Big Week

It was a big week for Mia. Both Mamaw and Granny came and visited her at daycare. Mia loves when her grandparents visit, so she was super happy! Maybe their visits have helped make her more comfortable there, because for the first time, this week she did not cry when the "look-alike" (not really) mom came to get her child. 

On Friday, I took Mia up to MODA to have dinner with Daddy. She was so tired that we had to leave right after she ate. She's definitely gotten more used to her new room, but the increased activity continues to wear her out. 

On Saturday I worked the store while Mike went on a bachelor party. After work, Missy, Kim and Missi came up and we went to Macca's for dinner. Mom and Bruce kept Mia, which was great for Mia because cousin Cara was there too! Unfortunately, Mia took a spill and fell face-first onto the concrete steps outside. She scraped up her nose, cheek and forehead. Although it looks painful, she has not exhibited any signs she even notices it. It will certainly make her baptism pictures more memorable!

Today Mia was baptized into the Catholic church. It was a wonderful day. She woke up so happy and giggly, and we got to play a lot throughout the morning. She was so excited to see all her grandparents at church. Every time I turned around, I would see all of them making faces at her and waving to her. She just smiled and laughed at those silly grands! She got tired as the ceremony went on and fussed a few times, but overall she was very sweet and cuddly. Aunt Missy and Uncle Paul honored us by agreeing to be Mia's godparents, and did fabulous jobs putting on the white garment and lighting the baptismal candle. ;-) Aunt Kelly and Danny, Uncle Matt, Aunt Ronie and Uncle Dawson also came to celebrate Mia's big day with us. 

Afterward, we came back to our house and Mia immediately crashed. Uncle Charlie, Margo, Grant and Macee joined us for lunch. We all hung out for the afternoon and had a wonderful time. Mia and Cara took the riding toys onto the deck and we got a kick out of watching them play together. Uncle Charlie took lots of great pictures that I'll post when I can, but here are some of the ones Uncle Matt took of the baptism. I'll also post a pic of Mia's poor little nose.

Teeth and new activities

Mia is experiencing a barrage of incoming teeth. Both back sides, top and bottom, are getting new teeth. She is drooling like crazy, has a terrible runny nose and low grade fever, and just walks around holding her cheeks, occasionally crying pitifully or screaming. The poor little thing. I guess it's good to get so many out of the way at once, but she's paying for it. I'm not even sure which teeth we're talking about since she won't let me near her mouth, but it looks like a lot.

Mia is becoming super-assertive with the dogs. She pats them (not always gently), licks them (she thinks she's giving them kisses like they give her!), steps on them and falls on them. Yesterday they both barked at her to get the heck off - yes, even Grace! We've been trying to teach her to be gentle, but at the same time trying to allow it while we're in their presence, so the dogs will learn this is what babies do.

That child is so fast we can barely keep up with her. We've learned to close off all doors so she's confined to the kitchen, dining room and living room. Usually it's safe for her to roam those areas without our eyes directly on her at all times. But if she happens to hear us go to another room, she's there in an instant - trying to put her hands in the toilet, pulling out toilet paper, turning on the bathtub faucet, pulling things out of garbage cans, pulling clothes out of drawers, etc. She runs most places so she can get there and explore before we have time to catch her!

A new thing she started yesterday is to walk with a very wide stance. She would take very wide steps, rocking back and forth and "singing" as she did it. Mike and I were laughing out loud watching her. We assume she's learned that from one of her baby friends at daycare. She also loves to lay on her back on the floor and pull things on top of her, such as books, blankets and baskets. She thinks she's hiding from us and loves to pop out from under those objects and "surprise" us!

Easter Week

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, primarily because we’ve been so busy. Last weekend we were supposed to head up to Cincy to do our spring birthdays with the Wilson side of the family. Tracy got sick and was hospitalized on Friday, and Mike ended up needing my help at the store on Saturday, so we had to postpone it. Mia was disappointed because she really wanted some fun time with Cara.

Saturday was the annual Outrageous Hat Contest at Westport Village. There were all kinds of activities at the Village that day, including clowns, hula hoop contests, inflatables for the kids, hat making booths, etc. We also sponsored a fashion show that day, so Mia and I had to watch the store while Mike took care of that. I was in charge of making our outrageous hat and Mia and I modeled it in the contest. The timing of the contest did not jive with Mia’s nap time, so I paraded around the hat while she screamed and cried. The poor baby actually fell asleep in my arms while we were being judged. It was a super-busy day and very tiring. Saturday night we went to the Robbins’ because Uncle Bill, Aunt Renee, Madison and Sydney were in town from St. Louis and Aunt Lynn and Tom were in from Cincy. The whole family came over and played with Mia. Mamaw and Mia had a great time sliding down the stairs!

Sunday was Easter. The Easter Bunny left presents for Mia all over town and she was sooooo excited! I have never seen that child eat like she ate that day. It was non-stop from the time she woke up. We first visited with Nana and Papa Wilson. Mia put on her bunny ears from last year. They fit her much better this year than last! We next went to Aunt Joyce’s to visit with the Halls. Granny, Grampy, Daddy and Mommy helped Mia on her first Easter Egg hunt. Cousin Sarah went all out as usual, hiding 600 Easter eggs! Mia quickly figured out that there were goodies inside those eggs, and wanted to sit down and open each one as she found it, trying to eat all the candy while it still had paper on it. We had to take off her beautiful white Easter dress Granny got her because she was getting chocolate and grass all over her. Mia won a grand prize of a big chocolate bunny and filled her belly full of candy.

Mia has had a very fun, active week at daycare. She’s learning so much from being around the “older” kids and I can see her growing all the time. She “talks” non-stop, using hilarious strings of baby babble, like “yabba gabba dibba grprdubba dada.” She poses questions, statements and exclamations via her tones, so I respond right back, just like I know what she’s saying. We have little baby conversations all night long. She is now using the word “more” to let me know when she’s hungry. We’ll be playing and all of a sudden she’ll look at me and say “More?” That’s my cue that it’s dinnertime! She’s also become very particular about some things, like which books she wants to read and where she wants her chair to be when she sits in it. The other day she put her dolls into her chair and was pushing them around, but if they started to slide outside the confines of the arms she had to stop and adjust them so they were situated perfectly before she would continue.

She’s also a little daredevil. She loves to climb and has started pushing chairs and books around to stand on so she can get onto things easier. I have a little basket of books in her pack and play so she can look at them while we get ready for work in the morning. This morning Mike walked out and she was standing on top of the basket of books, trying to climb out of the pack and play! Yesterday she busted her lip at daycare while walking on top of some building blocks. She also loves to climb onto the couch and run back and forth on it. I know it’s just a matter of time before we don’t catch her in time and she busts up something else!

More than anything, she is just fun. Fun to watch, fun to play with and fun to snuggle. We are fascinated by her and just love to see all her developments. More than ever, we are crazy about our girl.

Wonderful family weekend

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend. Mom and Bruce kept Mia on Friday night so Mike and I could have a night to ourselves. We ate at a local German restaurant and went to the wine bar for a drink afterward. On Saturday, we attempted to take Mia on her first trip to the zoo. Apparently half the city had the same thought, because the lines to get into the zoo were phenomenal! We quickly scrapped that idea, and headed to Bardstown Road instead. We parked at Matt's apartment and strolled up and down Bardstown Road, checking out all the shops, and stopping for ice cream. Mia loved the acaiberry with strawberries and blackberries. 

On Sunday we went for another walk and hung out with the neighbors for a bit. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but we have 27 children in our court alone, so Mia has plenty of playmates around here. We spent most of our weekend playing with Mia and enjoying how much she talks and interacts with us now. I started practicing sign language with her last week, just eat, drink and more to start off with. Within two days she started saying "more" on her own, so we don't use that one anymore! 

Mia has picked up some really cute habits from the other kids in daycare. For example, the kids think it's very funny to take one shoe off and leave the other one on. When I visited last week half the kids were walking around in one shoe, laughing at their own inside joke. Mia frequently takes off her own shoes and socks now and just laughs at how funny she is. Today when I got her home, I noticed that she only had one shoe on. I searched all over the car for it before realizing it must have been like that when I picked her up. Guess it's time for shoestrings!

This Friday is the Easter Parade at daycare, and it looks like I will have to miss it. I have back to back meetings Friday afternoon, and one is a training class I don't think I can skip. I am so disappointed already. I had to miss the Halloween parade too and I cried over that one, so I'm sure this will be no different. I'm going to try to come up with a solution, but it's not looking good. 

On a positive note, we're heading up to Cincinnati this weekend with the Wilsons to celebrate spring birthdays. I can't wait to see Mia and Cara together now that they're both walking. This will be a lot of fun!

My little gift

Mia has been so tired since she moved to her toddler room at daycare. They are much more active, and by the time we get her home at night, she is done. Half the time she cries through dinner, and getting her dressed after her bath and giving her milk before bed have turned into battles. She screams, throws herself onto the floor, pushes us away...it's terrible. Last night it really welled up inside of me, that instead of getting to be with her all day and experiencing all her joys, discoveries and hugs, my time with her is spent trying to rush through feeding and bathing her before a total meltdown. Playtime isn't really fun. It's practically me trying to keep her distracted enough not to cry. This week I've been moving her bedtime earlier and earlier, negating our efforts of just a month ago when we moved her bedtime to 8 so Mike could see her when he got home. Tonight I put her in bed at 7. I'll just keep adjusting the time to make sure she's getting enough rest.

It's so upsetting because this is not how I ever imagined my relationship with my child. I always dreamt I would be a stay-at-home mom, getting to be there for my baby's every laugh, every exploration, every milestone. Now, not only do I miss her terribly all day, when I get her home I get the frustrated, sleepy baby. Not many hugs for Mommy. The smiles are few and far between. She's ready to crash and I'm the only thing standing in her way. It really sucks, and last night I just broke down and sobbed, grieving the loss of my dream. 

This morning I watched Mike carry Mia off to daycare and she was all smiles - my usual happy girl. I waved to her until I could see her no more, then I closed the door and cried again. I made the decision to rearrange my day so I could stop in and see her at daycare. I needed some time with her before the exhaustion set in. So around lunchtime I popped in, so happy to see my girl. It was story time and the kids were wild. Mia got a little fussy when she saw me, clinging to me and wanting to be held. But she was hungry and tired from her busy morning. It was so fun to see her in their baby routine. They sing songs and put away toys and wash their hands before meals. It reassured me even more that she's in a wonderful place each day. I left feeling much better. 

As luck would have it, I also finished at one of our offices about a half hour early and wasn't too far away from daycare. I was able to get Mia just before 5 and that made all the difference. We stopped by McDonald's and got some ice cream, then we went home and played for an hour. We practiced some sign language and took turns brushing each other's hair (a new discovery of hers). When she started getting sleepy, she curled up on my lap and just laid there. I read her a story and when I was finished, she didn't get up, just laid there pointing to things and letting me tell her what they were. It was the most precious gift - happy time with my girl. God gave it to me just when I needed it. 

Long weekend

Last week was a crazy week for me at work. I pulled off my big two-day event and was just exhausted by the time the weekend rolled around. It kind of went by in a big blur and was pretty uneventful. Saturday night Mamaw and Papaw Robbins kept Mia overnight so Mike and I could have a date night. The thing was, we were both so tired that we were asleep before 9:30. On Sunday I met Mia and Mamaw at Walmart, their weekend hangout. Mia was enjoying her usual treat of chicken tenders, mashed potatoes and potato wedges while they shopped. They reminded me of how Grandma Ruby and Grandpa Al would let us eat anything and everything while we were with them and it made me laugh! Later that day, Mike and I took Mia shopping for some new shoes. She's going through them pretty quickly now that she's running around on the playground at daycare. Plus she occasionally crawls around and it scuffs up the toes. We got her a new pair of tennis shoes and a new pair of dress shoes. She looks just adorable!

Late Sunday afternoon my eyes really started bothering me. I had Monday off to relax after my long week and it was a good thing - I had a recurrence of pink eye. I took Mia to daycare and spent my day bleaching and cleaning the house. Not the way I would have preferred to spend it, but whatever.

Mia is adjusting much better at daycare. They said her walking is developing very well and she's keeping up with the older kids on the playground. Sitting in the chairs for meals and art is no big deal to her now, and she continues to bring home "masterpieces" for our refrigerator. At this age babies don't really play with each other, but do parallel play. I've noticed she really likes to play near other kids and when I pick her up she points to her baby friends and says "bye-bye" to them all.

The new room really wears her out though. She's ready to crash when we get home at night. She also goes off to play by herself a lot during the day. It actually reminds me of myself. I frequently close my door at work when the stimulation of all the office action gets to be too much. I think she goes off by herself to wind down. 

Mia has definitely learned to make her opinions known. Last night she threw a tantrum like I've never seen. She was tired from daycare, and Mike and I stopped by Walmart after work. We were a little late feeding her and in the car on the way home she went ballistic. She started screaming and worked herself into a frenzy, throwing herself backward and balling up her fists at her side. She kept pointing to different things (banana, pasta, milk) but when I'd try to give it to her she'd shake her head and keep screaming. She wanted to hold the spoon herself, but when I gave it to her she threw it and kept screaming. I knew she was super tired and hungry, so after about 15 minutes of trying to "ignore" her actions and feed her anyway, I pulled her out of her chair and held her on my lap. She clung to me, still screaming, burying her face in my shoulder. I talked to her in my soothing mommy voice, kissing on her head. Then I turned her around and started shoveling pasta into her mouth as fast as she'd eat it. She kept crying but swallowed the food. In between screams I gave her milk. Finally her belly got full enough that she calmed down. After about 10 more minutes she was fine, playing with us until bedtime. Tonight I could see that she was just as tired when I picked her up so I did not wait to feed her. I'm convinced that understanding baby cues is half the battle before they can talk!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned here how much Mia LOVES the dogs, especially Reese. We've been so worried about how Reese would react to her, and when Mia first became mobile I had to put the smack-down on Reese when she growled at Mia for crawling on her. But ever since I did that, Reese has been good, and she lets Mia do whatever she wants. And it's a good thing because Mia loves to hug her, lay on her, feed her. She tries to give Reese her paci and on Sunday even gave Reese a kiss - on the mouth!!!! It was so gross to us, but Mia squealed in delight. She is crazy about that dog. She likes Grace too, but Grace is so wiggly and all over the place. She doesn't sit still long enough for Mia to love on her. 

Pink Eye and time with grandparents

Last Thursday morning I commented to Mike that Mia must have really been rubbing her eyes because they were really red. Her allergies had been acting up all week, so we thought nothing of it. Later that day, her teachers called and said they thought she had pink eye. Mike picked her up and took her to the doctor. Sure enough, pink eye. Friday morning I woke up to crusty, watery, burning eyes. I stayed home with Mia and called my doctor. Pink eye. Although I hated the conditions, it was wonderful to stay home with my girl all day. She'd had a rough week and I think some mommy-daughter time was beneficial to us both. Mike had a super busy day at the store, with a warehouse sale going on that night. He desperately needed my help, so I eventually had to go up there with Mia to help him steam new clothes and watch the store while he took over inventory. I ended up calling Mom and Bruce to come get Mia so I could help at the sale. It was a long, tiring night for us and their help with Mia really allowed us to focus our attention on taking care of the store. I don't know what we would do without the help of our parents.

On Saturday I took Mia up to the store for some daddy time. We were both feeling much better and hung out as a family all afternoon. On Sunday Mia and I hung out most of the day. Mike and I watched the UofL game later that night, so Mia hung out with her Mamaw and Papaw Robbins. When I arrived, they had made cookies and brownies, which Mia was very happy to sample!! Mia loves spending time with Mamaw and Papaw! ;-)

Yesterday Mia was back at daycare and did very well. Mike picked her up early so we aren't sure how she'll react to look-alike mom. I spoke to the doctor about it after Carol commented that Mia seemed to think Aunt Lynn's boyfriend was Bruce, loving on him and wanting to play with him like she does her Grampy. The doctor said Mia has gone through a lot of change in a short amount of time. They also noted that she's a very affectionate child anyway. She may be simply expecting people who look like her Mommy or her Grampy to be as loving toward her as we are, then she gets her feelings hurt when they aren't. But they said it should ease over time and not to worry ourselves about it.

Tonight Mia is with her Nana and Papa Wilson. I am heading up a two-day event at work this week and will be working long hours. They kept Mia tonight so I could set up and get there extra early tomorrow. She talked to me the entire way to Dad's this morning. She was so bubbly and cheerful. Then, as soon as Dad opened the front door to walk outside, Mia saw him and began kicking her feet, pointing at him and pulling forward in her carseat to get out. I love how excited she gets to see all her grandparents. Not many girls are so lucky as to have three sets of grandparents who love her and play with her so much. Dad said they played outside with bubbles tonight, so he got to hear her say "bubba".

Mia has also learned "ball". She will point out any and every ball she sees, noticing even the boys playing ball in the court behind our house! She can't say "feet", but she will point to her feet when asked, always taking the time to pull off her socks to show me. She then tries to put her socks back on, basically shoving them between her toes. One of her new favorite sayings is "uh oh", as in, she will drop something on the floor for Mommy to pick up, and she will laugh and say "uh oh!" Mia is also getting one of her top left molars. She's not had as much of an appetite and I think that may be why. 

Mike will be off this weekend and we look forward to spending a lot of time with our girl.