8 months

The 8 month mark has been met with a sick little gal :( This past Saturday, Brian and I had to take Piper to the urgent care clinic due to a temp of 101! Sadly, the little lady is dealing with a runny nose and congestion - which she, in turn, passed on to her father (probably sharing those slobbery kisses) who, in turn, passed it on to me. Sharing: this is what being a family is all about :)

Luckily, we are all feeling great now. It's nothing a little streaming netflix, kleenex, and loads of fluids couldn't fix.

From being cooped up the weekend before and seeing the forecast for "the century mark" (as the local forecasters like to say), we decided to venture away from home and travel west. We knew we needed to find the cool temps and the 60's were found on the Pacific coast. All we had to do was load up the cooler, the dogs, the baby and her periphenalia and we were on our way!

At only two hours from home, we were in heaven. We drove through wine country, ate lunch at an oceanside bar & grill and then strolled along the beach. We didn't stay on the beach for long because it was quite breezy. Plus, I hadn't realized that Piper had grown out of her stocking cap so we went into Cambria to shop! This town was filled with privately owned businesses boasting of the best pies, cookies, wine, clothes, and knick knacks. My kinda place. We found Piper a cap, sampled some cookies, and then we went on to Morro Bay to wear out the pups.


After having a full day around the coast we went back home to the hot San Joaquin Valley.

On Sunday morning, surrounded by a messy kitchen and piles of dirty clothes, we looked at each other and said, "let's go there again!" Back to the ocean we went except this day we spent in Cayucos (next to Morro and Cambria). We ate a picnic lunch,


walked and threw the tennis balls for the dogs
and then found a romantic little cafe called Indigo Moon for wine, appetizers and watching the fog roll in. Despite Piper grabbing and throwing everything in sight at the cafe, (it had been a long day), it was a wonderful weekend and just what all of us needed.

Piper loved celebrating her 8 months of life no longer being sick and looking at the waves. Our little bean sprout is already in 12-18 month clothing and weighing in at 17.3 lbs. Lately, she is able to pull herself up to her feet, however, she doesn't know how to get back down. We like to refer to this as "treeing herself" - just like a cat.
She's working on it.

And lastly, she got her FIRST tooth in the middle of August. When looking at her, it's on the bottom left. We're so proud of her tooth-growing skills and how much fun our little girl is at 8 months old.