Wow! Time flies.

Well, we recently just celebrated Piper's 2nd Birthday.  She got this wonderful kitchen that my brother built.  I wanted one that was solid wood without having to pay $200 a piece.  This 3 piece set cost around $100 to build and paint!  Piper will spend hours just playing with it. I have gotten to spend alot of good quality time with Piper, she is currently learning her colors and how to count.  She can count to 3 all by hersel and she can also recognize the colors blue, yellow, green, and most of the time red and orange.  She sleeps in her bed all by herself like a big girl.  We are still trying on the potty training thing.  She was almost there back in the Summer, but changed her mind. 

She also just recently got her first cousin, Meili, from China.
This was a dress that my sister brought back for Piper.  It is hand-crafted in China instead of Made in China! Ha.  I thought that was pretty funny.  Both girls have so much fun playing together.  I wish that we lived closer to one another so we could spend alot of time together.  At least my sister only lives 3 hours away so it's easy to get down there and back in a weekend.

Piper has also gotten in the habit of trying to figure out a way to keep her daddy home instead of going to work.  She loves to pack herself in his lunchbox.  I'm suprised that she could actually sit down in it.  She always has us staying on our toes and keeps us constantly laughing.  She is a hoot!  I love getting to stay home with her.  I have a great husband who works hard so I am able to stay home.

New Collection! The Fun Frog Collection

Introducing the first of many collections to come!!!!!  This is currently only a 2 part collection.

An oversized stroller quilt (almost the size of a crib quilt).  It is perfect for those chilly days.
Along with an adorable smiling frog painting for the nursery.

Flu, Strep, Cowboy Hats, and Swimsuits

My poor baby girl dealt with the flu and strep for 2 weeks along with her regular allergies and teething with 8 new teeth trying to come in.  This poor girl couldn't eat or sleep hardly.  Thankfully I found out that she loves smoothies so she didn't lose any weight between the vomitting, diarrhea or loss of appetite.  Poor kid.  She does however know how to take her own temperature all on her own so that was a little fun for her.  Once she started feeling better we played in my hat collection and her current favorite is pictured:

We also went and bought her a Minnie Mouse swimsuit for her upcoming swim lessons:


I have missed some school due to Piper being sick, but thankfully my professors are understanding and I haven't missed much.  I am so excited that I get to graduate with my Associates of Arts on May 12!  I am so excited! Then it is on to the U of A for my Bachelors degrees. 

I am so ready for Summer because it is going to be busy and fun for both of us!  I'll update later.....

School and being a mom

Well, the snow that hit our part of the world has been gone for a little while.  We were glad that it was here, but even happier once it left.  That is the good thing about college is that you don't have to make up the missed days due to the weather, but it puts our class behind in our assignments.  Piper and I have just been keeping busy with trying to keep up with my school work and her play time.

Sadly Piper has been sick for the past 2 weeks with allergies, teething, and a cold.  She is finally almost over it and I am ready to get a decent nights sleep in my own bed again...haha!

She loves her bathtime!


Well, midterms have started and will continue until the end of next week and then it will be a week of vacation for us!  I am really looking forward to just being able to do hang out with Piper and work some more on my designs.  I am really looking forward to this semester being over because I GET TO GRADUATE!!!!!!  It may only just be an Associates in Art, but hey I'm just going to be happy having A college degree.  Anyways that's all.  I have a midterm to get ready for and a little girl to take care of.

Business, School, Building, and being a mom!

This is really late, but Merry Christmas!

HAHAHA!

Life has flown by since early October.  We celebrated Piper's 1st birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my parents 38th wedding anniversary, New Years, and my MIL 50th birthday! That's alot of celebrating to do!

Life has just flown by so much.  Piper is now 15 months old and is a toddler. She is into everything. I just love it.  I'm in my last semester to get an Associates degree in Arts!  WOOHOO! Finally I'll be able to call myself a college graduate.  This Fall I'm entering back into the U of A to start my Bachelor's program back up.  The plan is to be teaching Jr. High or Sr. High History and be a Pom Squad coach to that school. 

We are also currently trying to build our home in Farmington.  My poor husband is working practically nonstop!  When I go to school in the mornings he is the one to get Piper up and ready for the day.  When it's his morning she likes to start their day off at 6 a.m. (I leave the house around 5:30 a.m.) and when it's my morning she likes to get  up at 7 a.m. She lets me sleep an extra hour, isn't she just the sweetest!

Well, to help out with my school expenses I have started up my own fashion company.  The name is officially Swingin' Styles.  Piper was the inspiration for it and it took my dad to help me get in going.  I just sold my first dress yesterday and will sell my first two paintings next week.  You'll have to check out that blog to find out more. 

That's all for now!

House of Styles

Well, I promised that I would have a new blog up and running by tonight for my new business "House of Styles", but for some reason google won't let me. So for now it'll be on here and I will work on a Facebook page.

Piper's vocabulary

This sweet little girl is about to turn ONE!

I can't believe it ! She is just growing up so fast.

These are a list of words that Piper knows how to say and what they are.



All forms of mom

All forms of dad

gigi (what she calls my mom)

mimi (what she calls Josh's mom)

Yeah yeah (mandarin for grandpa, what she calls both grandpas)

dog

cat

car

book

ball

truck

all gone

what's that?

read

reach

touch

please

thank you

woof

meow

bottle

bottle of milk!

water

Ricky

Lucy

Piper

Me done.

Me

Cluck cluck

She'll say brother while throwing her hands up in the air as if she's asking where her brother is.

That is it for now because I have more studying to do for my first midterm tonight.

Where has the time gone?

Well, this is Piper currenly at 11 months old. She no longer will stop long enough to take a picture so this is the best that I can get. She is a hot mess let me tell you. She loves to rip up magazines, books, and newspapers along with anything else that she can get her hands on.

This is the best picture I can get of us right now. She is just so curious about everything that is going on around us. I love this age because she is into everything and wants to go everywhere.

This is our favorite thing to do these days.....swingin' in the sunshine! She loves it, especially in her pink swing (an early birthday present).

This is Piper on a daily basis.....just as happy as a baby can get. She is always bouncing around and talking, not just jiberish, but actually words and sentences. I'll post later how many words she knows.

Well, at 11 months Piper is still an ok eater and sleeper. Her favorite things to eat are yogurt, apples, bananas, and cheerios. If I'd let her that is all she'd ever eat. She doesn't like to go in her highchair for mealtimes so I am usually following her around to feed her or she is climbing me while she is eating. I can't believe that she is almost 1 year old. She walks everywhere just about. She loves to dance and I call it the "turn on/off the hot and cold water dance". It really looks like she is trying to turn the cold and hot water on and off. That's it for now because I have to go to class.

Projects around the house

Well, school just started back for me as of last night. I'm taking a whopping 13 hours this semester. I know I'm crazy for doing so, but I need to finish all 3 of the degrees that I want before I'm 30. So to help get my life organized my mother spent the entire weekend helping me declutter my house and to create a playroom for Piper. The play room turned out exceptional! I'm currently working on 2 art pieces for it to follow with a 3rd and 4th later. I also plan on making some custom curtains for the window as well and I have to paint the dresser in the closet.





Piper's closet was really bare because she has outgrown so many things so a few weekends ago my mom and my sister-in-law went with Piper and I to a local consignment event and completely stocked Piper up for the Fall and Winter with some pieces transitioning into the Spring as well. Her dresser is also extremely full. All of the bins are filled with her clothes for the fall as well. The only thing left to stock up on is shoes and thankfully her foot will be a size 5 by her birthday and our local Family Dollar store carries some cute shoes for $5! I've already gotten her some cute pink leopard print canvas mary janes and some Chucks look alikes in hot pink! As soon as they get more colors in I'll be getting her some more.




This is her playroom!

She loves going in here everyday! If you can see her pink/green toybox I am making a painting to resemble it along with a polka dot one for the storytime corner where the chair is.

She likes to wander all over the room because she simply can. She is so close to walking by herself! I just can't wait for her to because my back is constantly sore! We will spend about 3 or 4 hours daily just walking all over the house. She now can just hold on to one finger while prancing all over the house.











Since I've started back to school in the evenings Piper has to go to a sitter.......her grandparents, daddy, and Aunt! I love having a supprotive family because they are free! It really takes away my anxiety to know that she's with my in-laws on Mondays, my mom and sister-in-law on Tuesdays, my husband on Wednesdays, and my father on Thursdays. Piper loves getting to go to the grandparents houses!

Dance Camp

From the middle of June until the end of July I was giving private dance lessons to some of the Jr. High Pom Squad girls in my town. Piper went with me almost everyday. We would be working for 5 hours on average and she'd be awake from 5:30 am until 3 in the afternoon and then we'd both come home and crash on the couch until 6 or 7 every evening.

At the end of July I got the opportunity to do camp again like I did last Summer for the team. I had a lot of fun and Piper enjoyed seeing the girls dance, spending time with her baby buddy Ezrah and my friend Kelly, and my mom (Gi-Gi). Pretty soon I get to do another dance for them.....Hip Hop! I love creating dance routines and then teaching it to the girls. This team is full of many different personalities and I'm so not ready for Piper to hit that age yet! HAHA! No, really I love working with the 7th to 9th grade girls. They listen much better than the average 16 or 17 year old because they don't have a car yet.

I'm hoping to be able to meet with the whole team every week to teach them new and exciting things in the dance world. They are going to competition this Fall and I hope they do great!

GO LINCOLN POM SQUAD!!!!!!!!!!!

The first half of Summer

I know it's been a long time since I've posted so here are a few pictures of how Piper and I've spent the first half of Summer.

To start we spent Memorial weekend in Souteast Arkansas visiting some of Josh's family. This is one of my favorite pictures of Piper actually stopping long enough on her dunebuggy to smell a flower.




The first part of June we helped my brother and sister-in-law with a yard sale. Andy doesn't hold babies, but he doesn't mind if Piper sits in his lap to play.

All of May and June Piper and I played in the pool almost every day. Once July hit us it was just too hot to be outside during the day.

We also spent every week at the park. We met my dad (Yea-Yea) one day for lunch at a park by his office. Piper loves to swing and to go down the slide.

Walking and Playgroup

This will be another pictureless post. I'm sorry for so many of these this week that have no pictures.

Anyways, you all know that I started walking almost 2 weeks ago. Well, I love to walk mostly in the early evening hours because the sun is going down and it is much cooler, but I hate to walk alone with Piper at that time because we worry Josh almost to the point of sickness. Well, as of this past Monday Piper and I no longer have to walk by ourselves in the evening. A facebook friend and I have hooked up together for evening walks with our kids in tow. It is so much fun having a friend to walk with. Sometimes her friend Natisha and her daughter Kendel walk with us. Last night Kelly and I did 6 miles......that puts my week to 23.5 miles now. I'm really hoping to break my goal of 30 miles for the week. I'm not dieting or anything like that and I can already see a HUGE improvement on my waistline.

Okay, on to another note......Piper and I went to our first playgroup yesterday at Kelly's house. There were 5 moms and 12 kids.....WOW! Can we say CRAZY!!! Piper just kept checking everybody out and tried to get into everything while we were there. She even managed to take about a 40 minute nap amongst all of the chaos and excitement. She is the one who started the whole naptime yesterday. We can't wait to go to another one. I'm so excited to FINALLY be making some mommy friends that live within walking distance of my house.

I swear I'm going to have to get another pair of running shoes before summer is up because of all the miles I'm packing into my current ones......(thanks mom).

That's all.

Workout Update

Well, to update on the workout......last week Piper and I did a total of 18 miles from Wednesday until Saturday. It is only monday and we are already starting the week off right....10.5 miles done so we are one third on our way to this week's goal of 30 miles.

Tonight Piper and I joined two other moms for our evening walk, my friend Kelly and her son Ezrah and her friend Natisha and her daughter Kinley. It was alot of fun to walk with 2 other moms instead of just going by myself. I've also joined Kelly's playgroup and the best part is that all of the girls live in Lincoln or close by so I don't have to go far for my first time this Thursday. I'm so excited!!!!!

Right now Josh and I are enjoying Piper laughing hysterically at me for no reason. She is such a funny girl. Today she has learned how to wave hi and we are still working on how to wave bye-bye.

Working out and getting fit

Well, this will be a picture less post. Last Summer when I was 7 months pregnant I taught two dance camps to Lincoln Jr. High and High school pom squads. I get to again teach the Jr. High, but this time they will be taking my dances to competition. I am not in very good physical shape to keep up with 20 14 and 15 year olds so as of 4 days ago I started my new workout plan. I've done several over the years......you know what I'm talking about, ordering them off of the tv or internet also along with doing fad diets. Well, having a baby has put alot into perspective for me. There is no such thing as dieting it's just a lifestyle change that you have to be committed to.

For me that entails no meat or tomatoes and to cut out cokes and super sweets as much as possible. Along with this I am trying to maintain powerwalking/jogging with Piper 2-6 miles every day. I also found a great hip hop basic workout video at Walmart for $10 that is part of a 10 minute solution series. I do 2 workouts every other day along with the walking. I love this plan that I've created because lifting weights is not my thing. On the plus side of the dvds Piper will watch me and jump like crazy in her jumperoo so she's getting some great exercise too. I am hoping that by the end of 3 more weeks I will be in the best shape of my life for the long term. I miss teaching dance and I really want to get back into doing it so I gave myself 4 weeks total.

This plan for me is not to lose weight, but to tone up and get in shape. I don't care how much I weigh or what size my clothes are. Most women are so afraid or ashamed to say what size they are or how much they weigh......well I am not one of those women. I weigh 161 pounds and I wear a size 12 in most brands. I used to be 140 and wear a size 4/6. I will never be that size again because having a baby has really changed my body and I'm proud to be of a larger size. Too many women get so caught up with what the world says that we should look like......well I'm not part of that group anymore. I am now going without makeup most days and I'm growing my hair out to it's natural color....GREY!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all for now......

6 Month Madness

Well, Piper has now reached the ripe age of 6 months. Let me first start off by saying "WOW, time sure does fly when you're having fun!". I can't believe that she's already 6 months old. It seems just like yesterday that she was just born. I can truely say that motherhoold really suits me. I look good covered in greenbeans....HAHAHAHA! Well, Piper loves to eat Barley cereal in the morning, greenbeans for lunch, and greenbeans for dinner. That is all the girl ever wants to eat. I have to mix EVERYTHING with greenbeans just to get a little bit of a variety in her diet. She's so funny because she wants things done her way and she knows that I will ablige her. She even crawls her own way.....she gets up on all 4s and then nose dives and continues to do so until she reaches her destination. She would just much rather get up and walk there or dance to her point of interest. I've had a couple of rough nights the past 2 weeks where she will wake up from sudden intense teething pain that I have to comfort her by snuggling up together. The past 2 nights she has gone to sleep in her own bed and woken up in her own bed at dawn so I'm hoping that it sticks for a while. We had her 6 month shots today and she did great! She weighs 15 pounds 1 ounce and is 26 1/2 inches long.
She is already practicing good oral hygiene....too bad it's her hairbrush (yes the brush was clean and sanitized).
Here is her trying something other than greenbeans.

This was April 24, 2010 and Piper tried to crawl for the very first time.

Her guilty face from naptime.

This was her 6 month birthday present.....her Precious Planet Jumperoo. She loves it, but only at about 10 - 20 minutes at a time.

Piper is just such a joy to have in my life. I'm thankful everyday to be her mother. She made my first Mother's Day great! I know when she gets older that she will get embarrassed by me, will want nothing to do with me, and may even hate me for a split second, but there is one thing that she will never be able to say.....that I didn't love her. She will always know that her mother loves her and I hope to have the relationship with her as an adult that I do with my own mother.

Spring Fun

This post is just a little bit of what's going on in the Stiles' household.
Piper is sitting up really well at 5 1/2 months old. She can now sit up unsupported for 30 minutes or until she gets super excited. She is really into banging her toys on hard surfaces because she's used to me stomping around the house to make her happy (noise wise). She has such a personality.


This picture was on our way to a baby shower for me sweet friend Amanda. I made her 2 custom ladybug paintings for the nursery and completely forgot to take pictures.
Piper is telling me to stop with the pictures...HA!


I love this picture. She has so many sunglasses that do not fit her yet, but I finally found these at the local dollar store for $3! I love being such a great bargain hunter. This same day my mom (GG) and I took Piper to a local consignment event called Junebug Reruns. We spent $50 and got a lot of great stuff for when she's 18-24 months. Then yesterday we took our bi-weekly trip to Walmart and got some sweatpants, capri leggins, t-shirts, shorts, and a cute skort all 18-24 month each for $1. I saved overall a total of $20. We are going back again at the end of the week to get some more.

Well, this is the finished dress. I didn't get a good picture of Piper in it on Saturday just what you see in the above 2 pictures. I get some more this week and try to post them. I am also going to begin making a few more dresses and lap quilts for Piper because at the end of this August I'll be getting involved with a handmade craft fair and selling my custom paintings for nurseries/children's room, trip to grandma's bags, lap quilts, and dresses. I'm going to be so busy the rest of the Spring and throughout the Summer with these projects all while maintaining my house, my marriage, being a mom, and going to school. WOW!

Sewing and Easter

Well, this was Piper's first Easter and I believe that she enjoyed it. The Easter Bunny brought her some great stuff and NO CANDY! Lord knows that I don't need to be eating it.

Check out this gorgeous face! I love how long and curly her eyelashes are. She looks so good in pink and yellow!

This is the first article of clothing I'm working on for Piper. I still have to add the buttons and sew on some lace trim.

This is the first thing that I have ever sewn by a machine and it turned out great! IT's a stroller blanket just in time for Spring!

Pretty in Pink

Well this post is just filled with some of my favorite pics of Piper from being 5 months old. She is only 5 months old, but she seems so much older because she is so independant and outgoing and always ready to go and do something new.

Please enjoy these photos.

She is now always posing for me since she can sit up on her own. She has the cutest grin. I"m not a big fan of all pink for little girls, but Piper just looks so good in it that I now can't resist an all pink outfit for her!

Crafts and teething

Well, Piper has finally slept good. I only had to get up with her twice last night to flip her back to her tummy so she could sleep some more. Tonight she went down pretty easy and so far is sleeping soundly. Poor little girl has been teething really bad for the past 2 weeks. You can actually feel her 4 bottom front teeth. She has been a pretty good sport about it though. They just hurt really bad when she gets tired and with this crazy weather her allergies have been all over the map so she is ALWAYS sleepy. She is not a napper and over these past 2 weeks she has been taking like 5 hours worth of naps almost every day.

I am starting to get back into crafting and I have so many projects going all at once. I really need to get one completed before I start on another.


These 2 pictures are some custom paintings that I have done

for 2 little boys' nurseries. I'm currently working on 2 more sets for other nurseries. I have finally started my own little hobby business....YAY!

I love being able to be crafty and actually be decent at it. The tutu in the first picture is so huge that it would fit most 2 year olds so I am taking it apart to make matching ones for Piper and my friend Amanda's soon to be here daughter, Brooklyn. I am also currently working on making a dress for Piper and a matching stroller blanket. Hopefully they will be done by this Wednesday. If I am successful I will post pictures. Well, Piper has been in bed for 30 minutes so that's where her daddy and I are headed as well.

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.