We arrived safe and sound on Thursday, after 24 hours of travel.  Though Penny was sick, she did great on the flights and charmed everyone that met her.   When we flew out of Connecticut it was icing and snowing and when we arrived in La Serena it was in the 70’s with beautiful blue skies.  While Steve slept on Thursday, Sweet Pea and I headed off to the grocery store to do some shopping.  We then had a quiet evening in.  On Friday Steve was home sick, so I took Penny for her 6 month check up.  She weighed 16.5 lbs and was 25.6 in.  The doctor said she was doing great and told  me that she can start eating food.  Here in Chile, they start infants off with 200 ml of juice in the morning and then for lunch she gets some sopa (boil some water with 1 potato, 1 carrot, spinach and some pumpkin for 20 min, then blend together) and a little postre (some mushed up bananas).  I’m excited to start her on food, I can’t believe how fast she’s growing up.  In the afternoon while Steve napped and was feeling pretty lousy, Penny and I headed up to Rikki’s for some mah jongg and play time.  The ladies had a great time playing mah jongg and the babies (Penny, Jack and Isi) had a fun time playing.  Jack let them play with one of his favorite things, their lemon grass plant, and the girls had as much fun with it as Jack.  (I of course didn’t bring my camera so I stole these pics from Jack’s website, thanks!)

On Saturday we spent the morning playing with toys and relaxing around the house.  In the afternoon once the sun came out, I put together the jogging stroller and took Leyna and Penny for a nice walk around the recinto and looked at all the pretty flowers and got some fresh air, we then picked up Steve and went up to the park for some frisbee time with Leyna.  Poor Leyna is out of practice and could only last about 15 min of running around and playing frisbee.  I’m not sure if that was due to the heat or the extra pounds that she has put on!  

This evening, Penny had a nice bath, which has now progressed into play time and splash time.  She doesn’t need the hammock anymore, she can sit up in the tub.  She has also discovered that she likes to kick her legs and splash the water with her hands, and likes to play with her toys as well.  I think bath time is going to be much more fun now!

While we were home for the holidays, Penny’s hair grew a ton, and now after bath time we need to brush it, well we maybe don’t need to yet, but she finally has enough hair to brush.

Penny is now asleep, hopefully for the night, and dreaming of what fun we’ll have tomorrow!

Gone are the blue skies and warm weather.  Today, Penny and I woke up to a cold dreary day.  We decided to stay in and cuddle.  I got her all cozy warm in a snowman onesie with pink fleece pants, which she looks adorable in.  We’ve been playing with her toys this morning, and it’s so amazing to see the advances she’s made.  She now reaches out and grabs her toys, puts them in her mouth, and will put them down then find them again.  

Poor Leyna has been feeling neglected lately.  While I was taking the pics of PEnny and her toys Leyna jumped on the couch and put her head in Penny’s lap, which Penny then grabbed and tried to stick her ear in her mouth.  Leyna just rolled her eyes, gave Penny’s hand a lick and jumped off the couch and went to sleep on the bed.  I can’t believe how well Leyna is doing with Penny Jean.  She’s made remarkable progress from the first week of Penny’s life where she hid from us the whole time and now she seeks out Penny to say hi.  

the saying a “watched pot never boils”, well apparently it can be applied to Penny.  Lately, after putting her down on her back to play, when I’m not watching, she flips to her stomach.  I’ve watched her and played with her for hours and she won’t do it, but as soon as my back is turned she must flip right over, because when I glance back she’s on her tummy babbling away.

BEFORE-

 

AFTER-

Today Penny had her 5 month check up.  She weighs 16.1 lbs, is 25.4 in and her head circumference is 16.3 in.  Our Dr. told us we can start her on food now, though we’ve decided to wait until we come back from our holiday trip.  

It’s a beautiful day today, so Penny and I spent some time outside hanging out on the patio-

Looked at all the pretty flowers-

Penny had a great weekend and was super excited that she got to hang out with her dad.  She loves playing with him and dancing with him!

Cute pic of her in a pretty dress-