7 week smiles and a bit of reflux relief

At 7 weeks, we started getting lots of smiles from our sweet baby Piper.

 Just when I think the teeny tiny (ok-she was never quite teeny tiny) newborn stage is the absolute best, she does this and melts my heart!

 My fave

Cuteness overload!  So thankful for all these expressions!

 My favorite in black and white

Remember this post about our fussy baby and the colic/reflux debate?  Well, this content baby sleeping says it all...

I mean, don't you just want to kiss and squeeze and squeeze and kiss those cheeks?!  

Happy to report that Baby Piper is a much more happier and content baby these days.  I am so happy she's happy and so sad that she was miserable for so long.  Thankful for medicine that so far seems to have solved our problem.  It took a full 2 weeks on the Zantac to see a difference and it was  almost like night and day!  Pre-Zantac she wasn't sleeping for long periods of time during the day…it was rare if she went over 30 minutes.  She also spent most evenings/nights crying and crying unless she was being walked and bounced in just the right way.  Now she has her occasional fussy moments at night but for the most part is content.  She is sleeping great at night-has been going 8 hours at night of solid sleep - her most consistent times have been 11pm-7am.  I am feeling like a whole new woman these days!

Piper's Birth Announcement

We had Piper's newborn pics taken when she was just a week old.  Our photographer for the pics is actually a great gal I have met thru Stella & Dot.  She has been a customer and hostess, I have done trunk shows for her friends and have seen her work in their family pictures.  

She came to our house which was so nice.  It was hard enough to get everyone showered/dressed/hair fixed, let alone if we had to pack up and go somewhere!  These pictures do not show how uncooperative the kids were.  Cooper was throwing a fit when the photographer got to the house because he didn't like what he was wearing and definitely did not want his hair fixed.  Laney refused to look at the camera, she would just stare out the window and roll around on the bed.   The second we would get a good smile out of her, Cooper was laying down or frowning.  We literally got 2 pictures with her looking and halfway smiling.  I threw in the towel after a while because I figured…why pretend we are something we are not?  This is our life right now and we will look back at these pictures and laugh!  

Of course photographers like for the babies to be asleep so they can move them around and get those cute shots.  Well, after about 10 minutes of being asleep, Piper was wide awake and fussy.  The photographer commented that Piper was like working with a 1 month old, not 1 week old with her being so big. :)

In the end, we got what we needed and it was definitely a memorable experience ;).

Our little artists

These pictures are from right before Piper was born - I think late November/early December.  The kids, especially Laney, are totally into coloring.  I just love to see their coloring progress and a peek into how their little minds work.

 In early November she was so proud to write the letter C.  This came out of nowhere, she has never written any other letters!

 More of the letter C.  And those scribbles is how she always colors, I LOVE it!

 A great perk of their coloring-the table talk that I get to eavesdrop in on.

 More of her scribble scrabble…that's what Cooper calls it.  

 Cooper's first family portrait and I couldn't love it more.  Piper wasn't born yet, hence the baby title.  I love the typical heads on sticks with giant hands.  I love we are all one color except for Lola who got lots of colors.  I love that he ordered us biggest to smallest (backwards ;)) and this is the exact order he prays for everyone each night.

 Coop's coloring pages are usually superheros.  

 Laney is also loving Dora these days.

Adam was working in the office and Cooper joined him to write a message to his (imaginary) friend Robin.  He had Adam print it out, brought it to me and asked if I would put it in the mail.  Of course I did ;).

Dad and his (sleepy) girls

Dad and Piper were napping in the recliner.  Laney climbed on up and made herself comfy.

Pajama Day at Preschool

PJ Day is always a favorite!  The kids picked out their PJs for the day.  Laney refused to wear anything else than her Minnie nightgown, luckily I was able to get some pink leggings on with it. 

 See last years PJ Day here.

 Cooper always with the cheesy smile.

Cooper's soccer season

Cooper was adamant about playing soccer as his next sport.  A couple other boys in his class wanted to play soccer too - so we all signed up for indoor soccer this winter.  Indoor was great because there was no out of bounds…can't imagine if they were on an open field.  If nothing else, these games were a great 45 minutes of Sunday afternoon entertainment and a good intro to soccer.

 It took him a few games to get acclimated to how the game worked and what he needed to do.  

 In the beginning he sure was an incredible cheerleader when his team scored a goal ;).   And he and his buddy Jackson did a lot of chatting on the field.

 They are so cute in their uniforms!

 Already posted this pic, but it was worth the repost.  Piper's first outing was to Cooper's soccer game at just 3 days old!

 Serious pre-game huddle

 Dad helped coach the team, he and the other coaches did a lot of laughing on the sidelines.

At this age, we were just so happy he was happy to go, happy to play and got some good exercise.

 About 1/2 way thru their short season, Coop started to get a bit more aggressive.  The first few games he was just following the pack of kids up and down the field, if the ball came near him-he wasn't sure what to do.  Then he stepped up his game and was really chasing that ball around and kicking it when he got close.

 My pictures are all from behind the glass wall so they aren't that great.

 Laney Faith was so good at each game.  She was content sitting right next to me as long as she had a snack.  The one game she had to go to the bathroom was when Cooper scored his first and only goal and we missed it :(, but he doesn't know that.

 The day he scored his first goal-think he was happy about that?

While at the Uhaul store with me last week, he took a selfie of his medal to send to Dad.

Cooper's TOT Performance

Cooper is doing TOTs again this year.  I wrote all about TOT and this same performance last year, here.  

This was also my first outing with the 3 kids alone as Adam was out of town for work.  After I got all 3 of us checked in and squeezed in on the middle school bleachers (not made for infant carseats ;), I took Piper out of her seat to realize she had a blowout diaper all up her back.  Awesome.  Thankful for 2 things…good friends there to sit with my big kids and the fact that I actually had an extra outfit for her in my purse.  Of course there is no changing table in the bathrooms so Piper and I made ourselves at home on the bathroom floor (yuck!) to wash/change her.  I should also note this was her first ever blowout - nice timing Piper ;).

Cooper did so awesome, we are always so proud of him when he steps out of his comfort zone.  I could tell he was wanting to back out before it started but he stayed strong!

 Just like last year, he parked himself in the far back corner!

 Can you see him in the back?  We are always so impressed at these performances.  This many young kids dribbling a basketball would seem to create chaos - but not at all.  They always rock it!  

Cooper was searching for us in the stands afterwards :).

We are so proud of you Cooper William!