Seven and a Half Months

I thought I should keep you all updated on what Pennington is doing now. He is basically crawling or what I would like to call Pennington's way of crawling. He can pretty much get to anything now using a combination of rolling and lunging forward from the crawl position. I am still working on trying to get a good video of him crawling. I should have one posted within a week. Below are some pictures of the little guy.

Pennington can now knock over his bucket of toys and grab items out of it. As you can see he likes to try and grab multiple things at once. He has his pear in his mouth and he trying to touch the duckies hair in his book. I find him sometimes with half in body inside the bucket trying to get all the toys out.

Pennington on an evening walk with Mommy, Nonie and Domino. Pennington really likes his umbrella stroller because he can see easily see everything around him. I always find him swinging his feet. You can see in the picture that he is swinging his right foot.

First Passover

Tonight was Pennington's first Seder. Our family was invited over the the Voloshen's for the Seder. Mommy and Daddy were very pleased with how well behaved Pennington was. He just sat in his booster seat and looked around. Below are some pictures from the Seder.

Pennington at Seder. Pennington still doesn't have any teeth. To keep him occupied we let him chew on a piece of celery and suck on a slice of an orange. We were really surprised that he liked the orange so much considering it tastes sort of tart.

Pennington found the Afikoman. The Afikoman is the portion of the matzah that is hidden for children to find. Okay I will be honest Daddy was the one who actually found it.

Pennington hanging out with the Bishop boys (uncle Mike and cousins Brian and Issac) and of course the little dog Harold. Did I mention before how much Pennington loves dogs?!?!

Music Together

One wish that Daddy had for Pennington was that he would be more musically inclined than himself. So Mommy thought it would be a wonderful idea to sign Pennington up for a music class. Every Thursday Pennington goes to Music Together with Nonie. I have attached the website in case any of you are curious (http://myersmusicstudio.com). Music Together has locations all across the US. The idea behind the class is that all children are musically inclined if given the right tools. Nonie says that Pennington loves the class. He only gets fussy when the music stops. I guess when the teacher is explaining what the words and the actions are to the next song Pennington starts to get a little bored and fussy and the teacher has to tell him hold on a few more seconds because the music will be coming back soon. Nonie says the class is sort of an aerobic workout because they are constantly marching around and doing all kinds of hand movements.

Daddy's Soccer Games

Daddy just started spring season for soccer. On Sundays Pennington goes to watch Daddy play soccer. Mommy really enjoys going because there are other moms to chat with and there are little ones around Pennington's age for him to socialize with. Below is a picture of Pennington playing with Devon. Devon's Daddy plays on the same team as Daddy.

Thank You Deloitte

Today is my last day of maternity leave. I have to say that I am really sad about it. Writing this blog makes me want to cry. Working for Deloitte has been such a blessing to our family. As most of you already know Pennington is our little in vitro baby. In vitro is not a cheap process. Typically it costs around $12,000. Idaho does not require employers to provide fertility insurance to employees so most people have to pay 100% of the cost. Since I work for Deloitte (a huge progressive nationwide company) we were lucky enough to have insurance to cover 90% of the costs. Additionally, Deloitte provided me with amazing maternity leave. I was able to spend more than 16 weeks at home at 100% of my pay. Thank you Deloitte for allowing me to start a family and spend lots of quality time at home with Pennington during the first seven months of his life. Below is a picture of Pennington in his Deloitte onesie.

Seven Months Old

Pennington turned seven months old today. Here is what Pennington did on his Seven Month Birthday.

His seven month birthday didn't start out very well. He was "mister crabby pants" this morning when he woke up at 6:15am!?!?! I wasn't very happy about the fact he woke up so early and neither was Pennington. After figuring out that he was just really hungry and needed some playtime, I was able to get Pennington to go back to sleep for a few more

hours. Thank god!!!

I woke Pennington up at 9:45am to have breakfast and then head to Baby Story Time. Pennington did awesome at Baby Story Time today. Sometimes he gets a little board with the stories but not today. That is probably because all the stories were about what you could do with your hands and toes so I was able to distract him by doing those things with his hands and toes. As usual, Pennington enjoyed all the songs. I love the fact that he knows when to jump up and down when we sing "When Your Happy and You Know It".

After Baby Story Time, we head home for lunch. Below is a picture of Pennington getting ready for lunch.

After lunch Pennington and I went with Nonie and G.G. to Costco. Not sure if I have mentioned this before by G.G. is my Grandmother on my Mom's side. G.G is short for Great Grandma. Pennington has been to Costco several times and I have to say that I think he really enjoys it. There is just so much to look at.

After Costco it was time to go home and see Daddy for a few hours before he heads off to work. One of Pennington's favorite things to do is hang out with Domino (Nonie and Poppy's dog). Below is a picture of Pennington playing with Domino.

I mentioned earlier this week that Pennington can also attempt to "bear crawl". I finally was able to get a picture of it. Sometimes his bottom is so high up in the air that it looks like he is doing "down dog". For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about it is a yoga position.

After seeing Daddy and playing with Domino it was time for a nap. Pennington's afternoon naps have been lasting a few hours lately. Today's was at least two and a half hours.

After nap time Pennington helped me finish making Nonie's birthday dinner. In case you were wondering tomorrow is Nonie's actual Birthday. When we have sit down meals we always try to make sure Pennington sits at the table with the family and eats his food at the same time. I think it makes him feel really grown up.

After dinner it was time for the usual bedtime routine. Playtime, bath time, story time, then snooze. I realized tonight during playtime that if all else fails and I can't figure out why he is fussy singing to him usually will do the trick. Good thing I enjoy singing. Nigh-nigh my little Pennington!

Grandma Luangaphay

Grandma Luangaphay usually watches Pennington on Tuesday evenings when Daddy and Mommy are working or Mommy has a meeting at the synagogue. When Grandma Luangaphay watches Pennington she talks to him in Laotain and gives him blessings. Lots of people has asked me what the little orange bracelets are all about. Well Grandma Luangaphay gives blessings to Pennington and then ties the little orange bracelets on his wrists. Giving blessings is very common in their culture.

Almost Crawling

Pennington is sooo close to crawling. He can get on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He can even get onto his tip toes as if he is going to bear crawl. I was really hoping he would be able to figure out how to crawl by this seven month birthday on Thursday but I'm not sure if he will. Below are a few pictures of Pennington trying to crawl. Once he can crawl I promise to post a video of it.

Pennington focusing very hard on trying to crawl.

Pennington trying to get one hand forward.

Pennington falling over because he lost his balance.

Doctor Checkup

When I took Pennington to get his six month immunizations he wasn't able to get two of the shots because he wasn't "exactly six months old". I guess going a few days early isn't acceptable. So today I took Pennington to get the rest of his shots. He did awesome. Only cried for about 5 seconds. I also had the Doctor make sure Pennington wasn't really sick. He has had a runny nose and cough for about a week. According to the Doctor Pennington just has a minor respiratory infection. No ear infection and thank god no RSV. I wasn't really concerned about his runny nose and cough because it doesn't seem to be bothering him that much and he wasn't runny a fever. On the stats front, Pennington hasn't grown in height at all in the last month but he has gained a little over a pound. Height is still 27 3/4 inches and weight is now 17 pounds 8 ounces. Below is a picture of Pennington at the Doctor's appointment. He has just recently figured out that he can get his feet into his month. Mommy tells Pennington that is yucky.

New Pack

A family friend of ours gave us her old Lands End pack that she used to carry her girls in when they were little. Below are some pictures of Mommy and Pennington on a walk this morning with Mommy's good friend Moya and her two dogs Flora and Bella. Thank you Nancy for the pack. Pennington loves it.

Surprise I'm Home

Daddy surprised Pennington and Mommy by coming home early from Seven Level School. Since Daddy got home early he was able to spend all day Thursday and Friday hanging out with Pennington while Mommy was at work. On Thursday they went to Baby Story Time at the Library and went shopping for a new camera so we can post pictures to the blog. On Friday they visited Grandma and Grandpa Luangaphay, went grocery shopping, and for a walk through Barber Park. Below are some recent pictures of Pennington.

Pennington getting ready for bath time.

Pennington at Hastings with Daddy looking for some new books.

Pennington hanging out in his booster seat getting ready to eat.

I'm the Boss (when Daddy's not around)

Daddy has been in Texas for two weeks at Seven Level School for the Air National Guard. Pennington and Mommy are really excited that Daddy is going to come home on Friday. We plan to pick him up from the airport. Below is a picture we took tonight of Pennington and Mommy. Pennington's shirt says "I'm the Boss (when Daddy's not around)". We miss you Daddy!!!!