Pumpkin Picking Farm

We headed out to a local farm that has animals and a tractor ride, a little maze, some bubbles and a pumpkin patch. P seems so shy when we take her places she has never been. It takes her a while to warm up to any place.

Styling in the wagon:




Oh, goats! Even though we went in to pet them (along with other animals) she didn't want to touch them. :)





Close up in the hay on the tractor ride:


Walking through the maze (she loved the flowers)




Lots of pumpkins:


This is the one I picked:



It is so funny that she doesn't smile in new places. We thought for sure she would be excited to see the animals since she loves looking at books and points out the cow and goat and horse and chickens and everything. She is very go with the flow though and while hesitant she still just follows along with what we are doing. But get her in an environment she knows, like at home or at the playground and she is smiles galore. Last night she was miss chatterbox too and actually said dada and mama correctly and attempted kitty. We are making progress. :)

Back to the Beach

We headed to the beach for a few days and we had perfect weather. Highs in the low 80's and sunny, it was beautiful. P had tons of fun!

Claire and P riding the bike:

Loved being in the sand:

Walking around with dada:

Played in the tidal pools and had lots of fun:

She thought it was fun to have the waves crash into her:

I love the beach:

Family photo:

In brief other news: She had her 15 month check up and is in the 90th percentile for height and in the 50th percentile for weight. She seems to be interested in trying to talk a little and can repeat some sounds pretty well or she tries. Typically her response to anything is "dah".

Fun on the farm

Little P turns 15 months old today. The words are coming very slow, but she seems to be making progress with mama and dada and doing them correctly along with trying to say other words and sounds. She still loves reading books and we sometimes read about 10-15 a night which hanging out. She has become more picky with foods and gets a bit crazy at the table when she doesn't want what is on her plate. She has started to figure out the spoon pretty well and the fork is slow, doesn't quite understand the stabbing part. She also has decided that all her teeth should come in now so we have the top and bottom molars working their way through (which leaves us with cranky P).

We headed to a fall farm last weekend with some friends. I didn't have my camera, so thanks to them, they took some cute pictures of P!

Crawling through the tunnel:

P and J:
Riding in the cow train:

Wanted to ride again: (looks like she had more fun with him!)

Charlotte

We went to Charlotte the other weekend to visit some friends of ours. We had a good time.

Claire teaching Piper about acorns....promptly followed by P then wanting to eat the acorns:




We headed to the playground at the park and they both enjoyed running around:





Then we had a battle of who could make it down the slide first (they both seem super excited here)



Then we tried out a helicopter carnival ride. After putting them both in the ride, EZ pumped them up with a few high fives:




And they were off...as they went around, we kept saying "yeah" and clap your hands, so of course they did...

Pictures

Been meaning to post some photos, so here we go...Enjoy some of P's crazy outfits too!

Piper has learned how to give kisses (and blow kisses too):


Love bouncing on balls!

We went to see some cows...although she didn't seem that interested.
The chickens were a little more exciting:
Fun outside riding our little scooter:

We can get by with old oatmeal cylinders as toys and use them for stacking toys inside and then dumping them out:
Love clapping our hands (and stomping our feet too):

Happy girl:



It's fun to climb into the play kitchen's oven!
Styling in my sunglasses:


Go Blue:
Learning how to throw the football:
We headed to the carousel festival last weekend...two days in a row....Piper was unsure of the carousel:

Loves the window...and I just had to post this of her angle outfit with tutu (which is actually a pajama set we got as a gift but we chose to wear it as clothes even out to the carousel festival in the previous pic!)

14 month Stats

Piper just turned 14 months. And we are slowly progressing in the verbal department. I am still not quite convinced that she can say mama and dada even though she can say the words, actually using them correctly is a very different story. But she is starting to try and repeat sounds when we ask her. They don't quite sound the same, but you can tell she is trying to change her sounds.

On the flip side, waving hello and bye are things she loves to do and she has started blowing kisses to us at night when we tell her we love her. She also has started to sign more and eat. But only using more when I ask her if she wants more and only signing eat once I ask her if she wants to eat. I don't think she has figured out that if she signs it first then I would understand. She also has a huge level of understanding that sometimes blows my mind. She is obsessed with books and pointing at things and us telling her what they are. So now basically we ask her where things are and she will point to them. She can even see a picture of the same things like a fish and be able to pick it out in different colors or forms or whatever.

She finally got some more teeth. She sprouted two more that are almost done on the bottom to make a total of 4 on the bottom and she has one that is slowly coming in on the top to make 3 on the top. She is not a fan of a lot of foods now either. I have a feeling a lot of it is the texture now as she used to eat just about everything. But she is not a fan of rice or anything like it at all. And many vegatables now are thrown on the floor-carrots for one she used to like and now won't touch them. Currently we are on a peas, broccoli, and corn mix and that is it for the veggies.

She got sent home from daycare on Monday for being sick...and she has a bit of pinkeye. At the doctor they weighed her and she is a whopping 21lbs. She is also starting to show lots of frustration when something doesn't go her way. This could be if we aren't getting her down out of her highchair fast enough when she is done eating, or when she is trying to put a shape in a hole of some toy and she can't get it to fit right. She gets upset and cries/whines, but then she tries it again. Very interesting how physical and problem solving oriented she is and could care less about really communicating. She wants to climb up stairs on the playground and slide down the big slides. She loves climbing up on the couch or chairs, and throwing balls in the house to see how far they go and then running after them. Lots of fun.

I'll post pictures in a few days!

GF Food

I've been on a mission lately of creating some good GF foods that I have missed. The other night I made my own teriyaki sauce using equal parts soy sauce (La Choy is GF or you can use Tamari sauce) and brown sugar with a little bit of rice wine vinegar and it turned out really good.

This morning I made my own Cream of Chicken condensed soup to put in the crockpot with some chicken and rice and celery. It was super easy and I know it is not only GF, but so much healthier for you then the canned stuffed which has so much added stuff. Here is the recipe I used.

I also will be making these cheesecake cookie and cream desserts this weekend which I am super excited about and I think I might try making donut holes soon too, since I really miss those.

All in all, eating GF hasn't been that hard, but there are things I do miss...mainly some good yummy cake or cupcakes and a lot of asian food. Now I have to make it all at the house which is fine, but sometimes it would be nice to be able to go out to eat some not so good for me asian take out!

Falling Behind

Yes, it has been awhile...things just got busy! I started back at work almost 2 weeks ago and since then, it has been nonstop go go go. Piper seems to be adjusting to the full blown daycare and everything which is good. I was a mess the first few days she was there but I am feeling better and better about it now.

As for stats on PZ, we totally think she is close to talking. Finally saying mama and dada and directly it at us sometimes. Although she still does say mama or dada to other things too. We have mastered the wave for hello and goodbye, and loves to clap her hands and stomp her feet and dance (shake back and forth). Yesterday she signed more for the first time and we think she actually meant it. We also think she is trying to say "all done" and "up" and "ball" but not completely. All of the communication stuff has all happened in the last couple days.

Her top two teeth in the front are maybe halfway down, they are moving super slow. But she does pretty good chewing with just her two bottom teeth and those two on top and it looks like she might be cutting two more on the bottom too.

She is still super active, running around nonstop and is very into reading books (or having us read them to her). After 10 times of the same book though, it isn't so fun for me! And she also has started whining. If she wants something or wants our attention she will start to whine until we help her. This is not a good habit! I haven't even taken many pictures in the last month, but we did take a few of her at the pool. She absolutely loves the water and wants to go in as far as she can barely keeping her head above the water. She seems to have no fear at all which is fun and scary at the same time!

Still love the laundry basket:
Clapping our hands:

Updates

Lots of stuff happening...EZ climbed Mt. Rainer and had a blast, I just came back from a math conference in Kentucky and have started getting everything together for classes. It always comes up so fast.

Our daycare/nanny is moving up north to NH where she is from which has caused me a serious amount of stress over the last month. Trying to decide what is best for P (and any future kids) is hard for me. In the end she because of circumstances, she will start at a real daycare next week. I know she will be fine but in some location in my mind I feel like I am not as good of a mother because of it. Why, I don't know.

In Piper news...she still is not saying any words yet. But she finally has started waving Hi and occasionally Bye, and she just started clapping her hands (sometimes). And now she will give you a kiss (or at least she will give EZ and I a kiss). It is quite cute. She increasingly understands more and more which is great but it will be nice once she says Mama or Dada.

I should post pictures, but need to take some. Hopefully soon!

The Beach

P and I headed down to Ocean Isle Beach for 5 days while EZ is off climbing Mt. Rainer. I met up with two other women and each of their children (Claire who is almost 1 1/2 and Elliot who is 11 months). It was fun to hang out at the beach, get a little sun, run a little, eat some amazing homemade ice cream, and just relax a bit.

Piper absolutely LOVED the beach. She wanted to run around, play with the sand, run in the water, just about everything possible. She did not want to just sit still. She kept getting mad that I wouldn't let her go deeper into the ocean and she loved having the waves "crash" into her! It was lots of fun. We typically aren't beach people, but I think after this, seeing how much she had fun, we will have to go back!

Some Photos:







Getting 3 little ones to all look at a camera is impossible, but here is a few attempts:

On the Beach

Styling with our shades

Cozy on the Couch






And my all time favorite of P and C...you can't beat their expressions!