Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all of the mommies out there are having a wonderful Mother's Day. Mia's class at daycare made Mother's Day gifts for us moms. It is a flower made from her little handprint. It is so precious! I appreciate my own mother more every day. In case I don't say it often enough, Thanks Mom! You're the best! Being a mom comes with so many more challenges than I had anticipated, but I love every second of it. Even when it's 2am, she's crying, and she just threw up all over my pajamas. I still love it! Sounds crazy but oh so true. I can't help but think back to this exact time a year ago when Wesley was in the hospital. I was already pregnant but didn't know it yet. I had to leave work to take him first to the doctor and then to the ER where we sat all evening until he got admitted to the hospital. I was so scared he was going to pass out in the waiting room. All turned out well, and he's had no more problems from that episode since then. What a difference a year makes! Now, we're the parents of a beautiful little girl who is our whole world. It seems as though she does new things almost every day. The other morning Wesley laid her down next to me in bed to feed her. I asked him where her bottle was, and he said "She's got it". What? She's got it? I looked down, and Mia was holding her bottle in her little hands like a pro and just chowing down. That lasted for about half of the bottle when I think her arms got tired, so I helped her out for the rest of it. She hasn't grabbed on to it like that since then, but sometimes she'll put one hand on it as though she's thinking of trying it out again. She'll get the hang of it soon, I'm sure! Also, we had a successful photo session yesterday for Mia's 3 month pictures. As soon as they come in, I will scan in a few. They're so cute!

Mia's handprint flower

Mia holding her bottle for the first time at 3 1/2 months.

Mia's 15 week pictures taken on Mother's Day.
She had so many beautiful pictures today that I couldn't choose just one.
Here are a few of my favorites.

Scared Silly

I came across this picture, and I just had to post it. I laugh every time I see it. Mia is about six weeks old here, and she looks like someone just jumped out and said, "BOO!"

You Reap What You Sow

Mia is now over three months old, so tell me...when will she stop throwing up most of what she eats? Now, this is my first child, but still it seems a little unusual to me. The first six weeks of her young life, she didn't gain any weight at all. She's now getting bigger, but I'm not sure how. She went through 10-15 bibs this weekend (at least). I changed her clothes three or four times yesterday when I was trying to take her picture. I had to do an extra load of laundry on Sunday to wash all of the stuff she threw up on (including three of my shirts). My dad thinks it's all hilarious, and I can't say that I blame him. Apparently, I was exactly the same way as a baby. He has no sympathy for me, saying "For nine months, every piece of clothing I wore smelled like spit up!" I guess you could say that I got what was coming to me. Generally, it just makes me laugh. I laugh because sometimes she smiles after she throws up like she's saying, "Oh, I got you, Mom! I so got you!" Keep laughing, girlie. Some day you'll have a baby, too! Mia is so funny. She's a constant source of entertainment!

Mia is 14 weeks old this week.

Here is one of her first outfits of the day.

This was another clothing change. The look was completed with a pair of pink sneakers. This was the first day that Mia has worn shoes! They didn't seem to bother her at all.


Here is Mia at the end of the day after a much needed bath.

3 Month Milestone

I enjoyed creating my last posting so much, I think I'll try another one. As you can see by the new background, I went a little overboard. You'd never know that I loathed the color pink as a child. I remember being seven years old and refusing to wear the shoes my mom bought me because they were pink. However, since Mia came along, it seems like there is pink everywhere in our house, and I like it! Mia turned 3 months old on Saturday. Where does the time go? I try to savor every moment with her, even as she keeps growing before my eyes. We took Mia to get her three month pictures on Saturday. She looked adorable except for the fact that she screamed pretty much the whole time. Needless to say, we are going to try again this Saturday. I think she needed a longer nap that day. She let me take some pictures at home, though. Here is one of them as well as a twelve week picture from last weekend.

Mia at 12 weeks

Here is Mia Saturday morning before the attempt at the portrait studio at 3 months old (13 weeks old actually). Sorry this picture is off-center. I was trying to make Mia laugh, so the camera was moving. In case you can't see them, those are popsicles on her shirt...so cute!

I just love these pjs because there are ladybugs on the feet! They're a little big, but oh well.

Mia's personality has really started to develop. She has things she loves and others that she doesn't. Her musical preferences vary quite a bit, but that's probably because Wesley and I listen to all kinds of different music. Some of her current faves are "Walking After Midnight" by Patsy Cline, "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillet, and Amazing Grace. I decide if she likes them based on whether she stops crying when I sing them. It's quite the scientific method, ha!

Jess

Happy Easter!

Okay, Wesley usually does the posts here, but I'm going to give it a try. We've been taking so many pictures of Mia that it can be hard for one person to keep up with it all. Mia had a busy Easter weekend. Grammy, Pawpaw, and Aunt Rachel came down from Oklahoma for the weekend to visit. We went shopping and to the Dallas World Aquarium downtown. It was Mia's first time in the baby carrier, and she seemed to like it fairly well as long as I didn't stay in one spot for too long. She liked to keep moving. The Easter bunny also came to visit Mia today. Too bad she doesn't have any teeth yet. Oh well, Mom and Dad will be happy to take care of the candy for her! I took her to have some Easter pictures done a couple of weeks ago. She did really well with all of the posing. Her dress and bloomers were too big, though. The bloomers kept falling down around her knees, so I finally took them off. From a distance, her diaper just looks like white bloomers anyway.

Mia liked the flamingos at the aquarium. They made a lot of noise, and she was fascinated.
Here is Mia at 11 weeks old with all of her Easter goodies from Nanny and Papa, Grammy and Pawpaw, and the Easter bunny.
Some of Mia's Easter pictures taken at 9 weeks old.
We fell behind posting a 10 week picture, so here is Mia with a big ol' grin last weekend.
I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Party Like It's 2009

Saturday, the three of us drove over to Keller to visit our friends Jon and Holly. Their daughter Harper was celebrating her first birthday, so we all got together for a party with burgers, hot dogs, cup cakes, and cool beverages. The weather was nice and it was fun being out with other people, rather than being cooped up in the house on a Saturday afternoon.

Here's Mia and Harper. Harper likes babies, so she paid a lot of attention to Mia. Everyone thought Harper looked very cute sporting her new Dallas Stars sweater. We bought it kinda large so she can grow into it. Can't wait to get Mia one so Jon and I can take those two to their first hockey contest.



Holly was able to get a big grin out of Mia for this photo. It made me laugh, so I thought I would post it.


That's all for now. It was a fun party, and the Hanes Family were great hosts.

-WM

A Visit From Uncle Marcus

My brother came down this weekend for a visit and to spend some time with Mia. I had to work so that made catching up with him kinda hard, but we still had a few laughs. We picked Mia up from day care on Friday afternoon and took her to see Dr. Curry for her two month check-up. Everything looked fine, and she has gained some weight, so that was good news. Apparently, I missed a huge eruption when Mt. Mia spewed a generous portion of spit-up on Uncle Marcus' foot and the surrounding floor.

Marcus also got in some training on the bottle.



Also, today is Vincent Van Gogh's birthday. Check out this painting he did from 1885, which, I would imagine, is possibly the world's first anti-smoking advertisement.

-WM