And then she was 2........

Where did the time go? I can't believe my baby, my first born is 2. It's funny because I've not gotten too emotional about that until I sat down to write this blog. Maybe because this is the first time that I've thought about it this much or maybe it's because I'm putting how I feel about it into words. I've always said that I don't feel sad about her growing up or getting bigger, but this time I'm emotional about it. Not sad, I just can't believe that it's going by this fast. So much of it seems like it has just happened and on the other hand I have a hard time recalling so many details of when she was little, or can't remember the exact age she was when she did something new.
Her birthday fell on a saturday this year so we had her party on her actual birthday. She had a blast! Last year she was still too little to understand that it was all about and for her, but this year she knew. Oh boy did she know. She did what she wanted and we let her, it was her day. No time outs, no scoldings, no veggies. She loved the part when she would open a present and everyone would clap for her, she would tear into a present and without even getting a good look at it just drop it and start clapping for herself and get everyone else going. It was the funniest and cutest thing, everyone was rolling with laughter. She learned how to say "two" and now says it all the time, and can hold up 2 fingers (sort of) to show that she really is 2. Her birthday was Dr. Seuss theme since that's the only thing she cares about, well more specifically it's the ABC book by Dr. Seuss that she cares about. I got her a cute dress off of Etsy and made her a little cat in the hat type hair pin and she looked adorable, although the hair pin didn't stay in long. She got so into tearing all the presents open that she now thinks anything that's wrapped is there for her to unwrap. Should be interesting once we start setting out the Christmas presents. We might just have to keep those hidden till Christmas. Here are some pics from her party...
Here is her cute outfit

and the hair pin

and off it goes

posing with her auntie

with auntie, grandma, and baby cousin

All the babies dressed in Dr. Seuss outfits :)

tearing into the presents

and clapping for herself lol

needed a bit of help blowing out the candles

and that's the face of a 2 year old ladies and gentlemen


I'm not going to bother with pics of the cake because it was ugly. I wanted to make it red and white striped and put ABCs all over the sides, and write Penelope is 2 on top. Well I've also read all this stuff recently about how evil and cancer causing food dyes are, son in attempts to avoid using them I went to whole foods and found some natural ones. I had a haunting thought in the back of my mind that they will probably be pastels at best but the label said "red, blue, yellow" I thought great! What do you know it, they sucked! it took half the little bottle of "red" dye to get pink. arghhh, one of the most disappointing things ever. And they cost quite a bit too! I ended up just leaving the cake white and wrote on it "Penni is 2!" it was ugly. The whole night I kept thinking about it, and I just wanted to make some fondant dye it with horrible artificial food dyes and cover the whole darn thing. David didn't let me. He said it wasn't that bad and we spent all that money on the natural dyes, bla bla bla. Oh well. Penni didn't seem to realize that the cake was there for eating, she was so busy playing with all of her new toys. Moral of the story is that unfortunately there are no natural dyes. booooo

As far as 2 year olds go. It's true that the 2s are terrible haha. But although it seems that someone took my sweet, happy to follow commands baby and replaced her with a defiant toddler, we still love her and will keep her. Some day she'll cooperate again. For now the answer to everything is "no", and yeah even if she means yes, she'll still say no. So you never really know. She spends quite a bit of time in time outs these days, some days I fell that maybe it'd be easier to just put her in time out for the whole day and let her come out few mins at a time. Ok I'm kidding, but sometimes it gets rough. But she always wants to give you a hug and a kiss when she is coming out of time out and it's sweet. She is potty learning and doing pretty good with it. I'm not training her (I don't really believe in training babies anything, but that's another post) I'm just letting her do what she wants and I guide her and encourage her. I've noticed that when I try to put her on the potty she refuses but will come back a minute later and ask to go haha. Oh those toddlers, they want to control everything. I bought a foldable toilet seat and am going to try taking her out without a diaper. I'm a bit worried, but I guess we gotta start doing that at some point.
This post is getting long and I'm rambling, so good night and I will attempt to update this thing more often.

It's been a while

Finding free time these days is close to impossible. I started "working" I watch my sister's baby and she is just a joy. It's fun to see her and Penni interact, Sophie is only 5 months old but they still manage to keep each other amused. Every morning when we get there first order of business is Penni has to hug and kiss Sophie and then we can get on with our day. When we get home we have about an hour to do whatever we want then it's dinner and bedtime routine. After Penni goes down I try and get some stuff done for my etsy shop. I love feeling productive and I love staying busy. But I think because all of it is still pretty new I'm having a hard time balancing things. But I'm sure it'll work itself out soon enough.

In the past 2 months (I can't believe it's been that long!)we went to LA for a week, I had a birthday and got a whole year older, and started working. LA trip was fun there is a pretty big yard so Penni was able to run around there, we set up a little pool for her since it was pretty hot and she splashed around in that thing every day I think. She also got to spend some time with her other grandpa whom she rarely sees so that was nice.
Here she is playing in her pool


She thought it was histerical to dump buckets of water on the dog, and poor Maple would run as if fire was chasing her haha.



And much of the day was spent in the nude, it was just too warm for clothes I guess :)

(no one other than the cute baby was nude I promise!)

Another new development is I can now put pig tails in her hair! and she actually keeps them in, more or less. I try to distract her so that she forgets they are there. But they are so cute and she looks so much more grown up with them.



Little sister turned 12 and we had a small party to celebrate, Penni and Sophie wore matching dresses and looked so cute. Penni also recently got a baby doll stroller, but as it turns out Sophie fits in it quite well too so we had some fun with that.


We were at a consignment shop a few weeks ago and they had the cutest red cowgirl boots for baby! so I put them on Penni, she didn't like them much but I got a blurry pic to show just how cute they were


One sunday morning we went to the mall and I introduced Penni to the deliciousness of fresh pretzels, I think she liked it.


Maybe I'm too eager for her to grow up or I don't know, but I'm always looking forward to the next stage and being able to do this or that with her. I wanted to get her a trycicle when she first started walking, and with some left over franklingoose credits I was able to finally get her one, it's still a bit big and she doesn't reach the pedals very well but soon enough I'm sure she'll be all over the place with it.


Alright I think I've gotten mostly caught up, and now I relatively long list of custom hats to make so I'm gonna go get on that. I leave you with a picture of the 2 babies aka work :)

4th of July and Etsy

Last week we went to a beach in Alameda. It's just the bay so the beach isn't big or all that but it was nice and quite and the water is super shallow and therefore warm. I brought the dog which I guess I wasn't suppose to do, at least that's what the rangers (or whoever the people in the white trucks driving on the beach were) told me. Last time we went to the beach was in Santa Cruz and ocean water is freezing, Penni was not a fan. This time she loved it! Right away before I even laid our blanket down on the sand she plopped her happy toddler self down and got down to business digging with her hands. She happily went into the warm shallow water and also happily sat down in it and continued digging. Needless to say the kid was covered in mud head to toe. There was even sand in her diaper, gross. But she was so happy and content I didn't even care. She even managed to get sand in her ears, not quite sure how that happened. I brought my husband's fancy DSLR camera (I'm trying to teach myself how to use it) except it ran out of pics within the first 5 mins. So I don't have any pictures of Penni covered in mud, sadly, but I do have some of her wondering through the shallow water.



Then it was July 4th weekend. It was nice weather that day so we spent most of it outside, I got out her baby pool and set it up on the patio, dumped a bunch of toys in it and she dumped her baby dolls in it and had a blast. The I grilled up some burgers and we had a picnic on the patio.



For weeks leading up to the holiday I kept debating if I should let her stay up for fireworks or not, that day she ended up taking a 3 hour nap. That's miraculous in Penni world haha. So I figured she was resting up because she knew fireworks would be late and she didn't want to miss it. We watch them from my sister's house, they are a few miles away so no loud explosions above our heads. Last year she was only 7 months old but watched the entire show, she was mesmerized. This year however she was less than impressed, she started whining as soon as they started. I'm not sure if she didn't like them or if she was just tired, but either was we ended up leaving halfway through. She just about fell asleep on the 5 minute walk back to my sister's house. I felt bad for making her stay up, but I really thought she'd be more into it. Oh well, maybe next year she'll enjoy it more.
she was wondering around before they started

but once they started this was her expression, that is when she wasn't hiding her face against me.


In other munchkin news she had her first experience eating out. It was Chipotle and I think she liked it :)


and yes I still wear my 30lb toddler, and we both like it.


when I don't wear her this is how she rides in the stroller, I think she is going to be a gymnast.


And lastly today much to my surprise she climbed on the big slide and went down all by herself, she thought it was the greatest and kept doing it.

She also loved the monkey bars, she can only hold on for one or two seconds, but she giggles the entire time and it's the cutest.

In other happenings I finally braved it and started an Etsy shop,

Etsy Buy Handmade anyasboutique

And as my luck would have it the day after I started it my sewing machine broke. Well my sister's sewing machine broke. So the main thing that I wanted to sell, kid's aprons, I can't make right now. So I've been making some headbands and plan to crochet some hats in the next few days or weeks. My lovely husband did say I can get a new machine so I'm in the process of doing some research and trying to figure out which one I want. I'm excited about it though!

16 Teeth and Father's day

Munchkin has all 16 teeth! She has slept in till 9:30 since the last one cut a few days ago. It's stange since usually she is up around 7am. I'm not complaining though, for all I know this sleeping in thing won't last so I better enjoy it.
She is starting to talk more finally, she now says baby, papa, baba, hi, bye, apoom (thank you). And she says these things consistently. I know it's not a lot of words for an 18 months old, but her being spoken to in 3 languages probably causes some confusion. The poor kid probably wonders which language we expect her to talk back to us in haha. I love hearing her say actual words, it's so cute. She is also getting more clever in planning her "no no's". She's figured out if she pulls up the little chair to my parents' tall bed then she can get on. She also always wants to hold her 2 months old cousin, and while cute it's not always helpful. I'm glad that she likes her cousin though because come August we'll be spending every day with our little cousin, because I'll be watching her while my sister goes back to work. I think everyone is questioning whether or not I can handle 2 small kids. I'm pretty confident about it. I love baby wearing and Sophie will only be 4 months when I start to watch her so I know I can wear her easily. I still wear Penni occasionally and have a variety of carriers to help me out with that. I've already converted my big stroller to a double to accommodate both kiddos too. I know there will be rough days and maybe even days when I'll question my own capabilities, but I know I can do it. I've always enjoyed being with children so I'm really not very worried. I'm pretty excited actually. Maybe it'll show my husband that I can handle 2 kids haha.

On a different note it's Father's day in 2 days. David wasn't here for mother's day so I'm glad that we'll at least be able to spend father's day as a family. He is such a good daddy to Penni, he loves her so much. He also talks to her in Polish which I think is pretty cute and funny, and I'm surprised every time that she responds to him or follows what he asks her to do. I always tell him that she has no idea what he is saying to her because he talks funny. He knows I'm kidding, but I still enjoy it. I'm very happy and lucky that he is such a good and attentive daddy, he even woke up early with her this week so I can get some sleep. Now that was fabulous.

I'm trying to get an etsy shop up and running, well I haven't actually started one yet, I'm first trying to make a few things so I can have some inventory right away. I was very excited about it when I first got the idea to do this, but the closer I get to actually doing it I get nervous and intimidated. But today we went to Joan's and I'm excited once again. Every time I go there I think of new and or different things I can make and I get excited. I need to go to Michaels to get some more supplies that Joan's doesn't carry. I really hope that people will like and buy the things I'll make. I also really want to take some classes to get better at sewing. So far I've taught myself, and I'm doing alright but I'm sure there is plenty of things that I don't know about and that will make my life easier. So maybe that's what I'll do with my "income" once (if ever) there is any.

And here are some pics of my big 1.5 year old girl
here she is in an apron I made her, happy as can be and decided that the apron is nose picking worthy lol



She wants so badly to jump but can't figure out quite yet how to make her feet leave the surface that they are on.



she loves her doggy


and she loves eating sorbet on a hot day while sitting on the swing on the patio.


She now has enough hair for a pony tail! Now if I can only figure out a way to get her to let it stay there that would be fantastic!

18 months old

My baby is 18 months old today. Time flies, I love watching her grow and learn new things, new skills, new words, new ways to get mom to do what she wants lol. I always hear people say how they miss their babies when they were little and how they are sad they are growing up so fast, but I don't really feel that way. I'm excited for every little new thing and milestone, not to say that the other moms don't get excited, I know they do! Maybe it has something to do the rough start she had, and one day I'll tell her story. But not yet, I'm not ready. She is perfect now, she is healthy and growing and developing just as she should and for that I'm eternally grateful. She is the best surprise that I've ever got, and yes she was a surprise, and what a fabulous surprise it turned out to be.
I remember when I thought that I might be pregnant, It was the end of March. I was going to buy a pregnancy test and draw the other line in to play a joke on my husband and tell him that I'm pregnant. I shared these plans of mine with a good friend and she said "well you better first make sure you aren't pregnant" ha! Little did I know! The next few days I kept arguing with David and had non stop headaches, we ended up getting into an argument right before April 1st so I never did the joke. But did buy some tests to pee on because I was suspecting something was off, I wasn't keeping track of my periods but I was pretty sure it was about a week or so late. So the morning of the 3rd I believe I peed on a stick and within seconds the positive line showed up. I freaked a little. I've never taken a pregnancy test before, and when the results line showed up significantly lighter than the test line I thought maybe I wasn't pregnant after all. How silly of me. I googled it and realized that I indeed was knocked up. Next time I had to pee I took another test and once again it came up positive. David was still sleeping, so I put both of the tests on his night stand and took the dog out. I came back in and he was already in the shower and didn't notice the tests. I waited for him in the room, when he got out I didn't say anything. Eventually he came over to his night stand to get something and saw the tests. He said "what's this?" I said something like, what do you think it is. He says "it means you are not pregnant, right?" I said, sure honey. He knew exactly what it meant. He stared at it for a while, then said maybe you should take another one just to be sure, I said I already took 2! But I did buy a pack of 4 so the next day I took the other 2 just because I had them. That same day I got nausea from hell, and since now I knew that I was pregnant I stopped taking excedrin which has been my miracle drug for the awful headaches. I spent that day being sick and miserable. And that was the start of our munchkin's life. And now she is 18 months old. How time flies. She is amazing, I'm so grateful and blessed, I love her to pieces and couldn't imagine life being any different. I'm so glad that test was positive!

I'd add a picture, or a few, but photobucket is being moody right now. So just words, of appreciation for my miracle that is my daughter (it still feels surreal to say that I have a daughter, 18 months later it's still unbelievable). I love you my little Penelope.

Some firsts and a lesson learned

We've had quite an eventful couple weeks and some things we did together were things she got to do for the first time. Like today she wouldn't go down for a nap. At all. That was a first, and hopefully won't happen again for a while. She was a tornado by bedtime just running through the house a swiping things off tables, shelves and whatever else got in her path. I ended up putting her to bed a half hour early. She got out of bed almost immediately after I left the room, but after I put her back in bed she passed out quickly. That last canine is taking it's time coming in and is sure taking us all for a ride.

Our other firsts were more fun, we went to the petstore last week so she can see some real fishes. She wasn't sure what to make of them at first but did become quite interested, and kept waving hi at them. She is so funny, she waves at everyone and everything.




Another first, she had spaghetti. I know that most kids have it at a much younger age but it for some reason never occurred to me to give her any, but this time I was craving it and she seemed to enjoy it too. I also discovered that pasta sauce will camouflage things that baby won't usually eat, resulting in baby eating these things without knowing. I only sneaked a few meatballs in this time, but next time I'm putting veggies in it!

and as always waving hi


Against my mother's approval I gave her a chocolate sandwich cookie, I don't give her sugar often or much of it, but in moderation I don't think it's horrible. Plus most of it seems to land on her face anyways. And it makes for some cute pictures.


We got a new stroller, thanks to my awesome family who decided to get this as my VERY early (3 months to be exact) birthday present. Our old stroller is a full size that's pretty high off the ground, this one is an umbrella stroller and Penni is able to climb in and out on her own and she loves it!


She decided that trying on mom's shoes is the new cool thing to do, and it's just the cutest.



Her new favorite toy is this spinning top, she has no idea how to get it going but she tries. If someone else starts it for her she just grabs it haha, she doesn't care to watch it spin she wants to do it on her own.




And a lesson I learned this past week is that you can't press the "close the garage" button from inside and attempt to run out before the door hits the ground WHILE holding a child. It just doesn't work. p.s. no children were harmed in the attempt.
And I have to share my latest favorite thing is the big band station on the radio that doesn't have commercials. It's awesome!

Playing catch up

I never kept a baby book, perhaps I should have but I didn't want to set myself up for failure. I'm not good about keeping things like that up to date. So here is what I remember from her firsts before I forget them completely.
She was holding her head up pretty good at 7 weeks and at 2.5 months I was able to wear her in the sling up right, she had enough head control by then for that.


She started sitting on her own at 4.5 months and was sitting well for more than a few seconds at 5 months. Here is her sitting at 4 months, I think she was more surprised by this new development than I was :)


Rolling was a different story, she didn't want to roll I didn't think she ever would, but she did. At 6 months old! Stubborn baby, but we love her so.
She got her first tooth at 7.5 months, even though she was teething since 4 months old. But they came fast by her first birthday she had 8 teeth, and right now at 17.5 months she has 15! Only 1 more to go and then I heard that a break is due to us, the last 4 aren't suppose to come till she is closer to 2. I'm ready for that break! very ready indeed.

Crawling was another thing that she was stubborn about, she started belly crawling at 8 months and crawling on all 4s at 9 months.
She'd get very frustrated trying to get up on all 4s

at 8 months she was also trying to pull up


Finally crawling like a big girl at 9 months old

also first time at the beach at 9 months old


She didn't walk till 13 months, but from 11 months on she used everything as a push toy to help her get around

and also started to seriously bond with the dog haha


At 17 months old (now) she still doesnt say much, says "mama, hi, bye, nah (take in russian), doggy (when she feels like it)" She is a very determined little munchkin and loves to get into things she isn't suppose to. Regardless she is so much fun to be around and is such a blessing.

Ok now that we are caught up in the "baby book" department I can write about current goings ons which I will, soon. I promise.