Happy Halloween (and whatever else came since the last post)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from left to right, top to bottom:

1. Penny wearing a handmade dress and bonnet made originally for her namesake, Penny Diane.
2. The other handmade dress made by Penny's great-great-great grandma Nichols and preserved by her great grandma Flynn.
3. Enjoying meal-time, just like any kid should!
4. Wild fire in Colorado somewhere between Rocky Mt. Nat'l Park and Breckenridge.
5. Living the high life with a little swing time in Phoenix.
6. Kissin' cousins, Dylan and Penny, at the ZooBoo in their costumes (a tiger and a ballerina).
7. Taking the easy ZooBoo tour on daddy's shoulders.
8. Test driving Engine 52 one last time before daddy moved to a different station.
9. Emily posing on a big rock during a hike up in the Rockies.
10. Best buds!  Penny loves to "get" Rosco first thing in the morning when she wakes up, it always puts a smile on her face and produces giggles.
11. Emily and Penny enjoying a good visit with Stephanie.
12. Horseback riding out in Colorado during our childless vacation.  My horses' name was No Name.
13. I think Penny wanted us to pack her along to Colorado, but that would've defeated to purpose of our little getaway.
14. Our little tot already trying to walk in mommy's shoes.

Over the past coule months Penny's vocabulary has increased quite a bit.  Unfortunately, her favorite phrase currently seems to be, "TV on."  We're working on breaking her of that, but she doesn't get to watch that much TV anyways, we just don't want her to become a TV junkie.  Emily and I took a week and went out to Breckenridge, CO by ourselves to get away for a little while.  It was our first real vacation in over 2 years and it was very enjoyable and relaxing (even though we did a couple good hikes and got our butts kicked at Crossfit of Breckenridge).  The 3 of us also made a quick trip down to Clarksville, TN to visit a good friend of mine from my formative years, Isaac Shelby, and watch him coach a football game.  The trip was too short, but it was good just too be able to catch up and see an old friend.  Emily and Penny also made a trip out to Phoenix, AZ to visit with Emily's sister Stephanie.  From what I was told, Penny immediately reached out for Stephanie when seeing her at the airport.  For Halloween, Penny was a ballerina, and a darn cute one at that.  We went to the ZooBoo at he Indianapolis Zoo, but didn't do much Trick or Treating other than grandparents and our next door neighbor.  Also, during the past month, I have taken a position at a different firehouse, one much closer to home and much busier.  I hated to leave a very good crew on Engine 52, but I didn't want my skills to completely atrophy.  I am now on Engine 12 with a good crew that has quite a bit more experience than do I (approximately 120 years between 4 guys), which means they have tons of knowledge that I will try to glean.  I can't think of any other news from our house, we've stayed pretty busy chasing Penny around and keeping up with life in general.  I wouldn't expect any more posts from me until after the trilogy of holidays.  So until then, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years'

Penny's Progress

Pictures:
1. Penny at our gym, Blast Fit, deadlifting 115#
2. Cheesing outside on our small patio
3. Closed her bedroom door and found a book to read.
4. Walking around on the patio
5. Riding the hotrod and reading simultaneously
6. Fake smile in her high-chair
7. Play time with her bff (not bf, at least not for another 23.5 yrs), Eli
8. Looking darling in an outfit her great-uncle Tim got her
9. Posing in an outfit that daddy picked out.
10. Diaper twins, Penny and Rosco

Over the past few months Penny has mastered walking and has moved on to climbing.  She climbs into the warming drawer of the oven, onto the couch, in her grocery cart, on our glider, on top of her picnic table, on the coffee table, and anywhere she can get to.  She also likes to surf on her hotrod (see above picture) while holding onto the coffee table.  She has definitely picked up a stubborn streak and typically laughs when we try any type of discipline.  Unfortunately, she has fallen on her weight growth curve some and we have had to put her on pediasure to help her gain weight.  She's about 18 lbs now, but we're trying everything we can to get her to gain quicker, she's just so active though that its hard to keep up.  That's about all from this side of the post for now.

Update

Just a quick update.  Penny has now started to walk.  On the 4th of July, she decided to stand and take a few steps towards mommy.  Of course, I was at the firehouse on overtime and missed it.  So they both came to visit me the next day so that I could see her new trick.  She still prefers crawling because it is faster, but she has started walking.

Long Time No Blog

                       

Pictures L-R, top down:

1. Rosco and Penny switched attire for a couple hours, they're both looking at each other like "what are you doing in my threads?"

2. 4 generation pic with Great-Grandpa Clodfelter, Grandma Phipps, Momma, and Penny

3. Penny in Daddy's fire helmet, we took this as a comparison shot to one taken last July, at that time she was engulfed by the helmet (see Month 3 blog post), now she can barely get her little booty in there.

4. Cute pic of our little sweetheart on the front of Daddy's fire engine.

5. The little monkey climbing up on her picnic table.

6. Penny enjoying the sun and water, she really seems to love the water.

7. She also likes to swing, she had a ball in that little swing.

The past couple months have flown by and kept us busy.  Penny now has 3 teeth grown in and 2 more sprouting.  I love her 3 tooth smile (2 front bottom and 1 big front tooth), it gives her a little bit of a hillbilly grin.  She is now feeding herself most of the time, she takes a morning and nighttime bottle, but everything in between she wants little to no help with.  She's growing and getting bigger, haven't weighed her since last time so I don't know exacts, but she's getting bigger.  She hasn't taken that first step just yet, but we know she possesses the ability, she's just stubborn (like Momma).  She can stand up in the middle of a room with no assistance and stand around for as long as she wants.  She can usually point to a picture if you ask her where so and so is.  She is jabbering like any girl.  I think she pointed to a picture of her and her cousin Dylan this morning and kept repeating "Dylan."  That's about all from our house for now.  Enjoy the summer.

1 Year!

Penny with her personal cake made by great grandma Scott.

Sporting her new tutu and flower headband given to her by uncle Dustin and aunt Emily.

Hanging out at her new picnic table thanks to grandma and grandpa Nichols.

Chillin' with her cousins Brittany and Julia.

Easter lunch at the Gusthof.

Birthday morning, this took about 10 tries and 2 wake-ups to get a smile.

Loving on her friend Eli.  Maybe in 24 more years they can date.

Opening more birthday gifts, she really seemed to enjoy opening her presents.

She didn't really smash into her cake, but she had fun with the ice cream.

Getting her birthday gift from mom and dad.  A new space saver high chair, I know, we went all out.

This past month Penny has gotten her first tooth.  And my, did that change the demeanor of our sweet little girl.  We think she is cutting more than the one, but no others have popped through yet.  She hasn't quite taken that first step yet, but she is pushing her toys all around the house.  She's gotten very competent at it regardless of how the toy is facing, she pushes it frontward, backward, sideways, and cockeyed.  She had a developmental pediatric appt earlier in the month and they said she was an ideal premie.  She is now at about 15 1/2 lbs and 25 1/2 inches.  She is also jabbering like you would expect of any female.  Her favorite words are any dad variation, dog, and duck.  It has been a blessed year for us, hopefully with many more to come.

11 Months

Penny is still coming along great.  This month she had her first normal food (mashed potatoes in the middle right pic).  She is also become more mobile every day.  She started pushing around her toy seen in bottom right and loves doing the Frankenbaby walk while pushing it all over the house.  She has started to comprehend and follow simple directions, I'm still working with Emily on this, but Penny seems to be picking it up.  I also believe I heard Penny recite ABCDE along with her musical toy that Uncle Dustin and Aunt Emily got her for Christmas.  She is showing herself to be a little bit of a Napoleon, but she also shows a tender side with other little ones, especially fussing/crying babies.  We couldn't have asked for a better child to this point, she is usually very easy to take care of, mild-mannered, happy, and entertains herself extremely well.  My hope is that she will have at least one tooth and be walking before her 1st birthday.  This next month shall tell.  Until then, God bless.

10 Months

Penny pretending to feed herself
Reading on her jungle gym working the tongue

Happy little bugger

Waiting on grandma and grandpa (Rosco was beside her until the camera came out)

Pulled up on the ottoman

This past month Penny began pulling herself up as she wished and just recently began cruising around the coffee table. No doubt she should be walking in the very near future. She still hasn't figured out how to get down gracefully yet, so this has caused some tumbles for her (thats about the only time she will really cuddle, so its ok for now). She is usually very good around other kids, she has even comforted some crying babies in the Creepers class at church. However, she may show a little Napoleon complex from time to time because she can be a little bit of a bully regardless of her smaller stature. I see both of these as good traits. She does have one distinct trait from daddy, when she sets her mind on something, her tongue comes out in concentration. We don't have any measurements, but she's continuing to grow because clothes keep getting tighter on her. Her only other first this past month was that she got to take 2 rides on the vomit comet when only daddy was home, fun for me. She continues to jabber up a storm, however, she can be shy at first around anyone except mommy and daddy. Until next time, God bless.