first tooth, first food, first beach.

Big day today!!!

First Piper woke up with her front bottom right tooth finally though the gum (just a wee bit!). She seemed happy about this and wanted to celebrate by sleeping.

Have I mentioned how much my daughter loves/needs to sleep. I too would rather she want to play and go do "stuff" all day but no, she needs her sleep. You don't want to see her if she doesn't get it... but perhaps another blog about this sometime...

Anyway- hooray the tooth is here! Its so cute and little and white! I cant believe she already has a tooth!

After a couple naps Ty and I decided to let her have a go at eating (playing with) avocado. I am passionate about waiting to give babies food. Piper has been exclusively breastfeed since 5 mins after being born. I wanted to waited as long as possible so why did we decide to do it now???:

She is sitting up.
She got a tooth.
She is swallowing and digesting. (remember the posts about her unfortunately eating paper and dirt?)
She is reaching, grabbing and putting everything in her mouth.
She is hungry! Nursing OFTEN.
She is doing chewing movements.
She no longer has the reflex of spitting stuff out (whatever that is called)
By 6 months her gut is "closed".

However, I am not counting on her actually eating enough for any nutrition. This is just fun, practice, learning new sensations. And if she swallows some, ok. No rush. Breastmilk should be the primary source of nutrition until the age of 1.

I decided that organic avocado should be her first food. Why?

Rice cereal came along at the same time and same reasons as formula.
It is starch and added iron. Not much iron, if any will be absorbed. Therefore, no nutritional value.
It is a processed food... ie- not a WHOLE NATURAL FOOD which is what real FOOD is.
Rice cereal is a high glycemic food. Think sugar high. Think diabetes. Think BAD HABITS.

Avocado is whole and natural from the Earth.
It is easily digested.
It is packed with nutrition and GOOD FATS.
It is not sweet and sugary.
Its green. (this is just my opinion, not research. pi has seemed to like the color green. and no harm in kids liking green foods!)

So if this info can remind me for the next kid- cool. If it can help other parents... even better!

Here are the videos. Sorry they arent cut up in clips but... I HATE video editing but I know how much better they would be with some slow, serious flamenco music. (is flamenco ever slow?)









and the snap shots...


always analyzing...


squish!


feels funny..


weeeeee



Also, we went to the beach to try to get cute shots of Piper in heritsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini. We had been to the beach many times but it was only to walk (its been wintertime) and she was snuggled in her Ergo. This time she wasn't thrilled with the beach. The people, sun, wind, sand and waves seemed to be a bit much for our red head. She wanted to go home and sleep. Those pics are still on my Canon. I know... turns out being a mom is a really busy job.

btw:

tall, teeth, twin.

Yesterday we had Pi's 6 month check up. She is in the 103% for height at 28 inches. She is off the charts tall!
Unfortunately she is almost off the charts skinny at 15# 2 oz.
Dont worry I am not starving her. She nurses like crazy. Especially now that she is cutting her first tooth- I cant even seem to keep up! We have switched back to block feeding to ensure she gets plenty of fatty hind-milk. I was skinny too as a baby and so was her uncle. She is thriving and I am not too worried about it. My pediatrician however is using this to push me to feed her as if her playing with food is going to give her more calories. Anywho-

Pipers bottom right tooth is ALMOST through the gum! Last night she didnt sleep much. I hope tomorrow is better. Soon we will have a toothy grin. Looks like the top tooth might be next... here is my angry teething baby this morning taking out her frustrations on Sophie the giraffe.



Today Piper and I spent the afternoon with our fellow Bradley Method mama Stephanie and her son Dallas. Stephanie and I were in Bradley class together and we both ended up having at home water births on the same day! 16 mins apart!
Steph is a nanny and so Piper helped herself to lots of toys and lots of flirting...

pre-crawling!

The only commitment I made today was to do a beach, bikini baby photo shoot. I have been trying to do it for days! My dad (and photography buddy) came over to help me. We took some pics of Piper May in the dress that daddy got her for xmas. Here are some iphone shots of her in her dress. The other shots are still on my Rebel.

her favorite being in the entire world...








After this we got all our beach stuff and camera stuff and baby stuff and got in the car and wouldnt ya know... SEAFOG rolled in. We decided to check out the beach anyway. It was dark, cold, and smokey. The fog was litterally rolling down the street! ACK! People were leaving the beach in droves.
So we left. I was too tired to handle entertaining Piper by myself to I went back to my parents house. My mom layed down a blanket on the floor and told Piper it is about time to start learning to crawl. Apparently Pi took her very seriously because she immediately got up on her hands and toes in a plank! This was a first ever!



She is so strong! I then showed her how to crawl and how to scoot on her butt. Yes I scooted. I hope she doesn't scoot because I will be laughing all the time and will feel bad.

So then she really worked hard at it:


She was so tired she kept laying her head down. I figured she was done but as I was getting ready to go she pushed up on both of her knees! WOW! I tried to get it on camera but didnt... after this she was definitely pooped and could barely stay awake til 6. Actually she was asleep by 550...

Oh and I am pretty sure she said "Jackie" this morning.

Piper just peed in the potty... again!

Piper just peed in the potty... again! Click here to read about the first time.

I have been putting her on it while her bath fills up everyday. I thought she would never do it again but today she did! No crying or anything! She had to go!

Also today she was a happy girl after being a crab all weekend! Hooray! She was all smiles today and slept splendidly (3 naps!)... it probably helped that she slept basically attached to my boob all night and nursed about every 30 mins today... I am eating lots of lactation cookies this evening and will also be helping myself to a Guiness. Yes dark beer helps milk production. Wonderful I know.

Here is our girl today on this magical day and a toast to a good night (please sleep gods let it be a good night)!

playing with her new soccer ball that she prefers over the basketball and football and sitting up by herself quite well:












Out walking with my mom while I vacuumed the ENTIRE house with our new vacuum.

Yes she wears sunglasses all the time when she is outside and doesn't mind one bit.

With her G-ma's


Playing in her boppy from Great Aunt Carla before bedtime. She loves it!

sunday night is shampoo night.

This weekend Piper May was very unhappy (for Piper May). She wanted to be held, nursed, and held some more. Nighttime sleep and naps were just about non-existent! Now this is probably a bit of an exaggeration based on the dark circles I see on most children and babies when we visit the mall. Children need sleep people! I probably have no idea how good we have it.

Most of the time she had her hand in her mouth like this...


Stupid teeth! Show yourselves!

We had a hell of a time installing our new Britax convertible car seat. We just couldn't seem to get it level...
She got so tired of waiting to go out into the world that she just gave up...



Every weekend evening Piper gets her nighttime bath with her favorite guy, Daddy. Sundays are for shampoo.


It was hard to get her attention for a picture because she is very much into the water and various toys floating around in the water. She is ready to swim! Just a couple more days maybe and in the pool we go!

Oh also we are pretty sure Pi said "dada" on Saturday morning but we were too tired and out of it to tell for sure... and I was talking over her. Listen to the babies. We have a lot to learn from them.

raspberries on saturdays.

Piper was GRUMPY today. Basically, if you put her down she cried. She is getting at least one tooth in... maybe two. Poor love. Last night she was up crying every hour... Oh I hope she feels better soon. This is hard!

So needless to say we didnt get many happy girl experiences today (unless jackie was there to entertain her) but we did get this...

one last v-day post.

Piper can't have all the fun.

Tyler surprised me when he came home from work on V-day with flowers, an orchid, cheesecake, and Eric showing up to couch sit while Piper slept like a baby.





He took me (surprise!) to my FAVORITE restaraunt in the whole world: Ceviche

After we got home we decided to take pics of ourselves looking attractive for once (well ME looking attractive for once. He always does. I am lucky if I get showered and dressed let alone look cute). We wanted to take cool Facebook style photos. Do you think we succeeded?

this one is dedicated to all the quakers who try to inconspicuously stick their lips out to possibly make them appear more naturally fuller. It doesn't work. Does it?






Car shot:


Anyway- Tyler is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. He is such a light and a blessing. He is so understanding and compassionate, caring and gentle. He is a lover. He makes Valentines Day an everyday occurrence. He can ALWAYS make me smile (which is terrible when I am mad at him and want to scowl). He is an absoultely amazing father, friend, and fiance. I really should start planning that wedding... I guess I am not good at managing my tasks. That doesnt change that I am absolutely honored to be his wife.

True love is real and attainable.

Rock, Piper, Scissors.

Yesterday Tiffany and Rocket came over and spent the day with me, Piper and Jackie. Tiffany is such a good blogger that she blogs about her days on the same day instead of months later like me. She took great pics of our day together so go check out her post.

I will give you this sneak peak though:

Pipers get thirsty too.

First water drink out of a cup! With Grandma's help!





delish.

ps- Piper loves jackie more than ANYBODY else. anybody.



seriously this dog can make her smile ALWAYS.

first food?

I decided a while ago that I would not be rushing Piper beginning to eat "solid" foods. She reaches for food but she reaches for EVERYTHING so I am still in no hurry to feed her food. She is doing very well with exclusive breast milk.

Anywho-
Last week, Piper's Great Grandmother Edie gave Pi her first Valentines Day card. We all sat around while Ty held Piper as she inspected her Valentines Day card. Edie (who is German) spelled Pipers name "Peiper", which is SO CUTE and German. Piper liked it so much she decided this would be her first food...



I was so nervous that she ate this toxic red paper. However, she promptly pooped it out, fully intact the next day. I will not show you a picture of that.

I figured it was a one time thing, at least til she gets older.

We spend a lot of time outside gardening. Piper plays on her blanket while I water plants.


I learned the hard way that she knows how to pull the blanket towards her so she can get to the dirt and leaves. This is how I found her:






Since this she has helped herself to some more dirt and plants as well as the corner of a magazine. Perhaps it IS soon time to offer her big girl food...

first buggy ride.

Yesterday, Valentines Day, Piper and I went on a trip to Target to get a really awesome froggy humidifier which, by the way, works great and now I want one for my room too!

Anyway- as usual, Piper rode in her Ergo sling but was getting really squirmy and cranky. She wanted OUT! So I put her in the buggy for the first time. I didnt have our cool insert thing to protect her from the atrocities of a buggy(scroll down to "buggy" for a proper definition). I used what I had... a flannel jacket and the Ergo.

Immediately after placing her in the buggy she was so happy and completely forgot I existed. And so it begins, I could not even get her attention. I had to help hold her up sometimes because she is a bit small still for such a thing! She was so proud of herself being so grown up! I think she may have even head nodded to some of the other shoppers.





And the portrait of a teething baby...

Piper pees on v-day.

I will admit it. I have been putting this off. I got behind thanks to a long list of things. Most notably, Pipers seemingly sudden cesation of napping which caused me to go a little bit crazy and then spend about a month remedying the problem. We are mostly better now except for teething. But hopefully she will be sporting a brand new pair of pearly whites soon. I told myself I would update all the past blogs (thankgiving, xmas and so on) but everyday that goes by more and more things pile up. So why not start today... on Pipers first valentines day. I will get around to the rest if I can. If not, thats ok too.

So happy v-day from Piper. We had to change out of her "My first v-day outfit because she peed all over it."

I apologize the photos are blurry but she no longer sits still.





Here you can see her sporting her gorgeous amber/amethyst teething necklace that we got from Etsy.







By the way, Piper is 3 days shy of being 6 months old and moments away from crawling and saying her first word (I swear she has said "baby" 3 times already....) WOW!