My next post will be about our 1 year old! There is a part of me that doesn't understand how that has happened, but another part that thinks back to the tears shed over not getting into any daycare and the uncertainty of what it would look like to go back to work. And that seems like 10 years ago. To say that I don't miss my baby would be a lie, but I LOVE, LOVE each day now. There is something new that happens each day. She is learning at an enormously high rate and her little sponge brain expresses itself through her eyes. There are some days that I could just sit and watch her take it all in. It is simply amazing. Julie and Katie came over to play with Piper on Sunday, January 16th and she showed them her drawer in the kitchen. She then wanted to show them her cabinet in the kitchen, but quickly realized that the cabinet couldn't open with the drawer out. To watch her figure that out and then problem solve to close the drawer in order to get the cabinet open left Julie and me with our jaws on the floor. How does she know that? It's those little things that you don't necessarily write down that I enjoy the most. Like how she has figured out how to get into her Pottery Barn chair and is so proud of herself or how she can now hit all of the balls through the holes (even without the mallet) on her block toy that Gma and Gpa gave her at Christmas. Or how she decided she wanted to hang out with us while we got ready one morning, but really wanted to play her grand piano so she pushed it from the den to our bedroom so she could play it for us. There are so many wonderful memories that didn't make it to this blog, but my hope and prayer is that between me and G we can remember and regurgitate these to each other at some point.
Piper continues to be a wonderful sleeper and we get her out her crib each morning around 7:30am. She generally is awake around 7-7:15am, but enjoys playing with her blabla dolls and waking up by herself in her crib until we come and get her. In a perfect world, Piper would get a morning nap around 9:30am, but that only happens on Saturday mornings as she is normally in daycare by that time on weekdays. She typically sleeps about 1-2 hours at Noon each day and is ready to pass out when we pick her up from daycare each day. She rarely makes it home awake and this new carseat is keeping me from not interrupting her afternoon nap. Some days she lets me move her to her crib and some days she will pop right up and be ready to play. As you can see, she still has little interest in wearing socks and usually can pull at least one off before passing out.
She officially has a first word now...'Ball'. She loves a ball. She can throw it, put it on her head (to roll away), and to play with. Excuse the nudity in this video, but she was being a complete ham this night and I couldn't resist.
She is now into EVERYthing. Cabinets, drawers, trashcans, you name it, she wants it. And what she doesn't want is you to clean out your bathroom cabinet and put her toy box in there because that is just not interesting enough. We daily play this game of 'Mom gets ready, Piper pulls everything out, Mom puts everything back into drawers and cabinets, time to go to school'. It's exhausting, but it's better than teething on the toilet (refer back to an earlier blog because that really happened) and for that I'm thankful. I am also thankful that these days I have decided that 'dirty hair, don't care' isn't just a fun saying and I only now wash/blowdry my hair a couple of times of week (okay, that's generous).
Daddy gets to dress Piper some (very few times if I have anything to do with it) mornings. Below is a product of such morning. Yes, her LeBron 'kicks' made their official debut on her 11th month birthday and her teachers couldn't have been more proud. 'Oh Piper Girl' They said just about every teacher from each room had to come see Piper's shoes that day. Hysterical to me. Piper ate it up, certainly.
She found her burp cloth drawer and it's her favorite for the obvious reasons. Look at the velocity in which she can throw these things. And then a pile that big! My OCD tendencies have been tested in the most wonderful ways and she wins each time. If you were to open this drawer, for the first time in 10.5 months, these burp clothes would not be perfectly folded. And who the heck cares? Surely not this LeBron-shoe wearing girl.
G has been helping his best friend, Jason Cochcroft, coach the White Knoll Varsity boys basketball team this season. While I have missed having him around in the afternoons to help with Piper and most Tuesday and Friday evenings I can see how much G loves being on the court. I think more importantly he loves working with these boys and helping them work towards their goals. I decided we would go watch Daddy's team take on Irmo on Piper's 11 month birthday (since it's such a special occasion, right?). She loved the excitement of it all...still sporting her LeBron's...in her Birdie's lap. Sounds like a perfect evening to me!
Piper's new found loves are the swing, slide (a little unsure still), her Pop! Pop! Piano (her Nanny gave her for Christmas), clapping her hands while saying 'clap clap', and climbing up the stairs, She has started to wave and say 'byyyyyyye'.
She has started to clear her plate onto the floor when she is done eating. It's so frustrating, but I try to just play along and just laugh with her. We spend quite a bit of time cleaning up now after every meal. This is new because she used to eat it all. Seriously, I would have to cut her off. She would have never thought to waste a calorie on the floor. I guess her belly is starting to get more normal (more like Daddy's and less like Mommy's). Laundry is one of her favorite things to do with Momma, but she isn't very productive (quite the opposite). Good thing she looks cute hanging out with Momma on the floor to fold clothes.
January 22nd weekend- we joined 13 friends and their 8 kids in Beaufort at The Glenn's family house. It was an amazing weekend to hang out with friends and their babies/kids. Piper, Graham, and Thomas were each sporting their favorite Baby Boden outfits so I couldn't resist a picture!
We took this time to 'relax' without any plans. I feel like I got to spend some much needed quality time with Piper as well as my friends. Win-Win!
Piper enjoyed playing with everyone's kiddos including Aunt Courtney and her Sadie. Kemper (5 months older than Piper) was obsessed with Piper and couldn't get enough of her. I LOVED watching them even if Piper wasn't so thrilled. Collins was such a big helper with Piper making sure she got her bottle. My heart seriously grew watching these kids interact. It was almost as good as the momma-time that we got both nights!
All EIGHT kids five years old and younger.
Collin, Lochlan, Kemper, Piper, Collins, Graham, Harper, Thomas
This girl makes me smile every single day and for that I'll be forever thankful. She very clearly said 'Mom' this morning while crawling into the bathroom looking for me. I heard it, but then really smiled when I heard G say 'did you just say 'Mom'?'. In full disclosure, she's been saying 'Dadadadadada' for a while now, but that doesn't count. Because it just doesn't.
Piper continues to love bath time (every other night) and has SEVEN teeth (4 up top and 3 on the bottom). She enjoys playing with her toys and doesn't miss a meal (obviously,..that belly though). She loves to click/clack her tongue to make noises, crawl into our closet, watch Momma shower, unroll the toilet paper, crawl through tiny spaces (and 'fake baby cry' when she can't get through), and stand at the windows at the front door. Pi- you have already given us so much and we know there is so much more to what you have to offer. We talk about how much we love you everyday and it makes Momma and Daddy smile so much! We love you more than we could have ever imagined....even after the past few AWFUL diapers.
