Piper 5 Months

Well, newborn baby is officially long gone. You are so alert and interactive. You reach for toys, you bring things to your mouth, you laugh and play.  As much as I LOVE tiny baby, it is fun to see you growing and letting us see your personality more.

You continue to be the most content little baby. You only ever fuss when you're tired. Otherwise, you are happy with absolutely anything. I started putting you in the jump-jump and you seem to be pretty impressed. I just have to keep a close eye on you, because your wild brother loves to swing you a little too high!

We're moving toward two naps a day, almost there! Most days you take a solid morning and afternoon nap. Some days you need a third catnap to make it through, but for the most part, 2 naps a day works well.

You continue to have a hard time with bedtime, but it's definitely getting better. I put you down at 7, then usually end up feeding you 2 or 3 times before you settle in for the night. You normally wake up once to eat somewhere between 2 and 5.

You still don't roll over or sit up, but you're getting closer!

You still love to be swaddled. I just use the blanket, so during the night, you do wiggle loose, but you love to be wrapped up when going to sleep.

Charlotte always says, "I love having a baby in the house." I couldn't agree more!

Piper 4 Months

It's hard to imagine life without you. You are just the perfect little addition to our family.  At  4 months old, you are so happy and smiley, it's impossible not to love you.

Charlotte continues to dote on you every second she gets. You are so patient and laid back. She carries you around the house, and you just smile at her.

You are used to being carted all over the place for your siblings' activities. School drop off, school pick up, soccer practice, etc. None of it bothers you.

I am doing my best to keep you on some sort of schedule. I make every effort to be home for a morning nap and an afternoon nap. You are a great napper and will often sleep two hours or more. You never fight going to sleep.

Just like your sister, night times are a different story. You don't fight going to bed, but it takes you a while to settle down for the night. I often end up feeding you two or three times before you are asleep for the night. Sometimes by 8:00 you are asleep, but other nights you will be up until 10. It can be exhausting, but I also know that in a blink of an eye you will be walking off to kindergarten, just like your sister.

You have a horrible, yucky sounding cough. At your check-up, everything looked good. The doctors thinks you are probably aspirating a little milk when you eat, which is giving you the cough. You are otherwise not bothered by it, but it sure makes mommy sad!

You are almost the exact same size your sister was at 4 months.

12 lbs 0.3 oz and 23.5' long. That puts you in the 5-10th percentile.

We adore you. I could spend all day kissing your sweet cheeks.

Piper 3 Months

This was such a fun month for you! You really started to wake up, interact, smile, and even giggle! Everyone absolutely loves having a baby in the house. Charlotte is the best big sister and loves to "babysit" you. She will bring you into her room and play with you, or sit and snuggle on the couch with you. You are so patient and easy going, you love spending time with her. You are still sleeping a lot, but definitely starting to group your naps together a little better. I love to rock you to sleep, but you will happily drift off in your bed also. Just like your sister, you are a little challenging to get to sleep at night. You love to cluster feed from about 7-9, then you sleep well the rest of the night. Since I went through this with Charlotte, this time around, it doesn't bother me nearly as much. I know as you get bigger you won't need this, but for now, I love the extra snuggles each night.

We traveled down to LA This month for the NAAF conference. We also went to D-Land. You were a perfect little traveler! Slept most of the trip, spent 14 hours in Disneyland without a peep, and overall were just incredibly easy the whole time.

Piper 2 Months

Piper's second month was very similar to month one. She slept about 85% of the time. The other 15% of her day was spent eating or pooping. Toward the end of the month, she really started to wake up, interact and smile. She is absolutely the sweetest baby. She loves being held, snuggling in the carrier, but she also sleeps well in her bed. She travels well and doesn't seem to mind her car seat. She likes her paci and is starting to find her hands. I'm doing my best to keep her on a eat-sleep-play routine, but it is definitely more challenging with two other big kids to take care of and keep occupied. Luckily, she is about as mellow as they come. She will sleep anywhere, through any amount of noise. She nurses well (and quickly). It is just so much fun to have a baby in the house again, she brings so much joy to all of us! 

Piper One Month

The first month with Piper home was so much fun. She basically slept through the entire month, but in my book, there is nothing better in the world than fresh baby snuggles.

Life didn't slow down at all for her arrival, and within her first 4 weeks of life, she had already attended 2 out of town weddings. The kids also started swim lessons.

I absolutely love the brand new baby stage. She was about as easy as a newborn could be. Sleep, eat, poop, repeat.

Charlotte absolutely adores Piper and holds her every second she can. It is so special to watch that bond starting already. I know they will be lifelong best friends.

Well, Hello Again

I definitely fell off the blogging bandwagon. It didn't seem like a big deal, but recently I started combing through all my old posts and got incredibly sad that Piper doesn't have a single post about her. The other kids have monthly posts for their entire first year. Poor third kid. The first year is such a blur, it's impossible to remember every little detail about their milestones. I love to be able to read back through and see what they were doing each month.

So my motivation has been renewed. I owe it to her.

I'm going to start at the beginning and try to get 5 blogs posted in the next week so I'm officially caught up.

Piper's Birth

Piper's pregnancy was fantastic. We decided to not find out the gender again this time, but I was POSITIVE it was a boy. Would have bet my life on it. She was the most active, wild little baby. Way more active than the other two. It felt like she never held still. Additionally, her heart rate was always so low, which according to the old wives tale, is a sure bet on boy. So even though we didn't officially know, I KNEW.

I switch OB doctors this time around and it was amazing. I could never say enough good things about my new doctor. She is compassionate, and patient, and knowledgeable, and easy to talk to, and just the best thing that has happened to our little town in a long time. I loved all my prenatal visits.

Jeremy and I are taking turns naming the babies, and this time around was my turn. I had decided on Everett (Rhett) and hadn't really considered a girl name, because this baby was definitely a boy. Charlotte was 2 weeks early and Ryder was 1.5 weeks early, so naturally I assumed this baby would be about 2 weeks early as well.

As the due date got closer, I started getting my things together. I did very little in the way of preparation because we weren't setting up a nursery, and I didn't know the gender, so basically I just put together one little bag of boy things and one little bag of girl things and called myself ready.

At 36 weeks, I had my first check and I was dilated 4-5 cms. I was certain the baby would be here any day!

Well days passed and turned to weeks, and this little baby was as comfy as could be. At this point I was 39 weeks (my longest pregnancy) and 6 cms dilated. I was SO READY to deliver the baby.

Finally at 39 + 1 she decided it was showtime. Because I was so dilated already, I was genuinely afraid of not making it to the hospital in time. After about 3 contractions, I decided to head in. I was still 6 cms when I got there. My OB broke my water and labor hit me like a hurricane. She was by far my most painful labor and delivery. After about 45-60 minutes of contractions, and about 3-5 pushes, out popped baby. I asked, "what is it?' (Knowing full well it was a boy). When my cousin answered, "It's a girl!" I about fell off the table. I have NEVER been so shocked in my entire life. I absolutely could not believe it. I had to look at the baby to make sure she wasn't playing a trick on me.

After she was born, we did all the normal post-delivery clean up, and then moved to our postpartum room.  I kept staring at her in disbelief. How could I have been so wrong?!?! It was crazy to me!

But she was beautiful, and sweet, and perfect, and I was instantly in love.

I felt great, Piper was healthy and nursing well, so we checked out the next morning, about 18 hours after we checked in.

Charlotte and Ryder were absolutely thrilled to welcome their new baby sister home. The first week home we were basically back to normal. I spent a lot of time feeding the baby and fighting Charlotte to hold her.

She was the sweetest, easiest little newborn. Barely ever cried, slept like a pro (I spent the whole first month of her life waking her up and feeding her, because all she did was sleep), and snuggled anyone that wanted a baby fix.

I felt (and still feel) beyond blessed to have welcomed our third healthy child into our family.  I don't take a single second of her life for granted and thank God every night for sending her to us.