changes

Corey and I are amazed at how much Mia has changed before our eyes. This month we can really see a difference in her. She laughs (sooo cute), she interacts, watches us from across the room, tries to sit up and stand, puts everything in her mouth to investigate it, getting better each day taking cereal from her big girl spoon, sits contently in a restaurant and watches all of the action around her...I could go on but it's just amazing to see our little peanut grow and change before our eyes.

It's also amazing how she is actually in bed right now, down for the night as I blog and it's 7pm! Not that she won't wake up again but this is a huge improvement from a month ago when we couldn't get her to fall asleep until sometimes 1am! It's been a mixture of her growing a bit older, getting used to her routine and us being consistent!

My favorite part of the day is her bedtime routine. We start around 7, earlier if she is showing signs of tiredness. Daddy gets her nookey pootsey, I get her little bathtub ready. We give her a bath with her bedtime lotion and rubber duckies. Then we go into her room and daddy and her have quiet tummy time. We let her play until she stars to get cranky. Mommy rocks her and feeds her the bottle while daddy reads bedtime stories, always ending with "Goodnight Moon". Daddy leaves and mommy rocks her to sleep to her nighttime cd. Most nights, she falls right asleep and happily goes into her crib.

It was so cute, I was making her bottle yesterday (I still nurse her but we give her a bottle before bed, I don't know I think it makes my mind feel like she is being put to bed on a full stomach because I can see how many ounces she drinks) and she grabbed the bottle out of my hand and put it in her mouth.

Anyhow, here are some photos we took this weekend. We took Mia to the farmer's market on Saturday, out to eat at the brewery and just enjoyed being with her this weekend. Can you tell we are both obsessed with taking photos of our little one!?

4 month check-up...

Mia did great at her doctor's appointment today..she even smiled for Dr. Selig (first time ever!). She is now 12 lbs 8 oz, length is 23 1/2 inches so she is growing! She is in the 25th percentile for weight and about 50 percentile for length but everything looked good. Dr. Selig said she is 'petite' so her weight is just fine for her.

We got the OK to try solids so this afternoon Mia had her first taste of rice cereal! I think she had more fun with the spoon than anything! As expected, she tried to grab the spoon and feed herself! (funny, Dr. S said "with her strong will, I bet she'll try to feed herself") We'll start to introduce fruits and veggies over the next few weeks, just want her to get used to the whole eating concept. She received 5, yes 5 shots today, four in one leg, one in the other. She cried during but stopped after they were finished. I am giving her a little tylenol just to make her feel better. Next check-up is at 6 months!!! Grow Mia Grow!!!

photos

It's a rainy day today so we are stuck inside. Some photos we took this week. Mia can now face forward in her bjorn. We took the beagles for a walk yesterday facing out! The picture of her in the crib is how daddy found her yesterday morning, laughing and talking to herself! She is enjoying her soft blocks and sitting up in her bebe pod.

compare

4 months

Mia and mommy have done some shopping this week and she has been great! She had fun at the local farmer's market on Friday! On Saturday Mia turned 4 months old! Saturday morning Mia met Diane, her babysitter for the fall. I am getting sad that I won't be home with her, BUT I am so glad we found Diane. She has a great house, a HUGE backyard with tons of toys, swing set, pool and Mia will get to play with a few other kiddos during the day. It's only 5 mins from mommy's work and I will pick her up by 3pm everyday..plus mommy has summers off and lots of other days off too. But when Mia gets a little brother or sister down the road, mommy will have to stay home :)

Saturday we also walked down to downtown flossmoor to see the old cars for drivin the dixie. Then we took Mia to dinner at our local mexican restaurant and she did great! Sunday, grammy and grandpa greg came for a visit - they bought Mia her FIRST pair of Robeez!!! Mommy was very excited. Grandpa greg did a nice job picking them out :) Mia helped mommy make fresh gazpacho and then she took a walk with daddy around the neighborhood. She has begun to 'turn' the pages on her board books. Such a smart little peanut! Thursday is her 4 month check-up and shots (ouch).

this and that

Mommy has a bad cold. Hopefully Mia won't get sick! Mia has been enjoying her jumperoo and her doorway jumper. She is more interested in sitting up rather than always being put on her tummy/back. We have added a nightly bath to her bedtime routine which seems to be working. ALL of her naps now are taking place in her crib. She is getting her naps regulated a bit. First one around 9am, second one around 12/1pm then a third one late afternoon. This week, her naps have lasted over an hour! Hopefully they will continue and she will be out of her 30 min. nap phase.

father's day

We had a great father's day weekend to celebrate Corey first father's day. First of all, Mia's cousin Christopher, Uncle Jason and Auntie Kelly, Grandpa Cap, Grandma Kaye, Grammy and Grandpa Greg (pluse cousin Banyan) all came to our house on Saturday for a father's day bbq. The weather was perfect and Mia and Christopher locked eyes as soon as they met - it was so precious. Mia bought daddy north face shorts, Charlie bought 'master' polo black and Bosco bought 'master' an electric shaver. Auntie Kelly bought Jason and Corey their first father's day 'ties'. We bought Grandpa Cap a monogramed lighter.We also got grandpa greg and grandpa cap some photo cups of Mia. We all had lots of fun!! and enjoyed the ice cream cake just for the daddies!!

Auntie Kelly and cousin Christopher stayed an extra day and left this morning. Yesterday we all took the train down to Hype Park, bought the kiddos some books, took them to a local park (Mia swung on the swings with daddy and went down the slide with mommy for the first time!) then went to our local brewery for dinner (Mia did GREAT). It was a great weekend and we can't wait for Christopher and Mia to play together again!!

Corey is off today so we walked down to the library with Mia. We found a lost doggie on the way home - he was an old golden retriever. Naturally, I couldn't just leave him there so we called the police department and within 10 mins someone came to pick him up! He was a sweetie, I hope they find his owners!

in action

3 1/2 months (3 months, 2 weeks, 5 days)....Mia has been quite active this past week. Now that she can roll from tummy to back and from back to tummy, that keeps her pretty busy. We had to stop swaddling her since she was getting out of her swaddle and rolling in her crib. She is very active in her sleep too, we may put her to bed one way and find her another way when she wakes up! It's scary but exciting all at the same time. I caught her this morning doing some 'rolls'. Enjoy!

Also, notice in the picture where her activity center is? I placed her inside of it on her back....5 minutes later this is where she 'rolled and pushed' herself too. No stopping my little peanut now!

Daddy and Mia
Mommy and Mia
Pootsey and Mia

sleep update and a roly poly

I had no idea that providing Mia with healthy sleep habits would be so much work! But, it's paying off and I hope it continues. Corey and I have gobbled up the book "Healthy sleep habits, happy child" by our local Dr. Weissbluth and we are finding some VERY useful information. First of all, Mia should not have more than 2 wakeful hours, at a time, during the day. Her first sign of drowsiness, we are to put her down for a nap. The better she naps, the better she sleeps at night. And it's so true! Saturday and Sunday, Corey and I consistently put her down for naps as soon as she was showing signs of drowsiness. Sometimes she fell asleep easily, others, we were constantly soothing her until she did drift off. Saturday night she slept for 7 hours straight and Sunday for 8 hours straight!

Monday was my first day alone with her and let me tell you, it was rough. The morning naps are usually easy, it's the afternoon naps that are hard for her to fall asleep. And she will only nap for 30 mins at a stretch so it's a constant putting her back to naps in between play times. But she slept great again that night. Tuesday she took three solid naps and went to bed easily at 7:10pm! She did wake up a few times but I think she is on the right track. Pretty soon when she reaches 4 months, her naps should start to become longer. She should have all this down pat before I go back to work.

Milestone update: Just this morning Mia rolled from BACK TO TUMMY! I predicted she would do this by the end of the week because she has been rolling to her side all week long! So now we realllllly have to watch her like a hawk!