Piper’s 6 Months

I realize this is a bit late, but the photos are all from when Piper actually turned six months, a couple of weeks ago. The last few weeks have admittedly been pretty exhausting. Right before Piper turned 6 months Brian went to China for a week. The next week I did a 19 hour day, flying to San Francisco and having meetings all day and then flying back. The week after that I took a red eye to Toronto on Wednesday night at midnight and then I flew back that Friday night. Then came Mother’s Day weekend and the time to sit down and compose a post for Piper’s six month birthday has really not come to fruition until now.

We had Piper’s 6 month appointment on May 5th. She weighed in at just over 15 pounds.

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The doctor was visibly impressed with her strength and muscle tone. When she pulled herself up on the table I think he had to double check that this was her six month appointment. As I have mentioned, I’m pretty sure she’s some sort of super human, especially considering she’s not really that thick of a babe. Here is her checkup card with all the specs.

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All that writing at the bottom is because after the nurse administered the vaccine, the doctor came in to tell us that she administered the wrong one. This has been something that has crossed my mind before; I’ve always wondered if this happens. The nurses and doctors are just running from room to room, giving tons of shots in a day. I was thinking it’s crazy they don’t mess things up. Fortunately for us, it doesn’t sound like it was a very serious mistake. They administered a Pediarix instead of a Pentacel, which basically means that because it hadn’t been 8 weeks since Piper’s last Hep B, she will have to have an extra Hep B in her series and we have to get a Hib next time. The obvious question is whether this is very bad or not. It sounds like it’s not. The next question is whether it’s grounds to explore other doctors. I started the exploration via a benefit at work called Expert Medical Opinion, so we’ll see what their guidance is. Our pediatrician came very highly recommended from our prior pediatrician, as well as several other parents, so it would be sad to have to find someone new. Regardless, I will always check the labels of shots going into my children’s bodies moving forward.

Here is Piper’s six month photo – just a super happy active clam. We are really starting to see her personality come out and she just wants to play nonstop. She really can’t sit still at all. She’s a very laid back baby, in that not much gets to her. But being confined definitely is one of the few things. She is a woman on the go and can’t nobody hold her back. She’s just awesome. Again, now if she could only sleep through the night…do you see a theme with my requests? Sleep, that’s really all I want. “Pretty please,” as Ellie would say.

This lady is on the go...

This lady is on the go…

 

Milestones: Crawling & the Potty

Two major milestones have happened this week, one was very easy to identify and one has been a work in progress that I think I can knock on wood and say we’ve achieved.

The first is that Piper is crawling! Or at least that’s what I think it is. Here’s the video – you tell me. She moves her hands in a crawling motion, but then most of the time does this little bunny hop thing with her feet. I just think it’s so adorable and I think it counts. I always had a feeling she was going to go against the grain in her own little ways, so of course she couldn’t crawl like all the other babies! Who knows, I’m sure in a few days she’ll pick up the leg thing.

Piper is so funny. She’s such a determined little girl and I can tell when she puts her mind to something she’s just going to do it and no one is going to tell her any different – we’ll see how that goes later in life! It’s a very admirable quality in a lot of ways though and she’s so laid back I think it will bode well in her favor. I enjoy so much and count myself incredibly blessed that she is so easy-going. It’s not all peaches and cream of course, as her sleeping is pretty terrible and I’m pretty sure I’ll read this blog post later and none of it will make sense because my brain does not work anymore, due to sleep deprivation.

The second milestone is that I think it’s official Ellie is going potty in the toilet. Ever since the week after Thanksgiving she’s been “training” and for the most part she’s been able to go on the toilet. However, it’s definitely been a longer process, likely due to the emotion of having a little sister around. The last few days though we’ve had no accidents and I think if we keep it up a few more days we may have turned a corner.

We also had a very fun Easter this weekend. Ellie enjoyed doing two egg hunts, dying Easter eggs and getting a basket from the Easter bunny. It has really just been so much fun to see her grow and really start to understand things. She is such a compassionate little girl and even though she definitely goes through times of being very emotional, she always seems to end up just wanting a hug or a kiss…which I LOVE!

Here are a few recent pics of the girls and the fam, for those who have missed them on Facebook or Instagram.

Ellie's new swimsuit Family on Easter Easter egg hunt Playing before bed Getting ready for Thompson Easter Playing together Sitting in the sun

On the Move

Ellie boom has been on the move now for awhile and has started pulling herself up on things. Once she stands up, she gets a very confused look on her face because she’s not sure what to do.  It’s so exciting to see the wheels turn inside her head and crazy to know that she’s taking in every single little thing we do.

Ellie has been sick this week and I’m sick as well.  Thankfully Ellie hasn’t been as sick as me! I read online that breast milk commonly has antibodies specific to a mom’s illness and it helps prevent baby from getting as sick as mom.  Fascinating stuff! I was fortunate enough to get a nap in today while Brian took Ellie out for a little walk and to run an errand or two. When they got back we set up the new baby fence and Ellie could just play and play in the living room with all her toys. She pulled herself up on the fence; I had to hold the fence in order for her to accomplish this, but it was all her.

We’re heading to Hawaii on Wednesday and I think it could not come soon enough for Brian and I.  It will be interesting to see how Ellie fares on the plane – any tips anyone has are very welcome!

Here’s a video of Ellie standing recently:


We also started swim lessons last week and Ellie is NOT a fan of the water. Hopefully by the end of the session, she’ll be a little more excited to take a dip.

Time Flying

Now time is really starting to fly by. Every day it seems like Ellie is doing something more exciting than the last and I just can’t believe how much she is really growing up. She’s definitely crawling now and she is very interested in standing all the time. She’s working really hard on the balance things and getting better every day.  We had an awesome Labor Day weekend and really most weekends should be three days in my opinion.  We work way too much in this country!

For Labor Day weekend we celebrated cousin Addie’s second birthday, where I snapped the pic below. Then we went on a hike with the fam up Rattlesnake Ridge. It was extremely crowded, but more on the way down than the way up, which was nice. There’s a video and photo (from the top) below. It was pretty funny to pull over on the path to breastfeed her! You gotta do what you gotta do though.  Speaking of eating, this child is eating like a champ! After trying so hard to find a quality selection of organic baby food, I did what I usually do and turned to Amazon – hello?!?!? I ordered apples, sweet potatoes and string bean and sweet pea Sprout Organic Baby Food.

I also think Ellie might be teething, as she’s been salivating incredibly and wants to gnaw on everything.  We tried something fun today, which was to put frozen blueberries in these mesh food feeders and she loves it – gnaws and gnaws until there’s hardly anything left!

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