Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

We just stuck around home this year because we were lucky to be given tickets to the Pasadena Rose Parade, which everyone knows you have to get up super early for! We had fun playing with hats. We ordered pizza and introduced Penny to E.T.  After Penny went to bed, mom and dad watched the truly horrible Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper commentate on the NYC happenings. It was so bad we didn't even make it to midnight instead opting for more sleep!

After spending a fun day at Disneyland we met up with our good friends Charlie and Kristy and their newborn son, Dylan to not only celebrate Brian's birthday but to celebrate their wedding anniversary which falls on December 21st. A few years ago we celebrated both occasions together at Ruth Chris Steak House in Pasadena. We decided to celebrate together again this year and searched for restaurants but fell upon Ruth Chris Steak house in Anaheim. Not that any of us complained! I was a bit worried going to such a nice restaurant with Penny. She is usually pretty good but sometimes she can be unruly. I didn't want this to be one of those nights. But it was as if she knew this was super important and she put on her best behavior. Frankly, I can't believe she was so good considering we didn't sit in a booth and she had to sit in a high chair which she hates doing in restaurants. While I was worrying about Penny, our friends were worrying about their baby. Lucki

Before heading to Sanger for Christmas with hubby's family, we always open our presents and stockings at home in LA. With us heading to Sanger on the 23rd we decided to open everything on December 22 which happens to be hubby's 38th birthday! We celebrated his birthday at Disneyland yesterday so that we could focus this day on our family Christmas. To start our day we headed down to Chinatown to CBS and grabbed some Dim Sum from their take out store. we brought it home and grubbed. Penny really loved the little fried chicken wings that I got. She must have eaten half of them!!! We planned to take dad out for some Roscoe's but our appointment with the Time Warner Cable Guy took longer then expected. No one could figure out why we weren't getting channel 340, the most important channel of all, the Disney Junior Channel!!! He stayed for quite a few hours and didn't leave until 6:30pm. Since that was a little too late to go out with Penny we had dinner at home

Guess where we went for hubby's 38th birthday? Yep, we made the drive down to Anaheim and went to Disneyland! Penny's 3rd time in a week and Daddy and Mommy's second time in a week! We got up early and beat the crowd which was projected to be at 91% that day. We were able to accomplish quite a bit by mid-day and even more by 4:30pm when we left the park to meet up with our good friends for a dual celebration, a birthday and an anniversary at Ruth Chris's Steak House.

This holiday season I find myself without a job, which means no company Holiday Party or vendor parties to attend. It's a bit of a bummer when I see all my work friends on Facebook post pictures of the gorgeous Paramount Christmas Tree but what can you do? Mope? Nope. As December closed, I was beginning to think there would be absolutely no parties to go to but I was proven wrong. Hubbby announced his company Holiday party was coming up. Well, he didn't even have to speak the words before I was day dreaming about crashing his party. Okay, the word "crash" was not exactly right. He did after all speak the words "you're both invited." Since it was our only invitation, Penny and I jumped at the chance and drove to Burbank to party it up. The party started at 5pm but by the time we arrived the holiday spirit was a hopping! There was a nice spread of food with caterer's handing out bits and bob's. There were drinks if you so desired. B

So I went to take a shower and when I got out what should I find? I found that someone,two someone's went into the treat drawer and pulled out the ore's and proceeded to help themselves to some cookies. Not only that these two thieves ate only the cream filling inside the cookie. They left the chocolate wafer on the floor. Here is evidence of their crime.

Today's band at The Americana's Kid's Club was actually decent which of course meant Penny wasn't into listening to them! Instead she was distracted by coloring sheets, the guy making Candy cane and snowman balloons, and the ornament making stations. We met our friends Alicia and Olivia who were our partners in crime on this Tuesday Disney Baby sponsored event. The only thing we missed getting out free picture with Santa cuz they cut us off from seeing him just as we entered the line. We did sneak around to the exit to let Olivia and Penny see Santa. They were very intrigued by him. I was looking at their pricing and they were charging $50 for a few pictures. When did seeing Santa get so expensive?

Today Penny had her two year check up. She weighs 25.6 lbs, is 35 inches tall and has a head cm of 19 inches. Doc says she is on track with her other check ups in terms of % of changes. He told us to switch from 2% milk to 1% or day free. He is pro fish and wants us to eat fish twice a week. Stay away from peanuts and hard candy aka anything a running toddler can choke on. He said to we need to take vitamins and probiotics.  But the biggest thing was get rid of the binkies!!! He was looking at her teeth and he could tell she used them cuz he said it was messing with her teeth in her mouth.   So today begins a new world. A world without zip it.com's :(

Penny received a package in the mail today and inside was the cutest pair of handmade Minnie Ears! Our friend, Nena knitted them for Penny. We can't wait to wear them during our next trip to Disneyland!

Yes, at 24 months Penny has pretty much taken to going to the bathroom. She started out by announcing she had "Poop" but today she just went into the bathroom and closed the door. I had to go in and help her take her diaper off so she could sit down and do her business. We stopped ordering size 4 diapers from Amazon mom and have got our box of 2T-3T pull up diapers ready to go. If we didn't have such a supply of diapers I am sure she would deb using those pulls up by now. But for now its nice to see that little brain spin in her head. She is such a smart little cookie.

Penny recovered from her food poisoning and was able to go to Disneyland on Saturday with Daddy. Unfortunately, mommy's stomach was upset no doubt catching some of those bad germs Penny had. Her and Daddy met Jake, Goofy, was serenaded Happy Birthday by a band, ate churro's, a hot dog, chocolate chip cookies, went on the Merry Jungle Cruise, the Tiki Room, and  did a bit of shopping.  They didn't get home until almost 11pm!

...Second Birthday :( Poor Penny, celebrated her second birthday with food poisoning. We started out our day with the best plans, a trip to Disneyland! However, she threw up in the car, again when we arrived and about 4 other times while we were at the park. After two hours, I put her in the car and headed home and called the doctor. He was concerned about her continual vomit and asked to see her. I was thinking she had the stomach flu but the doctor said food poisoning since she didn't have a temperature or other symptoms of the flu. He gave us some tablets to stop the vomiting and she has been drinking liquids. I feel so bad that her birthday was ruined. I mean she probably doesn't realize its her birthday but still all the same she did have a good time on the two rides we went on (Alice in Wonderland and It's A Small World) but it was her stomach that didn't allow her to have a full day of fun :(

We are members at our local zoo. One thing that can be counted on, is that we have a different experience each time we go. This time they had a reindeer exhibit. They flew in Santa's reindeer from the North Pole so all the zoo members could meet them. Also, we stumbled upon a petting zoo that I didn't know existed. We met Mario, the duck and his handler, who was really over eager to talk about him. He wouldn't shut up, even giving me a photograph of him from his pocket, he was nice though. We visited the elephants but Penny didn't seem that interested in them as in past visits.