20 Weeks!?

"let's get physical...physical!"

"oh hello there...i'm kinda nude"

her Nana knitted her this sweater - she can't wear it in Houston so we took it to Vancouver

Piper turned 20 weeks old yesterday - how is that possible? Someone once said "the days are long but the weeks are short with a baby" and it's so true. I have loved every minute with Piper and am finally realizing how grateful I am to be able to stay home with her and watch her grow and learn. She really has made it pretty easy on us, yes she has her fussy times but when it comes down to it she is a great sleeper, she smiles 95% of the day, and she makes my heart sing...she's amazing. I am so bad at keeping this blog but I hope to get better mainly so I can have this as a record later of all my favorite Piper moments and achievements. Lately we're trying to get her to eat some rice cereal but it's not going well, I finally added a little banana and she's starting to take tiny nibbles. I'll keep trying! She's so active in her crib, I go in there in the morning to get her and her legs are dangling out of the crib bars or her hand is stuck, she's not even close to where I laid her down - she is on the move! Above are some of my favorite pictures from the last month. The 2nd two are from our recent trip to Vancouver. Our trip to Vancouver was great, she slept on the way there and on the way back. It's almost a 5 hour flight - so it kind of prepared us for our trip to the UK for Christmas - 10 hours just doesn't compare to 5 though so I'm still a bit nervous.

I'll start uploading these videos to the blog at some point but for now here are links to them...she's so vocal now and playful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1dC4R3DrGE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhrBrOGAg7k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4BpFlZZ2CA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0HIislThJU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boL4kHSK6Vw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB8KiGTeQaI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b17CHRS1rU0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y-bAgBEPJ8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YRcHf3YBRg

Piper Photoshoot

Sam's co-worker has a little photography studio at her house and offered to let us use it. So in June, when Piper was a month old, Sam took a ton of these photos of Piper and we got to borrow all sorts of girly little props and use her lighting, etc. It was great. I really never thought I'd put all this girly crap on my little daughter but there I was, covering her in pearls, feathers, and tutus!! ha. She did great and we love the photos we got. I think we'll go back at 6 months and a year to get more shots. Actually now Sam wants to turn our semi-converted attic into a little photography studio, I think maybe that's the best use for that space up there so am all for it. Our little baby is almost 12 weeks old now, I can't believe it. She smiles at me every day and I just MELT!! There's just nothing like it. She kinda laughs sometimes so I know those will start coming more and more and I can't wait!

Introducing Piper Evelyn!

Sorry I never post anymore, obviously a newborn doesn't exactly give me time to do these things. This will be a short post, just wanted to put a couple pics up of my beautiful baby girl. Born May 26, 2011, 8lbs 6oz, 20.5", 12:41pm via c-section. I'm pretty much fully recovered and she's super healthy and things couldn't be going any better! I loved her the minute I saw her and I love her more every day, I swear I think I kiss her over 100 times a day!

37.5 weeks, the clock is ticking!

Ready to pop!

Pip's nursery is finally done!

As of today, I have 9 days to go! C-section (pip is breech) has been scheduled for May 26th. So that's exactly 1 week before original due date. I think I'm glad, I'm not sure I could make it to June 2nd haha. I'm so excited to meet her and kiss her and see Sam holding her, I just can't wait!! I'm not a huge fan of knowing the exact date that she's coming cause it makes me a tiny bit anxious but I am taking full advantage of knowing. We've scheduled a maid to come while we're at the hospital, it's easy to plan for someone to come get Marley, I am getting a good long pedicure the day before, easy for Sam to plan his paternity leave, oh and I know I get to watch the last Oprah before the big day ha. I couldn't be happier with how the nursery turned out, I just love it. We keep going to sit in there, it's just so peaceful and elegant. So since I'm so bad about posts my next one will probably be when our baby girl is a couple weeks old ha. I'll apologize now. Sam is taking 2 weeks off work to take care of his girls and we know it'll be a tough couple of weeks with a newborn but we're also looking forward to spending so much time together as a family! Stay tuned for the birth announcement after next Thursday! :) xoxo

Vancouver "Portraits"

Before leaving Vancouver we asked our friend Kathy (who is an amazing Photographer) to take a couple fun pics of Sam and I. We never really had many pictures of the both of us together while living there and wanted some to remember our time in Vancouver by. We decided to just run around our favorite and closest beach - Jericho. It wasn't very sunny, of course, and it was also cold and windy. I thought "there is no way any of these will turn out", especially because Sam and I were laughing the whole time feeling so goofy and making fun of each other. Well, Kathy is a genius because I love soo many of these! I posted a few to facebook but wanted to post ALL my favorites here. I am so happy we have these pictures as wonderful memories of 2 of the best years of our lives together in Vancouver. I also love that my baby bump is included in some of these but that it's not the real focus. Was missing Vancouver today so thought this would be a good post. I heart BC!













Photos taken by Kathleen Hinkel, Photographer, http://www.kathleenhinkelphotography.com/

Texan Again & 7 months

Life is insanely busy right now, as I know it is for all of you too! But I just can't do much more of a post than this right now. I'm almost 7 months which just seems insane!? I kinda wish I could just be pregnant forever ha. The fact a baby comes at the end of all of this hasn't even hit me as a reality yet! We are moved back from Vancouver which is totally surreal as well. We took 7 days in an RV traveling 3200 miles seeing beautiful America...but just not sure I'd recommend a trip like that for any other preggos, it got bouncy and loud at some points! Bad weather didn't help at all! Anyway, we're back in Houston and trying to get the house in order. SO MUCH TO DO, EEK! I know it'll all get done so I'm just trying to take my time and work my way down all of my lists. "Pip" is kicking loads, I love feeling and watching her in my belly. Will post again when I can soon. Hoping to get started on decorating the nursery soon, I did register so am glad to have that off my list, huge thanks to my sister for all the help at Babies R Us. xoxo to you all!

6 Month Bump

Ok, I finally took a photo that I feel comfortable posting :) I'm 24 weeks tomorrow, whoa. Where does the time go? We move in 2 weeks back to Houston, we're taking an RV back, so it'll be a fun week long road trip. Also will be great to get up, stretch my legs, go pee when I want, and have a kitchen on board! Loving being pregnant and feeling my little girl kicking me ALL the time! Life is so good right now!!

Bachelorette Weekend in Dallas

Me w/ Katy who is due in May and our proud friend Kelly :)
(My old roommates from fort worth)

This past weekend was a total whirlwind! One of my best friend's Christy is getting married in May in Mexico (I can't go cause it's a few weeks before my due date). So this past weekend was her bachelorette party in Frisco/Dallas where she lives. So the only ticket I found that was under $500 had me driving to Seattle and flying through IAH to get there. Thursday night Sam had the worst heartburn of his life so I took him to the ER and we found out it's an ulcer. I was there with him until 2am, I had to wake up at 5am to drive to Seattle! So I pretty much scratched my whole travel plan saying there was no way I could do it. But while laying in bed I couldn't go back to sleep and just kept thinking how much I wanted to see my girls before me and Katy both had our babies soon! So, I pulled myself together, got in the car by 6am, was @ Seattle airport by 9:30am and got on my flight. Luckily none of my fights were canceled from the crazy snow storms, but when I finally got to Dallas it was insane. Not only from the weather but the damn superbowl! No one could come get me in that weather so she organized a shuttle which ended up taking 4.5 hours to get from from DFW to Frisco - a trip that normally takes 30 minutes. Saturday was great, hanging with my girls and getting our nails done, went to dinner, and a club. It was awesome having a sober partner in Katy who is a month further along in her pregnancy. So Sunday came and again I had to fly from DFW to IAH to SEA and drive to Vancouver. Sam wanted me to get a hotel room in Seattle if I was too tired to drive but I pushed through and with the weather being pretty dry it wasn't too bad. Pulled up to our house in Vancouver at 11:30pm. I think I traveled more hours than I spent in Frisco but it was worth it. I figure once I have a kid it won't be as easy for me to just grab my bag and run to be with my girlfriends!

First Bump Pic

Finally my first "bump" picture. I'm just over 19 weeks now. Sometimes I'm smaller than this, sometimes I'm bigger; just depends on the time of day. Feeling our little girl kick and nudge all the time and loving it! Still pretty much wearing all of my normal clothes, though I did buy some maternity jeans when back in Houston that I'm wearing half the time cause they're just more comfortable and easier to wear. What a joke to have to button and zip your pants! Think I might really "pop" soon, so will post more pictures then :)

It's a GIRL!!

Sam and I had an ultrasound last Monday when we were in Houston for the holidays and found out that we're having a GIRL!! I didn't care what we were having but I did want to find out cause I'm a planner and I want to make sure everything is ready for HER when she comes. My cousins have had all boys and my sister had a boy - so I guess I did think a girl would be fun just to change things up. Now I can't wait to move back to Houston and start decorating. We have less than 8 weeks left in Vancouver, which is so surreal. I hope the weather cooperates and isn't crappy the ENTIRE time we have left. So far it hailed today, so that's not a good start. I don't have much of a bump yet, though some days are bigger than others...so I'll post a picture as soon as I feel like I can take a good one ha. I feel her moving all the time and Sam has even felt her move, I feel like so much has happened and I'm only 19 weeks along! I told Marley he's gonna have a baby sister who will be real sweet to him and possibly dress him in tutus...he won't mind I'm sure!