Sugar and Spice (a perfect phrase for Piper)

Piper is now seven and a half months.  I took her in the the doctor a week ago (I mentioned that in my last post) for shots and for her six month check-up (even though she was already seven months).  At seven months Piper weighs 14 lbs and is 27 inches long, putting her at something like 6th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for length.  Piper is on a delayed schedule for shots.  I've only ever done the regular schedule but this time I thought we should do the delayed schedule.  It requires more visits to the doctor but I feel good about this schedule and the doctors at the clinic have been super helpful and supportive about trying to help me figure out which shots she should get when.  

Piper is adorable.  I mean, she really melts my heart.  Some fun things about Piper:

She is the wiggliest baby I've ever encountered.  Every one that interacts with her makes comments on her wiggly behavior.  I feel like I'm holding a little puppy dog all the time because she just twists and turns and bounces.  She wants to be held the entire time but she just wants to wiggle the entire time she.  I feel like I'm a jungle gym or something for her.  

Piper is close to crawling.  It's always fun to see them up on their hands and knees as they start to learn to crawl.  But the really cute thing is that Piper doesn't just get on her hands and knees, she likes to do planks.  It's funny because I do planks for my workouts and it is hard and then I see Piper do them all the time and it's like nothing for her.  I just need to channel my inner Piper next time I have to do them in a workout.

Piper really love me.  Like, I am by far her favorite person.  I mean, of course I am, I'm her mommy.  But it's so cute to see her search the room for me and then I get rewarded with the best smiles ever.  I love that she loves me.  

She is probably one of my more cuddly babies.  She is busy but also likes to cuddle--mostly only when she is tired though.  She will bury her head in my shoulder and it's so sweet.  She also likes to play with my hair or hold my hand while she nurses.  And I especially love how she likes to cup my chin in her hand or put her hand on my cheek--her love pat.  

She loves soft things--blankets and stuffed animals are her favorite--and she is just discovering Diamond.  He is so patient with her as she grabs his hair and inspects his paws.  

Piper loves bath time.  It took her awhile to decide how she felt about the bath but has since decided that she loves it.  

She loves, love Eli.  I think Eli is her second favorite person after me.  It makes the other two boys so angry.  They come to me in tears almost daily because whenever they play with her she will smile or laugh until Eli walks in the room and then she only has eyes for him.  I've had to have many talks with Eli about letting his brothers have a chance to play with her too.  He just makes the silliest (dare I say most annoying?) sounds and she just thinks it's the greatest thing ever.  Truthfully, he doesn't even have to make a sound, just look at her, for her to smile.  I have to tell the other two boys that she loves them too but that they have to remember that they have been in school while Eli has been home with her and so is just used to him.  That just makes them irritated though.  

Now, there are some things with Piper that also make me a little coo-coo.  The sleeping thing has been visited too many times already so I won't touch on that again. (at least not her actual sleeping patterns) I find it so difficult to get anything done when she doesn't sleep well.  Remember how I said she loves me?  Well, when she hasn't napped she only wants me and nothing or anyone else.  I've tried "wearing" her so I can do things around the house--but find it difficult with her wiggly nature and grabby hands.  Dinner is hard because I can't chop things without her trying to get the knife or cook things on the stove for fear her little feet will get burned.  So those days are exhausting and she does a lot of crying.  Having Mike home for four days was the most wonderful thing ever.  It was so nice to hand her to him while I finished dinner or folded clothes, etc.  It's not so much that she doesn't sleep, it's that she isn't very happy when she doesn't sleep.  

A perfect example of this happened earlier this week actually.  She was so tired and was playing on the floor when Will came in to see her.  She was fine and happy and then I watched him softly touch her head and she flew into a rage.  Will looked at me questioningly and I just shook my head.  Already, she is such a diva.  

Another frustration with Piper is her eating.  She is too busy to sit and nurse very well except once or twice a day.  The other times it is such a struggle for me to get her to get a good feeding in.  If anyone walks in the room she will immediately stop nursing to check out who it is.  And she doesn't just stop nursing, she yanks my nipple with her.  Oh I hate it.  I keep flicking her mouth and she could care less.  And now she has a tooth, making it all that more painful.  I honestly won't be sad when she is done nursing...

With that, Piper won't take a bottle.  I was in the hospital a few weeks ago and I pumped in the morning and left a bottle with my friend.  Piper had gone about six hours without eating and when my friend tried to give her the bottle she just acted so offended.  I'm sure if I made her starve for days she would finally take one, but who wants to do that?  

She also is kind of wishy washy about baby food.  Unless she is really hungry, she just doesn't care much for food.  I guess it's not really a surprise that with her busy nature and disinterest in food, she is so skinny!

I think that Piper is actually a lot like Eli was as a baby.  He was so determined and angry at times but also super smiley and happy.  Piper is a lot less angry.  She does fuss when she is tired but in general she is a happy baby.  She just knows what she wants and doesn't want and makes it known.  It's been interesting to get to know Piper after having Laila.  They seem so different from one another.  Of course Laila was so little when she died but from what I knew of her, they seem very different.  Take bath time for instance.  Laila loved her bath from the beginning.  I would put her in the water and she would squeal and splash and smile.  Piper took much longer to like the bath.  She would just lay there all uncomfortable looking and not crack a smile at all.  It took a few months of baths for her to realize that they could be fun.  But also, Laila didn't smile a lot.  She always had a very serious expression like she was trying to figure out the world.  Piper smiles all the time.  Her smiles have always come more freely than Laila's did.  We had to work hard for a smile from Laila.  But while Laila didn't smile as often, she also didn't cry as hard or as easily as Piper.  Laila just seemed more chill in general than Piper.  I wish so much that I could see these two girls together--are they like Will and Isaac--best friends but completely different personalities?  One day I will get the chance to know that...  

I am thankful for this sweet girl in our home.  I am positive that when Piper gets napping and sleeping through the night down that she will be such a joyful baby because on the days she sleeps well it is so fun!  She just smiles and plays and is so pleasant.  I'm hopeful that we will see more of that side of Piper as she gets older.    

And now, pictures:

we went to the splash pad and Piper loved it.  

How could you not love such a cute face?!  and that brother of hers...so handsome

I had to take these two pictures.  We went for a walk tonight before bedtime and made it home just in the nick of time--minutes after getting home it started pouring rain (we are in a flash flood warning).  The boys got out their foam couch and sat Piper on their lap while they all sat and watched the rain.  I thought this picture captured perfectly how much they love her.  She is so lucky to have these boys as her brother.