You're Not Going to Believe This!

Claire came downstairs last night and said - Mom. Dad. You're not going to believe this. And then she showed us her tooth in her hand. She was messing with it all day - it's only been loose for a few days and she's already yanked it out. Matt said he used to do the same thing as a kid - at the first sign of a wiggle he would pull them. She's excited, and we already get to use the tooth fairy pillow for a second time. I promise to not post a picture of every tooth she loses, but she's our first so it's still exciting. :)

She's Mobile!

I'm going to go ahead and say Penelope is crawling, though not very fast yet and not very far. She can get to anywhere she needs to go through a series of rolls, rotations and lunges. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth and then moves her arms and legs forward a few times before going back on her belly. I am ok with this speed - I can still keep her in a relatively small area. But I know that fairly soon, nothing will be safe and I will have to seriously improve our baby proofing efforts. I am seeing choking hazards left and right. As Claire and Miles get older, their toys get smaller. A stray Barbie shoe could get us in trouble. Maybe this new development will help me be a better housekeeper too. :)

Sick House

So tired of having sick kiddos - when one gets better, the next one goes down with something or other. Now just the big kid (Matt) is still under the weather. And he can't miss school - apparently grad school is serious or something.

Favorite Disney Tradition

One of my favorite stops each trip to Disneyland is to the little silhouette shop on Main Street. Since this was Penelope's first trip, we definitely had to have her silhouette done. Her hair was particularly curly that day, so I was curious how the picture would turn out. The same woman has been there every time we've gone for the past five years and she is a pro. She takes only 2-3 minutes to cut out the shape using tiny scissors - and I love how she did Penelope's hair. 

Penelope Jane

Papa Hiller's Birthday

We celebrated Papa Hiller's birthday a few days earlier, the get together disguised as a football watching party. We played a fun game where you had to ask questions to figure out what was on the card strapped to your forehead. We looked silly, but it was fun.

First Day of School

Matt started the UNLV Masters of Accountancy program today. Here is his first day of school picture that he (un)willingly posed for, mostly because he was late running out the door. I think we are in for a bit of a shock at our change in schedule, since he has been home with the kids for the past year. Sometimes I think the shock will mostly be mine alone, since now I am home with the kids two days a week versus home with them the same days that Matt is home too.

Now our schedules won't overlap at all since someone has to be home each day to get Claire to and from school. Does that sound terrible? That I have to get used to being home with my kids? It's just an adjustment for me - and I'm actually excited about it. Especially since I recently resigned a PR account I was working on the side (mixed feelings = more time at home but less money to pay for school). January will be my last month.

Here's to the next four semesters! Good luck Matt!

Bottle Baby

I am pretty sure yesterday was my last day nursing Penelope. She and I seem to have come to a mutual agreement that we are done. This is a complete 180 change since those first weeks after my maternity leave when Penelope refused a bottle and I had to meet Matt for lunch to nurse her.

After two nursing strikes over the past 2 months, the first for almost 3 days and the second for 6 days, I decided to start weaning Penelope so I could finish nursing on my own terms. A strike is when a baby suddenly stops nursing - like they nurse in the morning and then in the afternoon they refuse to even try and often cry or keep their mouths closed tight. It was emotional for me, and physically painful to be so full of milk.

She eventually came around and nursed again, though I can't be 100% sure why she ever did go on strike. I am guessing the first was pain from teething and the second my "strong" reaction to being bit multiple times (I just yelled NO! pretty loudly and she started crying, but did continue nursing that day, so who knows...).  Everything you find online about nursing strikes is from crazy La Leche League ladies who feel like there is absolutely no good reason to stop nursing. One lady was so upset that her 23 month old had stopped nursing after he fell and hurt his tooth while RUNNING! Let it go, ladies. I need to create a website for women who want to nurse, dare I say even like to nurse, but don't want to nurse for years. It's ok to do what is right for you and your baby, I just don't like someone saying you are a good mom or not if you nurse. Ok - off my soap box.

I started cutting out pumping sessions until I didn't pump at all anymore at work. I felt naked going into work with only a purse and laptop. That took about a month to get down to morning feedings only and then bottle the rest of the day. Penelope is a solid 19 lb baby (she was weighed this week when we took her in for croup - not fun!). She takes baby food really well and is very interested in our food and in feeding herself. We will be ok.

Cars Land

We loved the new Radiator Springs ride and the Mater ride - and it really did look like we were on the Cars movie set. Everyone was able to ride all of the rides, though we avoided the Luigi's Tires after a Disney cast member said that even if there wasn't a line at all, he wouldn't go on that ride. We stopped at Flo's V8 Cafe, saw Lightning McQueen and Mater, and enjoyed some Cars-themed snacks.

Eating at the Cozy Cone - popcorn in a cone, a drink in a cone, an ice cream cone, and of course the Chili Cone Queso - a cone made of bread to hold chili. It was actually pretty good! 

Disneyland 2013

What a difference a year makes - we went to Disneyland last week and I was so surprised at how Claire was not interested in the princesses or characters but just wanted to go on the rides. She was go, go, go the whole three days (other than a few tired meltdowns). We did manage to see a few characters but we weren't searching them out like in years past. Miles was tall enough to try a few new rides this year, but not quite the required 42 inches for the big rides that Claire got to go on. He is about 41 inches, I'd guess. Matt counted that we rode at least 25 different rides, and most of those multiple times.  Get ready for picture overload, but it's 3 days of photo-worthy moments so I can't help myself.

We lost Miles once - right here at the bag check before we even made it into the park. I should say he lost us -  we hadn't gotten far when I heard him crying. Very sad - but glad we got it over with in the beginning because he stayed right with us the entire trip - no running off at all, which is progress since last year.

Miles and Papa discovered their mutual love of cotton candy. This is their second round. 

Penelope was an angel baby - so good the whole trip. She even managed to nap for a few hours at a time in the reclined stroller by the second day.  I think the first day was just too much to take in and so loud. There is not a quiet spot in that whole place. And we tried to find one - and then there would be a parade, an announcement on the loudspeaker, or music coming from every ride. But she hung in there and did great!

We had cool weather and a high chance of rain, but we never felt a drop. So we were just bundled up pretty good most of the time, though I was woefully unprepared with cold weather clothes. I just don't like to buy a ton of winter clothes each year to only wear them a few times, but inevitably we need them.

The crowds were light, plus we had Phil's handicap pass to get us onto some of the older rides really quickly. The newer rides are built better for handicap access, but Fantasyland was easy on and off for all of the rides. We hadn't been to Cars Land since it had opened and it was awesome! I will do that in a separate post since we took a ton of pictures in that area. It was just like we were in the movie - so well done.