Our baby is 10 months old!

Penelope, your smile is magical!

At 10 months (double digits now! You're practically a teenager), you:

Weigh about 19 lbs, and wear 9-12 month clothes. 

Can pull up to a stand, and you've started "cruising" a little. 

Can wave, play peekaboo, and will sometimes say "more" using sign language while eating. Whenever we say the word "bye", your hand shoots up and you start waving. 

Are finally taking longer naps...about 1 hr and 15 min, twice per day. The afternoon nap still varies and is often 45 min.

And you're finally sleeping through the night: about 6:30 pm - 5:30 am, when I nurse you for 15 min and then you go back to sleep until about 7:00 (most of the time)...

Nursing like a champ. You nurse about 7x a day, and drink three, 4-oz bottles when at daycare. At work, I pump about 12 oz, so I think your total intake right now is about 18 oz. 

You like to stand on your head while you nurse, too. 

You're eating more finger foods and can chew and swallow them without gagging/choking! 

You have two bottom teeth still, but those top teeth are coming soon. The gums up there look mean. 

You are so playful and love to laugh. I think you're going to be a little jokster as you get older. 

You were baptized on 4/26/14, and you were the star of the show. You were singing with the choir and "talking" to the priest (during his sermon)! The priest decided to cut his sermon short and do the baptism bc you were being impatient. Then during the ceremony, you kept kicking your little legs and wiggling around in my arms. You saw Papa in the crowd and yelled out to him. Everyone laughed and thought you were the cutest little thing. 

Now you're free of original sin! Don't mess it up, little one! 

Penelope is 9 freakin months old!

Why is time just flying by with you, little mamacita?

At 9 months you, 

Are about 18 lbs and still tall and thin. You're in 9-12 month clothes. 

You can crawl and will pull yourself up on everything. 

You are independent and love to explore, but you're starting to follow us around more. 

Are starting to show a preference for mommy at times.

You are taking longer naps, but have started waking up once a night to nurse. 

Say "da" so cute, while you look around with you eyebrows up. I think you think you're actually saying something! 

Smile so quick and easy! You look at everyone you pass in the stores, and if they smile at you, you instantly smile back! It's so gratifying...especially when your sister is sitting there giving them the straight face...

You crawl over to me when I clap my hands and say "come here!"

Your crying face breaks my heart every time. 

You go to "school" easily with no separation anxiety, and still take 4, 4-5 oz bottles, even though they want 3, 6 oz bottles. You get really tired when your there, but will only nap for about 30-45 minutes. 

At home you inconsistently nap from 45 min-1 hr, 15 minutes...90% of the time it's 45 min, 2x per day now. I'm really trying to get you on 2 naps per day instead of 3...it's so hard with three short naps! Why can't I have a baby who takes long naps??

You nurse about 6x per day, but only 5 minutes at a time- your so distracted by everything (especially your sister)!

You eat baby food 3x per day and still have trouble keeping solids (puffs that melt in your mouth) in your mouth. You still are swallowing with a tongue thrust, and will accidentally push food out of your mouth. 

We love you so much! You make us so happy! 

Gwendolyn's 2 Year old Quotes

Here are some of the adorable things my 2 year old has said/done: 

"Your juice in the fridge, mommy." (She's starting to use pronouns and prepositions now!)

"A,b,c,d, l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,etc..." 

Kisses with the "sound". 

3/26/14: the first time she told me a story from school. "Mommy, I twy at school. I twyin. Salla made me sad. On the bed. She say no. I cry. I no wanno do to sleep."

5/26/14: Mommy, your shoes are so pretty! (looks st Daddy's shoes and says nothing- we all laugh. Then...) Daddy, I like your shoes! (Laughing) They're so bwown!"

She gets a cut on her knee and limps! 

"Bid hud!"

Wiping off our kisses and laughing! 

"Mommy, can I have a rice Christmas treat?"

Face massages at night. 

2-19-14 The baby is 8 months!

Our sweet, independent, happy Penelope, at 8 months old:

You weigh about 17 lbs and still tall with long limbs. 

You still west 9-12 month clothes and size 2 diapers. I'm starting to put you in "real clothes" more and more, and trying to use pjs only at night. 

You can crawl now! You started crawling around 7.5 months, and now you're getting strong and fast, 

You just cut two teeth this past week. Lots of fussiness and running of the nose. You don't like to be uncomfortable AT ALL. 

You will take a 1.5 hour nap once per day, and 2-3, 45-min naps. Your trying to get down to 3 naps per day, but you still get very tired at about the 2-2.5 hour mark and start screaming your little head off. 

You nurse after every nap and before bed at 6:30/7:00. Breastfeeding us going well, except I'm worried my supply has gone down in the past few weeks. I'm taking fenugreek to help remedy that. 

You're favorite you now is a yellow piece of yarn/string from one of Gwen's toys. You LOVE it and enjoy biting it and popping out of your mouth. It always gets nice and soggy. 

You also love when mommy sings "Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee". And you and Gwen laugh out loud if I sing it really fast. That song stops you from crying about 90% of the time. Mommy is hilarious, by the way. 

You really enjoy watching your sister, but you've started to look at mommy and cry every time she touches you. She likes to get in your bubble, and my theory is that you're anticipating her hurting you/taking your toy/interrupting your activity. 

You like going to "school". When we come to pick you up, you are so cute: you kick and smile and make little happy noises when you see us! 

That's another thing: you are very independent and get focused on your tasks. You don't require much attention, unless you're tired (then you get all cuddly). Many times we'll be in the living room, and I'll be playing on the floor, but you just crawl around the room exploring and finding new toys to put in your mouth. I'll try to get your attention, and you smile at me, but most of the time you just keep doing your own thing. I have to go get you and pick you up if I want cuddles! Mommy needs attention too, you know! 

As for Gwendolyn, she is in the full blown terrible twos. Whining and crying through the day (except at daycare) and learning her limits. Daddy and mommy put her in time out for the first time a few days ago and laughed our way through it. You wouldn't pick up some toys that you threw under the table, so we counted to three, and asked if you wanted to go to time out. You said "no", but still didn't pick them up, so daddy walked you over to the time out spot (you held his hand and curiously walked over). Then you stayed in the spot and cried until mommy came and got you. You said "bid hud (big hug)" after I got you out of time out.  

Gwendolyn has also started saying "I luh-dooh"(I love you) unsolicited, and it's the sweetest thing ever. :) 

She also says, "I want my mommy/daddy", and this morning told Jeff, "I want you, daddy". 

"I'm excited."

Of course she wants to do everything "all by myself". 

Ahhh...two year olds are amazing. So kissable, cute and soft one minute...and the next minute they've turned into a monster. 

1/19/14- 7 month old Penelope

My sweet, adorable Penelope! 

At 7 months: 

You weigh about 16 lbs and continue to stay "long and lean". Your arms are so long, you can grab things from a mile away. Sometimes we hold you on our lap while we eat, and push our plate far away so you can't reach it, but those arms always seem to stretch farther than we expect! 

You wear 9-12 month clothes still. Still wearing mostly pjs bc I think you look so cozy in them! :) plus I like that your feet are covered. 

You now can sit up independently! You can sit up for quite a while now and won't fall over unless you see something you want out of your reach. I learned that I still can't sit you up on a rug on a tile floor bc when you tip over, you always bang your head on the actual tile because of your length. 

You have started to prefer to be on your stomach while playing because you are able to "move around". You don't crawl yet, but somehow you're able to get to the toys out of your reach. 

You nurse about 6x per day. About every 3 hours. I love cuddling with you while nursing. You've stopped violently kicking me in the stomach, so it's a lot more pleasant. 

You still take mostly 45 min naps, althoigh your morning nap will sometimes be 1.5 hrs. You get tired every 2 hours. I'm frustrated with your short naps and ready for you to start extending them. 

You now sleep through the night from about 6:30-6:30. Knock on wood...every time I say you're sleeping through the night, you start waking up again. 

Your favorite toy is Sophie the Giraffe. 

You like it when we sing to you. 

You love your sister and laugh at her, but you've started to cry when she snatches toys out of your hands (which happens a lot). 

You eat baby food 2x per day, and prefer fruits. We've also tried a little egg and peanut butter (just a taste) because people are now saying to introduce allergenic foods early (which was the complete opposite of what they were saying last year...sigh). 

Still no teeth! 

You are so easy-going, and hardly cry unless you're tired. You go to sleep for naps and night easily now. 

You've started to look for me more for comfort when you're sitting on the floor. Sometimes when I put you down, you cry because you want to stay with me. This is new. When you fall and get hurt, all I need to do is pick you up and cuddle you and you're back to your smiling self pretty quickly. Your hurt-cry breaks my heart. I'm so bonded to you now. :) Love love love! 

The difference I'm seeing...

So before Penelope was born, I was terrified of having two babies. I had all the common worries: would I love them both equally, how could I love another child as much as Gwen, would I be able to handle two babies on no sleep, etc...

And when Penelope was born, all the fears kind of washed away. Having two kids was really not that different than having one, I realize now. Yes, it's much busier and there's not much down time during the day due to conflicting nap schedules, but it's not as scary and NEW as the first.

 

With Gwen I constantly had a panicky, tense feeling in the background. I dramatized everything she did; if she woke up during the night, I thought, "oh no! This must be the new normal! She'll NEVER sleep through the night again!" If I had to nurse her to sleep, I would think I was forming a bad habit and worry that she'd NEVER fall asleep on her own. In reality I new she would develop these things naturally, but I couldn't see what the future held...and it was scary. (I must add that Gwen was a bit of a difficult baby.)

Fast forward to Penelope, and although I still have that slight panicky feeling hanging around, I'm much more relaxed. The things she does don't bother me like they did with Gwen. If she wakes at 3am, yes, it's still painful, but I don't have heart palpitations over it. I think the difference is since I've been here before, I know what the future will look like, and things will be ok. It also helps that Penelope is a very easy-going, "angel" baby. 

Something else I've noticed is that Penelope seems to be growing up much faster than Gwen. The days when Gwen was an infant seemed to drag on forever and I often wondered when she'd start sitting/crawling/talking/etc. The days dragged on, but the weeks flew by. I loved spending time with her, and relished her baby days, and by no means was she delayed in her development, it just SEEMED to take forever! 

With Penelope, I really can't believe she's already 6.5 months old. The time really has flown by, and I want it to slow down! I'm enjoying her so much and love watching her. She's pure sweetness and innocence and contentment. She just loves life and goes with the flow (most of the time). She's cuddly and gentle in everything she does. She's already sitting up; but Gwen sat up at 6 months also, so no difference. Why does it FEEL like she's sitting so much sooner than Gwen? Maybe the reason things seem to be going by so fast is the opposite reason I'm more relaxed this time; I've forgotten the details of development...and I get to see it all again. :) 

These girls are so different: Gwen has a big belly laugh, Penelope gently coughs out her laughs. Whereas Gwen could scream and cry for an hour or more, Penelope could only last 20 minutes. Gwen enjoyed eating solids; Penelope could care less about food. They're both so different, and the strength of the love I have for them is the same. It's hard to explain, because I love them both equally, but in different ways. Gwen with her spunk and Penelope with her softness. The similarities they share are just as great as their differences; both so tender-hearted, sweet, and beautiful. The world better watch out for these girls; they're going to amaze. 

12/19/13 Happy Half-Year Birthday, Penelope!

I'm amazed that time had flown by like it has. Our sweet little baby girl is already 6 months old!! Penelope! Stop growing right now!!

Right now you: 

Weigh about 15 lbs and are still tall wearing 9-12 month clothes. 

Sleep through the night consistently now! Bed time around 6:30 and wake up around 6:00! 

You are taking 1.5 hour naps in the mornings now (finally), but I'm not sure if it's just because you're getting sick. 

You're 3 other naps of the day are 45 minutes. 

Nurse after each nap and eat baby food 1-2 per day. I try to make about 50% of your food, mainly because it's cheaper.  

You won't nap in the stroller, but weve discovered that you love the Ergo carrier and will fall asleep in there if we're out and about! You also like the car. 

You can roll easily both ways and have just started sitting up unsupported for a few seconds before folding over to eat your toes. 

You love to chew on your toes...and anything cloth! 

When I go to pick you up, you get so excited and kick your legs and start to breathe fast. :) 

You still have blue eyes and your hair is a light brown color. 

You've started saying "bababuhbuh". 

You are the smiliest, happiest, most easy-going baby! Everyone thinks you are so sweet because all it takes is for someone to look at you and you give them a big, gummy smile with your tongue out. 

Gwen is also adorable these days and Christmas-time is so fun with her. She's starting to warm up to Santa, although the first time she saw him at a party she screamed. This morning we had breakfast with Santa and she didn't cry, but she did look away. When he asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said baby doll, but still only looking at the ground. So adorable. 

Tonight at bedtime she told me she wanted a baby doll, goldfish, peas, ears, and stickers...random, but she'll be getting all that on Christmas morning!