Things That Make Having a Child More Concrete (hard to believe you would need anything more than the baby herself)

Loyal blog followers, may I present the list of things that catch me off guard every once in awhile and really bring home the idea that, Yes, I am a mother, and Yes I have a daughter named Penelope:

• being called Penelope's mom

• saying "My daughter Penelope"

• Labeling things with her name, and when I say things, I guess I mean everything that will ever go near her daycare, and when I say labeling, I mean waterproof labels, iron-on labels, etc...

• getting her Social Security card in the mail

• getting mail at our house addressed to Penelope Champa

• picking out an outfit for picture day and relatedly picking out a school photo package

• calling the dog by the baby's name for once, instead of the opposite

• beginning the life-long gauntlet of fundraising -- sure this time it is only a silent auction that you have to sell tickets for, as well as buy raffle tickets for, as well as bring a baked good for, as well as donate an item for (do I sound bitter?, I am not actually, I just didn't realize how soon all of this stuff would be coming, apparently 4 months is the magic number)

Lawyer In Training

It's official, Penelope has already begun her training to be a lawyer. Earlier this week I was trying to make a deadline and get something filed with a court. Long story short, we didn't get it filed that day, but what did happen was a 20 to 25 minute meeting after 6 pm with one of my office's Deputy Directors, one of my office's Assistant Directors, myself, and Penelope. That's right, she sat (or more accurately stood on my lap) quietly while the three of us discussed the strategy of which legal arguments to make in our filing. She is either the most boring baby known to man, or the best ever. She looked around, played with her hands and my necklace, and generally was as pleasant as can be for the entire meeting - the only noises she made were the occasional adorable coos in totally acceptable decibel levels. It was pretty amazing. My bosses were impressed (one of them did not have the heads up that she would be attending our meeting). I think I may be jinxing myself, but she is quite simply a great baby!

Our past couple of months

So we are still catching up. Here is something we put together that covers the past couple of months. As you can see, she is a big fan of the play mat (so we are also big fans of the play mat). Hopefully the next video will have a bit more variety in location.

- Ben

Laughing Baby

We've been lax about making updates to the blog so we'll try to do better. This was a no brainer. When you can get your baby to laugh on video, you have to share.

- Ben

March Madness

This is Penelope's first NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and although the Hooisers are not in it this year (we did see a tear trickle down her cheek on Thursday), we are using this opportunity to teach her how to cheer and the strategy behind building a bracket. Here is a picture of her and her dad enjoying the games. [Don't ask why Ben is wearing Carolina Blue, the only reason that was remotely acceptable was the fact that UNC was so pathetic this year that they also missed the tournament.]

More Family Visits

Over the last few weeks we had more visits from our families, including two of Penelope's aunts:

and one of her grandmas:

Snowpocalypse, The Snowing, Snowmageddon, etc....

Well Penelope has certainly arrived in time for an eventful Winter 2009-2010. We have had six snows already, four of which were major storms, and as a result we have broken a record for snowfall in the area and there is still time for more snow. We didn't take Penelope out much (given the temperatures, snow drifts, blizzard conditions, etc...), but here are some shots from these crazy days: