Merry Christmas

Pics
1. Christmas morning, Penny sitting next to our perfectly sized tree.

2. Penny sitting on top of her new toy box that daddy made for her.

3. Looking cute sporting her new winter hat given by Uncle Dustin and Aunt Emily.
4. Sitting on granny's lap, we didn't get a good pic of her Christmas outfit, but it was adorable.

5. She couldn't wait to start playing on the gym that Aunts Laura and Stephanie got her.

Penny turned 8 months a couple days before Christmas. She weighed over 12.5 lbs early in the month, she had also grow a few inches since the last measurements. She is now over 25 inches long. Penny finally decided to crawl and she is now mastering sitting up. She has begun eating stage 1 baby foods and loves them. We started her on prunes (yum) and have added bananas so far. Sometimes we can't shovel the food fast enough for her. Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year.

~The Nichols

Happy Thanksgiving

This month's pictures were taken while visiting the grandparents for Thanksgiving. We quickly learned that Penny is typically very good at emulating whoever she is taking a picture with.



Penny loving on great-grandma Flynn with a big, cheesy smile

Chillin' with great-grandpa Nichols in the recliner

Mischevious smile while yanking great-grandma Scott around

Giving her best impression of great-great-grandma Reed

And the priceless dead-on look of great-great-grandpa Reed. On that same note, she does a good impression of her great-uncle Doug, who will look just like grandpa Reed if he makes it to 95.

Penny isn't doing too many new things this month, but she is getting a lot better at what she does. She is still very close to crawling and sitting up, we're a little suprised that she hasn't quite done either yet. She is eating cereal very well now, she loves her rice cereal. Emily and I can get her to laugh most anytime unless other people are present. She is very stingy with her laugh so far and she is just starting to give others smiles freely (if she feels like it). Our next Dr. appt isn't for a couple weeks so we don't have a definite weight, but she's somewhere between 12 1/2 and 13 lbs, much smaller than her 7 month old cohorts, but big to us. I will update again after Christmas, so for those I won't see before then, have a safe and merry Christmas season.

6 Months and going strong

Cousins hanging out together

The leggings finally fit, kind of

Relaxing on the couch like a big girl

Somebody got caught by the camera bug

Look at the big ol' cheesy smile, I love it

In the past month Penny has made quite a bit of progress. She has started to hold her own bottle some, she is jabbering away, and is over being coddled while held (she wants to sit up and look forward mostly). She is easy to get laughing most of the time and usually has a smile on her beautiful face. She still isn't crawling, but she's very close. She has all the actions down except for propelling herself forward. Penny was very excited to finally get to meet her Aunt Stephanie this month and can't wait to see her again. She's still sleeping great, 12 1/2 hours just last night. At the doctor today she weighed 11 lbs. 2.5 oz and was 23 1/4 inches long. Her weight for adjusted age is finally on the chart. We were given the okay by the doc to start trying baby cereal for her, hopefully this goes well since formula is stupid expensive. She is finally out of newborn diapers. I can't think of any other new info about our precious little girl for this past month. Until next month.

5 Wonderful Months

just another cute dress she'll soon outgrow

we make her read daily, its a good habit

she's as happy as can be

her cute little church outfit one Sunday

caught napping on the job

Penny had another great month. She is doing so much now. She really began to smile this month and is on the verge of laughing (probably at my ugly mug). She has really picked up on the rolling over, both ways. When she gets to her stomach she is now pushing herself up and looking around. She's very close to crawling, she's got the motions down, she just hasn't really started going anywhere. She's eating more and more every day. And best of all, she is sleeping like a little angel, usually 8-10 hours a night. For those parents out there, I'm sure you know how wonderful that is. She also is taking naps during the day so daddy can get some extra rest or whatever done around the house. She weighed 9 lbs 3.5 oz and was 23 inches long today and her doctor is very pleased and surprised with her progress. She has also started to really coo alot. She already is picking up an affinity for gabbing and cooing. Until next month, lots of love from this Nichols clan.

4 Months of Penny

That face just shouts, "hey, I'm really excited to be here, no, really."

Rosco the protector.

Penny cuddling with her stuffed monkey.

This was supposed to be a pic of just Penny, but Rosco is playing the role of the curious squirrel/camera hog.

She's even more excited to be taking a picture with daddy. Those have to be tears of joy, not tears of hunger and dirtiness. They're tears of joy b/c daddy spent 2 weeks with her w/o working.


Here we find ourselves 4 months into this joint venture that we call Penny. She is still growing acceptible, she now weighs 8 lbs 1.5 oz. and is 21.5 inches long. That would make her close to the size of a normal newborn, but to us she is starting to look so big. She has started to outgrow her newborn clothing and is beginning to wear 0-3 month stuff, we're still wrapping her in newborn diapers, but don't really know for how much longer. All is well in the land of Penny.

3 Months

Penny laying in daddy's fire helmet

Penny's first trip to the fire house, once she

gets older (upper teens) I don't know if I will

allow these trips anymore, but I love them now

Penny's first trip to the lake

Penny and daddy napping at the lake

Penny loves her mommy

Today Penny turned 3 months old and the last month has been one of many first. She is excelling at home and has finally started packing on the pounds. At her doctor's appointment today she weighed in at 6 lbs 7.5 oz, that was up 12 oz in 2+ weeks. Now, if only she would sleep through the night we would be chocolate bars and candy canes.

Meeting the Grandparents @ 10 weeks

1st pic is a 5 generation pic with her great-great grandpa and grandma Reed, great grandma Flynn, grandpa Nichols, daddy, and Penny

2nd pic is 4 generations of Nichols

3rd pic is 4 generations with her great grandma Scott, grandma Nichols, daddy, and Penny

For those who don't know, Penny's great grandma Flynn and great grandpa Nichols had a daughter named Penny Nichols who died at age 5 of leukemia. We named our daughter to honor her memory and we feel blessed that they were more than happy to let us use her name.

Homecoming

After an arduous 9 1/2 weeks, we are finally home with our precious little girl. Penny and her parents are very grateful to everyone who has been praying for her and her development. She also would like to thank a few exceptional nurses she met at Clarian North; Emily, Marcy, and Jeannie, who always went above and beyond their job description. We can't thank them enough for all they did to help us along our way. Honestly, if we could've had a constant rotation with the three of them we would've, but we know they need time off too. So, from the bottom of our hearts we thank you for all you did. That isn't all to say most of the other nurses weren't great also, we just really connected with those three and they made our time at the NICU at least a little more comfortable.

2 Months

Our little Penny is 2 months old today, and as of 2 nights ago she had doubled in weight to 5 lbs. 4 oz. However, she lost a little yesterday and was down to 5 lbs. 2.7 oz. She is passing all her exit exams, eyes look good, hearing is great, heart is perfect. We are only waiting on her to start taking all her feedings via mouth. We would ask for prayers that the feedings just click and she starts taking everything by mouth so she can come home soon. We would also like to ask for prayers for strength for Emily and I as this past 9 weeks has been emotionally, physically, and spiritually draining. We really need her home ASAP because Emily has to go back to work starting July 6 and we want as much bonding time together as possible before that happens. We also miss our little Rosco and can't wait to have our family together at home for the first time.

Penny's almost 8 weeks old

Dinner time, bath time, and nap time. Penny's getting bigger and starting to take more and more of her feeds orally. She now weighs 4 lbs. 13.5 oz. She loves taking baths, and eating, when she's awake, but most of all, she loves having mommy and daddy hold her (we kinda enjoy it too). Hopefully, she'll be home within the next week or so, as far as I'm concerned, 8 weeks is waaaaaaay too long to not be able to bring my precious little girl home, but it's for her health and safety.

6 weeks

Penny turned 6 weeks old yesterday and weighed 4 lbs. 7 oz. The top pic is our first family picture all together (and it only took us 6 weeks). We can't wait to bring her home, hopefully in the next couple weeks.

Penny is out of the incubator

She has finally graduated from the incubator into a bassinet. She has been teetering on the 4 lbs mark for about 4-5 days now, but it'll happen soon. Hopefully, we'll have pics of her in her own bed at home within a couple weeks.

1 Month

Penny is 1 month old today and ever so close to 4 lbs. She weighed 3 lbs 13 oz last night. She started breastfeeding this past week and she is progressing very well.

No more Swine Flu Restrictions

Penny is loving that she can finally see her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends now that Clarian has lifted their restrictions. If you want to come see Penny, just give her parents a call to make sure at least one of them is there to let you back.

Penny's 3 weeks old today