Month 6

Yesterday, Piper turned 6 months old. We are having a really hard time believing this and can't fathom how we got from this:

to this:

Piper is just the sweetest little girl who is very quick with the smiles, unless she's got a camera in her face. She is very inquisitive about all things right now and especially likes the computer and the camera. Sound like anyone else you know? Piper is trying SO hard to sit up unassisted, but still falls to the side or forward when she sits. She is currently enamored with her feet, so if she is sitting and catches sight of them, which happens most times, she ends up folded in half with toes in her mouth, happy as a clam!

This month, we had the priviledge to have Piper's dedication at our church. This was something that we did with Caleb too, but we were very new members and knew next to no one. This time around, we were surrounded not only by our family, but also our good friends who have loved us through good and bad. Piper was very happy and just sat in her Daddy's arms and looked adorable in her expensive dress. One of the more special things that our church does, along with giving Piper her first Bible, is the pastor writes a letter to each child that we are instructed to save until they make their decision to come to Christ. I have filed Piper's away and will be very excited to give it to her during that special time in her life.

Piper's gross motor skills continued to progress this month. I think that I wrote that late last month, Piper made the harder move of rolling from her belly to her back, but this month she has really perfected it. We have to be very vigilant to watch her when she is on the floor, as she has gotten herself in some pretty sticky situations a couple of times because she just rolls into things and all around the place. She is also working SO hard at crawling. Sometimes Piper gets so upset because she gets her hiney in the air, but not up on her hands and vice versa, but never at the same time. She wants to crawl so bad, but just can't yet and honestly, I'm ok with that.

Piper's fine motor skills are coming along too, but not nearly as quick as the other. She is able to pick up small things, but still with her whole hand, and not her first finger and thumb. I know her brother way way ahead of the curve on this, doing it well by this age, so I'm not worried about her not being able to do this quite yet.

Obviously, this last month brought Christmas. Even though we had a pretty low key day, just hanging out with my mom, dad and grandmother, it was still a day full of new things for our little P. She got the hang of opening the presents because she loves to grab and pull things, so that was easy.

My parents and grandmother all went in together and bought Piper the super deluxe Exersaucer model. We never had one of these with Caleb and I really wanted her to have one. She really loves sitting in it and all the things that she can do while there. Sometimes she still gets a little overstimulated, but all in all, it is her favorite Christmas gift!

Her other favorite gift was this light up, spinning top that sings and does all manner of things. She seemed to know right away what to do with it and played with it instantly. She will probably have much more fun with it when she can sit up independently, but for now we just sit and play with it either holding her or in her Bumbo seat.

Piper still has an intense love affair for her brother. Here are the two of them right before we went home Christmas night from my parent's house. She has a tight grip on Caleb's hair and he certainly doesn't care.

Piper also made it through her first annual Lee family Christmas that involves my sister, two brothers and their families, all in my parent's house for the fun. This year, we all were cutting back, so we decided to draw names for both the adults and the kids and Piper got this cute dress/leggings set that I had been admiring for sometime, and a precious pair of pajamas. She was well loved by my brother Damon's girls and she had fun watching everyone have a great time!

Here's the annual cousin picture after the Christmas party at my parent's house. From left to right: Caleb, Madison, Tristen, P, and Dixie. Matt was missing this year because he is in the navy now (we're all so proud) and has been stationed in Maine. Piper loved the Christmas tree and all the sparkle associated, so she was easily entertained by that.

Piper has developed her definite favorites when it comes to what she likes to eat. On her list of favorites are sweet potatoes, squash, an apple/pear mixture, bananas, blueberries and oatmeal. She really does not like peas and the above picture was her first experience with green beans. She did not like them, but I managed to get it all into her by mixing it in with some sweet potatoes. I am still making all of Piper's baby food and have yet to try anything that is canned/jarred with the exception of the oatmeal/rice cereals out there. I have recipes for those, but I'm not too sure that I'm able to make those.

Here's the face I see when she gets her fruit/oatmeal mixture. Happy girl!

Now that she's 6 months old, we get to start with meats and yogurt. We tried a little yogurt this morning with her daily banana/oatmeal concoction and she seemed to like it, once she got past the initial newness of it. The meat, I'm not so sure how I'm going to do that, but once again, I have recipes and I'll figure it out.

This month, Piper also made a new friend, our cat Gus. While she has noticed him all this time, Gus has finally found it in his heart to let her get near him. I don't know if it's that he's getting soft in his old age or just getting old, but he tolerates a little of her clumsy grabbing of him, until she pulls his whiskers or fur. Gus is a sweet cat and never retaliates, just runs off, so we don't worry about him. He is, in fact, quite protective of both our kids, especially when they are babies, watching every move we make and making sure that they are ok.

All in all, this has been a month full of changes and a lot of growing up for our Piper. We can hardly believe that she's already half way through her first year of life, but we can't wait for all the fun that we know is in store!