Christmas!

I am several posts behind and I'm just now posting this Christmas. We actually just came home yesterday from our last Christmas (we had 5 this year!) in Washington. I will post about our trip in another post but for now and here are a few pictures!

This is at our house. This years for the gifts I decided to steal an idea from one of my favorite movies, Sound of Music, and do brown paper packages tied up with strings...

The polka dotted darling on the couch isn't a Christmas decoration per say, but she is the cutest thing in the house, so I thought I would include her :)

This is such a typical California thing, warm clothes, fleece jacket, yet completely barefoot.

I blame her mom.

This is from our Christmas Eve. Our tradition is to sleep out "under the tree" but I have yet to sleep on any of these nights. Our first year I couldn't sleep because right before we were about call it a night I saw a spider on my pillow. Last year I was 9 months pregnant and wasn't sleeping regardless of where I was. This year I had a 10 month old who spent the majority of the night climbing on my head. I think she was excited ;)

We also had a Christmas night with David and Julie (my brother and sister in law) since we didn't want to have to pack each other's gifts up to Washington. I cooked a ham and we had a great time together. Penny absolutely loved the fun gifts they gave her. We love them!

Pen and her new puzzle from Uncle David and Aunt Julie

To Be Continued...

10/11 Months Old!

Our little girl is almost a year old! I haven't blogged in a while and I have some catching up to do. Our lives have completely changed in this last month and Penny has had a big part to play in that. She is walking! She started walking at about 9 1/2 months and now is full speed ahead. I love this stage, it is so much fun to watch her discover new things!

Penny was really sick for quite a while and is finally healthy. It is amazing how different she is when she is feeling well. She is a blast! She has such a funny personality and it seems like her number one goal is to make us laugh. Which we do, all the time!

She absolutely loves her Dada and we hide from him every night when he comes home until he finds us. When he picks her up and starts to tell me about his day she will physically turn his face toward her to make sure he's looking at her. Its pretty stinkin cute.

We have entered into a whole new realm of discipline with this little stinker. We went to a Christmas party where there was a little boy who had the most ear shattering scream when he tried to get his parents attention. Penny thought that was a great idea and that she should start using it on us. Not quite our favorite form of communication. She also learned the graceful art of arching her back when she doesn't get her way. Its been a bit more challenging to direct her little heart to obedience but God has been gracious to forgive us for our many shortcomings as new parents.

She finally has two little teeth and her hair is JUST beginning to come in. She's working on a really great little mullet:) She loves dancing and playing on her toy drum. Her two absolute favorite things are talking to her Oma (my mom) on the phone every morning and going over to her Hoss and Gramma's (Jona's mom & dad) house. She has been so blessed with some pretty awesome grandparents and aunts & uncles!

Here are some pictures of the last couple of months...

Those big brown eyes will be the death of us :)

Cuddling with Dada

Playing at Gramma's. It is apparently easier to

go over rather than around :)

Trying on the snowsuit

Dancing!

Penny in her robe :)

Life is so hard :)

Playing with Uncle Jed!

Probably my favorite picture of the month :)

Here is a short video of Penny and her cousin Ray...

5 Years Fighting Crime

If you've already passed out by the sheer studliness of the man in this picture, you may not want to continue reading.

<----That, ladies and gentlemen, is MY husband.

Crime Fighter Extraordinaire.

Defender of the Weak

Protector of the Peeps

Can you tell that I'm proud to be his wife?! Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of Jona becoming a member of the LAPD. We didn't have a party, he didn't get a cake, what he did do was let me sleep in, change dirty (very dirty) diapers, rub my feet and did the dishes, among many other tasks.

That is why I love him.

When I was in high school and college I would tell everyone who would listen, that I would never, ever, EVER marry a cop. My family was close to an officer who died in the line of duty and I wanted to stay far far away from being a police wife.

I think I got over the fear of being married to a police officer but then I decided that the majority of them were jerks. This opinion was developed after receiving a couple of (well deserved) tickets.

Anyway, when I met Jonathan my entire opinion changed. I certainly didn't marry him because he was a cop. He could have been a trash man or professional tap dancer for all I cared, it was his character and integrity on and off the job that attracted me to him.

One of the things I respect most about him is that he doesn't bring his job home with him. Don't get me wrong, there are things that we talk through and situations that he needs to process, but at work he is tough and authoritative and at home he is kind and gentle and leads us lovingly.

Babe, thanks for everything you do both at home and at work. I am so proud of you and I am so thankful that God has kept you safe these last five years! I love you!

Trip To Washington

A few weeks ago I went to visit my family in the beautiful, glorious Washington state. The purpose of my trip was to be there as my best friend Amy Carruthers gave birth to her second son. It was so great to be there with Amy and her family and to also spend some time with my family.

I spent some time at the hospital with Amy and John (her husband). One of the days we were there my sister Sarah was taking her preschool class to the pumpkin patch. My other sister, Stephanie and Penny and I tagged along and we had a total blast! Here are some pictures from our trip.

Here is beautiful Amy with little Nathan John Carruthers

Penny with Aunt Steph

She was not a big fan of taking this picture

I can't remember if she was laughing or crying here

(Probably crying)

What is this thing?!

"Hey mom, how much longer do I have to sit here?"

"Okay, I'll give you a smile"

9 Months Old!!

So I skipped 8 months accidentally. I'm sure you're not too torn up about it :) I don't even know what happened in that month. Believe it or not I actually just ordered her baby book. I know, super lame. I kept thinking that I needed to get it but I thought it wouldn't really matter since I was journaling it all, but as the whole world knows, that journal is lost forever... Soooooo all I really remember now is her birthday. (You think I'm joking)

Anyways!! I just took her in for her 9 month appointment and she is still our little string bean! She is still super skinny and super tall. She is 95th percentile for height and 25 for weight.

She has now been sick for 8 weeks straight with maybe a day or two of reprieve. Poor little thing! She has had fluid in her ears for a while too so it's looking like we may be visiting the ear/throat/nose doc. Bring on the tubes! She's also finally cutting her first tooth so that probably adds to her discomfort.

I can hardly believe this, but she is almost walking. She can stand up from sitting without holding on to anything and she can stand on her own for about 45 seconds at a time but she is still too freaked out to take a step.

I am finding that 9 months changes everything I thought I knew about being a mom. I feel like every aspect of this little girl has changed in the last couple of weeks. Some of the changes have been a wee bit difficult to adjust to but I still am loving this. For one, she has decided that she's afraid of everyone except for her Dada and I. She refuses to play by herself and cries almost every time I put her down. She's doing the famous "Nine Month Eating Strike" and has dropped a couple pounds in my opinion. Its been an interesting transition but more on that in a later post...

She LOVES pudding and eats pretty much everything, including the dust bunnies on our living room floor. She, like most babies, is extremely curious and I find myself saying, "Thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord" about 100 times a day in extreme gratitude to our Lord who protects her from 100 injuries.

One quick story of God's protection... Last week she was being super clingy and very sad and I didn't have anyone else to watch her so I decided to bring her in the shower with me. I gave her some bath toys to play with but she was FREAKING OUT because she is apparently terrified of water now too, so I picked her up while I tried to rinse the shampoo out of my eyes and hair. I thought she had one of her bath toys in her mouth, but when I finally opened my eyes and looked at her I realized, to my horror, that she had my razor IN HER MOUTH. I very carefully took it out of her mouth and began my "thank you Lord..." I still can't believe she didn't get cut!

The Lord has been so good to us and our little monkey! Here are some pictures from month 8 & 9...

I like to call this picture "Pengelina"

(If you don't get the joke, don't worry, it's not that funny)

This is Pen's new smile. I'm a fan :)

A picture from the WA pumpkin patch

(more to come soon...)

Pen & Mama

Penny and the goldfish fiasco

Penny the Ladybug

This picture cracks me up. She looks like she's on something :)

This may be one of my all time favorite pictures.

I love this little girl!!

Piano Lessons and Waterfalls

It's been quite sometime since I shared another cringe worthy moment of my life. I'm not quite sure why I'm sharing this one. Maybe someone out there will feel better about themselves just by knowing that there is no possible way anything like this could ever happen to them.

Some of you may not know that I teach piano lessons. I have been teaching since I was in sixth grade and I can honestly say that I really enjoy it. However, there are times that teaching piano lessons can go horribly horribly wrong. This is about one of those times...

When I was in high school I had at least 20 students at a time. Some of those students loved me, some of them hated me. One of those latter students was a little boy that we will call Bobby. Bobby hated piano lessons. Thinking back on those lessons together, I don't really blame him. Not only was poor Bobby stuck taking a lesson from me once a week, but immediately after that lesson, I would go to his house and babysit him and his brother while his parents went out on a date. Poor poor Bobby.

Anywho...On this particular fateful night, his parents got us a large garlicky delicious pizza to eat before our lessons began and lets just say that after I consumed my portion, my breath smelled less than fresh. It was time to begin our lesson and since Bobby was already being dragged over to the piano by his mother, I thought I wouldn't add to his agony by being forced to smell my horrible garlic breath.

On my way over to the piano I found a packet of those little Listerine strips sitting on the counter. I had never tried them before but since they promised "cool mint" breath I thought I would give them a shot. I grabbed a couple, sat down and gave Bobby some beginning instructions before I put them in my mouth.

Me: "Ok Bobby, let's check your music theory first before we get started."

Bobby: "I didn't do it"

Me: "Um ok. How about we do it together?"

Bobby: "(grumble grumble grumble)"

Me: "How 'bout we kneel on the floor and use the piano bench as a table"

Bobby: "(grumble grumble grumble)"

As he opened his book and begrudgingly worked on his theory assignment, I decided it would be the perfect time to stick about 4 of those thin little pieces of magical freshness on my unsuspecting tongue.

Those who know me, know that I am extremely sensitive to tastes/smells. I've been known to wig out over a sip of lemonade. Let's not forget my aversion to pico de gallo. No matter how sissy my taste buds are, I've never had a reaction like this.

The moment those little babies hit my tongue, my mouth flooded with saliva faster than bird bath in a monsoon. Instantly my eyes, nose and mouth started pouring drool. I couldn't swallow fast enough. It literally took everything I had to not aspirate on my own spit. It sounds a lot prettier than it actually was, trust me on this.

Bobby, completely absorbed in his own misery, seemed to not notice my drowning next to him.

Bobby: "How many beats does a dotted half note get?"

I tried to open my mouth to answer, but instead of an audible response all Bobby got was Niagara Falls.

Yep. I drooled. ON. HIS. HAND.

It was as though I took the biggest drink of water possible, placed my face directly over his hand and simply opened my mouth.

The poor kid, with eyes wider than saucers, looked at his hand and then looked at me in complete and utter horror.

Bobby: "DID YOU JUST DROOL ON ME?!!!"

I, of course, did what anyone would do, I took his hand and attempted to dry it off on my pants the best I possibly could. I don't think that helped matters because he immediately stood up and started wailing. It was then that I noticed his dad had been standing at the head of the piano. Watching us. The entire time.

Needless to say, Bobby never had to take another piano lesson, and I've never eaten another piece of pizza. Half of that statement is true.

7 Months!!

So this post is waaayyy late. Penny actually turned 8 months old today :) My phone broke and is currently unable to sync to the computer so I can no longer take the pictures off my phone. I'm trying to take more and more pictures with our camera because the quality is so much better than my phone and its easier to upload them. I realize no one cares about these mundane details...

This month was a little hard on the poor Pen. She was sick for the majority of it. She had a cold for a couple of weeks and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. Like the great mom that I am, I put off going to the doctor because I thought it was just a little cold and she'd get over it.

It turns out that she had a double ear infection and one of her little eardrums was just about to burst. It was very sad :(. What was even more sad was that the antibiotics they gave her did not treat her very kindly. She was so sick, poor little thing. We had some major poopage going on over here. That turned into a nasty diaper rash that would just make her scream when I tried to change her and on and on. Thankfully we've finished the antibiotics and now shes more back to normal.

In spite of all that, she is growing like crazy. She is so close to walking and standing on her own. I didn't expect it to start this soon but I'm excited for this next milestone! She loves her daddy more than ever and she won't take her eyes off of him if he enters the room. She recently started shaking her head "no" although I don't think thats what she means by it. She is a major joy to our hearts and we love her so much!!

Here are some 7 month pictures...

Little Pen spent lots and lots of time with her humidifier...

And feeling pretty miserable :(...

Having fun at the doctor's office (P.S. This is right

before she pooped on the Dr. & I had to bathe her in the sink. Not Fun)....

Playing with her new friend (pre-pooplosion)

Humidifier/Naptime

One of Penny's favorite things to do is play under the sheets...

I am madly in love with her eyelashes :)...

Not the cutest picture ever, but I think her eyes

are getting bigger and bigger. They're gonna eventually

take up her whole face :)...

Penny also LOVES giving kisses!

One fun thing that Pen got to do is go to her cousin Ray's first birthday party!

A little walking motivation...

Penny & Mommy

The End!!