Two months and new NAM

So, I'm two months old now... what's the big deal?  :) 

Why are mommy and daddy crying, taking lots of pictures, snuggling me like crazy, and telling me to stop growing up???  :)

We absolutely cannot believe that our little girl is two months old already!!!  At her 2 month check up at the end of August, Mia weighed 9 lbs 10 oz and was 22 3/4 inches long.  That puts her in the 25th percentile in weight and in the 75th percentile in length.  She is SO long!  I swear we keep feeding her, but she doesn't get chunkier, only longer!  lol

Mia has found her "social smile" over the past few weeks and has also started cooing.  She LOVES to be talked to and will stare at you and smile and coo like crazy and it is SO fun!

This pic is my cell phone wall paper and makes me smile every time I open my phone!

I also love this smiley one.  I am so going to miss this little smile when she has her lip revision surgery, though I wonder what her new little smile will look like.  It's so dang cute to me that part of me wants to keep it like that forever, but I know she'd hate me when she grew up.  (Hmmm... oh wait, don't all kids hate their parents at one point or another as they grow up... hmmm...)

Getting kisses from papa and cooing.

Talking with mama and getting kisses.

She rolls from her back to her side and we wonder how long it will be before she makes it all the way over!

She's gaining more and more control of her neck muscles and is getting good at holding her little head up. (Though she still tends to resemble a little bobble-head doll at times when she does it! lol)

As she gains more control of her hands, she often reaches up and touches our faces or mouth.  Yesterday, she decided to start helping hold the bottle and loves to help her papa and I hold it now.  lol

Here are her two month pictures with her Mia Rose blankie and stuffed giraffe.

Mia notices things and reaches for them now.  I think she likes the spotted pattern on her giraffe.

Oops, realized her one month pic was in a onesie, so we pulled off her cute shorts for this one.  :)

...and hanging in gma Lina's rocking chair.

Mia and I had our first "awake" Skype session with her cousins in Germany.  Sara and Sofia were so cute!  They sang Mia songs and wanted to go to Texas "now please" to see us!  :)  Nikki said they talked about "Baby Mia" the whole rest of the evening, and that the next day Sofia even wanted to see "Baby Mia" again.  They are coming to visit for two weeks at the end of November and we can NOT wait!!!

Here's a photo we snapped of them during our fun chat session.  Such gorgeous girls - all three!  Can't wait to see them in person!  They sang a ton of songs for Mia and were just too incredibly cute!

The new NAM

Mia got her new NAM last week.  The new NAM (nasal alveolar molding) device is the last stage she'll go through will appliances before she has her lip revision surgery. 

When I saw the new NAM, I was NOT a huge fan at first.  It's a lot more "stuff" to look at on her little face and I think it's a bit more shocking for others to see.  Now, however, I'm totally use to it and I just see my sweet little girl, but I must admit (ashamed though I am) that my first thought was, "I can't take my sweet little girl to Utah to show all my friends looking like this!"  :(  I hope that doesn't make me sound like a horrid mommy or a terribly shallow person!  I just thought it that first second and immediately felt absolutely terrible and horrible that it even crossed my mind!  Once I stepped back emotionally to analyze that sad knee-jerk reaction, I realized that my worry was that all they would see what this huge device out the front of her little nose and mouth and not her beautiful, adorable, wonderfully cute little face.  I've since gotten over that little lapse in human nature and am SO excited at the thought of heading up to visit family and friends next week!  I can not WAIT to introduce Mia to all my wonderful friends and to show her off to my family again now that she's a month older and has gotten so social!  :)

But I digress... here's the pics of the new NAM and how they created it.  It's her doctor's new creation and we have a love/hate relationship with it that I'll tell you about in a second.

Heading to the doctor's office - last day with the old NAM!  We were SO excited because the acrylic lip piece kept falling down and she would shriek when I had to put it back on.  (Her cute little outfit got TONS of attention, as did the little bow that mommy glued (yes, glued with Elmer's glue) her head.)

New NAM on the left, old NAM on the right.

When I first saw the new NAM on the left, I wondered how on earth they were going to make it work with those long wires sticking out the front.  I was also worried that in the process of making it that Mia was somehow going to get poked by the wires.  Thankfully she didn't!

The doctor would put it in her mouth, mark it, then bend it with special pliers, put it back in her mouth, and them mark it and bend it again.

They added a little crossbar covered in acrylic to hold her lip/gum area down, as well as acrylic balls to start shaping her nostrils.

View from the front of her new NAM.  It is SO not a symmetrical piece with how they bent it and put it together (the bar is higher on one side than the other and the little nasal parts come in at different angles), but it places things where they need to be.  Deep breath!  :)  Those of you who know me well can imagine how the OCD part of me has a really hard time not trying to mess with it to make it look more "even" and symmetrical on her cute little face!

Side view of the wires coming out of her mouth, the bar across her lip/gum area, and the little balls that go up into the end of her nostrils.

The little turkey can grab hold of it and yanks it out accidentally sometimes.

Thankfully, the new design doesn't seem to bother or phase my smiley little laid back "Mia bug" at all! lol

As I said, I'm not a huge fan of the way it looks, but it is SO much easier to put in and Mia doesn't scream anymore when I have to put it on so I totally love that part of it! Also, because of the way that it's made, it doesn't slip down. However, because of the way it's made, Mia can hook her little fingers in it and yank it out. The good news is that it should do the final shaping she'll need to have done to get her ready for surgery and then hopefully we won't have to use it anymore. Each week we'll go in and they will add acrylic to the lip bar to continue to push it back down into place, and also to the nasal prongs to continue to push up and shape her little nose and nostrils.  They think she'll have it for about two more months and then surgery. 

Please keep us in your thoughts prayers as surgery rapidly approaches!  We'll be sure to let everyone know once we get our surgery date set.

Hugs!

Mia is one month old already!!!

Mia was one month, one day old for uncle Michael and aunt Deena's wedding.  Here are some pictures recent Mia  pics of our growing little bundle of joy!

Almost a month old, chilling at home while mama packs for the trip to Seattle for the wedding. 

Mama and papa love my soft head of hair.

Family photo at breakfast, the morning of Michael and Deena's wedding.

Multi-tasking family, getting ready for the wedding - Mama tying papa's tie while papa feeds Mia.

Papa burping Mia outside Clise Mansion where the wedding and reception were held.  Notice papa's fancy burp rag - a bandanna!

Mama with Mia in the baby Bjorn with Uncle Dan and cousin Sadie who LOVES babies and was so gentle with baby Mia.  :)

Quick family photo before the ceremony started.

Getting snuggled by papa during the wedding dinner - papa doesn't even mind the sweet baby Mia drool on his shirt.

The cousins who were able to make it to the wedding.  Mia - 1 month, Christopher - 2 months, Nathan - 2 years, and Sadie - 9 months.  We are so sad that Sofia and Sara couldn't make it from Germany to make the cousin pic complete.

The Austin kids with their kids (minus Nikki and her girls).  :(

Darcie and Mia, Michelle with Nathan and Christopher, and Dan with Sadie.

Our wide-eyed girl hanging with papa the day after the wedding at one month and two days old. 

Here are some Mia pics from the last month.  We can hardly believe our baby girl is already a month old!!!  We are currently in Washington state with family for my brother Michael's wedding (info and pics soon), but I wanted to catch up and post a few of the thousands of pictures we have taken of Mia so far.  :)

Hard to believe that a little over a month ago we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mia.  51 inches of mama's tummy worth of little angel baby!  We thought she'd NEVER arrive.

Heading to the hospital to start the induction on June 29th.  We went in at 7 pm and Mia arrived the next day.  Zeus's shirt is wet from loading the hospital bags in the car on that rainy day.

The AMAZING doctor and her nurse.  Dr. Yoo took such good care of Mommy and Mia!

A gift from mommy's friend Jaclyn - wrapped up almost as cute as the sweet bundle next to it.

Mommy, cousin Chayo, and Mia.  Chayo was so cute holding Mia and did SUCH a great job - a natural little mama!

Cousins Carlos and DJ love their little prima Mia.

Tia Hilda, Tio Danny, Mama, Papa,

Tia Bertha holding Mia, and cousins DJ and Carlos came to visit to see little Mia.

Mia LOVES the swing that Auntie Heidi gave us - thank you Haggard family!

Close up of Mia with her "tape" in her cute "I make daddy smile" outfit from the papa's friends the Hogan's - so cute!  They keep Mia stylin' by generously passing along the cutest outfits!  (The tape is one of the stages to pull back that front premaxillary area in preparation for surgery.)

Mia meets papa's papa - grandpa Agustin.

Our precious baby Mia in her darling outfit and matching blanket from Auntie Brenda - aka Zeus's second mama from work. It's SO darling! It was the perfect outfit for Uncle Michael's wedding and looked so incredibly adorable!

Here's a picture of Mia's NAM device. This is the second stage in preparation for her lip surgery at 4-6 months. This replaces the tape and helps pull back that front lip and gum portion in a more permanent way than the tape.

Thanks to a well-timed yawn, you can see the device in her mouth, how it wraps around the premaxillary gum and lip area and covers up the front portion of her hard palate.  The dark pink area in the back is where her soft palate is open up into her sinuses.

Mia from the front with her NAM device in.

oh my... not the best track record!

So, it has been ANOTHER ten days since my last post... this is not a great track record!!!  This "new mom" stuff is exhausting!  Did I mention how EXHAUSTING it is!?!?!  The whole changing, preparing bottles, feeding Mia, washing bottles, getting pump ready, pumping for ~30 minutes, rinsing the pump parts and trying to grab 20-90 minute snippets of rest... zzzzzz...


Zeus has been a trooper and SUCH a big help.  Last night he even took two or three of the night feedings so that I could get some much needed sleep.  Thank you love!!!


Now, what you've all been waiting for... more Mia pictures!

Mama and Mia with grandpa in the background - taken through the NICU window by papa.

Papa bringing Mia to our room FINALLY - after 5 days of being in the NICU.

Tired mama's quick pick with Mia as we get ready to wheel her into our room from the NICU.

Zeus heard about how important "skin to skin" time was with babies, so he was sure to get HIS share of time in with his precious daughter.  Does this papa look content with his baby girl on his chest or what?!?!  :)

Mia and papa passed out asleep in our own room.

My papa just can't get enough of me...

Zeus feeding Mia - half the time we have to undress her to try and wake her up enough to finish her bottle.  lol

Papa loves it when Mia holds onto his finger or thumb.  Mama and Mia love it too.

Mama having some skin to skin time with Mia.  I KNEW those maternity shirts would come in handy even after pregnancy.  :)

So tiny and precious on the hospital bed - we love you little Mia!!!

Oh my!  The infamous tooth that cost $9K to remove on our teething newborn!  Pobrecita, teething at 5 days old!

All dressed up and ready to go home.  Mia, you look so precious in pink!

Mia saying good bye to grandma and grandpa - they are heading back to Utah and I'm getting ready to go home!

A thrilled Aunt Tiffany who got over her cold and FINALLY got to snuggle and love on Mia when we got home from the hospital - one week old.

Proud papa showing off Mia's precious little feet to Aunt Tiffany - just in case she missed that adorable detail.  :)

So small in papa's large hands - melts mama's heart all over again.

Mama's turn to have Mia hold HER finger.  :)

Mia and I with Aunt Michelle and Cousin Christopher - born almost a month apart, but due to be born only two weeks apart!

Switcheroo - sisters holding each other's babies.  Christopher and I next to Michelle and Mia.  Baby snuggles are the BEST!!!

Heading to Dell Children's Hospital for surgery to remove premaxilary tooth - 9 days old.

Zeus and Mia - all decked out in her "surgery gear" of a hospital t-shirt and hat.

Mia after surgery - oxygen mask at the top to do some "blow-by" oxygen when her O2 levels went down and her heart rate went up.  Scary day for mama and papa even though surgery took less than 5 minutes!

Mama passed out on the hospital pull out bed.  So very tired and exhausted!!!

More pictures soon.  :)

Heading back into Dell Children's hospital again tomorrow.  She's being put under again.  :(  This time they are doing it to make a mold of her little mouth for her NAM device.  Because she's had some breathing and choking issues, they want to do it in a surgery room so that they have a crash kit ready "just in case".  If that's not enough to strike terror in a parent's heart, I don't know what is!  Thankfully this visit will only cost a little under $4K, as opposed to our last visit.  Geeze Louise, don't know what we'd do without insurance...