Birthday Party

We celebrated Mia's birthday with family and friends on Saturday. It was a hot day, but the thunderstorms seemed to hold off.

Initially, we played inside and got to spend some quality time with friends.Of course, time with Aunt Katie and cousin Maddie is always special.


By the time we ate dinner, the weather had cooled off enough that we got to enjoy time outside.

The cake turned out to be pretty tasty even though the heat got to the icing a little.

Mia didn't seem to mind at all.






Having the kiddie pools out for all to enjoy was definitely a highlight of the party.
But when Adleigh's parents show up with water guns, you know you're in for a wild time.

The Stats at 12 months

Height - 28 1/4" (40th percentile)
Weight - 18 lbs 13 oz (10th percentile)
Teeth - 2 (but at least 2 more on the way)
Verbal - Words include Uh Oh, Dada, Mama, No, Dog, Baba (not sure what this is for, but she's clearly trying to tell us something), duck, quack, blub blub (the sound for what a fish makes) - there are clearly a few more in the works, so we'll let you know when those come. Mia is spoken to in Spanish often at day care so it may be that she's trying out a few Spanish words and we just don't understand.
Locomotion - 99% walking. Mia rarely crawls unless it is to escape up the stairs. She'd even walk down the stairs if we ever let her.

We had a good doctor's appointment today. Mia doesn't know yet it isn't very nice to get shots on your birthday, but she was a trooper. Only 2 vaccines this trip (MMR and Pneumococcal). She even got a birthday crown, a certificate, and a sticker.

Happy Birthday Mia!!

Mia is so excited to be 1 whole year old.

Practicing to go from a BBG to a LG

When our BBG (BaBy Girl) got her first tooth, we started wiping it down with a wash cloth as recommended by our dentist. The second one came a few weeks later and we kept going with the wash cloth. At a recent dentist appointment, Mommy asked the hygienist what she recommended for the next step and the hygienist kindly provided a toothbrush specially designed for the 4 to 24 mo crowd. As Mia moves from a BBG to a LG (Little Girl) tomorrow, she thought she'd get a head start tonight and practice brushing her teeth.

Turns out, toothbrushes are a big hit with Mia and if she had it her way, she'd be sleeping with it right now!

(Oh, and yes, Mia does still only have 2 teeth. We can see the two top ones coming in soon, though.)

More Mia Pics

Rashmi posted some more pictures from last Friday to her website. There are some great ones. When Rob saw the pictures, he said that Rashmi was able to catch all the funny little faces Mia makes. How will we ever decide what ones to print. Let me know if you'd like to see the whole series of photos and I'll send you the link.

Almost 1....

We decided to do some quick photos for Mia's 1st birthday. Rashmi came over this morning and has already posted some first photos on her blog. Rashmi did the the photos on our Christmas card and you've definitely seen her work if you've been in our living room!

As our yard is still a work in progress and we didn't have any flowers out, we "borrowed" our neighbor's yards. (Thank you, Cantrell's and Selinsky's) The morning light was perfect and Mia talked, danced, and had a grand old time playing with sticks, mulch, and flowers. Mia seemed to really like Rashmi as she blew her a kiss good-bye, something which I had never seen her do before.

Thanks Rashmi! We had a great time this morning and love the sneak peak of the photos.

Happy Father's Day

Dear Dada,

You are doing a wonderful job. No one would ever guess you're a newbie. Thank you for cuddling me, reading to me, playing with me, and showing me the world! I love you very much and hope you have a wonderful Father's Day!

Love,
Mia

Happy Father's Day to all Dads, Step-dads, and Dads-to-be.

Meet Baby Ellie

Mia and Mom made a last minute trip to South Carolina this week to meet Mia's new cousin Ellie. As of her pediatrician appointment on Friday, she's reached 5 pounds!! Other than continuing to put on weight, she seems to be doing very well.


Mia loved being near Ellie.

Though she did get a bit jealous at times and want whomever was holding Ellie to pay attention to her.

Mia also got to spend some quality time with Grandma in the pool.

Since the house had both Grandma and Grandpa's 3 dogs and Aunt Kate and Uncle Matt's 2 dogs, Mia had to learn how to show some authority around the chaos. If you watch the video below, she's pointing her finger at one of the dogs and saying, "No dog, no." She was most confident doing this when the dogs were far away.

San Francisco (again)

Yes, Mom dragged Mia and Dad on another cross-country flight to San Francisco on her business trip. It did provide some fun opportunities for Mia to show off how much she's grown to the west coast friends.

Rob and Mia spent 2 days at Alex and Erin's apartment hanging out with Erin and Alex's sister, Freddie.

Mia learned all about cooking from Erin and Freddie.
She had a good time wandering around the apartment, keeping everyone on their feet.
Then, Alex and Erin had to go and Mia spent some quality time with Dad in the hotel room. Dad found an ingenious way to use Mia's portable high chair so Mia could eat her meals in style.

And, who needs a playmate when you have a mirror!

Welcome Baby Eleanor!

Mia got a new cousin last night, a bit earlier than expected.

Aunt Kate and Uncle Matt have a wonderful new daughter! Baby Eleanor was born on Saturday, June 7th at 1:30am, weighing in at 4 lbs 13 oz. Although several weeks early, she seems to be holding her own and may even get to go home in just a day or two if she's eating well.

Aunt Kate is doing well, despite being very tired. Mia and Mom will be flying down to see them this week, but sadly Dad will have to wait a bit longer to meet his new niece.

Happy 11 Months!

Happy 11 Months! Only 1 more month to go until Mia's first birthday! See how much she has changed and grown in the last month. (Boy, it has been a busy one.)

Mia has gotten very good at feeding herself. Most meals are exclusively finger food now.



Mia loves her ducks so much that she can say "Duck" and "Quack". She has at least a dozen, but probably more, in various shapes and sizes. We spend a lot of time "quacking" in the bath tub.


Mia can both stand up on her own and walk. She loves her hair brush and knows how to brush her own hair, though sometimes the bristles end up face out instead of actually doing the brushing.



Since the weather seems to be saying it is summer, Nina and Taid's pool is open. Mia is understanding the full implications of that red hair and very fair skin. She seems to be doing well putting up with the sunblock though takes every opportunity to take off her hat when she can.

A Day with Nina

As Mom is in England, Dad is at work, and daycare was closed for the day, Mia got to spend the day with Nina (Rob's mom). Mia sent Mom and Dad a letter (courtesy of typing from Nina).

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

Nina and I are having lots of fun today! I have had breakfast and lunch and two great naps. I think Raskal is pretty OK too, but I am not ready to have my picture taken with him yet. However, his empty food dish makes a lovely drum! Nina and I thought you might like to see how I am practicing my walking. Nina's camera is very slow so I had to walk a long way so that she could get a picture. What fun!

Love,

Mia

I'm practicing my walking!

This is really fun!

Having a good laugh about the day!

First Steps

Today, Mia took her first steps. She must have really wanted the remote control I had in my hands. After all, it was the broken one that we gave to her so she'd give up stealing our Tivo remote. Sadly, we didn't have the video camera running, but I'm sure we'll have a post or two of her taking some tentative steps soon.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, whether through the birth of a child or just your actions, words, and guidance.

Games

Mia's become pretty good at playing a few games.

"Peek-A-Boo"

"How big is Mia?"

"So big!"

We're just trying to convince her that 6am is not Mom and Dad's favorite time to play these games. Any tips?

Group Birthday Party

This weekend, Mia was part of a group 1st birthday party with all of the little babies we became friends with during last summer's mom's group. We chose the beginning of May as it is the start of birthday season for this group, which runs mid-May through mid-July.

Mia and Noah chow down.

We attempt to get all the babies standing around the table together for a group shot.

It looks like Mia and Noah were having a serious discussion.

Then it was time for cake.

Followed by a bit of piano playing.

And quality time with some friends.

Though, we found Mia can be a bit rough at times.
We swear she was just using him to stand up. We're just not sure how Connor felt about it.

Mia's on the Move

Mia is really getting to enjoy her new freedoms of movement. She's gaining a lot of coordination, which is allowing her to have even more fun.

I Can Stand All By Myself

Today, I pulled myself up on my toy bin and was standing, hanging on to the bin, to pull out some of my favorite toys. Then, I really wanted to clap. So I started clapping. Mom was very surprised when I was standing all by myself clapping. After a little bit, I sat down, pulled myself up again, and did it all over just to show Mom that I knew what I was doing. I'm still not sure why she got so excited that she had to call Dad right away. I just wanted to clap.

Time for bed now. I'll catch you all later. Hope you're having a nice enough day to have something to clap about, too.

Happy 10 Months!

Mia is 10 months old today. She spends her days crawling around, cruising the coffee table (specifically to find magazines that she can reach), clapping and dancing to music, reading books, and singing songs.

I think this picture below shows so much of her personality. She is always ready to laugh, tumble and use anyone around as a human jungle gym.

But, we think her true love is music. She will dance and sing and clap to any kind of music around.