words

Besides Mama and Dada....so far we are hearing:
Hot (when she touches the stove or her food is a little too warm)
More and done (its hit or miss but we have heard it during meals)
blueberries ( it's jubbled but she is definatley saying it!!)
downstairs (love this one!)
outside (jumbled but when I say wanna go outside, she screams and says it, hehe)

15 month check up

The stats are in: Mia is weighing in at 21lbs 4 oz, measuring at 28 7/8 inches and doing great. Doctor Townsend said she is doing perfect and said she is very personable. She kept giving him hugs. Always a sigh of relief with a clean bill of health. She did great with her shots didn't even cry! and the doc said ALL four of her molars are starting to come in - this could be the reason for those late night protests and all the drool!

Sleeping is still a challenge. We have tried an earlier bedtime, later bedtime, in between bedtime..and it's still rough. The doctor just said it's a normal thing and this phase will just pass. So in the meantime, we are sticking to our consistent routine and hoping she will realize we aren't going to let her stay up all hours of the night! The last two nights she has slept through so we are hoping this is a good sign. At least we know once those molars will soon pop!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! We had lots of fun, trip to Ottawa for Mia's first historic road trip - Ottawa is where Lincoln and Douglas had their debate for the Illinois senate seat, drive out to Starved Rock, dinner out at Cilantro's, lots of family walks with the beagles, a BBQ and walk to our town's memorial day parade! Mom and Dad even had their first bonfire of the summer.

Mia's latests:
* Crawling down the stairs all by herself
* she LOVES blueberries all of a sudden and can't stop eating them
* When we tell her to get a certain book for us, she will pick out that book and bring it to us
* starting to brush her own teeth
*

protests

What gives!? Mia refuses to take baths and go to bed now! We have to change her into her pj's in the living room and then after a few minutes of play take her up for her stories and bed! Oy I hope this is just a phase. She does go to sleep after only a few minutes of protest (to put it nicely). Last night she woke up at 230am and wanted to play...finally at 3am I said good night and she was asleep after a few minutes of protest again :)

We had a great weekend, busy with lots of little things. She loves to be outside!We hit some great rummage sales and bought a few outdoor play things for Mia. Here she is crashing her grocery cart into the flowers! Mia also got to meet baby Abigail on Sunday...she was so tiny, just over 6lbs! Makes me realize how much Mia has grown since she was first born! Also Dad was able to get Mia to nap on Saturday while Mom took Bosco to the vet! We took lots of walks, even down to the caboose for some ice cream.

15 days of school left for Mommy and then summer vacation!!!

Mother's Day and Dad's birthday

What a difference a week has made! Last week, Mia went to sleep without a hitch - right down for the night at 7pm. The last few days have been quite the challenge. She stayed up till 9:20pm on Friday night (super late for her). Unfortunately we've had to let her cry it out. Last night she only cried for 5 mins. It's just something how quick their phases change overnight. Hopefully she will be back to her going to sleep without a problem phase again soon!

We had a very nice weekend. Friday Mia and I made a chocolate cake for dad's 31st birthday and ordered pizza! Mia bought dad a child carrier hiking backpack! Dad loved it and tried all weekend to get Mia to sit in it...she ended up using it as a new 'bin' to put her various toys inside! I think once we take it outdoors she will enjoy it - I know it took her awhile to adjust to the bjorn and even her stroller.

Saturday we went to our FAVORITE local Italian restaurant in Frankfort. Mia did great, a little meltdown in between dinner but enjoyed eating a scoop of vanilla gelato! She even used the spoon a bit but then resorted to her finger - her little hand turned red from the cold!

Sunday we headed out to the Lighthouse Outlets and Mom got to splurge a bit at J Crew, dad bought some new shoes and Mia got a ton of cute outfits from Gymboree! We came home and took a nice long walk with the beagles then grilled out steaks for dinner. Then dad went to DQ to get mommy a blizzard - yum!

We didn't get to plant this weekend as our annual mom's day tradition because mommy's real gift is coming later this week- a landscaper to do some work on our flower beds! When they are done we will plant our annuals!

ms walk 09

We had our annual Team Vic-Tory MS walk this past weekend. It was the perfect weekend - weather wise and family/friend wise. Grandpa, Aunt Gayle, Uncle Ric, Aunt Sue, Uncle Bernie, Aunt Brenda, Uncle Dave and Ella came to town to join this great cause. Grammy and Papo joined us too. We raised over $3,200 in support of Grandma Victoria!

We had a great day visiting with the Caporale family on Saturday...then later that night Ella came to sleep over! The girls both slept great that night and we took the train downtown for the walk early Sunday morning. We had a nice visit the rest of the day on Sunday and enjoyed dinner at the Brewery. The girls had fun playing together with the water/rice table and later inside. It was so hard to get a good photo of them but we did manage. They are absolutley adorable together! They finally warmed up and gave each other a few 'hugs' Sunday evening. Mia had a rough night sleeping, in turn giving Ella an early wake up! Ella left early Monday morning and I hope both girls sleep better tonight. We love when we get to spend time with the Pattersons and hope our girls continue to grow to be best friends :)

momma!

Finally, I am hearing my little girl say "mommy". I LOVE IT! Over the weekend Daddy kept saying she is saying mommy and I was in denial. Yesterday, Daddy was home and I ran upstairs to get something I heard Mia saying "moma" from the bottom of the stairs! Daddy said "I told you!". But then she is calling her movie mommy so, either she associates me with the movie or she is telling me TURN IT ON! hehe, I love it! Now I don't have to hear DADA all the time, hehe.

Here is our little hippie on Sunday and the other day refusing to get dressed stting next to her baby (that she throws out of the baby stroller before she pushes it around the living room).

outdoor fun

We had a great weekend! Mia seemed to enjoy swimming a lot more this week. Grammy and Papo came to visit on Sunday and brought Mia her coupe car...we also set up her water/sand table (only put rice in instead of sand). She loved being outside and cries when we have to go back in! She actually started to use a spoon a bit when she was eating applesauce this weekend. And I love that I can now put her hair into PIGTAILS! I just love having a little girl!