Montgomery County Fair in Conroe, Texas!

After a long and painful flight, we finally made it back to Texas to see some family and attend the Montgomery County Fair! As a kid, I competed in that fair for years and was looking forward to going back. I thought the flight would be a breeze, thinking my *perfect* 4 month old would sleep the whole time. WRONG! My poor little girl was miserable and screamed about 75% of the time. I felt so bad for her. It was a compilation of the (loud to her but soothing to us) airplane noise and the pressure in the cabin. I was never so glad to hear the wheels come down for landing. It was music to my ears! (Note: because of all the prayers, the trip home went much better... she slept the whole time! Thank you Lord!)

Uncle Travis holding Piper for the first time. Piper had on a cute little hoodie that went with her outfit but I quickly took it off since it was sooooo hot back in Texas!

Uncle Tim with Piper. She is not sure of all the people yet... poor baby! There were camera flashes going off right and left.

Beebo on the swing with his granddaughter! It took Piper and I both a few days to adjust to the south east Texas heat. We only went outside in 15 min increments because of the oppressive humidity. Makes me so grateful for the weather where we live! I'm spoiled:-)

AT LAST! The Roland/Mathis cousins meet!! Linds and I have been waiting and waiting to get our little girls together and it finally happened. I think we were more excited about it than they were. But hey... I know in time they are going to be kindred spirits! Here are Piper and Natalie both 4 months old (and just 3 days apart).

Nani came over that evening after work to see her great-granddaughter. Piper enjoyed seeing her again!

The morning of the chicken show the fam was out in the chicken pen pickin' those winning birds! (Note: Jesse got 17th place and won $2500!! Way to go Jesse!!!)

My little rodeo girl in the stroller hanging out. This outfit is actually Natalie's but it was too big for her so Aunt Lindsey let Piper wear it. It was so precious! Cheeks had the cutest little red bow in her hair but she was sweating so bad I took it out.

So happy... just like her Daddy...

Natalie and Piper being such troopers on fair day! It was so hot!!

Sunday afternoon we went to Nani's for lunch. Uncle Mike and Aunt Cathy really enjoyed getting to spend some time with their great-niece!

Here is Jesse with his Grand Champion bread! He won $4000 that night! Basket display compliments of Yours Truly.

Shuggie with Piper the night of the auction. It was quite noisy in there and Piper was not so sure of all the noise. At least there was air-conditioning! Hence the long sleeves.

Nat was asking Pipe if she wanted to go grab lunch and hang out at the mall together. Piper was so excited about the lunch part!!

The crocs are from Aunt Kit... it was finally warm enough to wear them!! So cute!! (Oh, and I had fun being able to wear my flip flops again! The last time I wore them was last year!)

One after noon Christina was in town getting her hair done so Piper and I went to join her! She got to see Piper again and couldn't believe how much she had grown! Oh, and I LOVE how Christina's hair turned out! So cute! She does NOT look like she's got six kids with one on the way.

Papa Greg came over one morning for breakfast about 8am. Which is why the girls are still in jammies! He enjoyed spending some time with the great-granddaughters!

Piper thought his beard was so neat...

And to close out the trip, Lindsey and I went with our little ladies to go get some dinner and walk around Market Street together. It was such a wonderful evening... breeze gently blowing and hardly any humidity! I was so glad Linds and I got to spend some time together. We both love being Mamas to our little girls!

Easter!

Piper and I woke up to SNOW on Easter Sunday! But that is not that uncommon for this part of the country. It is actually more normal to have a white Easter than a white Christmas. I had a friend come over to go to church with me and then stay for lunch afterward. Here are a couple pictures we took just before we left for church...

There were so many things to look at... The precious easter basket with bunny (and chocolate for Mama) was given to Piper by her Grandma Jean and Grandpa Keith (adopted grandparents who live behind us!) It was so adorable!

Not enjoying herself...

"Can you please just be done Mama?"

In her first Easter dress with the addition of tights and a sweater (and lots of blankets!) due to the **cold** weather!

Me and my little Darlin'. We miss Daddy Bear and hope he can come home soon!

4 Months Old!

Our baby girl turned 4 months old today, April 7th, 2011! She is still growing strong and healthy weighing in at 14 lbs. 14 oz. at her 4 month check-up! She smiles and squeals all the time! My poor kid... perhaps if I talked to her in a normal-range voice, she would do the same back to me. But I guess I squeal and squeak to her so those are the sounds she mimics back to me. I just love it! She gets so excited sometimes that she starts flapping her arms and kicking her feet. And the look on her face tells me she is just bursting with things to tell me! Part of me can't wait to have her talk, the other part of me wants her to stay a baby as long as possible.

She wakes up so happy in the mornings and from all of her naps (a trait she gets from her daddy, not me)! I love waking up in the morning (even if it is 0600) to her sweet giggles and noises. And at nap time... well, she is just precious and so excited to see me. I remember as a kid asking Mom, "Can it be my turn to go get [child's name] up from their nap?" I loved being able to go pick my sibling up out of the crib when they woke up. They were always so happy to see someone! Now that we have a baby, I get to be the one to go get her up from her naps... every time! This is a part of life that makes me sad to have Jerry miss but to help make up for it, I have taken the laptop in the bedroom (while Jerry is on skype) countless times so he can see her get up in the mornings... watch her little wake-up stretch and of course give BIG smiles! She loves to talk to her Daddy on skype and definitely knows who he is! Since I have the laptop on and out nearly all the time, Piper knows to look at the screen to see if Daddy's there. Just melts my heart! When I get her up from her nap and bring her out to feed her, she finds the laptop and (if need be) strains her head way around to make sure she can see it... she'll study if for a few seconds and if there is no movement or sounds, she'll get ready to eat. We talk about Daddy all the time and pray for him together constantly. I can't wait to have Jerry see her in person! In the meantime, I'm SO grateful for skype... he gets to see her at least twice a day and on his days off, even more! He has given her a new nick name: Cheeks! I think it's quite fitting:-)

Piper seems to have changed so much since her 3 month update. She is still not completely rolling over yet. But I'm confident that will be a task she masters in a matter of days. She's now to the point when she's on her back that she pushes up with her heels and rocks back and forth... essentially leaving just her head and heels touching the floor... makes me laugh! She likes to "help me" help her out of the car seat, crib, floor, etc. by lifting her head about 2-3 inches off of whatever surface she's on. It's so cute because she's got this strained look on her face when she's doing it. Her head control is getting better and better with each passing day as well. She loves her new Bumbo chair I got her as well as a nearly-new ExerSaucer a friend from church just gave us! Piper has always been quite social and does not like to miss out on any action so the Bumbo is a great solution to have her watch me do things in the kitchen, put on my makeup, or even work out. She's got her little domain with plenty of toys around her and it seems to keep her quite happy! As for the ExerSaucer, the info packet says you can put children in it starting at 4 months, but I can see that she might benefit from it a little more as she gets a little older. I put a soft blanket behind her back to she didn't flop around so much and it seemed to help. There are just so many toys and colors and things to look at that it almost seems a little overwhelming at the moment. But again, I'm sure she'll be sitting up on her own in the next couple months and it will be a little better for that age.

Piper uses her little hands and reaches out for nearly everything these days! She loves her little Merry Monkey gym as it has all sorts of toys hanging from it. When I first got it for her, she would just look at all of the toys but now she's gotten to where she can pull them off! Lovely! She also finds her little "tummy time" mat quite entertaining as well since she can reach and grab and eat her toys as much as she wants:-) I love it when she reaches up to touch my face and chin... so precious! I don't know how it's possible, but her little fingers and hands can have the tightest grip on things! And boy can she pinch! I know she doesn't mean to, but I've got to be careful sometimes since she seems to reach and grab with such intensity!

I guess I'll close with her 3 month pictures I had taken last month... they finally arrived and I LOVE them hanging up on my wall! When we moved into this house nearly three years ago, I dreamed about making one of the rooms a nursery and hanging up baby pictures on the wall. My dream has come true! I love the look of the hallway now since our little Piper Cub's pictures are hanging up! Thank you Jesus for answering our prayers and giving us such a special baby girl!

Well... I actually have a video too... so here are some more giggles and squeals from our Cheeks! I guess I should have fixed her hoodie. Poor girl! It seems to be ridin' up a little high!

Our Happy Little Girl!

I'm in the process of getting a 4 month update together of our little princess but in the meantime, here is a cute video of her little squeals! My voice sounds so silly but it's so cute listening to her try and mimic me! We love our baby girl so much!

Tryin' to Roll Over:-)

Piper's new task this week: trying to roll over! It is so fun watching her try too. She gets that little leg up and ready and just swings it with all of her might! She's got great momentum too! From what I understand, she's doing it a little backwards. I'm told that babies normally roll from their tummy to their back. But my little lady is rolling from her back to her tummy! Perhaps that's why it's taking her a little longer to get the hang of it:-) I think she's going to do a full turn any day now... I can feel it. My video camera is ready! Here's our Princess Piper...

P90X

I have now completed 9 days of P90X! And boy can I FEEL the burn! I look forward to pushing my limits just a little further every day and I already notice the results. It feels good to sweat for a solid hour+ every day, especially knowing it's for a good cause -- to rid myself of the rest of my baby-weight and then some:-)

I've got the "gym" set up down stairs in a room of the unfinished basement and it is working out great. I have an entertainment center down there along with the TV/DVD player so I can work out with Tony Horton (P90X guy) as I do my workouts. I bought an industrial strength pull-up bar and had a friend come over and help with the install process. I also got my yoga equipment along with 4 different weight resistance bands and dumb bells. Jerry's weight bench and weights are set up down there as well. My P90X set up is now complete! I told Jerry I'm going to (Lord willing) do several rotations of P90X and not just stop at one. So I've been calling it my "P365X":-)

Occasionally, Piper sleeps through the workouts... sometimes she is awake. I've got her bouncer and toys down there to help entertain her. Most of the time she just watches me and the TV and stays completely occupied, which is perfect. Today she was getting a little fidgety after about 45 minutes, so I put her on my Yoga mat and we did our Ab Ripper X workout together! Here is my little P90X partner from this morning...

I told her she's gonna have great abs if she keeps up with this workout... look at the lift she's got on those legs!!

And here she's working on some of her flutter kicks! If only I could move my legs that fast:-)

House Sure Smells Good!

I thought I'd try my hand at making Jerry some beef jerky today!

I got just under 2lbs of meat and sliced it into jerky-size pieces and put it in teriyaki marinade for about 20 hours. Here it is in the dehydrator... dehydrating:-) I was able to get 4 layers full! Jerry's always turns out so good... I hope he likes it! Have a great day y'all!