Michael's birthday & Our first Easter egg hunt!

Michael turned 33 on April 15th which is the same day Briggs turned 6 months! He was able to take a fatigue day that night, which means he had another night off during this turnaround, making it his 3rd or 4th day off in about 1 1/2 months! We didn't party like crazy or anything! It was quite low key! Michael wanted Luigi's pepperoni pizza (best and cheapest pizza in town!) and for me to make him his favorite chocolate cake (that fell apart just a bit.) It's representative of my state of mind this month! So, we ate a lot, played with the kids and vegged out on the couch as we caught up on all our shows! He kept saying, "It's so nice to just lay on the couch and relax." He doesn't get to do that much. He gets home about 6 or 7am, goes straight to bed and then wakes up at 3 pm, plays with the kids, eats dinner, and leaves at 5:15 pm! Not much lounging going on! Poor guy! Piper has been a snugly bug lately. I love it!
The day before the birthday celebration we had a little Easter egg hunt with our OPAT group (Oklahoma Parents as Teachers).
Sweet boy just enjoying the view!
I didn't realize that Piper left the house in her hand-me-down, too big, on the wrong feet, flip flops! Nice!
Michael was able to go with us b/c it was about 45 minutes before he had to go to work! It was super windy that day and right after the hunt it started raining like mad, then hailing, then tornadoing...not a word I know but it seemed to flow nicely. The sirens were going off by the time I got home. Awesome!
Piper and Claire. This was the last smile I got from her because the hunt stressed her out. She still didn't totally understand the fun to be had in hunting eggs. I think it actually produces anxiety b/c of the pressure to find them even when they are laying in an open field not hidden! I am beginning to see this in her personality when it comes to learning and understanding things.

6 month picture comparison

Piper at 6 monthsBriggs at 6 months
Wow, she looks so much smaller. You can tell they have completely different skin coloring and hair. I'm afraid he is going to be my pale child. I looked back at my records and Piper weighed 16 lbs, 7 oz. at 6 months! Well, that's what he weighed when he was 2 months old! I'm laughing out loud right now! They have to same nose, same chin, and same cheeks, and maybe the same lips but I think his top one is going to be thinner than hers is. It's fun to compare them at the same age!

Briggs is 6 months!

I can't believe my baby is 6 months already! He is an extremely happy baby even when he's teething and sick! He loves watching his sister and pretty much any person at that. He's only been afraid of people on a couple of times. He does love his mama very much!!! He is in a size 4 diaper still but very close to a size 5. At night, he wears a size 6 to prevent any leaks! He wears a 24 month romper and 18 month pj's. He's in 12 month pants but they are too long and almost too tight in the tummy! He rolls over but not constant rolling to get anywhere. He scoots across the floor to get what he wants! He is always chewing on a toy! He cannot sit up even in the boppy pillow. He's too heavy for that! And, his cute chubby thighs won't allow him to sit in a bumbo seat because they get stuck! But he does great in his high chair and his jumperoo. He only sits in a bouncer seat at church because every time I put him in ours he is not a fan! He loves being on his tummy and does the 'airplane' a lot. He is a drool machine!! His first tooth came in two weeks ago and his second one just popped through! He is suppose to be (and was) nursing 4 times a day and eating 3 solid meals also but when he became sick with bronchitis and then pneumonia he has been getting an additional 2-3 nursing periods in the middle of the night. I do not know how much he weighs yet but my guess is he'll weigh in close to 22 pounds. Piper barely weighed 20 lbs when she turned 1!!! His hair is light, blonde and I am pretty sure his eyes are going to stay blue! He jabbers and says dadadada all the time and a very 'airy' hi. When sister is not around he squeals and growls a lot! When she's around he's much more quiet! So far, he's eaten squash, carrots, peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes for veggies. And, peaches, pears, and bananas for fruits along with rice cereal as a daily staple! He gobbles up his food quite quickly! Piper is going to have to learn to eat faster because brother will be stealing her food pretty soon! To brag on him, every time I pick him up for the nursery at church they say, "He's such a happy guy. He's so easy going."etc...but on Sunday night Ms. Mary said, "I want to know what you ate while you were pregnant b/c I think every mom should eat what you ate so that their babies would be as good as he is!" Too bad it wasn't that easy! He still has pneumonia but the xrays, today, showed that it has improved 50% and we will begin breathing treatments tomorrow. We are so ready to be back to great health and sleeping through the night once again! Despite his illness, he is still a super happy little guy! I love him so much!

Our Resurrection Eggs!

Before I talk about the eggs---this sleeping prince has pneumonia!! Sniff, sniff! Thankfully, it's just in the early stages and the doctor said that it's viral so antibiotics can't really do anything for it. So it kind of has to run it's course, but I've got to keep a close eye on him and do a few things to help break it up. If it gets worse I'm to page the doctor; otherwise, we will be going back for a second chest x-ray on Monday. I mentioned earlier that he had bronchitis and it got better but then Sunday and Monday night the coughing got worse so I called Tuesday morning and explained the symptoms. 1 hour later, the nurse called and directed me to go to the hospital for a chest x-ray. I was a bit scared! Finally, today I found out the results. He is acting great during the day. You wouldn't know anything was really wrong other than the occasional cough and rattle in his back and chest, but night time is harder for sure! Now for our Resurrection eggs! I borrowed this from these two blogs, The Macs and Breezy Acres Farm and this website here! Anyway, before you get to thinking I'm so on the ball and just a super woman...I'M NOT! I really wanted to purchase the store bought version and do it the easy way but forgot I was going to do that b/c of all the crazy stuff going on right now so I scrambled around to figure out how I could make my own b/c I feel like it's important, especially this year, to begin preparing Piper for Easter since we have so much Easter bunny stuff going on, which I think is really fun too! It would have been much easier to purchase them but I'm patting myself on the back that I actually accomplished a crafty/learning thing! If you looked at my house right now you'd be saying, "Oh, Honey. Can I help you?" because you'd feel sorry for us that me and my family are living in such disarray! I'm not kidding! I didn't do ours exactly like those websites and I'd show you what I did exactly but 'copy and paste' isn't working on blogger right now! Tonight I started it with Piper at bedtime and explained that we get to do something special every night before bed, etc...She was so thrilled! I read her The Story of Easter book we have and then started with Egg #1 which contained a donkey to represent the story of Jesus' triumphal entry and we read Matthew 21:1-9. Piper listened okay and then here is a summation of our dialogue...P-"We loooove Jesus." S-"Yes we do." P-"Where is Jesus?" S-(w/out getting too deep) "He is in Heaven watching over us." P-"When will we see him?" S-"Soon I hope" (thinking to myself, "sooner I hope considering this crazy week!!") P-"We will see him on Friday!!" (in her 'I know I'm right...this is an exact fact'..kind of voice!) She can be so ornery but this melts me!!

Hoppin' Around

I think the title of this post explains it all...we've been hopping all over the place the past few weeks while Michael is busy with turnaround. It's been fun but I'm ready to relax at home for a bit!
We went to Clinton and stayed with Chandra and with Grammy. Chandra and I were able to get pedicures together thanks to Rusty and Sherry for watching our kiddos. Ahhh, so relaxing! Piper, Lilly, Chandra, and I went to the ballet in Weatherford and Piper LOVED it! She has been talking about it for 2 weeks now!
Piper and Grammy before we left for the ballet. What is that weird face Piper!!
Briggsy bear is so cool! So laid back and easy going. But, he's had a rough couple of weeks getting his first tooth and then getting diagnosed with bronchitis! This week he's about to get his second tooth and the coughing isn't cleared up still! We haven't slept through the night in two weeks and Mama is tired!!!
I cut Piper's hair! It's short! No more piggies in the back.
We stayed with our cousins, Jonah & Maggie last weekend. Piper had so much fun! I helped host a bridal shower for my sister-in-law, Natalie. She's getting married in June! During the shower, Piper got to hang out with her uncle, grandpa, cousin, and future uncle and was delighted!! When I told her she was going to go w/Uncle Matt, Jonah, and Grandpa her eyes got so big and she said, "I get to be with 3 boys!!??!!" Oh brother! Her love of guys has not diminished!!
And, she has been loving her new jammies from grandma and grandpa because "they have short sleeves!" It's the little things in life that excite her!!

To Grandmother's House we go...

I love these pictures!

This little guy cut his 1st tooth yesterday! He woke me up at 4:15 in the morning and would not go back to sleep! I couldn't figure out why or what to do and finally felt his gums and there it was! He got a heavy dose of tylenol and finally went back down at 6 am!

We went to Grandpa & Grandma's house yesterday and spent the night! Thanks to Grandpa and his awesome camera, we have pictures to document the visit! I'm getting pretty bad about taking pictures when we visit the grandparents! Piper loved being there and stayed B.U.S.Y. the entire time! She loves to go, go, go! Anytime we say "Grandma & Grandpa's house..." she corrects us and says, "and Sandy's house too!" On the drive back home both kids did so good! Briggs wasn't feeling well and he slept from the minute we left their driveway all way home and then an additional 45 minutes in his carseat after we arrived home! Piper slept for 2 hours also. Ahhh, peace!

Look what have been doing!

We are staying extra busy, trying not to go crazy during this turn-around! Ugh! I'm ready for Michael to be home at night and on the weekends with us! However, his first day off was last Friday night and we hired a sitter for the very first time!! I went to a wedding and he got the kids bathed and dressed for bed! Then after they went to bed the sitter came and we got to go out to eat and to a movie! It was fun. Now, we are looking forward to his next day off which should be in about a 10 days!Daddy loving on little man!
This past Saturday I took Piper on a little field trip with our OPAT (Oklahoma Parents As Teachers) group to the fire station. She liked it a lot! I was so proud of her for not being a afraid of the big trucks and loud noises!

My friend Kristen and I are starting to do 'school' with our girls once a week. We started this week with the letter E and the number 1. Claire knows all her letters pretty much and Piper is just now learning hers. We read "Ella the elegant elephant" and I made these elephant trunks and ears for them to dress up in and they were necklaces to be "elegant!" (Dollar tree did not have grey felt so that is why they are white and red!) I also made scrambled eggs as part of our lunch and we exercised! The school stuff only lasted 30-45 minutes and the girls played the rest of the time! They had a lot of fun!

5 month comparison

Piper & Briggs at 5 months. They look more alike than I thought at this point than I thought. But I can definitely see some difference too!

5 months!

Briggs turned 5 months on March 15th. Where has the time gone? Isn't he big?? He's doing so much; Eating his 3 meals, rolling over, playing with toys, being very vocal, teething...Actually, his first tooth has broken through but then his gums have become so swollen that and the tooth went back in so I'm waiting for it to truly break through the skin. He's handling it like a champ! His two favorite toys are the jumperoo and the activity mat but he's pretty content wherever. He's not too fond of the bouncy seat anymore b/c he's a bit big for it now. I'm guessing he weighs 20 or 21 pounds! He loves his sister and squeals with delight when she is being silly with him. He pretty much loves anyone right now! Briggs is full of smiles most of the time. His schedule is all messed up b/c we have been pretty busy so his napping isn't consistent right now but he is sleeping 10-11 hours a night! He doesn't like to travel in his car seat for long distances but I'm learning the best time of the day to travel with him. He loves being on his belly and is pushing up with his arms. He lights up when I sing to him. Oh, I love this little man so much! Next month, he'll be 6 months old, Michael will be turning 33 and Piper will be turning 3! We are going to have a lot going on around here!

Children's Museum

Last week was Oklahoma's Spring Break so all of our regularly scheduled activities were cancelled. My sister invited us to join her and her two youngest at the Children's Museum in Seminole. Basically, it is a big warehouse sized building with tons of centers to play at and a whole lot of outdoor stuff as well, including a train ride. It was cooooool! And, I want to go again and again! Piper had a blast and Briggs was so content hanging out. There were a lot of kids b/c of Spring Break but we still enjoyed it!They had self face painting.
A real fire truck along w/the dress up uniform!
A surgery center complete with operating room attire!
Can't resist a sleeping baby photo!
My favorite center...the mechanic shop! So cool! This is Anna, my 9 year niece!
A news anchor desk. You could see yourself on the television screen.
Me going crazy...not really...just me being silly!
A dentist office!
Piper's snack break and one of the few smiles on camera I could capture!
Mechanic Piper!
My 5 year niece, Olivia, ringing up groceries at the "Homeland." It was the most popular center!
Piper posing with her veggies she is going to purchase!
The employ helping Piper type her name in Braille. Cool, huh!
Briggs just hanging out.
My sister, Sheryl and her two girls.
Like I mentioned, we had a blast. They had so many activities that I didn't even photograph like a mock courtroom, building block center, a real airplane cockpit that the kids could pretend to be a pilot, bubble blowing room with life size bubbles, jungle gym, a real ambulance, and even a classroom that you could pretend to be a teacher or a student, etc, etc! So fun!