Sgarlata Scrapbook: White Winter

As I write this, I cannot believe January is half over. It seemed just like yesterday, I was ringing in the New Year in good old Minnesota. While in Minnesota I was lucky to say that I celebrated a white Christmas, our home state, the cheese state, had more of a brown Christmas. Looks like we picked the right year to celebrate in Minnesota! :) However, just these past few days, it seems that our luck has followed us home. We finally have snow; our white winter has arrived!

The boys are at the age that they love playing in the snow. Over break, Grandma was a trooper and took them outside almost every day. I on the other hand enjoyed watching from inside while I sipped my warm coffee and held Piper. Now that we are back home, Jonathan and I have had the pleasure of playing with them in the snow. They love to get pulled on the sled, go sledding, run down hills, eat snow (only white, no yellow), throw snow up in the air, and trample through the yard as the snow climbs up their leg with ever step. They enjoy being outside so much that they deny being cold, even when their bright red cheeks are telling me differently. I hope this snow stays around, so we can enjoy playing in it for a little bit longer.

Piper of course doesn't have a clue about snow. She may on the other hand, notice that she gets two blankets instead of one in her car seat which doesn't sit too well with her, since she hates the car seat. I don't know what it is about the car seat, but she really does despise it. As soon as you put her in it she starts arching her back and trying to slide out. I remember the boys doing the same thing when they were over a year, but it was short lived. Piper on the other hand, is not giving up. I personally think she hates the confinement of the car seat and the fact that she cannot move her hands up to her mouth so she can suck on her thumb. The only way for her to sit in the car seat and not be upset is to have a pacifier in her mouth. Within the past month she had grown found of her pacifier and it comes in handy when we get ready to go in the car.

Along with the new found affection for her pacifier, she also has started to become an active four month old. When put on her belly she scoots in a half circle. She has been doing this since right after Christmas. Also, when on her belly she fully extends her arms and looks like she is doing a yoga pose. It personally looks uncomfortable, but she holds that position for a good 10 to 15 minutes before she is letting me know that she wants to go on her back. She loves being on her back and bringing up her legs so she can grab her feet and every now and then put her feet in her mouth. She will just stare at the boys playing around her and will laugh or smile at them if they talk to her. She also loves to try to sit up. If you have her sit up she'll actually do it for a few minutes. She looks like a gorilla when she does it because she just holds herself up with her hands extended in front of her body. Just this week, I learned that I cannot put her in a swing anymore(not that she liked it that much anyway) because she will try to sit up and cause the swing seat to be off balanced which causes Piper to almost touch the floor with her hands. She also goes crazy with her arms and legs. When she's on the floor, she just kicks and swings her arms like she's on a sugar rush. In the bouncy seat, she grabs the toys and whips them around and around. She definitely has the death grip and watch out, if she gets ahold of you, she's not letting go. I laugh, when the twins tell me that Piper's got them. It is so darn cute!

As of right now, she is a complete mix of the boys. Piper's physical appearance is a meld of Mason and Chase. I think she has Chase's big eyes, but are not as sunken in as Chase's eyes. She has more of Mason's petite features, but Chase's skin and hair color. It is nice that she is a meld because before she was born, the twins looked like strangers, since they had completely different looks. Now with Piper, she makes all the kids look like they are siblings. As for other attributes, just recently, we learned that she sounds like Mason. We use to call Mason the velociraptor because his talking was an extremely high pitch sound and well, she's got the same tune. We also think she sleeps like Mason, meaning she sleeps well and for long stretches; definitely a nice attribute to have in the family! We think she has Chase's personality, very laid back and likes to watch her surroundings. As for other things, we'll just wait and see. One thing is for sure, Jonathan and I enjoy watching her grow!

Here are some more pictures from Minnesota break.