3 Reasons I Wish I had a Sewing Machine

1. I need a new shower curtain.

2. Baby legs are expensive.

3. Piper would look really cute in a Onesie Dress.

2 Month Appointment

Piper had her big doctors appointment today!
She's growing great!
She weighs 10 lbs 12 oz and 23 inches long.

She's in the 50 percentile for weight and 90th percentile for length!
Makes you wonder if she's going to be tall and skinny like her dad.

As you can see from the orange band-aids she also got some shots:( Needless to say she wasn't to thrilled. I think it was just as hard for me.

Guess who's two months old today!

If you guessed little miss Piper then you are right!

This has been a big last month for little Piper.

She started fallowing things with her eyes.
She started smiling like crazy.
She started cooing and even tries to join in on conversations.
She stopped using the newborn insert on her little bath tub.
She fits into all her 0-3 month clothes.
She's lifting her head higher and higher during tummy time.
She went to her first party.

Today she tried out cloth diapers for the first time. I think both Piper, Josh, and I agree that they are the way to go. She's wearing her first pair from her cousins in the picture above. I was surprised with how well the fit her and they seem so much more comfortable the disposable diapers. We'll keep you all posted on how the cloth diapers go!

This has been an exciting month for our little family and I'm really excited to see with the next month will bring!

Piper's first Party

Piper had a big day today. She went to her friend Ella's 1st birthday party. She spent most the time taking in all the action. She was a little overwhelmed at first but I think she got the hang of it.

The headband didn't stay on her head for to long. She kept trying to eat it so I took it off before we made it out the door.

Rainy Days and Saturdays

It was another stormy day here in Portland.

I was super lazy spent most he day snuggling with the little one, reading and listing to music.
I think we're all allowed to have days like these as long as we don't make a habit of it.

I found this beautiful blog today. It really makes me get in the habit of taking photos of all the things around me. I don't know if I'm ready to start another project365 but I really need to get behind the lens more often. I feel a lot of the skills I've learned slipping away, I really need to get back in the swing of things.

Pipsqueak was full of smiles to day. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do;)

Just another day with my girl.

It's been cold and rainy here in Portland...YUCK! It's hard to believe that summer is just around the corner.

Piper and I took a trip to the library in our new neighborhood today. It has a wonderful wide open children's area. I'm looking forward taking full advantage of it. I was also looking forward to taking her to book babies but it looks like it's on the day she's going to be home with her dad. I guess he'll have to take her.

My arm hurts today for holding her, they say you can't spoil babies. I sure hope that's true.

I found this blog today...that's what I have to look forward to. I can still remember my little sister coloring on walls and my toys. I'm also pretty sure that I was the one that took a big gouge out of the beautiful wood work in our living room with my mom's rocking chair.

I also found this gem. Back when I found out I was having a girl my dad was sad because he didn't think he'd be able to buy her John Deer things. I think he's already found out that they're are plenty of John Deer things for little girls. Also I think he's learning that little girls can play with tractors too.

My calendar tells me it's Friday, so I guess that means the weekend's here! Hopefully we manage to stay dry here in Portland and to everyone back in Minnesota I hope your AC is working!

Who loves Chipotle?

I do!

I actually ate there about once a week while I was preggers.

I wanted to share with you all a pretty great deal that Josh and I took advantage of tonight. If you buy a gift card for $25 through June 12th you get a free burrito or burrito bowl. I just happened to get my Mom a gift card for Chipotle for Mother's day back at the beginning of the month.

Josh and I usually split a burrito bowl, chips and guac. I only had to pay for the chips, guacamole, and my drink tonight, so Josh and my dinner only cost $3.80.

Talk about a deal!

Happy Birthday Sis!!!

My little sister is turning 25 today! Even though we now live on opposite sides of the country she is still the best sister anyone could have!
Love you Em!

Photo taken in 2008 by Matt Gonzalez, You can check out Matt Gonzalez Photography here

Planning a Family Day Trip

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption. This will be our 3rd summer living in Portland and we have yet made a trip up to Mt. St. Helens. In honor of the anniversary I am planning a trip to Mt. St. Helens this summer. I haven't set a date yet but I'll be sure to let you know all about it as soon as I do.

My Swaddling Conundrum.

We’ve been swaddling Piper ever since we brought her home from the Hospital. It is the only way she seems to get a good sleep. Around the time she was about a month old she would wiggle her way out of the swaddling. Once her arms are out it’s all over, she’s mad and crying and if it’s the middle of the night mom and dad feel like crying as well. Our pediatrician recommended using the swaddling blankets with the velcro over the top of her other blanket. This has worked great for the past month but recently she started stretching out her legs and wiggling out of both the blankets. I was up just about every hour last night reswaddling her and getting her calmed down. She still has a strong startle reflex and that seems to wake her up if she’s not swaddled. I’m really not sure what the next step is, do we stop swaddling her? Do we swaddle her each time she wakes up? I’m sure like anything else with small babies this will pass. It’s just a tad frustrating because she had just started sleeping longer at night and now we’re back to getting up every couple of hours.

Update: We have tried a few new swaddling techniques and things are going much better. I'm afraid Piper is just one of those babies that needs to be swaddled in order to get a good rest.

Baby Mobile

Josh and I have been searching for a baby mobile to hang above Piper’s crib. She’s getting much more observant and we wanted to make sure she’s getting some stimulation while she’s laying in her crib. The baby mobiles that are out there are really expensive! I was having a really hard time trying to find room in our budget for a mobile. Josh kept telling me that he was just going to make one. I’ve made mobiles in the past myself, once in 1st grade while learning about Alexander Calder and then again in middle school art class. Both times they came out looking kind of junky, and they were not something I would want to hang above a baby’s bed. Josh kept insisting he could make something that Piper would like for very little money. I finally gave in, if anything it would be a fun family craft project.

I have to say it turned out better than what I pictured in my head. I also have to admit that it cost very little to make. Piper also seems to really like it.
The supplies we used were:
3 pieces of wire
Fishing line
Wooden animals from Michaels .59 cents a piece
A little bit of hot glue
One eye bolt

Tools needed:
Power drill with a small drill bit
Hot glue gun

Picnic at Mt Tabor

We took Piper on her first picnic today. We are so fortunate to have so many beautiful parks here in Portland so that means so many wonderful places to picnic. Today was gorgeous so we headed to Mt Tabor. We had a fun day and she was such a good little girl. We even made time for ice cream on Hawthorn st.

Just one of the many reasons bulldogs are the coolest dogs in the world.

All worn out from her first picnic.

My First Mothers Day

Josh was working on Sunday so I celebrated Mother's Day by spending quality time with my baby girl. Being married to an airline pilot I've gotten used to celebrating holidays a little differently. He always seems to make up for the holidays he misses.
Mother's day was no exception.

Today I got to sleep in, eat a great breakfast, and take a long shower.

My first Mother's Day breakfast

My first Mother's day flowers

Even though my Mother's Day was a few days late it was still the best first Mother's Day ever!

Happy Mother's Day!

It's my first Mother's Day!

To my Mom, Thank you for everything you've done for me these past 27 years! You're the best!

To all the Moms that supported me these last 10 months, I loved hearing all your babies birth stories, I've loved all the advice and I appreciated you putting up with me complaining about heartburn and lack of sleep.

Here's another wonderful story in honor of Mother's day.

Something Good in the News

With all the sad a crazy stuff that has been in the news this past week it sure is nice to see a news story like this.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Grandparents are so Special!

Piper has now had the chance to meet both sets of her grandparents. For me it was so much fun to see people love her (almost) as much as I do.

It does make me sad that both Josh's parents and my parents live so far away. While we were going through all the nonsense of purchasing our home we were starting to wonder if it was a sign to move back to Minnesota. It's hard to know what is the best thing to do. Josh has a great job here in Portland and I love my job and my supervisors are super flexible. We also now have cute little home of our own, and not to mention Portland is a great city.

We are already planning a trip back home this summer and it sounds like both Grandmas are already planning there next trip to Portland.

Piper is so lucky to have two sets of amazing Grandparents and I know they will be a huge part of her life no matter what. I guess like anything else in life we will find the balance that works best for our family:)

Being a Mom is a Pretty Great Job!

Piper is going to turn 6 weeks old on Wednesday and that means I'm halfway done with my maternity leave. Honestly I've been loving my time off and I've absolutely been loving getting to know my daughter. My whole life I've looked forward to being a mother and I also looked forward to balancing work and parenthood. It seemed like a no brainier to me, I would take my 12 weeks off and the go right back to my full time job. That was the plan up until a few months back. Sometime in early January my boss and his boss brought me into a quite room to let me know that my job was on the chopping block. I of course went home that night and cried. I had worked hard to get to where I'm at and It was a huge bummer that it was getting taken away. What was I going to do?

I have to say my job getting cut may be one of the biggest blessings ever. After discussing my options with my boss and my husband I think I may have found the best balance of work and parenting ever. At the beginning of the next fiscal year (July 1st) I will work part time on Josh's days off. This means Piper will not have to go to daycare, I'll get to spend the majority of my week with my little girl, and I will still get to work my job that I really love. How amazing is that!

July 1st is still a few months away and I still have to go back full time for 10 days once my leave is up but I'm really looking forward to this summer. Who knows if this balance of work and parenting will be as great as it sounds but I feel that position getting cut my be a very good thing. We'll see how it goes but I sure am looking forward to being a part time recreation leader and a full time mother!