20 Months!

Whoa! 20 months already??? I can't believe it. Piper will be 2 in just a few short months! I'm not so sure I'm ready for that! This month has been really good. I think Piper has made us laugh more than ever. She has a very distinct personality which is almost an equal mix of my personality and Michael's! She has this look of intent observation and study that comes from Michael. She really takes in what is going on and studies things around her. Then, she has this busy-body, friendly side of her that is like me! She isn't shy of showing her disapproval of people or things just as much as she isn't shy of showing when she really likes something! This month, Piper has really begun showing her "big girl" side through communication and understanding. Just in the past few weeks, she has really increased her vocabulary and talking. Her favorite thing to say is "I want ___." Usually it ends in 'moot' (milk),'crackus' (crackers) or 'baby'! But, if she wants something she starts asking over and over until she gets it or she gets a threat! On a drive the other day we pointed out the horses on the side of the road and she preceded to say "I want neigh" over and over until she fell asleep! The kid is persistent! And, when she gets in trouble for something, she immediately tries to focus our attention on something else as if to distract us from punishing her! Ha!! How they learn so young! I really feel that this month has been a turning point for her and us. She has been sleeping more and fussing so much less! And, she just has been a great child for us. My mom even commented over Christmas that Piper appears to have matured in a sense. (Ya, she said that and the next day we go to Michael's mom's house and she is a grumpy gus...so go figure! Ha!) I really do agree with my mom for the most part. It has not been perfect by any means and will never be perfect; but something about her has changed and it has been so good! The last time we went to the doctors office she weighed 24 lbs, but I do not know her length right now. She is wearing 18 month pants and 24 month shirts and mostly 18 month dresses too and a size 5 in shoes! She loves the piano!

This was taken at my parents house while we were there for Christmas! I think Daddy was a bit bored!! Piper sure thought it was fun! The Diaper Duo!

Waiting for the cat outside to walk by again! She kept saying, "Cat, cat, cat! I want cat!"

(Christmas pics will be coming soon!)

The Great Blizzard of 2009!

Merry Christmas!!! Christmas this year has gone a little different than planned! On the morning of Christmas Eve, we left our home to drive 5 hours to my parents home but once we arrived in Norman we realized that the roads were not going to be adequate for us to travel on because you see, Oklahoma was beginning to get blasted by a blizzard!! So, we did the safe thing and turned back and went home; therefore, being at our home for Christmas day which has never happened and will probably not happen again for years! It's been a beautiful white Christmas! We have relaxed and been lazy which has been nice but I did miss getting to spend time w/our family. But, we will hopefully get to leave tomorrow and still go see them! Today was Piper's first time to play in the snow. She wasn't thrilled about it but she had a little fun! We didn't have any 'snow clothing' for her so we put some things together...rain boots, pj's, etc!!

We didn't have much food in our house b/c we were not planning on being here but I've managed to cook a few things, though it wasn't delicious Christmas food! We did eat grilled cheese and oreos for our Christmas lunch! Ha!! Our neighbor invited us over for turkey tonight so that will be yummy! It's been a good day even though we didn't plan it this way! I wouldn't want to be stranded w/anyone else than Michael and Piper anyway! Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Illness, injury, and the rest of our crazy life!

I've been a little busy and haven't had much time to blog. Sorry to all of my 4 followers!! Ha! Today, Piper woke up pretty cranky and I just thought she was still tired but it ends up my baby has her first bout of strep throat! See her puny self below. She and I did a lot of snuggling today. I'm so glad this didn't happen next week during Christmas because... She was terribly sick over Thanksgiving. This is the only picture I took of her on the day after thanksgiving. She was miserable because she had a horrible cold. We thought it was another ear infection and Michael's mom called her doctor and he graciously met us at his clinic, even though it was closed. No ear infection!! She and I slept together every night during that holiday. (notice she is wearing the same outfit in her two sick pics! I did not plan that one!)

She was feeling much better the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We celebrated w/my family that day at my sister's home. Here's our little turkey!

Fast forward to December 9th and while playing in the church nursery she had another run-in with her nose! She got a pretty bad carpet burn on her nose after tripping on something. It looked worse than the picture shows but it is looking almost back to normal now!

But, in between illness and injury, we have been doing really well! Piper is loving to play dress up especially with my wearables! We have gotten to play with friends and go to Christmas gatherings. I even got to go to Texas for an entire weekend with my sister with no kids!!

See--she knows how to have fun!