Our First Christmas

This Christmas we were planning on having a chill, laid-back, relaxed Christmas Day.  Zeus looked up what time Christmas Mass was at and we set our alarm for 8:30 am so that we could get up and ready and out the door in time.  Mia wore her little Christmas PJ outfit all day long cause mama thought it was so cute.

Yummy thumb-loving girl sitting up by herself on the Love Sac.

...and for anyone who doubts her sitting skills, here's one of her sitting up on the floor all by herself.  (no, she's not propped up!)

Happy to be on the Love Sac again and to have her thumb in her mouth... again.  :)

We got Mia in her pj's and took a few photos before putting her down for the night at around 11 pm, which seems to be her bed time of choice.  Papa's been working on "crawling position" with Mia lately during tummy time.

Working on "strong arms".

...and knee's up.  She actually even looks like she's crawling in this pic, but she's not.  Just reaching for a toy.

...and practicing her sitting skills.

So we SET the alarm, but it must have gotten snoozed and Mia ended up sleeping in until 9 so we didn't get up until 9 with her.  We decided we could make it to Mass still if we rushed, so we rushed like we've never rushed before and were able to get all three of us ready and out the door and to Mass right as it was starting.  We brought our camera so that we could get some pictures of our little family all dressed up for church.  Well, it was FREEZING outside, and a lot of people went up and took photos in the Church where they'd decorated for Christmas.  We thought it was a great idea and were able to get some nice pictures taken, thanks to the tripod I got for Christmas last year.  I thought to bring it in the trunk and Zeus braved the cold to go out and grab it.  She'd had a cute little black ribbon tied around her head, but it had fallen off and she was not at all interested in having it put back on so she doesn't have it in any of the photos.  Sad!

Papa and Mia

our little family

ignore my ridiculous foot pose in this one... I'm not exactly sure what happened there...

Our little family by the manger scene.

Mia and Mama

Papa and Mia

my baby girl and I

my two honeys

While we were setting up the tripod, the associate pastor who'd given the Mass came up to us and chatted with us for a second while we waited for some other families to get their photos taken.  He even asked where in the audience we'd listened to the Mass from and we told him from the back "Child Cry Area" where we sit with Mia so she can use her rattle toys.  I'm not sure if he was just trying to be sociable or if he thought that we'd just come with the tripod AFTER the service to get some pictures.  Shnikeys!

I've got a horrible headache, so I've got to cut this short.  More later....

4 days before Christmas and 80 degrees!

So, it was four days before Christmas, and we were sitting toasty at 80 degrees here in Texas.  Too crazy!  Because of the warm weather, I decided to dress Mia accordingly in one of her cute summery dresses.  Here's Mia, four days before Christmas on Winter Solstice.   :) 

This one of her propped up against the couch with her skinny little legs and chunky sandals was just too funny to pass up.  :)

My precious girl.

Smiles!  (I think she's relieved that I took the bow off her head.)

My little cutie pa-tootie.

Who me?  I'm just chilling under the tree mom...

Man is this dress yummy!  ...just like all of her other clothes apparently.  :) 

Trying to reach the gold icicle on the tree, but it turned out that it looks like she's holding the manger scene.

Yet another example of why we call her "Toots"!

They are apparently very tasty as well.

Okay, so I totally went a little overboard on photos, but I had 87 to choose from!  lol  Is she a first child or what?!?!  Happy Winter Solstice!

Merry Christmas Eve

A Christmas of Firsts

Our sweet little munchkin Mia in her "My 1st Christmas" outfit.

This will be a Christmas of firsts.  Our first Christmas as a married couple, Mia's first Christmas and our first Christmas as a family.  I'm way behind on blogging and have lots of photos to post as well as updates.  Hopefully I will be able to get caught up soon!  :)

Off to read Luke, tidy up the living room and charge all of the the camera and video batteries for our baby's first Christmas in the morning.  I'm hoping that visions of sugar plums dance in our heads and that Mia sleeps through the night so that we can all enjoy a silent night. 

I feel especially thankful as I sign off tonight for wonderful family and friends.  You know who you are but you will never know how much you mean to me and how much I appreciate all that you do.

Oh, and now that it's Christmas Eve, I finally have our family Christmas card done.  Maybe I can get our family update letter ready this week and send them out before the end of the year???  Better late than never?  Maybe.  Here it is.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...

grandma?!?!?

So I was walking into the store the other day and looked down and realized that I'd dropped Mia's blanket off the diaper bag.  I had parked in one of the first stalls and was almost to the door of the store when I realized it, so I didn't really have TOO far to go to find it.  Well, just as I approached my car, this lady was walking my way and picked it up for me.  She said she'd seen it fall as she was pulling into a parking spot but didn't know if I'd realize what she'd meant if she'd honked.  We chatted as we walked back towards the store and she said that she'd had her two little nieces the day before.  Then she asked me how old Mia was and when I told her "5 months", she said, "Is she your first grandchild?"  GRANDCHILD?!?!?!  What the heck?!?!?  I said, "No, first child - we got a late start."  She was so embarrassed and mortified and apologized profusely and said she hoped she hadn't offended me.  I just laughed it off, but then later that day I started thinking about it and doubting myself.  I've always thought I look young for my age, but that lady totally blew THAT idea out the window.  The lady was obviously around 10 years older than I and when I said that we'd gotten a late start, she said she'd had her first child at 38.  What?!?! 

Needless to say, my quickly dwindling savings is now down $40 because today I bought some Olay Regenerist, which, according to the commercials on TV lately, works better than some $700 creams.  Let's just hope it really works and I have "visibly tighter skin in just 5 days." Otherwise I totally blew my savings plan to buy the newest Photoshop Elements for myself for Christmas.  Bummer.  I know I'm getting older and wrinklier, but grandma?!?!  I guess I'd better get use to it - I'm sure that when Mia starts school in 5 years that I will quite often be confused for being her grandma.  Sadness.

Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!

Recently my mom brought some of the baby things I’d tucked away in my "hope chest", (man, does that totally date me and make me feel silly, or what?!?!) and low-and-behold, there were a few of the old outfits my Aunt Sue had made over 20 years ago.  Apparently I’d snuck them (so very sneakily I might add) into my own personal collection.  Hehehe!  (ßsneaky laugh)  I’ve been anxiously awaiting the day when Mia would fit into them, especially this darling pair of teal overalls that I've loved for, well, about 20 YEARS.  She would always send the cutest outfits and I remember wishing I could use them on my dolls back in the day.  J  Well, today I pulled them out again and she’s finally big enough for them!  Yay!  She had kind of a rough day today, but looked so stinking cute that I had to take pictures anyway! 

Serious little girl + cute outfit = seriously cute photo of my baby girl.

I wanted to get a photo of the whole outfit with her standing up because it's just so dang cute and she looked so adorable in it.  We started out with me holding onto her hands, but at one point I let go to wipe some ever-present drool.  She could still stand by herself, not because of any incredible balance skills that she has, but because she was standing leaning slightly back against my legs.

Holding on to mama - her little armpits come up to about my knees!

Well, after I let go that one time to wipe her little face, she realized that she could stand up on her own and would NOT let me hold onto her hands for ANYTHING, little turkey!  I'd try to reach down and hold onto her hands and she'd shake them off every time after that.  Oh my!  She is SUCH a determined little thing, even at such a young age.  Hopefully it will serve her well as she grows up and sets goals for herself.  Man, just thinking of her being old enough to make goals makes me feel old and a little sad! 

What?!?!  You think since I'm only five months old I can't stand up on my own?!?!

See... no hands.  Told ya.

Ah, silly rabbit, Trix are for kids... but I must admit, it's a pretty cool trick and such a cute little rabbit to boot!

It's that time of the month again...

...NO, not THAT time of the month, silly!  It's time for "Mia's another month old" photos!!!

What?!?!?  Who meeeeeeeeee?!?!?!?!?

I can't believe my little Mia is already five months old!!!

At five months old, Mia:

• has had her first major cleft surgery and is recovering well
• still a happy little soul who continues to smile through it all
• is no longer sleeping through the night - not sure if it's from adjusting after the surgery or not, and we're hoping she picks that back up again SOON
• giggles more often
• LOVES to have papa sing her songs and bounce her around - it makes her giggle like crazy
• has started eating rice cereal (sort of)  :)
• loves to "stand" when you hold her
• totally knows who mom and dad are and always has plenty of smiles when we catch her eye - it's the cutest thing!
• smiles at family that spend time with her and coo and/or talk to her
• is not so sure about smiling at strangers unless they are holding her and talking in a high voice
• when strangers try to get her to smile at them, she will often just give them "deadpan" face
• LOVES her thumb
• prefers her right thumb and chews/nams/sucks at it a LOT
• can't seem to be able to drink her bottle without her right thumb or left index finger in her mouth along with the nipple (or when she's feeling adventurous, both those fingers at once)  sheish!
• can sit assisted and LOVES being strapped in the shopping cart so she can look around and take everything in
• still does not like tummy time and eventually just lays her head down and chills, silly girl
• can roll from her tummy to her back
• rolled over for the first time today from her back to her tummy - Yay Mia!
• has two bottom middle teeth that came in the week after her 4 month pictures and are super sharp
• drools like CRAZY, but no new teeth as of yet
• wakes up happy in the morning and will play with and coo at her feet for a bit - which is way nice for mama when she's been up a few times already during the night
• loves shoes with shoelaces, though when she has them on the laces are constantly being pulled on
• loves to try and pull off socks and shoes, and/or put them in her mouth
• still tries to (and succeeds at) trying to get her feet in her mouth 
• is still such a joy and we love her like crazy!!!

Sitting up in the high chair at the restaurant - my baby's growing up!

I'm 5 months old, and this is my turkey bib.

Look how big she's getting! (Sorry about the skewed angle of the second one, but you can still see how much she's grown.)

  

This is how she looks at strangers when they try to get her to smile.  Seriously?!?

So, Mia's done really well with keeping bows on her head and even little knitted caps.  Well, with her lip surgery, we'll need to take precautions that she doesn't sunburn her scar.  Lately when I've taken her out in the stroller, I've wished I had a little baseball cap for her to keep the sun off her face.  I've been looking for baby hats and finally found a few, so I wand to make sure she's use to it so she doesn't pull it off when we're out and about.  I put one on her today and she looked like such a cute little imp that I just had to take some photos.  Here are some of my favorites.  :)

This hat is for ME?!?!?

Awe shucks.  My great big five month old just looks so tiny in her big hat!

Okay, so it's a little big on her but she'll grow into it - and way to fast I'm afraid.

Solids Schmolids

So, this evening we tried solids again - aka rice cereal.  I mixed it a little thicker and... Mia wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with it.  We had an all out rice cereal revolt on our hands!  She clamped her little lips together and tried to push out any remaining cereal that had gotten in her mouth with her little tongue. 

Looks like we're back to trying "rice soup" tomorrow, mixed with plenty of formula.  Methinks she liked the "novelty" of drinking her bottle via spoon with a slight ricey flavor better than the actual eating of rice cereal.  Oh well, I can work with that!  No semi-thick rice cereal for my baby girl.  She has, however, decided she likes drinking cold water from a cup.  Go figure...

We have achieved solids!

We have achieved solids... well, semi-solids... okay, to be more accurate, mostly liquid with a teensy bit of powdered solid mixed in.  :)  Tonight we finally attempted feeding Mia solids for the first time - and by solids, I mean the infamous rice cereal.  It has you mix one tablespoon of rice cereal with three tablespoons of formula for the first feeding, so it was pretty liquidy. 

We sat Mia in our new space saver high chair (thanks again to craigslist!) and I gave her the spoon while I mixed the cereal and papa watched her.  Don't freak out that it's on the table, Zeus was right there so it was totally safe, and we are going to strap it to the chair.

Mia was fascinated by the spoon.

I had to put the tray on to keep her feet down so they wouldn't interfere with the feeding!

First spoon!

Yum!  Apparently fingers make cereal taste better and/or help it go down.  :)

My smart little cookie!  She totally gets the whole, "The spoon takes the food to the mouth, and you open the mouth to get the food down" bit.  Brilliant!

She actually did a ton better than I thought she would, even though most of it probably ended up on her bib rather than in her mouth.  She seemed to be trying to work it back in her mouth and would open her mouth when I brought the spoon up.  ...That is, until about 4 or 5 bites in when she decided that was enough for her first meal and then she just kept her lips together.  Silly goose!

All finished and cleaned up and ready for story time and snuggles.

So I would deem her first feeding a success.  It will be interesting to see how she does when it's a little thicker and see if that helps or not.  At least with it liquidy, it didn't seem to clump up in her open sinuses.  Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from our little adventure through rice cereal and first feeding.

Spoon?  What spoon?  You didn't give me a spoon, did you???

Ohhhhhhh..... you mean THIS spoon? 

My bad.  I thought it was called a "dinglehopper".  It certainly looks like a dinglehopper to me.  Ah ah ah...  Ah ah ah!  (<--Little mermaid singing.)

Okay, you can have the spoon now mom.

SYKE!!!!

First full day without steristrip

Here are some pictures from earlier this morning.  I can't believe we are to this point already.  It will be interesting to see if/how it changes as the healing process continues. 

My happy little soul.

My styling little princess.

Up close picture of her lip repair.  Man I love this little sweetie!

Exersaucer time - thank you Rankin's!

Mia loves it!  In fact, I just had to raise it up a notch for my long little string bean.

Same deep, soulful little almond eyes...

...new little smile.

And for a reference point - here's my little cutie pre-surgery:

My super serious little one.  I just want to go wake her up and snuggle her now!