A Gentle Nudge...

I don't know why, but I've been in a bit of a mood today.

But...how can you not smile or laugh when you see this little guy acting so silly and being so happy.

It's a gentle nudge from God reminding me how blessed I really am.

Playing in Mom's jacket

Strike a pose!  Check out those thighs!!!

Meet my new nephew!!!

When I got home tonight, I made myself sit down and import some pictures to my computer.  I had some super cute ones on there that I really want to share!  I didn't realize that I had over 300 pictures on the camera!  There have been alot of things that I have to write about...a trip to the zoo with my dad...shopping for shoes with my boys...a girls day out...and finally Michael demonstrating all the new things he's learning!!!

But...there are some very important pictures that I want to share first.

The Pieper family has grown yet again!

My sister Dee and her husband James welcomed their second baby boy early this morning!

Gavin Michael arrived at 4:08am...1 hour after mom and dad arrived at the hospital!

Both Momma and Baby are doing great and Dad is relieved (I think) that they didn't have to stop to get gas on the way to the hospital.

I didn't see Wyatt while he saw his little brother, but spoke with him afterwards and he is very proud and happy that his baby brother came out of his mommy's tummy!

Thanks, Dee and James for letting me barge in on you tonight to visit the little man.

And for all of you out there counting, the Pieper grandchildren are now tied...

3 boys and 3 girls!!!

Get ready for some cuteness!!!

Love those little footprints!!!

Ridgeview gives each baby a pair of socks with their birth year on them.



Love those little lips!!!

Proud Mommy and Daddy and Baby Gavin

My beautiful sister!  Doesn't she look great?!?!?!



Happy Birth Day, Gavin Michael!!!

15 months!

I'm sorry it's been a while since I last posted.  I've also been a little stingy with pictures.  Whenever Michael does something super cute, I run to grab the camera and he stops. 

Michael officially turned 15 months yesterday!  He is such a little ham!  He loves to walk around, show off his belly when asked, read books and point out the animals he sees, drink from his sippy cup without using his hands, try to put on his shoes and socks by himself, pet Harley and tell him to stop barking (in his own language of course!), and carrying around anything he can lift...including some rather heavy toys!

We spent yesterday morning at Auntie Dawn's salon and he watched his mom get her hair cut.  No hair cuts for the little man yet.  His hair is looking a little longish, but I just can't bring myself to get his hair cut!  It's the hair he was born with!  I know, I'm a dork.

The last few night have been a little rough at our house.  He has been waking up 2-3 times per night for 1-2 hours at a time.  Now some people might think I have it super easy compared to what their little one's sleeping habits are, but Michael usually sleeps / needs to sleep at least 10-11 hours a night...down at 7pm and awake around 6am!  Ugh!  He did the same thing at the beginning of the month and ended up having a ear infection when I took him into the doctor.

Last time, the first antibioctic did a number on his GI tract.  They stopped that one and put him on Zithromax, which is supposed to be a great med!  Wrong!  I don't think his ear infection ever went away and has been left to brew for the last two weeks!  Poor baby! 

We made a trip to the peds again this morning and sure enough, he has another ear infection, this time in both ears instead of just his right.  Actually, I should stop calling it "another" infection...same one that didn't get all the way better 2 weeks ago that is now back with a vengeance!

Well, first dose of antibiotic is in, a little ibuprofen for the swelling/pain, and a nap.  Hopefully he'll wake up feeling a little better.

I was going to upload a picture here, but I just found that I have not uploaded any pictures to my computer for the last 2 1/2 months.  Bad mom award.  I guess I better start snapping!

Oh, Caffeine...

I LOVE Diet Pepsi. 

It's my fav, but if it's not available, I'll settle for any soda really. 

Yes, I call it soda.

I was drinking an insane amount of Diet Pepsi in one day...anywhere from 3-6 cans. 

I know.  A LOT!

Then one night I woke up in the middle of the night with an insane headache unlike anything I ever had before...and I suffer from migraines!  I ended up needing to use a few ice packs and take one of those lovely, left-over oxycodone from my c-section in order for the pain to go away.

I then realized that I had very minimal water the day before and a lot of soda.

I woke up the next morning and decided to completely cut caffeine.

Cold Turkey.

I gave up caffeine for a while during my pregnancy with Michael and during breastfeeding afterwards.  It wasn't horrible and I didn't feel "addicted". 

I heard horror of people who were addicted to caffeine going through withdrawal and having horrible headaches and other symptoms and was ready for the onslaught of all of them when I cut the caffeine.

3 days after I stopped drinking soda, I decided to try drinking a Diet Coke at work with lunch.  Bad idea!  Almost immediately, I started feeling my pulse behind my eyes and my heart was beating a mile a minute.  From that point on I decided I am DONE!!!!

No more caffeine for me!

I know there are a lot more things I can do for my health...losing weight, eating better, exercising, etc.  But for right now, I'm dealing with the caffeine and no soda thing.

It's going well.  There are some days where I just want the fizz of soda, but I can get through it.

One thing down...
8 million more to go!

My Baby is Walking!

I've been wondering when it would start.

12 months?

14 months?

At times I was wondering why it was taking so long.

Other times I was thankful cause I knew walking would bring on a whole new dimension of trouble he could get into!

Well...

it happened.

And it's no joke!

April Fools Day - April 1st, 2012

Michael stood up by himself and walked across his room to me.

18 steps!

(yes, I counted)

Then I realized that we should maybe get the video camera!

I was so glad we were both home and could see him "officially" walk for the first time!

One more "step" to full-on toddler-hood!

The Pieper Version of Let's Dish!

I had my first Let's Dish experience back in September when I went with my friend, Tasha.  I really enjoyed it and it was great to have so many meals in the freezer when I was finished!  The only draw-back was that it was not cheap...cheaper than eating out, but still not cheap.

I had told my sisters about the experience and after a while, we decided it might be kinda fun to all get together and do a Pieper girls version of it.  We also thought it might be a little cheaper and a little more relaxed doing it by ourselves.

This morning we all got together at my sister, Deanne's, house and we each put together a meal that could be put in the freezer and either put in a slow-cooker or warmed in the oven for later. 

Since there are 4 of us, we all ended up with 4 meals:
1.  Fiesta Chicken Tacos
2.  Beef Enchiladas
3.  Turkey Meatballs with Slow-roasted BBQ sauce and cheesy hashbrowns
4.  Hearty Beef Stew

Looking back, it maybe wasn't the best idea to get together and assemble.  It might be better to make our individual meals at home and then gather and hand out the meals.  We also didn't figure out the cost of each meal.  Who knows?  It might be just as expensive as the original version, but we had fun in a little more relaxed environment.

We didn't argue like we normally do, we just hung out and enjoyed each others company along with our kids minus Michael who stayed home with Rob.  I missed having Michael there and it would have been fun watching him play with his cousins, but more often than not, he gets too overstimulated and ends up clinging to me which wouldn't have been a good thing when we're in the kitchen.

It was a good day and we even ended up having enough food to send 1 of each meal home for my mom and dad.

It was a good day.

Michael's First Birthday Party!

I started writing this post 2 weeks ago and the time just got away from me!

We celebrated Michael's first birthday two weeks ago on Saturday the 18th, at my mom and dad's house. 

We were going to have it at our house, but fitting 30 people into the townhouse was just not an option.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for letting us invade your house once again!

We decided (well, I decided) to go with the theme of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."
I wanted to do a bug theme since I call him "bugs", but all I found was ladybug stuff.
Thanks to Pinterest, I came across the very cute, Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Thanks, Mom, for going above and beyond with printing out the adorable placemats, candy bars wrappers, and welcome sign along with everything else you and Dad did to help make the day go a little more smoothly!

We got to Mom and Dad's pretty early that morning to set up and get the decorations and food ready for the big party.  The only problem was that Michael needed to take a nap and was a little hesitant to sleep in an unfamiliar crib.  Luckily, he finally decided to fall asleep about 30 minutes before the scheduled party time.  He got in a good hour nap, so we were hoping that the "crabber pants" side of him wouldn't show up later that afternoon!

All-in-all, is was a great day!

Michael was not a fan of digging into his cake, which was no surprise considering how he acted with the first cake on his actual birthday.

He had fun hanging out with all of his aunts, uncles and cousins!

He loves looking at pictures and even says something that sounds like "who's this?"

So...my goal was to get pictures of him with everyone at his party.  I think I missed a few people, but I got almost everyone and look forward to putting together his photo album (that I got on clearance for $1.50!).  I'm sure he will love it and it'll be a good way for him to get to know that relatives that he doesn't see alot.

So...here come the pictures.  There's alot of them!

Enjoy!!!

The Invitation

Caterpillar Cake - The head was his "smash cake"

Believe it or not, I made this!

Candy bars and wrappers made by Nana Peeps

Placemats

Welcome to my Party!

High chair decorations

My Birthday Shirt! - made by Mommy

Not loving smash-cake time.

The Birthday Boy with Papa and Nana

Grandma Polingo

Grandpa Polingo

Godparents Andy and Jodene

Godfather Joey



Mom, Dad and Michael

There are a LOT more pictures, but I think it would be photo overload, so I hope no one's feelings are hurt by me leaving a few pictures off.
All of the pictures of Michael with his aunts, uncles and cousins will be going in his own special photo book, so the Birthday Boy will be looking at them often!

Just a little update on Michael's 1-year stats:
He weighs 24 pounds 7 ounces! (75th%)
He is 30 1/2 inches tall! (75th%)
His head is 19 inches! (90th%)

He also got 4 shots which he was not happy about.
We are now trying Lactose free whole milk, cause his tummy was a little sensitive to regular whole milk.  We were told not to be surprised since he had such a sensitive tummy with formula.

We feel so lucky to have a happy, healthy, growing baby boy!

Thanks for checking in!