I am in complete disbelief that my surprise baby is one year old!! I truly feel like it was just a couple of months ago that she made her exciting arrival on the living room couch just a few feet away from where I'm sitting typing this. Piper was not part of our plans. I am so so so glad God intervened, made it known his plans are better and gave us the blessing of Piper. She is pure sunshine and joy and I can’t imagine life without her now.
Although it feels crazy for her to be one already, I am happy to be here! There’s a lot of independence I get back as a mom when my baby turns one. Sleep is better, I can do hours without nursing her and both of us are just fine. I can introduce cow’s milk and even start to slowly wean if we both feel like we want to at some point soon. (She bites way more than any of my other nursing babies, so it might not be too much longer. Although she doesn’t care for cow’s milk one bit. I hope to get her on board soon!) I love being close to my tiny babies! It’s so special. I don’t wish to speed up time at all, but I also don’t wish to turn back the clock at all either. I am happy with where we’re at and I’m looking forward to moving past the baby stage. (As long as God doesn’t do any more fertility miracles) I’m hoping for good routines and getting to divide my attention a little more equally between all my kids and get to spend quality time with them since I shouldn’t be so drained all the time anymore.
Weight
Birth: 8lbs 14oz
1 Year old: 20lbs
We haven’t been to Piper’s one year check up yet, so I don’t know where she is on the percentiles, but I have a feeling her weight is near the middle or a little under. I’ve got 4 other babies to compare to and she’s not my thinnest but definitely not near the chunkiest either. She will sit to eat but not for super long and she is the earliest walker so she burns off what she eats pretty quick!
Height
Birth: 22 1/4 inches
1 Year old: 30 Inches
She seems quite average for her age in height as well. Her 12-18 month clothes fit perfectly and she's bigger than some babies her age and a good bit smaller than others. She’s just right!
When Piper started to get teeth she got them almost all at once! She got her first tooth at 9 1/2 months which is faster than everyone except Jane. Her second was right behind it. By 10 1/2 months she started getting her 3rd tooth and by 11 1/2 months she had 6 teeth all together!! That is double the amount of teeth than Jane had at 1. Xan and Atlas didn’t even have their first tooth yet and Flynn had 1 or 2 teeth. She is so bad about biting us to get our attention. I tell her no and try to give her a substitute toy to bite instead, but man, she bites hard and is not getting the hint that it is not ok to bite! I’ve never had one this young struggle with biting, it’s throwing me for a loop. Hoping she grows out of it soon or I figure out how to help her understand it hurts!
All of Piper's siblings adore her!! She has never been short on physical affection. Everyone has always wanted to hold her, hug her or kiss her. It makes me so happy to see how much they love her. Flynn and Piper have the biggest gap between sibling ages, being closer to 3 years apart than 2 years like the rest of my babies. There is definitely a bit of older brother making sure little sister is ok and safe, but also some competition over toys too. Most of the time they can play together just fine. Xan has always been the one to make Piper laugh the most, but Xan will also lose patience with Piper the fastest as well. The love between them shines brighter than any disagreements though. Atlas is the protective big brother! Doting on his little sister as much as he can. He talks about how cute she is all the time. He has been doing a great job taking on small babysitting jobs for me while I get some work done. Piper loves when both Atlas and Jane play and take care of her. Her relationship with Jane warms my heart so much. Piper can do no wrong in Jane's eyes and is the cutest baby in the world to her! Jane is very much like a little momma to Piper. She is a wonderful little babysitter when I have mom's night out or any other time I am away from the house and Sam is home with the kids. There is not a day that she ever regrets praying to have another baby sister. Piper is exactly what she wanted. :) I just love to watch their relationships grow. I hope they keep growing in their team mentality and always have each other's backs. <3
Firsts
It's probably the last time I document the first year through pictures of one of my babies. So bittersweet. So much growth happens through the first year. I feel like I blinked and she became a toddler. Especially since she got walking down so quickly. It felt like one week she was my crawling little baby and the next she was a full blown toddler, walking everywhere and climbing everything! Slow down a little for momma, Piper baby! Thankfully she still stops for cuddles, so I guess I'm ok with it. ;)
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Bath - 1 day old
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| Outfit - 1 day old |
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| smirk - 3 days old |
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| Photo shoot! - 1 week old |
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| Big smile caught on camera - 3 weeks |
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Standing with support - 2 months
 | | Rolling over - 2 1/2 months |
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| scooting around - almost 3 months |
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| Finding her feet! - 3 months |
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| Swing! - Almost 4 months |
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| Falling asleep on the floor - almost 4 months |
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Big Belly Laugh - 4 months
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| Sitting up! - 4 1/2 months |
Favorites
Piper is a busy one!! Just like all the rest of my 1 year olds she adores exploring outside. Every time the door opens to the backyard she wants to go out and play. She loves to throw the ball for Cambria! Anything involving water is a favorite as well. Especially the dog bowl. Haha! We got her a little backyard splash pad for her birthday and she loves it. She loves anything she can climb on or bounce on. She’s only had a couple of short turns on the big trampoline because there are 4 other kids that like to jump on it. I’ve got to get her on there more often. She loves it. She’s got great rhythm and loves to dance when any music comes on. She just really enjoys experiencing life! So many smiles from her and we all love her smiles! <3
Piper likes to explore food! Her favorites are all fruit! Her first food was avocado, but she didn't love it. She does love strawberries, blueberries, peaches, oranges, watermelon and grapes. Other foods she enjoys are deli turkey, pizza, Cheetos, Pringles, goldfish and pasta. She seems to have more food sensitivities than all my other kids. She had a small case of hives after eating banana. Oranges seem to make her tummy a little irritated and give her a diaper rash. We found out just a few weeks ago that she is allergic to eggs just like my mom. Jane made cheesy eggs and Piper had never had more than a taste of egg before and this time she had like half an egg or so and within 15 min she threw all of it up. I tried the egg white test on her wrist like my mom suggested and it got red right where I tested. Definitely new territory for me with a kid who has food allergies.
Piper loves to play with toys! Anything and everything she can interact with she loves. Her favorites that I have noticed are her toy garden and crowns. She also loves to holds a lot of little stuffies at once. Often she’ll just be walking around the house with a random toy in each hand.
Piper was a super night owl for a long time so I never felt like we had time for books by the time she would finally go to bed. So because of that it feels like she is just now getting into book a little. Her favorites are like my other babies at this age. Anything that has textures, flaps, sound or some other feature. She favorites at are the finger puppet books we have. Old Macdonald had a farm and Bingo was his name - o. She also likes Don’t tickle the dinosaur you might make it roar book. She likes to bob to the music at the end of the book.
As I’ve already mentioned, Piper is an active girl! She loves to go swimming, bounce on the trampoline and swing. Those three activities are almost always my 1 year olds favorites. She likes to play peekaboo, build things up to knock them over and throw anything! She’s got quite the arm for her age! Three activities that she loves that I hope she grows out of soon are standing on tables, making the printer scan blank copies and unrolling the toilet paper. Haha!
The TV is not super entertaining to Piper at this point. If music is playing she may pay more attention, but that’s about it. She likes the Storybots Super Songs show a little since it's all music, but still the world holds too much for her to explore at this point for the TV to hold her attention longer than a couple of minutes.
Piper seems to be such a mix of all of the kids! For a time it seemed she would take mostly after Xan, but ever since she grew a little older and became mobile she has started showing me signs of the other 3 kids too! She’s got the climbing ability, busyness and an ear piercing scream like Flynn. She seems to have a girly side and love of conversation like Jane. Her early understanding of social cues and generally smiley disposition remind me of Alexandria, even the way she will say certain things sounds just like how Xan would say it as a 1 year old. The way she enjoys toys independently and has the focus to figure out how things work makes me think of Atlas. And of course she has her own set of quirks and tendencies that I’ve explained throughout this post that make her very much her own person. She is exactly what we needed for our family to become closer as a unit and grow even closer to God.
All of this makes her uniquely Piper Ann Daniels and we wouldn’t have her any other way!
Happy 1st Birthday Piper baby!! We love you so much!
Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 87:7
Then those who sing as well as those who play the flutes will say, “All my springs of joy are in you.”
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