34-Week Appointment

Just got finished with the 34-week appointment. Once again, got a good report card, other than my renewed build-up of fluid that's started again. It's a bit entertaining in a way, as I can make fun little indentations in my legs that stay long after I remove my hand. I like to think of them as my temporary tattoos! The doctor I saw today also gave me another suggestion for my leg cramps at night, so I'll give that a try as well, and hope it results in a good night's sleep. Even if not, I think I've now read close to 10 books in the last month or so, so all is not lost. I'm getting caught up on all those books I've been wanting to read but haven't found the time.

My next appointment, in two weeks, will be the last of the two-week appointments, and then I'll move to every week. We're really getting close now. And I've officially been grounded as of today, so no more travels for me until after Little Man is here.

Oh, and my doctor asked me today if I'd packed a bag already, to which I replied, "That's on my to do list for this week." He very matter-of-factly said I'd better get going on that. He further added, "You really need to get that done and if you need a little incentive, then just think about what the alternative would be if you don't have your bag packed and you go into labor?" I have to admit he stumped me, as I couldn't figure out what the alternative was. I gave him the "I have no idea look", to which he replied, "Your husband would have to pack your bag and we both know you don't want him doing that!" That gave me a good chuckle. No offense Ger, but I think you'd agree running around the house looking for my nursing bra and my favorite pair of slipper socks when it's "Go time" is not going to be high on your priority list! So, I think I'll get this done this week, maybe tonight?

Big Girl Chair, Big Girl Cup

Piper has now been on a strike for almost 3 weeks of sitting in her high-chair. She insists on sitting in a big person chair to eat. Along with that, she has been practicing drinking out of regular cups at school and is starting to want to occasionally use them at home too. We usually save the regular cups for when she requests water, as the contents usually end up on her and the surrounding areas, but she's learning fast and is proud of her new accomplishments.

Scrub-a-dub-dub, fun in the tub

Here's a few shots from bathtime last week.

Lately, after bath there is often some convincing that has to be done that in fact a diaper and pj's need to be put on. Piper often makes the case that she'd much rather skip the getting dressed part and go right to reading books on her favorite pillow.

After some back and forth debating (and usually an "ok, let's count to three and then we are going to get dressed...one...two...three...ok, time to get dressed"), the diaper and pj's get put on our little, giggling wiggle worm.

Birthday Party Weekend Fun!

Marci had her first birthday party over this past weekend, though I thought is was most fitting for this post to go up today, on her official birthday! We were glad get to see their new house (Uncle Tom, Aunt Maria, Osten and Marci) and to be there to help her celebrate. While Marci wasn't too crazy about her crown hat, she thoroughly enjoyed playing with her cake.




In true kid fashion, Marci's favorite part of opening her presents were all the pretty bows on the gifts.

Piper, Osten and the rest of the kiddies at the party had a great time playing outside with the balls and trampoline.
Piper's dress was impeding her ability to play at the level which she wanted to, so Grammi tucked her dress into her bloomers and she was back in the game again!

Piper and Osten also took on a little mischief of their own. Piper was in charge of unloading all the adult beverages out of the ice tub, and then she and Osten had the best time playing in the freezing cold water. Their little toes and hands were a nice shade of pink by the time they grew tired of their water antics!

We inadvertantly left Piper's kiddie song CDs at home, so on the drive home Sunday she was reminding us that we did not, in fact, have it with us and was putting in all her requests for what she wanted to hear. The top choices were:

The Wheels on the Bus, "Bus"

Old McDonald, "O Donald"

5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, "No More Mon-Hee Jump on Bed!"

So Ger and I took turns belting out her favorite songs for a good part of the drive.

And when she grew tired of that and starting requesting that we read books, which we went through what was in the car and she was hungry for more. So we had to resort to reading the directions to Aunt Maria and Uncle Tom's new house to her, which shockingly she enjoyed more than the books, go figure? I must have read them three times and she just listened intently as if she was reading her favorite book and would try to repeat the street names as I read them.

Outdoor Fun

This past week or so has been absolutely beautiful outside...fall may actually be only around the corner. Piper loves to spend all her time outside as soon as we get home each day. She's been busy exploring all around the house. We discovered a beautiful patch of wild yellow flowers growing in our side field and set out to explore them once we all got home one afternoon the end of last week. Here's just a couple shots of Pip with the flowers.

She's also been having fun with her new picnic table, thanks to a great find at the TotTrade consignment sale this year! She hasn't yet used it as a table, its been more like a jungle gym and it has been quite entertaining to watch.

The Artist

Here's a scanned image of Piper's first piece of "real" artwork that she's brought home from school. In the past, she's brought home various pieces of art that were suedo-made by her, but mostly by one of her teachers. This was her first one she created solo. The theme for the particular week she created this masterpiece was "Bugs" and this is her interpretation of ladybugs. This one was from back in July, but I thought it was only fitting to have her first artistic creation documented here on the family blog as well.

Since moving to her new classroom, she thoroughly enjoys art time in her class, she calls it her "co-jours", it almost sounds French. And her teacher Ms. Pat reports that there have been several times where the end of coloring has literally brought her to tears. Apparently, she's got a lot of art in there just waiting to come out!

I'm ready to be the Big Sister...now where's this Little Brother you keep talking about?

32-Week Appointment

Hard to believe it's been another two weeks, but it has...all looks good. Was another quick appointment. Little Man's heartbeat sounded sweeter than ever today and I'm still measuring right where I should be. Here's to another two weeks!

We forgot to tell Piper "Excuse Me" can be used in many contexts!

Piper and I were in Target on Monday night and were done shopping and heading out to the car. She was in the cart I was pushing and just as we started to walk outside I stopped suddenly, as one of the Target employees was coming with a long train of carts bringing them back inside the store. He startled me, so my reaction was to stop our cart, back up slightly and say, "Excuse me". Apparently we startled him too, his reaction was the same and after he stopped he motioned us to go ahead. So I started pushing the cart again, heading for the car, and as we walked off Piper looked at me and asked, "Mommy, toot?" I laughed all the way to the car!

Daddy's Shoes are Great for Dress-Up and Chug-A-Lug

Just a few random shots/observations from the past few days.

First, Daddy's shoes are fantastic for dress-up!


Second, when your eating your snack, if the spoon isn't delivering your snack fast enough, just turn the cup up and pour it right into your mouth!

31-Week Belly Shot!

So here he is at 31 weeks...growing like a weed and spending most of his time these days resting comfortably on my bladder! We haven't been good at taking pictures weekly or even at some lesser interval, so it felt like crossing the 30 week mark was noteworthy and worth capturing. So the countdown is beginning, or at least for us it is. Only weeks now until his arrival. We can't wait!

Success!!!!!!

Just a quick post, Piper had a great night last night in her big girl bed, no falls, or major catastrophies...so, SUCCESS!!!! And she was so proud this morning when I went in to get her up. I told her how proud I was she slept in her big girl bed all night and she shook her head yes with a big smile and said, "Big Derl".

Big Girl, Big Bed!

So our adventure for this weekend was to get Piper moved into a big girl bed. We opted to move her into a single bed first before we move her into her official big girl bed that's a double. We figured we'd take things one step at a time. So the task of taking down her crib and moving it to Little Man's room was started Saturday afternoon.



We then brought in her new bed (Ger's Grandma Sweet-Thing's old bed) and Daddy put it all together. Piper enjoyed playing on it and got really excited when we called it her big girl bed.





She was a little apprehensive going to bed at first, but after some reassurance she was off to sleep and looked so small in her new bed. About 4am this morning we awoke to a thud...yes, she fell out of her big girl bed the very first night!!!!

After some comforting from Mommy and Daddy...on the floor (we thought we'd keep things low to the ground for a bit), she asked to get back in her bed for another try. So with reinforcements in place, she laid back down and spent the rest of the night in her new bed.


So we're on our way...another milestone in the works for our Little Lady!


As I write this she's in her room for night number 2, which so far has gone off without a hitch (hee, hee)!! Let's hope it stays that way.

Dress-Up Diva

Our little lady has become quite the little fashion diva lately. She enjoys putting on anything she can find. Today, she discovered the maternity clothes that Aunt Maria brought for Mommy and picked out a "dess" that she wanted to wear. She spent much time trying to put it on herself, she has started to tell us "I do" for many of the things she used to ask for help with. But after awhile, she insisted "dess on", and we obliged and helped her into it. Once her dress was on, she was ready to pose for the camera!

30-Week Appointment

Time marches on...another two weeks have already passed and I had a doctor's appointment today. Not much to report, just that all looks good. The little man's heartbeat was in the high 130's/low 140's today. My belly measured right where it should be and I'm all set for another 2 weeks.

Labor Day Weekend Adventures!

We had a great Labor Day weekend. Grammi, FaFa, Aunt Maria, Uncle Tom, Osten, Marci, Uncle Fran and Teaunee were all here with us. Tom, Franny, Ger and Teaunee all went to the first Carolina game of the season on Thursday night. Uncle Davis was in town too, so they were able to see him and his friends as well at the game. USC played NC State, Franny's alma mater. Sorry Franny, better luck to the Wolfpack next time! Go Gamecocks!!





Uncle Fran and Teaunee came in from Phoenix, so were were thrilled they got to join in the family fun too.





All the cousins had a blast playing with each other. Uncle Ger took Piper and Osten on tractor rides (no pics of this yet, I think Maria has these), sorry Marci, just a little longer til you can ride too!


One afternoon it rained and Osten and Piper had a blast playing in the rain.




Piper looks up to her older cousin Osten and was watching his every move. He was also sharing many of the new songs he's learned, which included the ABC's. And Piper decided to give singing the ABC's a try this weekend too. So periodically we'd here her singing them as she was playing with her toys or in the car on our way somewhere. I haven't caught her on video yet, but it's so sweet how she sings it. She hasn't quite gotten all the letters down yet, but there's no doubt what she's singing. My favorite part she sings is "Double-vu, etts, Y, Dee-Dee". Osten also helped her learn to count to 7 and she's been practicing this as well.


Marci made big strides too this weekend, when she started to crawl. And it's only fitting that it happened at our house, as Piper started to crawl at Uncle Tom and Aunt Maria's house last Thanksgiving. And the year before, Osten took his first steps at our house right after Piper's 1st birthday party. I guess our kids enjoy keeping it all in the family.


We also had fun with bubbles...



Drinking out of new water bottles...


Sharing a stool to supervise the making of banana bread...


Playing with Osten's cars and ramp...




Reading the paper...



Playing with Grammi's purse...




Helping Daddy and Uncle Tom put some stools together...



Bowling with Grammi...(protect yourself Grammi)...

Playing with a glove and ball (Piper called her glove a purse and wore it like one, she wasn't too into catching with it!)...

And just hanging out.

Osten also taught Piper all about how much fun it is to wear bandaids and Piper was ready to model her new found fun-wear. Note: There are no boo-boos under the bandaids, just a mere fashion statement!

Uncle Tom and Aunt Maria joked about Piper wearing Osten's Georgia Bulldogs hat. She did put it on her head, however Ger and I took the finger in her nose as her statement as to her true feelings for the Bulldogs. What a true Gamecock fan she is!

We also had a little excitement at the house Friday night. A power line somewhere upstream from us was hit by lightning and this caused our transformer to blow! So we spent the first part of the night in darkness. But it was fun hanging out by candlelight and the power company was able to get things fixed very shortly after.

We also spent time out on the deck and were able to catch a beautiful sunset.