Lolli's First Day of School!

Today was Lolli's first ever day of school! She's enrolled at Irvington United Methodist Preschool where she'll attend Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-12:15. The open house was Sunday so she got to see her classroom and meet her teacher, so it wasn't a huge shock to her today. Aside from not wanting to get out of bed when it was time this morning, she did great! She was a tiny bit shy when Lauren first dropped her off, but within 30 seconds she was off and playing, yelling, "Bye, Mom!" And when lauren picked her up, she didn't even want to leave! Such a grown up :

Pacifier Fairy!

So far we've been pacifier-free for over 40 hours and counting :)

Poppy's handling it really well. I was worried she wasn't ready to give hers up yet since she's not even 14 months old. But Lolli is starting preschool this week and turning 3 next week, so it was beyond time for the pacifiers to disappear.

Lolli gave hers up (via the Build-A-Bear method) when she was 23 months old and did great for 7 months, despite the temptation of Poppy's pacifiers laying around. Then something flipped inside her and she begged/screamed/wailed for a pacifier for over a month before we gave in, thinking it was a phase. It wasn't. So we decided to get all the pacifiers out of the house this time around to reduce the temptation.

So when we were leaving the house Saturday evening, the girls put their pacifiers into a box and left it on our "pacifier station" for the fairy. Obviously this was mostly for the benefit of our Lolli, but Poppy had heard the story enough times that I think she kind of understood. Anyway, the girls loved coming home to find that the Pacifier Fairy had left them each a Pillow Pet: a bee for Lolli and a ladybug for Poppy.

Lolli's only mentioned a pacifier twice, during times when she was already upset about something. Poppy asks more often (She goes, "Wa wa?" in such a sweet little voice it almost breaks my heart), but she doesn't get upset when I tell her it's all gone. The first night she wanted my boobs all night long but last night was only 3 times, so I can handle that.

I'm hoping there won't be some sort of 48 hour backlash or something LOL I'll feel a lot better when this first week is over!

Puddle Jumper for Poppy!

Lauren, Lolli, Molly and Poppy went swimming at Cindy's house today. Poppy refused to go in her lily pad float and insisted on "swimming" with the big kids. So Lauren borrowed Stella's puddle jumper life jacket (like water wings with a band around the chest) and let Poppy try them out. She actually did pretty great! She mastered floating on her tummy and on her back, although she didn't care for floating on her back. And she was actually able to keep her legs under her for a few seconds. She's got a long way to go because she's really proficient in using them, but for 12.5 months she's not doing too bad!

And, as always, Lolli swam great in her puddle jumper! It might be about time to try her in something a little less helpful. Maybe one of those foam bands around her chest, but with no arm bands?

Storytime

Lauren took Poppy, Lolli, and Molly to storytime today. Lolli usually gets a little goofy at storytime, choosing to forego the instructions and instead turn around in circles at the back of the room. But today they got there early so Lolli had plenty of time to run around. She and Molly did so great! They sat on their little carpet squares and participated with all the songs, dances, and stories. And Poppy... well she's something else. She also participates (even though she's 8 months younger than the lowest recommended age for the storytime). And she likes to be in the FRONT of the class, showing off her storytime skills. Lauren had to retrieve her a couple times, but for the most part storytime was a huge success today!

Oh, and when it was time to pick out puzzles, Miss Fiona offered Poppy a baby puzzle. She pushed it away and pointed until she got the big kid puzzle she wants. This is a girl who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go for it!

Poppy's 1st Birthday Party

Poppy's party was today. Zach and the girls spent the morning buying a pool and slip and slides while Lauren stayed home to sew her curtains with the help of Gma Cathy. And Rod filled up a ton of water balloons. The party started around 2 and was a great success. The back yard was decked out with 1 canopy and 1 food tent, plus plenty of chairs for everyone. There was the usual play equipment, plus a kiddie pool and a slip and slide. There was fruit, veggies, cheese, crackers, olives, and chips to eat. Poppy's smash cake was made to look like a bobbling hula girl. She also had a 1/2 sheet cake and 30 cupcakes, plus ice cream. No one went hungry since this was an in-between meal kind of party! All the kids had a blast. The water balloons brought on lots of laughter but all 200 of them were gone in about 3 minutes! Then the kids did a pinata which is always fun. Some of the adults played cornhole or rodeo golf. All in all it was a great party with wonderful friends and family!

Marion County Fair

As you might recall, Poppy went to the fair last year when she was only 8 days old. She got to go again this year, and enjoyed it a lot more!

After Lauren got home from school, she, Zach, Lolli and Poppy went to the fair with Gma and Gpa Great, and Papaw Lucky. Lolli rose the Nemo ride (the one that terrified her the previous year!) and loved it. She also rode a ride w/ yellow fish. She played a game where she had to go fishing for sharks and won 3 little toys. She and Poppy played Duck Pond where they won 3 more toys! Poppy FREAKED OUT when she saw the carousel, so she rode it. And on the way out, Poppy rode a pony. Once she realized what was going on, she was so excited she couldn't hardly stand it LOL. It was lots of fun to go to the fair with lots of great family <3

Poppy's One Year Old!

Can you believe it's been a year since Poppy entered the world? Actually, it's hard to remember life without her! So here's a brief update on 12-month old Penelope Lynn.

Poppy weighs 22lbs 13oz and is 29.75 inches long. Both fall in the 75th percentile. Her head is 18.25in around, which is closer to the 90th percentile. She's gotta keep all those smart somewhere! ;) She has golden BLONDE hair that curls in the back. Still has cradle cap, especially up front on top. She has 8 teeth all in front, 4 on top and 4 on bottom. No molars yet but they're starting to lump up. She still has rolly thighs and huge brown eyes. To sum it up... she's gorgeous!

Milestones... Poppy can do it all! She started walking hard-core the day before her 1st birthday and now she's so fast is surprises everyone! She hardly crawls anymore. She loves climbing up stairs so Lauren and Zach have to be really careful to lock the gate at the bottom. Poppy can even climb up the slide to Lolli's top bunk - NOT a good thing, safety-wise! She has a few words. She says "mama", "Daaaa (Dad)", "Lalalala (Lolli)", "baby", "TaDaaa!", "ball", and "num num num" (when she's eating LOL). Speaking of eating, Poppy is a FANTASTIC eater. She likes pretty much everything and has a rather hearty appetite. She insists on feeding herself, even using utensils, which can get messy! She loves cola when she can sweet talk someone into giving her some. She loves popsicles and grapes and blueberries and of course cake!

Poppy is not a fan of whole milk, although sometimes she'll drink it if there's chocolate in it. She breastfeeds 4-5 times in a 24 hour period. She's getting great at going to sleep if Lauren puts her down in the pack n play awake. But she still sleeps in the big bed with L and Z, which makes for easy night nursing. She's inconsistent with her napping. Some days it's 3 hours, some days it's 40 minutes. Poppy loves to sit on the potty, but hasn't managed to pee or poop in it yet. She wants to be just like Lolli in pretty much every aspect. They are best friends who love doing everything together. They play and tickle and love on each other. It's awesome!

Poppy loves dancing, which she does by sticking her arms out and twisting at the waist. She's very good at getting her point across about what she does or does not want. She's pretty sweaty for a kid, probably because her metabolism is working so hard to digest all that food she eats ha ha She's perfect in every way! Lauren and Zach are so fortunate to have 2 wonderful daughters that they couldn't love more <3