The cat that chases Penelope

Since learning to crawl, Penelope has been chasing our black cat, Ruby, around the house. Ruby will let her get pretty close, then run off. The orange cat, Orangie, seems to like Penelope. A lot. He nuzzles her whenever he gets the chance, even knocking her over once in a while. Penelope loves it. Here is a video of them playing:

Pictures from Colorado Trip

Here are a few pictures from our trip. 

At a rest area along the way:

 Penelope and I went to Seven Falls, a waterfall attraction at the end of a narrow canyon. After visiting, I felt like it was more of an attraction than a waterfall, but anyway, it was OK. The sign in the elevator made me a wee bit nervous, and wonder how many diapers I had in my bag.

 Here are the pretty tumbling falls:

 There are nice stairs that go up alongside the falls. Probably the biggest reason I wasn't so impressed with this place is that the lady in one of the gift shops started going on this tirade to me about the elevation. I tried to listen calmly as she told me I needed to drink water, and my baby needed to drink water, and that I would get out of breath walking up the stairs, and the baby can't tell me how thirsty she is, and did I mention, I need to drink water?! I asked her what the elevation was. Around 7,000 feet. I calmly said, "well, we live at 5800 and routinely hike up to 9000." Her response? "You need to drink lots of water!" Did you notice I said 'one' of the gift shops? This place took about a half hour to see, and there were three gift shops!

 We went to the Garden of the Gods. I had heard about this place for a long time, and I was very impressed with it. A huge, free park, that was kept very nicely. Hiking trails, rock climbing, etc. And there was only one gift shop. We drug Wayne with for this outing.

 Interestingly, Wayne can't push this little stroller because he can't reach the handles and his feet run into it.

Bellhops and other necessities

When I was growing up in rural South Dakota, I had heard words like bellhop, valet, and room service. These things were a bit mythical, and us kids never really knew for certain if they did actually exist. Certainly not anywhere near us... but maybe, maybe it was possible, that in some distant place called New York City, you would need someone to open the door for you.

Wayne had a conference last week and Penelope and I came with. We were lucky enough to stay at a beautiful resort. A five star resort. A very fancy five star resort. Since childhood, I have learned that there are such things as valets and bellhops. And this place had them.

We had driven our 2000 Honda, much to Wayne's chagrin. Wayne's newest car was missing a tire, and we couldn't get a new one before we had to leave. This car's passenger door only opens about four inches, due to running into a deer a while back. I road in the backseat for most of the trip, but sometimes crawled up to the front seat to sit with Wayne. Upon arriving at the hotel, you are not allowed to park your own car, so we drove up to the valet. Mr. Valet, complete with suit and cap, smiles and attempts to open my door for me. After the first four inches, his smile tightened into a grimace, as he man-handled the door. Needless to say, the door now opens ALL THE WAY. We are lucky the whole door didn't fall of right there. There is now a dent where Mr. Valet crunched the hinge-side of the car door into the front corner panel.

We checked into the hotel and got a large amount of small bills for the perpetual tipping of endless services. It was "Mrs. Douglas, may I get your bag" and "Mrs. Douglas do you need your mini bar replenished?" I have never been referred to as 'Mrs. Douglas' so many times in my life.

We had arrived late, and once in our beautiful room, didn't want to leave. So we ordered room service for dinner. Our table came complete with linen napkins, flowers and butter pats cut into shapes. It took the room-service-person 10 minutes just to set up our table, make sure everything was arranged perfectly and pour our drinks. Our dinner was nicer than most meals we have eaten in an actual restaurant, and it was nice to let Penelope crawl around while we ate.

One evening Wayne was out, Penelope was asleep and there was a knock at the door. "Good evening, Mrs. Douglas, would you like your turn-down service now?" A few years back I learned what a turn-down service is. Someone from the hotel comes to your room, puts on soft music, dims the lights, pulls back the covers and fluffs your pillows. Just so you don't have to bother with doing it yourself. Sometimes they even put a chocolate or candy on your pillow. Oh, the luxury.

Our pampered stay came to a close much too soon. When Wayne finished with his conference, he came back to the room to retrieve us and our luggage before we checked out. I grabbed Penelope and a few bags, and started out the door. "Where are you going?" Wayne asked. "Um...I'm leaving, aren't you?" I said. "I can't get all these bags!" He said. There were only two, plus a garment bag, but I guess it was too much for Wayne. He called the bellhop to assist the 'Mr. and Mrs. Douglas party' with their bags. If only we had driven the shiny new car, Wayne would have fit right in.

Back at home, after a long day of work, Wayne came home. When he went to bed, he noticed I had left his lamp on for him. The covers were pulled back, and he noticed there was something on his pillow. A chocolate. As he curled up to sleep, soft music floated through the room. And as he drifted of to sleep, he was most likely wondering how long it will be before I stop teasing him for needing a bellhop to carry his bags.

Sunday Picnic

Yesterday was another beautiful day, so we snuck up to the campground at the foot of the mountains for a picnic. We are so spoiled, it is about 3 miles from our front door. It is actually a campground and shooting range owned and maintained by our homeowners association. It still amazes us how many people live here and have never taken advantage of this amenity! Anyway, it was very relaxing. We took the grill and actually had an easy, healthy and delicious meal. I had some individually wrapped salmon filets, which Wayne grilled. Then I just brought a half-eaten container of salad greens. The kind in a plastic disposable container. So we just added the salmon and some dressing and ate out of the salad container. No dishes! Anyway, it was delicious, but maybe that's just because my husband is an expert griller!

Wayne and Penelope using the super-nice hiking backpack that Jason & Colleen gave us - it works great!

 Penelope was sleeping in the shade

 Then she woke up...

 The lines on our car are called Nevada Pinstripes.....you only have the privilege of getting them if you are a local.

 Penelope and her favorite guy

 Sunday Penelope hit another milestone, pulled herself up to standing for the first time by the table!

 She didn't pull herself up here, but she is showing off her standing skills.

Spring!

Spring has arrived to Northeast Nevada. Ah, the sound of children's laughter and smell of barbecue over the still brown landscape. We might see some flowers in another few weeks, if it doesn't snow. Then early June we can put in our vegetable gardens when the last frost may or may not have come, and hope for a 90 day growing season. 

But, first things first: brown or not, the lawn must be mowed. Here in the high desert, we sometimes have problems growing things. The grass won't grow and the weeds and sagebrush won't stop. Yes, I said sagebrush. You know how some people have trees that sprout in their yards where they aren't wanted? We have that too, only our trees are called sagebrush, because a) there are no trees and b) the sagebrush is as tall as small trees. Anyhow, the sagebrush seems to just grow wherever it wants to, including our yard. When we first moved in, we had a guy mow the overgrown weeds in the small pasture behind our house. He asked if he should mow the sagebrush also. We weren't sure, and the guy reassured us that it would grow back in just a few years. I don't think I believed him then, but now there are sagebrush coming up in our front lawn.

Last weekend Wayne took the manly walk out to the garage to start the mower. I heard no motor start, and Wayne was back a few minutes later. I lost him somewhere around pull-start and carburetor, but the bottom line was the mower was not working. We considered taking it to the lawn mower place to get it fixed. You know the place - every town has one. You know it's the lawn mower place because there are between 50 and 100 old lawn mowers piled out front. Since our mower was pretty worn out anyway, today we decided to go to town and buy one. 

Well you know Wayne. When it comes to buying things he only considers the biggest and best. I cringed as we walked through the lawn mower isle. Wayne started eyeing something called a lawn tractor and I reminded him we had previously agreed on getting something 'cheap'. I then took the wifely duty of holding the baby and waiting for him to compare torque and blades, when something strange happened. Wayne walked over to a mower and said, "Awesome! This is totally what I'm getting!" I immediately looked at the price tag, which was....hmm, that can't be right. I then looked at the lawn mower, if you could call it that. Remember the old-fashioned mowers? They don't run on gas, you just push it and the blade spins and cuts grass? I have a vague memory of Grandpa Cloyd using one when I was little, and we thought it was THE coolest thing we had ever seen. Well, Home Depot had a brand new old-fashioned mower, and Wayne was in love. His eyes sparkled just like the time he came home with a shiny, fast motorcycle. And it was the cheapest mower in the store!

Now some pictures....(if you scroll through the many Penelope pictures you will be rewarded at the end with some pictures of Wayne and his new mower!)

 Penelope continues to be enthralled with the kitties:

 She pulls up to see her on the couch...

 ....until the Ruby moves away.

 Then crawls to her on the floor.

 Penelope & Ruby circled the living room several times that day!

 Ruby would flick her tail, usually evading Penelope's pterodactyl grasp.

 Penelope made it through the day scratch-free!

 Now, to demonstrate Penelope's 'standing up on my knees' move:

 And finally....Wayne mowing!

 Penelope and I but on bonnets, worked on a quilt, and sipped homemade lemonade....oh, wait, this is 2012 and we wore hats and sunglasses, sat on our quilt and sipped Starbucks!

 I would have gotten some pretty cute pictures, had Penelope removed her hands from her mouth for any length of time.

 The brown lawn, the eccentric lawn guy and baby-girl playing.

 We put Penelope's high chair out on the porch so we can eat out there. She mostly eats her seat belt. Occasionally we give her some food.

 The cool kids:

Meet Penelope Pig

Penelope has a new trick. She loves making people laugh, and does a good job of it in this video:

.....and NO, we didn't teach her this. I promise!

Babies are so expensive....Part 3

You may have read Part 1 about how little I have spent on our new baby. Maybe you read Part 2 about how expensive it is to bring a baby home from the hospital. This is part 3, which could also be entitled, "THANK GOODNESS FOR INSURANCE!"

In Part 2, I estimated that the total cost to bring baby home from the hospital would be around $11,200. Well, I was wrong.

First of all, if I or my insurance company is paying thousands of dollars for a basic hospital stay, I maybe would expect a receipt. Maybe. I get detailed receipts for buying furniture, gas, groceries, even fast food. But when I have a baby? Zilch. They gave me nothing. I have to call and request a receipt if I would like one. Oddly enough, I WOULD like to see how many much I was charged every time a nurse handed me an Ibuprofen. So I called to request a receipt. The receipt details the main charges: room & board, basic delivery, IVs, drugs, and seven dollars a day for baby wipes. Then my 'detailed statement' lists "HMS CONV 718" twenty eight times, each with different amounts and quantities. So much for details.

Second of all, I overpaid my portion of the bill. That was back in August. It took 4 phone calls and 6 months to get it refunded.

So at this point, I am not impressed with the hospital at all. But I did finally get my refund and a so-called detailed statement.

Here are the total charges:

To the doctor (remember Dr. Winch?) $3,200
To the hospital (for Penelope) $2,868
To Penelope's doctor (while in the hospital) $357
To the hospital (for me) $14,781

Grand Total: $21,206

Grandpa & Grandma Douglas

Scott & Geri came to visit us for a few days. This is Penelope up on all fours. She can't crawl normally, but scoots everywhere.

 This is where Penelope spent a lot of her time...right near Grandpa, who was working on his computer.

 Just being cute on the floor:

 Grandma got lots of snuggling in:

 Kisses from Grandpa:

 This is Penelope using her forearm & elbow to scoot quickly all around the room.

 Lately Penelope will get excited, squeal, and flap her arms, like in this picture.

I would also like to mention that Wayne took his parents out for a drive in his wonderful new car. About 3 1/2 hours later, I get a call...."Come get us, we got a flat tire." So I jumped in my cheap, dependable Honda to go and get them.

Mobility

Where did six months go?

Penelope is a half year old now.

 Showing off her bunny tights.