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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Fallish!!!!



being in children's ministry we try to avoid the word "Halloween"....so we started calling it "fallish" :)...I dressed up like a "new mommy" hahaha (real creative huh?!!), jake was a mechanic, and piper was a cute little pumpkin :) At our churches fall festival I was taking note of the super cute and creative costumes for next year! My favorite so far was an idea from aunt heather....Piper and I dressing up like Pea's and then drawing black eyes on both of us....get it...."the black-eyed peas"!!!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Pipers Dedication...

Piper was dedicated at our church on sunday (october 25, 2009) lots of family came and she wore the dress that I was dedicated in!!














Tuesday, October 27, 2009

a day in the life of piper :) ...

daily grind... (aka laundry with mommy:)

snoozing...

tummy time!...

cheating death at the zoo!! ;)

hating my car seat!...

watching my first baby Einstein...

watching daddy check e-mail...

hanging out close to mommy in her wrap...

and just being the cutest little lady around!

Monday, October 26, 2009

yes...I kept it....

On October 24, 2008 (also my father-in-law's birthday) is the day Jake and I found out we were expecting our little girl....WOW I cant believe that has been over a year now!! And yes I still have the pee stick in my jewelry box ;)

Happy Birthday!


Saturday, October 24th was my father-in-law's birthday!...it was also Pipers Dedication weekend...so Piper stole a little of his Birthday thunder :( but I think he has forgiven her ;)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

in the words of Oprah..."That is the coolest thing ever!!"

and i must agree!!!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

3 months!! (a little late :)

-I took my first trip out of state, to Missouri to see family
-your days of going to the dollar movie with us are over...we have had to walk out of two movies! so Grandma came to stay with you while mommy and daddy went on their first date without you.
-I am laughing up a storm! It sounds like a high pitched squeal :)
-I had my first sinuses...but Dr.Tamatha help me with that.
-I Love my play gym mat thing. I will lay their for 20 minutes just talking and laughing with the monkey that hangs from it.
-I love sitting in my bumbo while mommy or daddy is cooking and sitting at the table with them in it during meals.
-I still sleep in mommy and daddy's room in my co-sleeper.
-I still like to wake up once during the night to nurse. but I'm up and ready to start my day around 7am.
-Between Church and MOM's group, I have started to spend some time in the church nursery...I don't love it, and mommy had been paged a few times, but I am starting to get used to it.
-I have started noticing the TV. And will actually turn my head and stare at it for a few minutes.
-Mommy things I weigh around 11 pounds.
-I take my day time naps in my swing.
-I have started rolling over a lot....mostly from my belly to back.
-I have really strong legs, and love standing (with help of course)
-I am still pretty mommy-needy (which of course mommy loves)...but I am starting to let other people hold me for longer periods of time.
-I LOVE kicking, smiling and staring at mommy and daddy's faces :)


Wednesday, October 7, 2009

standing!!....with daddys help ;)






Tuesday, October 6, 2009

baby cafe....

I was browsing through my friend tori's facebook page, and found these...



She and 2 other ladys set up a "baby cafe" at an outdoor event in stillwater (my hometown) called Celebration Stillwater...it was a free event put on by a lot of the churches in stillwater that offered free food, free hair cuts, free oil changes etc. so as you can imagine there were lots of people there! Tori and her friends wanted to offer a respite for mommies who needed to feed their babies! Isn't this a great idea!! Her friend got the idea from my personal favorite magazine...Mothering...In the magazine it was called "moms breastaurant"...cute huh!? I just wanted to give props to Tori and her friends for putting out the effort to support mommies in this way!!!

Monday, October 5, 2009

attachment parenting...

I know that I have left people high and dry on what exactly attachment parenting is (unless you already knew :). It is a parenting theory that i started doing research on long before our little Piper arrived. I was immediately drawn to the "motherly instincts" approach as opposed to the "get them on a schedule, cry it out, so on..." approach. There are 7 base ideas to attachment parenting...
the 7 baby B's of attachment parenting...
1. Birth bonding
The way baby and parents get started with one another helps the early attachment unfold. The days and weeks after birth are a sensitive period in which mothers and babies are uniquely primed to want to be close to one another. A close attachment after birth and beyond allows the natural, biological attachment-promoting behaviors of the infant and the intuitive, biological, caregiving qualities of the mother to come together. Both members of this biological pair get off to the right start at a time when the infant is most needy and the mother is most ready to nurture
"What if something happens to prevent our immediate bonding?"
Sometimes medical complications keep you and your baby apart for a while, but then catch-up bonding is what happens, starting as soon as possible. When the concept of bonding was first delivered onto the parenting scene twenty years ago, some people got it out of balance. The concept of human bonding being an absolute "critical period" or a "now-or-never" relationship was never intended. Birth bonding is not like instant glue that cements the mother-child relationship together forever. Bonding is a series of steps in your lifelong growing together with your child. Immediate bonding simply gives the parent- infant relationship a headstart.
2. Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is an exercise in babyreading. Breastfeeding helps you read your baby's cues, her body language, which is the first step in getting to know your baby. Breastfeeding gives baby and mother a smart start in life. Breastmilk contains unique brain-building nutrients that cannot be manufactured or bought. Breastfeeding promotes the right chemistry between mother and baby by stimulating your body to produce prolactin and oxytocin, hormones that give your mothering a boost.
3. Babywearing
A baby learns a lot in the arms of a busy caregiver. Carried babies fuss less and spend more time in the state of quiet alertness, the behavior state in which babies learn most about their environment. Babywearing improves the sensitivity of the parents. Because your baby is so close to you, you get to know baby better. Closeness promotes familiarity.
4. Bedding close to baby
Wherever all family members get the best night's sleep is the right arrangement for your individual family. Co-sleeping adds a nighttime touch that helps busy daytime parents reconnect with their infant at night. Since nighttime is scary time for little people, sleeping within close touching and nursing distance minimizes nighttime separation anxiety and helps baby learn that sleep is a pleasant state to enter and a fearless state to remain in.
5. Belief in the language value of your baby's cry
A baby's cry is a signal designed for the survival of the baby and the development of the parents. Responding sensitively to your baby's cries builds trust. Babies trust that their caregivers will be responsive to their needs. Parents gradually learn to trust in their ability to appropriately meet their baby's needs. This raises the parent-child communication level up a notch. Tiny babies cry to communicate, not to manipulate.
6. Beware of baby trainers
Attachment parenting teaches you how to be discerning of advice, especially those rigid and extreme parenting styles that teach you to watch a clock or a schedule instead of your baby; you know, the cry-it-out crowd. This "convenience" parenting is a short-term gain, but a long-term loss, and is not a wise investment. These more restrained styles of parenting create a distance between you and your baby and keep you from becoming an expert in your child.
7. Balance
In your zeal to give so much to your baby, it's easy to neglect the needs of yourself and your marriage. As you will learn the key to putting balance in your parenting is being appropriately responsive to your baby – knowing when to say "yes" and when to say "no," and having the wisdom to say "yes" to yourself when you need help.

*all of this information was taken directly from Dr.Sears website.