7 Months

Happy 7 months to Miss Penny (in normal Allison fashion) almost a week late! Still haven't gotten our 6 month pictures back to share but hopefully by next week *fingers crossed*

Weight: Approx 17.5 lbs according to our home scale, what a chubbers!
Height: Unknown

Head Circumference: Unknown

Biggest Accomplishment This Month: Not really an accomplishment, maybe more of the "biggest occurrence" this month, but we have teeth! Two bottom teeth finally broke through early on this month! She loves getting her little chompers brushed; it's one of her new favorite morning rituals! Other big accomplishments this month include learning how to wave (though she likes waving at herself more than waving to anyone else), and she's starting to learn how to soothe herself to sleep. We started a very strict bedtime routine about a week and a half ago that really seems to be helping. At 7:30pm every night, Jon reads her Goodnight Moon, lotions her up with lavender scented lotion, puts on her PJs, and turns on her special "goodnight music" that he rocks her to. After about a week of this, she has let him lay her down a few times while she was still awake and then put herself to sleep. There have still been some rough nights on and off, and nap times are still a struggle, but we're getting there!

Nap? What's a nap?

Biggest Struggle This Month: Getting really frustrated with herself that she can't crawl yet. She gets crabby almost constantly that she can't move around the way she wants to! She hasn't coordinated the moving of her legs and arms in the crawling position, but she definitely has creative ways to get around and she still is a big mover. The other day I sat her in front of the stove while I was mixing things up for dinner and a few seconds later she was under the table in the dining room, having slid herself backwards on her stomach!

Mommy's Favorite Moment: Now that she's got a couple teeth, we decided to try out a couple of finger foods. We chopped up some eggs into tiny little chunks, put them on a plate, and I (being the brilliant parent that I am) thought it would be fun to have a picnic on the couch. We laid out a blanket, set her in the middle of it with the plate, and let her go to town. Not only were the miniscule pieces that we chopped up nearly impossible for her to pick up (we were probably a little over zealous with our concern about her choking), but once she got the hang of getting a handful of eggs, she had no interest in eating them. Seriously, this kid puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, but then we give her something specifically intended to go in her mouth and she wants it everywhere else BUT in her mouth (i.e. in her hair, in my hair, all over the back of the couch, etc). Even I had to admit it was pretty hilarious though and she had a ball, making it one of my favorite "welp, this is happening so just roll with it" moments. We eventually did get some eggs into her mouth with a spoon but she wasn't super keen on the new texture so we'll probably wait awhile before trying this out again.

Mommy's Least Favorite Moment: Penny had a pretty nasty cold for a few days this month and was pretty miserable. Seeing her with the red eyes, the drippy nose, the raspy breathing, and the listless personality just breaks my heart.

Daddy's Favorite Moment: Taking her outside for the first time since she was infant! It's finally started to warm up the past week or two (and by warm up, I mean high 30s and low 40s), but up until now it has been the most frigidly cold winter I can remember so Penny has been kept tucked inside her infant car seat with layers of blankets covering her from the outside world anytime we step out the door. Since it was has become a little more manageable and we recently switched to her big girl convertible car seat that we can't carry in and out of the house, she has gotten to experience fresh air a couple of times and she LOVES it. It's obviously not warm enough to take her out into the yard to play, but we've stood out in the driveway for a few minutes just to let her take it in and she gets so excited! She starts breathing heavily and kicking her legs with a huge grin on her face, it's adorable. Absolutely can't wait until it gets legit warm so she can play outdoors.

Daddy's Least Favorite Moment: She's been going through a bit of a separation anxiety phase where she doesn't like to get set down. There was a day this month where she literally would not let us set her down ALL. DAY. We'd put her in the playpen and big tears would immediately start rolling and her arms would extend up, reaching for us to pick her back up. That was rough.

Seven Month Developmental Milestones According to What to Expect in the First Year (highlighted in green Penny has accomplished, highlighted in red she hasn't yet):

"By seven months, your baby...should be able to:

*feed self a cracker

*razz (make a wet razzing sound)

*coo or babble when happy

*smile often when interacting with you

...will probably be able to:

*sit without support

*bear some weight on legs when held upright

*object if you try to take a toy away

*work to get a toy that's out of reach

*look for a dropped object

*rake with fingers an object and pick it up in fist

*turn in the direction of a voice

*babble, combining vowels and consonants such as ga-ga-ga, ba-bab-ba, ma-ma-ma, da-da-da

*play peekaboo

...may possibly be able to:

*creep or crawl 

*pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other

*stand holding on to someone or something

...may even be able to:

*pull up to standing position from sitting - She often pulls up to a crouching position and I've seen her pull herself all the way up a couple times, though not very often yet

*get into a sitting position from stomach - Love walking in on her sitting up in her crib when we go to get her in the morning. Adorable!

*play patty-cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye

*pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger

*walk holding on to furniture (cruise)

*say "mama" or "dada" indiscriminately - This was my proudest moment all month. She's been saying dada nonstop and she finally said mama this month! She obviously doesn't know what they mean yet, but it's still super fun!

6 Months!

I'm in total disbelief that we're already half way through Penelope's first year of life. I know I sound cheesy, but I don't know how we ever knew happiness before this amazing, beautiful, smart, funny, spunky little girl entered our lives.

Thank you Jesi Leigh Photography for a preview of her 6 month pictures!

Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz, 59th percentile
Height: 26 inches, 52nd percentile

Head Circumference: 44.5 cm, 94th percentile

Biggest Accomplishment This Month: Starting solid foods! She was a little tentative about it at first (and by at first I literally mean the first time she tried...by take two she had become a clean plate club and has remained one every time she eats!) but she is such a big eater now! 

She has yet to reject anything we've tried with her (so far sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas, apples, and carrots) and usually gets really mad at us when meal time is over. I swear she would eat the entire fridge in one sitting if we would let her!  She's also very independent and wants to hold the spoon by herself, though I cheat and hold onto the very end so she doesn't notice I'm helping. We have so far *knock on wood* have been keeping up with making all of her food at home (no jars or mixes, only fresh!) which I will do a separate blog post on later to share our favorite recipes. She loves showing her appreciation for mommy's cooking though and she hums/sings/moans the entire timing she's eating every. single. time.

Biggest Struggle This Month: Teething! She's been exhibiting all of the classic symptoms of teething (bad mood, changed sleep patterns, producing even MORE drool then before which I didn't even think was possible) for a couple of weeks now and still those suckers haven't popped through! You can see them in the front of her gums, but it's like they decided to push up just far enough to bug her but not far enough that they'll ever break the surface. Poor baby!

Mommy's Favorite Moment: On Penny's 6 month birthday we took her to get her pictures taken (see a couple of preview shots above) which were a struggle since our awesome timing put the pictures right over her naptime. My favorite moment of the month occurred later that afternoon though after she had gotten some sleep. My friend Kayla had a choir concert at the Paramount and we decided to give it a go bringing Penny to her first live performance. I had no context for how she would do in a dark theater being forced to sit quietly on my lap, but she LOVED it. We walked in a couple minutes late because the line at the ticket counter had been longer than we anticipated, so the music was already going as we stood in the back waiting for a moment between songs to go to our seat. Penny sat and stared mesmerized by the light and the music. Even after we sat down, the only time she really became restless was between songs when the conductor would talk for a while about the songs they were singing. We ended up leaving at intermission only because 1) she had just pooped through her outfit during the end of the first half and we now had the smelly clothes in the diaper bag and 2) though she was greatly enjoying the performance, she was getting a little more vocal with her joy and was starting to chatter and coo during the songs and we didn't want to bother everyone around us. But mommy was so proud of her for not only sitting nicely for so long, but for also her growing appreciation of the arts :-)

Mommy's Least Favorite Moment: This one could also double as another favorite moment because I'm so proud of how big and strong and smart she's getting, but it's also my least favorite because sometimes it is way too fast for me! When I get home from work, I usually let Penny sit in her car seat or exersaucer in the kitchen with me while we sing and I put away dishes. This particular day, she was a little fussy and didn't want to be contained to either and I'm nervous letting her sit on the kitchen floor by herself since we know from experience that it hurts when she falls back onto the tile. I was almost done at this point anyways, so I went and put her in her crib, sitting up in the middle with a couple of toys to play with, while I went and quickly finished up. Literally minutes later, I returned to find her pulling herself up over the edge of the crib! This video doesn't even do it justice. When I first walked in her feet were planted flat on the mattress and she was crouched but practically standing. Needless to say, we lowered her mattress that night the second daddy got home to help.

Daddy's Favorite Moment: Daddy readjusted Penny's stroller a couple of weeks ago so that mommy could take her to the mall with her. It's the first time Penny has ridden in the stroller in a long time, and definitely the first time since she started sitting up so daddy had to adjust the straps and back of the stroller so that she could sit up and see more of the world. To test it, daddy put her in the stroller inside the house and Penny fell in love. To the point that daddy pushed her around the house in the stroller for close to an hour with Penny giggling almost the entire time.

Daddy's Least Favorite Moment: A few weekends ago we took a trip down to the cities to go to Ikea and then go out to dinner with mommy's family. It had been a long day for Penny by the time we got in the car to go home, and although she had fallen asleep in the loud restaurant, she woke up when we put her into the car seat and proceeded to cry all the way from St. Paul to Rogers. We finally pulled over to take her out and try and get her to calm down. Crying turned to screaming when we tried to put her back into the car seat. After a long struggle, we finally decided to take her into Target and walk around with her laying in her infant car seat inside the basket of the cart. This immediately calmed her but still didn't put her to sleep. Since we had now been in Rogers for over 45 min at about 8:30pm and we still had an hour drive home, we plugged our ears and put her back in the car where she instantly started screaming again. Thankfully this time by the time we hit Highway 94 she had fallen asleep, but close to an hour shared between a gas station parking lot and a Target in Rogers in the middle of winter and way past Penny's bed time was daddy's least favorite moment this month.

Six Month Developmental Milestones According to What to Expect in the First Year (highlighted in green Penny has accomplished, highlighted in red she hasn't yet):

"By six months, your baby...should be able to:

*keep head level with body when pulled to sitting

*say "ah-goo" or similar vowel-consonant combinations

...will probably be able to:

*bear some weight on legs when held upright

*sit without support

*turn in the direction of a voice

*razz (make a wet razzing sound)

...may possibly be able to:

*stand holding on to someone or something

*object if you try to take a toy away - Penny does object if you take away her food, not sure if that counts;-) 

*work to get a toy that's out of reach

*pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other

*look for a dropped object

*rake with fingers a tiny object and pick it up in fist

*babble, combining vowels and consonants such as ga-ga-ga, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, da-da-da

*feed self cracker or other finger food - we haven't given her finger foods yet but I'm going to count it since she brings the spoon to her mouth by herself

...may even be able to:

*creep or crawl - I'm going to mark it as not yet even though she does get in the crawling position and can pull herself along every once in a while, but she hasn't legit gotten the hang of it yet I don't think

*pull up to standing position from sitting - she's still in the beginning stages of this but she can do it

*get into a sitting position from stomach

*pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger

*say "mama" or "dada" indiscriminately 

Five Months!

Christmas has come and gone and Penny is another month older! She got so many nice gifts and our house is filled to the brim with toys! She loved opening presents! She thought wrapping paper was pretty much the greatest thing on earth!

Weight: About 16 lbs according to our home scale
Height: Unknown
Head Circumference: Unknown

Biggest Accomplishment This Month: Sitting up! She's pretty pro at it now, but she often forgets that she's the one holding herself up and throws herself back or straight forward onto her face.

Biggest Struggle This Month: This kid hates napping! She's supposed to be getting around 16 hours of sleep a day right now and we're lucky if she gets....12? 13? Most of her naps are only 20 min long, which would be fine if that were enough sleep for her, but then 15 min later she's crabby and rubbing her eyes again. She also has had a cold for the past week that she can't seem to kick. I didn't know so much snot could get sucked out of a little baby's nose! But since we've put the humidifier in her room it's been helping her sleep a lot better.

Mommy's Favorite Moment: She's starting to learn how to "kiss". She'll grab the sides of my face and pull me in and plant a big, open mouthed, wet one on my lips. It's pretty adorable.

Mommy's Least Favorite Moment: This whole week with her cold, though especially last weekend, has been rough. She's just not her normal self and while she has bouts of playfulness, she's generally just cranky. I just feel bad for her since there's not much we can do for her but clean out her nose (which she hates!) and get her lots of fluid. We tried giving her water for the first time a couple of days ago and she took it right out of a big girl cup, so that's something!

Daddy's Favorite Moment: Penny and Daddy's day of fun! Mommy had to work 9 hours last Saturday and it was their first full day together by themselves!

Daddy's Least Favorite Moment: Getting sick for the first time

Five Month Developmental Milestones According to What to Expect in the First Year (highlighted in green Penny has accomplished, highlighted in red she hasn't yet):

"By five months, your baby...should be able to:

*hold head steady when upright

*on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms

*pay attention to an object as small as a raisin (but keep such objects out of baby's reach)

*squeal in delight

*reach for an object

*smile spontaneously

*smile back when you smile

*grasp a rattle held to back or tips of fingers

*keep head level with body when pulled to sitting

...will probably be able to:

*roll over (one way)

*bear some weight on legs

*say "ah-goo" or similar vowel-consonant combinations

*razz (make a wet razzing sound)

*turn in the direction of a voice

...may possibly be able to

*sit without support

...may even be able to:

*pull up to standing position from sitting

*stand holding on to someone or something (for short periods of time)

*object if you try to take a toy away

*work to get to a toy out of reach

*pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other

*look for dropped

4 Months!

Holy cow, where did the last month go?! It feels like we just got back from vacation (where Penny loved swimming and got to ride on her first boat while Mommy and Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Tom went parasailing) and now we're prepping for Penny's first Christmas next week! We're going to take her to see Santa tomorrow and have already gotten her Christmas gifts purchased and ready to go. We're going pretty minimal this year since 1) She doesn't really get it anyway and 2) How many toys does a 4 month old really need? We opted for this sand and water table which I know she'll loving playing with this summer out in the backyard, a winter jacket from Old Navy for next year, and this ball ramp to play with all of her little balls she's got in her toy buckets. So excited for her to get to see everything Christmas morning in her fuzzy footie pjs!

She also got her 3 month pictures done this month! Here are just a couple of my favorites from Andrea Joan Photography.

Weight: 14 lbs 9 oz - 55th percentile

Height: 24.5 inches - 60th percentile
Head Circumference: 16.93 inches - 96th percentile (that's right...her head is almost as large around as she is tall)

Biggest Accomplishment This Month: She finally rolled over! Grandma Legg and I were playing with her on the floor of the hotel room on vacation and very slowly she rolled over....from back to front! Luckily we called Daddy and Grandpa over just in time to see it! I'm so happy I got to see her first time, though she hasn't rolled over for me since, but Grandma Williams says she was rolling over like a crazy fool yesterday. She still has no interest in rolling over front to back anymore, though. She also learned how to razz this month. She thinks she's pretty cool and does it ALL the time. She usually even wakes up doing it, just to make sure she still remembers how :-)

Biggest Struggle This Month: The past few weeks she's been waking up once or twice a night for feedings again. She wakes up, eats, and immediately goes back to sleep, so I know I shouldn't complain, but I became very accustomed to her sleeping 8 to 10 hours a night straight through! She also has gotten EXTREMELY drooly this month, drenching many a cute outfit, so I think she may start teething soon.

Mommy's Favorite Moment: I'm so ridiculously proud of how she did on the plane! When we first got on our flight down to Florida, no one made eye contact with us and she didn't get her usual compliments as it seemed a lot of the passengers were anything but happy to be riding with a 3 month old. After we landed and were waiting to get off, however, everyone around us was fawning over how adorable she is and how well she did on the flight. She ate during takeoff, slept, woke up and played a little bit, fell back asleep, and then woke up just in time to eat during landing. She did SO awesome and outshone the screaming 4-year old on the flight home, sleeping the whole trip even after a 2.5 hour delay. Such a proud mommy here!

Mommy's Least Favorite Moment: Going back to work full time after vacation (it felt like deja vu from my first day back to work last month!) and shots at her four month appointment. She does so well and recovers quickly from her shots, but man do those tears break my heart!

Daddy's Favorite Moment: When she scream-laughed when he was tickling her cheeks with his whiskers. She's gotten pretty ticklish lately, it's adorable!

Daddy's Least Favorite Moment: When he walked into the living room to find Penny intently watching Toddlers & Tiaras, refusing to be distracted by Mommy's attempts to get her to play with toys. The idea of her being a little pageant princess really got him worked up! ;-) 

Four Month Developmental Milestones According to What to Expect in the First Year (highlighted in green Penny has accomplished, highlighted in red she hasn't yet):

"By four months, your baby...should be able to:

*on stomach, lift head up 90 degrees

*laugh out loud

*follow an object in an arc about 6 inches above the face for 180 degrees (from one side to the other)

...will probably be able to:

*hold head steady when upright

*on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms

*grasp a rattle held to backs or tips of fingers

*pay attention to an object as small as a raisin (but keep such objects out of baby's reach)

*reach for an object

*squeal in delight

...may possibly be able to

*keep head level with body when pulled to sitting

*roll over (one way)

*turn in the direction of a voice, particularly mommy's

*say "ah-goo" or similar vowel-consonant combinations

*razz (make a wet razzing sound)

...may even be able to:

*bear some weight on legs when held upright [she's been doing this for a long time now!]

*sit without support [getting close!]

*object if you try to take a toy away

*turn in the direction of a voice

Three Months!

Pictures from the day she turned three months!

I'm a little behind on this since Miss Penelope turned three months a week ago yesterday, but we've been so busy getting ready for Christmas and packing for our Thanksgiving vacation to Ft. Meyers, Florida. Packing for a baby is HARD! I'm having a really hard time not packing the entire house, but I'm so excited to leave and to get Penny to the beach and in the pool. She LOVES water! She just this past week really caught onto the concept of splashing....she is now constantly slamming her hands down as hard as she can in the bathtub to splash herself in the face.

Weight: She was 14.2 lbs yesterday when I weighed her on our very unreliable home scale. What a chunker!
Height: Unknown
Head Circumference: Unknown

Biggest Accomplishment This Month: Pulling herself to sit up. If you give her your fingers she'll completely pull herself up by herself with no help. She also loves "sitting" or "standing" now. She rarely likes to be held in the traditional cradle hold anymore. She'd much rather be held facing out to explore the world. She's also getting SO close to rolling over, but only back to front now which is really surprising! She's kind of given up on trying to roll over from front to back, but whenever she's laying on her back now she rolls onto her side and if she just pushed herself over one more centimeter she'd be over!

Biggest Struggle This Month: Now that she's becoming more active, breastfeeding is quite the challenge! She's much better at latching and getting done eating faster, but she also has started to think it's a game and breastfeeding sessions include a lot of flailing, scratching, pinching, and punching.

Mommy's Favorite Moment: Putting up Christmas decorations with Penny this year. She love, love, loves the Christmas lights on the tree and had a great time giggling at Mommy and Daddy hanging up ornaments.

She got pretty worn out by the end and passed out in her baby carrier.

I also loved discovering a sure fire way to make her laugh. If I show her a mouth full of food she thinks that is just about the funniest thing on the planet.

Mommy's Least Favorite Moment: Going back to work. That was a rough one.

Daddy's Favorite Moment: Singing to each other. Daddy sings with his face inches from Penny and Penny will sing back just as loud. It's pretty adorable.

Daddy's Least Favorite Moment: On one particularly rough day when Penny wasn't feeling good and was crying real tears. That kind of breaks your heart to see.

Three Month Developmental Milestones According to What to Expect in the First Year (highlighted in green Penny has accomplished, highlighted in red she hasn't yet):

"By three months, your baby...should be able to:
*on stomach, lift head up 45 degrees

...will probably be able to:
*laugh out loud
*on stomach, lift head up 90 degrees
*squeal in delight
*bring both hands together
*smile spontaneously
*follow an object held about 6 inches above baby's face and moved 180 degrees - from one side to the other, with baby watching all the way

...may possibly be able to
*hold head steady when upright
*on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms
*roll over (one way)
*grasp a rattle held to backs or tips of fingers
*pay attention to an object as small as a raisin (but make sure such objects are kept out of baby's reach)

...may even be able to:
*bear some weight on legs when held upright
*reach for an object
*keep head level with body when pulled to sitting
*turn in the direction of a voice, particularly mommy's
*say "ah-goo" or similar vowel-consonant combination
*razz (make a wet razzing sound)"

Two Months!

Now that I no longer have weekly pregnancy updates to do, I've decided to do monthly updates on Penny's development and any fun things that have happened with her. Today Penelope AnnMarie turned two months old!

I cannot even believe how much she has changed in the past month. Or the past week. Heck, everyday it feels like she has learned something new or changed in some way. She smiles all the time now with the occasional giggle, she is constantly babbling and trying to imitate facial expressions, she can push herself way up during tummy time, and she is starting to grab for toys and can even grasp them for a few seconds at a time. It's so amazing how quickly she is becoming her own little person with such a big personality!

Weight: 11 lbs 14 oz (54th percentile)
Height: 22-1/2 in (42nd percentile)
Head Circumference: 41 cm (99th percentile)

Biggest Accomplishment This Month: Lifting her head 90 degrees and pushing her chest slightly off the floor during tummy time

Biggest Struggle This Month: Learning how to take naps in her playpen instead of being held through naps

Mommy's Favorite Moment: The couple of nights she has slept 8 hour stretches and whenever she gets a big grin on her face when she sees me after it's been a little while.

Mommy's Least Favorite Moment: When I was leaving to go see Little Mermaid that Daddy directed and Penny threw up all down my shirt. Not just down the front. Nope, filled my shirt and bra with throw up. I didn't have a change of clothes with me so I had to wipe the puke up with water and throw it in the dryer so at least it wouldn't look bad, but I still went to the show smelling like baby puke. Then, when I got back to pick Penny up from Grandma's, she pooped like I have never seen a baby poop before. The entire back of her onesie up to her neck was covered and all down her legs were coated in poo and we had to give her a bath in Grandma's kitchen sink. Baby Girl really went all out that day!

Daddy's Favorite Moment: Smiling back at me

Daddy's Least Favorite Moment: The night I was up with her screaming for an hour and a half straight.

Two Month Developmental Milestones According to What to Expect in the First Year (highlighted in green Penny has accomplished, highlighted in red she hasn't yet):

"By two months, your baby...should be able to:
*smile in response to your smile
*respond to a bell in some way, such as startling, crying, quieting

...will probably be able to:
*vocalize in ways other than crying (e.g., cooing)
*on stomach, lift head 45 degrees

...may even be able to:
*hold head steady when upright
*on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms
*roll over (one way)
*grasp a rattle held to back or tips of fingers
*pay attention to an object as small as a raisin (but make sure objects are kept out of baby's reach)
*reach for an object
*say "Ah-goo" or similar vowel-consonant combination

...may possibly be able to:
*smile spontaneously
*bring both hands together
*on stomach, lift head 90 degrees
*laugh out loud
*squeal in delight
*follow an object held about 6 inches above the baby's face and moved 180 degrees (from one side to the other), with baby watching all the way"