Of course it's helping . . . me

Lets be honest for a minute. Sometimes, I use Piper's physical therapy exercises to my advantage. Case and point: her Gait Trainer. While she should be spending time in it everyday, it usually "happens" to be when I need to make dinner . . . and want Piper entertained . . . and Foxy out of the kitchen.

It's a win-win for everyone (well, except for Foxy who gets rather distraught that she can't be under my feet in case something drops during dinner prep)!

Here's to being an awesome mom all the time!

The first of many

With part of Piper's birthday money (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Wright!) we bought a back pack we can take Piper hiking in. We took it for its maiden voyage one Saturday. We didn't stray too far from home, in case things went south quickly. We went after breakfast and Piper did great. I was kind of hoping she would figure out how to sleep in the pack, but that didn't happen, so neither did her nap that morning.

 Here's to hoping we have many more adventures!

Piper Turns 1 (a short novel)

We did it! we survived a whole year . . . and actually enjoyed some of it! It was a rough first start, but once we got into a routine and were able to figure out our day-to-day, life got much easier.

Piper and I took a trip to Utah to celebrate with family. Casey opted to stay in Colorado (he's not a fan of going to Utah) so we decided to stay a whole week.

We flew out on a Saturday. This was a much less stressful flight than the trip to Hawaii. We decided to take her gait trainer since we were going to be gone for so long. We used this as our "stroller" through the airport and discovered a) its really hard to control when pushing fast to catch a flight and b) you get to board before anyone when you have a "medical" boarding pass.

This was Piper's 2nd flight and it went much smoother than her first. Only an hour and 15 minutes?!?! What a breeze!

Piper received so much love from family. This was the whole reason we left dad to go home for her birthday. Because we knew she would have so many people happy to see her. 

Morning stories with Grandma Robinson

Bottles with cousin Parker

Piper was mesmerized with Grandpa Wright's beard.

Meeting new cousin, Vivia.

 This is seriously one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. I love Piper's crazy hair, her head barely poking over the Cafe Rio table, and her rapt attention on Aunt Wendy. I wish I could have zoomed in.

Cousin Marco liked to push Piper around

Seriously, so much love at this house.

We had two birthday parties, one with the Wrights and one with the Robinsons. Our "theme" (I use that term loosely) was "One Tough Cookie." That meant I made one sign and we had cookies instead of cake. And that was the extent of my party planning.

Party #1:

She was a little apprehensive with so many people looking at her

She also took a while to warm up to her cake.

Then, in one swoop, it was rubbed into her eye.

"Mom, a little help, please."

She thought her card from grandma Wright was pretty great.

Party #2

These two . . .

She was a little more excited about cake the second time around

She got a special Super Birthday S from cousin Bennett

We went swimming at the new Provo Rec Center and Piper loved it! She stood in the pool all by herself! We are looking into aqua-therapy now to see if that will help with some weight bearing. She also met Remmy, who had a lot of love to give.

Cousin Stella really got worn out at the pool . . .

Just some cousin swing time

All the Robinson grand kids: Marco, Ruby, Alex, Bennett, Piper, Stella.

We had a great time. And the ride home went pretty smoothly for having three four-year-olds (the triplets), a one-year-old and two single moms driving 8 hours in the car. I think there might be more trips to Utah in our future.

I can't express how much I love Piper. I am lucky to be her mom.

Two days old.

Hawaiian Delight

For my 30th birthday, I wanted to spend it in Hawaii.

Instead, I got to have a surgery in San Francisco.

This year, for my 31st birthday, Casey made that dream come true. He surprised me with tickets to Hawaii and a coordinated visit with Camille!

It didn't seem right to go visit Camille without having Michelle come along. . . (truth be told, I was really just terrified to fly to Hawaii by myself with Piper) so she came too! It was a sisters trip in Hawaii.

Piper did great on the flight and Michelle and I did everything in our power to keep her happy. Our flight left at 6 am which means we woke Piper up at 3:45 am to get to the airport. And since Hawaii was 3 hours time difference, she was up for almost 18 hours with only cat-naps to get her through. Unfortunately, she never really recovered from this day of traveling and didn't sleep through the night almost the whole trip. It was rough.

Around 6 am. Already been up for 2 hours.

Having breakfast on the plane.

A pretty happy flyer!

We were greeted with love by Camille!

First trip to the beach. And finally, an excuse to wear that bathing suit!

Our beach caravan.

She didn't last long before needing a nap.

Just hanging out with the locals.

Two beach babes.

Stella's fashion sense is impeccable.

Most naps had to be taken in the car.

Twirling on the beach with Aunt Camille.

Not so sure about the sand . . .

This really happened.

So did this.

When you're not as pretty as the scenery . . .

Sunday brunch and Haleiwa Joe's.

Eating more graham crackers on this trip than she ever has.

Our restaurant view.

Selfie.

I really miss peacocks. I love their calls.

Our second attempt at the beach. We got rained out.

Just some cousin hangin' time.

Although we didn't do much by way of seeing things, we enjoyed hanging out with Camille and cousin Stella. The weather was beautiful and so is Hawaii. I very much look forward to going back . . . (without Piper). I didn't take very many pictures because: a) I had a child in my hands almost the whole time; and b) I'm pretty bad at taking photos anyway. I put Michelle in charge of taking the pictures . . . and I have yet to see them.