Cedar Fern: So many updates - Penelope Milestones, Birthmark, and Beach Trip

Shew people....I sure do suck at blogging! I think I say that every time I post! Guess that means it's true..haha. Anyway, a lot has happened since I last posted so I figured I'd just do a cluster post of our lives in the past month.

Trip to Cape May, NJ:

Penelope had her first trip to the beach this summer. While I can say that bringing a baby to the beach does not make a relaxing vacation - it was still a good time! She spent a lot of time sleeping on the beach and rocking her awesome sunglasses! I can't wait to bring her back next year and hopefully dip her toes in the water a bit. It was way too cold and she would have just screamed this year.

sleeping away

hanging with daddy wearing her awesome sunglasses

Trip to the Hospital, Update on Penelope's Hemangioma:

Big things are happening for the better with Penelope's hemangioma. We brought her to the eye doctor right before our vacation and he said that her eyesight was getting worse and that she is probably going to need baby glasses (as I mentioned in the last post). Well, once we got back from vacation we met with her dermatologist and she said it was time to get more aggressive with the treatment. That meant it was time to have Penelope admitted to the hospital for a few days to start her on Propanolol. Propanolol is a hypertension medication that they've found also shrinks hemangiomas. We had to admit her to the hosptial for monitoring because the medication can have adverse effects such as low blood pressure or drops in glucose levels. We checked into the hospital this past Tuesday and Penelope rocked it like a champ! She was so good the whole time we were there and just played with her toys! She didn't even cry too much when they pricked her toe to check her blood sugar (well except for the first time!) We were out by Thursday and we can already see a huge improvement in both the size of the red part of the hemangioma as well as the stuff under the skin that is actually pressing on her eye!

hanging in the hospital

chillaxin in the hospital crib

Penelope's eye before any treatment

Penelope's eye after 1 month of timolol topical treatment and less than a week of Propanolol treatment! It's amazing!!

Penelope Milestones:

And now on to the fun stuff! Penelope has just been learning and growing so fast these days! She has discovered her tongue!

She has learned how to roll over!

What's up guys? Oh that's right....I just rolled over again. No biggie!

She has also learned how to grab things with her hands and bring them to her mouth! We are just so proud of our little girl! She is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to Sean and I and we are amazed every day that she is ours! I couldn't possibly love her more than I already do.