Grandma Nancy in Germany

Grandma Nancy came to visit us in Germany! She flew into in Frankfurt which is about 3 hours from our house(more with traffic). The first thing she mentioned when she came through the door was that we live in the boonies. Yea, I know…haha.

She was so happy to spend quality time with her grandbaby. When she arrived, Nellie was waking from a nap in her swing. My mom went over to reach for her. Penelope surprised us both by extending her arms towards her. My mother was delighted! We both thought she was going to cry, but I’m so glad that she didn’t-improvement!

XOXO from Grandma

Showing Grandma her room

Big smiles from both

My mom is the world’s best cook. She has a real knack for making something out of nothing, and she did just that nearly every night. Devon and I were always happy with the results. She even made Devon a chocolate pie(from scratch) on pi day(3/14, get it? Like the number pi)! He was a happy boy!

Yum Yum!

A bottle for Nellie

In addition to cooking great meals, she was a great babysitter. I was able to accomplish so many errands. Devon and I were even able to go on a date-ooh la la! Fast food and a movie…we really know how to do things right!  While she was at home with Nellie, they would watched chick flicks, snuggle and play. My mom would even bring her in the kitchen. P would sit and in her bumbo seat and help grandma cook.

She loved bath time with Grandma

So calm

Keeping warm

Shrek 2

Nap time

One day I took my mom to Weiden. It’s a bigger city near us with a great shopping area. While there, we met with a couple of my friends and ate lunch outside. It’s usually pretty dreary here so taking advantage of a nice sunny day is necessary. I felt bad that this was her only “real” German experience. Thankfully, she didn’t mind. She said she was just happy to spend time with Penelope-awww!

I was so happy to have some help on our flight back to the States. My girlfriend drove us to the Frankfurt Airport the day before our flight took off(Thanks Meredith!). We stayed the night at the Sheraton located in the airport. It was very convenient. The next morning we flew to Detroit. As always, Penelope did great on the flight! After hugs and kisses, we parted ways at customs because Nellie and I were journeying onward to Colorado! You can read about our time in Colorado in the next post!

Salad at the Sheraton

Bathing in the sink

Nellie slept on the chair while Mom and I shared the bed

Let's go to America

Bum Genius

As most of you know, we use cloth diapers. We’ve accumulated quite a stash. I’ve tested all of the diapers out there, but my favorite brand is Bum Genius. They come in an assortment of pastel colors, and look great on Miss P. Recently Bum Genius released an artisan collection. They are the same great diapers, but come in new bright colors and designs. They also have the most adorable names. So naturally,  I purchased one of each for baby…a girl has to have options. Here they are on Nellie. She’s such a great lil’ model!

 Here she is in a standard Bum Genius, just plain green.

Free Spirit

Eiffle Tower

Jet Setter

Concrete Jungle

 Retail Therapy

Plastybolsaphobia

Plastybolsaphobia is the fear of plastic bags. Penelope is a victim of this phobia. I first discovered her fear while I was struggling to open a plastic bag with her at my hip. She kept looking over my shoulder. I thought she was just checking out the refrigerator and stove, but then she started to cry. I was confused. Why was she crying? I put the bag down to console her. When she settled down, I went back to the plastic bag to open it. She continued to jump, and hide her head in my shoulder. Then it hit me. She was scared of all the noise it was making!

While eating dinner that night, I mentioned what had happened to Devon. He didn’t believe me so I showed him. Of course, he and I thought it was extremely entertaining and decided to video tape her on two separate occasions. Our poor baby girl!

Here’s the proof!

 Video 1

Video 2

5 Months

Where has the time gone? Penelope is now 5 months!

She is continually growing. Currently she is 15lbs 11oz and measures 25 inches. She still fits in her 3-6 month outfits, although we sometimes put her in 6 month onesies just for the length.

With Devon in the field nearly every week, I try my best to keep Miss P on a routine. Her first bottle of the day is around 6:30am, but she fall asleep straight away for another 2-3 hours.  She enjoys a 9:00am feeding, while we watch The View. She loves listening to those ladies jabber.  I’ve recently started her on rice cereal. Yum, yum! Her first attempt wasn’t so great. I got her to take two spoonfuls before she started to turn her head. I waited a couple of days before trying again. The second attempt was much better. 6 hearty spoonfuls! Mmmm…

Mom, what is this stuff?

I'd rather eat my bib!

Not so sure about this stuff...

Around lunch time I pack her up and take her to the PX or to the post office. Sometimes we go out to lunch with my girlfriends. She enjoys looking around and seeing what’s going on. I think she’s becoming very aware of her caregivers, as she doesn’t like to be held by anyone else except Mom or Dad. When my friends try to hold her, she looks around for me, and just starts to cry. Devon and I laugh when she does this, and we joke that she’s screaming, “Stranger danger, stranger danger!”

We’ve been trying to get Nellie used to being on her belly, but she doesn’t like it at all. She ends up rolling to her back right away. So I’ve started to lay on the ground with her and distract her with toys, but she’s way too smart for any of that. We’ve also been working on her sitting skills. She’s been doing pretty well with the balancing part; however she slouches forward quite a bit.  We’re really trying to master it before we go to Colorado in a couple of weeks so she can be in the same Gymboree class as her cousin Graham. That will be fun!

Sitting by myself...

Shoot, I fell.

I can fix this by rolling over...

Just about the sweetest thing in whole world is when Penelope is sitting her Bumbo seat, and reaches up for me to pick her up when I walk by. Aww…it always melts my heart and makes me smile! I realize that she wants to get out of the seat, but sometimes I think she just wants to give her momma a hug. She has also been giving “kisses.” She’ll lean her head into our faces, and keep it there. It’s so adorable and funny because she doesn’t know how to pucker her lips. We call it a kiss even if she doesn’t quite understand the concept. Last night, she gave her papa lots of kisses before bed. So cute!

Penelope, Nellie, Nellie Girl, Penelope Coco Stanforth Glamorous Glamorous...we use all of these names to address her, and we definitely think she responds to some of them. We’re constantly “testing” her by standing all over the family room to see if she turns our way. Sometimes it sounds like we’re calling for a dog! Haha.

P’s last feeding of the day is between 9:30pm and 10:30pm. Yes, we know that's awful late for such a little baby, but the later we keep her awake, the longer she sleeps through the night! We swaddle her arms down close to her sides, turn on her lamb, stick a pacifier in her mouth, and she’s out like a light! I love that she is sleeping through the night. Amen!
Now for some more pictures...enjoy!

I can sleep anywhere!

Mom, stop with the pictures please!

I told you that I don't like being on my belly!

That's better!

 

Play time!

This is my new cousin, Andreus...

Wait, let me get a better look.

Wow! He's a cutie!

More pictures?!

Sitting up straight!

Ok, now I'm ready for some photos!

But I might want some pants on...