The Cutie Express

That's what my friend Danielle calls the laundry basket, and I love the name so much that I stole it. And Piper loves some quality time in her laundry basket! We stock it with toys and blankets, and she's good to go.

Piper Meets Penelope

On December 6th, the trio of us went to visit Auntie Michelle & Uncle Josh for a quiet evening of good company, vino, and movies. Piper loves visiting Josh & Michelle, and she is entranced by their giant TV! Piper wore a little Christmas ensemble, complete without outfit from Auntie Moe and hat made by Nana (of course).

Before we left, I had to introduce Piper to Penelope the Guinea Pig. Piper gets such a kick out of Delaini the cat and Seamus the dog, and pretty much any other animal she meets. True to form, our girl was enthralled by the Other Ms. P. She even offered her binky, how generous!

Thanksgiving.

Piper had a very fun First Thanksgiving! We went to the Haran house, as usual - it is always great to get together - you can count on some fun. Considering we practice our Martini Bar a couple weeks in advance, fun was definitely in store.

Family Portrait!

The Haran Girls

Piper, Sue, and Megan have tummy time.

With Auntie Moe

While the rest of us feasted on turkey and casseroles, Piper feasted on sweet potatoes, carrots, and peas.

After dinner was over, Piper provided us with a floor show!

Playing catchup

Sorry I haven't updated in a while!! Things have simultaneously been status quo and changing all the time. Our Ms. Piper can sit up on her own - without propping herself with her hands! She also has taken to pulling herself up into a standing position when she grabs your hands, which took us quite by surprise the first time she did it (Saturday or Sunday).

We did have a little scare on Sunday - Perhaps due to all that pulling herself up, Piper ended up with a dislocated elbow, aka 'Nursemaid's elbow'. We had a little trip to the ER, because of course we didn't know what it was. Thank goodness it had actually popped itself back into place before we even saw a doctor. Everyone at UMass was wonderful, and Piper was back to her smiley, happy self before we were back in the car. True to form, she won over both her doctors. Every time I take her out, people can't stop commenting on what a beautiful, happy little girl she is.

I have a couple of videos I need to upload from my camera, so in the mean time, here are a couple 'vintage' photos - from November 9th. :)

And one of Piper snuggling her daddy (Grandma Carol, this one's for you!)

A thought.

I just wanted to say how overwhelmingly proud I am that my daughter will grow up in an America where an African American could always be President. I hope you will share her father's and my love for history, and will study with amazement the time when we were not all considered equal.

BARACK THE VOTE!

Piper accompanied me to her very first Presidential Election today. She hopes you all voted for Hope & her favorite guy named Barack!

Voting wears a girl out.

Babysitting with the Harans

This past Sunday, Jonathan and I met some friends out for dinner, and the Haran clan happily agreed to watch Piper while we went out. They all had a great time. Piper LOVED Georgie (the Cockerpoo).

She also loved watching football with Uncle John & Shane, and showing Auntie Helena the ropes of her activity mat!

October 31: Halloween!

Halloween! We've had Piper's costume since I was about 3 months pregnant, thanks to a Disneystore.com after Halloween sale. Don't worry, we've got next year's costume already too. We started off our day by dropping by the office to visit Grandpa Wil!

I dressed up our little Nemo around 5 and brought her around the block to see our neighbors, the Hamiltons and the Garlands. It was fun showing her off! After that, we loaded Ms. Piper up and drove her to Uncle John & Auntie Donna's house to visit. She was asleep when we got there, but she was so happy to see everyone!

We capped off the night by going to the Auburn vs. Northbridge game to support Uncle Pat's coaching efforts. They won, 28-6! Piper thought the lights were awesome, and people Oooed and Aahhed over our cute little fishie. Hard to believe that next year at this time she will be walking around!

October 30: Five Months Old

Here are a few snapshots from Piper's '5 Month Old' photo shoot.

Piper the Cowgirl.

Piper loves her Jumperoo. Loves. It. She can hang out in it for 20-45 minutes at a time! Watching her bouncing and bopping around never gets old, either. I submit for your viewing pleasure...

We Miss Daddy!

Jonathan flew out of Boston on Friday afternoon to meet up with his dad in Ft. Lauderdale. Frank has a conference this week, and so they decided to continue their tradition of meeting up for an NFL game by going to see the Miami/Buffalo game today.

Piper and I saw Jonathan off at the Logan Express station Friday afternoon. We've had a pretty low-key weekend. Visiting with Aunt Maureen, going to the grocery store Saturday and Kohl's and Target today, and of course spending quality time with her horsie jumperoo!

We can't wait to pick Daddy up in Framingham tomorrow afternoon!

Great Grandpa:

We hope you are having a quick & speedy recovery!

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

Not much to report. We've had a relatively quiet week. Oh, other than the fact that Piper thinks sleep is for chumps. Her "new" bedtime is midnight - 12:30 AM. You can imagine my delight. Though I must say - even at midnight, she is generally happy, giggly, and playful. I could have it much, much worse (though we did have a rough night two nights ago).

She changes a little bit every day, and it's so fun to see. Aunt Maureen watched her today while I ran to Target & Price Chopper, and reported that Piper enjoyed her Jumperoo for about 20 minutes, bouncing and talking away. That would be the first time she's done much besides examine her seat and wait patiently for me to take her back out again!

She discovers something different on her exersaucer each time she's in it, it seems. She loves the rolly guys and the animal sounds, and just yesterday she figured out how to spin the globe...well, how to spin the globe on purpose.

So, there is your daily Piper fix for those of you who were jonesing.

Note to self:

The next time I take pictures, make sure the baby is not dressed in orange!

Oatmeal 2 - The video evidence

Here's a little taste of Piper's first taste of oatmeal. :)

Oatmeal

Yesterday seemed like a good day to start solids.

There is quite a bit of healthy debate over when to start solids. The AAP basically says any time between 4 and 6 months. I have run into a few holier-than-thou moms over on http://www.thenest.com/ who look down their noses if you start earlier than 6 months. Holier-than-thou people are never fun. There has been evidence linking the early (as in, earlier than 4 months) introduction of solids to childhood obesity, so I wasn't in any huge rush.

Our pediatrician told me at Piper's 4 month check up that we were free to start solids if we wanted, but we were also free not to start solids until we were ready. She also suggested we skip rice cereal and go right to oatmeal, since rice can be binding.

Piper has been increasingly curious at mealtimes, very obviously following forks and spoons with her eyes. She's also got a healthy appetite, so we thought - why not? At least give it a shot and see where she's at. So, yesterday we set up shop on the living room floor, Piper in her bumbo seat with tray (courtesy of Grandma Carol) and mixed up the oatmeal. The results?

Piper was far more interested in gnawing on her spoon and grabbing the bowl than she was in swallowing the oatmeal. She didn't dislike it, she just wasn't sure what to do with it once it was in her mouth.

We may try again next weekend. Like I said - no rush here!

Pumpkin Patch - aka A Whole Lotta Orange

The First Congregational Church up the street was having a pumpkin sale this morning. My godmother Kathy, her daughter Jen, and Jen's brood came over with coffee around 9 so we could all walk together, pick out pumpkins, and have a little photo op. Parker is 4, Camden is 19 months, and Phelan is 2.5 months.

After an hour of running around our yard, the crew set off on back roads to the church. Piper was far too interested in the pumpkins we propped her up with to give the camera a second glance - which the photographic evidence will show!

Jonathan's big request was for me to buy one of the big, warty pumpkins. Well...that wasn't going to happen without him there to lug it home, so I took a picture for him instead.

Snapshot in time

I am sitting on the bed with my laptop. The blinds on the picture window are up all the way to let a gorgeous, unseasonably warm Saturday sunlight pour in. Jonathan is dancing around the bedroom holding Piper, while "Punk Rock Girl" plays on his computer. He sings along, "We'll travel 'round the world, Just you and me, punk rock girl."



He hoists her in the air over his head, and lets her drop in a controlled free fall, one of her favorite games. He decrees, "This one's going to like the roller coasters!" and sits her back on the bed with me, facing the window so she can watch the world go by.



The cat, through it all, slumbers on in a patch of sun. I so love my little family.

Getting all Autumnal

I've been making a real effort to get out and walk more. I need the exercise, for one thing. More importantly, Piper is becoming more and more fascinated with and absorbed by her surroundings. To top it off, the weather this week has been gorgeous. Everybody wins!

Wednesday, I had enough forethought to grab my camera and throw it in the diaper bag. One of our walk routes brings us by the Congregational Church and its old cemetary. Such a good place to take a spooky Halloween photo!

Just a little further along, I couldn't resist another photo shoot. The leaves on the church lawn were too pretty.

Fall is officially here. Piper approves.