Photo Overload

So, I've been way behind in posting lately, so I'm going to try and catch up at least a little by posting some of my favorites from the last little bit.  :)

We ended up traveling to El Paso twice in December, at the beginning of December for the anniversary of Zeus's mom's passing, and at the end of December for New Year's and the Sun Bowl. 

First trip out:

enthralled by a story book - Victoria, DJ, me, Mia and Carlos

Mia's first taste of bean juice - Zeus was way excited.  Mia only took a few swallows... :)

...then decided to try sucking the beans out of mama's (refried) bean burrito instead

Pobrecita got an ear infection this trip out. Back at grandma Lina's after a trip to the ER with a fevered screaming baby.  On medication and eating the doctor's orders while trying to eat her toes at the same time...  that's my girl!

Visiting Zeus's mom and sister's grave sites.

Had to hit Chico's Tacos on the way out of El Paso.

Stopped on the way back in Fredricksburg at the holiday town square. Tia Bertha, mama and Mia - BRRRR!

Time for a quick family shot.

Then a little further down the road, more lovely lights.

back at home - first time trying solids - don't even THINK about putting that in my mouth

mama knows all the tricks - rubbing the gums gets the mouth open...

...so you can get the spoon in. Tricky, tricky!

Kuck!

Mid December we headed to Houston for Mia's one month surgery follow-up at Shriner's Hospital.  Zeus's friend Robert was kind enough to hook us up with a reduced rate room so that we didn't have to rush the trip and be on the road 6 hours in one day.  Thank you Robert!!!

Mia and Dr. Blackwell - the plastic surgeon who did her repair.

 

The hotel we stayed at had a fun little decorated section in the lobby.  Had to get a pic of Mia and Santa.

Papa's turn with Mia in front of the chimney and Christmas tree.

Christmas party at Chrissy's and decorating cookies.  So fun!  Santa even showed up and delivered presents to all the kiddos.

Mia and papa on mom and dad's first anniversary - dinner at Hut's where we ate all the time when we were dating.

Mia "hangin" at Hut's while mommy and daddy ate.

Family photo on December 26th - Anniversary dinner at Hut's.  :)

All bundled up with papa and ready to hit the road.

Seriousness. Mia playing on the floor while mama cleans her little room and puts away her clothes.

My little investigator checking out the tray on her stroller while mama has her post op follow up visit at the doctors office.

Checking out every nook and cranny of the stroller.

Getting so big - she can finally sit up in the cart!  These smaller Ross carts are the perfect size.

However, the larger Walmart carts work great for tired babies who are done sitting up.

 

Ahhh!  So comfy!  We kept tucking her arm back in and she'd stretch it back out again.  Silly girl!

Yeah, my baby girl LOVES cups and even knows how to "work" them.  She see's anyone with a cup and she gets "excited baby body" and opens her mouth for it.  :)

LOVING the bouncer... until mama realized her little hands were turning PURPLE!  :(  Guess she's still a little to small for the arm holes and it was cutting off circulation.  Sadness on so many levels!

Getting her "shop" on :)

Mia and I stopped by Ross today to pick out a baby gift for friends of ours who just had their first baby early Sunday morning.  They waited until the baby was born to find out what they were having - I don't know HOW they waited, I know I couldn't.  They had a beautiful little a girl, so we had fun going and picking out something pink for little Isabella.  :) 

Mia's not quite able to sit up on her own completely yet, but we are working on it now that she has more head control.  When we go to the store, if there are high seat belts on the cart, I put her in and buckle it up under her arm pits and it holds her up.  She loves being able to look around and seems to think it's cool that she can reach the bar across the front and occasionally on the side.  Luckily, the arm braces and seat belt combo keep her from leaning forward and trying to EAT the bars.  lol  So, today when we were at Ross, I buckled her into the shopping cart and she looked so dang cute and so flipping happy that I just had to take a picture with my cell phone.  Man I love this little girl!

My happy little shopper!

So we are 12 days post op now (including surgery day since it was in the morning).  We've trimmed the steristrip down and can now see a few stitches under her left nostril.  Apparently they made two horizontal incisions - one under each nostril and she has little black stitches there.  I'll try to get a picture soon.  There's still "stuff" in her nostrils.  I'm not sure if it's blood, ooze, slobber, mucous, milk, or a combination of all of the above. 

They are SO not lovely to look and I would SO like to mess with them and help them on their way out, but I'm worried that they are firmly attached to stitches and would hate to mess up anything, so am staying clear of them.  I worry a little that the nature of the scabs being so large might leave divots in her little skin and lip area when they finally do fall off.  I'm not sure if it's normal or if it's from when she bumped her face on Zeus's shirt a few hours after surgery.  I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

We will be done with arm restraints after Thursday and I'm surprised to say I have mixed feelings about it!  I thought I'd be SO glad to have them off and be done with them, but now suddenly I'm paranoid that once they are off, she will do damage to the surgery site.  She had just started sucking her thumb and I worry that she'll pull her cheek with her thumb and tear open her little lip.  I also worry that she'll somehow get a hold of the steristrip that's still attached over her middle lip area and rip it off, and in so doing rip out the stitches there.  I feel a conundrum approaching.  Do I leave them on a little longer until the steristrip comes off?  Do I leave them on PART of the day still or maybe put them on her only at night?  Ahhhhhhh!  I know that when I first take them off, I'll be watching her like a hawk.  Jeez, it nearly gives me indigestion just THINKING about worrying about it... 

Man, this mama stuff is hard business!  :)