Here is a picture of Piper, her best friend LB (check out the left hand), her other best friend Paci, some good-looking bed head, and our latest baby-related purchase: crib railing protectors. You-Know-Who likes to stand up in her crib while waiting for us to rescue her from nap/bedtime. She’s also cutting molars and jamming any and everything into her mouth to try to soothe those sweet and tender little gums. Not a good combination if you’re a crib with an almost-one-year-old inside. Not a good combination if you’re the belly of that almost-one-year-old. Enter soft and fluffy crib railing protectors.
My brother-in-law, Dave Wiener, is a manager for UBS and was recently named Managing Director, which is a pretty big deal in that industry. I’m not entirely certain what it means, but I know it’s a real honor, and we are thrilled for him. He’s not just a great manager, though. He also takes his other jobs pretty seriously… He’s a really great husband to Lizzie and a wonderful daddy to Stella, Cece and Luke. And he’s pretty fun to have around on Thanksgiving.
In light of this huge recognition, we wanted to send Dave a note of Congratulations and let him know how proud of him we are. I told Piper to get her cheerleading gear and best smile together and meet me at the backyard swing. The above photo was the best we could do. Notice the rip in the sign. That’s how the tape dispenser ended up in the mouth. From there it was pretty downhill, so I just used what God gave us and pasted this picture on a card.
I took this picture of Piper three weeks ago and never posted it. The coat is a Christmas present from Uncle David and Miss Keri; the hat is a hand-me-down from Aunt Lizzie, so it either belonged to Stella or Cece or both. This picture is too cute to get lost in the shuffle, so here it is. All by itself. Without my typical novel to accompany it.
Yesterday was a little bit on the difficult side for everyone involved. While very necessary, those rascally molars are really making things tough for our little girl. She’s in a fair amount of pain and, therefore, pretty cranky despite the fact that naps are back to normal and Motrin or Tylenol is administered frequently. Lovey Bear has been treated with the appropriate level of respect for the past two days, so everyone is happier at nap time. But the teeth, my gosh, the teeth. And we’ve had some cabin fever.
I thought that Play Group at Northpark Mall yesterday would cure the cabin fever but I think it only exacerbated it. Piper wanted to get down and explore but was instead confined… first to her carseat, then to the stroller, then to my arms while in line at Chick Fil-A, then to a high chair (where Mommy poorly balanced time talking to friends, eating her own lunch and helping Pip to eat–very unsettling for both of us), then back in the stroller… and finally to Baby Bounce, where we sat on the floor surrounded by lots of other kids who also had in their hot little hands the shakers, tambourines and scarves that are handed out when you walk in the door. But those items belonged temporarily to the other little kids, not Piper Peters. Eleven month old children have a strong sense of ownership–as in, “Everything is mine!” So we spent most of Baby Bounce, not bouncing to the music and having fun but being told “No!” and being pulled away from all the other little children and their toys. I found myself unable to dig up out of the reserves any energy for disciplining–or even distracting, which would have been much more effective–and instead ended up just trying to survive the rest of the event. We both left exhausted. In retrospect, I think we should have left after the first few minutes when it became apparent how the next 25 minutes would likely unfold. Next time we will leave. Live and learn.
After the train wreck morning, I decided to switch up our plans for the afternoon. Instead of running errands, we went to the park. It was sunny and 65 degrees for the first time in a while, so I packed the stroller with sippy cup, some balls (her favorite toy right now, by far) and our heavy duty waterproof blanket. There’s a pretty park with with a pond, fountain, ducks, swans and other kids nearby and that’s where we went. Enjoy some pics from our trip.
Someday I will learn to use our camera. After looking at the pictures when we got home, I couldn’t believe how different the lighting was depending on how I moved–even if only by an inch or if the light flickered through the trees. Piper is also anti-cam and will crawl away from me the minute I pull out the camera. That I even got five decent shots of her is nothing short of a miracle. Not bad for snapping 135 pictures, right? Yes, someday I will learn to use our camera. AND, on a day off, we will bring Daddy along for entertainment so we can actually catch the Many Expressions of Pip on film. Until then, I’m banking on luck.
The snow, while beautiful, brought with it a friend: Devastation. Live Oak trees, Magnolias and other pretty, leafy-in-winter trees all over Dallas had trouble holding themselves up under the weight of the snow last week. Many survived the storm without incident but others were maimed, some destroyed. The above shot is my neighbor’s house, about ten or fifteen houses down. That huge limb is actually sitting on top of his roof (I can only imagine THAT noise in the night). Another limb was in the road and had to be cleared by the City, said the neighbor across the street who was trimming whatever limbs he could reach in his own trees. This is one serious split:
Our Magnolia out front lost a hefty branch, but that was the extent of our damage, thankfully. The tree trimming business is making a killing right now, and a lot of the streets in our neighborhood have piles of debris stacked like this, awaiting Bulk Trash Pick-up Day that isn’t for another two weeks or more:
Piper and I walked by again today (regretfully without the camera) and there was a roofing truck parked by the side of the road with its driver hammering on the roof. Despite my hopes that it could be salvaged, that big ole beautiful tree has been totally cut down. I don’t fit the definition of tree hugger. At all. They would run me out of the State of California if I ever threatened residency. But I deeply appreciate God’s creation when I stop for long enough to soak it in. And old trees hold a certain mystery to me. They seem wise and strong, full of memories and the secrets of those around them. And it sounds silly because I don’t even know those neighbors and I didn’t have a personal relationship with that tree–no memories of me or my children swinging from it’s limbs or climbing it in the summer–but it made me choke back a few tears to see it chopped up and tossed by the roadside today.
A gaping wound is now all that’s left where a beautiful tree once stood tall and pretty, offering its free gift of shade, food and shelter to those who would accept it. That’s almost as sad as Pip carelessly tossing Lovey Bear over the side of the crib during both naps today.
Love y’all and hope to...