The Many Faces of Penny

We have been blessed with a very expressive little girl :) Its kinda humorous actually, my entire life, I've always had people confront me on my facial expressions because it can look like I am glaring or like I am really annoyed. Typically I'm just thinking about something and somehow it communicates that I wanna kill someone. It's looking as though Penny has the same "angry eyes"

Here are some examples (by the way, I've already posted the majority of these on facebook, so sorry for the redundancy) ...

Then there are the "Are you kidding me?!" pictures...

Mom's trying to make her stand up by herself here, not really amused

Then of course, there are the smiley ones...

Sorry, just one more. I couldn't choose. :)

Ok, sorry I know these pictures are going on forever. Here are just a few random ones that make me laugh...

Deer in the headlights

Looks like she's yelling at me

She was so desperate to eat this bunny :)

"Yes Sensei"

Who you lookin at?

I have no idea what this face says but it makes me laugh

The "Popeye"

Penny's evil plot to take over the world

(PS I have no idea whats on in the background :))

I think Penny is just as sick of the pictures as you are :)

To close, here are a couple of my favorites...

Ok, thanks for letting me share some of these pictures with you! I don't mean for this blog to turn into a big Penny picture album, but it seems like its becoming one. I'll try to actually write a post next time instead of making Pen do all the work :)

The Ducky Robe & The Mickey Hat :)

These are some redundant pictures of a cute ducky robe that Penny's Auntie Wa Wa (Aunt Sarah :)) gave her. For the record, Sarah hates the name "Auntie Wa Wa", so if you could encourage her to like it I would appreciate the help :) Auntie Wa Wa spoils Penny like crazy. A perfect example is by buying her a ROBE. What 2 month old needs a robe? Apparently Penny does :) And believe it or not, now she has two. Here are some pictures I got of Pen today trying out her robe after her bath.

She's not really sure what she thinks...

"What do you think mom, does it make me look fat?"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Don't lie to me mom..."

"Ok, you're right, I look super cute"

Ok, I'm a little embarrassed about how cheesy that was. :) Moving on to the Mickey hat...

The Johnson family are big Disneyland fans. Before Penny was even born her Grandma Johnson bought her this hat. It is really cute but kinda looks incredibly ridiculous on Penny. I can't wait to put her in it at Disneyland. It made me laugh so hard today. Sorry for the weird facial expressions and the death grip I have on Pen's arm to keep her upright :)

I have no idea what this face means except for that it

seems like she thinks she's pretty cool

Isn't that the funniest thing you've ever seen?!

Stupid Shots & Other Updates

I thought I would try to write a quick blog post since Pen is asleep and the house is mostly clean ;)

Have I mentioned how much fun this all is?! Penny will be 10 weeks old tomorrow! She is showing more and more of her little personality and we are just eating up every second.

The poor little thing had to have her shots last Thursday. I was dreading it so much. Every time I thought about it it made me sad. Just look at that face to the left. That's the kind of mood she was in right before they jabbed her. She was so confused but really handled it like a trooper. I am really thankful that God has given men the ability to create vaccinations to keep us healthy but its sad to have to watch her go through that. She only cried briefly but felt miserable for the next two days.

The worst part was that they didn't have two of the vaccinations that day so I had to bring her back in yesterday to finish. So she again spent yesterday and most of today feeling crummy. I've been keeping up with the Tylenol but look how sad she looks even while she is sleeping...

All her stats were good. She's 11 lbs and 23 1/2 in. tall. I finally figured out the whole percentile thing. She's right on track. It does look like she may have GERD (gastrointestinal reflux) because the kids spits up ALL DAY LONG and she is not a happy spitter-upper. Our pediatrician is giving us some different things to try to help her. Other than that, everything looks good!

In other news, I wanted to post these pictures of Penny at Crossroads. Rick Holland regularly introduces new kids in the ministry "lion king" style. We didn't think he would do it with Pen because we are not in leadership but it was pretty humbling to have an entire gym praying for your baby that she would love the Lord and serve Him with her life.

One funny thing about these pictures. Lisa Martin "tagged" me and Jona in them on facebook. When I went to see who posted them it was someone who spoke Russian. I'm not sure if they were visiting that day or if they belong in Crossroads, but the picture had several Russian comments below it and none in English so I have no idea what they could be saying about Penny. For all I know they could be calling her ugly :)

The scheduling has been going fairly well. It's hard to set a schedule when you go out all the time and I haven't really been able to figure out how to work around the nap time stuff. I don't want to be a slave to it and as a wise woman recently told me, its there to serve us not to stress us out (or something along those lines :)). She does not like her crib very much but it seems to be getting better.

Anywho... sorry there's not much to say, but at least my family will be happy for some new pictures :) So here are a few more to leave you with...

Here's Pen watching TV with her mom. She doesn't really seem to approve :)

Although someone will probably call CPS on me, I just couldn't

resist drawing a smiley face on her cute little belly :)

Here's a close-up :)

Morning time with Daddy (aka, my hot husband)

I was so sad this picture got cut off. She was laughing SO hard!

Some other happy pictures...

Finally, my sweet little girl all worn out

2 Months Old!

My sweet little girl is 2 Months Old today! I cannot get over how fast this all goes! It makes me sad that she is growing up but at the same time I am so excited for the things to come! She makes me laugh every single day. She seems to have a personality already and I am loving be her mom!

She smiles all the time. Every time I try to take my camera out her smile turns into this weird cross-eyed expression that makes me laugh even harder. She seems to be pretty content with life but there are those moments every day where she is definitely not a happy girl. I think that she really is a good baby. I don't have much to base that off of since I'm not around infants that much, but at least I think she is. :) I love being her mom!

Jona just recently went back to work. It has been so lonely around here without him. I realize that I am so incredibly spoiled that I got to have him for almost seven weeks! LAPD really comes through for dads apparently. He is so great with Pen and it would melt your heart to see how much he loves her. He makes me laugh a lot. Every time I try to talk to Penny he overhears and answers for her. Something like this...

Me (to Penny): "Hi sweetie! Are you still sleepy?"

Jona: "Yeah, I really am."

Me (to Penny): "You're probably so hungry huh?"

Jona: "I'm starving, is there anything to eat?"

Me (to Penny): "Wow, we've got to change your diaper!"

Jona: "Ok, but let me eat first."

I honestly think that Penny is going to be a funny kid. She is so much like her dad and I hope that she picks up his sense of humor too.

The thing I like the least about this whole process is scheduling. I hate it. I can't wait to reap the rewards of being on a schedule but it is so hard. There is a lot of crying that comes with it. Penny cries, I cry and I'm pretty sure our neighbors are crying too. I know I'm being dramatic, and truth is, it is getting so much better. As a matter of fact, right now, Penny is taking a nap in her crib, which was completely unheard of a few days ago. I've gotten tons of advice on scheduling, feeding, crying it out, etc. so I think we're in a good place.

Sorry, for the boring post. I don't mean to be one of those moms that tells you when their kid sneezes, but right now my life is completely wrapped around this little monkey, which is exactly how I want it to be!

Here are a few pictures of our little girl...

I love this concerned look that she is always giving me. Like, "mom, are you sure about that?

Here's another one...

This is that cross-eyed expression that I was talking about

Finally, some smiles :)

Engagements, Surgeries & Stupid Movies

It makes me so sad to know that Pen is turning 6 weeks tomorrow! Is this how it is? You blink and before you know it they are in high school? I'm not sure I like that part. It would be awesome for her to stay this size forever but be able to communicate like a 20 year old. Nevermind, that would be creepy :)

This past weekend my brother got engaged to the beautiful Julie Zeller. Jona, Pen and I drove down to San Diego (Julie's hometown) and celebrated with them at a surprise engagement party at Julie's parent's house. I can't begin to describe how thrilled we are that Julie is joining our family. She is a gorgeous girl with a heart that loves the Lord and my brother.

Its no secret that I adore my family. My brother is one of my best friends. To watch someone love him as she does is one of the most beautiful blessings of life. She is funny, smart and comes from an INCREDIBLE family. I can't wait to have opportunities to spend more time with them throughout the years of their marriage and to raise our kids together. Julie's mom Robbie has been one of my biggest prayer warriors throughout my pregnancy and I adore her too! I could go on and on forever about how excited I am, but I won't. ;) I'm sure I'll write more about them in the months to come.

After we got back I started experiencing some weird pain that I hadn't felt before. I had a postpartum appointment on Monday morning and I didn't get the best of news. As it turns out my incision is infected and I have another complication that is going to require surgery. :( I don't want to go into huge detail but I am not excited for the next couple of weeks. I really thought I was completely healed only to find out that I'm taking several steps backwards. I'm back on heavy pain killers which is limiting what I can do. Hopefully this surgery will be scheduled quickly and we can get it over with without further complications.

Here is the blessing in it, my mom came last Sunday to stay with us for a week. She came to celebrate David's engagement and spend time with us while my dad is at Shepherd's Conference. I can't think of a better time for her to be here. I was really overwhelmed and having her here is once again a HUGE blessing. Also, Penny has been incredible these last few days, really since my major pain started up. How precious is God to know exactly what we can handle?! Penny has been either awake and happy or sleeping and happy. I haven't been sleeping but it hasn't been due to her. Praise God for His kindness! I can't imagine what it would be like to take care of what has been a pretty colic-y baby and have this intense pain at the same time.

Last night, in the midst of everything Jona and I decided to try to get away for a couple of hours since my mom was here to watch the baby. It was a horrible idea all around. I missed Pen, I was exhausted from not sleeping and the pain stopped me from really enjoying myself. On top of all that, we left too late to have dinner together (which is typically the best part of our dates) and so we just went straight to a movie. We decided to see Shutter Island, which I have been wanting to see for a while because we love scary movies. Not only was it not scary, but it had a HORRIBLE scene in which a woman drowns her three babies. I don't want to go into great detail, but that was probably the absolute worst thing I could have possibly seen right now. I sobbed. We walked out and I was still crying. All the way to the car, on the way home and when I got home to hold Penny. My hormones could not handle that right now (I probably couldn't handle it even without the hormones) and I am so sad I saw it since I can't get it out of my mind. My poor husband felt so bad and tried to comfort me but it didn't work. I really want to be more careful about what I'm putting in my mind. I'm not saying it was bad for everyone, it just wasn't good for me.

Anyway... sorry I have nothing really worth writing about. I'm just rambling, but at least I'm attempting to blog :). Ok, off to snuggle with my husband and little girl!