Spring Update

We've been busy playing - here are some photos to capture what we've been up to - Bash climbing the rock wall at a birthday party, Piper in pigtails - a very cute new way to style her crazy hair, and her 11 month shot with her lamb chair. On her 11 month birthday she finally cut her top two teeth and was running a 102 fever, then she caught a little stomach bug after that. I am so glad that week is over. The words she can say now are - mama, dada, uh-oh, and hi. She walks pretty much everywhere and climbs the stairs all the time. She can also stand up now without pulling up on something. She's a very good eater and does all adult food now, but we're still working on that transition to the sippy cup.

For Chris' birthday we surprised him with a little small group party. It was great because he truly knew nothing about it. Piper got to play with Mackenzie, David, Catelynn, and Kaleb. She loves being around people and as long as she's sure I'm not leaving will play and have a wonderful time wherever we go. I really hope this continues.

She really enjoyed eating black beans one night even though she ended up looking like Pigpen from Charlie Brown.

Smiling with Daddy

Piggyback ride

Oh such a sweet face to look at

Even though she can walk by herself it sure is fun to pull on mommy's pants as we walk around the house.

Napping

The faces of Piper - she is so silly

Evidence of her ability to crawl the stairs. She's really good at it, and she prefers to walk down, not crawl down, but I worry when she stops right at the top and pauses before finally making her way down the hall to her room. Also thanks for reading this long post and bearing with the crazy format. Chris tells me it's just the html code, but when I did my last post it wasnt' like this and he's done the previous three posts so I believe he changed some setting, but anyways :)

Spring Break

So, we went to the park the other day, it was a beautiful day but with a little chill to the air. We thought it was time to release Piper in the world just to see how far she would walk before she gave up. Well, here's the whole documented proof:



I also visited Lubbock in February to surprise Bash with a lunch date. He was so excited, as was I, and we embarked on a fun day of hookie, I know, I'm setting a good example. Anyway, after we had lunch at school we decided to visit my favorite coffee shop, Daybreak Coffee, in Lubbock. On our visit we walked into a particularly busy day at Daybreak only to walk in to a campaign stop for Governor Rick Perry and so my brave little boy decided he wanted a picture with the Governor so here's the result: After we left Daybreak we hit up Main Event in Lubbock for some video games, bowling, and neon golf. I then headed back home to my girls in Dallas. What a perfect day it was.

We are now on Spring Break visiting family in Kerrville, which is always relaxing. We are heading to San Antonio today to partake in a little tourist action at the Riverwalk and the Alamo, should be fun with Piper and Bash, we'll see how that all works out. More to come...

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.