A week of peaceful sleep!

It's official folks...Piper has slept through the night for an entire week! I hope I'm not jinxing it! She's doing so good and I'm so proud of her! Plus, I'm enjoying the extra deep sleep myself! Ahhh, it's like a breath of fresh air. Thank you Lord!!! I do realize that she will have setbacks but I think this is a major victory in the Levy house!

Baby Portraits!!!

Hi friends and family! I'm very excited about this post! This morning we took family portraits in our home and the photographer already has posted them online for all to view!! The photographer, Brooke Price, did an excellent job! She is only 17 and told me today that everything she knows has been self taught! She started when she was 13! Amazing! Oh and she said that her business relies on word of mouth. She doesn't advertise. So this is my plug for her! Piper looks gorgeous in all of them! I don't just absolutely love our family ones but I think I can settle for one and not be too disappointed! Piper is photogenic but what baby isn't!

Here's the link to view the photos:
http://pics.bebephotos.net/piper/

And, here is the photographer's main link if you live in the Tyler area and are interested...
http://www.bebephotos.net

Let me know what you think!!

8 weeks old

Piper is officially 2 months old! She has her 2 month shots next Wednesday...boo hoo! I really love this outfit on her. Thanks Ame! In celebration of her 8 weeks of life I thought I'd write 8 of my favorite things about her or things that she does.

1. Smile! It just melts my heart when she gives me a big gummy grin!
2. Sleep...I love watching her sleep. She makes all these cute noises. And, when she was itty bitty at first, I loved just holding her as she slept. It was so calming.
3. Her Lips...She has beautiful, plump lips
4. Stares at the lights. She loves looking at lights indoors or outdoors and she will crane her neck back to look at them!
5. Recognizes Mommy and Daddy's voice.
6. Her plump looking belly. She's my chunky monkey!
7. Calm nature. She is so relaxed for most of the day unless it is her fussy time at night or if it is nap time and she is sleepy.
8. Coo's. I could listen to her 'talk' for hours. The gurglings are so sweet!

Video of Piper

Piper slept through the night again! 3 nights in a row!!

Michael and I had our first "real" date last night since Piper was born. Our friend, Brittany, offered to watch her so we dropped Piper off for a couple of hours and grabbed a bite to eat and ran some errands. I guess running errands isn't really a date but I'm going to count it as one just b/c we didn't have Piper with us! This is a busy week for the both of us so it was nice to have some down time with each other. Thanks Auntie B!!

Michael has put his production skills to good use and produced a cute little video of Piper talking and smiling! You'll want to watch it more than once! Just in the past few days she has started being a lot more vocal during the day. I think this clip is about 2 1/2 min. long. Enjoy!!

At the Lake

On Saturday, we went to Grandpa and Grandma Levy's house. They live by the lake near Corsicana, TX. It doesn't take us long to get there. This was Piper's 2nd time to visit them. Grandpa just purchased a jet ski so Michael and I had fun on that while Grandpa spent time with Piper. I, also, was able to lay out a little bit when Piper wasn't being fussy! I tried putting Piper in the pool to see what she would do and she did not like it as evidenced by her scream! We'll have to work on that!! Here are some pics...

Grandpa holding Piper in front of the water. She's asleep!
Daddy, Grandpa, and Piper. Piper likes something on the ceiling!
Sleeping Beauty! The water must be calming to her.

It's a Miracle!

Quick update...Piper slept through the night again last night!!! This morning was a little different though. Instead of me waking her up at 6 am, she woke me up at 5:35 am. That's not too bad...10 pm-5:30am!! I did hear her cry out 2 times in the middle of the night and in my fog of exhaustion, I remember thinking, "Oh man. It was too good to be true." And, then just as I was about to get up, there would be silence. So I guess she was dreaming! I never got up to see; it was back to sleep for me!! I am going to keep my expectations low that this is going to continue happening regularly! For now though...Yea Piper!!!!!

Sleepy Head!

It's a big day in the Levy house today!!!! I'm excited to announce that Piper slept through the entire night for the very first time last night! Yea!!!! I put her down at 10 pm and she fussed for about 30 min. but after that she was out and at 6 am my alarm went off and she was still sound asleep! Now, I don't have high expectations for this to happen again tonight because yesterday we went to the lake and she did not nap good the entire day so I know her little body was exhausted...but, I'm just going to be rejoicing all day for this one night of peace!!!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Here are pictures of Michael's 1st Father's Day. It was very low key. I made brunch and we enjoyed some time with his mom and John before they headed back to Oklahoma. Michael took a nap and the rest of the day has been spent relaxing. Oh, and Michael opened his presents!!

Piper loves her Daddy! They are sitting in the rocking chair in her room.
We couldn't get her to smile for any of these pictures!
Isn't Piper changing!! I can't believe it. I was looking through all the pics we've taken of her and it is unbelievable to me as well as exciting and sad at the same time! The Levy life has been quite busy this past week! Not only did we make a trip to OK this week, but Michael celebrated his 5th anniversary at CB&I, we celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary, and Piper turned 6 weeks old. BUT, the biggest thing that happened this week was that Piper began SMILING intentionally this week!!! How Fun!! And the second biggest thing that happened was she has dropped a night feeding and is almost sleeping through the night! One night she went from 9-5 without eating. That night I think she slept from 11:30-5! Then last night she slept from 12-6!! We are so close!!! Her last feeding is usually at 9 pm and then she wakes up between 3 am and 5 am to eat again. If she wakes up at 5 am, then I count that as her 1st feeding of the day; otherwise, her first feeding is at 6 am. Anyway, with all that said there was a lot going on!

Piper's 1st Trip to Oklahoma

Piper and I made our first trip to Oklahoma! It was a little "last minute" but it worked out great! Sheryl, my sister, and Paige, our niece rode with me to Edmond and on the way back Sherry, Michael's mom, came along! It was a great week for me and Piper was a wonderful traveler. I really miss being in Oklahoma and wish everyone just lived down the street! We stayed at Sheryl's, in Edmond, for 3 nights and then stayed in Clinton, at Sherry's, for 2 nights. In addition to seeing my sister and her family, we were able to see Piper's great grandparents, 2 great aunts, Aunt Valerie, her cousins Mason and Garrison, Grammy and Papa John, Grandma Judy and Papa, and Aunt Cha Cha and Lilly! Whew...did I leave anyone off the list?? We were busy!

These pics are in no particular order!

Here is Piper and Lilly in their matching dresses! Aren't they adorable and look at Piper smiling!! I love it! Chandra took even better pics of the two. I can't wait for her to email me those pictures! It was fun seeing Chandra and Lilly. We drove to their new house in OKC on Monday. Chandra and Rusty have done a lot to fix it up! We ate lunch there and a college friend, Sonya, came by to meet Piper. It was good to see Sonya and later I realized that I forgot to take a picture of her holding Piper! On Wednesday morning, Chandra and Lilly came over to Sheryl's house. It was fun to hang out. I wish we lived in the same town!!!
One of my favorite pics of Piper! This picture says it all about her personality...calm and content (most of the time!)
I love this one too! Grammy and Papa John...This picture was actually taken in Tyler. They live in Clinton, OK. While we were in Clinton we also saw Aunt Valerie, and Piper's cousins, Mason and Garrison. I, unfortunately, did not take pictures of them either. Yes, I have a mom brain now!
Leaving for our first big road trip. (Our first short road trip was to Grandma and Grandpa Levy's house. I didn't take good pictures that day!)

This is the day we arrived back home. Michael had made a welcome sign and hung it in the dining room.
This is my Grandma Allen. We also call her Grandma Bill. Piper is wearing the onesie Grandma made at one of my baby showers. It says "I love my Great Grandma." Grandma is 90 years old! Doesn't she look great!
Aunt Sheryl...
Uncle Trebor, Aunt Sheryl, and Piper in Edmond.
Mommy and Piper...

This is Michael's grandma, Homa. Homa lives in Corn, Oklahoma.
This is Michael's Aunt Judy. Piper is going to call her Aunt JuJu, I think! She lives in Edmond too!
These are her cousins-Seth, Olivia, Paige holding Piper, and Anna.
This is Grandpa Bill. Piper is smiling--I love it! Grandma and Grandpa Bill live in Drummond, OK. We arrived early in the morning and stayed for lunch. While we were there, we also saw my aunt Kay (the picture I took did not turn out.) and my cousin, Sarah. Grandpa's face lit up when he was holding her. He is going to be 97 in December and looks so good!We also saw my parents and my brother, Allen. It was Allen and Dad's 1st time to see Piper in person. They live in Fargo, OK but we did not get to go to there house. We met them in Woodward and ate dinner. All three of them have been ill and we didn't want to risk Piper getting ill. I was sad that they didn't get to spend more time with Piper b/c we don't get to see each other often. We'll be visiting them again later this summer!

After a week like last week, it will be kind of boring around here!!!

My Social Butterfly

Well, yesterday was a busy day for the Levy ladies! Piper is starting out young being a social butterfly. Everywhere we went, she was the talk of the town! To start off our day, we went to the Andy Woods staff celebration luncheon. I was finally able to bring Piper to work to show her off because all the kids are gone for summer break. I didn't want to bring her to work before school was out b/c she hasn't had her shots and who can resist touching a baby! We had fun and Piper was so relaxed and content. She slept a little but mostly just observed everything around her. I wish I knew what she was thinking! Then, yesterday evening we went to the rehearsal dinner for our friends Jon and Brittany! They are getting married today and Michael is a groomsmen. Piper received the attention of almost everyone in the room. It is so funny to see what happens to people when a baby enters the room!

Piper was completely off her schedule for most of the day, but I actually was very calm about it-surprisingly! I think by the end of the night, Piper was wiped out! In the back of my mind, I really thought we would have a horrible night b/c of the lack of structure during the day and I would be having a nervous breakdown this morning from lack of sleep but the Lord really blessed us last night with great sleep! I got her home around 9:30 pm. She ate and fussed for a while but finally fell asleep around 10:45 pm and did not wake up again until 3:30 am to eat!! It was a great night. I woke her up at 6 am this morning to eat and begin our day! What a great night!

Today we have a brunch to attend and then tonight the Flynn family is going to watch Piper while we are at the wedding. The Flynn's are our Sunday school teachers. It will be Piper's first babysitting experience!! I'm excited about it! After the wedding, my sister's family will be arriving to spend the weekend with us! Piper will finally meet the rest of her cousins and her Uncle Trebor!

Here is Daddy and Piper at the rehearsal dinner! My two favorite people!!

This is our friend Jon Rutherford with Michael. He is originally from Midwest City, OK. We met him at the gym when we first moved to Tyler.
And, here we all are. This is Jon's beautiful bride, Brittany! We're so excited for them!! (Look how Piper is staring at Brittany!)
Now, here are some of my co-workers! From left is Marji, Tina, and Nanci with Piper.
And, finally here is Patti, Becky, and Connie with Piper. Piper likes them all!

Having Fun With Our Friends!

This is Piper's friend, Lillian Lynn. Isn't she a cutie!! She's about 3 months older than Piper. Lilly came to visit us from Oklahoma City, OK when Piper was 2 1/2 weeks old. I think they are going to be good friends! Thanks for coming to see us!
I crack up each time I look at the pic above b/c Piper is throwing a major fit while Lilly looks on as if she is thinking "What's the big deal? It's just a picture. Get over it!" Below, Piper is a bit more mellow!

This is Piper's other adorable friend Parker Jane. She was born about 2 1/2 weeks after Piper. Her hair is gorgeous. It is so thick and dark. Parker is the one having a fit this time!

We were trying to compare their lengths. I think Piper is going to have long legs!

In other news...We finally went to church again since Piper was born. It was so good to be back! Each Sunday since her birth we have either had company or a bad night which left us exhausted! Also, Piper is growing a lot these days! She has finally graduated from newborn diapers to size 1 and she has outgrown a few of her newborn outfits. We're finally getting into 0-3 month old clothing! Michael and I held her and weighed on our home scale and she is about 10 pounds now! She has rolly pollies on her thighs! I love it! She's also holding her head up really well! She has had a strong neck since her birth but lately it seems like we aren't having to hold her head as much b/c she has much better control! It is so cool to see her growing but sad at the same time. She is going to be a big girl before we know it!