Christmas 2008

Before I discuss Christmas, I have a major announcement!!!! Piper is taking a bottle!!! Well, at least she has been the last 1 1/2 weeks!!! However, today she would not so I'm just hoping that it was today only and tomorrow we'll be back on track! I think this was my favorite Christmas present!

Here are some fun pics from our 3 Christmas visits! Piper loved the paper, ribbons, and bows! We had fun seeing all of our family!
Piper at the Grandma & Papa Prewett's house.

Enjoying a present...

In front of the tree...

Chewing on her new book at Grammy & Papa John's house.

Love this ribbon!

Yummy paper at Grandpa & Grandma Levy's house!

More presents at Grandpa's house! She was a little fussy on Christmas day. She has a cold and is teething again...I think! Michael and I got to go to the movies that night while Aunt Natalie, Gma & Gpa watched her for us! It was our first date since she was born!! We saw Seven Pounds!! So good!!

We hope you had a blessed Christmas!

Great Clip

This is a great You Tube clip that you need to watch. It brought tears to my eyes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0r_FbARIn8&feature=channel

No Baby Was Harmed In This Experiment

Well, I have a new goal that I will be working on in the next few weeks or for as long as it takes! That goal is getting Piper to take a bottle again. Yes, the bottle saga continues! Chandra tried giving Piper a bottle of formula yesterday and she came out saying, "Shelly, she has no clue what this thing (the bottle) is!" So, even though I have been working on this; I'm going to step it up a notch! Beginning today I will get Piper up every morning and try giving her a bottle or at least orient her with the bottle. These pics are from this mornings trial! It didn't even last 10 minutes. I sat down with her and put the bottle in her mouth and she chewed on it a bit and then the screaming began (all b/c I put a bottle in her mouth!!!). I couldn't help but laugh at the drama queen in action. See below! (and, yes, that is a tear rolling down her cheek! once again--all from a bottle being placed in her mouth!!!) And this is they happy girl after she gets her mama's milk!

Little stinker!

Playing with Lilly!

Lilly and Chandra came to visit us on Wednesday. The girls were cute! Piper liked watching Lilly do her thing!

Fun with My Cousins

This week Michael went out of town for work so Piper and I went to visit her cousins in Texas. She had fun with them and I think they enjoyed her being around too!

Maggie & Piper...she loves to play with Maggie!
Jonah and Piper...she was really intrigued by Jonah! Uncle Matt making Piper smile.

Silly faces

Notice the bracelet and necklace Piper is wearing. Maggie made those for her!

Thanks for having us over guys! We had fun!

Unofficially Official!

We've bought a house! Or, at least we are in the process of buying a house...that's why it isn't official! We have agreed on a price, had the inspection, and now we will be waiting to close December 29th if all goes as planned and we pray it does! This is the only pic I have right now b/c I didn't take any great ones of the inside. Plan to come visit us after we get settled b/c I love having company and we will have room for you! It's a great floor plan with 2 bedrooms, the kitchen, living area, dining area, and utility room downstairs and 2 bedrooms w/a small playroom upstairs! There's a detached garage and a nice backyard w/a playset that needs a little sprucing up! The best things are: I have a bigger kitchen and it opens up into the living room, Michael has a good lawn to work with, the house is not that old so doesn't need fixing up (just paint and decorating stuff) and it is located in town. We are very excited!!

Christmas Parade

We took Piper to the Ardmore Christmas Parade last night. This was her first parade and she was not enthused by the school bands playing, numerous semi trucks with Christmas lights passing by or the lady who kept touching Piper's face with her dirty glove! ha! (I actually want to write more on that but my husband said I could not! ) I did not get any good pics of the parade itself or the Christmas lights at Centennial park. The park lights were pretty! Piper maintained that straight face the entire time! I'd look down at her and try to get her to smile and she would not. It was as if she was saying, "mom, this is lame!" haha!

7 Months

Piper turned 7 months old yesterday!

Gobble, Gobble!

Thanksgiving 2008 was a good one for us! We drove to Fargo, OK to stay with my parents on Thursday & Friday and then we headed to Clinton on Saturday. I let Piper try turkey, bread, and mashed potatoes for the 1st time. She liked it all! When we were in Clinton, her Aunt Valerie and Grammy sneaked her some pumpkin pie! On Thanksgiving day, Piper's 4th tooth popped through. And, over the holiday weekend she started to babble a lot! It's as if she's going to say a real word at any moment b/c she has facial expressions and hand gestures that suggest she means business and she wants us to understand...just like her mom! As many of you know, Piper has not been the most happy traveler in her car seat, but this trip we got smart! Michael set up the portable dvd player in the backseat and I purchased a Baby Einstein dvd for her. Whenever she woke up in the car and started to fuss we pushed play and like magic she was as happy as can be! She would squeal in delight as she watched. It was an amazing miracle and made for a completely pleasant trip of no fussing! I highly recommend doing this if you have a fussy baby. It's worth every penny! With that said, enjoy our Thanksgiving day pics! Piper and Aunt Sheryl. The lighting wasn't so great!

Piper with her Nall cousins. From left: Anna, Paige, Olivia, and Seth & Piper in the seat!

Piper in her turkey bib with Mommy.

This little red chair she is sitting in is another great piece of baby gear! It's a Chicco brand portable high chair. It hooks up onto the table and is very sturdy. It's easy to take off and it's slim once folded up. Great for traveling or if you do not have a large space for a high chair. I plan to just leave it in my trunk for when we travel.

Still waiting to eat!

Sitting Up

Piper's officially sitting up on her own now! She still falls over but she can keep her back straight and reach over to pick up her toys and still remain balanced! Also, another fun thing that happened this week was she imitated me for the 1st time. I coughed and then she coughed and we played the little coughing game back and forth for a bit! It was fun for us! But, she will not do again!

Keeping it Real!

So, here's the state of my living room as of 10 am this morning and it has not gotten any better except that the laundry basket is empty and the clothes are folded on the floor now! Can you tell that I am part of the Prewett family! I just wanted to keep it real for ya! I like to avoid my problems and today's problem is packing for the Thanksgiving trip we are about to leave for! Nothing like the last minute! It's only gotten worse since having a baby too!

Free Redbox DVD Rental

I just wanted to share a blog that I've been reading lately. http://www.dealseekingmom.com/
She offers the obvious...deals on stuff she finds. Anyway, if you go on her blog EVERY Monday she has a code that you can enter at any Redbox (usually found at Walmart or McDonalds) to receive a free dvd rental. Now you can have a free Monday movie night!

Piper these days

She sticks her tongue out a lot these days!

Smiley girl

Daddy and Piper watching the Dallas Cowboys.

We are having so much fun with Piper these days. This stage is really fun, but so far all the stages have been fun and unique! She is a smiley girl and is getting chunky. She likes to growl and squeal and her favorite thing to do is lay on her tummy and 'fly' w/her hands and legs lifted! (Like in the 2nd picture above!) Sounds uncomfortable, but she loves it! She rolls around on the floor every now and then but it seems as if she doesn't mind just laying on her tummy! Weird! Piper has been pushing up a lot on her hands so maybe the crawling thing will start soon??? She is almost sitting up on her own. She sits up for a little bit and then falls over but it seems like her back is getting straighter while sitting there and she can move her torso a bit more. Piper has begun that thing when babies get a little scared of certain people for whatever reason and she sometimes begins to cry when I leave the room! I know it is normal but sometimes I think she's a little spoiled! I don't know why she'd be spoiled though...haha! She's a great eater, but still will not take a bottle or sippy cup! I'm currently working on getting her to take a sippy cup of juice! We haven't had any success yet! She has 3 teeth and is working on getting one or two more currently. I can sum up the past few months as one big toothache! She has not been consistent with sleeping through the night for a good while. I'm one tired mommy! Some days she'll sleep 8-8 and others 8-4! We've had some really hard nights and early mornings and I think it's all b/c of teething! But, when she feels good she is so sweet and fun! I'm really looking forward to the holidays with her!

In non-Piper news, Michael is liking his job and working a lot! Most days he leaves by 6:30 am and returns anywhere from 4:30-7:30 pm! He is still trying to figure stuff out and learn, learn, learn! I'm slowly meeting people and getting accustomed. We're still house hunting, although we have found a house we both like. I think we'll put an offer on it in the next few days but who knows if it will all work out! We're keeping the excitement level very low! Ha!

So that's our update!!

Weekend w/the Grandparents!

This weekend Grandma and Grandpa Levy came to visit us! Piper loved having an audience the entire time. She's really turning into a ham w/people; that is when she doesn't feel like snubbing you! She can be very particular with whom she is friendly with! Luckily, she was very much into her grandparents!

We enjoyed getting the visit and look forward to seeing them soon!

Piper in her crib.

Grandma Diana, Piper, and Grandpa Larry. Piper looks annoyed! Does Grandpa?? Just kidding!

Piper and Grandpa sharing a moment!

Happy Halloween

On Halloween we spent the evening at the Roush's house. Lilly was an adorable bumble bee while Piper was a ballerina, thanks to the adorable tutu Chandra made for Piper! It inspired me to make my niece a tutu! Here are some adorable pics of the girls laying on the grass!

Lilly on the left and Piper on the right...
Bzzz...Lilly

Piper...

In addition to Halloween, Piper turned 6 months old on the 30th! I can't believe it!! I usually do a cute little pic of her on her month bday mark but this month I had her pics made at Penney's in her tutu. I think the picture above is cuter than the ones I purchased!

Piper had a well checkup today at the doctor's office. She weighs 16 lbs. 7 oz. and is 26 1/2 inches long. She was supposed to receive vaccinations as well, but she had a 99.9 degree fever so we'll have to wait another week for those. She's a bit fussy tonight b/c she does not feel well!

Costumes

Whenever I kept my 3yr. old niece, Olivia, a few weeks ago she and I worked on her ladybug costume for Halloween. I made her antenna and tutu which was so easy--just a little time consuming and we found her wings at the dollar store for $1! She already had the clothes. This is her modeling our creation! I think it turned out pretty cute...much cuter in person! She kept saying she was a butterfly!

Then, while I was staying with my sister last week her husband, Trebor needed a costume for his company Halloween contest. His group was doing a Grand Ole Opry theme and he was nominated to be Porter Wagner. This is Porter Wagner below...

And, this was our creation for Trebor. We needed to add much more jewels than we did but it worked well.

This was my attempt at a wagon wheel on the back, but it looks more like a peace sign!

Love the hair! He probably won't like that I posted this pic!

Dinner Time

Piper used her high chair for the first time tonight! She practiced in Miss Lilly's high chair this past weekend so we knew she was ready for it. She has been such a great eater. We are pretty much on a 3 meal-a-day schedule along with an additional liquid snack! I may be cutting that out in the next month but I haven't decided! She still is not taking a bottle! So far, she has eaten rice and oatmeal cereal, yellow squash, green beans, peas, carrots, bananas, plums, applesauce, blueberries, and avocado. I'm going to try to introduce pears, prunes, butternut squash, and spinach over the next 2 weeks. She has not rejected any food yet, but has shown favor in certain foods. Before starting solids, I was quite nervous and apprehensive about the entire process but it has all fallen into place and now I feel a lot more confident! I've been preparing all the fruits and veggies instead of purchasing baby food jars (except for the applesauce and plums). It's been a lot cheaper and so much easier than I would have thought. It only takes me about an hour to prepare food for 2 or 3 weeks! I just puree it, freeze it in an ice cube tray and set out a cube or two when it is time to eat or when I need to take it with me. I think it's just as easy has buying the jar. I have to give credit to Chandra for helping me feel more confident in making Piper's baby food! I'm glad she is paving the way!!!