Big Behind

Beyond the obvious implied by the title (and reinforced today in the bathroom mirror as I was putting on my swimming suit), I am behind in a BIG way on this blogging business and I'm feeling a little sad about it.  I'm thinking I need to actually try and schedule it into my day in order to get it done and also to feel live I've had some sort of creative outlet for the day.


This latest blah in blog slacking has been due in part to some angst I've been having about money (or the lack thereof) and bills and not working and struggling with that.  It doesn't help that my house in another state has a mortgage that is $300 a month more than what I can find tenants for.  Thank goodness I have them though or we'd be in even more dire straights.  It also doesn't help that I decided to watch some other kids to help out with some of the bills and winded up hooking up with a psycho who won't pay me for the days I watched her kids.  Luckily, it only lasted 2 days before she went nutty, but still, that's nine hours of work and about a month's supply of baby food or formula.  Bummer summer.  Then we were looking at renting out the guest room in our house, but that started freaking us out because it's the room right next to Mia's.  So then we were going to move her crib into our room just for our own peace of mind and to be on the safe side.  When that fell through, we were not so sad about it.


Well, today is better. This big behind now has two jobs and I think I'm going to really enjoy them!  One is that I'm watching a friend's 10 year old daughter for two months this summer.  She's a real doll and easy to have around (although today WAS only the first day - lol).  Then today I had someone call to have me tutor their three kids this summer.  Wooo whooo!  :)  I'm so excited to have things to do to keep me busy and to tap my educational juices.  Sometimes I can't sleep because I'm thinking of a new way to teach something, even though I don't have a classroom anymore, so this should be really fun.  


The littlest (and cutest) behind in the household took a spill today.  Mia pulls herself to standing all the time, but seems totally incapable of exiting the standing position in any kind of graceful matter whatsoever.  She'll just lean and plop to one side or the other, or just stick her bum out behind and plop down with a thud.  Well today she was standing in front of the toy shelf pulling toys off and did a bum-flop down.  Usually this is no problem, but today she didn't lean back far enough and scraped the end of her little nose on the edge of the shelf.  Poor thing!  It must have really hurt and it even bled.  Sadness!!!  She cried and cried, poor little sweet heart.  I was finally able to calm her down by taking her out on the back porch and that was able to distract her from the pain in her little nose.

Owie!  :(  It breaks my heart to see it.  Noses are SO sensitive, and to scrape it so bad that it bleeds makes my heart hurt and my own nose ache.

Feeling a little better, but sporting a shiner on her nose.

Mia checking out our new friend.

Feeling more comfy with things and moving in for a better view and within arms-reach of the markers.

Yummy yellow marker and red owie-nose.  She did a bum-plop in front of the toy shelf this  morning and scraped the end of her nose on it.  Sadness.

Sun-screen mow-hawk and Rudolf nose. 

Rocking her ballerina swim suit.

Ready to head to the pool - yay!

10 months (about a month late!)

So, we were horribly (about a week) late getting Mia's 10 month photos done and it was NOT a pleasant experience.  She is so mobile now that it is a FIGHT to try and get her to hold still and nearly impossible to take them by myself.  We finally decided we were going to take them that day no matter what, and ended up taking them at the end of the day, right before we put her down to bed for the night.  Needless to say, there ended up being three tired, grouchy, irritated people in the house that night.  Luckily there are only two more months to go (one this week since we are so late in posting these) before Mia turns one and we stop doing them EVERY month!  :)

I can't believe how big she's getting!!!

Thinking about how she can escape the parental units flanking her.

Plan 1.  Failed.

Plan 2: Distract papa with flirty eyes...

...then make a run for it.  ARGH!

Chair photos didn't go much better.

Repositioned and fighting it.

And being caught by mama before doing a nose dive off the chair.  Aye Mia!

Yeah, this was the best we could get.  :)

At 10 months Mia:

• still babbles like crazy, but still mostly vowel sounds and "ga-ga-ga" or "gwa-gwa-gwa"
• tears all over the house on her hands and knees still
• can pull to standing with mom or dad's fingers but doesn't pull to standing on other things
• likes to play "peek-a-boo" and "I'm gonna get you!"
• will follow you around if  you crawl away from her
• doesn't like being by herself in a room and will follow you if she sees you leave the room
• still loves cups
• still does not like people to hold on to her hands
• claps when she's happy and also when she's upset
• when she's playing with something she shouldn't, if you say, "Uh oh, not for Mia," she'll quite often move on to something else  :)
• if she doesn't move on and you head towards her to rectify the situation, she'll throw whatever it is away from her and start clapping (almost like she's saying, "See, I don't have anything!  Yay!")  lol
• loves to play in the cabinets
• knows and responds to her name, and knows who Mama and Papa are
• will go to just about anyone if they put their arms out to her
• still friendly to strangers
• still loves books, showers, songs, being danced with and baths
• can still fit in 6-9 month clothes and some wider 3-6 month shorts/skirts
• still is some larger size 1 shoes as well as size 2 shoes
• is growing up way to fast and is still such a joy!!!

...and she's off!

Lame-O

I have been horridly lame lately about blogging and I apologizes to my one loyal reader about being sadly remiss in this area.  So, for a horridly quick blog (since it's after 11pm) update, a few quick uploaded phone photos and captions:

The new haircut. (not sure why the top of the pic is fuzzy)

My sweet little Mia enjoying the wind through her hair and the sunny day in the swing - isn't she lovely!

Checking out the ground and surrounding areas - little investigator.

Riding on mommy's shoulders for the first time = great fun!

First bicycle helmet!  I can't wait to get a bike seat now so I can go riding with her!

Kind of front-heavy with the packaging still attached.

Not so thrilled about the bike helmet.

Papa taking Mia for a ride in the cart around the isles while we wait for the oil to get changed in his car.

And they're off!  (No, Zeus isn't handicapped, well, not certifiably (lol) but the cart was left abandoned in the oil change section and had a comfy seat, so one thing led to another and Mia and him were off for a trip around the isle.  :)

Painted Mia's toes for the first time today!  She actually held still for it - I think she was mesmerized.

Mommy got a matching paint job.

No, that is not a cadaver foot - it's my lily white foot with Mia's little light caramel foot on top.

Enough for today.  I'll try to get up early tomorrow to update more.  I have Mia's 10 month photos to upload as well as photos from our trip to El Paso this weekend for Zeus's mom's birthday memorial mass and to spend time with family.