Independence

No, this is not a post about me and independence. Or about the 4th of July which was oh so many moons ago.

This independence is about the joy Mia is experiencing from getting stronger, bigger and more interested and alert in her surroundings. I can't remember now just why Mia was shirtless, but obviously she had just been changed out of some clothes and was playing around in her Bumbo seat and looking *purty* cute while doing it.

For your viewing pleasure :


Just needs a cup of coffee and she'll look a bit more natural


A close-up for her modeling headshots


"I'm the [queen] of the world!"

A slow down...

Mia is inching closer and closer to 6 months. Being the broken record that I feel/fear I am becoming, I am still in awe at how quickly we've gotten to this point. Just yesterday I took all Mia's 6-9 month clothes off their hangers in the closet, removed the tags, and washed them all. I started washing her clothes in 3 month increments, and even before she was born I wouldn't wash anything bigger than 3 months. It'll be nice to rotate in some new clothes now, but for whatever reason I have a hard time grasping we're already to the stage of these "bigger" clothes, and that we already need to retire some clothes I thought she'd be in forever. Aren't babies supposed to be small? Someone please explain this "growing up" phenomenon to me!


My mom, Mia's "Mommo," was in town for a few days last week, while Papa Jack was across the pond doing some work. She and Mia got in a lot of quality time, letting Greg & I get out and enjoying doing a few things sans child.



One of those things was traveling about an hour and a half northward to Ocala where I watched Greg drum with Colt Clark's band for a homecoming pep rally at Colt's former high school. They had an hour long gig and did really well! It's not too often Greg gets to jam out on the drums. They sounded pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Other than that, things around here are pretty calm. We seem to have our fair share of busy weekends and slow weeks, and vice versa!

Sleep, Precious Sleep

There are certain things you take for granted when babies are newborns, or at least, in my limited experience, from when Mia was a newborn.

For instance, while newborns may wake up frequently to eat, they go back to sleep almost instantly and with little provocation from their parents.
The trade-off seems to be that as they age, they can sleep for longer stretches without needing to eat, but falling back to sleep in the middle of the night upon feeding can sometimes be a very challenging task.
Like this week, if you will.

The last few nights, we've spent more time in the wee hours of 4-6am with Mia than we have in months, literally. I'm not sure who is really getting more sleep these days, if it be us or Mia. I think we're all a bit sleep-deprived. And slowly losing our minds.

The joy of parenthood is not lost on us, but we're a bit more weary and not, what I like to call, on our "A-Game." Hopefully better nights are ahead of us.
Like my high school senior t-shirt wisely quoted from the band Semisonic:

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

Good night, for now...

Wasn't I just saying...?

Yeah, Mia is already 5 months.

I know some babies that were born after her are already bigger than her, but I pick her up now and look at her and think, this baby is HUGE!

What can she do now?
-Roll over, bof ways
-Sleep through the night (well, on occasion, but there was a great string of 6 nights in a row)
-Work math problems using the quadratic equation
-Take random midday 3 hr naps
-Make sounds that sound like "hey" or "hi" or "okay"
-Style her own hair

We've always said she is very advanced.
You decide which of those above are true.

Minnesota Love

We made it back from our trek up to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. In short, the trip went really well. It was less a "vacation" and more a "journey" into what it's like to travel as a family of 3 and not a couple of 2 (semi-redundant).

Mia handled the flights really well. Thankfully NWA/Delta still offers a nonstop between TPA & MSP so in only 3 hrs we were at our destination. She did manage to poo her pants during the final descent into Tampa on our return flight (you know - the time when you are sequestered to your seat with the seatbelt light on and cannot move?) so we had to wait until we deboarded the plane to change her diaper AND her outfit.

Being back in MN was surreal. This was the second time I've visited since my parents moved in Dec '07. Despite what many may think, it's not automatically cold in MN this time of year, in fact, it was considered "hot" even in my book on a couple of occasions. However, the two nights we stayed at a friend's house, we slept without the AC on and even got chilly in the middle of the night. I forgot that was possible.

As for Mia in Minnesota...we were so busy even though we got up there a few days early that getting a regular dosage of naps was seemingly impossible. I underestimated the effect of this but soon realized she was looking for sleep, which is sometimes hard to get in an unfamiliar place. She seems right back to normal though now that we are home.

And as for the wedding, it went very smoothly. Both the bride and groom (my brother) were very calm and at peace the day of. It was a really special event for the whole family and I'm glad we all got to participate. Greg handled Mia all day Friday almost entirely by himself and did a bang-up job. He showed up for family pictures early with Mia who was dressed and even had the bow I laid out for her in her hair. Of course, family pictures got moved back until after the ceremony but what can you do.
I managed to be the whitest girl in the ceremony. I dyed my hair a bit darker the week before we left and was hoping I'd get some color on my skin beforehand, either via a spray tan (gasp!), some actual sun, or e'en self-tanner, which I hadn't fiddled with in years. None of those things happened. So, I worked the goth/Anne Hathaway/white porcelain look. Just call me a poster child for the Victorian years. Of course I remind myself, no one really cares what the bridesmaids look like, it's the bride for whom we're all the rage. And she looked smashingly beautiful.

And, always one to please, here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment:


Sleeping on a jetplane




Rehearsal Dinner







Prepping in full effect







The Ceremony






Harley Get-Away

I somehow did not manage to actually get a picture of Nate & Jenna together on their wedding day, and the only other picture I have of them from this trip has some serious red-eye (and is totally candid) so...we must all wait until their real wedding pictures arrive for you to see what they really looked like!