Penelope's Baby Blessing

I'm way behind on blogging, so I'm just going to randomly write about what I want when I want.

Dave and I now live in the DC area (more to come), and by that I mean Lorton, VA. We were homelss for a few weeks so we went to stay with my parents in Lincoln, where we blessed Penelope. The whole family was in town because Logan had just returned from his mission.

It was really great to be able to have all my brothers and brothers-in-law (Ryan, I'm including you even though you couldn't be there--I know you would have if you could have) stand in the circle to give her a name and a blessing. Dave's mom was able to come up from St. Joe, MO so we had lots of family there. We didn't get a group photo (I didn't want to disrupt church to take pictures), but we did get a picture with Dave's mom and then we staged photos with me, Dave and my parents the next week.

I'm very blessed to have a wonderful husband who holds the Priesthood and could bless Penelope! I love Dave!

Learning How to Laugh

She's learning how to laugh. Super cute.

Lest Ye Forget

Just in case you forgot, something as cute as this:

Can go and do something like this:


And somehow, she's still super pleasant through a very unpleasant diaper change for her parents.

A 3 Month Old Cannibal

Penelope turned 3 months old on June 28. She is so cute! Since last month she has started cooing, really likes to smile, and has figured out that if she kicks her legs when she's in her bouncer, the toys hanging above her will move and rattle. Consequently, she starts kicking, smiling and flailing the second we put her in it. If we take the toy bar off, she stops kicking. We think she's pretty smart.
I like these 3 mos. pictures because they show a few things (yes, she's wearing a hodge-podgey outfit...she was cold in the house so we put a sweater on). 1) you can see how long her legs are; 2) you can see what she does all day--she eats her hands. Or she eats her doll. Evidence to follow.
This is Penelope and her doll. We named her doll Penelope, but it's pronounced "Pen-a-lope" (you can thank my dad for that pronunciation).
This is Penelope debating what to do with her doll.
She has made her decision. She is going to eat her doll's head. My daughter is a cannibal. But, Pen-a-lope doesn't seem to mind.

Oh, and P.S. Dave got a job this past week. He was hired by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C. We will be moving there mid-August! Congrats, Dave!

Cooing and Talking

Penelope has started cooing to go with all her adorable smiles! Since we think everything she does is adorable, I took a few videos of her when she was being especially cute and talking to both Dave and me. All it takes to get her going is for us to mimick the noises she makes. Here is an edited version of one of the videos, since I can't upload the giant ones I took on my camera. In the meantime I will try to figure out how to compress them and/or edit them so I can post more. This isn't the best one, it's just the one we could get to work for now.

BYU vs UNL

Penelope is a dual-fan. She likes BYU and UNL. Here is the proof--she looks adorable in both scarlet and navy!

This is to prove Penelope is getting baby fat. Look how chunky her legs are!
Look! She has filled out in the arms, too. She used to have lots of old lady skin, now she's got some fat to go with it. Hooray! (and she weighs a whopping 10 lbs 11 oz as of Monday, 6/20)

GO HUSKERS!

Penelope is also partial to the Cougars. She really likes her cheerleading outfit. It probably will not fit when she's 6 mos old, although the size is 6mos. I guess I'll have to buy a new cheerleading outfit. That makes me SO sad ;-) I can't wait for her to grow into the Husker cheerleading uniforms; they only had them in toddler sizes!

Kind of blurry, I know, but look how she can almost hold her head up! She can support her head for a little while when you pick her up. She's really quite strong. Don't let those skinny arms fool you. She may not be able to bench much, but she IS strong.

GO COUGARS!

(She needs pom pons, I know.)

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.