Texas

On this trip to Texas, we did some much needed shopping at Ikea, went to the Dallas temple (first time back since we were married there 4 years ago!), visited the Perot Museum, had lunch at El Fenix (their chips are SO good), and hung out with family. It was very refreshing.

Love my grandpa's face in this picture.

Checking out my grandparents' garden

Four generations (although this is my dad's mom, not my mom's)

Picking blackberries

Good thing Grandma is limber! Piper enjoyed going for a ride.

Hanging out with Grandpa

 

 

 

I love this picture. Libby got the gator stuck around her neck. Sad, but funny. And Piper is sitting in a box. :)

Road Trip

Well, we survived our first major road trip with 2 kids. We drove the 13 hours to Dallas to visit my family. It went about as well as can be expected with a potty-training toddler and a baby who doesn't really sleep in the car. I think Piper slept only 30 minutes the entire 6 hour drive the first day.

But really, it wasn't so bad. The weather was beautiful the entire way down. We drove right through Moore, Oklahoma, thankfully beating the tornado by about 12 hours. (We also drove through Moore on the way home and witnessed some of the destruction. Check out the sandwiched billboard below.)

Libby colored, played with her leap pad, and requested over and over to "play a puzzle on Mommy's Nexus." Piper chewed on a pen, ate Puffs, and sucked on an apple. Jared and I took turns sitting in the backseat entertaining the kids (it was actually more comfortable back there anyway) and driving.

Favorite picture from the drive, somewhere on the side of the road in Kansas:

Piper - 7 months

Is this not one of the most gorgeous babies you have ever seen? I just love her adorable face.

Piper can sit up for short periods of time, but honestly, she is nearly always in my arms or on my back (riding in the Boba) so she hasn't had much practice. When she is on the floor, she immediately rolls around and is able to scoot a little bit.

We quit swaddling her to sleep - cold turkey. She rolled over onto her face one night (while her arms were still tucked inside), so I decided for her own safety, she had to give it up. And now she's actually sleeping better, so that's a win. She still wakes up once or twice at night to nurse. Most days, I can put her down to sleep while she's still awake and she falls asleep in her crib after just a few minutes of fussing. She still ends up in our bed most nights, but I'm trying to limit that now, because she did roll off the bed once. (Fortunately, our room was a mess and she landed on a pile of laundry, so no harm done.)

She likes sweet potatoes and mashed bananas. And Puffs. Oh boy, does she enjoy Puffs. We said hello and goodbye to rice cereal and oatmeal. Those don't interest her.

She squawks and squeals quite a bit, but she is a very happy baby. We are so lucky to have her.

Changes

I only have a few minutes to write, so I'll recap the past month with just a few pictures.

1. I cut 11 inches off my hair. When I look at these pictures, I miss my long hair. But in real, every day life, I am glad to be rid of it. I put it in a pony tail or braid every day, so what was the point? Plus, it's nice to have phrases to say to my children other than "stop pulling my hair!"

 2. Libby got a balance bike and it's already becoming one of our best purchases of all time. FYI, the others are her swing that we hung in our tree in Illinois (we don't have a tree with a good horizontal branch at our house in Iowa) and her baby stroller (which was a gift from her aunt Rachel).

I ordered the bike from Amazon, so I told Libby on the scheduled arrival date to be on the lookout for a big truck that would be bringing her bike. There was squealing involved when it finally came. She "helped" Jared put it together and when she got on, the first thing she said was "where mine pedals?" I explained that this bike does not come with pedals - you just use your feet. Her response? "When the truck bring me pedals, then I can ride mine bike."

3. Libby woke up one day, took off her clothes and diaper and announced that she did not want to put a diaper back on. I said, "ok, how about underwear?' And thus began potty training.