Last Day of School

Last day of school, 5/16/12

I can't believe that Riley's 1st year of preschool is already over! We are headed to Florida next week, so today was Roo's last day as a Popcorn at Happy Valley. This has been a year filled with lots of growth and changes for our Riley Roo and we have loved seeing her excitement over making new friends and learning so many new things!  Now we're on to summer break and on to the beach! 

First day of school, 8/24/11

Weekend of Celebrations!

We had a busy weekend of celebrating with songs, sacraments and moms.  On Thursday, Riley celebrated the end of her year as a Popcorn at Happy Valley with a Spring program.  She has been practicing her songs for weeks now and was so excited to have mommy, daddy, both sets of grandparents and even Aunt Judi there to watch her perform.  I know that I am biased, but our kid was hands down the loudest and clearest singer in the bunch and I was so impressed with how well she new all 10 of the songs and gestures.  They were all so cute!

Roo making her "dreadful fuss" face

 The best was at the end when they sang a song to the moms while holding up a picture they had made of their mom.

Riley absolutely loved having her Aunt Judi here and Roo hardly let her out of her sight for the entire time she was here.

On Saturday my cousin and Goddaughter, Maddie, was confirmed into the Catholic faith so we went up to Fort Collins for a special mass and celebratory dinner. Riley is absolutely smitten with Maddie and her friends, I'm pretty sure she thinks that she is 16 and not 4. They are all so sweet to her and she has absolutely the best time when she gets to hang with them.

Sunday was pretty much all about the moms and Miss Piper too.  My girls and Kris gave me a beautiful mommy necklace that they designed with Piper and Riley's names and birthstones and we were treated to a fabulous Mother's Day brunch downtown. 

After our yummy brunch, our family joined us at Spirit of Christ for the 2nd reason to celebrate the day...Piper's baptism.   

We chose Piper's Bunky Ryan and my cousin and Goddaughter, Maddie as her Godparents, we now that they are the perfect people to fill this important role in her life.

Riley got participate in the ceremony by stirring the water in the baptismal font with her finger.

Piper actually loved having the water poured over her head and I think that she was slightly disappointed that she didn't get to get in and splash around a bit.

This sweet and innocent looking little girl actually spent most of the mass surreptitiously drag her fingers through the holy water that spills over from the font. 

It was a really long mass and Piper tried her very best to stay with us, but towards the end she just couldn't stay awake one second longer. 

Me and my 2 favorite girls!  I am one lucky momma!

 

5 Months Old!

It's May and that means that Piper is 5 months old today!

We have had another exciting month with our little miss and watching her grow.   This month has been all about the mouth and discovering the noises that she can make and things that she can put into it!

She is a screamer!  Not an unhappy scream, just a "I'm going to scream just because I can" kinda thing.  She also loves to babble, coo and shriek with excitement.  She has just started to make a new gasping sound when she is amused or excited too.  We heard her very first belly laughs this month and none of us can get enough of that sound.  There are some pretty silly lengths that we are willing to go to get some baby chuckles. 

 Stretching out her lungs during our photo session!

 

She so very active now and long enough that her feet finally touch the floor in her exersaucer.  She loves to bounce and play with the toys!  We are definitely seeing her get stronger and more and more ready to move.  Piper can easily turn herself around and flip over in both directions.  When she's on her belly she tries so hard to get some forward motion by sticking her little bum up in the air and pushing off of her knees.  I am no where near ready for her to crawl though, so I am trying to discourage this type of effort right now. 

She has become so much more interested in her toys now and has really good control over her hands to grab them, pull them and put them into her mouth.  Everything goes in her mouth!  She's been teething for the past couple of months now and even though we can't see them yet they are definitely close and she is a little bit of a drool fountain sometimes. 

This sticker is delicious!

Piper loves to touch faces and we are amazed at how gentle her touches are.  She will hold faces in her two tiny hands or just reach out an stroke our cheeks...I love it!  She has discovered Riley's baby dolls and she is fascinated by them.  Her fave so far is LaLa who only just a little bit smaller than she is. 

Sleep has been in short supply for she and I this month.  Her nighttime sleep has been pretty erratic going anywhere from as long as 3 hours stretches to as little as 45 minutes and that means that most of my sleep is spent with Pipey laying across my chest or nestled in my arms.  I am definitely getting some good baby snuggles, but am feeling a little sleep deprived lately.  Despite the nightly circus, she has been showing us a little bit of sleep pattern and it is definitely helpful to have the start of a routine for nap and bedtimes.  She is has a couple of predictable sleepy times during the day and I am able to lay her in her bed for the morning nap, the afternoon is a little trickier because we are sometimes on the go with preschool.  This feels huge to me because it was nearly impossible to get Riley to stay asleep once we laid her in her crib, so I will gladly take any independent sleep that Piper has to give.  At night she is ready for to be put to bed at about 7:30 and will usually last in her bed until Kris and I head to bed.  Unfortunately for the momma who loves sleep, this baby is not the morning sleeper that Riley is.  Usually she is up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 where Riley can sometimes doze as late as 10:00. 

Riley continues to amaze us with her big sister skills.  She is kind and patient to her baby sis and is a great help to us in keeping Piper entertained at times when she gets bored or fussy.  Piper especially loves when Riley sings to her (her fave is twinkle, twinkle), plays peek-a-boo and she laughs hysterically when Roo falls down for her.   These girls are the best!

Riley and Piper posing with the Moose at the museum