Standing and Signing Wonder

I almost feel a little silly about being so excited about this at Mia's age, but yes, at 13 months old, I'm ecstatic to report that Mia is finally pushing herself up to standing and then standing on her own. I know, I know, so months ago standards, but this is a big thing for my little girl who does NOT like anyone to try and get her to stand up OR hold onto her hands to try and get her to walk. I'm not sure if this makes me a bad mom or not, but I figured that she was pretty much refusing to do either of those things, so I decided to just leave her alone with it and let her do it when she's ready. I'm not sure why she has this aversion to having someone try and hold on to her and help her do these things - maybe related to all the cleft appointments and having that "dam NAM" inserted and re-inserted in her little mouth multiple times a day as well as the many doctor appointments. 


Either way, though we still tried to do those things from time to time, we decided to let her have control over this aspect of her development.  :) Well, as I expected, she just finally decided to do it on her own one day - and that day was yesterday. The funniest thing about this new phenomenon of pushing up to standing and then standing unassisted is the huge look of wonder and excitement on her face. Her grin stretches from ear to ear and she does this excited breathing and cooing noise that totally cracks me up. She's SO proud of herself when she does it, and it's just so fun to see!


I watched my friend Jenn's kids yesterday, and that's where the infamous "first stand" occurred.

Of course, I've not been able to get a good video of it yet, and the one video I was able to snap of her doing it was the one time she actually plopped down almost immediately instead of standing like she had before. For two or three times prior, I would hold my breath, thinking she would plop down any second, but she'd just stay standing for what seemed like forever! Also, it's from the back, so you don't get a view of the adorable expression on her face when she does it. It is seriously SO freaking adorable!!!

As always, she's got something in her mouth, and barely stood THIS time before plopping right down. Argh!

Here's Mia crawling around through Jenn's cute kids while they watch a movie.

Not only did she stand for the first time yesterday, she also did her first unsolicited 'sign'. I've been using the baby sign language for "hungry" (putting your fingers on one hand towards your mouth). I ask her if she's hungry as I make the sign and over the past month she'll sometimes put her hand to her mouth when I ask. Well, yesterday she didn't take her afternoon nap at my friend's house and I had a quick errand to run on the way home. She was overdue for her bottle and as I was going down the isle to check out, she did the sign for hungry when she caught my eye. I signed back to her that I knew that she was "hungry" and got out some goldfish crackers for her and told her we were heading home to get her some food. I was so proud of her, but at the same time felt kind of like a bad mommy, to have a sweet little hungry baby who was trying to let me know that she would please like some food. Sweet baby.

And now, for a few of my favorite photos from the past week or so.

Mom.. I'm telling you. I"M HUNGRY...

...guess I'll have to take matters into my own hands and feed myself this pot.

What do you mean, my pig tails are crooked?!?!?

Are you sure mom??? They don't look even to you???

Oh well, that's okay mom, good thing I'm just naturally adorable.  :)

Paulina snuggling Mia before her nap time. She sings the sweetest song in Spanish to Mia and Mia LOVES it. Next week is our last week watching her and I'm already feeling the beginning of withdrawal.We sure are going to miss you Miss Paulina!  :(

Mia looking through photos on Papa's phone as he reminds her who everybody is. She's loving her "Mia and papa" time!

I'm on the Love Sac!!! I climbed on it all by myself!!! I'm SO proud!!!  :)

Mia's sweet little face - man I love this baby girl! We ate lunch at Subway and Mia was a big fan of my Meatball sub and Paulina's chocolate chip cookies. Yum!

Next time this month, we'll finally have Mia's palate surgery over and done with. We are so ready to have it behind us, but it sure does make us nervous when we think about it rapidly approaching. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as she undergoes palate repair surgery on August 25th. I've heard a lot lately on how hard it is to get them to eat after surgery and am concerned about not only the surgery, but also the recovery for my precious little baby girl.

Mia's definitely growing up so fast and is such a little sweetie pie. We love her SO much and are so very thankful and grateful to have her as part of our little family!