Penny's first Christmas

Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip. We are in NY until Sunday so there is more to come. It is already past midnight so I'm off to bed, but will do a good blog soon...

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

It is -12 here right now with a -38 windchill. Who wants to do Christmas in Minneapolis next year? :) Her second day of daycare went really well, but the drive home in the snowstorm was not fun. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes. I learned that Penny can cry for an entire hour! So we've been sitting inside all weekend and taking pictures of our growing girl.

She is growing a ton. She is now sleeping in the crib. I miss having her in our bedroom but she outgrew the bassinet. The bassinet was creaking and shaking from her moving so much and I was afraid it would topple over.
Here are some pictures of her in a funny frilly dress that Libbi outgrew. (actually I don't know if Libbi ever wore it. I don't think Jackie Lee and I are really frilly dress kind of moms. Pretty funny because when I was little I wanted a whole closet full of lacy, frilly dresses) This one is a spring dress but I don't think she'll fit in it by Easter.

Here's Penelope after a bath

Mommy is playing with my hair. Poor Princess Penny

I heard that my cousin Dylan is the king of drool. I've been practicing so we'll see this week who can drool the most. I even hit Mommy's eye yesterday. Why does she hold me over her head? She isn't very smart.

We keep trying to catch a smile...

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

3 months and first day of day care

Penny with her ornament from Great Grandma Strand

Here are some pictures from my phone. Little Penny is 12 weeks old and weighs 12 lbs.

Today was the first day at daycare. I can't say enough how lucky we are that Chris got to stay home with her for my first few days at work and how wonderful it is that I'm only working in the office 2 days a week for December. It was so hard to drop her off. She was smiling and looking around at everything. I was crying so hard in the car. Everyone at work was so supportive since many of them have been in the same boat. At lunch I went back to see her. The owner met me at the door and said "well, it has been a rough morning" I guess Penny didn't want to be put down most of the morning...plus, she is definitly in a growth spurt. She even shocked the teachers with how much she ate in a few hours. I don't know how I'm going to keep up with the little monster! On the positive side I guess I don't have to worry about her being such a good baby that she gets ignored! As her Aunt Pam says she is such a little spitfire :) The daycare has put her crib next to a rocking chair so I was able to feed her (can't believe she was still hungry!) and rock her to sleep. That was a very special hour. When I came back at 4:30 they said she did much better in the afternoon. She gave me a huge smile and started talking up a storm when I arrived.

Well, it is 8 pm and I think I'm going to head off to bed. I could start decorating the tree...we bought a tree on Sunday and still have yet to put one thing on it....and the christmas cards are still in the plastic Target bag...

Penelope's play date

Today Penelope and I met up with Jackie Lee, Libbi and Elliot for a little culture. Well, it was a Christmas musical directed by her friends at a local church. We sat on the floor with the kids. Penelope slept until the finale. She was quite mesmerized by all the lights and dancing kids when she woke up. Then they shot off confetti guns. Her eyes got so big. We then went to Jackie Lee's house and had a great time. Here are pictures from today:

How cute is that coat? It was mine when I was a baby.
Elliot choosing the raffle winner at the musical
Jackie Lee, Libbi and Elliot enjoying the show
Penny sleeping through the show. Penny and Libbi...such good friends :)

Diaper changes!! Notice that Penny has lost a sock...no surprise there Libbi has 2 mobiles. Penny was amazed.

Jackie Lee and Libbi. How cool are her eyes? She has one blue eye and one brown eye.Penny in Libbi's old papsan chair. She was playing with that baby in the mirror. They seem to play the staring game and poor Penny keeps blinking first.

Sleeping through the night!

Okay, it doesn't seem like a fluke now. For the past few weeks we've gotten a couple full nights of sleep. Penelope was nice enough to sleep through the night on Wednesday so I was well rested for work on Thursday. Chris had a much better day with Penny. I told him that the rule of thumb I go by is to start rocking her to sleep after 2 hours of being awake. That with the swaddling made such a difference to his day. Penny was a doll last night when I got home. She "talks" so much. I don't know if I'd call it cooing because it really is like she is having a conversation with us. It sounded like she was telling me a whole story. I loved it!!
Thank goodness that Jill gave me the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. I've had other parents recommend it to me too. That's where I learned the 2 hour rule for this age. I guess some people have a problem with this book because it does promote "cry it out" when babies are older. I haven't read other sleep books yet but I know we won't do "cry it out" until she is older if that is the method we decide on. Can I say again how happy I am to have tons of books and the American Academy of Pediatrics?! As many of you know I love facts and statistics! Unlike my friend Jackie Lee, I'm not assertive enough to just say "I'm the mom and this is the way we are doing it." I hope that I can get to that place soon. Not that I don't like advice if it is constructive, but when I'm told that I'm spoiling/enabling Penelope it is nice that I can say the AAP research shows that spoiling a young baby is impossible and letting babies cry it out too young can lead to sleep issues later on. It is hard to argue with an entire group of pediatricians. And yes, I know that growing up we probably cried it out at a week old, didn't sleep on our backs, or sit in car seats and we all survived. But there were babies who didn't. Of course, SIDS is very rare, but since parents have started to put babies on their back to sleep it has reduced SIDS by 50%. That's pretty amazing. One of my coworkers had a good point. It is really rare, but when it happens to your baby it is 100% for you. Not that I want to put Penelope in a padded bubble and never have her fall and scratch her knees but why is it an issue that I always double check her seat belt latches are tight enough? It is common sense. Sure, 20 years from now there might be some new research that shows I was doing something totally wrong, but I might as well read the current research and make an informed decision on what feels right for us instead of listening to some movie star's belief on vaccines (that would be a whole other post!).
I'm also amazed how judgemental some moms can be. I occasionally check out some online parent message boards. I'd say half of the posters are supportive and the other half are quick to tell you that you are ruining your baby. Can't we all agree that this is hard and we are all doing what is best for us and our child? I hate to see other moms being all high and mighty about breastfeeding. Penelope and I struggled so much in the beginning and ended up seeing a lactation consultant 3 times. I was ready to give up. I felt guilty because my reasons for continuing weren't that great. We had such a hard time that it wasn't a bonding thing for me. I didn't want to use formula because the formula poo smell makes me gag, the idea of buying formula made my frugal head spin, and I wanted her to have all the health benefits so she doesn't get sick this winter. Besides the last one what kind of reasons are those?! Now that we've figured it out it is a wonderful bonding experience, but it took almost 6 weeks to get there. Of course, some people don't have a problem from day one, but I'm glad that I did experience what a struggle this natural thing can be. If Chris and my family were not a huge support system I never would have continued. Actually in the hospital at 3 am I had a discussion with Penelope on how you can't ever fault single moms for formula feeding because it seemed almost impossible with Chris there and to be alone and breastfeed would be really difficult. Just a little sociological one sided discussion while I was still on painkillers :) Shows what a blast I can be on drugs! Anyways, I've now set mini-goals rather then when I was pregnant and said "I will breastfeed for a year no matter what."
Well, my sleeping through the night post kind of turned into a vent/therapy post. I promise there will be pictures at the next post. Penelope is having another play date with Libbi tomorrow. yay!

First day back in the office

Yesterday was my first day back in the office. Of course, Penelope was smiling and cooing at me, which made it so hard to leave. It is so nice to only be doing Tuesdays and Thursdays this month and to be able to leave her with Chris 4 times this month. I think it was much easier knowing she was home with daddy. Plus, I absolutely love my job. I feel like I'm part of something that is really making a difference. The people I work with are amazing and I continue to do different things so it is a challenge and not completly routine. I don't know that I could feel okay about daycare if my job wasn't like this.

Speaking of my job, yesterday I was going through some mailings we did last year and came across a picture of one of our child stories. He is a little boy who was born with a brain tumor. He is currently in remission and it is one of those success stories that touches everyone. Well, I've seen this picture a dozen times. The picture is of him as a baby during treatment. This time I started to cry. It made me think of Penelope and how much it would hurt to see her like this little boy and it made me think of his parents who are such wonderful people and how they were able to handle him being ill. I'm tied even more to our mission now then ever before, which brings me to my little soapbox. I know times are hard, but please continue to give to your favorite non-profits. I'm not going to promote only Children's Cancer Research Fund although we could certainly use donations right now. Kids are still getting sick, dogs still need to be adopted, food banks need food more than ever etc. Every non-profit I know will send a tribute letter or card to someone you want to honor. Of course, I personally think it is one of the best gifts you can give at the holidays, especially if you know the person's favorite charity. Well, anyways, I'll leave it at that...

As for Chris's day with Penny, I knew it would probably be rough since last week she pretty much went on a bottle boycott. We were giving her a bottle about every other day but then I also needed to freeze some milk so I wasn't giving it to her as often. Big mistake! I guess by the third bottle she wasn't as fussy but it took much longer to feed her because she cried most of the time. When I called Chris yesterday afternoon the first thing he said was "When are you coming home?" He sounded exactly like me those first few days when I was by myself. He also said that he'll never question why I'm exhuasted some evenings. And poor guy couldn't get Penny to sleep longer than 20 mins at a time. I forgot to tell him to swaddle her up and turn the radio static on before putting her in the crib. She usually takes a three hour nap during the day and a few half hour naps. She was as exhausted as he was when I got home. She actually fell asleep at 7 pm. I woke her up at midnight to eat and then she didn't wake up again until 5 am. I'll have to remember to bring her swaddleme to daycare for her naps. She is such a wiggle worm when she sleeps without the swaddle that she still flings her arms in her face and wakes herself up. Also, she has started to suck on her hands like crazy and it seems to keep her from falling asleep she is slurping so hard.

Well, I'm going to cuddle with Penny. I've gotten in the habit of holding her for part of her naps. No tv, books, blackberry or anything, just me listening to her breathing. As I read in one parenting book, the dishwasher is never going to get mad at me for not spending time with it and if we have laundry piling up it won't feel neglected. It may be way sappy but last week I was holding her as she fell asleep and thought "this will be the only time when she is 10 weeks and 4 days old. I better hold on to this moment."I'm trying not to look ahead and get anxious for her to reach all of those milestones but just enjoy the time at wherever she is at this point in life. It is pretty amazing. The days felt like the same day for so long and now all of a sudden she is such a little person and I got to see that happen. This morning she and I seemed to be holding a whole conversation in coos and smiles...okay, I could go on and on but I better go cuddle with her now!

More pictures--Thanksgiving weekend

Penny got to meet our friends from NY, Shabana and David. She showed them both sides of her personality.
Here we are playing on the play mat that we are borrowing from Grant. Penny loves all the toys.

Shabana and David gave Penny the cutest little outfits. Here she is in one of them:

Keeping warm! Chris shoveled snow on Sunday and then we had a roaring fire most of the day.

Thanksgiving and Great Grandma's visit

Okay, folks, here's a picture filled post!!

Here are Penny and Cece during tummy time. Look at her hold her head up! We do a few minutes multiple times a day. Trying to do 10 minutes at once makes her cranky. I try to convince her that I didn't know how to hold my head up either and it is very difficult but she still doesn't think I'm sympathetic enough when she wants to stop.

Way to go Penny!

This week, Penelope met her Great Grandmother from Virginia. She has been a day care teacher for years so they hit it off. GGMA also has magic baby nap dust like the grandmas. Here they are playing with the bumbo.

Great Aunt Janet and Penny doing the hokey pokey

Last night Chris made a fire in our fireplace for the first time this yearThanksgiving day I tried to put Penny's Go Go booties on (they are from Lacey and are so adorable) They are still too big but I got this great picture.Here we are Thanksgiving morning

On Thanksgiving we went to Julie and Jennifer's place in St Paul (For the non-Strand family, these are Chris's grandfather's cousin's daughter's house...their entire family has been so wonderful to us since we moved to Minnesota) Here is Chris with a very clean plate. The food was obviously excellent!

Roger, Lee, and Chris

Great Grandma and Penny

Grandma, me and Chris

Me and Chris

Penny slept through the entire meal. Here she is with Lila, the sweetest dog I've ever met. She really could be one of those therapy dogs or go hang out at a senior citizen center.

This is Audrey--she wanted to play with Penelope. The crazy thing is that Audrey is 14 months so exactly the same age Penny will be next year at Thanksgiving. Boggles my mind!Jill and Marilyn

Evan face planting himself into the ottoman

It's a lot of fun!Penny the person meets Penny the bunny (her name is short for Pennsylvania)

Julie and Penny--didn't catch a picture of Jennifer but I'll do that next time!