Cheerios!

We were getting lunch ready today and Mia was a fussy little monster. She kept looking at us like, where's my plate? Since we've been giving her cereal at dinner time, I wanted to stick to that routine. I decided that I would put 3 cheerios on her highchair for her to play with. (I think at this stage in her life, it's a developmental thing if she even pays attention to them.) As we all sat down, Kurt asked her if she wanted one. She promptly opened her mouth and he popped one in. She immediately started chewing. She had a funny look on her face as she figured out what to do, but she definitely liked it! She gobbled all three of them up pretty quickly!

As I said earlier, she eats rice cereal every evening. I usually just eyeball the amounts of cereal and milk as I make it. On Friday, I decided to measure out a full serving and pay attention to the milk I used so that I can start sending some to daycare for her soon. Turns out she ate a full tablespoon of dry cereal with about 1.5 oz of milk...and still wanted more!

Looks like we should probably get her some 1st stage fruits and veggies here pretty soon!

Playing when she should be asleep!

Mia has a crib mirror similar to this one. It held her attention whenever she was in her crib after diaper changes even before she started sleeping in her crib at 3 months. I noticed last week, that as she falls asleep she likes holding onto little curlycue pieces that hang down off of it. So sweet.

On Thursday evening, I was in the hallway, when I heard something crinkling. I couldn't place it since both Emma and Mia were both in bed. As I went back into Mia's room to get her laundry basket, I realized, she was laying on her side, playing with the crinkle wings of a butterfly that is on the mirror. Too cute!

Moving and Shaking

On Monday, August 13th, Mia rolled from her back to her belly for the first time (that we know of). She had been trying to for quite some time and either got stuck half way there or was too hesitant to go all the way. Kurt, Emma, and I all saw her roll and all gave her loud cheers. Emma was the most excited. Mia was pretty proud of herself. On Tuesday, I asked Ms. Virginia at daycare if she'd seen Mia roll, and she said she had, but she couldn't remember which way she rolled (back to tummy or vice versa). Around 3 months, Mia rolled from her tummy to her back consistently for 3 days....then promptly stopped. Currently, it took her a while to gain confidence, I suspect she wasn't a fan of the falling sensation and that's why she wouldn't do it.

On Monday, August 20th, I put Mia on a play mat while I helped Emma with something in another room. When I walked back into the living room, Mia was in the middle of the floor...about 2 full rolls away from where I left her. I exclaimed, "Mia, that's not where I put you!" She responded with the biggest, gummiest, proudest grin you can imagine. It was adorable! We've not broken out the baby gate yet, but we're also careful to leave her on the far side of the living room if we have to step out of the room for anything. 

Mia is trying so hard to get to places. If she were home with us, like Emma was, there is no doubt in my mind, she would be walking between 6 and 7 months just like her sister. Since she's at daycare and sees other kids and doesn't have constant 1 on 1 attention, she's determined to figure out how to crawl. Currently, she scooches herself on her belly...backward. I think this really frustrates her because instead of getting closer and closer to toys, she pushes herself farther away. That said, last week, I saw the beginning of an army crawl and just yesterday, she was able to push herself up onto her knees. She has a long way to go in terms of coordination, but I think she's going to figure out how to move sooner rather than later.

Earlier today, I was holding her in a standing position at her tummy time mat. She was holding on to the arches with her hands and was balanced enough that I was able to let go of her and count to "3 Mississippis" before she started to fall. For quite a while now, when she is in a sitting position, she will hold our hands and push up with her feet into a standing position. She then looks around all proud of herself.

Also this evening, I was helping her practice sitting up. Prior to the past few days, she was still not balancing very well and although she put her arms out to prop herself up, she was still pretty hunched over. Tonight she was in that position, albeit not so hunched over, when she looked up at me, channeled the Hulk, grunted and pulled in her core and sat straight up, her hands no where near the floor. I was amazed! She got tired pretty quickly, but she did a great job!

All this and she's not officially 5 months until tomorrow!

Missing being an only child

Last night, Emma asked why I had to go to work. I responded that I ask Kurt that daily ;) Then she said, "Someday, I stay home with you?" I explained that both Daddy and I stayed home with her for a long time when she was a baby. She responded, "Oh. Well, someday Mia can go to school and you, me, and Daddy can stay home?" It was adorable and sort of heart breaking. It was her way of telling us she wants some undivided attention. We promised her that we'd hang out just the three of us soon.

Jam Packed Sunday...and Fun Monday!

We had a busy but very fun Sunday!

Carrie met up with Melissa for a delicious brunch at The Hill in Federal Hill. It was a nice morning and we were able to sit outside and catch up over fantastic omelets.

While Carrie was out, Kurt's college friends, Kevin and Tracy and their girls, Jocelyn and Juliet, were in town and stopped by for lunch. Emma and Jocelyn about the same age and had a great time playing together. Mia and Juliet also are about the same age; but currently, probably didn't even notice each other. :) I heard it was kind of chaotic but everyone had a nice time catching up. I got home just in time to say hello to them.

As they were leaving, Kurt's Mom arrived. We hadn't told Emma that she was coming. When she called to tell Kurt she was half way here, Emma got so excited and started jumping up and down yelling "Awesome!" Emma didn't let her out of her sight all afternoon. All we heard was "Gramma!" "Gram" "Look at this Gramma!"

On Monday, Emma went to school and Mia got to have a day at home with Grandma! Mia hasn't had a lot of grandparent time, because Emma usually monopolizes all of her grandparents whenever we see them. I was thankful that Mia got to stay home and rest toady since she was still congested when she woke up this morning. They had a good day together. Mia drank her bottles and ate some cereal (a couple tablespoons) and played and had naked baby time. Mia and Grandma were busy girls! She got to help Grandma fix Emma's dress, straighten up, rearrange the sunroom, and of course get lots of snuggles from Grandma!

Emma loved coming home to see Grandma. They played with her airplane, had a tea party, and went to the park before Grandma had to get on the road this evening.

We wish we lived closer to both sets of our families and treasure the times that we visit them and they are able to visit us!

What Mia has been up to lately

A couple random notes as Mia turns 19 weeks tomorrow.

Time is flying and our little girl is getting so big!

She is very close to rolling from her back to her belly. She gets just about there and stops. I'm not sure if she gets stuck, gets scared, or just plain doesn't want to end up on her belly. That said, she does enjoy tummy time much more than her sister ever did. As she gets stronger, she enjoys it more. She's scooching a bit on her tummy and is working toward figuring out how to army crawl.

This afternoon, I had her sitting up and let go once she had found her balance. She still doesn't really sit up by herself and still hunches forward leaning on her hands. This afternoon, she actually scooted forward a tiny bit toward a toy! It was so cute!

Also this afternoon, I put the string of a pull toy in her hand and showed her how to pull it toward herself. (Grandma may have done this earlier today too -  not sure). She seemed to grasp the concept. We'll have to work on picking up the string next!

Mia has been interested in the jumperoo since the first time I put her in it. As she gets bigger, she is even more interested. Emma still loves the jumperoo and constantly asks if Mia can go in it. Emma loves showing Mia how the toys work and gets very excited when Mia spins the barrel-like toy or turns the wheel. Emma exclaimed the other day, "Mom! She's spinning it! She's spinning it!" It was adorable! Tonight Mia amused herself in the jumperoo while I got dinner on the table and for almost the entire time we were eating!

She is becoming slightly more proficient at eating cereal. Grandma said she ate a couple tablespoons today before she got tired and started pushing it out of her mouth. Perhaps, we'll send some to daycare to help stretch out the time between bottles.

When Mia and I are together, Mia eats on demand which sometimes is every hour or hour and a half. When we're not together, she makes it to about 2 hours on the nose. She takes her bottles easily and wolfs them down. Kurt's Mom said she noticed this afternoon when Mia got tired of her and wanted me...and therefore a bottle, because that was Mommy. I kidded that she is already an emotional eater.

Pool time!

Emma has been asking to go to the pool since about February. Unfortunately, earlier this summer, things were chaotic in our house and then with the intense heat, we didn't want to have Mia out very much and so we never got to the pool. We FINALLY went tonight! Emma was SO excited! She looked forward to it all day and didn't disappoint us when we got there. Last year she was very timid, especially at the beginning of the season. This year, she got right into the kiddie pool by herself and started splashing around and 'swimming.' After being in the kiddie pool for a while, she finally told Kurt she was ready to go to the big pool. She clung to him as he walked her the length of the pool. He did get her to jump into the pool into his arms (without her going under at all) several times.

Mia had a good time watching everything from the stroller sans baby seat.

Hopefully, we'll get to the pool a few more times this season!

Mia's first cold

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Either Emma was going to bring home germs from daycare, or Mia was going to pick some up herself. Last evening, Kurt mentioned that Mia had a little runny nose. We didn't think much of it. Through the night, we each heard a little cough from her room a few times. This morning, we found our little girl all congested with a runny nose and post nasal drip cough. It's not too bad; she's a pretty happy girl and gave us lots of smiles all day. She was relatively content just to be held though and rested for a lot of the day when usually, she's up for play time on the floor.

I'm thankful that it's the summer and not 'cold and flu season' and that this appears just to be a minor cold. Nothing like strengthening her immune system early! Can't wait for 7 to 10 days to be up so she'll be back to her healthy self!

First Day at Work

Today was my first day back to work. This morning went pretty smoothly. Mia woke up just before my alarm, so I fed her and put her back down. While I was in the shower, Kurt said he had to get up and give her her nuk again. After I got ready, I heard her stirring again and changed her and tried to feed her but she didn't want to eat and was wide awake...a full hour before she has been! She must have known today was different. I got her dressed for the day and we came downstairs to get bottles, breakfast, and lunch together. Emma woke up and ate while I pumped. She dilly-dallied a while with her breakfast but I was able to help her finish and get her changed while Kurt showered. I left before they did, but forgot something and had to come back *sigh*

It was nice to be at work and see everyone. Unfortunately, I had computer issues and didn't get much actual work done. I was a few minutes late leaving for the day and as I walked into daycare, the director said she just left a message wondering when I'd be in because Mia was hungry. I nursed Mia and talked to her caregiver, Miss Virginia, and we decided that in addition to the 2 3oz bottles and 2 4oz bottles, I would send a 2oz bottle to give her later in the afternoon to hold her over until I got there.

After rounding up Emma and getting everything (bottles, sheets, blankets, papers) we made our way to the car and headed home. We had already planned on pizza tonight, so all I had to do was turn on the oven. The girls were both very good which was a relief. I got some snuggles and play time in with Mia and chatted with Emma (poor kid had an in grown hair on her knee and spent about 30 minutes holding a hot compress on it.). At dinner time, Mia was grunting and talking up a storm...I think she was telling us she wanted food, so I made her some rice cereal. I made it thinner tonight. She makes a mess and doesn't get much down yet, but she definitely wants it. Maybe we'll try to give her some cereal most nights. I think she'd like to sit at the table with us in her highchair.

Days are going to be cram packed when we get home between getting dinner started, unpacking, giving the girls some attention, and getting them ready for bed and dinner cleaned up, we're going to be exhausted, but I'm hoping the majority of nights are like tonight when most things go smoothly. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

"I'm harrious"

Tonight at dinner, Emma spouted off the funniest things. First she said, "I'm harrious." After getting her to repeat it a couple times, we finally figured out she was saying hilarious. Then she said something about "two pirates," as well as something about Daddy helping her clear away the snow with the penguins and polar bears at the North Pole.

We asked if she heard this at school and what books she read at school. She said Cat and the Hat. We're pretty sure there aren't any pirates in The Cat and the Hat. She clarified for us that she heard this stuff on the show Cat and the Hat which she found on Netflix and has been watching.

Dinner was harrious to say the least!

A few recent pictures

My sleeping beauty

Big girl!

All set for school!

Emma isn't a fan of pictures these days....

As you can see here....

Mia's first taste of cereal

Mia has been eyeing up food and watching people eat for a few weeks now. Tonight she had some milk leftover in a bottle so we decided to try giving her rice cereal. I may have made it a bit too thick for her first time, but she knew just what to do! She cried a bit because she was very hungry and couldn't really swallow the cereal very well so after every bite, she washed it down with some milk from a bottle. She ate approximately a tablespoon of cereal.

This was also the first time she sat in the highchair.

We planned on waiting until Mia was 6 months old to give her food, like we did with Emma, but Mia has shown such interest that we thought it was worth a try. Her pediatrician said she recommends waiting until 6 months, but that some kids want it earlier, her son included.

Mia's 1st slide!

After dinner tonight we all walked to the park. Emma held Mia on her lap and the two of them slid down the 'big' slide together. (I held on to Mia as well.) Emma LOVED it...not sure how Mia felt about it. They did it three times...by the third time Mia smiled a bit at the end!

Some current Emma-isms

- Thumbs up Dude! (Michelle Tanner style ((you got it dude!)))
-You got that right!

-When she is being serious, she gets a very matter-of-fact face and nods her head. We'll have to try to get a picture.

Roach Motel Annual Reunion

This past weekend we went to Virginia to my college friend Kim's house. Each year my college roommates and I get together with our families in the summer. It started out as just the 5 of us in college, gradually doubled as we all got married and has increased greatly in the past 4 years as we've had children. This year there were 9 kids under the age of 4! Another good friend and her boyfriend joined us as well for a grand total of 12 adults and 9 kids (not 22 adults as I spouted off all week leading up to our get together ha!)

The kids all played really well together. Of course there were a couple breakdowns, but that's to be expected when the majority went without naps and played hard all day long! It was wonderful to get together and chat...it became even more wonderful after we got all the kids down and actually had some quiet time before we all fell asleep ourselves!

On Sunday morning, I told Emma to go potty because it was almost time to 'roll out.' She responded, "But I don't want to roll out!" Too cute! I promised that we would see everyone again soon. She had a great time playing with everyone. At one point, I saw her stroking Chloe's long hair. It was adorable!

I can't wait until we can all get together again...hopefully for a girls' day this winter sometime! Thanks for hosting Kim!!

I'm not gonna lie....I'm pretty proud....

of myself!

Just like before I started back to work full time when Emma was born, I'm freaking out. Truth be told, I might be even more apprehensive/nervous/sad/scared. It's going to be rough being away from Mia all day and then even rougher to have to come home, get Emma and Mia settled and get dinner started and on the table in a timely fashion. All while making sure Emma doesn't fill up on snacks and making sure she doesn't have any accidents and feeding Mia and making sure she knows I haven't forgotten about her.

Back to being proud...I have dinners for the entire month of August planned out! AND I even have a grocery list for the rest of this week, next week and maybe a day or two of the following! Here's hoping that planning and being a grown-up helps things go a bit more smoothly in the coming weeks!

*patting self on shoulder*

Mia's Big Monday!

Monday was Mia's first day at daycare without Mommy.  (Last week, I took her into the baby room each day, on days that she didn't fall asleep in the car, we went twice at Emma's dropoff and pickup.) She did ok for 4 hours. She was a little fussy getting used to the room her teachers told us. She drank both her bottles without problem though which is a huge relief! I know the teachers won't tell us if she cries a lot (I asked yesterday after her 2nd day and they said she gets a little fussy and they just redirect with a new toy), but I just have my fingers crossed that she will adjust well. Tuesday, she went for 5 hours and drank three bottles. The teachers told me that they don't think she'll let food go to waste, so on Wednesday we sent 3oz bottles instead of the 2oz bottles she had been getting. They said it was good we're doing an adjustment period and gradually increasing her days there. They told me yesterday, they might move her crib to a back corner so it's a bit quieter since she doesn't like to hear crying and her current crib is sort of in the middle of the room. *Sigh. Breaks my heart to think she's not adjusting well.* At the same time I know that at 4 months, this is probably one of the easier times to transition to daycare...before separation anxiety sets in and while Mia doesn't really have a concept of time. I still wish I could keep her at home with me!

On Monday, Mia also had her 4 month checkup. She is a big, healthy girl weighing in at 15 lbs 6 oz and measuring at 25.5 inches long. Both are 90th percentile. Her head circumference continued to measure at the 50th percentile. The doctor was impressed with Mia's head control and how she was doing pilates crunches and 'superman' when held up high. She commented that all these were 6 month things. We remember Emma doing similar things at this age. Mia got an oral vaccine which she drank like a champ as well as 2 injections. She cried but seemed to get over it quickly and didn't even want to nurse for comfort. Our little pioneer baby trooper!

For comparison, I dug out Emma's baby book. She had a 3 month appointment, instead of a 4 month appointment. At 3 months, Emma measured 13 lbs 6 oz and is 24.4 inches long