Dad, there are baseball teams besides the Orioles?

Yes, it is true. Mia has been allowed to have baseball paraphernalia from a team other than the Orioles. This A's cap (originally a chili bowl) is courtesy of Alex and Erin.

Hats

Mia has a very love/hate relationship with hats. Here are some cute pictures from the other day.

Then we were done wearing the hat and wanted to share with Dad.

Books

Mia loves to be read books, but she also loves to "read" them herself. She'll carry her books around from room to room, plop down on the floor in the middle of the kitchen when we're making dinner, and start talking and turning pages.

Daddy's also happy that this interest applies to baseball game programs, too.

Fun in the Sun

This weekend was filled with family and parties as we celebrated the upcoming births of Baby W B (child of cousins Elizabeth and Christian) and Baby W G (child of Uncle Allan and Tia Raquel).

Mia particularly enjoyed pool time!

She just can't wait to be big enough to be thrown into the pool by Uncle Allan just like her big cousins.


(Pictures courtesy of Uncle Charlie!)

Yogurt

Mia's currently learning how to use a spoon to feed herself.

She's getting pretty good at it.

Until she decides that she's too hungry and her hand is much faster.

Btw, the Bumpkin toddler bibs are great. Once Mia's hands and face were wiped up, you had no idea she's just been covered in yogurt.

Blocks

Mia received a set of blocks for her birthday. She took to them faster than we had expected and enjoys using the both for stacking and as musical instruments.


She particularly had a great time destroying Daddy's sculpture.

uh-oh

Mommy and Daddy are behind on blog postings.

Now that Mia has mastered walking, she has started working on talking.  Her favorite new words are "uh-oh" and "buh-bye" (complete with wriggling fingers).  She walks around the living room saying ba-bye, ba-bye, bye-bye.  She's also now a big fan of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" - ba-ba-ba.

Uh-oh accompanies food, sippy cups, toys, magazines and most everything else as they fall to the floor.  Particularly when the fall came after some deliberation.

We'll get more pictures posted soon.

Thompson's Lake

In our whirlwind zig-zag of the Northeast this 4th of July holiday, we were able to spend some time at the Blabey family house on Thompson's Lake in the Catskills. Tom, Kristen, and Cyanne were visiting from Santa Barbara and Jay came in from Boston for the mini Alexandria childhood reunion.

Laura and Ryan's Wedding

We discovered that attending a wedding with a 1 year old is a whole different ball game than the previous weddings we attended with Mia at 5 wks and 2 1/2 months.

It was great to be there for Laura and Ryan and to see all of our friends who also attended. Though, Mia definitely drove the show and Mom only got to partake in a little bit of the festivities. Mia did have a great time at the parts she attended. She was even woo'd by the 2 yr old ring bearer and got her groove on the dance floor. Sadly, we have very few pictures, but here are a few for you.

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.