Go Skins! Go Steelers!

James is 2 weeks old - already 8lbs 6 oz!

Sweet Baby James is growing and amazing us every day. At his 6 day-check up at the pediatrician he had already surpassed his birth weight and was 7lbs 14 oz. And on his 2 week birthday he was 8lbs 6 oz. He's eating alot, napping alot, and growing longer and stronger... As Michael says, "James is not a friend of the environment," as we have tons of diaper changes each day and night...

James loves watching Redskins and Steelers games with his Daddy and Grandma -- and has the outfits to prove it! Perhaps we're just exposing him to two great teams, and we'll let him decide who he wants to cheer for when he's older.

Sweet Baby James is Here!! - Nov 4 2008, 7:22 AM

Hooray! Baby James Joseph Pennie made his Hollywood debut at Cedars Sinai hospital on November 4th at 7:22AM weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz and 20.5 inches long. Megan and James are healthy and recovering well after a marathon of heroic effort - 24.5 hours of labor.
Apparently James heard the word that he was going to be induced, and so he decided that he needed to take matters into his own tiny hands and start to make his entrance prior to the induction date. We're proud of James for making it through the tough labor, proud of Michael, the stellar labor coach, and proud of Megan for avoiding c-section (close call!) and getting the job done on the very last push!
SURVEY/POLL ANSWERS - for those of you who voted for fun!

• James has a full head of brown, straight hair - like his mommy did at birth! (2 of you said this!)


• James was 7 lbs 11 oz (8 of you said this!)


• James tricked us all and came on Nov. 4th - in between the 2nd and 6th - Election day! An Historic Day indeed.

(Despite requests, we won't be posting pics of Megan - for a little while. She went through hades: pinched nerve during labor, lost a lot of blood, still very weak - and it shows! We'll get the new momma back on her feet first. This picture of Michael and Megan here was taken in Starbucks AFTER the water broke - as we got breakfast sandwiches on the way to the hospital! )

We are trying all urban legends for naturally spurring labor: Arugula salad, eggplant, spicy foods!, "The The Salad" from Ciaoti Cafe where many overdue women frequent for their famous "induction salad," 1-2 hour walks twice a day and more!
In the mean time we dressed up our Lucy-dog for Halloween because we couldn't use the Trick or Treat onesies we had for James... Lucy the yellow lab retriever is is a "Meth Lab"... ideally you'd be able to see the plastic bags of "meth" attached to her in this photo.

...Sigh... Still waiting! Induction is scheduled.

T-plus 4.5 days and counting as we wait Baby James. Our induction is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 4th -- election day! (Glad I planned ahead to vote by mail. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to make it to the polls, but didn't imagine we'd be in L&D!)
Baby James could come before Tuesday on his own will... and for that we're still hoping.
We're keeping busy with James' grandparents - Sally and John - who are taking top-notch care of us. Uncle Joe and Aunt Jadzia are wonderful hosts -- and are even helping take care of and walk Lucy.
Michael is busy at work getting in his last few days before we have him home on paternity leave and baby bootcamp!
We'll keep you posted! Lots of love to you.

Still waiting!

Well, the OCt. 26th due date came and went... and we're still patiently waiting for Baby James' arrival. My parents are here from Asheville, and we are at Redondo Beach with Uncle Joe, Auntie Jadzia, Aunt Cass and Uncle Fred... Being surrounded by family is so wonderful, so helpful, and such fun -- it's bonus time!
We got an A+ report from the doctor, so we're just waiting for James to come on his own time... at least we'll wait for a few more days. We'll keep ya posted!

Palos Verdes Hike

Uncle Joe, Lucy, James-on-the-way & I hiked in Palos Verdes at 38.5 weeks along. I'm not looking so pretty, but you sure can see how my belly continues to grow to make room for James! Fwew! Bigger and bigger and bigger... But it's all for a good cause - the best cause of all!

Still waiting! Practice Run #1 = completed!

Michael and I had an enjoyable weekend together with several fun dates -- dinner at Little Dom's, hearing our pal Matt play music Friday night, taking Lucy to the Malibu beach, a fancy steak dinner in Beverly Hills, seeing "W." the movie and more. However, we hijacked our Sunday plans, as Michael and I had an exciting Sunday afternoon that included a practice run to Cedars Sinai Labor & Delivery!
How it went down: I had some of the pre-labor signs, so I called my doc to be sure all was OK. She said to be safe, we should to go to the hospital to be checked out... which was surprising because I wasn't have any contractions... We obeyed and had a lovely practice run!
In Pennie-style, when the doc said to go, we didn't go immediately -- we felt like we needed to get organized first!

• Soooo, we finished packing our suitcase (Michael switched out all the clothes that I had packed for him and I re-washed all the clothes I had packed b/c Lucy tends to lay in the suitcase if it's left open),
• Michael got his car detailed so it would have all the sand and dog hair out of it for baby James' big ride home,
• Then Michael got the car seat installed
• And I cleaned the house and put a few boxes in the garage for storage... and more!
• We even stopped for lunch before we went to the hospital just in case we were going to be relegated to hospital food for days.

It was good to do all of those things NOW because when the real day comes, we might not have time to do all that! The L&D staff sent us home after 1.5 hours of monitoring -- we heard Baby James' heartbeat while we watched football and and episode of "I love Lucy" - and James is active and happy, according to Clyde, our chatty nurse. It was exciting - and we actually had fun doing it... The nurses at the hospital were super nice. They said we should always listen to the doctor, even if we have a feeling that "it's nothing." We will, but we are both hoping we don't have to make another practice run before the real thing. We think we're now ready! We will keep y'all posted when the real deal happens... We are still 3 days away from the Oct 26th due date. The word on the street is that first babies can come 1-2 weeks late... so we'll roll with it!

Lucy pictures - Baby Goose

When Aliens Attack!
Lucy at Manhattan Beach - wishing dogs were allowed to romp in the surf...

Our Adorable Nephew Thomas

Thomas is the handsome cousin that Baby James will soon meet!