Waiting for the snow

Just sitting at home catching up on the Olympics we dvr'd from last night. I was doing a little work when Piper decided to start acting a little silly so here's a link to youtube:



I wonder how good the Wolfman will be??? More to come...

Achievements for all

Last week was a busy week for the family. I was at the Texas Computer Educators conference in Austin where I presented during a 50 minute session. I really had a great time and the best part was getting to hang out with mom and Marqus. I did miss out on the 12+ inches of snow Taylor and Piper were enjoying back in Dallas so it was a little depressing to miss out on the snow again. So, home on Friday and then to Lubbock to see the fabulous Sebashtian for a long weekend from Saturday to Monday. We went swimming at the hotel and Bash was swimming extremely well. I was so proud to see a great breaststroke from him plus we saw my good friend, Jason and his daughter Bethani. Busy, busy week but Piper figured out that she can move on her feet so to the amazement of both of her parents she has begun to take more and more steps:

So with Piper's steps, Taylor has completed all of her Master's coursework and now all that remains for her is graduation. Taylor's completion of her coursework is inspiring and gives me a little more focus and motivation to finish strong myself; 3 classes left but congratulations Tay, I am so, so proud of you!!!! I love you and I am happy you've completed this challenge!!

8, 9, 10 months

A few pics before the update story - Her hair after her first pony tail
A sweet nap with her bunny

Crawling up the stairs

So it's been a long time since I've updated Piper's stats. She is now 10 months old and very active. She doesn't look very different from her 3 pictures with her lamb chair, but developmentally she has changed a ton! 10 months

9 months

8 months

It's hard to get her to pose, or even be still for a picture and we usually take these pics at night so she's got on her jammies and sleepy eyes. She is a speedy crawler and follows us everywhere. She's also cruising along the furniture and walking while holding onto our hands. She can stand and squat, but still has yet to take those first few steps on her own. She weighs 17 lbs 10 oz, such a petite little thing. She's a good eater and pretty happy all the time. She still only has two teeth. She loves playing with other kids, but also enjoys time alone at home with her toys. She is so excited in the evenings to arrive home and crawl around our floors. She is sleeping through the night every night which is wonderful for us. She is still nursing a little bit. She has crawled up the entire flight of stairs and she climbed down the stair around our tub face first onto the tile floor. She was nervous about this and I was too, but when I saw her doing it, it was too late to stop her. She has a little anemia, but otherwise has been a healthy girl so far this first year. Chris says she has officially spoken her first word - "mama." She has done this for about a month now and is also now saying "dada" and "uh-oh." Piper likes to comfort her friend Trinity at daycare when she cries by patting her on the back and saying "mama." Trinity is 2, but they do have a sweet friendship. We love this little girl and she is such a blessing!

ICE

I know it's a little late for this year, but if you're looking for something fun to do next holiday season you should check out ICE at the Gaylord hotel. It was awesome! We'd heard from a few friends the past couple of years that it was great and they were right. It is totally worth going! The theme this year was Grinch -

We think Piper had fun, although her face was a little cold at the end. Bash loved it, especially the ice slide.

The colors of the ice were so brilliant! It was 9 degrees in the exhibit and we all had to put on those huge blue parkas.

ThE HoLiDaY SeAsOn

Here's a recap of our busy, but wonderful holiday season.

For Thanksgiving we stayed here and all my family came. Bash created a fort and he and Piper played underneath the blanket.
Piper giggling at her Great-Gramps

This is a picture of my mom's entire side of the family. They all came to Dallas for the Baylor vs. Texas Tech football game at Cowboys stadium. The Baylor fans are outnumbered in the family, but everyone was very nice about the good effort Baylor put forth at the game. We all enjoyed seeing the new stadium.

Piper sandwich!

We all "ran" the Turkey Trot with 35,000 other people Thanksgiving morning. It was a fun time dodging walkers and dogs with a jogging stroller. After burning calories we all came home and had a great meal.




Now on to Christmas 2009!

Sibling Christmas pic

At Piper's daycare Christmas party the kids put on a performance of songs. Piper danced/jumped along the entire performance. It was super cute!

Sitting on Santa's lap. She was totally fine with Santa, just really tired as his visit was at the end of the party. She did enjoy running her fingers through his curly beard.

Family Christmas pic

lazy morning enjoying the time of from school

Playing with Cousin Kelly in Kerrville

Uncle Matt holding Piper - now that she can move on her own, he's not afraid of her anymore and they had a great time interacting over the holidays.

After opening presents at Mimi's

Looking out the window, she enjoyed this as we don't have any glass doors at our house where she can do this

Piper getting her Bambi deer out of her stocking - she loves this deer and giggles everytime she sees it.

Bash's favorite present - he wore this everyday after he got

New Years 2010

Over the winter break we traveled down to Kerrville as my Pawpaw was very sick. We knew this would be the last Christmas with him. We were able to take a 5 generations picture since my dad was here. We were also able to enjoy our time with Pawpaw as he could still have conversations and join us for meals.

Piper and Pawpaw checking each other out. Piper enjoyed crawling after Pawpaw when he used his walker to get around.

Five days after Christmas, on December 30 Pawpaw passed away. His funeral was January 2, 2010 and Chris sang his favorite Irish song, "Danny Boy." He was 82, had lived a very full, blessed life, and blessed many who knew him. I am so thankful that I had him in my life for 29 years. We miss you Pawpaw and love you, but are thankful that your pain has ended and you are with Your Maker in Heaven.

Bash is here!

Bash arrived on Saturday and we've put him straight to work. After a fun round of golf with Dad, he helped attack the yard which has unfortunately become overgrown with weeds and dandelions. They raked the leaves (front yard) and he did an excellent job of mowing while Chris fertilized. They are quite a team and now our yard doesn't look quite so bad. Here's the fruits of his labor -

This is only half of the yard, the other side had just as big a pile and now we have 8 bags of leaves in the alley.

Crazy November

Why do the months with holidays always seem crazy? November (and a few weeks before that) has been busy. Here's a quick update - A visit from Grammy and Pops at the end of Oct.

A trip to the Pumpkin Patch on Halloween day

These pictures are her 7 month pics because I forgot this month to take pics with her lamb chair. Oops! And I realize that next week will be 8 months, but better late than never trying to record her accomplishments each month. I do have a goal of making her a real baby book on Spring Break when I'm done with masters classes and I hope it becomes a reality although I realize that this blog may end up being her baby book.

It has been a month full of milestones - Piper has mastered sitting up alone, is crawling, is pulling up and walking along furniture, and saying ma-ma. I chose to believe that she knows I'm ma-ma and says it when she's talking to me and Chris lets me believe this so we're happy.

For Halloween - we got a puppy!

This was in the school book parade.

Our puppy can sit, roll over, speak, attack, and play dead.

We invited Piper's birthday buddy Sally over and Piper played rough. She didn't understand why Sally didn't like it when Piper crawled up her back. We're going to have to work on her social skills with babies since she's the youngest at daycare and the other kids think she's so cute they let her get away with being rough and scratching.

Chris and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Woohoo! Chris got me these beautiful flowers which are a replica of my wedding bouquet. Thanks Robin and Rachel at Cymbidium.

We were fortunate to be able to go on two dates to celebrate. We had a great time and did a good job of not focusing on the little cutie we left at home.

Here is Piper's winter hat

Chris baptized a guy in our small group - Burton. We are amazed at the people God has put in our group and feel so fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful friends who care for us and support us through everything.

And finally evidence of Piper's new tricks (sorry the pictures are in such random order)