Christmas 2010

As usual, we had an amazing Christmas. This year was so much more fun, however, because of Mia's excitement. She knew who Jesus was, and that it was his birthday we were celebrating. She knew Santa was coming, and she even received a special video message from him. She knew to watch the sky on Christmas Eve in case she caught a glimpse of Santa's sleigh. It was so much fun!

The only damper on the holiday was that she was sick. Even though she started a new antibiotic on Monday, school called us Wednesday to pick her up. She was lethargic, her eyes were glassy, she was pale with purple rings under her eyes, and her temp was approaching 103. We have battled that every day until today. A couple nights we had to give her cool sponge baths to get her fever down. She also slept with me every night because her lethargy and chills were scaring me so much that I didn't want her out of my sight. We are heading back to the doctor today to get her other ear cleaned and discuss the reinsertion of tubes.

As for Christmas, we were all spoiled, in typical fashion! We spent Christmas Eve afternoon at Mom and Bruce's. Mia and Cara had a blast together. Some gift highlights from there included a MobiGo and games, her first fishing pole and tackle box, costume jewelry, play-doh, and a crow call (thanks for that, Grumpy! ) After Mom's, Mia's fever spiked again so we had to skip the Wilson gathering to get Mia home and to bed for a nap. That night after she was feeling better, we went to the Robbins'. Some of the things Mia got include Barbie clothes, a big dollhouse, stickers, sequined boots, Candy Land and hair accessories. Unfortunately by the time we got home Mia's fever was high again, so we had to do a sponge bath. Mommy and Daddy set out snacks for Santa and the reindeer on Mia's behalf.

On Christmas morning, I actually had to wake Mia up to tell her Santa had come. She was pretty worn out from the night before. She walked out to see her "big princesses and two castles" that she'd requested on each visit to Santa. She was so excited! Santa also brought her a basketball hoop, a CD and some more Barbie clothes. Mommy and Daddy also got her new princess pjs and two barbies.

After breakfast we made our way out to Dad and Sue's for breakfast. After we completely stuffed ourselves (my favorites were bacon, biscuits and gravy, and tomato pie), the girls tore into the wrapping paper full force! Mia got an art easel with paint, chalk and markers. She also got more play doh, another MobiGo game and pjs. She and Cara had a blast playing together.

The best Christmas present for all of us was the news that Missy, Paul and the girls will be moving back home. They will be moving to our neighborhood and hopefully the girls will be going to daycare together very soon. There is even a chance Missy could work at Norton with me. Keep saying your prayers for us!

Twas the week before Christmas

Well, last week was full of snow and ice, and subsequently full of Mommy and Mia time. We had a great time at home together, although she didn't quite understand why I couldn't play with her like I normally do (I was working while I was at home). We still found time to make cupcakes, snuggle and play with her princess dolls though.

Friday was Mia's annual Christmas party at school. She was really excited about seeing Santa this year! She and all her friends sang Rudolph to welcome Santa, and Santa surprised her with the new Shrek movie. On Saturday, cousins Cara and Ramsey came to visit and Mia had a wonderful time showing Cara all her toys. While they were here Missy and Paul got a phone call from the realtor stating that they may be getting a contract on their house. We are all crossing our fingers they move back home really soon!

The past few days Mia's been fussy and I've suspected she's never gotten over her double ear infection. Mike took her to the doctor today and sure enough, the infection is still there. They had to use water to remove the wax in her right ear and they found that the tube is no longer in place. Since she hasn't been complaining about the left ear they didn't remove wax there, but we'll go back in a few weeks for that. If the tubes are no longer effective and she continues to get ear infections, we may have to do another round of tubes. :-(

Kayfield Christmas Party

Mia's #2 Recital

Busy Weekend

What an eventful weekend! Yesterday was Mia's tap dancing debut. She displayed her stellar skills in front of hundreds - including all six of her grandparents and her uncle Matt and cousin Emie - at the Kayfield Academy Annual Christmas Play. As she is not a one-trick pony, Mia also wowed with her vocal chops, belting out "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer". Granny recorded a video diary of the event, which includes Mia running wild throughout the lobby of the auditorium (she could hardly contain her excitement) and Mommy carrying her off stage (she saw me in the audience and started crying when they told her she needed to walk off with her friends). Following the show, Mommy and Daddy treated Mia to a breakfast of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They were yummy!

Last night we went to the home of Mia's idol, Chloe, for the UK/IU basketball game. Mia was finally old enough to go off and play with the girls while we watched the game. It was so odd to not have her in our eyesight the entire time, but was also the first time I watched the majority of a ball game since she's been born!

This morning was my annual girls brunch at Lynn's with my high school friends. Best friends and bacon...does it get any better than that? This afternoon we celebrated Christmas with Mom's family at her house. Mia had some distant cousins to play with, and it was snowing so she got to run around outside catching snowflakes on her tongue.

One other thing of note is that Mia usually calls for "Mommy" when she needs something, but if I'm not here she catches herself and it comes out "Moddy". Mike and I have laughed at it enough that she's started calling him Moddy to entertain us. In response, he's started calling her "Mandy", which she also thinks is funny. So they've got this cute little inside joke of Moddy and Mandy.

Sleep-deprived

Mia hasn't been sleeping well lately. She's always done very well at bedtime. We take a bath, brush her teeth, dry her hair, read two books and go to bed. The problem is, she wakes up numerous times throughout the night. It used to be once or twice a couple times a week. Over the past few months it's turned into three or four times a night, almost every night of the week. It used to be she'd cry out but would roll over and go back to sleep. Now we have to go rock her or scratch her back or use some other mechanism to get her back to sleep. I have perpetual dark circles under my eyes now and am not really sure what to do. Her pediatrician told us to try melatonin to get her to sleep, acknowledging that getting to sleep really isn't the issue. But she thought perhaps she'd be more relaxed and sleep more soundly. She's still getting over her double ear infection and respiratory infection, so perhaps once that's gone sleep will be granted to us all. In the meantime, we're all whooped!

Cow Song

Mia told me she wants her Daddy to take her to the zoo, push her in her stroller and take Cara too. I asked what's her favorite animal at the zoo and she said "the cows". Clearly we need to get the child to the zoo more often. Anyway, I then sang her my favorite cow song.

Picture updates

Facebook updates

I've realized that my use of Facebook has caused me to neglect this blog. It's so easy to post on there, plus I get to check out what everyone else is up to. So if I have free time I head there instead of here. I thought I'd go back and see all the status updates I've listed on there the past few months to help me update here.

• September 13: Mia started ballet and tap lessons today at school. I asked her to show me her ballet moves and she did first position. I asked her to show me her tap moves and she got down and hopped like a frog. That girl has her daddy's attention span.
• September 16: Mia had a hard time with me being sick and not being able to hold her. Tonight at bedtime she asked me to hold her like a baby. I wrapped her up in a blanket, snuggled her to me and rocked her. She just laid in my arms, gazing into my eyes with a smile on her face, until she drifted off to sleep. I continued to rock her as she slept, overwhelmed by my precious baby girl, tears streaming down my face.
• September 19: Mia now refuses to let us help her with any aspect of dressing herself. I've got to remember to add about 15 extra minutes to all departure times.
• September 26: Mia informed us yesterday her favorite singers are Katy Perry, Lady Gaga (she sings "pa pa pa poker face") and Eminem, "like the candy, Mommy". Then today she walks up to me and says, "I like that boom boom pow." My child, fo sho!
• October 9: Mia, having no idea she is going to Disney Princesses on Ice today, is walking around the house in her Disney Princess nightgown, wearing her Disney Princess backpack, carrying her Disney Princess book and wearing her Cinderella heels. My best guess is that she's going to love it.
• October 14: Mia was just going on the potty and I heard her saying, "I see my booty, booty, booty, booty rockin' everywhere".
• October 14: Bedtime cuteness part 1: While sitting on my lap, Mia turns to me and whispers, "Mommy, I have something to show you. I think you'll like it." She then digs into her purse and pulls out chapstick. She says, "It's pink. It's pretty fabulous." Seriously??? Is she 16 or 2?
• October 14: Bedtime cuteness part 2: I was sitting on the couch after getting Mia to sleep when she started screaming my name as though her arm had fallen off. I ran into her room and leaned down into her bed asking worriedly if she was okay. She simply grabbed my hand and kissed it, nuzzled it up to her cheek and said, "I love you Mommy." Then she held my hand and drifted back to sleep.
• October 21: watching Mia's new favorite movie - Elf - for the 6th time this week. I love our shared appreciation of Will Ferrell. We also just had a thought-provoking discussion about Santa's entry into our home this Christmas via the fireplace. She's quite deep for a 32 month-old.
• October 29: My weekend has begun! No, still not feeling better, but I'm looking forward to Trunk or Treat with Mia at Kayfield this afternoon. My little Tinkerbell is so excited about getting candy!!
• October 30: still have a low-grade fever, still have no voice. Sitting at home while Mike and Mia are at the annual grandparents' Halloween party with Dad, Sue and Mia's cousins. :-(
• November 5: Mommy and Mia just did manis and pedis. Now we're going through toy catalogs and circling toys she would like Santa to bring her.
• November 6: Tough time explaining to Mia why she couldn't come with me to my conference. When I told her I was going for work she said, "I'll go to work too!" and ran and got her high heels. Heart. Break.
• November 21: even though she woke me up at 5:50 on a Sunday morning to read her the Princess books, I am SO THANKFUL for my sweet, silly Mia. She lights up my world.
• November 21: Mia's been listening to me watch the Colts. Every few minutes she says, "Oh, nice catch!" So cute!!
• November 26: My baby is sick. She has a nasty cough and her fever is 102.3 and not dropping. Already made a doc appointment for the morning, but hoping we don't have to make a trip to the Immediate Care Center tonight.
• November 29: getting ready for Mia's first trip to the movies, to see Tangled. Wish us luck!
• December 2: my girl has a double ear infection and a respiratory infection.
• December 2: Mia just told me a story about "Hippopotamus" and Captain John Smith!!!
• Today: I was singing "Mommy loves you" while playing with Mia this morning. She gave me a big grin and started singing "Mommy don't love me". That girl is a stinker!