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

It's that time of the month again, and no, I don't mean THAT time of the month!!!  lol  Here we are again.  Another month has passed already and we all know what that means – it’s monthly picture time!!!   Our dear little Mia is growing like a weed despite all our efforts to get her to slow down - little turkey!

our 8 month old carnivorous beastie!

Mia is still along and skinny baby, but she is finally FINALLY starting to fill out a bit in the cheeks and thighs… a little, little bit.  lol  We’re hoping that now that she’s eating solids on a more regular basis that she’ll fill in a little more.  Of course, she’s started moving around more so we aren’t holding our breath.

Here are some photos from our 8 month photo shoot.  I couldn't get that little turkey to hold still for anything!

Got ONE semi-still photo...

...and then it was all downhill from there!

Hugs to Raffi - the giraffe

Oh, what's this...?!?!

We aren't sure why, but the giraffe made her giggle!

Tried one without the giraffe...

Not sticking around for THAT!

Ohhh, that's new!

Aha!  Got it!

Oh!  There it is again! 

My sweet angel - almost 4 months post op.

We sure do love this sweet little face!!! 

At 8 months, Mia:

·  Sits wonderfully well on her own and the occasions that she falls over are few and far between

·  Can move herself from laying to sitting

·  Has started inch-worming forward on her path to crawling

·  LOVES holding on to mommy’s fingers to go from laying to sitting to standing

·  Eats solids every day

·  Takes two naps a day – one in the morning around 11 and one and one in the later afternoon around 3, usually between 2 and 3 hours each on a ‘good day’

·  Is FINALLY starting to smile and interact more with “strangers” when we go out places – yay!

·  Watches people eat with an open mouth of her own in “baby bird” fashion, hoping someone will take pity on her and give her “tasties”

·  Is called Mia-Moo, baby, stinky cheeks, monkey, sadness or fuss-budget when she’s fussy, Mi Amour, silly goose, turkey and carnivorous beastie (because she’s at the phase where EVERYTHING goes in her mouth)

·  Is now officially a THREE-toothed carnivorous beastie

·  Is finally in size 2 diapers and also wears size 2 baby shoes

·  Can still fit some 3-6 month dresses, tops and bottoms

·  Is in 9 month size clothing for any one-piece outfits and for pajamas so that they fit her long little body

·  Has started shaking her head from side to side (like saying ‘no’)

·  Smiles and giggles all the time

·  Still only regularly says “ga-ga-ga”, even though mama and papa are working with her on “ma-ma-ma”

·  Is still a MAJOR slobber-puss and still goes through multiple bibs per day – she honestly can NOT go without one

·  Loves to stand up against her Leap Frog table and play with it

·  Loves to bang and rattle anything that she can get to bang or rattle

·  Loves it when mommy wears anything with string ties on them – they seem to make a most delicious treat to chew on and ‘floss’ between her gums with

·  Is finally ticklish on her tummy and you can tickle her with your fingers instead of just blowing zerbits on her belly

·  Likes to fake cough to get our attention

·  Shrieks this high pitch wail that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up when she’s upset or if you take away something she wants but shouldn’t have – little stinker

·  Has realized she can make cool noises by rubbing her teeth from side to side on different objects

·  Now, officially, has THREE teeth to rub on things – her top right middle tooth

·  Usually goes down to bed super easy

·  Loves to snuggle before she goes down to bed (we aren’t sure who loves it most – her or us!)

·  Usually wakes up really happy

·  Is still SUCH a total joy and delight

Mia now officially has THREE teeth!  After four months of endless drooling, her top right middle tooth finally broke through the skin yesterday.  It’s hard to tell if it’s actually one of the middle teeth, or if it’s the one next to it because it came in on the clefted part of her gum line and is angled slightly towards the other side gum.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see on that one!  Unlike her other two teeth, this one she does NOT like us to touch at all.  If we try to touch it, she bats our hands away and fusses.  The one time I tricked her into gnawing on my finger so I could feel it, it seemed like it was painful to her for me to rub on it at all, even though it had already broken through.  I was actually kind of dreading her teeth on that front clefted gum area coming in because I’d heard on the cleft group that they can be a pain sometimes and often seem harder to “teethe” in than other teeth.  Luckily  for Mia, so far so good.  (Knock on wood!)

Oh man!  Not quite - she's a fast and strong one!!!

There we go!  A SLIGHT glimpse of tooth number three!

Mia has figured out that she can pull herself upright in her swing by pulling on the tray, turkey!

Leap Frog tables are the BOMB and Mia loves hers!  It's surprised me how quickly she's figured out the many different parts of it.

Her new favorite thing is to stand up against it to play - my little big girl!

I had a good scare today that really threw me for a loop.  I had put Mia in her high chair to eat a baby arrowroot cookie and was trying to get the dishes done.  I usually sit right there with her, but I wanted to get the dishes done before Zeus got home and she was about only about three feet away from me.  I was working on the dishes and kept looking her way to check on her.  She’s started sticking her tongue out when she’s eating and the food tends to fall off and slide down her chin.  I think she’s feeling her bottom teeth with the underside of her tongue, and maybe she’s also just being a stinker because she’s smart like that and knows that it gets a rise out of mommy.  Well, she kept doing that with the cookie and on one of my many constant visual checks, with her tongue out like that she’d worked a piece of the cookie to the back of her throat and was kind of gagging on it.  I ran over and tried to sweep it out with one of my fingers but it just went further back.  She wasn’t getting any air and quickly was turning ashy gray and blue around her mouth.  I grabbed her out of the high chair, turned her face-down and tipped her head downwards.  I gave her a firm pat on the back and out came the cookie.  I turned her back over and she was fine.  She didn’t even cry and scream, though I felt shaken and felt like I was crying and screaming silently on the inside.  I snuggled her tight for a very long time after that.  No more dishes during snack time.  So scary, but I’m so grateful that I was right there and that I actually WAS checking in on her so often visually.  I was also so very grateful that I hadn’t left her there to run to the bathroom or something and come back to find her passed out or worse.  Lesson powerfully learned!

Man, this little sweetie pie is going to be the death of me!