Thursday, December 23, 2010
Nate visits Santa
I'll be completely honest and admit that I was not at all looking forward to taking Nate to see Santa this year. The potential for disaster was high, and being in the last phase of pregnancy/bringing home a newborn doesn't tend to lend itself to wanting to take on high risk situations! We decided it would be a great idea for Nana and Papa to take Nate. So on Tuesday they headed for the mall while we took Cole to his first doctors appointment. I had NO expectations as to how the picture would turn out. Actually, I fully expected to get back one of those awesome screaming toddler pictures. But, this is what we got......
our little man looking as happy as could be with good ole Santa. Adorable. And I don't know who bribed him to fold his hands like that! So, I think from here on out, it may be a tradition for Nana and Papa to take the Penny boys for their Santa pictures...and maybe Mommy will just wait at Starbucks :-)
Newborn Pictures
Sneak peek at Cole's newborn pictures that were taken yesterday....there will be more to come after the holidays!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Cole's Nursery
I went ahead and drafted this post since I knew once we got home I wouldn't have time or energy to make this post (and I'm sure his room will not be this clean again!)
We will probably forever call this the "room that spray paint built." After deciding on the blue and brown scheme, the brass hardware didn't really fit in. I had read on some blogs about rubbed bronze metallic spray paint and decided to give it a try. Joel painted the ceiling fan, door knobs, hinges, and outlet covers. Those turned out so well I continued to find things that Joel could spray paint for me to work in the room--the dream sign, backer to the bookcase, 2 lamps, picture frames, trashcan, name canvases....
I did help out with a little bit of the painting with acrylics on some decorative blocks, his name letters and a tissue box cover.
Here is the view from the door:
His sleeping area--we'll move the crib here once we move Nate into his big boy bed.
My new comfy glider!
I love how it turned out!
We will probably forever call this the "room that spray paint built." After deciding on the blue and brown scheme, the brass hardware didn't really fit in. I had read on some blogs about rubbed bronze metallic spray paint and decided to give it a try. Joel painted the ceiling fan, door knobs, hinges, and outlet covers. Those turned out so well I continued to find things that Joel could spray paint for me to work in the room--the dream sign, backer to the bookcase, 2 lamps, picture frames, trashcan, name canvases....
I did help out with a little bit of the painting with acrylics on some decorative blocks, his name letters and a tissue box cover.
Here is the view from the door:
His sleeping area--we'll move the crib here once we move Nate into his big boy bed.
My new comfy glider!
I love how it turned out!
Little Brother is here!
Cole Alexander Penny
12.19.10
1:05 pm
7 pounds, 7 ounces; 20 inches
Some friends of ours made us aware of a fantastic opportunity that a photographer they had worked with was offering. Lauren Liese is trying to expand her photography business to include photographing births and to build her portfolio was offering a few free sessions. We were lucky enough to coordinate with her to attend and capture Cole's birth and we look forward to sharing more pictures of his arrival soon. Here is one she has given us as a "sneak peek."
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Nate's Christmas Program
I was so looking forward to Nate's Christmas program...hoping Little Brother wouldn't arrive and prevent us from making it. Some bad weather almost canceled schools, but thankfully our county was just on a 2 hour delay. It was pretty entertaining...Nate didn't cry the most, but he did cry and eventually ended up in my lap. With me and Joel for parents, it's no surprise if he doesn't have the "entertaining" gene. Of course, he was also supposed to sit in the buggy for the performance, which I can't imagine he's a big fan of...on the video you can see his escape move getting out of his shoulder straps!
When the kids where wheeled in we saw they had on reindeer antlers. It was no surprise that Nate had taken his off...not a big fan of things on his head!
Ready for lunch with his classmates!
Working on a star ornament craft!
The awesome video.... :-)
When the kids where wheeled in we saw they had on reindeer antlers. It was no surprise that Nate had taken his off...not a big fan of things on his head!
Ready for lunch with his classmates!
Working on a star ornament craft!
The awesome video.... :-)
Oh Christmas Trees....
Since we were not home last year and didn't put up any decorations, I was really wanting to go all out this year. It will be our first ever Christmas at home, and we inherited some great trees from some friends that moved and needed to downsize. We actually didn't even put up the only tree we had prior to last year...it's a little old school and really takes an effort to put together!
I'll call this our "formal" tree....simple red and gold decorations in our foyer (since it's so tall it looks best here.) I may gaudy it up a little more in the future if I can get some good decorations on clearance, but wanted to work with what we had this year.
Our little rustic forest of trees in the dining room. We bought all new decorations for these this year, but found some pretty good deals. Also note my new Christmas dishes which was a gift from my parents....love them!
Our basement tree-- it'll be the "tacky" tree with multicolor lights and kid ornaments. For now it just has a set of small Sesame Street ornaments that Nate busted into while we were shopping at Garden Ridge and a few other bright colored ornaments.
And our "real" tree that houses our family ornaments. We didn't load it up too much, but picked our favorites. Also, a round tablecloth doubles pretty well as a treeskirt (and very affordable!)
I'll call this our "formal" tree....simple red and gold decorations in our foyer (since it's so tall it looks best here.) I may gaudy it up a little more in the future if I can get some good decorations on clearance, but wanted to work with what we had this year.
Our little rustic forest of trees in the dining room. We bought all new decorations for these this year, but found some pretty good deals. Also note my new Christmas dishes which was a gift from my parents....love them!
Our basement tree-- it'll be the "tacky" tree with multicolor lights and kid ornaments. For now it just has a set of small Sesame Street ornaments that Nate busted into while we were shopping at Garden Ridge and a few other bright colored ornaments.
And our "real" tree that houses our family ornaments. We didn't load it up too much, but picked our favorites. Also, a round tablecloth doubles pretty well as a treeskirt (and very affordable!)
21 months
Going to do a post by pictures to show what Nate is up to this month:
Getting naked. Yep, all by himself. I didn't mention it last month, but Nate likes to unzip his jammies and get into his diaper. We started duct taping his diaper at night over the tabs to make it hard to get off (or so we thought.) This morning I heard he was awake but he sounded like he was playing happily, so I took a load of laundry downstairs. I checked the video monitor before making my breakfast and saw a naked baby in the crib! Luckily he hadn't made a "mess" and I was able to take the camera in to capture this Kodak moment.
Shoes: He loves putting on my shoes and walking around. He's also getting harder to dress....likes to take it as an opportunity to play "chase" and obviously he won at this moment.
Brushing teeth: VERY obsessed with brushing his teeth. And taking his time. Like 10 minutes. I guess this could be helpful if I'm needing to attend to Little Brother, whose room is right next to the bathroom. For now I try to deter him away if we are on a schedule, since removing him from the bathroom results in a major sad tantrum.
Coloring: He is getting better at coloring and I'm loving these big coloring pages that my parents gave him for Christmas....less likely to color on the table! Still also loves putting stickers on paper.
Other things--
Teeth:
He has cut 2 new teeth this month...his top first molars. That gets him up to 9!
Movies:
It has been awesome that Nate is more into movies for these last few weeks of pregnancy. His favorites right now are Elmo in Grouchland and the Toy Story movies. I LOVE snuggling on the couch with my little guy!
Language:
Not sure why, but he calls Elmo "Sahh"
Also recognizes Cookie Monster and Big Bird
Other words:
Cookie
Please
Baby (sounds like bebe)
Duck
Dog
We're trying to enjoy our last few days with Nate as an only child...but also looking forward to how he'll be with his Little Brother :-)
Getting naked. Yep, all by himself. I didn't mention it last month, but Nate likes to unzip his jammies and get into his diaper. We started duct taping his diaper at night over the tabs to make it hard to get off (or so we thought.) This morning I heard he was awake but he sounded like he was playing happily, so I took a load of laundry downstairs. I checked the video monitor before making my breakfast and saw a naked baby in the crib! Luckily he hadn't made a "mess" and I was able to take the camera in to capture this Kodak moment.
Shoes: He loves putting on my shoes and walking around. He's also getting harder to dress....likes to take it as an opportunity to play "chase" and obviously he won at this moment.
Brushing teeth: VERY obsessed with brushing his teeth. And taking his time. Like 10 minutes. I guess this could be helpful if I'm needing to attend to Little Brother, whose room is right next to the bathroom. For now I try to deter him away if we are on a schedule, since removing him from the bathroom results in a major sad tantrum.
Coloring: He is getting better at coloring and I'm loving these big coloring pages that my parents gave him for Christmas....less likely to color on the table! Still also loves putting stickers on paper.
Other things--
Teeth:
He has cut 2 new teeth this month...his top first molars. That gets him up to 9!
Movies:
It has been awesome that Nate is more into movies for these last few weeks of pregnancy. His favorites right now are Elmo in Grouchland and the Toy Story movies. I LOVE snuggling on the couch with my little guy!
Language:
Not sure why, but he calls Elmo "Sahh"
Also recognizes Cookie Monster and Big Bird
Other words:
Cookie
Please
Baby (sounds like bebe)
Duck
Dog
We're trying to enjoy our last few days with Nate as an only child...but also looking forward to how he'll be with his Little Brother :-)
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Our Thanksgiving
We had a wonderful, laid back Thanksgiving at home this year! Aunt Megan came to stay with us for a few days and Aunt Lauren joined us for Thanksgiving day. They both did much better at taking pictures than I did, so thanks to them I now have pictures to do a post!
Here is our spread...Nate wasn't too interested in eating and opted for a nap instead...after sitting at the head of the table, of course!
On Saturday we took a trip to Dahlongea, GA to pick out our Christmas tree from a client of Joel's who has a small tree farm. This was our first year to have a real tree, and hopefully a tradition that will continue.
Nate enjoyed playing on the toy tractors while we got our tree loaded up!
Once home we decorated our tree and put up a few other artificial trees around the house (another post on that coming later)
That night we had early Christmas exchanging gifts with Megan and the gifts the Cornetts had sent with her. Nate got this awesome shopping cart from Aunt Megan & Uncle Dion!
Here is our spread...Nate wasn't too interested in eating and opted for a nap instead...after sitting at the head of the table, of course!
On Saturday we took a trip to Dahlongea, GA to pick out our Christmas tree from a client of Joel's who has a small tree farm. This was our first year to have a real tree, and hopefully a tradition that will continue.
Nate enjoyed playing on the toy tractors while we got our tree loaded up!
Once home we decorated our tree and put up a few other artificial trees around the house (another post on that coming later)
That night we had early Christmas exchanging gifts with Megan and the gifts the Cornetts had sent with her. Nate got this awesome shopping cart from Aunt Megan & Uncle Dion!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Christmas Cards!
So I missed out on the free 50 Shutterfly cards that they were offering bloggers that reviewed their products, since I ordered these way back in October when they were on sale. I am a big fan of Shutterfly's cardstock cards!
Our card picture was taken by Nicole Faby back in August when we were in Raleigh. I hid our album of pics on Smugmug because I wanted the card pic to be a surprise. You can now see our family pics here.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Pregnancy Update- 36/37 weeks
So, I've been reassured that I will not have to go past Dec 20th (I may even be able to go in the night of the 19th to get things started), so I've updated Little Brother's arrival ticker to the left to reflect his "adjusted" due date--I like to see the maximum number of days left! And of course now they have cute Christmas graphics, so I had to pick that one!
What I am looking forward to: Finishing my to-do lists!
Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 36 Weeks
How Far Along: 36 Weeks
Size of baby: should be over 6 pounds now...have one more ultrasound on the 14th to check his size
Total Weight Gain/Loss: +25lbs. (thank you t-giving)
Maternity Clothes: Mostly maternity clothes but still a few regular things (like cardigans and shoes, haha.)
Gender: BOY!
Movement: Yes, super crazy that Megan and Lauren got to see at Thanksgiving
What I miss: A good night's sleep (not that I have many of these coming in the future) and not always feeling rundown.
Sleep: Having to get up at least twice a night to go to the bathroom. Crazy dreams have returned with a super vengence
Total Weight Gain/Loss: +25lbs. (thank you t-giving)
Maternity Clothes: Mostly maternity clothes but still a few regular things (like cardigans and shoes, haha.)
Gender: BOY!
Movement: Yes, super crazy that Megan and Lauren got to see at Thanksgiving
What I miss: A good night's sleep (not that I have many of these coming in the future) and not always feeling rundown.
Sleep: Having to get up at least twice a night to go to the bathroom. Crazy dreams have returned with a super vengence
Symptoms: Just really moving slower.
Cravings: Carbs, Carbs, Carbs!
Best Moment this week: Hearing that I'm 1-2 cm & 50% effaced at my checkup, and another confirmation that the induction can happen at 39 weeks.Cravings: Carbs, Carbs, Carbs!
What I am looking forward to: Finishing my to-do lists!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)