Penelope's admirer

Tonight we went out to pizza to celebrate Bryan's birthday (which is tomorrow, 2/1). At the pizza parlor they had an area with little kids toys, which was wonderful and kept P pretty entertained the whole time we were there.

Not long after we got our pizzas, a family walked in with a 2 year old boy (who was only about 2 inches taller than Pen). Anyway, the two of them played rather well together - they would hand each other toys and did a lot of sharing. No one yelled, hit, or made a fuss - score. After Pen was done playing she'd head back towards us (our tables were right next to the play area) and demand to be held. At one point the little boy came over while she was on Bryan's lap and said "down" - as in "hey you, put my friend down so we can play again!" He did this quite a few times, to the amusement of our entire table and the slight embarrassment of his parents. We thought it was hilarious. At one point Bryan said something to the effect of "man, I already have to beat them off with a stick!"

This little boy really wanted Penny to play, and Penny was indifferent at that point (she was also exhausted, as we'd had a super full day and she hadn't napped very well).

It was cute.

Earlier that day Grace and I took Penny to a park down by Grace's house and I took a few pictures, so here's so Pen park pics (say that three times fast!)









And because I love this picture, here she is with her Uncle Nic a few days ago:

The Diva

Tonight Penny was more than a little uncooperative at bedtime. All she wanted to do was play with the Princess camera we got from my Aunt (it's pink and says things like "you look as pretty as a princess!" when you click the button).

She LOVES that damn camera.

Anyway, the only way to get her to sit still during post-bath diapering and dressing was for Bryan to madly click the camera button, pretending to take her picture over and over again like on a professional fashion shoot. She just sat there and GRINNED. It was like she had been transported into baby heaven - someone was taking her picture!

In fact, it was the only way I've been able to brush her teeth this week without a fight. She's getting the last of her canine teeth and she no longer enjoys teeth brushing... so at least it was easy to brush her teeth.

But man... we birthed a diva baby.

She MUST get that from her Daddy. ;)

Oh, and can I say - our dog is GASSY tonight and it's DISGUSTING.

Ok.

So this afternoon I started having pretty regular contractions. They weren't as intense as labor contractions, but were very similar to the contractions I had in the day leading up to Penelope's birth. So I spent the evening on the couch, drank a lot of water, and called my midwives. They said dehydration is a likely culprit, and also the full moon - the full moon will intensify contractions so if I'm already a little dehydrated and having Braxton Hicks contractions then the moon will only make them worse. They also want me to take cranberry on a regular basis to make sure I don't develop a bladder infection.

After about an hour on the couch and a lot of water a tea, I feel better. The contractions aren't regular or as intense... in fact, I think they've stopped for the night. The baby is moving around a lot more, and he/she wasn't moving when I was having the contractions. So I'm taking that as a good sign.

I attempted to send my contractions to my friend Bobbi whose due in 2-ish weeks but is full term, uncomfortable, and already 3cm dilated. So hopefully they made it to her and she goes into labor tonight so we can all meet baby Evan soon!

I'm sure I have more to update - there's always more. But How It's Made is on and I love that show.

Before I forget

I wanted to chronicle a few things before I forget them... which I tend to do a lot more these days (forget things). I hope I'll be able to be as detailed about "&"'s happenings at this age, but I have a feeling that it's only going to get harder to remember to write it all down. So dear "&", if you're reading this, mommy is sorry she wasn't able to note every cute thing you did as a baby. Second children get the shaft. But I still love you!

Ok, so on to how frickin' adorable Penelope is.

Today we splurged (ok, I splurged) and got her a bean bag chair. It's pink and soft and she loves it... only she loves to hugs and nuzzle it, not necessarily sit in it. In fact, anything remotely soft she will nuzzle and then hum. Her hat, stuffed animals, blankets, my belly, pillows, the couch... you get the picture. She buries her head into it and then goes "hmmmmmmmmm" - so cute.

She's also become quite the chatterbox. She now chats with strangers in line at the grocery store (or Kinkos, like today). 99& of the time she'll only talk to women, but the occasional guy has gotten her to smile.

She also stops whatever she's doing and dances to the theme from Friends. She REALLY gets into that song. Bryan and I are going to attempt to video tape it tomorrow, it's hilarious.

She's started trying to feed us, which is cute and occasionally gross. She'll slobber all over her hands feeding herself and then try and shove food into our mouths, she's amused when we refuse and then only tries harder.

Damn it, I had a bunch more I wanted to talk about and I can't remember any of it. I really need to start jotting down notes during the day so I can get it all on the blog.

Oh, and I can't find the camera so no new pictures. I'll try and look for it tomorrow.

The List (and other things)

First off, thank you to everyone who gave us baby boy name suggestions. We considered them all (well, except for some of the ones my Dad suggested - like Vahl, really Dad??) and found a few on our own.

So here is the Official LIST. Names are in alphabetical order.
Dexter
Griffin
Kian (Key-An)
Lucas
Milo
Pierce
Ronan

I feel much better now that we have a list. I have a couple of favorites, but there's currently no front-runner. If "&" is a boy we'll just wait to meet him and see which name fits him the best.

And now "other things"

Yesterday Penelope started kissing the dog. Luckily she had her paci in, otherwise that would have been just gross. Harley-Quinn's been bathed this month, but she's not exactly clean - although P gets enough dog hair on her and in her mouth just by being in the house. No amount of vacuuming can get all the pet hair Harley & Flea shed every day.

A couple of days ago we inherited some cool toys from my Aunt Diana whose kids have outgrown their baby/toddler toys. So Pen got a kitchen, games, potato head, and a ton of other cool toys. She's in love with the kitchen set, especially the oven and microwave which make noises when you press the buttons. This morning she brought me the doctor kit with a stethoscope, thermometer, and other doohickey, and made me listen to her heartbeat over and over again. She hates it when the doctor does it (although we have a new female pediatrician so maybe next visit she'll be more cooperative). Playing with the toys might also help her feel more comfortable when it comes to exam time - who knows.

So thanks Aunty Di for the toys! :)

Oh, one of the games we inherited is a matching game. It's meant for slightly older kids, but I'm using one of the boards now just for fun. Penny can already match half of the pictures! She's a genius! (That or she REALLY loves frogs, dogs, butterflies, and suns and so already knows those well enough to be able to match the pictures)... we'll go with genius.

I will endeavor to take pictures today so I can do a picture update. P's getting big (and so am I!).

Names... again

The other day I realized that I just don't love any of our boys names. Bryan really loves Milo, so we'll keep it on the list - but I'm officially scrapping every other name. No more Parker, Xavier, or Theodore.

Which means I need help coming up with boys names. My requirements: the name cannot have been on the social security's top 100 for 2008 (http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/) (they haven't posted the top names for 2009 yet), and the name must go well with "Walter" as that's the middle name. That's it. I used to have a Greek origins requirement but we had to drop that... Bryan is English/Irish (mostly) and I'm Greek/Swiss/German (mostly) so names from those cultures/nationalities would work - but they don't *have* to be from any particular one.

Our girls list hasn't changed: Calliope, Isadora, Milla, Ophelia, Athena, & Amelia.

I almost added Renee to the list, but we have enough names - so no more for the girls list.

But we could sure use help beefing up our boys list (well, when I say "we" I mean "me". Bryan is convinced the baby is a girl and says we don't need a boys list. I'd like one just in case).

Weaning: Redux

So. Weaning.

The plan had been to wean Penelope entirely off formula and bottle by the time "&" arrived. Ideally before March.

Well, I'm rethinking the plan. For the last month Penelope has been down to just one bottle before bed, and after it's over she would get pretty upset. We've had to switch the routine up since visiting the dentist (I knew we would have to eventually but didn't want to deal with the hassle). So now instead of just before bed she gets her bottle before her bath (and after we clean up toys - she now helps us pick up the living room every night, she's pretty good at it too). Then bath, teeth brushing, and bedtime. Bryan rocks her to sleep (she and I have a hard time finding a comfortable position together - which is a little sad, I love it when she falls asleep on me).

The first night she cried after her bottle was done, tonight she held on to it for awhile and chewed on the nipple before I took her to the sink and we put it "away". No tears this time so we'll have to make that our routine.

At some point we'll deal with finding another way to go to sleep... one of these days it would be nice to just tuck her in and have her fall asleep on her own. Maybe once her new room is done and we put her in the big bed we'll work on that. Or not. We'll see how it goes with two little ones at bedtime. We'll adjust as necessary depending on what the kids need/respond to the best.

Let's see... what else?

I'll be 28 weeks pregnant tomorrow. I know I've probably said this before, but some days this pregnancy seems to drag on forever and some days is feels like it's flown by. Today is one of those drag on forever days. Although I'm SO not ready to have the baby yet. We're not even close to prepared and I'm not ready psychologically/emotionally to have two "babies". I'll be ready in two months. Maybe.

Oh - there's an elimination communication class at MSN next month and I'm going to go. I haven't decided if I'm going to try EC, but I'll at least get more information. I bought P a potty chair last week and have yet to take it out of the box. I've been meaning to at least start putting her on the potty whenever I pee just so she gets used to it, but haven't actually done so. I just don't have much motivation to add anything new into our routine.

Although Sarah and I are going to attempt to make our own BumGenius knock-offs so I won't have to worry about running out of diapers once "&" gets here. I got some really cute prints for them and I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Alright, time for my 8:30pm snack. I had some fat free pudding for dessert, but I'm hungry (again) and I may have to have some cereal to tide me over until morning. I swear I'm eating more with this pregnancy than when I was pregnant with Penelope.

Good morning baby

I'm spending the day doing massive amounts of silly homework (my assignments for this class are beyond ridiculous) but I decided to take a quick break so I could tell you, my beloved blog reading audience, about the phenomenally cute thing Penelope does every morning.

If I've mentioned this before you'll have to forgive me, but it's just so damn cute!

Every morning she wakes up in our bed (see previous blogs on why she's in our bed every morning - damn teething). Anyway, she smiles, chatters, and then makes her way over to me where she proceeds to lift up my shirt, expose my pregnancy belly, and give it a big kiss. This morning "&" received no less than 6 kisses from his/her big sister. She also placed her ear on my belly as if she was listening to the baby... she'll also hug the baby and poke the baby.

It's so sweet :)

Ok, back to homework.