TOES!!!!!!! and 5 months old

Well, Piper has officially found her toes and is rolling over constantly. For the past 2 weeks she has been waking herself up every 15 to 40 minutes from 2 am until 6 or 6:30 in the morning....no matter what time she goes down for bed at night. She has so much personality that it just seems impossible that she's only 5 months old. Here is what she's up to these days:

-She likes to feed herself (I balance the bottle while she tries to hold it).
-She is now in size 3 diapers (cruisers)
-She wants to crawl so bad that she can taste it.
-She is a rolly polly
-and a weeble woble who loves to stand as much as she loves her daddy (which is a bunch)
-She sure does have a temper on her....she wants things to be done a certain way.
-She only says ma-ma when she's mad or really tired

-She loves to have her picture taken.

-She gets about 45-50 ounces of breastmilk everyday (yes, I'm still pumping every single day every 3-4 hours)

-She sleeps from when her head hits the mattress until 2 and then it's a battle to stay asleep.

-She takes a 2-3 hour nap in the earlier part of the day and takes 2 40 minute naps later in the day to make up for lost sleep.

-She is wearing 6-9 month clothes

-She smiles all the time

-She likes to bite mommy and daddy's thumbs and forearms

-She still doesn't really like the binky very much, she just prefers her fingers

-She is an early riser and a night owl all rolled into one

-She's the greatest accomplishment of my life!

This little angel has stolen my heart and all of my families' as well.

She is just so darn pretty and I love that she got my mother's skin color.....Portuguese/Italian.

4 Months and Counting

Well, Piper is now 4 months old and life is just full of so many fun and exciting things. She has had a mysterious case of diarrhea the past week, but she is finally in the clear from it. Her doctor thinks that it was because of something that I ate because she only had diarrhea and nothing else...no fever, no vomitting, no dehydration, and no unusual fussiness. She is always just a happy baby. I love this picture -------------->
She doesn't really know what to think of bows yet. Most of the time she doesn't like them so I just try to take her picture in them.........SO CUTE!









Well, this is her official 4 month picture with Minnie Mouse. I've had Minnie since I was a Jr. in High School and Piper just loves her. So Piper, what are you up to these days?

-You go to bed whenever you want no matter what time you get your bath.
-You like to sleep 10-13 hours every night.
-When you wake up you like to talk quietly and make your dirtbike sounds while studying your hands and kicking your feet.
-You take 3-5 20 minute naps everyday (you're always afraid that you're going to miss something if you sleep longer than that.
-You have already said mom/momma....now you say it only when you get mad because you know that I'll come running.
-Yesterday, you made your dirtbike sound followed by DA-DA then more dirtbike sounds.
-You are unsure of rice cereal.
-You like to stand (assisted) all the time.
-You can almost sit on your own.
-You can roll over (both ways), buy you just don't like to because you are always keeping yourself from rolling.
-You creep around to everything that you want.
-You are a tummy sleeper.
-Lilly is still your favorite toy, but you have a new fascination for your burp cloths.
-Your official nickname is Monkey because you will grasp something with your feet and put it in your hands. You like to play with mommy and GG's hair with your toes.
-You love your daddy and you love to watch dirtbike racing with him.
-You like to wear little boy shirts with your little girl capri leggings.
-Most of your clothes are 6 month - 12 month. You are so long torsoed and long legged that you have to wear bigger clothes. You have a small waist, but muscular/chunky legs so have to buy you 12 month leggings/capris so they'll fit you in the legs. You don't mind one bit though because they'll last you until you get to be 9 months old or so.
-You hate dress shoes, but you love your sneakers......(thank you Jesus!).



This picture was from our 25th birhtday party. Josh and I couldn't have planned our birthdays being so close even if we tried. We are exactly 1 week apart. Piper was helping us blow out our candles. We were all three in dirtbike shirts. I know we have a little girl, but she loves her boy shirts WITH her little girl capri leggings.








This is you and your cousin Madysen. You guys had such a great visit and you get to see her in just a few weeks again. Piper was really diggin' her pjs.












Well, I will leave you with this sweet picture of Piper. She was asking me where the sunshine it.

Piper's 1st time sledding

Well, it is the first snow of the new year and it snowed at total of 8 inches in Lincoln over about a half inch of ice. It sure does look pretty and it's not too cold. I decided to bundle Piper up in her snowsuit and take her out in it. She made a snow angel and even went sledding for the first time. I pulled her around the front yard in her little bathtub. She actually had fun because she kept smiling. All of the fun just tuckered her out so she decided to take a nice LONG nap. Enjoy a few pics from the outing in the front yard.

GG and Poppa with Piper

Piper in her makeshift sled.

My little angel making her first snow angel.

Happy Family in the bright snow/sun.

She looks so enthusiastic.

Well, life as a SAHM is great. I get to hangout with Piper all day. She has decided to not roll over and move on to creeping on her tummy. She can creep about 6-8 inches before she gets too tired. She loves her tummy time with mommy. I'm finally back into playing the piano, but it's hard to find free music sheets online of disney songs so I need to find some secondhand disney music books. Luckily, playing the piano is like riding a bike......you really never forget how. Piper loves to sit and listen/watch me play. More on that later.

Happy 3 Month Birthday Piper!

Happy 3 Months Piper!

What are you up to these days?

1) Trying really hard to sit up or stand on mommy's lap.

2) Eating about 40oz of breastmilk everyday.

3) You started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks.

4) You usually sleep from 10 pm until 7 am.

5) You prefer Pampers Swaddlers diaper because you wear them the longest.

6) You wear a size 2 in diapers.

7) You weigh a little over 13 lbs and are 23.5 inches long.

8) Your favorite things to play with are Lilly your lion and a burpcloth.

9) Your first crush is Baby Ezrah (I'll post a picture later).

10) You love your daddy, but you have seperation anxiety from me.

11) You've outgrown most of your clothes ranging from 0-12 months.

12) You pretty much wear 6 month clothing.

How do you like your Bumbo seat?

She really likes to look at dirtbike mags with daddy.

We had a great lunch today with GG and Va-va at Hog's Breath. I absolutely love their broccoli/cheddar baked potatoe. There are 4 generations here.


She was trying really hard to read my shirt.

Well, this in the end so I'll leave you with my 2 favorite people.

Assistance Programs and Budgeting

Well, I am just wanting to let people out there know that you should never be too proud for Assistance Programs. When I found out that we qualified for Piper to be on AR Kids and for us to be on WIC I will admit that I was too proud to join in. Oh how that has changed. These programs are there for a reason. As I now see it (well, my mom and sister gave me a swift kick in the rear) I have paid my taxes and my husband still does so lets use what we have been paying for since we were both 15 years old.

I am no longer too proud to ask for assistance if it will make life easier with our TIGHT budget. We are only on one income now and things are really tight. When I told Josh that I was going to stay home we had a few loans that we were paying on.....truck, computer, and dirtbike. We managed to pay them all off by the time Piper was 1 month old. It was so refreshing to get rid of those payments without getting rid of the item. The saying is that 1 year before having a child you should live off of 1 income (the one who will not be staying home) in order to see if you can make it. The other income should be put into a savings account. Josh and I were doing this without even realizing it. It has made all the difference because we used that to payoff loans.

Well, that's it for the technical stuff. I just felt like saying a little bit to let people know not to be afraid if your budget gets too small because if you qualify to get a little bit of help...use it.

11 weeks and counting.

Well, Piper is 11 weeks old today. The little stinker is growing so fast. She has been in 3-6 month clothes for about a week now. In Gerber she wears 12 month because she has a long torso and a chubby tummy. She is almost in size 2 diapers...another week and she will be. It's so crazy being a stay-at-home-mom. Whoever said to sleep when the baby sleeps obviously never stayed home with their children. You can't possibly do it. I can't sleep when the sun is out because that's when I like to get things done.

This is our recent family photo. It was from yesterday (1/10/10).

Piper definetly looks like both of us.

This is the only article of clothing that I have monogrammed with her name on it. I really need to get a few more things done for her. She is always so smiley and giggly when I change her diaper. This little girl sure does hate to be wet or poopy.

This is Piper and her (fake) Auntie Sara. Piper has really spoiled Sara into wanting children sooner rather than later. Her poor husband said not right now......I don't think he's ready for the mountain of laundry and diapers that come with a baby....haha.

This was our Christmas tree this past Christmas. This year we are going to do a traditional big green one because we now have a family to start our own traditions with. This one will be Piper's next year and her's will be going in the kitchen. Her's is a midnight blue so it'll match my kitchen perfectly.

She has her daddy's eyes. She is such a daddy's princess. She sure does know how to spend his money. She keeps growing out of her jammies it seems like we're buying a new pair weekly. She is only 2 months old and is already wearing 3-6 month jammies.

Well, that's all for now folks. We'll see ya later!

Life Has Happened and I haven't blogged since the 3rd trimester

Well, it has been a long time since I last posted. I was 29 weeks pregnant when I did and as you can tell from these pictures that I've had my daughter. She was born on October 26 at 5:11 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 1/4 inches long. I am very happy to no longer be pregnant and to have my little girl in person with me everyday. So much has changed since that great day.

I am now a full time stay-at-home-mom while Josh works very hard outside of the home. He is an appliance repair technician. He typically works 10-12 hour days so that we can afford for me to stay home with Piper. Josh is such a great daddy to her. He has been wrapped around her little finger ever since she was born. When he first found out that I was pregnant he told me that he did not want to witness the birth because he tends to faint or get sick when he sees blood. He stayed for the birth (obviously) and was so amazed at the whole act of giving birth. He thought it was the greatest thing he has ever witnessed on Earth. I could've told him that....haha.

Anyways here are just a few pictures from the day before, the day of, and the day after.

Piper at home at 3 days old.

Me holding Piper for the first time.

Josh holding Piper that night.

Me the day before birth in active labor (I was not dialated at all).

Very first family portrait. (We look like highschoolers).

Well, that's it for now. I will be updating my blog more often (hopefully everyday). I have a lot to fill everyone in on so keep your fingers crossed that I can get it done.

That's all.....See ya!