Piper visits Pumpkinland... and other fall fun

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Linvilla Orchards.  Piper had such a good time on the hayride and playing in the pumpkins (i.e. trying to figure out how to eat the pumpkins).  There are also some pics from other falltime fun that we had this month.

Enjoy!

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Getting ready for our road trip

We are leaving on Friday night for Alabama to visit Jason's parents. Why Friday night, you ask? Well... we'll be driving. Yup! Jason has somehow convinced me that 15+ hours in a car with a 7 month old is going to be fun. That has yet to be determined. But, we're leaving on Friday around 8pm so that we can get the largest chunk of the trip out of the way while Piper sleeps.

And I'm just praying that she sleeps well in the car. She's been doing so great at home lately, going down at 7:30pm and not getting up until 6:30 or 7am. It has been pure bliss, 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. But alas, that may come to an end after Friday night. We shall see.

So getting ready for this trip has been so much more complicated and stressful than any of our previous trips. First, and foremost, we have the young one to consider. And she has yet to learn the art of packing lightly. Then again, either has her mother. So we have to organize and pack all of Piper's things and figure out what we really need and what we could do without. Then there's packing our own stuff. And then there's somehow stuffing it all into our car. Thank god we have an SUV. And I guess this is another good reason we're not flying, because we'd be spending half of our salaries in extra baggage charges.

However, the one major difference I've noticed in getting ready for this trip is... In any of our previous trips we scrambled to clean, organize, pack, and get ready to go. But then we got to the airport and realized that even if we forgot something it's too late now. So we would sit at the bar, get a nice big drink, and let the excitement take over. But there's no pre-flight bar in this trip. There's no sipping wine before getting on a plane, where you'll just sip more wine until you land. No. There is just 15 (or more like 18 with stops and whatnot) hours of driving.

Here's hoping for a large (very large) glass of wine at the end of this trip. Or maybe champagne. Has champagne season started yet?

Piper likes Polenta!

Piper has been doing great on her purees and she'll even take a Mum Mum every once in a while (think, flattened out rice cake that almost melts when saliva touches it).  So last night Jason & I were making polenta for dinner.  We were lucky enough to be able to get dinner ready early so we could actually all eat together.  This usually never happens since Jason gets home from work so late that we end up eating dinner after Piper has gone to bed.  But last night was a good night (and a Sunday).

I cut some of the polenta into little strips and gave them to her while we ate our dinner.  It took her a little while to figure out what to do with them, but once she got them in her mouth it was love!  She may not like pureed corn (i.e. cries hysterically whenever we try to feed it to her), but at least she likes polenta.

Piper is 6 months old!

Check out these new pics of our little munchkin. (more pics after the jump).

Piper's first ear infection & 6 months old

Piper has had some cold symptoms for a few days, starting last Saturday. But other than the stuffy nose and little coughs, she was happy as a clam. Until Wednesday. Tuesday night she was up all night, ever 45 minutes or so, crying and fussy. And when we all woke up on Wednesday morning, Jason took her temperature and it was 101.6. I think that was her first real temperature. The poor kid was so warm, cranky, and sad. You could tell she did not feel well at all. So I decided to stay home with her and called the pediatrician as soon as they opened to get her an appointment.

I took her in around 10am. First the nurse practitioner looked at her, but she wanted the Dr. to take a second look, just in case. After Dr. Berger cleaned out her ears a little (which could not have felt good judging by the blood curdling screams coming out of my poor little baby) he looked in her ears and announced that yes, little Piper did indeed have an ear infection. She has a pretty bad infection in her right ear. He prescribed Amoxicillin and sent us on our way.

Today is her first day back at school (she was out Wednesday and Thursday because of the fever) and I think she is feeling much better. She actually woke up this morning smiling and cooing instead of the usual fussing and crying. It looks like we may actually have a happy weekend after all.

Oh... and on a side note... today is Piper's half birthday! I can't believe my little pumpkin is already 6 months old. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital. Time really does fly by. To commemorate this occasion, we will be taking Piper to get some professional pictures done tomorrow morning. I will be sure to post them as soon as we have them back. Happy Friday and Happy Half Birthday to Piper!