Penelope's 1st Birthday!

Penelope had her first birthday party this past weekend and it was a great time. The gloomy weather took a break for the afternoon just for her and the sun came out to shine on this special occasion. We were joined by family and friends to celebrate our wonderful little girl who has brought so much joy to all of us over this past year. Plus, it was a nice time for us to have a drink and congratulate ourselves for making it through a sometimes trying first year. Granted, Jennifer deserves most of the praise and thanks for her devotion and raising of little P. I love you Jenn...you do a wonderful job with P.

Here is a little video of P digging into her birthday cupcakes. She doesn't quite go all demolition derby on them, but she certainly ends up making quite a mess in a very measured, almost thoughtful way.

At this moment, one year ago....

I am sitting on our bed with Penelope napping right next to me and I realized that at this very moment, one year ago, I was also sitting on this bed, in labor with the baby we had not yet met!

Laboring in our den, complete with pillows and birthing ball!

After a premature trip to the hospital in the morning, we came back home and I labored with P all day, until we headed back to the hospital around 6 PM. While I was terribly disappointed that I was only 1 cm dilated when we went to the hospital the first time, in retrospect, I am glad that much of my labor was spent at home. The first stage of labor was definitely the most difficult time-wise...it took the better part of about 17 hours to get through that first stage. And, if I had stayed at the hospital, chances are that the staff would have offered pitocin which would have, more than likely, necessitated an epidural and all of the interventions I really did not want. It is also a nice memory...being at home for the majority of the laboring process...among our things, with our dogs, and knowing our friends and neighbors were nearby. It's how I imagine women have given birth since the beginning to time...not hooked up to monitors or in sterile rooms. Of course, there is sometimes a need for such monitors and sterile rooms. Next time, I know that I can wait even longer before heading to the hospital...that is...if we don't just have the next baby here, at home. But that is a topic for another blog post!

Right now, I prefer to reflect upon the 24 hours of labor it took for Penelope to get here and how I seemed to find, within my inexperienced birthing self, a stockpile of strength and determination I never knew was there. I have often, particularly in those sleep-deprived, early morning, ready-to-tear-my-hair-out moments, only had to think about that stockpile to know I can get through just about anything now, having made it through the labor and delivery of little Penelope.

November with Penelope

I have neglected this blog all month so here is a quick review of life with Penelope over the last month!

We started out our month at a protest again Proposition 8, which sadly passed here in California. This was Penelope's second protest, if you can believe it! The No on Prop 8 was at City Hall and many people of faith attended, including Father Farrow, who was removed from his post at a local Catholic church for opposing Prop 8. Here is our little civil rights activist:

Equal rights for all!

The weather also finally started to get a little cooler this month so, the first time mom that I am, went a little overboard on bundling P up for an evening walk with Daddy:

My mommy dresses me funny

Penelope hit eleven months in November and along with this milestone, her personality has seemed to blossom! She is a terribly funny little girl and one of her really hilarious antics in rolling around on the dogs' bed! She just loves it, as you can see:

I'm not a baby, I'm a puppy!

Get off of MY bed, Grizzly!

I am happiest, right here!

Needless to say, Penelope has discovered all kinds of fun places in our house over the last month; she crawls (still in her own special way) with great speed and has begun to climb. She discovered the fun potential of our living room end table:

Just my size!

She cruises around our furniture like crazy, as well and enjoys walking so much, she received her birthday gift early! I couldn't resist giving her the pushcart early. Here she is riding on it rather than pushing it, although she does very well pushing it through the house and down the sidewalk in front of our house. The only downside to Penelope's mobility with the cart is Grizzly's intense fear of it; we don't know why but Grizzly seems to have a panic attack every time Penelope rolls her cart around.

It's my toy, I can sit in it if I want to!

Of course, we also just celebrated Thanksgiving, during which Penelope enjoyed pumpkin pie for the very first time. We had two celebrations shared with our immediate families: Doug's mom Sharon, brother Chris and his girlfriend Truc, my parents Nadine and Steve, my brothers Brian and Dan and Dan's wife, Catherine. Doug made a fabulous turkey: he brined and roasted it all by himself! It was a great turkey that produced many leftovers (that will become enchiladas and tamales this week). At my folks' place, she finally got the feel of walking forward in her walker (I know, walkers are bad for developing babies but she has fun in it, darnit!):

Here I come!

We are looking forward to next month and the rest of the holiday season that now includes Penelope's birthday!

Happy Halloween from Penelope the Penguin!

...who just might be the cutest kid on the block, tonight!

We had professional portraits done for Halloween and she cried pretty much the entire time. But darnit, I had gone to all of the trouble of getting her dressed and there so we took photos of a very unhappy kid, anyway. Despite the grumpiness, I think they are adorable. Of course, she'll hate us for them, one day.




I will post more tomorrow after our trick-or-treating tonight! Well, we'll be passing out candy with our neighbors Naomi, Rio and Logan; we'll wait until at least next year to pimp out our kid to get some candy for ourselves. Hee hee.

We hope everyone has a spooky good time for Halloween!

She's in the double digits, folks!

Hard to believe but it's true...Penelope is 10 months old today!

As all three of us were sitting around in our living room, I looked at Penelope who was walking back and forth between our ottoman and me, holding onto my legs for support. She and I were sharing a banana, she'd walk away from me after I gave her some, and would walk back when she wanted more. I remarked to Doug how big our baby girl is getting, only 1o months prior, she was so tiny, so helpless...and now, she walks (assisted) and eats bananas. I probably say this in every one of my blog posts, but it really remarkable how quickly these months since Penelope's birth have passed. In certain moments, usually when I am nursing her at night, I get a little panicky when I think how fast it is all going. It is also in those moments when I remind myself that I must try to enjoy every moment, or at least appreciate it, whether it be good, bad or somewhere in between.

Doug posted a video of P crawling...a funny, leg-dragging crawl that, as Doug put it, gives it a Penelope twist. Well, she still hasn't dropped that other knee but instead has learned to MOTOR around the house doing her signature crawl! In fact, I don't even notice anymore that it is "different--"that she is not on her hands and knees. Frankly, I am more worried about where she is headed than how she is getting there! Doug installed latches on our kitchen cabinets and lower drawers and we have moved things off the lower bookshelves, etc. We have a bit more to do in the babyproofing department but I am feeling much more secure about her wandering through the house (of course, I never let her out of my sight).

In addition to crawling, Penelope is talking! Well, speaking a language only her Dad and I can understand. She says "mamamamama," "dadadada," and "tatatatata," in loose reference to myself, Doug and Tara, our youngest dog. I think she says "tatatatata" when Grizzly, our first dog, comes by, as well. Most of the time she is just vocalizing but every now and then, I swear she knows exactly what she is saying and to whom. She has also begun experimenting with her vocal range...she does both a high pitched squeal and low, raspy, growly sounds. We call the latter her Halloween or devil voice...it's really hilarous to hear her say "mamamama" in this rather demonic tone! She also points at interesting things, especially balloons. I have included a couple of photos of her with her very first balloon she received last weekend:

Boon!

In addition to the more fun stuff, we've also had to deal with the not-so-fun stuff, namely teething. Penelope's two top teeth came in about 2 weeks ago and her bicuspids are nearly poking through. Once she cuts those, she'll have six teeth total. She is a teething nightmare sometimes; in between biting me while nursing, she chews on everything in sight. The worst is the nightwaking; since really the only pain relief for teething pain tends to be nursing, guess what she likes to do, all night long? I am beyond the point of exhaustion; I think I am approaching insanity now. I know that some folks are still in much worse sleep situations with their babies but it is so hard to function on 4 hours of sleep. I try my best to nap with her but, and this may sound bad, sometimes I give up the nap just so I can have a few moments to myself (or a shower!). I especially feel bad for her...the pain must be awful.

Generally, life with P remains exciting and exhausting! We are looking forward to Halloween and the upcoming holidays with her...stay tuned for off-the-hook cute Halloween photos!

You honestly think that this will keep me in here?

Crawling*

*more like a movement that is akin to crawling, but with a distinctive Penelope twist to it.

The crawling comes near the end of the video, but I included just some of her being cute, which is what she does best. Well, eating, sleeping and pooping are close contenders, but cuteness is the only thing most people see.

I'm off to San Diego tomorrow for work as is my custom these days. I have been on loan to another engineering firm for the past two months and it requires me to travel, either to San Diego or San Francisco, each week for at least a day or two. Mostly, I'm up in San Francisco as that is where the main office is, but I also go down to San Diego if they have the need. The traveling has been pretty brutal and has put a lot of strain on our family. We have kind of settled into the situation, but it still kind of sucks and I'm not sure when it will end. Jenn really depends on me at night to give her a break and I miss out on being with her and P. Also, including the hours I spend traveling, I am logging 50-55 hours a week for work and that is burning me out quickly...gonna have to make a change in the situation soon.

Anyway, back to P. She is moving around a lot these days and getting into all sorts of stuff. We are quickly finding out things we need to baby-proof in the very near future. Anything she can get to, she will grab and pull on -- she already pulled out some board games, tugged on some power cords and got a picture or two. She still prefers to stand and move around by holding on to things, and she has become quite good at stepping. Does she ever move fast, too!

Here is your gratuitous Penelope picture of the day...

"I'm not so sure about this guy..."

Nine Months!

Penelope fell asleep on the way home in her carseat (the bucket) and it reminded me of when we brought her home, nine months ago, today. So, here she is, then and now:

About fifteen hours old, 6 lbs, 13 oz, 20 inches

Nine months and about fifteen hours old, probably about 19 lbs and 29 inches

Needless to say, her days in the bucket are almost at an end; we are waiting until the end of the summer heat (we like to be able to bring the carseat indoors when it is so dang hot outside) to change it out for her "big girl" Britax seat.

She might be bigger but look at that sleeping face...she hasn't changed that much. That makes me happy...even when she is thirteen, maybe at least when she is sleeping, I will be able to catch a glimpse of the baby girl we brought home, nine months ago today.