Is that a tasty biscuit ya got there?

This video will demonstrate how willing I am to act like an idiot if it gets my daughter to laugh. As you can hear, she made me laugh even harder than she did! I was laughing so hard because I had been doing the same thing over and over (and over) forEVER, and she still found it hilarious! It was like I was doing something new every time and I just couldn't believe she was still laughing. Have I mentioned how much I love that girl?

Seven Months Old

I just can't believe my little girl is 7 months old. What joy she brings to my life! She's getting so big and the word I use to describe her most often is "fun". She is our little social butterfly and loves to talk, laugh and watch people, especially kids. She's no longer content to lay on her back. She does ab crunches to try to pull herself to sitting. She enjoys sitting to play, but is still happiest when she's jumping. Mia is also starting to wave bye-bye, and occasionally will come at me - open mouthed - when I ask for kisses. She may be trying to chew on my nose or something, but it's cute to me nonetheless!

Mia uses her two little teeth to chomp on anything she can get her hands on. We've continued to introduce new foods to her palate, and have also started giving her teething biscuits in the baby safe feeder. Last week we introduced her first official finger foods, some banana puffs. Since solids are new to her we will only do things that dissolve quickly, to prevent choking. She still isn't sure what to make of them, playing with some, eating some, and throwing some on the floor. Grace just loves that!

Weeknights are Mommy and Mia's special time together. We have a great routine and I really look forward to getting home to her each night. She gets more animated every day and I love watching her observe and react to the world around her. She loves to babble and have conversations with me. We start our "talks" on the way home. I'll ask her questions about her day and she'll respond in baby talk. I'll then mimic her and she smiles and laughs when she hears me speak "Mia". Once we're home, we play with her toys. She loves her blocks and her caterpillar rattle. Usually she ends up in my arms where we roll around the floor or I gnaw on her belly to elicit that hearty laugh I just love to hear. Next it's dinner time, rice cereal mixed with veggies. Usually she'll get a teething biscuit or banana in the baby safe feeder to occupy her while I change clothes and make her dinner. After dinner is bath time, followed by a bottle and then bedtime. Mia is ready to crash by 7:30 p.m., if not sooner, so all this happens pretty quickly, with no time for me to sit down until after she's in bed. Mia will stay up later if we're out somewhere, but she doesn't sleep as well at night. So I try to stick to her bedtime routine during the week. 

I stopped the 10 p.m. nighttime feed last week. I thought it would cause her to wake up hungry during the night but it hasn't. If anything she seems to sleep more soundly, usually a good 12 hours a night. That doesn't mean Mike and I get 12 hours, however. Mia likes to babble and make noises throughout the night. Although we keep the monitor turned down to the lowest setting, she still wakes us up a couple times each night. Sometimes we go see what she's up to, other times we just laugh at all her baby noises.

Speaking of sleeping, Mia has taken after her Aunt Miss in that department. She's all over the place! I never know where she will be when I go in to check on her. Usually she sleeps on her side or her belly, even though I always lay her on her back to fall asleep. I've caught her in the act of using the crib rails to walk her feet up over her head, flipping herself onto her belly. Future gymnast, perhaps?

These past seven months have been the most joyful, fulfilling time of my life. I am so in love with my baby girl and her sweet and happy spirit lights me from the inside. She is the greatest blessing I could ever imagine and I can't wait to see all the fun this next month will bring us. Happy Birthday Mia!

Baby fun

Mia had so much fun with cousin Cara over the weekend. Cara was the entertainer, and kept Mia laughing at her antics. 

Mia has suddenly begun to notice EVERYTHING around her. She wants whatever I am holding, she grabs anything she can get her hands on, and now she actually studies whatever she can reach. It's so interesting to watch her turn things over and over, trying to figure them out. She just sits and feels the textures of things and pushes and pulls things to see how they work. I'm fascinated at how much she's taking in. Of course, there are always bumps in the road of discovery, and Mia found one on Saturday when she decided to examine her poopy diaper as I changed her on Jake's bed. Her "exploration" made quite a mess, and it got her so worked up she peed all over everything on top of it all. But it was hilarious nonetheless. I won't post a picture of that! :-)

Ike, Ike Baby

We’ve had an eventful week! Last Saturday, Mia, Mom and I went up to visit Missy, Paul and Cara in Cincy. We did some scrapbooking on Saturday and on Sunday went shopping. We noticed it was a bit windy when we headed out, but hadn’t watched the news. We proceeded to stock up on baby clothes at a semi-annual sale at Old N@vy. While we were there, the lights went out. We looked outside and debris and trash were swirling around the parking lot. People were having trouble even walking upright. Of course we kept shopping, because the manager said they could manually check us out, and a baby sale is too much to pass up! After shopping, Missy and I pulled our cars up to the door of the store. The baby strollers kept rolling away, so we had to take the babies out of them inside the store, cover them up with blankets and run them outside. As we headed back to Missy’s, limbs were falling down all over the place. It wasn’t long before we surmised we should head to the basement! We started making phone calls, and it turned out that hurricane force winds from Ike were hitting the area. When we emerged from the basement sometime later, trees were down all around the house. Mom and I waited until the winds died down that evening to head home.

When we arrived in Louisville, we discovered the area had also been hit very hard. Over 300,000 people had no power, and we were among them. Our neighbors’ trees were all gone, broken off at the bases and shingles were off our roof. Mike’s parents were fortunate enough to have power, so I fumbled around in the dark to pack suitcases, and Mia and I headed over there. It was so eerie, driving down Shelbyville Road in complete darkness. People were driving through intersections because there was no light to see the cross streets. Mia and I stayed with Brent and Carol Sunday and Monday night. Last night we finally went home to Daddy, who had to stay at the house and monitor his coral reef tank. We sat in the candlelight playing games and talking. I got ready for work by candlelight this morning (hair is in a ponytail). We’re hopeful we’ll get power back soon!

Mama n Dada

In case I have not stressed this enough, Mia is a talker. She loves to babble, and does it all the time. It's so funny to listen to her talk to her toys, the babies in her class, and especially us. She's definitely mastered the gaga, baba, mama, dada, and nana, and all sorts of combinations of those sounds. Tonight, however, as I was getting her ready for bed she started with something that had Mike running in from the other room. She started saying "mama n dada n mama n dada" over and over! Even though we knew she had no idea what it meant, it was the coolest thing we've ever heard. 

Grandparents Day

Today, Mia's daycare celebrated Grandparents Day. All her grandparents were invited to visit and have a snack with her. Mom and Bruce were unable to attend, but Brent, Carol, Dad, Sue, Mike and I were all there. As usual, it was so much fun to see our parents interact with her. They got on the floor and passed her around. She was her usual bubbly self, all smiley to see everyone. She enjoyed chewing on Mommy's purse strap, showing off her two bottom teeth. Her teachers are just incredible, and made gifts for all her grandparents. Mia will move to the crawler room in two weeks, and Mike and I sure wish her teachers could go with her! 

Tonight Mia had her first bath by herself in the big tub. She loved it, and happily played with her toys. Even when I let the water out, she was content to sit there chewing on her bath book.

Mia has always liked to play with my hair. It seems to soothe her, particularly when she's tired. Lately I've noticed her playing with her own hair when she's tired. Unfortunately, she doesn't have enough hand control to do it gently, so she often yanks her hair completely out! The other day she pulled out a big handful while I was holding her and she didn't even flinch. We'll have to watch that. Her hair just started to grow back in! 

The swaddle has been gone for almost two weeks now and we've had no problems since ditching it. We still use a sleep sack so she doesn't spend all night trying to get her feet into her mouth. She's very active in bed now. We often find her on the other end of the bed when we go to get her in the morning. We even went in the other morning and found her scooting around on her belly. 

Feeding is going well. Mia just loves her prunes! If she does not eat them everyday she gets constipated, so thank God she likes them. We've continued to add new foods to her menu, including some chicken and chicken broth baby food. Peas do not seem to settle well in Mia's belly so we'll come back to those in a few weeks. She likes applesauce about as much as she liked pears, so I've determined it may be a texture thing. That prompted me to start adding her baby food to her rice cereal, in a more lumpy consistency. Usually I add her prunes. I know she likes them and it gives her a new texture. So far so good!

Dadadadadadada

Mia has delighted her Daddy this week. She now says "dadadadadadada". Although we know she isn't actually equating that to Mike, it still warms our hearts, much like when she's crying and says "mamamamamama". We love just about anything that child does!

Otherwise, it's been a pretty normal week for Mia, but a very eventful one for Mike and me. We went to Andy's wedding last Saturday, tailgating for the UK/U of L game on Sunday (Yeah Cats!), and we celebrated Mike's birthday on Tuesday. Happy Birthday Mikey!