CoNfEsSiOn...

Ok, I'm finally going to put it out there... Somewhere in my sleepless nights of babyville, I decided it was a good idea to make up another blog. A blog for me, Jamie, and my thoughts. I know you're thinking, "but, you already MAKE me read this one... NOT ANOTHER BLOG!!" That's ok, you don't have to check it out... but, if you have a shameless side to you, check it out... www.mommasbeenthinkin.blogspot.com. It's a little bit of thinking, a little nonsense and a lot of whatever. THAT's the beauty of your own blog:) More to come, I'm sure...

Our Little Outing

I forgot to post these pictures sooner, but for Ike's actual birth day, I took Zach and Ike to Anthem, an outlying community "almost" out of Phoenix on the north side for a day at the park. Anthem has acres and acres of park with lots of little parks and a train that goes through it all. Unfortunately, the train derailed before we got there, so we had to resort to playing all day at the different parks. We packed a lunch and had a great time! I hope Ike thought it was special, because it really was a fun time with just the three of us. After spending the last 2 1/2 months exclusively in Phoenix, it was nice to go somewhere almost out of town. It is totally out of my nature to stay in one place this long! Luckily, there is a lot to keep us busy! Anyway... enjoy the pics!

Sleeping...

My weird little Pieper sleepers can and do sleep anywhere! Ike on the cedar chest in the office and Zach sleeping with his feet straight out in front of him and his head bent down... comfy! 

So sleep in our house, and I'm sure yours, is the most important GIFT we have to give ourselves and each other:) Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed that *certain someones* are beginning to sleep in a different pattern including Ike staying up too late, getting "hungry" again, needing more stories, and awaking in the middle of the night whereupon he decides his bed just won't do and joins us in ours. hmm. I have decided on the relatively rare occasions that he does leave his bed for ours, he is so distraught by the time he makes it across the house to our room that he would be DEVASTATED by the time I sent him back to his room. So, we'll save that battle for another day... Usually if he does come to our bed, it's around 6 am anyway, so it's not like we're missing out on a ton of sleep. AND by "us," I clearly mean me... Let's face it, those Pieper genes have made it possible for Daddy and Ikie and even Zach to sleep through anything. I happen to be the only one who cares if other peoples limbs are resting upon my face, etc.
    Now, on to boy #2... Mr. Zachary "tricked" me into awaking 2 times in the night (again) after months of only 1 feeding in the night. I am a s.l.o.w. learner, but finally caught on to the new ploy and took the hint. You see, confession. Zach is a nomad. He was "permanent bed-less." Meaning, I never set up his bassinet after our move and relied upon him sleeping either on the couch (real safe... I know.) or in the swing... The holdup: looking for a new toddler bed for Ike so I could give Zach Ike's 3 in one crib. Anyway, that problem solved itself when I "gained" a new wooden bed frame that needs refinished... a project for "one of these days."  So, after a couple of weeks of far less than enough sleep, we have finally returned the 3 in one to a crib, and Ikie has graduated to a twin bed! Life is much better and EVERYONE is sleeping a little more around here, well, except daddy, who still happens to be in dental school... Hey, I can't solve 'em all!

Halloween 2009

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Monsters and the 3rd Birthday Party

After several months with an affinity to monsters, it occurred to me that I could use this new found affinity to plan my son's all-too-convenient close-to-halloween birthday party, so we did just that:) We invited several little friends from "school," as well as a couple friends with dentist-wanna-be parents. It was a great turnout for a Friday afternoon, and a huge success for the 5 and under crowd. Let me introduce you to my favorite hobby/medical condition, and Ben's least favorite hobby/medical condition... O.P.O.E.overachieving. planner. of. events.

Ok, so not the greatest picture, but he tried:) The whole house was decorated like halloween with a few Monsters, not the scary kind, around here and there...

Monster cupcakes surrounded by frankenstein heads (lime jello with cherry eyes and oreo hair) I have a close up of these too, but *someone* has misplaced that memory card... I'll find it by Christmas!

Said cupcakes. You'll noticed only a couple were decorated. This was one of the activities... Choosing your monster and adding features. They turned out so cute! Oh, and according to Isaac, they were his favorite part of the party... I thought his favorite part was presents, but, who am I to argue?                             

Some of our guests even got in on making monster masks... a couple of friends were SO into it that they made SEVERAL monster masks! I love it when a project turns out to be a hit with the new generation!

Monster Masks in use... Yep, you can hardly tell who it is... Very monster-y!

One of the 4 times we have sung "Happy Birthday" to Ike this year! He is quite the candle blower-outer!

So, in recap, we had the following ultra fun Monster Mashing at the ever popular 3 year old party...

1. Monster Masks

2. Decorate your own monster cupcake

3. Monster Chasing Game (how could you resist after having a custom Monster Mask?)

4. Monster jello heads

5. Monster books for our contemplative guests... including Monster Finds a Costume, a few from Little Critter series, and My Monster Mama Loves Me So (our inspiration around here...)

6. We downloaded "The Monster Mash" kids bop version and let the kids have a real monster mash dance off- way cute!

7. Monster parting gifts including these awesome monster water squirters and monster stamps from Target Hot Spot- see- don't you wish you would've made the trip to AZ?

That was about it... Why did it take me so long to get everything ready then? Hmm. I must be slow. I do know for a fact that my O.P.O.E. is a problem for some people in my family and that each time an "event" comes along, that someone goes a little overboard and neglects other duties, but I really do have SO MUCH FUN creating, researching, and executing these fun events:) I hope I still have energy to do this for subsequent children or they're really going to be bitter:) Lets just say I don't think Chuck E. Cheese is in our near future:) More *actual birthday post* to follow...

Our first Arizona Visitors!

After the White Coat Ceremony in front of our house... Handsome group, huh! That's because Isaac wasn't sitting on THEIR laps (See below)...

The closest we could get to all smiles after "the incident." We sure are proud of that daddy! You would trust him with your mouth, wouldn't you? Ok, give it a couple of years...

Da Da Da- The White Coat has officially been placed upon his shoulders! Here we go...

Last weekend we were so lucky to welcome Grandma and Grandpa Pieper for a visit. They flew in to Phoenix on Wednesday night and were here until last Sunday. It seems like that should've been a long visit, but, as always, time flew by! It seems like they just got here and then it was already time to say goodbye... I guess we just have too much fun! Also, as always, when they are around, I seem to forget all about my picture taking responsibilities, and so we do not have too many pictures to show for it... Luckily, they have a few more, so we'll have to high-jack their photos next time we are in Idaho:) I wanted to make a list of the "fun" things we did (this will seem really silly to "non-Piepers" and totally normal to Piepers! You think I'm joking, but you'll see...) Anyway, we....

1. let Grandpa and Daddy become study buddies together. Ben's dad is currently working on his PhD, so they spent lots of hours on their mac laptops together tuning the rest of us out... like father, like son. seriously. I've never seen anyone tune out as much as they seem to be able to!

2. went to the gym and worked out. every day. I am becoming a gym extraordinare, though I don't think you can tell... hmm. Ben's mom and I have a need for exercise everyday, so we took advantage of my gym membership. It was so so fun to have workout buddies!

3. went to a thrift shop. Wouldn't you know, next door to my gym is a Savers... what are the chances? Anyway, as always, we went in for "just one thing" and came out an hour or so later with many more things than one:) Oh, and for the record, we also "lost" grandpa to the used book section for the entire time. Whew, luckily, we were only there for an hour... that book section had the potential to swallow him up for good!

4. took showers and fed babies. yep. This seems to take WAY more time out of my day than anything else, and now I have witnesses. Though, being clean and well fed are two very important things!

5. splashed around at the splash pad. Even though it was *kinda* getting dark:) Had fun playing at the park too!

6. took a picnic lunch to the park and met Daddy. We found a new park very close to his school that seems to be a "secret" aka, not a million other people there. Yeah!

7. made really really tasty meals with not a lot of carbs. Another big plus to having Ben's mom around... we love to cook and eat together and since we both watch our carbs (she MUCH more than me- and for much better reason) we tend to go overboard and cook a ton and find new alternatives to tasty old favorites. On the menu this week were some new dishes from http://www.dlife.com/ (check it out, especially if you are looking for low carb) including zucchini pancakes with poached eggs and holandaise sauce (the very best breakfast I have EVER had!!), ribeyes with blue cheese butter and broiled asparagus, grilled mahi mahi, impossible berry pie (also from d life), crab stuffed portabellas (SOOO good!). Of course, lots and lots of salads and veggies mixed in there too, and of course, healthy doses of string cheese and nuts! Yep, we ate like low carb kings:)

8. made homemade salsa. This gets it's own point because (if you're a Pieper, you'll understand) as Ben puts it... "My dad can't walk through the produce section of a store without thinking, homemade salsa!" So, they came home from the store with all the fresh ingredients and made enough for the entire family, even though it was only the 4 of us, plus Ike and Zach! We still have salsa leftover a week later, but it was oh so good! We're so glad to have a salsa specialist in the family!

Now, where was I? Oh yes,

9. Went grocery shopping a few times... No Pieper time is complete without a few trips to the grocery store... That is definitely a favorite past time for some of us!

10. toured Ben's campus, met most of the faculty and attended Ben's White Coat Ceremony. A wonderful time! Ben LOVES school, LOVES his peers and faculty. This is definitely the place he was meant to go to school. He is really excelling here and feeling good about what he's learning. It couldn't have worked out better for him. The White Coat Ceremony was wonderful and really moving for all the students. *Some* members of our family, I won't mention any names, but if you are a Pieper, you can figure it out, slept through part of the ceremony... Ike and Zach both took naps too. It's great having Pieper children who can take a nap anywhere!

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end here... About 10 minutes before the end of the ceremony, Ike woke up from his nap on the floor, climbed onto my lap and was being really cuddly. I was soaking it all up! Anyway, we were sitting on the second row of families in a giant auditorium. Wouldn't you know, after a minute of him sitting there, I feel my lap getting really warm and look down to realize Ike is urinating on me! AHH! So, there we are in the middle of this beautiful ceremony, everyone heartwarmed and almost over, and my lap is SOPPING WET, as is Ikes! Yes, he has been fully potty trained for over a month, and yes, I did have a pullup on him, just in case... And yes, the pull up was on sideways... Oops! Ike and I rushed out as soon as it was over and stood outside to dry off in the hot hot sun. So, 10 minutes later, we were dry and smelling foul. I hope this isn't a symbol of the four years to come. really.?!?!

11. had our friend Jamie H. in town Friday night for steaks and a little impromptu birthday celebration for Ike. These guys all know the way to his heart... sugar! He received jelly belly beans and a really great dinosaur book from Jame and from his grandparents and aunts/uncles, A CASE of flavored milk (think juice boxes only milk...), which he happened to ask Grandpa for a month ago and will be enjoying for several months to come!! He also received an awesome preschool book of activities and educational things that he "studies" during daddy's study time, and a big package of cookies and fruit snacks- no low carb snacks for this 3 year old!

12. Swam in the very cold, Wyoming like pool. Now that it's not 100 EVERY day, the pool has dropped in temp (apparently, no one has thought to turn on the heater yet...) So, yep, it feels like swimming outside in the summer in Wyoming. Brrr. Oh man, we're wimpy already!

13. Went downtown the the AZ Science Center. Yep, that's right. We took the Pieper men to a museum (or muz-zuh-zem, as Ikie says). They were actually pretty good about keeping a timeline, though I just love how enthralled they are with everything:) Oh, and we saw a 3D Shark IMAX movie... Isaac LOVED it!

14. Ate out at a World Buffet restaurant. Had LOTS of new food experiences like seaweed, Ike's second time eating sushi, lots of seafood, etc. It was so great! Can you believe I even at frog legs? They really did taste like chicken. Aren't you proud of me? Ok, so slight confession... I DID eat it, but Ben's mom pulled the meat off for me and just gave me a little hunk so I didn't have to deal with the visual... but I still ate it, so there!

15. Stayed up WAY TOO LATE every night. Hey, we had LOTS of catching up to do.

16. Found out a *certain* brother with very bad luck had another case of very bad luck whilst said parents were away and the siblings held down the fort- including digging potatoes and carrots in the snow back in Idaho- what a tough group!

17. Played any game and read every book Ike wanted to. all the time. Yep, this kiddo got his way A LOT and has Gramps wrapped around his little finger. Cute.

18. Realized just how much we miss our family and how grateful we are to have such wonderful parents.

What a fun week. I hope you made it through the list. Sorry for the length, but since this is currently my *only* journaling attempt, I thought I best be thorough. I have been thinking a lot lately about our families and why we are in the families we are. I know that when Ben and I got married, we married more than just each other. We really did marry our families too. Can I just say how LUCKY (or Blessed is probably more like it...) I am to have found the Piepers?!? I love each of you guys so much. I love each of our quirks (ok, some of you are perfect...) and I know that I was meant to be a part of you, whether you like it or not... and I just feel so privileged each day and thank you for taking me in as your own. Thanks Richard and LaJean for coming down and sharing this special experience with us. We loved our time with you more than you'll ever know... In fact, Ike keeps asking us if we can fly to Idaho today and see Gwamma and Gwampa today! We couldn't be more blessed and I'm so glad to be raising children in such fine families.

Sunday Sunday

Sundays at our house have really changed since our move to Phoenix. We don't have any family to visit for dinner, and it's too hot to take a walk before dark, so most of the time we are finding ways to spend it together cooking, bonding and having FHE. We do have friends over, or go to dinner at other's houses once in awhile, but it's also nice to have one day alone where Ben is not studying at all and where we have nothing better to do than to be together! I thought I would catch a few pics of my boys after church today... Ike really wanted to show off his new shoes that look "esackly like gwampa Jim's." He's right, they are pretty close to the same!

Brothers... Zachy has really started loving Ike as much as Ike loves him! They are really cute to watch. Usually I have to catch myself from saying "Isaac don't bother him" Because it turns out, Zach really likes it! Ike can make him smile and laugh easily. Though, he makes him a little nervous sometimes too! Also, notice in this picture, Zachary is attempting to suck his thumb. I am COMMITTED to making sure this does not happen... We'll see who wins:) Fortunately, he does love his binky. Hopefully, we can keep it that way!

Many faces of Zachary James! Our baby boy turned 4 months this week. Boy is he growing and changing! His hair never did fall out (just like Ike) and instead is turning much lighter and longer... He'll be ready for his first haircut soon. Notice his SOAKED shirt front. He loves to suck and drool all over his shirt all the time! Hope he grows out of that before kindergarten:)

This little boy giggles now! He is especially ticklish under his chin and around his neck. We sure have fun with him:)

I think he looks a lot like Ike... no doubt they are brothers! What do you think? I thought I would comment a bit on his 4 month attributes...

1. Zach loves to be awake and he is so happy being awake! Much like Ike was at this age, he is awake most of the day and not sleeping as well at nights, but is still eating and gaining weight... I just have babies that like awake time, I guess!

2. He also LOVES to kick his legs as much as he can all the time! He is constantly active talking and kicking, which in turn, scoots him around the floor!

3. He does not like tummy time much... about 5 minutes. is max for him...

4. Since we started ichat with Ben's parents (w/ the webcam) Zach now looks for a tv screen/computer monitor all the time and glues his eyes to it! He's never even noticed before.

5. Zach loves his brother and will follow him with his eyes all over the room. He loves to sit in Ike's room and watch him play (more likely, Ike parks cars all the way around Zach and shows him the "cool cars" - Corvettes, etc.)

6. Zach just started crying when we walk away. Our friend was holding him the other night and Ben and I both walked away for a split second, he realized this and immediately started crying. The moment we turned around, he shut off the crying. Amazing. Really, at 4 months, really?!

7. I don't have his exact measurements yet, but I know he is tall and skinny (like his brother at this age)

8. Zach loves to be wrapped up and really warm. He sleeps best really warm, which works out nicely since most days it is still over 100 outside!

9. Zach has recently decided he really does like the pool and the bath, especially with big brother right there splashing him!

10. Zachary has been the greatest addition of joy to our family! He truly has never been fussy or even sick (knock on wood)! We really love him to pieces and already cannot even remember what life was like without him!

Typical Sunday afternoon- what a handsome bunch!

Oh, and this is the Arizona Science Center- we went downtown yesterday with some friends to a new robot exhibit. Ike was SOO excited! He has been carrying around the postcard announcing the new exhibit (which came in the mail a couple of weeks ago). He had to tell the ticket taker, the parking garage lady, and a random man at the crosswalk with us that he was going to see the robots like on his postcard! I'm not sure it was as amazing as he had anticipated, but he really loved our day out together and this robot guy! We have found now more than ever that little outings like this are so important to keep us all happy, bonded and sane! Ben studies a lot and has been doing very well in school, but I think BALANCE has definitely been a factor. Hopefully we can all keep it up:)