For my act of kindness this week, I decided to gather up some baby things I had laying around and take them to a local shelter where I knew they would be needed most. At first I was quite undecided on which shelter I wanted to use. I thought about a battered women's shelter, a home for pregnant teenage girls, and a myriad of other places where I thought there may be women and children in need. In the end, a friend told me to look into a place called Our House. Our House is a local shelter for the working homeless, either individuals or families, that offers a place to live, job training, education, childcare, and summer youth programs...among many other things. It was established back in 1987 and has continued to grow, expanding its programs and offering a means for the Central Arkansas homeless to get back on their feet and become contributing members of the local community. I could go on all day about the many things they provide, but it would be much easier to follow the link and discover in their own words all that they offer. Needless to say, I was very impressed with their program, and I knew this was a organization I wanted to help out in my own small way.
Before deciding on going to Our House, I had gathered up my box of unused goods to be donated. Within it I had some infant onesies and socks, a baby sling, all the size 1 diapers I had left (probably totalling somewhere just over 100), five infant swaddlers, six containers of formula, a bottle, one set of 0-3 month pacifiers, a couple pair of infant mittens, and an umbrella stroller which I had gotten for free earlier in the week for purchasing $50 worth of needed items for Piper at the local Babies R Us.
The formula, diapers, bottle, and pacifiers
The swaddlers
More diapers and the baby sling
The umbrella stroller
The onsies, socks, and mittens
All in all, it wasn't a huge amount of stuff, but it was all I had available to give at the moment. Even though I know it isn't much, I do know that every little bit helps someone in need, and that there will be more stuff in the future as Piper outgrows things (think swings, bouncers, clothes, etc.). Somewhere a less fortunate child or two will benefit from the items I do not need for myself and Piper. Even though it was not much at this point, my thoughts about giving to Our House completely expanded once I talked with the gentleman who met me in the parking lot and accepted my donations.
A view of the shelter from where I was parked. Take a tour of their programs HERE.
When I arrived on their grounds, there was a middle-aged black gentleman out by the guard house directing some of the children coming in from school to the building where the youth program was being held. He met me at my car and asked if he could help me. I let him know who I was, why I was there, and gave him a card with my blog information on it. I explained about my random acts of kindness, and he lit up with such great joy that I instantly knew this was a place for which I wanted to do more. He even asked if I would be interested in coming back to speak to the residents and children there, and of course I gushed and said I would love to. Once we were done unloading the goods I was donating, we talked a bit more. Funny enough he knew my father's name from when my dad was back on the LRPD, which is not the first time someone has recognized my last name in association with my dad's time on the force. Anyways, this man was so nice and beaming with pride for the work Our House was doing for the homeless in the community, that it was infectious and made me want to do more, too.
A rendering of the new children's center in the works. Read more about it HERE!
After leaving, my brain kicked into gear about other ways I could help. I have decided that once Piper gets a bit older and I can spend a little more time away from her without me freaking out, I am going to volunteer my time to helping their organization. Some of the areas I'm looking into are in their child care center and/or education department. Since I have worked as a preschool teacher in the past and have taught on the college level, I think I could be a real asset either working with the children or in adult education, or both. I know it will really depend on their needs at the moment, but I definitely want to offer whichever of my skills they can use, that's for sure.
Here is another way to help, for those of you interested.
I also want to use my family's business to help. I am already working on sponsoring a toy drive for this holiday season. We were looking into being a Toys for Tots drop station, but I think we'd be better serving our own community, as we are a local family business in the area, by collecting toys for Our House instead. Both are wonderful programs, but I know Our House could probably use the help more. I am working up a proposal come Monday to see how we can get this ball rolling. I will offer up more details once everything is set in motion. I am really excited about the project, and I've heard my enthusiasm can be quite contagious! I think if we start things now, by Christmas we should be able to do something really special for the kids at the shelter.
So there you go, my good deed of the week has once again driven me to do even more. I really do believe all this do-gooding is rubbing off on myself. What started seven weeks ago as a simple bought lunch for a stranger, has turned into a compulsion to get involved in a much more meaningful way. I highly recommend everyone out there try to do something of the same nature. It honestly feels so wonderful to put smiles on people's faces. One smile can start a chain reaction that may overtake you in unexpected ways. I'm looking forward to continuing on my path of good deeds. With each new week, no matter the deed, the experience gets more meaningful to me. I can also tell that those around me are feeling the love, too. One day I know Piper will also learn from all of this, and that is worth it's weight in gold! I bet that after my 52 weeks are up I continue to give back, because now that the bug has bit me I think it will be impossible to stop. For now though, I just look forward to what next week will bring, good things are definitely on the horizon!
Interested in donating to Our House? Then follow this link to theirdonations page!
If you enjoy my blog, do me the act of kindness and take a moment to vote for me over at Top Baby Blogs by following the link below. It's just takes two clicks and you're done. You don't have to sign up for anything, or fill out any questions, just simply click the button and then the voting owl after that. If you want to check my status once reaching the Top Baby Blogs page, simply scroll to the bottom of the first page, if I am not anywhere on that first page, then jump to page 2, as I have been hanging around the top of that page lately.
Also, please feel free to come join me on my other social sites by following the links below. For all things Piper all the time, I highly recommend at least joining us on Facebook, where I post daily. Youtube is also good, as I'm becoming pretty regular at posting Piper videos there before they reach the blog. If nothing else, have an awesome day and do something nice for someone around you, you'll be happy you did!
As usual, a lot has taken place since my last post. If you keep up with Piper and me on Facebook, then some of the following may be a repeat. Since Facebook is a secondary site, I much prefer to post things here, yet it sometimes takes me a bit longer. This particular entry will reach back to the Labor Day weekend and go from there, so let's get started!
First off, Labor Day weekend was a blast. This year we once again went over to my brother's house, the brother who spawned my adorable nieces (not to discount my adorable married-in nieces from my other brother's family), and did the usual cooking out and swimming. I swore I was not going to get into a bathing suit this year, and I had a damn good excuse not to. I'll have to admit there is nothing worse than popping out at baby right at the beginning of swimsuit season! Regardless of my vow, I sucked it up, threw on my maternity suit, and decided to hit the water. I allowed Piper the immense pleasure of going swimming on the Fourth of July with my brother, but this time I wanted to be the one with whom she swam. I so regretted not being the first person she ever swam with, but a close second I will take.
Had to get a duplicate shot similar to my brother's picture with her!
Piper absolutely loves the water! I'm not surprised as we are all a bunch of water babies in my family. I mentioned in a previous post how I could swim before I could walk. My favorite method was a few inches below the surface, on my back, and with eyes wide open. I so wish my parents had footage of this bizarre style, but maybe I'll get lucky and Piper will do the same. If not, oh well. I can already tell, even if she doesn't adopt my odd swim style, that she is fearless of the water. I took her under a few times, and even though the first time she got a bit choked, she didn't cry or get scared. The next two times she was already a pro at it and there was no fussing or choking at all. She actually started to kick a bit when I pulled her through the water, so I'm going to take that as a good sign that swimming will come very naturally for her. I can see us spending a lot of time in the pool next year.
Loved being in the water with her!
Happy as can be!
Kisses!
Swam her pants right off!
Before all the swimming festivities, my nieces, mom, and myself put Piper through an impromptu photo shoot. She has this adorable black with pink polka-dot MudPie outfit my mom bought her (see first pic of this entry). With it came a hat that had a pink ruffly part underneath. Here are some of my favorite pics from that shoot!
Love her peepers!
My personal favorite!
Are we done yet?
Once we finished up with swimming, we sat around and hung out for awhile. At this point, Piper really began to show off. She has begun this thing with crinkling up her nose when she gets excited or is trying to learn a new skill. It's not just a crinkle, usually there's a huff and puff or other such sound that goes along with it. It is the cutest damned thing I have ever seen a baby do! Yes, I'm partial to my own little darling, but I've been around a lot of babies and have never seen anything like it. Anyways, my oldest niece had her giving great nose the entire afternoon!
Too cute!
Me trying to get in on the action...not so cute :-p
I mean seriously cute!
I managed to take a few more pics that day that I adore, so here they are!
Piper with her other niece...such beauties!
Love this look!
Always with the hands!
Face of an angle!
Look ma! No hands!
Got to love the turtle lip!
Well then, that about wraps up Labor Day. Of course there were many more pic, but those were all my favorites. I just love my new camera as it allows me to capture special moments like never before. I do still love my camera phone, though, for it allows for more spur of the moment shots, or "selfies" with Piper. And speaking of selfies, I snapped a great one of us in our Hog gear for the first game of the season!
Woo Pig Sooie!
The pic above is not her greatest facial expression, but she really does look adorable all dressed up in her college football best. We had such a horrible season last year I didn't watch any games just so she wouldn't hear our losing streak in the womb. Hopefully with our new coach, this season will be better...it better be because her cheerleading uniform is too awesome not to wear! We've won our first two games, so fingers crossed!
Okay, what next? Maybe a couple of videos? Remember the crinkle-nose I told you about? Well I sort of caught it on tape one night. I know, miracle, right? I'm hoping to catch a better film of it later, but this will have to do for now. She started doing the crinkle while trying to crawl. It has crossed over into other scenarios, but this is a great crawling effort video.
Here's another video, one of her in her swing. She loves Baby TV and watches it every weekday morning while I get ready for work. I know TV is not the best thing for her, but it's educational, she loves the channel, and it helps us both stay sane for an hour while I run around getting myself in gear!
Let me jump back to the crawling thing. Piper has been trying to crawl for a few weeks now. I swore she'd be doing it by 4 1/2 months, but she is still doing her commando crawl for the time being. I am so okay with this! I love that she is smart and physically ahead of the game, but I'm enjoying her not yet being completely mobile while I can. Now don't get me wrong, she cannot be left alone unless she is strapped into something because she has no issues with getting around at all, she's just still slower than she will be, and very soon I imagine! She just turned 5-months yesterday, so she's still ahead of the game for now. I know she'll be crawling before six months.
With her trying to crawl, she is also trying to move to a sitting position from her knees, which she almost has down. She is sitting completely upright without hand support now, something she started this week. She can also twist side to side and freely use her arms, although she still topples over or slouches forward when tired. She can also move to a crawling position from a seated one. Additionally, she has just this week started trying to scoot on her butt while sitting. She doesn't move fast nor far, but it is dang cute.
Well, that should take care of the video portion of this post. My goodness, this is getting to be a long one isn't it? I've been so busy with my 52 acts of random kindness that I haven't spent enough time focusing on Piper. She changes so much on a daily basis now, learning new skills at a breakneck pace, it really is hard to keep up. That's why I highly recommend following us on Facebook (see link at bottom of page), because I post there daily. For my Facebook fans, many of these pics are old news, but I'm sure they do not mind the re-hash, at least I hope they don't!
Since I've been drawing this one out, I'm going to wind everything down with some more pics, go figure! I've taken a bunch over the past couple of weeks, so I hope no one is too overloaded with cuteness at this point.
Sometimes I let her get naked and messy for dinner!
Still love breastfeeding her. Best part of my day!
A pic at the office, please ignore diaper bag :)
She loves breakfast time!
I bought her a 3'7" sock monkey on a whim. Needless to say, she loves it! And who wouldn't? I actually have cuddled with him in bed a few times. Just for the record, his name's Sake.
Is he mine?
Adores!
I spoil her!
We were accidentally matching this day!
Oh my goodness, I think I'm finally out of pictures to post. Well, don't let me lie, I have hundreds more, but I'll just keep all the rest to myself. I have so many pics it's actually causing me anguish trying to do her baby/life book. I finally started working on the first page last weekend, although it won't actually be the first page in the book. Of course, I can't be like everyone else and just throw some pics into an album. No, I've got to hand make the damned thing! So far, I've almost completed one whole page, woohoo! It really will be spectacular, at least in my eyes, when it's complete. Hopefully, if I do a page every week, I'll have it done before she is 20. In the end, all the hard work and over thinking will pay off, but I have seriously got to narrow down my pic selections for it or I'll never even get it started past that first page. Oh well, that's another post altogether. For now, I'll wrap things up with a snapshot of that first page. The album is going to have a mixed-media designed wooden cover held together by rings and ribbon. Inside are 12x12 chipboard pages with beau coups of embellishments, special touches, envelopes full of goodies, pull-out portions, etc. It's more scrapbook/keepsake/life treasure map than anything else. Anyways, here's a glimpse at the first partially completed page. I'm thinking of adding more embellishments and quotes from the blog within the open spaces. Who knows how it'll look when finished, but it will definitely be eye catching! It's my first try at something of this nature, so hopefully it will get better as I go along.
Love creating the picture borders from scratch!
Okay, now I am finally going to end this rambling and release you all from this post! I hope you have enjoyed catching up on all things Piper. If so, show us some love and throw us a vote over at Top Baby Blogs by following the link below. Remember, you can vote every 24 hours. So if you've voted before, please do so again. Also, come join us on our other social sites by following the links below. Facebook is by far where most of the action happens, so if nothing else, come join us there! As always, thanks for stopping by!
_room_to_grow.jpg)
