Mia Isabelle: 30 Month Update

Last week we went for Mia's 2.5 year check up. I didn't even know this existed until I called the pediatricians office to beg them for a flu shot this week & they told me we needed to come in. You bounced between excitement & nervousness. It went from,  Let's go see the fish tank to I don't want to get a shot. That seems to be a classic representation of your mind set right now. You 'll ask for a glass of milk, we hand it to & BAM, shrieking, thrashing, I don't want milk. I can physically see you trying to control & manipulate situations.

You are 35 inches & 24 lbs, in other words suuuuper skinny!!! You are starting to wear some 3t, size 6-7 shoes.As much as you like to do things independently getting dressed isn't one of those.  You don't have much interest in picking out or putting on your clothes, unless its pjs at night.  I've been teaching you Right from Left by Saying, Rightie, Leftie, get into your home, when we put on pants. You can almost count to 20 perfectly. Usually around 16 there might be a mistake. You know our address by heart.

For the most part you are well behaved & extremely polite, great with thank yous. It has been amazing watching you become a big sister. Even after 7 months you're still obsessed with Wesley, constantly squeezing and chatting with him. It cracks me up when you say, "my little chunky Wesley, you're so cute & chunky." HAHA You've had 3 hair cuts, daddy has taken you every time.

There isn't much to say about your vocabulary, since you can basically converse like an adult & repeat any word we may try & teach you. You still sleep through the night amazingly well, although this past month getting you into bed has looked like a bad episode of Super Nanny. Screaming, thrashing, hitting your hid against the back of the crib.  Thank goodness you are still in your crib or you may never have gone down on those nites. With any difficult situation my inner voice always tells me , this too shall pass. Just like all the rest of your challenging behaviors (like crying 8 hours a day as an infant) the nite time battles seem to be waning

You love Dora, Diego & Daniel the Tiger.  You know how to use the ipad, better then I do & bring up Netflix like a pro.  You have several different apps that you play, Endless Alphabet is one of our favs.  Your most favorite thing in the world has to be playing outside.  You love splashing in the puddles, rock collecting & racing around the playground making friends. If you see a new friend you'll say, Mom, ask her name. I try to encourage you to ask.  It amazes me how you thrive in every new situation and remember details months later.   

Potty training is not happening & I know its my fault. I need to spend three days putting you on the potty every 30 minutes but I'm too lazy.  I keep hoping I'll wake up one morning & you'll be all about the potty but so far you r content with pull ups. #momfail  I have no idea how much I should be pushing you, the pediatrician doesn't seem concerned so I'm really not either.

You're super affectionate lately, especially with me. I get like 20 unsolicited I love you mamas (melt) every day. You've been waking up between 630-700, & getting into bed w me. You'll say, Let's snuggle in this cute raspy voice. I don't ever want to forget.

We love you so much Mia. You are the storm cloud & the sunshine in my every day.

A Mama's Life

Between the massive headache I have from Mia beaming me in the head with a golf ball & Wesley exorcist style puking all over me at 3:30 this morning, I'm pretty sure my kids are trying to kill me.  HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!

You Are My Sunshine & My Busted Eardrums

Saturday afternoon we made a valiant effort to head to the Union County Balloon Festival.  The kids were being high maintenance (what's new) and the amount of crap we needed to haul was immense.  I think Damon was traumatized from Mia's 1st balloon festival. She SHRIEKED for the entire 40 minutes home. We debated tossing her out the window at one point. The straw that broke the camels back was the waaaaay late bedtime that was looming if we stayed to see the balloons glow at dusk.  We decided we love our kids too much to let them torture us to the point of insanity. So we stayed home. Sometimes you just have to give up. We took a walk instead.

Even our easy walk around the block had a few dramatic moments. Wesley started SCREAMING and never one to be out done, Mia threw a royal fit!!!  As they are both wailing, a nice man with quiet babies in a jogging stroller goes by. He looked startled when I shouted, wanna trade?

Normalize Nursing: Mia's Story

Last week was World Breastfeeding Week. As a nursing mom I've never really shared my experiences.  It is honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done. Being solely responsible for your most favorite human's well being is CRAZY HARD!!!

First off, no one tells exactly you how difficult feeding new babies is going to be.  I think the stress of our experience was exacerbated by the fact that Mia cried all day every day. I was never sure if she was crying because she was hungry, in pain or just needed to cry. Not going to lie, I remember wishing for time to speed up so that she could communicate & tell me what was making her shriek.  Whether nursing or formula feeding, 90%s of a new moms thoughts are focused on feeding the baby.

If you could be in my head it would have sounded something like,
Why won't the baby latch?
Ouch the baby is latching!
OMG my nipple is ripping of!!
Why won't baby nurse from the right side?
Is the formula hurting her tummy?
Did he get enough?
How many ozs is enough?
How often should i feed her,
Should I wake her up to eat?
Why is she spitting up all over?
Is he getting enough hind milk?
Why is he screaming?
Is it something I ate or drank?
Why is her poop green?
The 1st few months are a constant dialogue of how the hell do I feed my baby?

My friends who know the story of the ripped off nipple, might find this hard to believe but I really loved nursing Mia.  AFTER the 1st month & after the shredded nip healed. lol The 1st few weeks were sooooo difficult.  Contrary to popular belief the baby doesn't pop out knowing how to eat. I was so sore I cried every time I had to feed her. That's a lot of crying considering you feed a newborn 10-12 times per day!!  Then one day we just figured out the problem. Goodbye shallow latch, hello lovely nursing experience.  Going back to work I made a new friend, the breast pump.  Not one to be blessed with 100's of ounces extra milk, I was constantly making just barely enough It was a challenge, esp working to keep my supply up. I constantly pumped in my car, possibly while the car was moving. I cant tell you how many meetings I went to covered in breast milk bc of a spill. Luckily in most cases my pants were black & no one noticed but me! Luckily Mia went seamlessly between bottles at the sitter (Avent), to nursing when I was home.  I took this for granted at the time but when you read Wesley's story you will understand how truly lucky I was!

By 8 months my milk supply was diminishing, thanks to working full time & Mia instituting a nice nursing strike for a few weeks.  I was drinking Mother's Milk tea, taking fenugreek & pumping like mad, but I just couldn't keep up.  The next statement might raise some eyebrows but I am writing this post in honor of the #normalizenursing movement, so here we go!!!!  I have a friend who has an over supply of milk & she was willing to share!!!!!! Thanks to her Mia made it to 10 months on nothing but breast milk.  Please remember milk banks are all the rage, i just happened to have connections to a wonderfully generous mama friend!!  At  10 months Mia self weaned, maybe because my supply was so low. By the end my pump was held together by duct tape and I couldn't wait to say goodbye. I used Similac for 2 months and then on to organic whole milk.

We overcame LOTS of obstacles & made it 10 months.  If you had asked me in those 1st few weeks  if i thought we would make it ten months my answer would have been NO while I cried curled in the fetal position. To be cont......

Public Service Announcement

It was Thursday night. I was picking the kids up from the sitter & I was tired..My back was in rough shape from a  Zumba injury. lol  You can imagine my patience with Mia was THIN as she pranced around not listening to a word I said. Marcie stepped in to try herd her towards the door so we could leave. Suddenly Mia shrieked in a way I hadn't heard before.  I knew she was hurt, as she came around the corner holding her bent arm & hysterical.

Marcie had been holding her arm& Mia decided to try and fling herself on the ground pulling her little elbow right out of socket.  I knew immediately what had happened from reading Stephanie's experience with her daughter.  Its called Nursemaid's Elbow. It's very common, hurts like hell, but usually resolves it self!!!!  Toddlers tendons & ligaments are still loose and stretchy so when they jerk or we jerk on them we can do some damage.  As I loaded her into the car to head to the urgent care her elbow slipped back into place and she was fine. From tears to giggles in 2 seconds. Thank Goodness!!!

Puddle Jumping

Rainy days are  good for a few things. Snuggling under the covers w a hot chai tea and watching a romantic comedy sounds like the perfect day.  Sadly Mia hasn't embraced Serendipity as one of her favorite movies quite yet. Her favorite way to celebrate a rainy day?  Puddle jumping of course!!!  She isn't coordinated enough to actually jump with both feet off the ground, so she just runs through the puddles as fast as her kitty boots will carry her.  
Love seeing the joy on her face:)

Slate Run Farm

Friday is our family day, the only time we have a whole day to spend as a family of four.  I've been itching to cross things of my Summer Bucket List. Today we spent the morning at Slate Run Farm. Heaven for a toddler, with horses, sheep, cows chickens & so much room to run, all under a gorgeous blue sky.
I told Damon, I never want my kids to wrinkle their noses when they enter a barn full of animals. I want them to walk through a garden & know the veggies because they  helped plant them in our family garden.  Maybe one day they'll even gather eggs from their own chickens.
Hopes & dreams for my kids.

Check out our 1st visit to Slate Run last year:)

Mimi Reads

Her current favorites are the Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer.  Thanks Esther & Ada, we love them!!!! The illustrations in these books make them a pleasure to read.  You can't help smile and picture your own lil critter leaving a tornado of chaos behind them.  I laugh out loud when I hear Mia saying Critter quotes like, "I just speed away." Critter's sassy attitude fits my baby perfectly!!!

A friend also got her a Fancy Nancy Collection for her birthday. I thought these might be a little mature for her but she LOVES them.  Just yesterday she asked if we could eat alfresco....lol
Another fav are the beautiful illustrations in Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman. The story  is super simple but each time you read it you find a new animal you didn't see before. Thanks Aunt Moe:)

Welcome Summer

Mia has been asking to go to the beach so this morning we backed up & headed to Alum Creek!!!!  Taking a tiny baby & a toddler  to the beach is not an easy task. The amount of stuff

we brought could have filled a uhaul. Then we had a moment of panic when we thought the umbrella we brought to protect Wesley from the sun was not going to work. Damon spent an hour before he successful rigged it.  

There are so many days that we stay in our pjs and don't leave the house because it's simply easier.  BUT we both want our kids to amazing memories of summer filled with ice cream covered faces, fountain splashing & of course, the beach.

Baby Besties

A few weeks ago Lara & Jimmy brought Baby Ava to Ohio for a visit.  Mia was especially excited to get her snuggle on!!!  For comparison sake Wesley was born March 15th & weighed around 12lbs in this pic. Ava was born on April 15th & weighed around 7lbs this visit!!!!

It's hard having one of my sister friends so far away especially since it's my dream for our babies to grow up friends. So my plan to make sure this happens is to have Ava & Mia be pen pals. We will send small gifts, painted pictures, photos, and letters back & forth as the girls get bigger:)  We sent Ava her 1st package & we hope she loves her Owl:)

Poor Strawberry Shortcake

While on maternity leave I found myself feeding a hungry baby for hours, at all hours. This leaves you stuck not able to move around for hours, at all hours. Suddenly having something to watch becomes seriously important if for nothing but to keep you awake so you don't drop the baby!.  

With Mia I watched the entire Prison Break series!!  Just searching the images on Google makes me want to watch Season 1 & 2 (seasons 3-4 meh).  With Wesley I discovered Criminal Minds & I am totally addicted!!!  I'm even plotting how I can become Baby Girl of the day on Shemar's FB page. hahahahaha

I usually watch w the subtitles on & the volume turned super low.  Based on this pic Mia colored  i may need to start watching the Brady Bunch re-runs instead.. LOL

My Tiny BFF

When Mia was tiny (6 months & younger), I was terrified of her. All she did was scream for hours & hours & hours. We tip toed around on egg shells for months. I would hiss at Damon in my most menacing whisper, "Don't make eye contact," in fear of stimulating her into another hysterical crying fit.  I longed for her to grow, communicate & be a pleasure to be near.

Not only has she grown into the smartest, sweetest little one, she now has a sense of humor!!! Over the past few weeks she is starting to understand funny. She gets jokes, loves to make funny dances & wants to be silly.  She has the most contagious cackle.  She loved playing w Photobooth & we cracked up at our beautiful portraits!!!!  Mia, my sweet girl, there is nothing I love more then spending time with you!!!!!