piper says

As usual, Piper is cracking us up with all the silly things she says.

Here's a few of my favorites from the last few days.

"Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. golden sun, please shine somewhere else"

"We need a bigger family. Better have more kids soon.

That's what the Holy Ghost is telling me in my heart."

I looked back at her in the car the other day and she was rubbing her

eyebrows kinda funny.

I asked her what she was doing...

"Just stretching my eye brows a little bit"

I can't believe she's almost 4!

She's the best!

Silly Piper Sayings

Piper is a very verbal little girl.

As in, she NEVER stops talking.

She always has something to say to everyone :) 

(photo from keala from a while ago, but I just LOVE it!)

A few weeks ago, we were on a walk and she turned to me and said, 

"It is so yummy out here, Mom"

I loved that she was trying to describe the day, and those are the words she used.

 That same day, she asked, "Can we have a date out here?"

She was playing with her Easter eggs the other day, pretending little chicks and 

baby penguins were escaping and that she needed to catch them all.

She ran down the stairs after one, and yelled,

"I'll catch you, you little punk!"

Trevor came to get in the car for church one Sunday.

Piper said, "You look a little handsome.. for a boy."

hahaha that had me laughing for a while! 

And a little bit ago, we were playing at the park. 

Piper was helping another little girl climb the stairs and go down the slides. 

The little girl was probably just over a year old, so she didn't talk much.

I asked Piper what the baby's name was and she said,

"I don't know her name. I'll just call her ravioli." 

And she called the little girl "ravioli" the rest of the time we were there.

So funny!!

I'm trying to be good about writing all of these things down 

and sometimes they are too funny not to share!

These days, Piper is obsessed with:

trains 

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood

Basketball/Football games

jumping. she never stops.

The Bruno Mars song: Uptown Funk. 

(We listen to it constantly and she sings along and it is HILARIOUS!) 

ravioli (obviously.)

She's getting really excited to meet her baby sister.

She likes to talk to her in the mornings and its adorable! 

(16 weeks to go until we see her little face!!!)

Here are a couple of silly videos for fun! 

Silly Piper sayings

 Just the other day, Piper played me a song on the piano, 

and then said, "clap for me and say good job piper."

Just being her typically demanding self :) 

The other day, during some clean-up time, 

I asked Piper to do something and she said,

"but I'm the princess mom."

Thankfully she still did it, but it made me laugh! 

she pretends to throw up in the toilet most days... 

like mommy... and she always gets up and says 

"oh phew! I feel better now."  you can guess how this pregnancy is going...

She's one funny girl! 

She doesn't get to see her daddy very often because 

of his long work hours and school hours,

so she LOVES it! 

Here's a little video of them from the other night:

Piper: 2 1/2

Our little Piper is 2 1/2. 

Not a huge milestone or anything, but it sure feels huge to me.

She will be 3 before we know it and it breaks my heart a little.

She says the funniest things all the time.

I'm trying to be better at writing them all down, 

but sometimes I forget because I'm laughing too hard. haha

A few nights ago, we were walking downstairs to get ready for bed.

It was dark as usual. 

Piper said, "Oh no mom its dark. I can't see my eyebrows."

I died! So funny! 

She ends most things she says with the phrase "last week."

Like this morning, she was talking about the superbowl party we went to last night 

(Thanks Tori!) 

and she said, 

"I had so much fun at the football party last night last week." 

Silly!

Piper has a lot of things that she is picky about.

She has to have her cup and plate/bowl match. 

Usually she won't touch any food unless its on the green plate.

Green is her favorite color!

Speaking of green, I got my hair colored last week

and Piper was SO disappointed that I didn't come home with green hair. 

She keeps talking about it too. 

She REALLY wanted me to have green hair. 

Piper is so excited to be a big sister! 

She is convinced that we are having a girl, but we will see :)

She is so good around little babies and we are so thrilled to be able to 

have another one! 

I'm one lucky momma! 

And Happy Monday and February to all of you!

Conversations with Piper

Piper is really chatty and hilarious, like I've already said. haha

I really try to write down and remember most of the silly things she says, 

but its so hard to keep up with all of it. haha

Here are a few of the recent ones:

The other night, the trunk of our car didn't stay open and closed right on the top of Trevor's head.

It was really sad. Poor guy! 

The next morning, I asked him how he was feeling and little Piper said,
"oh daddy. Did you bonk yourself on the wall?" hahaha 

So cute!

A few nights ago, she was pretending to ride an ostrich in the bathtub.

It was making me giggle, so I asked her if she knew what an ostrich was. 

She said, "I guess not. What is it?" haha

A while ago, my sister and her friend were babysitting so Trevor and I could

enjoy a little dinner out. 

Madeleine and her friend McCall were chatting about a project for some school

and Piper walked up to McCall, put her little hand on her knee, 

and said, "Or you could just eat cake..." 

hahahaha! 

I think that's going to be our new family motto!

I'm planning on making t-shirts eventually.

We just get a kick out of her!

It is so fun to have such a chatty little 2-year old. 

She was sick for a while before Christmas with croup, and was barely talking.

It was sad.

And REALLY quiet. 

I'm so glad she's starting to feel more like herself. 

We sure love our little girl!!!

one direction

Piper is in love.

Pic from the beach. 

In love with the One Direction boys.

And I don't blame her one bit.

haha

She always wants to listen to their songs

and recognizes all of the songs when they come on. 

She came name all 5 of them.

I'm oh so proud!

Now, whenever she talks on her play phones, 

she is ALWAYS talking to "one direction."

It usually sounds like this:

"Hewwo won diwection.

How's it going won dewection?

Pretty good?

Can you sing me a song?

Ok. 

Love you.

Bye."

Adorable and hilarious!

Good times are our house!

(Don't worry. We listen to plenty of other music too!)

little Piper

Our little Piper has started saying the funnies things. 

Kids are the best! 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Whenever she's having fun, she always says,
"This is the best ever!" 

So funny! 

She says it when we are at the park, 

running around outside, and even when she is just playing with the 

light switches. Silly girl.

Anytime I call her anything other than her name, like 

"Silly Goose" or "Kiddo" or any weird nickname I can come up with....

she always gets so upset and says, "No I'm not kiddo. I'm baby Piper."

Piper loves to make me laugh. 

Whenever I'm trying to teach her something, or have a serious talk about something,

she always tries to do something to make me laugh.

Lately, when I put her to bed, I lay down next to her crib to sing her some songs.

She always demands a new song that she hasn't heard before.

I'm quickly running out of material :) 

but the part that always gets us laughing, is when Piper reaches her hand out of her crib

and grabs my nose.

For some reason she thinks its hilarious.

Her little giggle always gets me laughing too.

Bedtime has turned into possibly the most favorite part of my day,

and not just for the obvious reasons.

We are on a little bit of a first name thing right now.

Well, its actually left over from the beach. 

She got so used to hearing me called, "Rebecca." I guess.

Its funny because whenever we are at the store or around new people, 

she always points at me and says, to her new friends, 

"This is Rebecca." 

So funny!

Don't get me wrong, 

there are still the typical tantrums.

You know, over things like how Piper wants her turn to drive the car

or to go on an elephant ride.

I hate having to break her heart and tell her she can't....

And she gets REALLY mad.

But Trevor and I always laugh about it later.

And yesterday while we were getting ready for church, 

she told me that I looked like a "princess like Elsa" 

Little girls are the best and I just love every minute I get to have with my little girl.

Can't they just stay little and fun forever!

I am so lucky to have such a great little girl to spend my day with.

She really is a dream. 

more on motherhood

Hi all! 

We are having a fun week!

Just a bunch of violin lessons, play dates, and multiple target runs (I have a problem haha) 

But, today I had some thoughts and I decided to write them down.

So, I've been thinking a bunch about the last 2 years and my growth as a mother.

I have learned so much!

More than I can ever right down. 

So many things have changed over the last 2 years.

And while I miss baby Piper every day,

I am LOVING this stage more than I thought I would. 

While I have some pretty crummy days, I'm having a handful of awesome days too!

And today I realized what the difference is between those days. 

Its not super insightful, but just what I've noticed about myself.

On the good days, I'm fully absorbed. 

I wake up in the morning ready to go and try to keep up a positive attitude. 

And I stay absorbed.

We play, learn, and do our chores. 

I try to keep her involved in almost everything I do, but we also have independent times. 

I try super hard not to pay attention to my to-do list,

but Piper loves helping. 

She loves going to the stores with me and helping with almost everything around the house.

(Except the vacuum, she is still terrified... I'm raising a wimp. haha)

Seriously, she washed ALL the cupboards in our kitchen that she could reach.

Hand the kid a paper towel and she will GO! :)

I know its nothing new, but its been a nice realization.

And it helps me adjust my attitude on the crummy days. 

I love being a mom. 

I think it took me a while to get here. 

Longer than most.

But I think I finally am really loving my job as Piper's mom!

Seriously though!

Look at that face!

In other news, we are raising a wimp. 

I don't know how to help her other than talk to her...

But I am not kidding, she is afraid of everything.

An example:

Today on our walk, I found a praying mantis, 

picked it up, and put it on her leg.

She was terrified... and cried for the rest of our walk and then didn't come near me

for a while.

I felt terrible, but the kid is a total wimp!

haha

Well, that's all for today. 

And its not all that exciting, just some words from me. 

silly little piper

We have had the funiest couple of days at our house.

And I just had to show these two little videos.

Madeleine taught Piper a bunch of Harry Potter spells a few weeks ago.

This morning, she walked in the house with a stick and was yelling this.

So funny!

Piper has spent the last few days constantly singing and running around with missing clothing.

(Seriously, how do you keep a 2 year-old dressed... ha ha ha)

2 has turned out to be really fun!

And possibly my new favorite phase.

2 is really opinionated, and a little bit bossy,

but full of singing little songs, and repeating EVERY word I say.

I have to really watch what I say now. 

Whenever we are driving, Piper says "What are you doing buddy?" all the time.

hahaha

Love this girl!

Hope everyone else is having a fun week!

our little week

We've had a fun week!

We celebrated Abby's birthday 

went on a hike with Madeleine

Played with lots of friends and cousins

had a fun lunch with Kaitlin and her baby Claire.

Its been great!

Little Piper has said some pretty funny things too!

Whenever she gets ready to go down a slide, she yells, "here comes Piper!"

One night this week when I was putting her to bed, 

she asked me, very concerned, why there were "spider bugs" on my eyes.

I had to explain that they were eye-lashes

so then she called them, "spider-bug eye lashes" 

Pretty funny!

We are looking forward to a fun weekend.

Trevor's sister is in town with her 4 kids and 

Carly's farewell is Sunday.

Lots of family and yummy food.

My favorite kind of weekend!

Hope everyone else has a good one!

my first time calling the police

A few days ago, I was driving home when I saw a little boy, about 2 years old, 

crossing the street near an elementary school in our neighborhood.

I couldn't see any parents near by,

so I called the police.
I went and played with the little boy until the police, and his parents, showed up.

Luckily everything worked out!

The little boy had crossed 2 fairly busy streets to make it to the playground.

I can't believe he didn't get hit by a car!

But mostly, I can't believe that I was the ONLY person that stopped. 

Everyone kept driving by....
That's the one thing that I couldn't get over.
and I am so so glad that I stopped!
I really hope someone would do the same for me if my little Piper escaped.

What a crazy day and week we've had!

Right now we are starting to get ready for the big family beach trip!
North Carolina here we come!!
Its been 4 years since Trevor and I have been and I can't wait!
It will be so fun to take little Piper with us.
 I'm pretty terrified about flying with a 2-year old,
but I just can't wait to get there!

feeding ducks

This girl.. with those sunglasses and popsicle..

She is doing summer right!

We went and fed ducks a few days ago with Madeleine and her roommate, Amanda.

It was a fun little visit.

Piper loved every minute of it!

We love these summer days! 

how are you?

I've been asked this question many times over the last few weeks... "how are you doing?"

Well, here's how I'm doing...

Physically, I'm fine. Better than I've felt since January. Pregnancy is hard on every woman. There's no way around it. And this time was particularly difficult for me. So physically, I'm feeling pretty fantastic. Food tastes good again and I have enough energy to enjoy a day with my little girl. 

Emotionally, most of the time I'm OK. I'm still having ups and downs and there are a couple of things that will make me a little emotional. I'm terribly sad to have had my pregnancy have such a bad ending. Every day I wish my little boy was with me, but I'm OK. I've chosen to accept the fact that everything is over, there isn't anything anyone could have done, and try to be the best mom for my little girl that I possibly can. 

Like I said in my earlier post, I have faith that I will see my little boy again. And that faith is what helps me. I don't know what I would do without the knowledge of the Gospel. I'm very sad that our little boy isn't here with us now, but I know that everything will work out. I know we will be all together as a family if we live according to the commandments.

And, quite honestly, Piper makes everything so amazing! I am so lucky to have such a great little girl at home and I thank the Lord every single day for how lucky I am to be with her every single day! Even when she bosses me around. haha. 

So, for those of you who have been asking and wondering, I'm OK.

And, Thanks for asking. Its nice to feel like someone cares. 

xoxoxo

our little week: first week of June

Well, thanks everyone!

We've been overwhelmed by the response to my last post.

I'm really so grateful to everyone who reached out to our little family.

I wasn't sure how people would react, and, honestly, it feels really good to have been so
public with our experience.

In other news, Trevor has officially started school!
I'm so proud of him!
It has really been an intense couple of weeks for us,
so I'm proud of him for sticking with everything and working so hard!

Piper sure is keeping me on my toes these days!
She is such a blast!
We just wish she would stop taking all of her clothes off when we put her down for
naps or bedtime.
We've done the whole backward PJ's and extra layers and things,
but she is a serious escape artist.

The exciting news is we turned Piper around in the car and got her a nice new chair!
She LOVES it!
The first time I put her in the car for a drive, she kept saying "wow" and "I love it"
Now, she asks to go on car rides, and she hated them before.
I also have a little backseat driver on my hands.
She points out ALL of the traffic lights and tells me when they turn green.
She also bosses me around about the music we listen to and when I should be dancing.
Its pretty hilarious!
and extremely distracting!

I painted this pitcher at Color Me Mine over the last few months.
I love the way it turned out!

The first front facing car ride! 

My feet after a violin lesson this week.
There were stickers all over Piper's legs and my feet.

That's pretty much what happened this week!
Piper had a little sleepover with my parents for night
and Trevor and I enjoyed a couple episodes of season 3 of Sherlock.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
We plan on spending lots of time outside playing together.

on feeling normal

Being pregnant with a toddler at home has been much harder than I ever anticipated.

I crash at about 2:00 every afternoon, and if I'm not in bed around 10:00 pm 

I am a complete mess the next day. 

Thankfully, the sick feelings are gone and I can function much better than I was able to those first few months.

But I've still felt so off my game for the last few weeks.

I haven't felt like I've been able to keep up with much of anything.

There is laundry EVERYWHERE! haha

But, on Monday of this week, things got better.

Much better.

I've actually been able to keep up with Piper, cleaning, all my violin lessons, 

and other things I've been feeling behind on. 

Its nice to feel more in control again and not so icky.

We are getting close to seeing our new baby! 

I'm so excited to see his/her little profile and tiny fingers and legs.

Not to mention, we get to find out if it is a boy or a girl!

We are pretty sure that its a girl, but we would be so happy either way. 

I've been feeling the new baby wiggle a bunch lately, which is easily the best part!

I can't wait until the babe is bigger and Trevor and Piper can feel kicks and rolls.

Its just so fun!

Its been so nice to have a few days feeling good! 

I think sometimes people forget how weird women can feel when they are pregnant.

Hope this "normal" phase lasts longer than just this week.

I can't get over how fast this baby is growing!

She's just SO big and says so many things! 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! 

little week update

This past week has been insane.

So, so busy! 

And I even took the week off of teaching violin.

I don't know how things get so busy and never seem to stop...

I keep waiting for things to slow down, but they never seem to.

Guess this is the reality of our life right now!

This morning was magical, despite the chaos. 

I got to hear our new little babe's heart beat. 

Its always so exciting to hear that for the first time!

I was sad that Trevor couldn't be there.

We are looking forward to a fun-filled weekend.

Piper is headed to SLC for a sleepover with my parents, 

while Trevor and I go on a little date tonight to celebrate our 

4 year anniversary.

We aren't planning anything too exciting, but it will be nice to have some time 

for just the two of us! 

And, a couple pictures from our week: 

We had some fun visitors this week!

Kathryn and Ashley came by and we loved every minute of it! 

I can't get over Ashley and her adorable face! 

We had to grab a picture since all 3 of us were matching. 

This is Piper's new hiding spot. 

It cracks me up!

She is very into hide-and-seek these days

which is pretty hilarious!

I love those little toes peeking out. 

The other morning, Piper insisted on putting her egg inside an egg.

So silly! 

I love this shot of these two! 

They are so important to me and I don't know what I'd do without them!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

spring has arrived

I think Piper has decided that it is finally spring.

She had more energy today than I have EVER seen! 

And that says a lot, if you've ever spent any time with her.

She was bouncing off the walls and her usual 2 hour nap, was only about 30 minutes. 

It was fun! But a little tiring for me. haha

We took a couple walks outside in an effort to work out some of her extra wiggles,

but I think it had the opposite affect. 

What a riot! 

I must admit, that I'm relieved that its finally bedtime! 

As much fun as she is, the quiet time is REALLY nice too!

I hope everyone got to soak up some great sun shine today.

We're looking forward to even more tomorrow! 

i can do hard things

One of my good friends, Emily, has been posting on her blog about this. 

About doing hard things. 

Her posts have prompted me to think about the hard things in my life that I push through every day. 

I think that the most important thing that being Piper's mom had taught me 

is that I can do hard things. 

Being a mom is a struggle for me every single day. 

Don't get me wrong, I love that girl more than I ever thought possible,

but being a mom is hard. 

There are plenty of fun times, but there are equally as difficult times.

Mostly, I struggle every day giving up my time for her. 

I love it and I know that I'm blessed for every sacrifice that I give for my family.

But that doesn't make it any easier.

Especially not when I'm extra tired, sick, or just would rather read a book.

Over the last 20 months, I have learned just how much I am capable of. 

I've been pulled and shaped and have struggled a great deal.

But I am so grateful for everything I've learned.

Especially the knowledge that I have that I CAN do the hard things!

And, because Piper is the BEST dancer and the cutest and is OBSESSED with this song: 

on not taking offense

If you've followed my little blog for a while, you know that I don't like to write much.

So, it is probably a bit weird to see these posts that are full of just black and white words.

But, I had an interesting experience the other day and I felt like writing it down a little 

and I thought some other mommy's might benefit from this as well.

As a mom, pregnant or in the throws of child-rearing, I am constantly given advice. 

Some great, some not so great. 

I try to be kind and appreciative of the advice and comments that I am told because I do believe they come from a place of love. 

I don't think that any person would give bad advice on purpose.

But, the thing that I've learned about being a mom is that everyone is different.

Every mom is different.

Every child is different. 

Piper was a difficult baby for me, but she has turned into a dream toddler.

A little messy, noisy, and she ignores the word "no" entirely, 

but she is a great little toddler. 

She is vastly different from the other kids in her nursery class. 

Not all in good ways. 

But, they are all so different. 

I like that everyone is different. 

Ok. With that off my chest, I feel like I can jump in to my thoughts. 

A few days ago, I was at a little meeting where I met a handful of new people and was really enjoying myself. 

Until I met this one girl. 

I'd seen her before, we'd actually met before, mutliple times.

I knew her name, her child's name, and where her husband worked.

And I told her, for the third time, those same things about me.

Our kids are very close in age, so naturally the conversation shifted to our children.

(I'll let you in on a little secret... mom's love to brag about their kids. ha ha)

It was one of the ONLY times when I have felt like a terrible mother. 

She listed off all of the things they do together.

2 hour walks around the neighborhood exploring; only organic foods;  

how they don't have a television; and all that jazz.

Basically the opposite of me. 

Usually, I don't care a ton about this kind of talk. 

I chose to be a mom to Piper the way that I have chosen. 

I don't care how other people chose to parent their kids. 

I don't judge. Really, I don't. Its a complete waste of my time to judge others. 

But, at this moment I felt horrible.

She had all kinds of advice of how to "train" Piper to be a better child in any situation.

I think she is just fine.

A little noisy and church, and difficult at the grocery store, but I have never felt the need to "train" her.

 Discipline, yes. But, I believe that as she is a very young kid, certain behavior is expected.

I felt like this mom was completely out of line.

I was extremely uncomfortable and tried to steer the conversation to someone else in the room. 

But she just kept going. 

All of this advice and, what felt like, an ongoing list of things that I was doing wrong as a parent.

It was awful.

I came home very upset about the whole situation. I had never felt worse about my parenting choices.

I talked it through with Trevor and after a while I eventually got over it.

I just decided to remember that I am who I am and I am the mom that I want to be.

Of course there are always things I can be better at,

but Piper is happy and so am I. 

Isn't that the most important part of this? Just to be happy...

I am doing the best that I can to raise Piper to be a happy and independent girl and I am proud of how I 

am choosing to raise her. 

I am going to continue to not judge other moms for how they raise their kids and keep working to not take offense or compare myself to anyone else. 

and, I can't wait until Summer.

I'm so over these winter blues. 

piper's little words: part 4

Just adding to the list of silly things little Piper says...

Hulk (as in the Avengers. She's obessed.)

Thank you (this sounds like 'thank ye' and its adorable! She says it at all the right times)

snowman (noman)

phone (ohne)

cold 

brrr

coat

hat

eyes, ears, nose, teeth, mouth (and she knows where they all are.)

The other day when Piper woke up from her nap, I heard her yell from her room, "All done! Night night!" 

It cracked me up! 

 

 She's such a good talker and a such a sweetheart.

The last few nights, she has sat in her highchair with her arms folded until we are all ready to eat and have said the prayer. She remembers more than we do! 

Piper is also the only reason that we haven't killed the fish. 

She remembers to feed them every day after breakfast and dinner!