Penny's Play Mat

Posing for the camera:



She loves the angel overhead. She prefers bell sounds to harsh rattle sounds, and the angel has bells (like her Piglet).



Look Ma! No hands!


Tummy time!

Three Months!

We started a new bed time routine with Penny this week and it has worked wonders! Usually, she spends the entire evening with us, alternating between cat naps and being all up in the mix. By 10, she can barely keep her little eyes open, but she's determined not to miss a thing, so that makes for a cranky baby and it takes forever to get her down for the night. Well, this week, I decided that she will start going to bed earlier, and we'll make an entire routine of it. I'm a little bit flexible on the time, but somewhere between 6:45 and 7-something, Daddy gives her a bath and gets her all moisturized and dressed for bed. Then, she comes to Mommy to nurse, while Daddy reads us a bed time story or two. She loves to hear him read, and doesn't even want to take her eyes off of him. Last night, he read Corduroy in a British accent (he thought the bear looked British) and she could barely eat for trying to look at him and coo back to him. Then, we all cuddle in the dark, and Mommy sings a few songs. We put her in her crib, still awake, but just about asleep, and Mommy may sing some more and she drifts off to sleep. She is down by 8 every night so far! And she stays! I usually go up after a couple hours to "dream feed" just to top her off, and she doesn't even wake up the entire time she's eating. We have our evenings to ourselves again, and she's a much happier baby. She still ends up coming to sleep in our bed about half way through the night, but that's only because it's just so convenient for me to nurse her lying down and half awake. This routine is definitely a keeper!

She changes every day, and each day brings something new. Her hair is starting to grow and curl up like mine. She giggles more and more and smiles so big and kicks her feet when she gets excited. Seeing her smile always makes me smile. It's funny how you will make an utter and complete fool of yourself to get a smile from a baby. Luckily, she's pretty generous with her smiles. She still thinks it's a hoot to turn her head when you try to kiss her, but after a few times, she'll look at you and smile like, "I'm just playing with you" and give a big wet kiss.

I think she will be teething soon. Lately, she has taken to biting me to signal that she's done nursing, or just when she's treating me like a pacifier. I HATE that, especially because she likes to give me this mischievous little smile when I yelp and firmly tell her "No. Don't bite Mommy." When she gets a hold to Steve's hand, it goes straight to her mouth and she starts chomping.
I went ahead and bought a teething ring, and she likes it well enough, but I guess human flesh is so much better.

We bought her one of those play mats to make tummy time more interesting. It has this part that plays music, and baby just touches or pushes or pulls on the attachments to make music or to change the song. Well, Miss Penny starts off on her tummy in the middle of the mat, and she kicks and inches and squirms her way over to the musical attachment and head butts it to change the song. It's hilarious to watch! Skip to My Loo - aah, who wants to hear that? *head butt* NEXT! London Bridge - don't go falling down on me! *head butt* NEXT! I think she will crawl soon. She moves quite well on her little belly. If only she would get the arms coordinated (she's usually sucking on her hands) then she could really get somewhere. Then we'll really be in trouble! Better get on that baby proofing soon!

She and I talk all the time. She really thinks she's having a conversation and she just tries so hard to tell me all about it. She'll laugh and squeal, and it sounds like she's saying "Guh" (girl) then more baby gibberish, like "Girl, you would not believe what I did today!" I answer back with, "Girl, whachu say?" And it just goes on and on, with us laughing and chatting. Forget calling me Mommy, I think she'll end up calling me "Guh." I can just hear it now. "Guh, I hone-gree . . . I wuv you, Guh."

She loves men. We're in trouble. If she hears a man's voice on television, she will turn and just stare at him. If he's cute, she'll try to talk to him. The other weekend, we rented "Obsessed" with Idris Elba and Beyonce (who can't act to save her life, but at least she's pretty). Well, she took a look at Idris, and she couldn't take her eyes off of him. Every time he was on the screen, she just cooed at him and wouldn't give us the time of day. She also loves corny Nick Cannon on "America's Got Talent." When she sets her sights on a man, we don't even exist anymore. Oh, Lord, help us now.

Time is flying. She's already 3 months old. She has more than doubled in size from that itty bitty baby we brought home from the hospital. She's a riot and she keeps us on our toes, but she fits in perfectly with our lives and I can't imagine any baby better than her.

Nip/Tuck

We went into the Mannheim Klinikum on Wednesday, August 26th for Stephanie's surgery. First of all, we had to find our way to the registration desk for her particular "house" which was an adventure. When we finally found it, there was a looooong line - and Germans are in no particular hurry for anything - and Penny and I found a seat while poor Steve waited forever to be seen. Of course, the lady in there speaks absolutely no English, but they managed to communicate and get the forms all completed. Sidebar - yes, we know it is horrible not speaking our host country's language, but we are working on that. From now on, I will always be a lot more sympathetic and empathetic towards foreignors in the United States who do not speak English. It is frightening, exasperating and lonely to be in a country where you do not speak the language. We are learning, but medical terminology is still way out of our range.

Anyhow, we finally make it up to our floor and to our room. Then, because I will be staying with Stephanie, I have to go back down to the registration office and get myself registered. Fun, fun! Luckily, the tech assisting us was kind enough to write in German what I needed so that I could just hand it to the lady downstairs. There goes another hour of waiting in line! While I'm gone, Stephanie has to get her IV inserted into her hand. Steve said she didn't even cry!
Of course, I hated seeing my baby with that thing in her hand! I hated getting the IV when I went in to deliver, but I ain't no crybaby either!
The first day/night in the hospital was so they could monitor her and check her heart. We went down to cardiology for an EKG, and the tech there gave Penny so much sugar water to, ironically, calm her down, I just knew she'd be bouncing off the walls later. Penny was in such a good mood the entire day - she had no worries and seemed to not even suspect that something was amiss. We shared the room with a one-month old, Frederic, who was also having hernia surgery. His mom actually spoke English, so that was cool.

The hard part began when she had to fast a few hours before surgery, since her stomach had to be empty for the anesthesia. She, and Frederic, couldn't eat after 3:30 AM, since their surgeries were first thing in the morning. The nurse came in to wake us at about 3 AM for their last feedings. Penny was not accustomed to sleeping for so long apart from me, so I fed her and just brought her to bed in my little cot. She was hungry when she awoke in the morning, and she seemed to keep looking at me in confusion when I wouldn't feed her. All I could do was stick her binky in and cuddle her. She was not happy, but she quieted down. Broke my heart, and I just kept talking and explaining to her that I couldn't feed her just yet, but I would as soon as she was able to eat again. I left her with Steve for a few minutes so I could grab a much-needed cup of coffee and try to shovel down my breakfast. I made it back to the room just in time - the nurse had come to wheel her down to surgery.

Here she is all dressed for surgery

She seemed to be looking for me, and kept her eyes on me and Steve as we made it down to the operating room. We made it to the big, frosted glass doors, and the nurse tells us, "It's time to say goodbye." So, we kiss her and stroke her and they take her away. I hear her start to cry, and of course, that makes me cry, too. We sit for a few moments in the little, dark waiting room, until the nurse tells us it will be a couple hours, so we decide to go outside for a walk. We sit by the river and chat about any and everything to pass the time.

We head back to the room about an hour or so later, and the nurse finally lets us know that she is ready and we can head down to see her. She was still under the anesthesia, and I really hated seeing her hooked up to all those machines, but I was so relieved that she had made it through surgery fine. I managed to sneak a couple of pictures with my phone.


We were down in the recovery room for about an hour before she was cleared to head back upstairs. We had to take turns sitting with her, since only one of us was allowed at a time. That first day, she seemed to be in pain when she woke up, and she got two doses of pain medicine (at different times, of course).

It seemed that the main reason she was in pain was because she ate too much at first, and her poor stomach was so tight that it pushed against the stitches and wound, causing her pain. After a while, she ate with no pain afterwards. That first night, there was a lot of free-floating gas in our room. Penny was farting like a grown man, and Frederic was belching like a frat boy! We mommies got NO sleep that night, but at least the gas gave us something to laugh about. There were no complications or anything, so we were released the next morning. I couldn't wait to get home and get some sleep! Penny and I went to bed almost as soon as we got home.

She has had no more pain, and the whole thing doesn't even seem to bother her. She was back to her usual smiling and cooing self the day after surgery, and hasn't stopped. She seemed to make up for not eating for the next couple nights though, wanting to nurse every couple hours.

We're back to normal, and she now has a cute new belly button!

Before:

After:

The extra skin will shrink as she grows, and she'll have a cute belly button! Thank God it's over!!