for the BBQ as well. Have I confused you yet? Good.

Anyway, here are the babies in birth order (Edith, Penelope, and Jon):


Here's one of favorites of Jon and Penny:


And here's one of all of us moms with our babies:


Oh! And here's one of two of the Daddies having some quality time with their daughters... squeezed into a baby pool:


We had a really good time! I love meeting all of the moms I've known online for over a year. We're all planning on meeting up for the kids' 5th birthday, but I would love to be able to meet everyone before then... I have a not so secret hope that Penny grows up to marry one of the other December babies so I know she'll get along with her in-laws, not everyone lucks out like I did with super-awesome in-laws!

After the BBQ we headed back to the hotel and got stuck in some NASTY Los Angeles traffic. Not fun. I got rather cranky, I hate traffic.

BUT after refueling Penny's diaper-bag at the hotel we headed over to my cousin Wade's house. He and his wife Jennifer had twins in February (did I mention that on this blog? I think I did...) Anyway, I was super excited to meet them (and to spend some time with Wade and Jen who are fantastic).

Penelope decided that Jennifer was the coolest thing since sliced bread. It was so cute... she just LOVED Jen!

I didn't get as many pictures as I had planned, too busy holding babies! But here are some that I was able to take.

Ava in her jumperoo:


Penelope in the jumperoo and Luke watching her play:


Luke with his Daddy:


It was a really great visit. I wish they lived closer so we could see them more often! I can't wait until they're all a little older and they can run around and play play play!

So that was Saturday, fun and exhausting.

And now, SUNDAY!

Kristen, her husband Brian, and Jon picked us up at the hotel and we took a short drive over to Angel Stadium to see the Angels play the Yankees (the Angels won, and it was a sweep!).

Here are the babies watching the game (we were closer to the field at the beginning, but moved to the rafters so we could have shade)


Here's baby and Daddy:


Miss P & I:


We had a really great time. I enjoy going to stadiums to watch games (not so much watching them on TV), and Penelope love people watching. Once we moved to the shade it was much more enjoyable - it wasn't too terribly hot, but it was pretty warm and the sun was pretty fierce on baby skin.

It was also really nice to spend more time with Kristen and her family. I'm so glad they came with us, it made the game that much better!

After they dropped us back off at the hotel we took P to the pool, ate, and then all crashed. It had been a very full and very fun two days and we were all exhausted!

More later on Monday - our last day in LA!

LA Trip Part I (Friday)

Our baby is an excellent traveler... so far. She was wonderful on the plan to Seattle back in May, and I was hoping she would do just as well on the flight to LA. Even better, she slept the whole way - after having a small bottle, Penelope was out for the entire flight, take off & landing! Super-awesome.

I also have to mention how much I heart Jet Blue. Not only were they the cheapest, they have the most legroom of ANY flight I've EVER been on (with the exception of my one trip in first class) and they give you a WHOLE can of soda AND a snack. I know, awesome yes? Plus you can watch DirecTV & listen to XM radio. So between sleeping baby and decent amenities, the trip down to LA was actually quite enjoyable.

Our hotel, on the other hand, sucked big time. It was a Priceline find, and we got it for about half of the going rate. A really nice hotel (The Doubletree), and they even have the spiffy commercials with Dinah Washington singing "Relax Max"... but you have to pay extra for parking and no complimentary breakfast. Even the freaking Holiday Inn has free breakfast! They do give you a warm chocolate chip cookie (one for each member of your party) when you check in, so that was nice. But what are supposed to be queen sized beds are actually doubles - boo.

It was in the perfect location, so that was nice.

Anyway, we checked in, got settled, and then decided to explore the area. Walked down to The Block at Orange which is an open shopping center and bought Penny some new sunhats and had dinner at Dave & Busters, which is like a Chuck-E-Cheese for grown-ups. Penny crashed once we got back to the hotel, so I hit the hotel gym while Bryan watched baseball. All in all a nice start to our vacation!

Here's a pic to tide you all over - more later

Real quick...

The water is boiling and I need to go start dinner, but a few real quick bits:

*Our trip to LA was wonderful - I have lots to talk about and lots of pictures, so stay tuned
*I am so very disappointed with my latest class. More later, suffice it to say, I thought a class on students with disabilities would be interesting and challenging. It's not.
*Tonight we go see the midnight showing of Harry Potter, my parents have Penelope for the night. I miss her SO MUCH already, but it's nice to be able to have some uninterrupted time for laundry, housework, and homework.

Ok, REALLY have to go

Getting ready for LA

Tomorrow the three of us will head down to LA for the weekend. Our trip is going to be jam-packed, but super fun. Friday we're seeing my cousin Wade, his wife Jennifer, and their twins Ava & Luke who are (if I remember correctly) about 4 months old. Saturday is a BBQ with some December mommies that I haven't actually met yet, but have 'known' via the internet since almost the beginning of my pregnancy. Sunday is a football game, the Angels v. the Yankees, and then dinner with one of Bryan's friends from high school... Monday we leave, but we have some extra time during the day so I want to try and make it to Pablo's grave.

When we come home we get very little rest as Harry Potter opens Tuesday night and we're going to see the midnight show. Penny gets to stay with Grandma & Grandpa that night... that reminds me that I need to go buy tickets today.

Ok, Penelope update:

I can't remember if I've said any of this stuff already and I'm too lazy to read through my blog to double check...

*If she's on her tummy, she'll scoot backwards and tries to go forward but isn't quite there yet.
*She loves to bang things together, which is sometimes super fun and sometimes gives me a headache.
*Her ability to manipulate objects gets better every day - she's able to pick up small objects (like Puffs) but still doesn't have any desire to actually put them in her mouth. I feel like she's never going to feed herself even though I know one day she will.
*She fake coughs for attention... it's hilarious.
*She is currently yelling at me, gotta run!

Video Uploads

So I've been meaning to do this for awhile, but only just got around to it. So here's a video dump!

Penelope in May, pretending to be a Pterodactyl:


Penelope thinking bouncing balls are hilarious (there's NO WAY to NOT make that sound dirty even though it sooooo isn't dirty):

Compromises & Overprotective Parents

So I have a lot that I've wanted to blog about, but whenever I sit down to write all my beautiful words fly out the window and I end up spending too much time on the debate boards arguing politics.

I am now determined to start and finish this post, which I've been thinking about for a couple of days. It may be wandering and incoherent, I don't care - at least I'll have finished it. There's pictures at the end, so you can skip to those or they can be fun rewards for making it through this post.

First: Compromises
Marriage and parenting is nothing if not a series of compromises. Actually, life is a series of compromises. I can't count how many times I've compromised with myself (and subsequently beaten myself up for said compromises)... although there are some instances in which I've refused to compromise. Penelope's birth was one of those.

But I don't necessarily want to discuss the things I haven't compromised, rather I want to focus on some of the recent compromises we've made.

1. Diapering... we still cloth diaper. But we've decided to use disposables when we travel for a variety of reasons. Mostly because it's a pain in the butt to do laundry when you travel, it takes time away from the vacation. The last thing I want to do while on vacation is spend time at a laundromat. It does make me feel a little guilty every time I throw one away - and yes, this is just my super-crunchy side showing. But one of the reasons we decided to cloth diaper was because of the environmental impact of disposables. I realize CD'ing isn't for everyone, but it is for us - so even this small compromise sometimes makes me feel a little guilty.

2. Baby food... I had every intention of making ALL of Penelope's food. It's not really that hard, it saves money, allows me to know exactly what is in her food, and allows me to use all organic produce if I so choose. However, I have come to realize that it's just too much for me. Motherhood, grad school, volunteer work, my job, housework (not that it gets done on a regular basis), leave little time for "me" as it is. Even though Bryan is amazing at taking her when he comes home so I can do school work and make dinner (he's not allowed to cook, I don't want to eat spaghetti every night), I still don't have a lot of down-time. The time I DO have I usually spend blogging or on Mommy Support Group sites to help save my sanity. I'm sure I could squeeze in making baby food, but I honestly don't want to sacrifice the little "me" time I have. I know that makes me a little selfish... but I trust Gerber.

You know, I'm sure there are more but I lost my train of thought. On to Topic #2

Second: Overprotective Parents
Before Penny (BP), overprotective parents (OPs) used to make me roll my eyes and think "oh, those poor kids". Now, OPs just make me shrug my shoulders. That might not sound like much of a difference, but it is... having Penelope has made me understand why some parents freak out even though there are many things OPs do that I cannot imagine doing. They know their children better than I do, and so it's not my place to judge. I wouldn't want anyone to tell me how I can or cannot parent my kids, so I keep my mouth shut. Even though sometimes I still think "oh, those poor kids" :)

So CONGRATS! You made it through my post. You are now rewarded with some pictures of Penelope!

Here she is trying to kiss herself in her play mirror, she does this nearly every time she plays with this toy:


This is us + Bonnie & Omar in Old Sac - I love these photos!

7 month birthday!

Today Miss Penelope turns 7 months old, so happy birthday baby! Here are some pictures:

Family photo in Downtown Sac:


Penelope attempting to steal my camera-phone:


Penny so intent on watching Jeopardy that we can balance a block on her head:


Other things to note:
*Prunes are bad. Very. Very. Bad. And should only be used when Penelope is having actual digestive issues... they should never be a part of her regular diet. Ewwwwwwwww
*Fireworks are annoying when trying to get a baby to sleep.

Firsts:
*P is now responding to her name!
*Scooting backwards while on her belly
*Standing up with very little assistance (she uses us for balance, but can get from sitting to standing with almost no help!)
*TOOTH #3 is IN!!! It's a top tooth, and just peeking out, but it's there!
*Her new favorite "word" is "Gree"

Ok, more later - it's tickle time.

Happy 4th of July

Someone has picked up bad habits from the puppy...

Harley-Quinn has apparently taught Penelope to get into the recycling. Naughty puppy!