11 Months Old

Only one month to go and she will be a one year old. She will be ONE! I still can't believe it. She woke up some time after midnight last night and as I was rocking her I sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She just smiled so big. Such a sweet little thing.

I found another tooth on Tuesday. Yes, that makes 11 teeth. It completely caught me by surprise. It's a top molar on the right side. I don't know how she does it and still keeps a smile on her face. Her hair is growing so fast. She actually has hair now and it even blows in the breeze. I love to see that! She's been having a few tummy issues this past week with diarrhea and LOTS of poopy diapers. She had her first ever diaper rash but it is much better now even though the pooping contiues! Otherwise, she seems to be feeling fine. She has not had a fever and is eating and drinking fine.

Her daddy bought her an early birthday present the other weekend. It's a baby grand piano toy that she just LOVES. She stands in front of it and dances and it is so cute. We got some video but our computer at home is on the fritz so I have not downloaded it yet. I'll add it to the post later so you can see how dang cute she is playing with it.

Mia is spending the night with her GranE tonight and staying with her all day on Friday. I am going to miss her and I am even starting to chicken out. I'm sure I will barely sleep a wink because I will be missing her so much and wondering if she's sleeping well or if she's keeping her GranE entertained into the wee hours of the morning.

Happy 11-months, Mia Pia!!

First Steps

Mia took her first unassisted, big girl steps today. I was so excited and so proud of her. Her daddy made the prediction this morning that today would be THE day and it was. All morning she had been letting go of furniture and our hands and just standing my herself to play with or investigate whatever object was within her reach. She was standing at the coffee table, banging on it, and I was sitting on the floor near her. She let go and took two very balanced steps and I don't even remember what I said but I know I was very excited. I was trying to get Clay's attention so he could at least see the second step but he thought my gasp was for something else. At least I didn't scare Mia with it. It isn't really an event you can be prepared for so there is no picture and no video. But, there will be many more steps to come so I'm sure we'll eventually get some video.


Since I really like to put a picture with every post you can enjoy these. They were taken a few weeks ago when we attended a USC baseball game. Mia got to meet her favorite bird! USC's mascot, Cocky, is really big and I fully expected him to scare her but her reaction was just the opposite. He posed for pictures with her and she was sad and cried when he left. She loves that bird.

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day was nice. Daddy got new socks, a new belt and some chocolates from Mia. The three of us took Grandpa and met Uncle Danny at Longhorn's for lunch. It was tasty as always. Mia ate salmon, steak, veggies, and some sweet potato. Even had a little bit of some apple caramel dessert topped with vanilla ice cream we had at the end. By the way, Mia officially has 10 teeth now so she had no trouble at all with the steak. :)


She was her usual flirty, friendly self and making everyone smile. We are so blessed! Afterwards, we spent a little time at home with Grandpa and then headed out to Papa's where we ate MORE steak and took a boat ride.


We stopped at a point to visit one of Papa's friends who has a very, very tiny lakehouse. It was cute. Mia enjoyed walking in the grass and feeling it between her toes.


We also stopped by a piece of lake property that Clay and I are interested in possibly purchasing. The house is smaller than what we are in now and needs lots of work, but it could be worth it just to have the lake property. We are thinking we could build something else in it's place several years down the road. Clay has already planned all of Mia's birthday parties in the covered picnic area that is near the dock. There is a fabulous screened porch on the back overlooking the lake and that is my favorite part.

Time for a baby gate

Man, she is so smart and figuring everything out. Here she is climbing the stairs. Luckily, she only got up the first step.


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Little Miss Busy.


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Playing in the kitchen. I think she really wanted to climb into this drawer with the pans. Before I started the video she was banging them and having such a great time. Btw, that rackety noise in the background is the dishwasher.


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And finally, one of my favorite pictures from her playing in the kitchen. She looks like a little bulldog. LOL!

The riverwalk

She woke up bright eyed at 7:30 this morning. She had breakfast and then her Grandpa came over to visit. Can you believe I did NOT take a picture of them together, yet AGAIN! Oi. Mia had a good time with her Grandpa but was showing signs of being sleepy so Grandpa left so she could settle down for a nap. Ah, what a joker she is. When I finally did get her to sleep she only slept for 30 minutes. I think she is about ready to give up the morning nap but I keep trying because she shows signs of being sleepy. I really wish she could talk sometimes. :)


By the time she wakes up it's lunchtime so we have some lunch. She's been eating pretty good the last couple of days even though I know her new toofies that are coming in are really bothering her. I thought a good walk outside might be good for her but today was a warm one. The neighborhood is nice for walking with the sidewalks and all but there just isn't enough shade. So, we packed up and went down to the Riverwalk. It's so pretty down there and nice and shady for the most part.


Mia always enjoys being around other people and interacting. She makes a friend at every restaurant we take her to! There was a man at the river with his granddaughter. The man was kind enough to ask whether Mia is a boy or a girl before commenting how much she must be enjoying our stroll. How nice to ask something so simple rather than saying, "He must really love being outside!" It burns me up to no end when someone assumes she's a boy. Grrr.


Anyway, it was a rather hot day and I could feel my face getting very red so we called it quits and headed toward home. She fell asleep after about 10 minutes sowe rode around for a while. We are going through some real issues regarding her sleep right now so I take her napping how I can get it right now. She slept for an hour and with gas prices they way they are today, that was one expensive nap! We encountered a big afternoon thunderstorm which she peeked at but dosed right back off. It was over as quickly as it started and it was sunny again when we got home.



After dinner, Mia got ready for bed, Hawaiian jammies, and she played in her bedroom window for a long while. She likes to stand there like a big girl and talk to the trees and the bushes. She danced to me sing the shake your booty song. She loves to dance and I love to watch her. We played patty cake, she thoroughly inspected the Diaper Champ, then she started acting sleepy and climbing on mommy. We settled down in the rocker. She was nursing like a champ until daddy got home and she perked right up. 10 minutes later she was doing her karate chop at mommy which we think means she is trying to get your attention....my back was to her when she did it. She was ready for bed again. After much rocking, comforting, and holding she finally fell asleep just before 11:00. We are not sure what is going on right now but we are sure we don't want it to last long!

10 Months and a trip to Hilton Head Island

This post is a little past her 10 month birthday but Happy 10-Months, Baby Girl!!! Wow, she is such a big girl. She is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything and trying her VERY best to walk. She has had more boo-boos than we like to count and they are all mostly on her poor noggin'! God made babies heads hard for a reason. The boo-boo cries are just heartbreaking but she is comforted quickly and on to the next adventure. She has recently discovered the stairs and we are going to need to make a baby gate purchase pronto.


Tooth number 10 is still trying to make its debut. She learned 'dada' over the weekend but I haven't heard much of it since. So far I've heard her say 'mama', 'bye', and 'dada' but she doesn't use them often. Sometimes I think she is saying 'hi' or 'hey' but I am never completely sure. She may have a very limited vocabulary but she has no problems communicating her needs and wants.


We had a wonderful time in Hilton Head this past weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect. Mia was definitely aware of the fact that she was not home and didn't sleep that great, but her sleeping habits have improved greatly since we've been home. We had a nice weekend and just took it easy. Went to the beach one day, took a nice walk one night and just chilled out. We didn't make it to the pool but figured there are so many pools in the family, it was no biggie.


I'm sure there was more I wanted to say but am drawing a blank at the moment. I had a hard time choosing only a few pictures so enjoy all the pictures and the video a the end. Have a good weekend!














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My name is Mama

You can't tell by looking at these pictures, but Mia wasn't feeling all that great today. Her gums were bothering her from teething. She's a trooper. By the way, she has NINE teeth now! She wanted to be held a lot today and I happily did that for her. I even took a nap with her today. I need to slow down and do that more often because I love snuggling with her.


Her Grandpa came to visit her today and we all had such a nice visit. For some reason, I did not get a picture of that. Mia is crawling all over the place these days and is even starting to let go of things while standing and stand ALONE! It amazes me and scares me all at the same time. She's going to be walking soon. My baby is growing up so fast!!!


My smart girl also knows how to use 'mama'. It's no longer just a sound for her, it's a real word. I LOVE IT! I have been working on 'dada' with her but so far she is not doing the 'd' sound. I know she'll pick up on it soon. She's like a little sponge and picks up things quickly. We had such a great day playing in the mirror and making funny faces, laughing, and being silly. It's fun being a mommy.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was my very first Mother's Day. It was so totally AWESOME! I got to sleep late with my snuggly Mia in the bed next to me. We got up and Clay had coffee ready and even made breakfast! You know how incredible that is if you are aware of the fact that he is not very familiar with a kitchen. :) He then went on to completely amaze me and baked a cheesecake, from scratch. Yeah, I think he has been holding out on me. LOL!

I finally "get it" about this day. I guess you really have to be a mother to truly understand it. It still didn't really hit me until I read Mia's card to me. Clay helped her make it and it made me cry. I was suddenly filled with the most wonderful feeling that only Mia can give me. It is such a complete and whole feeling. It was just a perfect day. My sweet baby was also saying 'mama' all day. How perfect is that?!

She is also crawling now. I know, we were completely convinced she was going to skip it altogether but she is really crawling. It is the cutest thing EVER! I wish I had the video ready to post. I will try to post it soon. She's really growing up. My little tiny baby is crawling!!! It's good to be a mom. :)

Hope you had a fabulous Mother's Day, too!

9 Months Old

I can't believe I haven't updated Mia's site in almost a month! I guess we've been a little busy. Now, to see if I can remember everything that has been going on in the last month. That will be a miracle! We took Mia to the Spring game in April. We went with Jess, Todd and Jakey and had a great time tailgating before the game. Mia was a perfect angel even though she really needed a nap. She finally fell asleep on her daddy before we began the walk to the stadium and slept even after we'd found some seats in the shade. It was a beautiful day! I was even able to meet a July mommy and baby, Stefanie and Hope, from Babyfit.


Mia really seems to be having so much fun. She still doesn't show much interest in crawling as all of her attention is toward pulling up and walking! She scoots around but it's usually to get a toy she wants or to get into position to stand up. She laughs all the time and makes the funniest noises. She is such a funny baby. She even makes herself laugh!


She was baptized on April 22. Wiley, who married Clay and I, performed the baptism. Mia was such an angel and was after Wiley's glasses as soon as he got her in his arms. LOL! We completely forgot to put some bloomers on her and her diaper was showing under her pretty little dress. Ooops. The shoes I had planned for her to wear ended up being too small. We spent a lot of time trying to keep her dress down and her socks from falling off. It was pretty funny!


Mia had her 9-month check up last Monday. She is now up to 19 pounds 14 ounces and 28 1/2 inches long. They stuck her big toe to check her iron levels (which were great) and she didn't cry at all. My big girl. Then they stuck her juicy thighs twice for two vax shots and that made her mad. She got over it quickly and was back to her sweet, happy self in no time. Her doctor just loves her and offered to take her if we ever decided we wanted to give her up. Uh, yeah, like that would EVER happen!

On the move...

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Springtime is here!

Ahh, my second favorite season of the year, Spring. I love watching the grass turn green again, the flowers blooming and the trees coming back to life. It's a beautiful time of year. It is especially beautiful this year because we have Mia with us. She is blooming right along with the trees and the flowers. She is practicing her walking and crawling at the same time! She isn't actually crawling yet but she is getting up on her knees. She likes to pull up and stand a lot and then walk to us while holding our hands. She is ready to GO!



She absolutely made my day (like she doesn't do that every day) and said 'mama'. I know she has said it over at her MeMe's house, too, but she has moved on from that to a 'goo' sound. When I here her doing the 'goo', 'gook' sound I try to get her to say 'Mmm, good'.


I had to take her to the doctor again last week concerning her eye. It was getting very watery again and gooky. It was infected again, or still infected, not sure. We are trying the antibiotic drops again and so far they seem to be doing the trick again. We really want this tear duct to open up on its own and STAY open. I do not want them probing her eye. Just the thought makes me shudder! I can't imagine letting anyone stick something in my baby's beautiful eye. So, we are thinking positive thoughts and praying it opens up. While at her the doctor's office last week, they weighed her. She had all her clothes on and heavy shoes and she weighed 19 pounds 14 ounces. Her 9-month appointment is at the end of this month on the 30th.


We are having Mia Pia baptised on April 22nd. We are planning to start going to church on a regular basis. We were going to start on Easter Sunday but we did not make it, so no Easter pics to post. We are going to do a springtime picture of her and I will post that when it is ready.


I am still breastfeeding her and we plan to go at least a year with that. I'm so happy that it has worked out for us as well as it has! Mia loves her "real" food, though. She is eating 3 meals a day now and loves her fruits and veggies. I tried giving her asparagus spears the other night at dinner. She liked how she could pick them up by herself and chew on them, but she was not crazy about the taste. We will try that again some other time. I recently started giving her cheese toast so that she can feed herself and she absolutely LOVES it. I have to be careful and only give her a few pieces at a time because she will shovel them all in her mouth, one right after the other, until she has two cheeks full of cheese toast! She's so funny.


She recently tried cottage cheese and liked it. She had scrambled egg yolks (not the whites!) the other morning for breakfast. She seemed to like it okay. She is still a big fan of her oatmeal. She is even eating meat now! We are sticking mostly to chicken and turkey but she has had ham, too. I have been making her own little chicken dinners and she just gobbles them right up.

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Almost 8 Months Old

Mia and Grandma Janice

I realize I must start every post off by saying, "I can't believe she's this old already", but that's how I feel when I realize another month has passed by. And so QUICKLY!!! We had an eventful week. We attended Aundrea's wedding last Friday and Mia was the cutest child there. She wore a pretty dress that Grandma Janice bought for her along with white patent leather shoes. She looks so precious. She was a perfect angel at the wedding and stole everyone's hearts. Aunt Connie and Uncle Jimmy were there along with Aunt Susan and Uncle Jeff. We had a good time.

Reagan, Mia, Erica, and Erin

Sunday, we went to visit Papa and Mia was able to see her Grandma Rhonda, Aunt Toni, Aunt Courtney and 3 of her cousins. They all had a fun time. Mia didn't quite know where to start with all that long blonde hair to play with. We had a nice dinner and Mia tried chicken for the very first time. She handled meat for the first time pretty well. She likes eating regular food and she still tolerates the strained stuff but she likes to chew and pick things up herself.

My mommy tells the funniest jokes.

I haven't caught it on film yet, but Mia can now wave bye-bye. She has a lazy bye-bye wave like she's brushing you off and the full-fledged wave where she puts her whole arm into it. She's such a smart girl. I have been teaching her to say mama and I think she's going to surprise me any day now with it.

Mia a.k.a. Big Girl also prefers to stand whenever we give her the chance. She needs help getting up but not for long, I'm sure. We all think she would be just as content to skip crawling and go right to walking. Here's a little snippet of her trying to pull herself up.

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I got a little bit of video of Mia "playing" the piano. Grandma Rhonda is going to have to teach her how to really play someday. She's definitely got great potential. :)

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Mia with "hair"