GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

 

We hope you had a lucky day!

 

Oh, hello, sun!

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS

Although I'm uber excited to see more of the sun around here, I'd like to take a moment to say good-bye to that hour of sleep that disappears into space...or wherever.

Is it just me or do they keep moving Daylight Savings up earlier and earlier each year? And the more important point I wanted to make is, who in the heck is "They"?

The ITC (International Time Committee)?

The TDOPE (Time Deciders of Planet Earth) otherwise pronounced as Ta-DOE-pee?

On my very brief Google search on the topic I did find this interesting website on the subject. I'd look more into it myself, but time is awastin' this evening and I have got to go to bed.

PENELOPE'S DAY

*WARNING* Serious picture overload!

This last weekend we were very busy. Phil's family came to stay for Penelope's blessing and while they were here, we thought it would be fun to introduce Ryder to the slopes...while Penny and I went shopping :)

Here he is...

a natural on the slopes (or the base)

 

 Why ski in it, when you can eat it?!

It's time to get serious with a helmet (on backwards)

...and he takes the gold!

And then the big event for little P came on Sunday. Here are some of her in her blessing gown with the bonnet that I took a few days before.

Princess Penelope with an expression...

...and shoes to match

Here she is on her day with just her headband (these things are important, you know)

We had family come over before the blessing for a little get together and the lady of the hour got a smidgen overwhelmed...so here is her dad calming her down in that magic hold of his

Our first family photo with Penny Rae! (Isn't it sad I'm not more on top of this?)

Here she is with her beautiful treasure from her Nana

Baby Bug Ball~Shepherd's Bush Design, with personalized inscription: 

"Penelope Rae Shorten~ 12-18-2009 Love, Nana"

wrought by Tamara Salvesen 2009

And finally, I had been a little bummed because I hadn't gotten any really good pictures of just Pen and I. And, well, my children need those, so they have options for "The Picture"... you know,  the picture of me and them that they'll take with them after they leave home and lovingly frame and place by their bed side??? Well, I think these two make pretty good candidates for Penny's, if I do say so myself ;)

 

THIS IS EXCITING

So yes, I may have woken up with my hair looking like this because I slept on it wet 

(our handsome little alarm clock in the background)

and yes, I may have discovered this morning I was wearing my nursing bra inside-out...

BUT for the first time since the birth of our little babe, I got a full, uninterrupted, consecutive, all together, 

8 hours of sleep!

BooYa!!!

and, AND it was Penny's first night in her crib

 

 

There are big things happening around here people. Big. Things. 

 

 

OOPS...

So I just realized that for the past few months I owe all of my simplified and boringly formatted posts to the fact that I had been writing under the "Edit HTML" tab (notice at the top of your text window the next time you write a  post). Duh. 

For months I have been dealing with coded photo inserts and a ridiculous inability to change the font, color or size of my precious words. I mean how many of my readers were lost because of this catastrophe? I have kept my problem a secret choosing to fight through the chaos of jumbled words and $ymb*ls, taking twice as long to write my inspiring entries, thinking the solution was complex and time consuming. No. In one second with a light click of the mouse mixed with an overwhelming feeling of sheepishness and voila! Problem solved.

I bring this to your attention so you don't unknowingly find yourself in tht mysterious,  hard-to-find "Compose" tab's neighbor wondering what happened to your treasured posting liberties.

You'll thank me later...okay probably not.

PLAYING DINOSAURS

You see we play A LOT with dinosaurs around here. And silly me, but I was under the impression they were quite the fearsome lot. But as it turns out, I was mistaken. Because the dinosaurs we know love playing with each other--no enemies here. They even help each other out with their tails and horns when they get stuck in rocks and ditches(blankets & couch cushions). But their most favorite thing to do is eat. They eat tons and tons of trees, bushes (blankets, couch cushions) and--who woulda thought--fruit snacks. And well, sometimes, even dinosaurs get cold. Photo courtesy of Ryder Photography Photo courtesy of Ryder Photography Oh. Penelope says 'hi'.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I know how much you all love seeing me in every which hair-do, but come on, it's so fun! But really--let's get serious. Bangs or no bangs??? Here is what my hair looks like now (okay, not really, but maybe--if I were to have it professionally styled...and colored and cut, but length-wise, you get the idea) Here is a little bang action So what do you think? Sorry about the photos problem...it showed in my preview that the photos were imbedded, but for some reason didn't show when published.

SIMPLE JOYS

So. Ryder was still sick this whole week. He decided to throw in a cold on top of that same weird stomach bug. Since he hit the week mark we took him to the doctor and are currently having some "samples" tested (which is always a pleasant experience) so hopefully we can find out what it is and treat it. His cold is pretty much gone and as long as we keep his diet really bland he does pretty good. Anyhow, I hope by the time the weekend it over he'll be 100%. Needless to say, I've had enough p.j. days and Monsters Inc. to last me a lifetime. Well, maybe not p.j. days. So. With the events, or unevents, of this week, rather, here are some simple things that brought me some joy this week. This, Masterpiece Theater's Emma. This brings me way more joy than it should. And don't we love that Knightly is Eli Stone!? Part three this Sunday! Can't wait! Penelope's new hair-do. I call this one the flip with a swoop-bang. Seeing dry and sarcastic, Survivor Tyson at the grocery store. He wears a permanent crusty on his face. And his hair is way longer now. If I hadn't been quickly throwing everything having anything to do with Pedialite in my shopping cart I would have tried to get out of him how he did this season. No,not really. I've never seen this boy fall asleep so much. Ryder that is. (Phil I've seen fall asleep a lot :) Now if only Ryder would stay asleep, that would really be something. Oh, and this.

OH, JANUARY

I almost didn't notice the month of January considering it went by so stinkin' fast. I even thought the last time I had written on my blog was...eh, like a week ago. Yeah, not so much. BUT if January is almost over that means... our Penelope is already one month old! (gasp!) She is just as surprised as the rest of us! So far she is really good at looking cute, getting people to fall in love with her, and she is working on mastering the fine art of smiling (will work on capturing such talent soon) As for this boy...he got sick :( AND he got a hole in is sock! Oh, January (sigh)

PHASE: POSTPARTUM + ONE

But first...some Penny candy... Explanation: It is what it is: the period of time directly following the birth of a baby...plus an older brother. Pros: -It really isn't that bad! I was really quite nervous to start rolling solo after Phil went back to school, but all three of us try really hard: Me, I try to fairly allot my attention; Ryder, tries really hard to be accepting of his new little sister and Penelope: tries really hard to sleep a lot. -I get enough sleep if I go to bed early enough. She allows me an average of 4-5 hours sleeping intervals thru the night which I'm very grateful for. -If I am not sleep-deprived I find myself the happiest I've ever been -I got a healthy angel baby for Christmas -I have a baby boy who isn't a fan about the changes happening in his world, but has a sweet soul and is trying his darndest to adapt. He also doesn't like it if you push the shopping cart fast (something he loves) while Penny is inside. Cons: -We all have our moments. Ryder with the tantrums, me with my downer-dolly mood swings and Penny with her dozen-a-day dirty diapers. -I do feel that "I'm never going to have time to do anything beside being a mom AGAIN!" moments -I still think nursing is odd, but she's gaining weight and eating enough, so I don't care that it's odd. -I feel like it literally takes me an hour to get ready to go do something as simple as grocery shopping. -I've given up on trying to look any sort of attractive those first few weeks after having a baby. Bring on the sweats! The Evolution of Ryder and Penelope... For a couple of days Penny was what my mom called the big pink elephant in the room that Ryder knew was there but politely chose not to acknowledge. This photo shows our first attempt to get them in a picture together and shows Ryder's feelings as plain as day. But as each day went by things got a little better... Although my cheesy heavenly upward glance was an error, I can't help thinking it shows, rather well, my smug and the overwhelmingly grateful feeling I had to a) get Ryder to come sit by me while I was holding Penelope and b) to be snuggling them both at the same time. Soon, with a little help, Ryder consented to hold his baby sister Now, he even sometimes WANTS to hold her :)

OUR LADY

Welcome to the world miss PENELOPE RAE! We got our beautiful baby girl Friday night. She came in weighing a dainty 9lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long. We're all doing great...busy, but great :) Here are just a couple photos of our sweet pea. I'm sure I'll be posting more later :) x x