Two Months

Penelope turned two months old on May 28. A few days earlier she started to smile. Now if she's got a full tummy and she's in a good mood it's really easy to get her to do this:
(blurry, cuz she doesn't sit still while she smiles)
or this:
This smile includes kicking and flailing on the new blanket that Grandma Luke made for Penelope. I'll take pictures of the other side soon. This is actually the back side.

The Kay Family Meet and Greet with Penelope Ruth

Just a few pictures of Dave's family with Penelope the weekend they were here (May 13-16): Aunt Nicole and Penelope getting to know each other. I think they're having a staring contest. Nicole says staring contests (or maybe it was eye contact) make babies smarter. In that case, Penelope is a genius!
Nicole

Jonathan, Dave and Penelope. Penelope was saying goodbye to Jonathan. He had to leave a day early because of crazy flight schedules. I think the whole country was flying to graduations the weekend they were here.

Penelope loves Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Nicole!!

But if she loves Uncle Jonathan, she ADORES Grandpa Kay!

I pretty much think Penelope loves men, and we're going to have to really watch her when she's old enough to date! For now I have no problem with P loving the men in her life!

Proud Grandpa! (Ignore the red eyes)

Congratulations, Dave!

Dave graduated from the University of Illinois with two masters degrees!! Dave is now a Master of Urban Planning and a Master of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE). Hooray! His family was able to come out and celebrate his accomplishment and meet Penelope for the first time. Because he had two degrees, we had two days of convocation festivities. It was nice to be around family--Penelope sure liked being fawned all over! The over-educated family. :) Dave was trying to one up me. I only have one masters degree, and he has two. When I finish my PhD I'll trump his two masters...until then he can have the glory! The yellow hood is for his ACE degree

The purple hood is from his Urban Planning degree.

The Kay siblings (sibs) on the Quad: Jonathan, David & Nicole.

The sibs with dad, Duane Kay.

I love this man!

The whole fam: Jennifer, Duane, Jonathan, Penelope, Dave, Whitney, Nicole

Proud Father and Son

Dave and his Thesis Advisor: Kathy Baylis. She was very good to work with. She was very willing to work around Dave's "I'm having my first baby a few weeks before my thesis is due" schedule. Thanks, Professor Baylis!

Oops, a 2nd time, and can't get blogger to delete it. Note how P is folding her arms. :)

Dave and Nicole

Booties, Dave's Recital & Bath Time

One of my professors knitted Penelope these adorable booties! We have found them to be one of the best gifts! Especially since this is what Penelope looks like after a nap. She still kicks out of her swaddle, and often wiggles at least one arm out. The booties are also perfect because they actually fit her feet (with some room to spare) unlike all the socks we have for her. She's got her mom's long feet. Maybe Penelope will be 12 years old with a size 10 shoe just like her mom!

We have started a regimented nap routine with Penelope. According to the book we're reading "Babywise", Penelope should stay awake for at least 15 minutes after every feeding, then we put her down for a 1.5-2 hour nap. We do various things to play with her and entertain her before her nap. Sometimes she just stares at us while we work around the house. In the morning we bathe and dress her. Sometimes Dave gives Penelope her own personal piano recital. I didn't even know Dave played the piano. Apparently he plays one song: Chariots of Fire. And he plays it over and over again for her. Note how intently she's listening to her Dad perform for her! So cute!

Baths are pretty low key for Penelope at this point. She patiently waits while we scrub every inch of her little body. I'm hoping this is a sign that she'll be a water baby! I can't wait to start swimming lessons with her! I want her in baby/infant/toddler swimming lessons. I have two reasons for this. 1) I think everyone should know how to swim, so why not start her young? 2) Dave and I love to go on beach vacations...so our kids better like the water and know how to swim. :) Mexico, here we come (in a few years or so)!

Jungle Gym

I'm anticipating lots of time spent with our new "Developmental Activity Gym." Penelope sat underneath it for a solid hour last night. There are lights and music that play. She was just contently swatting at the toys and listening to the music. When she gets better control of her flailing I think she'll have even more fun!

Penelope's Life in Pictures

Hi! My name is Penelope, and I like to sleep in a ball on dad. This is what counts as tummy time at this point in my life.
Aunt Caitlin and Uncle Ryan came to visit from NC. Caitlin and mom spent a lot of time "crafting". They made a few headbands for me. This is an example of one that we WON'T be using. My mom believes that my headbands should be proportionate to the size of my tiny baby head. However, I do look quite pleased with the result here.

Me and Aunt Caitlin. (Check out Caitlin's muscles!)

Ready to go to church on Easter morning. We're starting slow by going just to sacrament meeting. I still eat every three hours, so church is still a little tricky. (Look at my cute headband!)

Me and mom in our Easter dresses.

My days are still quite simple. I pretty much eat and sleep. But sometimes I'm alert and hang out with mom. This is me showing off how cute I am in my adorable dress and sweater. I really like dresses. It makes it easy for Mom and Dad to change my diaper, and then I don't scream as much. I still scream...just for a shorter amount of time.

Mom tried to have a photo shoot with me for my one-month birthday. Here I am, alert and showing off myself in all my one-month old glory!

See, don't I look like Dave?

Let's be honest, this is what I'm like most of the time. This is how Mom is slowly starting to be productive again. This morning Mom actually vacuumed the living room, started some laundry and unloaded the dishwasher. We are all about small steps around here lately.

One-Month Birthday!

Today is Penelope's one-month birthday! It's crazy to think that Dave and I have been parents for a whole month! Who knows if we're actually getting used to the sleep deprivation, but we are getting used to having this sweet girl around. She is quite adorable. We still don't know what color her eyes are, but I do think she's starting to look more and more like Dave. We have decided she has Dave's head on a Luke body (long and skinny).