Playground...May Fun!

It's been a busy few weeks! Between car repairs adding a layer of interestingness to our weeks, (some) of Ryan's family visiting, some work at my Mom's that they helped us with (we tore the bigger part of the deck off!), and lots of lovely warm weathre- it has FLOWN by...

Some highlights...A trip to see "Seuessical" at my Mom's school with the big girls

They loved it!

And lots of trips to local playgrounds!

Roo girl is a pro at the monkey bars!

Pip is a pro at ladders!

And friendly can climb into the baby swings by herself- little monkey!

two little monkeys

May was sweet!

16 Months!

Again, trying to catch up a bit...I still haven't had a chance to post Easter Pictures...Soon...Before 4th of July. ;0)

The Pip is 16monts old already! Hard to believe! This was  fun month! It seems her sense of humor has grown daily- she is such a little ham!

She LOVES this car! It is HER car now and it is probably her most favorite thing on earth to ride around in it!

Some one was tired...I had to drag her inside for lunch and nap... Usually she loves to open the door herself (push it)...but on this particular day she fell to the floor and refused to go in- she did not want to stop playing..Safe to say she was definitely ready for nap!

She has gotten really good at waving.

monkey

And monkeying has lead to some lovely wounds on her face- she scraped up her face twice this month!

16months has also brought  back "velcro baby" she is very shy of new people ad she loooves her Mama. She rides on my back like a baby orangutan a lot.

And some times falls asleep!

She LOVES to ride in the wagon with sissies

she loooves the sand pit...she filled that bucket up all by herself!

She cut 2 new teeth this month as well bringing tooth count up to 8 little teeth- 2 new ones on their way soon! 

No real new words this month. While I understand that Roo and Friendly were quite early in the speech department (Friendly especially was using 3-4 word sentences by this age)- and all kids are different- Pip has been concerning me a bit with how little she seems to be able to say. This past month FINALLY brought "Mama" and "Dada" and "Nana" (usually for "nurse", but some times for Nana ... and "maa" for milk) she is still only using these words a couple times a week- definitely not daily. This has concerned me a bit, again you can't compare, but the older two had well over 25 words a this point. The Pip has only had a few sounds- and only 1 or 2 that she uses some what consistently. 

Well, turns out there may be a reason for her slower speech development.Through a series of "hmmm" kind of moments (which I attribute to God nudging me) I came across several pieces of information that mentioned some thing called "lip tie". Suddenly a whole bunch of things were making sense! Pip has been the sweetest most delicious baby. We've enjoyed her SO much, I have also enjoyed my healthiest (physically and mentally) postpartum year with her. So in so many ways she hasn't FELT like my hardest baby...But in reality, she probably has been. She didn't have colic like to older two, she was more content (during day time hours) than the older two ever were. But she was extremely hard to learn to nurse (and if she hadn't been my third, I think I would have had a LOT more trouble), she gained a bit slower than the older two (though still, at a healthy rate), she has been our worst sleeper,  and she has always had an uncomfortable (just moderately though) latch,  and she hast bitten me at least twice a week since birth on! I have always been very committed to nursing my babies, and I haven't wanted to complain because at least she was nursing and gaining/growing well. 

BUT, guess what? Lip tie causes all that. And 98% of serious lip ties are usually accompanied by some sort of tongue tie. So I did my reading and went "hmmm" and checked Pip - and sure enough! She has a very definite lip tie! One of the "bad" kinds that can cause a host of speech, dental, and jaw issues if not addressed! Many people (if not most) have a bit of a ridge up by their frenulum - it doesn't effect any thing- but when the tie is thick and goes down between the teeth it needs to be addressed- and the sooner the better!

Unfortunately there is only ONE pediatric dentist in the USA who will address infant (past newborn stage to under age 2) lip tie (and tongue tie) with out general anesthesia. He also uses a laser instead of scissors which is both safer and more effective at fixing the tie..Thankfully he's with in driving distance (NY- but still drivable)! So she will be getting it clipped (as well as a very probable tongue tie, I need the dentist to check it professionally- but he will address it at the same time he does the tongue tie). We don't have a date set for certain, but some time in early June- prayers for her appreciated! It's a quick 10 minute procedure, with no blood (thanks to the laser). But it will be a kind of hard on her (and me!) as she will have to go down to the procedure room by herself (ie with out mommy) and she isn't going to be happy about that as she is in the height of "stranger danger".

Anyway, I am so excited to have some answers and Mom's (online) who have had this taken care of for their 1 year olds said that as soon as the tie was fixed they just started talking like crazy. I am hopeful it will make speech less challenging for our little Pip!

So her sixteenth month has been quite an informative one!

Mother's Day 2013

A friend asked me last week how my Mother's Day was. I had to think REALLY hard about it- which means it wasn't bad! :) I got to sleep in, Ryan made us waffles for breakfast, I went and got a hair cut, and after that we went to the Spring Fling a tradition from childhood in our home town.

It is the celebration of may pole dancing and crowning of the may queen. We have gone most years since I was a child- I was a dancer in the program every year, and even acted as the may queens attendants one year. :) It's a fun program and it was exciting to see how into all the dancing the girls were- it was the first year they could really appreciate it. 

She was a bit chilly

Beautiful Roo snuggling Daddy

The Pip taking it all in from Mama's back.

It was a beautiful (chilly!) and happy Mother's Day!

15months...

Desperately trying to play "blog catch up!" April and May have been insane months! Just a blur...I wrote this on April 28th-  a couple days after The Pip had her 15month birthday. I had some pictures to add, and the internet was acting up ...And then I never got to come back! 

Goodness, the last few weeks have been so busy! I have so many things I've wanted to update, but haven't had the time...But before another week starts I wanted to update because we had a Birthmonthday. 

Last Friday the Pip turned 15months old!! What a fun and busy little bee she is! She mastered going down stairs by herself this past month. She has been able to turn around and scootch down off furniture, and down steps for a few months now- but this month she really seemed to understand the "turning around carefully" at the top every time part. She loves to practice on any steps she can get near- especially at the playground she likes to practice walking down like a big girl.

It makes mommy tired just to watch.
 
 She hasn't been dong much verbally, she was saying and making the "ma/da/na" sounds for a long time, and had a lot of words. Lately? Not so much. She likes the "ja" sound and she will occasionally prattle on with the "da da ja ja shhja?" I am hoping all this is because she's been mastering somersaults, learning how to run (she's getting speedy!), and figuring out lots of neat physical stuff-  in both fine and gross motor abilities! She loves to color, snuggle, and do pretty much any thing her sisters will involve her in. She talks in a lot of sweet little grunts. Each one has a different intonation she has a grunt that sounds like "uh-hunh" (yes) and "Uhn-uhn!" (no) she has her favorite, "Uh-oh!" and a grunt that sounds like thank you "ah ouuu" and okay "o-a" and her newest little sound is "I love you" she says "a yaj ah!". She is the sweetest little thing. She understands pretty much every thing we say- even when we hope she doesn't! If we mention we may be going some where later she runs to the door where her shoes are kept- pulls them out and brings them to me whimpering that she might get left behind.

Sleeping in her car seat 15months old

If some thing is hers (even if she deemed it hers that second) she can be quite feisty and vocal about the fact that her territory is being infringed upon. She puts out her little hand, scowls ferociously and SHRIEKS her warning call. And if that doesn't work she starts dancing and screams up at me that I'm not DOING ANY THING! She gets her point across.

She loves her sisters, I mean adores them. It is the sweetest thing to see her just drink up their hugs and love- even when the hugs get a little rough and long as Friendly tends to be.

She is a JOY!