Piper's 2nd Year!

Our surprise baby is 2! And she is still such a wonderful gift to our family. <3 It feels crazy for her to be 2 already. With each child added to our family, time has felt like it started going faster than the last time our family grew. So with 5 I feel like we are moving at warp speed. Piper’s energy and enthusiasm keeps me moving quickly as well which probably plays a part in how fast it feels like time is moving. Her screams can be absolutely ear piercing!! If she is not in the middle of a tantrum, she is so very full of joy and adorableness! It definitely helps to think about her cutest moments to keep me from losing my own cool when she throws one of her monumental fits. Over the last few months Piper has grown a lot in her communication skills and has become very sure of what she wants and likes. Because of that, she gets very upset when someone gets in the way of those things. We are working through it. It definitely felt like when she turned 2 she immediately became a full fledged 2 year old, full of all of the joys and woes that the age brings. I really do love this age of exploration though!

Piper weaned in June of 2024. She was 22 months old. Definitely the longest I’ve ever nursed a baby! I was motivated to get her weaned because I was planning a trip to the Great Homeschool Convention in July 2024 and wasn’t going to take her. (spoiler alert I ended taking her and the whole family in the end thanks to hurricane Beryl) About a month before trip I started taking off a nursing session each week. She wasn’t getting much anymore anyway. She was only nursing about 4 times each day, one in the morning, one for nap time and one for bedtime and an extra one in there somewhere. She definitely protested each time I took one off, but by the end of each week she had gotten used to the new schedule. Fast forward a couple of weeks and we only had the bedtime session left. I went to a mom’s night out one night that week and Sam actually got her to bed without me. I decided that was it. She had nursed for the last time. I didn't even know our last time was the last time. It was probably for the best, that way I didn't get overly sentimental. It worked well. With her being weaned and turning 2, I officially don't have a baby anymore. She's a full fledged toddler. This is the first time for me to have a 2 year old and not being pregnant or already have newborn around. It's a whole new world and honestly, I'm really enjoying it!

Weight

Birth: 8lbs 14oz

1 Year old: 20lbs

2 Years old: 25lbs

Piper has never been very heavy. Now days she will barely sit long enough to eat a good meal. She’s a grazer. Jane was like this and I used to stress about it a lot. Now Jane LOVES food and I have to set limits at times(like for pizza or grilled food). So 5 kids in with my oldest being 10, I let the stress go with Piper. She’ll eat when she’s hungry. She is growing and eating a variety of foods. All is well!

Height

Birth: 22 1/4 inches

1 Year old: 30 Inches

2 Years old: 32 Inches

Piper hasn’t ever been very tall either, but again neither was Jane at this age. Jane was very petite at 2 and now she is looking tall for her age. All I know is Piper is gradually getting taller and cuter each day in my opinion and that's all that matters. ;)

Piper has all of her baby teeth until she gets her second set of molars. Her canines were the last to come in. I will tell you, those are a strong set of teeth right there. I know from experience. I've had to deal with the problem of biting with Piper more than anyone else. Especially this young. She was biting when she was 1! I had a note on here that said, "Still biting." But I am a couple months late writing this birthday post and I'm realizing the biting has stopped almost completely thank goodness!! The only time I notice her biting now is when she is really upset with me when I am trying to make sure she stays in her bed at bedtime. She started bunking in a big girl bed in the girls room about a month ago. It's very new and still a bit of a struggle so she gets upset with me often at that time. Even then she acts like she will bite and doesn't truly bite down hard anymore. It feels promising that we have put the biting problem behind us?? Hoping I can say that I was right about this on her 3 year old blog post. ;)

Piper really loves her siblings!! She always wants to do whatever they are doing! Jane and Piper definitely a biggest sister-littlest sister relationship. Jane mothers her and they both seem to like it that way! Piper has called Jane momma from time to time through this year. Jane is a great babysitter to Piper when I have extra work to do and Piper loves the extra attention from Jane. Atlas has become a secondary babysitter when Jane is ready to have some time off and he does a great job with her as well! Piper and Atlas rarely have any disagreements. Only when Piper tries to steal a video game controller does Atlas get irritated with her. Xan isn't quite ready for babysitting, but she has helped entertain Piper for 15 minutes here and there when I am in a bind and need to get a short task done quickly. Xan can still lose patience with Piper sometimes, but most of the time they are laughing at each other. Flynn and Piper match each other in energy and excitement levels. Flynn will even complain that she is screaming too loud and I can only think, "You are just as loud man!" They still fight over toys a good amount, but they are becoming friends and like to play in the backyard together. Just looking a this picture of all of them makes my heart swell with joy. Despite the sibling fights and disagreements, I love that they still love each other through it all!

A Year in Pictures: Firsts and Favorite Moments

Yay! My favorite part of the birthday blog posts. I love seeing them grow through the year and finding all the fun moments we had is very enjoyable for me.

First Selfie - August '23

First time sleeping in her own crib all night - August '23

First time standing on my desk - August '23

First school picture - August '23

First time at Camp Tejas - August '23

First time in a booster seat - September '23

Very excited to be wearing a backpack - September '23

Happy about climbing as high as she can - September '23

First time in a big kid swing! - October '23

Matching momma in her fairy costume! - October '23

First time "Playing" video games - November '23

First Christmas at Tejas experience - December '23

First time playing dress up! - January '24

First time taking a bottle since being a newborn - February '24

First egg hunt & pig tails! - March '24

First Ponytail! - April '24

First time on the top of a ladder - April '24

First time on the hoverboard - May '24

First time not nursing - June '24

First Hurricane! - July '24

Fixation with hats - August '24

Favorites

Oh man, this girl is so hard to pin down about food. But one thing I do know is she loves spicy things!! She likes salsa, jalapeño chips, pepper jack cheese sticks, spicy sausage and beef sticks. She also loves anything she can easily take with her from the table because she won’t sit long enough to eat a whole meal. Other favorites are French fries, popsicles, fruity candy, bacon, strawberries, peaches, cheez it’s, meatballs, pepperoni, pizza and watermelon sherbet. She does not seem to like bread products or anything with chocolate.

Piper has very recently fallen in love with books. It used to be that I could barely get a word out before she had turned all the pages and closed the book and was done. Now before bed she never wants me to stop reading, but we do have a 3-4 book limit and she is starting to understand I’m serious about it! Some of her favorites are, if I were a hippo, don’t tickle the dinosaur, good night on the farm, good night in the city, Bluey Friends, goodnight moon and goodnight gorilla. She also loves almost any book with textures, slide and see features or flaps to turn.

Piper had absolutely no interest in tv before she turned 2. The only time she paid any attention to it was when someone had a controller in their hand. She always wanted one too! I wonder if she’ll be a gamer like Atlas. Since I’m writing this a couple months late I can say she does watch some tv now! Her favorite show is Little Angel by far. She will barely watch anything else. It’s just sweet little nursery songs. It’s been so amazing to get some work done or school with the kids while she can be entertained with her favorite show. 

Piper's favorite toys are probably anything to do with playing house. Phones, keys, cars, babies, strollers, Jewelry, dress up dresses, bottles, play food, etc! She also loves these two stuffies she has, Bunny and Pug. She was so sweet when she posed next to them. She looked at both of them and told them to look for the picture. Magnatiles and magnetic stacking blocks are other favorites!

I really thought Piper would learn how to swim this past summer and it would be her favorite activity, but she was not interested. She was very happy just to play on the sun shelf with toys all summer. Other activities she loves are dressing up and playing house, playing pretend with stuffies, jumping on the trampoline, Drawing/painting, climbing anything, and pretending to play video games. I think her favorite activity of all is swinging!

Piper's favorite place to go is probably Marmee and Pappaw's house. She loves the play room upstairs! It has all the best things to play house. She loves to go just about anywhere else too though! Other favorites I can think of are the park, the beach, the splash pad, Camp Tejas and the library.

Finish

This picture almost perfectly represents Piper at this age. Hair in her face, an inside out swimsuit put on by herself over her clothes and the paper and pen self procured as well. She is my precocious Piper! She set herself up just like this in the chair to write what seemed to be her innermost thoughts. She always is trying to act like an adult or at least like one of her older siblings. She catches on quick! The word that I use to describe her most often is Capable. She is always capable of more than I think. I find myself saying, "How did you do that?" very often with Piper. You would think I would learn, but she just keeps one upping my expectations of what she can do or think or understand. It can make parenting her quite a challenge! She says, "No, I do it!" all the time! If you are parent you understand that most times a 2 year old says that it would be sooo much easier if you did it for them. That said, I absolutely love that she is so confident in her skills. Like I was saying, she is always surprising me when I think, "Ok, I'll let her try, she won't be able to do it anyway." And then she does it. Haha! Piper, I promise to stop doubting your skills. Don't let anyone stop you from achieving your dreams. I'll be there to cheer you on every step of the way!

Happy 2nd Birthday Piper baby!! We love you so much!

Colossians 2:6-7

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

    and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

    and he will make straight your paths.

Daugherty Beach Trip 2021

I'm going to do my best to remember this trip. Being 3 years ago, it's gonna be tough. I do remember the circumstances that brought us to stay a different beach house than the one we had originally booked. Hurricane Nicholas had just stormed it's way through Galveston just about 2 days before our trip. It had damaged the original beach house we had planned to stay in and almost all of Galveston was without power when we were trying to figure out if we needed to cancel the whole thing. We contacted the rental company that owned the beach house we had booked and asked if there were any other properties they owned and rented out with vacancies, no damage and had power. There was just one that fit us all!! Vacation mode activate!

The funny thing is I had already looked at this beach house while we were searching for one that fit the whole family and liked the look of it. But my dad didn't like it because there is technically a private drive right in front of it you have to cross to get to the actual beach. It's sooo short and not very busy, but he was right. It was sort of a hassle compared to the ease of previous years because we had to make sure the kids were looking for cars before crossing each time. (you know kids, they see the beach and start running each time!!) Again not a big deal at all. We just like the convenience of no streets of any kind between us and the ocean. We also make sure the beach house we book is on a part of the beach that is private, meaning no one is allowed to drive on the beach or park on it, for this reason too. What we didn't realize before saying yes to this property for our beach stay was that the 4th bedroom was beach level, separate from the rest of the beach house. Sure it had it's own bathroom and all, but it was weird for it to have it's own entrance and to be so separated from the rest of the house. We were there to be together, not separated. Plus it was a bit weird deciding which family unit would stay down there. It worked out ok, but not ideal.

Ok, now that I've divulged the logistics of our beach house roulette, let's back up just a tad to the excitement of getting to the beach!! That first picture above is of the kids waiting to get picked up by Marmee and Pappaw. They could not wait! I also rode with the kids and Sam drove up on his own. He wasn't sure with his leg if he would be able to stay the whole 4 days we had planned to be there. We stopped at the Spot for lunch which had regained power just in time for us to eat there before arriving at the beach house.

After we settled in to our rooms we hit the beach for the remainder of sunlight that day. Ended up being a good 2 hours. We found a ton of hermit crabs which the kids loved! Honestly, I did too. So cute! Sam and Atlas kicked the soccer ball around, Xan enjoyed smashing sand shapes, Jane flew a kite with Pappaw and Flynn loved the water funnel and seemed to enjoy getting sandy/muddy. It was a lovely evening that finished with playing on the porch with a beautiful sunset. Sometimes I wonder what I would remember if it weren't for the pictures I take of trips because I definitely was reminded of a lot of things that first evening just by looking through the pictures.

Some happy kids crab hunting with Pappaw and Uncle Scott! Afterwards the kids went to sleep and the adults played some board/card games. I never seem to take pictures of that. I remember we played a new game Scott had gotten me for my birthday, Blockbuster and we also played a new game I got him which was the Hot Seat. We enjoyed them both! I don't remember which nights we played what though. (found out through the next series of pictures that we played old games the first night and the new ones the second night)

Day 2 was filled to the brim with beachy fun! One thing about a hurricane having just came through is that it made the water a lot clearer than I'm used to seeing in Galveston. I could see my toes in the shallow water and it almost looked blue out on the horizon. That never happens! Xan's pony tail curls were my fav. Flynn seemed the most at peace with sand all over his face. He kept trying to look in the popping bubble holes. When we took an afternoon break for naps that day we also did presents, cake and scotcharoos for a little birthday celebration. Rested up we were ready for round 2 on the beach. Atlas was happy to find a frog on our way back for the evening. We ended the beachiness of the day with night crab hunting again, but this time Sam joined us. The kids loved having him come with us. Xan especially loved looking at the crabs up close. After the kids were in bed we played some more board/card games.

We spent as much time on the beach as possible on day 3. It's out last day to really enjoy it because on check out day we don't have enough time to get back out on the beach except for a quick walk before we have to leave. So much family fun was had! Beach snack breaks, digging holes, kite flying, lunch at Nate's, burying Jane and shaping her into a dress, wave jumping and Flynn just kept watching those bubbles popping out of the holes on the beach. Sam ended up leaving midday on this day. His leg was starting to swell up more from all the activity, so he decided to play it safe. From what I remember we were all too tired after day 3 to play any games or crab hunt. My mom, Scott and myself stayed up just a bit to chat and all went to bed not too long after the kids did.

Checkout day is always so fast. We're not early risers. By the time we're up and moving, we barely have time to eat breakfast before it's time to pack up and hit the road. I try to pack up our stuff as much as possible the day before so I can get it all together quickly the morning of and get out of the way with my 4 crazies as everyone else packs up. While we're staying out of the way, we try to fit in a quick walk on the beach. Inevitably, someone goes a bit farther into the waves than planned and gets their shorts wet. Thankfully there were extra shorts easily retrieved from the back of the car. We found a dead jellyfish and fish on our walk this time. We almost stepped on the jellyfish! Once we made it back to Kingwood we stopped at Cilantro's to have lunch to end our trip. It was a little different than the trip we had planned at a beach house with a little more space and no road between us and the beach, but it was still a great time filled with wonderful family memories. <3

Psalm 93

The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty;

the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.

Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.

Your throne is established from of old;

 you are from everlasting.

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,

the floods have lifted up their voice;

the floods lift up their roaring.

Mightier than the thunders of many waters,

mightier than the waves of the sea,

the Lord on high is mighty!

Your decrees are very trustworthy;

holiness befits your house,

O Lord, forevermore.