Surgery

Things have been very hectic for us with the holidays, but we did make a trip to see the ENT specialist yesterday. Mia will have surgery next Tuesday to get tubes. Supposedly it's a very simple procedure and she'll only be away from us for about 20 minutes, but I'm a little anxious regardless. Please keep my baby girl in your prayers, and hopefully after next week these ear infections will be gone!

Mia's First Christmas

• On Monday, Mia got a fever. I wasn't sure if it was her new tooth poking through or her ears. 
• On Tuesday I took her to the doctor where they confirmed ANOTHER double ear infection. She got a shot of antibiotic, a prescription for additional antibiotic and an appointment with an ENT specialist for Monday morning.
• On Wednesday we celebrated Christmas at Mom and Bruce's. The girls were so cute and entertaining. Granny and Grampy got them push and riding toys and they were all over the place! Mike and I were "spoiled" ourselves and we loved just hanging out with the family for the afternoon.
• That evening we went to the Robbins'. Mia was showered with gifts from her aunts and uncles, including educational books from Uncle Charlie, her first tutu from Aunt Kelly and a handmade blanket from Aunt Jenny! Mia played for hours and could barely keep her head up when the time came to head home.
• On Christmas morning Mia was so surprised to see Santa Claus had visited her while she slept! She loved opening the presents he left - and playing with the paper! 
• Mia and Cara brought so much fun to the annual Christmas breakfast at Dad and Sue's. It was entertaining to watch them explore and see what they found fun and what they had no interest in whatsoever. Paper was the biggest hit, followed by anything they can put in their mouths. Mia received so many great toys to enjoy this next year, including the push/rock/ride toy from Nana and Papa and her Pockets CD from Aunt Miss.
• We spent Christmas afternoon back at the Robbins'. We opened our stockings, and Mia had a nice big stocking of her own to open. She loved her toys and had fun crawling around the house all afternoon.
• Mike and I were very humbled by the generosity of our family and were reminded once again of all the blessings we have in our lives. It was such an amazing feeling so sit there with our child on such a wonderful day. Every Christmas we've felt like something was missing, and we wondered how we could recreate the magic that Christmas brought us as children. Finally, this year the magic was there for us as we watched the day through our daughter's eyes.

Hall Family Christmas

Last year, on the day we celebrated the Hall family Christmas, we got the news of Uncle Jimmy's sudden death. Since then, we lost Grandma Sarah, and now Aunt Catsy's health has declined to the point where we are often unrecognizable to her. That side of our family has had a very difficult year. Thanksgiving gave us our first holiday without them and we were uncertain how it would go. Two things turned what could have been a devastatingly sad day into a day of joy and healing - Mia and Cara. Having those beautiful babies around brought such joy to everyone that the day became a celebration of the growth of our family. Today those feelings continued and we were able to celebrate the new lives in our family, even while remembering those we have lost. I know it is no coincidence,  God brought us these two happy, bouncy baby girls as a way to get our family through this loss. 

We had a wonderful day, and the girls had a great time getting lots of attention from their extended family. Mia ate lasagna and cantaloupe for the first time. She didn't pull on her ear much but her nose was very runny. I'm wondering if it's not another tooth. We'll see!

More from the party

 

Santa!

Yesterday Santa visited Mia at daycare. She was mesmerized when he walked into the room. The close up picture is of her face when she spotted him for the first time. She wasn't thrilled to be on his lap, but didn't cry either. Daddy wasn't able to make it because customers kept coming in - a very good thing, but he was sad and disappointed to have missed it. Mamaw and Papaw Robbins were there though, and Mia had fun showing off her skills on the climbing blocks. She also enjoyed the sugar cookies that she had for snack. She clearly feels right at home in her room at daycare!

After we left daycare we went to the store to see Daddy. We hung out until bedtime for Mia. She had an eventful day! She woke up several times throughout the night and I was hoping it had everything to do with her busy day and nothing at all to do with the ear she kept favoring yesterday. But my hopes have been dashed. She's been fussy and holding her ear today. Apparently the allergy medicine is not doing the trick. I'll call this week and make an appointment with a specialist to see about tubes. In the meantime, I'm sure it will be business as usual - controlling her pain, seeing the doc about another antibiotic and just trying to keep her comfortable. My poor baby.

All clear?

Miss Mia seems to be feeling much better. No ear problems at the moment (keep those fingers crossed that the daily allergy medicine works and we don't have to do tubes) and her two new teeth have come in, totaling five now. That means she is finally back to sleeping through the night, after 8 long weeks of ear infections and teething pain. 

Her new development is temper tantrums! She has figured out her ability to scream and loves to do so, arching her back and jutting out her lower lip for added emphasis. At this point it makes me laugh, because I really have no idea what the heck she's so mad about. But she's letting me have it! Of course my way of dealing with it is to mimic her, and that makes her laugh. So right now it's no big deal. Can't wait 'til she's 2 though!

Mike and I are completely exhausted. I feel it to my core. People I barely know comment about how withdrawn I seem and ask me what is wrong. I no longer feel like myself, just some sleep-deprived zombie. I have no idea how we would have gotten through these past two months without our parents. They have all kept Mia for us at some point during this time so we could get a good night's sleep. We are so incredibly blessed to have them.

I wish I had more to say, but it's 8:00 p.m., Mike is out listening to music with the boys and Mia is asleep. Mommy is going to bed!

Merry Christmas Y'all!

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Week 43 update

I don't even know where to begin. It seems like it's been ages since I've posted, but I'm not sure what's news and what I've said before. I'll just throw it out there and hopefully I'll cover everything.

• Mia was back at the doctor again last week for another ear infection. We counted it up and that makes six trips to the doctor for her ears. The doc said we would discuss tubes at her nine month appointment, which was this week.
• At the appointment, she still had fluid on her ears, even after a week on an antibiotic. That makes four ear infections and three times when she had fluid on her ears. According to medical guidelines, it's enough to warrant tubes. The doctor suggested we try Zyrtec daily first though, to see if that dries up the fluid, thus preventing infection. We started that immediately. 
• Yesterday Mia's ear was hurting again and she had a fever. We aren't sure if it's her new teeth or her ears. We'll wait until the teeth are in and evaluate what's going on with the ear. If it's not better, I'm going ahead and getting an appointment with an ENT.
• At Mia's nine month appointment she weighed in at 20 pounds 6 ounces, 75th percentile. She was 29 inches long, 90th percentile. They were very pleased, as she's continued on the same projectile since her 6 week check-up. They said it is good when babies stay around the same percentile rankings because their growth patterns are consistent.
• Mia is a crawling machine. She also pulls up and walks around while holding onto furniture, although somewhat tentatively. She has tried to "walk up" our end table though, because it has three levels, like stairs. Had to grab her very quickly on that one!
• She loves to clap and wave and does so any time she hears "hi" or "bye".
• Mia has a book with pictures in it of me, Mike, Cara and the dogs. I've been asking her to point to the doggie, Mommy, Daddy, babies and more often than not she does so correctly.
• Mia is eating a lot of new solids. Tonight she tried ravioli for the first time (cheese with no sauce) and loved it.
• Tooth number four broke through today and number five is right behind it. 
• Mia and her cousin Cara went to see Santa Claus over the weekend. They both seemed to experience a little stranger anxiety and did not smile for the photo. I couldn't quite hear what they asked for, but I'm sure Santa will bring them exactly what they want.
• Speaking of stranger anxiety, that has started to kick in a little. Mia isn't as eager to go to strangers as before and needs to size up new people for a bit before warming up to them.
• Right now the word "no" will stop Mia in her tracks. Not sure how long that will last, but it's prevented her from mouthing firewood, grabbing cleaning supplies, playing in the dogs' food bowls, pulling the laptop onto her head, etc.
• Mia loves to talk and is making some new sounds: f, sh, and th. She also LOVES to click her tongue and hear herself laugh and yell in varying pitches.
• I've noticed when Mia is happy she says "dada dada" and when she's sad or scared she says "mama mama". 
• Mia crawls with her head held down. Dad and Sue said she crawled right into a wall today!
• She's been pushing up onto her head a lot from a crawling position, almost like she's trying to do a headstand. I think we're going to contact Bela Karolyi if she keeps it up. ;-)

Mia's First Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving post is a little late, but my sentiments are the same. Never before have I felt as thankful as I did this year. Regardless of what is happening with the economy, we are so rich with blessings. All I have to do is sit in my warm, beautiful home with a full belly and look at my loving husband, happy daughter and devoted dogs to know how wonderful my life truly is. On top of all that we have an incredibly loving and supportive family, jobs, a large network of friends...the list goes on. I thank God each day for the blessings He's bestowed upon me.

Miss Mia had a wonderful day as well. She woke up chipper as usual, crawling all over the place, trying to chase the dogs and looking out the windows. We first headed over to the Robbins' and Mia had her first taste of stuffing, along with mashed potatoes, green beans and turkey. After that we went to the Halls' and she got to play with cousin Cara. It was our first Thanksgiving without Grandma Sarah, and Aunt Catsy suffered a mild stroke and was unable to make it. Mia and Cara were good distractions for everyone. The girls wore matching dresses and spent as much time munching on their shoes as anything. After we left there, we went back to the Robbins'. Mia fell asleep over there and stayed the night with her Mamaw.

I took off work Friday, since we weren't sure what to expect with it being our first Black Friday at MODA. It turned out Mike didn't need me though, and since Carol had Mia, I stayed in bed and read Twilight all day. I actually finished that huge book in less than 24 hours! We had a new sofa delivered that afternoon, a necessity since the dogs have broken nearly all the springs in the other sofa. Mia loves the new sofa. It's a leather sectional and is stiff enough that she can crawl all over it. For some reason she has a ball on it and just laughs as she works her way from end to end.

On Saturday Mike and I worked an event at Churchill Downs for MODA. We picked up Mia afterward and went to Aunt Pat's 60th birthday party. Cara was there so she and Mia got to hang out again. Mia didn't sleep so well that night. She's cutting another tooth - her fourth, the upper left - but she'd also been leaning her head over on her ear, so I didn't know which was the cause. On Sunday she really started feeling badly, so I knew once again it was her ear. 

I stayed home from work with Mia on Monday and took her to the doctor. They confirmed another double ear infection - her sixth in her nine months of life. They gave her a stronger antibiotic than they've given her previously and recommended the usual Tylenol/Motrin combo. Her nine month check-up is next Monday, so we will discuss tubes at that time. They are usually recommended if a child gets more than three or four ear infections in one year. They also weighed Mia and she came in at 20 lbs, 11 oz. 

Since Mia hasn't been feeling well, she's spent a lot of time in bed with us. She is one crazy sleeper! I've never been hit and kicked so much in my life! She's constantly rolling over, sitting up, pulling my hair, talking, laughing, clapping, crawling around, and - my personal favorite - waking me up by razzing (i.e. spitting) all over my face. I can't help but laugh because she's so darn cute. She's just happy as can be when she's in bed with us! Of course we don't sleep a bit, but when she's sick, it's whatever works for her.

Mia's gotten much more "particular" when it comes to eating. She likes to feed herself and sometimes gets mad and turns her head if I don't let her. If she likes something, she claps her hands together when the spoon gets close to her mouth, usually hitting the spoon and flinging half of it across the room. Conversely, if she doesn't like something, she swats at the spoon when it gets close to her mouth, usually hitting it and flinging half of it across the room. Either way, the dogs are happy. Tonight she insisted on feeding herself so I went so far as to put some baby food in a bowl for her. She was so thrilled about that she decided to flip her bowl over and put it on her head. I think that's a sign of praise in some countries (she's very cultured). 

Mia loves to laugh. She is the happiest child I've ever known. She erupts in hearty belly laughs over the most surprising things, like a voice I'll use, or Mike blowing his nose, or the dogs playing together. She thinks she's the funniest of all, and will laugh at herself over and over. She'll splash herself in the bathtub and laugh so hard she'll cough. That will make her splash again and she'll laugh even harder. The girl's a nut. Thank God...she fits right in!