Yoda is Back...

We started talking about Halloween for Penny, so thought we'd pull out last year's costume:




What a difference, huh?

Shoes

Like this, my heart swelled when I saw this.



I also think we should send it to Adidas :).

Friday Hi

Good morning?...

[caption id="attachment_4267" align="alignnone" width="560"] Ut oh, flash too bright.[/caption]

Good morning?...

[caption id="attachment_4268" align="alignnone" width="560"] Ut oh, no flash but blurry.[/caption]

Good Morning!...

[caption id="attachment_4269" align="alignnone" width="560"] Yes baby girl, Boo and you can come out now. (Please pardon my finger, Mommy had just woken up too ;)[/caption]

Trader Joe's is Exciting!

"19 cents for a banana? Wow".


Not to mention sitting in the cart. We've done it at Target, Costco and Babies R Us but Trader Joe's smaller carts fits Miss Penelope a bit better. It also seemed to stop the screeching that was starting to occur quite regularly during store visits while sitting in the stroller. This is much more fun :).

The 1st Birthday Brooklyn Trip

The MUCH belated post about our trip to New York for Penny's first birthday.

We left on Wednesday July 10, amongst a flurry of hectic activity, spawned by a little fender bender I had... in our garage. I must preface by saying our garage is not the easiest to back out of (but I suppose after 3+ years I should have mastered it). I misjudged and turned the wheel too soon and ended up breaking our plastic storage shelving unit, which in turn cause almost everything on it to fall onto the car. Not great, especially when trying to leave for the airport. This caused an additional rush to move everything out of the way, and we ended up leaving the base of the stroller at home. It turned out to not be as bad as we thought, as you'll see we ended up using the Baby Bjorn which proved to be easier that lugging the stroller around NYC. But that morning, half way to the airport when we realized we had left it behind, it was not great news.

The flight itself turned out to be smooth sailing. Penny was great. We just had to entertain her for the majority of the flight but it really was not bad. Eating helped:

[gallery type="square" ids="4128,4129,4130"]

As did some toys, both brought from home and 'made' on the plane:

This entertained her for quite some time :).

Poppy once again graciously picked us up from JFK and drove us to the apartment we were renting in Brooklyn. When we arrived it was discovered that a bag was left at the airport!  A bag that contained among other things, keys to our apartment in SF and keys to the car, parked at SFO. Luckily Gabe was able to find out that it was in fact in the lost and found at JFK, discovered abandoned on the curb by the police (I can only imagine what they initially thought it could have been). Poppy had left by this time but hadn't made it too far, so he (once again- graciously) turned around, picked Gabe up and took him back to the airport to retrieve the bag.

So... after all that, Gabe cabbed it back to the apartment and we were finally able to settle in and start feeling like we were on vacation.

The next morning, after Penny woke a bit earlier than we were hoping, she had her bottle and then went back down for an hour or so with us in bed. So sweet to all sleep together for a while. And even better was the photo op it created:

[gallery type="square" columns="2" ids="4132,4133"]

The first half of Thursday was spent hanging around the apartment, playing and eating.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="4138,4137,4136,4139"]

Had to share these pics - they just make me smile (even the one where she's not).

We then headed into the city to have lunch. While Gabe went to a quick meeting Penny and I met his mom, sister and aunt who were coming in from Baltimore for the big birthday celebration and staying with us in the apartment.

Gabe met us and then we split up so the ladies could do some shopping and we could get Penny back for a nap. I really enjoyed having Penny in the carrier, and I guess she did too, because this happened:

So we decided to make this happen:

[caption id="attachment_4145" align="alignnone" width="480"] A beer at one of our old haunts, Merc Bar. Don't you just love Penny's sweaty head?[/caption]

After a quick stop at the Adidas store for Penny's sneakers, it was back to the apartment where we were meeting Gabe's cousin Valerie who lives in the city.

She's responsible for this pic...

I just love it.

Poppy, Jessie and Aunt Jen came over too.

[caption id="attachment_4148" align="alignnone" width="480"] Nibbles from Poppy.[/caption][caption id="attachment_4149" align="alignnone" width="480"] Hugs for Aunt Jen.[/caption]

We ordered in dinner and had a great time just eating and chatting.

Friday morning was more hanging out with the family:

[caption id="attachment_4227" align="alignnone" width="480"] Looking out the window...[/caption][caption id="attachment_4226" align="alignnone" width="480"] ...and looking cool.[/caption]

And goofing around with Dada:

That afternoon we took a walk to the Brooklyn promenade. On the way we passed by Gabe's old apartment in Boerum Hill:

[caption id="attachment_4229" align="alignnone" width="480"] Memory lane.[/caption]

The rest of Friday was spent preparing for the next day:

[caption id="attachment_4230" align="alignnone" width="480"] What do you do when you have a large shopping haul and no car (in the rain)? You put it in your wheeled suitcase, of course![/caption]

When bedtime came we were all ready to rest up for the birthday celebration to come...

Penny's First Birthday!

Later that evening we continued the celebration with the Collins' and Aunt Jen.

[caption id="attachment_4233" align="alignnone" width="526"] The day started to catch up with our girl.[/caption]

On Sunday morning we had some playtime with the cousins and Nono before they said goodbye.

And then Gabe and Penny and I decided to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was HOT! Definitely the hottest day of our stay in New York.

So we got some italian ices to cool off:

After we took the subway back to the apartment and cooled off, Poppy and Jessie came back into Brooklyn for a last visit.


Penny and Poppy had fun playing with her shirt, amazing the things that she finds interesting sometimes :).

The evening we took advantage of having Valerie, Keese and Josef there by going out for date night while they watched Penny (thanks guys!)

It was a great way to end what was a wonderful trip to Brooklyn. Good memories made with family and friends, what more could you ask for?

Some more videos that I thought were to cute not to share.
Penny dancing to Daddy's hip-hop:

Daddy feeding Penny:

I just love the way she's looking at him in the beginning and the pointing with those sweet little hands.

Friday Hi and 14 Months

A special Friday Hi on Penelope's 14 month birthday...


14 months is such a fun age. Hanging out with Penny is just plain fun! She is such a goof and we keep saying it, but she is generally happy, all the time. Yes, she has her moments (hates having her teeth brushed and do not make this kid wait for food) but all in all, smiles and giggles. She even makes herself laugh and definitely knows when she is being funny.

Things to note at 14 months:

• She has discovered the buttons on the TV and can work the light switches and sound machine.

• Shows interest in dressing herself.

• She knows where her belly is, and her 'baby boobies', although she quite often pats at one for the other :). When we say "where's the baby?" she pats herself (or her baby boobies ;).

• Can go up and down the stairs by herself and can get down off of furniture if it's not too high.

• Understands a lot: "peekaboo", "arms up" when undressing her, "stand up" and "now walk, go, go, go", "can I have a hug/kiss".

• Gives hugs of her own accord (the sweetest thing ever) and will give a kiss by leaning her head towards ours when asked. She also blows kisses.

• Says hi and bye with her hand, by opening and closing it.

• Plays peekaboo (and will cover her eyes with her hands when she hears the word), and "Where's Penny?" by covering her head with something (like a napkin in a restaurant) or crawling around the corner from her room to ours... I say "Where's Penny? Where is she, she's gone" and she crawls back and peeks around the door. Very cute.

• Has 12 teeth, including the 4 back molars so can pretty much eat anything.

• Favorite foods include pizza, cheese, spinach/kale bites from Trader Joe's, cherry tomatoes, turkey breast, berries and grapes.

• Can feed herself with a spoon and a fork if we've put the food on it, and likes to feed us, too.

• Still has 4-5 bottles a day, but is fully off formula and now drinks whole, organic milk. She still seems to like the bottle and gets very excited when she sees it, but will get distracted while drinking, mostly in the evening and takes her sweet time finishing up. I mean, there are toys to play with and different spots in the house to sit and drink :). It definitely draws the process out.

• Still loves any type of music and will dance by rocking side to side, or by waving her arm almost as if she's snapping her fingers. She will  dance when we asked her if she wants to listen to some music, even before we've turning it on :).

• Her favorite toys include her Chicco play cell phone, Dolly Pops and her stuffed sensory balls from the cousins. Can't forget the tampons and she still loves her books.

• She also loves to launch herself onto Doggie Big Guy. She will crawl into her room and with arms up, face plant onto the big stuffed dog and lay there for a couple of seconds. Its quite funny.

• Her dexterity has gotten impressive, she can put the rings on the stacker with little effort and will find a small little crumb on her highchair tray (that goes in her mount, of course).

• Penny is still napping 2 times a day . She goes to bed at night around 8:30 and get up at 7:30 or later. She actually wakes up earlier than that but is content to hang out with Boo and Roget and her pacifier (she goes down without the pacifier but we lay it in her crib when we check on her before we go to sleep).

• She is absorbing like a sponge and is interested in everything. She points all the time, accompanied with an "uh".

• She is more and more chatty, although not many words we can decipher other than "mama, dada, baba, ut oh". I've thought I may have heard "apple" once (which is curious considering she's not a big fan of them) and she is close to saying "Ana".

• She has started screeching a lot more, and will do it when we are at a store (not ideal). It's that high-pitched, gets-you-deep-in-your-ear sound that makes us wonder how it doesn't hurt her throat (it most definitely hurts our ears). I try to not acknowledge, hoping it will help quell it, but its hard to ignore when it echoes through the market.

• She will whine a bit when she falls, like she's annoyed, but it is fleeting and she's off again.

• And, of course, her biggest milestone of all - Miss Penelope has started walking!

Penny amazes us every, single day. She is the light of our lives and we can't imagine loving her more.

  

Our Little Monkey....

...has started climbing:


She can get down too, so that's good. Glad we have soft furniture, just in case :).