2 steps forward, 1 step back

Odd that I just wrote the post about what Mia looked like a year ago, because if you would have peeked in her room tonight, you would have wondered if we had stepped back in time that far.

Something strange has been going on with Mia the last week and a half. She's had 4 episodes of major discontent & fussiness,  where her crying and screaming and arching are new to us and unlike anything we've really dealt with before.  I've been wondering if it's been gas or indigestion.  Let's face it, everybody poops and so does Mia, but lately I think her tummy's been hurting more than usual.  

This kind of stuff seems easier to deal with when you're an adult. You figure out the culprit--is something off in my diet? And you adjust it.  It's harder with a 14 month old.  She goes "mmhhm" when you put something down in front of her to eat, and will grab at several things, which is encouraging especially to a mom who was once worried she'd never eat more than pureed baby food.  But sometimes now I wish we could back in time to that stage, where all she had was perfect-for-her momma's milk & easy to digest baby food.

Now I just feel bad that she's having to suffer through this, and I desperately want to know how to make it better.

Which is why we've stepped back in time.  Every time she's freaked out on me like this, I've ended up swaddling her like a newborn and bouncing her back to sleep.  It's incredible, but the past 2 times it's happened, as soon as I finished swaddling her up, she already started calming down, and once I started bouncing her ever so lightly on the exercise ball, she's started to nod off.  Her body relaxes and you can see the tension fading.

Maybe it's just innate.  Maybe it's just still comforting, even though it's been 6-8 months since we regularly did the swaddle.  Maybe it's who knows what.  And while I don't want to reintroduce swaddling & bouncing full-time, if it eases this pain for the moment, then I will do it.  Plus, it gets her to sleep quickly than crying it out, even if she's sitting, or rather, trying to wriggle her way out of one of our laps.

Like anybody, we just hate to see her in pain.  It's no fun to deal with & sometimes takes up the better part of our evenings, or mornings, or middle of the nights.  Hopefully we'll find a happy place soon.  

For now, I'm gonna hit the sack, and perhaps dream up a solution.  It probably won't involve black beans is my guess.

I don't know...what do you think?

Chicco, you've served us well...

...but I fear it's time to move on.  Mia's finally outgrowing her infant car seat that matches her travel system stroller from Chicco.  I think it holds babies up to 22 lbs and while Mia is still probably just a tad shy of 20lbs, I can tell she is becoming less & less comfortable in the seat, and she's obviously over a year (which is when most kids switch to the next level up of carseats).

Now comes the task of researching which carseat to go to next.  If you know me, I research & research, and so I'm sure this will result with a short list of options, weighing each pro & con.  

It can be tedious at times, but in the end, I'll know whatever we chose was the right one for us.

If you have any experience in this department, please feel free to share your nuggets of wisdom.

We're looking at getting the carseats that grow with the child, so that we won't have to make another purchase for a while to come.

(Mia at 8.5 months, back in January, in her beloved & well-used Chicco Manhattan carseat.  Loved that hat too!)

Was it just a year ago?

...that Mia looked like this?

Laying on our couch for a little Father's day afternoon nap?


Or when she was 8 weeks, and I went out and got my hair done for the first time, to come home and see her like this?

Now she's a "big girl" -- trying to stand up on her own & balance:

 And play by herself next to a pond while pondering life's deepest questions (she's so deep)! ;)

Funny how much things change yet still the same!  Think she'll let me snuggle on her forever??

howdy hoo

As I sit here sipping what I think is some well-deserved coffee -- special brew from my dad's machine -- after a long night with the little one, I am glad that even if the bambina had another one of those crazy 2-3 hr midnight parties, I had a Mommo to pass her off to when she reawoke at 6:30, which is still a tad too early for a gal like me.


Mommo helped her play it out until 9:30am, where Mia then quickly & effortlessly passed out on my lap drinking down her almond milk.  Girl gon' get tired. 


The flight last week went very smoothly, after all the fretting I did about it beforehand. I know I had a lot of people saying prayers for a smooth and noneventful flight, and that's what we got.  Sometimes I'm sure it seems silly what we pray for, but what better to let go of the worry & let God take care of it? I love to see His work in action.


Mia's had a fun trip. She's gotten to see both grandparents (which, next time I'm there Nana & Granddad, I must take a picture of Mia with both you guys!), see parts of the South & Lower Midwest and other family members like her "first cousins once removed" (not "first cousins once we moved" -- KP boys!).  Aside from this past night & Friday night, Mia's slept really well given all the traveling.  4 good nights out of 6 ain't bad.


Greg joined us for the weekend. It was a quick trip for him but it was fun & relaxing.  My parents asked if I'm looking forward to getting back home.  I'll miss their help with Mia, but I'll be happy to be back with G, even if I've barely washed a dish since I've been here.  


Soon, back to life / back to reality. 
But until then, some of Mia's globe-trotting adventures in the Hoosier State:

new car(t) to push around

table & barn I used to play with 

getting pushed around by Uncle J

lounging with Papa Jack on the porch

Mia's playtime buddy, Mommo

sleepy baby?

It's been a while since I've seen this happen.  

Mia and I went on a leisurely walk this morning. Even though there's a heat index of 105°F (sick), it was still earlier in the morning and I felt like our past two days of major inactivity (unless you count going to the store or the chiropractor as exciting) necessitated a walk in the Florida sunshine.  

I felt bad when we got home though as we were both quite sweaty and I was afraid of Mia becoming dehydrated. After wiping her down with a cool rag and changing her, I gave her a water bottle but she wasn't much interested in that, so I gave her her new favorite milk: coconut. I sat her in her highchair so I could take care of a few things.  I tried to feed her a few bites of mango in between her guzzling of the bottle, but she was more interested in drinking than eating.  I must have gotten distracted because I looked over a few minutes later, and her eyes were closed.  Poor baby!  She was drifting off to sleep with her bottle while still sitting in the highchair.  I quickly decided the highchair is not where I want her to nap, so I scooped her up and we went to her room where she was properly attired for the nap, with her little fan on for white noise, and let her finish the rest of her bottle, fall back asleep (which she did promptly) and laid her down in her crib.  

She must've been tired.  I would take a nap too, but I have a list of things to do before our trip.  Surprisingly, blogging is not one of them!

The Real Chiquita Bambina

We honestly should get paid for the high quality promotions we do for Chiquita Bananas.

Favorite pastimes that could keep Mia busy for hours...

...include going through the bottom of our bookshelves and pulling out every book, piece of paper, or card and sprawling it on the floor.  It never fails.




Somedays I walk around the house to see a pile here, a pile there, a pile...there??  She loves going through our stuff.  I guess in a way she is helping me become better organized, because I get to go through all the junk again and realize, "I don't need this!"  *TRASH*






We got a major order of fluffy mail the other day.  For those who don't know, fluffy mail is cloth diaper speak for "cloth diapers in the mail."  A major purchase I completed a couple weeks ago made its way to our home and now Mia will be mostly outfitted in bumGenius! To say I've been looking forward to this is a mild understatement.  It's hard to explain some of the joy that comes from using cloth, but 'tis true.




The Miss & I are traveling next week, solo.  I'm half-looking forward to it, half-panicked.  I've never had to handle Mia 24/7 by myself.  We will be with family almost the whole time, no matter where we are, but it's still a tad different than having the "dada" with you.  "What's the worst that could happen?"  I don't like asking myself that question sometimes, because I don't want to imagine the worst that could happen, but whatever doesn't kill us will only make us stronger, right?  Thankfully the airplane rides are short.

Can you spot lil' Mia in the middle of a big playdate?

World Cup starts TODAY.  If Greg has anything to do with it, Mia will be a future soccer player; maybe a midfielder (she'll have her defensive skills from her daddy, and her running skills from her momma).  (For Jackson: "skills & abilities")  We are watching the US/England game tomorrow with a few blokes.  I do have to say, aside from American football, I'm getting better at watching sports on TV, especially baseball. I can name almost the entire Rays lineup, and I even know who is left-handed.  I'll attribute this sports knowledge-absorption to my parents.  That & knowing the oldies music.  Some things get passed down even without your trying!!




I have a pipsqueak waiting for me to play with her, so time to moveON.  Until next time...

new name!

Chiquita Bambina

Little Girl Infant/Baby Child.  That's essentially what the name means.  It doesn't have to make sense, but I think it sounds cute, and that's all that matters, right? ;)

Hopefully my comments will all come back...as of right now seems they didn't make the transition!

More (professional) pictures!

Our talented, gracious and longtime friend Laura Hinely took some family pictures a few weeks ago.  Check out her teaser.


I can't wait to see the rest sometime soon!!

Mixed Messages

I think one thing that confused me before I became a mom was hearing people say things like, "You'll love being a mom; it's the best thing ever!" and then that same person off-handedly remarking that their kids were driving them nuts.  I was very confused...are you telling me that being a mom is awesome while at the same time pulling your hair out?  It wasn't until after Mia exited the womb that I understood these so-called mixed messages.


There are various times throughout my day where Mia will come up to me and snuggle, lay her head on my lap or try to "love" on me (anytime she pats something she's "loving" it).  There is also a time during the day, usually around 3:30pm, where I try to put a sleepy Mia down for a nap, and she resists.  With full-freakish-force.  It is usually about this time I say mean mommy things in my head, like, "I hate this!" (i.e., her not sleeping, not Mia!) and, "If only she would go to sleep, my life would be complete!" Usually Greg gets an onslaught of angry text messages that detail the last 30-45 minutes of frustration.  It could be only 15 minutes later that I've changed my mind--of course after deciding trying to put Mia down for a nap was a horrible idea and vowing never to do it again--and I think Mia's the sweetest, cutest thing ever.


So why do these things happen? Why do we go from love to strong irritation in a nanosecond?  I don't know for sure why, but I would say in my case I find myself strongly irritated by a situation I feel I cannot control. (But I wouldn't label myself a "control freak.") Whereas once Mia would fall asleep just by sucking on a bottle, she's much more strong-willed now and knows there are things going on outside her room or our house that may be more interesting than slowly falling to sleep in the cozy confines of her chic PotteryBarnKids crib. How dare she not love it! :-P


Have I fallen into the group that sends mixed messages?  Ohh yeah. We're way past that.  I don't enjoy doing that, spewing forth happy happy happy! and grr grr grr! but it seems it's part of the daily grind, at least for now.  So while I work on ways to adjust my mentality during the 3 o'clock hour, consider this face I wrestle with daily.

How could you not love this??












PS: I may take my cues on how to adjust my mentality from this little girl: