You Made Me Do It.

An open letter to all who admire me in public:
Dear Everyone,
When you approach us at the mall, grocery store, church, doctor's office, etc, please know that I really love the attention. It is so much fun to flirt and smile at a face that doesn't belong to those crazys who live with me. However, I have just one request of you. Please, please look at me and all the things that are around me. If you will notice I am almost always dressed in pink. I NEVER leave home without a bow, and usually quite a large one, on my little head. My car seat is pink and brown and my name is most certainly a girl name. Oh, and while we are on the subject, have you ever known a boy with my name? It is a GIRL'S name!
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. My mama has been quite upset lately by all the times you have called me a boy, despite all the evidence to the contrary. The other day she bought me this:


















Hopefully, this will help with all the confusion!
Love and kisses always,
Piper

Please Watch Where You Are Going, Thank You Very Much.

My oldest brother, Mitchell, who has been a police officer for 25+ years, many of them a motorcycle cop, was hit by a man who was not paying attention yesterday. While he was on duty. Riding his motorcycle. He's ok, just really banged up. Evidently, this guy was not paying attention and tried to turn left while Mitchell was going straight. So, as I said before, just look where you are going. I'm sure that man will.
















my 2 brothers and sister from left to right: Michelle and myself (sitting), Mitchell and Damon (standing)

What Are They Teaching Our Kids?

"Having a heart beat is very important if you want to stay healthy."
As seen on Max and Ruby (Caleb's favorite cartoon). My reply, "ya think?"

Just Some Random Pictures and Equally Random Commentary

I suppose I could blame my lack of posting lately on the very busy 3 year old and 6 week old I spend my days and nights with, but really it's just been that I don't really have anything super interesting to write about. I mean come on, who wants to hear abou all the pull-up/diaper changing, time out placing, pumping, feeding, burping, etc that I do all day long? I guess the most exciting thing to happen around here is my appointment as creative actvities director for our MOPS (mothers or preschoolers) group.
A week and a half ago.
When all the others got the job in May.
With a budget I have to stick to.
And nothing was planned.
Did I mention the meeting I have Wedneday night where I have to present the whole years worth of activities/crafts?
Do you think I've been busy?
Oh yeah, and I go back to work in 8 days where I have to educate our future healthcare professionals. So, in honor of my lack of something to talk about, here are the pictures I took over the last few days.


















Piper LOVES her tummy. I usually let her nap this way if I can sit by her and keep an eye on her. This is totally new for us because Caleb couldn't stay in this position for more than 30 seconds withou being in tons of pain from his severe reflux.






















A daily occurance for Piper. She loves going out and doing things, but if you put her in her carseat and don't start moving right away she starts squawking. I guess she thinks we'll forget her.

















Piper and myself with Dr. Robins, my fabulous ob/gyn.

















I'm not the only one who is tired around here. He literally was asking for a sucker as he climbed in the chair and laid down like this. He slept this way for over an hour and then I had to unfold him.

No Poop Equals No Go

On Friday I posted that we were going to start thickening Piper's feeds with Simply Thick to help counteract possible reflux. We started with the first feed after we arrived home from the doctor on Friday afternoon and continued through Saturday morning. Sometime around 9am I realized that Piper had not pooped since Friday, around noon. This is distressing for a 6 week old who is being breast fed and is used to doing her business before and after each feed. We stopped the Simply Thick Saturday morning and waited to see what happened. It took until later Sunday afternoon before things were moving again. Needless to say, we had a very unhappy baby this past weekend and a very tired Mommy and Daddy (especially Daddy since he has weekend duty!). We're going to wait on the meds right now as Piper doesn't seem to be in any real distress and I'll mention this whole thing at her 2 month appointment.

Photo Shoot

Piper had a photo shoot this morning with a good friend of mine whose has just started her own photography business. Go on over to Melissa's website at http://www.capturedwhispers.com/ and check out some of her other work!

Pulmonologist Appointment

Today, I took both kiddos to the pulmonologist, Caleb for his 4-6 month check up and Piper to be seen to squash my mommy anxieties. With all the trouble we have had with Caleb, I wanted to make sure that she is indeed as healthy as we have been told she is. So I took her right to the source, the specialist.
Based on what I told our pulmonologist, it is pretty apparent that Piper is refluxing somewhat. Not a surprise, really. However, our doctor is not one to jump right to meds if there is another way to fix or treat the problem without them. So, we are going to start thickening Piper's feeds. If you remember, we had to do this for Caleb until he was 2 for his aspiration issues, so we're pros at how to use the stuff and will be starting the thickening agent with the next feed. Hopefully, this will help with the issue and we won't have to start on the medication quite yet.
Piper was also weighed and had her length measured at this appointment and is coming in at 11lbs 6oz and 22 inches.
Caleb is well, according to the doctor, and we go back in December to see the doctor again.

I Admit It...

Ok, so I'm going to go ahead and admit it, we have a strong willed child on our hands. The child I speak of, since I have to differentiate now, is Caleb. I have tried to attribute his horrible attitude and terrible ability to follow directions to age, gender, lack of nap, hunger, thirst, nervousness, etc. I guess I just haven't wanted to admit that he's one of "those kids". You know that ones I'm talking about. The kids who won't obey anyone, no punishment affects, and could care less about how their actions affect others. So, I admit it, I have one. I have a strong willed child. Can someone help?

PS Please take into account that this post is a long time coming and is just me getting it out after he has terrorized me all day and ended it by throwing a full glass of ice water onto his sleeping sister, in a crowded restaurant. Then he laughed. help.

Month One

Piper is officially one month old now. This past month has been filled with lots of fun and exciting things for Piper. She has been able to hold her head up on her own since birth, but is now getting pretty good control of both it and her upper trunk. She has smiled at me a few times and is pretty happy most of the time, as long as she's not hungry. Piper has also laid claim to her Daddy and is the most serious of all the Daddy's girls that I have seen. She is also very enamoured by her brother, who never loses and occasion to kiss, hug or tell her he loves her.

Health-wise, Piper is just as normal as can be. She is eating every 3 hours and sleeping well at night. She has more awake time during the day and is quite happy to either have tummy time or just watch Caleb and I do what we do during the day. Piper also loves to go and do things with the rest of us and has been out and about since the day after she and I left the hospital.

We think that Piper might have an umbilical hernia and she is starting to show signs of a little reflux, but we've been down that road before and are confident that we can deal with it. We have seen the ENT as well and her tongue, while it looks a little tight, she isn't tongue tied and doesn't need to have anything done about it yet.

We are very blessed to have Piper in our lives and family and are having the best time with her!