Elliotte's Baptism

I am FINALLY getting around to posting

about Elliotte's baptism.

It took place at 6:00pm on May 25th 

at the Church of the Ascension in Mount Pearl. 

Prior to the service,

we had a large beautiful gathering of family and friends

at Mark's parents' house. 

I want to send out a huge heartfelt

Thank You 

to everyone who came

and to those of you who contributed food, time and help

in order to make that day so special for our little family!

It truly meant a lot to all of us!

I am aiming to get my thank you cards out in the near future,

but at the rate that I've been getting things accomplished,

I wouldn't hold my breath on receiving one just yet. 

Please just know that by coming out to meet our 

beautiful new baby girl

 really did mean so much to us!!

Thank you.

Thank you!

Now I'm going to just post a bunch of photos from that day.

A special little thank you goes out to 

Teen, Hailey and Gavin

for being my photography team!

I was too busy running around to take a single photo,

so without them, 

there would be no photos to savor and share!

xo

xo

Mommy and Elliotte with her cousins Hailey and Gavin.
(Aka her photography team!)

The guest of honor!

Poppy Pope and his girl!

At this point, Piper had missed her nap and we started to really see it in her eyes!

Daddy's girls.
(Piper's getting sleepier!)

Chrisine (who is Piper's godmother) holding our special princess!

And the big sister checks out!

Piper spent the majority of the baptismal service just like this
in Daddy's arms!
(Daddy later admitted that he enjoyed this special treat.
She never falls asleep in our arms anymore!)

So serious.

Not so serious!

Elliotte with her great-grandmother and great-aunt!

Princess!

One of the best shots of the day!
We sure wish we lived closer to family
so there could be more of this!

Parents and godparents.
Ben, Diane and Doreen!
Thank you all for standing for our baby girl!

Elliotte with Rev. Burrows. 

For generations of ladies!

Four generations of the Pope genes!

The extended Pope family!

Poppy and Nana Pope with their girls.

Three generations on the Lynch side!

Quiet Time

Quiet time.

What is that?

Can somebody remind me?

It happens so rarely around here these days.

When it does happen,

I try to savor it

and mix a little relaxation time in with productivity.

Sometimes it works.

Sometimes it doesn't.

Like today for example.

Both girls were napping at the same time.

So was Blue.

It was beautiful, peaceful and quiet.

Then the power went out again.

(It was out for 8 hours yesterday due to the storm.)

This time it was only out for a moment.

When it came back on it triggered the doorbell to ring.

This made Blue think there was someone at the door and he started barking.

The barking frightened Elliotte, who started crying.

The crying would be better described as wailing,

which woke Piper.

There goes quiet time!

Sigh.

You win some. You lose some!

xo

xo

Piper and her best bud enjoying the beautiful weather
and having a moment together on our patio.

While little one has a quiet moment of her own.
She is getting better at getting her thumb in her mouth now,
but her aim still isn't the best
as you can tell by the scratch on her forehead.
She now likes to sleep with her thumb in her mouth at night as well,
so I only swaddle one arm to keep her happy!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The good:

We all went for Cow's ice cream

on the last day of Nayson's visit.

The bad:

Piper's thumb was infected

and had gotten progressively worse for three days.

A pharmicist told us to go to a doctor 

if the infection reached her knuckle.

It was too close for Momma's comfort,

so we ended up going straight to the ER after our ice cream.

The ugly:

The thumb! 

The infected area just kept getting bigger

and it wasn't draining at all.

My neighbor, who is a nurse,

suggested going to a doctor to have it lanced.

(She offered to do it herself in the end,

which we were going to go ahead with,

but stopped by the ER and it was pretty empty.)

While waiting to see the doctor,

the thumb was still really swollen and yellow.

Then the doctor walked into the room.

Mark tried to take Piper's hand to show it to him.

Piper pulled away.

In doing so, she pulled her thumb out of Mark's hand.

The infected area broke.

The doctor took one look and said that it was good news 

that the infection was draining.

That's when we noticed that the darn thing broke IN the examining room.

No lancing needed.

Just some antibiotics and polysporin.

Back to the Good again.

The antibiotic is a mixture of two,

making it thick and gritty.

This means that we mix it into chocolate milk 

to get Piper to take it.

She thinks this is GREAT!

And the bad again:

There are only 3 days of antibiotics left to give to her.

And the ugly again:

In three days I have to try to explain to Piper

why I'm not forcing her to drink chocolate milk

three times a day.

This will get ugly.

VERY ugly!

;-)

xo

xo

Everyone enjoying their ice cream,
except little Elliotte.
Next summer baby girl!!!

Nayson teaching Piper how to roll down a hill.
I'll be honest,
her hill rolling skills are not much better than her soccer skills! :-)
But she had a lot of fun!!

She is honestly asleep here.
Sound to the world!
Our trip to get ice cream and see the doctor
conflicted with nap time.
As a result,
she fell asleep in the car coming home
and keep sleeping like this after I brought her into the house!

You can't really tell just how swollen it was in this photo,
plus it had already drained a lot by this point,
but it was nasty!!!

Tiny Toes in the Ocean

While 'Nayson' and his family were visiting,

we all took a trip to the beach.

The big kids had fun playing in the water

and in the sand.

The little kid mostly had fun being lazy in the shade,

but she did take a break from napping

to dip her tiny toes in the ocean

for the very first time!

xo

xo

The Lynch Family on the beach!

Elliotte's first time dipping her toes in the Atlantic. 

Playing in the shade.

Elliotte sucking her thumb and taking a nap in the shade,
while the big kids played on the beach. 

Happy little campers!

Soccer Star

Soccer star...

or not!

Piper started an Active Start program today.

It's meant for kids 3-5 years of age,

but since they don't offer anything around here for 2 year olds,

they told me that they'd be glad for her to join the group.

Yikes.

Piper is in the 100th percentile for her height,

so she LOOKS like a 3 year old...

but she still ACTS like a 2 year old.

So while the other kids were following instructions on how to play games,

Piper was wandering around picking flowers. 

It was a little bit funny,

but a little bit brutal at the same time. 

That and the fact that she kept running over to me

and asking to get up in my arms.

I asked her why.

She said she was afraid she would get hit by a car.

(The soccer field was next to a road with a fair bit of traffic.)

I tried explaining to her that she was safe,

but the traffic was throwing her off.

Oh dear.

This may be an interesting summer!

xo

It started off okay as she held hands with the other kids to start their stretches.
(She's in the white hat because I forgot her purple one!)

xo

Everyone else is playing noodle tag while Piper picks flowers
and tries to give them to the other kids.
(She got tagged a LOT!)

The idea of this game was for all the kids to hold the ball behind their heads
and then throw it really far.
Piper kept dropping hers once it was behind her head.
It was hilarious!

Yep. All the other kids are playing and then a car passed by...
so my child is running to me!

She was a little bit better at t-ball,
but lining up for her turn was interesting!

Elliotte was having fun too!

LOTS of fun!

Slippery Carpet

Okay.

So today's story has nothing to do with the photos,

but I had to share. 

Piper has been fighting getting in the bathtub for the past week or so.

I'm not sure why,

but I hope it passes soon.

I can manage to scrub her down 

while she's standing in the water fighting me,

but I can't wash her hair that way.

I've managed to wash it twice this week.

Once was by letting her get into my big bathtub

and filling it up to her neck with bubbles. 

(Easy to do with baby Aveeno body wash and the jets from the tub!)

She fought getting OUT of that bath!

I was able to scrub scrub scrub her from head to toe

while she played in there.

She's never been so clean!

The second time was today.

I remembered how much she likes the showers at the public swimming pool,

so I offered for her to get in my shower.

It worked and I was able to scrub her until her scalp was raw.

When she got out of my shower,

I told her to stand still on the tub mat because the floor would be slippery.

She didn't listen,

stepped off the mat

and hit the floor.

Standing up and trying not to cry,

she looked at me knowing that she had not listened.

I explained how slippery a ceramic floor can be when it's wet

and that she had to be careful.

A moment later I see her tiptoeing across the bathroom floor

to the safety of the carpet in my bedroom.

Upon her safe arrival,

she exclaimed, "I did it, Mommy!"

Sigh.

Do I congratulate her or do I scold her for not listening AGAIN!

I didn't have a chance for either. 

Ten seconds later,

my incredibly clumsy child

tripped over Blue's dog bed and hit the floor again.

This time, as she picked herself up she exclaimed,

"The carpet is a little bit slippery too, Mom!"

xo

xo

What makes Piper the happiest I've ever seen her?
Her boyfriend.
Her best friend.
Two $1.00 beach balls.
And a water sprinkler. 

Absolute fun!

Too many mosquitos outside for me,
so I'll just stay and play in my own little jungle. 

I started this post with a Piper story, so I should end it with a little Elliotte story.

It's short and simple. 

I have a very happy baby that loves to smile and loves her pacifier. 

What could possibly be wrong with that?

Just one thing.

Every time she smiles (which is often), her soother falls out.  :-D

Elliotte's First Canada Day

I was really hoping to find some little-kid friendly activities

here in Summerside to celebrate Canada Day,

but sadly there were none to be found.

Perhaps they were out there,

but they evaded this momma.

Instead we watched some bigger kids have loads of fun.

I think I was more disappointed than Piper (and Elliotte).

Piper seemed extremely happy to watch the big kids 

bounce, run, slide and get tattoos.

She thought it was great!

A teenage girl tried to give Piper a tattoo of her own,

but Little Miss was too shy.

She settled for a flag and a windmill.

Elliotte didn't see what all the fuss was about.

Essentially, if there isn't food involved,

she could care less!

xo

xo

Piper and Elliotte sharing jellybeans with Wes!

Elliotte enjoying the cool breeze from the fan!
She LOVED it!

Piper making mango smoothies with Barb!

At the Canada Day festivities in Summerside.  

An attempt at a photo of Elliotte on her first Canada Day...
but she was too interested in the flag. 

Little Miss E wondering what all the fuss is about!

Funny story:
 Piper is a huge fan of visiting the live lobsters at the grocery store, but I am not sure if she realizes that you can actually eat them. Then, yesterday, while watching tv, a commercial came on for lobster sandwiches being served at Subway. Piper immediately looked at me and said, "lobster sandwiches, Mommy???" I smiled and replied, "Yes. You can eat lobster."

Piper thought about this for a moment and then very seriously responded, "no Mommy. You can no eat lobster. It would hurt my teeth."

I love this kid!!!