Growth Spurt

I think Miss Mia is going through a growth spurt. She's eating like a little piggy! I fed her every two hours almost all day, and she was still mad when it took me 2 minutes to make her bottle. She wanted her food immediately!! On the plus side, she really isn't taking long naps during the day, so she's sleeping very well at night. Last night we put her to bed at 10 and she didn't wake up again until 5:30 this morning!!! I got 7 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep!!! Who knows how long this will last, so I'm enjoying it while I can. 

Mia is so much more animated these days. She smiles so much, especially when I talk to her. When I make clicking sounds with my tongue she sticks hers out like she's trying to imitate me. She has been turning her head in my direction when she hears my voice since birth, but now she makes eye contact with me when she turns her head. When I put her into bed and try to sneak out of the room she turns to look at me, warning me that if I go, she'll cry. She's also grown to love her baths so Mike and I give her one after her 7 p.m. bottle each night. 

I weighed Mia today and she's 10.6 pounds. I've currently got a pulled muscle in my back from lifting the little porker! She's outgrown her newborn size diapers and clothes, and most of the size 0-3 months we have are for much warmer weather. Mommy may need to go shopping if this cold weather doesn't go away soon!

Moda

I can finally share some great news with you (although there are a few of you who may have already heard): Mike and I are business owners! We have gone into partnership with Jennifer and Freddy Western and we'll open a men's retail clothing store called Moda in June. We'll sell trendy, higher-end denim, casual shirts and accessories. Our target market will be young, professional men. Jennifer and I will keep our current jobs and the guys will operate the store. We'll be located in Westport Village, at the upcoming Watterson exit at Westport Road.

Some of the brands we plan to carry are Stitch's (Brad Pitt's favorite jean), English Laundry, 7 Diamonds, 191 Unlimited and Buffalo. We're gong to a trade show in Atlanta next weekend to meet with brand reps and finalize our list. But it will be a boutique concept so we'll carry limited quantities of each item so the buyer has a feeling of exclusivity. We'll also rotate brands and merchandise frequently to stay on top of current trends.

One of the things we're most excited about is that we're partnering with Louisville Glassworks. They will have 200 square feet of space in our store. We knew we wanted to feature local artists in the store and it just so happened Glassworks was looking to partner with a merchant in the development. It will be great for us since they are so well known in the community. 

All the details aren't finalized just yet, but everyone involved is very excited, including the bank president where we're getting our loan and the guy heading the development. I'm so happy to finally get to share the good news with you!

Sleep, glorious sleep!

Friday night our girl slept a 4 hour stretch, Saturday night we had a 5 hour stretch, and last night she slept 6 hours straight! Hallelujah!!! Mike and I were startled this morning at 5:30 when she woke us up. We thought maybe she was sick or something was wrong. But she is just fine and as happy as ever. She hasn't been nearly as fussy the past few days and we're hoping and praying that we've turned a corner with the recurring diarrhea. How nice it is to have a content baby, for however long it may last!  

Happy Easter!

Formula Switch-up

Well, it became evident pretty quickly last night that regular formula is not the way to go. We started the regular formula at noon and by 5 pm Mia was screaming. By 8 I made the decision to switch back to the soy but it took until about 2 am to get her calmed down enough to sleep. She was mildly fussy today, but calmed down long enough for me to take some pictures of her. Here's our girl!

One Month Check-up

Well Miss Mia has grown! She's now in the 50th Percentile for height and weight at 21.5 inches and 9 lbs 4 oz. Some of the concerns Mommy addressed with the doctor:

• Mia is still having extremely bad stomach pains, gas and diarrhea every 2-3 days. I think she is passing something around with Mike and me, since we've had the same symptoms. The doctor would like to rule out the formula, and if the formula does not impact her symptoms at all, she'd like us to switch back to the regular instead of soy. So we'll start that immediately.
• Mia has had some congestion so we have saline drops to use in her nose, along with the nasal aspirator. She was not happy with that at all!
• She will continue to look more and more like a little old man as she loses her hair. Right now her hairline resembles Grampy Bruce and her Hollkamp uncles.
• Mia also has a mild case of cradle cap. We'll use dandruff shampoo on it twice a week until it clears up.
• The doctor said we can feed Mia 3 oz of formula every 3 hours or 4 oz every 4 hours, whichever we prefer. She suggested 3 during the day and 4 at night, which is what I've been doing the past couple days anyway.

Her next check-up is in a month. Can't wait to see all she's accomplished by then!

One Month Old!

Miss Mia turned 4 weeks yesterday, and today is her official one month birthday. Happy Birthday baby girl!!

• Last week had its ups and downs, mostly for Mommy. On Thursday Missy and Cara came in. Mia had been awake since about 2 a.m. and I went to Dad's to visit. I took a brief nap but kept feeling like I was imposing by having he and Sue watch Mia while I slept (my crazy imagination at work, not reality). We went to Mom's afterward and Aunt Roni, Aunt Alice and Jennifer Morris came to visit. I ended up having a meltdown and Mom gave me a Benadryl and put me to bed. She watched Mia that night while I got some much-needed sleep (thank you so much Mom!!!).
• On Friday Missy and I ran some errands while Granny babysat the girls. That evening we took them to Girls Night at Havana Rumba. It was nice to see everyone. Afterward I took Mia to Mamaw Carol's and she stayed the night there. Mike and I went to Jimi and Jaime's to watch the UK game, but it was postponed due to tornadoes in Catlanta.
• Mike and I hung out with our girl the rest of the weekend. On Sunday Mike bought us a new Apple computer. Still trying to figure this thing out.
• Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!!!! For his birthday he and Sue watched Mia while I attended an awards ceremony at work. Thank you so much!
• The awards ceremony was awesome!!!! I've been working with four other women to plan this event for nearly a year. It was a "best practice" event for our division. We gave 21 awards and had an Ac@demy Award theme. It was held at the L0uisville Palace. It was extremely successful and I'm so happy I got to attend.
• Mia is getting so big! We have our doctor appointment tomorrow but I'm sure she's well over 8 pounds now. I've had to start packing up her newborn clothes already. She'll be in high school before I know it!
• She makes the cutest squeaky noises. I love listening to her. I've started to mimic her noises and she seems to enjoy it. I've read that it will help promote early communication skills. I don't care as much about that as I do the fact that it feels like we're having our own special conversation. I love how she watches me when we "talk".
• I also love her smiles. She does that a lot. She actually smiles a lot in her sleep. I wonder if she's dreaming of George Clooney too? ;-)
• Mia is still battling the occasional bout of diarrhea. I've correlated her "bad" days to those when she has diarrhea. Otherwise she's a wonderful, happy baby. Poor thing just had to get Mommy's stomach, didn't she?
• As of last week, I've lost all but 5 pounds of my baby weight, but things sure don't look the same - at all! I still have an extra 3 inches on my waist and an extra 2 on my hips. I'm two sizes bigger in my jeans. Everyone was right in how a baby changes the shape of your body. Everything feels so mushy! I have no idea how other new moms fit exercise into their days, but I guess at some point I'll have to do that. Mia and I have taken a couple walks, but I think weight training is what I need most right now. Exercise is definitely not my priority this week, but it's something I do need to start thinking about. This week I'll focus on getting Miss Mia into a better daytime routine. First things first, huh?!