Pictures!

awww

Penelope with her first pair of mittens,

thanks G-ma Rainy, and Aunt Amelia

Malachi and Penelope playing

just cute


Penelope and Liam playing

"6" month appointment

We had Penelope's 6 month appointment today even though she is only 5.5 months. We were scheduled for Oct. 22 but the other day I notice that one of Penelope's nipples looked like it had a bruise on it, and it also had a lump under it. So I decided to call the ped. and see if I could get her in sooner.

Well it turns out to be benign, and not a big deal. The "bruise" isn't really a bruise at all but just a clump of blood cells. Normally these spot appear on a childs neck or arms, it is strange that it is on Penelope's nipple. Apparently lots of kids get the lumps and they generally stop growing around 6 months of age and will slowly shrink down and be gone around 5-7 years of age.

With that over we decided to just go ahead and do all of the 6 month check up stuff so I wouldn't have to bring Penelope in again (during flu season) Here are the stats
Head-50%
Length 26 1/4 inches- 75%
Weight 14 ponds 14 ounces- 25%

She is still long and skinny, and had doubled her birth weight. She gained 2 pounds in about 7 weeks, which is awesome. Penelope got 3 shots and did great. Of coarse she cried but as soon as I picked her up and calmed her down she started sucking her thumb and was fine. It doesn't help that by the time the shots come around it is way past nap time and she is exhausted.

We are supposed to start solids soon but I am in no hurry. Since we re traveling to Savannah Oct. 23-25 I figure we will start when we get home. That way I don't have to worry about it while we are gone.

Are you eating the number 9?

Pictures

Here are those pictures I promised. For more go to my Facebook page, I will put all of them on there.

Grrrr...


Foam bath numbers/ letters are the bath teething toy
now all of mine have teeth mark in them

I think Penelope looks just like Dane here
There are her teeth!

She likes to lick the water off of her face
when she is in the tub

5.5 Months

Penelope is officially 5.5 months old! wow, time is flying by. She is seriously the happiest thing ever, unless we are near a stranger who insists on talking to her in the high pitched baby voice, then she bursts into tears.

Latest milestones include: sitting up, some how moving across the room the second I turn my back, Getting up on all 4's and thrusting forward, she can lift her hands now too while on all 4's, Poppy has 4 teeth with the middle top ones very close, and she has started to snuggle. It is wonderful, sometimes I just want to hold her all day.

That's all for now. I have more pictures but they are on the other computer, I will post htem soon.

20 Things About My Family

1. Penelope is 5 months and 9 days old
2. Our yard is finally landscaped- not mulched yet though
3. We are "spring cleaning" in the fall
4. Penelope eats every 4 hours, and sleeps 12 hours at night
5. Cooper is fat, seriously he is fat, we bought low fat food for him
6. Dane and I have been married for 1 year, and 3 months-you don't need to do any math that is 2 weeks longer than Penelope is old plus 40 weeks (gestation)
7. I have 5 pounds to lose until i am at pre-baby weight
8. We are running a 5k on Oct. 10
9. I ran 2.5 miles last night and felt great, I want to have a good time for the 5k
10. Penelope has 4 teeth through the gums and 2 more almost here.
11. Poppy looks like a vampire because her 2 top teeth are not the middle ones, they are the ones next to the middle. hmm...halloween is almost here
12. Dane has gone on a couple of ride-a-longs for FWC we are praying that he gets the job
13. Veronica is due April 19th, 1 days after P's birthday, and 18 months (exactly) after Brooks was born
14. I want to be a ballerina, I hope to take a class when P does :-)
15. we have not started solids yet, but will be in about 3 weeks, I am in no hurry
16. Penelope will not take a bottle, never has. But she like to try to drink out of a sippy cup.
17. I am NOT pregnant but I am 99% sure I have our next baby's name picked out. (if its a girl) and 80% positive for a boy, but I am hoping, praying that we have a girl next.
18. I need to practice softball becasue I have an almuni game in 1 month and have not picked up a glove or bat for a year and a half.
19. I am very busy sewing because it is dance costume season. I never would have guess that this is what I would be using my degree for, but I enjoy it
20. I have probably 10-15 yards of fabric waiting to be made into Penelope clothes, I want to wait until she is walking.

Home Group

Dane and I aare members of a home group through Calvary Chapel that has been steadily growing for the last year. Only problem (if you can call it a problem) is that if everyone came at the same time we would have around 30 people, way too many.

We started praying about it, along with one of our fellow couples and friends, Chad and Jordan, and have decided that God is leading us to split (multiply) off from the main group into a smaller group. Our first official meeting will be Oct. 2. We are going to meet the 1st and 3rd Friday each month. Dane and Chad are going to take turns facilitating, and it will be at our house.

We just ask that you keep us in your prayers during this new adventure in Christ Following, that we will be doing God's will and not our own. We hope to grow closer in our walk and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Chad and Jordan also just had a baby, and I mean just (Sept 22) Welcome to the world Jacob Josiah Nere! So Dane will be doing the leading for a little until they get situated into their new wonderful lives as parents.

And We're Rocking

Well it seems that Penelope wants to crawl. Here is proof. This was the first day she started pulling her knees up and has already started to fine tune her skills. She will rock forward and back for quite a long period of time. I don't know if I am ready for crawling.

laughing

Penelope loves Cooper and here is her reaction to me asking where Cooper is. And me barking like a dog and asking her if that is what he does. She loves it. Just watch to see!

4.5 month Update

love this outfit! it is so cute on her

Daddy and Penelope

I know it has only been 2 weeks since my last update but Penelope has start so many new things I just have to write them down before I forget.

1. Rolling where ever she wants, can't leave her on the floor anymore- she needs to be contained.

2. bottom right tooth is through the gums. It is a cute little snaggle tooth- really sharp.

3. finally learned that if she will just stay laying on her stomach napping is easier. Instead of practicing her new skills and rolling around the crib.

4. She has started pulling her knees under her and then pushing to scooch forward. But she has to put her head down so she pretty much scooches on her face.

5. she loves cooper, it is official. Last night I was asking her "who's that? Is that Cooper?" and she would crack up. She trys to grab him when they have blanket time together too.

6. she is rolling on the changing table which we have quickly put and end to. (well sort of) she is learning that she isn't allowed to roll while mommy s changing her diaper

7. Penelope wants to sit up so bad. she is getting better. I sit her up on my lap and she will sit for a while until she sees something she wants and dives for it.

8. Poppy's hair is getting really long. if i don't sweep it to one side it hangs in her eyes. It has also started this crazy curl/fly away thing in the back. I have no control over it anymore, it has a mind of its own.

4 Month Pictures

Malachi and Penelope

mmmm, you just want to sqeeze her!

looking at G-ma

cute

4 months

Wow, time is flying by. Penelope is 4 months old now and has hit some pretty awesome milestones. Here is a list of fun Penelope Facts:
#1 She is officially getting her first 2 bottom teeth. You can't actually see them yet but you can feel them
#2 She is rolling over (and over and over) from front to back and back to front. This is her new favorite thing to do while she should be napping
#3 Grabbing your face is fun. Basically if you are within arms reach she is going to explore your face and all its attributes
#4 I am pretty sure Cooper is her favorite "person" She watches him all day and loves when he licks all the drool off of her face
#5 She is tongue-tied. Luckily the Pediatrician doesn't think it is a problem and she won't need it clipped
#6 She has the best pouty face ever (not caught on camera yet sorry)
#7 she loves bath time iwth Daddy, Yellow Submarine is her bath time song, it makes her happy
#8 Penelope has finally warmed up to G-Ma, after 4 months of crying is she was even in the room
#9 She flew for the first time to Dallas, TX to visit her cousin Brooks and Aunt Wee (Veronica is hard to say) and Uncle Mike

Here are the 4 month appointment statistics:
Length: 25 inches - 75%
Weight: 12 pounds 13 ounces- 50%
Head: 50%

So her head is catching up. but she is still tall and skinny. Pictures soon to come.

Just Some Cuties

Penelope loves to take a bath. It is her special time with daddy where he sings yellow submarine to her. (apparently that is a bathtime song) She kicks and kicks and giggles and smiles. It is so much fun. Poppy could be in the most grumpy mood and when she gets in the tub she is happy as could be. I love it! I am tempted to have bath time twice a day.

she loves bath time with Daddy

Penelope ready for bed, after her bath.

Next Summer I will attempt to teach her how to swim. If she likes the pool/beach as much as she loves the tub we will be good to go. Only time will tell.

Totally Making These

So while browsing around the blog world I found this blog. While searching it I found this awesome sewing project. . I am going to do a couple things different than the original. I wIll buy a template to paint the letters with, and I am making mine a little smaller.

I can not wait to make these for Penelope. After much thought of what all we could do with awesome ABC bean bags I came up with a list of things she can use them for:

Spelling
Math (I'm going to make numbers)
Matching (I am going to do 2 of each fabric)
Learning ABC's
Any bean bag throwing game
Sharing (With Malachi, her bf)
Colors

And that is just the beginning of my list. Only problem is that I want to have more than one of each letter, probably 2 and 5 of each vowel (6 E's to Spell Penelope Violet Dernier) and 2 of each number, I am adding up to around 100 bean bags! yikes. I hope this works out because I am really excited about them!

I also want to add ribbon across the tops so they can hang, and have a board to hang them on, that way she can do things standing and not just sitting on the floor. It would also make for a great place to store them instead of just in a box.

Smiles

Penelope is making all kinds of fun faces now. She loves to smile, and has just started this sucking in her lips thing. Here are a couple of them that I actually caught on camera. I am still trying to get her pouty face, it is awesome.

sucking the lips in. I love this one

big gummy smile!

ha ha

This one is just cute.

Poppy loves to jump in her bouncy seat, and talk to all of the toys. She is working on sitting up, she really wishes she could do it all by herself. Penelope can roll over from tummy to back, and gets half way from back to tummy. It is amazing how quickly she learns things. I can't believe she is 3 months and 10 days old!

I heart Sewing! <3

front, looks navy, it is more purple than that
back

front
back

So I made Penelope more dresses. It is so much fun, this is why God gave me a daughter. I can't wait for these to fit her. I have about a year, maybe a little less, until they will fit though.

I made these a little different, they tie in the back instead of on the shoulder. I figured it made it harder for Penelope to untie, and who doesn't love a big bow on the back of little girl dresses?

Detergent

So the detergent you use on your cloth diapers is very important. You don't want any build up, which would cause them to repel water. The Natural Baby Co. has made a detergent especially for cloth diapers...check it out here http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/tiny-bubbles-p-732.html

Pillowcase Dresses

fabric close up

fabric close up

These are two pillowcase dresses I made! I love them, I wish that I would have bought more fabric so that I could have made the same ones for Penelope.

They are 18m size but will probably fit until 4 or 5 years old, becasue the top just slides on the straps. All you have to do is put leggings on with them once they get to short and then eventually they would just be a shirt.

Just Swaggin'

turned on

far away, with clock

close up

A month or so before Dane and I got married we were at a garage sale and found an AWESOME swag lamp. I loved it and well for $4 if I never found somwhere for it to hang that was alright. So it has spent the last year sitting in a closet waiting for its grand entrance. The time has come, we finaly got around to hanging it up, and I made a fabric cover for the chain. Overall I am very happy with the out come.

My degree is paying off

I have to admit, my 4 year fashion degree is paying off. Penelope officially has the cutest home-made clothes ever. I have already made 5 dresses for her and I still have plenty of fabric to go.

It is so much fun, and because they don't take very much fabric I can basically use scraps. I am making larger sizes right now, mostly 12m+ because I want her to be walking in them, and I have enough 9m clothes. The last one I made is a tiered pillowcase style dress that fits now but will probably still fit at a year.

For those of you who don't know what a pillowcase dress is here is a how to- and if you're not up for making one give me a call and I will gladly make you some for a small fee :-)

I don't put rick-rack on because I don't really like the home made look it gives. I also dont put elastic in. I Just fold over the top of the dress and sew, making a casing, and then pull my straps through. I always have them tie on one shoulder. Because the straps are movable you can lengthen and shorten as needed. That way as Penelope grows I can make the straps longer, and when the dress eventually gets too short I can just put some leggings on her. Pillowcase dresses are also a year-round garment becasue you can simply put a longsleeved shirt underneath or wear it as is.

For the money and time these are my best investment. All I need is some cute fabric and a couple hours.

With that being said, here is another dress I made out of some of Penelope's left over bedding fabric:

I will take some pictures of all the other dresses and post them as well. I am pretty sure that this is what I was meant to be:

A stay at home wife/mom that can make awesome baby bedding sets and the cutest little girl clothes ever. Pretty much I have the best job ever. Oh and I also do alterations and I made a ton of dance costumes for Keegan Dance Studio. I love my life.

Talking/ Cooing

Talking to her elephant while sitting in the pink boppy papazonchair.

And eating her hand, which seem to always be in her mouth now.

This is Penelope's favorite activity, although it isn't going to last much longer, she keeps leaning forward and I am afraid she is going to fall out on her face. I guess we need some new activities.

Penelope also loves when I read to her. I have been reading a kids Bible and she loves it, we started in Genisis and we read about Jesus being born today. I have also ready her a couple differ childrens book, but her favorite by far is Put Me In The Zoo. She loved the pictures, I'm pretty sure she talked to every page.

Thumb Sucker/ Talker

Penelope is a major thumb sucker, just like I was

Talking to Daddy

Penelope loves to talk all the time now, she coo's up a storm. She also scoots all around her crib and rolls over from her tummy to her back. When we go in to get her at the end of nap time she is always laying there on her back smiling up at us. It is so cute.

Penelope 2 months

I love to sit up with almost no help from mommy

Hanging with G-ma at Youth Camp

Smiling while daddy reads Bible stories to her!

So Penelope had an eventful couple of weeks. Last week we were at Faith Fellowships Youth Camp, helping with the kid campers. She was great and was officially the youngest camper ever.

She has started to smile and coo all the time, and she laughs. It is awesome, it makes everything so much more fun. She actually will make the saddest pouty face ever with her lip out and then when you make the face she gets a big smile and laughs like "ha, I tricked you." It is hilarious.

Today we had our 2 month pediatrician appointment. Here are the stats:
weight- 10 pounds 6 ounces- 50%
height- 23 inches- 75%
head- no clue- 25%- little head= super cute baby
eating- every 3 hours, awake for about an hour and then sleeps for
2 hours
sleeping- she has slept through the night (8pm-7am) a couple of
times but it is still hit or miss, most nights she sleep from 8pm to
4am, and then we start our day at 7am.

She had the Hib, Prevnar, and Dtap vaccines- we decided to skip the polio, rotoVirus, and HepB-6 shots in one days is way too many. We havn't decided if we will eventually do all of them or skip some, but we are definitly spacing then out where she only gets a couple at a time not a ton.

I will try to post sooner next time. SInce I was gone all week I slacked off. We are going to Savannah the last weekend in June to visit Ariana and celebrate our 1 year anniversary! It will be Penelopes' first trip there. We will see how the 5 hour car ride goes.

Malachi and Penelope

So David, Joy and Malachi were over for dinner the other night. We were trying to eat so we just layed Penelope and Malachi in the pack and play together, and this is what happened:

Cloth Diaper site

These are new cloth diapers my sister told me about. Check out their website!
http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/grobaby%E2%84%A2-ic-11_16.html

Penelope will be 5 weeks tomorrow! Time has flown by so far. It is amazing how much she has already grown, I've had to put away the new born clothes and get out the 3 month size!

Right now she is eating every 3ish hours and staying up for about 45-60 minutes after I feed her. While she is awake she enjoys laying on her tummy time mat, sitting in her pink Boppy chair, having mom read her bible stories, taking Cooper on walks, and of coarse being held.

She smiles at her favorite people: Dad, Mom, G-ma, and Joe-pa, and Cooper. She can track you across the room if you walk by or move thing in front of her. She is definitly ticklish, she squirms when we tickle her.

Bathtime is her favorite! she Would probable sit in the warm water for hours if we let her. Actually as soon as we take her out of the water and wrap her up in her towel she starts to cry. That might be because she knows I'm going to brush her hair. hmmm...

Penelope also loves to nap, just like her mom. Right now she can put her self to sleep, and does 90% of the time. I lay her down awake and she makes noises for about 15 minutes and then she is out. In the evening she likes to get fussy, I think it is because she just wants dad to hold her. Bed time is 7:00ish and then I get her up to eat agian at 10, but she goes right back to sleep with no awake time. She has been sleeping from about 10 to 3 or 4 for the last 2 weeks, but last night she went from 9:30 to 4! 6.5 hours! it was awesome.

Well, I hope that keeps all of you out of town people who are dying to meet our little Poppy Seed happy. More Updates soon to come. Her next Pediatrician appointment is June 18th, I can't wait to see how much she has grown!

Labor and Delivery

Many of you know that when Dane and I found out we were pregnant we decided that we wanted to have a natural birth. After some research I decided that the odds of that happening were much higher if we did it at home, with a midwife. (http://www.chrysalismidwifery.com/) We had all of our prenatal appoinment at our house each lasting from 1 to 2 hours. It was wonderful, I didn't have to drive to the doctors office and wait. I was wlso able to ask all the questions I wanted. Christine (my midwife) was great, we got along great.
After 40 weeks and 5 days of pregnancy Penelope Violet Decided to make her appearance. Friday evening, the 17th of April, I was sewing so pants for my friend Joy (who had a baby the 13th of April). When I finished it was about 9:30 pm and my back was really sore, not strange when I've been hunched over a sewing machine for an hour. I didn't really think anything of it. We went to Joy and David's house to take the pants. At this time I was having contractions and they were definitly not just Braxton Hicks. They were about 15 minuteds apart lasting about 30 seconds each.
We got home from Joy and David's house and decided to go to bed. Well after laying in bed stairing at the clock from 11 to midnight not sleeping becasue my contraction were gettign stronger and closer together. At this time they were ranging from 2 to 4 minutes apart lasting 30-45 seconds. I woke Dane up and we decided we should call Christine and let her know what was going on.
Christine arrived at our house at about 1:00am, and when she checked me I was about 3-4cm dialated and 70% effaced. Awesome becasue that morning at our appointment I was only 2cm and 50%. Basically for the next couple hours I walked around the house trying to find a way to be comfortable during contractions.

At about 3:30 We had the birth tub filled and ready for me to labor in. It was amazing. The water helpedwit the contractions so much, I was very glad to have the tub. Penelope's heart rate kept dropping depending on what position I was in, so Christine was monitoring her about every 10 minutes. It was lower than Christine likes to see, (but not so low that I needed to transfer) but Penelope was fine during the contractions so Christine just kept an eye on her.

At about 8:00am Christine checked me and I was ready to go, time to push! My parents had just arrived. My dad's job was to keep cooper occupied while my mom helped Dane and me. I was still in the tub when I first started "pushing". I didn't really understand what that meant and I was having trouble so Christine recommended that I get out of the tub and move to the bed. By this time I was pretty much exhausted. I had been up since the day before and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

At this point my water still had not broke. We were thinking we might deliver her "in the call" (in the bag of water, not ruptured) It ended up breaking while I was pushing about 15 minuted before Poppy was born.

After about 45 minutes of real pushing (when I finally got the hang of it) Penelope's head was born. The cord was around her neck so Christine and her assistant Kelly quickly unwrapped it and about 2 seconds later Penelope's body was born at 9:53 am. The cord being around her neck explains why her heart rate was going up and down.

It was an awesome experience and I can not wait to have our second baby at home. It really is the best way to go if you are a low risk healthy woman. I was so glad to be at home with the people I wanted. God truly is amazing in the way that he designed our bodies for such an amazing thing.

I should also say how wonderful Dane was. I could not have done it with out him. He was there with me every contraction. praying and talking me through each one. He did such an awesome job, I couldn't have been more blessed with such an awesome husband.

April 18, minutes after birth- not too "cheesy"

Great Granda and Great Grandpa Eliason (my mom's parents)

They had to leave the next day for Washington-just made it

Penelope and Great Grandma (GG) April 18

Poppy in her Boppy- she loves to sleep!

Grandma and Penelope

Aunt Veronica and Cousin Brooks with us-May 6

Ready for Church on Mother's Day

I don't think she likes her skirt

Mother's Day- one of my fav's