Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

This post is going to be short 

because I'm going to go and do what Piper is doing in this photo!

xo

Sleeping beauty!

Calling Poppy Cee!

Since Piper calls my dad "Poppy", 

we decided that she should call his dad, Cyril, "Poppy Cee". 

Today while I was talking to Poppy Cee on the phone,

I turned around to find Piper sitting in her bumbo chair (sideways of course).

She had taken Poppy Cee's photo off of the end table 

and was saying "Pop" "Pop" "Pop"!

Honestly!

I'm not lying. 

I think it was a little creepy.

My mother just thinks that Piper is brilliant. Ha!

xo

Pop Pop Pop

And pointing at him to be sure I knew who she was talking about!

Smash the Cake Photo Shoot

Since Piper was practically asleep when she was given her cake on her birthday,

we decided to ask a friend to take photos of her in a 

"SMASH THE CAKE" photo shoot.

We did this photo shoot last week and it was heaps of fun.

I'm still surprised that Piper didn't get as crazy with the cake as we had expected.

She was a little restrained again,

as if she was expecting me to stop her at any second.

I swear... if I left a cake on the floor by mistake and DIDN'T want her to touch it,

I would be cleaning it off of the ceiling! 

xo

Another cake??
For ME?

Yes, my hat is adorable!

Baby face!

Are you SURE I can get messy again?

I'm getting messy!

Cake is delicious!

Oops! Her hat slipped down over her face!

Really getting into the smashing!

Gone to the Dogs

As parents of a toddler, 

we are encouraged to partake in "cause & effect" activities.

We try to do this as often as possible with Piper,

but more often than not, she finds her very own versions!

In the early high chair days, 

she quickly learned that if she dropped food on the floor,

Blue would sneak under the table and eat it. 

This, apparently, is incredibly funny!

Two days ago, however, she learned

that if you time consecutive food drops just right...

you can get the food ONTO the dog instead of INTO the dog!

Did I mention I had to wash birthday cake icing out of Blue's fur?

Sigh...

xo

Piper becomes Blue's favourite person at meal time!

Piper after she has made a successful drop onto Blue's back!

What?
Do I have something on my face??

Oblivious and waiting for more!

For the record:

Piper took quite a few steps on her own today. She'll walk from mom to dad, or from the window to her little table, etc. She's not very sturdy or balanced just yet, but it's a start! 

Also, as of today, here is a list of the words that she will say: Hi, Ball, Uh oh, Dad, Down, Mum Mum (eat), bahhhhh (sheep), Pop, eye and Ahhhhh (when she's hugging something or sees Blue).

I actually think there are more works than that, but I can't think of them right now. She can be quite a little chatter bug!

Child's Play!! (The creepy movie!)

 Piper is STILL playing with the Little People Farm box!

I could post photos from every day for the two weeks.

Yes, she does play with the farm...

but the box is always more fun!

Today was the funniest day ever though. 

Not only did Piper have heaps of fun playing with it, 

but I got the best, yet CREEPIEST photo of her EVER!

Honestly, check it out!!

xo

Sitting on the box and pointing to the sheep and saying "bahhhh"!

Using the box as a stool to climb onto the chair!

Houdini?
All her yoga practice is keeping her flexible!

Squeezing in there!

The cute version of Piper in a box...

and the CREEPY version!
Honestly, do you not just think of the movie Child's Play when you see this?
Hahaha!

A Missed Nap Means...

Today I made a quick trip into a store while Piper and Mark stayed in the car.

When I came out Piper was sound asleep in her car seat. 

No No No!

A unscheduled nap in the car an hour before nap time is not good news.

As a result, we had a whiney baby

who didn't make it through supper!

xo

After stuffing all of the bread on her tray into her mouth...

And her head drops even further down...

... and DONE!

Look Who's Standing!

Her balance may be off a little,

but we're definitely making progress!

I've been encouraging Piper to stand alone for a few days now.

Today is the first day that we've watched her do it herself multiple times.

She's still shaky, 

but she gets so excited when she's actually doing it!

Way to go my sweet girl!

xo

Keeping balance... barely!

Piece of cake!

Her concentration is pretty evident here!

Overjoyed with excitement when she realizes she's really standing all by herself!

Oh, and for the record:
Operation Wean Piper Cee has been a success. As of two days ago, Piper has been officially weaned! Woohoo! We're not sure that there won't be a set back, but I'm pretty confident we're there! It has taken a lot of hard work and perseverance, but it sure has paid off. After a VERY rough start with breastfeeding, taking more than two long months to establish it, I committed to one year. That year was up two weeks ago, so I set a goal to see us through this process by the end of January. Who would have thought that our hard work would pay off early! Way to go Piper Cee. We're all so proud of you! And what's even better??? She has decided that sleeping through the night is a great idea also. It's like she turned one and decided that she wasn't a baby anymore. She now goes into her crib awake, puts herself to sleep and doesn't stir until almost 9 o'clock the next morning! My child is a rock star! xo

"Just Keep Swimming"

Today Duggan and Piper had a swim date at the pool. 

While Piper was giddy with joy while she was chasing the ball around,

it was nothing compared to how much fun she had watching Duggan escape!

Every time he crawled out of the pool she would laugh with delight. 

xo

Duggan making a run for it!

Piper learning from her buddy!

Sad because the ball floated away!

Not to fear! She chased it until she got it!

Piper and her biggest fan! xo

Tired Little Model

Today Piper had her "Smash the Cake" photo shoot.

It took place about a 3 minute drive away from our house.

When we got home, she was sound asleep in the truck.

I took her out of her car seat into -30 degree weather,

into our house, 

laid her on the porch floor so that I could strip off her snowsuit,

then I put her into her crib where I removed her shoes.

Not only did she not even wake up once,

but she didn't move, not a muscle, for almost TWO hours.

Apparently modeling is exhausting!

Or maybe this was her sugar-high wearing off after eating all that cake and icing!

xo

A Life Turned Upside Down!

I knew that having a baby would turn my life upside down!

And that it did.

So, we decided to show Piper what our lives were like before she came along! 

It was easier to turn HER upside down 

rather than turn all of us right-side-up! 

Ha!

xo

Our upside down baby glimpsing our previous right-side-up life.

Geez... you guys had no idea how much I would wreak havoc on you!
Haha.
(After a little blood rushed to her head!)

Downward Dog - Piper Style

For any of you out there that may not know what Downward Dog means,

well, it's a yoga pose similar to what we found Piper doing at Duggan's birthday party.

This pose can be difficult for some people.

I find it difficult,

so you can imagine how well I did it when I was 8 months pregnant!

(Not a pretty sight!)

Either way, Piper must have picked up some of my technique while in the womb!

Allow her to demonstrate...

xo

Piper executing the Downward Dog pose.

Holding her pose while breathing in a relaxed state.

It's hard to stay in a relaxed yoga state while someone is tugging on your pigtails!

The reverse view of this yoga pose!

Thank you to Miss Piper for a lovely demonstration!

Hello darling!

It looks like a telephone.

It smells like a telephone.

It must BE a telephone... right?

She was holding the tv remote like this saying "Hi, Hi Hi". 

"Hi" "Hi" "Hi"

Homemade Jungle Gym

It's COLD in Yellowknife.

So we try to find any way possible to keep up entertained INDOORS!

It's all fun and games using the table as a jungle gym...

until you get stuck and can't get out!

xo

The table is a fun place to crawl under and climb around!

Trying to sit up is not so easy, but I'm still happy!

And then she doesn't realize that the space between the chair and table legs is smaller than her head...
tries to squeeze through anyway...
and has a freak out because she's stuck.
I choose to take a photo before I helped her.
Ha!

Alphabet Soup!

Tonight we had vegetable (alphabet) soup for supper.

We decided to have a little fun with the alphabet.

Piper thought it was funny.

Mommy thought it was funny.

Daddy rolled his eyes at us!

Then, part way through the meal, I asked Mark to give me any peas that he had in his soup.

He asked me if I wanted the letters or the vegetables. 

LOL!

I wanted the vegetables. 

Piper was gobbling them up as fast as she could and had eaten all of hers and mine!

Silly Daddy!

xo

The best vegetable soup ever!

Quite proud of her very own soup!

Contemplating if she was actually going to eat her name or not!
The peas (her favourite) won and were devoured first.

Where is Baby's Bellybutton?

Piper has recently become obsessed with her bellybutton.

I showed it to her last week and now she's fixated.

Here she is, 

showing it off to the world!

She's so proud of it!

xo

Making sure it is still there!
(Notice that she has to pull her belly taunt to be able to see it! Ha!)

Holding onto it,
just in case it thought of going somewhere!