Left to their own devices, here's what they did.

A couple nights ago, we'd all just gotten home for the evening and were talking, playing, cooking dinner, etc. The kids were having a good time playing the family room area and Ger and I started having a conversation, I can't even remember now about what. I remember, as we were talking, watching the kids head into Piper's room. This is not unusual at all these days, as they often spend a good bit of time in either of their rooms together playing with toys. So Ger and I kept talking. And then we heard the distinct sound of water being splashed and at the same time we said, "What was that?", as we headed to Piper's room. Where did we find our two little munchkins, you may be asking?

Well they had made their way into their bathroom, where Piper was scooping water, by the handful, from the toilet and using it to wet her hair. She had already succeeded in wetting the top front half of her hair and had started moving on to the back. Boone was standing beside her, catching the splashes of water his sister was making, on his face, so he had droplets all over his face, with larger concentrations dripping from his eyes and chin. He had a wad of toilet paper in his hand and he was very methodically tearing off pieces from it and dropping them into the toilet bowl. Neither one was speaking at all, they just were periodically looking at each other and smiling and laughing. When they noticed we were standing in the doorway, they stopped, looked at us, and then went right back to what they were doing. Neither Ger, nor I, said much for awhile, as we were too busy laughing. In the end, we just continued the waterfest and everyone had an early bath that night...seemed like a logical progression, from playing in a small tub to bathing in a big tub. If I hadn't been so busy laughing, I'd have remembered to get the camera, it was a classic moment, one that I hope will be forever etched in my memory.

A real live little boy

Guess who got his first haircut? Well, a 3/4 haircut. He couldn't quite sit still long enough for a full haircut, but the majority of it got cut. I guess we'll save those few stragglers around his ears and on top for next time. What a change, I can't believe how much older he looks.

Sweet-tooth and the best part about baking

It's no secret that I'm quite the list maker. I make lists for everything, otherwise I just don't seem to remember. Piper is starting mimic this and quite often gets paper out and a pen and starts making a list. Her most recent list was a list of letters. Once finished, she folded it up, taped it closed and told me to put it in my purse because it was a list of letters and items she wanted me to pick up at the grocery store. When I asked her what was on her list she replied, "white donuts, chocolate donuts and garbage". I happily obliged on the first two items on her list during my next Saturday run to the store and decided to pass on the third item. Funny, she didn't even seem to notice.

Piper continues to love to help me bake or with whatever she can when I'm cooking. And, she's also good at patiently waiting to get the the best part about baking.

Concentration

Snow!!

This little guy...

...is so thrilled with walking and his new found freedom. It seems he went from walking straight to climbing and is quickly becomming quite resourceful in his attempts to gain new heights. And over the weekend, he discovered that the stool in the bathroom that Piper uses to reach the potty is lightweight and he now carries it around the house to gain access to things that, previously, we just a bit too high. I've snapped a few pictures of his explorations and there's been plenty more that, instead of grabbing the camera, I just try to squelch the lump in my throat and think of a way to get to him before he does a header! He's also currently trying to perfect his run, hasn't quite gotten it down yet, but he's working in it.

3!

Piper celebrated her 3rd birthday the end of January. The shots above are the morning of her birthday. She was so excited, the days and weeks leading up to her birthday she could hardly stand her excitement. She brought cupcakes to school to celebrate at snack time and then had a "Tinkerbell bounce around party". She enjoyed herself thoroughly. Aunt Ria got some good shots here and here from the party. It was extra special because we had lots of family in town as well, so she got to celebrate with family and friends.

Here's a shot of her on the way home. I don't even think we'd left the parking lot yet when I got this one.

Singing happy birthday to her at her party almost brought a tear to my eye. She was so excited and it was obvious she felt so special, it was priceless.

It's been 4 weeks, but who's counting

4 weeks since the last blog post, give or take a day or two.

4 weeks since my hip surgery to the day.

4 weeks on crutches and not being able to bend at the waist more than 90 degrees. I never realized the multiple ways this would effect basically everything I do or couldn't do as a result, and my family as well, given my temporary gimp status. Sure gave me a renewed perspective on life and how to appreciate everything, even the littlest of things everyday.

It's been quite an adventure, to say the least. But thankfully, we had lots of help along the way. We've so lucky to have great family and friends who call to check on us, come help us, cook for us, offer to brave an epic snowstorm to get to us, and suffer through a nasty stomach bug contracted while at our house helping us. I am on the mend, and hopefully have thwarted a total hip replacement down the road and will be able to return to exercising without pain in just a few more months.

I'm back at work for the first day today. It feels good. And as I think back on the last 4 weeks, there are a few morsels that are worth a blog post. So here goes.

• Piper refers to my crutches as "crushes" and has repeatedly asked me over the last several weeks where I'm going to "park them" or, in some cases, has shared her ideas for where I can park them when not in use.
• One of Boone's first words will forever be, "cushes". I guess he heard it enough that he decided to give it a try himself.
• The first two weeks I was home, Piper would ask me daily to check my boo-boo and it's progress. Incedentially, she also started putting a bandaid on her same hip each day and informed me she'd let me know when "it felt mush better".
• In the early days following my surgery, when laying flat was easist, she many times joined me in bed to keep me company. She would haul her blanket ('multi'), her little Dora doll (that she calls Diego) and her favorite zebra stuffed animal (she calls "horsey-zebra") into bed and me, her and her favorite stuffed friends would all lay there and talk, laugh, snuggle and read books. It's one of my favorite parts of recovery.
• Things were a little tougher for Boone, as one of his favorite things is to be picked up and snuggled and walked all through the house. Since I could neither bend down to pick him up or walk around with him, he laid in wait for his time to come. And patient that sweet little fella was. Two days ago I walked him around the house for the first time and he laughed and clapped his hands. It was awesome.
• While Piper and Ger were outside over the weekend, she informed him that she's going to marry him, nearly brough a tear to his eye. This morning before school, she decided today was the day. There were no formalities to the ceremony, just a declaration of marriage to make it official. Now that's what I call efficient.
• My husband has been referring to me as, "Grandma Hip...I mean Hitch" for a about 3 1/2 weeks now, and every time he says it, it's still just as funny to him as the first time it came out of his mouth.
• And finally, it truly sometimes is just MUCH easier to pee in the shower! I mean it.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get us all caught back up on the ole blog soon. I've missed doing it and I think my camera is about to burst if I don't get some of the photos off the memory card soon!

Weekend Musings

Well it appears that I've expanded my list of potential titles as of late.


Not only am I a wife and mother, but I now can add to my list of abilites, commentator. Piper is relishing her role as big sister and loves nothing more than to show Boone how to do something. Lately, whenever she wants to show him how to do something, whether it's how to sit down in the tub, how to color, how to get started peddling on her bike, etc, it goes something like this:


"I'm going to show Boone how to ... (fill in the blank with whatever it is). Mommy, talk to him, splain to him what I'm doing."


Her preference is play-by-play commentating as she demonstrates.



The kids officially had their first wrestling match over the weekend. They were playing with an alphabet puzzle. It started out with some intermittent grumblings by both sides as they played with the puzzle, each of them jockeying for the side they wanted. I inserted a few comments along the about sharing, etc. From there it moved on to a lot of commotion/chaos, as everything focused on one piece, the "J", as they were pulling back and forth trying to each get the piece in their hands only. At that point I decided to remove myself from the equation and let the chips fall where they may, so long as there was no gnashing of teeth or other such activity. They ended up in a heap on the floor, with limbs flailing everywhere. However, the chaos ended pretty abruptly, as Boone, while rolling on the ground with his sister, was distracted by a book laying on the floor nearby. He gave up on the puzzle piece and moved onto other things. However, for the rest of yesterday, as well as this morning, he somehow managed to find that "J" puzzle piece and it pretty much stays in one of his hands at all times. Not sure if it's a real attachment to the piece or a sign of victory?


Boone continues to practice walking, but still prefers crawling if he's in a hurry to get somewhere. And if he's really in a hurry, he tucks his head, so he can pick up extra speed from being so aerodynamic.

Just because...

A couple of recent random shots.

Moving on up.

Both kids have made the transition to their new classes. Piper ran in her new room the first day, and hasn't looked back. She has much more freedom and resposibility in her new room and it seems to suit her well. She grows everyday in her independance and it's a joy to see what satisfaction and confidence it brings to her to figure out how to do new things.


Boone took about a week to transition, as it was a bit rough going from several naps a day down to one. But he's also adjusting well and seems to really like his new room and all the new things to explore and do.


And his new classroom does a lot of art projects. And here is his first masterpiece from school. Much like his sister when she made her first masterpiece, it's hard to believe he's already getting so big.

Family Photos

Christmas 2009-Part IV

We spent Christmas at Aunt Heather and Uncle Davis's house this year. Right near their house is one of the Good Morning America's "Best Decorated Houses", so we made a trip over to see it and it was unbelieveable.

Santa there too, and Piper spent a long time watching him from afar and waving and wishing him Merry Christmas. She even wanted to go talk to him. She told him about the bike she wanted and got a candy cane, but this was a close as she wanted to get. And she sent me up ahead of her to check him out and to sit on his lap to make sure everything was ok.

Christmas Eve, we all went to mass together. We all joked that Piper was channeling DanDaddy that night, as she sang every song and hymn, loud and full of joy, whether she knew the words or not. And mass ended with Silent Night, another vivid remembrance of DanDaddy.

Later that night, Piper decorated cookies for Santa. They were frosted, sprinkled masterpieces.

Bube read Twas the Night Before Christmas and after she was done, we heard the sound of jingle bells on the TV, Piper thought it was Santa up on the roof and she yelled, "We have to go to bed now!" She practically kicked us out of her room, so she could get to sleep so Santa would come.

When she woke up Christmas morning, she was so excited to see if Santa had come. But paused for a moment to confirm that he wouldn't be in the living room when she ventured out there. She was so excited she busied herself the rest of the morning, opening presents, passing out presents, trying out new presents, etc and had a great time.

Boone and Jackson, still rookies, took some time out for snacks and such.

Piper, the gift-passer-outer on a mission!

Piper also received a very special gift that DanDaddy had picked out for her much earlier in the year. She got a camera, which she thoroughly loved and she has been busy taking pictures. It has a feature to download the pictures off of it, so hopefully I can post some of her shots too, the world through her lens.

We also went to the nearby acquarium and I'm not sure who had more fun at the touch pools, Uncle Davis, Ger or Piper?

Piper also made some special sugar cookies for Daddy's birthday. She made good use of her new apron and loved every minute of it.

All good things must come to an end, we had to load up and head home. Christmas 2009, it was a blur leading up to you, but we thoroughly enjoyed you and can't wait for next year.

Christmas 2009-Part III

This winter is the first time we've used our fireplace and we discovered we have two supervisors to help Ger each time he starts a fire. And one of the supervisors, likes to moonlight as a spectator too!
She lugs her chair out of her room, gets everything just right...

And enjoys the view!

My Two Favorites

Monday of this week, I was lucky enough to have the day off and to be able to spend it with Piper. We had a "girls' day", a leisure day spent at the zoo, followed by lunch, ice cream and an afternoon visit to the local park. Such a treat! I loved every minute of the one-on-one time I got with her. Of all our conversations that day, my two favorite comments made were:

"Mommy, I joyin' myself."

"When I grow up to be a chipmunk, will I be friends with the lions?"

Christmas 2009-Part II

Dear Santa,

I was so excited to go see you this year. I'd been telling my parents all about it and just could not wait for it to happen. On a Sunday afternoon, we headed over to your temporary SC home.

The closer we got, the more excited I got. Once we arrived I could see in the window and I was giddy with excitement. We made out way up the steps and walked inside. You were a little daunting, seeing you up that close, but I still kept on smiling and giggling, although I held onto Daddy's leg. Santa, you were so nice to me, talking to me and then you asked if I wanted to sit on your lap. I put my arms out for you to pick me up, and you did. Once I landed on your lap, I kept laughing, but I also started crying, just a little at the same time. I don't think I've ever done that before. Next they put my brother next to me, only Mommy didn't take his paci out, as he was also thinking about possibly crying too and she thought she wouldn't risk it. I just couldn't get the words out to tell you what I wanted for Christmas, I just kept looking at you and at Mommy and Daddy standing their with me. In the end, I decided a full on cry was justified and that's what was most appropriate for the picture as well. Afterward, I told my parents that it was ok if I didn't see you in my house on Christmas Eve when you came to bring presents. I think I like that you live in the North Pole and that I can love you from afar.

Love,

Piper

P.S. Thanks for the presents you brought me and glad you could read my mind.

Christmas 2009-Post I

Piper was very interested in all the Christmas decorations this year and was quite the helper with getting ornaments on the tree. We had a large concentration of ornaments on the back lower third of our tree this year, and to be honest, it made it all the more special.

Her pure excitement leading up to and during Christmas made it quite a joy this year, which was quite a blessing.

Piper also had her first ever school performance. We had the video recorder and digital camera and were there to cheer her on. Below are shots of both kids before we left for her big night.

Piper's teaches gave the kids plenty of descriptions of what would happen that night, i.e. parents would drop them off in their classroom and then would head to the fellowship hall, they would come into the hall with their class and perform and then go find mommy and daddy. So Piper spent some time relaying this important information on to us on our way over the school to be sure we were up to speed on what was going to happen-so cute!

And here's a picture of Mrs. Theresa's class (along with Mrs. Melinda and Mrs. Tiffany) and their big performance. All their rehersals were on the stage, but minus the audience and the lights, so Piper spent the first half of the performace quite mesmerized by both. After that she started getting into it and sang rest of the songs. They performed four songs, and I even got a "Mommy" shout-out during the performance, as she tried to squint and see through the stage lights at the audience to find us. We didn't quite make it through all the class performances that followed (i.e. "the older kids"), as it was getting late and out little pumpkin Boone was getting very tired. So we opted to head out of the fellowship hall to get everyone's coats on, and ended up running into many of the families with kids in Boone's class already out in the hallway! We loaded everyone up and headed to Sonic for dessert, we all enjoyed ice cream in the car, while Boone happily snoozed away in his seat!

We also went to the Lights of Lugoff Christmas parade. It was a really cold night, so we bundled the kids up and all had a great time. Boone opted to stay nestled under layers of clothes and blankets in his stroller and managed to wiggle his hands out once the floats started and waved at them all as they passed by. Piper sat as close as she could to all the action and watched all the floats come by and she would yell, "There's Santa, hi Santa, I been a good girl" at every man on a float that had a beard. We also scored lots of candy and I think she ate her weight in candy canes that night. We waved and wished everyone a Merry Christmas as they passed or "Merry Ristmas". Finally, the last float we got to see the real Santa and Piper was speechless. It was such a fun night and I think we'll look forward to going every year. Ger was busy taking pictures and got some good ones of everyone enjoying themselves.

Piper has been enjoying reading all her Christmas books that have been up in the attic. Her babydolls have gotten quite the earful. I think she can almost recite the Night before Christmas, as we've read it so many times and she loves it.

Things heard around our house lately

Let's see...

For Boone, that would be the following list of phrases:

-E-I-E-I-O!

-E...F...G (Apparently, this is his absolute favorite part of the alphabet, he sings it often throughout the day. Occasionally, we here an H-I-J-K, but usually he stays true to his favorite 3-letter combination)

-All done

-Dog, dog

For Piper, we never quite know what's going to come out of her mouth lately, she's working on lots of originality that's for sure.

Yesterday morning, she and Boone were at the table having their breakfast. I sat down next to her to have mine, and she gave me a little smile as I sat down. After a short pause she looked at me and said, "Mommy, you smell dat?" This is a question we hear quite often from her, as her nose seems to be quite sensitive to the many smells around her!

I responded, "No sweetie, I don't." To which she replied, "I toot!", followed by swells of belly laughing. I tried to keep a straight face, but that didn't work, because, well it was pretty funny! She followed that up with, "No toot at the table!" Well, at least she's hearing me when I say these things, and I must say, I like her comedic timing!

She's also extremely excited about her upcoming 3rd birthday. She's so excited that just about every morning, when she gets up, she says, "Today my birfday party?" She has also taken it upon herself to start inviting people when she sees them. When I was heading out of the kids' school yesterday, we ended up running into two other moms on their way in. Piper informed them both that she did in fact having a birthday coming up, and then proceeded to invite each of their children! I think she may be beside herself the morning we walk into school with the actual invitations, and my goodness, the day of the party, I don't think she's going to be able to contain herself.

Oh my, life is just that much more fun when you a 1-year old and a 2-almost-3-year-old to share it with!

Thanksgiving 2009-Part III

We also squeezed in some time playing in the leaves outside. Everyone took turns covering each other up in the leaves and then at the end we all covered the kids up all together. The kids also spent a lot of time collecting sticks.

Boone can't wait to get into the action soon. I think he's decided this "sitting on the sidelines" thing is for the birds!

A blessing and a curse that his sister has so much love for him and loves to show it regularly!

The grand finale of leaf piling!

The ride back to Grammi and Fafa's. Marci opted to get back on foot.

All the kids favorite perch for snacktime!

Thanks for sharing all the great pics Aunt Ria!