Belly Laughs with McKenna

Can't leave her alone for a second

Someone is very busy this morning

Changes

"Can you see my new tooth, Mom?"

Cheese face

I can't bring myself to trim her little mullet, so I thought I'd try to style it some. What do you think of the pigtails? I think they make her look like a kid instead of a baby.

11

This has been such a busy month for Piper, both for the good and the bad. I can't believe she's so close to being a year old! I think I've said this before, but I am thrilled to watch her grow and develop. I don't miss those tiny little baby days at all!

• This month for Piper was marred by illness. First was the stomach virus which took about 48 hours to run its course and another 3 or 4 days to get out of her system completely. This last week she ran a fever for about 4 days due to a viral infection that manifested itself in her throat. That infection led to very disrupted sleep and difficulty eating. I'm ready for her to be well again.
• Although she doesn't show any signs of wanting to walk on her own, Piper is enjoying pushing her toys around the house. We also practice with her by letting her walk around holding onto our hands. She doesn't hate this as much as she used to. Maybe we're making progress.
• She has made the total transition to table food (except for cereal). Her food still has to be very soft, but it's so nice to be able to let her feed herself WHAT we eat WHILE we eat. We'll start working with silverware after she's a year old.


mmmm....chili!

• Piper cut two new teeth this month! She now has her two lower middle teeth and both her upper lateral incisors (but no upper middles yet!).
• She still quacks often, especially if she spies one of the many books that has ducks in it. We're working on additional animal sounds and, of course, words. It seems like she's always making some kind of noise.
• The nurse weighed her when we went to the doctor this week, and Piper weighs 18 pounds. I was hoping she had gained a little more weight than this, but being sick certainly hasn't helped this endeavor.
• She wears size 3 diapers and 6-12 month clothes.
• She loves to pretend she's talking on the phone. This involves putting her hand or anything that might resemble a phone up to her ear and saying, "Eh?". It's too cute but happens so sporadically that I haven't been able to catch it on video.
• Her new way to play is by throwing things. She got a ball for Christmas that is very easy to handle, and we've been playing "catch" (or roll, as the case may be) back and forth with it. Now she thinks she can throw anything around, including our phones and toys she's playing with while in her car seat.

New Videos

Piper thorougly enjoys pulling the books off the bookshelf several times a day.


She also loves playing with our phones, and gets super-excited when a particular cute little girl shows up on the screen.

Supervising

Apparently Daddy needed some supervising as he attempted to shovel the driveway yesterday. Unfortunately, he didn't have much luck and had to leave his car at the bottom of the driveway (after sliding all the way down the street backwards once!).

Snow!

We received several inches of snow last night and woke up to see our own personal ski slope (aka the road in front of our house).

"Helping" Mommy in the kitchen

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

...it might just be Piper.

Growing up!

This week we moved Piper from her infant car seat to the one she will stay in for the next several years. I obsessed over which seat to get (safety, price, size, etc), and I've very happy with the one we settled on (Britax Marathon). I'll certainly miss carrying her in and out of stores, into public restrooms, and making other quick stops in her carrier, but I guess it's all part of growing up!

Last ride in the baby seat!

Riding like a big girl!

She'll stay rear-facing until she's two for safety reasons.

I cannot get enough of this girl!

Monday, Monday

Happy New Year!

From our family to yours.

We hope you had your black-eyed peas for good luck!

Zoom, zoom!

Until today, Piper has shown no desire to walk without holding onto the furniture. She wouldn't even walk around with us holding her hands. We had tried numerous times with a push toy to no avail. Today she took off with her new ride on/push buggy and will also practically run when holding our hands. I think this means she's feeling better, too.

Child abuse? Quite possibly.

More Christmas videos

Can you tell I'm enjoying my new video camera?

Christmas at Tam-Tam's

This toy has definitely been a hit since we've been back home. Hopefully it will help Piper learn to walk!

Christmas Eve at Mamaw's house