Almost a year

Piperleigh turns one in about a week and a half.  She is a joy.  And she is spoiled.  We love this baby girl a lot.  When I had my surgery Mike would sneak her brownies.  And she loved them and decided other foods were not nearly as cool.  I've tried to make up for it by shoving vegetables of all sorts in her mouth. She'll have none of it.  Her sweet tooth has been discovered and nothing else will do.  It's not all Mike's fault.  I just thought it was funny to watch him sneak her a brownie every single day.  Piper does like some vegetables--sweet potatoes, peas, and carrots.  But Piper's tastes vary from day to day. She looks at the food on her plate and then at me with a look that says, "Um, I ate this yesterday.  Don't you know I'm not going to eat it today?  Something else please."  Generally speaking if I have some kind of meat to give her she will accept it.  And she likes cheese and almost any fruit.  Her eyes light up the second she sees grapes.  Blueberries and strawberries will be eaten in large quantities but bananas require a few days between eating for her to eat them again.  And of course, anything bad for her--like those brownies.  

Piper started weaning herself a few months ago and really only wants to nurse a few times a day and if I chose to completely stop nursing she really wouldn't miss it much.  Most of the time I find myself saying, "I will not nurse you while you stand on my lap.  If you want to nurse you need to sit."  And she would rather stand and go check out that cool sound than sit for the ten minutes it would take to nurse.  

This girl is not as sick as Isaac was as a baby but she is easily my next sickest baby.  While my other kids rarely get fevers she gets one every few months.  Teething is a beast for her.  I don't care what anyone else says about fevers and runny noses and yucky poop not being a part of teething.  They are for this little one.  Every time she gets a tooth she is just miserable for days on end with yucky diapers and fevers.  She won't eat or drink for days and all sleeping goes by the wayside.  She is completely opposite of Will who would just wake up one day with a new tooth without us ever even knowing one was coming in. 

Now, I've had some bad sleepers.  Five of them actually. But Piper is the worst of them all.  We have made great improvements and she is mostly a normal napper at this point.  But really, I'm not sure what a day will bring us as far as naps go.  Usually, she takes two naps a day.  But it is not out of the ordinary for her to just decide that she doesn't want to nap.  A few times a week she will just not go to sleep.  If I leave her with a friend during nap time she most likely will not sleep for them.  And she is still not sleeping through the night all the time.  I have been going in to check on her when she wakes up but often she just wants to play and so I finally decided that she needs to learn to sleep on her own and of course, that is the time she gets her legs stuck in the slats and I find her in the saddest positions.  It makes me feel like a terrible mother.  I can't win with her sleeping. Because her napping has been so back and forth when it is nap time I really do not try to mess with it for anything.  I know a lot of people that just do not understand my need to be home during nap time but honestly, if they had nappers like mine, they would find nap time to be a sacred time too and they would do anything to keep it as consistent as possible.  So, don't ask me to do things during nap time.  I am more chill about it with Piper than I was with my other kids but I still hate making her miss a nap when she might actually take one.  

All that said, she is easily distracted and is such a happy girl.  As long as she has a full belly and someone to hold her she is ok without a nap.  She is much happier than the boys were when they missed their naps.  She is much happier with a nap of course and so I just push through and try to help her learn how to nap better.  

And now for Piper's tricks.  She loves to play peek-a-boo and patty-cake.  She loves to climb the stairs and can go up and down really well.  I don't know how she caught on to going down as quickly as she did but she just slides on down.  She can climb up onto the couch and likes to use a straw.  She loves anything shiny and loves jewelery.  She loves, loves her brothers and gets so excited to see them when they get home.  She can say "Hi" "Momma" "Dadda" and "eyes."  She loves to try and walk with her little walking toys and especially loves when the boys push her on her car.  One of her favorite things to do is go on the trampoline with her brothers.  She just giggles and giggles.

Piper is definitely a spirited girl.  The red hair is just right for her.  She has a lot of fire and a lot of happiness.  She is really such a sweet, pleasant baby that brings so much joy to our family.  

A sick feverish, teething Piper