Not Well

Well...

Things have not been so good around here.

Last Saturday Piper was burning up and not acting herself. By Sunday we had projectile vomiting what little food she was eating (though she'd wait all day to share). I'll spare you the tails of the diapers. 

But lets just say they were the wrong color.

Monday she seemed to be a little better. Still not happy, but at least she ate a little something.

By Tuesday morning she had lost all of her food from the day before in a colorful spread in her room.

Very Jackson Pollock

With the Dr. on the phone she lost more.

(Bonus Daddy points for Josh who cleaned up everything from this week's events)

Off to the Dr. we all went with a child in the backseat just starring into space.

Not good.

But when we get there everything checked out. Ears, throat, vitals...all fine.

So we were told to get as much fluid into her as we could and keep up with the BRAT diet. 

And to watch the diapers, the color needed to go back to normal soon. 

A follow up apt. was made and back home we went.

Many MANY episodes of old school Sesame Street later and she's still not right.

Grandpa came to the rescue with a swamp cooler in this horrible heat 

and Piper barely looked at him. 

what???

She warmed of course, but still. This is her beloved Grandpa we're talking about! What is going on?

Likely a virus that will just run its course.

But still hard for everyone. 

We're back to the Doctor in the morning and praying for sleep tonight.

There we go!

Up and Down

The week started out so sweet...

Piper seemed to have a break from her teeth and she was a gem.

 

Aoife took her to the stables - there was a kids camp happening and Piper soaked it up. She watched the girls intently and wanted to do what they were doing.

The effects could be seen at the Sat. market this week when all the little girls in town were all about Piper and Piper obviously remembered them and soaked up the attention. Too sweet...

Getting her "baby" to ride the camel...

Love this one - she was having some diaper free drawing time on the porch - she found that her plastic bib with a tray was perfect for holding her chalk.

She and Aoife played dress up

 I will forever remember coming home from Shumei and Piper is dressed up running around the yard chasing Yoda. Classic. 

But for the last couple of days we've seen high fevers, little to no appetite and lots of cuddles. 

Lots of screaming too. But lots of cuddles. 

I heard there was something going around, and she's just not herself. Not even her teething self.

She just showed me she wanted to go back to bed this morning after having a meltdown. 

She just doesn't feel right.

This too shall pass, but its so hard to see her like this.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

Piper seems to be doing much better. Must have been the teeth (thank goodness!)

After sleeping until 9am she seemed better than she has in months!

She's never slept in that late. 

Not that I'm complaining!

Josh spent a leisurely morning with his girls and then spent a good chunk of the day in the shop.  Piper and I hung out in the yard playing and so it was a nice day of hanging out and laughing. 

Lots of laughing.

  Ya...so Piper is really into putting food in her hair when she's done eating. Must be entertaining her Dad, because we've had a request to start trying to move dinner earlier so we can all eat together.

Easier said honestly. Piper does not making cooking an easy feat. Ah well, we'll work it out. And with her going to bed later and getting older I suppose it is time. Even if we end up spending most of the meal dodging hand fulls of food.

Thank You Grandma Sally for the fairy skirt tucked into Daddy's Father's Day box!

Very big hit as you can see...

These days everything seems to need to happen to her toys too. The sheep got to wear the skirt. 

 And her doll is covered in yogurt at the moment...no joke.

Corn

Tonight Piper had her first corn on the cob...

I think she's taking after her Grandma Leslie with this obsession.

Piper spent the night again at Grandpa and Grammy's

She was hugging them over and over and wouldn't get in the car until I told her 

she was going to go see Daddy.

More teeth on the move and possibly another ear infection. We're watching closely. Thankfully we had a break because I think we're in for it for the next few days. Elevated temp, pulling at her ears, wanting to go to sleep but then screaming and not wanting to lay down...

I went back into her room with some meds and she had some and so did her stuffed kitty. 

When I asked if her kitty's ear hurt she pulled on his ear and hugged him. 

Poor thing.

She let me sing to her for 10 minutes, I know she's not feeling well.

Memories in the Making

More molars...

Made a little better by new PJs from our friends Ghrame and Rhode.

And a Piper sized belly dance belt made by one of my belly dance buddies Deb. 

Piper had chased after her one practice and after that she was on a mission to make her her own belt.

Ya, its a hit.

But really it is a weekend at Grammy and Grandpa's that makes things more comfortable.

It was Grandpa's Birthday and Josh and I had a full weekend,

 so Piper spent the whole weekend with them.

Good Times!

 She had a blast. I mean really there is nothing like it. 

She is so comfortable, so happy - what a blessing to have active Grandparents so close! 

I got to perform, Josh got to camp, we both got to clean the house (fun fun fun) and Piper got to snuggle in, explore and eat fresh radish from the garden...that is the life!

We missed her something terrible, but she seemed to thrive in the "break" and we did too.

 Then come Monday Piper received a package all the way from Germany!

The cutest horse (it even has a belly button)! She had just Skyped with Aunt Kim at Grammy and Grandpa's house and had been able to point her our in family photos - so she was fully aware of who sent her this fun new friend.

Testing Boundaries

It was a big, challenging and lovely weekend for us over here.

Piper is taking major leaps in the toddler department.

Climbing onto the windowsill to climb atop a table we're borrowing from our friend John Day. It is Piper height and intended for future art project, puzzles and other such discoveries. But for now it seems to be used for the discovery of, "How high can I climb before Mom makes that funny noise?"

So we compromised. She would not stop running on the couch, so I took the cushions off the love seat and fashioned a little climbing gym closer to the ground. It satisfies her need to climb and keeps me from having numerous heart palpitations throughout the day. Now I only have one or two.

Piper is talking more. She says things like "bop" but she also says: bounce, up, hot, 

doggie, yep, thank you and Grammy!

She says much more. But under her breath, so you really have to pay attention to catch it.

We headed up to the Front Range this weekend.

Visit the Aunties and go to Z's 1st Birthday was on the itinerary.

But first we had to get there.

In the past we've taken the 4 hour drive while Piper slept for the night. But she's going to bed later these days and getting older, so we decided to see how she'd do taking the drive after her nap (she doesn't sleep in the car for naps - not long enough at least).

Um.

ya.

I don't know if words can describe the torture.

for her.

for me.

Dad drowned out the noise with some OutLaw Country on the radio... but the back (where I ended up) was filled with screams, growls and the repetitive sounds of desperation...

which oddly sounds much like a Yo Gabba Gabba App for an Ipad. 

But then we made it.

Later than expected and so after some much needed time running around the yard,

 Piper went to bed an hour later than usual.

Which, ehem... began a domino effect of a two hour crib party and an hour early wake up.

See...Piper likes her sleep. When she's short on sleep it tends to spiral out of control.

The next morning she seemed "okay"

despite being 4 hours shorter on sleep than usual

Piper remembered her Auntie Amy even the first night and lunged into her arms and even played with her while I got ready for the day.

HUGE improvement from the past visits we've had.

So after an incredibly crappy nap (the dominos are still falling at this point)

Piper looses it in an all new way.

Possessed.

Seriously, no joke - I was ready to find a gypsy woman to help.

She lost it.

Screaming, crying, pulling at her hair - little fists shaking in the air.

This. was. not. Piper.

Well, this WAS Piper.

Its just that this was Piper with not enough sleep.

Wow.

Ya.

It will be a good long time before I test the ol' "all kids are flexible" theory.

Not all kids are flexible.

She's flexible with many things, but sleep is not one of them.

So...here we are, supposed to go to Jenn and Dave's for a birthday part for Zs 

and Piper is screaming while clinging to me. 

A little time out in a dark room to take a breath, some meds in case she had teeth coming in, and a little candy and we taught our daughter coping mechanisms.

And we made it to the party.

These are the only two photos of the party I have. Which is too bad. 

It was lovely, packed with people and kids and just beautiful...

And this is how Piper spent 99% of her time there...

Fully channeling her Father's social patterns.

Then she dug deep, found my genes and ran around for 

15 minutes beaming at people and working the crowd.

Only to completely melt again.

Back to the Aunties we went, after a tub and some mellow love-y time which included giving Auntie Amy big big kisses she went to bed early, slept through the night 

and only got up 2 hours earlier than "usual".

But that little "extra" made all the difference.

 We went to a local park and Piper's Auntie love continued.

 Piper was loving the water from the sprinklers at the park- which got us thinking...

So Piper's love for the gnome actually extends into other creatures of the forest...

She is VERY serious about her lawn ornaments, let me tell you.

 

 No. Joke.

Auntie Sandi has Fairy's EVERYWHERE

 Don't try to take this one away from me!