Much to be thankful for

Piper has been hanging out on the stairs these days.

She hangs on the side...

Makes her new face that makes her look like an old woman who doesn't have her teeth in...

And grabs at Daddy's photography books.

Then the day before Thanksgiving...

I came around the corner to find her up past the first step.

Josh and I had just been talking about gates 20 minutes before. I think she heard us.

We stayed with her for three more steps.

Oh yes, she's growling these days too.

But we got nervous and scooped her up.

So far she's back to hanging at the first step. But the smart little thing has figured out how to get off the step too. So no whining on the step or the windowsill for help down...

she's got it covered.

"Helping" in the kitchen

So the face she's making,

I started it.

See, when she does something fun I do the "animated surprised face"

Well, she started doing it back.

These days she does it constantly and if I do it back at her she squeals with delight.

The other night I was giving her raspberries on her tummy.

Just too darn temping after a tub I tell ya.

The very next morning she grabbed my arm and did them perfectly on me.

Nothing gets past this one.

So we may be wicked busy, but we're having a lot of fun!

Ever Moving

Looks exciting huh?

Can't contain yourself when you see it, eh?

Piper feels the same way!

She sings to it, chews on it and spends quite a bit of time obsessing over it's inner workings.

And we have 6 of these bad boys lining two walls of our living room.

Oh ya baby!

One has our satellite radio antennae threaded through it, so it closes-

but the little knobby deal stays in the 12 o'clock position.

Mom does not like this.

Visions of empaled eyes flash through my head

and I wish I didn't have EMT classes to back up the visuals.

*shudder*

So

I pulled a new Mom move and covered it, thinking that maybe

if she didn't see it than maybe it wouldn't be an issue.

okay.

That didn't work.

Please note the child has removed the "cover"

and is now playing with tape

ahhh...I now understand "baby jails"

Same day she's playing in her books having a ball...

...then later climbs into the box.

And isn't quite sure how to get out.

All joking aside we are having fun watching what she does next while literally staying in a constant state of tension trying to let her explore so she can learn but

also not hurt herself too badly in the process.

I'd post video but every few seconds the frame shakes as I anticipate her falling.

Okay fine, I should say I'm in a constant state of tension.

Josh is Mr. Cool Dad.

Next Steps

Piper and I are both still healing. Josh has managed to dodge this one.

She has been taking some epic naps, which is good because I needed the sleep too.

Nose is still runny and cough still breaks my heart.

But something else happened with all that sleep...

She's figured something out.

It started here.

Which she's been working on for awhile so I didn't think much of it.

Then she saw something she wanted to check out in the hallway...

okay...this is a bit more than usual.

Whoa.

WHAT????

Got the prize.

So that was yesterday.

Today I had her crawling around the house as usual. And these days she's faster, braver and into everything. So when I heard the stool scrape the floor in the dinning room I didn't think much of it. She's moved them before and at least I knew where she was.

But when I moved around the other side of the island...

Okay then. Um...I know this is the next step but this makes me nervous.

Concrete floors. Cute little noggins.

Not to mention all the cool things she can get into now...

Relaxing

Piper is taking some extra down time to recover.

While she's still quite stuffy and her cough is still rattling around in her little chest-

she is in good spirits.

She's had some early bedtimes and long naps,

sure sign she's not feeling all that great.

But she is on the mend.

8 Months Old

For Piper's 8 month birthday she got her first cold.

And it is a doozie.

My heart is breaking. I never knew I could feel such physical and emotional pain

for another's suffering.

She is so uncomfortable and her little cough sounds horrible.

Tonight she hit a point of agony that was gut wrenching.

Nothing could comfort or sooth.

But at this age there is little we can do but keep the humidifier running

and give her Homeopathics.

Random Happenings

So many random events in our worlds these days.

Josh taught Piper how to play solitaire. ;-)

And she's drinking from a sippy cup

One night last week Grandpa Scott visited before bedtime

and Piper got her bedtime story from him.

She was very excited about this.

There is more exploration happening as Piper feels more comfortable with her crawling.

Which means more baby proofing.

And some deepening of friendships.

This is Dosti, Katie and Bob's little girl.

Or not so little girl.

And some relaxing.

All that crawling and visiting can tire a girl out ya know.