Half a year...

A half a year has gone by since I first held my little one.

Half a Year!!!!

It seems like just yesterday, yet it hard to imagine our lives before him.

Little Michael.

Today we had his 6-month well check.

He weighed 19.1 pounds (77th percentile).

He was 26.5 inches long (61st percentile - I think he was mismeasured last time).

His head was 18 inches (93rd percentile).

Look how big he is!  I remember the first picture of him in this weight chair.

He was tipping over and only took up half of it!

He got 2 shots today too.  He did better with them than last time...

only cried for a few seconds after I picked him up.

For supper tonight we tried his first vegetable...green beans!

Let's just say he was less than thrilled with the new flavor.

After supper we had a little mommy and Michael time.

He had his bath and we got to cuddle for a bit.

Snuggly after the bath!

After the bath, while he was somewhat happy we took his "month"

picture!  I actually got some smiles out of him!  He is usually too distracted by the camera.  Lately I just have to sing to him to get him to smile. He must be getting a bit wiser about his mommy's singing voice.  He does still love "Baby Mine" though!

He is also becoming quite the roller!

He has a hard time getting from his tummy to his back but he's got the back to tummy thing down!

He is now officially a "tummy sleeper". 

It usually takes him all of 2 minutes to roll to his side and onto his tummy.

We're in trouble if he wakes up on his tummy though.

He lets us know ASAP that he's a awake and unhappy about being stuck on his tummy.

He has also found his feet.  He can't quite get them up to his mouth yet, but he tries!

The pediatrician also said that it's looking like he'll be getting 3 more teeth sooner rather than later.  His bottom left is about ready to pop through and his top 2 are swollen.

Like I said, our little man is getting big!!!

Dinner with Gramma and Grandpa Polingo

This past Saturday, we met Rob's parents and had lunch. 
Since we live an hour and a half apart, when we get together we usually meet halfway.
This time we met in Chanhassen as they had plans to visit Rob's brother and his family while they were in town.
Here's a couple pics from the visit!

He has bread.  I want bread.

Michael with Gramma and Grandpa Polingo

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

That's right!

Our little man is now a roller!

He's been close to rolling for quite a while now, but this past week, he actually did it!

Chances are he has done it multiple times at day care, but the teachers swear they haven't seen him roll yet.  I am, however, fully aware of the unspoken rule that all things happen for the first time at home!

His first roll happened when he was about 2 and a half months old from his tummy to his back, but I think that was mostly gravity!

This past week on August 2nd, he successfully rolled from his back to his tummy and back again.  He then proceeded to roll to his tummy from both sides.  Yay, Michael! 

I've attempted to get this milestone on video, but the little man is a little camera shy!

I'll have to settle for the still pictures which don't do it justice!

I just like this one for the leaf on his butt!

Almost...

...but my arm is stuck!

Success!!!


This week Michael had his second cold.
I think it was also in conjunction with teething, but either way, my little man was miserable.
Day care called him "sensitive."
Poor little guy...

But the good news is, he's starting to feel better!
The reason?
He finally cut his first tooth!
It's the left tooth on the bottom!
We can't see it yet, but we can feel those horribly sharp edges
that were hurting our little guy.

Now that it's poked through, hopefully we can start getting a little more sleep again!

Thanks for checking in!

By the way, congrats to my cousin Lance and his wife Savannah who had their first baby yesterday!
Welcome little Everett and welcome to parenthood Lance and Savannah!

The Pieper Picnic

I love days like today!

Beautiful weather, great company and lots of fun!

Today was our annual "Pieper Picnic."

It's a Sunday in July to celebrate my Grandpa and Grandma's Birthdays.

It's the first one since my Grandma passed away and I think the whole family felt a small missing piece today, but we also felt her presence.

Today is my Grandpa Pieper's 90th Birthday!!!

He is such a great man and has taught us all so much.

He does not like to have his picture taken, but he made a few exceptions for me today.

Grandpa and his cake

Grandpa, Kate, Brooklyn and Ava

Aunt Kathy and Grandpa

Today we also celebrated my Great-Aunt Sally's Birthday.  She turns 80 this year.  She is my Grandma Pieper's sister.  Sally is married to Clem, who is my Grandpa's brother.  Because of the closeness of the 2 families, they joined us today for our Pieper Picnic.  They brought with some interesting games.  One of them was...

Human Foosball!

I've never seen that before and was thoroughly entertained!

We also had most of my Grandpa and Grandma's siblings join us!  What better reason for a family reunion than some birthdays...especially on such a gorgeous day!  We got lucky!

There were also a ton of babies around.  So many that I felt a need to label mine :)

Here are a few of the other little ones...

Evan

Brooklyn and Wyatt

Travis

Tony and Brooklyn

And finally some random pictures from today...

Michael and Auntie Kathy

The chefs - Dad and Tony

Michael chillin in his new sunglasses

Great-Aunt Sally with her newest great-grandson

Thanks to my sister for taking an impromtu family pic of us!

Thanks to everyone for a great day!

Oh, hey!

Did you also know that today is Parent's Day?!?!?

Happy Parent's Day to all the parents and parent's-to-be out there!

Bar-B-Q Days Parade

I was slacking a little with taking pics today at the parade. 

Let's face it.  It was just too hot!!!

Thanks to Dawn for letting us hang out in front of the salon and watch the parade.  The shade was a lifesaver!

Before:  The excitement of it all was too tiring!

Gettin ready to watch!

Papa and Michael

This girly had no fear of anything along the parade route!

The matching sisters thrilled with what they've gathered!

Thank goodness for icees!

Parade's over, kiddos are hot and tired.

See ya next year!

5 months and some firsts!

I know I say it in every post about his age, but I really can't believe that my baby is 5 months old!  In a way it seems like he's always been here and we have a hard time thinking about what life was like before Michael came along...except the whole sleep thing! :)  At the same time, he's growing and changing so fast!

First of all here are some pics of Rob with the little man...

This past month had a lot of developmental changes for him.  A lot of those changes have happened very recently!

He had his first day in his exersaucer.

Harley looks less than thrilled.

We have tried and retried cereal multiple times.  After that first few days, I thought we were on a roll.  Then Michael decided to be picky and clamp his gums shut whenever I tried to sneak in a mouthful.  After a few days of this, I held off for a little over a week and now we are trying it again.  It seems to be going a little better.  He keeps his mouth open for a few bites and that's about it.  Hopefully those few bites will help him sleep better.  He's been getting up every couple hours or so and requesting to spend some one-on-one time with his parents. 

We also started putting him in his crib.  Thursday was his first night in the crib and it lasted for all of one hour.  He also didn't want to sleep in his cradle.  I was so desperate for sleep by that point, that I slept with him in the recliner.  Sue me.  He's in the crib again right now, and I hope tonight goes better than last night!

Today he had his first day sitting (somewhat) by himself.  I was close by and probably had my hands on him more than they were off, but they were off long enough for some pics!



Harley got a little ticked when I told him "off" the blanket.

We got out our fun "month" stickers tonight for his monthly picture update.  This kid knows when mom wants to get a smiley picture and he's not being so cooperative.  At least he's not crying!

We are all headed off to bed to prepare for the big Bar-B-Q Days parade tomorrow.

Check back then for more pictures!



Night all!

First 4th of July!

Today was Michael's First 4th of July.

Unfortunately we didn't do anything too terribly exciting today.  We hung out at home as a family and did a little grilling.  See?  Nothing too exciting, but it was nice.

We did the"big" celebrating last night.  My sister Katherine, her husband Tony and baby Brooklyn had our whole family over (except for Andy) for supper, lawn games and a dip in the brand-new kiddy pool for the kiddos.

Papa, Nana and the kidlets

 

Our Chef

Brooklyn and Wyatt

Jayde

Ava

I've come to the conclusion that Michael likes being outside, even though it's hot, but likes being in the shade a lot better.  Looks like he takes after Papa...hanging out in the shade.

The 2 Michael's

Papa, Nana and Michael

Thanks for the fun night, Tony, Katherine and Brooklyn!

On the way home we got to see a few fireworks shows in different communities.  If we're still awake by 10pm tonight, we just might watch some shows from our own backyard.

Happy 4th!

Have a Happy 4th and thanks to all those who are serving or who have served in order for us to celebrate this day of freedom!